I left home around 9 well I guess it was more like 9:30..Cha came right after me. The entrance was littered with rubbish. Well, it was because of the cats. I took a photo of them before I put them back.. told cha that I go out to take some photos of the bridge and left there. It wasn’t that easy to get a nice photo of the bridge. Went back to the camp in 15 minutes. M.S came for a meeting with Cha. Well I tried not to be noisy. Sue came with a guy. Soon after that Mr. S told me that September 9th is “ Respect-for-the-Aged Day” I said okay. He said that we ca n join the ceremony. I was confised.. I said “well, but it’s October now..” they said it’s by the old calendar, it’s actually today. I said “oh I see.. but can we join? Am I old enough?? I guess I am..” Three of us got on a bike and two walked. It was just around the corner.
We could hear them from distance anyway but it got louder and louder. Someone was singing on a stage. I couldn’t tell how many people were there but I guess nearly 1000. We sat on “VIP’s” seats. Many “important” people like a mayor came around to say hi. One of them was the lady whose name was on the hat Kao gave me a couple of nights ago. I told cha to tell her that I have her hat but she was too busy talking to other people. She was on the stage and had a speech then sang. Mr.S was so happy for her. I could tell he was a good supporter for her. Well, looks like everybody likes her. When she came around again Cha introduced us and told her that I said I was sorry that I don’t have the right to vote here. She smiled ad said it’s okay sort of thing.
Well, lots of food again. There were many dishes with meat again and Sue said this dish has meat in it but it doesn’t taste like meat at all I should try so I took a bit but didn’t eat much. When this soup came Sue said “oh this is fish soup you can have” I had it a bit and tasted funny.. I said “I think they used meat for this soup..” they asked and I was right. I drank a lot of water. They told me to sing on a stage I just laughed and said no way！They asked me a couple of times again so I pretended to look for a song and said I don’t know much. I said Sue is good at singing and she wouldn’t mind. Well, they wanted me to get on the stage so bad so I said I’ll go with her and I’ll be behind. I told her I would know this song. They were writing a number on a sheet of paper. I couldn’t believe that they were gonna do this to me. Some speeches finished and the MC said “hey Japanese girl! Get ready!” I laughed so bad and realized that Sue was gone for toilet. Did she do it on purpose? I was like “NONO I CAN’T DO THIS!” They told me to go up the stage and I was laughing so bad. I went to the stairs but it wasn’t our song. While someone was singing many people started to leave. They had finished all the food. Sue came back and had two song with the guy. Most of people were gone by this stage. I was so relived. Well I had to get on the stage but it wasn’t the song I told them. Sue picked the one she liked. I didn’t know this song well and never sang it before but sang it anyway. What an experience..
We went back to the camp and Sue left with the guy. Mr. S left as well. I started to work and soon after the lady who is studying Japanese came. She said that she showed the flower we made last Saturday to some people. They liked it a lot and wanted to learn how to make it so she came to get some paper. She left 10 gen for that. I said “pu yo” but I knew she would leave it no matter what.
Asked cha to call her about the paper. I needed to know how big the file or each image can be. I decided to have 100 photos and make it square.Went home for 2 hours I was gonna work on the photos but there weren’t enough images I wanted to use for this project. However I didn’t wanna just go around and take photos of everything. I need to have some sort of connection with it.
Went back to the camp after 5pm. Cha was working on putting bricks on the ground with Aha. Asked him if they needed help and he said he was getting hungry which means I have to cook We had lots of leftovers from last night. I wanted to cook fish but didn’t know how to. We decided to have BBQ and Cha put some pieces of charcoal on the gas stove. He was gonna take them back when they catch fire. “Wait a sec” I brought some bricks and made BBQ area there. Cha was impressed. The music was on for collecting rubbish so they went out for taking out the rubbish. I have no idea where they are taking it. Sue came back. She was impressed with the BBQ too. She was talking about food first but started to talk about the hard life she had to go through. She was in tears and that made me cry. I was just hugging her and she said thanks for crying for her. They just came back and saw us. They looked so puzzled. We started to eat as usual but I was still thinking about what she told me. To be honest, I thought she was so strong and independent found out the different side of her. I felt really sorry for her.
Sue’s friend, this small guy, came and they left for the big town they often talk about. They asked me if I wanted to come but I was supposed to see the puppet show.
Pr came with his friend. I was surprised to see him there. He said that he came around to check out. They went in the building and I couldn’t get up to give them a tour for some reasons.
A cat was around since I started to cook today and she was talking to me. Well I had to give her some fish.
Someone called and cha said that he had to go to the town, too. I gave him a hard time because he was supposed to help me with the photo editing with his computer. “well, but you are going to see the puppet show, too..” that was right. Cha had to run away and Ah left so I had to close the place etc by myself.
I wasn’t too sure where it was. That was the place we went to on the first day here. There was o sign..but I found it. There are some kids practicing at the front. I forgot what “excuse me” was in Chinese so I just went through without saying anything to them.
“The living national treasure” was there. He noticed me right away and said there is a lady from Okinawa
and I should talk to her. She was his student for 23 years. It was so nice to talk to her. I told her that I always wanted to go to Okinawa but I didn’t know anyone there. She said now I do and yes she’s right. I was already thinking about visiting there in few weeks after I get back to Japan. It was a fate. She is doing what I was planning to do sort of.. preserving the traditional culture. I told her my idea and she really liked it. She is going to help me out if I go to Okinawa. We both were pretty excited to meet each other. There was a boy looked like waiting while we were talking. I noticed it and said “does he need to talk to you?” She didn’t know him. He was just listening to our conversation and tried to pick up some words. He used to study Japanese at private school and could introduce himself in Japanese. We were quite impressed that he was still trying to learn. Unfortunately he had to stop learning it cause he started Junior high school and needed to concentrate on his study. They were so serious with their education.
I said that I would love to visit some schools here and the lady said ask the guy over there, he knows many people. It was Mr.S. I told her that I already know him well and he is helping me a lot. She took me to him anyway and said to him that I want to visit some schools here. He said that he would talk to some people. Talked to Mr.S and the master a little bit. They looked so busy talking to each other. The master told me that he really liked the Japanese teacher when Taiwan was under Japanese occupation and he looked for the teacher in Japan 40 years (? ) after the war. I told the lady that I have a good relationship with most of my students but I really doubt that they are gonna look for me after 40 yers and find me somewhere. We said good bye to each other and left. I think I’ll see her soon. I was riding my bike heading home, Mr. S was coming back on his bike. He said check this out and pointed the temple. There were some people playing some kind of musical instruments. I didn’t think they were that good but had to pretend that I was impressed. He told me to get in the temple. He said that we have to get in from dragon door and get out from tiger one. I said that I knew cause my friend told me this last week but he wasn’t listening. There were so many people working there. They were getting ready for the pilgrimage from Monday. Mr.S seems to know everyone in this town. I know he is rich but he does lots of things. Actually, I just found out that he is the chairman of the board of directors for this program. He introduced me to this guy and he disappeared. Came back in 2 minutes and gave me this little ..well it’s not that little.. toy. He said that they made 300 of them last year and this was the very last one. I didn’t really want it so I tried very hard to give it back to him but Mr.S told me to keep it. He showed me the map for the pilgrimage. They spend few weeks to visit all the temples around the town. Mr. S told me to be at the camp at 9am. His friends want to see me there. I said “certainly” and left there. I still think it’s funny that he is so rich yet he rides bike to go everywhere.
I got home around 9pm and Pr came home right after that. He said something I didn’t understand. He said it couple of times and he looked angry I was like “what did I do??” he was just saying “I’m home” in Taiwanese. Trying to teach me that..They left right after- not because I couldn’t say the word.
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