Canada Party!!
Last night the Canadian Ishikawa Society held their 10th Anniversary celebration, with the Canadian Ambassador as a special guest. I was very surprised, as I expected to meet many other Canadians who are here in the prefecture, to discover that all the members of the Canadian Ishikawa Society are Japanese, and the only Canadian guests were the seven Canadian JETs that we already know! But, it was a very nice night anyway, with excellent food (WE HAD BEEF!!!!!), that was both Japanese style and Canadian food (WE HAD BEEF!!!!!). Also, we had Canadian beer, which was very exciting, and the first time that I have seen Canadian beer in Japan! I spent a large part of the reception talking with the Ambassador's wife, and a little bit with the Ambassador. They were very nice. The other pictures are from our "nijikai" or "after-party party."
Cameron Calder
This is our new nephew-- Cameron!!! We are soo excited that he is here! He was born on May 18 at 4:37 pm, and even though he is only three days old, we are so in love with him already! We are so excited to meet him in two months!!!
Zoo!!
For our final excursion this week, we went with our friend, Chris, to visit the Ishikawa Zoo! It was a really cool zoo, with lots of animals that I had never seen before including a red panda, kangaroos, wallabies, caybaras, pacas and a baby giraffe!! But, the monkies stole the show!! This is one of the few zoos in Japan that has chimpanzees-- it was crazy how much they looked like humans!! Also, the orangutang was really cool, and kept blowing kisses as Chris and Zach, and the Gibbons were fighting and swinging all over the place!! It was really fun!
Nanao and Dakeyama
Our second festival was in the city of Nanao, 65 km north of Kanazawa (this is important because Zachary rode his bike both ways!!). The festival focussed on four giant floats that were pulled through the town by townspeople and visitors alike, while carrying a dozen or so children and men who chanted and danced. This was followed by a beautiful fireworks display!! Nanao also has a beautiful harbour, where we watched the Sea of Japan while enjoying the sunshine lying on the grass!! It was a very nice, relaxing day!
BEACH!! (And a kite festival too!)
This week is Golden Week--named because three of the five work days are national holidays, so the entire country has time off!!! So, we decided to make the most of our time off and visited several cities around Kanazawa touring different festivals. Our first stop-- Uchinada!! Uchinada hosted the World Kite Festival, including the world's largest kite (which we, unfortunately, didn't see), and several "Sport Kite" shows-- kite flying to music. It was actually pretty neat, as the kite's movements really were coreographed to go with the music!! But, the best part of the day was definately the beach, as the festival was held right beside the water!! It wasn't really warm enough to go in yet (not that that stopped Zach), but it was so nice to be there on such a beautiful day!!!
