Sports day at Isahaya Commercial High school

I had planned to attend Isahaya Commercial High School's Sports day today. Alex had mentionned that parking would be difficult because they were expecting so many people and it would be best to take the train. So I drove down to Kikistu and hopped on a the train from there. I rarely take the train to go anywhere locally, this might have been the third time in the 2 years that I've been here that I've taken the local train.

When we got to a stop in nishi (west) Isahaya, I thought my stop would be coming up soon. After what seemed like a little too long, I asked a conductor walking by when we would be reaching the main train station. He looked at me worriedly and said 'You missed it! It was way back!' . Well, those weren't his exact words because he didn't speak any English.

I ended up having to ride on the train another 20 minutes before reaching a stop where I would be able to catch a train going back to Isahaya. I spent the time playing around with my cell phone trying to figure out the many features which I have yet to learn how to use because it's all in Japanese.

So once I got off the train, I found myself in this dinky little town in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I shouldn't say that, every town has its own charm... I just wasn't in the mood to see anything too charming about this stop.

I had to explain to the clerk at the station that I just wanted to go back to Isahaya. I had to buy another ticket. I think the clerk thought me a little strange....

I had 30 minutes to kill before the next train bound for Isahaya arrived. So here are some pictures to introduce the Hizen - Kashima stop...

By the time I arrived at the main station in Isahaya it was almost 10:30am (the event started at 9am). I wandered up to the school ground. As I was making my way to the school, I got a call from Amanda checking to see if I was doing all right.

The rest of the day was much more enjoyable!

It was interesting to see how the Sports festival is done at another school. Some things are the same, some different, some better, some worse. It was fun to watch!

Alex and I were cheering for the International Studies team. Over the past 2 years, I have been to this school several times to attend English days with the students who are in enrolled in International studiesand so have gotten to know many of them. They're a very genki and upbeat group of kids! I also ran into Yoshida sensei, a very charming English teacher who happens to be the wife of one of the teachers at my school. This is Yuki, who I got to know at the Sechibaru summer camp last summer.


I ran into some other people that I knew: students from my school, Aya's mom (who had helped dress me in a yukatta twice), English teachers etc. One lady came up to me and said 'ahhh konnichiwa!' She looked very familiar, but I couldnt place where from...turned out she was the clerk from the dollar store!...

We had lunch together in the students' classroom. They gave me a hagumaki (? thing to tie around your head) and a towel with my name sowed on it!! Now I really felt like I was part of the light blue team :)

The school was divided into 8 different coloured teams. When I arrived, the 'light blue' team, the one we were cheering for, was in second to last place.

As the day went on, they accumulated more points by performing well in the cheering contest, having a very cleverly built panel, etc. The end result was that they came in first!!

Amanda and Saori got me a present for my birthday..I was really touched that they remembered! A purplish pink watch in the shape of a dog...purple and dog..my two favorite things :)

My train ride back to Kikitsu was much less eventful than the morning trip. I made it back to my car with no problem. Being in the sun the whole day really takes it toll on you...even though I didn't do any physical activity, just standing in the sun watching the kids exert themselves drained me of energy.

I took a nap when I got back, and woke up 3 hours later at 8pm....I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight!