A Scary Encounter

Last night (Sunday) we went to another festival, this one smaller and I think more local. There was food and dancing and people playing drums and at the end there were fireworks, which they set off right from the ground in front of everyone (not something I'm used to seeing coming from Massachusetts.) It was a lot of fun, we danced and ate some good food. At the last festival, the BOE people kind of herded us around, plus the whole town was there. But this time it was small, and we were there by ourselves, so I think people were more aware of our presence. Some of the taiko drummers dragged us up on the platform and had us playing the drums in front of everyone, and then this old man got a microphone and started introducing us to the crowd, asking us what we thought of the festival, etc. A group of elementary schoolers crowded around us and were very talkative, and spoke surprisingly good English.

All in all it was a lot of fun, but there was one thing that troubled me. While we were on the platform drumming with the taiko guys, there was this one guy (he may have been drunk, I don't know) who kept laughing and making suggestive gestures. He was pretty young, and one of the drummers I think. They were all kind of laughing at us, which is fine, I expect that, we're obviously no good at taiko, and I know that a certain amount of laughter, from amusement or discomfort, is common when people are dealing with something foreign. I've also heard all the stuff about Japan being much less or an even playing field in terms of gender equality, but I hadn't encountered it yet. I feel like most guys in the states wouldn't do that. Or maybe I'm over-reacting, because now that I think about it, in a more traditional, rural area of the US you also probably find people who are less politically correct. Maybe this guy really was drunk, or just not particularly enlightened. 

I was in a good mood when I got home, but it didn't last long. I found a GIANT cockroach on the wall of my bedroom. It's the first real bug I've seen in my house so far. I freaked out, I HATE big creepy bugs, and I didn't know what to do about it. I was considering going to sleep downstairs, but instead I shooed it into the next room (which I don't use) and slammed the door. Whether that will keep it from coming back (hint: it won't) we'll see. I'm going to go to the store today and buy all kinds of bug prevention stuff. I'm really worried about it, because there are a lot of bugs here, and they're all way bigger than ants or little spiders (there are some HUGE spiders), and some of them are poisonous, and living in a house makes it more likely I'll encounter them. I can't wait for winter when they'll all die! (or seek shelter in my house... hmm... maybe that's not so good after all...)