Best Day Ever!

So today I went to work and that was alright. But then things got fun-ner:

After work we headed up the hill to the Goya area of Okinawa City where we had our second practice with the Gaijin Eisa team. We're really delighted to be able to participate in this oh-so-Okinawan tradition because for the most part you're not allowed to dance Eisa after the age of 25. We will be performing at the end of August as part of a really large Okinawa City Eisa Festival. Here are some photos:

Then we met up with Miyagi-san and had Yaginiku, goat meat soup. The Japanese used to eat a lot of goat meat, but since the end of World War II this meat has been replaced steadily by beef. It's still eaten in some places, including Okinawa. Part of the reason goat meat has lost its favor is because goat meat has a pretty strong smell. That said, you can put some fresh mugwort in the soup and that not only adds a nice flavor it also changes the aroma a bit.

The belief is that goat meat will reinvigorate the consumer and is to be eaten after strenuous activity. And I gotta say I did feel pretty jazzed up afterwards. After a delicious bowl of goat soup with the mugwort and ginger and awamori hot sauce I knew I had to try it, goat sashimi:

I'm not sure how well you can see from this picture, but there are two cuts of goat sashimi here. There were a very few cuts that were a deep red, almost purple, very thinly sliced and were heavenly. My favorite, though, had to be the thick cut from the back of the goat which still had the skin on it, nice and thick. What an amazing texture! It was like eating a celery stalk made of goat meat - incredible and three totally different experiences.

Usually your told not to drink anything cold with the goat meat as it can be pretty fatty and there is a fear that drinking cold liquids will congeal the fat and give you a bad stomach ache - so usually you drink hot tea with it. But this taste experience lacked one thing. That's right, wasabi ice cream.

We went to Gelo Bello and saw that they have a new exhibit, this time from Dr. Cue. We watched some Spongebob Squarepants and called it a night.