Fly like a bird

Yesterday and today was the Aoba Matsuri.
It's a festival where Japanese people of all ages across the city come out and dance on the streets like sparrows.
Yes, the bird.

When I heard about this festival last year, I was really excited...until I saw it. It was group after group of 20-50 people doing the same moves (in a different order) to the same music!!! I'm not sure how this can come out in a non-offensive fashion, but it was BORING.

This year, I figured that if I actually was a part of the festivities, it would make it more exciting to me.
Nope. Wrong.

Because I couldn't commit to the endless hours of practice for the dance steps (and they are complicated, I admit), I wasn't able to join the dancing. For those who know me also know that I lack rhythm, so drumming was also out of the question.

I was fine with not participating at all...until my friend called me. Her group wanted me to be the flag bearer! Haha...so, for two days, I beared the flag for a group called "Wings," got face makeup like a sparrow and wore a Japanese style festival shirt with "Wings" printed on the back. I paraded down the road and went on stage and waved the flag like I knew what I was doing. Ah, another thing I can write on my resume now. "Sparrow-representative."