"Mochi-ing"

In celebration of the last day of Tenrikyo camp for the kiddies, we made mochi today! The process is quite involved but a fun social event...fun if you like to use your muscles :) This is how it goes: Michi wakes you up and says " Good Morning! We're making today if you want to come." "Cool, what time?" "Maybe...now?!" "Haha, ok. Be there soon." So you roll out of bed (us gaijins aren't the earliest risers) and head down to the mochi making area, which is by the cafeteria. There are 3-4 little fires set up - metal barrels on top of sand with fires inside. On top there is a pot of boiling water which is steaming rice that's on top of the pot. The steamed rice is taken to a large granite bowl, like a large version of an apothecary bowl (seen in the pic). The rice is dumped in there and three people use the big wooden..hammers? (as seen in the pic) and they squish the rice around until it's more like goo. From there, people take turns hammering the mochi into an even gooier (?) consistency. Meanwhile there is someone on the side who turns the mochi and uses water to keep it from sticking to the hammer and the bowl. After the mochi is pounded to the right consistency it's put into a container of flour...and then goes away somewhere that I've never seen, haha.
What does mochi taste like? Well, it's kind of like taffy. It really gooey and squishy. It can be flavored and put on sticks as candy, or rolled into a ball with red beans, fried and in a soup base or even dried and then cooked in the microwave and eaten with sesame powder (at least that's my best guess as to what it is!) Any way, watashi wa suki des!!!! (I like it!)