Written Oct. 30th- We have been busy since we got back…this (Oct 28 & 29th) weekend we had a big festival in our town (Kawamoto Industrial Festival- agriculture, commercial, and technical- the 3 ‘gyo’s). We sold cinnamon toast, spiced wine and fruit punch. Much to my dismay all three dishes contained cinnamon and I was not able to help cook…It was nice to meet people from the town, sit around and chat. SO many students and parents too- I think I was constantly smiling, waving and bending forward so as to be ready to bow…I am exhausted today.
Here is a view down the festival street. Our Intl. tent is on the right.
The 3rd-6th graders of Kawamoto Sho marched down the street performing Zip-a-dee-doo-da...i love this country.
My 1st graders shared their shaved ices with me! "Which flavor do you like best?", they all wanted to know. Definitely, melon...or maybe, Hawaiian Blue.
This is a local art project- Kawamoto "Happy Smile". The artist takes digital photos of the 4,000 residents of our town and then digitally sketches over the images and adds funny bodies. Do you think it looks like me???
This is one of my 2nd grade identical twins, Kaoru or Taoru?!?, trying on a sombrero in our Intl. tent.
At school today (Monday, Oct 30th), I cut soba plants (a bit like wheat) with the 3rd and 4th graders. We also pulled up daikon (giant radish) shoots and ate them raw. Spicy!! I also practiced drama, writing kanji, reading Japanese, and subtracting fractions. Oh, and I played ‘Othello’ (board game) for the first time. My special needs student beat me. I deserved it. Kids are cute.
Last week, there was a big music festival in our county area. All the elementary and junior high schools performed and played instruments. I sang with two of my schools in Japanese for the first time. It was really hard to learn all the words and hand motions. With my biggest school we were so packed onto the risers that I almost fell off during the second song. Talk about conspicuous. Other performances included body percussion (tapping and slapping yourself all over in a rhythmic fashion), castanets, dancing with umbrellas, and one of my favorite Japanese songs “I wanna be a popstar!” How cute are 60 little 3rd and 4th graders when they sing those lyrics…
I found out the oldest person in Kawamoto is 107! That means she was born in 1899!!!
1st year student questions about my trip to Hawaii:
-Did you like the baths there?
-What did your bathing suit look like?
-Did you swim butterfly?
Last Friday, I used kangaroo’s paw in my ikebana. In Japan, there is a game like ‘paper, rock, scissors’ but it is just open and closed fist (Gu and Pa). ‘Pa’ means ‘open hand’. When you say ‘kangaroo paw’ in Japanese, it is “Kangaru Pa”. Everyone thought the “Pa” referred to the open, bursting nature of the flower. We had a nice little lesson on how “paw” actually refers to the animal’s hand/foot. I love internationalization. Don’t you?
Written one weekend later (Nov 3-5)-
We had another fall festival at the shrine just down the hill from us. November 3rd was a national holiday (Culture Day). This area is famous for its Kagura (dance and drama) and at the shrine there was a performance from 10pm-5am. This is done to entertain the gods, make them laugh and in turn, enjoy yourself. Lots of sake was poured. Craig watched our 80+ year old neighbor crawl on all fours and then tip-over, face first into the dirt, after one shot glass of alcohol. He was hauled up onto the shrine engawa to sleep it off…I am stuck home with a bad cold so I could only listen to the beautiful drum and flute music float up the mountain, thru the fog, to our house. So peaceful…
No flowers due to Culture Day holiday…
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