Today was my last culture festival at Takasago Minami, and so I approached it keeping in mind that it was my last chance to enjoy it and spend time informally with my students.
As usual there were lots of interesting exhibits. Nothing as dramatic as last year, probably because of the price tag of last year. In the morning I walked around enjoying the displays, like the little green men from Toy Story set up to greet people as they arrived. They also had a huge banner made out of tiny squares of colored paper. From a distance it looked like a photograph of my school. Very creative!
The format of the event was the same as the previous two years, but this time I was a lot closer to the students participating, so every time they did a dance routine or an exhibit I knew at least one student well, and that made it much more interesting.
As usual it is a sweaty place in the gym during the festival, because they have to close all the doors and windows to make it dark for the dancing and plays. The first year I sweated the whole time and was miserable. The second year I froze some sodas in plastic bottles the night before, and then brought those with me to keep cool. This year I sat right behind the principal with the student council – those are choice seats. They had a fan dedicated to keeping the principal (and those behind him) cool, and we were right next to the cement wall of the gym so it was naturally cool. Good spot.
The dances were interesting – lots of variety. One class did a very quick version of West Side Story, and another class did a pretty bad version of Cinderella. The taiko drummers were the best, though – and it was unanimous among the students and staff that it was just like seeing it at a real concert. I was really impressed – I haven’t seen much taiko but this was really, really good.
The teachers even did a couple of songs. It was pretty bad, but I guess that is part of the entertainment value for the students. They had some new members this year, and Nozaki sensei dressed up in a red dress and a blonde wig and did what I can only describe as an interpretive dance number while everyone else sang. She seems normal enough in the staffroom, but she was one freaky lady today on stage. She stripped off the wig and the dress during the number, and everyone in the gymnasium was very relieved to see that she was wearing a jumpsuit underneath.
Sitting with the student council was fun, too. They are all pretty outgoing people because they are generally the leaders of their classes, so they were completely comfortable to talk with me about what was going on. It was a pleasure to have the chance to chat with them.
What else? I did the tea ceremony with the tea ceremony club, stopped in at all the classrooms at lunch to see some of the interesting exhibits. One class had a mural made entirely of folded cranes – very impressive.
Now I’m back home and pretty tired out. I put some pictures here if you’d like to check out today’s events. Tomorrow is Saturday but I still have to get up early to help with community cleanup. Kuniko has to work, but Sunday we both have the day off – for Kuniko it will be her first day off in about 20 days!
