Yesterday we had our school’s Halloween party. It is “the big event” of the school year, and so the kids and parents all look forward to it. Kind of like a ballet recital where the parents go to see if all that money they’ve paid is making their kids better dancers.
Anyway, I went over to Nozaki sensei’s place in the afternoon and we worked together with Miki sensei (the teacher that had my job last year) to get everything ready. Then we loaded up the cars and headed over to the Kakogawa Culture center to get set up. This place was really big, and we had a small room for our party. The small rooms were still pretty big, maybe a 120 person capacity.
We pulled off the party pretty well, I think. There were four other foreign teachers there, Brenda and three of her friends. They came dressed up as Pokemon characters and witches, and they made a big impression with my students. I was dressed up as Matsu-ken, a guy that was pretty popular a couple of years ago. To get an idea of what Matsu-ken looks like, check out some pictures from the internet. Everyone got a kick out my costume – Nozaki sensei was smart to pick that instead of something scary.
We played games with the kids, sang some songs, played bingo, and did trick or treating as well. During the event the kids weren’t shy at all talking with me in English, and I think the parents must have noticed. After we wrapped up I had a huge line of kids waiting to get their picture taken with me in our costumes, and the other teachers were a little jealous since they weren’t quite so popular. But they weren’t dressed up as the Liberace of Japan, either.
Nozaki sensei was really happy with the event, and we cleaned everything up in record time. She took the other foreign teachers out to dinner, but I had a date with Kuniko and so I begged off to head home and spend time with her.
Today is Monday and technically, also Friday for me. I have the next four days off because of a scheduling quirk to equalize the amount of classes. I need to write just one more paper for my first term classes, go to the Vietnamese embassy in Osaka, get a new foreigner card, and take care of some other odds and ends during this time. Hopefully I’ll be able to blog a little more, too.
