I had my first rehearsal in the gym this week with my junior high English choir. It was nerve wracking! There is so much formality involved in just getting the kids on stage. I know the drill so well in Canada. I can’t count how many times I or a group I am leading has trooped on stage for some kind of performance. Was that just natural or were we organized to do it? I don’t know now. There was certainly a lot less bowing, I can tell you that. I don’t have a very good formal bow. I do a reasonable casual bow and a great bow while driving but for the public recognition situations I am a little lacking.
Today’s pictures are of the carnival held by the grade 5 and 6 students at Seba Elementary for the international work camp visitors. They put together a pretty cool show. They had a kanji writing centre, origami stations and loads of traditional Japanese toys and party games. You are supposed to write your name down the side of your kanji page but I accidentally spelt my name wrong on the one they wanted to photograph. I always forget how the beginning looks. My name should not start with two vowels! I wrote something like Yeah-purirul instead of I-e-puriru. The bottom line is, neither one of those are my name. At any rate, the very sweet web guy at that school cropped out my name for me from the picture. He is so great. The kanji shown here says four seasons. The outdoor station was quite cool. They had somen noodles. These are served in a long split bamboo log with water running down it. The person at the front of the log drops the noodles into the water and you have to scoop them up with chopsticks and put then into your cup of soya sauce and green onions. It's fun and delicious. There was also a water balloon yo-yo fishing station. I got a green one and have been playing with it all the time since then. It is a little annoying to be in a rom with me I would imagine.
This week has been busy as usual. I am a little lost in my Japanese class right now so I study all the time. I want to be fluent in Japanese! I can just imagine how different my life would be if I could speak and understand more. I think our student teacher is gone from work now. I don’t know for sure when he finished. There was surprisingly little ceremony for that guy. That is a little strange considering that this is Japan and ceremonies are everyone’s favourite thing. And speeches. Today is a very dull day at school as I am sure you have guessed by this rambling blog post. We have had a stupid rescheduling of all classes so I don’t do any teaching today. I plan to escape after lunch to go to elementary school and practice Japanese with the 3rd graders. We are at about the same level. I also have a dentist appointment this afternoon which I am a little nervous for because I can’t remember what they are planning to do this week. I don’t like mystery dentist visits. I have a friend staying with me right now. His name is Kosa. He came to Shiojiri with the volunteer camp and has decided to stay in Japan and look for a teaching job. It is nice to have some company in the house but it does kind of throw my tiny house into chaos. I should just clean up my bedroom so that I don’t feel compelled to leave the door shut all the time. This weekend, I am heading down to Kiso Fukushima for a two day music festival and camping. I don’t know if I will stay the whole time because that basically eliminates any chance of getting myself organized for the following week which is school festival week. Now that I am experiencing everything for a second time, I feel so much more comfortable but no less interested. It is a good feeling. The leaves are starting to change here and everything is going to look beautiful soon. I hope that winter hasn’t already set in back home although I did hear that it has already snowed once out west in Canada. Better you than me, I say.