School Activities

Today I got to see one of the special things about Japanese high school life. Preparation for the upcoming school festival (known as Bunkasai in Japanese). The students of each class usually prepare a dance/song/skit, etc. for these special 2 days. I was invited to watch one of the 2nd year classes practice their dance - a traditional Japanese festival dance. They are so good! I wonder how much they practiced to be in sync with the music and each other? I can't wait to see the actual performance on Friday! One thing that surprises me about Japanese students is how everyone works together and has a positive attitude. The group dynamic is amazing. When I was in high school, we never had such willing participation from students. But here, everyone works hard together and so they enjoy the reward/praise together when there is success. ^__^

After school, I joined the tea ceremony club. One of my 3rd year students brought me to the traditional tatami mat room in the school. I was a little nervous because I know that tea ceremony is an intricate artform and I didn't want to do anything that might offend the instructor or the whole concept of "serving tea". My thoughts after my first lesson? It's harder than it looks! Mostly because I'm not used to sitting for so long with my legs folded like that... I wonder how they do it! It hurts after getting no circulation to my feet. :( I think there must be a trick to it or some way to cheat in order to kneel comfortably. It's also very precise with a specific order to everything. I learned many new terms. Good thing I wrote them down! The traditional Japanese sweet they served was delicious. I think it's made from Japanese chestnut. The matcha was warm and frothy. Not bitter at all. Many foreigners don't like it, but I enjoy it very much ^__^ Most of the members of tea ceremony club are girls, but there is one guy. He reminds me of Soujirou from Hana Yori Dango LOL. He is very skilled at tea ceremony. I watched him make tea for us all. Everyone is so kind and understanding even though I have no clue what I'm doing ^__^"0 They even gave me a gift! A holder for the "kuromoji", which is the utensil to eat the Japanese sweet. There's a special case to hold the materials you need to bring during a tea ceremony. I hope I can find a nice one to encourage me to work hard and master this artform. Everything about tea ceremony is so beautiful. Too bad the next meeting won't be until a whole month later because we have so many public holidays coming up. It's good because we have no school, but bad because I don't get to enjoy learning tea ceremony.