Bunkasai
I went up to San Fransisco yesterday with my Japanese teacher and some of my classmates. This was yet another Japanese-related excursion that made me happy. I hopped in the car with my sensei, Miriam, Alex, and Huy (four very cool people) and we were off on an hour-and-something drive up to S.F. Luckily, Mr. Hall had brought CDs to fill up the noise space in the car. Good thinking, Sensei. I hate it when I'm stuck in a silent car. (*Choo-choo! there goes the train through the awkward silence!*) On our way up, we talked about such things as the up-and-coming Japan Bowl, how to translate the script of Austin Powers into Japanese, and white supremacy. That last one was my bad.
When we got there, we had to push our bulging eyes back in their sockets when we saw their gorgeous (CLEAN) campus and their enviable (CLEAN) theater. Did I mention their bathrooms? It's okay, I didn't use them, but I'll take Miriam's word for it.
We seated ourselves in the theater for the opening ceremony. Miriam sat next to me, threatening to rip the building off of its foundation, stuff it in her jacket, and take it home. (Klepto! KLEPTO!!) After mimicking, mocking, and in other words rolling our eyes into oblivion at the mousy blonde woman who was talking about racial tolerance onstage, we all split to get to our classes.
I had the JNTO workshop with Huy-kun for "first period". Okay, when Sensei described JNTO for me, it sounded like they would tell us about the sights to see in Japan. What did they do? The gave us a map of Japan and asked us to find Lake Biwa.
Moving along... "Second period" was the tea ceremony, "sadou". Or is it "chadou"? They put "ocha" on my slip, but "ocha" just means "tea". ANYWAY... The tea ceremony workshop was cool because they served us green tea and sweet bean-paste filled goodies, and I got to talk to old Japanese women wearing kimonos. Nihongo de, no less.
After that was lunch. We got these neat bentou lunches, and had fun figuring out what the hell we were eating. (
When we got there, we had to push our bulging eyes back in their sockets when we saw their gorgeous (CLEAN) campus and their enviable (CLEAN) theater. Did I mention their bathrooms? It's okay, I didn't use them, but I'll take Miriam's word for it.
We seated ourselves in the theater for the opening ceremony. Miriam sat next to me, threatening to rip the building off of its foundation, stuff it in her jacket, and take it home. (Klepto! KLEPTO!!) After mimicking, mocking, and in other words rolling our eyes into oblivion at the mousy blonde woman who was talking about racial tolerance onstage, we all split to get to our classes.
I had the JNTO workshop with Huy-kun for "first period". Okay, when Sensei described JNTO for me, it sounded like they would tell us about the sights to see in Japan. What did they do? The gave us a map of Japan and asked us to find Lake Biwa.
Moving along... "Second period" was the tea ceremony, "sadou". Or is it "chadou"? They put "ocha" on my slip, but "ocha" just means "tea". ANYWAY... The tea ceremony workshop was cool because they served us green tea and sweet bean-paste filled goodies, and I got to talk to old Japanese women wearing kimonos. Nihongo de, no less.
After that was lunch. We got these neat bentou lunches, and had fun figuring out what the hell we were eating. (