Open to the public! and outing in osaka
So as early as 8.45 on a sat morning the festival is open to the public, the official opening is at 9am, the food goes on sale at 9.30am and the performances start at 10.30am.
So my day started off with a dance show put on by washi's class on the playing field, very cute. Washi and I then had a walk around to look at some of the exhibits, (unfortunately i forgot my camera...) at the school gates, guests were welcomed by a giant poo bear made by the students (a good 9-10 feet tall) as you walk up to the main building the entries for the portrait competition were displayed and frankly some of them were quite amazing. In the main entrance area a large mosaic banner had been made of all the peanuts characters, the students used small coloured squares to make the picture and the banner hung off the side of the building. There was a 'where's wally' display at the entrance as well. but instead of a picture the class had made figurines and it was damn hard to find the figures they wanted you to find to win the candy. once you move inside and venture upstairs all the 3rd year class rooms had been converted into exhibitions, from art and video displays to jet coaster rides and domino world. In the center garden area there were games and numerous food stalls. I watched the taiko, brass band and the skipping again of the performances and Lisa made it just in time to watch the taiko, which she enjoyed. we munched down some fried rice for lunch and watched the last dance performance on the field. after the dance finished three of the boys from the class came running out to do another performance in only their swimming trunks... lisa's comment was "they really like to get their gear off don't they!" we watched as much as we could take and moved on to listen to the bands in another part of the school. Lisa later got to listen to me sing in front of the students, which was extremely nerve wrecking!!! uggg.... after which lisa left to go get ready for her B'day dinner that evening. I wandered around after until 5 or so when i could go home and get ready to go out. The students all enjoyed their bunkasai and where floating around the area until about 7pm.. i ran into a lot of them on my way out again. On a side note... many ex-students came to the bunkasai and some where dressed up in costumes... hmm.. one of them was dressed up like one of guys from the YMCA, he wore a black leather cap, vest and jocks, with black shoes.... yes no pants... on his pant underware the was a zip going from his crotch to his ass... lisa and i were as you can imagine.. astounded!! how could someone come to a school festival in 'conservative' japan dressed like that?! i later found out why... at the end of the day i spoke to my supervisor and i asked her how he was let in the gates, and she replied, it was all for fun... and i stated that 'he must be either gay or very secure in his masculinity..' and she asked me what i meant be that and i went on to explain the meaning of wearing a costume like that.. now keep in mind my supervisor has lived in england for 4 years.. i was as shocked as she was that she didn't know that the costume had such sexual connotationswas and she to find out the meaning of costume .... she didn't know... but i am sure those boys did although she swears up and down that they probably had no idea... hmm i wonder...
so at 7.30pm i met up with about 20 of the teachers for a wind down party where everyone got wasted.. i only got tipsy since i was up for a big night with lisa and her gang in Osaka after. I got teased and was again pushed on to one of the single male teachers in my school... my vice principal got so drunk he was trying to get the male teacher and i say we love each other... and the male teacher then turned around and informed everyone that I didn't want him.... talk about embarrassing!!! poor guy.. but i complimented him on his appearance that night and he was happy... oh dear what to do. after many many rounds of alcohol and some teacher wobbling down stairs everyone said good night.. i headed off to osaka with a couple of teacher in toe since they were headed home in the same direction.. i experienced one of the most embarrassing and interesting train ride yet in my life... Yes the three male teachers were drunk, and one of them got a little touchy with me, and the other one was pretending to fall out of the train when the doors opened... he rolled out the train on to the platform backwards!! when the doors opened.... so after much laughing and hiding my face i finally made it to namba and met up with lisa.
I joined Lisa and 4 guys (she dropped all the girls apparently) and we headed out to find a place to drink, I was then discovered by one of her friends that we actually had met before in Perth, so to my surprise he turned out to be a best friend of one of my childhood friends... small world aint it! We tried to go to a club but some of the boys refused to pay the high entry fees (same every where u go in japan... silly first year jets) so i took them to a bar i had been to before where u can play pool and darts for free. we had a few games, some drinks and food before heading off and loosing two boys. we were down to 4 now and we went to a reggae club and crammed in onto the super packed dance floor, about past out from heat exhaustion and after a couple of hours head out to eat and wait for the first trains home. I got home around 6-7am and crashed... thank god i have monday off since we had the bunkasai on sat...
So my day started off with a dance show put on by washi's class on the playing field, very cute. Washi and I then had a walk around to look at some of the exhibits, (unfortunately i forgot my camera...) at the school gates, guests were welcomed by a giant poo bear made by the students (a good 9-10 feet tall) as you walk up to the main building the entries for the portrait competition were displayed and frankly some of them were quite amazing. In the main entrance area a large mosaic banner had been made of all the peanuts characters, the students used small coloured squares to make the picture and the banner hung off the side of the building. There was a 'where's wally' display at the entrance as well. but instead of a picture the class had made figurines and it was damn hard to find the figures they wanted you to find to win the candy. once you move inside and venture upstairs all the 3rd year class rooms had been converted into exhibitions, from art and video displays to jet coaster rides and domino world. In the center garden area there were games and numerous food stalls. I watched the taiko, brass band and the skipping again of the performances and Lisa made it just in time to watch the taiko, which she enjoyed. we munched down some fried rice for lunch and watched the last dance performance on the field. after the dance finished three of the boys from the class came running out to do another performance in only their swimming trunks... lisa's comment was "they really like to get their gear off don't they!" we watched as much as we could take and moved on to listen to the bands in another part of the school. Lisa later got to listen to me sing in front of the students, which was extremely nerve wrecking!!! uggg.... after which lisa left to go get ready for her B'day dinner that evening. I wandered around after until 5 or so when i could go home and get ready to go out. The students all enjoyed their bunkasai and where floating around the area until about 7pm.. i ran into a lot of them on my way out again. On a side note... many ex-students came to the bunkasai and some where dressed up in costumes... hmm.. one of them was dressed up like one of guys from the YMCA, he wore a black leather cap, vest and jocks, with black shoes.... yes no pants... on his pant underware the was a zip going from his crotch to his ass... lisa and i were as you can imagine.. astounded!! how could someone come to a school festival in 'conservative' japan dressed like that?! i later found out why... at the end of the day i spoke to my supervisor and i asked her how he was let in the gates, and she replied, it was all for fun... and i stated that 'he must be either gay or very secure in his masculinity..' and she asked me what i meant be that and i went on to explain the meaning of wearing a costume like that.. now keep in mind my supervisor has lived in england for 4 years.. i was as shocked as she was that she didn't know that the costume had such sexual connotationswas and she to find out the meaning of costume .... she didn't know... but i am sure those boys did although she swears up and down that they probably had no idea... hmm i wonder...
so at 7.30pm i met up with about 20 of the teachers for a wind down party where everyone got wasted.. i only got tipsy since i was up for a big night with lisa and her gang in Osaka after. I got teased and was again pushed on to one of the single male teachers in my school... my vice principal got so drunk he was trying to get the male teacher and i say we love each other... and the male teacher then turned around and informed everyone that I didn't want him.... talk about embarrassing!!! poor guy.. but i complimented him on his appearance that night and he was happy... oh dear what to do. after many many rounds of alcohol and some teacher wobbling down stairs everyone said good night.. i headed off to osaka with a couple of teacher in toe since they were headed home in the same direction.. i experienced one of the most embarrassing and interesting train ride yet in my life... Yes the three male teachers were drunk, and one of them got a little touchy with me, and the other one was pretending to fall out of the train when the doors opened... he rolled out the train on to the platform backwards!! when the doors opened.... so after much laughing and hiding my face i finally made it to namba and met up with lisa.
I joined Lisa and 4 guys (she dropped all the girls apparently) and we headed out to find a place to drink, I was then discovered by one of her friends that we actually had met before in Perth, so to my surprise he turned out to be a best friend of one of my childhood friends... small world aint it! We tried to go to a club but some of the boys refused to pay the high entry fees (same every where u go in japan... silly first year jets) so i took them to a bar i had been to before where u can play pool and darts for free. we had a few games, some drinks and food before heading off and loosing two boys. we were down to 4 now and we went to a reggae club and crammed in onto the super packed dance floor, about past out from heat exhaustion and after a couple of hours head out to eat and wait for the first trains home. I got home around 6-7am and crashed... thank god i have monday off since we had the bunkasai on sat...