Meg's Mugen Adventure: February Pt. I of II

At Shiramine's Yuki Daruma Fest

February was a busy month for me! I participated in a few different events, attended a couple festivals, and also held my own event in my city. To help me catch up to March and to keep me from getting writer’s block, I will just give a brief overview of everything.

International School

My first weekend in February was spent in Hakui. One of the high schools in Kanazawa hosted an International School for the weekend in the community center. ALTs from all over Ishikawa were asked to participate and help lead or teach high school students, from various Ishikawa high schools. I helped lead half of a group and we went to three workshops on the first day. It was all scheduled and planned out for us already! We learned about Caribbean dance, World Music, and Cooking. After the three workshops, we had dinner in the cafeteria. Curry! I sat with a couple of the high school girls and chatted with them. After dinner there was a “getting-to-know-each-other party” where students got to mingle and play some games like musical chairs and limbo. Shortly after the party the students were required to have an early bed curfew at 10pm.

The grown-ups, ALTs and JTEs, had an enkai in a building nearby. I wish we didn’t eat so much of the cafeteria food! There was liquor and delicious snacks served.

The next morning we had two more workshops with the students. My group went to Tai Chi and Drama/Story Telling. They were so cute. We had lunch in the cafeteria and then it was time to part ways! It was a fun weekend with the kids.

Recitation Contest

For a few weeks a few of the members of my school’s English club met with me during lunch or after school to practice their recitations. They chose one story, out of 10 choices, to memorize and recite. I wish they came more often and worked harder in the beginning to memorize it. The girls, all the students in the club are girls, had trouble memorizing their stories until the last week. On the last week we practiced gestures and facial expressions. The three girls worked hard and gave it their best.

The contest was held February 11^th, which was also a holiday over here in Japan. ALTs from all over Ishikawa prefecture were asked to judge, most of the time with their supervisor, and eliminate participants from various Ishikawa high schools. I went with my supervisor and we judged in the elimination round, the first round. I was late! Well, sort of. The first hour was lunch and I was late by 10 minutes because I got lost. Heh.

My supervisor and I judged in a tatami room and we had to sit kneeling, seiza style, while listening to ten different recitations. In our room it was easy to see the two we would put into the next round. We are asked to judge on facial expression, gestures, intonation, pronunciation, eye contact, and also memorization. The delivery of the story as a whole is the most important part.

The final round included twenty students and they all recited their stories once more in the large room in front of all the other students and judges. It was a good experience and I look forward to going to it again next year.

Winter Night Festivals

I wish I took that Friday off after the holiday, because then I would have a four-day weekend. There were a lot of different night events going on that weekend and I managed to make it out to two different events.

Snowman Festival (A.K.A. Yuki Daruma Fest)

2/12/2010

What is winter without snow and snowmen? I guess that would be winter in California. In a little town called Shiramine, however, it’s their main attraction for tourists.

On that Friday afternoon I dashed out of the teachers’ room, drove home to change, and then power walked to the train station. I don’t run. I ended up arriving in Nonoichi around 6pm and was picked up by my friend, Greg. He drove us to Shiramine, which is about one hour away from that station towards the mountains.

It was the perfect night to look at snowmen! It was cold, but it wasn’t raining or snowing, but there was plenty of snow to play with and look at. Look at all the cute snowmen!

Nice rims

Dinner was late, but I got to eat steak at Café Gusto. Its no Outback Steakhouse, but it’ll do.

Steak!

Gokuyama and Shirakawa-Go – Light Up

2/13/2010

Got up on Saturday late morning and then headed to lunch at the Chinese restaurant. After that Greg drove us to Gifu prefecture to check out the traditional gassho style houses. We were originally planning on just seeing Shirakawa-Go, but we decided to stop by Gokuyama. The snow was piled up so high that you could only see the second floor peeking out. I really wonder how the people get into their homes…

Those are the second floor windows

What these rooftops are made of

The wall of snow was freaking high.

I wonder if the Japanese people wondered what a Megan is.

After about an hour or so of wandering, we drove another 30 minutes to our original destination. Shirakawa-Go was similar, but larger. There was also a beautiful viewpoint that was accessible by foot. We took a lot of photos that evening, had soba for dinner, and then took more photos during the light-up at night.