Saturday, June 30, 2007

Happy Haruna and the Yogo School Festival

Isn't she lovely? She has an excellent memory, too.
Last night my neighbor invited me to go to his special ed school's festival. I had been planning to head to the onsen at Ioujima, but try not to pass up opportunities to go to the little local festivals here. This charming girl's name is Haruna, and she graduated from this school in the Spring. I met her (only once!) last December when I went with Murphy-sensei (my neighbor) to give my "jiko shokai" (self intro) to his classes. She was excited when she heard I was an art teacher, because she loved art and even had a painting hanging in the front entrance of the school. So, all these months later, she sees me and remembers me!
So here she is singing karaoke on the stage - she, like all of the other kids I saw, exuded such joy. It's so addicting. Below is a photo of some of the junior high teachers doing the Billy workout (?) I'm not absolutely sure, but it sounded like it was in English, and reminded me of my Tae-Bo/kickboxing days. Which came in handy, beause suddenly, two yellow-gloved hands grabbed me and Murphy, and the crowd apparently expected an impromptu gaijin performance, too! So we got right in there (me in a long skirt, Murphy after doing some heavy lifting at practice just prior to the festival - we were a sight!) and followed the crazy man in yellow gloves and camo pants. What better way to spend a Friday night than this?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Billy Blanks the originator of Tai-Bo? Looks like that's what they are doing in the pic...