School Festival
I am currently sitting at my desk writing this update, on my eighth consecutive day of work. The reason the weekend was canceled for us is the school festival - an opportunity for the students to cut loose from the shackles of oppressive education and dress up inappropriately. Saturday was a “practice run” for the students, and on Sunday the school was invaded by unbelievable amounts of visitors.
We kicked off with a rendition of the school anthem from the orchestra plus three overexcited vocalists (who seem adamant that the school anthem includes a dance routine). Luckily for the orchestra, the weather held long enough for the entire piece. Unluckily for the orchestra, they spent about an hour setting up, played the two minute anthem then promptly left the stage. Japanese efficiency, I’m told.
Anthem finished, it was the turn of the various food stalls to attract the attention of the masses. Amongst the variety of interesting foods available were little balls of octopus, served with sauce and mayonnaise. The students who were serving them summoned me from the fifth floor balcony to traipse down and be orally violated by their evil concoctions. However, I won as they were surprisingly tasty. Sorry there, Kento-kun, but this time my superior Western stomach has triumphed over your sealife-based attempt at my life. Hah!
This picture gives an idea of how many people were out on the forecourt of the school at one time. This photo was taken early in the day before many of the guests had arrived, so the majority of people here are students. What is conveniently out of shot are the team of girls who were promoting the Ice-Cream parlor on the sixth floor, who were the main reason some of the teachers have a problem with the students dressing up. In the UK, this school would be closed down before you could say “Two scoops of chocolate.”
Other activities held on the forecourt include a variety of dance routines, again accompanied by various states of undress, as well as demonstrations by the Shoinji-Kempo, Judo and Kendo clubs. Between each performance, members of the school “Broadcasting club” assaulted us with long, loud and pointless updates over the tannoy system. Suffice to say a broadcasting club should forbid anyone under the age of thirty, when their voice can be heard by humans rather than bats and sonar.
The most impressive part of the festival is what each class had done to their classrooms. Using copious amounts of cardboard, paint and time, each class had constructed a different activity or shop. Cake shops, haunted houses, fairground games and art galleries were amongst the activities available. The one pictures was “Dippin’ Dots”, a type of ice cream made out of tiny blobs. The only thing more impressive than the rooms themselves were the methods of advertising the students employed, from shouting to dragging potential customers into their cardboard covered lairs.
The festival went on all day, and ended with the students all heading up to the hall at the top of the building for karaoke. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures, but I can assure you there is nothing better than one of the Japanese English teachers bouncing around on stage and screeching lyrics to some horrible Japanese pop song. I haven’t seen him yet today, but there’s no way he’s living that one down.
I’d like to leave you with a photo taken from the forecourt of the school looking up at the balconies on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th floors of the building. It begins to give you some idea of just how big the school is. I should also mention that this is only one of the two huge school campuses. It’s big.
The school festival, whilst somewhat different to what I was expecting, was a great experience, and it’s a real shame I won’t see another one. We still have the halloween party to look forward to (it’s on the cards that we will be performing a rendition of The Timewarp) and next year holds a few activities too, but I feel that never again will I see one of my 18 year old male students in a dress. That makes me truly sad.
Interesting. What exactly were you supposed to be doing all day?