Sententiae: Boom Boom Pow

...or, as Brian was singing in class the other day, Bun Bun Pou, followed by Ashok's Tan Tan Go. It makes sense in Japanese. Make sense simasu. 文文法。。。単単語。。。

HIF IS OVER. HOLY CRAP. I'm leaving Hakodate tomorrow morning! I was so looking forward to the end of school, but now that it's arrived I think that I can even suffer through class so long as I get to stay here with all friends I've made and with my amazing host family. Dinner today was kind of a trial trying not to cry in front of everybody, actually, and it was a pretty close thing at that. Anyway, I'm doing most of this blogging retroactively, so that will have to come later though. For now, CULTURE CLASSES...I went back and resummarized previous classes that I've already blogged about just to get a sense of wholeness about the program:

TEA CEREMONY
Pretty self-explanatory. Lots of fun, but there wasn’t nearly enough time to go through all the rules and etiquette required (both of a guest receiving the tea and of the host who is preparing it).

IGO
Kind of like Othello, but less confusing (assuming I understood the rules correctly). I was partnered with Yaeger-san and beat her by an overwhelming amount, due more to luck (arbitrarily placing down stones) than anything else. Will has a board at school so I might try and play with him sometime this fall if I want to learn actual strategy, etc, and pretend that I’m smart.

IKEBANA
Other than confectionary making, Ikebana or Flower Arrangement was my favorite culture class of the program. The flowers were super duper pretty, and there was something very relaxing about trimming the flowers and impaling them on spikes in a picturesque arrangement. Yes, I know, I do have a way with words. It really was a lot of fun though, and oddly relaxing, and although most of my arrangement was actually done by one of the assistants, I enjoyed the experience, and I had gorgeous flowers to bring him to my okaasan afterwards, and she seemed pretty happy about that.

CALLIGRAPHY
I also signed up for Calligraphy class but didn’t end up going, opting to work on 作文 for class and study for the next morning’s test. I think I was also in a deep conversation with Caity (my band-mom) about something at the time too, which may have been part of it. I’m a little sad I didn’t end up going, but I don’t regret it, especially because in the end I did get a lot of work done during that time. Anyway, just to recap all the other culture classes of the program one last time:

Jimmy's work of art, and one of my favorite Japanese words:上手

JUDO
Painful, embarrassing, but something you should definitely try out. I went for one day and although I never went back (partially on account of the amount of homework we had slash my being awful at it) I would definitely wholeheartedly recommend that everybody at least show up for one practice and give it a go, if only to say that you did.

KYUUDO
A lot of fun, and this class I definitely considered returning to but once again lack of time and too much homework squashed that idea.

KENDO
Never did Kendo because it was on the same day that I had signed up for Kyuudo originally before they changed the dates, but I hear that it was a lot of fun and probably the favorite class for a lot of the students. Ashok definitely tried to bully me into going on several occasions, and I do regret not having gone at least once. Oh well.

CONFECTIONARY MAKING|
Om nom nom! So much fun! We learned how to make wagashi and not to brag or anything, but I was pretty good at twisting the shape of the roses such that I traded one of my pretty cakes for Kent’s so he could bring a pretty one home to his family. If I can get ahold of the ingredients in the states without too much trouble, I definitely plan on making them again.

KIMONO & ETIQUETTE CLASS
Also pretty self-explanatory. Plus, you get to try on kimonos and take pictures in them to post on facebook, which I’m sure is why half the people go (or take pictures). I thought it was really cool though, especially because I now have my own kimono to wear---possibly this year’s liquor treating costume?

Wedding Kimono