Well first I must thank my family for a great care package brought carefully to me by Mutsumi. I found a huge stash of sweets in the package and was beside myself with delight. My initial feeling was to eat lots now and hoard the rest. But after the suger-crash I know I will have to share many of the Reese Peanut Butter Cups with my students (are then release them on their parents). Some of the Reese bigger ones were crushed in transit, but I can garenttee they taste the same. I will have to carefully ration them. The Extra Creamy Kraft Peanut Butter was also a welcome sight. This small gesture of peanut butter means a lot to people far away from home, for most, it is a small taste of home, for me it means I have something for breakfast.
The first thing I did this morning was get a haircut at Kenji's family barber shop. He's actually a member of the town council, but as in many towns, he is also a small business owners. My hair was actually cut by his son, Yuji. He's much younger than Kenji, I guess they think he is more in touch with today's styles. In case you are wondering how the haircut turned out; its great. Im quite happy with it. I forgot since last time I was in Japan how much of a ritual it is to get one's haircut. It took over an hour. It lacks any tradional "ritual", I use the word to mean that the Japanese mange to cram a ton of technology in to a haircut. How or why they do it is beyond me. I just know I ended the haircut by having some tea.
After the haircut, which took much longer than I thought it would, I went to the Shikaoi Jurior High School's Cultural Festival at the town center. The kids made displays of what they have done during the year. The showcase of the two day event is in the many hall (of the building I work in). The kids have planned plays, essay, sort of news reports about Hokkaido, and music; all done at a very high caliber. I will not be going tomorrow, my obligation being done and will more things to do tomorrow, but I do want to point out how much work goes into this weekend. The kids really come togather as a class to finish quite substanial projects. The projects are on a scale and to a degree that we don't really see in Albertan schools, especially considering its done with only minimal help from the teachers.
At the moment I am again at the Usui's store and I believe we are having homemade Gyoza for dinner. Gyoza, anytime, is a delious food. But Mrs. Usui's is really out of this world. I can eat inhuman amounts of it. Below are pictiures, for my Mom, of the Taiko drumming at today's cultural festival. They are not my Jurior High School students, Kevin actually teachers them at Shikaoi Junior High School and so he knows all of them. I really liked it. The last picture is of some note; it was luckly snapped as the last note of the encore was being struck.
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