Days 10 & 11

Konichiwa!

July 6th began as a "typical" day at the Japanese academy. We had language class in the morning, followed by our first non-English lunch. We then had film class where we continued to watch clips from Kurosawa's movie Dreams We then rushed back to the dorms to begin preparing for the Language Academy Olympics. We were eagerly awaiting the games, as we decorated our faces with the Japanese flag and other cultural symbols. The entire academy was decorated in red as we marched and chanted around the campus carrying signs and even a homemade dragon. During the Olympics, each academy was responsible for coming up with an event, and presenting it to the other academies in their own languages. There were a total of eight events, including the Chopstick Relay, which consisted of a team of 4 members who were responsible for using chopsticks to move jelly beans from bowl to bowl as fast as they could. This was the Japanese Academy event. Each student from the academy participated in at least one event and were all cheered on by the remaining members. Throughout the games, we proudly cheered not only members from our academy, but from other academies as well. We also performed an intimidation routine and were by far the loudest and most unified academy. As a result we won the coveted spirit award, one of the highest, if not the highest award an academy can be given. We were all ecstatic and continued our cheers even after the Olympics were over. It was a thrilling ending to an exciting day.

Today we woke up with pride from yesterdays Olympics. We continued to strengthen our Japanese language skills, both during class and non-English lunch. We then had our cultural crafts class where we began to make Daruma, which are limbless dolls used to make wishes. They are typically found in Japanese homes and are replaced every year. We then had our recreation period where we had the choice between cardio machines and swimming. Following recreation and dinner, we had an informative culture class on the nature of bonsai gardening. Today was also the midpoint of the academy, but we are all looking forward to what we still have to learn. :)

Sayoonara!