It's been a tiring few days. On Thursday and Friday we worked during the day to prepare for the Halloween parties. The actual parties were on Saturday so we worked that day too (with no other day off to compensate).
I talked this group into going for a picnic lunch on Thursday since the weather had been so beautiful the few days before. Thursday was a little windy but still nice. It's looking like fall around Shosakai park.
This is how the gym was decorated.
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| The kids will eat at the middle tables. |
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| games |
Cindy and I went out for dinner on Thursday night and I finally tried the yakitori restaurant near the supermarket.
On Friday we continued to prep for the short course (my classes) parties while the kindergarten held theirs in the morning.
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| I loved Emily's scarecrow costume. |
I spent most of the time making chocolate mouse for the graveyard wormy dirt. But we also had to label ALL the prizes, organize the games and decorate marshmallows on sticks.
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| These are giant marshmallows and people were getting quite creative. |
Most of the food was provided by the lunch company.
Cindy and I worked the 1st and 3rd parties so we went out for some coffee at a cute (but expensive) coffee shop near the school during our break.
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| It was warm enough for iced coffee yesterday but today I needed hot soup to warm up! We shared this pumpkin pudding 'cake'. |
Here are some of the others in costume - staff and older student helpers - everyone looked great.
And a few of my students.
After the party and clean-up (it was a long day), ABC treated us to dinner (and drinks).
Many izakaya (pub? bar/restaurant) have private rooms. But the walls are thin and don't go to the ceiling so it's still noisy.
It was a lot of fun, and I always like going out with people who can actually read the menu and recommend new things for me to try.
We didn't get home until midnight and it took me quite a while to get to sleep. It seems that one drink helps me sleep but 2 make it hard for me to sleep. In addition the wind was REALLY howling all night and I kept waking up every 1/2 hour or so. So I wasn't in the best shape when I woke up this morning.
But I had plans so... no time for lollygagging.
The wind hadn't let up so I decided to take the bus to the castle area where I planned to see a kyogen performance. It seems I had an old bus schedule and the time was wrong. Back home and onto my bike after all. It wasn't too bad since it isn't cold yet.
'Kyōgen (狂言?, literally "mad words" or "wild speech") is a form of traditional Japanese comic theater. It developed alongside Noh, was performed along with Noh as an intermission of sorts between Noh acts, on the same Noh stage, and retains close links to Noh in the modern day; therefore, it is sometimes designated Noh-kyōgen. However, its content is not at all similar to the formal, symbolic, and solemn Noh theater; kyōgen is a comic form, and its primary goal is to make its audience laugh.
Kyōgen is sometimes compared to the Italian comic form of commedia dell'arte, which developed around the same period (14th century) and likewise features stock characters. It also has parallels with the Greek satyr play, a short, comical play performed between tragedies. ' Wikipedia
Luckily I wore a jacket because I hadn't realized that the stage is outside! It's sheltered by buildings on each side, but still not a place I'd want to be in the wintertime.
Even though I didn't understand the old Japanese (sort of like old English) I did get the themes of a couple of the acts, and all in all it was MUCH more enjoyable than the Noh play I saw. (Well almost anything would be more enjoyable than that, but this was actually a nice way to spend a couple of hours.)
Around the castle there was some outdoor ikebana.
On the way home I stopped off at the vegetable market and when I got home I put up some soup to use the old veggies that were in my fridge. The wind is still howling and I actually put on my polar fleece but my nose and feet are cold anyway. It's going to drop down to 44 tonight. Winter is, unfortunately, on it's way.
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