文化際!!

So today was the school Bunkasai festival. Last night I received a phone call from one of my teachers at the school because there was a chance that with the typhoon coming in, it might be canceled. So this morning I was up at 7am, waiting to hear about the status for today. However, it ended up that it was raining pretty steadily, but nothing threatening enough to cancel. So the show continues on!

The event started at around 9am this morning. My parents and I all went together because we wanted to go check out the schedule and see when I would be performing. I hadn't told many of the teachers that my parents were in town, so they were all very surprised and very pleased to get to meet the "Amanos"! Haha. The Principal was especially pleased and surprised. He had met my father during the late summer when my dad came into town. And so he was instantly pleased when he saw my father's face, and was dually surprised to know that my mother was also there!

He was so happy, he made a special announcement in the opening ceremony in front of everybody and had my parents stand up so everyone could have a good look at "Kento Sensei's parents." I think all the students were very surprised and curious. They were asking me, "Can they speak Japanese?" or "Are they really your parents?"

Haha, the kids are funny. But today was an enjoyable day. The whole Bunkasai event went really well and I thought that the performances were all good. I was listed as number 7 on the program, so I was kind of nervous, but not too bad in the morning. As the morning progressed, I got more and more nervous, because it meant that I would be going on stage at any time now...

Haha, well I was sitting there enjoying the performances with my parents and finally it came down for me to go up on stage and play. The whole school had heard that their English teacher was going to be performing the piano at the event, so all the students had been eagerly awaiting for their sensei to get on stage and perform in front of everyone. Well, it came time for me to make my way toward the stage. I snuck out of the main room to go to the backstage. There, I ran into the group on stage behind the curtain getting the piano all set up and ready to go!

Well, they introduced me and my performance, and I walked on stage. I bowed before everybody and there were a lot of faces out there! Then I started playing. While I was on stage, it was nerveracking. But when I hit the first note, it became different and I got in the zone. I guess that's how things usually work when you're focused and the adrenaline is rushing. I was just thinking about the notes that I had to hit and it kind of flowed naturally through my fingers. Well, I got through the song pretty successfully, I think! I hit/miss a few notes here or there, but overall I was pleased with my performance. I think that it went really well and everyone really seemed to like it. In the end, I even got flowers! Haha, I was not expecting that! But, it was fun and I'm glad that everyone enjoyed it!

Check out the performance here.

Throughout the whole day, there were a whole array of other performances as well ranging from traditional Japanese music/dances to modern J-Pop songs like AKB48 and Arashi. There was even a group of boys that dressed up as AKB48 (high school girl uniforms) and did a dance. It was a little scary at first, but the boys made "cute girls" haha. I guess some guys don't really care and enjoy having fun no matter what! To each his own!!

I'm just glad that today's event was indoors...it would have been miserable outside and it most definitely would have been canceled! But, the typhoon passed over for the most part and I don't think it affected us as badly as it could have. It was really rainy and windy, but not bad enough to cause damage, thankfully. It had been pretty windy the past couple hours here, but hopefully it will die down. I checked the forecast and it's supposed to be fairly nice outside tomorrow as well...sunny!!

Well, we'll see, I guess. Hopefully the weather forecast is pretty accurate and will be decent tomorrow. My dad is supposed to fly out to Taiwan tomorrow morning, so hopefully the weather will cooperate as well so he can make it out of Japan and up to Narita Airport!

My mother will be in Isumi until Tuesday morning, then her and I will go up toward Tokyo together to meet up with family and have fun. I'm going to go to my aunt's house on Wednesday who I haven't seen since a couple winters ago, so it will be nice to catch up with her and my uncle. I'll also see my grandma who I haven't seen since I visited her in August. I have a pretty sweet schedule next week....Tuesday and Wednesday off. Tuesday is a day off because we had the bunkasai today and Wednesday is a national holiday. So pretty much a 3 day work week, and then another weekend! Woohoo!

Well, I'll keep you posted as always....

Later!