Well the School Festival was last weekend so I figure I should eventually write something about it. For the most part it was different student groups selling food, and some really really bad bands. The food wasnt bad. However, I think half of it was sold to friends who were talked into buying it. And vice versa. The Korean food was pretty good, and slightly spicy. I had a form of Korean Okonomiyaki, and some sort of Korean rice dish. The Chinese students were making some sort of boiled dumpling that wasnt that bad either.
As for the bands, I dont know if the Japanese knows what feedback is. Every band that attempted playing had major feedback problems. This wasnt just a problem with the bands either. At one point, during some traditional dance some students were putting a microphone by the cd player to get it to play louder. It wouldnt be so bad but the American tent was about 5 meters away.
Will try to post more thoughts later...
There is another Sebastian at Gaidai. However, he is a prof and from England. Its is kinda cool talking to him about Japanese culture sometime. He verified my belief that dark humor isnt a Japanese thing. Or at least not Dark humor like I know it. I also learned that Brits like to make fun of Italians in the same way that Americans make fun of the French(Not to say that they dont also make fun of the French). It was fun to swap French WW2 Jokes for Italian ones. He also showed me a webpage which is the British version of the Onion. Its called the Brain Trust, and its located at:http://www.thebrainstrust.co.uk/ . I like the article about the UK calling for a Regime Change in France. The comments after the articles are interesting as well.
There is also a student from Kenya at Gaidai. His name is Peter Ngingi I think. He speeks a lot of languages and can speak English really well. Its just more proof that growing up with a ton of languages really helps you learn languages. He also notices accent differnces between the Americans. I didnt really notice any. Other than the continuing Soda/Pop/Soda Pop debate.
Watching Sumo review ruins the whole reason for watching Sumo. The sport itself is really simple compaired to western wrestling during play. There arent as many moves, and matches tend to be over very quickly. The interesting part about Sumo is the mind games the two wrestlers play with each other before the match begins. This is really interesting to watch and they eye each other up several times before actually beginning a match. Just watching the matches cuts out this very important bit. It just doesnt feel as fun to watch anymore.
It also cuts out all the traditional bits. Which I also find interesting to watch...
It is getting colder in Japan. Not as cold as winter in Wisconsin. If its not raining, more than half the time I would still consider it shorts weather in Nagasaki. Especially if the sun is out. Not so for the Japanese people. Most people I see are dressed appropriately for the dead of winter in Wisconsin. I get asked if I am ok about once every 5 mins if I am in what I consider appropriate wear.
There is the flip side of the coin as well. Yasuko, my host sister, likes her bath at a temperature, which I would describe as the human lobster level of bath water.
With some of the Japanese students there is a game we kinda played. It started as a joke.
Basicly you ask them if what country does it look like an American is from. So far Seb is the only one who looks truly American. Ben looks English. I look German. I guess it could be worse. Don(ald) is supposed to look French. He isnt very happy about that.
