Nakashibetsu Yuki Matsuri

So today, I ditched work. Yeah, but it was for a good reason today! I went to see my kids work very hard on their snow sculptures. I'll be going to the Sapporo Yuki Festival this weekend, so I'll miss my town's festival. So this way, I can show my students that I care about what they do, and I'm not just an English teacher.

My student's noticed me right off. I felt like a celebrity (it's about time). I got a ton of "WHOA!" and "Andy-sensei da!" It was amazing, I'm not going to lie.

There were a bunch of junior high schoolers running around, but the hardest workers there were the elementary kids. God bless them! They really wanted to build their sculptures.

I think that building snowmen is a dieing art, but the Japanese definitly keep the art alive, AND they level it up by making giant snow sculptures. Take a look!

Setsubun

So Setsubun, for those of you who don't know, is a Japanese holiday that is all about casting away evil.

I got to dress up as an Oni today. Kind of a lame oni...but an oni nonetheless. And some of the kids got to throw nuts at me. It was a ton of fun! Afterwards, all the kids started throwing nuts, chocolates, and candies from the second floor. It kinda hurt...but omoshiroi.

Although I had about 5,000 peanuts in my bag, all the kids wanted to give me their nuts as well. They wanted to put them in my hand, or put it down my bag. They're so cute.

I come back to the BOE and there are more nuts waiting for me on my desk. And this time they are all covered with something! Some are sugar coated, cracker coated, some were covered in some sweet green cracker (It's pretty good), and some were even gummi covered. Yes, a fruit snack with a peanut inside.

Tons of fun!