Irasshaimase!

This past weekend was INFES, otherwise known as the international festival. Now, in Japan, festivals happen all the time. Seriously, all the time. I like that about Japanese culture, they like to celebrate things. Regardless, in schools it is very common to have festivals (like the sports festival we had a while back). This occurs in all age groups, so elementary through university, and the students put a large amount of genuine effort into it all. They create booths and sell food for cheap, ahve club performances, actually come out of their shy shells, etc. And, as good sales people do, they yell "irasshaimase" (welcome) over and over in highly irritating voices. Trust me, come to Japan and set foot in ANY store and the clerks will yell, I mean this literally often as not, "irasshaimase!" at you. So, as the Gaidai festival was going on from Friday through Sunday (have I mentioned that they didn't have school from about Thursday afternoon through Monday?) we international kids also set up our festival to share our cultures and talents with the other gaijin as well as Japanese students. Everyone had school off on Monday, because lo and behold, another holiday (cultural day)! Preparing for INFES was a big deal, as I mentioned the large amount of effort Japanese kids put into it, likewise we were expected to as well. I spent the last month teaching two Japanese girls to belly dance to perform in the World Dance Show. I performed three times on Saturday, not to mention walked around being stared at by all the Japanese students! I am under the impression they don't see belly dancers often, not to mention the fact that it is kind of scandalous to show off any of your upper body in this culture. The word "sexy" sounds like "shekshi" when pronounced by a Nihongo (Japanese language) speaker. So my day was filled with "Shekshi!!!!" followed by "Shashin!!!" which means picture. Anyway, everyone dressed up in their traditional clothing, etc., the boy in the interesting clothing is from teh Czech Republic. My friend Ayako looked lovely in her kimono, and the crazy American boy wore traditional Japanese frighting clothes. The girls I taught to dance were named Hiromi and Ayaka (Japanese names are very hard to remember because they mostly sound the same, I have friends named Ayaka, Aiko, Ayako...). My friend Tetsuya, the Japanese boy in the photo, is a yonensei (senior) and will graduate in March and move to Tokyo to work. Overall, it was a compeltely fun experience, my okaasan (mother) said I should stay in Japan and teach Belly Dancing, because it is supposedly getting very popular all of a sudden, who knew I was so on top of the trends?