In Japan, autumn is the season for culture festivals, school festivals, and sports festivals. Our students in Seattle held festivals of their own at Edmonds and Shoreline Community Colleges.
In early October they held Sports Festivals. The Edmonds students held their sports event on a Sunday, and moreover the weather was rainy, so not many people showed up. The Shoreline students, on the other hand, chose a Friday after class, and they really lucked out with the weather; it was a perfect blue sky, not too cool, not too warm. They held events such as 100-meter dash, obstacle course, relay races, mounted bandana-stealing. HTC teachers also participated, and all ended up with white faces from the flour bowls in the obstacle course.
In mid-October, as part of ESL class, the HTC students on both campuses put on Japanese Culture Festivals to introduce some Japanese culture to the campus community. There were demonstrations of origami, kanji calligraphy, using chopsticks, wearing kimono, and traditional toys such as kendama. There were also explanations of the Tanabata Festival, a performance of the Soran Bushi dance, and a chorus of several popular songs with piano accompaniment. The festivals had many visitors of many different cultural backgrounds, who seemed genuinely interested in traditional Japanese culture.
The first half of October was relatively cool and dry, making the autumn leaves turn brilliant shades of red, yellow and gold everywhere. In late October, just after the leaves reached the peak of their color, the weather turned rainy and windy, causing many leaves to fall. So now, the streets, lawns, and sidewalks everywhere are covered in a colorful mosaic of fallen leaves. Also, as we prepare for Halloween at the end of this week, the orange and black of pumpkins, cats and witches are decorating stores and some homes. What kind of creative costumes will our students and staff come up with this Halloween? I will update you again next week.
Trajal Seattle, Neal Colodner October 27, 2009
