Obachans

This past Wednesday was Kochi ALT orientation and we had the opportunity to learn some Japanese culture through workshops.  I signed up for Shamisen and Chigirie.  Shamisen was fun to play.  We learned to play the Yosakoi song (traditional song that ppl dance to during the Yosakoi festival in Kochi). 

Chigirie is a paper art where you rip Japanese traditional papers to create an art piece.  We made Mt. Fuji.  Mine turned out pretty decent, despite me trying to rush to finish it. haha  The best thing about this workshop was though, running into an old lady that I met before…I met this lady on the bus, on my way to the airport when I went to Korea 2 years ago.  She was really into Kpop, especially Tohoshinki, and she had asked for my phone number.  After that, she never called me, so I didn’t think much about it, but I ran into her again at my elementary school.  She came to teach Chigirie to my students.  She told me she’s going to take the students’ Chigirie artwork to Korea and teach it to Korean elementary school students.  So, I offered to translate what the students wrote in Japanese to Korean (kids had written their wish in Japanese on the artwork).  After this incident, I didn’t think I’ll meet her again, but she called me on Monday and told me she’ll be teaching the workshop on Wednesday and that she’s excited to see me!  I think it’s really cool that I ran into her three times at random times. haha 

So after we finished the workshop, she told me she had something to give me.  She gave me a bag full of mikans (clementine?) and some Japanese snacks.  =)

This really made my day….but it doesn’t end there…

After the orientation, I went to the Bonenkai for my Korean class. =D

Bonenkai is end of the year party and it means to forget the woes and troubles of the year. Wasn’t really planning on having one for the Korean class, but my obachan (old lady) students wanted to eat at the Korean restaurant…so we did. I was surprised that all of them showed up….so we had a pretty big crowd–total of 12 ppl.  We basically took over the whole restaurant. Before eating, I told them they should order in Korean to show off what they learned, but they were too shy. lol

I’m really thankful for these obachans ’cause when I started the class, I didn’t even think I’ll hangout with them outside of class….but all of them are so eager to learn, and they really enjoy my class. =) 

After the dinner, one of the ladies bought some kimchi from the restaurant, and I thought she bought them for herself, but when we were saying goodbye, she gave me some kimchi to take home. How sweet is that?

I love obachans. =)