Culture Classes

At HIF, they have various culture classes and community activities that you can take part in, which I think is one of the strengths of the program. I signed up for almost all of them, so here are a few pictures from the ones I've done so far.
First is pottery making, which was lots of fun but really hard. This picture isn't of me, but you get the gist I think. The class was held at a nearby pottery studio, and the teacher was really helpful (sometimes to the point of practically doing it for you, but that was kind of necessary at times). We all came away with some kind of bowl, though. I'm thinking of giving mine as a thank-you gift to my host family.



The next event was visiting Asahi Elementary School one afternoon. The kids put out a great welcome for us! We all played janken (Japanese rock-paper-scissors) and tug-of-war together, and then the kids taught us the traditional Hakodate "Squid Dance." After that, we broke up into small groups and each went with a class to play games and stuff. Here's a picture of my group with our 5th grade class.



Next, and so cool! was the kimono culture and etiquette class. In addition to getting to see some really beautiful kimonos, including an example of a wedding kimono, we all got to try on yukata, which are light, cotton kimonos usually worn in hot weather. Sort of like a robe, but putting them on correctly is a lot more complicated than you might think!