Was finally able to read Mamu’s Facebook message after trying for so long — due to stupid internet connection, my inbox won’t open. If she hadn’t mentioned it in her message, I wouldn’t know that John-san had posted a pic of us in his Facebook album. I went and grabbed it (left). Haha.
Japinoy.com was invited again to participate in this year’s Open House. I also asked Kouchou-sensei if we could hold an anime trivia contest, in addition to our regular free anime film showing. Good that she agreed, since we scrapped the Japan trivia booth this year — for reasons I can’t remember XD
I wanted to man the anime booth with Schatz, but Ogata-sensei refused to cancel our class for the day (even though all the other teachers have). He did compromise and shortened the class by one hour. 😛
This year had the usual activities:
- Origami (with Haruko-sensei and Jovy-sensei)
- Tea ceremony (Yamaura-sensei)
- Kimono no kitsuke (Chippy Morita-sensei and JLo)
- Nihongo lesson (Edwin-sensei) – now two sessions due to insistent public demand, haha
- Glitter tattoo (Maricel-san, Rona-san & Peewee-kun)
There were also aikido and sumo demonstrations. New booths and activities included uranai/Japanese fortune telling, our Japinoy.com anime trivia booth, and calligraphy (Yuko-san). But the most visited activity of all was — what else — the okonomiyaki booth! Ogata-sensei treated our class to okonomiyaki, to make up for forcing us to study while everyone else was having fun. Haha. Unfortunately, my classmates gobbled up everything and forgot to save some for me and for sensei. Talk about DUH.
In the afternoon, we had the usual program – singing and speech contests and awarding of winners. And I am so proud to say that TWO of my students won in the Kana writing contest this year. Omedetou, Joanna-san & Diane-san! I never doubted that these two could win. Haha. Last year, two of mine also won – Michael-san and Wena-san. Hmm…why don’t I do this every year?? 😉
This year’s Open House was postponed twice, because of Ondoy and Pepeng, but finally pushed through on Oct 10th. I think this has been the most fun of all the Open Houses at school. So far. The Japinoy.com family came in full force (I love you all) and there were a lot of visitors too from different schools and organizations. I always look forward to this event every year; it is a chance to showcase Japanese culture to Filipinos, and to promote Nihongo Center and PIJLC as the best institutions to learn Japanese in the contry. I hope we would be able to participate in this event every year for many years to come!
PS: Another reason why I loved this year’s Open House — Schatz told me he loved my ‘aura’ that day. Whatever that means. Haha. He told me that he loves this pic very much. OK, so I love it too. ^_^
