My Fuchu Daiichi Visit
On February 25,
2003, we went to visit our buddies at Fuchu Dai Ichi, ASIJ’s sister school,
and I thought the day went well. We built and played some Japanese toys, and we
learned more about Bunka and had lots of fun.
First, we watched a really cool opening ceremony, and it had people
spinning tops, people saying neighborly words of welcome, and even people
walking on stilts! Then we followed our FDI buddies to a classroom where my
classmates and I received and made toys that were really fun to play with. They
were a piece of hard paper that jumped, something that spun really fast so it
looked like a circle when it was actually a square, and a piece of folded paper
that, when you swung it in the air, it made a loud noise. Then we had recess and
the closing ceremony. At recess I tried to walk on stilts, but I always fell off
before the first step on the stilts. Then we tried the shuttlecock game (it’s
kind of like badminton) which was much more successful. At first we couldn’t
return the serves, but then we got more accurate aim and played until the recess
was over. The closing ceremony was sort of like a speech. Then we said our
goodbyes and departed. My favorite thing was the shuttlecock game. This is
because I had heard about it in my Japanese class and had ever since wanted to
play it. It turned out exactly as I thought it would, except a bit more
difficult. But, well, nothing’s easy. It was more fun being the guest. I think
this is because I am used to our school but am new to their school, so we
already knew all the activities when they came to ASIJ. I think both exchanges
were alike because my buddy and I gained something on both exchanges. We both
had an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony. The exchanges weren’t alike
because they had two recesses and we had only one. They had a band, and we
didn’t. I shall remember Japan by this, because I can focus on the toys my
buddy gave me and forage in my memory back to when I was at Fuchu Dai Ichi.
Page written, and made by, Jonathan Kim #14