Kendama Class with Rylee

 Rylee and I went on a Cultural Adaptation trip last Saturday.  We met at 8:45am, took a bus over to the Yuu Elementary School and got our culture on!  We got to participate in some Ice-Breaker games.  They were very Japanese.  The first one was called "Look up.  Look Down", where you stand in a big circle.  The guy in charge would say, "Look down!"  and everyone looked down.  Then he would call, "Look up!"  and you looked up, and tried to catch the eye of someone.  If you made eye contact, you walked towards each other, shook hands and introduced yourself.  You were suppose to say something about yourself as well.  Then you traded places and did it all over again.  Not a great way for the Americans to really get into it because there was a lot of awkward eye-avoidance!

The best ice breaker was a hula hoop game.  Still in the big circle, everyone held hands.  It was awesome to see how the Japanese men were perfectly comfortable holding hands for this, and the Americans were really uncomfortable with it.  Anyway, the hula hoop was hung over someone's arm. At the whistle, you tried to get the hula hoop all the way around the circle, without letting go of hands.  That meant everyone had to climb through it and work together.  It really was fun.

Then the Kendama instructor came out.  The Kendama is the ball and cup game that Japan apparently has taken to a whole other level. The instructor was very fun and entertaining.  He joked around as he pulled out a bunch of  different kinds of kendamas and showed off his mad skills.  We got to practice and try everything.  He showed us a couple different games and things to do with them.  The "unicorn" was the favorite, and we got a group shot with everyone doing it.  Very fun.

Next was lunch.  They told us to bring a lunch, so we did.  But they also brought out some fruit and  okonomiyaki for us to try.  It was pretty good.   We were delighted with their fresh and delicious strawberries.  We cleaned up, went outside for photos and then loaded up and went home.  It was a good excursion.

Ryle trying to master the ball.

Master Instructor showing the tiny kendama after theatrically pulling out increasingly larger ones.

Showing her kendama.

Well, not the best trick. But a cute little face. 

This was a really fun one.  A super long stick made it really difficult, but the oval shaped ball was painted like a chick.   

Doing the "unicorn"! 

Selfie with my partner in crime. 

Loving the sweet strawberries for lunch. 

And being silly with her apples.