Culture Day

Public Holiday (Culture Day) today. I went to my visit school in Yuzawa for a look-see. (This is a school I visit every Monday morning. It is a very low-level school, all the kids are pai kias one. The complete opposite of my base school where most of the students are geeks.)

Quite interesting. Every class transformed their classroom into a stall or an exhibition. Some students also used the cooking room as a kitchen to cook cheap lunches for visitors. (Home economics is a compulsory subject in Japan.)

On my way back, I stopped by Shiozawa, where there was a big fair. There were stalls selling food, fresh vegetable produce, flowers, a big flea market section and a hot air balloon!

Food stalls area

Kids' play area

Check out the super-big turnips!

Cute vehicle parked by one stall (I don't think it's working anymore. Probably on display only.)
I was minding my own business walking around the flea market when this crazy woman came up and tugged at my bag. She was asking if I drove to the fair, and all other weird questions like as if she knew me. I thought she was raving mad...then I realised that she was the mother of a 3rd year student at my base school. But I don't even teach her daughter! I have absolutely no idea how she knew who I was cos her daughter wasn't even there! Anyway, she dragged me to this stall opened by her friends and her and they made me a hot cup of coffee and fed me with all kinds of food and mikan (mandarin oranges, which is a popular autumn fruit). Then, they gave me a whole bag of clothes that they didn't manage to sell, a Hello Kitty photo frame and 2 teddy bears! The bears are now sitting in my car's backseat, but I don't know what to do with the clothes. All kinds of weird colours and designs!

Anyway, this was the gang of very hospitable obasan (aunties)...