A Japanese Style Barbeque (as submitted to Highestwire)

Submitted by cadence turner on Saturday, October 22, 2005 at 11:44:23 AM EST.

Baseball Players from Kanazawa enjoy American Hospitality.

Author: Elisabetta O’Connor

On Saturday, July 25, at 5 o’clock, the Japanese Language Club gathered on the field. The field sported a few folding tables and many chairs decked in Curtis colors. Curtis pins placed in baskets were set out on the tables, as well, and the grill was already burning with the smell of burgers and hot dogs

The club members were nervous; it wasn’t just a hot day, it was a day where their new language skills were to come into play. The Japanese students were coming to visit Curtis and the Language Club was hosting a BBQ to welcome them. The students were in junior high and on a baseball team, coming to New York as part of Matsui’s Friendship Program.

When the bus arrived with the students, the club gathered in a group anxiously. The students formed an organized line and introduced themselves respectively. Then the festivities began.

After eating and speaking to the baseball team’s coach and manager with their broken English and the Japanese Language Club using what they had learned in Japanese to the best of their ability the students’ initiated a game of baseball. The Japanese Language Club vs. the Kanazawa baseball team.

It was a fun and exciting game, with the Kanazawa team, of course, winning the game overall. At the end, the students and the Japanese Language Club organized themselves into two lines facing one another for an exchange of gifts. The Language Club gave the students Curtis bumper stickers, T-shirts and pens. In return, the Language Club received chopsticks and Kanazawa banners.

The experience was great, especially for two cultures so different to interact with one another. Senior Leigh Keenan said the barbeque “was a nice and pleasant experience. One you definitely don’t get to experience everyday.”

Club advisor Cadence Turner said the event “was really great for my students to see some of the cultural differences that were very apparent.”

It was an experience that the Japanese Language Club would never forget and improved their knowledge of the Japanese language and culture.

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