The International Club's February Event- Pancake Day- took place today. I knew it would be a popular event, and the number of applications- 34 people in all (including nine children from Hitonose Elementary School, which isn't even in Etajima!)- proved this. However, I hadn't bargained for several people who hadn't applied showing up, and also for the fact that the applications from the third-, fourth- and fifth-years from Etajima Elementary School hadn't been sent to me, so in the end we had over forty people. Luckily, the ingredients for pancakes being cheap, I'd bought enough for over sixty people, so even with the extra numbers we were fine. It's damn annoying, though, that the children apply properly, only to be let down by their teachers or their schools. If the event had been one where specific numbers were important, I'm not sure what we'd have done.
We had two AETs from the mainland participating in the event, one of whom brought along her boyfriend, so five foreigners instead of the normal two (Wendy and I) made for a pleasantly international feel to the whole event. We also had one chap from the JMSDF, who (typically enough) was both polite and enthusiastic. I noticed how he unfailingly used polite language to the people he perceived as being older than him or in some way superior to him, but informal language to the children, and even more informal (and therefore friendly) language to the little boys. I do this myself- it's the correct way to use Japanese- but many young Japanese now seem unable to make this distinction properly, and use appropriate levels of language.
Three hours to make pancakes, when I've done it any number of times in a 45-minute school lesson, was more than enough time. We made the batter without any mishaps, and then I cooked the first pancake, which- predictably enough- didn't turn out anything close to round. I demonstrated the sugar and lemon juice topping, and then set the children to make three or four pancakes in each group, for the pancake race. This done, we went outside, where blessedly (and unlike the last time I attempted this) there was no wind. The foreigners first of all ran a 'demonstration' race (which I won!), and then the children all competed, one each time from each of the teams in which they'd made the pancakes. We then held a further race for the winners of each of the heats, and then an adults' race. Some of the children were desperate to have another go (perhaps to avenge a defeat rather than because they thought the race was that fun...!), so we held two or three more races just for the children who wanted to take part.
After the races, everyone trooped back to the kominkan to make the real, for-eating-pancakes. I'd arranged four toppings: sugar and lemon juice, cocoa, strawberry jam, and, as a special, banana ice-cream and chocolate sauce. We'd made the banana ice-cream by mixing bananas, ice-cream, cream and milk before the event started, and then putting it in the freezer, but it turned out really well, and was very popular. Noticeable, though, was the fact that most of the children didn't just stick to the chocolate flavours, but bothered to try the less immediately appealing sugar and lemon. Despite the fact that I'd bought enough supplies for far more than the number of participants, the pancakes were popular enough that we decided to pop and buy enough ingredients to make an extra batch. Who ate all the pancakes is anyone's guess, but at the end there didn't seem to be any leftovers!
As I'd thought there might be, there was almost an hour left after we'd made all the pancakes and cleared up. Well, what better way to use three-quarters of an hour (especially when you just happen to have thirty-odd genki elementary school children to hand!) than with a game of kabbadi? I'd booked the big room downstairs in the kominkan in case it was raining, so we used this room for a very lively game of kabbadi, which the children all seemed to enjoy hugely, especially when they got the chance to tag a foreigner! The room was slightly small for a game with teams of twenty, and some of the boys were getting a little rowdy by this stage, but nevertheless we finished without any missing limbs. It was a good end to the event, and doubtless quite useful for burning off some of the pancake calories!
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