My Hectic Culture Festival

Somehow, I managed to finish the script before Friday, so I had nothing to worry about during the cultural festival. Which during the first day, before being open to the general public, was more like a food fair. I tried fried bread crusts with honey, yakitori, potato with dango syrup, apple cinnamon crepes, fried ice cream, yakisoba, and roasted pork. The ice cream was the best; hot doughnut on the outside, cold ice cream inside. It was one of the strangest tastes I've ever had.
All yesterday and today, koto club members wore kimono while playing and serving tea to the guests who came to listen. Somehow, whether I was relegated or just gravitated to it, I wound up it charge of making the tea. Which is pretty hectic when over twenty people come in at once, you only have two tea machines, one of them is empty and the other spitting boiling water everywhere, you've run out of refill water and cups, and you can only make one cup at a time. I eventually fell back into fast-food mode, something I never wanted to do, and it all turned out fine. Except for that one guy. There's always one who gets pissed because not everything is to his liking, and I want to beat those kinds of people. In this case, because he didn't get tea (a tiny, paper cup filled with cheap tea, and not made by a cute girl), he essentially threw a "hissy fit". What a child.
The playing itself didn't go to well on the first day. Since I've never actually had (note, 'had') to sing in front of people before, never mind play an instrument at the same time, I made quite a few mistakes. But today went a lot better, probably because I got burned a few times and used up all the day's bad luck. The international students only got to play our first song, though. Even after a month and a half of practicing the second song, we weren't going to get to play because not everyone could do all of it. We were told that we would do it at the festival in spring, but that didn't seem fair to those of us who could play it now but wouldn't be here next semester. So I got us together and petitioned to play it once, at the very end of the day. The others agreed, and we got to do what we had worked hard for. And we got the biggest applause, too.
Wearing a kimono formally is pretty strange for a guy from a western background. You don't wear pants or a shirt underneath, so it's like putting on a nightdress, a robe, and an overcoat and then going out shopping. It just didn't feel normal. And the shoes hurt like hell. My feet are so sore right now I don't want to move. Of course, it was still cool. And it kept me warm, too, that was surprising. But, outside of the performance room, every Japanese person looked at me like I was deranged. Like, 'What's a foreigner doing wearing our traditional clothes?' Studying in an entirely alien culture really gives a feeling for how our minorities must have it.