The small event was hosted in Melbourne North Town Hall. They charge A$2.00 entrance fee but it's waived if you come in your kimono/yukata. What the....I asked Nite at least 10 times,'Why didn't I know? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? " It's a wonder she didn't head butt me to oblivion and left me outside the entrance. Anyway, we got it free as the film festival organizer paid for us.
By comparison to the previous cultural events that I attended/volunteered, this is by far the smallest in terms of location. My last cultural event had the whole faculty to play with and this event had 34 workshops packed into a 3 storey building (basement included). That is like putting 10 sumo wrestlers in a Mini minus the armpit smell.
It was pretty crampy and most workshops were reduced to a round table size and you even had to pay for some of the workshops like Origami and painting. Naturally we tried everything that were free and shake out heads on those that we need to pay. Most Sensei's pretty friendly except for the one teaching small calligraphy. She just left us on our own devices and didn't really promote her workshop. Maybe she had to cancel a hot date to be here.
Calligraphy
Our organizer asked us to enjoy 80% and work 20%. We enjoyed the big calligraphy drawing. We drew 'mirai - future'. Sensei had the foresight to make us practise on newspaper first. The 2nd attempt was more presentable.
Encouraged by the success of our 'mirai', we also tried the Japanese traditional games, watched some Aikido demonstration, basically enjoying ourselves to the max of our 80%. Organizer-san checked our progress 3 times, politely hinting that we should finish our promotion campaign before actually enjoying ourselves. We only got the hint on the 3rd time. He should be more direct next time. It was good to take a break as the Manga Drawing workshop that we so wanted to go (and it's free) was full.
The actual volunteer work was pretty easy, over and done with within one hour and we were back to the Manga workshop. This time there were empty seats, oh Joy! There were a few Senseis, all very patient. Our first drawing was Totoro. My Totoro looked like it ate too much KFC so I shall not post it here. Might get stoned by Totoro fans out there.
Our second attempt was more ambitious. We attempt to draw Ichigo, the picture on lower right (see above). It took us almost an hour to draw with lots of under-breath cursing on my part. Lucky my Ichigo still look ok. It was bloody hard and I totally salute all the manga artists out there. It was a labour of love and patience.
The Manga workshop pretty much depleted all our energy reserves and it's off to the basement to get some food. Food's a bit too expensive, so we got some light snacks to line the stomach and Nite got her coffee fix.
Overall, I find this cultural event a bit too comercial for my taste but we had fun and that's what matters. Will I go again? Hm.... maybe as a volunteer.
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