fandomhigh | Japanese Etiquette & Tradition, 4/19/10, Period 5

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Japanese Etiquette & Tradition, 4/19/10, Period 5

When the class assembled in the Danger Shop today, they'd find a very simple setup. A field, filled with cherry trees in full bloom. Algren didn't give a damn if they were properly in season at this time of the Spring or not. He wanted his class to write their final surrounded by cherry trees.

"Today, you've got a short written exam," he said, handing out clipboards and pens to the students as they entered. "And one bonus assignment, when you're finished that. Answer the questions, hand in your papers, and then, if you can find for me the perfect sakura blossom, I'll give you an extra ten percent on your final overall grade."

He nodded. Get to it, kids.

[Open!]

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Searching for the perfect blossom.

Last chance to poke through your notes in the shade of the sakura trees before the final!

1. When entering a room with a formal seating arrangement, where in relation to the door does the eldest (or the individual in charge) sit, compared to the rest at the gathering?

2. Name one action that one might take when purifying oneself before entering a temple or shrine.

3. Name one thing that you should never do when sitting down to a meal.

4. Name an example of who you might assign the following honorifics to: -chan, -sama, -kun, -sempai, -sensei.

5. What should one do when facing the threat of giant reptile attack?

6. Write a short list of things that one might expect to find at a Japanese festival.

[You can take a stab at answering the questions, or handwave. Have fun with 'em!]

Edited 2010-04-19 19:33 (UTC)

Now that you've written your exam, feel free to poke through the sakura trees in search of that perfect blossom. You may pair off with one another to search, but try not to disrupt classmates who might still be writing.

When she pings in. She might have some 'perfect blossom' insights to share.

Who is taking advantage of the quiet period to sit under a sakura tree and meditate.

If you figure out the bonus assignment, feel free to interrupt him.

Today was one of those days where I woke up, fell out of bed, realized that I was going to miss my bus before I could write class, and then ended up scribbling out the exam questions on my time slip during my break.

Sorry this is late-ish! I'm here now!

Kate Gregson

Didi

Yamanaka Ino

She would might even be prevailed upon to share her insights if asked. Otherwise she was just going to, well, enjoy their location.

Sakura trees!

Morgana

Morgana had to put quite a bit of effort into not getting distracted by the setting so she could focus on the test. She tried not to giggle too much at Question 5, not wanting to disturb anyone else, and although her answers were short, Morgana felt like she answered everything sufficiently.

Jill McTeague

Momoko Akatsutsumi

Momoko had some trouble with questions 1 and 3, which was totally weird since she was Japanese. But, as she'd said in the beginning, she was totally not a traditional girl. This of course would also have heavily influences her response to question 4, since Professor Algren seemed to prefer a stricter and more formal structure. Kind of like her parents, maybe?

Question 6 she tried to keep short, and ended up listing mostly foods, but question 5? She had to use extra paper and went into various scenarios. Such as: if you had powers; if you were a member of the military; if you were just a random citizen out for a stroll with your boyfriend; if you were another kaiju...

Momoko, having just a short while ago transformed back from being a hummingbird, was more than happy to just sit and enjoy the blossoms. Especially since she had no urge to inspect each and every one of them for nectar.

Did sakura even have nectar?

Triela

Triela wasn't surprised that she had answers to all the questions, but she was caught slightly off-guard by how easily some of them came. Not like she was having to recall memorized facts, but like she'd actually internalized some of the information.

Huh.

Elena

1. Furthest from the door, and seats follow from there in rank or seniority.

2. Pour water over one's hands.

3. Blowing one's nose.

4. -chan: Karla, a female friend who is younger.

-sama: Tseng, my former (and future) boss.

-kun: Spock, my male roommate.

-sempai: Reno, a co-worker with more seniority than me.

-sensei: Captain Algren, our Japanese Etiquette teacher.

5. Given my former occupation, I am afraid I cannot answer this with anything except 'chase it down and shoot it.'

6. Fireworks.
Goldfish.
Kimonos.
Okonomiyaki.
Stuffed polar bears that you can win at the firing range.

Elena hesitated by Algren's tree, hoping to get his attention without disturbing him from his meditation. She was going to stand quietly and wait, one sakura blossom cradled in her hands, so that she would not crush it by accident.

(way way late but *points to bonus assignment* I had an idea and wanted to go with it, since I was mostly offline yesterday)

Algren wasn't in any particular hurry to break his meditation, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to. He let her stand there for a minute once he realized that he had company, and then he opened his eyes and offered her a quirk of a smile.

"You've found one, have you?"

[Totally fine!]

"I have," Elena said, holding out the blossom to offer him. "It's the perfect sakura blossom. Because I have decided it to be so, as it looks perfect to me. And because I am giving it to you, as a gift, which makes it meaningful beyond the simple petals of the bloom itself. And you wouldn't be so rude as to imply my gift was less than perfect."

It was worth a try, wasn't it?

Absolutely!

"I wouldn't, certainly," Algren allowed, his quirk of a smile turning into something a little more sincere as he reached to take the flower. "And is there any particular reason why you happened to decide that it was this blossom that was perfect, instead of any of the other million or so?"

"Not especially," Elena admitted as he took the blossom. "I liked it. And then I thought that was as good a reason as any. The blossoms are supposed to be pretty, so if I found this one to be the prettiest, then that makes it perfect, at least to me."

"Fair enough." Algren considered the blossom for a moment, and then looked up, his eyes following the canopy of pink that surrounded them. "And what about the blossom that was sitting next to this one? Was that one any less perfect?"

Annja Creed

To Annja's surprise, it didn't take her long at all to answer the questions on the final -- and she even felt very confident about them.

[[OOC: Late because the mun is the sick.]]

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Japanese Etiquette & Tradition, 4/19/10, Period 5

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Lecture

Write the Final

Bonus Assignment

Talk to the TA

Talk to Algren

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