Day 14: Happy Tanabata

      Today was a day packed full of fun!  After classes, the whole Academy dressed up in yukatas (traditional, Japanese, summer robes) and celebrated Tanabata.  Tanabata, the star festival, celebrates the one day each year that the lovers, weaver princess Orihime, and the cow herder Hikoboshi, can cross the Milky Way and be together.  It is celebrated by writing wishes on slips of paper and hanging them on a bamboo tree. 
      We had a demonstration on how to wear a yukata, followed by the opportunity for students to choose a yukata to wear!  Yukatas were worn at dinner, followed by songs, pinatas, games, taiko drums, and pictures.  Everyone really enjoyed wearing their yukatas.