A Taste of Japan and Panera Bread

Estes, our dining hall, was closed for the holiday, so to keep us fed and happy the Academy provided Panera Bread for breakfast and lunch, and Domino’s pizza for dinner. It was very tasty!

We started the day with a Bon Odori dance class taught by Hanako-sensei. Bon Odori are dances that are performed at summer festivals in Japan. We learned two dances that we will be performing again on Sunday during the Tanabata festival. 
In the afternoon we had a surprise event called Taste of Japan, where we taste-tested Japanese foods that have unique and polarizing flavors, including nattou (fermented soybeans), umeboshi (pickled plums), daikon (pickled radish), and gari (pickled ginger). Some people really didn’t like them, but some loved the new flavors. Peter was a nattou fiend and ate three boxes!
In the evening we learned about how Japanese fireworks are made in honor of the Fourth of July. We then watched videos of Japanese fireworks shows. It was really fun and we sang the Star Spangled Banner.