This weekend was the International Folk Fair here at UWEC. That means that it was one busy weekend. To make things more busy, a friend of mine (Michael Renner) was starring in RENT at the State Theatre. He played Benny. I had never seen RENT, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to see the show and watch his performance. I went with Mike Barnet, Mike Seaholm, Bryan, Jordan, Kayla, and two other girls I didn’t know.
As it turns out, RENT was not for me. I was the only one in the group that didn’t enjoy it. And I really didn’t enjoy it. Other than the skill of the actors, I couldn’t find anything I liked about it. I didn’t like the characters, didn’t like the story (didn’t even understand most of it), didn’t like the music (except for one or two tracks). For those that haven’t seen RENT, it’s mostly about a bunch of teenagers and their exploits in activism, cross-dressing, love, emotions, AIDS, homosexuality, over the top drama, and being their selves. I didn’t like it. That being said, Mike did an amazing performance!
Other than RENT, the weekend was mostly stuffed with preparing for the Folk Fair. We spent 2 hours on Saturday night and 2 hours on Sunday morning setting up.
The fair was once again a great success! We made a lot of money.
I wore my blue jinbei and was mainly stationed at takoyaki. Only a few people knew how to make it, so I had to teach as well as cook.
Our Menu.
Culture display.
Calligraphy station. People could come and get their names written in Japanese here. I really love the sign.
EngHwa taking orders.
Bryan in his jinbei.
Larry getting ready to make some sushi.
Some of the girls did a tea ceremony. I never got to see it though.
Origami table. I can’t do origami…
The sushi making begins.
Slicing the avocado for sushi.
Bryan drew a kissing octopus on the menu board.
Sayaka serving up takoyaki.
Takoyaki!! Another really cool sign.
The people that made these did a great job.
This is the one I made. Clearly lacking in quality compared to the others.
Teaching Hiroko how to make Takoyaki.
She got the hang of it eventually.
Takoyaki makers.
Starting to get a bit busy.
…Which eventually turned into Kyoko drawing anime characters.
…Which eventually turned into Kyoko drawing anime characters.
Sayaka doing important things.
God? A very inspirational drawing.
We ran out of Takoyaki about half way through so I had to run to Ron’s to get some cheese to use as a substitute for the octopus as well as some eggs to make more batter. Other than that, my parents also showed up and had some of the food. They tried takoyaki for the first time. Surprisingly, Mom liked it and Dad didn’t. When I got a break I went down to eat at the Malaysian booth.
We brought in even more money than last year. That’s quite a feat considering last year we made a lot of money and we had one less hour to work with this year. After 4 hours of standing in wooden sandals, 2 hours of setting up, and 2 hours of cleaning up, I was tired! I was exhausted and I still have homework to get done…Posted at 10:19 pm
