INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC COLLEGE - PALMERSTON NORTH, 5-6 September 2009

Early Saturday morning, 5 September, we departed from the Porirua train station with 8 of our students to attend an intensive Japanese language weekend at the International Pacific College (IPC) in Palmerston North.

Our 8 students joined 12 other students from all over the Wellington region to participate in the weekend activities. The students were split into groups and each group rotated through different activities based on the Japanese language and culture. These included participating in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, learning Japanese styled martial arts, learning Japanese phrases, and cooking a traditional noodle dish- yaki soba.

In the evening we were all entertained by the IPC Olympics. In a ‘fight night’ type setting, we watched martial art matches complete with commentators, loud music, and spotlights. We were really ‘ring side’!

Overall, the weekend was a huge success and we all came away with better understanding and knowledge of Japan and Japanese culture.

IPC weekend participants

Tea Ceremony

Montana, Pete & Paul