International Party

A MICA class party is a sad affair. Scrawny art students gather around dimly-lit tables, drawn there by free pizza of questionable quality. They force down mouthfulls of mostly cooked dough (covered in something somehow worse than grocery store Ragu) stopping only to breathe or perhaps to complain about the lack of a vegan option.

Today the printmaking department threw a party for the international students - and, yet again, my brain exploded a bit.

They brought in not only snacks but food. Real food. Fresh takoyaki (the pan-fried octopus donuts that I've come to love) made on portable tabletop grills tided us over until rice was ready for sushi. Beer was passed out along with less alchoholic fare, and merriment ensued.

Then we played games. The silly kind of games that require little language and thought. Even the elder teachers participated - I guess they value lighthearted fun more than their MICA counterparts.

Bonus: We left the classroom to the sound of... battle!? And pumping techno music? It was the OUA Gedai Ga(!) club - a club of super nerds that puts on absurdly well coreographed fights in the style of old school Japanese kids' shows.

When they're in costume it's impossible for them to talk into a mic - so they have voice actors providing the voices for them. When we saw them they were not in costume... but still had voice actors doing the talking. This was particularly bizarre in regard to the female ranger, who was being played by a boy.

Say what you will, that kid could high kick like nobody's business. Easily one of the most surreal/bizarre/hilarious/amazing things I've ever seen.

It was too dark to get a decent photo... but they're performing this sunday. Oh yes, I'm there.