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Tonight I went to Hisanohama for what I thought was a presentation but what was actually more like a musical theatre concert.  It was put on by a group called The Young Americans.  They currently have 3 tours going now, one in Japan, one in the UK and on in the US.  They are "dedicated to the promotion of understanding and goodwill among people throughout the world through music, dance, performance, academic education and cultural interaction among student members and their audiences".

You can learn more about them here: http://youngamericans.org/

They came to Iwaki three days ago and have been working wtih the grade 5s and 6s at Hisanohama 1st Elementary School each day to put on a show for the friends, and parents of the kids.  The show was two hours.  The first hour was just the Young Americans group singing as a chorus, and dancing, and perfoming numbers from famous musicals and movies (Grease, Footloose, Across the Universe, etc) and wow can these young people ever sing and dance! They are amazing!  I was clapping and singing and moving along with them and just couldn't get the HUGE smile off my face the entire time!

Then for the second half of the show, they were joined by the students (gr. 4, 5 and 6s) and they did all kinds of songs and got the kids to sing small parts in English (which had the crowd cheering and clapping each time a student sang a line =D )  The kids were great! The grade 4s did 2 songs which is awesome, especially since they only had 2 hours of practice with the Young Americans group!!!  The grades 5 and 6 kids had 3 days to work with them and they had lots of songs to perform, including ghostbusters, and a whole bunch from Lion King.  I'm forgetting tones, because there was so much going on!!!  The kids were amazing. I can't believe how AMAZING the show was! 

So I was Unbelievabley happy to learn that the Young Americans will be back in Iwaki in September!! And one of the schools they will be working with and performing with is..... Izumi North Elementary School!!!!  (my base school last year that I loved so much!!!) That means that the kids that I taught until August 2011 will be performing with Young Americans!! I can't wait to see that show!!! It going to be so Awesome! 

I got to talk to a few of the group members, and syuria got to work with them yesterday and today and she performed with them as well.  I think she may have made a few friends in the group.

Oh, speaking of syuria!  After we got home tonight, she rang my doorbell and was jumping up and down for joy when I opened the door!  She passed level N1 (the top level) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test!!! On her first try!!!  That is AMAZING!! (yes, I like that word today! AMAZING!!!!!)  I am so happy for her!  I still haven't passed N2 yet, but I'm going to try for it in July.  and!!! defined passed N2 of the JLPT as well!!!

CONGRATULATION to syuria and defined on passing N1 and N2 of the JLPT!!!!  Now I need to catch up you!!! lol