dc chinatown

today was the okinawa kai of washington dc's 25th anniversary event and it was held at annandale high school, virginia. my host was very courteous and gave me the scenic drive there so that we passed by chinatown, a couple of circles, embassy row, the vice president's place, islamic center/mosque, and the national cathedral. in doing this drive we went through a bit of maryland so now i can say i've been there too, or at least drove through.

the event itself was a stage performance of many people, some performing more than once. my trip host was also the mc of the event which is why we got there early. i walked around the high school and immediately knew it snows in this area because it's an enclosed high school, meaning you don't have to go outside to get to class or the auditorium. i'm not used to enclosed hallways. the lockers are quite large too compared to the high school's i went to. i hung out a bit in the make shift dressing room and chatted with my cousin and some other people. afterwards there was a potluck in the cafeteria. that cafeteria was full. i was surprised to see so many people there for an okinawan event. but like i mentioned for yesterday's dinner, people have come out from all over to attend. plus i think that since this is the 25th anniversary, more people attended than usual. it also helps that there were out of town performers but perhaps they were only there because it was the 25th. the performers from okinawa were really good. i will let the pictures speak for themselves.

traditional dance by local performers

performer from okinawa

local performers

karate students breaking wood

dance instructor i'm distantly related to

even if you don't know what was being said this skit was hilarious

local musicians providing the musical accompaniment

my cousin performing