Recess Duty
It was a scorching afternoon. But I rushed to the open area outside the canteen instead of the air-conditioned staffroom. Excitement surged through me. My prefects were about to launch Project Gratitude, a project in which students made origami for their teachers.
I thought no one would care enough to make origami. To my utter delight, some students gathered around the table and tried to fold origami. I beamed with pride because my prefects engaged with their peers well.
The booth became more crowded. Some students asked me how to fold origami. I felt a flutter of nerves. I did not have the time to learn the steps beforehand, so I admitted to them that I did not know. Thankfully, my prefects took over from me.
Thirty minutes flew by in a flash. In the end, I was thrilled. A broad smile stretched across my face. I learnt that if I relied on my prefects, they could rise to the occasion and do a terrific job.
At Orizuru Tower, across from the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, they encourage you to make an origami crane and drop it into the Orizuru Wall which is a 50-meter-tall glass enclosure containing thousands of cranes left by previous visitors. Pretty cool.
Also the dollar-bill origami rings I made as a kid haha
I went to Hiroshima before but didn’t see the Orizuru Tower. Thanks for letting me know
Nonexistent, but I find it to be really cool
same here. I have a student who made intricate flowers the other day and was really impressed
0 practically make a paper boat.....not if it's like origami???, jajajajja
But I really admire the people who can do it
that’s my level of expertise too. I also refer to it as a gold ingot because Chinese people like money haha
I actually taught an origami class with my friend when we were in first or second grade.
I had gotten an origami book and thought it was really cool. I don’t recall who thought we should teach an adult enrichment class about it though.
woah
how many lessons? and did you have stage fright interacting with the elderly?
I don’t remember if we did more than one session.
As I recall, we weren’t nervous. We probably already knew all the adults though.
that’s probably the launchpad of your media empire
I hadn’t thought about but maybe so.
Some of the techniques were done on dollar bills.
I saw the dollar rings posted by another Stacker! cool
Learnt how to create them in my teens after then nothing
what was the most complicated origami you ever made?
I read "orgasm."
Thought that was a little on the nose for an AskSN session
that level of exertion is for your territory
Zero experience. I can turn a sheet of paper into a crumpled ball, and that’s about it 😂
Your comment reminds me of a fun memory.
Back in the days of yore, after completing high school and deciding which degree to pursue, I went to a lecture for aeronautics held specifically to give high school students an idea of what the field of study is about.
Only on the day, did I find out that it was a tradition by the unruly students to fold paper planes and let them sail through the auditorium. The auditorium had an official capacity of 800 students, and was fully packed including stairs and walkways.
So picture the mayhem that caused when, at a conservative estimate, every 1 in 4 students took a swing at it. Naturally, so did I.
So I folded the best paper plane I could muster, while admiring the ones sailing overhead, one of them making it all the way to the lecturer's table.
Impressed with that, and the pressure now being on, I reinspected the folds, the wings, the angles for perfection.
After finding it upheld my high standards for paperplanery, I held it aloft, moved my arm forward and backward a few times to take aim and judge the perfect velocity fitting for the highly customized plane.
Finally, there was a break in the airspace. I let it go.
As it left my hand, my inner eye imagined it soaring on an unseen updraft towards the lecturer.
However, my imagination lied. Instead, it took a nose dive and impaled itself in the hoodie of the student sitting right in front of me.
He handled it rather well. Picked it out of his hoodie, turned around slowly and asked "is this one yours?" I nodded sheepishly.
He then said: "Hang on, I think I can optimize this one's aerodynamic properties."
He then proceeded to crumple it into a tight ball, and threw it all the way into the 2nd or 3rd row. Turned back again, and said: "I think my design won."
which goes to show sometimes we shouldn’t overthink things
😂 That’s brilliant. You went for aeronautical engineering, he went straight for applied crumple physics, clearly his design won
But can you fold it 7 times? heh
no doubt. that crumpled ball will make a great piece of brown
My kids and I make a few different things out of paper. Boxes are cool. Also cranes and animals. I made a little monkey once, but it was very challenging.
I notice the present tense “make”. cool beans. I think origami helps instill mindfulness because you can’t be distracted by other things
We did once in school.
The obligatory swan was one of the shapes, as were a boat and a flower. I can't recall which flower, but it had a fair few pointy ends.
Like this flower?
Wow. No, nothing as awesome as that. It was 2 dimensional.
That one is amazing!
I've never attempted to create any. I had a Japanese friend when I was in elementary school, and his mom would make some occasionally.
I wouldn’t have been into origami if i weren’t a father with a kid whom I need to engage haha