Party

I absolutely love when I see a genkan full of shoes. It means that lots of people are over and a party is in full swing.

Last night I hosted a dinner party. My friend Yoshino and her crew represented the Japanese contingent and I, along with a handful of ALTs, made up the foreign contingent.

We had lots of fun. Two strings of conversation stuck with me through the booze and sleep and made me giggle this morning.

The first was a conversation near the beginning of the evening between Tom and Allen's friend, Yuichiro.

Yuichiro: (motioning to me) How long have you been married?

Tom: We're not married! (sarcastically) Sometimes it feels like it though.

Me: Hey! You jerk!

Yuichiro: (to everyone) Doesn't it seem like they're married?

And the second was a little later on when more beer and wine had been guzzled.

Yoshino's friend: When Yoshino bends over, I can see down her shirt. She's got tomatoes in there!

Yoshino: I want to be a sexy girl like Ana, so I have to put something in there. (motioning to Ana) She's got melons in there.

Yoshino's friend: Well, if she's got melons in there, then Dawn has watermelons!

Yoshino's other friend: I wonder if this kind of talk is alright? Dawn's laughing really hard though, so it must be.

Good times. Good times. I learned how to say "dirty talk" in Japanese because of that conversation.

motto, motto shimoneta shimasho!

"Trekking"

I had one of those weekends where rest wasn't involved, so I'm beat this morning. Unfortunately, it's only Monday morning and I have a few days of desk surfing to conquer before I get to play in the mountains with the Nishi HS hiking club.

A few months back, I was imbibing with teachers at a work party and they invited me to join their hike at the end of March. I had been asking Mr. Kubara to take me along on a hike with the hiking club for a while, so I was psyched to join. I didn't realize at that time that the expedition they were talking about would involve a four-day trek up the tallest mountain in Kyushu and camping with students. Ah... the things we agree to at work parties!

Well, Mr. Kubara reminded me of my promise recently and took me, along with some students and another teacher, on a "practice" hike Saturday. We hiked a mountain near Omura in POURING rain. I was wet to my undies by the time we got back to the car.

The hike was really fun, but would have been better without all the the rain. We crossed a river about six times and some places we had to rely on ropes to get up and down some tricky spots. We also met a few ladders along the way. I just kept thinking how much more I'd be enjoying myself if my feet were squishing the water out of my soaked socks within my boots.

We are leaving on Thursday night for Yakushima. We've got a long trip to get to the island, then we'll have two days of hiking. When I tell my Japanese friends where I'm going, they ask me to take pictures and say, "Yakushima is beautiful." When I tell them I'm hiking it, they look at me very doubtful and say, "Are you going to be alright?"

I can do it. I just hope I don't break a limb along the way.

TENSE!!!

Today's the big teacher move. Starting at three thirty this afternoon the principal started calling the staff into his office, one by one. Teachers who spend all of their time in other offices scattered around the school have joined the rest of us on pins and needles in the big staff room. They're all wondering if they will be transferred or not. The V.P.s of the school are still trying to get work done, but every time they approach a teacher for a request of some kind, the teacher gasps and things that they're being directed to the Big Cheese's office for an upheaval of some sort.

Teachers in Nagasaki, as well as the rest of Japan, only spend a handful of years teaching at one school, then they are moved. All teachers are required to spend five to seven years teaching on one of the islands in the prefecture. This is probably the move they dread the most because it means long commuting hours, or living away from their families and only seeing them on the weekends when possible.

Out of about seventy teachers here, ten or fifteen will be transferred. After all the teachers have been informed one-by-one, the principal will come and make an announcement as to who was moved. That will be happening soon. I may just stick around to hear the news.

Love and Marriage

Mr. Kimura, one of my favorite English teachers, got hitched over the weekend and he invited me to his reception.

It was much like the wedding receptions I have been to in the States. People got up to make speeches. People had dinner. The parents of the bride and groom were honored. A slew of cheesy love songs, ones you'd hear at any wedding in the States, played over the dinner conversation.

There were some odd things as well. Well, not odd--just different from what I have seen before. For example, there was no ceremony. Well, no ceremony that the guests saw at least. We skipped the whole wedding and went right to the party. When I asked about the ceremony, I was told that couples pick a day and go get their marriage registered at the city hall and that's the "marriage". I have a feeling there's something more to it, but I couldn't get it out of the teacher I was sitting next to. She did add that in Japan it isn't just the bride and groom who get married, but also the families of the bride and groom "get married." I've been having fun reading into that comment.

Megumi is also a teacher. She's a kindergarten teacher as a matter of fact, so the guests consisted mainly of educators. The principal of our school got up and gave a speech. The vice principals gave toasts. And typical of Japanese parties, guests got up and milled about, pouring drinks for co-workers and acquaintances. A few of the teachers at my table were miffed about how much people were walking around. I got the idea that it was acceptable, but happened more at this wedding than most. People kept making comments about how you could tell the bride and groom were teachers and the reception was much like a work party.

The families of the happy couple were seated at the back of the hall and I thought that was strange. So, I asked about that too. The answer I got was that the families had invited us, the guests, so they put us at the best tables. Very Japanese.

I was sat with the English teachers and was a bit surprised when I was told we'd be getting up to preform a dance. I was told this as Megumi's co-workers got up and started preforming a dance with pom-poms. Why people do "performances" at wedding receptions in Japan, I just don't know. Sometimes I just don't get things here, but I have no choice but to go along for the ride. So, I stood, along with the other female teachers behind two male teachers wearing red dresses and strange red felt hats in the shape of beans, and was copy their choreographed dance. In the end we just kind of stood there watching, being lame. I'm sure I would have felt entirely stupid being up on stage not doing anything at any other wedding, but I felt so out of my element that I didn't care. I had no idea what was coming next.

The second shock of the evening came when the emcee for the night approached me and told me that I'd be giving the "table speech". One person from every table there got up and said a few words to the bride and groom. I guess Mr. K chose me to represent the English crew. I was touched that he picked me, but it would have been nice to have known in advance so I could have said something good. Instead, I said whatever popped into my head at the moment and felt bad about it because it wasn't really as heart-felt as I would have liked.

Another thing I found strange was that during the reception, people were approaching the couple and having their pictures taken with them. I went up to say congratulations, but I chose not to be in a photo with them. I did notice that they hadn't touched their food. They were probably too nervous, too overwhelmed, too busy to enjoy themselves.

There was a wedding cake and about a half an hour into the reception, they cut it. People stood and took photos, but it was never handed out. I got the impression that the whole process was entirely a photo opportunity, nothing more. It may not have been a real cake. Now, that was weird.

Guests to Japanese weddings give gifts of money. The typical amount is 3 man en, which is just about three hundred bucks. I couldn't understand, after hearing about this and preparing my envelope, that I didn't see anywhere to put it. I asked what I should do with it several times but the teachers I asked all seemed at a loss too. They didn't have envelopes. This has left me puzzled. In the end, on the way out, I handed it to Mr. Kimura.

Guests also receive a gift for attending the party. I had heard about how lavish these presents were, so I was excited to see what was in my box when I got home. I got a box full of cookies and cakes and a CATALOG from which I can choose ANYTHING my heart desires! I had to take some pictures of the book because it's so random.

I could go horseback riding if I chose to.

I could get a facial.

I could get a string of pearls.

Or a tea set.

I'm probably going to get this ring, though.

That was my Japanese wedding experience. It was fun and random and great.

Fending Off Boredom

One of my favorite things about Tiddy (and there are many!) is that he plays games with me, or goes along with my schemes. (When I say "games", I mean good games, not bad games.)

Things have been slow around the office lately (always?), so before getting together on Wednesday night, I suggested that we used some of our free time at work to do create a "representation" of us that we would reveal to one another that night.

It was a great way to pass the afternoon, but I felt paranoid that the teachers walking behind my desk might take in interest in what I was drawing, and then I'd have to explain myself and my super hero drawing. As it were, only two people made any effort to figure out what I was doing and after I sputtered something about giving a friend a picture, they just kind of shook their heads and walked off.

Funny enough, we both did a comic book-esqe drawing. I wish I had taken a picture of his to post. It was something called, "The Hawtness": featuring Dawn and Melty Tom. I was a "flash of light" that looked more.... How shall I put it?.... a female body part. And he drew himself looking much like Sloth out of The Goonies. Good times. Good times. Anyway, the original has a spot slated in my scrapbook.

What Goes on Behind This Door?

Malaysian

Tiddy and I visited a Malaysian restaurant last week. We'd walked by it several times and had made a note of popping in some night for some different Asian fare. It turned out to be a delicious choice B, standing in for a night at a pizza joint run by an American dude. After all, if the pizzeria hadn't been closed, we wouldn't have had the chance to sample the tropical ice cream, Purple.

Purple is a color, not a tropical flavor, right?

Also, what's up with listing "potato" as a tropical item? I suppose I'd allow it if they'd written "yam" instead.

It doesn't matter. I was just happy to not have to labor through the menu in kanji and the food was delicious.

That's One Pretty Bento, but...

it came in a Styrofoam box!

With all of the hub-bub that I hear from my students, co-workers and the Japanese media about protecting the environment, the grater whole of Japan sure does go through a ton of plastic bags, disposable chopsticks and STYROFOAM containers. I'm disgusted.

My tofu lunch's container made me feel dirty. I enjoyed the cacophony bean curd cuisine a lot less because of it's base and lid.

Me and Ryoma

I really, really like this statue.

Happy Graduation!

The most jovial day of the school year.

And, I got a pretty little bento for lunch. Nice perk.

Sake is...

...the devil's liquor.

I had an enkai last night. The seniors graduated yesterday and teachers went out to celebrate last night. It was a knock-down, drag-out party--well at least in terms of my head and how it feels presently.

Somewhere along the line I had told people here at the school how much I like sake. They like that I like sake and order it for me when I go to parties. Now, this creates a problem because it's very easy to drink, and very easy to drink too much of.

I tried to go home several times last night and kept getting roped into joining people for more drinks. It's fun to be out with the people I work with because I don't often get to see them relaxed, but sometimes I wish I could opt out of the shenanigans because I know how I'll inevitably feel the next day.

Anyway, I know the party went well because I found this gem of a photo on my digital camera today. It's me getting friendly with the principal of my school.