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| Okay, so it's been a really long time since I wrote here. In the last month I have: gone to Okinawa, gotten very burned, had all the skin on my face peel off, gotten rained on and feared for my life, gotten extremely drunk and done stupid things (several times), been to a concert in Oguni, gotten drunk and almost did stupid things again, and played in what is probably my last taiko concert (and sometimes I've even turned down alcohol!). If you want to see the taiko, just go here.
So it's June! I have 42 days left in Iide although I haven't started counting down yet. Last night I went out to a work party with some people from the yakuba (but not the BoE) where they told me they regretted not having asked me out to drink with them earlier. Yeah, me too. One guy kept telling me that I should only speak English, which was fine the first two or three times he said it, but after that I started telling him that I speak English to those who speak English to me, and I have my reasons for speaking Japanese, and (I didn't say this, but I was thinking it) he was annoying me. Plus he kept grabbing the cushion I was sitting on and tugging me around to face him so that he could speak more English to me, although he was pretty drunk and just repeating the same things over and over. Whatever, it was still fun (and I had to laugh a little when his boss told him to stop hogging me). I had no idea that the restaurant we were at was such a busy place on a Tuesday night - the party started out being 6 people from one section of the yakuba (I was invited because I'm going to be recording the English information for the Iide Lily Park, and it's their project) and by the end of the night a good 15 people from various sections of the yakuba had been in and out, drinking and eating with their own parties but stopping by to say hi.
I guess I'll be going to a lot of these parties from now on - I have a goodbye party with the ladies I used to eat lunch with on Friday, and we've promised to have another party with the ladies I currently eat lunch with. The teachers at one of my junior highs said they want a goodbye party, and my BoE will also be throwing one. Last night some of the people said they wanted to do a more formal goodbye party closer to the day I leave, and of course there will be a taiko goodbye party. And then there are the AJET and regular old JET parties...I foresee a lot of alcohol in my future.
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| On Saturday I packed up my stuff and got ready for the long drive up to Sakata. As I was walking out my door, two of the boys who had showed up at my apartment earlier last week came running up to me, telling me that they have to cancel their English lesson next week. Ummm...why are you hanging around outside my apartment again? Anyway, I rescheduled, another boy showed up and gave me some chocolate, and off I went.
Three hours later, I get to Jeff's apartment to find Monique and Becky totally passed out, but Nicole and Jeff up and about. We drank a little, chatted, went and got some junk food and waited for everyone else to show up. Once everyone got there (there were like 13 people there, it was awesome) we watched Teen Wolf and played a drinking game. Sweet. Then we headed off to a couple hours of nomihodai izakaya fun, followed by three hours of nomihodai karaoke fun. Ouch. At around 4:30 in the morning, Nicole and I staggered back into Jeff's apartment and passed out.
The next morning, Becky, Jeff, Alastair and I were still lounging around recovering frpm the night before, and I had the brilliant idea to get Pizza Hut. OH GOD YES. We stuffed our faces, moaned a little from eating way too much, and then Al and I hit the road. The reason for this whole trip up norht had been to check out the cherry blossoms, but unfortunately the weather on Saturday kept us inside (I haven't heard thunder like that in Japan...ever). On Sunday, we figured maybe Yamagata City might be more hospitable. Kelly also drove up to hang out with the other hanami-ers, but - curse our luck! - the weather did not comply with our wishes, so we had to stay indoors at Thang's office, drinking tea and falling asleep (well, I fell asleep, I don't think anyone else did).
Rather than just driving home, we throught we'd go get dinner in the shi, so we went to this really nice restaurant close to the station. We sat there for a good 2 1/2 hours because the restaurant apparently doesn't understand the idea of serving everyone's food at the same time (but then again, does any Japanese restaurant do that?). The food was still really good, though.
Yeah, that was my weekend, short and sweet.
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| Things My Students Have Said and Done in the Last 24 HoursI love them so much, but they are crazy.
Episode the First
Kelly and I are in my kitchen preparing a delicious nabe for dinner. The doorbell rings and I innocently open the door without checking who's there. Outside stand four of my 7th grade students (all boys) in varying poses of embarrasment and amusement. They snicker and mumble about how one of them wants to learn English before deciding to admit that they all want to learn English.
Me: What, like right now?
Them: Yes.
Me: Um, I have a friend over right now...Kelly, come meet my students!
Kelly: Dude, your students come to your door and talk to you? Lucky!
Me: Uh yeah, this has never happened before. So, I'm kind of busy right now.
Them: But we'd like to learn English.
Me: What kind of English?
Them: We don't know anything. The alphabet would be nice. You know, A B C...
Me: Right.
So we decided that I would meet up with the four of them next Saturday and I would teach them some English. I have no idea what they want to learn, but I guess I just have to go with the flow.
Episode the Second
I'm was at a preschool today and when lunch rolled around, a little boy walked me through their whole routine of wash their hands, rinse their mouths, and go poop. When I told him I was okay and didn't need to use the toilet, he stared at me in wonder and murmured, "Oh, so foreigners don't poop."
Episode the Third
Again at preschool. I'm standing surrounded by my admiring 5 year olds when a little 4 year old boy runs up to me. He doesn't speak, he yells.
Him: BEAUTIFUL.
Me: What is?
Him: YOUR BODY.
He runs away.
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