I had three classes on Friday, and after that a holiday party for our school. Somebody had arranged a bus to drive us from the school to the hotel where the party was being held, right near the train station in Kakogawa. Due to how the train lines are set up, you cannot take a train from my school to Kakogawa. This makes for some really tricky train connections and some very long walks, but the bus saved everybody a lot of time.
This year the party was a much calmer affair. Nobody got completely blasted, and I can usually count on at least one person doing something memorially stupid. Mainly, I just concentrated on it not being me. The food was Japanese style, but there were some other things mixed in and I thought overall it was pretty good. They had oden, nabe, lots of fresh sashimi, and between those three things I ate really well.
As usual the big attraction was a bingo game, and everyone checked their cards carefully to see if they won. I realized this year for the first time that there are enough prizes for everyone – the advantage of winning early is you get the first choice of prizes. Even that is a crapshoot – they are all wrapped so you have no idea what might be inside. Last year I got a puppy-shaped neck warmer, but this year I went on the principle of picking the heaviest thing I could find, and I got three small jars of honey, which I suppose is a marginal improvement.
I was sitting at a table with all men, and everyone was pretty reserved. I think they were afraid to speak to me, and to be truthful I’m not so confident in my Japanese that I can strike up a conversation with anyone. I did talk to the chemistry teacher, and he insisted that I do a lesson for his students next year on fermentation. In Japanese. Yikes!
As usual everyone was walking around pouring beer into each other’s glasses, and I made sure just to drink a sip or two. One of the waitstaff walked by and delivered a plate of sushi for the table, and she started talking to me in English. I was really surprised by it. The other guys at the table were watching us carefully – this girl was really good looking. She was probably 28 years old, tall, and she spoke English pretty well. We talked about her homestay in America (Wisconsin) and about my school. After a while I could see where the conversation was going so I started playing with my ring while we were talking, but she took no notice. Finally her boss walked by and gave her a look and she took off. After she left all the guys at the table were talking about it as if I couldn’t understand them.
Across the way there was another end of the year party for another school, and as it happens a lot of the teachers knew each other. Even I knew two of the teachers, so I chatted with them a little bit. After the party I was hanging out with a bunch of their teachers and talking only in English to give them a little confidence. There is one thing I’ve learned about living in Japan as a foreigner and speaking Japanese – you’ve got to choose the right times to use it. By using Japanese you can really change the experience of the people you are talking to, sometimes it makes them feel like their English wasn’t good enough.
While we were chatting the other school’s ALT came up and introduced herself. She had an American accent and seemed like a nice enough girl. Earlier I had seen her smoking with some of her co-workers in the lobby so there’s a strike against her. She said that she had heard a lot about me, so I wonder what that is all about.
Soon Kuniko came and picked me up, and together we went back home – stopping for some kerosene to run our new heater. It’ll be fun to check that out.
