weekend stories

Last weekend I did a number of things. On Friday night I went to a staff dinner party at a hotel in Tokushima City with everyone that works at my high school. It was interesting to say the least. There was a raffle, bingo, and buffet. I saw all the food lined up when I walked in, so I understood there was a buffet. Several people still explained to me that I must get my food myself, as if it was a new Japanese concept for me. However, only one person explained to me that in Japan, you never fill your own glass. So the majority of the people there spent more time walking around refilling other peoples drinks than eating at their own table. The people who were driving had a special sticker on them asking that you not serve them alcohol. Non of the men had stickers on. Many teachers that do not talk to me in the office finally struck up a conversation with me. The not-so-sober principal admitted to me that he was worried that I wouldn't work out in the beginning, but that now he is relieved (I'm the first female JET to work at that technical high school). During bingo I won an alarm clock! I was invited to all the smaller second parties, but I went a long with the youngest crowd and one of the English teachers that I teach with. We went to a snack bar. We were the only ones in there, and we sang kareoke for a bit. I sang "Girls Just Want To Have Fun."

Saturday and Sunday were spent with friends. We visited two orphanages in Hanoura and Naruto and threw Christmas parties for them. The term orphanage isn't very accurate though. The majority of the kids that live there have families that they visit occassionally. They live there because their families can't afford to take care of them. It's kind of like a free day-care/night-care. The kids are in good hands though. For example, there are 18 staff members for the 30 kids at the Naruto home. The home is near one of my junior high schools, so some of the kids and I knew each other. Ten other Jets and I sang Christmas carols, played games, decorated a Christmas tree, made Christmas cards, and just had fun with the kids. At the end Santa appeared and gave all the kids presents! The care takers invited us to stay and have lunch with all the kids.

I was able to use a lot of my Japanese this weekend. I feel a lot more comfortable just blurting out sentence making attempts. I make a TON of mistakes, but I feel that what I learn from these mistakes sticks in my memory better than memorizing and studying from books. I think I held back too long.