Taking a break from the trip series for a bit.
Lately, things have been ridiculously busy. Somewhat last minute last week, we (area JETS and ALT teachers) started planning for a yakiniku party. Yakiniku is thinly sliced meat and occasionally veggies roasted on a hot flame in the middle of a special table. It’s like barbeque-ing, but still totally different.
Anyways, afterwards, we were planning to crash in Yasuoka, the next town over at Daniel and Emma’s house. However, them being even more in the boonies than us, they have their own personal toilet waste disposal system for their house. Which is supposed to get cleaned out once a year, if 1 person was staying at the house. But there’s 2. Crap overload!!! So their toilets weren’t working, and if anyone needed to answer nature’s call, they had to walk up to one of the schools….a bit of a pain. So we decided to move the after-party to Anan, Nick’s and my apartments!
A few hours after everyone came, I got a random phone call. Someone I met at the local grocery store wondering if he and his wife could come over in an hour. I said okaaaaay and hurriedly cleaned up. They came over with their one year old baby and I invited them in. We sat, sipped tea, and ate some snacks that they had made and brought over for about 1-2 hours. Then they got down to the purpose of the visit: to invite me to their place and eat a local treat: gohei mochi. Score! Mom and dad have pictures of them eating gohei mochi from their trip to Japan. Can’t wait.
Everyone came to Nick’s apartment and we went to the restaurant. It was already hopping when we got there, 2 other families were yaki-niku-ing, if that’s even a word (no it isn’t!). One table was headed by a smiley 60-something woman that eagerly waved me over. She and I had met at the local hot spring (onsen) after a bath and chatted it up. She introduced me to her family, which included a pretty Thai girl who I was told it was her last day in Japan before returning home. I finally returned to the English-speaking table, after a nod to some students and their family sitting at the other table.
The yakiniku was gooooood, and it had been a while since I had hung out with a large English-speaking crowd like that. We went back to the apartment (wonderful neighbor wasn’t there, thank god) and hung out. I swear, this crowd is more childish than most college parties.
Next morning, Emma cooked us a wonderful meal of French toast and we went to “ai park.” Ai means love in Japanese. The best part of the park was a huuuuuge metal slide/bobsled. You got on this cart and rode down it on the slide, with use of a handbrake so you didn’t go careening off the track. It was amazing. We went to a little cabin on a hill for a snack, and listened to some older lady rant about sorts dance and invited us all to go with her. Juuust when everyone’s patience had run out, we paid and left, only to go to a second-hand store in Iida. Those places are awesome. We then parted ways and met up again for Italian. I ordered a wonderful spaghetti vegetable dish….which I never got cause we got our orders mixed up and one of the other people was halfway done with it by the time we realized. Food in restaurants in Japan comes when it’s done, nt all at once. Ah well, it was more funny than anything else I think.
Nick and I finally got home about 10pm, in time for a quick shower and bed before work the next day. Wait, where’d my weekend go?! Give it baaaaack!!!!!!
This Wednesday, Nick and I went to Tomikusa elementary school. First we greeted the 5th graders (who we hadn’t had the privilege of teaching yet) and the now-6th graders. The 5th graders came prepared with business cards! It was so cute. We played color fruits basket. After school, we went on a bus tour! All the new (and some of the old) teachers got on a minibus and we drove around the area of Tomikusa. That driver had some crazy skills. On the way, we learned some history and where the students live. The (hot) new male teacher was busy reading the back of his eyelids most of the time.
After the tour, I dug in the gravel parking lot with some of the kids until the yakiniku was set up. Yes, another yakiniku party. We all sat around and drank and were merry. Notice a trend here? But his time, we had good kobe beef. One small Styrofoam tray of it was over $80. We ran out of meat and had to call up the butchers’ to get some delivered. We also ran out of beer, but luckily there was plenty wine and nihon-shu to go around! After all the meat was eaten, we made a festival food of noodles and veggies on the hot pans. Tomikusa’s Kyoto-sensei’s wife drove us home.
Tonight is a farewell party for Nick thrown by the adult English class. It will probably follow in the same vain as all the other ones, but we’ll see. After tonight, maybe my liver can take a rest. Almost golden week!
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