Friday (Dec. 9th) my pipes froze so I had no hot water in the morning. Shimzu sensei took me in the afternoon to check and it was fine, so now I’ll just have to keep the tap dripping at night.
I worked hard at school trying to get everything done for next week. I got home just in time to quickly shower and get ready for the bonenkai and someone came to my door right as I was getting out of the shower. It was crazy, but I managed to get to the party in one piece. Bonenkai is a year’s end party that almost every school has. Ours was in a fancy hotel and was a western style banquet. Make that what the Japanese call a western style banquet. We sat in chairs at tables with a rotating glass plate and the dishes weren’t Japanese, but we still ate with chopsticks and there were plenty of foods I couldn’t identify. We drew lots for our seats so I was with new people, which turned out to be very nice. A few teachers were very kind to me by speaking slow, simple Japanese. We were able to have a decent conversation throughout the evening, which made me very happy! Often there’d be a word I didn’t know but they could come up with the English word. They just aren’t comfortable with making sentences in English, though I’m sure they’d be fine.One interesting part of the evening
was watching people pour drinks for each other.
Even if your glass was full someone would come along and offer to pour
you a drink. In
We played bingo for prizes and afterwards I went out with Okada sensei (biology) and Fujihara sensei (music) for coffee. That was fun! If I just had more time to speak with people in Japanese I would learn so much faster! I make leaps in my ability when I actually have conversations . . .
Fujihara sensei’s sister gave me a ride home, which was very nice. Even though it was late I finally did some computer work, like renewing my Norton subscription. . .
Saturday (Dec. 10th) I did many domestic chores and got out my oboe again. Oh, it feels so good to play! The break has done wonders, and I’m in less pain now.
In the evening I went to the YETI Winter Party and Yuko and her friend came, too. It was great to see so many of the Yamanashi JETs that I hadn’t seen in a while. We also ate a lot of meat . . .
Afterwards Heidi, Charles and I hung out at Courtnay’s and we were later joined by Leslie who had gone to church. Charles was kind enough to take Leslie and me home when we finally left Courtnay’s. I think we got to bed a bit after 2am . . .
It made Sunday (Dec. 12th) a little tough, but Leslie and I had a great time talking all morning. We had such a great time that we missed the train I needed to catch in order to go caroling. Luckily, Bonnie was willing to wait for me to catch the next train.
People from the church went to
three nursing homes to sing carols. It
was fun, though it felt like it took longer to travel between the places then
to actually sing! Afterwards a bunch of
us went out to dinner with the Browns then went to look at the light display at
Not wanting the evening to end, I went out with Miwako, Courtnay and Sue Ann for coffee before taking the train home. It was a fun, but tiring day!
I know this isn’t the most exciting entry, but I’m trying to finish up before another week starts, and it’s time for bed!