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I am so hung over. I went to two office parties in two days. All you can eat and drink. Not good for me as
I find it hard to say no when it's all you can drink.
The first party, Carmen's` party was really good. Pretty mellow. It was my first office party in Japan. Every one was a bit reserved,
Japanese style.
My companies parties, notice the plural.
8:50 am. Sunday morning.
Getting the room ready that we rented from the International Center. This means decorations of stockings, snow flakes,
Christmas trees etc...
The 115, 2 - 4 years olds arrive, pandemonium. We line them up into rows and play games with them like Simon
Says, remember that game? The kids loved it. Then we put them into groups and played more games with them like
"guess the drawing". Jennifer and I,
she's a fellow teacher, played our guitars and sang Jingle Bells. We also had other entertainment. The best one was two women dressed as cats. They sang meow songs. The kids loved it. Paul, Andy and me then dressed up as
Santa clause in the back room. When we came out the 115 children charged us. It was crazy. They were grabbing my pants, pulling my jacket off, hanging off my legs and arms, trying to tear off my bead and hat. I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my face. I was also out of breath. Very funny. I wish
I could have videoed it. Teaching little kids can be cool. Once we gave them the presents they all left.
The next party was not as crazy but very tiring all the same. We basically did the same as
did for the little toddlers. The age group for the second party was between 4 - 12 years old. Once that one was over we had a short break,
cleaned up the mess and then we were off to the adult party.
Adult Party
I was dressed in a Santa suit as was all the other foreign teachers. We are basically a trophy for the school.
It's a weird experience. It was a all you can eat, all you can drink deal. So, because
I was really tired from the other two parties I decided to get hammered.
The party started at 6:00 pm and by 7:30 pm I was smashed. With 3 more hours to go at the party;
I was in great shape. The time flew by. It was a glorious way to be subjected as a trophy.
The students were great. I had a great time talking to them outside of class.
The
Japanese culture is really growing on me I must say. They always offer to
buy your drink and they are really pleased to see you and talk to you. They treat foreigners very
well here, better than they do in England that`s for sure. After the
party all the staff headed to Sanctuary, a bar in town that serves cheap beer,
well cheap for Japan. We were already smashed when we got there and then
we began to drink more. One staff member passed out on me and I had to
fend off men trying to touch her as she slept. Very odd but what can you
do. We sent her on her way in a taxi and that's when I headed home on my
bike. After riding into a wall and barely making it home, I was absolutely
smashed, I slept like a log and kept Carmen up all night snoring. The
next day I puked all morning and had to go to work. Teaching with a
hangover sucks. On the way to work I was looking for good puking spots, I would
say to myself, "that's a good puking spot", ah the joy of alcohol.
When I arrived to work, normally a 12 minute ride, it took me 30 as I was really
nauseous and couldn't go faster than about 5 km, I taught my first class. It
just so happens that the first time ever a student offered me home
made cake that she spent 2 days making and a month of marinating the walnuts
in rum so I had to eat it, even though the last thing I wanted
was to eat anything because I couldn't keep anything down. I
managed though, just. Crazy times. Now a friend wants
me to go to another party that's all you can drink, I don't think so,
with Christmas just around the corner I better be careful or I won't have a liver left to enjoy the holidays.
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