This will be a short post, but I don't want to have too much stuff to talk about when I come back from my trip! I updated during the day on Monday, but I had a great night! I went to my 忘年会 (bonenkai, end of the year party) with Shinozaki. We went to a very fancy restaurant that was meant for weddings. The two youngest teachers in charge of the party came in down the stairs as if they were getting married, it was really funny! Also, the principal came about half an hour late and they made him come in with the youngest teacher down the stairs again. He walked her over to her seat and pulled it out for her before going to his table. It was great fun! I sat with the first year English teacher and the special education teacher. They're both really nice! The food was delicious and we played a 'Quiz Millionaire' game. They asked questions and we had cards that read A, B, C, and D. We had to hold up the right answer for each question. Our team didn't do so well, but we all got prizes! After dinner we went back to Kokura for 二次会 (nijikai, second party). I met Mike and he came with us, too! All the teachers were really excited to meet him and we all had a great time!
Tuesday was a national holiday, so Mike and I met Megan, Leah, and a friend of Leah's to see Interstellar at Cha Cha Town. We all liked it and afterwards we got lunch at a sushi place. Megan had a bit more Christmas shopping to do, so we headed over to Riverwalk. We ended up going to the temple near-by and on our way we saw a huge line of people by Riverwalk. We asked what was going on and found out there was a gospel concert starting at 5:00. It was 4:30, so we decided to grab a coffee and wait for the concert. It was about an hour long and really cool! There were about 100 people singing and the soloists were amazing! They had special lights, streamers, and even giant balloons that popped and let down a bunch of smaller, heart-shaped balloons. After the concert Megan and Leah's friend had to go home, but another friend of ours, Satoshi, came. We went to Konya-machi for dinner. We meet Kikumi and Shinki at a restaurant called 赤ちょうちゃん (Akachouchan). It had opened a few days before and Kikumi and Shinki hadn't been around to celebrate with the owners. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and it was delicious! I will definitely be going back! We went to meet Caol after dinner and had a few drinks at a Korean bar before heading home.
Wednesday I had my school's closing ceremony. There was no school lunch, so I went to sushi with the same teacher's I had sat with at the bonenkai. It was really nice seeing them outside of school (or a school event)! I left after lunch, but not before Mr. Kawai gave me a present. He even got a present for Mike. I'm not sure of the official name for them, but they're decorated Japanese badminton rackets. It was really nice of him to get them for us, I'm so happy!
Last night was Christmas Eve, so I went out to dinner with Marc, Tanya, Dan, Younglim, Juha, and Kyoko. We went to an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink Korean BBQ restaurant. It's a restaurant I really like and everyone else liked it as well! We had a great dinner and then went out to a sake bar where we met Leah, Satoshi, Patrick, and Caol. We didn't stay out too late, but we had a lot of fun! It was a great night!
Today for Christmas we're having a small potluck as my apartment. My friend Jake is coming over early to play some games before dinner. It will be a small gathering, but it should be a very cozy Christmas. Mike and I will Skype with my family tomorrow morning before heading off to Nagoya! We're so excited to go on our trip! We're all packed and everything. So merry Christmas everyone! I'll update again after my trip!
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