Farewell, Craftsmanship and Jet Fest!

Monday Feburary 15th:
A rather normal Monday with Eikawa at night, but I met up with Adam for dinner. It was nice to chat with him and we are going to attempt to have dinner every Monday when we can before my Eikawa Class. We already have another dinner planned with us and Reaven for Chinese in the following weeks. Eikawa class has also changed now that we have another student. She is pretty good at English and has A LOT of questions. So I end up spending most of my time explaining things, which I must admit helps the time move by faster. Also it was nice because one of my students who is GREAT at cooking (also the one who held the Christmas party at her house) brought tea and mango pudding for everyone. She is such a NICE lady!

Friday February 19th:
After work it was a quick hour or sprucing up moment before rushing off to the train station to catch the JR to Toyama. Once I arrived I met Tiffany at the Mall and looked around for ten minutes or so. We were the first to arrive in town and the first to get our seats at Gohei. Once in Gohei we waited around for the rest of the guests to arrive. It was a tatami sit down kind of food place and a lot of people ended up showing. Even unexpected persons which arrived before the star of the dinner himself. In fact he came perhaps and hour or so after everyone else had basically arrived. The table was set for ten people but at least fifteen showed. Nevertheless one of the CIRs that spoke at mid-year seminar showed up and I was about to introduce myself before he stopped me short and said he already knew me. When I asked him to explain he told me that the other Brazilian friends I had made a few weeks back had spoken of me as did Hilda, a close friend of his and now mine. It’s really interesting and slightly off putting when one keeps meeting people who already know you and you know nothing about them XD

Nevertheless the dinner moved on, and after trying horse meat and finishing my own meal it was go Karaoke time! Something I feel like I am going to overkill on in the near future haha . So a good chunk of us ( Salvador, Jarrad, Yunosuke and a friend he brought, Rachel and her boyfriend, Tiffany, Ousemon and Vannie… hope I didn’t leave out one hehe) went to Karaoke. We ended up belting out for three hours this round, and I sung quite a bit. Each time I gained more and more vibe and appreciation. I official will make the “I See You” song by Leonia Lewis a song I sing. It’s a hard song to sing and I think if I can master it, then my voice/vocal range will improve. I want to sing the best I can come time for the Charity Show. It was really fun and I got to hang out with those who I normally never hand with or don’t have a chance to. Jarrad, Ousemon, Salvador and I all made racist jokes with each other. I found it funny since we were the only brown people in the room, and we were the only ones not too nervous to joke and play around in such a fashion. Something I haven’t done much since leaving the US. Very cool cats indeed. Once I had thoroughly lost my voice for the night it was time to crash at Vannies place for the night!

Saturday February 20th:
I slept in while Vannie left out to run errands and such and woke around one in the afternoon. I got dressed and then called Alexis to see if we were still on, for working on the Tin-Man costume. Once she said it was a go I waited for her to drop by Vannies. When she arrived she dropped off her things and we headed out for food and supplies. However first I needed to drop by the ATM (and here is one of those “it happens only in Japan moments”!). I get in line put in my card, key code, how much money I want, and wait. I grab the receipt and my card and walk away…. WITHOUT my money! A women came up behind me telling me “Your money Your money” in Japanese and by the time I ran back to grab it the cash slot closed and the entire ATM on the ride side shut down. The lady behind me then proceeded to help me, by calling someone and telling them what happened. She told me to wait there while someone came to fix the problem. So Alexis and I waited for a good fifteen or so minutes when a man pulled up and went into the room behind the ATM machine. ( Mind you there is a line of Japanese ppl at the other side of the ATM trying to figure out WHY the machine wasn’t working and WHY were two gaijin standing there looking clueless) After he fooled around with things, he came around gave me my money and was super nice. I didn’t have to pay a dime for this service. It was very cool! And I have another only in Japan story!

After that moment of crazy we stopped in Mc Donald’s, had a late lunch and then trolled the two stories Hyakuen-shop for materials. I ended up buying materials for the costume and myself. It was a really nice store which I wish I had near me. After we walked back with all our materials we then proceeded to work on the costume. I think its going to turn out well! That and Alexis is a really fun person to work with and likes to get things done. Finally Vannie came back home with Will and Van proceeded to make spring rolls for dinner while Will met worked with Takuma on lyrics for the charity show songs. We all were doing work until Vannie finished dinner then we basically called it a night and ate!! It was also Taku’s bday so he busted out the champagne, I had a glass and so did Will and we toasted. Shortly there after Debbie showed, had some food and we all chilled for a while until Taku left, then Vannie, Debbie and I drew for a while until Vannie and Will wanted alone time. It was then I went with Debbie down to her apartment on the lower floors and chilled with her for some time. After being texted by Vannie that it was ok to return to her apartment I said good night to Debbie, went back to Vannies place, and curled up for bed.

Sunday February 21st:
Once again I slept in while Vannie and Will left around eight in the morning to get things prepared for Jet Fest. I slept until 10:300-11oclock and woke up, dressed, and made my way (slowly and unsurely) to the station to get to the JR and hop a train to Takaoka where Jet Fest was to be held. When I was waiting on the platform for the train to come I ran into Ousemon and we boarded the train together. By the time we reached Takaoka around ten of us Jets and friends of Jet had managed to be on the same train and we all walked together to Wing Wing where the festival was being held. Arriving at Wing Wing we all broke off and I circled the country/state booths and greeted and mingled with people. I was also on and off watching the cultural performances on stage. Everyone was watching when the Brazilian drum and base band came on and a rather attractive 15! year old half Brazilian half Japanese girl came on the stage wearing carnival clothes and shaking what the BRAZILLIAN side gave her! Hahaha! There was also a little girl perhaps the age of five dancing with her. It was cute. Then the band leader put down his drum and came into the audience and started dancing around. He then proceeded to drag me up on the stage as well as Sara to dance. It was embarrassing and nice, and he was really cute! UNFORTUNATELY I found out later that he was not only Sara’s student but he was seventeen. *sigh* I can’t win! XD! The rest of the festival was relative normal after this and once it was all over me and a group of people went along with Sara and Taku to by ingredients for Mexican dinner. It was fun to make the food and I got to hang with Jarrad and Salvador again and we fussed about being the workers in the kitchens! However by the time we had finished cooking and it was time to eat we had a rather FULL house of people there, and the food went FAST. I put mine to the side and continued to cook the tortillas so there would be enough for everyone. I also managed to have five small cups of margaritas which was nice XD! After dinner there was talking, a little dancing, and explaining motor boating to Japanese girls. Of course I was made an example of. This is just how it goes here ^^;; When it was time to go Taku drove the Niikawa people to the station and we all traded numbers and said our goodbyes! Another successfully fun and sleep heavy weekend! I am on a roll!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. YAY!! I caught up!