July 1st (a Thursday)
I find out last minute via email at work that Colare was having its monthly dinners that day. However what was special about this dinner is that it was to celebrate the time the Colare members had with the leaving JETs in our area. I ended up sitting with most of the JET girls that were there as we ate. Lawrence sung for us as the musical entertainment (awesome as usual). There was another singer before Lawrence but I don’t recall his songs to be all that memorable. In any case it was simple eating and listening. However Brett had a quiz game for everyone to play. Our teams were made up of the members of the table we were sitting at. There were questions about Toyama, FIFA, Colare and others. With fierce determination and a brute desire to crush our opponents our team won! Unfortunately the only thing we won was bragging rights XD However this was enough for us, and a lot of people got a kick out of our excitement. It indeed livened up the evening. It wasn’t too long after that we let the leavers say a few words and took a picture with them. Then it was time to take home the leftover foodz and go home. It was a good evening.
July2nd (Friday)
Today was the official Niikawa leavers dinner was today after work. We all met up in the same restaurant as our first welcome dinner in Toyama. Even Rosa came out and if you haven’t seen the name in a while it shows how often she does anything. My JTE Tommy came as well. He was invited by Lawrence I believe and considering he’s our age it makes sense. So it was dinner as usual really. Chatting about bands, and our times there, and any other random thing that came across our minds. A moment I personally enjoyed was when Christine ate a sizable portion of something green and realized later that it was wasabi. Her reaction and the way she was guzzling down beer was priceless. We lingered at dinner for some time since the boys kept ordering beers. When we finally left however we decided that being bums in a park was a good thing to do (since the original plan of action after dinner was karaoke).
SO the gang stopped off at the seven eleven, collected the nessary items (alcohol and snacks) and we walked to the park. There we did more of the same. Talking and joking around. There were two highlights while in the park bumming around with everyone. One being the heated but friendly conversation Christine, Ally, Maddy, Lawrence and I were having about the differences between British English and American English. It was interesting and definitely brought up some funny moments. The second one was when Tommy (who was blasted drunk by this point) was holding races with the rest of the group (or at least those that wanted to race). When it was a large group of racer and I said “go” for the final race, Tommy raced ahead and beat everyone else, but Brett did this slow motion run with a beer in his hand. It was HILARIOUS. I wish I caught that one film!!! Before we knew it though it was time for people to catch trains or just head home. Lawrence and I went over Ally’s to watch the world cup match between Brazil and Holland. It was interesting and through out the match we kept switching and forth between FIFA, Wimbledon and some crazy looking Jdrama that kept panning to some chick in a wheelchair with a white-haired man servant. By the time we decided to call it quits it was 2am in the morning and we both undoubtedly passed out when we crawled into bed.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
PUFFY
So this the next few posts are going to be a bit out of order ^^;; すみません！
July 6th
So on a regular day of the week (a Tuesday) I came home for work and started to get ready for the Puffy concert that evening. I was never really a fan of Puffy, but I figured I couldn’t/shouldn’t miss the opportunity to see a pretty famous Jpop group especially since the venue was a mere five minutes from my apartment. So I ended up getting a bit dressed up and waited in the Colare Lobby for my friends to arrive. When they finally did, I realized I was the only that decided to dress up. I was told that I looked good and then we checked out tickets. Apparently Val bought everyone else’s ticket with hers so they had seats beside each other. I purchased mine separately so I was seated by myself on the opposite side of the auditorium. It felt a bit awkward but I resolved to enjoy myself anyway.
When the concert started it was a lot of fun. I had never heard any of those songs before but there were quite enjoyable to listen to. One song in particular “Puffy is a Monster” was a fun song because the backup dancers came on stage and taught us the Para that went along with the song. It’s always fun when the crowd can get involved with the performance. The only think I regret about this concert was the fact I was wearing leather three inch boots. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it was a standing/sitting affair. However when they came on stage the crowd stood and remained standing for the entirety of the concert. After hour one and a half my feet no longer approved. XD Nevertheless the concert ended and the five of us met back in the lobby long enough for quick goodbyes. Most everyone had a train to catch, and I have to say it’s a weird experience when I’m not the one running to catch a train or need to get home by a certain time. I quite like it XP Considering that I did not eat dinner I decided to take a fifteen minute drive to a Mc Donald’s (cause greasy food after a concert just feels right lol ) grabbed food and went to down on it. It was indeed a good night ^^
July 6th
So on a regular day of the week (a Tuesday) I came home for work and started to get ready for the Puffy concert that evening. I was never really a fan of Puffy, but I figured I couldn’t/shouldn’t miss the opportunity to see a pretty famous Jpop group especially since the venue was a mere five minutes from my apartment. So I ended up getting a bit dressed up and waited in the Colare Lobby for my friends to arrive. When they finally did, I realized I was the only that decided to dress up. I was told that I looked good and then we checked out tickets. Apparently Val bought everyone else’s ticket with hers so they had seats beside each other. I purchased mine separately so I was seated by myself on the opposite side of the auditorium. It felt a bit awkward but I resolved to enjoy myself anyway.
When the concert started it was a lot of fun. I had never heard any of those songs before but there were quite enjoyable to listen to. One song in particular “Puffy is a Monster” was a fun song because the backup dancers came on stage and taught us the Para that went along with the song. It’s always fun when the crowd can get involved with the performance. The only think I regret about this concert was the fact I was wearing leather three inch boots. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it was a standing/sitting affair. However when they came on stage the crowd stood and remained standing for the entirety of the concert. After hour one and a half my feet no longer approved. XD Nevertheless the concert ended and the five of us met back in the lobby long enough for quick goodbyes. Most everyone had a train to catch, and I have to say it’s a weird experience when I’m not the one running to catch a train or need to get home by a certain time. I quite like it XP Considering that I did not eat dinner I decided to take a fifteen minute drive to a Mc Donald’s (cause greasy food after a concert just feels right lol ) grabbed food and went to down on it. It was indeed a good night ^^
Monday, July 19, 2010
Bowling, Enkai, Leavers
June 23rd: Randomly I get messaged by Hilda for a Wednesday night get together with Mr. Fantastic. I ended up rushing over there last minute because instead of doing nothing at home I choose to spend the evening with other people. I met Hilda and the gang at Santoshi’s. It was quite amusing since they ordered my food for me and even though I was the last to arrive my food came out first. Gotta love the irony of that. Dinner was enjoyable and after we all finished our meals off, to bowling we went. Granted I’m not a huge fan of bowling and it showed when I played. LOL I have learned however if I just put power behind and aim for the middle instead of being cautious with my throws I am more likely to get a decent overall score. Good information for later…when ever later is for bowling lol. Got home relatively early and called it a night.
June 25th: After work that Friday I ran home and changed. Many of my coworkers were telling me about Jin Jin matsuri that was happening around the bank in my area. At first I didn’t think I’d have time to go but I decided to go there for forty minutes or so just to look around. I ended up running into my JTE Tommy which I knew I would and we ended up walking around with kids together. I think it’s funny cause a lot of kids think that we have “something* going on. XD Oh well. After that we both went to our separate vehicles for the Enkai at Jalapelon (sp?). Unfortunately cause I am directionally challenged in this country I LITERALLY lost my car. I parked on a side street I had never been on before and walked up and down a few blocks while enjoying the festival. In the end I lost track of where I entered the festival so I had to walk back to the school. Luckily the teacher who was taking me to the restaurant wasn’t ready so I had time to cool down before heading over there. When we finally did make it there I sat at the table with most of the people I knew from the year before and some new faces as well.
It was a fun and crazy time as usual. Enakis at Chuo elementary school are the absolute best. I spent time trying to make Tommy act normal (for him anyways) cause he is even more crazy when intoxicated. He was busy cursing out the teachers in English mostly in fun and I had to tell him to chill. It’s interesting the dynamic we have <.< Anyways it was really fun. It was also at this enkai that Tommy dropped the bomb that I was leaving Chuo. The teachers looked very surprised and I honestly think they will miss me way more then the children do/will. Su-chan said that when she has cookouts at her house I should come to say a part of and in touch with the community at Chuo. It was nice of her and it made me feel very welcomed.
OFCOURSE after drinking quite a bit, and being the most tipsy I have been in a very long time the dinner ended. A few of us then went to Karaoke at some bar called Spirits. Of course I sang and they cheered and we all had more drinks and generally had a wonderful time. One of the teachers actually got sick and didn’t even make it into the Karaoke bar. He ended up bailing and going home. I’m not sure when we actually finished Karaoke and went our separate ways, but I walked home and after thirty minutes of searching located my car, and drove home! XD
June 26th and 27th; Leavers Weekend:
So needless to say the night before I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. However I couldn’t sleep in too late because I had to shower and get ready for Leavers Weekend. So around 2pm Sayuri came and picked me up from my apartment. It was really nice of her to give me a ride. I didn’t know how I was going to make it up there without her seeing as I have no GPS to find the place in the mountains, and the simple fact that my car is just not running well enough for such a long trip; especially not up mountains and through forest. Nevertheless we made our way there. The trip up was enjoyable with talk, Mc Donald’s and Semi getting lost. The only issue was some of the roads on the mountains were incredibly narrow and had no side railings. So more than once we thought we were going to just drive off the side of the mountain O.o
Once we arrived we did our best to find places to sleep. I ended up landing a futon on the floor which is lucky compared to some people. I think a good chunk of people got the floor with out much cushion at all. I lingered around a bit and then with a group of others walked down to the campsite where they were making dinner (large tubs of yakisoba) and drinking. This was pretty much the jist of being there. To drink, eat and hang with the people who were leaving the JET programme this summer. For the first couple of hours it was simply people talking. Then Johnny and some others hopped on the instruments and started playing music. Some ppl gathered around and danced and sung along if they knew the tune. Whilst this was going on there was a contest in place. There were a bunch of categories lined up on a table and you had to vote which person best fit that category. There were such categories as “most hairy”, “ biggest animation nerd”, “ facebook stalker”, “ party all night”, “karaoke star” and so on. When it came to announce the winners I was SURE that I wouldn’t be chosen for any of the fifteen categories up for voting that night. I of course was wrong. Some how I managed to win the “Most likely to Cosplay at work” category. I was shocked XD Not only did I win that category the prize was no real prize at all. All the prizes were 3 shots of Tequila a piece. I recorded most of it but not until after I won mine. It would have been interesting to have gotten that on film. XD After this there was simply a continuation of the former activities. Lots of conversations and drinking. If they had, had dance music it would have been even more fun, but apparently someone forgot the cord that would connect an iPod to the speaker so it didn’t happen. I didn’t end up taking myself to bed until around 2am and slept fairly well considering it being very hot and being on a futon. Then again my bed isn’t all that comfortable these days. :/
The following morning I got up and went down to the camp site. There was peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, along with orange juice…or at least I think it was orange juice O.o This is where we all sat around getting ready to head back to our respective cities and to bed for a good number of us. We received the first or perhaps the leavers addition of “The Tram” which is a Jet publication done by the reps in our area. Within it had messages from all the leavers. It was nice parting gift. All in all I have to say that this was one hell of a weekend, and probably the most intoxicated one I’ve had while in Japan. Still haven’t managed drunkenness yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s a GOOD thing. XD
June 25th: After work that Friday I ran home and changed. Many of my coworkers were telling me about Jin Jin matsuri that was happening around the bank in my area. At first I didn’t think I’d have time to go but I decided to go there for forty minutes or so just to look around. I ended up running into my JTE Tommy which I knew I would and we ended up walking around with kids together. I think it’s funny cause a lot of kids think that we have “something* going on. XD Oh well. After that we both went to our separate vehicles for the Enkai at Jalapelon (sp?). Unfortunately cause I am directionally challenged in this country I LITERALLY lost my car. I parked on a side street I had never been on before and walked up and down a few blocks while enjoying the festival. In the end I lost track of where I entered the festival so I had to walk back to the school. Luckily the teacher who was taking me to the restaurant wasn’t ready so I had time to cool down before heading over there. When we finally did make it there I sat at the table with most of the people I knew from the year before and some new faces as well.
It was a fun and crazy time as usual. Enakis at Chuo elementary school are the absolute best. I spent time trying to make Tommy act normal (for him anyways) cause he is even more crazy when intoxicated. He was busy cursing out the teachers in English mostly in fun and I had to tell him to chill. It’s interesting the dynamic we have <.< Anyways it was really fun. It was also at this enkai that Tommy dropped the bomb that I was leaving Chuo. The teachers looked very surprised and I honestly think they will miss me way more then the children do/will. Su-chan said that when she has cookouts at her house I should come to say a part of and in touch with the community at Chuo. It was nice of her and it made me feel very welcomed.
OFCOURSE after drinking quite a bit, and being the most tipsy I have been in a very long time the dinner ended. A few of us then went to Karaoke at some bar called Spirits. Of course I sang and they cheered and we all had more drinks and generally had a wonderful time. One of the teachers actually got sick and didn’t even make it into the Karaoke bar. He ended up bailing and going home. I’m not sure when we actually finished Karaoke and went our separate ways, but I walked home and after thirty minutes of searching located my car, and drove home! XD
June 26th and 27th; Leavers Weekend:
So needless to say the night before I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. However I couldn’t sleep in too late because I had to shower and get ready for Leavers Weekend. So around 2pm Sayuri came and picked me up from my apartment. It was really nice of her to give me a ride. I didn’t know how I was going to make it up there without her seeing as I have no GPS to find the place in the mountains, and the simple fact that my car is just not running well enough for such a long trip; especially not up mountains and through forest. Nevertheless we made our way there. The trip up was enjoyable with talk, Mc Donald’s and Semi getting lost. The only issue was some of the roads on the mountains were incredibly narrow and had no side railings. So more than once we thought we were going to just drive off the side of the mountain O.o
Once we arrived we did our best to find places to sleep. I ended up landing a futon on the floor which is lucky compared to some people. I think a good chunk of people got the floor with out much cushion at all. I lingered around a bit and then with a group of others walked down to the campsite where they were making dinner (large tubs of yakisoba) and drinking. This was pretty much the jist of being there. To drink, eat and hang with the people who were leaving the JET programme this summer. For the first couple of hours it was simply people talking. Then Johnny and some others hopped on the instruments and started playing music. Some ppl gathered around and danced and sung along if they knew the tune. Whilst this was going on there was a contest in place. There were a bunch of categories lined up on a table and you had to vote which person best fit that category. There were such categories as “most hairy”, “ biggest animation nerd”, “ facebook stalker”, “ party all night”, “karaoke star” and so on. When it came to announce the winners I was SURE that I wouldn’t be chosen for any of the fifteen categories up for voting that night. I of course was wrong. Some how I managed to win the “Most likely to Cosplay at work” category. I was shocked XD Not only did I win that category the prize was no real prize at all. All the prizes were 3 shots of Tequila a piece. I recorded most of it but not until after I won mine. It would have been interesting to have gotten that on film. XD After this there was simply a continuation of the former activities. Lots of conversations and drinking. If they had, had dance music it would have been even more fun, but apparently someone forgot the cord that would connect an iPod to the speaker so it didn’t happen. I didn’t end up taking myself to bed until around 2am and slept fairly well considering it being very hot and being on a futon. Then again my bed isn’t all that comfortable these days. :/
The following morning I got up and went down to the camp site. There was peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, along with orange juice…or at least I think it was orange juice O.o This is where we all sat around getting ready to head back to our respective cities and to bed for a good number of us. We received the first or perhaps the leavers addition of “The Tram” which is a Jet publication done by the reps in our area. Within it had messages from all the leavers. It was nice parting gift. All in all I have to say that this was one hell of a weekend, and probably the most intoxicated one I’ve had while in Japan. Still haven’t managed drunkenness yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s a GOOD thing. XD
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