Must...get...new Karaoke...song..
And it has to be Japanese. And by either Judy and Mary or Yuki (although technically, that's the same person) Because singing "Sobakasu" over and over again at karaoke just isn't providing me with the entertainment that it used to. More on that later.
Graduation. The culmination of three years of (not particularly) hard work for my third years. The end of an old era and the beginning of Adult Life. And, of course, an excuse for a bunch of old guys to get up on stage and talk for a really long time.
In case you havent figured it out yet, my school's graduation ceremony was this Friday. It was one of those times when it is fairly obvious that they do not know what to do with me, which always makes me feel a little frustrated an useless. This time, though, I went and stood with some of the teachers that I've gotten a little closer to at the reception desk. This did not make me feel particulary useful, but at least I did not like I was at complete loose ends. Other than that, I have to say that I highly approve of the manner in which it was carried out. Rather than having each student come up and get their diploma and shake some people's hands and then probably flash everybody by opening up their robes so that the Humorous Message they have written on their chests may be seen, they read out the students name while the students were seated and then read out the diploma to a representative student and just gave him the entire class's diplomas. I talked to some of the teachers about it later, and they said that some of the schools (further south) do it the way that I am used to, but that they try to keep it short because usually it is still quite cold at this time of year and it is hard to keep the gym heated. All in all, the ceremony lasted about an hour, so mission totally accomplished.
Then, everyone went home. (IS NOT MAKING THIS UP)
Seriously, all the parents, and the big community leaders, and the people from the board of education and the STUDENTS and EVERYONE went home. Except for the teachers. We got to stay at school, until five. Because that is just the Way Things Are. I was really, really bored.
Fortunately, it finally ended and we got to go to...the graduation enkai, yay! This took place in the same venue as the bunkasai enkai, a place called Tokimine, which doubles as a hotel and enkai-holding-location. During the bunkasai, we had standard enkai fare - fried everything, but I guess graduation is a bit more important because we got the full Japanese style meal where they keep bringing out new and exciting things to eat and you stuff your face silly. Unfortunately Tokimine is at an annoying distance from my house, close enough that I could walk there, but far away enough that if I had to walk back from there while drunk...I would probably fall into one of the canals. So I ended up driving, and therefore not drinking. My life is so hard.
The guests of honor were, of course, the three homeroom teachers of the third year classes, so they got to sit at the front. Through an amazing twist of fate that I refuse to believe just randomly happened, the "random" number I picked put me between one of my English teachers and one of the Economics teachers whose English is ridiculously good. We had some nice conversations, and I am reasonably sure that I agreed to go skiing with him and the students this weekend. Which worries me, because the students in question are my third-years and will probably take this opportunity to laugh at my ineptitude as much as they can...which, now that I think about it, will not be too different from our actual classes and therefore should not be a source of anxiety for me. Well, that's one problem solved!
I am getting slightly better at the enkai thing and have gotten to the point that I can make the round of all the teachers with booze and tea in hand without too much trouble, although my knees are usually killing me by the end of it. Curse you, Japan, curse you AND your lack of chairs! I congratulated the guests of honor, was once again (in what is coming to be something of a running joke) promised tofu by the principal (which he only does when he is drunk - I'm not really sure why). The principal also told me that there would be a soba festival in Monzen that weekend and I should definitely come and funnel some money into the economy. I am serious, that's what he said. I guess the Monzenites are still kind of sore about being swallowed up by Wajima last year. I also had a longer talk with the other economics teacher - in Japanese! Yay! I really think I'm improving. He was drunk, so sometimes I had problems understanding what he said, but by and large it was a highly successful conversation.
Several people proved to be quite disappointed at my driving-ness; I get this a lot, because, quite frankly, I am usually driving in situations such as this (the bounenkai being the exception). It (apparently) leads people to wonder whether I am physically capable of drinking, as I get asked "oh, can't you drink?" a LOT even after I have made it clear that I am driving. I guess it's just because drinking is such a highly social activity in Japan that to consistently fail to do so is highly suspicious. Either that or they get sad when they learn that they can't make the foreigner get drunk and engage in wacky hijinks.
Eventually, we had some melon, went "banzai" several times, did some synchronized clapping and went home. Or well, that's what I expected to happen - which I can be forgiven for considering that that is what has happened at every single other enkai we've had. (except the bounenkai, but i think we can all agree that the bounenkai is in a category all of its own) Instead, we had a nijikai! (2nd party) with...Karaoke! Hurray! Yep, we all piled into our cars/into the Tokimine minibus and headed over to The Mikado for Karaoke, drinks, and little candies.
Naturally, I had to sing Sobakasu again - hence my need for a new song. I mean, really, I enjoy Sobakasu, but singing it over and over and over again is wearing a little thin. And I have to do it, because apparently it is a song of great nostalgia for some of the teachers. I sang a few other things, too, but I was kind of in the whole "parties aren't as fun when everybody is drunk but you are not" mode. Also, the karaoke machine had a grading system that consistently gave me a really low score and gave everybody else really high scores even though they were really off key. This kind of annoyed me because I KNOW I have a decent sense of pitch, so what, exactly, was the problem? I'm going to assume that it was because I don't really pay that much attention to making my songs as identical as possible to the originals in terms of note length and the like so I kept getting penalized for being off-beat from the original. On the other hand, it probably would have looked bad to get higher scores than all of the more senior teachers, so maybe it's ok. (Still, how many times do you have to practice/listen to a song in order to get it perfectly on beat? Yeesh) /whine.
Eventually, the principal sang "memories of Kanazawa" or some similarly named song, which apparently signaled the end of the second party. At this point, most of the older teachers got into the minibus to either go to their hotel or go home. The baseball coach, however, had come over on the minibus (as had one of my JTEs) but neither of them got back on. In fact, the baseball coach "hid" behind a car in order to avoid being noticed. This was, seriously, hilarious. I couldn't figure out what was going on and why he was doing it until everybody left and he got up to announce that we would now take my and the nurse's car to the next party location. At first I said I was just going to go home, but then I realized that the next location was fairly close to my house so 1. I could leave whenever I wanted and 2. I could park at my house and thus be able to participate in the drunken debauchery.
All in all, the last party was much more subdued, mostly just talking and nobody seemed in the mood to do much singing - probably because there were other people in the bar with us. We did have pocky though, which was nice, and we had some good conversations. I learned the Japanese word for "hay fever" but have since forgotten it, and in turn attempted to explain the EEEEVIIIIL that is Texas cedar. I think I might have failed though.
Eventually the party broke up and we went home, ah, good times.
The next day was CLEANING DAY. Nuff said.
But the day after that I headed out to Monzen for the aforementioned soba festival. It was right near Sojiji and very nice, full of soba and other foodstuffs. I got some free soba by standing around and looking foreign. Which was nice but backfired later when I wanted to buy some freshly made soba and had to endure scepticism regarding my ability to boil pasta. I had to assure them that I was capable of working a stove and had access to one before they were willing to sell it to me. I prevailed, however, and was able to succeed in my twin goals of funneling money into Monzen's economy and buying something for that night's dinner.
I also met a bunch of people at work, including one of the office people and the music teacher. It was very nice to see them both, of course, but the most amusement came from my music teacher who latched onto my arm as soon as she saw me and dragged me over to meet her husband. After this was accomplished, I was given permission to eat my soba, which I did. As soon, as I finished, though, she latched onto me again and decided that I had to come visit her husband and her at their house Right That Moment. (I say latched, but I didn't really put up much of a fight, and, of course, she is Japanese, so it was very polite, if firm, latching) I had a very nice time at their house (although once again everybody seemed very disappointed that I could not drink) It turns out that the entire family is musically inclined: the wife plays the piano and sings, the husband can play the guitar, and at least one of their children (who are both in Tokyo) play the violin. The husband demonstrated his guitar playing - it was very nice and told me that I must come by at some point when they and their friends get together for something akin to a jam session. Apparently they also have a friend who is a really good cook, so first there is eating and drinking and then they play various instruments together. It sounds rather nice, all in all.
Apparently their next party is slated for April when the Sakura are blooming; hopefully, I'll have time. Really they are very nice people, and they seem to think that I am nice, too. Not to mention it is an excellent chance to practice my Japanese! Yay for Japanese practice! (I am aiming for Nikyuu next year, you know, so I must get tons better)
Following the idea that the first visit should never exceed an hour, I managed to extract myself and headed on home. Job well done on this weekend, as far as I'm concerned.
Man, the weather is awful today, it's making me cold just looking out the window. Also, the wind is making all the doors rattle, which always makes me nervous about the possible imminent collapse of the school.
And now, for anyone in need of a good laugh (or anyone who wants their brain to explode), I give you...Switzerland's Entry into Eurovision this year: Vampires Are Alive (and can do Para-para dancing)
If you do not know what para para dancing is, then you will after watching this video. All Japanese high school students (as well as vampires, apparently) can do it, although they are not allowed to smile while doing so - even if they are doing it voluntarily and happen to enjoy it.
This is proof positive that this year's Eurovision contest will be EVEN BETTER than last year's, although it will be hard to top "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
Also, I have added the song names and artists to the music meme entry, so if you were curious about any of those, you can now check them out.
Graduation. The culmination of three years of (not particularly) hard work for my third years. The end of an old era and the beginning of Adult Life. And, of course, an excuse for a bunch of old guys to get up on stage and talk for a really long time.
In case you havent figured it out yet, my school's graduation ceremony was this Friday. It was one of those times when it is fairly obvious that they do not know what to do with me, which always makes me feel a little frustrated an useless. This time, though, I went and stood with some of the teachers that I've gotten a little closer to at the reception desk. This did not make me feel particulary useful, but at least I did not like I was at complete loose ends. Other than that, I have to say that I highly approve of the manner in which it was carried out. Rather than having each student come up and get their diploma and shake some people's hands and then probably flash everybody by opening up their robes so that the Humorous Message they have written on their chests may be seen, they read out the students name while the students were seated and then read out the diploma to a representative student and just gave him the entire class's diplomas. I talked to some of the teachers about it later, and they said that some of the schools (further south) do it the way that I am used to, but that they try to keep it short because usually it is still quite cold at this time of year and it is hard to keep the gym heated. All in all, the ceremony lasted about an hour, so mission totally accomplished.
Then, everyone went home. (IS NOT MAKING THIS UP)
Seriously, all the parents, and the big community leaders, and the people from the board of education and the STUDENTS and EVERYONE went home. Except for the teachers. We got to stay at school, until five. Because that is just the Way Things Are. I was really, really bored.
Fortunately, it finally ended and we got to go to...the graduation enkai, yay! This took place in the same venue as the bunkasai enkai, a place called Tokimine, which doubles as a hotel and enkai-holding-location. During the bunkasai, we had standard enkai fare - fried everything, but I guess graduation is a bit more important because we got the full Japanese style meal where they keep bringing out new and exciting things to eat and you stuff your face silly. Unfortunately Tokimine is at an annoying distance from my house, close enough that I could walk there, but far away enough that if I had to walk back from there while drunk...I would probably fall into one of the canals. So I ended up driving, and therefore not drinking. My life is so hard.
The guests of honor were, of course, the three homeroom teachers of the third year classes, so they got to sit at the front. Through an amazing twist of fate that I refuse to believe just randomly happened, the "random" number I picked put me between one of my English teachers and one of the Economics teachers whose English is ridiculously good. We had some nice conversations, and I am reasonably sure that I agreed to go skiing with him and the students this weekend. Which worries me, because the students in question are my third-years and will probably take this opportunity to laugh at my ineptitude as much as they can...which, now that I think about it, will not be too different from our actual classes and therefore should not be a source of anxiety for me. Well, that's one problem solved!
I am getting slightly better at the enkai thing and have gotten to the point that I can make the round of all the teachers with booze and tea in hand without too much trouble, although my knees are usually killing me by the end of it. Curse you, Japan, curse you AND your lack of chairs! I congratulated the guests of honor, was once again (in what is coming to be something of a running joke) promised tofu by the principal (which he only does when he is drunk - I'm not really sure why). The principal also told me that there would be a soba festival in Monzen that weekend and I should definitely come and funnel some money into the economy. I am serious, that's what he said. I guess the Monzenites are still kind of sore about being swallowed up by Wajima last year. I also had a longer talk with the other economics teacher - in Japanese! Yay! I really think I'm improving. He was drunk, so sometimes I had problems understanding what he said, but by and large it was a highly successful conversation.
Several people proved to be quite disappointed at my driving-ness; I get this a lot, because, quite frankly, I am usually driving in situations such as this (the bounenkai being the exception). It (apparently) leads people to wonder whether I am physically capable of drinking, as I get asked "oh, can't you drink?" a LOT even after I have made it clear that I am driving. I guess it's just because drinking is such a highly social activity in Japan that to consistently fail to do so is highly suspicious. Either that or they get sad when they learn that they can't make the foreigner get drunk and engage in wacky hijinks.
Eventually, we had some melon, went "banzai" several times, did some synchronized clapping and went home. Or well, that's what I expected to happen - which I can be forgiven for considering that that is what has happened at every single other enkai we've had. (except the bounenkai, but i think we can all agree that the bounenkai is in a category all of its own) Instead, we had a nijikai! (2nd party) with...Karaoke! Hurray! Yep, we all piled into our cars/into the Tokimine minibus and headed over to The Mikado for Karaoke, drinks, and little candies.
Naturally, I had to sing Sobakasu again - hence my need for a new song. I mean, really, I enjoy Sobakasu, but singing it over and over and over again is wearing a little thin. And I have to do it, because apparently it is a song of great nostalgia for some of the teachers. I sang a few other things, too, but I was kind of in the whole "parties aren't as fun when everybody is drunk but you are not" mode. Also, the karaoke machine had a grading system that consistently gave me a really low score and gave everybody else really high scores even though they were really off key. This kind of annoyed me because I KNOW I have a decent sense of pitch, so what, exactly, was the problem? I'm going to assume that it was because I don't really pay that much attention to making my songs as identical as possible to the originals in terms of note length and the like so I kept getting penalized for being off-beat from the original. On the other hand, it probably would have looked bad to get higher scores than all of the more senior teachers, so maybe it's ok. (Still, how many times do you have to practice/listen to a song in order to get it perfectly on beat? Yeesh) /whine.
Eventually, the principal sang "memories of Kanazawa" or some similarly named song, which apparently signaled the end of the second party. At this point, most of the older teachers got into the minibus to either go to their hotel or go home. The baseball coach, however, had come over on the minibus (as had one of my JTEs) but neither of them got back on. In fact, the baseball coach "hid" behind a car in order to avoid being noticed. This was, seriously, hilarious. I couldn't figure out what was going on and why he was doing it until everybody left and he got up to announce that we would now take my and the nurse's car to the next party location. At first I said I was just going to go home, but then I realized that the next location was fairly close to my house so 1. I could leave whenever I wanted and 2. I could park at my house and thus be able to participate in the drunken debauchery.
All in all, the last party was much more subdued, mostly just talking and nobody seemed in the mood to do much singing - probably because there were other people in the bar with us. We did have pocky though, which was nice, and we had some good conversations. I learned the Japanese word for "hay fever" but have since forgotten it, and in turn attempted to explain the EEEEVIIIIL that is Texas cedar. I think I might have failed though.
Eventually the party broke up and we went home, ah, good times.
The next day was CLEANING DAY. Nuff said.
But the day after that I headed out to Monzen for the aforementioned soba festival. It was right near Sojiji and very nice, full of soba and other foodstuffs. I got some free soba by standing around and looking foreign. Which was nice but backfired later when I wanted to buy some freshly made soba and had to endure scepticism regarding my ability to boil pasta. I had to assure them that I was capable of working a stove and had access to one before they were willing to sell it to me. I prevailed, however, and was able to succeed in my twin goals of funneling money into Monzen's economy and buying something for that night's dinner.
I also met a bunch of people at work, including one of the office people and the music teacher. It was very nice to see them both, of course, but the most amusement came from my music teacher who latched onto my arm as soon as she saw me and dragged me over to meet her husband. After this was accomplished, I was given permission to eat my soba, which I did. As soon, as I finished, though, she latched onto me again and decided that I had to come visit her husband and her at their house Right That Moment. (I say latched, but I didn't really put up much of a fight, and, of course, she is Japanese, so it was very polite, if firm, latching) I had a very nice time at their house (although once again everybody seemed very disappointed that I could not drink) It turns out that the entire family is musically inclined: the wife plays the piano and sings, the husband can play the guitar, and at least one of their children (who are both in Tokyo) play the violin. The husband demonstrated his guitar playing - it was very nice and told me that I must come by at some point when they and their friends get together for something akin to a jam session. Apparently they also have a friend who is a really good cook, so first there is eating and drinking and then they play various instruments together. It sounds rather nice, all in all.
Apparently their next party is slated for April when the Sakura are blooming; hopefully, I'll have time. Really they are very nice people, and they seem to think that I am nice, too. Not to mention it is an excellent chance to practice my Japanese! Yay for Japanese practice! (I am aiming for Nikyuu next year, you know, so I must get tons better)
Following the idea that the first visit should never exceed an hour, I managed to extract myself and headed on home. Job well done on this weekend, as far as I'm concerned.
Man, the weather is awful today, it's making me cold just looking out the window. Also, the wind is making all the doors rattle, which always makes me nervous about the possible imminent collapse of the school.
And now, for anyone in need of a good laugh (or anyone who wants their brain to explode), I give you...Switzerland's Entry into Eurovision this year: Vampires Are Alive (and can do Para-para dancing)
If you do not know what para para dancing is, then you will after watching this video. All Japanese high school students (as well as vampires, apparently) can do it, although they are not allowed to smile while doing so - even if they are doing it voluntarily and happen to enjoy it.
This is proof positive that this year's Eurovision contest will be EVEN BETTER than last year's, although it will be hard to top "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
Also, I have added the song names and artists to the music meme entry, so if you were curious about any of those, you can now check them out.