Christmas and New Year's in Japan

On December 22nd I had my JHS bonenkai. I was able to get a ride with the nurse and the vice principal to the Tottori Prefectural Museum, where it was being held. Every staff member makes an effort to attend the bonenkai, unlike regular the regular enkai. So the office ladies, nurse, etc. were all there too. I was glad of it, as I'm fond of them and they seem to feel the same for me.

The party was held in the museum's cafe. It was quite different and modern, compared to my ES bonenkai, which was traditional style - sitting at low tables in a large tatami room. We were separated into 2 different tables. As is typical of work parties here, we had a lottery to determine where we would sit. In this case we drew a prefecture's name and had to find the matching nabe [one pot] dish. Since I had no idea about any of that, I was helped, although it conveniently turned out that I was standing across from my seat to begin with. This kind of seating makes me a bit nervous, but I ended up sitting across from the head teacher, diagonal to the vice principal, and beside the home economics teacher, who also teaches the special education students with me. It wasn't too awkward.

Every enkai begins with kampai - cheers. Sometimes we do a whole chain and walk around the room, but this time was mostly just everyone you could reach from the general vicinity of your seat. After that we ordered drinks and the food began coming out.

I wish I had taken photos of the food because it was incredible! Not everything was my favorite, but the plating was lovely and what I did eat was great. Also - REAL CRUSTY BREAD. I gorged myself on the slices of fresh bread, usually rarity here. So the appetizer was a mixed plate, with a slice of quiche, a tiny hamburger, sashimi, bread with some kind of herby butter spread, and a bowl of beef and konnyaku. I can't recall all the other dishes precisely, but there was salad, pasta, savory pastry cigars, calamari, roast beef with mashed potatoes, and to end it all, some kind of rum raisin pudding (as in the British kind) with sauce and vanilla ice cream. 

Throughout the party there was lots of fun and games. Everyone was given a sheet of paper and had to write down who they thought would win. The first games were taste testing - beer and canned coffee. Like at the ES bonenkai, there was guessing of the year's top school news stories. We also played bingo - and - I WON! I was shocked and everyone cheered and applauded me. As a reward, I was able to pick a gift (everyone had brought 1 gift). Next we played a massive game of rock paper scissors. It began with the principal standing up and everyone who played the same or winning sign was able to continue on. Somehow I managed to predict it every time, and in the end it was me, one of my JTEs, and the nurse playing against each other. At this point the principal stepped down, and it was a 3-way battle. We knocked out my JTE and then - I WON! I couldn't believe it! All the teachers were roaring outrageously and I got lots of high fives and hugs. My prize this time was a massive bottle of locally brewed sake. I spent the rest of the night getting congratulations and comments about how strong I was. 

After nearly 4 hours the party had died down a bit and it was time for us to leave. I caught a taxi with the vice principal and another teacher. Since it was a short distance, the driver kindly let us out without paying. About half the teachers were going to the afterparty, but I was tired and was already catching the last train, so if I stayed out I would have had to stay until 6am the next morning. As it was, I had to wait a while for the train, so I rather awkwardly sat with my vice principal in the train station. Then we slept on the train ride home.

Christmas in Japan is not much of a holiday - well, in fact, its not a holiday at all. I had to go to work that day! Thankfully it is winter vacation and there were no classes, so I was able to arrive late. I woke up Yana early and she opened her presents. One of my predecessors bought a little fake Christmas tree, so happily we were able to use that. I was planning on celebrating Japanese style, with fried chicken and roll cake, but by the time I went to the store after work it was all sold out! So I ended up buying the mixes to make them ourselves. Overall, not a very eventful Christmas, but Yana really enjoyed getting some new toys.

New Year's in Japan is a much, much bigger deal that Christmas. We didn't do much to celebrate. I watched the popular music TV show that airs every New Year's Eve here. We put Yana to bed early and stayed up until midnight. People here typically visit a temple, but we decided not to, because I wasn't exactly sure what to do once I got there and we didn't feel like keeping Yana up so late. Maybe next year!