Enkai

So last night Shannon and I enjoyed our first Japanese enkai, or work party. Well everyone told us it meant work party, but really, if you're envisioning some awkward christmas party with everyone dressed up or a sing-a-long party ala Arrested Development you are so far off i can't even tell you. And thats where i was before last night. Basically we got on a bus by the school board office last night at about 6pm with about 10 other people we had worked with at the board of education. They drove us about an hour to the nearby city of Hikone (picking up people along the way that we had never seen, but who i think are loosely connected with the BOE and who they hoped would speak english with me). Finally we arrived at the restaurant where we were ushured up to the rooftop restaurant. The view (with the castle on top of the hill) was beautiful.

We feasted on yakinuki, meaning each table was equipped with a grill and a huge tray of raw meats, seafood, and veggies, and a large pitcher of beer. The group resounded appreciatively when the wonderful phrase "nomihodai" was announced shortly after the first "kampai" or cheers. Nomihodai, for all you non-japanese speakers, means all you can drink, and drink those men did. I discovered late in the game that none of the other women at the party were drinking any alcohol, and that the object of the evening was basically to get Shannon and i as drunk as possible. You can see her attempting to power through in the photo.

All in all, the enkai was fairly successful. I can proudly boast of being the most sober drinker in the party, and enjoyed seeing my official bosses get giggly like school girls when they asked me about my "many boyfriends." The picture of the three men features the most important people i work with at the BOE - from left to right the Super Intendant of the schools, Yamamoto-san who basically takes complete care of us, and Tsuji-san who's actual role i dont know but who is very important (and completely adorable). All of them were pretty drunk and red-faced and insisted, against all my arguments, that i must already have a japanese boyfriend. Oh jeez.

After my first enkai i can see what all the fuss is about. Take 15 serious workers from a fairly boring work place, throw them together with free food and drink, and everyone loosens up and finally has fun. I'm already looking forward to my next enkai, which i am told will be in about two weeks. This one will be even more interesting as its with the teachers at my school, more of whom speak english (and more of whom are women) so we'll see.

For now i'm enjoying a saturday morning at home with a big cup of coffee and am thinking about finishing up Pride and Prejudice before heading off to Kyoto to meet up with friends and later to celebrate another JETs birthday. My life is so tough :)