End of the W̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ Year Party

　　Every December schools everywhere have an End of the World  Year party.  A lot of places, including schools are very group minded in Japan. All about the group and not the individual. Which is nice at times, and a burden     sometimes unhealthy     at others. Well the end of the year party isn't too bad, you get together with your coworkers for a party of 'drink away the troubles of the past year'....and some take it to really mean 'drink away the troubles' and get really slammed. Believe it or not, I'm not fond of alcohol....like some drinks well enough, but one drink is plenty and I rarely have a desire to drink more than 2 of anything. So for people like me who don't drink, being around and going to a party where everyone drinks a lot (which is most parties in Japan, alcohol is a big part of socializing, but that's a tangent for another time). Luckily there is one teacher who doesn't drink much so I'm not alone. So I get there, go to the spa for a short bit, then enjoy a really fancy dinner. 

  Don't worry there's a little candle thing under the dish in the top left corner (right too) to cook the meat. Later they brought out clam soup....like soup with little whole clams in it, sounds weird but is good, sashimi, fish, and fruit. I really like the designs of the plates and bowls, but to be honest for expensive food it doesn't taste THAT expensive :/. 

one of the little dishes ->

So we eat and then play a game. Last year I felt bad because I was definitely dead weight on the game since it's like a quiz game entirely in Japanese.....and I was worried about it again this year because my Japanese still isn't high enough to read all the kanji on the questions ( >.< )......but........ I actually brought our team to victory XD!!! First was a question about where one of the newer teachers studied abroad, luckily I have his older sister as my coworker at the elementary schools, so I knew for sure the answer to the question. Using our 'double the points' card our team was the only ones to score and we got 400 points. The next question no one on our team knew and we guessed wrong :P so no points there....there was a slip up on the teacher reading the cards that would have given away to anyone who caught it and one of the other teams did (the form of ''what'' in 'what does the person want' implied clothing and not something less concrete like a trip somewhere....but yeah, didn't catch that slip up, that's for sure.  The next one was our last chance to keep the lead, no one on our team knew it, but I was scouting the other teams and saw one very confidently mouth ''B'', and so by sorta cheating (I can hear my brother now: ''screen watcher!!!'' hahaha) we got another 200 and 1st place :D!!!  For the prize we got to choose which present we each wanted first. And here's where a nice heart warming part comes in. Every teacher brought a gift, a little (more or less) $5.00 sort of thing and some of the presents were in big boxes or fancy paper or fancy bags....but there was one that was in a cheap see-through bag and had a crocheted little flower pot holder inside. I got to go first in our group and it was hard to choose between the mystery of the other boxes or the crocheted one. It wasn't fancy, but being one who has often made homemade gifts I really appreciate them and so that was the one I went for.  As I picked it I saw this look of surprise and relief wash over my vice principal's face. Turns out that that was from him, his wife crocheted the flower pot holder and made a Christmas card from construction paper and magazine pictures and he included a $5.00 book gift card. To be honest I couldn't have asked for more and am very very happy with the gift. The pot holder is cute and I can look at it and figure out how to make my own :D, the card is also really cute and I always love money for books :D!!!!
   After our team all grabbed stuff the vice principal came up to me, to inquire why I chose that one....he was a bit embarrassed at the lack of pomp and circumstance his bag and present had compared to the others and his was the first one chosen from the lot. I'd be surprised too if I were in his shoes. I explained to him that I like to crochet and really like crocheted things and always love money toward books, and that homemade items are more personal and     in my opinion     often better b/c of the time and work that goes into making them. Needless to say he was very touched by my choosing of his gift and explanation. .....Normally when I talk to him at parties the conversations tend to be repeats of earlier ones (how am I?, am I homesick? what is ____ like in America?), but this time we had a more two-sided conversation and we got talking to mountains and pictures and he invited me to go hiking sometime to a mountain that's great for pictures with him and a few other teachers and locals :D!!! Whoot, got into the loop of outdoor activities that aren't parties....or at least got my foot in. Either way :) I look forward to whenever we get to go somewhere and will now have to make sure I continue to exercise so I don't die (x  X). 

  After the food and game show and a bit of karaoke......got roped into singing My Heart Will Go On with some coworkers lol, they really wanted to hear me sing something (>.<), but luckily were willing to send someone to sing with me.....though we thought the song ended before it did so I had to run back up and was laughing b/c of all the jokes about thinking the song was over and a diff teacher ran up to sing with me for the last little bit. So that was interesting.  Next, we split ways, most of the teachers went off to go to a second all-you-can-drink party. I stayed at the hotel and went back to the onsen with the other teacher that doesn't drink. It was very nice and relaxing. Then, I whipped out my Sudoku book and did a few puzzles then tried to go to bed, but it was sooo hot in the room and the only blanket they give you is a giant comforter and the futon was rather stiff (>.0).....so needless to say I just sat there trying to fall asleep.  As to why I didn't turn the heat down, I thought I did but it didn't work so who knows why it was being dumb XP.  The teachers sharing a room with me came back before I fell asleep so I pretended to be alseep that way they wouldn't feel bad for 'waking me'. One of them was clutching the porcelain throne so to speak and all were really quiet. I eventually fell asleep sometime after they all went to bed and had a very restless night XP. But luckily didn't wake up feeling too stiff or horrible. We were free to leave when we wanted so long as it was before check-out time of course.  I left around 10 and headed to the big city just north of us to go to the one temple that I really like. And that is where this post ends and the next will pick up....I had a rather mystically experience at the temple that time around :3, it was all around really awesome and very refreshing!!