Journal 7 - Trick or Treat ... Smell my Feet ... Give me some ... Sushi!!! Konpai!!!

Trick or Treat ... Smell my Feet ... Give me some ... Sushi!!! Konpai!!!

Hello all! Yes, another week (or so) has passed and I'll be honest I've been racking my brain trying to think of something to tell you guys, but really not a lot of has been going on. The last time I left you, I mentioned there was a Halloween Party going on Sunday (October 31, how convenient). Well, the party was a somewhat success .. it's very hard entertaining people who have never celebrated a day like this before. There were about 35 people and a lot of them were kids. So, we ended up doing some activities like pin the face on the Jack-O-Lantern .. have you heard of it? Yeah, neither have they, so that was interesting. Then there was Guess what's in the bag ... K, one of the things in the bag was liquid soap. Let me tell you a little something about Japan and paper towels or napkins ... Yeah, they carry their own. if you don't have your own napkin (hankerchef .. sp?) then good luck on drying your hands. The public washrooms do not have them, some don't even have any toilet paper, but that's another story. Anyway, so picture a bunch of people putting their hands in a bag full of soap and then running across the room frantically looking for their hanky ... it's the funniest thing I've ever seen, especially when it drips on the floor .... yeah, a little slippery. The other native teacher and I were the only one's who dressed up for the party (of course). Actually, I wasn't planning on dressing up, but then I got told I had to, so I came up with my brilliant idea of being a gumball machine. It consisted of a clear garbage bag and balloons. I kind of forgot that everything in Japan is much smaller then home, so when I got the bags, I had to use 2 of them, which still didn't work, because the length was narrow. Anyway, the balloons were suppose to cover my whole body, instead they ended up all falling to the bottom which not only made it look ridiculous, but very hard to walk around. Anyway, everyone still had a good laugh and thankfully the garbage bag did not last long. I was walking around talking to people and I guess as I was walking the bag was ripping, so the balloons were on the verge of falling out. The only thing I'm seeing at the corner of my eye are little hands helping the balloons fall out. Finally, all the kids came up to me and asked if they could have a balloon. I pretty much just ripped the bag off and the kids had a ball (no pun intended). The rest of the day pretty much consisted of kids throwing balloons at the teachers. The party lasted about 3 hours and then we had more of an adult night which consisted of, you guessed it, Karaoke. There were maybe 20 people all in this room ... definitely had a blast. The night ended up being a late one as they usually do ... didn't really help with my cold (yes that stranger was following me again), but what can you do. Wednesday was a national holiday which I was so excited about because that is my busiest day (8 hours straight of teaching). I ended up going into Shizuoka city where they had a street festival going on. Apparently they have this every year on the same day. They had the jugglers, magicians, clowns, mimes, dancers, singers. It was a great day, just walking around watching the entertainment. Anyway, yes I know this isn't a very exciting one this time, but like I said not much went on and now that my students are getting to know me, they're starting to ask to go out. Saying no really isn't a good thing to do, so of course I feel I have to which means it takes away from doing some site seeing. Hopefully, next week or the week after I'll be able to do some more. But, I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive (no more earthquakes, although people are convinced there will be a big one here ... let's hope not) and I will chat with you later. Oh yeah good news, I'm finally getting my internet hooked up next week at home ... 'bout time, eh?

Talk to you all later,
Joe