Welcome Dinner, Fukayama City
Friday, August 3, 2007
So I woke up this morning and was really hoping that the typhoon would still be hovering over my city. I wanted it to be so windy that the trains could not run, at least for a few hours so that I could sleep in. That was not in the plans though so I got up to get ready. This morning was a little bit more tricky than usual. I have gotten to where I just roll out of bed, jump in the shower, dress, and walk out the door. I don’t bother drying my hair or putting on makeup anymore because the heat just messes it all up. Today was different because I have to go to a dinner tonight where Tara and I are the honorees. I had to go straight from work to the dinner too, no time to go home and shower and change so I had to try and get ready as much as possible at 8:00 in the morning for a 6:00pm dinner. Right…
I actually dried and straightened my hair. It was so happy until I stepped outside and then it decided that it once again hated me for bringing it to Japan. I was loaded down with bags (supplies and books for school and lessons, clothes for dinner, gifts for the people at dinner, etc.) and then, in the wonderful words of David Shannon, “The rain came down.” There was no way I was walking to the train station in that and there was no way I was going to try to balance myself on a bike so I called Mama Naoko to come pick me up and drive me to the train.
After FINALLY getting to my stop (an hour’s ride on the train later) and hauling all of that junk with me (I miss my car and red wagon) I was at school. School went fast because I had to combine the teacher lessons and leave early to go to dinner.
Dinner was fun. I love talking to everyone about Japan and home. We ate some really weird food and I was not too excited about the raw fish in my salad so I just didn’t eat it. When I say raw fish, I mean long skinny pieces of raw fish, not just small things. Also many sardine looking things were in there to, just starting at me. Masayuki is great though (my Thursday principal). He saw that I did not think the fish were especially cute so he got me a regular salad without any fuss. He is very thoughtful about things like that.
We ate and ate and ate. I think maybe 7 courses…very small portions like the rest of Japan, but fine dining none the less. At the end we took pictures. Not the kind of pictures that you would casually stand around in either. These were the real deal. We pulled out chairs and sat together like a family portrait. On the way home we rode in the car with Yoko, Naoko, and Yumi. They took us to a couple of hot spots by our house for us to see (Mr. Donut and a store called Humpty Dumpty…I like that store a lot!).
Try and pick Tara and me out of the pictures. It’s pretty hard because we really blend in.
Friday, August 3, 2007
So I woke up this morning and was really hoping that the typhoon would still be hovering over my city. I wanted it to be so windy that the trains could not run, at least for a few hours so that I could sleep in. That was not in the plans though so I got up to get ready. This morning was a little bit more tricky than usual. I have gotten to where I just roll out of bed, jump in the shower, dress, and walk out the door. I don’t bother drying my hair or putting on makeup anymore because the heat just messes it all up. Today was different because I have to go to a dinner tonight where Tara and I are the honorees. I had to go straight from work to the dinner too, no time to go home and shower and change so I had to try and get ready as much as possible at 8:00 in the morning for a 6:00pm dinner. Right…
I actually dried and straightened my hair. It was so happy until I stepped outside and then it decided that it once again hated me for bringing it to Japan. I was loaded down with bags (supplies and books for school and lessons, clothes for dinner, gifts for the people at dinner, etc.) and then, in the wonderful words of David Shannon, “The rain came down.” There was no way I was walking to the train station in that and there was no way I was going to try to balance myself on a bike so I called Mama Naoko to come pick me up and drive me to the train.
After FINALLY getting to my stop (an hour’s ride on the train later) and hauling all of that junk with me (I miss my car and red wagon) I was at school. School went fast because I had to combine the teacher lessons and leave early to go to dinner.
Dinner was fun. I love talking to everyone about Japan and home. We ate some really weird food and I was not too excited about the raw fish in my salad so I just didn’t eat it. When I say raw fish, I mean long skinny pieces of raw fish, not just small things. Also many sardine looking things were in there to, just starting at me. Masayuki is great though (my Thursday principal). He saw that I did not think the fish were especially cute so he got me a regular salad without any fuss. He is very thoughtful about things like that.
We ate and ate and ate. I think maybe 7 courses…very small portions like the rest of Japan, but fine dining none the less. At the end we took pictures. Not the kind of pictures that you would casually stand around in either. These were the real deal. We pulled out chairs and sat together like a family portrait. On the way home we rode in the car with Yoko, Naoko, and Yumi. They took us to a couple of hot spots by our house for us to see (Mr. Donut and a store called Humpty Dumpty…I like that store a lot!).
Try and pick Tara and me out of the pictures. It’s pretty hard because we really blend in.
This is a picture of all of us, family portrait style. It all started with Tara and me wanting to take our picture together and turned into a full blown affair. All of these people are the principals and head teachers at most of our school (some did not attend). Also Mr. and Mrs. Kato. (Mr. Kato is beside me, Mrs. Kato is two down from Tara, on the end.)By the way, do you see how my hair hates me and Japan?
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