After the onsen, we went up to the party. The teachers on each team (Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue) sat together at a table. There were many different foods, such as sashimi, chrysanthemum, and many types of fried foods. We also had a lot of Asahi beer. I tried every type of food on my plate and realized that I'm not a big fan of sashimi. I got a bit tipsy, and they had me give a speech, as well as participate in some games, such as "put these teachers in order by age," and "Guess what subject these teachers taught." I decided not to be honest on the second one since I felt so bad being honest on the first one... After the party there was an "after party" at a snack bar. Snack bars are kind of like hostess bars where you pay to be accompanied by a lady. The reason we went was to sing karaoke, but it ended up being very expensive. Thankfully, I only had one drink and I paid about $10 for it.
Unlike my coworkers, I had to work the next day at my favorite little elementary school on the ocean. The teachers there are really close and they go out to parties all the time. Unfortunately, I ended up with a hangover, and started feeling really sick on the ride up. (I hadn't had a hangover in years!) Thankfully, I got some medicine and with a good attitude I was soon over it. I spent my "planning" period talking with the assistant principal who is incredibly funny. All the kids there were very cute and well behaved.
That evening Dad came to visit us. Unfortunately, he had a difficult time with the train systems since the further you get from Tokyo the less English people know, so he got in a bit later than expected. We went to our favorite Indian/Nepalese restaurant that night and crashed since dad had been up about 24 hours. My Board of Education was nice enough to give me Tuesday off to spend with him since I worked Sports Day on Sunday. We spend Tuesday morning being lazy hanging out, and then went to find a restaurant for lunch. It was a very quiet day in the town and almost all of the restaurants were closed. We ended up going to a kind of diner for lunch. It wasn't very good, but it was at least open and a reasonable price. Afterwards we climbed Oshiroyama which has castle ruins on the top. The view was incredibly beautiful and you can see all the way to the ocean from the ruins. The climb isn't very difficult, but it is very steep. Thankfully it only takes about 20 minutes to climb and there are very nice steps all the way up. Afterwards we went home via a very weedy route, and after another rest we went to dinner.
Brian edits: Two views from Oshiroyama
I had to go back to work the next day and dad left very early so he could make the train to Tokyo Airport. The rest of the week passed by rather slowly with only a few interesting incidents. On Wednesday I played tag with the kids at school after lunch. Thursday was very rainy for my long bicycle ride to Iwafune Elementary so I arrived very wet. Thankfully they have a nice changing room so I can bring nice clothes to wear. On Friday I had my last self-introduction in front of the school. I also had one class where the teacher did not come to class, so I had to do the whole class with a part-time teacher after not knowing the lesson very well.
On Saturday we got up early and went to Niigata city for Musical auditions. The auditions started at 9:00 so we had to leave by 6:50 from the house to get to the train. The auditions went fine, but we don't know if we will be able to go since the rehearsals are every other weekend and they are all over the prefecture. It makes for a very expensive traveling experience. I think I would like singing in it, but I don't know about all the financial aspects since we are trying to save as much as we can. Brian finished the audition early and went to soccer practice, where his knee complained a bit, so he doesn't know about competing in the soccer tournament either. I went shopping while he was at soccer, but didn't get much. I got two shirts that are a new type of long underwear for winter, and a GARLIC PRESS!!!!! I had a very hard time finding one in Murakami so I finally got one and it should greatly decrease my cooking times.
On Sunday I decided to buckle down and start writing my graduate school applications. I'm applying to Duke for a master's in East Asian Studies and NC State for International Studies. I wrote requests to professors for recommendations and have spent the first two days of this week communicating back and forth about further things I need to provide. Thankfully I feel like I sent everything out early enough, so I hope it won't be too burdensome. On Monday I was able to write a draft essay for Duke. I sent it off to my mom to get a couple revisions and then I plan on reworking it for NC State. I'm going to have everything in by early November so I can get a discount on Duke's application fee and get the process moving. Hopefully I will be able to get some kind of fellowship or grant. I know I won't be able to afford Duke without it.
This week has been going by kind of slowly as well. At the junior high school the students are taking exams all day today, so they have just been reviewing for them, so I haven't been asked to attend too many classes. I have been grading some papers though. I'm at an elementary school today and I only get to teach 2 classes, which are now over, so I have the rest of the day to prepare for the rest of the week.
We are going to Tokyo this weekend and we are going to see Bunraku! We will let you know about it when we get back!
I hope you are all having a wonderful week!
-Maria
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