Oh, what a night!

When people say that the Japanese are hospitable people, they aren't kidding! Yesterday was my first full day at work; and shortly after I arrived, the brother of one of the teachers who sits next to me in the teacher's room arrived to serve as my translator for the morning. He returned to Japan three weeks ago, after having lived in the States for the past 17 years. And he will continue to come for the next month or so for 15 minutes each day to help translate while the teachers and I make plans for my English lessons during each day's morning break. I highly doubt that any of the other schools have hired a translator to come to school to work with their AETs, especially when a few teachers in the school already speak good English (despite their doubts!). The funny thing of it is that our paths appear to have crossed several years ago when I was living in Texas, as he competed in a college athletic event at the university where I was working at the time. Small world, huh?!

The type of enkai I'd been told might occur and had been nervous about the past two months never came to fruition last night. I actually had a lot of fun at my first enkai of the evening and am glad I made the decision to go to the second. The first enkai was more formal and was held in a reception room at a very nice hotel in town. The new teachers to the school were introduced to the returning teachers. The kocho-sensei (principal) said kind words about each of us. (But who knows what he actually said about me!) And the new teachers made a speech to the returning teachers. Thankfully, Japanese wasn't expected from me this time.

For as slender as the average Japanese person is, wow, do they know how to eat! I have never eaten an eight-course meal before. So to eat my first one in Japan and then go to another restaurant in the same evening to eat even more food was quite an amazing juxtaposition to behold. The evening's main meal, of which I tried and truly enjoyed everything I ate, entailed a green salad with salmon and octopus; shrimp, bream, and tuna sashimi (raw seafood; By the way, can anyone tell me what bream is?); roasted pork in a sweet sauce with greens and potato; shrimp and squid in a Chinese red chili sauce; medium-rare steak in a pepper sauce with potatoes; cold soba (buckwheat) noodle soup; and fruit and a small (think one-inch-square) piece of cake for dessert. (Yes, I know that's only seven courses; but I can't remember what the eighth one was!)

But now that I think about it, perhaps the reason for eating at the second enkai is because my coworkers didn't actually eat much at the first one! While I stayed seated at my table and ate practically everything of each dish that was put before me, my Japanese coworkers almost immediately stood up after the first course was served and floated from table to table as they refilled each other's drinks. So those who continued on to the second enkai of the evening at a restaurant across the street ordered more food. I had some wonderful chocolate soft serve ice cream for dessert and tried the fried chicken cartilage that another one of the new teachers ordered. Although the flavor was good (It really did taste like chicken!), the texture was disgusting. Chicken cartilage will not be going on my list of dishes to order again.

Although enkai does translate to drinking party, I was able to see last night that it didn't have the connotation I'd been expecting. That's not to say, though, that all enkai are the same. Some can be more like college or bachelor parties once the men and the women have dispersed into separate groups. But while large quantities of Sapporo beer were consumed (as were other alcoholic beverages, teas, and juices) nobody got out of control. In fact, the shy Japanese just became more extroverted, albeit with florid faces since their bodies don't metabolize alcohol well. And the Japanese who said that they spoke very bad English prior to the evening's festivities proved themselves to have more mastery of the language than they had believed!

The teacher whose brother is my translator drove me home. (She was one of the evening's emcees and is crazy fun while being a teetotaler.) As we pulled up to my apartment she told me that all of the Japanese teachers think that I am a very good AET. I laughed and asked how, considering that I haven't taught one lesson yet. She said that when I introduced myself at the school on Thursday, I told everyone that I must learn Japanese; and then when I said "Konban wa" (good evening) in my enkai speech, people were further impressed. I'm 100% illiterate and 99.9% ignorant of the spoken language. And my understanding of Japanese ways and customs is not much better. But I want to make good relationships with these friendly people. So I'm glad that my love of language learning and a casually tossed out phrase of greeting have prepared the way for that.

Until next time...