Teachers' Trip Activities

On the last Saturday of July, approximately 20 teachers and I went on the annual teachers' trip that occurs at the end of each summer term. We met at the school at 7:00am for the bus ride to Tokyo and returned at 8:30pm. I was uncertain about what to expect, since many other AETs have talked about their schools' party committees renting buses stocked with alcohol and some of their teachers embarrassing themselves and others when they over-indulge in beer, wine, and cocktails. But as I have been discovering with each enkai that I attend, the teachers at my school enjoy alcoholic beverages responsibly. Perhaps this is due to the influence of my school's administrators or party committee, I don't know. But it's a huge relief for me, nevertheless.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, we immediately went to the Nippon Television Network to see a clock weighing 28 tons, standing 36 feet tall, and measuring 54 feet wide. It was designed by Hayao Miyazaki, the man who runs Studio Ghibli, an animation house which created the recent Ponyo and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away. For fifty-five minutes of every hour, the clock is a regular, albeit steampunk-looking, clock. However, at five minutes to the hour during a certain window every day, the clock begins its magic, as seen in the clip below.



After watching the clock, we went to lunch at a restaurant in the Keio Plaza Hotel, an upscale hotel in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. The meal was served buffet-style. But if you're picturing Golden Corral, you're doing an injustice to this restaurant. Yes, a salad bar and carved roast beef were provided. Would a buffet be complete without them? But picture also main dishes such as black spaghetti (which gets its color from squid ink) tossed with Genoan ham, green peas, and pesto sauce and Japanese beef curry served with rice; an assortment of gourmet cheeses; steamed whole shrimp and other Japanese seafood selections; white wine jelly (gelatin), a variety of small cakes, and vanilla or pumpkin ice cream for dessert. As I can never eat my money's worth at an American buffet, there's absolutely no way that I ate my money's worth at this buffet!

Had I known when I said I would go on the teachers' trip that the main event of the day was watching comedians rather than watching the filming of a Japanese game show, which is what I originally thought we would be doing, I wouldn't have gone on the trip since I was also leaving for Guam the next day and could have used that time to finish preparing for the trip. As it was, while the teachers watched the comedians, I fruitlessly searched all the shopping centers in the area (There were at least four in a one-square-mile area.) for a certain gift for my nephew. However, my principal was impressed with the fact that I came on the trip. So since he's the one who can make or break my future employment with this program and I did enjoy the time I spent with the teachers on the bus and at lunch, the trip was ultimately worthwhile.

Until next time...