Friday evening I had dinner with the 'swim ladies'. This is the group of women who swim for the masters club in Kurobe (coo-roe-bay) -I met them through my Japanese teacher who is part of the team. They have been trying to get me to join the club for 2 years now, but so far it hasn't happened. I think they think I'm going to swim in a swim meet in April with them, as they began to formulate relay teams over dinner...we'll see. There were eight of us and we managed to put away an impressive amount of food and cover a wide range of topics over the course of 5 hours.
10:00 came around and I had to say goodbye because I had yet one more 'engagement' Friday night. Kirsten (my neighbor, and partner in crime) and I met up with some friends at a local -and soon to be regular - hang out in Nyuzen (nyew-zen). What was only going to be a drink or two turned into a late, but very enjoyable night. We finally had to concede that it was time to go home when we realized that morning was going to come way to quickly and both of us had plans to meet our other neighbor, John, at 7:30 for a day of snowboarding.
Sure enough, 7:30 came way too early. I managed to crawl out from under my cozy blankets and into my snowboard gear - my only motivation being I would get to try out my new boots and newly rented snowboard!!
The day on the hill was amazing. Tons of fresh powder to plow through- or get stuck in... I came away a happy girl with only a few bumps and scrapes and a minor, self-inflicted concussion. We called it quits early in the afternoon so Kirsten and I could get back in time to 'get ready' for our next Christmas party...
But before I get into it, a bit of background first....
The Colare (co-lar-ray) people: a group of Japanese in Kurobe who work at Colare, an arts and general use community centre. Each month they organize in international dinner featuring dishes from a local foreigner's (can I say that??) home country. For example, when I volunteered, I cooked Greek food...ok, nevermind. USUALLY the foreigner cooks food from their home country -apple pie from America (even though I think it's actually Canadian...) or Chinese food from the Chinese who live in the area. We've had stew from Britain...ok, you get the picture.
Unazuki (oo-na-zoo-key) Beer Gardens: a mini brewery set up in the foothills between Kurobe and Unazuki town. They serve several of their own ales/lagers/beers as well as serve a 'viking' (all you can eat) lunch consisting of anything from sausage, to sushi, to salad, to soup. This is all done in a big dining hall reminscent of a Bavarian chalet or something.
Being invited to social events because you are a foreigner: way too common- yet I still find myself saying yes 99% of the time. In this instance we were invited by the Colare group who flat out told us that they'd be getting the tickets to this party for free if we (the foreigners) showed up.
Assuming, never having enough information, and never asking the right questions - 99% of the time.
Ok, so Kirsten and I agree to go to this 'party'. What we weren't told, and what we didn't ask was what kind of party this actually was going to be. So, we show up in jeans and sweaters, prepared for a night of beer, food and casual conversation (you know what they say about assuming...)
Why, why, why wouldn't you tell your invitees that the party you are taking them to is FORMAL, and that they will be SPOTLIGHTED because they are FOREIGNERS and that all the head honchos from all the businesses in Kurobe will be there, including the PRESIDENT of YKK?!?!?!?! Why?
And why, why, why didn't I ask???? You would think after 3 and a half years, I would have learned by now.
Needless to say, we had a good time anyway! We ate a lot of food, drank a lot of beer and wine, danced the men twice our age, try to dodge questions about our marital status, sang silent night with neon glow sticks and forgot all about our jeans.
And the night was not over yet...
After a brief stop at our apartments to 'freshen up' after Unazuki and to grab some games and other goodies, we headed back to Koshi, our new favorite place in Nyuzen. We played a rousing game of scrabble while sipping wine and other beverages and as the night progressed more friends, new and old, started to arrive. We even got a visit from Santa!!
Scrabble quickly progressed into dancing on the tables (as it so often does) and before we knew it, it was 4:30. We knew Santa wouldn't come if we weren't tucked into bed before dawn, so we said our goodbyes and made our way home.
This was probably the first Christmas morning that I have EVER slept in....I actually had to make myself get out of bed. The only reason I did get up was that I knew brunch was in sight! John and I trudged through the snow to Kirsten's apartment from our own, whipped up a hearty Christmas morning feast, opened presents and spent time comparing this Christmas to others we've had. It was the most Christmassy I've felt all season.
In the afternoon I went to Toyama city and watched a couple of my students play in their very first rock band. They had invited me a while ago, got me a ticket and even came to greet me when I showed up at the door. I was the only 'adult' there -the rest were high school students coming to watch their friends play (all the bands were kids from high school), but I felt honored that my students thought I was cool enough to attend!
So as you can see, I had a different...slightly odd...but still very merry Christmas!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment