END-OF-THE-YEAR-PARTIES

aka 忘年会　(bounenkai)

Before I knew it, inviatations to various bounenkais came streaming in... Never had I received so many reminders that a year was gonna come to a close soon. It is customary for Japanese companies to hold such parties to mark the end of the work year. I attended 3 of them, which was really enough for me coz it can be pretty draining....

First one was on 15 Dec night, at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Hach. This was BOE's bounenkai so everyone came and we had some really decent Chinese cusine. Of course there were many jugs of beer and japanese wine too. After dinner, as usual we ended up in a karaoke place for 二次会 nijikai (second party) but this time it's a really small place (bigger karaoke places were all fully booked) so we didn' stay there for long.

Got to rest on Saturday but had to cook something to bring along to tomorrow's bounenkai by HIRA. Decided to make Bak Khut Teh since my ALTs gave me good reviews the last time I cooked that for them. After cooking that, I rushed to Marient in Same to attend the Hachinohe Jazz Quartett concert. Mr and Mrs Matsuda were kind enough to invite both Russell and I to the concert. It was a great evening. Music was good and we found out that Otaru wine tastes wonderful! Russell and I nearly finished up the whole bottle!

On our way home, I nearly got the both of us into another 二次会 coz of mis-communication over the phone! Mr Matsu's friend gave us both a ride back to Konakano area. Along the way, one of the band members of the jazz band called Mr Matsuda's friend and asked if we both would like to go for a drink. I thought he meant in future so I said "Sure!". Little did I know that he meant right now! Luckily we found out soon enough and quickly declined the offer. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow so no thanks.... Plus somehow there was some mis-use of English words on the caller's part which came out sounding like a bad pick-up line... Anyway, I'm sure the poor guy didn't mean it but still I was taken aback by his words so I ended the conversation abruptly.

The ever-so-kind Kaoru gave me a ride to Sougou Fukushi Kaikan [総合福祉会館] and I was really grateful coz it snowed quite heavily! We had a feast! Unfortunately there were no disposable bowls so nobody really bothered (except for Kaoru & Wade) to try my Bak Khut Teh which I had so painstakingly prepared, because it was quite troublesome to eat the meat out of a plastic cup. But on the whole, it was a good get-together time, with lotsa left-overs...

Brought my Bak Khut Teh home but decided to give to Shinobu & Yurika since they have never tried such a dish before... Anyway they were coming to pick me & Felicia up to go to a Misawa church for Christmas service. Service was great. One part involved inviting different nationalities to sing "Silent Night" in their native languages. It's amazing to see different nationalities praising the same God in different languages.

On 22nd Dec, I attended Hokuryo JHS's bounenkai at Park Hotel. It was a samll affair but rather enjoyable. There were games in which people had to guess who drank vinegar etc. and once I was also asked to participate. Party aside, I especially liked the dessert at the end. It was a really yummy cake! Didn't join the teachers for 二次会 as I was really tired already... The whole of downtown Hach was full of teachers as many other schools also held their bounenkais on this day. It's interesting to see how these usually prim & proper teachers let their hair down in such occasions....