Nonde, nonde, nonde!

On Friday night I went to my first nomikai (drinking party) with teachers. They always have them when I am out of town and stuff, so this was the first one I could go to. They are usually with all of the staff, but this was only with the new 3nensei teachers so we could all bond (I sit with them, so I am an unofficial member of the 3nensei staff). I have heard very mixed reports from other ALTs about how fun nomikais are, so I was a bit nervous, as I didn’t want to spend $50+ on a boring night out! However, it turned out to be WAY more fun than I expected!!!

We started the night at a teeny izakaya in Kiryu, where they served us the most ridiculous amount of food EVER. And that is coming from me! I literally couldn’t eat it all, but I was the only one? I was told I had a “small stomach” because I couldn’t finish it. It was like four meals in one, seriously. I wasn’t sure how fun it would be, as most of the teachers are rather reserved in the staffroom…however, get some alcohol in them and they are surprisingly cool and funny!

They were amazed at my gaijin drinking abilities…I drank them under the table and still could have had more. However, one of the quietest women in the staff is a freaking LUSH and is hilarious when she is drunk. I think she should be drunk at work so that she’ll actually talk!

We continued the night at another bar, where I got more second-hand smoke than I have had in my entire life. AND I am worried that they are trying to set me up with the cute 25 year-old single girl in the staff. Oy. Shindy, it’s time for you to be my “beard!” Hee hee.

I took the last train to Iwajuku, had a 20-minute drunk bike ride, then woke up at 4:30 in the morning for a HIKE. Yes, that is insane. I will blog about Train Disaster 2006 tomorrow, so you will have to wait in anticipation until then!

Anyway, yeah, it was a very fun night, and they are way nicer to me than the last batch of teachers I sat with (not that they weren’t nice, I just didn’t talk to them, hehe). They try to involve me in stuff at school, and seem really cool. Yay, I think this will be a good year!