Sayonara Party and Film Screening

I just had my last, and one of the best weekends while in Japan. On Friday, I had a goodbye dinner with my teachers at a hot pot restaurant in Kure. The dinner was great as 12 of the closest teachers I have at school showed up for my goodbye dinner. Everyone was really relaxed, as there were no principals or any problematic teachers.

It was an all you can eat and drink- which the teachers treated me too. It started off great, as I just chatted with my teachers while eating hotpot. The teachers gave me some going away presents. The first was a makeup brush set from Kumano town in Hiroshima. It may seem like a weird present to give, but Kumano brushes are one of the most famous brushes in the world. They cost upwards of hundreds of dollars for a set and are used by Hollywood makeup artists. Kumano is also the hometown of my English teachers, Ms. Yamamoto. It was more of a thoughtful, then a practical gift and seeing that I don’t put on makeup, Asuka definitely gets an early Christmas present.

I also stood up and gave a speech thanking all the teachers for their help the past 2 years. It was all in Japanese and I was a tad nervous reading it, but it went over well and I think I was able to properly express my feelings to the teachers. Luckily, Asuka helped me edit the essay and I think I really expressed my thanks to the teachers.My old Japanese teacher, Ms. Asatani also came and it was really nice to see her again as she really helped me the first year I came to the school.

The night went on really well and we all utilized the all you can drink. A lot of my teachers were getting quite drunk and in turn, I was well on my way to being pretty inebriated. After the dinner, I managed to coax a few of my teachers to go to a nijikai- second party. We went to a karaoke, where I also called Rob who met up with me and my teachers. I had a great time singing with my teachers and drinking some more. I was having a great time until we decided to order warm sake. Never top off your night with warm sake! The next thing I know, I disappeared and was in the bathroom asleep on the floor (according to Rob). I was lucky he was there to fetch me and we took a taxi home together. I somehow made in back in one piece, except that I lost my glasses, which likely fell out the window. All in all, it really was a great night, as I’ll miss talking and chatting with my teachers. (Picture Below: News Report on the typhoon)

Saturday, was suppose to be our big movie showing and beer garden dinner, but because a typhoon was suppose to hit Hiroshima, we changed it to Sunday. The typhoon actually passed us by and I ended up just having dinner with Su-san and then heading home early to meet up with Maria and her friend Mavis who came down from Tokyo. (Picture Below: Su, Akiko and Me)

On Sunday, we had our movie screening and going away barbecue. We met up with everyone around 6:30 at the station and went up to a beer garden at the top of a hotel beside the station. The beer garden’s food and beer were excellent and we had a good goodbye with my Kure friends. My Japanese teacher also came and it was nice to see her again, as well as having her meet some of the foreigners in town.

We spent a good 3 hours eating and drinking at the beer garden. Aimee also brought some costumes with her and we celebrated her home country but wearing the Scottish flag and wig for most of the night. (Picture Below: Maria, my Japanese teacher Junko and Masato)

Maria also met up with us at the beer garden and everyone had a goodtime chatting and enjoying the nice weather.

After the beer garden, we made our way to a local bar to show our movie. This was the second edit of the movie we showed at the film festival and it went over really well, as we think people really enjoyed the film.

We left the screening bar and then went to this other bar on the main street of Kure. It was the first time I had been there and it ended up being a great place as they had wigs, as well as free karaoke. All drinks were only 500 yen and we all sang until our voices went hoarse. I’ll miss heading to Karaoke and seeing our traditional staple of songs. I think the lyrics of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Do You Think I’m Sexy” (Scottish accent) are burned permanently in my head. It ended up being a great weekend and a good send off for my time in Japan.