week 36

END OF THAILAND :(

2nd- So we arrived at the ridiculous hour of 4am in to Bangkok. so we decided to go and get a room to sleep for a few more hours. We found the scabbiest jail house ever, with included blood up the staircase..but hey it was about a dollar each! Then we got up and ventured out for some last minute sight seeing. We went to the city pillar, where we were fortunate enogh to see some Thai dancing. We then decided to get a taxi to a different area of the city to visit a cool museum- unfortunately after sitting in ages of traffic, we arrived to a closed museum. Instead we found a great coffee shop, an amazing english bookshop and then we went to the one and only green area of bangkok to sit and chill. Lumphini park was pretty clean and nice -unexpectedly! There were ponds and lots of green stuff, and there were tennis courts and an outside weight lifting area! It was in full use too, there were heaps of men pumping some iron!
- later on we had our last yummy thai meal at the vegetarian restaraunt, and then it was time to head to the airport.
-an amazing trip with great company, divine food, beautiful beaches and many fond memories!

3rd onwards...
- back to fukui......
i didnt have to go back to work until friday and so i had time to visit my long lost friend- the gym, do some chores and have starbucks with jill and matthew.
-on friday it was the opening ceremony at school where the new ichi nensei students were formally intoduced to the school. The morning was spent by the rest of the students, making preperations- although i dont know what was being prepared. The students were all really excited now that they were older and cooler!It was nice to see them more confident and genki. There was an introductory assembly, which involved the new teachers at the school saying hello to the students. We had 3 new teachers and a lady who returned from having a bebe. - the proper ceremony took place in the afternoon after a yummy bento lunch. The ichi nensei students arrived in their spatangaly new uniforms and bright white trainers and were escorted to their new homerooms by their parents. Then the parents and the rest of the students gathered in the gym. As we had clapped out the old san nensei, we now welcomed the ichi nensei into the hall with a well-practised applause. The little darlings looked tiny and petrified of their first formal event as a junior high school student! It was funny to see how these students haven’t been trained yet and so still fidget, sit with slouched backs and do not stand up and sit down with immaculate timing! - that evening I went to Awara Onsen with all the teachers for the welcome party. Tanaka sensei and I were the last to arrive, and the occasion I had been told was casual, turned out as usual not to be so! We randomly picked numbers out of a hat to allocate our seating arrangements. As my luck always has it, I was on top table with the new teachers. kocho sensei and kyoto sensei. So everyone had a great view of me sitting baffled as usual as to what was going on. There were (of course) speeches by about 5 teachers, which appeared to be humorous- I smiled on cue. Then we had kampai, and we started eating and drinking. Unfortunately I made the mistake of saying I was drinking alcohol. It doesn’t matter if your glass is full, if someone appears to top up your glass (you cant pour your own drink) you are obliged to take a gulp so that they can pour some more for you. Hence the drunkenness which followed later that evening... The food was never ending, and as usual amazingly decorated and arranged on plates, bowls and dishes. The waitresses in kimonos simply kept bringing more and more tiny dishes- in the end I think we must have been given 10 different dishes. Luckily however Japanese events such as this are not static. People are expected to get up and move around to talk to one another, so it was easy to escape the mountain of food piling up at my setting! I felt more included in this party as more teachers were drinking alcohol and so the courage was mounting in many to dust off their English skills from 20 years ago and try and speak to me. It turned out to be quite amusing!! After a few hours it was time to move on to the second party. In Japan it is normal for there to be 3 or so parties which become more and more male dominated and blurry. The second one was in a karaoke bar of the Onsen. Unfortunately I was made to sing an English song. It was highly embarrassing. However not as embarrassing as the drunk teachers making orgasm noises, clutching at their groins and rubbing up against walls to enhance their singing ability. Very worrying. But funny at the same time to see men and women in suits, who are usually as straight laced as it comes, suddenly taking this rare opportunity open to them to get hammered and act like idiots! Tanaka sensei and I left after the second part at about 12.

On Saturday I went to the gym and then met Andy for a walk along the Asuwa River, where the cherry blossoms were now in bloom. They were a lovely light pink colour and lined a long stretch. It was nice to see Andy and the first appearances of spring! That evening I was at Sarah’s house celebrating Steph’s birthday with a few girls. It was a nice chance to catch up with people and I was chuffed at my first attempt of making Thai spring rolls!