Lauren in Japan

random pictures of what ive been up to lately...

オメデトウ ( ^ _ ^)∠☆PAN！

Its finally March and spring, yea!!! so i bought my thailand tickets and we booked our hotel, 7 nights at a brand new hotel opening in March, and im ready for a vacation in the sun! i have been up to too much trouble in the last two weeks, just lots of parties and fun, cleary no working hard of any kind :) two weekends ago, on friday the 21st two of the JETs were dj-ing at a club in Nagoya called RBase, so i headed there for an evening of drinking and music. of course i had too much fun and ended up staying out all night, but on the plus side i got to eat a kebab from the delicious turkish restaurant that only opens at 1am. on that saturday i watched some shark attacks with some male friends, cuz who doesnt love a good shark attack, and ate some more kebabs while shopping in Osu, which is the hip, trendy area of Nagoya, cleary where i belong. and then i went out for dinner for my friend Joe's bday party. joe was in my japanese class at madison and lives in japan as well, not on JET, so it was really nice to get to see him and catch up with all the other wisconsinners in japan. on sunday was our practice hanami party at Nagoya castle. the plum trees are in bloom and it was a perfect time to sit under them and drink some alcohol during the middle of the day. there were about 10 or so of us, some gaijin and some nihonjin in attendance, and we had lots of food and plum wine for everyone to enjoy. after the festivites we headed to an okonomiyaki restaurant, which is kind of like japanese style pancakes which are delicious and in no way related to anythin resembling american pancakes or any other food that we eat for that matter...it is a must eat if you ever come to japan, especially in Osaka. it was quite the busy weekend, but i had tons of fun and cant wait for cherry blossom season to come, which i already know will be my favorite one in japan. last week was exams at all the senior high schools, so i had a week of no classes, but i got to read some books, correct some english, and answer loads of questions the teachers had about english grammer! on monday night i went out to dinner with steve, matt,and dave aka the chita gang. since they all live near me we go out to dinner once in a while at this chinese restaurant in asakusa. on wednesday night i went with one of my english teachers, todo-sensei, who is about my age, to a dinner in kanayama. we met up with about 20 other first year japanese english teachers who i knew from a seminar i participated in at handa a couple months ago. it was a traditional restaurant and we at sashimi, Nabe, which is japanese winter stew, and a whole fish-it was literally just put on a grill and cooked, hilarious-which i think it was some kind of sucker fish but it tasted quite yummy, and load of other foods. they were all so friendly and had amazing english so i had a great time, one of the teachers had even studied abroad in wisconsin when she was in high school, so i got to reminisce with her about cows, miller beer, and the brew crew. that may be the first time anyone ive met in japan has known where wisconsin is...woot woot! it was really nice to go out with the teachers and get to know them better! i had asked katsumata-sensei if i could go to Utsumi for their graduation, so on friday i got to go and watch the third years graduate! there were a group of third boys who i always sat on the bus and train with, always asked me how to say inappropriate words in english, and nicknamed me hermione from harry potter-oh how they will be missed! next school year will not be as fun without them! but i got to leave school at noon after graduation and proceeded to go home and sleep for the rest of the day, it was glorious. then i met a group of us in sakae for some indian curry at a restaurant called akbar and then we went to st.james gate for a pint before catching the last train home. we always go to st.james gate and they have come to know us there and i also have a rather large crush on the bartender...no worries i have it under control. on saturday i had to go to school for graduation at Handa. i wore a suit...in japan everyone wears black and white, no color, to the graduation but some teacher wear kimonos. first is the procession of all the third year graduates-who wear just their school uniforms, no gowns-then everyone sings the national anthem, which i do not know so i stood there awkwardly whilst bowing to the japanese flag. then a student comes up and gets all the diplomas for the graduates from the principal and sets them on a table. the students are not called up individually during the ceremony, but receive their diplomas back in the classroom after...japan is a very group-oriented society and they all graduate as a group without individual recognition or honors. then the principal makes a speech to congratulate the graduates, and he wears a tux with tails, which made my already adorable principal even more so. then one of the special guests makes a speech as well...handa is one of the most prestigous high schools in Aichi so there are lots of important guests who come. then one of the third year girls goes on stage and gives a thank you speech to the principal and the poor girl couldnt even speak cuz she was crying so hard.then everyone sings two really old japanese songs...handas ceremony is very traditional because it is so high-level...one that sounded like aud lang syne but with different words, so i just sang the words to that song instead. then they sing the school song, which i almost have down, and by this point all the girls and parents are crying again. after that a second year boy gave a farewell speech to the third years. then everyone walked out while the teachers gathered around and clapped and high-fived the graduates. some students came and took pictures with me and many of the other teachers before they left the school. all in all the ceremony was very nice, a little too sad for me, not to mention the excessive bowing at all times...literally stand up, bow, sit down, repeat...but i will miss the third years at handa and hope i helped some get into the universitys they wanted! i dont teach the second years at handa, so come april i will get a whole new batch of first years and third years to teach! after graduation i went to hanako's brothers house for a Hina-Matsuri party. Hina-Matsuri is the Dolls festival that celebrates girls in japan. everyone with daughters sets up these huge displays of hina-dolls in there house, its absolutely stunning to see the dolls all set up on tiered display stands. her brother has two daughters and one son-hayate-, who is 2, and who are all adorablely cute! her mother made tons of food and we ate mango cake. even her grandpa was having fun talking to us...her family is what we call gaijin friendly and they neither dislike us nor are afraid of us, which is rare, haha. after the party we went to a club in nagoya called JBs to hear this DJ called Tiny. it was apparently 70s-chic night cuz everyone was dressed too cool for words to describe. all the jboys were in full swing, with glitter gloves to platinum jackets, and can only be summed up in one word...fabulous. japan is at the peak of the fashion world and the way everyone dresses here never ceases to amaze me. on sunday i met a big group of peeps for a Nagoya Diamond Dolphins (no that is literally their name) basketball game, oh yea the japanese play basketball...not like NBA style, more like high school style bball. needless to say, the game was hilarious. everytime the home team got the ball some stang techno-hyper beat music would start to play, EVERYTIME, and sometimes they threw in a little offspring, pretty fly for a white guy, which was a nice touch. there was a guy from mexico, a few black guys, and the token white guy on the team, but all in all it was not the best bball ive ever seen...the other team was much better and had this dude who should have been a linebacker as there center. after they lost they all stood in a line and bowed in apology to the audience, awesome, and of course we boo-ed, it was necessary trust me. japanese sports are wonderful and i cant wait for baseball season to start here! this week is more laid back and this weekend maria and i are heading to tokyo to celebrate nozomi's birthday...which will be fun and crazy, since the world baseball classic is going to be going on at tokyo dome and the city will be jammed packed even more so. I predict spring is going to be my favorite time in japan and march is going to fly by, but im going to keep doing everything and anything i can to make use of all my time here soaking in all japan has to offer! im missing everyone at home and hope you are all doing well...i hope to update some pictures documenting my escapades soon! much love xx　ﾎﾟｯ(*ﾟ.ﾟ)(ﾟ.ﾟ*)ﾎﾟｯ