Wow, so, hello…it’s been a while. It’s November December now (when I started writing this, it was still November...)! And boy, is it getting colder! Not cold enough for me to figure out how to make the plug-in heater work in my room but cold enough to make me turn on the heat in the living room for a bit (It's gotten cold enough actually). I don’t keep it on for too long we’re trying to save on energy here in Japan but also, it gets really hot to the point of stifling quickly.

What have I done since I’ve last written? Quite a bit actually.

With the coming of November and the ending of October, we enjoyed Halloween. I bought Halloween-themed Minnie Mouse ears in Tokyo so I wore that to school at Naka, Minami, and on Friday at Morimoto. The kids freaked out!  They loved my Minnie Mouse ears and many of them declared that they suited me. Good to know! The teachers and staff also had quite a good laugh at them. One of the teachers at Morimoto told me something along the lines of, “It’s not even strange that you’re wearing them, they suit you so well.” Awesome! I didn’t think I’d take on Minnie Mouse so well, but I guess I did!

Saturday before Halloween, the ALTs and our Japanese friends enjoyed a rockin’ party at another ALT’s house. She has a huge house so basically, it’s been the party house for years. In fact, I was showing one teacher at Morimoto the pictures from the party and she told me she had been to that house six years ago! Another ALT was living there at the time and she was invited to that Halloween party. How funny is that? So yes, I enjoyed dressing up as Stitch from Lilo and Stitch and danced my heart away. It was a fantastic evening in every way.

I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t have a culture festival at Morimoto the next day…but I did have one! As you can imagine, I didn’t get much sleep. I prayed that my college days of way too late nights combined with early mornings would come back to me…it was not as easy as planned. Yes, I got to school on time and whatnot, but since I haven’t had to depend on four or less hours of sleep in a long time, it was a bit rough. But don’t worry, I did enjoy the culture festival! The skits the students performed in were sometimes hard to understand but I think I got the gist of them, which is always nice. I sang with the PTA and other staff members and that didn’t go badly either. Oh, so before that, I was asking one of the teachers which part she sang in the song. Either I said the question wrong or it reminded me that she needed to tell me I was to sing soprano (there weren’t enough of them apparently). This wouldn’t have been a problem if I hadn’t spent the last few weeks learning the alto part! Well, it wasn’t a problem at all but I felt a bit defeated. You see, I had literally just perfected the alto part, where there was one section of the song that I managed to always sing incorrectly for some unknown reason. Of course, the morning of the culture festival I got it! So, that’s why I felt deflated when she told me to sing soprano. Oh well! That’s life.

I sang it with everyone and it was all good. Many students from my elementary schools were at the festival too and they were happy to see me.

Anyway, after the culture festival, my co-workers and I went out for another enkai. I was stupidly tired at that point but I couldn’t resist the A) the camaraderie of my staff (I often don’t know what’s going on or what people are saying, but when I do, it’s fantastic) and B) the delicious food. There were some less agreeable food items that I was beckoned to try though that evening. Because, of course, it’s always funny to give the foreigner food to see how she will react. I don’t blame them, I’ve probably done the same with my international friends. That night’s strange eats included some oceanic snail in which only half of it was meant for eating. The half that was further into the shell was bitter, I was told. The half that was acceptable to eat was only not so acceptable by my tastes. I didn’t feel like I was dying (like I did when I tried to eat natto again…that story comes later), but I don’t think I’m up for it again. One of my co-workers laughed at me because I asked to see the shell after the contents were eaten. “She’s looking at it like it’s something rare!” she said. It was a pretty shell, that’s all! Haha, the ocean-loving person that I am couldn’t help myself.  I did the same thing with mussels when my mom took me to a Thai restaurant. Granted, I was probably about 14 but some things don’t change.

Another piece of food I could have done without were the chicken gizzards. I’ve eaten them before but these I wasn’t really feeling. The texture was not fun. Next part of the chicken that came down my way was fried chicken skin. Yup, just the skin topped with chopped spring onions and probably some sort of glaze. I ate some just to say that I did.