Work Enkai

Last night I went to my first enkai with the TJHS folks. It was at Furin, a Chinese restaurant not far from Harimayabashi. When I showed up, I paid the 5,000 yen for food and drinks, and picked a slip of paper with a number on it. That number would decide where I sat for the evening. Fortunately, I ended up between a pair of really nice ladies who spoke some English. I don't know the staff well yet, but everyone seems very friendly, so I probably would've been happy sitting anywhere.

The meal started with a kanpai (toast), but the drinking actually started before the kanpai. Apparently that's a Kochi thing. In other parts of Japan, you aren't supposed to drink until the toast has been made, but in Kochi you can drink before the kanpai because it's "renshuu" (practice). The meal was pretty big, with round after round of different dishes. Most of it was very tasty, although I skipped the duck eggs because they were coffee-brown and translucent.

Partway through the evening, I was asked to give a short speech. I probably should have been expecting this, but it still surprised me a little. I basically introduced myself (although I had introduced myself to most everyone before) and thanked everyone. As the evening went on, I was asked a number of questions about myself and America. They wanted to know if Chinese food was popular in America, whether I had eaten sashimi before, what Idaho was famous for (although most of them already associate it with potatoes), what I thought of Kochi, and a variety of other things. To my relief, I wasn't asked anything particularly invasive or embarrassing. This is not always the case, from what I've heard of enkais.

While everyone was asking me questions, we discovered that another teacher at the school is 24 and likes anime. I don't know what he teaches, but he seemed very nice. Hopefully at some point I'll figure out what his name is. I should probably ask my English teacher for a seating chart of the staff room with the names written in romaji. I hate to give her extra work to do, but I think it would be better if I learned everyone's names.

After our two hours of food and drink were up, we left the restaurant. Some of the group was going on for a nijikai and others were going home. It seemed that all of the female teachers were done for the night, and the male teachers wanted to go out for karaoke. I debated a little bit and ended up going home. Karaoke probably would've been fun and a good bonding experience, but I had had enough to drink and wasn't sure I wanted to be the only woman in the group. I rode my bike home without incident and lazed around for the rest of the evening. There wasn't anything going on with the other ALTs because a number of people left for the weekend to see the fireworks in Shimanto and float the river. I would've liked to join, but I had already said that I would dance with the Yosakoi people on Saturday. Hopefully there will be more beer floats (as they call the river tubing) before the summer is over.

All in all, my first work enkai was a good experience. Enkais give the teachers a chance to get to know each other in a relaxed environment. It definitely seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves, and I had fun as well. I'm not sure if I'll be invited to an enkai at my other junior high, but if so, I hope it will be as pleasant as this one was.