Weekend in Review: Andrea the Socialite

This weekend has been a surprisingly fun one, so I thought I'd write a bit about what I've been up to. Friday night was pretty quiet, but on Saturday I went to a wind ensemble concert at the Culport, which is a fairly large performance hall. Not as big as the Morrison Center, for example, but bigger than a high school auditorium. I went into it not knowing much of anything about the group; I had been invited by an ALT who knew one of the flute players. Hearing the word "ensemble", I had imagined a fairly small group, but it was actually quite large. I was surprised to see that they had a bass player, as well; he was the only person in the ensemble playing a stringed instrument.

The concert was very good, but also a bit long. There were three sections with ten minute breaks between each one, and the whole thing lasted a little over two hours. I really enjoyed the first section, which was entirely classical music, and the third section, which was pop music. But the second section was sort of a storytelling/music combination that I didn't like so much, largely because I couldn't understand much of the narration. And with someone narrating over the top of the music, it was hard to enjoy the music for its own merits, either. The piece seemed to be a story about a boy who travels to the stars on a train. That was my understanding of it, at least. It was quite long, and I got fairly bored. But I have to say that it was an impressive performance; the whole thing coordinated the wind ensemble, a small choir, and two voice actors. So it was no small accomplishment that they could put all of that together so seamlessly. Anyhow, overall it was a really great concert, and I was very happy to have gone.

After the concert, I went to get dinner. All of the other ALTs had already eaten, so I was on my own. I ended up going to McDonald's. It was a stroke of luck that I sat by the windows, because as I was eating, a group of teachers from my larger junior high walked by and spotted me. They waved and tried to talk to me through the window, with moderate success. I think they were wanting to invite me along, but I hadn't finished eating, so they continued onward. I was mostly done, though, so once I finished I headed off in the direction they had gone. It also happened to be in the right direction for me to get back to the tram, so I figured it was worth a shot. It wasn't long before I caught up to them; they hadn't gotten very far. When they saw me again they invited me to come with them, and I was happy enough to join.

In the group were three male teachers I know from AJHS, one male teacher and two female teachers I hadn't met before, and a random guy who had just attended a wedding. Apparently they had met him five or ten minutes prior to seeing me, and for some reason he came along for the ride. I didn't like him much from the beginning because at McDonald's, when everyone saw me and greeted me, he put his face to the glass like he was peering into a fish bowl. Even in a state of partial drunkenness, everyone else recognized immediately that it was a rude thing to do. I appreciated that they told him to knock it off. Anyhow, the stranger's attitude toward me stayed much the same for the rest of the evening, but fortunately he mostly avoided interacting with me.

We all went to a small bar with karaoke. I mostly talked with Su-sensei (a young math teacher from AJHS) and Kazu, who used to work at AJHS, but who I had never met before. Both of them used a good deal of English with me, which was interesting. I had never talked to Su-sensei before, despite the fact that his desk is quite near to mine. I had noticed before that he usually seems quite cheerful and energetic at school, but after actually talking to him for a while, it was kind of startling how much he reminded me of Tatsuya. They both have a very similar demeanor. Cheerful, friendly, energetic bordering on hyperactive, and a little bit dorky. I wonder if it's just a coincidence, or if there's a specific type of guy who is inclined toward becoming a math teacher. Interestingly enough, Tatsuya had mentioned Su-sensei recently, asking if I knew him. I'm not sure if they went to university together, but they're acquaintances, at least.

The wedding guest left after not too long. He seemed to be very drunk, so it was probably about time for him to go home. Around that time, the karaoke started. Mostly it was Su-sensei singing and occasionally forcing Kazu to join him. Without even being pressured to do it, I put in a song as well. I sang one of my favorite karaoke songs, "Last Kiss" by Bonnie Pink. It's in Japanese, but I've memorized all the words, so it's not too difficult for me. To my great pleasure, everyone seemed to enjoy it. They were very surprised to hear me sing (and sing well, I thought) since I'm usually very quiet at school. After that they kept asking me to sing more things, and I have to say that I enjoyed the attention and praise. Most of the group came over and danced when I sang "Bad Romance", and they even joined in with the words they knew, which was mostly the "ra-ra-ah-ah-ah" bit. I sang a song from a Studio Ghibli movie, and a K-pop song I like, and eventually an Elvis song.

It was really nice to get such a big response from everyone when I sang. In most groups I tend to blend into the background, but with these teachers I felt like something of a celebrity. Shi-sensei, who is one of two non-English teachers who talks to me on a regular basis, said that I'm a performer. And I really did get into it; for the K-pop song I put on some rabbit ears (which were conveniently available) and danced along while I sang. In the music video for that song, the singers are all wearing cat ears and doing a lot of very cutesy cat paw gestures, so it didn't take a whole lot of imagination on my part. That was probably the song that got the best response. Although it was entertaining after the Elvis song (Can't Help Falling In Love) to listen to the guys arguing over which one of them I had been singing to. After that they created a hypothetical situation where the five of them were the only men remaining on Earth, and I had to pick one of them for my boyfriend. I managed to avoid answering by telling them that it was too difficult to choose, and complimenting each of them on something. I thought that was pretty clever on my part, given that diplomacy doesn't always come naturally after that many beers.

By the end of the party, the three teachers from AJHS had decided that I need to come to the end-of-year enkai in December and surprise all the other teachers with a song. I wonder if I'll actually be invited; I haven't been asked to any of that school's enkais up to this point. They also told me that I was part of their drinking family. I think Su-sensei tried to phrase it as "drunk family", which was kind of an awesome mental image. Anyhow, it was nice to have made some sort of connection with the group for the evening, even if it doesn't transfer back to life in the staff room.

Today's social event was a ladies' lunch party at the home of Sumie, an elementary school teacher who is friends with Kathy. It was the four female Board of Education ALTs, Sumie, and one of Sumie's friends, who several of us have worked with at another elementary school. We made okonomiyaki on a griddle, then got an informal lesson in tea ceremony (and drank the tea), and had some fruit and cake. It was a lot of food, but it was all really good. We talked for quite a long time, as well, mostly in English. It was interesting to hear the opinions of the elementary school teachers. Sumie teaches 4th grade, so her students don't have English classes yet, but she writes the lesson plans for the 5th and 6th grade classes and occasionally helps with the teaching. Her friend is responsible for all the English classes at another elementary school. She isn't a homeroom teacher; she is focused solely on the English curriculum. I felt like occasionally the ALTs inadvertently dominated the conversation, but it didn't seem to be a problem. Besides enjoying the social time, it was great to see the inside of a Japanese home. Up until this point I'd never been inside an actual house; I had only seen the apartments of other ALTs. It was a very beautiful home.

So, though some of it was unplanned, I had a lot of social outings this weekend. I don't typically get around in so many social circles, so it was a big change of pace for me. I think it was good for me to spend some time with people I don't see all that often, and not to be surrounded by the crowd I always seem to run with. And it was especially satisfying to show some of my favorite AJHS teachers a different side of my personality. Although I've actually spent a good chunk of the weekend doing nothing, I feel like I've had a very social weekend.