See what I did there? Clever, I know. So if you've been paying any attention whatsoever to my blog posts, you would know what an enkai is. For those of you that are forgetful...allow me to remind you. An enkai is a gathering of people, usually for a specific purpose and/or function, that begins with the formal party and is followed by second party and sometimes third party. Alcohol is a must and the number one rule is what happens at the enkai, stays at the enkai. If the big director boss just happens to toss his cookies outside of the bar on the way out or your desk neighbor belted out an embarrassing rendition of AKB48's Love Revolution during karaoke, you are in no way to reference those shenanigans Monday at work. These are the unspoken, unwritten rules of the enkai.
In Japan, our fiscal year ends/begins at the end of March and beginning of April. This also coincides with the end/beginning of the school year. And, as I believe I've mentioned before, there is usually a personnel change of some sort every fiscal and school year (people move around within yakuba, teachers are moved to different schools, etc). Thus, several parties for several different celebrations are the norm, which is why this is enkai season. However, I was one enkai into the season when the infamous March 11th earthquake struck and put an abrupt stop on all other parties. Since then...nada (that's Spanish for y'all not in the know). Because of the change of the fiscal year and a personnel switch around, we did have an enkai for the newbies in our division (I'm not the new kid anymore!), in which I was abandoned by my supervisor and left to defend myself by my mostly non-English speaking officemates. But all is well in the land of General Affairs Division. With a little help from our dear friends bieru, saki and shochu, conversation flowed freely...almost. There were several pauses to reference my keitai no jisho (Japanese/English dictionary on my cell phone) for more clarity, but we got the point across. Personalities really came out during second party at the karaoke bar near my apartment and I just about had a panic attack when I realized I was the only female that was in attendance. But all was well. And I'm pretty sure my entire division knows I'm with Patrick now. I shared this information with the new guy, who I'm sure shared it with the rest of the guys as they walked home or where ever; that's the thing about the enkai...everyone's business stays at the enkai, except the foreigner's.
This evening I'll be attending another enkai, of sorts, with the grand folks of Garlic Center. Every year before Golden Week (which begins on Friday), they have a ganbaro dinner to inspire them to work hard through the busy holiday. I won't be working through the holiday, but I guess I can be a good time, which earned me an invitation. Excellent.
In other news... An assortment of random happenings have been going on in my life. Nothing worth its own blog post or anything, but a few amusing events. This past weekend was the town council elections, and the voting took place at Garlic Center; therefore, the restaurant and shop moved operations outside onto the sidewalk. Yes, they are hardcore like that. Well, since the carrot cake I made with mama san class earlier that week was so impressive, we decided to sell it as a fundraiser for the earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. We threw in some face painting for good measure, although most kids threw their hands up and said, "Yadda" (I hate that)!
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| Face painting and selling carrot cake...just another day |
Coming up... Golden Week! Going to Hirosaki for a few days, but spending most of the time hanging around Takko. But for more recent happenings, I have a Friday full of baking funtivities planned (yup, funtivities...thank you, Michael Scott) with nihonjin gal pal, Mieko! Tanoshimi! And then Saturday, I'll be playing around with the Sannohe gang and attending the Sannohe Castle Hanami (sakura viewing in the next town over). Again, tanoshimi!
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