At the end of each school year the staff go to a farewell dinner party. And when I say dinner party I actually mean parties including lots of food, lots of drink and karaoke! This is to say farewell to the staff that are leaving. I only wish my school could farewell me in this style...
My Junior High School had their Farewell Party (#1) at the
Himeji Castle Hotel. The room was reminiscent of a ballroom with huge chandeliers and big round tables beautifully decorated. As I approached the door to go in I was told to take a card. When I turned it over I found out that I was sitting on table C seat 27! Everyone had a lucky-dip seating arrangement. When I went to my table and sat down the fellow staff members seemed to squirm a little, as they cannot speak English. There were 2 empty seats, one next to me. The next person to arrive was an English teacher, and although he didn't pick the seat next to me, the others were quick to relocate him and give him the job of translator! One of the first things he told me about the coming party was, "Everyone is going to get really drunk and crazy". I was excited!
On entering I was given a schedule of the party, it was unbelievable!
17:55 - Everyone seated.
18:00 - Staff who are leaving come in the door.
18:02 - Principal introduces all of the staff.
18:05 - Principal presents them with their present (first present).
18:10 - MC makes opening speech for the night.
18:20 - Everyone claps and raises their glasses to say "Kompai" (Cheers).
Next came the speeches by each staff member who was going. There were 11 staff members and their speeches lasted a good 4 minutes each. While this was going on, the food was being brought out one dish at a time. We ate a wide range of Japanese food which was placed on the lazy
suzie and shared. There were 8 different platters that came out and I tried all of them. Pictured here is some
sashimi (raw white fish and tuna) and a
soba noodle dish. Luckily I was feeling coordinated because for almost all of the dishes you had to use the serving chopsticks.
It is a Japanese custom that you cannot pour your own glass of beer (or any alcohol) because if you do you are seen as an alcoholic. It was hard to keep track of how much I had had to drink because even though I had not finished my glass, many people (with a bit of Dutch courage) kept filling my glass! This was very cute.
When everyone was out of the seats and mingling, one of the male teachers whom I had never spoken to sat down next to me, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and drew a map of Australia. We were talking about Australia, where different places were, how long it would take and so on. Then he drew a picture of Japan and told me about where he grew up and many different beautiful places. I told him that he spoke really good English, to which he waved his hand and said that he wasn't (they are all very modest about their abilities to speak English). He said, "sometimes I think and I cannot find the right word, but some words are in my soul and I do not forget." He was very cute!
At 20:10 the leaving staff lined up on the stage again and were each presented with a bunch of flowers by another staff member. There were many tears running down cheeks. Next, we all formed an archway and they walked underneath, where at the end, before the door, they were thrown into the air. Wow, now that's an exit! It was time for us to leave and go to Party #2.
We caught a taxi to a Bali restaurant. Much to my surprise there was MORE food, another 7 dishes and these were more substantial than the first party. We had fried rice balls, gratin (I think it tastes just like macaroni and cheese with corn!), vegies with peanut sauce, mashed potato and carrot, fried chicken, cold wrap rolls and dessert consisting of cake and fruit. Really yummy.
I didn't continue drinking beer and when we made it to the second party I tried Chu-Hi. The first one I had was a white grape, just my style. It was really sweet and delicious. An English teacher who sat in front on me wanted me to try a drink called calpis. She told me, "foreign people often call it cow piss!" and she laughed her head off! Well, it tasted like Salvital to me, not too bad but no my favie.
Soon enough, the classic Japanese entertainment unit was fired up...that's right. They had a trolley with a built in karaoke set. There was a screen that flipped up on top and 2 microphones. They love it! When someone was singing, everyone else was clapping in time to the music. Very cute! I was feeling way too sober to sing anything! Maybe next time!! At 23:00 we vacated the premises and I left the group who was heading to party #3, the pub! They were very merry and I heard that it finished up at 2am. Great effort!
Staff rooms in Japanese schools are a whole lot different to staff rooms in Australian schools. For starters, they are by no means a place to relax, it is like an office space. The staff room is a long room with rows of tables sectioned into year levels. The 3rd graders are in front of the Principal's office, the next group along are the 2nd graders and the last group at the other end are the 1st graders. Each year, teachers swap year levels they teach, I guess it would break up the monotony of teaching via a text book. So that means that they need to move.
When I was told about how this "changing positions" thing worked I found it hard to believe. But I have now seen it and it was a sight to behold...You are probably thinking, what's so amazing about teachers packing up their desk and moving? Well, the crazy thing is that they don't just pack up and move, they move their WHOLE TABLE and cupboard to their new position!!! I was watching and wondering, how is this going to work? 
First the 3rd grade teachers moved their tables out into the corridor. As soon as the desks were gone everyone swarmed in with brooms, mops and vacuum cleaners to clean the floor underneath. Next, the new 3rd grade teachers' desks were moved to their allocated spot which was displayed on the whiteboard. When those tables had moved the cleaning continued and then the new 2nd grade teachers moved their desks and so on. My desk was moved one position to the right. What the? There were people going everywhere and it was all over and done with within 40 minutes. I was impressed.
