I think by the end of this month, I`m going to be sick of parties.

Alright guys, it`s been a while since my last post. I`ve just been too tired and busy lately. But now that I have nothing to do while I`m at work, I can post! Yay! =P

Dec. 13 Sunday

Today is the Christmas party at the storybook library/museum for the elementary and nursery kids! I volunteered to help out but there really wasn`t much for me to do except look after the children. So all the volunteers all had little Santa aprons and hats on and because I didn`t, I decided to be a reindeer with snow on it. I wore my reindeer ears, a brown tank, and brown leggings with a white fluffy poncho like thing(shawl?) that represented the snow. =P I got there and people weren`t expecting me to be all dressed up, so they were all like WHA?! lol I love dressing up for the occasion so I couldn`t pass it up. The kids thought I was funny and liked to play with my ears because I was the only reindeer. There were lotsa santa`s helpers and santas though. haha. Several of my high school girls also decided to volunteer at the party. So it was a jolly good time bonding with them! I normally don`t talk to them very much at school, but I was happy to be able to talk to them now. They`re sweet and happy children.

I felt so popular at the party because I knew basically every kid! They were all my students. When they came in through the doors and saw me, all smiles. I love them, my babies. I met a lot of the nursery kids parents and they all already knew who I was. I even got invited by one of them to go over for dinner. Turns out she`s the wife of one of my cool high school teachers that I actually talk to. Their son, Genshuu, is seriously adorable and loves English time. ^^ Anyways, when it was time to do a dance together,(I think I must have lost all shame by now) a couple of the kids came over to hold my hand because they wanted to dance with me. haha, cute!!! And I was the only one going all out on the little cute dance because I had to keep up my image of a fun wierd exciting teacher for the kids. haha. -Seriously, at school, I`m quite the wierd teacher and sometimes even the teachers are like "What...are you doing, Theresa?" Or they`ll just laugh at me because I do weird actions. It`s all for my kids. Oddly enough, by me being my weird crazy self, the kids respect me more. The class becomes more fun and lively that way. I like it. The teachers get a kick out of it too. And by chasing students down and poking them until they finally say hello in English to me, I`m getting the students to be more into speaking it (cuz they have to, otherwise they`ll be poked endlessly >D). But that`s mainly only at my elementary.-

Anyways, the kids all had fun at the party and went home happy and with presents. I hung around and went to the otsukare party afterwards with my high school girls. But I didn`t feel right staying there too long and eating the food because I really didn`t do anything to help, except clean up and mind the kids. But they all still gave me a present and homemade cake which is very good btw! ^^

Dec. 16 Wednesday

So, I found out yesterday that my high school has a dormitory. I was like, really?! A dorm in high school? It`s my first time hearing it, but I`m sure there are other high schools like this in the states...i think. It`s located right behind the school. It`s super nice and cozy and has 22 students living in it, seperated into the boys` dorm and the girls` dorm. Although there are only 5 boys living there. lol The boys` area was super dirty compared to the girls even though they clean the dorm everyday after school! Dedication! But they had a PS3 and Grand Theft Auto! I was like, "DUDE! You guys realize I`m coming over here more often now, right?" It also had a cafeteria in it with the cafeteria ladies. The ladies told me about a party happening Wednesday night for the students and teachers in this dorm for Christmas! They invited me to come! I was super excited and said yes because I wanted to spend more time with the high school students and come back to this dorm because it`s awesome! And then I realized that I`m going to be having Christmas party overload. This month is the month of Bounenkai`s or End of the Year work parties and Christmas parties. Parties galore to be exact. I have two more parties tomorrow night to go to too.......

So at first on this night I wasn`t sure if I wanted to go because I was super tired after work today, but I`m quite glad I went. Actually, the free food enticed me to go. haha. So when I entered the cafeteria, all the kids were like "OMG, Theresa!" And were all excited! One of the boys was even like "Tension agatta zo!" which basically means the atmosphere is getting more exciting, for a lack of better translation for this...lol The food was soo good and I got to eat Japanese pizza. I had one with shrimp and mayonnaise and one with raw ham on it (proscuitto?) But food was so damn good and my kids loved talking to me. And then the boys decided to go dress up or cross dress and came in wearing sexy dresses and evreything. haha. They were sooooo skinny! More than some of the girls! I took pictures. =P Afterwards, we played some games like bingo, charades, and quiz games. It was pretty fun. I kept getting the "Kawaii!!~" from all my girls too. And then they all asked my if I had a bf and when I said no, all the girls were super surprised and was like "Wha? But you`re so cute!" lol Thanks girls. You make me feel special.　So the night ended at 9pm and was wonderfully fun. Mainly because the dorm was really comfy feeling. Woot.

Dec. 17 Thursday

A hectic day of partying. Seriously, no joke. I had two Christmas parties today, one starting at 6pm and one at 6:30pm. Yes....they were basically at the same time. And I had just finished teaching at the elementary school today, running around and playing with the kids, so I was already ready to just pass out. But since I payed for the 6pm one, which is for the 30 years old and under workers in town crew I wanted to get my money`s worth. And I promised my Taiko kids (the party at 6:30) that I would be there to exchange presents and play with them. So I first went to the 6pm one at really hot nabe (hot pot) really fast, burnt my tongue, and then at 6:25 went over to the club hall for the other party. Actually, I would`ve been able ot eat more and a little slower if there weren`t so many speeches before eating. That`s about the only thing I don`t like here that people have to give long speeches before eating taking up precious eating time and letting the food go cold. Just kampai and lets eat! >.< At the 6pm party I didn`t really talk to other people very much except for Su because she`s the easiest to talk to for me and the funniest. So I was actually pretty excited to go to the 6:30pm one with my kids.

At the club hall my kids and their parents had already arrived and were sitting down at the tables waiting for the teachers to all arrive. I was second to last to arrive and felt pretty bad, but my kids were excited to see me and my girls were like "Theresa-sensei, come sit next to us!" And they even said, "It`s good isn`t it? Theresa-sensei is sitting with us!" I felt more glowy and happy. It was much more comfortable sitting there with my students and their parents and the taiko group rather than the 6pm party with people who are the same age as me. Either, I`m really just a kid at heart or maybe the atmospehere was better. I don`t know. It made me wonder though. Anyways, we played a fun and cute game with stuffed animals and Bingo and then did a present exchange. Most of the gifts that the parents got were all given to the younger kids because the presents were mainly fun kids things. I got 2 nice pens and cute erasers from one of my 1st grade boys. I was quite happy actually. I need them! ^^

Then after sitting and playing with my kids for a lil while longer, I was called by Su and other peoples at the 6pm party to go back because they want to start the present exchange. So as much as i hated to leave my taiko party, I had to because, one I was still hungry for more food, and I paid for the thing, and I didn`t want to be rude to them. So I bid my kids farewell for the night and went back to the other party. I actually got lucky and got this huge apple pie made by the local bakery. It looks so damn good, but I can`t eat all of it, so I think I`m gonna give some to other people, or just Su since she eats so much anyways. lol After the first party ended, there was a second party to go to, which i wasn`t sure if I should go or not. But against better judgement i went. I drank no alcohol though because I was driving. And I didn`t want to drink anymore after all the drinking in Sapporo. I wanted to give myself time to rest and let my liver recover. lol So I stayed there and talked to everyone for a little bit and then left at around 11pm. I was quite exhausted to say the least. And now I`m at work writing my blog update. I`m really quite tired right now, but pumping myself full of coffee to keep me going throughout the day. Hahh.....I have more parties next week too...3 more to be exact. One on the 22nd, 23rd, and 25th. Luckily, on my B-day, the 24th, I can just stay at home and chill. Or, maybe go out and party......

Otsukare-sama! Pics willl will will be up soon. There will be about 300 or so pics so just be warned. Love you all!