From Noodles to Foolishness...

In the dollar store yesterday I heard a small voice scream "Hen no hito!" (strange person) and as I looked up there was a little girl of about 5 running away screaming/giggling "Hen no hito!!!" to her friend and her father...after they walked around my aisle twice chanting "strange person, strange person" I finally waved...they giggled and ran away and I continued with my shopping.

So I think this post might be the most exciting yet...I'm warning you that the next part is going to start off a little slow but soon things will pick up...Here goes...

Today was the day of our "Bowing Ceremony"...sounds exciting right? Well it wasn't! We went to work at 8:30 like usual...then left at about 10:30 to come into the city for re-entry passes from the airport so that we can leave the country and not have issues when we try to...re-enter! If anyone is ever in Fukuoka Airport and looking for Immigrations well you'll never find it...unless you look in the most obscure corner...next to the bathrooms...at the end of a corridor that you would think leads to nowhere! After doing that we ate some really good SPICY ramen...Japan has a thing for little itty bitty cups so the others got two cups of water...I made it through my ramen on one cup...cuz I'm a BOSS!!! After lunch we headed over to the building where the ceremony took place...it went as follows:
Stand
Bow
Sit
Listen to Introductions
When your name is called stand...bow...sit
Listen to a welcome speech
Stand
Bow
Sit
Wait for the senior folk at the Ministry of Education to leave
Breathe!
Then cuss about how you came all the way there in the blazing heat...wearing a suit...just to Stand...Bow...Sit!!!

And here's where the "fun" begins...

Since the Orientation was cancelled and rescheduled, so were the dinner and the after party...the Orientation (that's odd...I wonder if the word "orient" in this context and the far East have any relation...one more thing to look up on the Internet at "work") is next month...but the dinner and after party were today...Let me tell you a little about how the Japanese get down when it comes to dinner and after parties...then I'll tell you about how English speakers add their own spin on things...Dinner was a Nomihodai/Tabehodai which means All-You-Can-Drink/Eat for a set price and the after party was a Nomihodai...these folks probably drank more than they should have at the dinner b/c by the time the after party started (9:30) eyes were already red...I literally had to pull this American guy off this poor lil super polite Japanese woman, sit him down, then I went to see if she was ok...folks were TO' UP!!! It was disgusting...so you're probably wondering where I fit into all this, eh? Well, Cory and I got the bright idea that we would find someone's place to crash at and spend the night in the city, wake up, eat, [window] shop, and go home for the dinner party in the evening...so we brought overnight stuff with us and put it all in a locker at the after party...Theoretically it was a good idea...Logistically, not so much...the one girl who was like "oh are you new? blah blah blah...I've been here for a year...my name is blah blah blah...I won the lottery when it comes to location b/c I live near here blah blah blah...so if you're ever in town and you need somewhere to stay blah blah...so I said "Is that offer valid today? for me and a friend?" She responded "Yeah totally! Just find me later." So when Cory was ready to go home, I found her to tell her that we would be near the door and don't forget us on your way out she replied "Oh, I party til like 7..." OH UH UH...NOT GONE CUT IT HOMIE!!! So it was time for Plan B...We had heard about cyper cafes where you can stay all night for cheap...so we got directions and went looking...we found it, but we misunderstood the pricing outside and thought it was going to be way too expensive so we went back to the after party with the hopes that we would find someone...NOPE!!! We just found another homeless person so we scooped him up and headed to the Cyber Cafe to ask...sure enough it was cheap...we got memberships...and here I am now telling you this story...LOL...there's food to order (like room service...lol), bathrooms, showers, and private booths for each computer/tv/dvd player...and thank God that the Japanese (in general) are so clean and caring...I'm in the Ladies Only section! We got 7 hours and we're just going to stick it out! Just one more way of "When in Rome..."-ing...Boy will I have tales to tell my grandkids!!! "Grandma was an Internet cafe squatter in her younger days!" Time to say a prayer (or 2) and get some shut eye...

P.S. At the after party, got a little choked up when HEY YA! came on...oh the little things that trigger emotion!