Basketball Enkai

For everything in Japan, there is an "enkai". Translated in Kirsty language it roughly means- An excuse to get drunk and make a fool of yourself in front of the people you normally have a professional relationship with! hehe.... Nothing gets better than that.. :)

This month was our Basketball enkai.. or break-up I suppose you could call it! We all got dressed up in our little "professional" suits only to eat a little and drink a whole lot!

We started off at a flash motel, and after many self-introductions and thank- yous and lets all go to Australia`s (Onya Coach) we finished pouring everyone elses drinks (it`s rude in Japan to pour your own drink) then we headed for Karioke! After discovering that the bar people couldnt keep up with everyones drinks..... (on a friday night mind you) we freezed our little tooshies off in the snow wearing our lil "professional" suits to a bar i have never seen before... and its right round the corner from me.... tsk tsk! Anyways, one think i love about basketball is that there are heaps of guys with good jobs... and being a girl we obiously get very, VERY well looked after... hehe free food and drinks all around... It was all in all a smashing night!
P.S.. No more calling the guys tight asses hey Nao! hehe
Here are some Piccis!


Naka, Miyuki and Eri me and Naka



Me and coach Yuji Yumi me and Nao

Eskimo`s Birthday Party!!

March 3rd was Margarets birthday (I call her eskimo because she comes from Canada) We had, as always the bestest night!
We decided to chuck her a surprise party at Kamado (an Izakaya) which luckily turned out as planned and she actually WAS suprised to see us all!
After a few hours of foodsies and drinksies... mmm mmm we headed to Karioke for a night of really bad singing and Irish dancing.. hehe (dont ask) and thanks for taping it all Alesha... GRRR
Anyways, somehow we ended up at Casa Cuevo dancing the night away... .. im sorry cant give you any more details due to lack of remembering them.... Here are some pics to tell the story for yas!





Its the birthday girl party dance!



















Kweeva (Shammy) is Irish.... Enough said?















The Karioke party room! Take it away Lesha!
















"Im a little teapot....."

Graduation!!

Well finally its graduation time! Unlike OZ they finish the school year in April over here! Strange i say! But i got to pick 2 schools i wanted to go to for the kids graduation ceremony! (I didn`t really wanna attend 20 something of them) Well, all i can say is that its really, really formal for a primary school grade 6 graduation... Suits, continuous standing and sitting (like in church) and heaps and heaps of bowing! here are some pics!




Teacher at Kokufu me and Bluey (other English teacher from Aus)

Kokufu primary school

1. Principle of Kokufu primary.

Me mum (my old supervisor) and Bluey

Anyone for singed hair??

This was an Okonomiyaki party i will never forget!! Me and some of my b`ball palls headed to a restaurant called "The Boomerang" Its famous because of the HUGE okonomiyaki you can make there.... (Its literally the size of a table top) Anyways, after several attempts at squeezing into the super narrow parking spots, everyone all sat down around in high spirits and we all commented on Aya`s new awsome hair cut she got done the day before!
After we ordered it was time to heat up the BBQ table... well... after several attempts we just couldnt get it to work... so while Aya had her head under the table playing with the swich she asked Eri to play with the gas swich at the wall.... OH OH OH BAD IDEA!
There was a huge BANG and lots of fire and Aya shot out from under the table with her hands covering her face.. while the rest of us.. jumped up and bolted half way out the door! After the fire died down Aya took her hands away from her face... Her eyelashes and eyebrows were singed and one side of her face was red but the worst bit was her new funky hair was singed..... Lucky escape i say.. but unfortunately the exploding BBQ table resulted in everyone being quiet for the rest of the night... bugger... On the bright side we got free food! HAHA Thanks AYA! p.s.. The Okonomiyaki was sooo yummy! When yous get here i will take you.. Perhaps we wont sit at the same table though.... hmmm
















Here is a pic of all of us around the table...from left to right.. The guy who i dont know... he was too shy to talk to me, maki, Aya and her singed hair, me, the shop owner in the so cool hat and Miyuki!
The other pic is of the Okonomiyaki compared to the size of a mobile phone! yum yum !!

One of the best people you could meet!

I went to a party with some people who are apart of the Lions Club again and i got introduced to this Chap.. we got talking and i asked him what he did for a living (because everyone in the lions club is either a doctor, dentist, surgeon or the owner of some big company) and nothing prepared me for what he was about to tell me!!!!! He told me that he was the OWNER of a SAKE company!! !!!!! HEHEHE!! well, he quickly became my friend and soon enough he was bringin out his sake and handing it around for all to drink!! mmm He also invited me and Heather and Bluey to his sake factory! WOOHOO!! Bet your Jealous Jules! hehe

Rockin Night Out!

Had another awsome party at my apartment this weekend! I dont think we could have fitted anymore people in! hehe.. Kweeva and i started at 2pm and after everyone had a few (or more) drinks we headed out for dinner! mmm Okonomiyaki :D then went to good ol Casa Cuevo to dance the night away! then we we all troddled home at around 6am.. not a bad effort i say! hehe... Yep, good times, good times!!
Here are some pics for yas!





Yeah, its me... really it is!


















The 3 drunkards.. hehe nice face Eri!!












mmm Okonomiyaki :D

Ohinamatsuri- Doll`s festival

Today is Ohinamatsuri (Doll`s festival) here in Japan so i thought id send ya a picci of an example display that almost every household who has young girls in Japan put out on this day!

Ohinamatsuri is a day that the Japanese pray for young girl`s growth and happiness. Ohinamatsuri is also known as "girls day" and May 5th is "kodomo no hi" or boys day. Boys day is a National holiday in Japan, but surprise, surprise... Girls day is NOT! GRRR

The Doll display is called "hina-ningyo" they are usually arranged on a five or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet. At the top are the Emperor and Empress. The next step contains three court ladies (sannin-kanjo), followed by five musicians (gonin-bayashi), two ministers (udaijin and sadaijin), and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display. There are also small pieces of furniture, small meal dishes, and other odd things.

This is a pic of the display at the KIA (Komatsu International Association) On the left is my Japanese teacher Komatsu sensai (how ironic... same name as the town she lives in) and the other lady is the receptionist at the KIA... Who always greets me with a "G`day Mate" and says goodbye with a "See ya mate" hehe! Total Champ!!

Meet my friends!

Howdies!
Since a few of you are coming to me... HOORAY! Im so excited! I thought that i would post some pics of some of my basketball friends so that you had a chance to remember them before you get here!! I have shown them pictures of you all so its only fair! teehee Hope you like them!!



Captain Hitomi













Nao











Miyuki










Eri















Shiho