#wingapo

Pocahontas !!!! Blessing your screen with some colours of the wind. It’s such a beautiful movie and I absolutely love this scene from it so I had to do a screencap redraw for myself. The background was so much fun to paint.

Last Friday was my school’s ぼねんかい(Bo-nen-kai,) which means “End of the Year Party,” and it was heaps of fun. Almost all of the teachers went and it was a good time to talk to some of the senseis that I don’t usually chat with. Also, *bonus* it was held in Oji so it was only, like, a two minute walk from my apartment. It was a really nice venue and we were to be served a six course meal (Japanese-sized portions, of course) and it was open bar.

Anyways, when we arrived, we were instructed to pick a random slip of paper that had a letter and a number on it which corresponded to a table and a seat, respectively. The stars must have been in some weird alignment or something because I was seated right between my best friend Pocket Sensei and the school principal, who, in Japan, we call 子著先生 (Ko-cho sen-sei).

Important note: Kocho Sensei doesn’t speak any English. Of course, I know a few basic phrases in Japanese, but there are rules to follow when speaking to your superiors in Japan so I was able to successfully ask “what is your hobby” but then when he answered “golf” I was like okay *OMG* I have nothing else to say now. So we sat in blissful silence for most of the night until he commented on how I was using chopsticks:

“You’re using chopsticks”

“Yes, it’s true!”

“How?”

“UM………..*PANIC*…..I HAVE BEEN STUDYING”

Pocket sensei, on the other hand, was very chatty. I learned that he likes wine. At one point, he got himself a glass of chardonnay (although he prefers prosecco) and did that thing where you swirl it around and give it a sniff. Then he turns to me says “I used to work in an Italian restaurant” and took a very sophisticated-looking sip. He also likes whiskey highballs. This was the point in the night where he shared his affinity for the phrase “what the fuck” but the harmony of the table was preserved because, as mentioned above, Kocho Sensei doesn’t speak English.

There was also a special guest speaker! And, much to my surprise, the special guest speaker was me! I had maybe ten minutes to put together a Nihongo-English hybrid speech in front of all the teachers so I asked Pocket Sensei for a few ideas and went up. I was super nervous, but basically, I said:

“Good evening, I’m Lauren. I am happy to be here. Thank you for welcoming me to your school and to Japan. You are very kind. Thank you again.”

I’m 100% sure that my Japanese was incorrect but I don’t think I offended anyone. I sat back down and Pocket Sensei, now drinking a pinot grigio, gestures to the room and nonchalantly says “See? Everybody smiled”

Anyways, the food was good and I had a nice time getting to know my other coworkers a little bit better. I think they were happy to talk to me as well, since all the senseis are already so busy all the time and, on top of that, we don’t speak the same language so it isn’t easy to talk to some of them during work hours.

Now, tonight, we will have an English department party (yayYyYy) and I am excited for that! たのしみです！I will report back with more Pocket Sensei stories.

RELATED VOCAB:

ぼねんかい (Bo-nen-kai) – End of the Year Party

子著先生 (Ko-cho sen-sei) – Principal