Enkai!!!

On Friday night I experienced my first enkai with my JHS teachers.
It was awesome!!
Enkai is basically a staff party but maybe with more drinking and certain etiquette. For example, you don't pour your own drink. Either wait for someone to do it for you or offer a re-fill to someone else who will then re-fill your glass in return.
As I entered my enkai I was asked to pick a card to determine where to sit. I ended up sitting with the other English teachers, some of whom I sit with every day anyway, but there were some new faces. The school councillor, who I time-share a desk with and who left me this.....

....was sat next to me and she was lovely!!! I am very sad that I don't actually get to work with her.

There was also a slide show of the sports festival (which I missed), lots of food and a song to end the evening. 

We then headed over to karaoke, lead by the principal who is apparently a karaoke addict. Admittedly a lot of the songs were Japanese and although I can now read hiragana I can't read it at speed to a tune. However, I did bond with one teacher over Blondie and Journey, and with another over Barbie Girl.

I think my favourite part of the night was just speaking to the other teachers. I don't think there is a bad one in the bunch. Lots made the effort to come and speak to me but one in particular surprised me. He's technically a Japanese teacher and although he says his English is not good, he lies. It's awesome! He's also into rock climbing so I'm hoping he can suggest somewhere to climb (just need  to find someone to belay now!). He made sure I had someone to chat to all night and I felt included throughout. He also tried to teach me some Japanese which was greatly appreciated. So all in all enkai was awesome. Even if all this bonding is completely forgotten/ignored on Monday, it was nice to see all the teachers out of school.

On a separate note, and because this is also a form of diary for me, isn't it weird how quickly you can do a complete 180 flip on your opinion of someone?
I saw something on facebook the other day and it made me realise just how self-orientated some people really are. I've been on the receiving end of this, from the same person and only last week in fact, and I'm so happy I can see clearly now. Some people really do just need to always be the best and always be right and that equals a pretty insecure person. There is no need to highlight other peoples flaws to make yourself feel good, especially if it's completely out of the blue. Any way, it appears that like attracts like and I just hope I'm not around witness this too much.

I'm a pretty quiet person; I don't enjoy people that have to be the centre of attention but unfortunately the world is full of these creatures. Oh well, I'm pretty happy in the knowledge that I know who I am and I don't feel the need to be loud or adapt my life to suit others.