Work Parties

Probably the thing I'll miss most about Japan is the abundance of enkais, or work banquets.  They are fantastic.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, gets together at the end of each trimester (and some random other times if a teacher leaves/comes/retires/sports team does well/graduation/etc)  But the way everyone just relaxes and enjoys themselves is so great.  Here's a quick rundown of the work party from the end of 2nd trimester (December)

We were greeted by the sign reading "Welcome Dear Noheji High School."

Principal in a bath robe giving the intro speech.

One thing I love about Japan is that nobody eats or drinks anything until everyone has their food/drinks.  When the last person gets their drink poured, we all start together.

After the copious amounts of fish, veggies, meat, and whale sperm, there is always a second party that has crazy snacks.  These little guys have some crazy flavors, from left to right is chicken curry, pork kimchi, shrimp and mayonnaise, teriyaki burger, fish eggs, and vegetable salad.  Bottom left is fried pork and bottom right is corn portage.  Bottom middle is just a dried fish in a bag.

And of course it's Japan so when we go to the third party at about 2am, and everyone has already eaten and drank all they possibly can, they still bring out massive amounts of food and drinks.  For an idea of how much these parties end up costing, this is the 3rd party, and each of those cans of beer are about 3 dollars.  They really spare no expense for the enkais.

Breakfast the next morning was probably the best breakfast of my life, next to mama's egg mc muffins.  Here is raw egg/natto/soy sauce over rice.  Indescribably delicious.

Add a plate of veggies and other goodies.

Throw in some of Noheji's famous scallops that were swimming in the ocean about 2 hours before this picture was taken.

Bunch of different choices.  Bottom right of this picture shows 5 different varieties of Noheji's famous scallops.

And an awesome fruit selection to cap it all off.  Amazing breakfast.