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So I’ve been very busy since I last wrote with starting work and with my birthday celebrations. I finally went to work on Monday after being paid to sing karaoke and sit around watching children’s tv for 2 weeks. I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I really love it so far. Japanese people are unbelievably friendly and curious about foreigners, which in the staffroom is great because I’m never short someone to have a bit of a gossip w ith. With students however it can be more than a little overwhelming. My first few days, I felt like an animal in the zoo with thirty girls at a time opening up the staffroom door and staring until I waved at them, they would then scream ‘kawaii’ at the top of their voices and run off giggling. Scarleh!

Of course if students did this in ireland they’d be told in no uncerain terms to feck off but in Japan it’s very different. Teachers are almost parents to the Japanese students and anyone can come into the staffroom at any time to ask questions or just for a bit of a chat. In some ways it seems to really work because the relationship between the teachers and students is very cooperative and it is not ‘uncool’ to like the teachers. On the other hand, with students swarming every teacher’s desk at lunchtime fighting for their attention, teachers rarely get time to even eat their lunch. Luckily for me the students’ English vocabulary only stretches to ‘Hello, my name is…’ and then the obligatory sqeals of ‘kawaii’ ,so, although hundreds of students pass by me everyday, I still get to take a break now and then.

So, I turned 22 on Wednesday and really wasn’t expecting much, considering I am on the opposite side of the world to all my family and friends. Was I in for a shock! Lily, my supervisor, spread the word in the staffroom and when I went into work on my birthday I was bombarded with presents and Happy Birthdays from everyone, a lot of whom I had never even met! One of the English teachers, who had never spoken to me before, turned up at my desk with a chocolate dessert for me because I had to work on my birthday- middle aged Japanese men are soooo cute! I really have to restrain myself from squealing out ‘kawaii’ myself!

When I got home from work with the basket of my bike full of presents from teachers at my school Brendan gave me his present which was brilliant- a kimono with the obi and all the rest. It’s gorgeous but impossible to put on so one of the English teachers in my school offered to show me the technique of kimono wearing tomorrow, I can’t wait! Now I’ll just have to find some festival so I can wear it.

That night we went to the local amusement arcade and karaoke place with some of the other JET guys and a few teachers from my school to celebrate my birthday. It was great fun, we sang in the kid’s room in the karaoke place, which was equipped with plastic bowling skittles and balls and bean bags to sit on. We then went to a ghost house in the arcade, which everyone found very unscary [except me of course]. After that most people went home and myself and Brendan and one of the English JET guys went to bet on the plastic horses in the amusement arcade where Brendan won about 60e worth of Sega medals! He has no idea what to do with them all now!

The following day in work they threw a party for me with a cake and singing and everything, the food was great, some of it homemade by the teachers and it was such a shock since I had only been there 5 minutes and they were already throwing parties for me!

So, to finally move away from birthdays, myself and Brendan and a few other JETs went to an orphanage today to play with the kids. They were really shy at first and so were we I suppose but once we introduced the ice crushing machine things livened up fairly quickly. It was a really fun day, despite the heat and the insects, fun was definitely had by all. I made plenty of new friends a lot of whom seemed to be fascinated by my boobs and took every opportunity to grab them-scarleh! The JETs who organised the visit intends to make it a monthly thing so I’ll definitely be heading back for some freeze tag again soon.

Well, that’s all my news for the moment, I’ve put up some new pictures on. http://picasaweb.google.com/poolady/JapanAugust if you want to have a look. Smell ya later!