Busy Weekend -- PTA Party

   This past weekend was a pretty busy one for me, with the festivities starting, quite literally, on Friday. Friday night featured a party run by the PTA to greet the new teachers and PTA members and also to send off the leaving teachers and PTA members. It started from six, so I stayed at school, went to the literature/culture club (which is really the story-writing and manga-drawing club), then got a ride to the party.

   My original plan, you see, was to ride my bike down the mountain to the party since it was a 20-minute trip at worst, and all of that downhill. I mean, how bad could it have been?

   Well, it rained. If it had just started raining around 40 minutes later, I would have been absolutely miserable. Luckily for me, the toast landed butter-side up and I was able to arrange a ride with the younger English teacher, Watanabe, who sits next to me. It worked out well.

   The beginning of the party dragged, as it always does. There were opening remarks from three or four senior people, then introductions of the teachers/PTA people who had left, as well as the presentations of gifts, then the introductions of the new teachers/PTA people (including me), and then some more comments... and finally, the food was brought out.

   The first thing to be brought out was an octopus salad, ew.

   The party itself was probably one of the better ones I've been to, and a lot of it had to do with me. I felt a lot more at home at the party and circulated a lot more, talking to different people despite not knowing many. The leaders of the PTA both last year and this year are guys; they're also not really... formal, professional guys. For example, last year's leader showed up in tight leather pants, a shiny black shirt, a big wallet chain, and a slicked-back ponytail -- his name was Murayama.

   He was, contrary to appearances, one of the nicest people I talked to there. His daughter is in the kendo club and they definitely share a resemblance.

   Watanabe was pretty shy; even though he's the same age as I am, this is his first time really teaching at a school. So I spent a bit of time urging him to go around and pour drinks for people, since that's what the younger people do in Japan at drinking parties. It's a socially-acceptable way to break the ice and get advice from your elders. I did a bit of it too, mostly to introduce myself.

   The way it works is that you grab two things -- a big bottle of beer in one hand and a pitcher of iced tea in the other. That way you can casually walk up to someone you want to talk to, praying that a) nobody beats you to them and b) they take a sip of their drink before you get there. Once you're there, you ask what they want, pour, hunker down, and start talking a bit.

   Even if you're not lucky enough for b) to happen, they'll usually take a little sip or chug their drink, depending on what kind of person they are, and let you pour. I talked to a few PTA members, the heads that I mentioned before, and a bunch of teachers. I also made a point of pouring for the principal and vice principal, since it's one of those Japanese niceties that tends to make a good impression, as a foreigner.

   Since I was the junior person at my table, I also poured for a lot of people there, too. Watanabe was usually standing around watching for empty glasses so he could rush in and pour for other teachers; he wasn't so good (or lucky) with the timing most of the time, though.

   The food was okay. No holy choirs sang. It wasn't terrible, though -- I wouldn't quite go so far as to say that a boy would be the next best thing.

   If you got that reference, you should probably groan a bit.

   Seriously, it wasn't anything to write home about.

   Another teacher who's only a few years older than I am, Oono, spent ALL of his time running around the party trying to pour for people. He's pretty committed to making a good impression on everyone; not only is this his first time teaching, but it's also his first real job. After he graduated from college, he spent a fair amount of time in Africa, with the Peace Corps, so he hasn't worked in Japan since.

   He really wants to fit in and get along with everyone, and it shows. It doesn't hurt that he's a genuinely nice guy and one of the first people at this school to reach out to me. Incidentally, he's also the coach of the judo club, despite having no experience with judo; nobody else has any experience either. The teacher who used to do it, the one who left, had TONS of experience and is actually a well-known coach in this prefecture...

   Big shoes to fill and I can't say that I envy him.

   He's a great guy, though -- he's trying his best to learn judo and do a good job coaching the kids. I semi-joined the judo club; I practice with the kendo club during the week, then go to practice with the judo kids on the weekend. I actually just ordered a judogi this week so that I can practice with them for real... I'm really looking forward to it.

   Since I'd semi-joined, I said I would go to the judo tournament on the Saturday to cheer for them. They were gathering at 7 am, so I didn't want to stay up too late...

   Back to the party -- it was pretty much eating, drinking, and circulating for a few hours. I only drank iced tea, though I also drank a cup of cola that someone poured for me by accident, mistaking the brown iced tea for brown cola. Oh, well.

   Once our reserved time block had run out -- we were in large hotel dining room that we'd had to ourselves -- we were unceremoniously ushered out by the organizer and gathered in the lobby for a bit. Some of the teachers decided it would be fun to head out for karaoke -- we're talking about 40-somethings here, by the way.

   I wavered a bit, but decided to go; I mean, I was having fun so far, so why not go to karaoke? It couldn't be that bad. Plus Oono was going, and he's fun to hang out with. The only problem was that I'd still need a ride back. I checked with Watanabe, since he was my ride, but he'd decided to go too, so that wasn't a problem in the slightest.

   Off to karaoke we went.

   There were quite a few teachers who went -- we ended up getting three rooms and having the partitions removed, and even then it was a bit crowded. There's a song pad that's used for karaoke; it's basically a giant remote with a touchscreen and a pen. We passed it around in a circle and everyone queued up the songs they wanted to sing.

   The former principal was sitting next to me, and the former PTA head next to him. They seemed like old chums, though they also seemed as different as could be... one a more earthy, brash guy who used ruder Japanese, the other a cultured, older man who spoke polite Japanese, formal business English, and has a daughter at Harvard Business School. Wow.

   The remote came around to me and I passed, trying to think of some English song good for karaoke. Being American, it was expected that I would sing some kind of cool English song, but I don't really listen to that much music... much less music that's good for karaoke.

   A good karaoke song here is relatively short (five minutes or less), has a nice chorus that everyone can sing or catch onto quickly, and doesn't really have any long instrumental interludes. There's a reason for this too -- when you pay for an hour of time, you don't really want to waste 20 minutes of that hour on guitar solos or pop music interludes in a song when you could be singing.

   It lowers the atmosphere a bit too.

   Murayama and the former principal were both urging me on, but it was only after I'd passed on the remote that I thought of some choices. The only songs I could really think of that fit the bill were Eye of the Tiger and We Will Rock You. I went for the latter since it's a bit more famous and the chorus is easier to catch on to... if you don't already know it.

   It didn't go so well. I don't know if it was my singing, the song itself, the chorus, or what, but people didn't really get into it. It didn't help that I didn't really know the words or timing, either! It's been ages since I've listened to the song, so I kept coming into new verses way too quickly.

   I was pretty embarrassed, so I didn't sing anything for a while.

   As people were leaving, the atmosphere got a bit more relaxed. Some of the ladies started singing pop songs from the 80s instead of just regular party songs, the guys started dancing with the music, and people were just having more fun in general. Since some of the guys started picking out slower songs every once in a while, I picked a Japanese song I know -- Lovers Again, by EXILE.

   It would have been great except for the fact that it's a duet and I couldn't find a single person who knew the other part... I ended up singing both parts by myself, and that song has a lot of singing. A. Lot. Of. Singing.

   Murayama started talking to me a bit more, flattering me with compliments about my Japanese, giving me tips about getting girls, and just joking around. I thought it was pretty funny to be having that kind of conversation with a guy in his 40s who has a daughter in my classes, but he's a good guy. We exchanged cell phone profiles and he said he'd get in touch with me to go out for drinks sometimes.

   Just before the karaoke session ended, I picked out another song -- Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. I figured that it was short enough and his voice was deep enough for me to sing well. I hoped it was repetitive enough that people could get into it easily... but nobody really seemed to. I guess people were pretty tired, since it was after 1 am.

   We wrapped up and headed out, though Murayama seemed to disappear when I was in the bathroom. A group of teachers decided to go out for ramen as a late-night snack; Oono, not to be outdone, said he'd go with him. I was surprised at that since we both had to get up early the next day...

   Watanabe opted out and then he drove me back up the mountain. We stopped at 7&i so I could get sandwich fixings to make lunch for the tournament the next day, then he dropped me off at home. I made my sandwiches, packed them up, and went to bed sometime after 2.

   For once, I was glad I'd gone to the party.