Will's Tour Diary - updated daily!
Will's tour diary - What? Why? When? Where? - Shows - Seminars
Fortified by a bagel and an espresso from Doutor I genkied up for the two panel discussions in front of an audience of 40 JETs. Richard and I managed to be perky and talkative for two and a half hours as we fielded questions about dealing with problems, getting things done and making the most of time on JET. At the end Richard gave his famous genki speech. After 5 minutes of his hyper-animated motivational talk one JET put her hand up and said "Can I have whatever you are on?"
Later on, whilst the Aomori folk ventured out on excursions, we went in search of face paint for the evening's Halloween party. 2 hours of searching and we settled on marker pens.
We got an email from an ALT in Murata-cho, near Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Could we visit her school on our way through? Figuring that the drive was doable, I rang immediately, spoke to Anna and one of her teachers, and set Tuesday as a preliminary date.
We assembled at the house of Welsh ALT Helen Merrifield and began our costume preparation. US ALT 'Little' John was co-opted into face-painting duty, and using the red and black marker pens did a masterful job on Richard's face, transforming him into a sinister Darth Maul. I cannibalized my karate uniform, attached the Genkimobile's torch to my belt and became Luke Skywalker. Dave had a skull mask with a special effect - squeeze the accompanying heart and blood coursed over the bones of the 'face'. Jeff wore his clothes backwards, donned a rubber tanned schoolgirl mask and became a ganguro. John teased his already voluminous red hair, sported a body shirt picked up at a secondhand shop and turned into a disco demon. We were ready.
In accordance with the JET Programme objective of internationalisation we decided to share the Halloween tradition with the people of Hachinohe. The guys at 7-Eleven just stared as we walked in fully costumed. Next door at the Bikkuri Donkey (lit. "surprised donkey") family restaurant the waitress did a doubletake before stuttering "Table for 5...?". The poor waitress wasn't quite sure how to deal with 5 widely grinning Halloween foreigners but she kept her composure and took our order without flinching. And the Donkey's hamburgers weren't half bad!
The party. The sort of line-up one would expect at a Halloween party - several Santas. A few cats. Ali G. A sheik. An obaasan. A rainbow. Two skeletons. Ghostface. The Statue of Liberty. A Death's head.
Naturally, what went on at the party is confidential, except for the portions I recorded on video. I can reveal that there was a small incident when the host, Kristy, discovered that a few ravenous guests had availed themselves of some lasagna in the fridge. This was not the only incidence of self service either.
Late in the evening someone found a "Wham!" CD and everyone jitterbugged until they had to go go.
Will
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Opinions expressed in this diary are personal views of Will Jasprizza. They do not necessarily represent those of Genki English, especially where he is slagging people off or making jokes which sounded better at the time!!! Please be understanding!
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