3 Months Later...Welcome!

Got to Japan back on July 25th and actually got here in Semine on July 28th, yet tonight, November 9th, I had a welcome party.

Now, you can't totally blame them. It was my adult English conversation class (Eikaiwa) and I was here for quite some time before I ever had my first class. They wanted me to get settled into teaching with assistance before I had to fly solo and I was living here for a couple weeks before the school semester even started. So, by the time I actually started teaching Eikaiwa all of my welcoming events were long gone. And on top of that I only go every other Tuesday so I've only had a handful of classes.

Last time was, of course, two weeks ago so it was right before Halloween. I thought it would be fun to have a little "Halloween Party." I put that in quotes because I figured we would just have some candy, put up a couple of simple decorations, and talk about Halloween and other holidays. I was prepared to center the whole lesson around how to explain a holiday in English. Well, someone managed to get confused (It happens when there's a massive language barrier. I mean, I'm supposed to be the teacher here! Aaaagh!) and they all thought it was my birthday. So there were all kinds of candy and cake and even a gift. I guess this put everyone in the party mood (we didn't have much of a lesson) so they made a group decision that my welcome party would be held during the next class time, which was tonight. So, they took me out for drinks and dinner, and then a little karaoke. Had a good time. Nothing crazy (it IS a school night after all) but a good time.

However, this makes me think of something kind of interesting. Since this is such a small town, it constantly happens that people are connected. A few of my adult students' kids are also my students at Elementary or Junior High. A lot of my Junior High kids have brothers and sisters in the Elementary and Kindergarten. If I go to buy paper towels at the home center, the girl ringing me up may be too old to be a student and too young to be a parent, but (guess what?) her sister is one of my kids. It happens all the time and every day. On the one hand, it is really great and it makes me feel like I'm part of a real community.
On the other hand, it's creepy and it makes me feel like I am always being scrutinized and anything I do will immediately be known by everyone in town. Which is why I like going to Sendai on the weekends. Nobody knows you there and you will see at least a few other foreigners.

Right, so, ummm, welcome parties are fun.