Day 151 in Japan - ESS Christmas Party

Today was our English Speaking Society (ESS) Christmas Party. After school, we all met up in the Language Lab (my regular classroom). I planned a bunch of games (Pin the Nose on Rudolph, Christmas Tongue Twisters, Word Scramble Races and Throwing Stuff Into Stuff), and we kept scores for the two teams. The students names themselves Team SanTurkey (sounds like Santa/Turkey to them) and Team Toshio for some reason that I cannot fathom. I got presents for the winners, and "coal" for the losing team. The presents were things from Tsutaya (the first episode of Yotsubato - my favourite manga, a nice bookmark, a book on origami etc.), and the "coal" was stuff from the Daiso (100 yen store) (some hand warmers, bath salts etc.). Team SanTurkey won it in the end, but it was pretty close. We had a really good time playing games together, and it was a perfect opportunity to listen to a bunch of Christmas Carols :D

Our ESS whiteboard decorations

Chi-chan blindfolded and ready to pin Rudolph's nose.

You have never seen Pin the (Thing) on the (Other Thing)
until you have seen Japanese students play. Rather than
randomly stumbling forward and stabbing at a place, they meticulously
measure the distance from the side, then the height from the bottom of the whiteboard.
Then they take at lest 30 seconds trying to place it perfectly. They were a lot closer than we ever got!

Emi-chan being "confused" by Chi-chan.

How close are those noses? Except for Emi's
(I'm oddly proud of her being further away).

Working on Christmas Word Puzzles (Toshio on the left, SanTurkey on the right)

"Stuff the Stocking" (i.e. chuck lollies into a cardboard shoe).

Today, Mum and Dad and Fletch and Lovey left on their Christmas Cruise. Today they headed out of the heads of Sydney, next stop will be Melbourne, then Hobart, then off to New Zealand. I will miss being able to talk to them a LOT! Particularly over Christmas. No major worries, though - there are plenty of lovely people to spend the holiday with over here.

Food Highlight of the Day: That caramel popcorn you see in the picture above.