Bye Bye Elmo

At last a holiday, and yesterday was my last time being Elmo. Elmo was a major hit at my Junior High School. I'm thinking of being something else for Christmas, maybe Santa Claus with cushions as my belly... but I don't know if I should really give students the temptation of touching my solar plexus... When I was Elmo, I had to tell off a few students to stop taking off my head...

So what's happened so far... I invited myself to an enkai (Japanese drinking party), and it was surprisingly fun, especially to see how my colleagues acted after a couple of drinks. Their karaoke singing was amazing, and seeing the guys grabbing and josting each other was... something. Thinking about it the guys were real lightweights, while the ladies hadn't even reached tipsiness. How drunk? I went to catch the train with two of the teachers, one of them plays badminton, and while waiting for the train, he was image-training on the platform. He was also spouting the most English I have heard from him or any other non-English teacher since I had first worked here, and it was pretty decent conversational English. Hmm..

On Sunday, I danced as part of the parade in the Murayama Deedara Festival 村山デエダラまつり. It was fun, but it was tiring and we were completely  バラバラ all over the place. We were probably quite bad because we weren't on TV, and none of my students saw or admitted seeing me... At work the next day, my arms were stiff and aching from waving around the batons. The instructor had advised us to hold the batons high, as it looks more pleasing to the eye, but near the end pf the parade it felt like holding 2kg weights, in each hand, so I probably looked more like a dancing ant than anything else.

 [A gift from a student. 

It's me wearing my Elmo suit and saying that it is too hot at 24 degrees C.]