Farewell

Friday night was my farewell party. Of course, I didn’t hear about it until the day before:

“How are you going to the party tomorrow?”
“What party?”
“You’re farewell party.”
“Um… I kind of made plans…”
“But you have to go to your farewell party.”
“Why am I only hearing about this now?”
“I don’t know. We’ve been talking about it for weeks. No one told you?”

So, I had to postpone my plans… I’m not sure why they scheduled the goodbye party so early. I’m not even leaving for another month…

The party was fun. I sat next to the principal, per his request, so I wasn’t near Kae (who usually translates the goings on that I don’t understand). But the speeches were largely about me, and while I understood a lot of it, there’s also a lot that I missed. I wonder what they said… Then, I got up and gave a little speech. By the time the speeches were done, the hot food was cold, and the cold food was warm. Oh, Japan…

During the enkai, the principal asked me if I knew Simon and Garfunkel. Apparently he really likes them. I told him yes. He asked me if I knew Bob Dylan. I said yes. He asked me if I knew John Denver. I said yes (one song counts, right?). He was so impressed that I knew these old bands. “Subarashi!” he said. “Ii na!” he added. “We will sing at karaoke.” Uh oh…

After dinner, the partiers decided to go to karaoke. Most of the teachers went home (including Kae – she got the hell out of there). I really don’t like karaoke, but, because it was my party, I had to go. Plus, the principal really wanted to sing with me. So, we went. We sang some Beatles and (odd versions of) Simon and Garfunkel songs. It ended up being fun. The principal was really drunk. He was practically falling asleep while the other teachers were singing Japanese songs. He really can’t hold his liquor.