February Pt. II of II

Chinese New Year

2/19/2010

What would Japan be without Chinese New Year? It would be Megan's sad place.

I am going to deny that I am homesick, but I do miss being able to celebrate a big family event with all of my cousins back at home in California. I miss the street festivals, the kids running around everywhere, and I miss the food. Oh, how I miss the food.

This year, the lunar new year, celebrated by many countries in Asia, was on the same day as Valentine's Day. I decided to create an event the following week, because Chinese New Year is still celebrated the first 15 days of the new lunar year. And, because I love parties.

When Friday night came around, I was excited to suit up and wear my modern style cheongsam, and went to pick up guests from the station. A few people from different parts of Ishikawa came down for a night of Chinese food, Mah Jong, and Karaoke. We started off with a set course dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Japanese style Chinese, and just had a few drinks there. Gary, a JET further north of my city, brought red envelopes to share with everyone and we taught the others to say "gong hay fat choi...lai see dow loi..." Which isn't the most appropriate Chinese New Year saying, "May you have fortune...give me my red envelope." But the first part is totally legit.

At the end of the meal, we had an hour before karaoke, so we played one round of Mah Jong. I wish we had more time to play, because its such a fun and addicting game!

Karaoke was three hours long, but it was extremely cheap and entertaining. It's always fun to go out and sing with large groups of people. :) Thank you to all of you who came down to Komatsu to celebrate the new year with me. I felt like it was a family gathering of JETs.

Casino Royale

2/27/2010

It isn't often that Ishikawa JETs get dressed up and gamble for charity. On that Saturday night, the Komatsu people put together an event, led by Stacy and Bill, in Kanazawa's Apre bar. We all dressed up and suited up in our classiest attire and held a casino night using straws, spoons, and stirsticks as chips. All proceeds are going to Ishikawa Orphanages.

The attendees were promised booze, snacks, and a chance to win booze for the top three chip holders. We had a nomihoudai, all-you-can-drink bar, with snacks for two hours for $25. Then you had to put in money to get chips, and that money would go toward charity.

For two hours, we had Cecilia and Ashley running Bingo, Colin as the Black Jack dealer, I was the croupier for Roulette, and there were two self-run Hold Em tables. I think around thirty JETs showed up to drink and play.

I think I've got the hang of roulette now...I may apply to work in Vegas when I get back to the States. JK. But I do want to make a Vegas trip when I get back...any takers?

When Casino Royale finished, the night was still young. I met up with some friends and we had some drinks at a bar before heading to a nightclub. The price to get into the hip hop club at 1am was ridiculous. It was 3,000yen, about $30, and about an hour of our time there was wasted with the exhibition dance performance. I didn't pay $30 to watch some random people dance to the sitar...At least let me dance to the sitar, too! Oh, well. It was a good experience checking out Japan's hip hop scene. I'm looking forward to the next time we go clubbing.

Until then, I'll just have to dance in the hallways of my school.