Goodbye and Kampai

This week was the last time I will see the 2nd graders before they become 3rd graders in about a month. The teacher thought it would be a good idea to take a picture. I figured I was game for whatever, so I tried to organize the 7-year-olds for the picture. 

 One of these things is not like the other...

 Cute kids right?

 This group of kids really likes it when I do the money noise and make the faces that go with (I can never do better than my animal English lesson). 

 We had an office drinking party on Friday. I went to the store before the party to restock on supplies. I bet your grocery store doesn't have guys that speak on megaphones, wave flags, and stop traffic when you leave. Mine does. These are the guys. True American Japanese heroes. 

 Flag/loudspeaker guy (he is really into it)

 The store just started stocking produce. They also sell tortillas. TORTILLAS! 

 On my way, I passed a hair salon called "Manish." It is not for men. 

 The place settings for the office party. That table is about 21 inches off the floor. 

 This scroll and teapot are in a little alcove on one end of the room for some reason. 

 This time I took pictures of all the foods so that you can be jealous. Earlier in the week we had a Quadra-kill at lunch. This meal was far more of an affront to the animal kingdom. This picture here is of octopus. Usually I am not a fan of suckers...but I made an exception here. It was outrageously good. It was like delicious ocean chicken. Animal 1.

 Though this looks like a hobo dinner, it is actually fish and tofu and whatnot. It has yellowtail that fell apart when you jabbed at it with chopsticks. Amazingly good. Animal 2.

 I don't know what this is called, but it is like a soup with an egg in it. I am not 100% sure what all was in there, but I did see shrimp. Animal 3. 

 Duck with a potato that was fried and covered with mustard. Animal 4.

 This place is so classy, they don't even bother putting rice with the sushi. Just a plate of raw fish and wasabi. Pictured here is tuna, mystery fish, mystery fish, mystery fish, and mussel. Animal 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

The main course is eel. Evidently this restaurant is well known for their eel. It was amazing. It was great the last time, and it was great this time. Animal 10. 

Soup with onions, mushrooms, and mystery white blobs. No animals seemed to be in this soup.

 Japanese picked vegetables (gross).

Last was the palate-cleanser. The most disappointing of the dishes, it was a cube of tasteless jelly with some light accents of fruit-like substance (there may have been fish in this).

Total count is 10 animals in one meal. Afterwards we went for karaoke again. I was conscripted to sing 4 Queen songs. I will say that that is extra taxing on the voice. The songs were: Don't Stop Me Now, Under Pressure, We are the Champions, and Bohemian Rhapsody. In case you were wondering, I can be booked for private karaoke gigs.

P.S. Kampai is what you shout when you toast. We also did "Banzai" which is what you shout when you throw your hands in the air. It is a cheer for 10,000 years, long life, or hooray. We all stood up and did the Banzai cheer for the junior high.