Farewell my liver.

I think I've drank more alcohol this past month or so than the rest of my life combined! It's been a dangerous mix of farewell parties, welcome parties and a whole lot of free time.

July is the last month for the departing JETs, so of course we have plenty of farewell parties for our friends. We had the prefectural-wide sayornara party, various parties for individual people leaving and about 4 farewell parties just for Phil, the leaving Fujiyoshida JET. It seems that when you leave Japan, everyone and their mother has to throw a party for you. Phil had farewell parties with his school, the board of education and a few more with various groups of friends. And, of course, with the parties being in Japan, copious amounts of alcohol were involved every time. They're good for the spirits, but kind of rough on the walet and the liver.

Now it's August which means two things: 1) I'm on summer vacation and 2) It's time for the new JET welcome parties. This is a deadly combo which could lead to alcoholism and/or complete liver failure.

With the start of summer vacation come the summer festivals. The festivals are a time when everybody in the town dresses up in traditional Japanese clothing, gathers somewhere in the middle of town and then drinks themself silly. There's usually some performances going on or town tradition to justify the whole thing (for example, putting bonfires all around town). Last week was a big festival in Fujiyoshida: the foundation day festival. I'm not proud to say that many of my students saw me intoxicated, but people kept assuring me it wasn't a big deal. I somehow ended up at a bar with some of my students' parents that night and got home ok later. This was only the first big summer festival in the area...

Also, as of Sunday, the new batch of JETs has arrived in Japan (well, half of them anyway). I went up to Tokyo to meet my friend Dan. I actually managed to stay fairly sober most of the time until I went out with the new Yamanashi JETs. Karaoke always does me in.

Anyway, I'm back to Fujiyoshida now and Phil's replacement is getting settled in. I'm just preparing myself for the myriad welcome parties coming my way....