Yesterday was my birthday, as most of you know! I was afraid that by the it was my birthday, I wouldnt have anyone to celebrate with, but to my surprise it was a huge party! The night before my birthday I went to play cricket with some friends, followed by a disastrous game of bowling and finished off the night at a Kareoke bar getting drunk off of Japanese whisky. Unfortunately, on the day of my b-day I had to work from 9 to 9, but it wasn't until after my last class that some co-workers, French and English students went out to this very traditional Japanese restaurant. We ate a tons of delicious food and drank gallons of alcohol. By the way, the rumours are true; Japanese people love to drink and have no tolerance for alcohol (makes me think of Derwin in a way...) I could have sat there for weeks just watching them getting smashed! Girls were kissing, people were standing and dancing on their chairs and they just kept on ordering more beer, more sake, more cocktails. It was just crazy! So I thought I would send you a few photos of my wacky b-day night.

Here you have the waitress and her giant box of hot tofu. It is quite fascinating to see waiters in restaurants drop to their knees when they approach your table to take your order. They also never turn their backs to their customers in sign of respect, so you will often see waiters walking backwards or just stop walking as you pass by. And although they are serving you and the service is wonderful, they act as though they were a nuisance and wont stop apologizing. It is quite humourous sometimes: "so sorry, so sorry, so sorry!" or in Japanese, "sumimasen, sumimansen, sumimasen!!"

In these pictures you can have a better of idea of the amount of food and alcohol we have ingested last night. Every plate was gorgeous and so very delicious (oishi as they say in Japanese!)

Here are some of my french students. They were the drunkest of the bunch and the most entertaining. It's as if they had an on/off switch button on their backs that made them either automatically drunk or sober. All they needed was just one sip of sake to notice a complete change in behaviour. There is no middle-ground; they are either drunk or sober. Apart from the Japanese getting drunk, it was very amusing having to translate everything in french or in english and having people translating japanese for me. I was completly lost in translation. They kept on pouring me alcohol and they didn't understand how it was possible for me to still be sober by the end of the night (or somewhat)!

Here I am with a few of my students. (left to right, Chikoku, Yokiko and Tomoko.) Apart from Yukiko who is my english student, the two others are french students.

In this one, you see my boss, Regis with a beautifully presented sashimi plate. We get along really well and he has been great in helping me settle in Fukushima. He is also from Montreal and we a have few things in common like our love for fine food and fine wines, which is always a bonus.

Another co-worker, David, from Toronto, Canada getting fresh with one of the French students.

Well there you have it. Tomorrow again I am going hiking with friends, which reminds me that I need to go shopping for some hiking boots! Japan is such a beautiful country to explore. The country side is just amazing, its postcard perfect! I cannot even start to explain how beautiful it is here, you really have to be here to understand. I am happy to say that I love it here and that I regret absolutly nothing!!!

Till next time,

e.