food fit for a welcome party...

So in Japan, it's customary for the school to "welcome" new teachers with a cute little party (enkai) that has yummy food and usually all-you-can-drink alcohol. So here's the story of my enkai.

In the beautiful Kobe Portopeia Hotel on Kobe's Port Island, 8 of the teachers from the English Dept. at one of my schools had a nice fancy dinner with me on the night of Friday, November 11. It was way more restaurant-y than what I imagined the place to be. For some reason I imagined Japanese izakaya sit-on-the-floor style type of place, but this was a hotel, and they had music and dancing!

Appetizer: Nagasaki Roasted Chicken...why from Nagasaki, I don't really know!  

Soup Course: Sauteed Squid, Soup-style (the teachers had a fun time pronouncing the word "sauteed") 

Fish Course: Grilled Targetfish...it came with these fried leaves that were pretty cool because they were thin and crunch like veggie potato chips hehe

Meat Course: Roasted Pork Loin...now for some reason this didn't look like a lot to me, but it FILLED me up...and see all that fat on the left side? My Japanese teachers actually ate all of it, even though it was pure fat...how do they stay healthy? or is it all just a lie??

Dessert: Chocolate gateau, cranberry panna cotta, and my favorite, pear sherbet! 

All in all, the meal was a delightful experience. The food was really nice, and all you can drink was pretty tame, just getting wine and cassis sodas. The gathering was small and intimate, and my teachers spoke mostly in Japanese to one another, but spoke English to me and tried to include me in their conversations. They enjoyed asking my opinions on our school and our classes and students...lucky for them, I just had nice things to say ;) And somehow they got me to tell them who my favorite students were...whoops! But what happens at enkais stays at enkais right? Sure hope so! Honestly though, I think they just thought I was telling them which students I thought were amusing or cute, which is also true ;) 

Here's the view from the restaurant...lights and lights, it is a rather nice sight :)  

What's the American equivalent to an enkai? Is there even such a thing? For my new teachery friends out there, is it weird to go out with your co-teachers to a drinking and dinner party? 

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