Par Tayz!

Since we've moved to Kyoto, our social life has increased 2 fold. Not only do with live with 2 friends, but around the area are more Nova teachers. James, Alec and Simon moved into the area last month. (Simon is living with us, while James and Alec are just down the road.)
Lets revisit all the fun we've had this last month or so, shall we.

About 2 weeks ago, it was the end of Cherry Blossom season, so what better way to enjoy the trees then to have a Hanami party! Basically it's setting up a tarp on the ground and drinking/eating under a Cherry Blossom Tree...sounds great, right?

Well, Josh, Chris, Karleen and I decided to head out to one. First we started the night at my new favourite restaurant, Shakeys. What's so great about it? All you can eat Pizza and Pasta. Oh, good lord...after an hour there...I understood why it was called Shakeys, it's all the grease going through your arteries. After that, we headed for Yasaka Shrine, where there was supposed to be a huge group of Nova people having a Hanami Party. So we sauntered down there, and search for about 30 mins, to find only large groups of Japanese people...no foreigners...What are we to do...well, let's drink! We took some pictures around the area. This is the oldest Cherry Blossom Tree in Japan...so I guess it's the oldest in the world?

We were just about to leave when this group of people got up and a few guys came to us and started to talk. We, of course, had no idea what he was saying, but it seemed like he wanted us to take the tarp they were using. We tried to say no, or to say that we were leaving, but the guys weren't having it. So, we sat down with them. One guy knew a little English, while the other one was hopeless. Chris and Josh know more Japanese than us, so they chatted a little, when the other guy (the hopeless one) started to talk about the tarp. He pointed to the tarp, and kept saying Kore....kore.....kore (this.....this.....this). We were all like, yes...this tarp? This spot? What! Spit it out! His friend didn't even know what he wanted to say. Finally, he said, Kore.....FREEDOM! That was it...the nights over! That was the funniest thing ever! We had a great laugh about it. The guys left, then we snunk away and headed home.

The Freedom Tarp

Fast forward a week, and we have another party! This time it's at James and Alec's place. There was a good 20 some people all crowed into this area. It was a blast. The party continued until the wee hours of the morning, we left after 4. Can't really say much about what happened...it was just a nice sitting around/drinking/talking party. I miss those.

Me, some girl I forget, and Simon

Chris, Karleen, Rod, and Thao

No party is complete without a bottle of mead!

James rockin out
Risa and Karleen swooning over Alec

Now, come to last Tues. We started the night by going to a restaurant and having a few drinks/eats. This night was also a party of sorts for Risa, one of my Japanese staff. It was her birthday the next day, so she decided that this was her party night.


After the restaurant we headed for Karaoke! That's right...We got our sing on!


This place was great. It was around $22 each, but that was all you can drink all night, not including beer and wine. So the girls had cocktails while most of us dined on whiskey and coke. We had this little room, and it was packed! The laughs and songs kept coming till the break of dawn. I didn't get home until almost 5:30am. Good night.

Chris rockin out to Eye of the Tiger!

Kevin, Natsuko and Risa

Natsuko and Risa takin the helm

Thao and Karleen belting out "Like a Virgin"

Frank, Jess, Josh, and Thao

Risa, James, Tom, Jess, Thao and Frank

Chris, some British girl that came in, Karleen, Jeannette, and Natsuko

Some of the great songs we sang that night were from Nirvana, Weezer, Madonna, Led Zep (the immigrant song!), Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody) and others. I really can't remember them all because we were there for 5 hours. There is, of course, an incriminating pictures/video of me. Firstly with Bohemian Rhapsody, because I kept the tradition alive! (if you don't know the tradition, just ask). Secondly, we have video of Frank and I keepin it real by singing Backstreet Boys...that's what alcohol does to you...you make bad choices. We finished off the night with Desperado by The Eagles, a great end to a great night.

We finally come to last night. It was a staff party. We try to have one every month or so, but this was the first for Karleen and I. We met everyone around 8 at this place called the A Bar. Cool place with pretty good food. We drank, ate, learnt about our staff members (like Scott, my boss, and his Superman underwear) and generally had a great time until last call, 12-ish or so.

Tom, Jeannette, and Cash

Jer, Kevin and Becky

Cash, Frank and someone Frank works with...

James, Miho, and Tom

Scott (my boss), Risa and Natsuko...

...and no, Risa is NOT doing something dirty.

Karleen, Natsuko, and Risa after a few...

Sexy Scottish Scott...aye!

Me, Nova staff (can't remember her name), and Miho ROCKIN OUT!

Drinking always brings arm wrestling...especially with girls

The damage after a hard night's rockin

After ABar, we headed to...where else...BARing. That's right. Good ol' BARing, where you can come at 2am and still drink till the sun comes up. Along the way, we met up with Meka, another Nova teacher, who is crazy-fun! We only stayed for less than an hour, had a few shots, then left. We had some ooishi eats on the main street. There's a kebab place which serves great drunk food. We each had one then headed home.

The Menu...no joke

Cash and some good ol' Jager!

Ms. Meka and Cash

That's the recap of the last few weeks of our lives. Lots going on and lots that's still the same. Now that we're up to speed, we'll try to post more while we go out more.

Poxon's Final Days

Sorry it took so long getting to this...we've been busy...more on that later!

Anywho, after the wonderful trip to Nikko, we headed back Kyoto. While we were in Nikko, Karleen got a bad cold, so she wasn't feeling that great. The next day, we went for the day trip to Nara.

First stop was Todai-ji Temple, which has the world’s largest bronze image of Buddha in the world's largest wooden building. Nara also has alot of deer in the Deer Park. It's like Miyajima, but the only difference is that these deer bow when you give them food...it's hilarious!

After Todai-ji, we headed to Kasuga Shrine. It's apparently the most famous and beautiful Shinto Shrine in Nara. It also has over 3000 stone and bronze lanterns.


Once the tour was done, we went home and Karleen went right to bed. Jack, Carole and I decided to hit the town! First stop, Kuppa Sushi!


They must have seen Jack coming a mile away because they had tons of "meat" sushi that night...they NEVER have that much! Neither Jack nor I complained about that!
After dinner we went to a Pachinko Parlor around the same area. We blew our money very quickly then headed out. We came back, took a few pictures, then watched a movie.

Down the Death Stairs

Up the Death Stairs

The next day, Karleen and I had to work, so they headed back to Sanjo to shop and take pictures some of the amazing Cherry Blossoms.

We had an amazing time with them, and I know they feel the same way.

Ok, so we have ALOT to catch up on. I'll try to get to that tomorrow with pics galore!