Friday was a holiday (something like Labor Day, I think), which Chiba AJET took advantage of to properly celebrate Thanksgiving a day late! I've been helping the guy in charge plan and get ready for the event, so on Friday I got up early to help get things started!
Since I had brought one of the turkeys home from Costco, I got on the train with the 14-pound turkey in my backpack (which will probably never stop feeling weird, haha) and headed to Soga. The rest of the day was spent cooking and hanging out with lots of both familiar Chiba AJET friends and new people, which was really fun! We had about 30 people show up altogether, but there was plenty of food (in fact we even had leftovers that we had to practically beg people to take home - I still have a lot in my fridge), and it was all delicious. It was definitely a traditional Thanksgiving meal (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and more!), and it was really great to still be able to eat all that in Japan, surrounded by lots of good company, even far away from home. :)
Afterward (since we had eaten around 3 and it was still early) a big group of us went back to a bar in Chiba City, which was a nice and chill way to end the busy day - all in all I think the event was a great success, which always feels great when you help plan it!
Then yesterday I went to frisbee practice for the first time in weeks, which was awesome. I thought it would be really cold so I went dressed super warmly, but by the end I was in shorts and a t-shirt, which made them all think I was crazy, haha. It was perfect fall frisbee weather, though! Definitely worth feeling sore all day today (which is probably a sad sign of how long it's been since I exercised, haha). And then after that I met up with Hirata-san and a friend to go on a night cruise of the factory scenery in Chiba Harbor, which you can read about here! After that I went to dinner with Hirata-san at a seafood place relatively close to my apartment, which was really delicious.
Today I spent a relaxing morning just doing chores and rewatching one of my favorite Japanese movies (Kamome Diner), before meeting up with a friend from Carleton who actually used to be my Japanese tutor! He's been in China apparently but is spending a month traveling around Japan, and though he'd wanted to meet earlier it was exactly when my family was visiting, so it was nice to actually get to see him today. We met and had some coffee before just wandering around downtown Chiba for a while and then getting dinner. It was great to catch up (I don't think we've really been in touch since he graduated the year before me) and also nice to have somebody to explore more of the city with! I feel like now I've seen a lot more of the area around the station than I've ventured to before, which is pretty cool.
Tomorrow is the beginning of the three-day visit by the delegation from Quezon City, which is sure to be super busy and super challenging for me, since I'll be accompanying them and interpreting for them the whole time! I'm already feeling pretty nervous and super unprepared, but I'm sure it'll be a new and interesting experience. Wish me luck! :)
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