Anyway, the break started off with taking a trip to Miyagi Prefecture to volunteer to help with recovery from the earthquake/tsunami in March of last year. I wrote about it in detail here, so please take the time to read it! It was a very good experience, and I'm glad to have had the chance to do a little bit to help out. The bus left at night, so most of the day was spent buying things and getting ready.
I came back to Chiba bright and early (aka 5:45am) on Christmas Eve, whereupon I promptly went back to bed for a few hours. After getting up and failing to do anything productive, I went out for a ladies' night with a few Wisconsin ALTs! We all dressed up a little (hurray for excuses to wear dresses) and had dinner at a (semi-)fancy restaurant not far from Chiba Station, which had an excellent view of the illumination in Chuo Park. It was a Christmas dinner course, which meant it was all decided for us beforehand, and it was absolutely delicious!
Afterward we went to Port Tower, which I have been to several times before but never at night, so that was pretty cool. Although we missed the fireworks (which was kind of the whole reason we decided to go there, oops), we managed to see a short street performance of a guy flipping cones (cooler than it sounds) and the short light show of the Port Tower illumination. We also went up the tower, and saw a gorgeous view of Chiba at night!
On Christmas Day, I went down to Togane to eat nabe (Japanese hot pot) at a friend's Christmas Party! It obviously wasn't quite the same as being at home, but it was a lot of fun and I had a really great time eating and talking with everybody, so it was still a good Christmas! I got to see a few people I hadn't seen in a while and meet a few more, which is always great.
Wednesday was back to work as usual (Christmas is not a holiday in Japan, but I took the day off), followed by a trip to library and the discovery of a restaurant specializing in cabbage rolls/stuffed cabbage (it was delicious).
On Thursday my friend James showed up at my work because he had to go to the immigration office downstairs, so after work we went to Chiba Station together and had coffee with a friend of his, complete with Bananagrams! Then I went to my frisbee team's bounenkai, which was super fun! We started out at the restaurant we had reserved and then moved to another izakaya, after which most people went home but a few of us continued on to one last bar, since one of my teammates was kind enough to offer to drive us home. It was a late night, but a good one!
And then today was my last day of work for the year 2012! Apparently there is a tradition at work of ordering lunch together on the last and first work days of the year, so today we all had sushi, which was very tasty. Then after work, I went on a last-minute shopping trip to LaLaport with my friend Laura! All in all, a very good last work day. :D
And so begins my first real break for New Year's! New Year's is a really big holiday in Japan, so I have until January 4th off (even though it's a little silly to have to come back then since Jan. 4 is a Friday), and the thought of having a week's vacation is pretty awesome. I can't believe it's almost 2013 - so much has happened this year - but I'll spare you all my reflections for now. Maybe next time! :)
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