Last night was incredible. There were about 50 or so AEON students and 10 staff members. It was a serious PARTY with a capital P. We went to a restaurant called Garlic Shop, “Ninniku-ya”. As the name implies, everything has garlic in it. The food was good, and not fishy! Another good non-Japanese food find! I was asked to make a brief speech to introduce myself and say hello. It went very well, and I even threw in some Japanese, which drew applause from everyone.

My manager asked me to please try and talk to everyone, and I think I actually did manage to talk to all 60 or so people individually! It was so much fun engaging these people in a language that they are trying to learn, and they were interested in me as well. The people were hairstylists, painters, machine shop operators, computer programmers, noodle shop owners, and office ladies,(OLs) They came from all walks of life and ranged from fluent speakers to beginners. And the were all nice people! Really friendly, eager to try out their english skills and learn more. I can’t wait to start working on Tuesday.