Since everyone's been doing it, and my first Christmas away from home is also worth writing about, I think I'll make a post about it. Bear with me coz this will be a bit long since this will be over a span of 3 days.
Well, an early celebration was hosted by our Filipino friends here in Fukuoka last Saturday, December 22. For three weeks before that, we've been having our weekly Kris Kringle - something red for the 1st week, warm for the 2nd, and funny for the 3rd.
I got to pick Mark as my monito for this year. So for something red, I got him a red necktie; a few packs of coffee to warm him up (yeah, I know how boring), and a pair of pink boxer shorts with *ahem* mature prints on them...ahahah.. well that one made me laugh.
We met Lex and Ryan at Hakata station at around 4:30 in the afternoon last Saturday and took a cab to Marj's place, somewhere I can't remember. harhar. When we got there at around 5:30, not many people seem to have arrived yet and so we just hung out at one of the vacant bedroom (love the tatami floor) until the party started.
Ofcourse, kainan muna kasi mga PG kami. Ahahah..  It was a potluck dinner so people volunteered to cook or bring in something. I wasn't able to pledge anything because every single dish that I know how to make (believe me, there aren't many) was already taken. And so I was just assigned to buy the prizes for the games.
 After the game, we had a mini-raffle since they weren't able to buy the bingo cards. Only 3 prizes were up for grabs for the raffle (they only asked me to buy 5). The winners were asked to sing a Christmas song before they could get their prize. Geno, Dan, and Jhen were the lucky winners and rendered us with a very quick Jingle Bells.
Two games were organized for the ladies and the gentlemen. The guys participated in a beer drinking contest (which, didn't seem like a contest because no one was in a hurry..ahaha) and the gals had an ice cream eating contest. I finished second! Tsk.. but it was ok coz I was the one who bought the prices anyway..harhar.
The main exchanging of gifts happened after the games wherein we tried to guess who our Mommies/Daddies were. I guessed correctly when I picked Marj and she gave me my DS Lite Pouch. Hindi na hubad ang DS Lite ko. Weeee!
People did their own things for a while before Marj and Jhen suggested that we play charades. Lex prepared a series of Christmas song titles, which we finished in like 15mins maybe. Ahaha. Afterwards, we decided to make our own words for the other team. Movie titles was the category picked. Sadly we lost by 2 points. But the memory of Ransey acting the Transporter and Angel trying to make his team guess for Eragon by acting like a dragon (which was guessed as Batman by one of his team mates) were priceless.
Next game was Pinoy Henyo. Haha always fun, always fun. Same mechanics, we make up our own words for the other team. The best part was when Louie tried to guess utot which made us tie with the other team. That was hilarious: "Manipis ba toh? Hangin? Air? Utot?!"
 I lost my voice after playing that game. It was really fun though. Afterwards, people started to go home. But since Geno and I won't be able to make it to the subway, Marj was nice enough to let us stay over for a little while longer until the next morning train. It was also nice because some of the guys stayed over too and we just talked about random things until 5:00 in the morning. It started with horror movies, then our ghost experiences, until it reached the differences between our dialects.
We left Marj's place at 5:00 to catch the first trip of the subway. When we got back at the hotel by 7:00, I just slept the whole morning AND afternoon and just got up for church.
***
December 24. Geno and I decided to head to Huis Ten Bosch. I was so amazed at the place when we got there. I felt like I wasn't in Japan anymore, if it wasn't for the Japanese people surrounding me ofcourse. We ate our burgers outside of the park and hurried in. We didn't anticipate that the place was huuuuuuuuuuge, so we decided to rent a bike to get around the place. Ofcourse, I was sooooo happy coz I really missed riding a bike and that time I got my chance. But it's that's supposed to be secret coz we're not allowed to ride bikes in the duration of our training since our insurance doesn't cover it. So ssssssh.. 
We tried out a few attractions like the Mirror Maze, Grand Odyssey, and IFX Theatre. And ofcourse, the attractions that we didn't need to pay for since we only paid for the entrance to the park. The Grand Odyssey ride was cool. It scans your face so that it creates a CGI version of it and then you get to see yourself appear in the movie. That was fun. Check out the outcome if ever they make a computerized version of me.
 I look weird don't I? Anyway, we stayed at Huis Ten Bosch until around 8PM and dashed back to the train station to catch the last trip at 8:30. Little did we know that another adventure was ahead of us. It so happened that in our rush to catch the last train, we rode a different train instead. We were just halfway back when the station master was already telling us to get off. We thought we were going to sleep at the station..and the next day was supposed to be Christmas already.
But fortunately, they were kind enough to assist us. We just had to transfer trains across 3 different stations. The final train was a blast coz it looked like the Shinkansen, only a bit slower ofcourse. I even got to finish Harry Potter 6 throughout our trip!
Finally, we reached Nishijin at around 12 midnight. Geno and I decided to have our noche buena at a nearby restaurant since we were starved because of all the walking. We got back to the hotel at around 1AM and I got to talk to Beh.
On Christmas Morning, I called up my family and greeted them all. They don't seem to miss me so much coz no one said they missed me. Ahahah.. but o well, we were never vocal in our family. They didn't have any special plans for that day since Mama was a bit sick.
We met up with Ryan for Christmas lunch at Papa Thomas and prepared to go to church afterwards. Surprisingly, Sugimoto-san asked us to come to work in the afternoon. Apparently, we weren't allowed to take a leave without the proper consent from our Manager and the AOTS staff. That honestly kinda pissed me off. But it was pretty understandable and since they still allowed us to make it to mass, I got over it soon enough.
After the mass, Lex and some of our other Filipino pals decided to go to Yodobashi to buy their PSPs. Lex's day almost got ruined by one of the cashiers who refused to sell him a unit. So he ended up asking me to fall in line and buy it for him instead. Fortunately, my natural charms (haha ) worked for the dude at the register. We were even chatting while the other guy got the unit.
Christmas dinner was spent at a sushi place with a conveyor belt wherein you just pick up any plate of sushi you want. Yummmmmeeeeee. And since it was soooo yummy, I got to finish 10 plates! Ahahah.. Winner ako nun gabing yun.. hihihi 
  And then it was homeward bound for us. And that concluded my first Christmas in Japan. I wouldn't mind going back here really. But to be honest, it feels more like Christmas back home. However, thanks to the company of good friends, I still felt the Spirit of Christmas.
Thank you, Lord for this opportunity. Happy Birthday, Jesus!
| |
