Wedding Surprises!

So, as I'm sure most of you are aware by now, through one form of communication or another, Aaron and I got married here in Sannohe on December 9th, 2009. We signed some paperwork, then went to McDonald's and a used game store and had a blast! It really was tons of fun, and I enjoyed just spending the day with Aaron. ^-^ That's our marriage certificate up above, by the way. It's hand-written in Japanese calligraphy, and it's worth the entire time I spent mired in "Translating Japanese Legal Documents Hell" to me. Below is a close-up of it, and I apologize profusely for the blurry pictures. The glass made it hard to get a clear photo of it, and we couldn't take a picture out of its frame since they originally present it to you rolled up and tied with a ribbon like a scroll, and it refused to leave this curly form unless restrained by something heavy.....


Later that month, on the 22nd, the Kyoikuinkai had a Bonenkai party. Whee! Try saying that three times fast. For the non-Japanese speakers, Kyoikuinkai = the Board of Education, and a Bonenkai is an 'End of the Year' party. It's basically just a party held by most companies to praise and reward their workers for their hard work so far, and to ask for them to continue to work hard in the year to come. As a JET for Sannohe Town, I am technically employed by the BoE, not the individual schools I teach at, and my supervisor Yasuko is also a BoE employee. I only spend half a day a week in the BoE building on average, but everyone there is incredibly nice. So, I was invited to the end of the year party along with Aaron. We went expecting good times and good food, but we ended up getting a lot more. Japanese parties are always started with a speech given by someone much farther up the social totem pole than you, and then everyone starts drinking and loosens up. (By the way, never, ever, try to out-drink a Japanese man. I've seen many a JET try and they end up under the table about halfway in. There is nothing the Japanese love doing more than drinking buckets full of beer at parties.) In any case, after my boss's boss gave a little speech, they called me and Aaron up to the front of the room. Then, after we walked up filled with trepidation, my boss's boss announced to everyone that we had gotten married earlier in the month, and that while we hadn't had an official ceremony, they wanted to do something special for us to celebrate the occasion. Out from under a table, they pulled out a beautiful bouquet of flowers, pictured below, and presented it to me.


They also materialized a chocolate cake from a local pastry shop and presented it to Aaron. In the picture below, you can see the Japanese writing "Sherrie <3 Aaron: Kekkon omedetou", which means "Sherrie and Aaron, congratulations on your wedding!" They even had it made to be entirely chocolate, since Yasuko knows how much of a sweet tooth I have for it.

After receiving these, I had to introduce Aaron to the audience, and then give a little speech thanking them for these amazing gifts, in Japanese. Have you ever tried to speak in a foreign language when trying to hold back tears?

.... I work with the nicest people in the world.