Good afternoon.

We're going to start this entry with a "Threat Down!" borrowed from the one and only Stephen Colbert. Today's Threat Down is the zombie infestation I wrote about last week. Turns out, the zombies were, in fact, just normal Japanese people. Who would've guessed?

Today has been great so far! We celebrated Halloween at my favorite school, Herai Elementary school. We did a trick-or-treat simulation throughout the entire school (these poor Japanese children will never know what it's like to do real trick-or-treating). I dressed as a mummy (toilet paper, of course) and gave out candy. Afterwards, the students, who were broken in groups put on little 5 minute plays and introduced their group and costumes. I was one of the judges. My favorite of the day was the Super Mario Brothers' themed group. They even put on a play where Mario saves the princess. Ah, so good. Also, the entire office is so friendly, they are very talkative, and they let me try Japanese and they try English, it's a lot of fun.

Afterwards, I played soccer with the kids outside for recess. It was just a good day.

Let me recount my weekend for you (and my selfish records).

Saturday was the Halloween Event and Party we JETs put on for the children in Hachinohe. It was a big event, held at Hotel Washington, and we had maybe 450-500 children come. Basically, we put on a few skits and tour the children around downtown Hachinohe, with some vendors offering to do trick-or-treating for us. Afterwards (and this is where I came in), we had the children do arts and crafts. Halfway through, the lights turn off, scary music plays, and the "Scary Monsters" come out!

I was the terrifying "Ketchup Monster!" I cut up one of my shirts and used ketchup (I couldn't find fake blood), then wrapped twine around my upper-body. With my inside-out cat mask, the costume was complete. I was joined by The Terminator, played by Matt Cosnett, and some Japanese university students with scream masks (hint, if you want to be scary, you need to make some noise, I'm talking to you Japanese students!). We only got one child to cry. At first I felt bad, until I saw her dad video-taping her crying. He gave me the Japanese equivalent of thumbs up (they use the "ok" hand gesture).

Sidenote: speaking of Japanese gestures, the "come here" gesture is the same as our "scoot along" gesture, palm down with fingers going in and out. It's very confusing, and my reaction is pretty much to back away, then come closer when I see them do it quicker, then back away again, then get closer. This pretty much happens until they make a move.

After the event, I got dinner at Bon with Matt, Melissa, Sam, Adam, and Theresa (from Shichinohe). The food was good, as usual, and we made it out in time for the Halloween Party to start at a bar called Oldies, which Everest of Apples (a JET charity based in Aomori) hosted. I switched my costume, with a little help from Erin, Greg, and Ariel at the 390 Yen shop at Cino. And when you are presented with cheaply-made clothing and kitschy stuff, what is the only costume you can make? Well, a pimp costume of course.

It actually turned out really good, and I was told by a lot of people that I should've run for the costume contest. Arg, maybe next year, haha. It was very interesting though, Westerners could totally tell what I was going to be, the Japanese at the party...well, instead of trying to explain the mechanics of selling such things, I just told them I was a crazy person. Yep. They believed it too (one guy kept repeating it everytime I walked by).

Other notable costumes: Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber (yes, they planned it separately), a ninja-spouse duo (complete with cookie-cutter "throwing stars"), and a Japanese Darth Vader.

It was a lot of fun, and I went home after the party. I had 5 people stay at my house that night, so it was a little full. 3 of them didn't make it to my place until 5:30 am...one could say they were pretty out of it. Luckily my apartment is quite large, and I could've fit at least 2 more comfortably, and probably squeezed a lot more. Also, thanks to my predecessors, I have about a million futons, which means I can comfortably sleep 6 people and they don't need to bring anything. I should probably be opening up a hotel.

Sunday I was planning to go hiking in Towada, but after the craziness of the previous day, I just stayed in. Cleaning my apartment, which needs perpetual cleaning (why can't it just stay clean?! There's always more to do!), and doing some grocery shopping.

Monday was Paul's birthday, and a small group consisting of Mike, Wade, Paul, and myself, all went to Bon, which is still the best restaurant here by far. Paul just turned 22, now he's officially a 20-something.

Tuesday was Seth's birthday. He turned the magical age of 23. After Japanese class, we went to the Golden Palki for dinner and had some cake and delicious dinner.

Ok Japan, earlier in the post I allowed you a threat down, but I don't just give out freebies like that. Now it's time for a "Threat Up!" What is the problem now? When Japanese can't decipher English words that are almost exactly the same as Japanese words. (For those of you who don't know this, Japan has a whole alphabet dedicated to words they borrow from other languages.) So, when you ask me what "bideo-gemu" I like, and I answer "Final Fantasy," you are NOT ALLOWED to look at me all confuzzled until the teacher translates it to "Finaru Fantashi." No! Not allowed! I interpreted your "bideo-gemu," so you can just as well interpret my Final Fantasy.

Speaking of "bideo-gemu's," Paul downloaded Mega Man IX. We've been playing that a lot. It's old-school fun at it's best. With Cement Man and Gravity Man down, no one can stop us! No one!

This weekend I'm going to Tokyo with Grahame! I leave tomorrow on the Shinkansen, and since we have Monday off, we'll have a good 3 days there. We're going to meet up with my friend Mari, and we'll traipse all around Tokyo. I can't wait, it should be wicked exciting.

See you next week. Maybe if you're lucky I'll put pictures up. Maybe.