"Welcome to the British Hills Mausoleum!"

Ok, first, I'm so sorry I haven't been updating this as often as before. But I've really settled in recently and have either been too busy having fun or so tired from all the fun to actually put into words what I've been doing and how I'm feeling.
So, yesterday was hilarious and strange. There was a big tea event... That was literally translated... Seriously, it was called 大茶会　- Dai cha kai. Big tea event.
Anyway, this meant that there were hundereds of people everywhere... So we were nice and busy all day. I started work at 6:30am... Which I've never done before. That was fun. We got to have buffet food for breakfast, which was delicious.

Anyway, later on I went to the pavillion to serve lunch to the Japanese Boy Scouts who couldn't fit into the actual refectory. I was with Saito-san, Tomo and a load of Japanese chefs. It was hilarious. They were all stood around talking to eachother really quickly in Japanese, and I was just stood there, listening, watching, picking out occasional words. I'm so glad they didn't talk to eachother in English for my sake...
I really enjoy watching Japanese men talk to eachother. They talk so loudly and react so dramatically. I love watching them completely relax with their peers, randomly shouting words or exclaiming "EHHHHH?" loudly and laughing. I love watching them talk to their superiors, and see how they change and watch them bow and are so careful to pay attention.

Because I was the only gaijin there, I had to give the speeches to the 64 Japanese boy scouts, welcoming them to the pavillion, showing them where the food was and telling them where to put their dirty stuff... So...
"Good afternoon and welcome to the British Hills......" Mausoleum "...." Mausoleum! "...... PAVILLION! Tonight..." It's the afternoon "... We have a buffet including....." Food... "Pasta, rice, meat and fish..." You forgot to mention soup and potato "we also have a salad... Including..." What? Salad stuff? "...Salad stuff... And afterwards there will be pudding" No there won't. Why did you just promise these poor chidlren pudding?! "Once you've finished please take everything to the trolley over there and put any leftovers in the bin. Thank you, please stand up and follow me to the buffet table!"
This happened... Or something smilar... Every time I gave a speech. The itallics are what I was thinking... I did actually say "salad stuff!"
This was both hilarious and horrific... Thankfully their English was practically non-existant, so they had no idea that I was talking absolute rubbish.

After that, I ate some more delicious buffet food. They have these battered chicken things... That are absolutely delicous and moreish... I can't stop eating them, they're so sweet and tender and juicy. They're amazing!

Anyway, I finished work at 3pm... Which completely threw me for the rest of the day. I'm so used to finishing at 9pm that I had no idea what to do with my afternoon... And I completely wasted it. I slept for a lot of it, then I sat on the internet and when Nora finally came home I watched him game for a bit before playing shot chess.

I lost at shot chess... I'm never, ever playing again... And I may never drink again.


So, today, I woke up in a complete state because of the damn chess... I had a shower... And noticed that my legs are considerably thinner than they used to be... Although they're absolutely covered in bruises. Just thought I'd put that out there...

Work was awesome. For most of the day it was only me and Ayano. We spent ages just talking about random stuff. Later on, James and Dennis came and we all just stood around joking, being silly. Good times.
It was really busy, so I had lots of fun running from one buffet table to the next, doing as many things as possible. I'm always happier when I feel like I'm in an impossible situation and I'm handling it.
It was so funny, one girl put some gravy on her rice and James just tutted and said "That's no good. You're supposed to put it on your beef..." To which she pulled her head away from her plate and loudly exclaimed "EHHHHHHHHHH?!" As if she'd done something awful. Oh god, I laughed for so long.
Later on another girl was asking for a lemon to put in her tea. So James went and got her a whole lemon and offered it to her. He then actually cut it up and presented it to her on a dish. Once she'd finished she gave James the last 3 slices of the lemon she didn't have. So James wrapped it up in cellophane and gave it to her on her way out. Oh god, she wasn't impressed at all. James is funny.

Oh yeah, yesterday Yasu taught me a new word "saigo" (last). If I say "saigo no hitotsu" I'm saying "last one" or I can say "____ wa saigo" which is "Last ____"... Which is important when I'm doing the buffet and we're on the last one of something. I can just shout it to the chefs... So, today I tried it out. The first time the chef just shouted back "haii" and everything was fine. The second time, as I left I heard a couple of them laughing saying "saiko" (awesome)... =/ The chefs laugh a lot when I leave the kitchen... It makes me feel very paranoid... But I will keep talking to them in Japanese, even if they do mock me!

Tomorrow I'm going down to Shirakawa to buy stuff. And on Wednesday a group of us are going to an onsen. I'm really looking forward to it. It should be really good. After that, we're all heading back to the staff house and eating a roast chicken dinner I plan on making. I'm looking forwards to it.

Also, my favourite collection of kanji ever.
大丈夫 Daijoubu (It's alright). We all say this a lot... As a question and as an answer to stuff. It's a useful word...

That's all for now, I think...