Kazoku means ohana

The picture has nothing to do with today's post; I just thought it was too cute to keep to myself (taken when I visited a pre-school).

"This is how family eats, so, welcome!" Thus Rumi inducted me into the family, which is the JETs that live around Takeo.
This past Thursday and Friday, we had a conference about how to be better team-teachers and cooperate with our JTEs. The conference ended with many of us grumbling; lots of us had stuff to get off our chests, but what I got from the whole thing was this: I do a lot of good things, and could benefit from doing a lot of little things, so I will. I don't think I can change my JTEs' opinions and habits, but I can at least try to accept them.
Friday found me spontaneously going to Takeo, seeing Maurice's place, and eating lots of Yakitoriya products. At one point Tan accidentally had Sara order seven plates of ribs for us, but my mighty gullet came to the rescue and devoured all extra meat in the place. We walked to the town's karaoke and entertainment center. I tried my best at the batting cage (it was aligned for a very short person), and in Virtual Fighter 4 against Maurice (he beat all contenders), and House of the Dead 2 (I was killed by a frog), and ping-pong (my lack of ability to serve due to cave-man finese caused much entertainment for Tan).
Afterwards, we had a sleepover at Bashas'. Four boys and two girls, and a lot of missed sleep made for funny conversation. We played twenty questions and learned a lot about each other; it really shattered my caricatures of some of them. Sugei!
The next day found me trying to encourage kids to do the YMCA dance as Maurice, Tan, and Angus performed it Karakoe-style for a crowd at the Yama-uchi festival. The kids seemed rather enamored of them due to the copious candy that they threw to the crowd; they seemed similarly enamored of me, probably due to the fact that I was the only pale, blonde foreigner in town.
That festival ended in fireworks, I and Tan sat on an old wall and tried to come up with names for the different blasts. Phrases like "There's a Tina Turner hair!" and "seizure-blast" were uttered.
Follow that up with Chinese food (they almost got chow-mein right, but it's just not the same) and crashing at Tan's. Somehow, during my time at Tan's, I beat Halo 2; I was a little surprised when the ending just happened.
Conclude it all up with a long train-ride home and a smile.