One of Juli's cooking classes and the party afterwards

	(From left) Kassie, me, and two women at my station for the class. Note how I was a bit slow on the cheesing in this one. Kassie is Carlton's wife (Carlton being the Hamaton, Nakaton, and Esashi highschool ALT).
	(Top Row) Kassie, Juli, me (Bottom Row) Shelly, someone whose name I don't know. Juli's the Esashi JHS ALT just as Shelly is for Utanobori
	Mmmmmmm.... pie.... Ours was the pecan pie in the upper right
	Group shot! Everyone gathering around to get a glimpse of our delicious creations... too bad we were all full from several bowls of chili con carne already. The tall guy on the left is Paul, the ALT from Bifuka (pronouced much like Beefcake, which is quite apt for him, really. He's cool and funny and very much a beefcake). The gaijin on the right between to Nihonjin is Heater, the ALT out of far-off umm... Otoineppu maybe? Across the mountains regardless.
	Party shot! Me next to Forrest, some friend of Juli's who randomly showed up at the bar, and the mama-san of the bar. She is wisely covering some rather crooked teeth with her peace sign. She also had an unholy fascination with my armpit hair later in the night when she was quite drunk. Worked in our favor eventually though as she forgot how much we owed and Forrest argued her down to dirt cheap.
	Here's Shelly with "Daisuki #1", one of four Japanese guys near our age who Shelly got into an ill-advised drinking contest with. Fortunately, Forrest is a very strong man and we were able to carry her home.
	Not really the same party as this was the thanksgiving potluck at Juli's. The guy partially blocked by Paul is Robi (pronounced with a long "o"... he's Scottish) who isn't an ALT but lives here with his wife Sachiko who he met in India. He gives awesome, cheap haircuts. The guy in the red shirt is Eric - a very big man... you know, one of those types who makes his present felt both physically and in personality. He's nice most of the time, but as one drunken Japanese pervert learned around him later in the night (well after I went home, sadly) careful with the repeated, blatat sexual harrassment of his friends in front of him. Seriously, you'd think even in bars out in the fishing villages of northern Hokkaido there'd be some limits... but not for everyone. The guy sitting below Paul is one of Shelly's teacher friends who was having a good time teaching us "strange" Japanese (such as "get the fuck off me" which I sadly forgot to write down). The woman in orange is Teruko. She has an... awkward fondness of foreigners and is convinced I'm her boyfriend (or should be) despite being twice my age. the girl in a white and green shirt is Meme, Juli's friend from Asahikawa. She's cool. More on her later.
	Another angle. No one here you haven't met before whose name I know.
	Ahhh... classic Forrest pose, elucidating whoever will listen on some point or other. He's actually really smart and hard working. I need to learn from him. Teach me, oh sensei, how to have the patience to study Japanese! The two women to his right are Shelly's friends from Utanobori who I met at a festival there. They pulled me over to take pictures of me quite randomly, but were friendly about it.
	A shot of Meme's shirt which she made after receiving Juli's party invitation with the same line. It reads "Gabo Gabo," a katakana bastardization of "Gobble Gobble." Katakana bastardization of anything English is a fact of life for all of us here. Seriously, I've had success just taking English words, katakana-izing them, and having people understand what I'm saying. Fun Meme story: the second time I met her Juli had been teaching her to say "Do you jerk off to raunchy besteality?" and she tried it out on Eric. Yes, she knew what it meant and thought it was hilarious.
	A picture of a picture of me posing with this lady and her pie. She was not in my group but pulled me in for the picture. Ah, the joy of being the gaijin.