field trip!!

friday july 22 was our end of the semester school trip. i opted to forego my friday afternoon off and join the 3 huge busloads of kids heading to nagano prefecture. our first stop was daiou wasabi farm, the world’s largest. it has miles of rocky beds in which the roots are growing. apparently they need really clean cold water to thrive and not too much sun which explains the tarps covering the beds.

there were all sorts of wasabi products to sample and buy. the fresh roots were a bit expensive but after tasting them i understood why.

she put a pinch of sugar on the grater and went to town with the root, producing a frothy paste that was creamy, sweet and breathtakingly hot.

the wasabi ice cream had a slight greenish tint but lacked the kick i was hoping for. a teacher so graciously plopped a dollop of the fresh paste on my cone. the cream cut the heat perfectly. with the school nurse.


some quick facts:
-wasabi is a member of the cabbage family.
-unlike chili, it doesn’t burn the tongue. it produces vapors which affect the sinus cavity.
-the japanese view wasabi as anti-bacterial which is why it was first used on raw fish [i was told by 2 independent sources].
-the two kanji characters used to write wasabi mean “mountain” “hollyhock”.
-it’s rumored to prevent cavities.
-although many claim it’s a decongestant, the heat associated with wasabi causes blood to rush to your nasal cavities, the blood vessels become enlarged, actually reducing the size of those passageways.

then it was on to matsumoto jo. the castle was built around 1504, subsequently attacked, and refurbished in 1592 and still it is the oldest original castle with the 5-tier donjon style in the country.

it’s rather unique because the structure is built on a plain rather than a hill. back in the day it was highly fortified and protected by this moat.

it’s also called karasu jo, or crow castle because of its coloring. it has 6 floors which you reach on steep stairs, bordering on being a ladder, made of thick, well-worn boards. it was really interesting to examine all the wood and its markings on the inside of the castle, all the while imagining the warriors that had made them. the place is full of relics, from samurai regalia to weapons.

afterwards, kodama sensei, ishida sensei and i lunched on some famous nagano-ken soba. i chose cold buckwheat noodles that you dredge in a semi-sweet brown sauce laced with fresh ginger, scallions and wasabi. after finishing, water is poured into the dipping sauce and you drink it. to be quite honest, the soba tasted very similar to all the other soba i’ve eaten in japan.

ishida sensei and i goofing. nope, it didn’t turn into a prince. i’ll keep trying…

i know you are all dying to hear...

well it just occurred to me that i’ve been putting off writing about one of the most bizarre things i’ve encountered in japan. no, it’s not the knots of fish sperm sacs for dinner. nope, not the beautiful, lacquered sticks that every japanese person has on hand to clean their ears at a second’s notice. not even the game shows that are on every channel all night long with people dressed up like animals or babies engaging in all sorts of dumb behavior. it’s the gyno. if you’re squeamish, or just not interested, you can stop reading now. so we’re always bitching about the lack of romantic possibilities around here, which inevitably leads to talk about the lack of sexual prospects around here, which recently lead us to a discussion of the gynecologist. i was way over due for an appointment. in america, we consider it normal to have a yearly check-up of all relative parts. i went to a close japanese friend, uchiyama sensei, to ask her advice on how to go about accomplishing this in japan. she thought it was a bit odd that i wanted STD tests and she quietly asked if i was having problems. no, just wanna check. same questions about the pap smear; apparently we’re younger than the average woman concerned with her cervical health in this country. she made some phone calls at my request and reported back to me about a ladies’ clinic down the road where we wouldn’t need appointments.
it was a hot saturday morning when carrie and i reluctantly drove to the non-descript building under a huge, pink billboard with a baby on it. we’d done our homework and had lists of vocabulary we thought we might need; herpes, gonorrhea, menstruation, vagina [i’d previously only known the crude word which would probably have been frowned upon]. carrie’s japanese is less than fluent [sorry carrie chan] so at reception i was charged with explaining why we’d come. she handed us each a clipboard with a questionnaire that we couldn’t begin to read. she walked us through each question and as i’d tick off an answer, carrie would do the same on her sheet. eventually it appeared the woman was getting suspicious because our answers were identical. we assured here we were in the same condition and this look came over her face. carrie and i realized at this point that we probably looked like a new lesbian couple coming in for STD checks together. we began to laugh and it only accelerated when i noted that carrie was wearing a do-rag on her head, the international symbol for butch lesbians [not p.c. i know]. luckily the receptionist didn’t appear to understand our crude jokes.
we waited for what seemed like days before carrie’s name was called. she asked if we could go together in an attempt to minimize the chance of a huge misunderstanding and maximize the hilarity. we were lead to a desk where we met the tiny, female doctor who used to exact wrong color of lipstick to haphazardly paint her lips. we explained what we wanted and again were greeted with skepticism. she wasn’t sure why we asked for all these tests but said she’d complete them. we enter an adjoining room where carrie has her exam. [utterly hilarious. i’ll explain later.] then, for formality’s sake, we return to the desk for a few seconds before going back into the adjacent room for my exam. that’s when i took a ride on the “space natul”.

no stirrups here. two divots for your thighs, a strategically placed hole and a bunch of plastic like strange, great-aunts refuse to take off of their living room furniture. as soon as you mount the chair, a pre-recorded warning [i think] is played…this is where it starts to feel like demented disney world...”please keep your hands inside the space natul while the ride is in motion”, i imagined the voice saying…carrie and i are laughing uncontrollably. then you hear it power up pneumatically…whoosh. the chair rumbles to life and begins to rise, turn and spread your legs simultaneously. the exam room has three walls, the forth being a curtain hanging from the ceiling that descends to about waist height. as you reach full spread, tilted almost supine, you come to a stop which triggers a light on the chair that gives your crotch a heavenly glow. at this point, the curtain is resting about your waist, your upper half in the exam room, the lower half on the other side of the curtain facing a hallway. no lie. there are people walking by; you can see their feet only. while the lack of face-to-face contact is meant to spare humiliation, i found it so unnerving. poke, prod, a bunch of Japanese i don’t understand. [not being able to see who you’re talking to is infinitely difficult for me when trying to talk in Japanese. it makes the phone really tough too.] more pneumatic whooshes…another warning as the chair begins to dock…”please wait till the ride has come to a full and complete stop”. we return to the desk and as we talk the doctor gets a panicky look. ‘oh, no. you wanted a pap smear too? i forgot. please go back to the torture chamber’. this time around, i swear she was talking to me about Kentucky fried chicken.
i know you’re all dying to know. yep, clean as a whistle. wink, wink.

japanese sex slang

this site is not for the faint of heart... no raunchy pictures just nasty vocabulary. i figure some of the terms could come in handy next time we're trying to chat up young, hot, eligible HAGs.
click here

soccer fanatics

so the morning after that fabulous beach party wasn’t pretty although it was a beautiful summer sunday. we laid on the beach until our hangovers demanded we eat. we headed to gusto [a dennys-like restaurant] for brunch. afterwards i went to a friend’s house to shower and then walked to the station and caught a train to niigata city. the ride gave me some much needed time to nap. i went solo but was planning on meeting my friend james at the station; he’d been kind enough to invite me to a soccer game with his friends. at the station i literally ran to meet him and we ran to the shuttle bus and headed for the big swan, home to the niigata albirex team. these people take their soccer seriously. i ransacked my closet and hit the thrift store in search of something orange, the team's color. this is the best i could do. with the docomo cell phone company mascot…yes, their mascot is a mushroom. no, i have no idea why.

at the stadium we met up with hirata sensei who had arrived at noon [for a 6 pm game]to get a place in line for the home team cheering section. you see, when you get there you draw a straw. that color is the line you get in. then closer to game time they draw colors and that’s the order in which the lines will enter the stadium. from there it’s a mad dash to find seats before the next color gets let in 5 minutes later. our line was the last to enter and as soon as they tore our tickets, hirata sensei took off running. he rounded us up after he’d staked claim on 8 neighboring seats. good work. we then waited almost 3 more hours for the game to start, during which time their other friends arrived. the stadium is humongous.

the crowd that day was 44,000 and something. and the ones who sit in the home section are nuts! we didn’t sit down the whole game and we didn’t stop yelling. there are tons of chants and cheers for every player and every game situation. the insane crowd is lead by a group of drum-beating fanatics who sit front and center in the section. i managed to pick up enough of the cheers to scream until i nearly lost my voice.

it turns out the invitations to the game were somewhat strategic and resulted in an even number of men and women. this seating arrangement was also no accident.

too bad james is taking the picture. he so graciously passed off a few of his shots to me. i knew there would be some young, single japanese men there but it wasn’t until later, when talking with james, that i realized it was a gokon. i’ve heard this term before when i was asking about the group dating phenomenon in japan. it refers to a prearranged party usually aimed at making couples out of some of the participants. they are usually held at izakayas, rowdy japanese restaurants, which is where we headed after the game. some people headed home as we moved on to the nijikai, or second party, at another restaurant. i was beat from the night before so james and i straggled home about 1. oh yeah, almost forgot, albirex won the game 3-0.

recently..

how quickly i get behind on rehashing every detail of my life for you all. where to start…
in the beginning of july people began decorating my street for the tanabata festival. there were long bamboo limbs hanging over the sidewalk every few feet. suspended from them were colorful strips of paper on which wishes had been artistically recorded.

tanabata means star festival and the story goes, there was a weaver princess and a cow herder prince who fell in love and began to spend every minute together, eventually neglecting their jobs which made the king very angry. he punished them by separating them on opposite sides of a river and allowed them to meet only once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th month. the lovers are two stars [altair and vega] and the river separating them is the milky way galaxy.

lizzy and i were having a sleepover at my place recently when we got the bright idea to explore some rooftops. in very un-japanese fashion, we scaled a tall pole onto one of the mainstreet’s overhangs, called gangidori.

from there we were able to watch young lovers leaving restaurants, drunken businessmen stumbling home after nomikai, or drinking parties, and older people out for evening strolls. we weren’t quite as stealthy as the ninjas we pretended to be…eventually someone yelled up at us so we hit the deck, laying flat on the rooftop, stifling our hysterical laughter, until he had lost interest in us and wandered on. we descended and headed home with the satisfaction you can only get from a mischievous adventure. here’s to box-wine courage!!


we recently had taikusai, summer sports day, at minamishiro high school. the students’ committee planned the events which consisted of some traditional games and bizarre obstacle courses. in one event teammates stand in a line and attempt to pass a huge ball over their heads all the way down the line, after which the last person rolls the ball back to the front and puts it on a stand. i would say the ball is about 5 feet in diameter and i can’t guess how heavy as the teachers weren’t allowed to play. a co-worker asked me if i’d participate in a teacher’s obstacle course…absolutely! i didn’t here anything about the event until the day of, as we’re readying to start, when they layed out the rules. it’s a sprint to the baseball bat station where you must put your forehead on the bat and spin around 5 times, dizzy bat style, then a sprint to these trays of flour. in each tray there is hidden candy which you must find without using your hands, then a sprint to the finish line. i managed to win, but as an afterthought i realized that besting my superiors was probably not the polite, japanese thing to do. afterwards, i was able to run around and threaten to rub my dirty face all over the kids.


melanie’s birthday was july 7 so that weekend we gathered at my place for drinks and dinner before heading to the beach for a dance party, the best in recent memory.

naoetsu, the neighboring town, has an oceanfront with incredible natural beauty and so much potential if they would just capitalize on it. there are numerous buildings on the water, most of which are run-down seafood markets and shacks that time has forgotten. the few restaurants aren’t hip and they close so early we’ve yet to make it there for dinner. the dance event was held in a covered space right on the water. we danced until daylight and then camped out on the beach.

july 15, friday night, carrie threw a get-together for mel’s and my birthdays. we invited a hodgepodge of people to eat and drink and it ended up being a lot of raucous fun.

to the right of me is takafumi, a new boy i’ve been messing around with a little bit. he doesn’t call me all the time, or stop by everyday wanting to hang out, or invite himself out with my friends or anything. good boy. you know how i like my space.

the next day carrie, mel, liz and i headed to kashiwazaki for a party and we went a bit early to make a beach day out of it. many of our friends started arriving in the afternoon, in time for the bbq planned by a couple of the locals.

there’s a great bar opposite the beach where we danced the night away. they had two floors of music with different djs and the place was packed. we’d invited a couple of japanese teachers we’d met on the beach that day and we were pleasantly surprised when they showed up with a bunch of friends in tow. ended up meeting some really cool guys.

thoughts.

-ethnic curriculum. at home, we grow up aware of our place in the world [albeit an ethnocentric sense] based on what we see on tv, in society, in the classroom. whether or not our interest is piqued, it is usually classroom curriculum that forces us to learn about foreign cultures and provides us with the fodder for thought about different ways of life. here, there is no ethnic diversity in society, the media or in course curriculum. they face an issue about how to integrate this cultural awareness into high schools because these kids have had so little exposure to non-japanese ways of life. after each of my recent trips i did presentations for my classes with props, slideshows and stories of my adventures. it’s amazing how many of the kids i asked after the lessons said they have no interest in traveling to thailand, korea or papua new guinea. when you do pry an answer out of them to the question ‘where do you want to go?’, their adventurous spirit shows through…hokkaido or okinawa, places in japan, are the most common responses.

-odd statistics. i was shocked the first time i was watching television and they were talking about a japanese celebrity and mentioned the length of his legs, as in ‘when performing he makes great use of his 84 cm legs.’ it’s also common knowledge what blood type famous people have and it’s a normal topic of conversation. although many people claim they don’t believe in the myth of personality characteristics being associated with blood type, they do admit that it’s frequently discussed on dates and amongst friends. companies have even been known to hire and promote workers based on this info. i researched it a bit on the internet for a class and discovered this method was first used by the Nazis to justify mistreatment of jews. when i had my surgery i found out that i was A-. it pleased my students immensely to learn this factoid about me. so here’s a list of blood type characteristics…
Type A
Speaking broadly, it is said that people with Type A Blood are calm, composed, and very level-headed and serious. They have a firm character, and are reliable and trustworthy (and hardheaded). They think things over and make plans deliberately, and they plug away at things steadily and assiduously. They try to make themselves more like their own ideal of what they should be. A Types may look aloof or distant to others. They try to suppress their own emotions, and because they have continual practice in doing this, this makes them appear strong. But, actually, they have a fragile, nervous side, as well. They tend to be hard on people who are not of the same type, and so they consequently tend to be surrounded with people of the same temperament.
Type B
People with Type B Blood are curious about and interested in everything. That's may be good, but they also tend to have too many interests and hobbies, and they tend to get all excited about something suddenly and then later drop it again just as quickly. But they do manage to know which of their many interests or loved ones are the ones that are really important, the ones they should hold on to. B Types tend to excel in things rather than just be average. But they tend to be so involved in their own world or become so carried away with something that they neglect other things. They have the image of being bright and cheerful, full of energy and enthusiasm, but some people think that they are really quite different on the inside. And it can also be said about them that they don't really want to have much real contact with others.
Type O
Type O Blood people are said to set the mood for a group and to take on the role of creating harmony among its members. Their image is one of taking it easy, of being peaceful and carefree. They are also thought to be big-hearted and benevolent, and they tend to spend money on others generously. O Types are generally "loved by all." But, they also, surprisingly, have a stubborn and strong-willed side, as well, and tend to secretly have their own opinions on things. On the other hand, they have the flexible, adaptable side of readily accepting new things. They are easily influenced by other people or by what they see on TV. They seem to appear level-headed and trustworthy, but they often slip and make big blunders inadvertently. But that is also the point that makes O Types lovable.
Type AB
People with Type AB Blood are said to have a delicate sensitivity. They are considerate of other people's feelings and deal with them with care and caution. On the other hand, though, they are strict with themselves and those close to them. They, therefore, seem to have two personalities: one for those "outside," and another for people on the "inside." They often become sentimental, and they tend to think too deeply about things. AB Types have a lot of friends, but they need time to be alone and think things through, as well.

-family obligations. in japan parents pay for college tuition in full. then kids care for parents when they are older. another part of the cycle which when bent or broken produces unhealthy, non-contributing members of society according to the japanese way of thinking.

-drugs. i was recently put in a rather odd, borderline uncomfortable position when this subject arose. we were out for my birthday dinner- uchiyama sensei, kodama sensei and i. we were discussing uchiyama san’s time in san francisco and she revealed how surprised she’d been by the prevalence of marijuana. they questioned whether it was as popular everywhere to which i replied yes. i explained that my state and city are small relatively but still, in those dinky corners of the country, drugs are readily available. they confessed that they’d never even seen drugs or considered doing them. then the bomb…”have you ever tried marijuana?” in an instant by brain was thrown into overdrive…the consequences and implications of possible answers scrolling across my mind. the difficulty reconciling the need to tell the truth in an effort at true inter-personal communication and cross-cultural exchange versus the desire to maintain a healthy relationship with these people who are instrumental in maintaining my quality of life and helping me survive. i weighed the fact they are both curious, progressive and open-minded against the fact they are intrinsically Japanese and were raised in a paradigm where no leniency is given to drug use. i contemplated their desire to truly know the way people outside of japan live and the opportunity to challenge an aspect of the Japanese government’s control over the social and individual rights of its citizens, but also the need to preserve some semblance of a connection between them and me on a human, personal level, one that could possibly be shattered by divulging insight into the true width of the cultural divide separating us. if you know me, you already know which part of this argument won in the end. i’ve never been known to bite my tongue and didn’t in this situation either. you should have seen the size of their asian eyes as they gasped in surprise, and the flurry of questions, born of genuine curiosity, which followed convinced me i had made the right decision. although i did couch it in a disclaimer, paraphrased... 'please don’t let this change the way you feel about me. i want to know that i can be truthful with you all because i consider you friends and i think it is truly important to have an open and free exchange when it comes to cultural questions. that’s what it’s all about, that’s why i’m here, that’s why you’ve traveled. if that line of communication is hampered by fear of judgement it severely limits what we can learn from and about each other.’ they thanked me for my honesty.

casey comes to town, part 3

the morning after my birthday casey and I hopped a train for Kyoto. ok, well it wasn’t morning, but we did manage to drag our hungover bodies to the station in time to make the 12:05. we arrived in time to find our hotel, peruse the travel book and head to pontocho alley, a once-famous geisha district that now houses only a few teahouses where these classical entertainers work. there are tons of restaurants though. some have English menus posted, but i was able to make out quite a few of them that were only Japanese; enough to give us an idea of what cuisine we’d find inside. we settled on zu-zu, a Japanese style place i’d read about.

the atmosphere was perfect; rustic and well-lit. the food was delicious and was a welcome break from strict Japanese fare with twists like shrimp and avocado spring rolls with cod roe sauce, iron skillet fried sweet potatoes and a gooey concoction of fishcakes and vegetables that was tasty, albeit snot-like, and is apparently a Kyoto original.
afterwards we found our way to a couple more bars before stumbling on a dance club where we whiled the night away.
the next day we were out by midday and looking for sandwiches [which are scarce around here. see the post on cravings]. we settled for ton-katsu, a traditional deep fried pork dish.

i opted to pay a little more for the 'kirei' version, which means clean or less fatty. the fried delight was paired perfectly with an all-you-can-eat trio of cabbage salad, clam-heavy miso soup and rice. it's the closest thing to a fried pork chop i've put in my mouth in forever, and you all know those breaded chops hold a special place in my heart.
the restaurant, along with several department stores, a theater, lots of cafes and the bus station, was in Kyoto train station. its contemporary architecture has met with mixed reviews as it is definitely a break from the traditional Japanese style.

this is a deli in part of the station. i would be oh-so-excited if we could get anything remotely like this in joetsu.

we hopped on some bikes and headed to higashi-hongan temple. the structure itself was beautiful and austere although half of it was under renovation. this site is the head of the jodo-shinshu [true pure land] sect of Buddhism.


one of the oddest sites was this rope…made of the hair of believers…huh?!?


the courtyard was covered with pigeons who proved to be less than exciting to this man hawking hato mame, or pigeon beans.


then we rode to nishiki market, which sells all the usual oddities [that phrase is such a paradox, but i feel like that is truly what these foods are to me after being here for a year] but also things which are native to Kyoto and are essential in their cuisine.


he’s drying and grinding tea leaves which gave his block of the market a wonderful smell. i bet his wife doesn't feel quite the same way when he comes home reeking every night.

we were stuck in this area for hours as the rain was pouring down relentlessly and umbrellas were really useless. later we made it to teramachi, which means temple street. it’s a covered shopping/praying district with tons of boutiques, Japanese candy stores and temples.

on to hokanji temple, home of the famous 5-tier pagoda which was rebuilt for the last time in 1436, i think. unfortunately the damn place was closed, luckily it’s a tall pagoda surrounded by a moderately low fence…

we were over being soaked to the skin and returned to the hotel for a shower and dry clothes. we caught the train back downtown and moseyed around gion, the geisha district, looking for eats. i was eager to explore this conclave in the wake of reading 'memoirs of a geisha'. that novel was phenomenal and piqued my interest in the geisha era. i was also interested in reconciling the information in the book with actual spots in kyoto. what a dork.

we discovered it’s more seedy bars and high class entertainment spots where foreigners aren’t so welcome. we definitely witnessed an altercation between yakuza factions [if there actually are factions]. several men, dressed well in black, expensive suits, gathered around a really nice hummer [which are rare here in the land of mini cars] heatedly exchanging words. it was intense enough that we crossed to the other sidewalk to avoid the scene. we rounded the block back to pontocho and stumbled upon a narrow, trendy restaurant just as we were about to collapse from hunger. my face here does not reflect my mood.

it was a great mix of Japanese and foreign food. we had prosciutto and camembert spring rolls, oden [a Kyoto specialty that is vegetables and fish cakes boiled in a fish and kelp broth], sashimi and a delicious scallop and asparagus stir fry. we questioned the bar keep about any dance clubs and some other customers came to the rescue, suggesting a reggae club nearby. they were nice enough to leave there plates, walk us to the tiny closet of a club, about 10 minutes away, and stay there for a drink with us. when we were warmed up and ready to tear up the dance floor, we decided to move on to a bigger club I’d read about. out on the street we attempted to get into taxi after taxi, but every driver politely waved us off saying they didn’t know the place. finally we asked a lovely couple on the street who flagged down a cab and gave detailed directions to the spot. it was in the basement of a 7-11, no wonder no one knew the locale. the place was packed and the music was an electronic, house-y, Nintendo-y dance-y hybrid.
up early the next day to check out of the hotel, arrange casey’s train tickets for the trip back to the airport and stash our bags at the station. there was an exhibit of drawings done by survivors of the atomic bomb attacks.

they instantly inspired an uncomfortable feeling in me…I felt embarrassed to be an American and a bit ashamed that I don’t know more of the details from that unfortunate period of world history. just then 2 girls approached asking if I was American. I said, “no, I’m Canadian.” only kidding. they were looking for Americans to interview about gay rights. with my open-minded opinions, I wonder how much of an outlier I was in their survey.
shot from the station.

then we were off to hunt a Mexican restaurant we’d seen the day before. wouldn’t you know that when we finally tracked that sucker down it turned out to be a dinner only establishment. we settled for sandwiches and pizza from a coffee shop where I am convinced some young yakuza were lounging in the corner still drunk and rowdy from the night before. it was 2 pm. we wound our way through the city streets, some residential, some commercial areas, finally arriving at the imperial gardens and palace. you can only tour it with a reservation and the pouring rain had kept the crowds away from the well-tended grounds. it was a bit eerie for casey and i to be virtually alone in the company of such an ancient and massive structure. this is one of the original, giant gates.

we walked the banks of the river for a daytime view of the famous geisha district.



I saw this figure outside of a gion okonomiyakiya [veggie pancake restaurant] and it nearly took my breath away.

I knew instantly that I had been there before, with the host family that so graciously welcomed me to japan 10 years ago. I peeked my head inside and noticed the table where we had sat. all these memories came flooding back- what we ate and drank, how we were arranged at the table. it’s so amazing to think how memories are encoded and stored in your brain in such a way that a minute catalyst can send them rushing forward from the recesses, with clarity that would make you think it had occurred the previous week.
casey and I returned to the station where he boarded the 9:30 train bound for Tokyo. amazing how familiar and comfortable it felt to see a friend, but it was also refreshing and interesting since we’ve recently collected so many disparate experiences to share with each other. I had opted for the cheap, overnight train back home so I had 3 more hours to kill. I traipsed back to the Mexican restaurant we’d found for some tacos and time with my book. I meandered back to the station and ultimately back to my town. arriving at 6:30 am, just in time to shower and ready myself for a day at work.

casey comes to town, part 2

I dragged casey to school for my oral communication and community student classes. he was a great sport about it all. I was so intrigued by the students' and teachers' reactions to him. He sticks out for many reasons; he’s tall in the land of petites, he’s black in the land of Japanese, he’s outgoing in the land of social anxiety disorder. They loved his eyes and hair, were befuddled by the size of his feet, amazed by his friendliness. some of the girls would rush up to him and tell him he was cute before scurrying away. some would tail us around the halls excitedly whispering. they were thrilled to shake his hand and make eye contact with him. we went out to dinner at a fancy French restaurant with uchiyama sensei [next to casey] and kodama sensei, my new supervisor.

we ate local food till I thought we would explode.

we sang karaoke until we could barely whisper.

we began my b-day party at the stroke of midnight.

with the English team on my birthday.

to celebrate, we met at my house to slam some beers before taxi-ing to region plaza for the spectacle known as professional wrestling. as if it isn’t odd enough to be watching a bunch of grown men in lycra with their names stitched on their butts beating each other up, we don’t understand a word of the disputes or announcements, and to top it off, our seats were directly in front of a group of mentally handicapped adults. they were cheering and chatting with us which truly enriched the experience in that `how freakin surreal` kinda way.

then we headed downtown for dinner at our favorite hole, funae.

and of course, more karaoke.
when we arrived, the owner of the bar came out with a birthday cake…well, actually, I drunkenly busted into the back room to tell him hello and caught him in the act of getting the cake ready, thus ruining the birthday surprise, but he didn’t seem to mind.

we met these guys en route and dragged them to the karaoke bar with us.