The Weekend Review – Bad Behavior

So remember when I said I was going to be really responsible and stay in and take care of my health all weekend? Well, it sort of happened. But not to the extent that it should have. Friday was a low-key night at home. At least I started with the best of intentions. So, on Saturday, I spent the morning at the doctor’s office….
Zinga-Zing – Ahhh, New Hair Style!
Since I was out anyways and was feeling kinda OK (alright to move around, at least), I decided it would be a good idea to bike over to the hair salon from the clinic and see if I could get an appointment. My hair has quickly become a bit, well, big with the heat and humidity, so I have been meaning to get a trim anyways. When I got there, they got me in within about an hour. The girl that cut my hair was super sweet, but just as we were finishing (and I loved the cut), I mentioned that it would be OK for her to add some extra layers. I was pretty scared by how short the back is when I walked out. Let’s just say I’m sporting a Posh Spice ‘do (my personal tribute to the Spice Girls Reunion tour?!). I went home and played with it for a while, and I’m relieved to say I really like it (it’s an inverted bob). It's just much too short for a ponytail and was a bit of a shock when I washed it for the first time, but going shorter is nice for the season.
I slept for a while on Saturday afternoon and then met Kelly to go to a Sayanara (Farewell) party for some friends at night. We met at the Beer Garden on the roof of SOGO Department Store in Sannomiya, Kobe (it’s an all-you-can-eat/drink for about $25) and stayed there for a while before heading to a small club (Trinity) and catching last train home. I swear I stuck to the orange juice machine for a good hour when we first got to the beer garden (and hadn’t taken the prescription yet), but somewhere along the way, I thought it would be cool to pour my own drink from the tap. I only ended up having 2 beers, which is not bad for an all-you-can-drink, but that's when the 'low key weekend' sort of went out the window.
Swing-Batta-Batta-Batta
On Sunday, I slept late and met Torbjorn in Akashi to meet the gang and play some softball at Lena’s school. We had made plans to check out a museum in Kyoto, but I realized that going to Kyoto was going to be as straining as going to a softball game, so we chose the game instead. We had about 17 people on the field; a random mix of foreigners and Japanese teachers. Good group. It was sort of drizzling on-and-off-again for most of the time we were playing, but it was actually nice because the humidity was manageable. I was feeling better, too, and it was nice to move around a bit since I can’t go running right now. The game was not too competitive, it was fun to witness Torbjorn’s first time playing softball, and I scored once, so I had a good time. At one point, Clayton and Tam were joking around (he tagged her out just as she was running to home so she was pretending to be mad and he picked her up), and he ended up getting huge, red scratches across his forehead. I think that’s about when things started to cool down. Torbjorn had to get back to Osaka, but a few of us went to a local okonomiyaki place for dinner and then I headed home to hit the notebooks and then the hay.
One thing I also learned this weekend is that an old aquaintance from Norway, Trygve, is coming to visit Torbjorn and represent a Norwegian delegation at the Atomic Bomb/Peace Conference in Hiroshima in August. I’m really excited because, well, I get to see Trygve (we were in different programs at the same school in ’00-01 and I used to run into him all the time when I was at the University of Oslo), who is an incredibly nice and interesting person, and also because I have been waiting in anticipation for this conference all year and didn’t know anyone else who really wanted to go. I have actually foregone visiting Hiroshima until now because I want to hear the lectures about the current state of atomic weaponry (held each year on the bomb’s anniversary) and I think it will be interesting to hear the accounts of the still-living bomb survivors. Trygve and Torbjorn are staying with a host family and going longer than I am, so I probably still need a travel companion, but I bet there are some interested parties out there. Looking forward to it.
Back on the "DL"
So anyways, that was the rest of the weekend. I am giving some tests this week and hopefully commemorating the 4th (yes, even in Japan), so I'll have more in a few days. Until then, back to that resting stuff:) Take care!