The Weekend Review - As The Storm Rolls in
It's storming outside right now. I was just over at Tu's house and we watched the lightening for a little while. There are still surpisingly multiple planes in the sky, bravely (or naively?) making their way to the Kansai International Airport. This ironically means they are flying straight into the firey backdrop of flashing electric, bolts of lighting and red, rich clouds. This is one of the only big thunderstorms I have experienced here in Japan so far, but it really does seem more beautiful than it has at home. The clouds take on a reddish, warm hue that I have never seen coupled with this weather before. It's almost enchanting. Like the breathtaking sunsets, however, I think some of that pristine beauty could be attributed to the polution....
This has been a long weekend, mostly due to the fact that it was characterized by a lot of 'welcome' events for people that just moved here, which also generally means (not surprisingly for Japan) copious amounts of drinking (or at least the presence of a lot of alcohol). Now, it's true that you don't have to drink at these events and there's always going to be a substitute for the drivers (strict no tolerance laws in Japan!), but drinking is still a huge part of this culture. Because it's also a natural social lubricant and Japanese people are stereotypically shy, it makes sense that there would be more of it at welcome parties, too. I wonder if that means my hangover can be considered culture shock? Hmm.
Anyways, FRIDAY: I biked to school again, but ended up doing some correcting and then talking to Mori Sensei for most of the afternoon, so I left much later than usual. The little bag I keep my coffee cans in under my desk (they're empty, but I keep it for recycling) attracted some ants in the staff room, which I felt really bad about, but provided a little excitement in the morning.
On the bikeride home after school, I stopped at a new store Nozaki Sensei told me about, Shot, to look for presents for home. They have pretty good "engrish" t-shirts for about $5, which is good to know, but I didn't buy anything. Unfortunately, this little side-errand meant I didn't have much time to get ready before dinner. Somehow I managed, though, and I headed over to Harimacho with Tu (my new neighbor) somewhere around 7pm. That's when all the weekend mayhem began....
When we arrived, there were about 12 other guests, all in in Harimacho to attend a "Chuhai-Tasting Party" that my friends Tam and Clayton were hosting. The taste-testing party was a good idea & good way to try a lot of different flavors of the stuff (especially for the new guys) with less of an ill-effect (ie getting wasted after 3 or 4 cans, since the portions were small). We did blind-testing (blank cups so didn't know what flavor it was) and Clayton made scoring sheets, which I abandoned after a few rounds. I still think chuhai is dangerous, but I had a good time and it was a fun crowd. Tam made salmon sushi and people brought food, too. I made two little dessert pizzas (been trying to get rid of that Betty Crocker frosting for a while...) and contributed my leftover Twizzlers. We went to karaoke in Befu afterwards, but I was still so tired from the night before, so I left before most of the gang (probably somewhere around 1am). Thank goodness I did...barely made it into my PJs!
SATURDAY: I spent most of the next day in bed, actually, nursing my head and cursing myself for knowing better than to consume so much chuhai, but doing it anyways. I had a meeting for the charity committee in Sannomiya at 3pm, so I got myself together and headed out for that. That evening, we had another Beer Garden Welcome Party (basically all-you-can-eat/drink on the roof of a building) at SOGO Beer Garden in Kobe. I hit up the food before even touching the beer machines as a general rule, but it's a little assanine how crazy things can get at these three-hour-long, drink-as-much-as-you-can (and get your money's worth), outdoor events. And I'm not just referring to the foreigner's that go; they're very common and popular in Japanese culture... but I will admit they'd be nice to have at home instead of the exlusive roof tops and expensive bars in Uptown. After the beer garden (ran into a LOT of new expat faces, and happy to see some familiar ones, too), we headed to a local club (really like a little pub with a DJ) near Sannomiya Station. The place was so packed that you couldn't walk, so I spent most of the time out on the balcony.
As the evening wore on, I watched my clock as the possibility of taking last train home - and then to Osaka - slipped away. I was originally planning on going to Osaka to meet up with Jane and a group of our Japanese friends that night, but I wasn't exactly sure where in Osaka they were when it was time for me to go (been to the place, but not sure if I could find it again), I was not in the best state for searching for a place on my own... and then one of the worst things that can happen to you when you are out happened... my shoe broke! I was wearing my uniform black flip-flops, when the toe-strap came loose. I hobknobbled around Kobe for a while, momentarily barefoot,before I finally ran into a friend from Akashi who was kind enough to locate a knife from a local establishment and fix my shoe (by cutting a new hole). I had obviously had enough of the night at this point (my feet were black), and had been informed that most of the regular hotels we would normally crash at were full, so I headed just home with a group of friends that live within cabbing distance from the city center.
It took me over 2 hours to get home from their place to mine this morning (or afternoon, really, once I finally got up and had gotten some food into my system), so I missed both the spring roll-making class that I really wanted to go to, as well as the beach birthday party for another friend (that, at least, was due to the storm). The entire Saturday night outing lasted over 24 hours, and that was the second night in a row (preceeded by Obon). It's fun to have a crazy night out here and there, in a lot of ways, but I don't think I can do this anymore... I'd much rather spend a night in my own little "cottage" (as I call my cozy little apartment) and spare myself the misery of the next day (not just the hangover... the lack of sleep as well). Or not miss stuff like the harumaki (spring roll) class. Maybe I'm still just cranky because it's been a long day, though.
Anyways, that was essentially my weekend. Wow, I wish I had something more to report than a social agenda, but it's summer and we all have a lot of free time, so I guess we're making the most of it and welcoming the new foreigners in our community the right way. It has, however, been interesting to observe and see the new people's reactions to a new culture (especially Japanese) and adjusting to a new place. It makes me a little nastalgic for last year, but it also makes me realize how much I've learned and grown in the last year. Many of the people I met don't speak any Japanese, for example, which is exactly where I was at that point this time last year. Still don't know much, but at least I can get around... and am a little less clueless.
I think I need to get to bed (to get some real sleep), but hope the rest of the weekend goes well for all of you! I have Japanese class and am going to Tam's house for dinner tomorrow, but I'm going to try to keep it low-key for the rest of the week. Only four more days to Hawaii yo!
*Chuhai is essentially a type of Japanese alcohol that closely resembled a cooler in a can (rusbrus er kanskje d beste beskrivelsen?), with about the same alcohol content as beer. The lemon flavor has even more, for some strange reason. I think chuhai can actually be a little dangerous because you can't taste the liquor at all, so it's easy to drink a few quickly before realizing how drunk you've become. It also gives you a wicked hangover (at least for me)! Joe actually thought the cans I had in the fridge were juice when he was here (I said he needed to try chuhai, but didn't explain what it was) and was having them for breakfast for a while, thinking they were juice spritzers.
This has been a long weekend, mostly due to the fact that it was characterized by a lot of 'welcome' events for people that just moved here, which also generally means (not surprisingly for Japan) copious amounts of drinking (or at least the presence of a lot of alcohol). Now, it's true that you don't have to drink at these events and there's always going to be a substitute for the drivers (strict no tolerance laws in Japan!), but drinking is still a huge part of this culture. Because it's also a natural social lubricant and Japanese people are stereotypically shy, it makes sense that there would be more of it at welcome parties, too. I wonder if that means my hangover can be considered culture shock? Hmm.
Anyways, FRIDAY: I biked to school again, but ended up doing some correcting and then talking to Mori Sensei for most of the afternoon, so I left much later than usual. The little bag I keep my coffee cans in under my desk (they're empty, but I keep it for recycling) attracted some ants in the staff room, which I felt really bad about, but provided a little excitement in the morning.
On the bikeride home after school, I stopped at a new store Nozaki Sensei told me about, Shot, to look for presents for home. They have pretty good "engrish" t-shirts for about $5, which is good to know, but I didn't buy anything. Unfortunately, this little side-errand meant I didn't have much time to get ready before dinner. Somehow I managed, though, and I headed over to Harimacho with Tu (my new neighbor) somewhere around 7pm. That's when all the weekend mayhem began....
When we arrived, there were about 12 other guests, all in in Harimacho to attend a "Chuhai-Tasting Party" that my friends Tam and Clayton were hosting. The taste-testing party was a good idea & good way to try a lot of different flavors of the stuff (especially for the new guys) with less of an ill-effect (ie getting wasted after 3 or 4 cans, since the portions were small). We did blind-testing (blank cups so didn't know what flavor it was) and Clayton made scoring sheets, which I abandoned after a few rounds. I still think chuhai is dangerous, but I had a good time and it was a fun crowd. Tam made salmon sushi and people brought food, too. I made two little dessert pizzas (been trying to get rid of that Betty Crocker frosting for a while...) and contributed my leftover Twizzlers. We went to karaoke in Befu afterwards, but I was still so tired from the night before, so I left before most of the gang (probably somewhere around 1am). Thank goodness I did...barely made it into my PJs!
SATURDAY: I spent most of the next day in bed, actually, nursing my head and cursing myself for knowing better than to consume so much chuhai, but doing it anyways. I had a meeting for the charity committee in Sannomiya at 3pm, so I got myself together and headed out for that. That evening, we had another Beer Garden Welcome Party (basically all-you-can-eat/drink on the roof of a building) at SOGO Beer Garden in Kobe. I hit up the food before even touching the beer machines as a general rule, but it's a little assanine how crazy things can get at these three-hour-long, drink-as-much-as-you-can (and get your money's worth), outdoor events. And I'm not just referring to the foreigner's that go; they're very common and popular in Japanese culture... but I will admit they'd be nice to have at home instead of the exlusive roof tops and expensive bars in Uptown. After the beer garden (ran into a LOT of new expat faces, and happy to see some familiar ones, too), we headed to a local club (really like a little pub with a DJ) near Sannomiya Station. The place was so packed that you couldn't walk, so I spent most of the time out on the balcony.
As the evening wore on, I watched my clock as the possibility of taking last train home - and then to Osaka - slipped away. I was originally planning on going to Osaka to meet up with Jane and a group of our Japanese friends that night, but I wasn't exactly sure where in Osaka they were when it was time for me to go (been to the place, but not sure if I could find it again), I was not in the best state for searching for a place on my own... and then one of the worst things that can happen to you when you are out happened... my shoe broke! I was wearing my uniform black flip-flops, when the toe-strap came loose. I hobknobbled around Kobe for a while, momentarily barefoot,before I finally ran into a friend from Akashi who was kind enough to locate a knife from a local establishment and fix my shoe (by cutting a new hole). I had obviously had enough of the night at this point (my feet were black), and had been informed that most of the regular hotels we would normally crash at were full, so I headed just home with a group of friends that live within cabbing distance from the city center.
It took me over 2 hours to get home from their place to mine this morning (or afternoon, really, once I finally got up and had gotten some food into my system), so I missed both the spring roll-making class that I really wanted to go to, as well as the beach birthday party for another friend (that, at least, was due to the storm). The entire Saturday night outing lasted over 24 hours, and that was the second night in a row (preceeded by Obon). It's fun to have a crazy night out here and there, in a lot of ways, but I don't think I can do this anymore... I'd much rather spend a night in my own little "cottage" (as I call my cozy little apartment) and spare myself the misery of the next day (not just the hangover... the lack of sleep as well). Or not miss stuff like the harumaki (spring roll) class. Maybe I'm still just cranky because it's been a long day, though.
Anyways, that was essentially my weekend. Wow, I wish I had something more to report than a social agenda, but it's summer and we all have a lot of free time, so I guess we're making the most of it and welcoming the new foreigners in our community the right way. It has, however, been interesting to observe and see the new people's reactions to a new culture (especially Japanese) and adjusting to a new place. It makes me a little nastalgic for last year, but it also makes me realize how much I've learned and grown in the last year. Many of the people I met don't speak any Japanese, for example, which is exactly where I was at that point this time last year. Still don't know much, but at least I can get around... and am a little less clueless.
I think I need to get to bed (to get some real sleep), but hope the rest of the weekend goes well for all of you! I have Japanese class and am going to Tam's house for dinner tomorrow, but I'm going to try to keep it low-key for the rest of the week. Only four more days to Hawaii yo!
*Chuhai is essentially a type of Japanese alcohol that closely resembled a cooler in a can (rusbrus er kanskje d beste beskrivelsen?), with about the same alcohol content as beer. The lemon flavor has even more, for some strange reason. I think chuhai can actually be a little dangerous because you can't taste the liquor at all, so it's easy to drink a few quickly before realizing how drunk you've become. It also gives you a wicked hangover (at least for me)! Joe actually thought the cans I had in the fridge were juice when he was here (I said he needed to try chuhai, but didn't explain what it was) and was having them for breakfast for a while, thinking they were juice spritzers.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 11:27 PM
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