New Experiences

I feel a lecture coming from Mom after I write this one...

Friday, May 11 - Swaying in the Breeze
To start the day off, I got to have an oral test for Japanese. With all that I had going on (10 page culture paper, 6 page human resource paper, oral exam, culture test, etc.), I had studied the test material beginning after my night out with Miruku. Despite this, I was able to fully memorize the entire speech so that I would be ready to answer the questions that were to come. Naturally, I was nervous, which caused me to trip up a whole bunch, but I was able to say what I wanted to eventually. I took the liberty of finishing my culture paper so to not die the following few days. I also had to do another negotiation, which the teacher specifically selected because it was unlikely that we could come to an agreement. After two hours, the class gave up and we all went our merry ways.

My merry way consisted of going to dinner with Junko, one of my classmates who is going to America on the 16th, along with Niels (also in the picture) Wei, and Dan, three other classmates. We gathered in the lounge, where we got Kie (another classmate) and her friend Eriko to join us. And so, we traversed over to the station to begin seeking a place of dining. Being it dinner time, the restaurants at the station were fairly occupied so that a six-person party was difficult to fit. When we finally found one, we were glad to settle down.

For some time now, I had been thinking, "I've been in Japan for four months and I haven't tried sake yet!" Being that 1. I was now 21 and legally able to drink in my country of origin and 2. everyone else ordered a drink, I took the liberty of joining the fun and getting some sake. Since I didn't know how I would like it, I got a small one. When I took a sip of it, I knew that it was strong. From my previous two experiences with alcohol, I was able to clearly distinguish the taste and it was plentisome in the sake. I was a little disappointed that the alcoholic affect had already began to set in before I finished the sake. However, Niels reassured me that he could drink beer all night long and never get drunk, but with sake, it's all over. Despite my new achievement, I also consumed a beer and two cocktails.

From there, I closely observed everything I could about what was happening. I was drunk, and I wanted to know why it was such a popular activity. Moving was odd. It was like I contined moving even after I stopped for awhile. If I held still, I felt mostly normal. My speech was normal and I could control everything that I did. Most of all, I remember everything. Either I was only partially drunk, or I don't have the same effects as the common drunk. That night, my trips to the bathroom consisted of ridding myself of the excess liquid that I consumed. After the dinner was over, I took a bus with Wei that went halfway to the dorms. From there, we walked home. I was easily able to navigate the streets with only slightly wavering every now and then. When I got home, I performed my nightly duties and went to bed, curious as to what might become of me the following morning.

Saturday & Sunday, May 12-13 - surprise, Surprise, SURPRISE
When I awoke, I felt the effects of the previous night as follows: I woke up an hour too early, and I felt slightly groggy. I had no headache, I had no sickness, I had no hangover. Therefore, I deem my first real experience with alcohol as a responsible and successful endeavor. This was fortunate, as I had things to do today.

I was to meet Nao at Osaka Station. I used my excessive planning skills to end up arriving there about 15 minutes early. Because of this I predicted (correctly at that), that she would be late. After waiting around for about 25 minutes (15 early and 10 late), we met up and made our way to Kobe. Our first planned activity was to visit the Kobe Zoo, which to my surprise had a $6 ticket. The zoo had some fairly interesting animals to see. After the zoo, we walked around Kobe for awhile before retiring to her house, where we would be dining with her family due to my saying that I enjoyed my time with Kenji's family. When we arrived, there was no one there, so we had to find stuff to do. First, she wanted me to fix her computer, which was difficult because A. it was a Mac that I have no idea how to use and B. It was all in Japanese which I cannot read. Despite this, I tinkered around with it and eventually found something that fixed her dilemma of the icons being too big. After that, she had me play the piano for her until her parents arrived.

The family consisted of the dad, the mom, the sister, and the sister's husband. After a brief introduction and conversation, Nao left to pick up her friend, Hiroko, who would also be joining us for the festivities. At that point, the sister's husband and the father attempted to talk with me. In the beginning, I was able to understand what they were saying. They were talking about how they began drinking and smoking early and therefore were bad boys in response to my explanation about having gotten drunk for the first time the day before. After that, the father began philosophizing about how beautiful the Japanese language is. At this point, I could no longer follow what he meant because such deep discussions are beyond the scope of my language knowledge. Fortunately, Nao soon returned with Hiroko and was able to attempt to explain.

For dinner, we had takoyaki, which, if you remember, is octopus encased in a batter. It was a little strange, however, in that there was no tako (octopus) to include in the takoyaki. Therefore, we were essentially eating batter balls with various other ingredients. After dinner, we all had some cake that the family bought for the evening. Once that was done, we cleaned up and Nao, Hiroko, and I headed into Nao's room to socialize and do various things. After awhile, it became apparent that I would be unable to go home since it was getting too late for the trains. Thus, I became an unexpected guest, but no one seemed to mind.

To break away from the timeline for a while, Over the past few entries pertaining to Nao, she had been progressively (at a very fast pace) been becoming more and more interested in me. First there was the strange way we met, then the giving of a birthday present, then the holding of the arm on the way home. I could tell from her stories that she seemed to have trouble expressing her emotions in that she was a little too friendly with guys. A great example was the story about her and the ex-boyfriend who lied about their relationship status. This lie was probably a product of her continuing to see him like nothing changed except for the physical aspect. Another situation was that she has an interest in a foreign person who wanted her to get a web camera to chat with him over the internet. I pointed out to her that she was about to spend a hefty amount of money just for one person, so he was basically controlling her. It seemed that, despite my shooting her attempts down, every time I altered her way of thinking, she came to adore me more. Hence, I felt that she would become lost in her emotions again.

The next day, Nao and Hiroko (also known as Toshi chan) had to get ready for their part-time jobs. Nao would be working from 10:00-2:00 and she wanted me to wait for her at her house. During my wait, I played the piano (keyboard with volume control) in order to recall all the songs that I had forgotten since my leave to Japan. After working hard for an hour and a half, I was actually able to revamp myself to about where I was before I stopped playing. At that point, Nao's mother came in and asked if I wanted some food. Nao's mom was having some trouble making me toast. With the assistance of the father, they discovered that the toaster had been unplugged. After remedying the problem, the toast was made and eaten. Nao's mom left with Nao's sister to go somewhere while I was eating. After I finished consuming my breakfast, I returned to my study at the piano.

I returned to the piano, but only for about thirty minutes. At that point, my two hours of sleep proved to be insufficient, so I slept for an hour, waking up upon Nao's return. After she came back, we returned to the place where she had been for the past four hours in order to eat lunch. Once finishing lunch, we returned to her house where we hung out and chatted for awhile. When it became time for me to go, she took me to the station and I headed home.

I later asked Nao if she got in trouble for my stay, but she said that her parents didn't really say anything. I got the impression that her mom liked me and her father seemed rather indifferent.