Night on the Town

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12

Did not sleep well last night. I woke up to the rain pouring. I leaned over and closed my door to keep the rain off the tatami. Later I woke up to the continuing rain and rolled out of bed to get my laundry, which was hanging out in the rain to dry. I shuffled around bringing it into the house and finding places to lay/hang it where it would be safe and out of the way. I also closed the other windows.

So, by the time 7:15 rolled around, I was exhausted. Nonetheless, I still got up and went about getting ready. The problem being that the rain continued to pour. I have a bicycle. I have an umbrella. And I have a school to get to. I procrastinated going as long as I could and eventually walked out in the rain, umbrella up, wearing my rowing jacket over my work blouse and sweatpants. My work pants were in my bag. I put my bento in my bike basket and tried (and failed) to keep it dry with my umbrella. I managed to knock a hairstick out of my hair and it hasn't turned up. It wasn't one of my favorites, but still I rather liked it, so I'm disappointed.

I ended up walking my bike to school, umbrella in one hand, bike in the other. See, riding a bike with an umbrella is illegal and as a public employee, I have been repeatedly reminded that I am held to a higher standard. Never mind that everyone else was riding their bikes with umbrellas. Truth be told, I was also worried about handling the bike on the roads one handed. The unfortunate result being that I was 17 minutes late to work by the time I got there, ran around the school (I park my bike in the back, but the back door was locked) and changed out of my drenched clothes. I did a good job of making myself look presentable, with the negative effect that I no longer looked pitiable.

Work was making up worksheets. I had a grand time finding clip art and other such stuff to decorate my worksheets.

After work, I had barely gotten home when I got a text from Elizabeth. We had invited Chris, who lives a few train stops away to come hang out with us for the night and he was just 7 minutes away. We scurried to the station and met up with him and his girlfriend, who is living with him in Japan. Elizabeth and I haven't explored the area much, so we went as one big gaijin group to explore. We eventually went into a restaurant to get drinks and it ended up being the same one that the Nishi teachers had brought me to. They were playing Spice Girls when we entered and continued with the oddest assortment of American music. We got a few little items on sticks and everyone had at least one drink.

Afterward, we walked around looking for a cake shop, but they were all closed, even though it was only 7:30. We eventually stopped in at 7/11 and picked up a 5-pack of ice cream, splitting it and putting the last in Elizabeth's freezer. It ended up being much cheaper than cake would have been.

We decided to check out one of the bars at the end of the street. Inside the sliding door was immediately a counter with stools. There was a nice, older lady in a kimono with a white apron over it. She offered to make us up any of the plates of food on the counter. We each ordered a beer, and chatted with her, and the local men at the other end of the bar. One eventually left and the other's daughter arrived. The girl was only 11, but her English was fantastic. She took a liking to Elizabeth, even sharing a stool with her for a while.

Everyone was speaking Japanese, so I was quite out of it, except when Chris and Elizabeth would stop to talk in English when they were struggling with understanding. The older lady spoke with a thick accent, and even Chris, whose Japanese was best struggled. I wish I could have compared the dialect differences.

The man at the end of the bar eventually bought our group a bottle of locally brewed sake for being so good. We reciprocated at the end of the night with a jar of sake, and he came over to pour Chris a cup and clink glasses. Monique was also presented with a plant.

Then the karaoke started up. I was even considering singing, but they honestly didn't have any songs in English and I can't read kanji. By the end of the night, I was exhausted, but luckily the walk home wasn't long. Elizabeth doesn't have to go into work until late, and Chris took the day off, so I was the only faced with an early wake-up.