Sad Day

So I just got back from accompanying Rachel/her luggage to Nippori station for her train to the airport. I was quite impressed with the few pieces of luggage she required. Sad times. She's left me on my own with these crafty Japanese people. Like many strong black women ahead of me, I will survive.

Then last night we had a going away/early christmas party. Complete with mulled wine. Mulled wine is apparently a must-do in British Christmas traditions. We played some charades and other party type games. Good times.

Goodbye parties and beyond

Since Rachel is leaving this Friday, the nice Japanese girls put together a "little" shindig for her last night. We went to some sort of resturaunt had ate some and drank some. The usual Japanese party. Although at the beginning of the meal, they brought out a salad. And it was a real salad. Like with croutons, proper lettauce and cheese. Topped off with a ranch-like Cesar dressing. It was possibly the most satisfying food expirience in the past week. I'd be willing to leave so they can throw another going away party and serve a real salad. Originally we had thought that the party was going to be a few friends that Rachel knows really well. But when we saw who came, we realised this is Japan. Their word for friend 友達 (tomodachi) doesn't even require actual friendship. So there ended up being people there that I don't think Rachel had even met before. And a few that maybe she met once or twice. They probably still gave her a message in the card saying "I will miss you so much. Do not forget me". One such fellow was this guy "Ken". Who introduced himself to Holly and I as a "small Japanese man". And then asked us what we thought of Japanese men. Later on he told us that he cannot drink too much without getting really drunk. Big surprise there. He kept on asking us when we would come to his house. Something about someone cooking. Good times. After the party I went with the guys for a few more drinks at a place nearby. Had some manly conversations in Japanese. The usual.

Today when I was changing trains at a station to get home I was thinking about how strange it was that I am actually used to Tokyo subways and trains. I don't know what I will do without them next year. I think I may have to make the inside of my car resemble the Yamanote line complete with ads. Then I can annouce stops I will be making and the transfers available at those stops. And of course I will have signs up discouraging Japanese men from groping women during rush hour.

Changes

Sorry about changing the site, long story short. I think the lady who was emailing was stalking me, I wasn't too sure but nevertheless I'd rather not risk it. So no more email/addresses up here. crazy people.

anwyay, so today I went to a russian play with some people in my russian class. It was really funny. The people in the play were really into it. All the people were Japanese but their pronounciation was pretty good. Russian is really hard to pronounce, and usually Japanese people have a hard enough time with english. I'm not sure what the play was exactly about, but it involved some sort of dog and a floating corpse or demon. It was all in russian with subtitles on the side in Japanese, but it didn't help much. After the play, we went to say hello to one of our classmates who was in the play. Then I got ambushed by a russian lady who initially thought I was russian, and then after telling her i was american and didn't speak russian very well she said that she wanted to practice english. She was really excited to meet me and wanted me to meet the cast of the play and speak to them in english. Then she asked me for my phone number because she wanted me to meet her daughter so I could practice russian and she could speak english. So funny. This lady was really touchy which was kind of funny in Japan because the Japanese people I was with thought it was the weirdest thing that a lady I didn't know would grab my arm. You are used to being friendly with people in the west, but in Japan you don't really touch people even if you know them well. After the play I ended up hanging out with some people from my russian class. Lots of interesting times because they speak no english. I usually hang out with people that understand a bit of english, so it was hard but good. Then today I had a full conversation on the phone with someone in Japanese, so it was a good day for Japanese skills. haha. not really. I really wish I could subtitle myself and see what I am really saying.