Sub par chocolate covered bananas. Oh, and fireworks.

I drove down to Amino this afternoon to have lunch with Shinobu, a friend of Liz'. She had a 'thank you' sort of luncheon for the people who had helped out for the Halloween party a few weeks back (the one for elementary schoolers), however I was the only person of that group who was able to attend. Besides me, Liz, Leigh and Jannie came and we were joined by Shinobu, her friends (both Yuko's) and Yuko B's two young children (Chika and Ryouji, who were adorable).

The lunch spread was amazing. I think we ate for about two-three hours straight. I should also mention that Shinobu's house is gorgeous. It's a Japanese-style place, all one floor and connecting through paper walls that slide. Kotatsu tables, magnificent garden outside (filled with trees, ponds, flowers etc) and beautiful art and decorations to match. Really lovely environment!

After lunch I dropped by shimamura with Jannie so we could pick up some clothing items. I'm wearing the slipper socks I bought... they were a good purchase for SURE. My feet have been having trouble staying warm lately. These will help out a great deal.

We then met up with Marina, Amy (Marina's friend from Fukuchiyama), Bryn, Simon, Lyle and Scott and watched the fireworks at the Iwataki side of Amanohashidate. It wasn't too cold today, so the viewing was entirely pleasant! We also had sub par chocolate covered bananas, which didn't taste of chocolate or banana, in my opinion.

Now it's home to finish out the weekend with a tuna fish sandwich and a glass of milk.

I might get my car looked at tomorrow morning before school if I can manage to wake up early enough. Ha!

Yasaka Party leads to Epic Hangovers

Yasaka Party Leads to Epic Hangovers, Sand in Places

This weekend I drove to a town called Yasaka to meet my friend, Leigh and to hang out at her place for the rest of the day and evening. A lot of JETs from Kyoto city were also coming up, so it was an awesome opportunity to leave Ine for a day and an even better opportunity to meet more new JETs!

Getting there was difficult. I had asked Leigh for directions, and she had given me a shortcut which would lead me to her house more quickly. However I missed the turn. As a result, I ended up taking a very long way to get there. It took about an hour and and 15 minutes which I wasn't planning on driving for. From the highways her house was completely impossible to find. I ended up on the outskirts of her small town at a mobile phone store and called her. She was like, "wait you're lost?" and as I was talking with her on the phone, I noticed a small blue car driving by. In the car was a tall, slim girl with long brown hair on her cellphone. I said "...are you in a blue car? Because I think I see you." And I followed her home from there. Leigh is really cool. She had just come home from a month in Kyoto of studying Japanese (which I am totally doing next summer). We ran out almost immediately to drive another 20 minutes to the train station to pick up the other JETs and meet up with the few who brought their cars. I was exhausted and grumpy from the heat at this point.

It's Liz! Behind her is Kuma-chan, a heavy drinker. -->

Seeing my friends perked me up a little bit and we piled into the three cars and went to the beach in Amino. The beach was perfect. The waves were well-sized, there were no sea beasties to bite our toes, and the water was the warmest it could have been without seeming too warm. We spent about three hours floating around, chatting. It was a great way to get to know the people I hadn't already met, such as the two from Hawaii (Lauren and Anthony) and the awesome British girls (Ruth and Claire) and an equally awesome New Zealand girl (Stef). The Kyoto city JETs are extremely cliquey so far. It's a shame, trying to get to know them was very difficult and not at all rewarding, but you win some you lose some I guess.

<-- [Right to Left: Jannie, Marina and some crazy girl]

After the beach we caravan'd back to Leigh's house to shower and buy beer and snacks. From there it was a regular party. The neighbors, the Yoshidas (Kumi and Masami), came by with more food than you could imagine. Lots of egg rolls, sashimi, pickled eggs, salads, and shrimp chips. It was a buffet! Also lots of veggies and fruits and lots of things to drink! I had a chance to chat with the Yoshidas and their daughter, and they were all really nice even though my Japanese was very simple. I could understand their normal Japanese accents perfectly which made me feel better about my communicative skills and worse about the crummy Ine-ben dialect (grr). Mrs. Yoshida told me that she works up in Ine at the high school, so I am sure to be seeing more of her. Plus I hear she will bake me bread!!! I am excited about that!

Aside from new JETs, old ones and meeting the neighbors there were four Japanese guys there as well along with Jun, who I had met a few weeks ago in Amanohashidate. They were all really nice and their English was practically perfect. We talked half in English half in Japanese, and it varied depending on the amount of beer we were drinking.

[Stefanie hit on Simon's little brother pretty hard core. Otsukaresama] -->

Once the party really got started, there was a lot of chatting and it somehow devolved into hula as led by Lauren, the girl from Hawaii. Which then turned into a hula lesson! It was pretty interesting. Anyway the guys were super hot for the most part. The tallest one kept pouring me beer and we kept spilling it, and blaming each other. Then he asked me if I wanted to peel the skin off his sunburn and I was like "ew no! do Japanese girls do that for you???" he said "if they like me!" and i said "well good luck with that!"

I think we ended up going to sleep around 5am and then waking up at 730am to drive home and drop people off at the train station. After coming home I slept until 6pm. I was totally exhausted. Sleeping on the floor after a long night is one thing, but sharing that floor with about 16 other people is another thing. I wanted space and air conditioning and a shower.