Promising Weekend. Ends Poorly.

Captain's log:

Not much has happened over the past week, had classes and whatnot. I'm irked because I had to drop Japanese geography because I didn't realize it was at the same time as my Japanese cinema class, so I'm going to start taking the Business lectures on tuesday.

I'm on a quest to make more Japanese friends. I love the friends I've made in the exchange, but we just keep speaking English.

Anyway, the weekend started off pretty sweetly. A picnic was organized and nearly all of the exchange students and a bunch of Japanese folk came. We walked up a mountain by the school to a glorious overlook of Kobe. I'd post a picture, but it doesn't do it justice and Sandra has my camera - I'll get to that in a minute.

*edit* picture!














Everyone went and bought food and their own drinks, though I mooched off a lot of people, particularly our token Scottish chick, Julia. She brought a bottle of Soju, which I drank a substantial amount of. At the end of the night, I wandered down the mountain to catch the last train, and I'm AMAZED I didn't get lost. Yay for drunk luck!

Anywho, yesterday was "let's bone Steve-O monetarily" day, which involved checking out an American football game, that was my school vs Nishinomiya (I think). The stadium very much reminded me of highschool. I got a late start on the day, so I show up at the 4th quarter and still have to pay for a $12 ticket (ouch). We spent the rest of the day wandering around Ooji-Koen and Sannomiya, which was fun, and we tried to make it cheap.

Now the fun part. I was supposed to go see Polysics tonight in Sannomiya, but it was sold out, so my friends managed to talk me into going to Club Pure in Sensaibashi. Sensaibashi is a rather sketchy area, you know you're in a good area when you get off the subway and see a sign telling you your not allowed to carry a knife over 5.5cm. And this was definitely a first with being propositioned by a hooker, a she-male hooker, and a Nigerian pimp, and that was before we even got to the club. We finally get there and are some of the first people in. I wish I had known we were going to a club, cause then I wouldn't be the jackass in shorts and messed up hair, but I digress.

The cover charge was the equivalent of $40 ($25 for chicks). At the door they give you a glass, and as long as you hold onto it, it's all-you-can-drink. My friends and I immediately set off to make sure we get our money's worth. (I was rather irked about paying this, but I just recently realized that the concert would have been close to the same price, so not all is lost.) Anywho, so since no one is in the club, the 9 or 10 of us cram into this little grotto and start playing drinking games, and I develop a penchant for gin and ginger ale. The club says they'll confiscate cameras, so I give mine to Ken to put in his bag to put in a locker, that I had Sandra retrieve for me.

Eventually, we're drunk. People have arrived, the club actually played good music (shocker, I know), and we set out dancing. We purposely stay out, because the last train leaves at midnight-ish, and they don't start up again until about 6:00 am, so we're stuck for the night. We all set out dancing and eventually Rika, Cooper, and I decide we need to get out of there. We go grab some McDonalds, drink copious amounts of water, and somehow find our way to a train station. We finally find our way home, struggling not to fall asleep on each other, and I walk in at about 8 am.

By this point, I feel like I've been hit by a dumptruck carrying Sally Struthers. I made some kids laugh this morning when we stopped and asked for directions. They just kinda looked as us funny, so we explain that we had been drinking, so they all look at me (my hair was 7 kinds of messed up), and I say "Boku no tarada wa itai desu," which means "My body hurts." Which it did. I'm sore from dancing and walking so much, I feel ill, and I have a horrific ringing in my ears that I desperately want to go away.

I feel bad, cause my buddy Taiki invited me out tomorrow night, but I've spent too much money and reached my booze quota for the week, so I had to cancel. I'll see him again soon though.

Tomorrow should be good, I enjoy my classes.