A Fan Weekeundo

I had a great weekend, tho it was tooooo short. Thank god next week is another 3-day-er! On Friday night I went out to Ota with Sean and Cindy, and Pete met up with us later on. We were all really damn tired, so we only went out to eat. It was exciting ‘cause we tried new restaurants! Yay! Without cars, it’s difficult to find new places to eat, as there are only so many restaurants near the station (but there are PLENTY of hostess bars!!!). However, we became a little un-lazy and walked a bit further than usual and found a really good soba/udon place. I’ll definitely be heading back! The servings were huge, it was oishii, and it was cheap! After that we went to a really nice Italian place that I didn’t know existed and had DAMN good desserts. Sean, Cindy and I split six small desserts (although I freely admit we are pigs, it really wasn’t that pig-ish, as they were very small desserts, and they offer a 1-item or 2-item dessert thing on the menu). Anyway, I will definitely be heading back there, as well!

After that we met up with Jenny, who was at an enkai with her co-workers. They were at our usual karaoke place, so we popped our heads in, and were coerced into singing Rinda Rinda, hee hee. Jenny, your co-workers are a lot cooler than mine!

I had been looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning all week long, so of COURSE I freaking woke up at 8:45 and couldn’t get back to bed! I am officially an old man!!!!

Saturday afternoon I trained to Akagi, where Grant picked me up for our crazy inaka weekend! Oh, inaka is boonies in Japanese. Although no one in the world says boonies, but everyone says inaka here. Anyway. So yeah, Grant picked me up (thanks for not making me take the diesel train!), we went grocery shopping for Sunday’s barbecue, then went back to his place and made dinner. Oh yeah, for those of you that don’t know, Grant lives in Azuma, which is a town in the mountains. It is damn pretty out there!

Anyway, we attempted to watch Finding Neverland, but I’m afraid I didn’t have my Ritalin that day and I didn’t pay attention whatsoever. So, instead we talked while drinking some nasty-ass cheap wine. Let’s just say the first bottle of Carlo Rossi was better than the second bottle, if such a thing is possible.

On Sunday morning Grant showed me around Azuma, which was purty. In the afternoon we barbecued. Well, everyone else barbecued and I encouraged them! It was a ton of fun, although I don’t think my body is happy with the fact that a) I started drinking at 1:00 in the afternoon and b) I literally ate for five hours straight. I’m not even kidding. Despite that (or perhaps because of that), it was a fun barbecue. God, I miss barbecues! I met new people, spoke a shitload of Japanese, ate good food, and had a great time.

So, yeah, a good weekend, indeed! Thanks for the escape from the thriving metropolis known as Yabuzuka, Guranto! I can’t really imagine living in the inaka, but it’s nice to see actual nature every once in a while!


Pictures from my walk around Azuma




Yukari and Grant faithfully take care of the barbecue.....


While I monitor their progress.


Mami's turn



Jeff, Japan-ized Grant and me