Nomi-hodai.

Dad told me he didn't want to know if I went out and got totally drunk, so I'm respecting his wishes and posting it here. Last night I discovered the joys (and pains) of nomi-hodai, which means "all you can drink". A bunch of teachers went out to a nomi-hodai/tabe-hodai restaurant (all you can eat, all you can drink) which cost about $20 Cdn for 2 hours of meatstroke and drinks (amazing, eh?). Then we went to a bar, then we went out for Karaoke.

It was an interesting night because I discovered the life I could live here, if I wanted. I could go out and party every night, spending more money than I really should and getting drunk more often than I should. Some people live like that, and as much as I had fun last night (notwithstanding my spectacularly failed attempt to sing "Arashi" at karaoke) I'm already speculating on ways to change the culture here to create events where people can meet and talk without some sort of thumping music on in the background and/or without alcohol.

Strangely enough, Tony (the cute British guy from the last post) was the one who helped me realize that while I could be a regular drinking/partying Nova teacher, I don't want to be. I've gone from looking up to him and having a bit of a crush on him to finding him a bit sad, really. He's always talking about being tired and hungover at work, and lamenting how much money he's spent, but then he can't seem to not go out at night and stay out until 5am getting drunk. He was so sloshed last night he couldn't remember where he put his bike, and so I had to bring him back to my apartment to sleep (not that I minded... he may have been drunk, but he's still cute ;). He's a really intelligent guy, and he loves Japan, but I just get the sense that he's caught in the party lifestyle and can't really get himself out of it*. At least no one needs to worry about me trying to have a fling with him anymore, since now I've got more of an urge to mother him, to give him tea and a place to sleep off his alcohol.

I am aware, by the way, that all this sounds a bit high-handed and preachy, so I should (in fairness) let you know that I also drank too much, spent too much money, and did some stupid things last night (namely stay out until 5:30 when I've got to work today...) And I can't say I'm not tempted by the idea of a life without worries, where fun is just the next bar away and conversation never goes beyond polite (or perhaps drunken) small talk. A world where you can feel entirely comfortable belting out a Blondie tune with some Japanese girl you just met and ordering more beers for everyone in broken Japanese.

But while that life is fun to try on, I know it's really not me.

[* -- as a sidenote, I have to mention that this morning Tony discovered he'd stolen a tambourine from the karaoke place in some sort of drunken stupor. He seemed so ashamed, but I just thought it was hilarious.]

*grin*

I had kids training yesterday. I thought it would be incredibly tiring (running around after tiny Japanese rugrats all day) when in fact it was just the opposite. Me, Kobuta, and our trainer Tony sat in the kids room all day going through the lesson plans and occasionally pretending to be children so we could practice on each other.

Now, this doesn't sound like much fun, but it was greatly enlived by the fact that Tony is 27, British, and (despite his receding hairline) pretty cute. Not really hot, mind you, but cute enough to add extra zest to the games where we had to join hands. He was also very sweet; joking with us, reassuring us that we were doing well, and continuing to train us enthusiastically despite the massive head cold he developed throughout the day.

Of course, this has made me realize that perhaps it's time for me to have my long-awaited fling, but once again, the options are a bit limited. Should I go after a fellow teacher? (nearly every book, person, or common sense saying I've ever consulted says this is a bad idea) Should I go after a Japanese guy? (the language barrier might be a problem, especially since I'm unsure about how far this fling should go) Or should I just fling myself out into bars in the hopes that I find an english-speaking non-nova teacher? (problem is, I'm not really a bar person). Or perhaps I'll just do what I always do, and not do anything...

A Little Love for a Neglected Blog

I know I haven't posted much here for a while, but everythings been all about Japan lately. I'm hoping that once I get the internet in my apartment and I don't have reams of new experiences to disseminate to my legions of rabid readers, I'll be able to return to posting random rantings here while still keeping Japan stuff on the other blog.

In the meantime, here's an extra tidbit from the last couple of days that I didn't want the parentals on the other blog to read. On our bus ride from Kansai airport, I was sucked into a conversation with a very vulgar man from San Francisco who'd been teaching in Korea for several years. Not only did his and his girlfriend's jobs sound exceedingly sketchy (her apartment was full of bugs, they had to go on "visa runs" to Osaka, and they were both not very commited to good teaching) they were also kind of drunk and swore with great abandon. Chris talked all about his "nigger girlfriend" as she sat right there (she didn't seem to mind at all, which is why I tolerated it) and his love of drugs despite the fact that he told me you could get jailed for smoking pot in Japan. His regular refrain was "I'm going to get fucking shit-faced tonight!".

It was all a bit seedy, and not exactly the first conversation I wanted to have coming into Japan. But, he did adequately demonstrate what our Nova guide had told us about people being able to drink anywhere, and, if you got beyond the foul language he was a very friendly person at heart who used shocking terms but didn't seem to be harmful in any way. He was certainly very devoted to his girlfriend.

Anyways, I must go now, but I promise to pay more attention to this blog in the future.