************************************************************************************* Warning: this is going to be a long post. It may even be worth printing out and reading. It all starts back at last Friday, after I had updated the page again, and went home. If you recall, it was a rough week, and very exhausting. I intended to spend the weekend sleeping, reading, and generally relaxing. Instead, my host mom comes home and says that we are going to a sushi restaurant and then she is gonna meet her friend at a bar. And she wants to take me along. So I agree, reluctantly. We get to the sushi restaurant, and it is one of the cool ones, with the conveyor belt that has all the food on it. You simply take the stuff you want, and then they count your plates at the end to see how much you got. It was relatively inexpensive, and it was really good. I love good sushi. After that, we went to the bar. As my host mom was parking the car, she told me to go in and wait. I went in, and immediately realized that this was no ordinary bar.. it was a Karaoke bar! This is where things in my life become weird.. First, there was a 60-year-old woman tending bar, alongside a younger, 20-year-old girl. (Note: the girl was incredibly attractive) They start telling me to sit down, and asking me if I would like to sing, and if I would like to have something to drink and stuff. Of course, this all takes place in Japanese, and I kinda freak out and tell them that I am waiting for my mother. I notice that there are no other patrons. Then again, it is only about 8pm. My host mother walks in, and they kinda do a double take, realizing that she is not my real mother, but a host mother. Then the older woman behind the bar immediately goes to my host mother and hugs her. Within seconds, they are sobbing and clenching each other as if they were life long friends. Well, it turns out that they are. The friend that my host mom was to meet is the woman. She is a Filipino lady who owns and maintains the bar. The hot girl is her niece. They seat us at the bar, and she tells me that she speaks english.(the older lady) She gets my a whiskey and water(I don't know what made her give me a whiskey and water, but..) She hands me a microphone and tells me to help her sing "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. Of course, embarassed and freaked out, I don't sing any of it. She has a very good voice, but her pronunciation of english words is absolutely hilarious. Then, she puts on the Beatles, "Yesterday" and makes me sing. So I do. Not a pretty sight or sound, but i did it. Well, finally she started just giving me beer, and I drank a few. (This makes singing random songs in front of japanese people, the bar owner, and a hot girl all the easier..) I find myself singing my rendition of Heart of Gold by Neil Young, Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, Angie by the Rolling Stones, Come Together by the Beatles, Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, and finishing the night off with Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. At one point during the night(which extended several more hours) I found myself also slow dancing with the hot girl. Strange. The owner of the bar said that she would teach me some Japanese, and all I had to do was come and visit, sing, hang out, etc. And she would also give me all the free drinks I wanted. (I may just pass on the drinks.) The weirdest part of the night, was the constant sexual tone to everything they said to me. Another Filipino girl came in, who also works there. She is 7 months married, and 6 months pregnant. They said something in Japanese, and then told me in English that the girl "wants her baby to have your face. She wants him to grow up to be like you." Also, "if her husband were to separate from her, you are next in line." They also proceeded to ask me if I found her niece attractive, mentioning not so casually that she is a virgin and has no boyfriend. All in the context of asking me if I have a wife in America. coughcoughmealticketcoughcough Anyway, my host mother took me home after that, and I went to bed. Saturday, I went to a birthday party for my friend Holly. She just turned 21, and she invited a few of us over to her house to celebrate with her host family. We had all manner of Japanese foods and other nice delicacies. They made a pizza for the occassion, and we had a banana-peach cake as well. We also had to speak only in Japanese around them. After that, we went to Kylie's house and watched a couple of movies. Her host mom was really nice, and made us coffee and served us oranges. She also watched the movies with us, even though they were all American, and she didn't understand them at all. It had been pouring rain the whole day, so we hurried to the subway station to catch the trains..I took my train to the station where I am supposed to switch lines, and the other train wasn't coming! It had flooded a little, and they were not sending any more! So I had to call my host mom at 12:30am to come pick me up. Well, she didn't know where the station was, so I had to taxi over to a different station and she came and got me there. For my five minute taxi ride, it cost me about $15. Sunday, I slept in, did some homework, read a bit, and went out to dinner with my host mom. At dinner, she told me (at least, I think she did) that ever since her husband died in May, everything is so hard. She has decided that she is going to have me switch host families at the end of the semester. I am going have to talk to her daughter to confirm this all. Monday night, the lady who owns the karaoke bar called and asked me when I was coming back. I was kinda surprised, but I said I would return. She asked me if I was coming the next day. I explained I had classes and stuff.. weird lady. Most of the week was relatively normal, except that on Wednesday, I went to a Kabuki show. It was 3000 yen, and lasted from 4pm-9pm. And it was very very boring. Luckily, we got to read a translation of the story synopsis beforehand. It made things a little easier. So I got home around 10-ish that night, and my host mom was asleep. I did my homework and went to bed with no dinner. Thursday, I stayed around campus because I saw someone playing some guitar and I went over to talk to him. Suddenly, someone else brought out a guitar that is community property at Nanzan, and I ended up playing guitar for the next 4 hours. The other guys left, but as they were leaving some other friends of mine sat down. Then a group of Japanese girls came by and sat down. They spoke some english, and wanted "to be my friend." I played guitar for them for another hour, and talked to them quite a bit. They really enjoyed what I was playing, but also kept asking me to play stuff like Backstreet Boys. That got a sour look. :) After that, I went home and wrote a sakubun, which is a composition. I ate dinner (omeraisu - omelette with a ton of this gross flavored rice in it) and went to bed. I am excited to hear about Harvey, the fall play at my high school. It opened Thursday night in Indiana, and it stars my little brother Brian. It is a great show, and an incredible movie starring one of my favorite actors of all time, Jimmy Stewart. Waaaaallll.. Also, my host mother is attending a wedding for a friend this weekend. It is out of town, so she is going today, and coming back on Sunday. So she left me some food and a 2 liter of Diet Coke. We dont have classes on Monday, because of the National Holiday known as taiiku-no-hi. Or, in American, Sports Day. So we have a day off. This weekend, I am going to watch a video at Chris Zemlyak's house, then going to the karaoke bar on Saturday night(i know, i know) and to see Sumo on Sunday. Oh man, I am kinda tired, and just typed for the last 30 minutes straight, at a speed which I don't normally enjoy. So I am sore and definitely ready to head out. Enjoy the weekend, and go Irish!!!! Peace, Chas Previous Post Next Post Top of the Page Back to Main