good weekends change lives, or at least perspectives.

i've been down. i have not been happy. a lonely sad christmas awaits me. self-pity is not my friend. this last weekend? she was my friend. so this past weekend i got incredibly drunk and watched buffy talked to nihonjin visited friends went to the symphony ate yummy food and caught up with special people.



friday night was my bonenkai. this in itself was rather amazing. i caught the bus from hiroshima eki, with all the other teachers, to a posh restaurant/onsen that was famous for its garden. the bus was quiet and uncomfortable. the food was traditional japanese fair, delicious, the beer kept flowing and the seats were assigned by hello kitty. i was at the saru (monkey table). there were boring speeches, but then the real fun began with a group of teachers and staff coming out in reindeer and santa costumes to perform a dance to S.M.A.P. (i assume cause that seems to be the only thing older people in japan know about j-pop). so hilarious. and then there was bingo, and i won stuff, and more beer. and theen there was an awesome quiz game between the tables. this is where it got interesting and the high-fiving began. my table won, with little to no help from me--although i did know some of the answers. the gift was lame, but victory was sweet.

the next day i woke early and trained it out to tadanoumi, with the happy surprise of running into kate (from pdx) and natalie at the mihara station. we chatted and then split from kate at tadanoumi. nats and i wandered over to the posh (i use posh again b/c it's nats' word and now it's stuck in my vocabulary) italian. i had delicious four cheese pizza and we split an amazing cake. the whole time we both admired the beautiful raining day, looking out onto the inland sea from the classy modern italian joint. next stop was fukuyama, where we randomly ran into some JETs, including the other kate and her boy mitch. so exciting to finally meet him. nats and i then got starbucks, choco cro, and pikura (photo stickers that always turn out embarrassing). then we headed to josh's with kate and mitch, refreshed from their 'nap', and promptly got lost only to be found by crystal.



the night got rather rambunctious with tastey josh made chicken, and white cheddar cheese that out-shined the chicken just a tad. plus all the booze, good crowd and the opportunity for me to practice my japanese. the night, for me, ended ten minutes into the first episode of buffy as i passed out on my folded out chair. waking in the morning i was confused by the appearance of a futon and nats in pjs. haven't slept that solid in a while.

nats and i then hung-overly made our way to the concert the miyoshi's were attending. the miyoshi's being a very nice couple that befriended nats. mr. miyoshi being a retired dentist, i couldn't help but think of my grandfather. the music was fun, including introductions of the instruments, two kids conducting (the boy being rather aggressive, the girl being quite bored) and a monster in the back of the auditorium snoring. either that or a rabid dog. then finally we had B.L.T.s at a nummy takehara cafe and i caught the bus back to hiroshima feeling brighter and happier.

my new goal is to jump on the train and get off at random interesting looking places.