Hey Mickey!

The last few days have been really good and I've been keeping quite busy. On Friday I went down to Shimbashi, where Jenn teaches, and went to an izakaya (Japanese style bar/restaurant) with her and some of her students. They were all really nice and one of them worked for Phillip Morris, so when we sat down he reached into his bag and pulled out at least ten packs of gum and a few packs of cigarettes. Jenn and I don't smoke but we took some gum, I still have two packs in my purse. After the izakaya Jenn and I headed to K's Cafe, a little "American" cafe not far from where Jenn lives. We met up with our friend Dan to have some drinks in celebration of the Fourth of July. I had work the next day, but I decided to stay over at Jenn's apartment and then just catch the train back in the morning since I didn't want to have to rush to catch the last train that night. We hung at K's for a while and talked to some Japanese girls who kept asking us WHY? Why did you come to Japan? Why do you like Japan? Why is New York so great? Why? Why? Why? It got annoying because they kept asking the same questions (mainly those three) over and over. When we got back to Jenn's apartment it was so incredibly hot, I am so relieved that I have an air conditioner that actually works!

On Saturday I worked and then that evening I went home and cleaned like crazy because James and his girlfriend were coming to visit and asked if they could crash at my place for the night/morning. Of course I said they could, but as usual my apartment was a complete wreck so I was scrambling to get things back to what normal people would consider a civilized standard of living. After I finished cleaning I got ready and just barely caught the last train to go and meet them in Shibuya for a night of clubbing. By the time they arrived at Hachiko (a dog statue that is the central meeting point of pretty much anyone who visits Shibuya) it was already 12:45 am and I was ready to go out, but they were hungry so I took them to the really good ramen shop down the street. Then we tried to find the club that James wanted to go to. It was called Nuts and though I'd heard of it, I had never been there and had no idea where it was. James had not written down the address and all he had was a picture of the map that he had taken with the camera on his cell phone. He refused to stop and ask for directions, we wandered around for over an hour, and we never found Nuts. At one point we passed a bowling alley and James half suggested that we go bowling instead. Needless to say, I was not fond of that idea. I had come out specifically to go clubbing and that is what I intended to do. Finally, I suggested that we head back toward the main part of Shibuya and just find a different club. This, however, was no better than being lost in the middle of nowhere because James and his girlfriend refused to pay a cover charge any higher than ¥1000. The standard cover for most clubs in Tokyo is at least ¥3000 and as usual, you get what you pay for. We ended up at a club with no cover called GasPanic. I hate GasPanic. I'd been there once before and I didn't like it then either. The guys there are really sketchy and I'm always being chased by either the one creepy guy that I really don't want to dance with or a Gaspanic employee trying to get me to buy another drink. I ended up just sitting down for the majority of the time because on this occasion the guy I'd been dancing with had started sticking his tongue out in such a provocative way that I'm sure had I opened my mouth to cough (or gag) he would have started making out with me within half a milisecond. Gross right? Finally we left, took the train back, and crashed at my place. The one plus of the night was I had barely drank any alcohol at all, I don't even think I made it through one can of beer, so getting up the next day was significantly more pleasant than my usual post clubbing wake up experiences.

That evening I went to my co-worker's little wedding party at a yakiniku place a couple of stations down. It was fun and while I was there I met a Filipino guy who's been living in Japan for the past 13 years. He invited me to a barbeque his friend was holding on Tuesday (yesterday) and also told me that his wife owns a summer home out in the country and invited me to come spend a weekend there sometime next month maybe. At the time I wasn't sure if he was saying that just to be friendly or if he really meant it, but on Monday evening I got a call from him asking if I still wanted to go to the barbeque. The time of the barbecue actually worked out perfectly with my schedule, so of course I said yes!

On Monday I went to Disney Sea with Jenn, James and his girlfriend, and two of Jenn's friends who are both Japanese managers for the company we work for. In Florida's Disney World there's the Magic Kingdom, MGM, Epcot, etc. In Japan there's Disneyland and Disney Sea. It is named Disney Sea because the park is literally built right along the coast and on one side of it there's actually a dam to keep the real sea from drifting into Disney Sea. The park is gorgeous and just like every other part of Japan, it's immaculately clean. We had a really fun time, there was just one little thing that caught me off guard. I experienced some pretty blatant racism... from Mickey Mouse! As we walked through the entrance gates we saw a bunch of the characters greeting people and I asked Jenn to take my picture with Mickey. I walked up to him and waited for him to finish having is picture taken with some Japanese women, but when my turn came he turned and had his picture taken with some other Japanese girls. At first I thought he just didn't see me, but after he did this several times I just gave up and walked away. Obviously, not having my picture taken with racist Mickey is not the end of the world, but it was a bit of a shock. I mentioned it to Jenn and she agreed with me, but we didn't bring it up anymore because we didn't want to offend the Japanese friends we were with. Overall it was a really fun time, and I am completely obsessed with the Tower of Terror, it's the best ride ever!!!!

Yesterday I went to the barbeque I mentioned before. The barbeque turned out to be on a lovely rooftop apartment right down the street from Tobu Nerima Station, the place I biked to last week. It was a really fun time and all the people I met seemed really friendly. The majority of guests were Japanese and we did our best to talk with each other, there were also a few English speakers there, but I was the only one who was not fluent in Japanese. I feel so embarrassed, or maybe even guilty, when I try to speak to Japanese people because while I AM studying Japanese, I know that I could be studying a lot more. What it basically comes down to is the fact that I'm lazy. Still, I am slowly making progress and chatting with people is very helpful because it helps me practice and remember vocabulary. In addition to meeting people, I also ate some really fantastic food. The woman hosting the party either owns or works at the yakiniku restuarant where I met my Filipino friend who invited me, so she is obviously a good cook!

Things have really been looking up lately, so I'm quite happy about that. I was thinking about the months I've spent here and I realized just how busy I've been! I love the fact that more often than not I'm out doing stuff with friends or going to interesting events or places. During the week I tend to stick around my neighborhood, but on the weekends I'm out and about and I love it. I hope that life continues at about the same pace for the remaining time I have left here, if it does everything should be just fine.

(Please note the Minnie Mouse ears I'm wearing. In America you can only wear mouse ears if you're under the age of 10, in Japan females of every age wear them, so Jenn and I joined in the fun!)