O-Tsukare-Sama

I am incrediblely tired. Friday, Saturday, Sunday : three days, three parties. Each compleletely different, but all equally tiring.

Friday, Decemeber 17, 9pm~
What: combo birthday party for Wei ting, Dan, Matt, and some other person I don't know
Where: middle of nowhere Osaka, near Osaka Gaidai
Theme: Tapas Trafficking
Dress: green for "available," yellow for "taken, but tempted," red for "unavailable"
Entertainment: "The Art of the Pick-Up" A documentary posing as a mockumentary. Alas, the guy who made it did not realize how ridiculous his theories were.
Participants: Gaidai students from around the world (New Zealand, Belgium, Singapore, Phillipines, US, and Japan), Japanese neighbors, and visitors from California
Travel time to party: 2.5 hours
Comments: Good cake, funny New Zealanders. No Japanese practice, no way to get home. Happy Birthday Wei ting and Dan! Thanks for letting me sleep on the couch!
Total hours of sleep: 4

Saturday, December 18, 8pm~
When: After a long wonderful day of frisbee practice, where we played co-ed and if girls scored, the team got 2 points. Consequently, my team's strategy was overwhelmingly to huck it to me in the endzone. I love running deep, skying guys, and scoring.
What: Frisbee Christmas party
Where: Some random party place
Food: Nabe and Chinese - the wierdest combination ever
Most commonly discussed topic: who's dating/has a crush on who (this team is so odd; at practice the men and women will not speak to eachother at all. but amazingly, there are at least seven couples on the team! how does this happen?)
Entertainment: Christmas bingo. I didn't win anything. Although someone got a space heater.
Randomness: Some guy dressed as a cat came around and pretended to steal our stuff. No idea...
Second party: After the first party, there is always a second party for those desiring to miss their trains and spend the night at karaoke. After six hours of singing, talking, more gossiping, and people falling asleep at the table, I took the first train home.
Second party highlights: a conversation in which he spoke Japanese, and I answered in English, so he could practice his listening skills; lots of Queen; being awake for the sunrise.
Total hours of sleep: 0

Sunday, December 18, 6pm-11pm
* Don't worry, I went home and overslept my English lesson at 10:30a, and then slept until 4pm. I felt like I was back on my 3rd shift forklifting job!
What: Christmas party with the Morimoto's
Food: Tacos, pizza, and curry; three of my very favorite foods, how did they know? And homemade cake for dessert.
Who: I met the Morimoto's last time I was hear through a friend. They invited a Sri Lankan family, an Australian guy and his girlfriend, and their neighbors. The Sri Lankan guy has lived in Japan for ten years and his Japanese was perfect. I was envious.
Entertainment: Magic games, Christmas songs, and a present exchange. I got a little shelf thing, which is perfect for my desk, and a tiny silver Christmas tree.
Future plans: Morito (the dad) wants to bike around Lake Biwa sometime this spring. It is something like 250 kilometers or more, and he plans to do it in one day. I told him I'd come along. Lake Biwa is supposed to have some beautiful scenery along its coasts.
Total hours of sleep: the normal 7, thank goodness.

Summary: My Japanese is probably pretty good right now, since I pretty much only spoke Japanese for two days. This is great. I usually say that my Japanese improves when I drink some alchohol, which is true. However, it gets worse when I get tired. It's interesting when I mix the two; I found out that my grammer improves, but I have a hard time pulling out vocabulary. Anyway, I got a chance to talk to some more frisbee people, something I don't always get a chance to do at practice, and I met some other random foreigners, which is nice. All in all, a good, but very very tiring weekend. Now, I just look forward to Christmas!