I was so happy to see my Kanazawa friends again. The people I spent this past weekend with are the closest group of friends I have here, and I am so grateful that I was able to spend the time with them over this weekend, although it did suck saying goodbye.
I think my post from last week was a bit depressing. I think my negativity was compounded by a case of the Mondays… On Wednesday. The rest of the week I was able to pull my head out of my ass and have a good week at work, and an amazing weekend. This week seems to be shaping up similarly. I was pretty bummed last night when I got home, and today I was really just going through the motions. I am optimistic that the rest of the week will be better though.
I have plenty to keep me busy at work and at home with packing. I am going to finally use my last ticket to the boxing gym too, which should help me to release some stress. And Watson will be here on Saturday night and he will be joining us for a Yakiniku dinner party with my coworkers after work. We are also going to a sumo tournament on Monday with some other friends which is something I am really looking forward to. So regardless of the stress and sad good-byes, I should be too busy to have anytime to think about it.
This weekend I said my first real good-byes. First to Akio, Yoko, Rikuto, and Rin in Kanazawa, then (far less significant) to some of the bartenders at my favorite craft beer bar in Osaka. It is always sucks when an awesome weekend with friends comes to an end, but I dont know when I will see the Nabeshima clan again, so it makes it a bit worse.
Our weekend started similarly to the last trip we made to Kanazawa over the summer. I got off work, met everyone, and sat in the back of the car drinking beer for 4 hours, as the rest of the crew took turns driving. I really recomend this method of travel to anyone. It is really relaxing, and when you arrive to your destination at 1am you are all ready to go out for a night on the town, while everyone else is still just getting warmed up.
We did arrive at their house around 12:30 then caught a taxi to the downtown area where we all met Akio for a drink at his restaurant while he closed things up. After he locked up his restaurant, we all headed out to meet some people Koichi knew at a karaoke bar. I heard in the morning that they tried to charge us a fee per song, but I butchered more than a few songs and never spent a single yen. So I guess the collectors figured the embarassment was payment enough from me.
We stayed there for a while then caught a cab home around 5 or 6 and passed out.
I was ready the next morning when Riku and Rin came in to wake us up. Last time they surprised me and made my hungover head pound with their screaming. This time I heard them coming up the stairs and had a second to gather my thoughts. I was happy they recognized me right away. I had so much fun with them last time and although they were a bit shy, they knew my name, and gave me a high-five after I got them to say “hello”.
30 minutes and a cup of coffee later we were best friends again and they were giving me a tour of their toy boxes, showing off their newest aquisitions. Like we never missed a beat.
Unfortunately, Sunday it rained all day. We went to get some noodles and tempura for lunch,
then went to a drive on beach about 30 minutes away. The beach ended up being closed when we got there. I still had to go out in the rain and at least see how cold the water was. It was freezing cold, so I headed back to the car to warm up, then we headed back into town.
We all pitched in to make lasagna for dinner that night. Koichi made the pasta, since Japan seems to have no lasagnatype pasta. I tried to help some, luckily the kids were there to show me how to roll it out correctly.
Dinner ended up being pretty good. I think we were all pretty tired after not sleeping much the night before. We still stayed up until 1 or 2 am playing jenga and watching movies after the kids went to bed.
It was much easier to get up the next morning. The weather was much nicer, and I got to sleep at a much better time than the previous night/morning. After an hour or two of laying around the living room and playing with the kids toys (they have a remote control fire truck that sprays real water which was great for sneak attacking people and making it look like they peed themselves).. We headed out to an all you can eat crab restaurant for lunch. We had steamed crabs, grilled crabs, and crab nabe, which is basically just throwing crabs and vegetables into a pot of boiling water and then pulling things out as you want to eat them. We added rice to the soup after the veggies and crab were gone which was also amazing. It was pretty funny watching Claudia and Sam eat crabs. Being from Maryland I forget that not everyone in the world eats crabs. One of the stupider skills that I am maybe a bit too proud to possess. The crabs were perfect though. Really fresh and delicious! I love snow crabs, but I this feast only made me more excited to get back to Maryland Blue Crabs this summer.
After crabs, we took a little walk up the hill by the restaurant to a temple park. From the top of the hill we could see the sea. It was a nice day, and no one wanted to say goodbye yet so we walked around for a while.
Sam, had some plans back in Osaka Monday night, and I had told a student that I would meet hime for a few beers and some food when I got back. We made our last goodbye around 3 and hopped in the car to head home.
I am still a bit bummed about the ending of the weekend, but I have a good feeling that I will see Akio, Yoko, and the kids again sometime. I am really looking forward to that day.
I finally got back to Osaka and met up with Takuya who works in Osaka as a global sales manager for a Japanese pharmaceutical company. He is a really cool guy and we always have fun in class so we had been planning to get a beer together for a while. I was happy we were finally able to get together, especially since it was at my favorite spot. Garage 39.
The beers were awesome as always and the food was too. We hung out there for a few hours chatting and drinking. He wanted to go out again for a beer before I leave. I told him that the only night I really have free is my last night in Japan. He insisted that we go out and stay out all night until my flight the following afternoon. I stupidly agreed. I just hope I can make my flight….
Falling asleep last night I was thinking a lot about things. Mostly the weekend, and how bummed I was that it was over. Also, about the next weekends plans, and what I still need to get done before leaving. I imagine I will end up procrastinating about packing for a while longer and will probably end up regretting that. This week I have to close my bank account and figure out when I will turn off my cell phone. I am sure there will also be several bills coming my way before I leave. Luckily my last paycheck will be a bit bigger than normal. I am looking forward to my Hawaiian adventure, and seeing all my other friends in the US. I want to enjoy my last weeks here, but a part of me just wants to hurry up and get all the packing and moving and goodbyes over with. I am sure it will all go quicker than I really want it to.
Anyway, have a good week everyone. Thanks for reading. And a special thanks to everyone who made this past weekend so memorable. I really had an amazing time.