Hellos, continued

The second party was at Billy's Bar, a place I'd heard of but had never been to. As we arrived, Kimino, Tagami, and Kusano (the new vice principal) invited me to join their table. I had apparently given Kusano the impression that I spoke Japanese very well, because he treated me as fluent, conversing with me at full speed. This was a little awkward, because I caught barely half of what he said. Thankfully, this didn't bother anybody. He did a homestay in Australia, and neither party spoke the other's language. He and his host family had to get by with gestures and pictures.

As people began shuffling around, Tagami and Kusano left. Yoshihara joined our table. As per usual, Yoshihara had us laughing pretty quickly: somehow it came up that Kimino is an only child, which prompted Yoshihara to accuse her of being spoiled.

I mentioned I have a younger sister, and she smoothly said that explains why I'm so nice. I disagreed, explaining that I was pretty mean to my sister growing up. I also mentioned that this was why I'd liked Kamito so much. She laughed and asked me who I regarded as a younger sister: her or Kamito. I explained that it was more reminding me of home in general.

As the conversation went on, Kimino called me the last samurai. This got laughs and agreement, with a couple of folks telling me I'm more Japanese than Japanese people. I still take this with a grain of salt, but it's nice to hear.

We were joined by a drunk and rather obnoxious Fuji, one of the office workers. Maeda and Ms. Noguchi came over, too. I murmured something playfully snide about Yoshihara, and Kimino, the only one to hear it, cracked up over it.

Most parties like this in Japan feature an all-you-can-drink menu, containing both soft drinks and alcohol. Since most groups of Japanese partygoers are lightweights, and a large portion of the groups either drink very little or none at all, these things are usually cheap. Tonight was no exception: $20 for a menu that included well drinks and cocktails. However, conspicuously absent was draft beer. Saito brought me a black Russian to go with my brandy and water.

I noticed Naomi was sitting by herself, texting. I joined her, mainly to keep her company, but also to pester her. A nearby Murahashi joined us in a discussion about the usage of "sasuga," a word that expresses someone having exceeded your expectations. Naomi told me that she was very nervous about teaching at high school, especially with having to juggle Korean and English classes.

As folks started getting ready to go, I noticed one of the waitresses. I recognized her as also working at Mos Burger. She smiled and waved at me at first. As we were paying up, she leaned in close and sheepishly asked me not to tell anyone about her working there. I'm not sure whether it's the fact that she's moonlighting at a bar, or if it's that she has two jobs at all.

It being a Friday, for once I was interested in heading to the third party. I didn't have much fight left in me, but I wanted to see what went on. Something got mixed up, though, and I ended up going to a shot bar with Maeda, Fuji, and Yamamoto. The bar was tiny, filled with smoke, and the TV featured a PS2 playing demos of World Cup Soccer. I should've gone home when I had the chance--I started yawning as soon as we entered the bar--but at least now I know what goes on: nothing different.


Two days later, we had a welcome party just for our apartment building. We had a good time, though Yonekura and I were confused when one of the platters was hot dogs.