Osaka report and dump of sorts
Some of my kids said I looked like I had lost weight and I thought they were crazy, 'cause if anything else, I felt like I might've gained weight from the unhealthy food I've been eating lately. And then the physical check-up in school confirmed it - I've somehow managed to lose 2kg, weighing at about 42.7kg. I feel kind of bad writing this, especially because I have friends who are trying to lose weight, b-but it worries me somewhat. And now that I've lost appetite thanks to a flu bug... nnnngh. I think I need to exercise more to gain some muscle weight. ><;;
Finally, OSAKA REPORT!
Friday
Went to cabbycabcab's place in Nara to stay for the night, along with posaune85. Cabby cooked for us! Singaporean homecooking! It's been so long and it was so delicious... I've never been happier. XD After that we talked about our Johnnys boys and watched two episodes of Durarara!! (uhuhu), before going to bed.
Saturday
We woke up at 9am and went straight to Osaka for some shopping! Our main purpose was to find posaune85 clubbing clothes for the night, but well. You know how shopping can go. orz (I'm feeling particularly guilty about this, because I already blew quite a bit of money on online shopping sob.) Our first stop was H&M, the newest, trendiest store to open in Osaka. All of us found something to get there, so definitely a satisfying stop.
An incident we saw kind of horrified us a little, though. We walked past a baby pram, with the baby's head rolling out of the pram at a dangerous angle where people could accidentally smash into it. His parents were nowhere to be found. Even worse, when the mother showed up pushing the pram later, she left the baby's head dangling at that precarious angle, and used the pram as a place to dump her clothes.
Some people are just not made to be parents, god.
After that, our shopping continued down Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade, before we met up with xothermic at 3pm-ish at the hotel. My spoils for the day: a nice three-quarter sleeve blouse for work and sunglasses.
... I don't actually remember what we did before dinner, but we ate at Reimenkan, a small family-run Korean restaurant down the street from Zara. Highly recommend it for the cold noodles and bi bim bap! Then it was off to shower, pretty ourselves up and head to the clubs!
PURE
We stopped by a club called Pure for the free drink refills. The event that day was run by cabbycabcab's friend Yoko, who speaks excellent English and mixes around with lots of foreigners, so the club was filled with them. posaune85 was quick as usual; a Japanese guy immediately started trying to hit her up barely ten minutes after we entered. XD (Girl, maybe we can use you to bait Arashi and KAT-TUN into a white van.)
Anyway, after getting our drinks, we moved closer to the dance floor, while cabbycabcab went off to look for Yuko. Cabby popped up at the DJ box a few minutes later, so I assumed Yoko gave her the privilege to make a special song request, or maybe she was gonna try DJ-ing or something. When she returned, xothermic went off with her to get a drink refill.
And then. And then.
The DJ started to play a birthday song.
And cabbycabcab and xothermic appeared with a birthday cake.
And everyone started to join in the singing.
I was so happy and so embarrassed and so, so surprised. I really, really didn't suspect a thing. The three of them revealed to me later that xothermic went to buy the cake before meeting up with us, and when cabbycabcab said she was going to see her friend Yuko before we went back to the hotel to wash up, she was actually picking up the cake to bring to Pure. And of course, the DJ box was when she requested for the birthday song. posaune85 kept me totally in the dark too; I wondered why they were taking so long with their drink refills and she was just like, "Yeah, I wonder what happened." asf;lkj did not suspect a thing holy crap.
The first and only touching birthday surprise I ever had before this was when a friend, I-chan, invited me to a karaoke session- which I didn't think much of, since I karaoke'd with that group nearly every week in Osaka -and halfway through the session, I-chan busted out Koda Kumi's Birthday Eve and the entire group joined in.
But this wonderful surprise by cabbycabcab, xothermic and posaune85 adl;k when I think of the planning they must have done to arrange the surprise and the surprise itself, I feel like crying already. ^^;;
THANK YOU AGAIN LADIES. ♥♥♥
S-So we had a few bites of the cake- which was delicious and even had a small picture of a girl in a car, to celebrate my getting a Japanese driving license ♥ -and then we headed off to a Japanese club frequented by Japanese folk, just to see what the atmosphere was like.
Grand... ? 11
I forgot the name of the club l-lol. Grand Heaven? Anyway, it was all Japanese, not a single foreigner, and there was no sleazy feel to it at all. It felt really classy drinking at the bar.
What amazed us the most was the dance floor.
It was systematic. It was organized.
Everyone faced one direction- all towards the DJ box -and they all danced in perfect single rows. The only people dancing out of that formation were my friends and me. When the DJ made a gesture, they would imitate. When the DJ cheered, they would cheer. It was all very peculiar, a very different culture from your usual club scene.
I asked my favourite JTE about this and she said the club sounded like a para-para dance sort of club; organized rows and one-direction dancing are unique features of a para-para dance club. Apparently, in Japan, there are many different types of clubs, so there are still more club scenes to experience here. 8D
After that, our original plan was to find ourselves some hosts and enjoy the next hour in a host club, but our feet were dying, we were tired, we were sleepy... and because it was raining, there weren't that many hosts out anyway. Instead of hosts, we had some ramen, before stumbling back to our hotel for much-needed sleep.
Sunday
We woke up late aaaand... went shoe shopping. *beams*
xothermic got a lovely pair of platform sandals and I fell completely in love with a pair of ankle sneaker-boots, made popular, recommended, and worn by Vivi models. The heels were at a ridiculous height of three inches and if it weren't for my friends' enabling, I wouldn't have even tried them. And realized that I could walk without falling. And that they were surprisingly comfortable.
So I bought them.
orz
The rest of Sunday kinda went in a blur for me, so I don't quite remember what we did beyond the shoe shopping. *sheepish*
Anyway, that's it for the Osaka report! :D I'll take pictures of the doujin and the boots after work, before I settle down to watch the usual shows. *grins*
And, because my students have been absurdly awesome this past week,
italics - Japanese
AKI: Okay, this is our first Writing TT lesson, so we will do a very simple writing practice. Self-introduction. Here is an example.
T-KUN: [playing with electronic dictionary]
DICTIONARY: Congratulations!
AKI:
AKI: Mister Congratulations! Please do a self-introduction.
T-KUN: Huh? Me?
AKI: Yes, you. Now. Stand up, please.
T-KUN: Okay! [stands up] Hello everyone, my name is Mister Congratulations!
CLASS: [DIES]
AKI: [talking to a third-year, manager of the Kendo club]
KENDOBOY (KB): Are you still doing your girl chat?
MANAGER: Yeah, go back to your practice.
KB: [slight nod] Hello.
AKI: Hi. I guess I should get going, so...
MANAGER: Okay. Thanks for dropping by.
((rest of the conversation as I'm walking off but still within earshot))
KB: Why didn't you tell me you had such a cute younger sister?
MANAGER: That was Aki, dumbass.
KB: WHAT.
Mini-sute >> omg Jun, my dear Jun, you are so relaxed right now it's hilarious. First he says Arashi does a butt-grope train because well, "there's a butt in front of us", and, "Leader's butt looks so nice, I just have to..."
Then he adds, "Sometimes we do a reverse grope train by passing it down the front," and Aiba immediately goes back into the line, before Sho says, UM WE'RE NOT DOING THAT VERSION ON TV.