Rest assured I was not killed in the earthquake at the weekend
So after bricking for a whole week solid in the run-up, I did that lecture out in Chuo Gakuin University on what had to have been one of the most scorching days of the summer so far. Presenting to 100 students (many of whom are passed out after lunch) when the air conditioner is broken makes giving a lecture more challenging, especially when speaking my particular of Japanese, but I got through it in one piece and people even asked a few questions. John, the teacher I know out there, audio recorded the lecture and played it back to me; I had no idea my sing-song Cork accent came out so strongly in my Japanese, moreso than my English even. Why nobody tell me these things?
The following Saturday a sickly Barry (I blame the shrimp) groggily staggered to Shinjuku station to begin an adventure with four mates (my Japanese teachers and two other students) to lake Saiko, which is right near Mt. Fuji. This was the business. Sometimes you need a break from Tokyo, which is just wall to wall concrete, and get out into a place where there are proper trees and dirt. We stayed in a log cabin near the lake, ate a load of BBQ'ed foods - burgers, sausages, potatoes, fish, went for a swim in Lake Saiko (please note said lake is cold and pointy), drank Japanese liquor in a hot bath and slept a lot. This is how holidays are supposed to be yo and it made me remember how much I miss the countryside.
We rocked back to Tokyo for Tim's going away party, where we ate japanese food, Jin drank Amparo's spit in a mimic contest as a bet and learned that "nomihodai", the Japanese for "all you can drink", sounds like "I don't wanna fuck" in Spanish. That is a useful thing to know language fans! I later learned in karaoke that I cannot sing Danny Boy or anything by Brian Adams. I also learned that the Japanese generally dislike tanuki (racoons) and they not to be trusted.
The following Saturday a sickly Barry (I blame the shrimp) groggily staggered to Shinjuku station to begin an adventure with four mates (my Japanese teachers and two other students) to lake Saiko, which is right near Mt. Fuji. This was the business. Sometimes you need a break from Tokyo, which is just wall to wall concrete, and get out into a place where there are proper trees and dirt. We stayed in a log cabin near the lake, ate a load of BBQ'ed foods - burgers, sausages, potatoes, fish, went for a swim in Lake Saiko (please note said lake is cold and pointy), drank Japanese liquor in a hot bath and slept a lot. This is how holidays are supposed to be yo and it made me remember how much I miss the countryside.
We rocked back to Tokyo for Tim's going away party, where we ate japanese food, Jin drank Amparo's spit in a mimic contest as a bet and learned that "nomihodai", the Japanese for "all you can drink", sounds like "I don't wanna fuck" in Spanish. That is a useful thing to know language fans! I later learned in karaoke that I cannot sing Danny Boy or anything by Brian Adams. I also learned that the Japanese generally dislike tanuki (racoons) and they not to be trusted.