On Saturday night we had a year-end party at the Denya yakitori. I left home a little early to do some brief shopping around Carrefour, Midori and IY, and then headed over to hang out.
I got there a few minutes early, and I was happy to find that the Master’s mother was there. She was helping with the preparations, and when I arrived she sat down and chatted with me for a while. She was in a talkative mood – she asked me all kinds of questions about married life, Christmas in America, and how much money I make. It was fun to talk to her, and at the end of the conversation she commented how much my Japanese had improved since I had seen her last – almost a year ago, if I recall correctly.
The party was fun – all the regular guys were there, and a couple of irregular guys showed up, too. We started off with nabe, and the master had some unusual fish – angler. It was a fatty fish, but the flavor was great. It tasted excellent in the soup.
We also had lots of yakitori, and some salad and sashimi, so the food was covered nicely. It was all you could drink, which was really nice. The master kept the booze flowing, and I made my way through many, many beers. One guy had recently come back from Korea and he brought a bottle of mysterious Korean liquor. It was white, cloudy and slightly sweet, and it tasted like there was no alcohol in it at all. Dangerous stuff.
At the end of the evening I switched to hot sake. Throughout the evening I had a lot of different conversation partners, and it really gave my Japanese a workout. I find that when I’m drunk or getting there, I will take a chance and use some more difficult Japanese. When I’m sober, I stick with what works and stay away from the advanced stuff.
One guy I’d never met came late, and came with his girlfriend. This party was men only, so the mood changed a little bit when they walked in. Everyone got kind of quiet for a little while, but the girl sat in the corner and just kind of spaced out while her boyfriend hung out with friends.
Some guys had come in cars, and so they couldn’t drink. That worked out nicely for me, when I left one of them offered to drive me home. I was pretty drunk by that time – I’m not sure if it would have been a good experience on the train. But, I got back safely, and went to sleep right away. Kuniko said later all she could hear from the bedroom was snores and hiccups.
I woke up today with a slight hangover but no lasting damage. Kuniko went off to a wedding, and I’ve been hanging out at home. Tomorrow we have a taco party with some of Kuniko’s co-workers, so I did a little bit of preparation for that. Kuniko should be home pretty soon, and we’ll clean up the house and get ready for guests.
Next week I have a really busy schedule at school. I hope it goes well – after next week things will go a lot smoother in the run up to our trip to America. Can’t wait!
