Had a busy and fairly alcoholic weekend, and I’m only catching up now. After the yakitori on Friday night I ventured into Sannomiya on Saturday to meet up with Anthony, Risa’s husband. He’s a really nice guy and I wanted to hang out a little with him outside of the couples environment that we usually meet in.
We talked about our work, traveling, and his background. He is from Brunei, and someday I’d like to get out there to see the country. The stories he tells are really interesting. We almost got out there for their wedding, but in the end Kuniko’s schedule wouldn’t permit it.
We caught a couple of beers at the Belgian beer place, and then he took me to a katsudon place for dinner. The katsudon place was really cool – it was a tiny hole in the wall that had a vending machine outside that handled all the ordering. Inside you see why they have that system – there is just no room for a cash register. Really no room to reach into your back pocket for your wallet.
Anyway, the katsudon was awesome and I had a new restaurant to hit when I want quick and delicious food. After that we had another beer at the Old England, and then shot a couple of games of pool at the pool hall. We had two more beers there and then we decided to call it a night.
I saw him off at the station at around 10 o’clock, and then went to find someplace to wait for Kuniko. She was out drinking with some of her teachers, and she wanted to meet up afterwards and go home together. I picked the New York bar, and pulled up a barstool to wait. They didn’t have any food that night because they had just had a wedding party and the kitchen was out of order (or something). Since it was hot I ordered a vodka tonic, and sat around chatting with the waitstaff. They were really nice to me and kept me in snacks (wasabi pumpkin seeds) and stronger drinks.
After about an hour and a half of sitting around drinking vodka tonics I still hadn’t heard from Kuniko. I sent a few messages, but no answer, which was weird. Starting to figure out that maybe her phone was dead I wrapped things up at the bar and headed to the station to catch a train home. By this time all the vodka tonics were starting to catch up with me, though. I decided to skip the second to last train and hold out for the last one just in case I got a call from Kuniko. I got the call, but she was already at home – her phone had died so she couldn’t get in touch. Bummer – I had to wait for the last train and take it home with all the alcoholics (like me).
It turned out to be a boozy evening – I haven’t been that drunk in a long time. Next time I’ll wait in a coffee house somewhere…
