I took Christmas Eve off so that I didn’t have to report in to school early. That paid off big time because I could relax with Kuniko Friday morning and then pack up all my gear and leave. Kuniko was off to an interview, and then to serve her “prison term”, an in-school four day live-in seminar. Ugh.
I caught a train home, and had a painless trip back. Once I got back I spent the day relaxing, catching up on e-mails, and doing laundry. I got to cook up some leftovers from our Christmas feast, which was really nice.
For dinner I made Korean pork and rice, and then a little later I went over to the yakitori to have a beer and check to see if our Christmas party was still on. The master was in a good mood, and spent a lot of time with me trying to speak English. He’s been watching an English learning TV program, and he asked me a few questions. We chatted for about 45 minutes, and then I headed home.
Around 10:30 at night the master called me and asked if I was tired. I said that I was OK, so he invited me to join him and his part-time worker playing some late night billiards. I said sure, so I went over to the yakitori at around 11, and the master closed early for some recreation.
We closed up the shop and drove to a bowling place in south Kakogawa – I’m not sure what the name was, but it had the word “Funky” in it. It was a strange place – definitely the biggest bowling alley I’ve ever been in. They had five pool table for rent, and also some games and amusements. The setting was pretty shabby, though, and the late hour added to that feeling some hour.
We played a quick game of nine ball, alternating players. It was fun, but I taught them how to play “cutthroat”, and we played that the rest of the night. Three players can play at once, and it can be a good-spirited mean game. The part-time worker had been boasting of his ability all night, but he didn’t do any better than the rest of us. We all won our share of games, though.
Finally around two a.m. we left, and stopped at a 24 hour udon restaurant for some late night food and beer. After that, the master dropped me off at home and I went right to bed. I’m looking forward to the next pool game night. The part-time guy was already saying he was preparing for a “revenge game”.
