Possible Dates and Ballet Burgers

This was a good week. I've finally gotten back in the groove of practicing Japanese and working out (although my damn weights still haven't arrived. I'm thinking I'll ask one of my coworkers to translate it more accurately for me and decide what to do from there. No freaking idea where to buy weights here in Matsue... I guess I have friends now, maybe I can ask them. Regardless, the effect has been a steady good mood throughout the week because my taskmaster of a brain isn't berating me as often. Also, something in my mind has finally clicked and I'm now able to at least try to communicate with people. More on that later.

Saturday was Open Mic Night again! It was really fun, and even more people came this time. I also got to witness what was possibly the single most adorable thing I have ever seen.

That's right. Two Pictures. It's that damn adorable. You might remember the dude on the right. He was at the last Open Mic. This time, he brought his family and they did a family song. The little girl was shy at first, but everyone clapped really loud for her and she totally got into it. She was also intensely interested in Sarah. When they left for the night, she seriously stood there waving and saying by to her for close to a minute while her parents were trying to get her to come with them. Also, impressively, the song was very good.

Open Mic is also where I finally started speaking Japanese. One of Seiji's friends came a little earlier than everyone else, and she only spoke Japanese. Maybe it's because I've been practicing so much lately, maybe it was just because I was in a good mood and, thus, less nervous about speaking, but whatever the reason, I launched into a full-on conversation. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was suddenly fluent or something. I definitely still suck at Japanese, but I was able to get my point across and understand enough to have a fully-functional conversation with someone that didn't speak a word of English. Ever since then, I've been able to do the same thing with other people, which has made practicing about a million times easier (and I can do it at a bar while drinking! Wayyyy better than memorizing kanji ><) On a somewhat related note, I'm pretty positive I set up a date with the girl for next weekend. I have no idea how that happened (okay, that's kind of a lie, I might have semi-sorta definitely moved the conversation in that direction, but I really didn't expect it to work).

After Open Mic, Seiji and I went to 5150 to see Masashi (the bar owner buddy of mine I mentioned before). Seiji insisted we were only going to have one drink, and I agreed. Four or five drinks later, we were still there, and I was doing my best to hold a conversation in a foreign language without falling of my bar stool (we also drank at Open Mic, so yeah...). I also now have a story that involves the owner of a bar insisting I finish his drink because he couldn't keep up with me. It's only awesome if you don't know the context though... Masashi never drinks. He accidentally overfilled a glass and didn't want to waste it, so he said he would drink it. Two or three sips later, he was done. Don't tell anybody that part though. It's our secret, okay internet?

I also agreed to go an event the next day that will probably get me laughed at by every guy I know. On Sunday, I willingly saw a ballet performance. I know, I know, I've already willingly surrendered my man card to the proper authorities; they're doing the paperwork as we speak. Honestly, though, it really wasn't that bad. One of Masashi's friends was performing (I think he said she was the lead female dancer) We got there a little late, so we had to stand for the first half. The second half we all got split up and sat different places. I got to sit with one of the guys I didn't know (about 8 people went in total) in a back row with a low cement wall right in front of it, which meant that my legs were cramped as all hell for an hour and a halfish. Meh, I'm used to it. There was only one other dude in the back, he was pretty old and Masashi introduced him as the "Otousama". Now, Otousan is "father", but in this context I'm almost entirely positive that it was a formal title of some type. I don't entirely know how dance performances work, but I got the distinct impression that he was in charge of it or funding it somehow. Something like that. Anyways, look at some pretty pictures!

They did four "dances" (I use the term loosely, since each one was about a half hour long), only one of which actually resembled ballet. I was surprised. They were all pretty good performances, too. I wasn't overly impressed until I found out the five girls on the bottom are actually high school students (I think that's what Masashi told me, I might not have understood completely). Before that I had just thought they were a pretty decent dance group, but I had been assuming they were all professionals that danced for a living, not high school students that do one performance a year. I think the last dance was the only one I was a bit disappointed with (well, there was a final dance with the two pros, but I don't count that cause it was really short). It was (an apparently popular, according to Masashi) story about a homeless girl that eventually dies. The beginning was really freaking good and incredibly somber, but the story goes that every time she lit a match, she got a good feeling (it's Winter and she dies from being caught in the snow in the end). So about two or three times throughout the piece, the dancing got really active and the music was all upbeat and happy. For me it kind of killed the whole "this is a sad story and you should feel sad" mood that they established so well at the beginning. I have no idea if it was good technically, though, because I know nothing about the technicalities of any dance style ><

After that, we went to get food. We went to what I can only describe as a Japanese version of Denny's. I got a hamburger. Because I'm cool like that.

It was alright.

I then proceeded to go to 5150 again and talked with Masashi and Jiro (one of the guys that went with us) since we were the only ones there. It was really good for Japanese practice, but also kind of frustrating because I'm rapidly realizing the limits of my conversational abilities.

I left a bit early because I was tired, and when I woke up this morning, I saw this:

Yeah, it's fucking snowing again. Ridiculous.

I had my first private lesson, and I'm pretty sure my teacher was just gauging my level the whole time. We pretty much just talked, which is okay because it's good practice. Next time we start reviewing from the books I have, and eventually we're moving on to new books. So yeah, with any luck I'll be getting better at this whole "being able to communicate" thing soon.

Random stuff:

1.) On Sunday, I think I was told that I was tall or had someone comment on my height at least a dozen times. Way more than usual, and these are mostly the same people I usually hang out with. No idea why they were so interested on that particular day.

2.) When we were leaving the ballet performance, the dancers were lined up by the door thanking everyone that left and talking to some people. When I went past, they said something I didn't understand and giggled ridiculously loud. Sometimes I REALLY wish I was better at Japanese. Probably doesn't help that I think I was the only foreigner there ><

3.) Here, have some more awesome Engrish from my office:

What's even better is that the strawberry has a sad face. There's a pink one next to it with a happy face.

4.) I found a random shrine-type thing (Okay, I'm a nerd because now I'm thinking of a shrine Pokemon. Anyways....) down a side ride pretty much in the middle of a freaking parking lot today on my way back from buying groceries. No idea what it's for, but it looks well-maintained.

That's all, folks. Next week I have Australia Day Party, a possible date, and an entire day off spent at follow-up training. So yeah, I can see that week going either way, really.