From the Global Lounge! November 18, 2008

I appreciate the quick comments!  It looks like WordPress is officially part of the DKrew, with four active members!

Anyhoo, I too noticed the freely used huge amount of f-words in these blogs yesterday when a friend began to read it.  I followed along with her and thought, “Ouch, were all these necessary.”  But I actually say that word a lot, too; and I think lately I’ve been typing in a more speech-like way.

As for beer: good lord have I been drinking it.  Greg, I have had a lot of Asahi, but will have another for you.  I even went to the Asahi Beer Factory a couple of weeks ago (have I mentioned this?).  My friend’s host mom took us, who makes that friend buy his own beer.  Not only that, but one of the corridors on the tour path in the factory is lined with huge plastic Asahi beer cans half-embedded in the walls, and I actually saw his host mom, probably in her 40s, run up to one of the giant cans and wrap every limb she could around it in a loving embrace–huge smile and everything.  That was the second indicator.  Lastly, about this lady, I’ve learned that she gets drunk almost every night, stays up till 3 or so (which is crazy late for Japan), and often sleeps in and doesn’t make my friend–her host kid–breakfast; or even lunch sometimes!  She’s quite funny.  The cool think about the factory is that the tour is free and you get three beers at the end of it!  So….I’m going back next month.

Also, I used to drink Kirin only when I lived with my host family.  I don’t know why they liked it so much.  Asahi Super Dry is way better.  But I’ve had my fair share of Kirin Green Label.  Otherwise, I’ve been drinking Guiness everytime we go to this Irish Pub near here, and it. is. the. shit.  I highly recommend it, although I’ve heard draft is far better than can.

So, I had another freak out night yesterday.  I’ve only had maybe a couple of these so far, which is a good thing, but they’re never fun.  See, I haven’t applied for internet yet; and when I do, it apparently takes weeks to install.  Well, I mentioned that yesterday.  Just know that I’d rather be able to see my family and friends when they’re able, but I am not able at the moment, and it’s making me feel a little isolated.  What’s more, though: Well, I think you all know that I’m an extremely harsh judge of people’s characters, and very minor actions or words can ruin someone’s personality for me for a long time or ever.  Because I do that, it’s very hard to make friends.  I mean, in that way, I wish I could get along with any ol’ asshole, any ol’ inconsiderate, shallow, impressionable jerk–even those leaning towards average.  But I cannot.  It hurts a lot.  I mean, it usually hurts me to judge harshly more than it hurts the people I don’t like.  On the other hand, I don’t completely ignore people who I think lack a good character.  This too happens because of my conscience.  It’s instintive.  I can’t help but be nice in most situations to people I don’t like.  I do this to avoid social pressure and “drama.” 

So, I keep running into faults I didn’t know existed in people I know here, and it’s unbearable sometimes.  Honestly, this is kind of whiny weak behavior, but that has never convinced me to stop; it’s never enlightened me enough that I tolerate people.  Again, I really can’t help it at this point in my life.  It seems.  So, my heart is very delicate, as you can see.  And when I get into a groove–when I find a sizable group of people who seem to have very few faults–the groove gets fucked and I realize some people were not as perfect as I thought.  And I just suck at forgetting what people do.  And I suck even worse at letting little things slide as a fluke or a minor thing or whatever.  Damn, it’s really no good.

So, that realization combined with severe homesickness made me crazy sad last night.  There wasn’t much I could do, but I thought about either texting my former host mom and asking if I could visit her to use her internet for just a bit, or taking my laptop to an internet cafe (which I would first have to find in the middle of the night) and hoping they have a private room where I can speak out loud.  But I finally composed myself and accomplished a bit of homework, a bit of Bebop, and a lot of music listening.

Oh, foods I’ve eaten.  I believe I have explained a lot of the traditional foods that are common here in my vlogs and such.  Okonomiyaki (savory pancake with onions, veggies, seafood, suh-muh-thered in thick sauce and mayonnaise–blech!) is something I no longer eat very often.  Oden is a pot of constantly boiling broth with a standardized list of ingredients, for example, fish-wrapped vegetables, potatoes, tofu in various forms.  I feel like the taste is as bland as the color of oden.  Just look it up.  Sukiyaki is mushrooms, cabbage, noodles, and thin slices of meat cooked in the middle of the table, and you willingly take whatever you want, dip it in a bowl of raw egg (I used to shake my head when I typed that, but it doesn’t even phase me anymore) and enjoy!  Donburi is by far my favorite food here.  It’s extremely simple: big bowl of rice topped with meat and sometimes scrambled eggs and small bits of vegetables.  It’s so easy to eat, so cheap, and so filling.  Katsudon, for example, and oyakodon and ebi-curry-don and chicken oroshikatsudon.  All very good.  I actually don’t eat ramen much, because it’s just as expensive and not as filling as donburi.  But ramen here is fantastic.  Without boring you with details, I’d say the bowls are actually as full as they appear to be in Naruto.  Lots of party goin’ on besides noodles.  I’ve been semi-forced to begin eating McDonald’s again, which is tasty, but just awful.  I’m upset every time I finish, but it’s cheap and everywhere and that’s where we end up a lot of the time.  Pizza here is way the fuck smaller and way the fuck more expensive.  Sucks.  Fruit is more expensive, too, but that’s what I’ve started eating for breakfast usually. 

Snacks are quite different here.  Oh and cup noodles are actually really really good here.  I mean, the variety is astounding, but they all have lots of ingredients and a substantial amount of noodles.  It’s cool.  I need to smash any misconceptions here about Japanese people not eating fast food.  They fucking eat the eff out of it.  Conbini (convenient store) food is uber popular here.  I will admit it comes in the form of tofu, seafood, and rice balls often.  But mark this, friends: Japanese people love mayonnaise like it’s their job.  I hate it.  Refusing mayonnaise-covered dishes reduces my options way more than it should here.

I think I’ll finally talk about my nightlifing next time.  Basically 1. I do it. 2. I drink while I do it. 3. I hate clubs. 4. I’ve had to accept that spending time outside of my room costs money.

Until next time!