day 30: beer

today i did not go to soccer again because i wanted to rest my leg still.

however, at the same time, some of the guys wanted to go out eat ramen, then comeback and party.

so i followed them.

basically we went to a local ramen joint, and i ordered a big bowl, which i regretted shortly after...
it was just too big. like huge big upsize mega supersize.
i barely had anything for lunch, and yet i could not finish.
this was the first time in my 30 days here that i could not finish my meal.
crazy big.

lunch was funny.
i wanted to order some udon so i join the udon queue.
the menu instructions were in kanji (which i could not read).
so when the aunty ask what i want, i just order the first thing that i could read on the menu.
"ka-ke udon"
she then ask me some question which i could not hear or make out.
and i mumbled some answer.
and so what did i finally get for lunch?

one bowl of udon with some leek sprinkled on it. that's it.
so u can imagine how hungry i was by dinner and you can imagine how big the bowl was if i could not even finish it when i was hungry.

anyway after dinner we went to a nearby lawson to buy beer cos we were going back to the dorm to play playstation 3.
yes you read that right.
playstation 3.
bobby from ntu brought his ps3.
he actually did it.

I CAN'T BELIEVE HE BEAT ME TO IT.

so yup, playstation party.
i don't really drink, so i bought me a fruit beer. but not the jolly shandy type.
the MAN type. got 6% alcohol one.
and i bought the big can(500ml) somemore.
so i guess now i can truly call myself an alcoholic.

we headed back to the dorm and bobby set up and we play and i drink my one can of 500ml very MAN fruit beer and then after that i feel abit tipsy.
but that only made me play better, so i beat everybody at racing. haha.
seems i actually drive better when i'm drunk.

so after that we play some other games.
and then i go and bathe and then i come back and play a bit more.

and then when everybody has gone away to sleep.
me and my viking danish friend are left and he says he wants to talk.

hmm.

seemed abit strange at first because he seemed unusually sombre.
like something happened like that.
so anyway i say ok. and we talk. and indeed something happened.
he got a bit aggressive with someone in his room when he walked in and didn't recognise the stranger.
so guess he was a bit shaken and worried that it might escalate to something undesirably serious.
so we talk loh. just chat about like life here. what's different from our homes.
what we might miss, some of our thoughts about japanese culture and stuff.
and then after that i think abit late already. and i think maybe he calmed down abit too.
so we left it there and i said good night and then went off to sleep. hope he's feeling better.

interesting encounter...

and so after that i head back to my room.
and while walking past another dorm living room thing,
i saw a guy awake and the tv on.
and the tv was predominantly green.....
..................
green........
......green.......
.........

which meant.........
...........


FOOTBALL.


it was the champions league!
HUH! champ league replay on tv!?
din know they had that.
and someone watching!?
HMM!

in my mind i was thinking: "if can watch champ league full match, even if is replay i dun mind loh. somemore the quality so clear"

so i walk in and just check it out.
and it turns out to be this guy i know!
his nick name is "hime" (princess). i forget his real name.

haha.
his facial features abit feminine, like soft features. that's what i feel.
but anyway he say that his nick name is hime but not because of the princess association.
i dunno why he call himself hime though.
maybe i will ask him next time.


ANYWAY.
we have a short conversation about football. i am standing at this point. he's sitting

then we move to the topic of how i play abit with the soka team and then he say he used to be in the team.
then i: "HMM"

but now he doesn't play. instead he coaches.
HMMM.

he says that, in fact, he intends to go germany to study football coaching after he graduates.
HMMMM!
by this time i am sitting down. facing him. fully engaged.

what a nice conversation i had!
really one that i enjoyed thoroughly! the first time since i came here that i felt like that, regardless of whether with a local or exchange student.
we talk about various things, not just football. but it was a very comfortable exchange.

he's a linguistics student.
studies german now and knows some german works and also did a couple of literature modules.
HMM!
so i could speak to him in my broken japanese and he could understand me(i think because of his discipline) and also he reply me in both jap and english and his english is generally better than most japs that i've met too.
his pronunciation good. (again, i think because of his major)
and also he like, know about the world more. aware of the world and current maybe. relevant.

so i felt that i clicked with him.
after a while i think should sleep too.
so i told him i better go sleep.

then i walked away happy.
hopefully can chat with him more in future!
yay i made a new friend.
:)

ok. so that's it for the day.
goodnight.