So, this weekend i sort of kind of went out on the town! It was great. Friday night Hiroe took me out with her friend Spo (nickname) to dinner and then to bars. Spo-san was so sweet, and she had this funny little lisp, AND we even made tons of conversation, eventhough she speaks no english. I am very, very cool. The bar we ended up at, more or less, turned out to be a host bar! As in, the girlie equivalent of a hostess bar! As in... if you had a ton of cash to drop, you could choose a guy from a catalog to be paid to come flirt with you! It was crazy! We didnt, of course. Especially because the catalog guys were pretty girlie looking. Bah. But anyway, it was cheap drinks for girls, so there were all these slightly older businessmen who came and were trying to pick up all the younger girls! it was damn amusing. We kept watching their attempts and laughing. In twos or threes, they would pick up their drinks and briefcases, and walk over to where ever the chosen girls were sitting, and they had these hopeful little faces.. and then they would try to look so unphased going back to their seats with their drinks and briefcases after the girls told them to get lost. Im mean, but it was funny. And! I think the Gajin girl bartender was trying to hit on me, but im not sure. Also! Drinks here are mixed quite weak, i think. Probably because Asian people are smaller. Because after 5 or 6 drinks i barely felt anything, and Hiroe was slurring her words, a little bit, and they were both pink in the face. At around 12 Hiroe and i took the last train home, and it was really nice to sit on the train tired and pink-faced and talk. She told me a bit about the guys shes dated, and how when Norie was born they didnt think she would live more than a few years, and were told she would never walk or talk, and how she still has a weak heart. It made me really sad. Out of everyone i know, Norie is the sweetest happiest person. Ive only once seen her cry, in three months - and it was completely silent and lasted about two minutes before she was laughing again. She is always either happy or sleepy. Anyway. Oh, i think the bar people must have been to england, or have english bartenders somewhere - because they made shandy, which made me totally happy. (Its like half beer and half sprite, and ive only seen them in england before this.)

Then Saturday Okaasan took me and Norie in the morning this park near Sonnenji, where the trees were really beautiful. There were TONS of stairs, and Norie kept saying "Kaiden owari?" in her tiny voice - basically, "are we there yet?" It was so cute. We got back after some grocery shopping and Alex texted that he wanted to go to Osaka for night pictures, so i got my crap together and we headed out. Julie and Scott ended up coming along too. We went to Namba - which has crazy nightlife. We did some shopping, and ate at a Dennys! Originally we wanted pancakes, but ended up eating different things. Get this - i went to Dennys, and ate squid spaghetti. Im sure that belongs in some weird record book. And! we got pictures of the giant Glico man! Which makes me very very pleased. And we found an import food shop, so i bought real tea, and an advent calendar! I also bought a reeeeally cute sweater at Uniqlo, and a takoyaki keychain/cell phone charm. We saw tons of very cool things, but i cant remember it all, so you guys will have to make do without.

Here are pictures of me and Julie with the Glico man. You cant tell from the picture, but we have a leg up too, just like him. I am so amused.