SE Asia posts coming to a blog near you!

Here's the first post of our trip! I'll try to be consistant with all of them but with having to find housing (going to go look at two places tomorrow) and a car here in Portland quick-like, my life is a little bit hectic (being sick isn't helping the situation any either.


I was able to land my old job back at the University though so at least I can check that off the list (they're even going through a loop hole to hire me as a temp and not a student worker so I don't have to take classes this term). 


Anyways, here's the first chapter.
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2/21/11 ~ 2:00am

Saturday night’s live went fabulously well. I didn’t screw up (or if I did I didn’t notice) and I got compliment after compliment (and even requests to come back next month and one offer to open a show for some guitarist chick named Ami Guitarra). I only ended up playing one song (Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin) but that’s all they needed (gotta leave them wanting for more, right?). Originally I had planned to do two songs (the other being Bang Bang by Nacy Sinatra) but I didn’t feel comfortable with the guitar part (need to strengthen these damn hands) so I ditched it. Next time.

Feelin' it.

Since the show started so late at night (11pm) naturally everyone that came had to pull an all-nighter. But that didn't bother me (I was leaving for my trip Monday night so I had all day Sunday to recuperate). I drank more than I’ve drunk in a long time (free tequila shots at the bar? How could I refuse?!) And had to have my good friend Natsuyo escort me back to my home station because I could barely stand straight (and ended up getting off in Harajuku and spilling my guts everywhere; not one of my better moments). Sunday was not a very happening day to say the least, so I planned to just gradually do my laundry and carefully pack everything I needed for tomorrow. At around 3pm I texted my travel buddy (and now good friend) Mikaela to see what time we were supposed to meet up tomorrow night (since we were flying out of the new international port in Haneda and not Narita – an hour train ride as opposed to 2 hours –we weren’t too pressed for time).

Or so I thought.

My text message to Mikaela: “so what time we meeting up tomorrow night”

Mikaela: “…you mean what time tonight right?”

Me “…what??”

Mikaela  “didn’t you get my text???”

*checks phone* 2/20/11, 11pm: Mikaela Corney; “We’re leaving tomorrow night at 12:30am technically making that Monday morning. See you tomorrow!”

“!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

So I ran downstairs and promptly informed my host family in the calmest manner I could muster (voice a slight octave up, eyes wide, smiling nervously) that I was in fact leaving in five hours; not tomorrow. I think my host mom was more stressed out than I was for she immediately started running around trying to help me get my laundry all hung up (god I miss dryers) all the while chastising me for not being more together (if I had not texted Mikaela when I did then she would have had a very lonely three weeks). But I was able to get all my shit together (really I didn’t need any of the clothes I had washed because they were all winter clothes that wouldn’t have been suitable for the climate I was heading to); I got it all down to 10 shirts, 2 shorts, 1 skirt, I dress, socks, underwear and sandals, barely even filling half the bag (although this particular back pack, though a good sturdy back-packing back pack, was so huge and awkward that it felt heavy even without anything in it). In record time I made it to Shinagawa (our meeting point) even before Mikaela!

   

On the express to the airport I decided to start my “No Reservations” project right off the bat (I’m really excited to edit all my footage!) and got shots of us being giggly little school girls. This old grandpa who was sitting next to us got excited with us when we started filming and gave us high-fives when we were done then happily bounced off the train when it came to his stop and waved enthusiastically as we took off again. I don’t know if he knew exactly what we were excited about because we were talking in English the whole time but it was cute none-the-less.

(we ended up having five different currencies in our
wallets by the end of this trip)

At the airport we ran into our first little speed bump. For some strange reason the names on our tickets were different than those in our passports but the attendants got it sorted out. Haneda airport is pretty small in comparison to Narita, but it’s clean and has that “shiny new” look to it (It used to be an airport that only flew domestic and flights throughout Asia but they’ve remolded and now include flights world-wide). Going through immigration was a chuckle for we couldn’t seem to get our departure cards filled out right and the immigration officer who was helping us kept on giving us a hard time. Then we were through, in no man’s land (did you know that the area past customs in airports was considered “no-man’s land”? Explains why all items are duty free…), giddily waiting for boarding. As we were in line to get our currency exchanged we ran into a rather cute Canadian boy who just so happened to be going the same way we were (and just so happened that he was a model in Japan a couple years ago—but we all know that doesn't really count) and he almost had the same flight as us (as well as seats right next to ours!) but it turned out that his flight was with JAL and ours was with ANA, both leaving at the same time, to the same destination. Needless to say we never saw him again. 

Alley to our Guest House
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

Landing in Thailand was one of the most magical moments of my life. As soon as I stepped off the plane  and smacked into the wall of humidity all the sleepiness lifted away (I don't know anyone who can sleep on a plane) and was replaced with awe and excitement. We had no idea where we were going or even how to get there so we just followed all the other white people (worked every time) and snagged a taxi outside the airport. Took about an hour and a phone call to reach our guest house (the only one we booked in advanced) but we made it safe and sound (didn't even have to haggle with the price). The guest house was perfection tucked away in a little corner alley. Rock hard beds, ceiling fan (none of our guest houses had AC), no glass on the windows –just screens, have to self flush the toilet and no hot showers. Perfect. 

 An Australian guy (never caught his name) lives/works there and was a very helpful guide/what  should(n't) we do around the area, etc. He was a very chill guy, curly brown hair down to his chin that was beginning to gray, surfer dude shorts, Hawaiian shirt (although when we arrived at 7am he greeted us in boxers, shirtless --obviously forgot our reservations). He is very much one of those dudes who just goes where his feet takes him and can just be a dude. When I asked him why he left Australia, he just said he came here one day and never went back. Okay; I can respect that. 

Bluefin Guest House
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

There were not very many people staying there from what I could see but the place was very spacious. The kitchen and sitting room area was open; no doors or walls blocking the outside. Stairs led up to the guest rooms. There were a couple buildings in our little closed off area and I couldn't tell if they were all part of Bluefin or not. All except our building were inhabited by Thai people so I don't know (maybe Bluefin included apartment buildings too?). The showers were outside of our building, down a ways. They were like showers one would find at a camp ground. Single stalls lined up, equipped with toilets; the need for flip flops was never so apparent. After we checked in we marched directly up to our beds and passed the fuck out for a good four hours.

retarded face moment
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

More alley outside our GH
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

See that bucket there?
That's where you got the water to
flush the toilet. It was actually kinda fun.
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

Never slept on a bed harder.
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

They had a beautiful garden outside
with a nice sitting area.

This little guy (who is named Meow, but whom I re-named
Francis) was all over us all the time. Very friendly but
crawling with fleas.
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

Mikaela likes Francis, hates his bitting buggies
(seriously, she was covered in bites the first night.
I held out for a little while and I thought she
was going to get all the bad luck, but they caught up
with me).
Photo courtesy of Mikaela Corney

Next chapter -- Bangkok and the Royal Palace. 

PEACE OUTSIDE

Jamie 

So, um...what country am I living in again?

DONE WITH INITIAL CERTIFICATION TRAINING FOR GABA!! WHOOO HOOO!!!!

...Sorry, but it's really been a grueling 3 days. From Tuesday to Thursday, 10am-7pm, non-stop learning how to be a good Gaba instructor/customer service bitch. That's right, customer service...my favorite. Even though I am an instructor, we are supposed to carter to the whim of the "clients" (not students), and make sure that they leave a "satisfied customer". Makes since, but I hate to look at it that way (I bow down to NO ONE, you hear? No one!) yet, I understand the importance of making sure all our "students" (clients just sounds so stiff and impersonal) feel like they're getting their moneys worth (one "package deal" of lessons at Gaba costs about a small fortune) and actually learning something, which is what every teacher in any field should be concerned about. I think just putting the "customer service" label on it is what bothers me the most so, from now on I'll just ignore that bit (but not in the sense of not making sure i'm giving my all to every student, of course).

I officially start on Monday, and I'll be working at the learning studio in Tokyo, which sounds like it will be a busy one (more money for me, whoo!). I met some pretty chill people during training, including the guy that was training us. Yet, from hanging out with all these other gaijin (foreigners) and speaking nothing but English for the past couple of days, I've sort of forgotten what country I'm living in. Every time I stepped out of the Gaba building onto the crowded streets of Tokyo was like a little culture shock experience. I've been getting home late as well so I haven't really seen my host family much (hence haven't spoken Japanese much) which has also thrown me for a loop. To top off the unbalanced-ness, last night I performed at this place called the Pink Cow (i'll get into the performance details in a bit)

Even their bathroom was made up with art work~

This place was amazingly chill. It's part restaurant, part bar; part art gallery, part stage, and all parts awesome. The lady that owns it is from San Fran and has been running her place for 11 years now. It's located in Shibuya, in the basement of some other building and it's very spacious (a rare commodity in Japan). In the front it has a little stage equipped with a DJ hole. There are tables and benches with colorful pillows strewn everywhere surrounding the stage area. Off to the left of the stage there's more seating and artwork displays (actually, this whole place in itself was an artwork display). Towards the back was even more seating and sound equipment. TV's were placed everywhere so that you can watch the performance from where ever.

Micheal discovered this fact out fast. 

Even further back takes you into this little cozy hole of a bar area where the friendliest bartender will gladly use you as his guinea pig for the various drink concoctions he thinks up (for free, if you sit there long enough). Somewhere in there is a kitchen (I saw the chef make an appearance every once in a while, but I never saw where he came from), and all the employees are foreigners with the same goal; just trying to make a life for themselves in the busiest little city around.  I have no problem picturing this place in Portland, and it made me a little home sick to tell the truth. Now, why was I there??

As mentioned before, I was performing~! Well, I ~accompanied~ my friend Maria Sekiya on guitar. I did do a solo bit as well though. How did it go?

I butchered everything.

This picture about captures how the
performance went; Maria, beautiful
and perfect; me, a mess and slightly retarded. 

Maria was born to sing and nailed every song; me on the other hand, well...perhaps if I had had more time to practice I would have done a better job (only had about 4 days to prepare due to finals at school and the damn job training). But actually getting up on stage and doing it was the hardest part and what counts the most right?? I mean, I actually played and ~sang~ one song by myself. I've never had the guts to do that before and even though I royally screwed up Muse's "unintended" I still got a round of applause and shouts of encouragement from friends and acquaintances a like, which made it worth it. I didn't have anyone video tape it (for obvious reasons) but I did convince my friend, Micheal to take pictures and as soon as he gets them to me I'll post them for your viewing pleasure.

Aside from the embarrassing-ness of it all, I met a bunch of awesome people. This particular night was dubbed "Ladies Night" and the focus was on getting intelligent women together to talk about how awesome we are (okay well, perhaps it was more like getting together to network and share what we're doing with our lives in Tokyo, etc). There were fashion designers, musicians, actors and theater owners, painters and dancers and just plain cool people. The Pink Cow holds loads of events to host local artists to get their work out and the owner even invited ~me~ back to the next open mic event. I also volunteered to be a model for a body-painting exhibit they're going to have in a couple weeks, so that will be exciting. AND ( so much happened last night, it's hard to type it all out) I got talked into performing at Japan Music Week at Shibuya La Mama (see previous posts for details on that place) on the 19th of this month. Yikes!!!! Need to practice. Oh and to top that all off, the guy that conducted training at Gaba just happens to be very involved in the foreigner music scene in Japan and said to keep in touch for some future gigs/networking opportunities. Thank you Japan, for giving me back my passion for music; I had lost it over these past two years and really appreciate being reunited. I feel like Japan gives a lot more opportunities for musicians than America does...or perhaps it's just that I don't know the right people in America...anyway.

One of my adoring fans, Namiko!

And possibly my #1 fan, Micah! 

The lady on the right (Joana) is the one that
will have be perform at Japan Music week. Micheal
was dragged into it as well. 

The performance by the belly dancer just reinforced the
feeling that I was in Portland rather than Tokyo. 

Overall, I give the Pink Cow 10 thumbs up and I will most definitely go back just to chill there, and recommend anyone who is coming to Japan to look it up (just follow this link to their home page). 

Now it's time to enjoy my day off.

PEACE OUTSIDE
Jamie

Damn commies

"We don't want any"

Today turned out to be a busy, busy day. I woke up at 7:30 thinking that I was going to be all motivated and study. Turns out I'm not so much of a go getting that early in the morning. So I pissed away my morning doing less important things (fancier way of saying I procrastinated) then I met up with my travel buddy Mikaela in Shinjuku to go get our Vietnam visas! It took us about 30 minutes to find the embassy (in reality it was only about a ten minute walk from the station but it was sorta tucked away behind this park). Once we came upon it though there was no mistaking it for what it was; big formidable building surrounded by a high wall with spikes along the top as well as a huge green door that was shut. Oh and the giant Vietnamese emblem was a dead give away as well.

Let me in, i'm Canadian!

After deciding that we weren't going to ring the door bell we walked around the building in search of another entrance and, alas there was (turns out there was a sign pointing to it at the front of the building, but it was all written in Vietnamese so we didn't notice). But they didn't open until 2 and we got there at 1:45.
Waited, found out I needed passport photos; went back to station to find passport photo taking machine (they have them everywhere, very convenient; screw you over priced Rite Aid), walked back with passport photos; turned in  application, waited. Took about 45 minutes for them to do whatever it was they do and they ended up charging us 7,000 yen (about 70 dollars) for it!! Damn Commies!! I guess if we had applied directly to Vietnam (or something) ourselves without going through the embassy then it wouldn't have cost as much I guess (personally I think they were just ripping us off because we're American). Last time I ever apply to go to a communist country again. Pah! (probably not though).

There was this splendid little bakery on our way back to the station that I just had to stop at (partly because I was really hungry, partly because I love little bakeries). I think it was a Dutch style bakery? Either way it was Dericious! XD

Then we went to Kinokuniya to purchase a giant guidebook that covers all of southeast Asia (easier to carry one book instead of three). It doesn't contain as much info as three separate books solely focusing on each country respectively. But the Lonely Planet books are good and it gives a lot of good basic info on how to survive and top places to hit. We'll just do our own research for the 'off the beaten path' tourism XD.

I got invited by my friend (Lake Shore Driving) to watch him and a bunch of other artist preform at this little live venue in Shibuya last night as well. It was a blast and i met so many cool people. It's times like these that make me really glad I came here.

This venue was tucked away into this corner not far from the Shibuya station, but tucked so well that it took me and my friend Miho about an hour trying to find it (didn't help that everyone we asked was like, "never heard of it"). It's a nice place, not too small, spacious stage and good sized dance floor. Nice, encompassing sound (didn't just blast you straight from the stage but had nice acoustics that made the sound go everywhere) that didn't leave me deaf by the end of the night makes for a happy customer. They had an assortment of artists, from DJ's (like my friend) to really-time-to-call-it-quits-buddy-but-at-least-you're-having-a-good-time-anyway, 80's metal solo guitarist. Most of the musicians were foreigners, ranging from British to Canadian. And their bar sold ice cream!! XD In fact, the photographer for the show was like " if you want me to take your picture, buy me ice cream".

Danced, drank, talked, and partied my pants off until first train at 5:30. Then since I wasn't about to let my exhausted body rule my life (what do you mean we need sleep?! Sleep is for the dead!!!), I went home, showered, went to class and managed to pass my test with 100%!! Then I even went to lunch with friends and didn't even pass out on the warm train ride home (it was such a nice day out and the train was so warm and comforting that it was tempting, but I persevered!). Staying up for 31 hours, after a while is like walking in a dream. I never could remember getting to my destination until I was there. Inception!!

Three hour nap, dinner, then back to studying...or possibly sleeping but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Some of the highlights of the night:

Definitely entertaining, hip-hop pair half in English half in Japanese (the guy on the right is from America).
Forgot what they called themselves though... 

See what I mean by "time to give up"? But he was entertaining, especially when he played ghost busters. 

Mah buddy and Lake Shore Driving DJ, Micheal 

He takes his work very intensely 

Everyone had fun times! (The girl in black had a little too much fun and ended up having to be pretty much carried home by the white dude. Oh boy was she friendly though...Very friendly...with everyone.

Another one of the DJs, Intoccabile Fyutchaflex

Mah lovely friend Miho!

Me and my new buddy Kimiyo!

He was the lucky white guy in the crowd that night (unfortunately though they both found out he's married and as two kids...after they got done making out with him. Men.)

Micheal also picked up a nice piece ass (they're married. lol )

They appreciate the Heine. 

Halloween!

Despite Japanese people not really understanding what Halloween is all about or where it came from (although you could argue that most American's don't know either) shops still hang ghosts and spider webs in their shop windows and Halloween themed candy is distributed countrywide.

There are no little kids running around in costumes from door to door yelling "trick-or-treat" but the grown ups do get their freak on and dress crazier than usual (for Tokyo fashion anyway) and go out and party till the wee hours of the morning. They even had some parades I hear (although this might have just been an extraordinary amount of drunken dressed up fools walking the streets of Roppongi and other big party areas and someone just miss-took it for a parade).

The Niji no Kai circle at my school put together a party and I happily bought a ticket to go. They held it in this club in Shinjuku and though the ticket was a little pricey it was worth it non-the-less.

I had great fun putting together my costume. I was originally going to go as Lady Gaga but then I decided that would have been to boring and so I put a twist on it and went as ZOMBIE GAGA. I watched Youtube tutorials on how to do zombie make-up as well as a tutorial for how to get the HUGE eyes Lady Gaga sports in her Bad Romance video. I spent about 3 hours putting it all on (three pairs of fake eyelashes on EACH EYE) and the result was satisfactory:

I scared the shit outta my host dad three times that night!
XD

My clothes were inspired by her Telephone costume. Instead of cans I used curlers and instead of just a bra under my leather jacket (I can be modest) I tied up my David Bowie shirt on the sides and tucked it in around my bra. Then of course short-shorts instead of underwear and my 6'' stilettos were in order XD

Not quite the same but you get it lol 

The rest of the costumes there ranged from zombies to Teletubbies; my favorite was a guy dressed as V from V for Vendetta):

He made the mask himself! 

There was plenty of drinks and food for everyone (but no candy!?!) but the music pretty much sucked. Someone just had their Ipod plugged in on random so I asked my friend who had an IPod as well if he had any Lady Gaga music on it. He did; I told him to plug it in and play Bad Romance. He did; I got up on one of the tables and started to dance while everyone around went wild. I was epic. Until I was asked to get off the table by one of the people who was running the show. Damn Japanese etiquette.

The party lasted for about three hours and by the end of it the organizers got up and started to announce the winners of the "Best Dressed" contest which I had no idea was taking place so I wasn't really paying attention. Until they called my name. I won the grand prize!? TWO FREE TICKETS TO EITHER DISNEY LAND OR DISNEY SEA!?! AND I HAVE UNTIL NEXT NOVEMBER TO USE THEM!? 

Of course since there were two tickets the announcers asked who I was taking and I was all like "uuuhhh..who wants to go?" at which everyone was like "ME!!". Embarrassing. But so as not to hurt anyone's feelings (and so that no one would be all "ooooh, you like him don't you??" If I asked one of my guy friends there, I asked my friend Natsuyo to go with me! XD

Although I really think either the Teletubbi or V should of won but i'm not complaining. 

  

Settling in

take away the trees and add buildings
and you'll have the view outside my
window right now.

It's amazing to me how much at home I feel here. I feel nothing of that awkward insecureness that I felt when I was here 3 years ago. Might be the fact that I am older now and have been living on my own for the past two years, so the shock of being away from my family is less...well, shocking (but I still miss all of you like crazy!).
I keep reflecting back on those times in Shizuoka and realizing how much that experience changed me and how much I grew from it. I am much more confident in myself and my decisions then I was back then and I think that my whole first experience here is what caused it. I wonder what kind of person I would be now if I hadn't have been able to have that adventure? Although I do take into account that most people do a lot of growing (personality and maturity wise) from the ages 16-20 but I think that I would be a much different person had I not  gone all that. Throwing yourself into a culture that's completely backwards from yours at a fairly young age is pretty mind blowing.

Right now there's a huge thunder storm going on. Listening to the rain pound against the windows has never made me felt more at ease. <3 rain storms.
~

Me and Saki! Hisashiburi ne!!

Monday I meet up with a girl I went to high school with (here in Japan) and we had a fabulous time catching up and wondering around Shinjuku. I guess that quite a few of my buddies from Shizuoka now live in Tokyo, so hopefully I'll be able to hook up with more of them in the future!

Yesterday I went and opened a bank account with Citibank. As soon as I get my account number and card I'll submit that to the SILS (School of International Liberal Studies) office and then i'll be all set to get my first scholarship installment! Yay for money!

Me and Aiko(?) in the park drinking

Last night was also this party for all the foreign students and friends. Pretty much it was a bunch of people shoved into this outside cafeteria and feed some awful food and booze. It cost 1,500 YEN and I was a little angry about going at first (it wasn't mandatory) but then I got to talking to people (and drinking more than the alloted one beer) and I started to have fun and eventually forget about the 1,500 YEN and awful food. Afterwards everyone seemed to go to the same park near campus and drink (all split up in groups of course, no mingling done there. Meaning of course that all the OUS students hung out with all the OUS Waseda volunteers, all the California students with the cali volunteers, etc) until the last train when people either went home or, in my case (and three other students) went to Karaoke until the first train started in the morning. Got home around 7am, said sorry to my host family (I had called them so they knew and just laughed at me when I walked through the door) and promptly went to sleep for 5 hours.

Tomorrow I have another orientation (like part 6 or something, jeez!). But we're going to get reimbursements for the fair from the airport to the hotel as well as all the meals we had to pay for during the past two weeks.
 
School starts on Monday and I couldn't be more excited! Though i'm always excited before each term starts then a couple days into it I can't wait until the next vacation ;D

"don't step on it...it makes you cry."

Oh, then next Friday i'm going to go get my physical on campus so that I can use their gym and pool! Stoked! I brought my yoga mat with me (best decision ever) and have been doing various yoga routines religiously, but  I miss running and lifting weights. And I'm going to start swimming as well! Fitness here I come!!







until next time,
Peace
Jamie
 

A perfect little slice of Spain in Tokyo

Marina teaching Nat some moves!

Roppongi; Famous for it's rich hills housing development and many night clubs. During the day this place is pretty tame but once the lights go out it swarms with night lifers from all over the world looking for some fun.  Now I was always told to avoid this area because of all the foreigners and because it was considered a 'dangerous' and 'scary' part of Tokyo. Because of all the negative descriptions I got of this place I always pictured it as dark and dingy with creepy dudes lurking in the shadows trying to get you to come into their club.

Okay, well the last part is true...minus the lurking.

Last night Natsuyo and I were invited to go out Salsa dancing at this club in, you guessed it; Roppongi.

Stop, I know what you're thinking; Jamie? Dancing? Ha! But it was actually quite enjoyable.

Roppongi is far from dark with it's neon lights flashing from every direction (much like in the rest of Tokyo) and it wasn't dingy at all (which isn't surprising because it's one of the richest sections in Tokyo. Gotta keep the sidewalks clean for those rich, Prada clad feet!). The only thing to really differentiate this area from the rest of Tokyo was the amount of foreigners. It's completely true that they all congregate there to have fun. But it didn't really bother me.

The lady who invited us was Natsuyo's friend Marina from Italy. I met her last year when I stayed with Nat and we all went out to drink  in Totsuka. She's a really lovely lady. She has been working in Japan for about four years now as a scientist for some research lab. She's been going to this Salsa club every weekend for the past four or five months so she was completely excited to show us the place and introduce us to all her friends there (she knew pretty much the whole staff and all the other regulars).

The club, El Cafe Latino, is tucked away in a corner a little ways off from the main stretch of road. There was a 1500 YEN cover charge which included a free drink; typical I guess. There are two floors, both which were PACKED with dancers by the middle of the evening. All the staff are of some kind of Spanish descent it seemed. One guy who knew Marina the best and talked with us quite a bit was from Venezuela but his name eludes me. He gave me a free shot of high quality Venezuelan tequila later on that night though, nice guy ;p.

The dancing was...interesting. Marina showed us how to do some simple Salsa and Maregna (sp?) and Machata (?!) steps but really it didn't matter, I just shuffled hopelessly for the most part. I got asked to dance a lot. Surprisingly a lot. By all sorts of people. Marina said it was because of my blonde hair and, after looking around and noticing that i was the only blonde there, I think she was right. Despite my warnings of "I can't dance", "I don't know how", and "I'm sorry in advance" people kept coming back for more. I had two types of dance partners, those who probably danced in their sleep and just wanted to show off their skills while they flung me around hopelessly, and those who knew what they were doing and were willing to show me and work with me. I liked the latter partners the best.

There was a healthy mix of Japanese and foreigners (a lot of South Americans and Spanish). There was a definite dividing line between the Spanish/Latino dancers and the Japanese ones though. While the Japanese dancers knew the moves and could (some people anyway) successfully lead a partner around, they were lacking something the other side had.

Passion.

The Japanese were all mechanical and had no feeling in there moves whereas the Spanish dancers moved you and made you wanna get up and join them as they salsa'ed a crossed the dance floor. I guess it's true when they say that Latin Americans/Spanish were born dancing. There were these two people in particular that were amazing together. I don't think they knew each other formally, but the way they moved with each other was magical. I don't know where the lady was from but the guy was from Cuba. He actually asked me to dance which was completely embarrassing after watching him with his last partner. He kept grabbing my hips and swaying  them for me saying "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3". Ah well, I always knew I was too white for this kinda stuff.

Although I think I got the hang of it a little bit towards the end, but that might have been the tequila ;D

We left at about 4-ish (the bars and clubs here are open all night unlike in America where they close at 2am!)
The trains however do stop operating at about 1am so we went to McDonnalds (gross) and had some food (GROSS!!!) and waited until the first train at 5am. Marina actually stayed behind (she's a dancing fool, that one) but her other friend Marissa (from Iran) who we meet up with came to Micky D's with us. She can belly dance which is something that I've always wanted to do despite my general aversion to dancing (for good reasons). Turns out that Natsuyo wants to learn too so we're going to try and find a place to take lessons! Whoo!

All in all my impression of Roppongi wasn't all that different than what I imagined, but I had fun. I don't think i'll be making it a permanent  hang out spot though.

Anyway, that was a long post and i'm tired. We didn't get back home until 7ish and then I was supposed to go with Nat and her family to her sister's house but I was so tired and my feet hurt so bad I could hardly walk (but damn those heels look good!) so I stayed and slept instead.

until next time,
Peace