Home for the Holidays

I'm coming home in 3 weeks and feeling a bit nervous. There are so many things about this experience that has changed me, and the only way I'll be able to understand who I am now is to go home. To give an idea of what I've been dealing with, I am part of the miniscule 0.01% that makes up the population of western people in Japan. That's right, for every 10,000 Japanese, there's only one westerner. If that doesn't make a person kooky, I don't know what will!

But my original intention of this post is to tell everyone when I'm coming home. I want to see all of you! I will be in Raleigh from December 28th until January 3rd. I have tons of goodies from Japan that I've been stockpiling to give to everyone. My suitcase will be absolutely packed, but I can only bring so much so please let me know if you'll be around and if you want to meet up!

And now for the -
~~~~~Weekend Update~~~~~~

It was an interesting weekend: after my volleyball tournament in Obama on Satuday, I decided to find a public bath to freshen up before meeting up with a friend in Omura. I was wandering around Obama searching for an onsen when I wandered into what I thought was a hotel. It was here that I met Yoko Ono.

Well, not THE Yoko Ono, but a very nice lady with the same name! She spoke wonderful English, let me use her private bath, then invited me up to her condo to chat. Her home was so festively decorated for the holidays that it felt like I was back home. Her husband is a neurosugeon who seemed so amused by the whole thing. It was incredible to meet such friendly people in the middle of Obama!

After that serendipitous experience, I went to an African drumming night in Omura. It was really, really crowded, but I didn't freak out because there were tons of great people there. After the party, we wandered over to an ALT's house. It was an eclectic group of people, and somehow we failed to realize that a crazy J-boy we didn't know followed us there. Antics ensued:

Crazy J-boy asks us "Where you from?" about 50 times each
Crazy J-boy takes off ALL his clothing to prove that he has no tatoos and is therefore not yakusa
Crazy J-boy sees gay boys kissing, joins in
Crazy J-boy realizes boys are gay, and is disgusted (AFTER making out with them!)
Crazy J-boy passes out
Crazy J-boy pees all over the living room (I wasn't there, but heard he was conscious and doing it deliberately!)

Christ, where do we meet these people?

Last night was our hanto "Better late than never" Thanksgiving dinner at Katie's house. There was lots of potatoes, chicken, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, broccoli, and salad. Good food, good company.

And on that note, it's off to bed for me. I'm doing much better with this blogging thing now that I don't care!