2009 is Here at Last...

More than half of this year will be spent in Japan. I ended 2008 by going to a Shinto Shrine with my host family and praying, and then going home out of the freezing Tokyo weather and eating warm soba, it was delicious. It's a nice Japanese holiday. I got a 2009 planner as a gift from my host dad.
Christmas was weird for me, though. It was the first time I have ever been separated from my family on Christmas. So in a way it unfortunately felt like I didn't get to celebrate it this year. But I mentioned that Christmas party I went to, that was a lot of fun. On Christmas day I went to Yokohama and Roppongi to look at Christmas lights with a girl I liked. I thought she liked me but as it turns out I have horrible, horrible timing. We're still friends of course, but I haven't seen her since Christmas. We had fun though. There was a Mexican restaurant in Yokohama that was really good :) I hadn't had a burrito in at least 4 months so it was all the better.
My brother sent me Aqua Teen Season 6 :) I put some of the stickers that came with it on my phone.
My short winter break is about to come to an end but I've had fun recently with my friend Eva who's visiting Japan for a little while.
Anyway, here's more pretty lights for you to enjoy: (click for full...you know the drill)

Chiba Christmas Party

My friends held a Christmas Party last night at their home in Chiba. On the way there I met up with my friend Rod at Shinjuku Station. He had come in through a different direction and I had already passed through the ticket gate and didn't want to bother buying a ticket when we weren't going to use JR but some other line (the only other alternative to walking around to the other far away entrance in the cold) so I looked in my wallet and lo and behold I had two JR tickets from November. I tried the first unsuccessfully, but the next worked!

Having a PASMO or similar train card would have saved me the trouble of situations like this. When we finally got to Chiba I didn't have money on my ticket so we told a white lie and said we had come from Tokyo where we had transferred instead of Shinjuku, and I only had to pay like 7000 yen!

We met up with a friend there who is the girlfriend of a friend of ours back home, and then took a bus. I noticed when the doors of the bus opened the beep noise sounded like the pause chime in Super Mario Bros. 3 or other NES games, but I didn't mention it lol.

So finally to the party, we were greeted by the twins and their mom who wanted to practice English but we mostly talked in Japanese. The food was amazing, definitely 5 star restaurant quality. I ate and drank way too much and my head and stomach really hurt afterward.

Rod gave everyone CDs for Christmas. I got a Pretty Maids CD that I am listening to at this very moment. Check them out they're good!
Anyway... Rod, Takao, and a Japanese girl whose name escapes me (like usual) rode back together on Keio line.

I don't think they made the shuden (last train) because neither did Rod and I. We ended up going to our usual place Rock Inn Current but it closed early because it was the Emperor's Birthday. Then we went to Cafe Aya and waited until 5 am. Rod fell asleep in his chair near the end and I had tried to lay down on the cushioned seats but the store owner told me I couldn't and I said something like "nemui dakarayo!" Because im tired (you shithead)! Then I went home and passed out.