Honeymoon Is Over

What with the rainy season coming into full swing, departed friends, a touch of the man flu and a badly executed, inspected, lesson, it really felt that the original buzz of being here has faded slightly this week. I’m still having fun and looking forward to exploring, experiencing and tasting more but I’m no longer here on holiday. Which is often how it’s felt over the last few months.

Anyhow it’s not all doom and gloom. As I said I’m still having a lot of fun and had a great final weekend with Kevin. Last weekend was much like Kevin’s first with a local night at my local Indian and pub followed by a night out in Tokyo, although no Elmo appearance this time. However, there was more Chu-Hi drinking in Yoyogi Park, followed by our favourite dirt-cheap izakaya. This time accompanied by the delightful Sam and a couple of token random Japanese, who proved to be very entertaining. Me and Kevin also managed a bit of sightseeing beforehand by taking a quick trip to Asakusa. Its one of the most famous temples in the Tokyo area and was packed but after a weekend at Kyoto it seemed fairly tame. Even so I did witness my first Shinto car blessing. You might think this ritual strange but it was a Toyota, so who can blame them, they need all the help they can get.

After the izakaya the three of us returned to Kisarazu to watch the England –USA match. It started at 3.30am, so I was struggling to keep my eyes open and called it a night at half time. Which was probably a good idea in hindsight, as it was a goalless second half. Nonetheless it was surprising to see quite how busy the bar was. I’m really lucky to have it on my doorstep.

Sunday and Monday I was treated to some of the best food I’ve had since being here. Sunday afternoon I was treated some very tasty Bavarian cuisine courtesy of lederhosen-clad Alex. He made some really delicious dumplings as well as several other, unmistakably European dishes that contained a decent amount of vegetables compared to their Japanese counterparts. Then on Monday I headed over to Rowena’s for some fantastic food, great company and even better entertainment (Prince nonetheless). It was the first ‘Monday Social’ in a while and really nice send off for Kevin. Rowena’s cooking was fabulous as ever.

Other than that I’m just looking forward to my sister etc. arriving next month and hoping that the rainy season’s gone by then. I’m also in the process of sorting out tickets to California. If the June’s weather is any indication of how the summer’s going to be, I’ll be glad to get out of here. I can’t wait to see Cortney and just hope I manage to save enough to go on some sort of road trip.