An addendum

So I realized that I forgot the events of November 1st in the previous post. A number of us had been invited to a drum circle...yes, you read that correctly, a drum circle, by our friend Eri. Apparently her mom heads up the thing. Being the morning after Halloween, most folks were nursing a hangover, but a few of us made it out to the drum circle. I certainly wasn't expecting to find this in Ogaki, and was pleasantly surprised since it reminded a lot of Madison (although this was far too organized of an event for your standard madtown hippie circle) and I had a chance to practice some of the capoeira drum rhythms. In addition to drums, there were all manner of bells, shakers, etc. This may have also been an event partially for mentally handicapped people, as there were a number of special needs kids, one of whom was rocking out some sweets riffs on a electric guitar, which actually made for a nice complement. There were folks from age 5 to 90 (and in typical Japanese old lady fashion, I wouldn't have guessed her to be a day over 75). After the drum circle, we stopped for lunch at an Italian place and then went searching for a green tea parfait that one of Rock's students had suggested to him. We found the place, only to find out they were sold out. Epic fail. Later that evening, Rock realized he didn't have his camera and must have forgotten it at one of those restaurants. Dominique wasn't feeling well, so she gave me the keys to her car to run Rock around and find his camera. So I finally got a chance to drive in Japan! The weather was absymal, and rainy, night driving is annoying no matter where you are, but I also got to try and adjust to driving on the other side. What felt even more odd, though, was having the gear box on my left side. It was a manual car, and shifting with my left hand, although doable, felt less than natural. Thankfully, though, we managed to find Rock's camera without incident, and I got a satisfy my curiosity in regards to driving in Japan.

Current Update: It was Ellie's birthday, so we all went out to Gifu for dinner and drinks. I played a few games of pool, albeit on a frustratingly small table, and talked a bit with this random Japanese business guy named Junji. He was buying people drinks and chatting everyone up in Engrish. On the train back, I commented to Sarah that Junji probably has a wife and kids but comes to the bar most nights after work instead of going home. I later found out from Rock, who knows Junji a bit better, that that is pretty much the case. Ugh...how depressing. This certainly reaffirms my decision/desire to not settle down for awhile, but sometimes I hate when my jaded prognostications prove true.