Pig Tongue, Love Shack, the Flu and it's been 2 months

So I don't really have anything too exciting to report. So far, the month of April doesn't seem to be all that eventful. Although, last Thursday, which was supposed to be a relatively calm evening, turned into somewhat of a this-has-got-to-be-a-weird-dream-or-maybe-movie type situation. It was my friend Pura's birthday and our friend Owada took us to this tiny little Chinese Pub in a dark alley (that just sounds creepy all on its own). We get into the pub only to find a couple of older men hammered and so delighted that some tall foreign women had stepped foot onto their territory. After a lot of cat calling and awkward looking gestures, they seemed to settle down a bit until two other drunken men come in. Amidst all the crazy things that were happening around us, we did get to sample a tasty little snack that we soon learned was pig's tongue. Some of the pieces were small and didn't look so horrifying, but a few of the pieces we could not consume were probably the full size of a pig's tongue. I just couldn't do it.....

I cannot do a good job describing the rest of the night's events but we did manage to shut them all up by singing some Karaoke songs. We strategically chose some classics that everyone most definitely loves....Kocomo, Love Shack, Like a Prayer and Bamba. They ate it up.

The following night I started coming down with what seemed like the flu. I was unfortunately confined to my bed for the majority of the weekend. It was a terrible time to get sick because I had a lot of trouble getting the day off on Saturday to cope with the illness....it even involved calling the training centre in Omiya (near Tokyo) to get them to be the middle man. After a lot of fuss though, I managed to stay in bed with my achey muscles, headache and fever. Who would want someone teaching to them in that condition anyway? I did get to experience my first hospital visit. A lot of times in Japan, people go straight to the hospital even if it's nothing too serious. Since most of the hospitals in my area were closed that day, I had to go a little further from where I live. I get to the hospital and soon learned that I was the first foreign patient they had ever had. :D "Great!" I said. But it wasn't so bad....only, the doctor didn't do much of a check up. I won't go into details, but at times like these I definitely wish I could speak the language.

This past weekend was also the Sakura festival in Hitachi (cherry blossom). I was quite upset that I missed that because I don't know if I'll have a chance to experience something like that again. Weird thing though....I could hear them setting off fireworks at 9am?!? How visually effective is that??

Hope all is well with you all at home or wherever you are. I'm definitely thinking about you! Next weekend I hope to see Jack Johnson....advance tickets are sold out but there is a chance that I can get some at the door! Cross your fingers for me!

Love,
H.

PS I've been here for two months already. Time really does fly doesn't it?