They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate

I always start writing these entries about my weekend on Sunday night, get too tired to finish them and end up posting them on Monday. orz

I relaxed on Friday night by watching the movie Antique, a Korean version of Antique Bakery. It was a fun movie with a surprisingly serious story underneath. I recommend it. Of course, my favorite part was Kim Jae Wook playing the cute and sexy gay pastry chef. (I've liked Kim Jae Wook since I saw him in Coffee Prince.) The movie also made me really fucking want some cake.

I didn't do much during the day on Saturday. I would normally have had a Japanese lesson at the local culture center, but we had a break from lessons this week. I was going to try and go to the Mando Matsuri that was being held in my town instead, but it was raining too much. It's not quite as much fun to go to a matsuri in the rain. In the early evening, I met Joe and we got Mexican food in Ikebukuro. I don't usually crave Mexican, but it'd been so long since I'd last had it that I really wanted some. I had chicken quesadillas, which were good, but could've used more cheese. Food aside, I used this date to try and figure out my feelings about Joe and confirm a few things that I noticed the last time we went out together. He can be fun to talk with and banter back and forth, but I think there's just something that doesn't quite click with me. Occasional comments that don't quite sit well (generally just typical guy stuff; feeling the need to assert his masculinity, which implies that he's actually insecure in his masculinity, etc.). He also seems to enjoy jokingly commenting on the extent of my geekiness. I get the impression that he's only a video game geek, while I have a broader range of geeky interests. Dude, I get how geeky I am. There's no need to point it out every time you learn something new about how much of a geek I actually am. I did enjoy the fact that he paid for everything from dinner to ice cream to coffee and drinks last night. I also appreciated the fact that he's trying to show interest in music I like, like downloading GazettE's new album on iTunes to listen to it. I don't know though. Maybe I'm being overly picky like I tend to be with guys, I feel like there's something that's not quite there for me...which means that it's going to be up to me to tell him that the next time I see him. Always a fun task. I wouldn't mind continuing to be friends with him, but I don't think I want a relationship with him.

Yesterday, I met up with Leslie and Anna. We did a quick trip to the Pokemon Center. I didn't end up buying anything for myself, but I bought some stuff that Zury wanted (that she's going to pay me back for). Then, we went to Harajuku. We browsed a ton a places all over Takeshita Dori and the nearby area. I bought a kind of asymmetrical long black skirt at Closet Child and some new fishnets. I also had some delicious naan and chicken curry for lunch. Anna left slightly earlier than Leslie and I did. Leslie and I then stopped at a cafe on Takeshita Dori and had some iced tea (mine was honey and ginger, hers was milk tea) and cake. I was finally able to eat the cake I'd been wanting since Friday. We tried to do a little more shopping after that, but didn't end up buying anything else. It was fun to be able to go shopping again in Harajuku though!

My lessons are almost back to normal now that midterms are over. I looked back at my LJ entries and realized that I hadn't really mentioned midterms much (though I certainly did on Twitter). Midterms at my base school finished last week. I created the listening midterm, read it aloud to the students during the exam, and graded 300+ copies of it. It was a lot of work, but I learned a thing or two about grading and creating midterms that should hopefully make it easier for me next time.

I was going to post this entry last night, but I was too tired. My weekend was a bit busy, but it was fun.

On Saturday I had a second date with Yoichiro. Once again, I had a good time. I met him in Yokohama (because he also happens to live in Yokohama) because he'd offered to show me around the city. We lucked out because the weather said it was supposed to rain all day, but it only rained on and off a couple times. We started the day by getting lunch at McDonald's because I really wanted a hamburger (I've been craving them a lot here in Japan, probably because I hardly ever eat them here). We ended up just wandering around the city for a while after lunch. At one point we went to a game center and played a game of darts, which I (of course) sucked at, but managed not to score that badly through sheer dumb luck. Then Yoichiro and I made our way to the Yokohama Zoo, which was nice even if it was a bit on the small side. They had adorable red pandas! After the zoo, we ended up going to First Kitchen and getting bubble tea floats. We asked each other questions we had about English and Japanese while we ate. Then we went to Yokohama Chinatown, were we got some nikuman. We spent the rest of the evening wandering around Yokohama Bay and taking in the lovely night view. Yoichiro showed me his favorite spots to watch the bay and we sat and talked for a while. It was nice and relaxing. I could've sat  there for a long time if I hadn't had to catch the train back to Saitama. At the end of the night Yoichiro walked me back to the train station and made sure that I got to the correct ticket gate. I was so tired from walking everywhere when I got back home, but I didn't mind because I had a good day. I hope that Yoichiro and I get the chance to meet up again soon!

I met up with Leslie and Anna on Sunday to go to the Kawagoe Matsuri. It was a pretty cool festival. The three of us basically walked around taking turns buying and sharing delicious festival food, like karage, shaved ice, and sweet potatoes. There was so much delicious food and I wanted to eat all of it, even though that would be impossible. We were also able to see a few of the festival floats later in the day. I think there are around a dozen or so floats that they pull through the streets in various places around the festival. We weren't able to see it, but if two floats happen to meet up along the festival route they challenge each other to a musical battle. That would have been fun to see, but we were pretty tired and wanted to beat the crowds going home, so we left a bit early. I'd definitely like to go to some more festivals while I'm here in Japan.

( Here's a few pictures from this weekend. )