Random Monday blah...

My 18:15 student didn't show up. I wonder why. He must've been busy at work. I was looking forward to seeing him though.

Now, my 19:00 student also didn't show up. I wonder what happened to her. It was supposed to be our first lesson together.

Oh well, maybe another time.

Today has been quite an interesting day. It's super busy with 13 lessons, but I'm able to get through it because I managed to take a nap this afternoon. Haha!

In the morning, I stopped by Bake cheese tarts in Tokyo Station to buy a few pieces. They're not for me though. From Tokyo Station, I walked to nearby Marunouchi Building to deliver the tarts.

They were quite nice. Hehe.

Random blah...

Last Friday, I went out on a date. Wait, tbh, I'm not sure if it was a date. It was more of a meetup.

I chatted with this guy. He seemed interested. On Friday night, he said he'll wait for me to finish work. I said he shouldn't because I was going to finish work at 10PM. He said it was okay. Good sign, I thought.

We met up. We had a good conversation. We flirted a little.

He had to catch his train back to Shinagawa so we parted ways just before midnight. I didn't read too much into the whole thing.

The Whatsapp exchanges after that Friday night were sweeter.

Sunday was a highlight because we met up again and hung out for a few hours. It was really good.

We met up in Otemachi, walked around the Palace and Marunouchi. He had to take a work call for an hour. While he talked to his boss, I did some of my own work. After that, we continued our date.

Again, it was good.

I even told him that I enjoy hanging out with him because it was effortless. Seriously. It was. That’s the sign of a good date, I thought.

Add to that the fact that he was good on paper - Tokyo U grad, works for a good company, can carry a decent conversation, has a good sense of humor. Nice, right?

I dunno what happened though. Somewhere between the heavy snowfall last Monday and the drop in temperature today, something changed. Lol!

It really drives me nuts.

The other day I was talking with a co-instructor and we were talking about dating. Our conversation somehow led to talking about this particular kind of guy.

I said, “How long do I have to date this guy before I can finally read him?”

My co-instructor said, “You can date him for 2,000 years and you will still not understand him.” Haha!

Touché.

Taiko boy....

So, this is what I've been doing three Thursdays a month since July 2017.

Because I wanted to improve my Japanese language skills, I joined a taiko group. I think there are one or two other foreigners but both of them can speak Japanese. So, I'm kinda the only one who's struggling with speaking in Japanese. Lol!

Six months later, my Japanese hasn't improved that much but I can say that I'm able to do some taiko now. Lol!

Last weekend, the group joined a concert where other music groups also performed. Our group did four pieces. I was in two pieces.

Tbh, I wasn't that nervous because we really, really, really practiced before the performance.

It was a good experience.

Who would've thought I'd be doing this. Haha!

...

I joined because I wanted to feel included, but never have I felt more excluded.

The irony.

Food, food, food...

So, the other great thing about having friends in town is that I get to go to all these restaurants/food places around Tokyo.

Yeah, it's true Tokyo has a lot of fantab food but I rarely eat at these fantab places. First of all, I'm worried about putting on weight. My work usually has me tied to a desk for hours. Sooo, I don't think it's healthy to be eating ramen and tonkatsu and onigiri all the time. Haha! Second, I'm trying to do this intermittent fasting thing that my Richie has been doing. I fail most of the time but still, I try. Haha!

Anyway, so thanks to visiting friends, I was able to enjoy loads of Japanese food including okonomiyaki, seafood at Tsukiji Market, ramen (of course!), Japanese curry, Dominique Ansel's cookie shot and cronut, omurice, and so on and so forth.

I've yet to try Barbacoa. Hopefully, the next time my best friend is in town, we will get a chance to eat at Barbacoa. Haha!

A memorable second day of 2018...

The second day of 2018 was just as memorable.

Today, I got up really early. So did Moi and I-van because we planned to go to the Imperial Palace for the New Year greeting.

I'm glad that both Moi and I-van were up for the event.

It's such a memorable event for me: First, this is one of those rare opportunities that you get to enter the Imperial Palace grounds; Second, this is the last time to see Princess Mako. After she marries her fiancé this year, she will lose her royal title; Third, this is the first and probably only time I will get to see Emperor Akihito before he abdicates next year.

We queued for more than 2 hours (thankfully the weather was cool). We only got to see the Imperial Family for less than 10 minutes.

It was a very memorable experience though...

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu...

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

Good first day of the year!

The day started with breakkie in Ebisu. From Ebisu, I walked to Shibuya where I met up with I-van and Moi. It's Moi's first visit to Japan. His timing was very good.

After taking the mandatory photos with Hachiko, we walked to Harajuku area. Thankfully, the crowd at Meiji Shrine was bearable soooo we actually got to do hatsumode, or the first shrine visit for the New Year. I guess it's one of the parallelisms between Catholicism and Shintoism - going to the church/shrine to pray for the New Year.

From there, we walked around Omotesando and Aoyama. However, most of the shops were closed since it was January 1.

We went to Kyu Shiba Rikyu so Moi can see a Japanese garden but it was also closed. Hehe! Instead, we headed to Tokyo Tower and passed by Zōjō-ji along the way.

Our final stop was Shibuya where we met up with Frances. We had dinner at a semi-izakaya place. I made the guys try various kinds of kushiyage which they liked. Yahoo!

Nice first day of 2018!