Archive for category Friends and coworkers
September 30, 2005 – Bad news from home
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers on September 30, 2015
Buzz Lucky: Ryan, Christian, Phil, Mike
There is no worse way to start off your day than to get a phone call informing you that one of your friends has suddenly died. My mom called me telling me to call my friend Janet in Winnipeg as soon as possible. This was an unusual request, so I suspected that something wasn’t right.
I called Janet and she told me that Christian Schlosser had died suddenly during a rec volleyball game. During the game, Christian fell over suddenly and stopped breathing. Some of the other players were lifeguards and started CPR immediately. Even with the immediate attention, Christian didn’t make it. He was in his early 30s. It was a shocking event for everyone there, and completely unexpected.
I had met Christian through mutual friends in university. We weren’t close friends, but got along well and had spent many hours together playing dungeons & dragons. Christian was also one of the early members of our Thursday night chicken wings group.
I toyed with the idea of staying home from work, but in the end I decided that there was nothing I could do at home, and that working would keep my mind occupied. There wasn’t a lot I could have done if I was in Canada, but it’s still no fun being half way around the world when something terrible happens.
Good bye Christian, you will be missed by everyone who knew you.
(2015 Update) The picture above shows Christian singing and playing guitar with Buzz Lucky, a band that he formed with a few friends.
September 29, 2005 – Free show
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan, Movies on September 29, 2015
There was a very loud argument which almost turned into a fight outside my apartment building after work. This is a very rare thing to see in Japan, so naturally Palmer and I cracked a beer and watched from our balcony. Many of the neighbours were doing the same thing (although most weren’t drinking beer at the same time).
The highlight of the confrontation was when the loud drunk guy ran full speed into a fence for no apparent reason. Ouch! He got up and kept arguing, and eventually the show ended and everyone went home.
After that we had a few beers and watched Requiem for Dream, which is a really good, incredibly artistic, and very depressing look at addiction. No, I didn’t miss the irony of drinking beer while watching a movie about the dangers of addiction.
September 25, 2005 – The world’s funniest burger
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers on September 25, 2015
Another week, another farewell party. One of the teachers from Fuji school requested a transfer to a branch near Kyoto. As with other teacher farewells, we got a gang of teachers and students and went out in Fuji for some (many) drinks and some (lots) or karaoke. The party got particularly lively.
I learned that drunk people should really not attempt to use the karaoke machine remote. It’s very easy to type in the wrong number, and the “cancel song” button looks very similar to the “backspace” button. Canceling a song that someone is singing is bad form!
I also learned that the average karaoke room table is not a good place to stand, especially when it is covered in spilled beer. Fortunately nobody was hurt during the sudden fall to the floor, although some additional beer got spilled.
Another observation was that karaoke places do not have enough bathrooms when you really need one. Some of the teachers decided to take out their frustration by throwing around toilet paper rolls that were awkwardly stored outside the very slow bathroom. This is fun, but not a great way to behave in public.
Discussing politics while drunk is NEVER a good idea. It’s an especially bad idea with a group of people from different countries where words like “conservative” and “socialist” have different meanings. Fortunately karaoke was very loud, and it helped cover up the pointless political debate.
After cleaning up as much of our mess as possible, the teachers ended up at the nearby convenience store to get some snacks for the train ride home. I found a selection of heat and serve burgers in the baked goods section of the convenience store, which for some reason I found hilarious. When I say hilarious, I mean I literally felt that this burger, in a wrapper that said “burger” in both English and Japanese, was the funniest thing I had ever seen. I couldn’t stop laughing.
As funny as I found the burger, my brain was still sober enough to realize that it probably wouldn’t be very good. After making an impassioned 5 minute sales pitch, I finally did convince another teacher to buy the burger. I expected it to be terrible, which would have been funny (for me). He told me it was one of the best burgers that he had ever eaten, and wouldn’t offer a bite so I could taste it. This turned out to be funny for him.
Like a previous trip to Fuji, we ended up taking the late train home. There are going to be a lot of sore people in the morning.
(2015 Update) I still don’t know why I found that burger to be so funny, and I never worked up the courage to eat an convenience store reheatable burger.
September 4, 2005 – Get out of my room!
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Koalako, The Penpal on September 5, 2015
I woke up in the morning hungover and tired after traveling 9000km to attend Angie’s farewell party. My phone was buzzing – The Penpal had the day off and wanted to see me since I had been away for 2 weeks. I was looking forward to it, but the only problem was I was not alone in my room – Koalako was sleeping on my futon.
Don’t get the wrong idea friends, Koalako slept on the futon and I slept on my folding floor couch. Nothing happened except sleeping, and I assume some drunk snoring (likely from me).
Koalako was a good friend of Angie, and wanted to stay out at the farewell party as late as possible. However, the last train from Mishima to Atami is a lot earlier than the last train from Mishima to Numazu. Near the end of the party she realized that her only way home was a potentially very expensive taxi ride, so she asked if she could stay at my apartment. I agreed, not really thinking about how it would look if my girlfriend showed up to find my attractive female friend sleeping in my room.
I woke up Koalako and told her that she would have to be out before The Penpal showed up. While she attended to her makeup, I ran across the street to 7-11 to pickup some onigiris for breakfast and some sports drinks to aid with our hangovers. My beverage of choice for hangovers is Amino Supply! Yum!
I got Koalako out just before The Penpal showed up. The Penpal and I spent the afternoon together, hanging out and talking about my trip to Canada. I hadn’t realized how much I missed her while I was away. It was good to be back home in Japan!
(2015 Update) This was the first of a few times where I was Koalako’s emergency “I missed my train and need a place to crash” friend. Yes, The Penpal does know that Koalako crashed at my place on occasion.
September 3, 2005 – Farewell party 9085km away
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers on September 4, 2015
My coworker Angie had her farewell party tonight. She was finished teaching in Japan, and ready to return to Scotland. Everyone loved Angie; she was a lot of fun to work with and to spend time with outside the office. When I left Japan suddenly to visit my sick sister in Canada, I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it back in time for Angie’s farewell party. I am proud to report that despite starting my day off in Canada, I managed to make it to the party!
I started my day in Winnipeg at 5:30am on September 2 (7:30pm Japan time). My flight left Winnipeg at 7:00am (9:00pm Japan time) and arrived in Vancouver at 8:10am (just after midnight September 3 in Japan). After a few hours of waiting in Vancouver airport, I was back in the air and bound for Tokyo Narita airport.
My flight was smooth and uneventful, unlike the flight to Vancouver a few weeks ago. I landed at 3:30pm Japan time and proceeded to the lines for immigration and customs. My magical gaijin card allowed me to pass through the resident line, which is always much shorter than the foreigner line.
From Narita airport, I took the Narita express to Tokyo station, the shinkansen to Mishima, and Tokaido line to Numazu. With memories of pulling my giant suitcase fresh in my mind, I decided to treat myself to a taxi from the station to my apartment.
For those who are unfamiliar with Japan, addresses are really only meaningful to mail carriers. If you are going to take a taxi, be prepared to give landmark directions. I told my taxi driver to drive towards Seiyu, turn left at the lights, and my apartment was across from 7-11 in a yellow building. The taxi driver complimented me on my Japanese and tried to engage me in a conversation, which was a bit beyond my skill level. At least I got home quickly.
Once I got home, I started to get a second wind. I had a quick shower to wash off the now 24+ hours of travel, pounded back an energy drink, and then rode my bicycle to Numazu station. For the second time today I boarded Tokaido line, this time towards Mishima. From the station it was a short walk to the izakaya where Angie’s party was already in full swing.
I arrived at the party, 9085km from where I started my day, and received a hero’s welcome. Angie was particularly happy to see me, and Koalako had saved a seat and made sure that my drink order was attended to quickly.
Fun fact: I was wearing a new t-shirt that said “kiss me I’m loaded” across it. This both started a fun debate on whether loaded meant “drunk” or “rich”, and also got me several kisses, mostly from women.
Like most farewell parties, the second party was at a nearby karaoke room with more drinks. Karaoke lasted until the last train came around, and I got a big hug from Angie before we left. I was exhausted by the end of the evening, but happy that I was able to make it to the party. I am going to miss Angie!
August 28, 2005 – Food with friends
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Return to Canada on August 28, 2015
After waking up in the dirty, dirty fraternity house, I got cleaned up and went for brunch with some friends. We went to Perkins, which was a regular eating experience during my university days. Perkins was popular with students because it was close to campus and some popular campus bars, and it was open all night.
Going back as an employed adult during the day is far less enjoyable. The food wasn’t great, but the visit with my friends was.
After brunch I spent some time visiting my sick sister, and then returned to my parents’ house in Portage la Prairie.
August 6, 2005 – Pretending to be asleep on the train
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan on August 6, 2015
The whole area is short on teachers right now, so I got stuck with 3 group kids classes. Boo!
After work I went to a farewell party at a small town near Mt. Fuji. As usual, the first party was at an izakaya where everyone filled up on beer and food. We took a short train ride to Fuji City for the second party, which was at a karaoke room we usually go to.
The last regular train back to Numazu from Fuji is at 12:15am. However, that’s not the last train. There is also a 2:30am night express train. The night express has reserved seats, and costs more than the regular Tokaido line train. We were concerned that we would have to buy seat reservations or pay extra, but one of the more experienced teachers assured us that everything was okay, and told us to just buy the standard 320 yen one way ticket.
It turns out that our strategy for beating the extra fee was to all congregate outside the washroom at the end of the train, and pretend to be sleeping. This way if a ticket checker came along, he might be reluctant to wake up a group of sleeping gaijins that smelled of beer to get us to pay the extra fee. If we had all been more sober, we probably would have felt a bit conflicted about our decision, but it was 2:30am and we wanted to go home. Fortunately we got all the way to Numazu without running into the ticket checker!
(2015 Update) There are plenty of ways to cheat Japan Rail, but that doesn’t mean you should do them*. This is how foreigners get bad reputations in Japan! Do the right thing and pay full price!
*Unless it’s an emergency
July 31, 2005 – Raw horse
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan on July 31, 2015
Today was supposed to be a big double birthday party combined with watching fireworks at Numazu summer festival, however almost everybody ended up cancelling at the last minute. We ended up taking a small group to an izakaya called Uotami across from Numazu station.
The usual izakaya of choice for English teachers is Ryuu, which offers cheap beer and sushi in a no frills, tatami mat and low table environment. Uotami is a big step up on decor: upon entering you walk over a glass floor positioned above a zen rock garden. The tables are all sunken in the floor, and the booths offer a lot more privacy. The food menu is also much larger, in line with other big chains like Watami.
One of the other teachers and I noticed that the menu featured basashi, which is slices of raw horse meat (yes, horse!) served like sashimi. I had never eaten horse in any form before, so I was interested in trying. We decided to order it and not tell anyone else.
When the food arrived, we got a plate with thin slices of red meat, looking similar to some types of tuna. People started asking what kind of fish it was, and I told them to try it and let me know what they thought. We all dove in with our chopsticks.
In my opinion, raw meat isn’t nearly as good as raw fish. The meat was slightly stringy and slimy, and didn’t have the same nice flavour that raw fish does. After almost everybody had tried some, I made the big reveal that we had just eaten horse. One of the teachers thought we were joking, and another was actually pretty upset. Most of us had a pretty good laugh about it.
There are a few important lessons here:
- Don’t trick people into eating things, even if it’s funny. (well, unless it’s really really funny and you know the person well)
- Just because you enjoy raw fish doesn’t mean you will enjoy raw meat
- Some people are really upset about the idea of eating horse.
Drinking in Japan 
Recent Comments