Dream State

So it's been a minute...

I'll give you, my loyal friends, family, and strangers... a very brief rundown of what's been going on of late, but I'll dedicate this post to the following: A semi-detailed description of what a typical night out is in this crazy town, where trains stop at midnight and you have to wait until sunrise to catch a ride back, or dish out thousands of delicious dollars for an absurdly overpriced cab a lab.

In the last 60 seconds, my friend from America, the famous Kappo (Marque) has arrived in Japan. He will be teaching for ECC in Saitama, near Tokyo. He stayed with me for a few days before his departure to that region of Japan. The following events occurred between 7pm and 11am Japanese Standard Time...

Will this decision haunt me forever?

So Marque arrived, and I over-planned the limited time we had. I gave him a tour of my town, we frolicked across rice paddies and lake front piers while riding bicycles and holding pink ribbons across the many beaches of Biwa. After some scrumptious ramen, the kind of scrumptious that could make a man unfaithful, we headed off to Nagoya to meet up with Yukari, infamous femme fatal bartender of the one and only Cream Bar. We arrived a bit early and hit up ID bar instead. It's a popular multi level dance club/bar/gas chamber filled with trendy beautiful people. After listening to the typical American beats that Japanese venues have to offer, we said good bye to Lady Gaga, had ourselves about 4-5 free biiru's and went over to Cream.

The  popular and classy Yukster

Yukari was still working. With the alcohol settling in convenient pockets of brain matter, I was feeling loose enough to show the bar patrons my dance moves for an hour or so. Once people began begging me to stop I decided it was time to put the show on hold until I partake in a little more practice :x

I used to think I was a strong boy...The people in my town call me big city boy, because I grew up in D.C. and went to high school in New York. The truth is I suck hard. I lack the stamina and strength, at least right now, to keep up with these natives. With an early start of Suntory Brandy, plus the several drinks in ID bar, my eye lids seemed to disagree with me by 2 in the morning. Kappo and I head out to the nearest bench...30 minutes later, a call from Yukari woke me up. I found myself rising from an unconscious Kappo's lap in a very public area.

Do the bags under my eyes tell the time?

Off to bar number 3 X_x. We're practically carried and dragged over to Stepps Bar. Yukari hits the social scene, while Marque and I struggle to fight off Yakuza we've offended and continue drinking. I don't know where the rest of my drinks came from that night. Come to think of it. I paid for the bottle of Brandy we had, but after that and the first cover charge to the club, I don't recall actually buying another drink the entire night/morning. People kept handing me ruffi colladas and other cocktails. By god, there was more dancing. Except it was more of a foreigner fest of dogs fighting over a bone. I recall mingling and speaking English with a girl who had lived and studied in North America for sometime until a pack of 4 or 5 strays literally yanked her in multiple directions.

Dream Bar... pretty much a closet...I think I was sleeping vertically here

After a shrug of the shoulders, thinking it's not worth the effort at this hour and level of intoxication to do battle with sleazy foreigners for a simple conversation, we head off to Dream bar...bar number 4 of the night at around 3 or 4am to meet up with Mei, another friend and bartender who gets off at 6 O_o.

From Dream on the night begins to blur. I start to feel the sickness I've had for the entirety of June creep up on me, along with more alcohol. Liquor kills germs, right? Honestly, I don't remember too much except seeing other passed out comrades on velvet couches. Oddly enough, every club/ bar we went to in this section of Nagoya are owned by Africans... My favorite line of the night came from an intoxicated Marque as we entered the gateway into Dream, "Oh no, not more Nigerians..." I lol'd. Point for Kappo.

My favorite pic of the night...or ever...oh and I see someone in perpetual snooze in the background

So my time at Dream is hazy, more of the same: Talking, mingling, sipping on aluminum or glass, inhaling various fumes and second hand smoke, the occasional interesting person or conversation with a single serving stranger I'll likely never encounter again, who has the time? Am I right? Yeah...yeah I'm right ;)

BUT what I do recall is that dream is where I put the savage alcohol monster to rest. I start to sober up, as Mei gets off of work. Yukari, Mei, and Candy, (What names these girls have) carry Marque and me in stretchers to bar number 5 (Kennedy's). The sun has already risen an hour ago...one of the most disgusting feelings.  As, Marque and me hit the bar...with our foreheads...vicious foreigners swarm in attempts to dance with the girls. "Save me, Peter" they cry. I put on my robe and wizard hat and dance with them to block off any openings the evil doers may have had. At this point I'm so dehydrated and tired I only need to stand. My body shakes from fatigue so much, that I can just pass that off as dancing.

Sakae, the area of Nagoya where we lived...where we died...

10 or 11am roll around and it's time to throw in the towel. I can no longer raise my gloves. I excuse Marque and myself and we give our hugs, say our goodbyes. But at this level of delirium a trip home is no simple task. We fall asleep on one bullet train missing our stop and waking up all the way in Kyoto. We back track, but whoops, we hopped on the wrong train that does not stop at the stop required. Third time's a charm as we somehow make it to my town in the afternoon... good lord...what I sight we must have been.

Forget shame and pride. Nothing mattered by that golden grail I call a futon. With stains on our already sweat  embroidered clothes, eyes cracked open half a millimeter, and the most delightful complexions in the world, we drag our feet in a walk of shame kind of way and make it back to my apartment. We then proceed to literally sleep for almost 20 hours. I wake up feeling sicker than ever...good times :D

So that's a night on the town -_- sign a waiver, not for the feint of heart...so on...

In other news...I'm getting better at teaching, my apartment is slowly becoming more complete, I'm hanging out with locals more and experiencing more Japanese culture. I'm still doing battle with some sort of plague but I'm confident in my resolve. My life goes on...as does everything else...Catch you later ~