the color black

So last night I went out to a bar in Nakasho, the same as last week, with nearly the same outcome: I didn't get to bed until well after 4am.

This time around it was because last night was the "Black Nabe Party", the reason being yesterday's date was kugatsu rokka, or simply put, kuro, or black in Japanese.

Thus if you were highly encouraged to show up wearing all black. Actually, if you did, you saved over 500yen, or the price of one drink, since the price for all-black wearers to eat was 696yen (yes, all 6s and 9s).

It was an interesting night, but combine the fact that there was a typhoon going on with the fact that it was a very interesting (read: sketchy) group of people who use lots of slang, I had a real hard time following the conversation. In fact, I didn't even understand half of it. This is a truly a drag, and definitely makes me realize I have a lot of studying left to do.

To make matters worse, this morning's first two classes were distaster. There was zero response to my call of "Good morning" in either class. It's supposed to be an English conversation class, but when nobody speaks, I might as well turn it into a Neil speaks Japanese and see if you can understand him class. Ridiculous. Days like these make it obvious that one year is more than enough for some JETs. If it wasn't for the amount of fun I have outside of school, the same would ring true for me too.

I didn't take very many pics because I forgot my camera, but took two with my keitai. I'll get them onto the computer and up for you to see the "blackness" of the party (and the nabe). Tonight's going to be an early night for sure.