Lost in Shinagawa Eki (3/27)

Today my brave act came as an accident. We were together trying to catch a train and I got lost/left behind. I was behind a group of kids who didn’t know how to put the ticket in the machine. So everyone else was way ahead by the time I got through. I looked around and didn’t see any of the five friends I was with. I looked around. Everyone was moving fast, wearing dark colors, and for the most part, no one stuck out, including the people I was with! I saw Travis’s backpack and started running after him. But the guy entered a shop in the station and that’s when I realized it wasn’t Travis at all. I went back to right inside the entrance to try to find them again. I thought, I don’t know where we were going, I don’t know the name of the city we were going to end up it, I don’t know the station number, AND I don’t have Val’s number. I couldn’t get worse then this…I finally decided to stay were I was left and look for them when they come back. Of course I thought they might not realize it till later. That was what I was most worried about. Before too long I saw Travis and Curtis. I couln’t have been that long, but it felt like forever. In the end, seeing them was one of the best feelings.

That night we went to Zest (a Mexican style cantina) for nomihodai. At a nomihodai you pay a set amount for all you can drink alcohol for a certain period of time. For example at Zest it was 15,000 yen (about $15) for two hours. We got there riding the last train at 11:30pm. Needless to say we got our money’s worth with the Tequilla Toppers and cocktails. I think we figured out later that we each drank at least 9 drinks each and ate a ton of chicken wings and other Mexican bar food.

My second brave thing for the day was taking my first double shot. It may seem trivial, but I’ve never been able to until tonight. Apparently the trick is to breath out before taking it. And it worked. I had plenty of practice with nomihodai as well.