Travis and I went to another English service at Tsukiji Betsuin. Its really cool, they do services in English once a month. The ministers were so nice last time we went and the howa topic was how religion fits into your life, The only problem was the weather was TERRIBLE. It was pouring all day yesterday and I had to give myself a pep talk just to go outside. It was absolutely pouring...Probably the wettest day yet.
The actual temple was open this time, so we went to see the shrine. The hondo (main worship hall) was absolutely huge. It was so gorgeous. The shrine was equally impressive, there was a minister dusting it. He was standing on one of the main tables near the state of the Buddha and the flower arrangement was as big as he was...its hard to imagine, but really impressive. I'll post pictures when Travis loads his...
The service was good. Its weird because more so here than in the US, the gathas (songs) are sung with a very gospelish feeling. I've never really realized it at any other temples besides the one here in Japan. They sing the songs with more of a worshipping type of sound. Kind of hard to explain, but it reminded me of the Methodist services I've been to. Irrelevant, but anyways...
Its nice to have the religious aspect once in a while. I admit I don't go to service much in the US, but I think it is worth the time.
The ministers invited us to go out with them for dinner after. Lol unfortunately, we already had plans and reservations for nomihoudai with our friends. Haha.
We met Travis' dormmates and my friends to eat dinner and drink at Zest again. Travis called in a reservation for 20 people, but actually there turned out to be 23 of us. It was really crazy. We had a huge table. We were there from 8-10 and had a countless number of drinks and tequila hopper shots. By the time we were finished, everyone was doing really well.
After Travis and his friends went home. Lol we should have, but Kim had a friend who turned 21 last night, so all of us from Sophia went out to meet up with them. We met up with them and went to a Camelot, a club in Shibuya. Entrance fee is usually $25 for girls and $35 for guys, but AJ (b-day boy) had a coupon. So we all got in and got two drinks for $10! We probably got there at 11ish. At that point it wasn't too busy, but as the night wore on, it was packed. Interesting ppl there. LIke the Japanese were fine, but some of the foreigners were pretty weird. I'll talk about that in another post.
Since we missed the train, we were at the club from 11pm-4am...I don't know how people do it. So crazy, we were dead at the end. We caught the first train home at 4:45 am. It was so full. I was super surprised. I got home at 6 am. I saw the sun rise as I was riding the train back to my place...It was a very disgusting feeling...
Its so funny because walking home from the station people were already doing things in their garden or whatever. I hadn't even slept yet and they were already starting their day...
I talked to Reese then went down to take a shower. Haha I was already dressed and brought down my pajamas. Other girls were in their pajamas and changing into their clothes. It was ridiculous. I couldn't believe I was showering to sleep when for most of the world it was exactly the opposite.
I finally went to sleep at 8 am Sunday morning!!! I hadn't slept since Friday night...I set my alarm for 7 pm. Lol I won't be doing this again. Turns out I didn't even need my alarm. I woke up at 1 pm this afternoon...
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