Wow what a day!

Yesterday was pretty much one of the craziest days I've had here. I got a call from Casey around noon, saying that some of his labmates had talked him into participating in a marathon which went around the campus of Osaka University. I ran up to the school to take his running shoes and a few other things to him. I ended up staying and watching the race, too- he did well, especially for never running like that before! It was a fun experience, although he was exhausted afterward. After the race, he decided that it would be good to go home and relax his muscles a bit. We were riding our bikes down the hill that leads to our apartment, and at the intersection there was this dude on a moped that was too busy paying attention to oncoming traffic so he could merge, and Casey was extremely close to hitting the moped with his bike so he hit the brakes. Unfortunately, he hit the front wheel brake instead of the back one, and his bike stopped and he went flying over it into the street. Thank GOD he was okay... it could have been a lot worse, but he cut up his hands pretty badly and skinned his knee and both elbows, through his clothing. It was a pretty scary moment. We came back to the apartment and tried to assess the damage... he lost some feeling in his hands for awhile, but it was mainly because it was so cold outside and he didn't have gloves on.
He is doing better now, though... if you know Casey, you know he's pretty tough, and he's used to getting hurt so it doesn't phase him much. I think the adreniline kicked in and that's what freaked him out the most. I was pretty freaked out myself because I saw him fly over his bike and slide into the street. I thought we were going to have to take him to the hospital. Again, thank GOD he is okay!!!!
So yesterday afternoon we took it easy, ate some dinner, and got ready to go out to meet a bunch of the group we had met on New Years. They invited us out because one of the girls from Australia (named Casey, actually) is leaving to go home on Wednesday and they were all going to Club Pure. Casey and I had been there with Jeff and Gopal before so we thought it sounded like fun.. we also hadn't been out since New Years so it was nice to socialize, esp. with people we knew a least a little bit.
Club Pure is basically a meat market... there are tons of people (Do they care about fire codes here? You wouldn't know by looking at the amount of people in the club!) So we drank a little and danced quite a bit, but I basically liked to people-watch the whole night. I think part of that was because there were some scary people around and I had to be aware of what was going on. Squeezing past people to get to the bar, bathroom, etc. was difficult because if you were too close to a guy he would think you were trying to dance with him. This is not the place for couples, in my opinion. Being married at a place like that is sorta strange because even if people see a ring on your finger they don't really pay attention. I just tried not to make too much eye contact with any of the guys and get where ever I was going. At one point in the night, Kim and Paul, a couple we met on New Years, told us they were going to go find a place to sit. We lost them so Casey found a room and told me to go figure out where they were and tell them we had found a place. What a mistake. Someone grabbed my butt in the process of me trying to get past all of the people... and I didn't manage to see who did it because there were so many people around me. Then two really tall guys asked me if they could beat anyone up for me so I could get through the crowd. I just wanted to find Kim and Paul and get the hell out of there! I finally found them upstairs so I had to make my way back to Casey to let him know where they were. It was gross. Between squeezing past people making out everywhere and trying not to get groped, I was just thankful that we were going to go sit down and not have to be in the middle of that much longer.
Upstairs, something really random happened. I started talking to a random girl and found out that her friends were from Kansas and went to KU. Then she brought her friend over and we started chatting about Kansas, and I told her I went to Topeka High. She then told me that she was roommates with a girl that I was pretty good friends with in high school! Wow, it's a very small world. It turns out she is living in Kyoto and has a 2 story house to herself. She invited me to come stay with her and go out with her soon. If I remember correctly, she is teaching (I think English) and is pretty busy, so I'm not sure if we'll get the chance to meet up again before I leave. However, it would be awesome- we were both really excited to meet each other, esp. because we had a mutual friend! (If any of my THS people are reading this, her roommate was Anna Gregory!) Crazy stuff.
So about an hour before the club was set to close, Casey was getting pretty tired (and who can blame him after all the things he did yesterday!?) so we decided to leave. We went to a gas station and got some food to munch on since we had about an hour before the trains would start up so we could go home. We were sitting on the side of the street when a random Japanese guy walks up to us and starts asking us questions. Casey was eating a bowl of ramen with chopsticks, and for some reason the guy was really interested in it and took a picture of both of us- esp. Casey while he was using the chopsticks. The guy knew a little bit of English but he mainly spoke to Casey in Japanese. It's pretty impressive, actually- Casey knew quite a bit more than I thought he did (and he's been worried because his labmates mainly speak English at school so he hasn't had much practice with Japanese lately). I think maybe that experience renewed his confidence. Anyway, the guy stuck around and talked to us for maybe 15 or 20 minutes. A few other Japanese people walked by during this time and looked interested as well- one big guy (looked a little like a Sumo) kept walking by and listening to the guy speak Japanese with Casey. Kinda weird, but the guy was really nice, and Casey felt good afterward.
After that we hopped on the train, came home, and crashed (but not literally this time). Bad joke. Oh- another thing about last night that I didn't mention- I was wearing a skirt, and we decided to ride our bikes to the train station on our way out. Ummm.. yeah. It took a while for me to thaw my thighs after that experience.. I see girls riding a bike with their skirts and high heels on all the time here, but had never tried it before until then. Never again!!!!! Very very bad idea. :) That's enough of that.
Tonight we are going out with Tomoko and her husband (the surgeon) for dinner. I think we are going to have peppered steak or something... looking forward to it!
I should get going now... that's quite a bit for one evening. Blogging is so much more interesting when there's actually something to write about! ;)

-Ashley

PS: We bought a disposable camera for last night (39 exposures...!) so it'll be awhile before any of those pictures are up... if ever. I will definitely scan anything of interest when I get back to the US. :)