New Year's Eve in Kochi

Yesterday, I caught a train back to Kochi and Mom and Brett headed home to the U.S. I was sad that they were leaving, and suspected that I might have a rather depressing night ahead of me. It seemed unlikely that anyone else would be in Kochi for New Year's Eve. However, I went to the mall and ran into two other ALTs, Soeng and Josh. They told me that there would be parties at Kochi Castle and at Dahlia, a club near Harimayabashi. That was a huge relief to hear; I didn't have to be alone if I didn't want to.

So, that evening I got dressed up, applied an ungodly amount of makeup, and headed out to party. I stopped by Hirome Ichiba but didn't see anyone I knew. After wandering around there for a few minutes, I headed on to Dahlia. When I arrived, it turned out that the club wasn't open just yet, but I ran into Soeng and Josh again at a nearby convenience store. We had a beer while waiting and decided to go to the party at Dahlia rather than at the castle. According to Josh's phone, the temperature was zero degrees.

There weren't a ton of people at Dahlia, but it does have a rather nice dance floor, so we hung around there until midnight. There was a countdown complete with party poppers. Somehow, I went the whole evening without drinking any champagne. Maybe that's not a tradition here. At midnight, the bartenders came around with free shots of something or other. A little after midnight, we decided to move on to Onzo, a club along Obiyamachi.

Onzo is smaller than Dahlia and had a larger crowd in attendance, so it was fairly packed. The bar area is roughly the size of the downstairs living room at Mom and Dad's, I think. There's also a very small dance floor. Soeng and Josh left a bit before I did; I stayed behind and danced for a while. In general, strangers get friendlier and more talkative as they've had more to drink, and this was no exception. I had a few random girls tell me in English that I was "beautiful" and "sexy girl", which cracked me up. I danced with a guy who occasionally would exclaim ( in English), "Oh shit!" I'm fairly sure it was an expression of enthusiasm, but that also made me laugh. I gave him a kiss on the cheek on my way out of the bar; it was New Year's, after all, and I hadn't gotten a kiss at midnight. I went home a little after 2 am.

I've spent most of today reading, napping and watching anime, so I'd say I'm off to a rather lazy start this year. But I have a few more days of vacation time in which to do practical things like laundry and cleaning, so I'm not too worried. Happy New Year, everyone, and may it be a good one!