On Saturday I went with Masa to his favorite udon shop in Kagawa Prefecture. I think the drive out there took about an hour and a half. The scenery along the way was very nice, mostly mountains and forests. During the drive we talked about a variety of things. Mostly we talked in English, but Masa encouraged me to use Japanese for a while, so we tried that as well. I think he assumes I understand a lot more than I actually do. Because he asked the same questions most people ask, I was able to answer, but whenever we tried to have a more normal conversation, I didn't understand what was going on. However, trying out my Japanese with Masa is convenient because if I don't understand something he says, he can usually translate it into English for me. Although Masa's grammar can be a little strange, it's generally quite easy to understand what he's getting at.
The udon shop we went to was medium sized; there were a few tables and many seats at the counter. Masa said he used to go there all the time when he was in high school. One of the waiters actually recognized him even though he hadn't been there in maybe two years. We each had udon with beef in it, and it was tasty. Apparently the typical style of udon aficionados in Kagawa is to stop at two different shops for one meal, having a small serving of udon at each shop. We decided just to have a regular sized serving at one shop, instead. After eating, we hopped in the car for some sightseeing. Masa suggested that we either go to Konpira or Oboke and Koboke. Since I'd been to Konpira with Hollie and Amy, and didn't fancy climbing the hundreds of stairs again while wearing high heels, I voted for Oboke and Koboke. I don't think it was what Masa wanted to hear, since he more or less asked, "Are you sure? It's just rocks." But he didn't complain, and we set our sights for Oboke.
We drove for quite a while, still chatting about whatever came into our heads. Between having a full stomach and riding in a warm car, I started to get sleepy. Masa told me I could take a nap if I wanted, but I was interested in the scenery. Along the way, Masa told me a bit about Oboke and Koboke, and I started to realize that maybe I had been there before. In fact, I was pretty sure I had been there with Takashi. Masa asked if I had been to Kazurabashi (the vine suspension bridge). Yes, yes I had. It was kind of fortunate that Masa didn't ask when I had been there, or else I would've had to explain that I had gone just the weekend before on a date with another guy. That might've been slightly awkward.
However, those concerns became something of a moot point. We didn't make it to Oboke; we got lost. Somehow we ended up on a tiny road winding up the side of a mountain. I think it would've eventually gotten us somewhere, but after a while, Masa noticed a different problem; he was nearly out of gas. The indicator was blinking. I tried to think to myself where I had last seen a gas station, but I couldn't remember one. We had passed through several very small towns before starting up the mountain road, but were any of them large enough to have a gas station? And did we have enough gas to get back to it? I started to wonder how long it would take us to walk back to the nearest town if we ran out of gas. Things didn't look too promising. We turned the car around and headed back down the mountain. Both of us were pretty nervous, but I think it was probably worse for Masa than it was for me. In the end, we made it back to the main road and found a gas station. What a relief!
At this point, we had lost a lot of time, so we found our way back to the highway and headed for home. Along the way we stopped at another place I had been with Takashi, the town with Japan's #1 Cedar. When we went into the rest stop to get ice cream, I wondered if the same employees would be there, and if they would remember me. But there were different people working that day, so my question went unanswered. Probably another stroke of luck. We had yuzu soft serve ice cream and enjoyed a view of the river before heading on our way.
When we got back to Kochi, we stopped at Aeon Mall for takoyaki. Takoyaki are little fried dumplings with a piece of octopus in the middle. They're fairly tasty. I didn't actually want any, but I could tell that Masa really wanted to get some, so I had some too. If I had said that I didn't want takoyaki, Masa probably wouldn't have had any either. Masa decided to encourage me in using my Japanese by having me order the takoyaki for us. It was kind of annoying to feel like I was being tested, but ordering food is something I'm reasonably good at, so I kept my mouth shut. Masa was so impressed when I managed to get food for us. Sometimes it's hard not to feel like I'm being patronized, but I know that wasn't his intention.
That's one thing that I don't really enjoy about spending time with Masa; he does make me feel like a foreigner. He comments on all the things that make me an outsider here, and talks about how "unusual" I am. To him I'm sure they're just interesting topics of conversation, but being the foreigner, it's a little alienating. He also acts impressed by the stupidest things, like the fact that I can eat with chopsticks. And it's not as if I use them well; he's impressed that I can use them at all. These are the kinds of reactions most ALTs get from the people they meet. There's nothing blatantly offensive about it, but it grates on your nerves. After going on dates with Takashi, who managed to make me feel like a normal person, being treated like a foreigner by Masa is suddenly that much more disappointing.
Anyhow, after having our takoyaki, we headed to my apartment to meet up with Julie and Sasha. The next thing on our agenda was dancing. Julie and Sasha would be staying at my place for the night, and I had left the key where they could find it since they were likely to arrive before Masa and I would get back. I introduced Julie and Sasha to Masa, and he waited patiently while the three of us girls got ready to go out. Once we were all put together, we went to Hirome to meet up with Alex, a Spanish grad student who helped out with Genki. He's not a JET, but he is friends with a lot of JETs. We met a few of Alex's Japanese friends and had a drink before moving on to One Love.
One Love is a club that plays mostly hip hop music. The dance floor isn't huge, but it's better than most places. This was the first time Sasha and Julie had been there, and they were pretty happy with it. Masa also likes to dance, so we all had a fairly good time. There were a lot of guys there for some reason. The maddening thing about a lot of guys here is that they will stare, and you can tell they're interested, but then they won't approach you. And if you approach them, they get scared. Obviously that's not true of all guys, but it's very common. Julie and Sasha tried to interact with some of the guys, but mostly just enjoyed dancing with us friends. We stayed at One Love until maybe 1 or 1:30 am. By that point Julie and I were pretty tired and our feet were killing us. Dancing in heels is kind of a stupid idea, really. Sasha still wanted to stay out for a while, so Sasha went with Alex and Masa to check out other places, and Julie and I headed for home.
Before going home, Julie and I stopped at Van Burger. I'm not sure it actually has a name, but it's a van that a guy makes and sells burgers from. It's a one man operation. The burgers are really good, especially after you've been out all night. While we sat on a bench in Obiyamachi and ate our cheeseburgers, it seemed like everyone who passed by stared at us. We were kind of dressed up, and we were foreign, so I guess it was bound to happen. But it felt very strange. One guy stared at us, looked away, did a double take, looked away again, and then looked at us one more time. It was kind of ridiculous. Anyhow, once we finished our burgers, we caught a taxi home.
All in all, it was a decent Saturday. I think I'd been hoping it would be more fun than it actually turned out to be, but it was still a pretty good day. I'm finding that maybe I'm not romantically interested in Masa. He's a cool guy, and while I consider him very handsome, I'm just not feeling it. I hope we can be friends, though. Given that he didn't seem to be paying a ton of attention to me when we went out dancing, I kind of wonder if he might not feel the same way. I guess we'll see. Anyhow, that was my Saturday.
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