In the house, Off with the clothes

It is soooooooo hot these days! It must be around 80-something but I am getting to the point where I cannot stand it. There is no air-conditioning and everything is so sticky and gross. I guess I only have do deal with it for a little longer...

Yesterday I participated in a special ICC group outing. We went to Shin-Okubo to check out the minorities living there. It is one of the few places where non-Japanese people gather and live. Very similar to any China-town-USA. There were 2 groups of about 8 people each who each had 3 tour guides. My tour guides just happened to be the coordinator Nathan and best friends Ryota and Marie. They took us to a couple ethnic stores, supermarkets, and buildings. We got to see that there are more than just Koreans living in Okubo. Once it was all over, all of the participants went home and the guides all had dinner at a yaki-niku place. I was the only one of the participants left... Anywho, the food was pretty good. It was my first time having real Korean yaki-niku. The Japanese version is slightly different in that they use a lot of beef instead of pork. Yum yum!

Today right after I woke up, Nathan and Andrew showed up. Andrew wanted me to put custom firmware on his PSP. He paid me some $$ and I did it for him. This time only took about 45 minutes. Getting faster! After that I hopped in the shower and headed over to Milton's house for a party.

The party was really weird. Milton's host father is apparently some sort of professor at a nearby university. He had invited some 40 students that are in his class for a party. Then there were the typical group of 8 foreigners from Waseda huddled in a corner playing Go-Fish. For food, the students had made 1000 gyoza. You heard me, 1000!!! I ate way more than I could count! There were also various drinks around that we helped ourselves too.

I think my tolerance for alcohol has gone way up since I got here. At the party I had 4 beers over the course of an hour and a half and did not feel drunk at all. There was no dryness of the mouth, no noticable loss of moving skills, and no getting tired. It makes me wonder if there really was booze in them... I dunno what will happen when I return and party with my friends. I'll be the only one not drunk!

When the party was beginning to end, Kyle invited people over to his house to play Smash. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity. It turned out that only Laura and I went to play. Kyle lives on the Chuo line about 30 minutes out of Shinjuku. His host family is really nice and welcoming. We played for a good couple hours before heading home.