Ann takes Kitakami!

So Saturday I planned to go to Kitakami to meet with my friends and coworkers. Hurdle #1: get on the right train. Since Devin was coming up from Sendai (well that branch he's actually in a different city) and I was coming down we decided to schedule it so that Kiwi James (who was picking us up at the station) would only have to make one trip. Devin's train ride was 2 hours long and he kept pushing to time back (which was fine for me as I was able to clean my apartment and do my laundry in the meantime).

So finally I got on my bike, pedaled down to the station and tried to get a train ticket. Luckily there was a nice officer in the train that helped me find the ticket office and then he told me platform number 5. There was a train waiting at platform 5 but as I was 12 minutes early I wasn't sure if it was my train. So I got on, and asked some teenage boys if it was the right train. All I said was, "Going to Kitakami?" They shrugged and then nodded. They got off the train and then they got back on and told me it was the wrong train. I had a momentary panic attack then this elderly gentleman sitting down was like, "Kitakami? Hai hai!" He, I'm assuming, chastised the boys for trying to trick me and they just laughed and high fived and got off the train again. Uhh... thanks. What's the point in doing that!? If I'd gotten off and missed my train... *shakes head*

So as the train started moving (I STILL wasn't sure I was on the right one) I watched its progress on my maps app. Gratefully it was the right train. Then I thought, "Hurdle number 2: get off at the right station." However with that maps app I realized that I would be able to easily see at which station we were stopping. So I listened to music and messaged some friends. As we approached Kitakami (it was a 50 or so minute train ride for me), I turned off my music. Sure enough they announced it was the Kitakami station (hurrah!), so I got off. I texted Devin to see where he was and he was still en route. So I waited for him to come in and 2 minutes later there he was stepping off his train! We then went to the East exit of the train station and Devin called James. Well apparently we got off at the wrong station (and exit) but considering James didn't tell us it was the OTHER Kitakami station, how were we to know!?

James' car

James and Limor picked us up and, get this, we drove to James apartment, then we took the train BACK to the station where we had JUST been (so we had to pay for another train) and then we walked to the ferry from there. Oh, before we went there, we went to the store. I bought popcorn (surprise!) and they all bought liquor.

At the Daiso - Some things are too funny to pass up. 'Nuff said!

Anyway, the ferry was expensive! But we thought, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and bought a one-way ticket (since Tenshochi is accessible by bridge we planned on walking back across that). So we paid our money and they took us to the other side of the river.

James, Devin, Limor (and me) waiting for the ferry

View from the ferry of Tenshochi

It was relatively easy from there to find everyone else. I took pictures of our group but they were more people there. With the laws the way they are I didn't feel safe taking pictures of Kelly's friends. (They came over from Australia to visit.)

A portion of our group - I love how Devin seems to be jealously eying James' cup

Marta, Patrick, James, Devin, and Limor

So we hung out in the rain in freezing FOREVER. Everyone brought food and we piled it up and shared and chatted and everyone drank except for me. James and Limor and Devin got pretty tipsy over some gin and tonic. So by the time we were walking to the bridge it was getting dark and most everyone was sort of stumbling around while I walked and enjoyed the trees and scenery.

Fish wind socks hung from Tenshochi to across the river

Our group walking in Tenshochi (which means "A site with superb views" according to a leaflet we got)

I love the rain!

The bridge we crossed

View from the bridge - fishies!

(I'm so sad this turned out blurry!) Our group (round the circle starting at the left) - Devin (with a sign he stole and dragged for blocks), Patrick, Marta, James, Allie, Kelly, Tom, and Limor

They decided we'd go to a restaurant and then a bar. It took us a LONG time to find a restaurant that had room for us and we actually ended up in more of a bar that had more food selection but more of a restaurant setting.

Walking to the restaurant - James & Devin arm in arm (that's Tom's back)

Had to take a pic for the name - Liquor Big Red (uhhh for what were you going?)

 In any case, they had beer after beer and I sat and ate some chicken katsu with Kelly. When the bill came they told me I owed and luckily Patrick spoke up and said, "But all Ann had was water and some chicken!" I still paid more than I had technically eaten but luckily not as much as everyone else. Everyone was fairly sloshed by then. Then off we went to a bar that James and Marta loved. There everyone drank some more and Devin ordered a burger. He got one bite of it - then he took off to have a walk around the block and everyone else finished his burger. They said it was really good. I couldn't in good conscience taste it. Without his permission - plus HE paid for it - I just dislike VERY much when people just take food off my plate/from me, so I don't do it to other people. At least, I try very hard not to do so. After that we went to karaoke. Karaoke was frustrating for me. I had ALREADY spent more than I wanted to spend and was feeling a little painted into a corner and they got the "all you can drink and karaoke" option and I wasn't allowed to pay a different rate for no drinking. They showed me all the soda they have (ya, I RARELY drink soda because the carbonation gives me migraines), and they had ONE juice. So Limor paid for me (I owe her $25 for that *sigh* SO expensive!) and I ordered the grapefruit juice and up we went. (The grapefruit juice was NOT grapefruit juice. It was FUNKY. It tasted like grapefruit juices smells... if that makes sense? It wasn't grapefruit juice at all.) The karaoke was pretty fun though I guess I picked obscure songs because everyone would sing everyone's songs until we got to mine. So I got to have several solos. When our hour was up, they called up and I said, "Let's go!" No no! Another hour. So that was added to my tab and we sang some more. When they called a third time, I tried to talk everyone out of it but they wouldn't listen. So when they guy came up to collect the money, I pointed to my nose and "smells bad." (Waved no Japanese-style) So he adjusted the price and I told Limor I would be downstairs reading. I made my excuses and ducked out. Allie ducked out at the same time. She had lost $60 from her wallet and had to go to an atm to get more cash. She left the building and I ended up going back up to sit on a bench near the room where everyone was singing. I could hear them through the wall! LOL In any case, I read my book (that mmm I had in my purse) until they were ready to go. Then we went downstairs and no Allie.

We waited out in the freezing for her (at this time it was after 2h00) but she didn't come and didn't come. Finally we decided we would go find her. Everyone else was starving so we went to a 7-11 and got food (well, they did). We looked and walked and called and walked and looked. By the time we found Allie it was 3h50! Then we all got cabs (yay! more money I hadn't counted on spending *sigh* - but I understand. The fines and jail time for drinking and driving here are quite severe. And if you're in a car that is driven by a drunk person, you also are persecuted for allowing them to drive. You suffer the same punishments to only a slightly lesser degree for riding a bike drunk!). James didn't know his address so we got dropped off at a 7-11 near his house. Then we walked to his place. While we had been on the street looking for Allie I confided to Devin that I felt like I was going to vomit. I was so intensely cold that my muscles were spasming and the ones around my stomach were making me SO nauseous. It would have been intensely ironic if the one sober person in the group was the first one to vomit! Luckily I didn't.

So when we got to James, we all tumbled into bed (bedding on the floor in James' spare room) and everyone fell asleep pretty quickly. I was just on edge. Some comments had been made during the night (of course everyone was drunk but they were still disconcerting - quite), and it just took me a while to get warm and feel safe and fall asleep. The rest of the story is in the pictures. :)

Funny moments:

When I was at the train station and finally had my ticket, I started to go through the gate and the machine turned all red and angry and started saying things at me in Japanese. I turned around, eyes wide, and that same guard who had helped me before was running up to me. I shook my head in confusion and he took my ticket and put it in for me. I apologized and he said it was ok and off I went. So then when I got off at Kitakami, I asked Devin what we were supposed to do with our ticket stubs. We saw those same kinds of gates we had entered before and put our tickets in. The machine spit them out and then made blaring sounds at us (like in game shows - uh uh)! Then we saw that everyone else was turning their ticket in to an agent and we sheepishly backed out of the gates and gave him our tickets apologizing. LOL I know what >I< woulda thought if I were a Japanese person watching us. Just WHAT do they think they're doing!? LOL

XOXO, Ann