As summer approached, the snow and ice in Kamloops started to melt away slowly. Like the snow and ice that pass by, the same could be said for some of my Japanese friends; Eiji, Pamella and Yasutaka returned to Japan for their summer holidays. Knowing that great guys like them were not here to accompany the remaining of us here in Canada, we knew that summer would be slightly quiet than usual. Conversely, when Yoshitaka received "intelligence" stating that sixteen new students from Japan would be coming to Thompson Rivers University for the summer, all was not lost as this could mean possible expansion of my social network. On top of that, Yoshitaka reported that all of the new Japanese students were apparently girls. Like the rest of my Japanese guy friends, I thought that this would be interesting. Yoshitaka and Teppei volunteered for the university's orientation program of the new Japanese students, for some obvious reasons. The orientation lasted for two days and on one warm morning, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with them in front of the Campus Activity Center building, where we sat on the soft green grasses (which we hoped had no dog shit on it) and talked about their orientation experience. Teppei and Yoshitaka had a guest with them who apparently participated in the orientation as well; her name was Ran and she was from Japan as well. Like most of my friends, she usually hangs out at my "pub" every Saturday night in the previous semester but I never talked to her back then due to my shy behavior. However, that day she initiated a conversation with me and the next thing I knew, we were already talking. The three of them informed me about a lunch to welcome the new students that will occur a couple of days from now; in addition to that, they extended the invitation to me which I thought was generous of them. According to them, the lunch would be held in an Indian restaurant in downtown. I had mixed opinion on their decision to organize the welcome lunch in an Indian restaurant.I can see the robust idea behind allowing the new Japanese students to try something new. On the other hand, I was worried about whether they could handle the spiciness of the Indian cuisine since most of my Japanese friends whom I know is unable to eat spicy food. Initially I wanted to raise my concern but since I was not the one who participated in the orientation or the one who helped in organizing the lunch, I thought it would be wise for me to shut up.
Japanese in Taj Mahal
On the day of the lunch, I took a bus ride with Yoshitaka from Thompson Rivers University to the main bus stop in downtown; once we reached there, we rendezvous with Ran and Teppei. It wasn't long before all sixteen new Japanese students arrived and it was then I finally saw them with my own eyes. Of course I did not approach them and introduce myself immediately to them seeing that I was a nervous wreck and a shy guy. You might be wondering what's the point of attending the lunch if I don't talk to any of the new students; let's just said that I wanted to spend more time with Teppei, Yoshitaka and Ran. Getting to know the new students would be a bonus for me which I didn't expect. After the new students exchanged greetings with one another, Teppei, Ran and Yoshitaka coordinated the group and before we knew it, we were on our way to the Indian restaurant. Once we reached the Indian restaurant (which I vaguely remember the name...), we had a problem welcoming us at the doorstep of the restaurant; it was a full house and there were not enough seats for all of us. We decided to wait and after patiently waiting for five or six minutes, several of the restaurant's patrons left and we had empty seats coming in. Soon after that, we had seats for everyone and lunch commenced shortly after that; the Indian restaurant that day were serving buffet and boy was I lucky to be there. With just fifteen dollars, I could eat all I can which wasn't any problem for me seeing that I am a veteran when it comes to eating spicy food unlike my Japanese friends (which I was worried...). During lunch, conversations in Japanese echoed throughout the restaurant and instead of joining in the conversation (seeing that I can't speak Japanese fluently), I listened carefully to them and identified the Japanese vocabulary that I've learned in my introductory Japanese class last semester. The only time I decided to join in the conversation was when someone mentions my name and when I asked either Yoshitaka, Teppei or Ran about what they said about me (it's not like as if I'll get an honest answer all the time...). It so happened that I wasn't the only non Japanese at the buffet as there was also this girl from Thailand who joined us as well. She was Ran's roommate and her name was Kwahnchanok; she appeared to be very quiet which I wasn't surprised given her similar state as mine. Although, the both of us could have talked together since we were the only non Japanese speaking students, I decided to pass on that thought and continue remaining quiet seeing that I'm not very keen of initiating a conversation. After 2 hours of buffet, the most of us knew we reached our limit and anything beyond that would have us throwing up or changing for new underwear. Each of us paid our bill separately before we left the restaurant. Before we dispersed, Teppei came up with another interesting plan later that day; he informed everyone that there would be a drinking party at his place and he invited everyone to come. However, only three of the new students could make it while the rest had their plans of their own later that day; I thought three was good enough...better compared to nothing. Shortly after that, everyone wished each other goodbye and they went home. Yoshitaka and Teppei followed me back to the New Residence after lunch as we received a call from Maaya who needed our help to move her stuff out (Maaya was also living in the New Residence).
Heavy Duty
The second the three of us arrived at Maaya's doorstep, we were welcomed with a load of work waiting for us for the remaining afternoon (you know how girls have lots of stuff with them...). Without wasting anymore time, we began working knowing that the sooner we start the earlier we get the job done. Maaya was supposed to move from the eight floor down to the 3rd floor and given the nature of the amount and weight of her stuff, we knew it was going to be a long and tiring afternoon which we will end (if we were lucky...) with back aches and muscle sores. Nevertheless, instead of thinking negatively, I told myself this would be a good workout for me, not to mention this would be an excellent way to test my gym training all this while. We carried and unload her stuff from top to bottom and it took us a total of four hours to transport all her stuff. It took 4 guys to transfer Maaya's stuff from one room to another approximately 4 hours; I just couldn't imagine how long would it take if it was just me helping her out. Anyway, it was great to know that Teppei and Yoshitaka could help out and I was grateful for their assistance. Moreover, I was pretty sure that Maaya was even more grateful than me seeing that she would have been in a world of suffering moving her stuff on her own if we decided to decline her request for assistance. As the afternoon ended, the evening in Kamloops for summer that day had another plans for the three of us; it was time to go and get some beer and ignite the party at Teppei's house. Shortly after leaving Maaya's place, the three of us took the bus to downtown before we marched towards the liquor store under the scorching sun.
A drink with the Japanese
After getting two dozens of Budweiser and a bottle of Kahlua from the liquor store, we headed for the bus roundabout to rendezvous with Ran and the other Japanese students. While waiting for the correct bus to come, we were chatting with one another in order to get rid of the boredom that usually came along the ever late bus services. As the bus arrived later than usual (as always...) we hopped on the bus and headed for Teppei's "crib". After a five minutes bus ride and an eight minutes walk, we were already at Teppei's place and we were impatient to get the party started. We were welcomed by Eiji's dog, Jack (Eiji, Pamella and Teppei are roommates) which were always excited of visitors; of course everyone especially the new Japanese students were excited as well to meet the cute fury canine. The canine wasn't the only one who welcomed all of us as Teppei's Japanese roommate and her Japanese friends gave us a warm welcome. Seeing that all of us were already here, we immediately kick started the party and we let fun took over the remaining of the evening. Apart from having cans of beer and snacks, Yoshi made us his home made pasta which I really had to say was delicious. We snapped a couple of photos together and everyone was happily chatting to one another except me as I was the only non Japanese who couldn't really speak any Japanese. Instead, I just sat down and watched TV with the company of Jack who some how seems to like me a lot. Yoshitaka and Teppei whom noticed how isolated am I, then told me to get up and talk the new Japanese students. Knowing that now was a great time to practice my eight months of Japanese classes, I took the courage and confronted the new Japanese students with a greeting in Japanese. The new Japanese students were shocked to hear me speak Japanese nevertheless our following conversation continued in Japanese. As everyone heard me speaking Japanese, they were surprised and they started asking me questions in Japanese which I could somehow answered back; next thing I knew, I was in the center of the party's spotlight unlike a moment ago when I was totally isolated and invisible to others. The party lasted until nine thirty at night and by then we all had to leave; we were planning to party all night long but since most of us had to take the bus home (last bus in Kamloops was at eleven pm that night)we had no choice but to end the party early. Despite the party was shorter than expected, everyone had a great time that night.
Last day of fun before school starts again
A day before the summer semester started, I received a call from one of my Indonesian friends in the morning while I was still sleeping. According to my Indonesian friend, he and his group of Indonesian friends were planning to go to Paul's Lake for fishing and picnicking; he later extended the invitation to me which I couldn't resist since I've never done either of those in my life before. Consequently, I said "yes" right on the spot without hesitating or thinking twice. However, it didn't take me long before I realized that I promised Yoshitaka that I would hang out with him on the same day. Quickly, I called my Indonesian friend and asked him whether was it okay if I could bring Yoshitaka along. My Indonesian friend was excited for Yoshitaka to join us; nevertheless, he had only space for me in his car for transportation to Paul's Lake as the rest of his friends had occupied the available space. Knowing that it would not be nice to shatter my promise to Yoshitaka, I reluctantly told my Indonesian friend that I would not be joining him and his friends for the trip. Realizing that I missed my chance to actually go fishing and picnicking, I was a bit disappointed. On the contrary, after being persuaded by my insistent desire to have a picnic, I told myself that if I can't join a picnic, I'll just have to make my own.
The picnic
The problems were where would be the ideal place to picnic and who will join me for it. Finding out the ideal place to picnic wasn't a difficult task as I noticed that Riverside Park in downtown Kamloops is a common spot for Canadians to picnic. The difficult and challenging task was who would even bother joining me for my picnic. Yoshitaka, was the first one to raise his hand since we were suppose to hang out together. However, it would feel awkward if it was just the two of us having a picnic together unless Yoshitaka was a sizzling hot Japanese babe like Hamasaki Ayumi, then it would suffice (in fact, I'll immediately close and restrict the invitation to just her...ah, I mean him...No! I mean if he was a she). Seeing that Yoshitaka isn't a hot babe like Hamasaki Ayumi in reality, it was compulsory for me to extend the invitation. Knowing that I usually hang out with Teppei as well, I thought he would like to join us for the picnic. Consequently, I gave him a called and told him about the picnic and just as I thought, he wanted to join us. However, our picnic required more participants...preferably girls this time just to make it look well-rounded (*ahem*). Yoshitaka shared the same opinion as great minds think alike so it didn't take us long to come up with a list of girls we can invite. Yoshitaka had several girls in mind and he immediately started making calls. He told me to call Ran and invite her for our picnic while he called Yuuki; the second he told me to make that call I was a nervous wreck. Extending invitation to girls through e-mail is already hard enough for me given my shy nature what more extending it orally through phone. Not to mention, I just knew Ran back then so I thought that asking her to join me for a picnic would freak her out. Nevertheless, seeing that if I don't do it, our picnic is going to be an all guy picnic only; therefore, I sucked it up and gave Ran a call. The second her phone was ringing I was worried that I would freeze or stutter so before she picked up, I quickly rehearsed what I wanted to say. When she picked up and said hi in Japanese, I was stunned for a couple of seconds. However, I quickly got myself back together and told her about my picnic invitation to her. I was ready to get rejected with whatever excuse she can come up with just to get rid of me, consequently I braced for impact. But instead, she asked me who else is coming. I replied by saying Teppei and Yoshitaka would be joining us as well. Unexpectedly, she said she would like to come and she asked me whether was it okay for her to bring her Thai roommate, Kwahnchanok which I immediately replied, "of course" before she could finished her question. After telling her the place and time of rendezvous, we exchanged good byes and hung up on each other. I immediately reported the great news to Yoshitaka and later asked how was things on his side. Like me, he had good news and we later exchanged high fives in joy before we got ourselves ready for the picnic. We were all suppose to meet at the main bus stop in downtown. Yoshitaka was at my place earlier when we were deciding who to invite for the picnic, consequently we had to travel together to our rendezvous point by bus. The bus service was late and we knew everyone was already at the rendezvous point waiting for us. Yuuki called Yoshitaka wondering where were we. After Yoshitaka explained our unfortunate situation, Yuuki informed us a new rendezvous point at Frank's Coffee, a cafe in downtown. Everyone who were waiting for us wanted to sit down and have a drink which explains why they changed our rendezvous point. Half an hour later, the damn bus finally came and the both of us were on the way to downtown. Once we reached downtown, the both of us immediately dashed to Frank's Coffee as we did not want to let the others wait for us any longer. The moment we met up with Teppei, Ran, Yuuki and Kwanchanok, we were welcomed with a warm greeting...and also a reminder that we were later than expected. Since everyone already started drinking, Yoshi and I thought we should order something to drink as well. Knowing that I was late, I decided to make it up to them by treating them to a chocolate cake from the cafe. Everyone like the cake more than me as I thought the cake was too sweet and I wasn't really into chocolate. Ran seemed to like the cake the most compared to all of us given her sweet tooth for chocolate. Apart from having casual conversations with one another and snacking on the food and drinks we ordered, we snapped a couple of photos together. After spending an hour at the cafe, we decided to carry on with our picnic as we planned from the beginning.
Plan A
Riverside Park was just a stone's throw from Frank's Coffee; it was just a 5 minute stroll from the coffee house we were at earlier on. On our way to Riverside Park, Yoshitaka (who's our usual photographer) decided to snap a couple of photos of us with his two thousand dollars state-of-the-art camera (which I always believe was the one usually used by the CIA for intelligence gathering and espionage purposes). In addition to that, he took several photos of the scenery along the way to our designated picnic spot. Teppei brought Jack along with him and seeing that the hyper active Jack Russel Terrier was wearing him out, I decided to help him walk the dog. Initially, I wondered how could a small puppy like Jack can drag someone like Teppei into submission; however, it didn't take me long to finally understand it once I've experience walking the puppy. Jack's fondness for running off and wondering into restricted places where I had to constantly pull him away wasn't as easy as it looks. Even with my gym training, I had to say that walking a dog like Jack was challenging. Just before we realized it, we were already at Riverside park; there were a number of people at the park that day seeing that it was on a weekend. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to secure ourselves a nice spot for our picnic. As we settled down, Ran rolled out the snacks she bought for our picnic which mostly comprise chocolate cookies and candies (since she is a big chocolate lover). Fortunately for me, there were a couple of bag of chips as well seeing that I wasn't really fond with chocolate. We were enjoying the beautiful scenery of Thompson Rivers compliments of the nice spot we got at Riverside Park for our picnic. As usual, our picnic was accompanied by casual conversations among one another. Seeing that the conversation was in Japanese most of the time, I told myself to take this as a learning experience for my Japanese language instead of dreading and complaining about feeling outcasted. Over at the park, Yoshitaka decided to take more photos while Teppei had to walk Jack who couldn't bear the boredom of sitting still. Ocassionally, Teppei will hand me over Jack's leash when he is tired of walking the energetic puppy; it's not a bad thing at all as I'm actually working out at the same walking the strong and hyperactive puppy. After spending three to four hours of picnicking, we thought it was time to leave. On the other hand, we didn't want to call it a day as we thought we should spend more time together seeing that today was the last day of our holidays before the summer semester began. Consequently, we had a "group meeting" to establish our following plan for the day before we left the park. After half an hour of discussing and brain storming, we concluded our Plan B was to have coffee again; only this time at a different place.
Plan B
This time we went to another coffee place called Jack's...or something like that...Everyone ordered a mocha, cappuccino or a latte while I was the only one who ordered a vegetable cocktail. It wasn't long for my choice of drink to raise everyone's eye brown. Like chocolate, I wasn't really a big fan of coffee or latte. In fact during our earlier visit to Frank's Coffee, I had juice instead of coffee or latte. In the middle of our chit-chat at the coffee house, Yuuki handed me a small envelope. According to her, it was from Yuka, my Japanese instructor's assistant. As I opened the envelope, I saw a short purple string which I thought was cute. On the contrary, I had no idea what was the purple string for. Yoshitaka then explained that according to Japanese culture, this string is suppose to be something like a bracelet where if the wearer wears it until it is snapped, his or her wish will come true. I thought it was a sweet gift from Yuka but I regretted for not being able to thank her in person for this nice gift as she already returned to Japan for good, a couple of days ago. After spending hours in the coffee house, the day was getting darker however, the most of us thought that the night was still young. Consequently, we thought of having plan C instead of going home. Seeing that I was the one who came up with "Operation Riverside Picnic", everyone shifted the responsibility of coming up with Plan C to me. As there was nothing else to do for the day, not to mention the lack of variety of things we can do over here in "Silent Hill", I just came up with a simple plan to have dinner together. Everyone thought it was a good idea except for Teppei as his roommate had already make dinner for him, therefore Teppei could not join us for Plan C. The next question was whether to dine in or dine out; given the nature that dining in was cheaper than dining out not to mention that most of us had been dining out the passed few days in a row, we thought dining in would be ideal for our soon-to-be-empty wallets. After agreeing on Plan C, we wasted no time and we left the coffee house, excited for our next plan.
Plan C
We took a 45 minute walk back to Yoshitaka's house instead of taking the bus as there were no more bus services that day. Walking back wasn't a problem for any of us; instead, the problem was that it was cold and windy that evening despite it was already summer and non of us wore extra clothes as we did not anticipate the unexpected change of weather. Nevertheless, if it wasn't for the sense of companionship that accompanied us during our walk back, this walk would be miserable and hellish for us. As we drew closer to Yohistaka's home, we immediately rushed to his place quicker than a mouse after a bit of cheese. The second we reached Yoshitaka's home, we were so relief as the warmth of his house never felt so great. After taking a five minutes rest, we did an "inventory check" on Yoshitaka's kitchen to determine if we had the availabe ingredients for what we wanted to cook for dinner. Yoshitaka thought about making pasta while Yuuki decided to make some kind of stew. Kwahnchanok on the other hand, wanted to prepare her country's cuisine, Tom Yum Goong. Knowing that there wasn't enough ingredients at Yoshitaka's place to cook, we had no choice but to make a visit to Superstore under the harsh weather which was getting worse by the hour; thankfully, Superstore was not that far away from Yoshitaka's place. Everyone went on their own to get their respective ingredients for the dish they were going to prepare that night, the minute we reached Superstore. Seeing that Ran and I were the only one not preparing anything for dinner that night, Ran was assigned to help Kwahnchanok carry her ingredients of her choice while I was in charge of deciding dessert. Knowing that ice cream was the only dessert I can think of, I thought about visiting the ice cream aisle to take a peek at the variety of choices available. The Oreo ice cream box initially look tempting, however Yoshitaka and Yuuki thought it was not worth the price for its size. Instead they suggested an alternate brand of ice cream (which I couldn't remember) which was twice the size and half the price of the Oreo ice cream box. Knowing that the their suggestion would allow us to save more money, I didn't have to think twice before I went for what they've suggetsted. Less than half an hour in Superstore, we were done with our ingredients collecting and we were ready to return to Yoshitaka's home. We did not waste anytime preparing dinner the second we reached Yoshitaka's home as we were all starving. Everyone was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen except for me as I hardly have any experience when it comes to kitchen work. Realizing that I was the only one not doing anything, I started feeling guilty. Consequently, I volunteered to clean the dishes after dinner. Almost an hour later, dinner was ready and we were impatient to "tuck in" as we grew hungrier from time to time that evening. Everyone's dishes tasted great and on top of it, it was also cheaper for our wallets as we shared the cost of our grocery shopping earlier. As dinner ended, everyone laid back lazily except for me as I had dishes to wash. After taking care of the dishes, everyone called me over to join them for dessert. We had the ice cream we bought from Superstore and despite its affordable price, the ice cream still tasted good. In the middle of our dessert, Ran suggested that we come up with plan D. I thought she was just joking as it was already twelve in the morning and everyone would have class in eight hours time (except for Yoshitaka,Yuuki and me). On the contrary after witnessing how eager she was for plan D, I knew she wasn't joking. I then asked her what can we do at this hour of the day as I realized that almost everyshop in "Silent Hill" closed 6 hours ago. Yoshi than suggested that we could go for karaoke as he thought it was still opened at this hour of the day. Initially, I was doubtful about Plan D as I was worried Ran would not be able to wake up the next morning for her classes. Ran on the other hand, informed everyone that she intend not to sleep and she insist that we visit the karaoke lounge. Yoshi and Yuuki had no problem with it as they were not taking any classes for the summer semester. As for me, seeing that I had no classes in eight hours time, I had no problem joining them for karaoke. Besides, knowing that it was fun hanging out with them "yesterday", I would be an idiot to miss out another oppurtunity to have fun with them again. Ran telephoned Teppei to join us for karaoke. Initially, Teppei immediately said no thinking that Ran was out of her mind but for some mysterious reason, Ran eventually managed to persuade Teppei to join us for karaoke. Ran later informed us that Teppei would take a taxi from his place and meet us at the Greyhound bus station which was on the way to our karaoke lounge. As Plan D was decided, it was time to execute it without wasting anymore time.
Plan D
The four of us started walking to the Greyhound bus station under the cold weather of the early morning. After ten minutes of walking, we finally reached Greyhound and Teppei was there waiting for us. After having Teppei rejoining our party, our next task was to locate the karaoke lounge. It has been ages since all of us last visited the karaoke lounge and because of that, we weren't too sure about the place. Consequently, it didn't take us long before we took the wrong turn and ended up being lost a couple of times. We even debated with one another regarding the correct way to the karaoke lounge and we took almost an hour before we actually discovered the correct way to the karaoke lounge. By the time we were there, the karaoke lounge was closed and dissapointement were written all over our face, especially for Teppei who spend more than ten dollars on taxi coming up here for no reason. Seeing that everyone was really dissapointed, I thought I had to come up with Plan E to made sure nobody walked all the way here under the cold weather for no reason. Realizing that Mc Donalds was just a stone's throw away from where we were and since it was opened twenty four hours, I suggested that we should go there and have coffee...again. Although it wasn't a new idea, we had no choice as Mc Donalds was the only place opened that early morning; therefore, we all decided to go with my plan .
Plan E
At Mc Donalds, everyone was with a cup of coffee and tea. I had more than a cup of tea as I ordered a cheeseburger to everyone's disbelief as I was hungry again later that early morning. As usual, we had our usual casual conversation together and as usual, they were in Japanese most of the time. This time, I was too tired to pay attention and learn more Japanese from their conversation as it had been a long day for me. I nearly fell asleep until Kwahnchanok started talking to me; it was just the two of us who were talking in English while the rest were conversing in Japanese. Our coffee chat stretched till five in the morning that day and seeing Mc Donalds were serving breakfast at that hour, we all decided to just have breakfast there. After our breakfast at Mc Donalds, it was already six thirty in the morning that day and we thought it was time to leave as both Ran and Teppei will have classes in two hours time. I accompanied Yuuki, Teppei and Ran back to the Old Main while Kwahnchanok and Yoshitaka decided to go home as they were overwhelmed with fatigue. The second we reached Old Main, the four of us went to the computer lab to kill some time. I was almost "dead" but I tried my best to stay awake as I promised my Japanese friends that I would accompany them until seven thirty. While we were at the computer lab, we were surfing the internet and seeing that I was nearly asleep, I tried to keep myself awake by browsing for horror movies on YouTube. I randomly picked a Japanese horror movie called Suicide Club and the opening scene of that movie where a group of high school students commited mass suicide by jumping in front of an incoming monorail train was sufficient to keep me awake on my toes. As the clock struck seven thirty morning, I knew I had fulfilled my promise to accompany my friends and I was free to return home. After wishing everyone "good morning", I left Old Main and headed back to my apartment. I then took a nice hot shower and immediately threw myself on the bed before I hibernated for God knows how long.
To be continued...
A group photo at Teppei's drinking party
A photo with Kenji at the party
The new exchange students I met at Teppei's party. Mai and Sayaka
Our pre-picnic at Frank's Coffee
Chocolate cake compliments of me...for being late...
Its just coffee but we're still enjoying ourselves
On our way to Riverside Park
Pretending to be models...
Trying to keep up with Jack...
Our group photo at Riverside Park...
The little hyperactive puppy
Big Smiles!
Our post picnic coffee
Yoshitaka's kitchen work I think...
Dinner compliments of Ran, Kwahnchanok, Yuuki and Yoshitaka
The dishwasher
Plan E: Breakfast at Mc Donalds 5 in the morning
