Fencing Enkai

Saturday has been a bit of a Japanese intensive day. First I went to fencing club, which is always hard work as it involves not only speaking Japanese, but also doing it before lunch, which is definitely a bit of a struggle. It turned out that due to exams coming up and the practice hall being in the same temperature zone as the antarctic, this would be the last session of the season. So after practice we had a final meeting and then all went for a curry lunch. At the meeting I got a bottle of sake for no apparent reason, but very happy about that. Somewhere during this time I inadvertently agreed to go to an enkai that evening. Having already made plans to meet Jo, this was certainly not my intention, but somewhere in the proceedings I conceded, as after the curry I was left with a cheery "see you tonight then". Then headed off to the plaza for a bit of cramming for the Japanese Proficiency Test, and to compose a groveling email to Jo. As it turned out, it wasn't as scary as first expected. The food was very Japanese and I was driving so just watched everyone else get drunk, but in hindsight this was probably better as Japanese confidence goes up with alcohol, but not sure ability is effected in the same way. Anyway, the coach was really nice and told me (repeatedly as shochu intake increased), that he was so happy to have an international club. Half way through they brought me a birthday cake and a nice pot of flowers. It was so cute. But after a few hours of talking only Japanese I was exhausted and as the evening wore on the Japanese was becoming faster and faster, so I excused myself a little early and headed home.