I survived my 1st week back at work after the (relatively) long holidays. And was rewarded with a long weekend because yesterday was the Seijin No Hi, or known as the Coming of Age Day. All young people who are, or will be 20 years old celebrate this day because it marks their transition to adulthood.
At the age of 20, these youths are officially recognised as adults and gain the right to vote as well as to drink and smoke. I was supposed to see these young people dressed in kimono or traditional costumes, but unfortunately did not bump into any. Perhaps because I was hanging out at my friend's place the whole day.
Anyways, the weekend was such a bliss. It started on Friday night itself when I was caught in a dilemma between meeting up with uni friends and a fellow Malaysian whom I haven't met for almost a year. I was closer to my campus-mates and wanted to catch up with them, but they ffk* last minute! Good thing I had a backup plan, so agreed to meet KW for dinner at Meguro.
Since he missed his comfort food, we decided to try out this bar called the British Tavern. I kinda liked the environment coz it was so un-Japanese. So many foreigners and they had un-Japanese food like fish & chips which I have not seen in menus here before. While trying to look for a seat near the bar, the waitress tapped me on the shoulder. So I walked in, thinking she was leading the way.
Then she tapped again. So I thought maybe we were not supposed to walk that way, but it felt strange coz she didn't say anything. So I turned, and looked up to see none other than the French grrl whom I stayed with back in Nerima. Yes, the one who was so generous she said I could stay there anytime, for as long as I needed a roof over my head. She had actually come to Japan with a friend, whom she shared the room with. But to accommodate me, she stayed upstairs with her Thai-French boyfriend while I had the bed to myself.
I had never met anyone so generous to a stranger like me before. So when we said goodbye last September, I thought I'd never see her again. Her last plan was to leave in January, but looked like she extended her stay till May. I can never repay her and her friend's kindness and hospitality. I wanted to catch up more with her, but she was working there so I promised I'd meet up for drinks another time.
Saturday night was spent catching up with my uni MBA seniors at a local Japanese bar. It came highly recommended, this Andy Shin's Hinomoto which was so inconspicuous that we actually passed it a few times before realising it was hidden underneath the elevated railway tracks. Even though it was supposed to be a birthday celebration for SS, but we focussed on everyone coz we haven't met since we graduated.
I was hosting R over the weekend, my 4th guest from IUJ. All my stay-over guests were 2nd year MBA friends who still had another year to go. The last 3 visited after the New Year coz they had all just came back from their respective exchange programmes from Switzerland, Hong Kong and China. It was really fun hosting them even though it was only for a few days, but sad when they had to leave. A little part of me wished I was doing MBA too. But I think secretly I wanted to go back to studying again!
Sunday noon saw me meeting up with SookWei, SookPing's sister. I've also not met her for probably years! SookPing was my ex-housemate back during MMU, and we were close buddies for many years. So I was quite thrilled to hear that her sis got a scholarship to study MBA in Hitotsubashi. She was still as bubbly as ever, and she even commented that I looked good. I said, of course, I'm with good company! I got that comment too when I went back to IUJ last autumn.
I even invited her to the afternoon service at the GAP church, and was pleasantly surprised that she agreed to tag along. We caught up a bit more during the train ride and discovered we had many things in common. I have one more shopping buddy now, which is not necessarily a good thing. But the amazing thing is what happened after the Pastor's message. He started pairing us up for prayers and I started explaining to her about how prayer works. She's been to churches in M'sia, but I didn't expect her to return a "prayer" to me after I prayed for her!
Sunday was supposed to be hotsprings and/or shopping with Shokwan, but she had run late helping a friend. Good thing K called, and I had lunch with him and spent the whole day chilling out at his place watching movies.
Basically the whole weekend was a blast, in a chill out sense. Felt that having a positive attitude changed everything. I did put in effort into wanting to meet up with some people, but the rest of the invitations just came in unexpectedly. So much so that I had to say no to some, like my ex-Niigata University friends who were in Tokyo for the weekend.
It felt good being invited, and having too many things going on and people wanting a piece of me. It felt like the lifestyle I used to have back in Malaysia. I'm quite sure this will not happen every weekend, and this is not to say I like rejecting people, but I'm really thankful things are getting better. I'm appreciating it while it's here. When you've been down where I was before, simple joys like these make you smile before you go to bed at night.
*ffk = fong fei kei (literally translated means "let go airplane" - stood me up)
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