Day 8: I've mastered chopsticks!

My inability to use chopsticks (hashi) has been a source of great amusement to my co-workers here. People kept trying to explain, and while I understood what they said, I couldn't put it into practice. It was like driving a stick shift -- I knew on paper how to do it, but the execution was disastrous.

And then, yesterday, we stopped for tapas and drinks, and suddenly I got them in the right position and everything people had told me just clicked. Bring on the sticky rice!

That triumph was just one small piece of an amazing day. Stacy, Sid, Geoffrey and a New Zealander named Mark took me to Yoyogi Park, where the goth teens and the harajuku girls hang out on Sundays. I'm hoping to have better Internet access in Korea, so I can post photos, because words simply cannot do justice to the bizarreness that is Yoyogi Park on a Sunday. People were roller-skating, playing soccer and frisbee, praticing martial arts, and walking little dogs. (Everyone here has little dogs.) Also they have a bunch of bands playing, all set up about 50 feet apart, so it's hard to tell what music is coming from what band. Some of them were quite good, especially the group wearing yellow Tony Orlando and Dawn costumes. And we passed an Australian guy who apparently had been bribed/cajoled/forced into singing with a Japanese band and was begging passing English-speakers to take over for him. (We left him in his misery.)

Then we had the aforementioned tapas and drinks. I got shochu (a kind of flavorless alcohol, kind of like vodka) in passionfruit juice. Yummy! I'm not accustomed to being drunk at 3 p.m., but hey, it's vacation, right?! (sort of)

Next up: Kiddy Land, a five-story tower of the strangest toys imaginable. Yes, I got some souvenirs. :)

After an hour or so of that, Mark was hungry again, so we headed to Shibuya for Indian food. And then Sid took me to Loft, a super-cool department store (thanks for the tip, Sharon!) where I bought the most awesome clock ever which absolutely will not fit in my luggage. I guess I'll just mail it to myself.

Mark's an interesting guy. He's lived in Japan for eight years, but has learned about as much Japanese as I have. He re-enlisted in the Australian military last year, and somehow left them with the impression he was fluent. So now he has a year to learn Japanese. He's taking lessons from Sarah, who I'll write about later (I have a lot to catch y'all up on!)

I'm off to Yokosuka Naval Base today ... I'll try to post tonight.