last night was the welcome party for the group B arrivals in yamanashi. we met at the train station and walked over to the restaurant. we did an all you can eat and drink there for 2 and a half hours and then moved the party to a sports cafe up the street. our yamanashi AJET organization (YETI) was the sponsor (though they didn't pay for anything) and since I am a officer for YETI I was the host for this party. out of all of the things i've had to plan thus far and "host" this was the LEAST taxing of them all. everything was wonderful. the amount of people who said they were going to show up did. no one had a problem with pay for the set (4,000yen nomi-hodai/tabe-hodai). someone had a birthday and sarah, a third year, brought him a small tart which we put candles on and sang Happy Birthday. just a great time.

one really peculiar thing was this japanese woman i met who continually spoke to me in FRENCH! her boyfriend is from France and is working as a CIR here so they usually speak French to each other. she can't speak english so I kept trying to tell her that its much better to speak to me in japanese. but she wouldn't!!! until finally i asked her boyfriend why she kept speaking to me in french and she said it was because most foreigners she meets cannot speak Japanese but some know french. we finally got the communication thing down but i just thought it very odd at first.

i had way to much to drink last night for the fact that i still had to drive. i mean, i wasn't incoherent drunk, but i did have to pay more attention than i usually do after a night out and being slightly sleepy. i usually don't drink when i have to drive home but i figured if we started dinner at 7 by 12:30 i'd be okay. i'd only had a few glasses of wine anyway. maybe not enough water. i got here safe though and prayed most of the way here no cops would come by.

i'm supposed to be going to play soccer today with some folks but they want to bbq and stuff after and I have my japanese lesson today. i haven't been in 2 weeks because of the Tokyo Orientation so i need to make my way down to her house. i'd love to go kick around but my studies come first (yeah right! when have i ever said that!!!)

Today I pray: for patience and clarity of thoughts. A friend of mine and I are sort of at odds and we need to get over this hump. I ask for the patience to not become frustrated by things I do not understand and clarity of thoughts so that my words flow freely and are acceptable to her ears. Amen.