Singing at the Party
So, as many of you know, I was asked to sing a song with Aileen at the ICIEA party in Imabari yesterday. I also sang a song by myself. It was crazy. Aileen and I went on stage second, and we sang the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York as a duet. I am pretty sure that they all loved it. It was awesome. I went on stage again as the seventh act to sing Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (which most people recognize immediately from the lyrics “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”) by myself. I was nervous, but in the end it all worked out great. Nobody seemed to mind my quavering voice, and the free food seemed to put everyone in a highly receptive mood. 
The crowd was bowled over by our very own Hong, my RA (assuming she is still talking to me…I make fun of her too much…sorry, Hong…) and the Hawaiian duo of Wendy and Melissa.
The picture above is my new buddy named Rock. Aileen introduced me to him. He came up from Matsuyama to bum around with us during the ICIEA party and the after party at Chantelle’s. He is, without a doubt, the coolest Japanese cowboy I have ever met. (And…the only Japanese cowboy I have ever met.) How did I know we’d get along? Well, I met him at the station in Matsuyama. He walked up wearing full out cowboy attire and was friendly as could be. Aileen pointed out his white Jeep and exclaimed “Whoa! Rock, is that your car?” to which he replied, “Yes. This is my horse.” Excellent. Gotta love it. Hope we’ll see more of him. He’s good people.
The after party was quite amusing, as well. Basically, everyone broke away and rested for a bit immediately after the party – which ended mid-afternoon. Rock, Aileen, and I went and had conversations about a variety of topics including some fun quirky stuff and the obligatory linguistic conundrums we face from both sides of the divide. We ate some peanuts in chocolate, relaxed for a few hours, and headed to meet up with another contingent at the karaoke place U’s Bowls. (I just discovered that I have been saying this wrong, because I thought it was pronounced “U. S. Bowls.” but it is really “You’s Bowls.” Go figure.) We decided that we hadn’t embarrassed ourselves enough singing, so we needed more. It was great fun. Highlights included recaps of Wham! and Mariah Carey (which the other JETs had run into as well), all the Christmas songs we could fit into the schedule, Rock’s stunning (seriously…not being sarcastic here…he has a crazy good voice) rendition of Twist and Shout, Aileen and my reprise of The Longest Time by Billy Joel, and as many Japanese songs as we felt comfortable attempting. Good times.
When the karaoke ended, we managed to coerce Hong and company to come with us to Chantelle’s apartment to engage in merrymaking, amusing conversation, and…even more singing! There was a guitar, a room full of foreigners enjoying ourselves, and plenty of cheer to go around. Plus, Chantelle has a really nice apartment. Dare I say it? Yes. It was absurdly nice. (Absurd is my word I overuse at present, just so you know.) I am jealous. Smells great too. My only regret is that we didn’t stay for the cake…darn it…haha. Next time.
