Kaonashi Ga Suki

I wanted to do a recap of reunion events every 2 days, but I realized quickly that wouldn’t be possible, since every night I went to bed very late and exhausted. It’s now Friday afternoon and I’m all alone in the B & B, the perfect time to recap what’s happened during the past 4 days or so.

Day 2-Sunday Night
After the rigorous paintball battle during Day 2, some of us weary soldiers managed to pull our bodies in the lovely hot tub, where we played silly Japanese drinking games (even though not all of us had drinks).

Day 3- Monday
We all piled in the two SUV’s and drove the long way back to Seattle. Forgetting that it was Labor Day, we sat in the car for over 2 hours in traffic bored and restless.

After first going to the wrong Travelodge motel, we found the correct one, promptly unpacked our things and headed for the elevator. Unfortunately, not all of us saw the “only 6 people at a time�? notice in the elevator, and when 8 of us crammed in there, the elevator stopped. After a few minutes of making light of the situation and calling for help, the temperature in our tiny elevator started to rise, as did some people’s tempers. Fortunately we escaped our situation shortly, and we were off to the Mariners game. Although the Mariners didn’t beat the Indians (even with Ichiro’s help), we all had a great time drinking beer and cheering in Japanese. We went back to the motel after the game, where we relaxed for a little while before heading out to karaoke. At karaoke it felt like we were in Japan again; our big group in a tiny little room singing badly.

Day 4-Tuesday
We needed to recover and separated into little groups. The non-Americans (3 Brits, a Japanese, and the American who organized this whole thing) went to ride the ducks, which are old amphibian military vehicles converted into tourist transports. My boyfriend went to the Van Gogh museum on his own, while I and the other Americans walked around Pike’s Marketplace. It was a nice, relaxing walk since we had four hours to kill, but at the same time it was very painful because I hadn’t yet recovered from the rigors of paintball. Each step I took was murder on my thighs, for I had spent most of my time at paintball crouched near a tree or a wall. Walking down stairs was especially painful, for it felt like my thigh muscles were being ripped apart. We all met up later that evening in an Asian supermarket, and endured another 2 hour drive back to the B & B.

Taco Bell was the dinner of choice for us, and it was amusing to watch our British friends try Taco Supremes and chicken soft tacos for the first time. I think they more or less liked the cuisine, but were turned off by the extra large soda cups you get when you buy a combo meal.

Day 5-Wednesday
We went out to the lake. C’s parents (the owners of the B&B we’re staying at), have friends who own a beautiful house by a lake. The house is relatively old, but you couldn’t tell because it looked so clean and pristine inside! White marble (or is it granite?) floors, large kitchen, spacious living room- the place was breathtaking. Before spending a day in the water though, we had to say goodbye to my boyfriend, for he had to return to work tomorrow. Everyone was sad to see him go, and it was touching for the boys to wait with him (and me, and our ride) for the airport shuttle. When we finally got to the lake, we were dismayed to find that it started raining! We hoped for the rain to let up, but instead it got worse. We watched our hopes for water fun quickly disappear among the large raindrops that fell from the cloudy gray sky. We tried to salvage the afternoon by playing card games, and much to our surprise the rain suddenly stopped.

I had some trepidation about being in the water since I can’t swim very well, but I did have a life vest. I contemplated trying to water ski, but after witnessing one of my friends fall after several attempts, decided that it was too difficult. I tried to go on the banana boat instead, but even that proved to be challenging. One problem I tend to have in skiing and other kinds of sports is balance. Not only do I have a big butt and hips but also weak arms and can’t pull myself up easily. It was ok though; I still had a lot of fun. After the banana boat I went kayaking with one of the boys. We didn’t circle the whole lake but did a half loop around it.

After a great buffalo burger dinner we played Taboo and made s’mores. I didn’t realize, though, that my friends had something planned for me, for I was surprised to find a birthday cake waiting for me and two of my friends! Mine was on September 2nd (as I noted in this blog a week ago), my friend J’s was on August 30th, and my friend A’s birthday will be on September 28, if I recall correctly. The three of us cut the cake with three knives, and we fed each other a piece- like at a wedding. It was really cute.

Day 6-Thursday
Two more boys left. Unfortunately, since I didn’t know they would leave so early, I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye L The rest of us went on a llama hike up Mt. Baker. We had 4 llamas with us- two veteran hikers named Amazon and Rocky, and two ‘trainees�?. Unfortunately I can’t remember their names at the moment. It was a 4-5 mile hike down part of the mountain to a lake, and back up again. I took the lead on Rocky, who was very well behaved. Going downhill to the lake wasn’t very hard, but I did have to watch for slippery rocks and mud. We parked the llamas in a secluded spot so they can rest, and went down the lake for lunch. After eating, we walked around the lake, retrieved the llamas, then went back up. It was much harder going up, and I got very winded. Fortunately the llamas took many bathroom breaks, which allowed me to catch my breath. All in all, it was a very tiring hike but fun.

Day 7-Friday
Day 7 is today, and two more boys have left. The B&B will be very quiet tonight, now that there’s only one guy and 4 girls left in the group. No more late night games on the X-Box; no more extreme ping pong games that require running around the ping pong table. It’s very sad and I miss the boys already. Today I had a choice of going whale watching, day trip to Vancouver, or day trip to Victoria Island. I opted out of all the choices because a.) I’m broke; b.) I’ve been to Victoria Island and Vancouver, and had no interest in seeing whales; c.) I’m exhausted and needed a break; d.) I needed to catch up on studying. After saying goodbye to the two guys I promptly went back to bed and woke up at 1:30pm. I had a little snack, took a little walk outside, returned and studied a little. As of this writing, the others haven’t returned from their excursion.

I don’t know what people will be doing tonight. I imagine it’ll be very low key, especially since all but one of the boys are gone.