Unfortunately, i do not have a Diary entry about the "date." I wonder why. Maybe I was simply too excited to write? Maybe words to describe just ceased to flow at that time? Or maybe if I wrote it would sound too corny? I really don't know why there was no entry about that Saturday night I so looked forward to. But sometimes it does happens this way since I only write in my diary if I'm urged to.
Anyway, that Saturday night was retained in memory. But I'm not going to detail the details for it may just bore the reader. :-)
By the way, when we first made the appointment to meet, he said that he will come by train and so we meet at my train station. But the night before the appointed day, he sent a short email saying he will come by car and will pick me up at the gate of my campus, and that if he's not there yet at the appointed time, I shall call him because he might just got lost on his way for it will be his first time to travel that route.
So the day came, I had this amazing archeology class (we call it "digging class" because we were digging pieces of broken pots and stone implements of some pre-historic people) that goes from 2:30 to 5 PM. And my date was at 6 o'clock. One of my classmates, who is also a friend and a kababayan, knew about my story and my date. All the while, whilst digging, brushing and examining specimens, I was feeling nervous and at the same time excited for my upcoming evening date. When the clock ticked 5:10, the Prof. was not yet dismissing us. This made me more nervous. 5:20, the Prof. seemed to be enjoying digging that very particularly day. 5:35, the Prof. was just very oblivious of time. So I told my friend that I'm going to slip away while the Prof. is not looking. And that's exactly what I did.
The digging site is surrounded by the forest so all I needed was to get out of the clearing and I would become invisible among the trees. While the Prof. was inside one of the pits, busy scrutinizing some tiny specimen with his magnifying glass, I casually walked away from the clearing. When I was behind the trees and the thick foliage, I ran to the dorm and quickly took a shower, put on a nice but casual clothes. I grabbed my bicycle and hurried to the gate. (yikes, when I think of this now it gives me tickles).
At exactly 6, I was there. But nobody was there, except me of course. I sat down on the pavement waiting. 6:05, nobody yet. I could feel my heart like I drank a lot of coffee but I kept calm. I thought to myself that if he does not appear by 6:10 to 6:15 I will call him. I was outside the gate and was looking towards the driveway, anticipating that I'll see a car coming from there. And then somebody said hello, from the back. I looked behind me and there was this young guy walking towards me, smiling shyly. I didn't recognize him at first sight but he recognized me, (well I was the only one there who was obviously waiting for somebody!). It was more than two months since we first saw each other.
Then he said he parked his car somewhere and that we have to walk to go there. So we did, and while walking, I asked him what time he started from his place, and he said, "3 o'clock" and that he reached my place at 4:30. So I figured that he had been waiting for me for another 1.5 hours at where he parked his car. And that explains why his hair looked like he just woke up from sleep, or perhaps from boredom. But I was flattered. :-)
Then when we were inside the car, he asked where I want to go. I opened my guidebook (yeah, i was a nerd) and told him that I want to go to where the biggest firework is on that evening. He looked at my guidebook and said that the place is at the center of Tokyo, where there would be so many people for the festival, and surely there would be no place to park. So I said that we can then go anywhere. He asked me if I have eaten dinner yet and I said no. So he suggested we go for dinner, and asked me if I know a good place since we are around my area. I thought of the places I used to go to with friends but I could not suggest them because I was shy (nyeheheh), and I actually wanted to discover other places. Since I couldn't suggest, we decided to go driving and look out for a place. And that's what we did, until we came to a place which he said is a good place. And so we went inside and we ordered. The place is quite expensive (for us students anyway) and I remembered I have only a thousand Yen in my purse because in my hurry, I forgot to withdraw from the campus ATM. One order for one person was like 1500, and he even ordered for a huge ice cream for me. And of course I couldn't eat. Not because the food was not good but because I was just too nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach.
I couldn't eat all my food and even my special dessert and he said it's ok, I should not eat more than I can.
And we talked. We talked about family, religion, politics and other things. And he kept on repeating, at regular intervals, that it was so wonderful that we met. I feigned indifference about that, although I felt very much the same as he does. Then I asked him, with a very serious tone, why he did not reply me for a very long time. When he realized that I seriously didn't like what happened, he profusely apologized. He seemed to have not expected that it was a big deal for me. To make it up, he promised that by next month he will buy a more high-tech mobile phone so he will email me everyday from his phone (this was year 2000). And yes, he told me that one reason for not replying sooner was because he was self-studying hard for English! He said he was very sorry that his English was not good when we first met. And indeed, his English has considerably improved! And yes, he in fact called Yuki's home and he spoke to a woman and asked for me. And that woman he spoke with told him that I am not there (we guessed that that woman was Yuki's mother and since she does not know anything about me, she thought that it was a wrong number call. He said that that's the only conversation that transpired between them).
By the way, dating in Japan, specially among students is a standard "Dutch Treat," that's why I was very worried about my money. Or, sometimes, the guy pays for the food and the girl pays the drinks (aha I will blog a story about this in another post, it's interesting).
After the meal and conversation, we decided to go out. But before that, we had to pay. He stood up, went to the cashier and I followed him. I had my purse in my hand and he just looked at me, smiled and said, he's going to pay "because Japanese men pay." I replied, "no, Japanese men don't pay, it's betsu-betsu" (pay your own). He was very amused, he affectionately tapped the money bills he was holding, on my head, laughing and saying: "you know so much about the Japanese!"
It was drizzling outside. We drove back to a park near my campus and we talked some more. Just before he dropped me off, he asked what I will be doing the next weekend. I said, a Canadian friend of mine is coming over to visit me. He was impressed. What about the week after that? The week after that will be my final exam week.
When we parted, we didn't set a date for a next meeting but we both kind of had a mutual quiet understanding that we would certainly meet again, soon.
It was half past midnight when I got back to the dorm and I knew that the main doors were already locked because the weekend curfew is 11:30. So I called up a friend through the public phone booth outside my dorm and she opened the door for me. If I were the other girls, I would go through the window at the back, trespassing in somebody else's room. :-)
Oh, I thought this post would be short but I didn't notice I went on babbling!!!
Thanks for reading!
Anyway, that Saturday night was retained in memory. But I'm not going to detail the details for it may just bore the reader. :-)
By the way, when we first made the appointment to meet, he said that he will come by train and so we meet at my train station. But the night before the appointed day, he sent a short email saying he will come by car and will pick me up at the gate of my campus, and that if he's not there yet at the appointed time, I shall call him because he might just got lost on his way for it will be his first time to travel that route.
So the day came, I had this amazing archeology class (we call it "digging class" because we were digging pieces of broken pots and stone implements of some pre-historic people) that goes from 2:30 to 5 PM. And my date was at 6 o'clock. One of my classmates, who is also a friend and a kababayan, knew about my story and my date. All the while, whilst digging, brushing and examining specimens, I was feeling nervous and at the same time excited for my upcoming evening date. When the clock ticked 5:10, the Prof. was not yet dismissing us. This made me more nervous. 5:20, the Prof. seemed to be enjoying digging that very particularly day. 5:35, the Prof. was just very oblivious of time. So I told my friend that I'm going to slip away while the Prof. is not looking. And that's exactly what I did.
The digging site is surrounded by the forest so all I needed was to get out of the clearing and I would become invisible among the trees. While the Prof. was inside one of the pits, busy scrutinizing some tiny specimen with his magnifying glass, I casually walked away from the clearing. When I was behind the trees and the thick foliage, I ran to the dorm and quickly took a shower, put on a nice but casual clothes. I grabbed my bicycle and hurried to the gate. (yikes, when I think of this now it gives me tickles).
At exactly 6, I was there. But nobody was there, except me of course. I sat down on the pavement waiting. 6:05, nobody yet. I could feel my heart like I drank a lot of coffee but I kept calm. I thought to myself that if he does not appear by 6:10 to 6:15 I will call him. I was outside the gate and was looking towards the driveway, anticipating that I'll see a car coming from there. And then somebody said hello, from the back. I looked behind me and there was this young guy walking towards me, smiling shyly. I didn't recognize him at first sight but he recognized me, (well I was the only one there who was obviously waiting for somebody!). It was more than two months since we first saw each other.
Then he said he parked his car somewhere and that we have to walk to go there. So we did, and while walking, I asked him what time he started from his place, and he said, "3 o'clock" and that he reached my place at 4:30. So I figured that he had been waiting for me for another 1.5 hours at where he parked his car. And that explains why his hair looked like he just woke up from sleep, or perhaps from boredom. But I was flattered. :-)
Then when we were inside the car, he asked where I want to go. I opened my guidebook (yeah, i was a nerd) and told him that I want to go to where the biggest firework is on that evening. He looked at my guidebook and said that the place is at the center of Tokyo, where there would be so many people for the festival, and surely there would be no place to park. So I said that we can then go anywhere. He asked me if I have eaten dinner yet and I said no. So he suggested we go for dinner, and asked me if I know a good place since we are around my area. I thought of the places I used to go to with friends but I could not suggest them because I was shy (nyeheheh), and I actually wanted to discover other places. Since I couldn't suggest, we decided to go driving and look out for a place. And that's what we did, until we came to a place which he said is a good place. And so we went inside and we ordered. The place is quite expensive (for us students anyway) and I remembered I have only a thousand Yen in my purse because in my hurry, I forgot to withdraw from the campus ATM. One order for one person was like 1500, and he even ordered for a huge ice cream for me. And of course I couldn't eat. Not because the food was not good but because I was just too nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach.
I couldn't eat all my food and even my special dessert and he said it's ok, I should not eat more than I can.
And we talked. We talked about family, religion, politics and other things. And he kept on repeating, at regular intervals, that it was so wonderful that we met. I feigned indifference about that, although I felt very much the same as he does. Then I asked him, with a very serious tone, why he did not reply me for a very long time. When he realized that I seriously didn't like what happened, he profusely apologized. He seemed to have not expected that it was a big deal for me. To make it up, he promised that by next month he will buy a more high-tech mobile phone so he will email me everyday from his phone (this was year 2000). And yes, he told me that one reason for not replying sooner was because he was self-studying hard for English! He said he was very sorry that his English was not good when we first met. And indeed, his English has considerably improved! And yes, he in fact called Yuki's home and he spoke to a woman and asked for me. And that woman he spoke with told him that I am not there (we guessed that that woman was Yuki's mother and since she does not know anything about me, she thought that it was a wrong number call. He said that that's the only conversation that transpired between them).
By the way, dating in Japan, specially among students is a standard "Dutch Treat," that's why I was very worried about my money. Or, sometimes, the guy pays for the food and the girl pays the drinks (aha I will blog a story about this in another post, it's interesting).
After the meal and conversation, we decided to go out. But before that, we had to pay. He stood up, went to the cashier and I followed him. I had my purse in my hand and he just looked at me, smiled and said, he's going to pay "because Japanese men pay." I replied, "no, Japanese men don't pay, it's betsu-betsu" (pay your own). He was very amused, he affectionately tapped the money bills he was holding, on my head, laughing and saying: "you know so much about the Japanese!"
It was drizzling outside. We drove back to a park near my campus and we talked some more. Just before he dropped me off, he asked what I will be doing the next weekend. I said, a Canadian friend of mine is coming over to visit me. He was impressed. What about the week after that? The week after that will be my final exam week.
When we parted, we didn't set a date for a next meeting but we both kind of had a mutual quiet understanding that we would certainly meet again, soon.
It was half past midnight when I got back to the dorm and I knew that the main doors were already locked because the weekend curfew is 11:30. So I called up a friend through the public phone booth outside my dorm and she opened the door for me. If I were the other girls, I would go through the window at the back, trespassing in somebody else's room. :-)
Oh, I thought this post would be short but I didn't notice I went on babbling!!!
Thanks for reading!
