Japan trip 7 – Wed. pt 2 – Friday (training, ice cream, old coaches, B-day)

After that CITI bank fiasco, I made it to Hirama, my old town, to have lunch with my host mother. She gave me a lovely Noren curtain as a gift! I was so touched! 😀 I took a picture of it hanging up in front of my bedroom door once I got home. She’s doing well. I think she’s like 75 but she’s so full of energetic and genki. I love her. 

After that, Omigawa-san invited me to do Neo Judo, but I was tired and didn’t want to train, so I hung out with Brittany for the rest of the afternoon, and we had dinner together. We would be training hard together on Thursday, the next day.

It was my birthday! So we hung out in Wired Café and ate good food and ice cream, and then took a walk.

I got an email from Omigawa-san telling me to come to Neo Judo, but I said I couldn’t.

At like 11 PM I got another message from him saying, “I bought you a birthday cake. We’ll eat it together after training! Thanks!” He sent me a picture of “Happy Birthday Roxy.” Written on it. How sweet! Those things are expensive.

So THAT’s why he wanted me to come! Oops, I had no idea. :/ oh well. We’d eat it tomorrow.

I woke up and on the train to Groundslam training, I reread Omigawa-san’s message. I had misread it last night! It didn’t say “We will eat it together after training,” it read, “We ate it together after training. Thanks!”

So……. They already ate….my birthday cake?? Without me? I mean, it was his because he bought it. But… I dunno. ^^; I have mixed feelings about that…..
Anyway, Brittany and I enjoyed training at Groundslam. It consisted mostly of us drilling stuff I learned at Syndicate, because everybody else showed up late and then just did MMA sparring. ^^; great time! Omigawa-san actually gave me a gift of a herb tea bottle. Thank you!

See, guys? It’s normal in Japan to yell spontaneously for pictures. I’m not weird!! XD

Katsumura-san taught us this move he tapped me out with. @_@;; lol so funny. I haven’t pulled it off yet…

After that, Brittany and Omigawa-san and I went to the Main Café called “Honey Honey” and got Omurice and a huge parfait.

And they tried for like 15 mins to convince me to dress up like a maid, but I refused. ^^;; They almost wouldn’t let Brittany do it if I didn’t do it, for some weird Japanese-rule reason. We twisted the maid’s arm.

I had a nice dinner planned with my friends Mami and Y-chan, but before that, my old trainer Kunioku-san invited me to practice with him and his student and my friend Rodney :D. I jumped at that! We did round robin grappling. I found the energy to train and it was fun.

It was sooo fun. After Rodney bolted, we actually had time to sit in Jonathans and have tea and a snack. So nice to catch up! :}

Then I went to Noborito and had a nice dinner with my two friends. :} It’s been a year for Mami and maybe three years for Y-chan!

So nice.

I didn’t get to meet so many people I wanted to meet. :{ I’m sorry about that….I think they probably feel like I blew them off. But I literally had no time. I can’t believe I squeezed in seeing Kunioku-san between two other meal-dates. ^^; That got planned like the day before.

Flying home, I didn’t feel sad or have a heavy heart. This trip healed my heart. I knew that I was just a plane trip away. I felt like it wasn’t my home anymore…I was just a visitor. Vegas was my home, and I couldn’t wait to get back to training at Syndicate. I have a new coach, a new team…. I just miss my friends in Japan. :/ It’s so hard to talk to them because of the time difference. At least there’s online.