Date number 3?

Atsushi and I had decided that if he got off work before 7 he would call but that if he didn't call by 7 I should go ahead and eat on my own (ah dating in Japan...where the men can't always get away from work by 7)...romantic huh? One of many reasons why I question whether or not these actually count as dates...

Anyway, he called around 6:15 and said he was on his way to meet me at my apartment. Thus ensued the inevitable dash around the apartment trying to make sure I looked ok while throwing everything out of the front entrance, seeing as I had yet to clean up from the BBQ disaster from the weekend, just in case he came to the front door. BUT he didn't. He called from down the street (?) I dunno if that is a Japanese thing or just a he couldn't remember exactly where I lived and didn't wanna look like an idiot thing...

He was closer than he came last time (at the end of the street). This time he came halfway down my street. It seems to be a progression. Maybe next time he'll come all the way to my apartment 八(＾□＾*) ﾀﾉﾑ!!

Neither of us knew where we were going so we decided to try this place around the corner from the station. There aren't many restaurants in the area so it's not easy to pick someplace we can get to without a car. The place we had in mind was closed....so we ended up back at Amour.

I dunno if it was nerves or not, but we spent a while looking at the menu. For some reason this is something I hate doing. I hate ordering food. I have no idea why, but I always feel like the person I am with, guy or girl, is going to judge what I choose. Which is ridiculous. I certainly never do that to anyone. Maybe that is something I'll grow out of...

I just ordered a pasta since I had eaten a HUGE meal of Hiroshimayaki for lunch with the OSU kids, and a black sugar plum wine. He ordered some extra things that I didn't realize until later that he meant for us to share...which was rough cuz I was already full before we started the meal.

This time the conversation came much more freely. Our dictionaries stayed out on the table the whole time again and certainly came in handy. I talked about the college students and what I miss about America, which involved a lot of discussions about food. He told me about how his family used to make their own plum wine when he was a kid and how he used to eat the plums.

I also found out why he is in Kameoka. I was surprised that after living in Kyoto city he would move to Kameoka (which most Japanese people consider to be countryside). He told me that since he graduated at 26 Kameoka was the only city hall where he COULD be hired. Apparently Japan has age limits for entering city halls. Once you reach 25 you can't be hired at most places. Kameoka's limit is 26 so he came here. He also can't transfer to other city hall's later. He is stuck there unless he wants to move around. Apparently the longer you stay in school the harder it is to get work.

ｶﾞ━━━━━━━Σ(ﾟ□ﾟ*川━━━━━━━━ﾝ!

Ummmm what?

I think I was unable to speak for like 5 minutes. I was completely stunned by that. I just kept stuttering...Wow...wow..um...wow....what?...wow.

This started a long conversation about how backwards that is and how specialization is so important in America. And how he is strange because he agrees with the American way of thinking. He doesn't really like his job but he makes the best of it and hopes he can be transfered to a better section someday.

Apparently if you get your masters degree or a doctorate you have trouble getting work as anything but a professor here... I just don't get it.

Turns out that he has a great sense of humor too. I told him about how they wouldn't let the group go to Osaka because of the swine flu outbreak there. He said it was a huge overreaction BUT if swine flu comes to Kameoka then they'll cancel the upcoming festival and he won't have to work as hard. Also if it comes to city hall they'll shut the whole building down for a week and we'll all get that time off
(￣▽￣)ノ＿彡☆バンバン！!

I really wanted to offer to pay this time because he paid the last two times...so far all I had bought him was a cup of coffee. But since I had to pay for 13 people to get into Nijo Castle I didn't have enough cash to pay for both of us so I kept quiet. BUT I did tell him I would pay next time. He said that was fine and that I should take him to a really expensive place (^_~) Though when I said I'd take him someplace nice he said he couldn't accept and a regular restaurant would do.

We stuck around til the restaurant closed again and he walked me home. We both had busy schedules the next week so we decided we probably couldn't get together, but sometime soon. (’-’*)