WERUCOMU TO JAHPANNN

*hic!* I'm *hic!* back, gu-*hic*-ys!

Just kidding, I didn't drink... too much. <_<.
Haha, but seriously, it really wasn't that much!, and it's Japanese custom!, and I'd always wanted to fully experience a Japanese welcome party, ok?! I DO WHAT I WANT, HURRAHHHHH.

But anyway. I get ahead of myself.

So as I'd mentioned however long ago, the lab guys planned a welcome party for us! How kind! How welcoming! How generous! They'd arranged it for this past Friday at 7pm, well after lab would be done. So around 7, we all left together and crossed the street from the university to this restaurant. It was apparently a type of restaurant where you could sit down, relax, and drink and eat (that was the way they explained it to me when I asked).

We sat down and, since our group was so large, were split up among 3 tables. One of these tables was for the heavy smokers, people who wanted to smoke while they drank, smoke while they ate, smoke while they talked, smoke while they everything'd.



The other table! Japanese only, haha.



The smoking table. Some switched out with other smokers.



Part of our table. Hahaha, so Asian!









Us at our table. Matsmura sensei on the left! Uno-san on the right! Hahah, Asian pose everyone.

When we all sat down, there was already a plate of edamame and a covered pot (later found out it was for nabe) waiting on the tables. I was. So. So. Hungry. And there was that delectable-looking dish of edamame just... staring at me. Waiting for me, calling to me! I could almost hear all their little bitty voices, "Lan-Anh! Lan-Anh! We are tiny and cute and triplets, and we are so very tasty!"  But no one else was reaching for the food, so I restrained myself. Restraint, restraint! The waitress went around and was taking down everyone's drinks, so the lab guys at our table handed us the menu and asked us what we wanted. I glance down at the menu, and immediately handed it back. Hahaha, it was all in Japanese and no pictures to be found, what could I do? So I just asked the guys, "Recommend me something? Anything is fine". Haha, so then they peruse the list together, discuss between each other, and then both look up at me and say "Carupisu?" And I was like "... wat. Yea ok, sure! (OワO)-b". The thumbs up hand sign and the okay hand sign are a very important language link between the guys and me.



Plum liquor, it was DELICIOUS.



These are all the drinks they ended up getting me. 

Calpis! Deliciously refreshing.

And for some reason in a staircase format.

Some kind of strawberry and soda drink? But not strawberry soda.


 











So after we all got our ordered drinks, the professor made one of the senior students make an intro and toast of sorts... in ENGLISH!!! Hahaha, he (one of the senior students, Takahiro-san) was a little distressed at first. "EH!?? .... Ok, ok! Okay desu!" So then he got everyone's attention and just said a little blurb.

"This is welcome party! Nile... Lan-Anh... ehhh... welcome to Matsumura lab! Cheeeers!"
And then we all clinked glasses and could start the drinking and eating and fun. By the way, that first drink they got for me, 'Caripusu', is actually Calpis which we actually have in the U.S. and is actually called Calpico apparently. It looks a little milky/cloudy, but it's a light soda which is slightly citrus-y and very refreshing. Good stuff! I'll need to find it when I go back home...

And then the food began.

MY FAVORITE PART OF THE STORY IS HERE, GUYS, CAN YOU TELL!?

Almost immediately after we had our "kanpaiii!" moment, the waitresses started bringing in more plates of food. Appetizers first, which were plates of fried foods. We also started up the little burners for the nabe pot (essentially, it's kind of like hot pot?). For the most part, the food that came out was Japanese. A few more Western-inclined foods also showed up though, like fries and pizza. Even so, they were Japan-ified tho (or at least, very different from how we're used to them in America).

The fries were like short potato wedges, and the ketchup that came with it had *actual* tomato in it! When we first tasted it, we both noted that it was sweeter for some reason. Then I realized that I was actually getting some real tomato taste in it. How bizarre! REAL tomato in the tomato ketchup? Unheard of!
The pizza was also completely different from Western-style pizza. One thing I noticed right away, with this pizza and with the pizza we got from Domino's, is that their base crust is much, much thinner. It's practically just a baked tortilla. In fact, that's what the pizza from this place actually looked like. The crust/base was super soft, and it looked pretty much like a quesadilla that someone forgot to fold in half.

Ummm, banh phong tom (fried shrimp chips, I guess?) and fries and ketchup with REAL tomato! (OワO)

Nabe!

At one point, a dish came out (pic right below this) that had these fried... things on a stick. Nile and I asked what it was, and they didn't know, so one of the guys bit into it and said a word which was translated to "... eggplant?" I thought "Oooooh, fried eggplant, that sounds delicious! But that eggplant looks pretty small... maybe Japanese eggplant, I guess." And then we all grabbed one and bit in, and Nile and I immediately realize that this was most definitely not eggplant. But what was it.... such a familiar taste.... ah! Zucchini! And so the mystery fried vegetable was solved.

Fried zucchini on a stick with mayo topping! And chicken... something... fried chicken! I LOVE THAT FRIED CHICKEN.

Grilled chicken meat on one half of the plate and grilled chicken skin the other half.

Udon!

 So much food... so much deliciousness... As the meal started to die down, though, the professor then called for individual introduction. Everyone in the lab had to introduce himself/herself in English, their name, what they would like to be called, and their favorite thing in the U.S. Haha, at first, he said 'favorite thing from the east coast of the U.S.' and the party organizer, Takahiro-san, immediately said "No, no. Sorry, too difficult! We don't know!" So then it was changed to just the whole U.S. in general. Haha, with some of the lab members, after they stood up to say their name and were thinking of what their favorite American thing was, the other lab members would yell "Waifu wa? Waifu wa? Who is your wife? Girlfriend!" And then the one standing up would laugh and answer (what I assume was) the name of an actress or anime character. Nile recognized some of them, and they were all surprised and yelled out "Ehhhh!!! She knows, she knows!" in Japanese. I didn't know most of them but one of them, Uno-san (Unocch, as he intro'd himself XD), said "Sakura Kinomoto" and I was like "Wait! As in Cardcaptor Sakura??" Hahah, and then we all bust out laughing.

In case you can't tell, by this time, pretty much everyone had loosened up with the aid of a bit of alcohol.

Then Professor Matsumura introduced himself. He's a lot more comfortable with English than the students so his introduction was much more fluid. After him, it was Nile's and my turn. We had to say the same things except, instead of our favorite American thing, we had to say our favorite thing in Japan (sans anime and manga, since that was already known haha). Also, since everyone else had to speak in English, we decided we would say our introduction in Japanese. Nile, of course, had no problem with it since she's probably had to do it plenty of times in class haha. I, however, haven't taken Japanese for more than 2 years now, so I was a lot rustier, and the words didn't come easily to me. But nevertheless, I forged on in my broken Japanese! After this, we finished off what food was still left and socialized some more. Here, have some pics of that too.

Shio-san, Yankee-san, and Pim-san, as they intro'd themselves with their nicknames 

Hahah, Shiokawa-san made a chopstick-holder boat and gave it to me!

Look at 'em all, having fun and stuff

Finally, after it seemed like everyone was done eating and drinking and smoking, after someone had gone up to pay the check (it seems it was a treat for us, so Nile and I, at least, didn't have to pay! I AM MOVED TO TEARS BY THEIR KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY ;___;), we finally decide to leave. Initially, I was a bit afraid that, since I couldn't speak Japanese, I would feel isolated in the group, but everyone was so friendly and nice and it ended up being a lot of fun! And great times were had hahaha. Here's the final picture we took, the whole group outside the restaurant we ate at.


Their names, as they introduced themselves to us (from left to right, back to front):
Emina, Yamada, Yankee, Shouta, Hosokawa, Adachi, Asano, Takahiro, Hirose,
Pim, Hayashi, Unocch, Shio
me, Nile, Matsumura-sensei, Taira