and on the third day

I spent Day Three of the Grand 4 Day Weekend with some of my favourite people and filled with completely atrocious jokes and really へんたいness and lost loves and cake.

As you know, once a year in summer, Sapporo has the huge Beer Festival where everyone sits in the park and drinks and gets rowdy-ish {only -ish mind you...this IS japan after all} and it is the perfect time to Fish For Friends. It`s not so easy to make friends here, people tend to stick to their groups and whereas back home, we have things like house parties, there isn`t that culture here. Either you meet by being friends of a friend or you pick people up on the side of the street. It`s hardknock, man! {maybe it is different in Tokyo / other parts of Japan?}

My first beer festival, Teej and I were so busy making eyes at the Hokkaido University Tennis team {who later turned out to be... Not So Nice} that we almost missed out on becoming friends with this group. But, as fate and a spilled beer would have it, we ended up forming one huge circle of friends that, almost three years later, is still going strong.

we don`t get to meet them in a group much... sometimes we hang out one on one, but at least once every two or three months, we have a huge shinding that lasts way into the morning. 5 of the boys had their birthdays in Jan / Feb, so we had a 飲み会... often in japan, you will go to something called a `tabe - nomi houdai` which means you go to a place and pay a set amount for two hours for all you can drink and eat and then after your 2 hours are up, you usually go to a second party {like karaoke or another bar or bowling}. well, we usually go to a third and fourth and fifth...

and the night usually ends with Ryota sleeping on the floor of some establishment.

friends can really make your home away from home feel more... homey.