We had a house party on Saturday night, not too many people showed up. It wasn't the best situation considering I had to wake at 7am the next day.















I managed to to it in the end though it wasn't easy. We went on a footy trip to Gifu City, about 2 hours drive from Osaka. We took a couple of cars. The ground looked great. Very big and flat, though we found out later that the grass was a bit rough. The game kicked off at 2.10pm. The first quarter was quite even, we had a 2 goal lead, helped by a fairly strong wind. In the second we played very smoothly with good run and great tackling, we managed to push the lead further. However we were absolutely stuffed by that stage. We didn't have any spare players so we weren't able to rest, the ground was big and the game went for longer than usual. The Redbacks came out in the second half and although we keep trying hard they ended up winning 79 to 52. A fair effort and a good, hard game. I was bumped in the last ten minutes and twisted my knee, doing a patalar sublaxation-so painful, I had to leave the game. We went to an after game izakaya. That food and drink was much appreciated. I was falling asleep by 7.30, it had been a challenging day and I badly needed a bath and sleep. We got back at 11pm.

I had my first experience of 'sakura cha(tea)' on Wednesday. It consists of cherry blossom leaves that are pickeled in vinegar. It's very pretty but tastes like seawater.

Last week I went to the Kiomizu temple illumination, it was a little eerie.










On Saturday I headed to footy training at the Yodogawa, thankfully the playing area wasn''t a stinking bog like last week, but that didn't stop the injuries, with one of our players ending up with his finger on a 45 degree angle, I'm glad I didn't see that! After training a few of us went to a Kogoshima izakaya(Kagoshima is located near the bottom of Japan's southern island) , they had the best fried chicken I have ever tasted. The Blarneystone was next, an Irish pub nearby in Umeda.


















I was pretty buggerred after training so I went home a little early. On Sunday I saw 'Valkyrie' in Kyoto, so exciting, nearly gave me a heart attack.

Muddy

On Saturday we had training down by the Yodogawa river, it was so cold! The ground was quite boggy so it was great fun. I trained hard until I missed a handball and the ball hit me in the nether regions. After training we went to a sento-neighborhood bathhouse. The hot water was much needed. At 6 pm it was time for a bar, so we went to Captain Kangaroo in Umeda
Because it was St Paricks day or 'Irish day', we went to proceeded by train to Shinsaibashi. The green beer was good but bloody hell it was packed and hot! Walked home after about 2 hours.
SUNDAY
On Sunday I did some study then we got a pizza, about 3 slices the grease felt like it was congealing in my veins, however it did give me an super energy hit. I decided to ride in the general direction of Kobe. Riding's good, it allows you to see things you would never usually. There's many interesting places in Osaka. Met up with my flatmate and we went to Murphy's, they had a comedy/open mic night. Rode my bike home and I was stuffed.

Footy and Reggae

Yesterday we had footy training near Umeda, I was so hungry afterwards so I got some maccas-bad move, I felt very sick! Went to Stew's party, good times. At 11 I met up with some friends and we went to a strange club-izakaya hybrid, which played reggae and had incense everywhere not to mention those Middle Eastern smoking devices.. It was a special night offer-2000yen for all you could eat/all you could drink, not too shabby. I got beer spilt all over my crotch at 3 so I thought it was a good time to call it a night.

Return to training

I haven't been doing anything too exciting recently. Last Saturday I went to my first football training in about 6 weeks, the broken rib has just healed. We went to a very muddy field on the banks of the Yodogawa river just north of Umeda. I struggled through it, I'm a little unfit. Also the field was very muddy, I was surprised that no one broke any bones. Afterwards a few of us went to Tsuruhashii for some 'yaki nicku' or'Korien bbq'. We had some good pork and beef. We also drank some pretty suspicous alcohol, including a yukult-like drink. Afterwards we headed to a British pub. They had a beer from a small brewery Mino, in Osaka prefecture. It was so good! The footy team is going there next month for some 'all you can drink/all you can eat' It's going to be good!
The next day I had a pretty bad hangover. I saw 'changeling' in Kyoto, good movie but sad.