Rugger family is international

Today I met up with some members of the Kyoto women's rugby team for what I thought was a morning of cherry blossom viewing, and what ended up being a whole day of chilling and awesomeness. I am very tired, have to get up in the morning to practice, and have to also shower/bath and write a nice long email to girlfriend before I sleep, so y'all get bullets:

- Eri, the girl who met me on the train (an 18-year-old who just graduated high school), is a sweetheart and I love her, but I wish she'd realize that I can do things like buy my own train ticket and put it in the machine.
- Aki is def. my favorite Kyotoruggergirl. This is largely because she's the one person who's had actual conversations with (she slogs through my terrible Japanese to discuss things like what kind of jobs she's done and how I feel about sports).
- Kumiko (34-year-old), who I just met today, is awesome, though I think she thinks of me as just another kid to take care of. Her kids (Mira [girl, 8] and Kaito [boy, 10]) are even awesomer. Mira especially spent the day trying to get me to understand her 8-year-old Japanese and taking pictures of me and marveling at my blue eyes and blond hair.
- When they say don't make eye contact with the monkeys? DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE MONKEYS. They will try to prove their dominance and chase you down and you will get teased about it for the rest of the day.
- Kitsune soba (fox soba, or soba with fried tofu in it) is delicious.
- It is apparently impressive that I not only know how to use chopsticks, but know to use the back end of them to pick food off of communal plates.
- Whichever Japanese soap opera was on the minivan TV while we drove all over whoknowswhere was HILARIOUS.
- Somehow I ended up in some hospital that was possibly halfway to Osaka to say hi to someone (I assume a rugger) with a leg wrapped and immobilized to the thigh. I also found out I apparently have high blood pressure, which has never been the case before.
- Fuku (pufferfish) can be poisonous if not prepared right. So if I drop dead in the next few hours, you can blame me breaking my vegetarianism to eat fuku just to have a story to tell.
- Sitting on tatami mats around low tables while Yuka's parents bring dish after dish of strange Japanese dishes and everyone is talking loudly in a language you barely understand and someone's kid is taking a million pictures of you because you look so damn funny and every so often the whole table tries to ask you a question in Japanese and draws on all their synonyms and body language and you end up with an 8 year old curled in your arms as she writes in your "memo" book while a 20-year-old sports addict corrects her kanji - somehow, it feels similar to bumming around a student rental at 6 pm on a Saturday. I guess rugger family is international, and I am +10 glad I found that out.

Plus? The beer totally tastes the same.