Digits

Last night I went to the regular place for a "night cap" after a quasi-dinner party.  I sat at the bar for about an hour before Nate (my roommate) and I decided to head home and watch a movie.  There was a Japanese musician who had played a set on guitar and was now eating so I decided to tip him.  Meg (the owner's wife) then made a comment to Rage (the guitarist) about the tip.  Rage being very grateful graciously invited us to sit down and meet his friends, namely the women that were with him.  

There names are Hake and Junko.  It was a little awkward at first given the context, language barrier, and Rage's insistance but it was still a lot of fun getting to know them.  At one point Rage flat at said to Nate (well implied with broken English and hand gestures) "Get her number".  I had just gotten the other girls keitai (cell phone) information so I could send her some info about the community band that I had been apart of.  It wasn't exactly "getting her digits" in the traditional sense, but that's not the point.  It's all about the fellowship and now I'm at least acquainted with 4 more Japanese people.

One of the other guys with them, Yohei, had actually spent a few years in New York and speaks excellent English and was able to translate very well for us when needed.  The girls were also able to speak/understand English well enough.

Most of my fellowship tonight though came with Rage, a musicians bond.  He doesn't speak a ton of English so it was pretty cool to see once again music transcend the language barrier as we jammed on guitar and piano for about 30-45 minutes.  He's also going to join me next week when I play some jazz sets on Fri/Sat.  

Not a bad night and indeed a good sign of things to come this year.  I just really need to learn the language.

Until later,

Peace out!