A Little Piece of Email

I just wrote this in an email to my friend and it sums up so much of something I can't put my finger on that I wanted to share it with more people. Here it is. For your reading pleasure:

Now. I'll tell you how I am. I'm in a bad way at the moment and probably not making much sense. There was an "enkai" last night. Enkais are dinner parties meant for one thing or another and they always include lots of alcohol. People don't drink a lot of sake here, which is contrary to what one would believe about Japanese people. Shouchu is the drink of choice and it's a beast. It's kind of like sake, but not as delicious. People mix it with water and it can be really easy to drink. However, it's a devious beast and it sneaks up on you. Take me for example. I was drinking, drinking and drinking last night and everything was fine. Then, all of a sudden, I woke up passed out on a little piece of grass in front of my house! OK, it wasn't quite like that, but that's the kind of thing that could happen with shouchu. There's always a definite line between coherent thought and everything going blurry. The great thing about Japan (Is it really a great thing?) is that when co-workers get together for these enkais and drink, what's said and done while drunk is never, and I mean NEVER, brought up or discussed again. You could have said or done the silliest thing, and the next day it's like your slate has been wiped clean. Japanese people are very forgiving in this respect. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that your inner personal shame and no-good-ness is forgotten. I had to call my friend this morning for damage control. I just had to find out if I said or did anything really stupid towards the end of the night, when I'd crossed that line into blurriness. She said all was good and that I'm a "happy drunk." When I asked her to tell me about any possible embarrassing actions, she said that I was just hugging people. That I remember and that I can live with. Well, there you go. The thing I fear most is possibly having said something along the lines of, "I want you to be my boyfriend" to my Japanese counterpart and English supervisor. That, by the way, isn't true, but I'm lonely. What can a girl do? So, here we are, sitting side by side (our desks are next to one another) with that heavy sentence plopped down between us, pretending like it's any other day.

So there you have it. そう言うことです。