Second day in Cali - The arrival of Mutsumi and Akiyo (and an explanation of who they are).

So yeah, the interesting part of this little trip to California. The addition of Mutsumi and Akiyo.

Mutsumi and Akiyo, are 2 girls I met by pure random chance...

I was at Hub, back when I was DJing at Arena a while back, with my friend Adam, who just arrived to Japan (at this time he, it was his first weekend here). We were drinking to calm me down, and hang out before I went on to DJ. He saw a cute girl and tried to get her attention, but she was obviously ignoring him. This girl went to the bathroom and when she came back, Adam grabbed her, and asked her to sit. She was KIND OF scared and got her friend to come sit with us too.

I was a bit embarassed at my friend, and let him do the talking, because I had a girlfriend at the time, but then I noticed something common in Nagoya. These girls spoke NO English! Just basic words, and phrases, at best! So my big bud was struggling to get anywhere.

I tried my best to translate for him, to try to make them laugh with his jokes and such, and they were laughing at the situation and felt bad for me. The one that Adam grabbed, Mutsumi, exchanged information with me before we left, and said she would stay in touch.

A month goes by, no contact, but finally I got a message from Mutsumi, saying her and her friend Akiyo were going out to drink at Hub. I was already going to be there before a DJ night, so I said I would meet up with them. I got there, and they were surrounded by guys trying for their attention, but as soon as I got there, they both started talking to only me, and the guys eventually left. We all left together, and I went to DJ, and they went off to do their thing.

Fast forward to a meeting at a Starbucks one night, when they were near my corporate lesson, and asked if I wanted to meet for coffee. While talking (always in Japanese, 100%) they asked what I was doing for winter vacation, and I said going to California, and being SUPER lazy! They were envious of me, because their plans were just work, and hanging out with family.

Without thinking (I mean who would have guessed this would happen...?) I jokingly said they should come with me to California, stay at my mom's place because it is big, and I could show them around, since I would be doing nothing anyway. They checked their schedules, and thought about it, but we just laughed it off, finished our coffee, and went our seperate ways.

The next day at work, came the surprise. A surprise like no other. They had booked their trip to California... They were on a waiting list, but said it sounded good, that they would be able to make it...

Great! Now what do I do? I had a girlfriend, who would get a little jealous sometimes, and here I am now, stuck with not one, but TWO girls going with me to California, girls that she doesn't know, girls that are just friends (as far as I know, and even to this day, there is no love/like interests amongst any of us, just friends). What do I do?

So time goes by, they get off the waiting list, and are now 100% going to Cali, but also made plans to go to Sedona and White Sands National Park. Not just this, but it is Akiyo's birthday on the 27th, and Mutsumi and I would meet up sometimes, to plan a surprise for her, buy her a card and shirt, and draw some stuff on the shirt for her, to make her brithday in California a great/memorable one.

Well the time came and went, and they arrived to LAX the day after I did.

I woke up after partying with norm all night, and drove to LAX, getting there an hour before their arrival (15 minutes earlier than expected).

I got to the terminal and waited with some woman who was picking up her son in law from the same terminal as the girls, who is a marine in Japan. We talked a bit until he came, and shortly after the girls arrived!

As soon as they saw me, they started cheering my name, and everyone started looking at me (I forgot to mention, these girls are CRAZY! They are soooooo extroverted and not shy, and insanely funny, and to top it off, they are SOO much alike!). I took one look at them though, and knew, we couldn't go meet with my sister and go shopping like we had planned. Plus it was raining extremely hard! So I took them to my mom's apartment. They both slept pretty much the whole way there, they were severely jet lagged!



When we arrived, I introduced them to my mom, and we gave them the towels my mom bought and stitched their names into. I really think they almost cried at the sight of those towels. They took some pictures, and we began to eat some food my mom made us. Shortly after this, we were exhausted, so we decided to take a nap before I had to take them to the airport to go to Sedona/White Sands. We all knocked out QUICK, and couldn't get up even after the alarm.





We eventually got up, headed to the airport and they were off!

After dropping them off, I went to see my old coworkers at JoshuaCasey, but I missed my old bosses! I chatted for a long time, and then went to my old college after. I BARELY missed my old teacher (for the second time, it happened last year too!) and decided to go to Cheesecake Factory after that.

I got there, got a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cheesecake, while watching the Packer game. I wanted to enjoy it at home, so finished the cake (I can't finish a slice without getting sick!) and headed home, to watch the guy.

I got home, took another nap while watching the game, then got a call from Ken (my old TA from my Japanese class, who now lives in my old room here in Irvine!) wanting to make plans with Eric (old classmate from Japanese class) and Kazumi (another TA from Japanese class). We made plans, and met up at a Chinesese restaraunt, to eat talk and catch up. It was a mix of Japanese and English, and Eric was ordering all of our food in Taiwanese (his parents are from there). After eating, we headed back to my apartment, and drank and talked until midnight. From midnight to 2AM, Ken and I talked until he wanted to sleep for work that day.

My next day had, visiting my old company to see the bosses again, my old teacher at college, then shopping, then heading to see my dad in Rialto! I will save that for the next blog I write, once I wake up!