February Update

Things here have been going well, nothing exciting but life hasn't been too boring. One thing that has kept me on my toes the past couple of weeks was working on my U.S. tax return. I've actually never done my taxes before. Every year, I always gave my accountant back home the appropriate documents and he would prepare everything in a nice envelope for me to send. Since I do not have that luxury here, I tried to do my taxes on my own. Not surprisingly, I had a ton of questions and I was doubting myself on the content I thought I knew. I soon found myself researching for some tax accountants specializing in US tax in Tokyo. I actually found a lot, but their fees were through the roof compared to what I was used to paying back in the states. Luckily, last week I found a coworker at the office who is a pro at US tax and he agreed to help me with my paperwork. The lifesaver helped me complete everything last weekend and all I have to do now is send the package to Uncle Sam.

Other than that nothing notable has been going on. I'm still doing well at the gym going a few times a week. I am still trying to figure out the best time of the day to go. I try to go when there is the least amount of people because my goal is to get my workout done as quickly as possible. However, I've been unfortunate and have always picked times to go during the "house wives" rush hour, where I'm surrounded by old women taking their sweet time in the limited amount of machines.

I'm still playing basketball but I haven't been back to the Shibuya Sports Center. I wanted to go the past couple of weeks, but I had work related events during basketball nights there. Tonight is basketball night, but actually I'm sore from yesterday where I played 2 on 2 full court basketball. I know.. 2 on 2 full court?? I don't know either, I mean back in the states, every time we had less than 4 on 4 we played half court games. All the games in Japan, they always want to play full court regardless of how many people playing. Oh well.. I can't complain because I don't have any basketball friends anyways so I got to take whatever I can get. This leads me to the college kids I thought I befriended a while ago at the local community center. At that time, we exchanged e-mails and even talked about going to an izakaya for some drinks. However, almost every week for the past few months we would play with each other and it seems we have fun, but when I try to talk to them about other things, they keep brushing me off. The e-mails have also stopped as they haven't responded to me anymore. One of the college guys seem to have emotional issues, where one week he seems happy and comfortable talking with me, the next he seems annoyed and has this fake attitude with me. Oh well, I don't really mind and have quit making any more efforts with them but I honestly was really looking forward to making some new friends. Recently, I actually got along better with the Junior and High school students who play there than the college guys. Its too bad I can't ask them "Hey wanna get a drink at the local bar sometime?" Maybe I an change it up to "Hey wanna get a juice box later?"

Playing sports and working out has allowed me to eat out more without feeling guilty. I've actually been eating out at least once or twice a week. My local area has lots of restaurants but unfortunately, the majority of them suck. One of my coworkers was surprised to hear that you can get bad food in Japan, which I was too because food in Japan in my opinion, is best in the world, but I think my part of Tokyo is an anomaly. So this weekend, my coworker who loves the Latin culture scheduled a night out at a good Mexican restaurant she recommends in Hiroo. I haven't eaten good Mexican food since I've been in Japan, so I'm definitely excited. The only thing I'm not looking forward is she wants to do Tequila shots and the last time I did Tequila shots I re-enacted the whole vomiting scene from "The Exorcist".