One of the things that keeps me with the S.O. is her innate ability to find a way to cheer me up when I am down. She never does this in an obvious way, Japanese women are not that blunt, but she knows when its time to coax me out of my shell. Reaffirming for you uninformed out there that anyone who thinks Japanese women are submissive, has obviously never, ever, lived with one. They get their way just as surely as their western sisters. They do, however, make you feel better while you are being used.
So Saturday morning starts when the S.O. wakes me up a lot earlier than I thought I should be.
(This conversation may or may not have occured as relate it……..nonetheless the meaning is still there).
Me: ” Can’t you just let me wallow here in my self-pity? ”
Her: (Thinking to herself in Japanese). No you can’t you stupid Gaijin. Now get your lazy foreign ass out of bed. Why the hell did I ever get involved with this guy?
” Come join me for Yoga……”.
Me: “Yoga? I meditate while drinking, thank you very much. Its too early to start drinking.”
She: Explains again about her Yoga class.
Me: ” Thanks but no thanks. Real men don’t eat quiche, watch Oprah, and they don’t do Yoga. I will however, go with you to the gym and do treadmill.”
Her: ” Fine. Hayaku!”
So off we go to the gym. Which actually turns out to be a good thing. I get about 40 minutes on the treadmill, which is a great chance for me, as the endorphins kick in and TV headphone volume goes up, to retreat to my own little world. Where I am the star. (Kind of a poor man’s holosuite-more on that some other time).
Work out complete we go home, shower, change go shopping, eat lunch. She then suggests that we go to see a parade that was going on in town from 4 to 5. Sounds like a good idea. Turns out to be a competition between school and other marching bands, some as young as from the 6th grade. Crowded streets, pretty girls and beer vendors selling Asahi for 200Yen a pop. The flag waving Kanagawa Police women in their short skirts and high heeled boots got my attention!
Which in turn lead to me making her a nice dinner over which she asked me if I wanted to play golf today.
Which we did. Don’t ask who won and I shot a pretty good game for me. Remember what I said at the start……..Nobody rides for free!
But I do feel better—-for now. And not one word came out of her mouth that directly referred to my emotions….it was all done very subtly. That’s a lesson some other women should learn!