On Saturday I caught up with Yusaku in Himeji and we zipped across to Osaka for the International Party at Pure. Thankfully we'd had the foresight to book a capsule hotel nearby, as we weren't able to get home after the party, haha. Once we arrived in Shinsaibashi, we checked into the hotel and headed down to Dotonburi to grab dinner at my favourite little garlic ramen place. After that it was party time, w00t! Unfortunately, there were a lot of other events on that night including a firework festival and a few other things I can't remember, so there weren't that many people around. Definitely still enough to be fun, although the place didn't have its normal vibrant feel.

Despite this though, most of the people I did meet were pretty interesting, especially a guy who was a firefighter in Nara, and a deaf lady from Umeda. I was absolutely fascinated by her because although she wasn't completely deaf, we had to communicate mostly through writing. This was a really interesting experience for me and it turned out that it actually suited me surprisingly well. I don't hear well in clubs at the best of times, and writing is easier than speaking :) I think the fact that I didn't have to worry about my speaking skills also made it easier for me to communicate, strangely enough! Anyway, I remember being very impressed by her, as she was quite a bit older than the usual crowd and as I mentioned, hard of hearing, so I thought she was pretty courageous to come out partying. After I'd 'talked' to her a bit, she invited me to go bowling in Osaka in late August with some of her friends ... sweet deal! :D

After the party finished, Yusaku and I wandered back to the capsule hotel and the recent heat and exhaustion caught up with me. I hadn't had all that much to drink but it hit me really suddenly, so I pretty much fell asleep as soon as I got into my little capsule. On Sunday I was still tired and Yusaku needed to head to Toyooka to see his grandparents, so we headed back to Himeji quite early, after grabbing brunch at a handy Subway. I got back to Ako around lunchtime and just mucked around doing chores and playing games for the rest of the day - pretty sweet weekend overall! :)