Flamenco!!!

So... this is a completely non-wedding planning related post...

Yesterday, after work I met with a friend for a bit of karaoke and to wait for Shimon to finish up with work. After which we were going to all have dinner.

We headed to a Spanish restaurant in Kanda (near where Shimon works)... when we got there we found out that it had been reserved for a party and we headed out to try our luck somewhere else. As we were leaving we met a lady on the stairs... and she proceeded to invite us to the party (a gathering of flamenco dance students and teacher), discount the price for us (it was about $50 a person, she made it $30) and insist that we join because it would be fun.

Well... with that sort of hospitality we couldn't very well say no. So the three of us (Shimon, myself and my friend Michelle) headed into the Spanish restaurant for an interesting and fun evening.

Now, to better understand the situation... in the countryside in Japan things like this often happen. You walk by and some people are drinking or eating or whatever and you randomly get invited and join in. Lots of times you have a fab time and it's great!

We are in Tokyo. Things like that don't happen. I've lived here 4 years and it's never happened (I lived in the countryside for 3 and it happened more times than I can count!).

Last night there was generous amounts of wine and food... and lots of people who are really quite into flamenco. The teacher is Japanese and lived in Spain for 30 years. He came over, chatted with us and then introduced us later. The lady who met us on the stairs goes by the nickname Maria (everyone has a Spanish nickname in the group) and was so nice. She also lived in the UK for about 5 years when she was younger.

All in all it was a great (if completely random) evening!! And now Michelle and I feel a little obligated to check out flamenco, if for no other reason than it seemed fun... after a few glasses of wine!