More stories

Before I start typing up my notes from the conference, I have a few stories to tell. When Kaori and I finally got dinner last night, there was time to ask personal questions. She had mentioned that her boyfriend had lent her this 1 gig memory card for her camera. So, I asked about him. She hemmed and haaed for a bit then came out and said it "well, he's married" and to justify her behavior she later said "before we started our relationship, I heard him say that he hadn't seen his wife in 3 days." I asked her if this was common in Japan, and she said yes, it is. Of course, we have encountered infidelity in Japan in our family before, and this was the theory, but here, I have further, if anecdotal, evidence.

The day we rode bikes in the park in Budapest, I shared my fake SUV with a guy from Montreal called Francois. He told me about one time his train was leaving at like 5 AM. So, he decided to save money on a hostel bed and stay up all night in a bar until it was time to catch the train. But the bar closed at 2, and these people he was talking with said, oh yes, we know an all night bar where we can keep hanging out until you catch your train. He said the new place was really seedy, and he should have known to leave. But they gave him a cup of coffee and he work up 14 hours later at the police station with nothing but the clothes on his back and, miraculously, his passport.

They had dumped him at the train station unconscious and the police had picked him up. He felt really horrible and groggy after he finally woke up but the police (who did not speak English or French) told him that he couldn't get a hostel bed bc he had no money and was all dirty. Anyway, eventually, some guy invited him home and he slept there for a couple days until he felt better.

His other traveling misadventure happened in South America. He was there for an environmental conference and was riding the bus when a guy attempted to mug him at gun point. He was going to cooperate, but the guy slipped and shot him in the mouth instead. The bullet is still in Francois's neck, but at the time he had to be airlifted back to the states. Before they took him back, he got a lot of media coverage bc this country was trying to promote themselves as a tourist destination for people from the States. He used that opportunity to get coverage for his environmentalist agenda, which makes him kind of a celebrity even now.