Today was a bad, bad food day. We woke up a little worse for wear, so then ate a very large bread based breakfast, including maple syrup toast (courtesy of Freddy), scones, toffee cookies, cream cheese cracker things, donuts and milk bread. Not really your balanced and nutritious diet. so then, having started badly, we thought more bread based snacks and creamy drinks were the order of the day at cafe38. We did have to run for the train though, so I am sure it must have all balanced out. not sure how we went from having all the time in the world to legging it to the station.

After coffee, Jo and Anna went for a hair cut that lasted longer than test cricket. Jo`s friend gave her a voucher for the hair dressers worth 6000yen, and as a haircut is only 4000yen, that is pretty good. But yes, waiting for an hour for them to even start cutting is not. Meanwhile, Tosh, Freddy, Tatty and I went to eat pizza and pancakes (spelt crape on the menu - he he). Then we did more print club and headed home. Ate ramen for tea. Not good. And on the way home we got attacked by a weird kid trying to give us lots of leaflets about trains and festivals, so Jo and I decided to ring each other so we were obviously too busy to talk to each other, and Tosh tried desperately to pretend he didn`t know us.

Today I went into town to meet Jo and Anna for lunch, and also met up with our new friend Tatty, who we met when we did the quiz show. We ate lunch in an Italian restaurant with an front that opens up onto the street, and shared a bottle of white, as it was Tatty`s 23rd. We then did a spot of shopping before reconvening for a coffee later on. We had planed to go to a lake and drink beer in the evening, but the rain put an end to that, so instead we ended up at the Irish bar for fish and chips and a pint. We met Anna`s successor, Freddy from Canada. She seems quite nice and friendly. We did a bit of print club before heading back to Anna`s to continue drinking.

We also met a few of the new JETs on the street when we came out of print club. They seemed...drunk. But I guess that is the best way to be in your first week in Japan.

Tonight was a very intellectual day. Until the evening, it was a very lazy day. The students are not here unless they are doing sports or trying trying desperately not to fail the first term. First thing, I helped a student who was really struggling with English, and from then on I had a productive time ploughing through the new Harry Potter, listening to Radio1, learning a few kanji (Chinese characters) and reading the paper. I have also started a new habit of reading one news story a day in Japanese, French and then English. So far it is proving quite a good idea, and is certainly helping my kanji.

So, to the intellectual part of my day...In the evening I went to a haiku club. Eight of the teachers get together once a month and have dinner and talk about haiku. During the month, people submit haikus either about a set topic, or free writing, then on the night everyone votes for their top 3, and the authors discuss why they wrote it and so on. I was happy just to understand some of them.

Here is a selection of the ones I liked:

捩摺のらせんの先は青い空
(mojizuri no rasen no saki wa aoizora)
At the end of the Lady`s Tresses spiral is the blue sky.
(see here for a picture of a Lady`s Tresses: http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1097707.html)

麦笛や修道院にパンを焼く
(mugibue ya shuudouuin ni pan o yaku)
bread baking in the abbey, wheat fileds sing.

歩み止め願いを託す天の川
(ayumi tome negai o makasu ten no kawa)
stop walking and wish upon a star.

庭草に可れんなはなが顔を出し
(niwakusa ni karen na hana ga kao o dashi)
delicate flowers raise their faces from amoung the grasses.

Today, as you do, we drove 80km to eat Italian food. And yes, it was worth it. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet for only ￥1500 (7quid), and was some of the best food I have had in a long, long time! Annoyingly I wasn't so hungry, so I only managed two plates, but next time I will know to starve myself before hand. So, we did have a reason for such a crazy endeavor, and that was it was Jo`s birthday today, so we had to have an on-the-day party. It was also the first time I had been to the Hachinohe mall, so I was quite excited!

Today we went to lunch in the usual pizza restaurant, and as usual spent hours in there talking and drawing in the scrap books they have (probably designed for small children, not us). I discovered Russian tea, which is normal tea, except it comes in little china cups and a teapot like proper English tea, with a little silver milk jug, and a little pot with marmalade to make it sweet. It was heavenly!!

We met an ex-student who I haven`t seen since they left, which was exciting. He had changed loads, and really grown up. Now he is working for the local railway company, and has had a change of haircut and a complete personality transplant.

I also got to have a long talk with Moo, who I haven`t seen in ages. He had bought a wicked t-shirt in the bargain bin at Daiei. It had an angry looking man drawn in a traditional style, and it said 「ふざけるな」 (fuzakeruna), which roughly translates as "don't mess with me!". Well, all the Japanese people thought it was hilarious.















In the evening we were supposed to have a bbq. However, most people were leaving the country in a few days, and realised that still having the entire contents of their flat on the floor was not good. So in the end it was just 5 of us, so we cooked the meat on the little table grill, and then went and played with fireworks in the usual life-threatening Japanese way.

birthday party

Not much to report really. Got drunk, didnt eat enough and got last train home. Usual kind of thing. One good food was this dish with little spongey circles that you put chicken and veges in and covered in spicey sauce, like a little Chinese sandwich. They were good. We also had an interesting drink that tasted like bile. Think it was a "suzie soda". Anyway, it was vile, so we made everyone drink it and took photos of their suprised and disgusted faces. he he.

It was a bit sad, as it was the last time I will see quite a few people who are going home.

birthday party

In the evening, we went to the Kitchen bar to celebrate Jo`s birthday (who I have cleverly not put up a photo of, well done me). In the end there were 13 of us. It was good to see Mai. She has changed loads, but is still as sweet as ever.

races

Although, maybe the bus to get there was one of the best parts of the racing. It took a really interesting route, and so I saw bits of Mori I had never been to before, and some pretty mountains just on the outskirts. Beautiful! After we bought the ferry tickets for Sapporo at last, and did a bit of shopping. I bought some pop-tarts which was rather exciting.

oro park

We went to the horserace track in Morioka for the first time today, and it was better than expected. I had heard it was more Walthamstow that Ascott, but it turned out to be quite nice and clean and quiet. So we sat on the grass, ate icecream and katsu-kare, and drank beer, and occationally watched horses dash past. Very nice afternoon.

Today was the teachers "we made it through the term and need a stiff drink" enkai. Actually , it was one of the best I have been to so far. Most people were late, so they just gave up on all the formal ceremony stuff and everyone gave their best effort towards getting very, very, very drunk. Again had the "ooh, terrible about London" conversation with lots of different people, which inevitably ended up with me being in need of far more vocab than I possess, especially when confronted with questions such as "do you blame Bush for the attacks on London, or is Blair equally to blame?" which although I was happy I could understand the question, I am unsure I could have answered it in English, let alone Japanese! So I concentrated on getting wasted, as if you have beer in your mouth, of course you cant answer difficult questions. I also got to do the kanpai when the third wave of guests arrived. It was amusing because everyone repeated me as I said it, just like a lesson!!

Yukata

For his main present, Rick got a Japanese traditional style summer outfit, along with special order geta shoes for his big feet. When they said who is was made by, everyone was quite impressed, so they must be quite famous.

ps: if you are Christopher Trottier, I am really sorry. I changed the picture for this post and it deleted your comment. gomen ne! m(__)m

This is all the staff from the clinic who came to the party.

clinic staff and Mike

Staff from the clinic

the doctor and his wife

bye bye party

The doctor threw a big farewell party for Rick. First they had some speeches by the doctor and his wife, then he got given loads of prezzies, and then Mike was made to do a kanpai speech. (^o^)

Iwate town International party

Once a year, the town organizes a party for all the foreign residents in the town. Mostly it is Chinese and Philippine agricultural students, but I also met a lady from Indonesia. This year Kate from Scotland who is a sculpture gave a presentation on "art as a form of communication", which was really interesting.

Korean

We went to a Korean restaurant I have wanted to go to for ages, so very happy about that. Food didn't just taste like kimchi, so happy about that. We had the above beef dish, and also bibimba (a dish with a rice base with veges and mince on top http://www.recipe.nestle.co.jp/recipe/1_99/00012), soup, a pancake like thing with some chilies I thought were peppers on it, which I then ate and subsequently cried for about 20 minutes.

vegetable??

At the airport they had these signs. The poster was about not taking fruit and veg on planes, but that little thing with a suitcase looks like no vegetable I have ever seen!!

pineapple car

After the butterflies, we were off to the Pineapple Park. This I think was the highlight of the holiday. It was a toss up between a castle ruin and here, and I am soooo glad we chose here. First you got into a little pineapple car and it took you around the plantation and gave you a little commentary about the park. Then you went into the factory where they produce pineapple wine. And then the best part - a whole area with nomihodai pineapple juice and wine, and tabehodai pineapple and pineapple products including cake and biscuits and pie. Fantastic!!! Needless to say, after a wine nomihodai, the gift shop got a lot of business and all our omiyage was from there (*-_-*)

butterfly hat

ha ha!

butterfly farm

After the aquarium, we went to a butterfly house.

dolphin show

After the aquarium we went to see a dolphin show. It was only 15 minutes after having sat waiting for 35 minutes, but very entertaining all the same. I think this maybe what caused my rather pink nose. (*^_^*)

jaws

soot

I thought this was very cute! I sent a picture to my Japanese friend and they said it looked "yummy" (~_~)

fish

star fish

Eventually we made it to the aquarium. It is the second largest aquarium in the world, so there were some fairly impressive fish there. These star fish you could pick up and play with.

cave

Beach

The next day we got up super early and headed off to the north of the island where all the good attractions and beaches are. Even at 10am, it was already approaching 30oC and the water was so warm and clear, so we stopped on this beach and relaxed for a bit. We were the only people on it, which was much nicer than the crowded one we went to later in the day.

Nuts

They claim you can buy anything in a vending machine in Japan, and I think they may be right. The machine in the hotel sold the usual beer and alcho-pops, but look closely at the can at the end....

Big wine

And the hotel restaurant served maybe the biggest wine glasses I have ever seen!!!

View from hotel restaurant

The hotel wasn't quite on the beach as we had been lead to believe from the website, but there was still a fairly decent view of the sea.

Sadly the area the hotel was in wasn't the most salubrious of places, but it was interesting to see the difference in architecture between there are Iwate.

Hotel Grand Mer

This was our very fancy hotel booked for us by the lovely Jo. Wonderful choice. It wasn't too pricey at 17,000yen (80GBP) for us both for two nights, with an ocean view (well, of sorts - when sitting on the balcony only one of us could see the sea).

Hire car

As we work so incredibly hard here in Japan, we decided we would give ourselves a break and head to the sunny beaches of Okinawa for a few days. If it is your birthday, you can fly with four friends to anywhere in Japan for a mere ichiman (50 quid), so we chose the place furthest south you can get and headed for the sun for Rick`s birthday.

Beer garden

After a hearty meal in the hotel restaurant, we spent our first night in the terrace garden, looking out onto the ocean, sipping cold draft beer, and listening to Jack Johnson by lamplight. Definitely beats the rain in Iwate. (^o^)

TV Debut

Well, obviously not being able to speak Japanese and having absolutely zilch general knowledge, I did what any sane person would do - I went on a Japanese TV quiz show.

Yes, along with 15 other foreign suckers I had my fifteen minutes of fame courtesy of IBC television. It will be aired at the sociable time of 1.28am on the 15th and 22nd of this month. A time at which I am hoping not a single student will be out of bed.

Actually, it wasn't that bad, and our team did manage to come second. Although, having learnt a lot of really useless facts about Japan between being told about it and the filming two days later, it was mostly pot luck and opinion based questions, and we pretty much only had to speak English.

The format was four teams of five people. In our team we had me and Anna from UK, a Chinese man called Li, a Japanese student called Tatsuya, and Dean from America. Definite highlight of our teams performance was being able to name all 7 world cup winners.

http://www.ibc.co.jp/