Oh dear.
I woke up at 3a.m. this morning at the foot of my staircase with a sharp pain in my head. I can only assume I either fainted there, or sleep walked and fell. I knew I had a fever when I got home last night, and I remember lying on my sofa telling myself not to move and then the nausea would go away. I don't remember much after that. I dragged myself off to bed and then awoke to the noise of my alarm clock at 7. Oh how I wanted to stay in bed, to sleep more and then get up and be productive in my house! That was not to be the case and instead I am now sat in an exceptionally cold staffroom, with only two other teachers, dabbling on internet pages and reading blogs. It's so difficult to be productive when there are one thousand things I could be achieving if I could stay at home.
I will blog something exciting with pictures when I find the motivation to stop gnawing my arm with frustration and accept that sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do. I'll start making the most of things tomorrow...I promise.
Visiting Cristin!
Last Saturday I travelled down to Kokubu, Kagoshima to visit my good friend Cristin. I left the island at 12 and didn't reach her until 7pm. It was a long trip but plenty of people spoke to me and entertained me along the way. I even got a high school student to show me the way to her workplace. Cristin didn't finish work until 9 so I found an italian place and sat outside drinking white wine and watching the sunset.
That evening me and Cristin went to a Japanese restaurant with her manager and co-worker (Emi), and a student. They were all really lovely and there was so much food! I was completely shattered at this point though and had to ask to head home at midnight. Seven hours of travelling can knock anyone out!
The next day Emi drove us to Kumamoto. She was going home to visit her family over Obon. It was a 2 hour drive and we arrived there about noon. The castle was the first place to visit.
Here's Cristin, Emi and myself by the castle.
Me and Cristin fight with Ninja's
I'd visited the castle before back in November with Will, but it was still just as beautiful. It was also wonderful to share this with Cristin. I'd waited a year to have her join me here and see the things that make Japan the weird and wonderful country it is.
After the castle Emi has to leave and have dinner with her family. It was a shame but I look forward to meeting her again, she often visits Sasebo. She was a very interesting person and I really enjoyed talking to her about the traditional Japanese workplace and the role of women.
In the evening I showed Cristin the delights of Purikuwa (the sticker photo booths) and taiko drumming. Once we both got the hang of the photo decorations and background we created some wacky pictures. One of which my Japanese friend commented we look like the T.a.T.u girls. Cristin, can you guess which picture that is?
We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant and discussed Japanese culture. What it was we were willing to adjust to, and what we thought was just silly. I find that I try to adhere to most rules I'm told and I understand why they exist, but they can be frustrating sometimes! After dinner we spent time wandering the streets realising the difficulty in distinguishing between Snack bars, hostess bars and normal bars. We came across a western bar called "Jeffs World Bar" and figured that was a safe bet. It wasn't too busy and the bar owner was a cool guy. We got chatting to some NOVA teachers and some Japanese students and stayed there till about 3am. We then dragged the NOVA teachers and one of the students to karaoke with us and sung until sun rise.
Here's Paul and Nick the NOVA boys who were highly entertaining.
From Left to right it's Satoshi, Nick and Paul, with me in the middle.
Here's Satoshi, me, Paul and Cristin.
We reached bed by 6am and thats the main reason why the theme park (originally planned for the next day) was a no go. We could barely cope in the sunshine, let alone ride fast turning rollercoasters all afternoon. We made the decision to get a good breakfast and travel to kagoshima for the afternoon to explore there.
Here's Cristin enjoying a hangover cure breakfast.
Here's Cristin and me riding the shinkansen...yes...we are sad.
When we reached Kagoshima we went to the ferris wheel on the top of the shopping mall. We didn't wait for the clear bottomed car but thats probably a good thing with my fear of heights and all. It was a stunning view.
This is sakurajima, the volcano. It's still active, eeek!
Cristin enjoying the view!
We got the wrong tram for 10 mins, and then had to change and go back the other way. We reached the sea and bumped into some other Geos workers who Cristin knew. We played a strange game of football and frisbee. Then me and Cristin had dinner while watching the sunset over Sakurajima...beautiful.
We headed back to Kokubu and got changed before checking out the towns bar scene. We went to a little Bar/restaurant near Cristin's house and pretty soon the owner was chatting to us and showing his amazing mixing and juggling skills. They were really cool there and welcoming and I was happy Cristin had some good bars to visit near by. Next we went to a reggae bar about 5 minutes away. It was pretty empty being a Monday night but the bar staff were again very chatty and we talked about my upcoming trip to the Yokohama reggae festival. They were cool people and I was happy that Cristin had this all around her. We reached bed around 3 and I wondered how I'd make it home!
Heading home was an awkward journey of missing trains ad sleeping through change stops. I made the 4.25pm fast boat that goes on a massive detour meaning I didn't reach home until 7. Having missed my own local, I headed to BB and caught up with my friends. Part of this was modelling sunglasses.
Kentaro (Tensai)
Shinya
Hiroki (Snack Bar owner and really cool guy) I think he looks like David Baddiel slightly.
This is Taichiro, who's also a nice guy.
I got home at a reasonable hour feeling very happy to have seen Cristin and where she was living. I just really want her to come visit me now! Come on Cristin, hurry up and visit!
The greatest school days.
My last trip to Tsuwazaki primary school before next September was one of the best school days I've had so far. This is one of my tiny primary schools, with only 13 children it's always so much fun to teach. The day before I had been sent the lesson plans as usual, but when I reached school I was informed the plans had changed. My first and second year class would be cooking instead! I was really happy to spend 3rd and 4th period making donuts with the three students that make up the class.
Here are the students from the class rolling the dough.
Next was cutting out the donut shapes.
Good Job Everyone!
I'm given the responsibility of cooking...check out that apron.
The children and all the donuts they made.
Kocho sensei's wife, me and the students.
Me, the grade teacher and the students.
After the donuts were made we practiced colours in English, and played a game of shop! The cards were written in english to help the students practice a little.
Here is the shop, a fruit stall really!
How much!?! Oh dear!
My new purse filled with money the kids made for me.
This is the shopping list I wrote for the kids...What did I want for lunch?
Shopping can be hard work!
After cooking and shopping and sampling a donut or two, we ate lunch. After lunch we all played football in the gym, but I didn't play very well. I joined in as much as I could though! Before lunch Kocho sensei's (Head teacher) wife had mentioned that we would do calligraphy after lunch break. I assumed she meant with the students, and was happy to be invited along. After lunch break I found out it was just myself and her doing calligraphy and Kocho sensei teaching us (mainly me). It was really good fun, but difficult.
Here I am practising under the supervision of kocho sensei.
Here I am holding my first attempt, and my final attempt.
I practiced for maybe an hour and a half, and I was happy to see some improvement.
I really enjoyed it, usually after lunch I have nothing to do. This is going to happen every afternoon I go to that school now. I've been given a special book for myu calligraphy and everything. I'm writing in hiragana by the way, and it says Ichigo, which means strawberry. You have to start small! I can't wait till my next visit.
Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside.
This weekend was hot and sunny. The island looked beautiful and I decided take full advantage of the weather. I haven't worn a bikini in ages, infact I think I had a phobia of swimsuits from university. I didn't go to the beach once last summer! This year I swore I had to go. Even though my bikini doesn't match and I still need to loose weight, I wanted to be in the ocean more than ever.
On Saturday me and Genki went to the secret beach, there was no one else there and the sea was perfectly clear. It was beautiful and warm to swim in, I felt so lucky to live on such a beautiful island.
Here's Genki by the beach.
The next day I went back to the secret beach with Catherine, Carrie and Sierra. I was a little burnt from the day before and put loads of suncream on. The beach was a little busier, but still quiet compared to the main beaches around. We played frisbee and talked in the water, and then we had lunch on the sand.
Catherine and Sierra look happy about the day!
The other people on the beach play the blindfold watermelon game. After they gave us a bag of watermelon!
This is the secret beach, so beautiful and peaceful.
After Catherine and Sierra left to meet Yuki (Sierra's boyfriend) me and Carrie went for another swim and then took beach action pictures.
This me doing "Ready to swim" wear.
Carrie shows "sporty" beach action.
I don't know what beach action this is...but the pink towel was a present from Carrie.
I'm attempting sophisticated at the beach here....and failing.
Thanks everyone for a great weekend.
