After a hurried goodbye to Sally at the train station I went home for a day and then left around the afternoon to go pick David up at the airport. He arrived at a little awkward time so as to miss the bus and the train network which is not his fault at all it was just a little off timing-wise so I drove to Narita to pick him up and whilst I won't say how long it took I will say it didn't seem as long on the way home.
With David coming I felt a little bit of a dilemma as to what I should show him. I thought it would be best to show a general view of Japan and see some sights and sort of just 'live' in Japan. We did the same sort of things as I did with Sally but a little different this time! We saw different parts of the places we visited, we went to different festivals, ate some different food, met some different people and had some different events.
We had a barbeque at a managers house the first day which also happened to be on at the same time as a festival with fireworks so I think it was a pretty good opener to the trip.
From there we had a trip to the beach which was also the first time I'd been to a Japanese beach and let me just say... whilst it was a pretty good beach I still think Australia's are better. David also enjoyed the benefits of the unlimited drink bar by having something like 3 or 4 iced coffees at Coco's - it was an interesting car ride home.
At Nikko we hauled ass up this huge mountain (in my car) to see a big waterfall. There was a story there about a kid that 'left sentimental things' and then proceeded to jump off the top. We both took a copy of the story in English but neglected to read it and then they were later lost in a pre-party clean up.
Both Sally and David reveled in the joys of Trial (the super store near my house) and David spent about 2 hours there one day when I was off at training. You could probably spend more time there as it's just. that. good. We often got food/alcohol there and it was and still is pretty much a haven for everything you could ever want.
Ikanbe festival! (A festival that has a big stage for dancing and other things surrounded by food stalls etc.). We put on our jinbei (read; festival wear) and met some of my friends from the prefecture over which, after a side trip to a going away party, culminated in a party at my house. Kevin passed out so OBVIOUSLY we drew all over him.
A trip out to Tokyo at night to see the nightlife and stay all night beginning the night with McDonalds and ending it with McDonalds again. Dealing with the long train rides too and from but it was all worth it as Tokyo at night is fuuuunnn.
A daytrip to Disneyland! David get's a little motion sickness so we went on the more relaxing rides but these were all rides I hadn't gone on yet so it was interesting nonetheless! Throughout the day they had an event called 'Cool the Heat' which essentially involves everyone in the viewing area in front of the castle getting completely saturated whilst watching Goofy and another Disney character (it was different each time) sing pop songs. We went to this glorious moment in time (an mmmbop if you will) 3 times.
The food! Onigiri from 7/11, ramen, curry from coco's curry house, Dennys and Coco's family restaurant, the bakery stuff (so much bakery stuff - bliss), snacks from trial, bento's, festival food and so much more!
The trip we took for my work where we took charge of a group of about 9 crazily energetic children and ran English-y activities with them. Fun! But tiring! Those kids just have bottomless wells of energy ... I have a wading pool.
(from left; Cinderella's castle; catching fish in Nasu; playing mario kart in jinbei)
We were pretty much busy everyday and we had a bit of a warped sleeping schedule but for the last two days we sort of sat around and relaxed. I was pretty much worn out from the last 4 weeks so I needed some time cool down and it was also a good time for David to relax before he began his new job with Warner Bros.
So while we did similar things to what I did with Sally they were actually really quite different which is good for me as it means I wasn't just doing the same things over and over again :D It did mean that there wasn't any trips to Kyoto or anything like that so it'll be a bit awkward to tell the teachers at school that not only did I not climb mt. Fuji as I had hoped but also that I didn't travel Japan as much as I said I would. Whatever. I've got time so I'll do it eventually so they can just shut up! Speaking of which I go back to work on Tuesday which is a bit sudden but I think it's a good thing - it'll get me doing things. According to my evaluations I'm doing a pretty good job so I'll keep doing what I'm doing and everything should be A-ok!
I have 3 weeks and then my entire family is coming to visit me! It'll be really good to see them but I only have 5 days off around that time so we'll see how things works out for that! Until next time!
kris.
P.S. Haven't actually put the photo's on Facebook as I didn't really take that many I'm afraid!
