I wonder what's in there........
Who's got degnity?
Anyone for duck?
What's going on here? This is an add for cleansing pores, why is she mixing a cake?
Anyone for number 4?
This is all for now folks, until next time...........
Monday, February 26, 2007
Huh? Episode 2
Well I have stumbled accross some more interesting sights.......have a look at what I found.
I wonder what's in there........
Who's got degnity?
Anyone for duck?
What's going on here? This is an add for cleansing pores, why is she mixing a cake?
Anyone for number 4?
This is all for now folks, until next time...........
I wonder what's in there........
Who's got degnity?
Anyone for duck?
What's going on here? This is an add for cleansing pores, why is she mixing a cake?
Anyone for number 4?
This is all for now folks, until next time...........
Steve's Excitement
26th February, 2007
We made a little trip to Osaka on the weekend so that Steve could purchase his very own brand new video camera. This was a very exciting journey for him.
He found the one he really wanted and bought it for a bargain price. In the end it worked out to being almost half the price for the same camera in Adelaide. PLUS we also got a point card where we were given 500 points – this means that we now have $500 to spend in the store. So Steve can now buy a case and some accessories for his new purchase. I think he is going to have a lot of fun with his new toy! 
We made a little trip to Osaka on the weekend so that Steve could purchase his very own brand new video camera. This was a very exciting journey for him.
He found the one he really wanted and bought it for a bargain price. In the end it worked out to being almost half the price for the same camera in Adelaide. PLUS we also got a point card where we were given 500 points – this means that we now have $500 to spend in the store. So Steve can now buy a case and some accessories for his new purchase. I think he is going to have a lot of fun with his new toy! 
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Crazy Rubbish
The rubbish system in Japan is too crazy not to write about, so I thought that I had better fill you in on it. If you think that when all the recycling bins came to Adelaide and we had to sort out all of our rubbish was crazy, then think again. Adelaide’s rubbish system is a piece of cake compared to here. I never thought that I would have to think so much about rubbish. In Adelaide it is only once a week that you have to take the rubbish out, well here in Japan pretty much every second day is rubbish day. Everything has to be sorted here. There is one bin for burnables which is like food scraps etc, one bin is for plastics – so that means styrofoam, plastic wrappers, chip packets (anything plastic) and there is one bin for paper which has to go in a paper bag. So already you have to think about 3 different things. Then on top of that you have to recycle plastic bottles, milk cartons, glass bottles – now milk cartons have to be washed and cut so they are flat, plastic bottles need to have the lid and label off (and put into plastics) and glass bottles have to be sorted into clear, brown and coloured. Then food tins like canned tomatoes, corn, tuna etc have to also be put into a separate rubbish bin. Hard rubbish such as chairs, tables basically most things that you want to get rid of go out once every 2 weeks but again they all need to be sorted into different areas – metal, material etc……Burnables go out twice a week, plastic goes out once a week and paper goes out every 2 weeks. You have to remember what day is what so that you don’t miss it. I never thought that rubbish could be so complicated! If we get it wrong we get big reminders from our boss. It is a very crazy system but I suppose once you get used to it it’s ok. I think it will take me a while to work it all out.
Monday, February 19, 2007
A Weekend in Kobe
16th – 18th February, 2007
Another jam packed weekend. We rushed home from school Friday night and had to be ready to catch the 5:40pm bus to the station. Kobe is only 40 minutes away from Himeji by train and it only costs around 1780 yen for a round trip. It was a girls weekend so it consisted of me, Marie, Lauren and Karen (an American girl). It was the first time we had ventured somewhere without Steve so I was a little worried about getting around but I discovered that we could do it! The first night we checked into our hotel and went to this really ritzy Italian place for dinner. I ordered a set menu which consisted of antipasto, salad, a massive pizza and an alcoholic drink. The pizza was surprisingly really good. We planned to hit the town but were all too tired so just ended up crashing at the hotel so we could make an early start the next morning.
We met Marie’s teacher (Mayumi) and daughter (Yuko) on Saturday who were staying in their holiday apartment in Kobe. They took us to there apartment and it was amazing, small but really nice. They had planned all sorts of things for us to do. We were taken to a museum first of all which had a display of really old tools that were used to design buildings in the olden days. It was interesting to see the instruments they used back then and the way things were designed.
After the museum we went to a beautiful garden called Sorakuen Garden.
It was raining when we went there but it was actually very peaceful. There was nobody else in the garden except for us so we could roam around at our leisure without being disturbed. The garden is apparently even more beautiful in spring so I will definitely have to make a trip back there to have a look and to take Steve of course! 
Mayumi and Yuko then took us into the glass shop where everything was made out of glass – (similar to our Jam Factory). Everything in there was amazing. Some things were out of our price range but there were lots of reasonably priced items too. I bought a few items as a souvenir. We found out that we could actually make some glass at a museum which was close by so of course we wanted to give that a go.
Before we went to the museum we needed to fill up with food. We were taken to this restaurant for a buffet lunch –Japanese style. It was the best buffet I have ever tasted and once again totally different to the buffet’s we are used to. For starters forget the tongs,…..to pick up the food you had to use chopsticks – so that made it interesting.
I still managed to fill my enormous plate with food!! We had a time limit of 90 minutes and we definitely made sure we were full. I almost had to roll out of the restaurant ☺
After a bit of shopping in the malls we made it to the Glass Museum where we were able to make a glass bead to turn into a necklace. It was something I had never done before so why not? We chose the colour we wanted and the pattern to put inside it and off we went. Of course we had a lot of guidance to make it but it was fun to create our own personal masterpiece. It looked quite easy but I’m sure if I had to do it on my own I would have had trouble. My finished product looked awesome – I love it!
From here we changed and headed to a jazz bar called Sonne. It is a famous jazz bar in Kobe. There was a cover charge of 900 yen but the jazz was awesome so it was worth it.
We requested some songs which the singer sang and at the end of the night we talked to her and took a photo with her. She actually spoke English really well. After the jazz bar Mayumi and Yuko went home and we headed to our next destination which was an Irish Pub. By the time we got there the band had finished which was a little disappointing. We still stayed for a couple of drinks. 
The music was quite good. I found a flyer that said that there is an 80’s night on the last Friday of every month which is right up my alley, so I will definitely have to check that out at some stage.
There was a Chinese Festival on Sunday in China town where we met up with another teacher (Mariko) from Marie’s school.
She was also really nice and could speak English really well. China town was packed and we could hardly move. We were packed in like sardines. I really wanted to see the ceremony so I had to put up with being pushed backwards, forwards and side to side. In the end I don’t even think that I was standing up on my own. If all the people suddenly moved I would have fallen over (that’s how packed it was). I couldn’t believe how pushy some of the Japanese people were. Marie and I managed to fight our way to the front! 
We had a pretty good view in the end – there was some sort of parade to start with and then there were all sorts of different dragon dancers. There were 2 groups of men and a group of little boys. Each group was spectacular to watch. They would have been exhausted at the end of it. 
Our weekend finished with some Chinese lunch and then the best coffee and cake that I have ever tasted.
Another jam packed weekend. We rushed home from school Friday night and had to be ready to catch the 5:40pm bus to the station. Kobe is only 40 minutes away from Himeji by train and it only costs around 1780 yen for a round trip. It was a girls weekend so it consisted of me, Marie, Lauren and Karen (an American girl). It was the first time we had ventured somewhere without Steve so I was a little worried about getting around but I discovered that we could do it! The first night we checked into our hotel and went to this really ritzy Italian place for dinner. I ordered a set menu which consisted of antipasto, salad, a massive pizza and an alcoholic drink. The pizza was surprisingly really good. We planned to hit the town but were all too tired so just ended up crashing at the hotel so we could make an early start the next morning.
We met Marie’s teacher (Mayumi) and daughter (Yuko) on Saturday who were staying in their holiday apartment in Kobe. They took us to there apartment and it was amazing, small but really nice. They had planned all sorts of things for us to do. We were taken to a museum first of all which had a display of really old tools that were used to design buildings in the olden days. It was interesting to see the instruments they used back then and the way things were designed.
After the museum we went to a beautiful garden called Sorakuen Garden.
It was raining when we went there but it was actually very peaceful. There was nobody else in the garden except for us so we could roam around at our leisure without being disturbed. The garden is apparently even more beautiful in spring so I will definitely have to make a trip back there to have a look and to take Steve of course! 
Mayumi and Yuko then took us into the glass shop where everything was made out of glass – (similar to our Jam Factory). Everything in there was amazing. Some things were out of our price range but there were lots of reasonably priced items too. I bought a few items as a souvenir. We found out that we could actually make some glass at a museum which was close by so of course we wanted to give that a go.
Before we went to the museum we needed to fill up with food. We were taken to this restaurant for a buffet lunch –Japanese style. It was the best buffet I have ever tasted and once again totally different to the buffet’s we are used to. For starters forget the tongs,…..to pick up the food you had to use chopsticks – so that made it interesting.
I still managed to fill my enormous plate with food!! We had a time limit of 90 minutes and we definitely made sure we were full. I almost had to roll out of the restaurant ☺ 
After a bit of shopping in the malls we made it to the Glass Museum where we were able to make a glass bead to turn into a necklace. It was something I had never done before so why not? We chose the colour we wanted and the pattern to put inside it and off we went. Of course we had a lot of guidance to make it but it was fun to create our own personal masterpiece. It looked quite easy but I’m sure if I had to do it on my own I would have had trouble. My finished product looked awesome – I love it! 
From here we changed and headed to a jazz bar called Sonne. It is a famous jazz bar in Kobe. There was a cover charge of 900 yen but the jazz was awesome so it was worth it.
We requested some songs which the singer sang and at the end of the night we talked to her and took a photo with her. She actually spoke English really well. After the jazz bar Mayumi and Yuko went home and we headed to our next destination which was an Irish Pub. By the time we got there the band had finished which was a little disappointing. We still stayed for a couple of drinks. 
The music was quite good. I found a flyer that said that there is an 80’s night on the last Friday of every month which is right up my alley, so I will definitely have to check that out at some stage. There was a Chinese Festival on Sunday in China town where we met up with another teacher (Mariko) from Marie’s school.
She was also really nice and could speak English really well. China town was packed and we could hardly move. We were packed in like sardines. I really wanted to see the ceremony so I had to put up with being pushed backwards, forwards and side to side. In the end I don’t even think that I was standing up on my own. If all the people suddenly moved I would have fallen over (that’s how packed it was). I couldn’t believe how pushy some of the Japanese people were. Marie and I managed to fight our way to the front! 
We had a pretty good view in the end – there was some sort of parade to start with and then there were all sorts of different dragon dancers. There were 2 groups of men and a group of little boys. Each group was spectacular to watch. They would have been exhausted at the end of it. 
Our weekend finished with some Chinese lunch and then the best coffee and cake that I have ever tasted.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Huh?
I have decided to create a section called "Huh?". The reason for this is because whilst travelling through Japan I have stumbled accross many signs and things that just aren't quite right. This is what I have discovered so far.......
A male cleaner in the female toilets. He was very confused as to why i wanted to take a photo of him.
The sign said "Rental - O yen" - Why not just say "Free Rental"?
These are my findings so far. I will do some more investigating so stay tuned for the next episode of Huh?..........
A male cleaner in the female toilets. He was very confused as to why i wanted to take a photo of him.
The sign said "Rental - O yen" - Why not just say "Free Rental"?
These are my findings so far. I will do some more investigating so stay tuned for the next episode of Huh?..........
Hiroshima
10th-12th February, 2007
We woke up nice and early ready for our Hiroshima trip. It was a public holiday on Monday so we were able to stay in Hiroshima longer. To get to Hiroshima you can either catch the slow train which would take 4 hours or you could take a Shinkansen (a bullet train) which would get you there in an hour. Of course the fast train is a little more expensive but when time is precious it is worth it.
We went to the station to wait for the Shinkansen. They travel at around 300km/hour by the way. I had never seen one before let alone been on one. I was looking forward to having a ride on it. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. While we were waiting we saw a shinkansen whiz past us.
It was amazingly fast! It kind of caught us all by surprise and we all just had our mouths opened. It was so fast. I didn’t know what it would feel like being on one but I soon found out. It was actually very smooth. Although it was moving at 300km/hour it didn’t really feel any different to being on a plane except that it was a lot more roomier. We made it to Hiroshima in an hour. I just can’t believe how fast the Shinkansen travels. It was a great experience.
We needed to check into our hotel so we could leave our luggage there before we went exploring. Once we were all organised we set off for Peace Memorial Park which is where the first Atomic bomb was let off on top of innocent people.
Being in Peace Memorial Park was amazing. We were actually standing and walking around the area where the bomb was let off. I had very mixed feelings about being there. It was very sad seeing all the memorials around the area. We saw Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
There were actually thousands of paper cranes around the area that people sent from all over the world. It was kind of eerie being there. The Peace Memorial Park area is very mellow and peaceful. There is an eternal flame lit up which will continue to burn until there are no more nuclear weapons. Once all the nuclear weapons in the world have been destroyed the flame will be put out. 
It was amazing to see and read about all the history that had happened in Hiroshima. I just couldn’t believe that the whole city had been wiped out and destroyed. The after effects of the bombing were even more devastating. It actually affected many people for years. We walked around the A-Dome which was one of the buildings that withstood the bomb. The building must have been pretty strong to be able to continue standing.
We went into the Museum which explained the whole tragedy. It was very emotional going in there. We all just wondered along on our own so we could take in all the information. It was horrible seeing everything that happened. There was one section that was quite gory and graphic. They had displayed some people’s belongings which were found after the bombing. Some of the things included: clothes, shoes, watches which had stopped at 8:15 which was when the bomb went off, lunch boxes where the contents inside were charcoal, hair, fingernails, skin, notebooks tricycles and all sorts of other things. There was a story that went with every item. It was very depressing to see it all because a lot of it belonged to children. Lots of people actually managed to walk to their home after the bomb to be with their families before they died.
Although it was very depressing to see and hear about the tragedy that happened on 6th August, 1945 at 8:15am I am glad that I was able to see what actually happened. The Museum was very detailed which was good.
It is now about 62 years later and Hiroshima is an amazing place – very alive and established again. It is a very clean and beautiful city and one that I definitely recommend people go to.
After dinner Marie, Lauren and I decided to explore some of the 4000 pubs in Hiroshima. It took us an hour to actually find the one that we were looking for. It was called ‘Mac’ and it played English music.
It was good to hear some familiar music. The pub itself was ok but the music was really good. We had a little dance but not as much as I wanted to. We are still yet to find a place to dance in properly. I found 500 yen in ‘Mac’ so that made us happy. We took our findings and decided to leave. We had to get up early the next morning to go to Miyajima.
MIYAJIMA
The day started with a buffet breakfast in the hotel. It was a very different buffet to what we are used to. Instead of the usual bacon, eggs, croissants, hotcakes……we got rice filled seaweed, Japanese style pastries, yoghurt and there was cereal and toast if you wanted it. It was a really nice breakfast and as usual I ate way too much. It kept me going for a while though.
Miyajima is a small island about 1 hour away from Hiroshima. We needed to take the ferry to get there. When we arrived on the island we discovered that there were deer roaming freely on the island. It was quite interesting to see. I was scared of them of course. They actually come up to you and if you are holding a plastic bag or paper or food they will try and take it out of your hands.
It’s pretty funny – Marie was looking at the map and one of the deer bit a chunk out of her map. They must like the taste of paper.
There are a lot of things to look at on the island. There is the famous Tori for starters which is a red gate situated in the water. That was pretty amazing to see. We actually got pictures of it when we first arrived and then again at sunset - very beautiful.
There were also some shrines on the island to look at as well as a five-storied pergoda. There are only 5 five-storied pergoda’s in Japan and so far I have seen 2 of them. There is also a Mountain on the island which you take the cable car to get to. It has lots of monkeys and deer on it. These monkeys and deer just roam around freely. The monkeys are pretty entertaining really – they climb all over things and I saw a couple of them jump onto a pole from a roof and slide down them like firemen.
They are pretty funny to watch. From this Mountain Marie and I walked to another Mountain called Mt Misen. We didn’t have much time left so the others decided not to walk to it but Marie and I were determined to get to it so we pretty much ran the whole way there and back so that we didn’t miss the last cable car. I’m glad that I got to the top though – the view was fabulous. We were pretty worn out when we got back.
We saw a monkey show and there was this monkey who could do all sorts of fantastic tricks like ride a bike, walk on stilts, collect all the money that people threw and put it into the box. It was brilliant. This monkey was pretty smart. We only started watching it half way through the show so we didn’t get to see all of it which was a bummer.
For dinner we ate ‘okonimiyaki’ which is famous in Hiroshima. Each city has it’s own style of it so we had to try it here. It is like a pancake filled with cabbage, meat and vegetables – in Hiroshima they put noodles in it too. I enjoyed it.
The Oyster Festival was also on this weekend at Miyajima so there were lots of stalls selling barbequed oysters. Of course I had to try some – they were delicious.
After we got back from Miyajima we decided to hit the pubs again to see what else we could find. We seemed to be doing a lot of wondering – we went into a few pubs but didn’t like the look of them so walked out and then we went to one called ‘The Shack’.
It was like a pub that sold food. We just ordered some drinks and ate some fries with it. Fries are something that I haven’t had for a while so instead of just eating one basket we ate two. ☺ We got home around 12:30am because we had an early start again the next morning.
THE CASTLE AND GARDEN
We woke up to another Japanese style buffet breakfast. It was just as delicious as the first day. I filled up before we set off to look at the Hiroshima Castle and the Shukkeien Gardens.
The castle had been rebuilt as it was destroyed in the bomb. They rebuilt it with a museum inside. It was quite modern looking inside. I think it is about 50 years old.
It was interesting to look at some of the samuri swords which were very old. I still don’t think anything beats the Himeji Castle as that castle remains as it was.
The Shukkeien Gardens were very beautiful and peaceful. I really enjoyed walking around them. There was this little bridge in the middle of the garden which looked awesome.
It was quite steep to walk over it. We stayed there for a couple of hours enjoying the scenery.
After the gardens we went to this huge department store and found some lunch. There were many restaurants to choose from. I ate Korean food. It was very tasty. We had a quick look at the shops and then it was time to head back to the Shinkansen to go back to Himeji. It was a very full on weekend but I enjoyed everything about it.
We woke up nice and early ready for our Hiroshima trip. It was a public holiday on Monday so we were able to stay in Hiroshima longer. To get to Hiroshima you can either catch the slow train which would take 4 hours or you could take a Shinkansen (a bullet train) which would get you there in an hour. Of course the fast train is a little more expensive but when time is precious it is worth it.
We went to the station to wait for the Shinkansen. They travel at around 300km/hour by the way. I had never seen one before let alone been on one. I was looking forward to having a ride on it. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. While we were waiting we saw a shinkansen whiz past us.
It was amazingly fast! It kind of caught us all by surprise and we all just had our mouths opened. It was so fast. I didn’t know what it would feel like being on one but I soon found out. It was actually very smooth. Although it was moving at 300km/hour it didn’t really feel any different to being on a plane except that it was a lot more roomier. We made it to Hiroshima in an hour. I just can’t believe how fast the Shinkansen travels. It was a great experience. We needed to check into our hotel so we could leave our luggage there before we went exploring. Once we were all organised we set off for Peace Memorial Park which is where the first Atomic bomb was let off on top of innocent people.
Being in Peace Memorial Park was amazing. We were actually standing and walking around the area where the bomb was let off. I had very mixed feelings about being there. It was very sad seeing all the memorials around the area. We saw Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
There were actually thousands of paper cranes around the area that people sent from all over the world. It was kind of eerie being there. The Peace Memorial Park area is very mellow and peaceful. There is an eternal flame lit up which will continue to burn until there are no more nuclear weapons. Once all the nuclear weapons in the world have been destroyed the flame will be put out. 
It was amazing to see and read about all the history that had happened in Hiroshima. I just couldn’t believe that the whole city had been wiped out and destroyed. The after effects of the bombing were even more devastating. It actually affected many people for years. We walked around the A-Dome which was one of the buildings that withstood the bomb. The building must have been pretty strong to be able to continue standing. 
We went into the Museum which explained the whole tragedy. It was very emotional going in there. We all just wondered along on our own so we could take in all the information. It was horrible seeing everything that happened. There was one section that was quite gory and graphic. They had displayed some people’s belongings which were found after the bombing. Some of the things included: clothes, shoes, watches which had stopped at 8:15 which was when the bomb went off, lunch boxes where the contents inside were charcoal, hair, fingernails, skin, notebooks tricycles and all sorts of other things. There was a story that went with every item. It was very depressing to see it all because a lot of it belonged to children. Lots of people actually managed to walk to their home after the bomb to be with their families before they died.
Although it was very depressing to see and hear about the tragedy that happened on 6th August, 1945 at 8:15am I am glad that I was able to see what actually happened. The Museum was very detailed which was good.
It is now about 62 years later and Hiroshima is an amazing place – very alive and established again. It is a very clean and beautiful city and one that I definitely recommend people go to.
After dinner Marie, Lauren and I decided to explore some of the 4000 pubs in Hiroshima. It took us an hour to actually find the one that we were looking for. It was called ‘Mac’ and it played English music.
It was good to hear some familiar music. The pub itself was ok but the music was really good. We had a little dance but not as much as I wanted to. We are still yet to find a place to dance in properly. I found 500 yen in ‘Mac’ so that made us happy. We took our findings and decided to leave. We had to get up early the next morning to go to Miyajima.MIYAJIMA
The day started with a buffet breakfast in the hotel. It was a very different buffet to what we are used to. Instead of the usual bacon, eggs, croissants, hotcakes……we got rice filled seaweed, Japanese style pastries, yoghurt and there was cereal and toast if you wanted it. It was a really nice breakfast and as usual I ate way too much. It kept me going for a while though.
Miyajima is a small island about 1 hour away from Hiroshima. We needed to take the ferry to get there. When we arrived on the island we discovered that there were deer roaming freely on the island. It was quite interesting to see. I was scared of them of course. They actually come up to you and if you are holding a plastic bag or paper or food they will try and take it out of your hands.
It’s pretty funny – Marie was looking at the map and one of the deer bit a chunk out of her map. They must like the taste of paper. There are a lot of things to look at on the island. There is the famous Tori for starters which is a red gate situated in the water. That was pretty amazing to see. We actually got pictures of it when we first arrived and then again at sunset - very beautiful.
There were also some shrines on the island to look at as well as a five-storied pergoda. There are only 5 five-storied pergoda’s in Japan and so far I have seen 2 of them. There is also a Mountain on the island which you take the cable car to get to. It has lots of monkeys and deer on it. These monkeys and deer just roam around freely. The monkeys are pretty entertaining really – they climb all over things and I saw a couple of them jump onto a pole from a roof and slide down them like firemen.
They are pretty funny to watch. From this Mountain Marie and I walked to another Mountain called Mt Misen. We didn’t have much time left so the others decided not to walk to it but Marie and I were determined to get to it so we pretty much ran the whole way there and back so that we didn’t miss the last cable car. I’m glad that I got to the top though – the view was fabulous. We were pretty worn out when we got back. 
We saw a monkey show and there was this monkey who could do all sorts of fantastic tricks like ride a bike, walk on stilts, collect all the money that people threw and put it into the box. It was brilliant. This monkey was pretty smart. We only started watching it half way through the show so we didn’t get to see all of it which was a bummer.
For dinner we ate ‘okonimiyaki’ which is famous in Hiroshima. Each city has it’s own style of it so we had to try it here. It is like a pancake filled with cabbage, meat and vegetables – in Hiroshima they put noodles in it too. I enjoyed it.
The Oyster Festival was also on this weekend at Miyajima so there were lots of stalls selling barbequed oysters. Of course I had to try some – they were delicious. After we got back from Miyajima we decided to hit the pubs again to see what else we could find. We seemed to be doing a lot of wondering – we went into a few pubs but didn’t like the look of them so walked out and then we went to one called ‘The Shack’.
It was like a pub that sold food. We just ordered some drinks and ate some fries with it. Fries are something that I haven’t had for a while so instead of just eating one basket we ate two. ☺ We got home around 12:30am because we had an early start again the next morning.THE CASTLE AND GARDEN
We woke up to another Japanese style buffet breakfast. It was just as delicious as the first day. I filled up before we set off to look at the Hiroshima Castle and the Shukkeien Gardens.
The castle had been rebuilt as it was destroyed in the bomb. They rebuilt it with a museum inside. It was quite modern looking inside. I think it is about 50 years old.
It was interesting to look at some of the samuri swords which were very old. I still don’t think anything beats the Himeji Castle as that castle remains as it was. The Shukkeien Gardens were very beautiful and peaceful. I really enjoyed walking around them. There was this little bridge in the middle of the garden which looked awesome.
It was quite steep to walk over it. We stayed there for a couple of hours enjoying the scenery.
After the gardens we went to this huge department store and found some lunch. There were many restaurants to choose from. I ate Korean food. It was very tasty. We had a quick look at the shops and then it was time to head back to the Shinkansen to go back to Himeji. It was a very full on weekend but I enjoyed everything about it.
Formal Dinner
9th February, 2007
We were invited to a formal welcome dinner with Mr Iizuka and all the principals of the schools. Being a formal, Marie and I couldn’t resist buying new formal dresses. They were actually really beautiful dresses – Marie bought a red one and I bought a black and white one. Both were long of course. We dolled ourselves up and off we went to the formal. Food and drink were all catered for. It was pretty funny though because all the principals were on one side of the room and all the Aussies and Americans were on the other side. As people ate and drank through the night the groups began to slowly mingle. It was difficult to speak to the Principals though as many of them had limited English.
Dinner was a big buffet with lots of different Japanese style food. I didn’t know what a lot of it was but I think I pretty much gave everything a go – come on how could I resist! There was not a lot of choice with drinks – it was either Sake (Japanese wine), Asahi (beer) or orange juice. Well out of those choices I decided to stick with the beer even though I am not a beer drinker at all. I did try a bit of the Sake but I just can’t seem to get into it.
We all had to do an introduction speech again. It is becoming a bit of a habit now that when we go somewhere we have to introduce ourselves. I am getting very used to standing up on stage and talking in front of large crowds in Japanese.
After all of the introductions it was time to do our performance. Luckily we had prepared a few acts……
We read a poem called ‘8 Little Aussies’ which we made up,
then we played heads and tails (they loved that game by the way), then we danced to the ‘Time Warp’, then some Americans sang a Japanese song and then a couple of Americans acted out a Sumo scene. It was a pretty good performance and the Principals seemed to really enjoy it. I can’t believe that we actually had to perform!
The formal was from 6pm-8pm. It is funny here because they really seem to stick to time limits.
At exactly 8pm everyone left. Well it seemed like a waste for us to be all dolled up and to go home at 8pm on a Friday night so we went to a pub. We were slightly overdressed for the occasion but oh well. We ended up going home at around 12 which was early, but we had to catch an 8am bus the following morning to go to Hiroshima.
We were invited to a formal welcome dinner with Mr Iizuka and all the principals of the schools. Being a formal, Marie and I couldn’t resist buying new formal dresses. They were actually really beautiful dresses – Marie bought a red one and I bought a black and white one. Both were long of course. We dolled ourselves up and off we went to the formal. Food and drink were all catered for. It was pretty funny though because all the principals were on one side of the room and all the Aussies and Americans were on the other side. As people ate and drank through the night the groups began to slowly mingle. It was difficult to speak to the Principals though as many of them had limited English.
Dinner was a big buffet with lots of different Japanese style food. I didn’t know what a lot of it was but I think I pretty much gave everything a go – come on how could I resist! There was not a lot of choice with drinks – it was either Sake (Japanese wine), Asahi (beer) or orange juice. Well out of those choices I decided to stick with the beer even though I am not a beer drinker at all. I did try a bit of the Sake but I just can’t seem to get into it.
We all had to do an introduction speech again. It is becoming a bit of a habit now that when we go somewhere we have to introduce ourselves. I am getting very used to standing up on stage and talking in front of large crowds in Japanese.
After all of the introductions it was time to do our performance. Luckily we had prepared a few acts……
We read a poem called ‘8 Little Aussies’ which we made up,
then we played heads and tails (they loved that game by the way), then we danced to the ‘Time Warp’, then some Americans sang a Japanese song and then a couple of Americans acted out a Sumo scene. It was a pretty good performance and the Principals seemed to really enjoy it. I can’t believe that we actually had to perform!
The formal was from 6pm-8pm. It is funny here because they really seem to stick to time limits.
At exactly 8pm everyone left. Well it seemed like a waste for us to be all dolled up and to go home at 8pm on a Friday night so we went to a pub. We were slightly overdressed for the occasion but oh well. We ended up going home at around 12 which was early, but we had to catch an 8am bus the following morning to go to Hiroshima.
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