Hey everybody!

 

Hope you are all well, and keeping out of trouble!

 

Went to Izumo last Wednesday with the rest of the NOVA Hamada crew. We had a great time, and saw heaps of interesting things. We went to an old shrine first, it was massive, and Japanese priests etc still live there. I think it was a sort of love shrine, so you went there to pray for finding love, or thanking the Gods for love, or something like that. It was really old - I think from around the 15th century - and had a nice atmosphere. We all took turns at throwing coins up into the rope bells. (see the pics) If you could get your coin up into the bell, and get it to stick there, it meant you would have good luck. You had to get it in within three throws though, luckily I got my coin in on the third throw, so I will have good luck! Jen took about twenty throws to get her coin in, much to the amusement of a bus-load of Japanese tourists who were watching us!

 

After the shrine we went and had some lunch at a local soba restuarant. The soba noodles were delicious, and really filling. I am slowly getting used to eating noodles etc with chop sticks, but I still use a fork at home! Junko demonstrated the correct way to eat hot soba noodles, which is to slurp them up noisily!

 

After having a good feed we went off to see the tallest lighthouse in Japan (well, if it wasn't, it definitely felt like it climbing up the thing) It was really impressive to see, and we got to go up to the observation platform. Junko assured me there was an elevator, but when we got there all there was was a steep spiral staircase leading up the middle of the lighthouse. To make matters worse we had to take off our shoes and wear Japanese slippers which were too small! We made it in the end though, and it was worth it, because the view was fantastic. I couldn't see any North Korean warships out in the Sea of Japan, which I was quite disappointed about. The walk back down was much easier!

 

Then we went to the Shimane Winery to taste a few wines. I was really looking forward to tasting a few Japanese wines, but I'm afraid to say that they weren't all that flash. (Not that I'm biased) They had a lot of dessert wines which tasted like medicine, and a few other wines which were... interesting. I really liked the grape juice they made, it was delicious, so I bought a big bottle of that, and a smaller bottle of red wine which was ok.

 

Then, the moment we had all been waiting for... the onsen! We drove off to go to the hotsprings, feeling relaxed after sampling a few wines. When we got there though we discovered that it was closed! Not sure what the story was, but we went to a few other hotsprings around the place and found that all of them were closed too! So, we had to drive back to Hamada without having experienced the joys of bathing naked in a hotspring - I was a little relieved in a way! I'm not much of an exhibitionist.

 

So that was our day, pretty exciting, and a good way to get to know everybody a little better!

 

I was pretty tired, and crashed as soon as I got home. Luckily it was my day off on Thursday, so I just mucked around and did a few odd jobs around the place. Went out for a walk and saw the storm barriers in one of the bays - doesn't fill me with much confidence, looks like an anti-invasion device more than a storm barrier!

On Friday I went off for training in Hiroshima, and learned how to deal with kids lessons. Seems pretty straight forward, but I was disappointed to learn we weren't allowed to beat the children. Oh well, I'll have to find other ways to keep them in control! On Saturday I went round to Nina and Jen's place for a sushi party, organised by our Japanese friends. It was a great night, and I ate heaps! Seems pretty easy to make this kind of sushi too, it's more like a sandwich then anything else.

 

Catch you all later!