Hey!

 

Been a while since I last put an entry into my space, so thought I'd better check back in.

 

Things have been going well here for me, work is fun (most of the time) and I've managed to get out and try a few new things.

 

Last week or so I got the opportunity to go to an onsen (Japanese hot spring) with Ayumi and her friend, Yutaka. Everyone says you have to try an onsen at least once in Japan so I was keen to give it a go. The only draw back to onsens - well from my point of view anyway - is that you have to go in NAKED! No clothes, nothing at all! Luckily when I went it was quiet, so there were only a few other guys there, as well as me and Ayumi's friend Yutaka, who "showed me the ropes". I tried to preserve my modesty by wearing my towel into the onsen, it was my intention to take it off just before I got in. It was a good plan, but not according to Yutaka. He said something to me in Japanese, and before I knew what was happening he grabbed my towel, whipped it off and dissappeared with it. Luckily I had my flannel still, which I used instead to cover up my gear.... Once we got into the onsen it was a bit better, because it was inside and their was a lot of steam etc, so visability was down. Once I got into the water it was actually really relaxing and I forgot about being naked. It was actually quite cool. I only lasted 10 minutes though, it was so hot, and my head felt kind of funny. When I stood up I felt a little dizzy, so obviously needed some fluids to replace the stuff I'd lost in the onsen. Me and Yutaka had some Calpis (pronounced "Cow Piss") while we waited for Ayumi and talked as best we could, him with a little English and me with no Japanese - it was interesting! After Ayumi came out I was informed that we were going to an izakaya - which was good, because I still had fluids that needed replacing. From years of study I've discovered that beer is the quickest way to replace lost fluids, and has the added bonus of tasting good. So off we went to the izakaya, where we were quickly presented with a couple of pints and the usual array of delicious Japanese food. I have a few new foods to add to my list of "random Japanese food I've tried here": baby squid (boiled) which were nice, suprisingly, as well as fish liver, which was really really awful - i even tried a second bite to see if I was just imagining the taste, but it wasn't happening. All in all it was a great night! But not so good the next morning when I had to go to work!

 

That was a week or so ago, and last night about 5pm I was doing a few odd jobs around the house when my doorbell rang. Not expecting anyone I went down to see Yutaka standing there smiling - time for our first lesson! He came in for a coffee and had a look at my photos etc., and asked if I was keen to go round to his place and meet his wife and daughter! I was keen, as he he told me his wife had lived in ChCh for a while and worked in the city at one of the tourist shops. So we hopped into his car (sports car) and off we sped through the narrow streets of Hamada to his house. His wife is really nice, and speaks pretty good English, so it was good to talk with her and look at her photos from her trip around New Zealand - saw a few familiar shots of NZ which was nice. During this time me and Yutaka were sitting at the table drinking beer while his wife cooked us up a feed - pure class!! After she finished cooking she came and sat with us though, and even had a beer with us. I'm not sure if this is the case for all Japanese girls, but man can they chop beer - they put most guys I know to shame! Their daughter was asleep for most of the time I was there, but she woke up and started crying as soon as she saw me!!!!  She was really balling her eyes out, and pointing at me - I felt kind of bad for her - if I was 10 months old, Japanese, and had some random white guy in my house, I think I'd be scared too. After having a snack and a couple of beers me and Yutaka headed off to his mate's izakaya for a few quiets - it was a good night, I learnt a few new Japanese words and phrases, and I'm slowly starting to improve in my Japanese ability!

 

In other news, I'm heading off to Shikoku to see Vercs next month, which will be MADDNESS. For those of you who don't know Vercs, he is that random guy who often used to come around to home in Blenheim, steal our cheese slices and generally cause trouble. In later years he forced me to drink alcohol with him, and is directly responsible for me failing uni in 2000. (Just kidding - it was also partly my fault)

 

Also got a call from Vercs today telling me that the Basketball World Champs are being held in Japan, this August! The pool that NZ is in is based in Hiroshima, 2 hours by bus away from me, and also involves Japan! So on the 23rd of August NZ are playing Japan, and I plan to be there! Hopefuly there'll be a big contingent of NZers there to support the boys.

 

Oh well, I'll carry on, work on tomorrow so will have an early night. Also, here is a link to a BBC video which features the local aquarium - pretty small world! Couldn't believe it when I stumbled across a video featuring Hamada on the BBC! The diver in the water is one of my students at NOVA, she's really cool, and lessons with her are always interesting!