Goodbye again :(

Family goodbyes are just the worst! After piling the suitcases into Dawn’s car she went on ahead and we caught the bus to Fukuoka airport.

The security guys went crazy over a pumice stone mum bought from Sakurajima but after triple checking it they seemed to think it was safe. Then came the sad goodbyes, the tears, the hugs and more tears.

After they’d gone through the gates I wanted to watch them take off so dawn and I headed to the observatory. We watched the workers loading the plane and even spotted mum and dad’s bright pink and blue suitcases!
Half an hour later and they were on their way to Hong Kong and Dawn and I were on our way to Costco for some “help me feel better” shopping. After all the traveling, crying, shopping and eating (we bought pizza at Costco) I didn’t even make it to bed and passed out on the sofa!

Food Glorious Food

Mum and dad have eaten a lot of food since they arrived in Japan!

Tonight was also their last night so I got a group us together and we headed straight for Yokobachi. Thanks again guys, we had a great time!

I <3 Matsuonishi

For two years I visited a small elementary school called Matsuo-nishi. There were only 55 kids in the whole school and when I left they gave me a wonderful goodbye ceremony. During my time there mum and dad would send gifts for me to give the students such as stickers and pencils. I thought it would be a nice idea to take them to meet the kids they were sending things to. My supervisor organized it and I’m so grateful they did.

After talking to the principal for a little while we had our fist class with the youngest kids. We weren’t studying anything hard just basic introductions but for some kids it was their first time meeting an older foreigner.

After the first class the whole school had a welcome ceremony just for us. It was so great – we had a spectacular entrance, they sang, played the recorder and danced for us before posing for pictures. I love these kids.

After the ceremony we had one more class, then lunch, cleaning and finally our last class. The kids even came out to wave us goodbye and I think mum and dad had a great time.

\Now that I’ve been in Japan for three years I can see just how my students have progressed. There is one boy who I taught in his final year at junior high and now he is in his final year at my high school. I will watch him graduate twice! That makes me feel old but also gives me more pride in my work. Today I got the chance to meet Jun again. He is such a gorgeous little boy but for two years I couldn’t get him to participate in any classes. He was so withdrawn and would often sit in the corner while the others played. In my year long absence from Matsuo-nishi he has transformed. Today he was so eager to take part in everything, be at the front, lead the games and shake our hands. I could’ve cried when I saw him and I nearly did.
This is why I love teaching. You have a lot of bad days when the kids don’t want to know, an idea doesn’t work out or you get classes added and dropped at the last minute but all that means nothing when you see a student has progressed or got the result they needed. I’m so soppy but I don’t care!

Sushi Breakfast!

The whole point of going to Shimonoseki was to take mum and dad to the early morning fish market. Luckily my parents didn’t get us up before 5am (like Dawn’s did) and we arrived just as the market was getting busy.

After wondering around and seeing what they had, we bought sushi, giant shrimp, whale meat (cooked and raw) blowfish and clams. It was a good breakfast!

The rain held off long enough for us to have a little walk around the city and visit Akama Shrine, dedicated to the child emperor Antoku. It’s actually one of my favourite shrines in Japan!

We headed back to Kumamoto in the afternoon as we were supposed to go to Kumamoto with the Kumamoto gang. So many people were busy though so we decided to turn it into an impromptu party at my house. We all squeezed in nicely and we had lots of supplies!

2 for 1

What a wash-out. We should be on a fishing trip today but due to torrential rain it was cancelled. Dad was disappointed but we decided not to waste the whole weekend and headed up to Shimonoseki as planned.

Dawn drove in the pouring rain and we arrived at our hotel just before dinner. We decided to brave the still pouring rain and headed towards the station in search of dinner. Even if the weather had been great I doubt we would’ve found a better restaurant.

We ordered plate after plate of the best food and only stopped when we were ready to burst!

As well as eating non-stop and mixing with the locals dad wanted to take home a glass with Japanese writing on it. There are always plenty in bars and restaurants but you don’t often see them in the shops. Anyway dad decided he really wanted one of the glasses. I called the waiter over and asked how much he wanted for the glass. He explained they weren’t allowed to sell them but after asking mum for one of her British menthol cigarettes, he agreed to turn a blind one while we put the glass in our bag. Japan – unbeatable service!


After such a great dinner it was only right that we finish the night in style with karaoke! Dad also took a liking to the beer glasses at karaoke. Our time was up and dad’s final beer still hadn’t arrived. We walked towards the lift when the waiter brought the beer, saw that we were leaving and went to return it. Dad quickly called him back, took the beer, drank it in the lift and pocketed the glass! Two in one night – not bad at all!

Back to School

Mum and dad came to school and it was such a good day.

First, they were given a tour of the school by my shy third years.
Then we had a Q&A class with the second years

While I had another class I gave mum and dad a rest so they could eat lunch and chat with the teachers. After lunch we had one more class with the first years. They are so lively they loved seeing mum and dad and had no problem posing for photos.
I hope mum and dad got to see why I love my job and can now understand why I want to stay. After three years being an ALT I still love it!

Tao in Town!

Tao were in town today and visit or no visit I had to go. I decided to get mum and dad a ticket too and hope they would enjoy it. For more information on Tao see

http://www.drum-tao.com/

They are a drumming group and seeing as mum isn’t much of a drum lover she bought earplugs in case it was too noisy. I was very nervous but also so excited that we were going to be in the third row. Last time I saw them I was at the very back!

Luckily I needn’t have worried. Mum and dad loved it! The show was amazing and at the end we were all yelling and screaming. We all bought a lot of merchandise and the evening was complete when we got to meet the drummers and get their autographs after the show.


(Since being home dad is officially addicted to Tao)

Kagoshima

I took the day off today to take mum and dad on a day trip. They had a choice of Nagasaki or Kagoshima and they chose the latter.

This meant dad got to ride the bullet train again which he loved!

After arriving in Kagoshima I convinced them that the best way to see the city was a ride on the big wheel which itself was on top of a shopping centre.

A tram and ferry ride later we were on the island on Sakurajima which is one Japan’s most active volcanoes. I wanted to take them to the Furosato onsen but with all the rain over the last few days we arrived on the day it was closed for cleaning.

Mum and dad weren’t disappointed as they weren’t sure how they felt about getting naked with the locals. We took a stroll around the museum, stopped for lunch and too a bus tour around the entire island.
Just as we reached the last five minutes of the tour, the volcano “puffed” for mum. She had been waiting all day for it and got very excited when it happened. So much so that the actress came out in her!

After all that we headed back to the city, sampled the local black pork for dinner and headed back to Kumamoto.

The First Few Days

I worked yesterday and today while mum and dad got over their jet lag. It rained all day yesterday so they didn’t miss anything and while I worked today they went around town.

Tonight we met up with Anthony and headed to his favourite yakiniku restaurant (the same one we took Anthony for his birthday). Mum and dad absolutely loved it and I’m sure they’d take one back to England if they could.

Just as dad was getting used to using chopsticks again mum decided she would stick to what she was used to.

Welcome Back!

After final cleaning this morning, I headed to the airport to collect mum and dad. When I asked if I should bring anything to the airport with me they joked about a G&T. I had my freezer box, bought ice, gin, tonic and cups. Mum and dad were very happy to see the box and enjoyed a drink while we were waiting for the bus home!

Needless to say the first night was a family affair with lots of wine, beer and gossip!

I <3 my job

I’m singing “Rock You” three times a day in my first grade classes.

Life is good

ETA One Week

Mum and dad will be here in one week!
The countdown has begun and I will be very busy all week

Pixar Party

It was Pixar presentation day today.

A few weeks ago I set my 2-7 students a challenge. I split them into groups and gave them a short Pixar movie to watch. I used

For The Birds
Knick Knack
Luxo Jr
One Man Band

The students had to write a script in English and present it to the rest of the class.

They actually did quite well and because they have been putting their dictionaries to good use I was very impressed when the students used expressions like

“Oh, heck”
“Yippee”
“Naked….I’m naaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkeeeeedddddd”
“What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

Anyone who has taught it Japan knows how hard it is to get kids to be creative so I was proud that they at least tried a few new expressions.

We were all out tonight for Aska’s birthday. After a great dinner at Ninoni we headed to karaoke but got distracted by the UFO catcher stands. After much help from the worker and a lot of encouragement from everyone around me, I finally got my prize

Where on earth am I going to put it?

For A Friend

What may seem depressing or even tragic to one person may seem like an absolute scream to another person, especially if he has had between four and seven beers.

Dave Barry

How true!

The Last Day

For our final day we had just one place to visit before heading home. Akiyoshidou is the largest cave in Japan and is very impressive. It took us almost two hours to explore the whole cave and the plateau above. It was worth all the moaning the others did about how late they were going to get home.
8 people, 4 tents, 2 cars – luckily all returned to Kumamoto in one piece!

Day Two

Last night after visiting Tsuwano we needed somewhere to set up our tents. It was 11pm by the time we found a suitable site and even though we knew we’d have to pay and despite the Japanese campers around us being less than friendly; we set up and got some sleep. This morning we were surprised by our beautiful surroundings.

We were ready to leave before the office had opened so we made a run for it without paying (sorry).

After our getaway we headed to a bath house to freshen up and then onto Hagi. The town was small so we decided to see the town by renting bicycles. They were very old, rusty biked but they did the job.

Hagi is a pottery town which is also home to a very special volcano; Japan’s smallest at only 112m. I couldn’t resist a visit and we even clambered over the ropes to go deep into the caldera to get a good look.

The weather wasn’t looking good for camping with rain and strong winds forecast so we ended up booking into a hotel. At least we knew the futons would be freshly aired!

8 people 4 tents 2 cars

Golden Week is the busiest week for travel in Japan. We have a string of national holidays together and most people choose this week to take a trip. Unfortunately flights are very expensive during this time so a group of us decided to take a camping road trip. Carrie, David, Anthony, Jason, Carol, Frolain, Dawn and I piled our tents and sleeping bags into the cars and were off.
First stop was Tsuwano. On the way there we stopped at a beautiful temple complete with tori gate corridors. It really was beautiful and we all have plenty of pictures to prove it.

Next we headed to Tsuwano town. Apparently it’s called “Little Kyoto” and the town and streets were so quaint I could see why. We also enjoyed spending time with the huge koi fish of the town (probably the biggest I’ve ever seen) and climbing onto a old steam engine.