The second July 31st

Visiting Hawaii from Japan is cool because we get to live the same day twice. We landed in Honolulu at 7am on July 31st – a full 24hours since we were on a bus to Fukuoka on July 31st.

Dawn’s family did not know we were coming and so we decided to rent a car for the hour drive to her house. We decided a phone call saying “Can you pick me up from the airport?” would give it away.

Family reactions

Sister: “You guys are stupid. Mom is gonna be so mad!”

Mum: (while hitting Dawn with a rag she had been cleaning the car with)
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I could’ve cleaned the house.”

Dad and brother (the chilled out ones): “Hello!”

Surprising the nieces was always going to be fun as they are always asking when we are going to visit. Hayley was home first from school and she nearly dropped her popcorn when we came in. Tati went crazy, screamed and gave us lots of hugs. Then Kawenna came home and the tears streamed down her face as she sobbed and told us she was so happy to see us.

The funniest part of the day came as we were eating dinner later that night. There was a phone call from Auntie Marlene who was at grandma’s house. She told Dawn’s sister that she needed to come over right away.

We were all wondering what on earth was going on but Nalani returned a few minutes later laughing. It turned out that grandma had told Auntie Marlene that she had seen us. Auntie had been at work all day and so had no idea that we had come back. She tried to tell grandma that she had imagined it because we were in Japan and when grandma kept insisting she thought she had gone crazy.

Poor grandma!

The first July 31st

Dawn and I had to take the 6am bus to Fukuoka. We got to the airport in plenty of time and were near the front of the queue for check-in. Then the problems started.

For some reason the check-in woman didn’t seem to know how to do anything and it was taking a long time to check us in. After 45 minutes everyone else had checked in and it was just us left. We were supposed to start boarding in 20 minutes and while we had been stood there, the queue for security had snaked around the airport.

I was fuming and the woman knew it. She was having a problem with Dawn’s passport and so in order to get me out of the way she sent me to get in line for check-in.

It was now 5 minutes before our boarding time and there were a good two hundred people in front of us. I was so mad but Dawn was just chilling as she does. I spotted another airport worker and ran straight for her explaining our situation. She tried telling me not to worry at which point my anger burst (not very Japanese I know). I left her looking startled as she started talking Japanese into her walkie-talkie.

A minute later someone came and took us to the front of the queue – who says nagging doesn’t work!

We were sat next to the door for the first flight which didn’t help my fear of flying as I kept imagining it flying open and us being sucked out (yes it’s crazy I know).

The rest of the journey went pretty smoothly and even though I didn’t sleep much I managed to relax for the second, 10-hour flight and enjoy the entertainment.

Decisions! Decisions!

This is it; my last few days in Kumamoto with Micchan. She moved out of her apartment and is currently house-sitting for Phil and his dogs. You wouldn’t think one little pug could be so much hassle. I will never own a pug – they are just too much work!

It has been an emotional few weeks. I have been so excited about my trip to Hawaii but then so sad because everyone has been leaving.

I am currently trying to pack and as usual getting nowhere fast. When I come back there will be new ALT’s and all the old ones will have left. This never used to bother me but this year it does.

Is it a sign? Will this be my last year? Who knows?

Scrabulous!

Carrie has gone on holiday to Europe with her Japanese friend and left her poor husband behind. This is made worse by the fact that it is his birthday. I decided to invite him and a few others over to my apartment for a mini celebration.

We cooked a huge pot of spaghetti and had cake and ice cream afterwards. Once the plates had been cleared and washed we decided to play a game of Scrabble. This is one game I never really got into before but now I love it. It was a hard fought game but our team didn’t win.

After the drinks had been flowing for a few hours we had the usual game of “Never have I ever……” After two or three questions I realized the boys didn’t know the rules and were drinking if they hadn’t done something. This had led to a few raised eyebrows around the table as a few very personal questions had been asked! In future I will make sure people know the rules before we start playing.

The party continued well into the morning and it was 5am before I crawled into bed and fell asleep.

Fish & Chips

Last night I managed to pull half of my toenail off. Today it was so painful that I knew I had to go to the hospital. I went to my usual hospital but soon realised they specialize in coughs and colds etc. They directed me to another hospital but when I got there I was passed on to another one. It was third time lucky and by the afternoon my toe was nicely bandaged and the pain had gone.

Tonight was Natalee’s birthday and she decided she wanted to eat fish and chips for dinner. The only place to get this is a pub called Sligo’s which used to be in the city but is now in a town about 45 minutes away. Mark drove us out there which meant Dawn was free to drink her Guinness and I could have cider. After stuffing ourselves we headed back into the city to meet up with a few others and head to Bar Days.

Tonshae Festival

Tonight we headed to Honmyoji to see the Tonsae festival. Even though this is my 3rd year in Kumamoto I have never actually made it to this festival before. It was so busy and they were hundreds and hundreds of people making their way up the 200 steps to the shrine and another 300 steps to the top of the hill to see the city views.

Stone and paper lanterns lit the way and it was nice to see the people dressed in their festival best. The stalls were selling grilled chicken, making ice cones and offering the chance for people to win various prizes. (I won an Elmo pen – very cool.)

After the festival Dawn, Minika and Anthony came back to my house and we cooked dinner. We had a good laugh but it was also sad as we realized this would be our last home cooked meal together.

Scrubbers!

Yesterday I spent the whole day scrubbing Minika’s apartment. We made a deal that I would help her in exchange for her region free DVD player. Of course I would’ve done it for free and she would’ve given me the player anyway – how silly we are!

We spent all day scrubbing high and low; bathroom, toilet, kitchen, walls, floors, windows and even the balcony. It wasn’t that dirty but when you leave you’re supposed to do a good job!

As a treat for our hard work Dawn offered to take us to our favourite sushi place. We piled in the car and set off. Fifteen minutes later we got the shock of our lives as we pulled up to the restaurant and found that it had been demolished. We went there every week and there were no signs or announcements that they were planning to tear it down. The good news is that they are rebuilding it, but the bad news is that we have to wait to October! We found another place but it wasn’t the same.
P.S. Happy Birthday Carrie – Your choice of restaurant was very good!

The End Of The World?!

After three visits to the immigration office and a lot of hours spent filling in forms and waiting for forms to come through the post, I finally managed to get a new visa for another 3 years. Phew!

Today we didn’t have any classes at school because it was class match day. The first and second year girls played volleyball, the third year girls played basketball and the boys all played soccer. My school is 2/3 girls so boys from 2 or 3 classes have to get together to make a team. It was a fun day even if my throat was sore from too much cheering.

After school Dawn and I had Japanese class. We’d only been there about half an hour when a huge thunderstorm started up. The clouds rolled in and (I’m guessing) because it happened around sunset, the sky turned a deep freaky yellowy, orangey colour. Sakamoto sensei does not like thunderstorm and said it looked like the end of the world. We couldn’t help but laugh but it did look like something out of a movie.

G'day Mate!

My second year international course students are visiting Australia next month for two weeks. They are going to be staying with host families and spending most of their time at a school in Brisbane. As a thank you they are preparing a thank you show for the last night and wanted to perform the classic Japanese story of “Momotarou” (Peach Boy).



My teacher then had a great idea of performing the play in Australian slang. The kids didn’t have any time to do it so I spent the whole day researching slang and writing the play. Here are some of my favourtite lines.

「Strewth! Look at the size of that!」
「I’ll take this home this arvo.」
「I’m home!! Hey, look!! Howzat!]
「Bonza luv! It’s huge! Let’s get into this grub.」
「It’s a little nipper!! .」
「Ha-ha! Give us your lolly!」
「Give us your tucker!
「If you don’t we’ll wallop you!」
「Stone the crows…it’s all gone!」
「Those ogres nicked everything. I’ll sort them out!」
「Good on ya mate! Thanks!」
「Hang on a tick. You need some tucker. Take these snags.」
「Ace! ta! Cheerio!」
「G’day mate. What’s in your tuckerbox?」

Happy House

Sakamoto Sensei (my Japanese teacher) recently moved apartments and so she invited us all over for party. She actually has so many students and friends that she had to have one party today and another tomorrow!

Today’s party had a sushi theme and yes the food was as good as it looks.

The packing begins

Minika is really leaving. I know I’ve known it for ages but every time I go up to her apartment, something else has been packed or sold. So many memories, so many good times and they are all being packed into boxes and bags.

I don’t even want to think about the time when I have to leave!

I was thinking about packing when I updated my scrapbook. I have had it since I came to Japan and always add little things like letters, stickers and tickets. This is what it currently looks like.
I’m going to have to send this home in a box of its own.

Banana Bread Beer?!?!

I was asked a few weeks ago to record the junior high school listening tests that students across the whole prefecture will sit in a few months. I had recorded listening tests for my schools a few times but I was nervous about recording one that thousands of students would listen to. Chris and I met early as they told us it often took 3-4 hours to complete. It went much smoother than anyone imagined though and under 2 hours later it was all done. I hope everyone does well!

Tonight we were invited to a Yukatta Party hosted by the British Society in Kumamoto. It has been so hot recently and I was looking forward to the air conditioning inside the hotel so I was a little disappointed to learn it was a roof-top party and we would all be sweating together as usual.
Minika wore her yukatta at the leaving party just last week so we decided to swap so she could wear mine. We even went to a kimono shop to get them put on properly. It was a good night and the drinks included real British ales. They even had a banana bread flavoured one which tasted much better than it sounds.

After the party we headed to Bar Days for more drinks and partying.

Just keep swimming......

It’s July which means it is raining every day but it is still hot and humid. The kids have had enough in school especially when it comes to classes held after lunch.
They think it’s all over…….but it’s not yet!
みなさんがんばってください！