16/10/2006

Well good morning everyone!

I say good morning, because even though it is actually the afternoon I only just woke up an hour ago and therefore in Lesley's time zone, it is still classified as morning. *Yawn*...

Wow, what an incredibly busy 5 days I have had! I hope Dan enjoyed himself, I know I did, even after having incredibly painful legs due to climbing a mountain... will explain later...

So, where to start? Hmmm.... last Wednesday. So I could barely contain my excitement all day long and even my Japanese teacher was having a hard time getting me to concentrate. I suffered a long and painful 4 hour shift at work before finally heading to the bus station at 9.30 and jumping up and down as I saw the bus from Kochi pull into the station. Lots of hugging and more jumping up and down before we headed off to Wara Wara for dinner, that is me, Dan and Erin. After a most enjoyable dinner we quickly stopped at purikura for photos before dragging Dan to the local karaoke bar, and I am pleased to say that my biggest accomplishment this year is that I somehow managed to get Dan to sing THREE (yes that's not a typo!) THREE songs! I was most impressed.

My small apartment being as tiny as it is, I managed to cram 3 futons into my bedroom and we had a little mini slumber party, returning to our youth as we stayed up till nearly 4 in the morning giggling and talking (sorry Laura...) Thursday morning dawned bright and early as we got up at 7am(!!!) to see Erin off at the bus station, then returned home to pack for our own trip, then caught the train to the ferry port and caught the 3 hour ferry ride to Hiroshima. We had a little sleep for half of the way... We got to our hotel bout 2.30, which was tiny but really nice actually... checked in then headed off on the street car (sorry, the tram) to the Hiroshima peace park. The peace park was just as id remembered, but way more packed with tourists!!! There were thousands upon thousands of school kids there, we couldn't walk more than 20metres without a group running up to us and asking for autographs, we felt like celebrities!! At one stage one group came up to us, who obviously had been instructed by their teacher to find some foreigners and teach them origami, which is just what they did. They stood next to us for about 10mins and folded paper cranes with us, it was very sweet.

We saw the A-Bomb dome, the peace museum, which was just as fascinating as last time and I highly recommend it to anybody who visits Japan, and Sadakos paper crane monument. Bits had changed since last time. The museum had new parts and had changed a lot of stuff around, and the paper cranes at Sadakos monument had all been put in glass houses to protect them.

It was dark by the time we finished at the park, we were going to see Hiroshima Castle but it was closed, so we walked around it but couldn't really see much. We went to a Ramen restaurant for dinner then got back to our hotel round 8, then both fell asleep (in actual beds!!!, as opposed to a futon...) before 9.00. Im so used to my futon now that the bed was incredibly uncomfortable and I slept really bad...

So Friday we got up at 9 (12hrs sleep....) and caught the train and ferry to Miyajima Island. Last time I went there I didn't see much of it coz we didn't have much time there, but this time we went round the WHOLE island. So there's a big mountain on Miyajima called Mt. MIssen, its 530m. We took a ropeway car up most of it, then walked up the last part which was bloody exhausting! But once at the top it was an amazing view. You could see all of Hiroshima across the bay and all the tiny little islands around it. Apparently on a clear day you can see Shikoku, but it was too hazy for us.

At the top of the mountain was a tiny little restaurant (that's Japan, with a vending machine of course!) and the only food it served was udon (Japanese noodles). So we sat at the top of Mt. Missen and ate udon. It was really very cool. After recovering from the hike up, we started the hike down, which was worse than going up. 530m, over an hour and a half of walking down a mountain. 3 days later and my calf muscles are still killing me....

We were going to take a ferry back which took us to the river next to the A-bomb dome, but we got on the wrong ferry and accidentally took one that took us back to Hiroshima port. But it turned out to be an interesting ferry ride. I didn't know it, but Dan informed me that sitting a few seats in front of us was David Neitz, captain of the AFL Melbourne FC. He was in the process of chatting up some girls from America with his mate. They asked him what he did in Australia, and he told them that he worked for Australia Post. It was very funny at the time.
When we got off we both had to catch Street Cars and Dan started talking to him and got a picture with him. Turns out the friend he was with works for Nova in Osaka.

Now Hiroshima is famous for its Okonomiyaki, they make it the best in all of Japan apparently. So that night we went to Michan, a restaurant I had been recommended by students of mine that had lived in Hiroshima. And it was very good Okonomiyaki! We got back to the hotel and fell asleep fairly promptly.

Saturday dawned and we got up at 8, checked out of our hotel and caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to another city called Okayama. We visited the famous Korakuen Gardens which are reputed as one of the 3 best gardens in Japan. We toured round there, had lunch at a small restaurant situated on the river bank and checked out Okayama's "Black" Castle before heading back to the train station and catching a 3 hour train ride home. The train was so full that we actually had to sit on the floor in the doorway for about 45mins before seats finally came available. Not one of the highlights of the trip.

Saturday night was a farewell party for one of the teachers here who is leaving tomorrow. We had all you can eat yakiniku (bbq meat) and nomihodai, followed by everyone heading to Sala Sol for more drinks and partying. Dan got quite sloshed, it was fun. Sunday morning however was not so fun for him....
We ended up having a lazy day on Sunday, my Japanese mother took us out to lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant, which was soooo yummy! I had tempura and Dan had Sukiyaki. Then she took us for coffee. She's sooo cooool!!!! And Dan agrees with me!

For dinner we went with Laura and Scott for Kansai Okonomiyaki, which is a different style to what we ate in Hiroshima, then Haagen Daas for dessert. A good night.
Home to pack then he took a taxi to the airport at 6.30 this morning, and I shall not see him again for a while.

*sniff*

Erin left yesterday to go home for 2 weeks.

*sniff*

I feel so lonely.

I think im gonna eat some toast.

Well my life has now gone back to its boring normality, and its back to work tonight after having 4 lovely days off. Back to karate on Thursday, newly inspired after hearing about Kristy's FOUR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES at the tournament yesterday (Congratulations!!!)

Hope you're all going well in the Merry old land of OZ!

Keep sending those emails!!

Luv Lesley
xxxxxxooooooooo