Christmas Party

Last night we had a Christmas party. It was good fun but today we both have really bad hangovers!!!! Obviously it is not because we drank too much more that we mixed our drinks. A concoction of umeshou (plum liquor), beer, red wine, white wine, shochu and a mixture of different cocktails was what did it. I was awake at 5am (I fell asleep at 00:10 even though the guests were here until 01:30) then Andy woke up at 8 before we both napped until the doorbell rang at 11:30. We are both now dead!!

Girls from Andy's office.

Gatecrashers

A handfull of our 20 guests. Even though I look small I am the second tallest girl!!!

I made the pastry and Andy put this delight together.

Merry Christmas

Christmas season is upon us even here in Japan. I have spent the last 3 weeks teaching children about Christmas and making stuff.

My favourite class

Some cards from my students. They had no help from me!

Cards up close

A yellow Christmas tree?!?!

A pink Santa hat?!?!?

A stripey Santa hat?!?!

I love this card

Another cute card

The devil always fights a reindeer at Christmas, right?

A Christmas present from a friend.

Tokyo

Lee wanted to visit Tokyo so we decided to fly there and have a mini-break. Flying is cheaper and much quicker than the Shinkansen, but it still costs about 150 pounds so it's not really cheap.

Tokyo was a cool place but it really tired us out!! We spent all day walking around and then in the evenings Lee wanted to have a drink and discover the nightlife (Andy and I would have preferred to have a good meal and go to sleep - maybe we are getting old!). It didn't help though that we stayed in a hostel. We opted for a 4 person room thinking that they wouldn't put anyone in with us!! We were wrong!

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A shrine near our hotel.

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The first night we had an Italian guy who, despite us being asleep, came into the room shouting in Italian. He then proceeded to loudly snore, which meant only he slept that night!! We were lucky the other two nights though as our neighbour didn't make a sound!

Hostel are strange things though!! I thought that people used them as a cheap place to stay whilst they explored. The people in our hostel didn't seem to realise they were in Japan! They spent all day on the Internet, had pot noodles in the kitchen at lunch and dinner time and then watched movies in the living room in the evening! They could have done that at home!!

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Lee and Andy at a shrine.

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On our first day in Tokyo we went to the National History Museum. They had a special exhibition of Japanese paintings on canvas and on screens. Lee ran round the exhibition as fast as he could even though it was his idea! We then visited the Science Museum which was cool.

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Lee without his make-up on at the Science Museum!

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This whale missed the sea!

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I was so tired!

Lee wouldn't let the other children play with the exhibitions!

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On the other days we visited Shibuya (it has the 6 way road crossing that is often shown on TV) which is so busy. Crowds of people just come at you! Lee said it was like the crowds you get at a big football match.

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They show this crossing on TV quite a lot.

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On Saturday evening we met one of Andy's students from last year. He has gone from working student hours to getting up at 5.30am and then getting home at 11pm. He brought his sister to meet us (she lived in London for 3 years). They took us to the restaurant in Kill Bill. It was embarrassing though as they insisted on paying for everything (we had drinks, went for dinner, went to a club and then had more food!!). We tried to pay for things but they wouldn't let us!!

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Andy's old student and his sister. Lee liked this girl too!

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Andy

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Before we all got really drunk!

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Ramen at 2:00am

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One day we had sushi for breakfast, which was a first. Andy bought a new camera for his birthday so that's why some of the photos look a bit odd.

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Sushi for breakfast

Yum Yum

Does Andy want to work on the next Bond movie?

Lots of lights

Before we left we visited Akihabara which is the electronics district. Geeks mostly visit this place!

Lee looking at anime (cartoon) porn.

The geeks gather!

Sweets

I went to work one day to find that the wife of the top boss, at the Education Centre, had bought me some sweets. Now I am used to been given sweets, and I always deal with them the same way. I smile, say thank you and then give them away to our Japanese teacher or Andy's students.

These sweets were different though! She had obviously thought a lot about what sweets to get me. The first box I opened revealed 3 different sweets, which are supposed to represent different plants in Autumn. The second contained some very pretty packages. Sadly though these beautiful sweets went to the same place they always do.

This is supposed to be a leaf and a bit of wood.

I think is supposed to a Maple leaf, a seed from a plant and some mushrooms.

I can't remember what this is supposed to be but I do know the yellow thing isn't a snake.

This pretty box housed my second gift.

They look pretty but don't taste so good to the foreign palette.

Lee (Amanda's brother) comes to visit

In June Lee decided to come and visit us for a five week holiday. June and July tend to be rainy season here in Japan, but being in the army Lee doesn't get to pick his holidays.

It was raining the first day Lee arrived and he refused to use an umbrella as it isn't what men do, however by the end of the holiday he had bought himself a small compact one so he could put in his bag!

Andy and I knew we wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time with Lee during the day as we get so few holidays (Andy gets 10 days and I get 20). To combat this problem I placed adverts in the local paper and on the web requesting girls to show him round. I got quite a few responses so that made Lee happy.

To ease Lee into Japanese life he spent his first day here at work with Andy. He helped Andy blow things up in the bomb (a piece of equipment Andy uses) and looked at porn with Andy's students. After a weekend with us he came to work with me and met some of my students. They nicknamed him Midori Sensei (green teacher) as he was wearing a green t-shirt. By the end of the day Lee knew what it was like being a celebrity, the kids just loved him! That was the end of him spending his days with us though as he had girls to meet.

One girl took Lee to Karatsu and left him there

Lee had so different girls to meet on different days. I got quite cross with him in the end as he started to stand them up, and I had them calling me at work! I tell you he has never been so popular!

Lee also went to stay with my friend's parents. He stayed really spolit Lee They live in Yamaguchi and offered to take Lee to Hiroshima and anywhere else he fancied.

If you squint you can just make out Lee and his (g)hosts.

Lee disgused as a tree in Deer Island

Some Koi carp in Ohori Koen (park)

This chimp really wanted the banana I was eating.


Cute penguin at Fukuoka zoo

The charmer broke a girl's heart as his holiday drew to a close. He had found a different girl he liked, and spent his the rest of his time posing for photographs with her!

Lee decided he liked Mina (the girl on the left) and ensured

nobody else was in the frame.

Golden Week

In the first week of May Japan has 3 bank holidays (3rd, 4th and 5th), which means you can sneak away for a mini holiday. This year we decided to go to Beppu and Aso for 5 days.


Beppu is famous for hot springs and Aso (situated in a volcanic crater) has an active volcano. We decided to hire a car and drive to Beppu for 2 nights and then drive the couple of hours to Aso and spend 2 nights there.


We decided to set off early but we still got stuck in bank holiday traffic! We shared the driving, which Andy loved but I was a little bit nervous driving on unknown motorways! Thank god for automatic cars!

Whilst driving Andy spotted this crazy man! He had about 20 toy dogs in the back of his car, as well as 6 real rat dogs who took it in turn popping their heads of out the window.

A nice view to have when you are driving.

Another nice view to have when you are driving.

When we got to our resort in Beppu we were pleased with ourselves for not getting lost. Our hotel has seen better days but in Golden Week it is difficult to get a room so we couldn't grumble! However, the morning after we arrived Andy woke up with a terrible cold which kept him in bed for 2 days! He did perk up enough to carry on to Aso, but only if I did all of the driving :o(

The view from our bedroom window.

Next we travelled to Aso. It took us around 4 hours to get between the two places, but we didn't mind so much as we got to see views like this:

Aren't the cows cute!

Our pension took some finding, but when we did find it we were both really happy as it looked so good! A pension is basically a hotel, actually maybe more like a B&B but you get dinner included too (we didn't know this at the time).

Angelica Pension

(http://www.pensionangelica.com/index.php they have some great photos on their website)

So we arrive at our pension and when we check in the manager says to us make sure you are down at 7pm for dinner. Now Andy and I didn't realise that dinner was included in the price we'd paid so we just thought this guy was a bit ahead of himself! We didn't want to be rude though so we hatched a plan of going into the restaurant, and if we didn't like the menu then we would get a drink and then go into town. However we didn't get a chance!

When we arrived the dining room was full (each room has a table), and as soon as we sat down food was brought to us. Then as soon as we finished that course another plate of food was brought to us and this went on until we'd had 7 courses. After we left the table we were thinking 'oh, my god we are going to explode, how much are they going to charge us for that meal?!?!' We were so full but worried about how much 7 courses of food who cost us. It was only after a chat Andy remember that dinner was included in the price!

A sample of the 7 courses they serve!

The next morning after a 4 course breakfast we decided to go and view the sights. The area has an active volcano (Nake Dake), a dormant volcano and and an extinct volcano so we went volcano viewing! First stop was Nake Dake (active volcano).

Aso is set in a crater left over from an eruption and most of it is lush and green.

At the top of the volcano though everything suddenly becomes very dead! It makes you feel like an extra in a sci-fi movie

All dead in that direction too!

Inside the volcano. Is that green?!?!

Andy and I were really shocked that inside the volcano there was green liquid. We thought it would be red or orange. Answers on a postcard please.

It was a little bit windy the day we went.

After our visit to Nake Dake we walked up a big hill and then it started to rain. We decided to use this as an opportunity to go back to the pension and use their onsen, which are filled with volcanic water. I love onsen!

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One of the onsen rooms they have at the pension.

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After relaxing it was time for dinner again! This time focused on eating we arrived at the dining room. We soon realised we were the only people who had stayed for a second night, and that the newbies were being served the same as we had eaten the night before. Now that wouldn't have great eating another seven courses of the same stuff, but what we got was worse!

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The food was great, but the stares we got from the 20 Japanese people also sitting in the dining room were horrible! They watched everything being brought to us, then they looked at their plates and then at ours. Times that by seven courses and it gets tiring! It was made worse when the next morning our hosts treated us to a more western breakfast!! Still the food was good! You could tell they were thinking 'why do the westerners get different food! Why are they allowed to have what they want'.

After breakfast we decided to set off early to miss the traffic back home. We did take in some sights on the way back though:

This extinct volcano is commonly known as the Rice Bowl.

Aso is just gorgeous!