6 Months of exhilarating exile

To think it was about this time 6 months ago I was on a plane flying here.

Today is usually my half day, however I have done a shift swap, so it a full day off. Im trying to give my room a good clean, however its a slow process.

Since last time - On Saturday night I went to the international party, it was OK, nothing special. I came home and hung out with the rest of the gang here, as they were celebrating one of the teachers birthdays.

Sunday I had the Brazillian cooking lesson - that was pretty cool - made some tasty stuff. One of the things used reduced cream - so now I know I can get it here, except, it is labelled in Spanish or Portuguese. Once I get hold of it, I will make some chip dips, and also give the recipe a go.

Following that I had my Japanese lesson, and then following that, I went to a bunko pottery festival one local train stop away - hence the photo. It was OK, and provided an opportunity to partake in eating Japanese festival food again (pretty much fried chicken etc, same as what you would find in Chinatown in Kobe, ironically LOL)

On Monday, instead of going to Suzuka Circuit, me and Kevin decided to go to Mt Gozaisho. So I finally made it there!

It was awesome. Kevin and I walked from the train station up the hill to the "ropeway" (the gondala/cable car) which took about half an hour. However that was a good idea, not only did we save money, but we also got to see some lizards, and some snakes! We got some lunch at a bakery at the foot of the cable car - and they asked where I was from - turned out that the woman there had recently been to NZ, and subsequently they gave us extra food (for free), about the same amount that we had had brought. The cable car was cool - it was about a 12 minute trip, apparently travelling at 3 metres a second. It pretty much went straight up. We walked around the top, and took many photos. It was awesome. It was a little hazy however, so we didnt see great distances, for example, we couldnt see Mt Fuji. The good thing was that being spring (and due to the recent weeks of rain, that we managed to avoid that day) it was very green. I got a funny feeling, and realised that it was basically the first real time I had managed to properly get out of "the city" in 6 months.

We didnt go to an onsen, (I don`t need to explain why) and went home, getting off the train 2 stations early - which was the road where the all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant is, also where the Indian restaurant is, and the imported food supermarket (they sell Tip Top Ice cream! albeit not in 2 litre containers!) We did that so I could show Kevin where it all was.

Since then, yesterday (Thursday) I had to go and teach at Tsushima (which is quite a way-away). However, it was OK, on the way there I got talking to an American guy, and I got there really early, so I had a good breakfast of pizza (at a cafe I had lunch at when I went there with Anandia last month, when I went to see where it was). The students were quite good, and I had an empty lesson. I got on well with the Japanese staff member (I was the only teacher there, and she was the only staff - its that small and rural) and we walked back to the station together. Anyway hopefully we are going to meet up for a beer sometime in Nagoya.

Anyhow, after this I`m going to get some groceries - I checked out the prices at a near supermarket, and they looked a bit cheaper. Hopefully I will have enough time to cook a set of meals before I go and have tea in Nagoya with Lee, Miyuki, and Alex.

This weekend - Im meeting up with a Japanese friend that I met back on Christmas eve, and hopefully also with my old Australian workmate. Sunday, my Japanese lesson, and Monday is a open book.

Have a good one!