Gaijin Parteh & Other Festivities

The day after I got back from Tokyo I received a phone call from Cullen sometime in the afternoon. He was telling me of plans that him and Kiyo had made for Sunday to go visit a waterfall and then go to Karaoke which I was all up for. We agreed on a time and a place before encountering another phone call from Kiyo the following day saying that because the rain was so heavy last night, swimming in the waterfall would probably be dangerous so we opted just to go to Karaoke.

There were still some issues with transportation but we worked that out in the morning and Kiyo and I were picked up by Cullen's host father and taken back to his house for an hour or so were we sat there eating chips and talking. After that, we were taken to Isahaya station were we met Carlos, who is a guy from Latvia that Cullen and I met at the school English Camp. He lives in Obama and it was quite by coincidence that he met with Keri, who was given his phone number so that we could include him in our festivities. We still had around an hour before 12.00 when we had all agreed to meet Keri and her host dad who would drop us to Joyfull for lunch.

During that time, Carlos wanted to see our school and considering it was only a short walk, we happily took him. He said it was larger and nicer than his school in Obama where only 400 students attend as opposed to our 1000. Anyway, we met Keri and her host dad at the station and he dropped us to Joyfull, we sat in the car and tried to figure out the rest of the day. After Karaoke we decided on taking Purikura and then, if we had time, take the 30 minute walk (more like 45) to bowling.

Joyfull was fun, we sat at a table and at the table sat: 1 Australia, 2 Americans, 1 Latvian, 1 Japanese, I thought that was pretty cool how a bunch of kids from different countries that hardly knew each other could just go out for a day and have some fun. Everyone ate, I just had a mini hamburger meal which is just a hamburger patty, an egg and some mini roast potatoes for 399円 we skipped on desert and figured we would have some later. We didn't get stared at too much but there were a few because we were all talking in English, loudly and being Gaijin and so on.

After lunch we walked a short way to Karaoke, were we sat and sung for three hours. Kiyo is the most enthusiastic person I know, he clapped to the beat for like every song. We sung a few anime ones together but mostly it was English songs and the really bad ones to like:

>Eye of the Tiger

>Kung Fu Fighting

>Mama Mia

>Video Killed the Radio Star

>YMCA

>U can't touch this

>Billy Jean

>I'm bringing sexy back

>We will rock you

All the cringe worthy but fun songs which everyone (bar Kiyo) knew and could sing along too. I put in a jazz song and everyone was like, Frank Sinatra? WTF? I was just like, sorry guys. It's for Howard Moons sake. And everyone just was like, huh? Obviously they don't watch The Mighty Boosh. There is a little thing which rates your singing, we tried to get over 90 but I think the highest was Keri and I singing an Avril song, we got either 89 or 87. I don't remember.

The hardest thing about Karaoke is that my music taste isn't normal so all the songs I know, they don't have because they aren't particularly popular. Oh noes!

With 3 hours of Karaoke behind us, we went to take Purikura and I learnt how difficult it is to cut Purikura. It sucks trying to make sure everyone gets even numbers. We ended up taking it twice but I don't think we got a computer copy because Kiyo didn't know his own address so I couldn't type it in fast enough. No one in Japan knows their own email addresses. What is with that?

We did Purikura and enjoyed ourselves with the decorating and posing and what not and soon time slipped away from us faster than we thought. From there we hurried on to bowling, half of the time under umbrellas and the other half not as the rain couldn't decide whether or not it wanted to come and thus just half-heartedly sprinkled it short spurts.

After a long walk and varied conversation about all sorts of things, we got to bowling. Getting shoes, we decided to do half an hour (as we thought they booked by time) and quickly did a game. The first two shots I knocked down 9 pins but after that, I retracted back into my hopeless self getting gutter balls and low scores galore. I ended up losing third place to Cullen by a mere one point. Carlos was first and Kiyo second. We then, debated over whether or not to do another game, I was all up for it because once we stopped playing I was under the impression that I'd go home, no longer having an excuse to be out.

We decided to do a second game, only then learning that they charged by game and not by time, I was hopeless in this game as well. Everyone started arranging their passage home and I was rather proud...I guess...when Keri's host father asked for her to put me or Kiyo on. Someone who could speak Japanese. That just was kind of cool, I thought. So I told him what was happening and that we would probably be out the front of Isahaya station at 8:40. Then I borrowed Kiyo's phone to ask Akane's mum to pick me up at the same time.

Bowling finished, I scored dismally, my game seemed to get worse and worse with every throw. I did get one strike though and I also learnt that I hold the bowling ball the wrong way. I put my pointer and my middle fingers in the holes instead of my middle and my ring. I did try it the proper way but I found it more comfortable the wrong way so I just stuck with that.

We hurried back to Isahaya station, Keri and I determined to finish the day with Icecream at McDonalds which is just opposite. We ate our icecream, Cullen had an Ebi burger because he wanted to try one before he left, I talked to Keri and her host father who suprisingly rocked up whilst keeping my eye on the window for my own family.

When they arrived, I dashed out of the place yelling a quick goodbye, forgetting that I would likely never see any of them again, apart from Kiyo. Cullen and Keri would have returned to America by now, Carlos would be in Obama, Kiyo would probably be at school practicing Tennis and here I am, typing away to an invisible audience.

So, that was our little Gaijin party, it was nice to speak English for a while. なつかしい。。。

The following night was Kawa Matsuri which had been delayed because of rainfall but was finally on, thankfully as I really didn't want it to be cancelled. I was kind of embarassed getting dressed as my Jumbei is nice but kind of big and it makes me look like a lump wearing pajamas. Akane wore normal clothes and everyone else that we were meeting had pretty Yukata's on. But I tried not to get down, soon there were so many people that it was hardly possible to move through the crowd let alone check out what they were wearing so I quickly lost the will to care about how I looked.

At the River Festival, I ate the following: One stick of cooked chicken, one toffee apple which was more of a candy apple, one ball of Takoyaki, one snow cone and a bottle of Ramune. I did most of these things because it was like a rite of passage. The chicken was because I was hungry, the snow cone was because everyone else was getting one and the Ramune was because I hadn't tried it before and really wanted to.

People kept bumping into each other and being like, 'Hi! Oh, bye!' and I just tagged along most of the night but it was still fun. The only people we bumped into from my class were Koto and Yuri:Our group consisted of people I didn't know very well. Me, Akane, Akane's friend Chiho, a set of twins, and a girl named Sachiko who seemed really nice. There didn't seem to be a whole lot to do there but spend money on food, watch the fireworks and catch some fish. I didn't do the Kingyo Tsukue but I'll definitely do it next time. What you have to do is catch fis using a circle with thin paper stretched on top, apparently it is harder than it looks. I think Akane, An-chan and I are going to Omura festival on the third so I will definitely try it there. I don't know what I'll do with the fish if I catch any but I want to try anyhow.

The fireworks were better than I thought they would be, some of them I hadn't seen before. Some in particular, shot up into the sky in a brilliant shimmering gold and then spiralled their way across the night leaving trails of sparks right down to the ground. Fireworks are hard to describe I thought it was, seen one, seen them all, but apparently not.

The festival finished at 10.00 and we had been there from around 7.00. As we trudged our way home, Chris suddenly darted out of one of the restaurants and was like, 'What are you guys doing here?' and we were like, 'We were at the festival...obviously...'. Chris was eating Pizza and then I think was planning to get drunk which I thought was charming as we bid him a Goodnight and walked through Isahaya mall. Tearing through the arcade came a small procession of American vintage cars, revving loudly as they chuffed on through with their driver at the wrong side of the helm. Silly American cars.

We said Goodbye to the twins before changing our minds and all hitching a ride with them to a rental shop nearby. We got some free Pino (which is a type of Icecream) from some coupons which Sachiko had. They were a lot better than I thought, I'd always been hesitant to buy them but I'm glad I got a try.

After that, we were picked up, dropped home and the night ended. I was glad I'd watched one of the Endless Eight episodes of Haruhi Suzumiya, it just made everything more fun thinking about Yuki as I passed the masks, Mikuru as I passed the fish and Haruhi and Kyon as I passed the Takoyaki. Poor Koizumi, not cool enough to get a mention even though he is one of the characters I like the most.

I'm such a nerd. I finished watching Evangelion. It left me in a kind of WTF? state as it gets kind of trippy towards the end.

Anyhow, I'll end this post now as I wasn't even going to write one. It just kind of, happened. >_<

<3

Ashley-chan.

P.s: This is a picture of Akane's dog, Chako. She is in the middle of her favourite past-time on top of someone's futon. Cute, isn't she? But no where as cute as my Lucy, obviously.

Happy Birthday Mummy!

Happy Birthday Mummy!

You are another year older and I love you more and more every single day.

You might be able to find a surprise in this post. If you are lucky...

<3

Ashley-chan

Happenings III

This ought to be the third and final Happenings blog which details a particularly exhausting week. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get it all out but I'm afraid with being so busy comes little time to blog and I'd hate to refuse to go somewhere or do something in order to report back to the few people who do actually read this. Anyway, Tokyo.

I woke up at a detestable 5:45 in order to be ready to leave the house by 6:30. We ended up leaving a little earlier, 'we' being myself and Akane's dad who agreed to drive me to the airport on his way to work for which I was very grateful as the airport is like a 40/50 minute drive. We arrived there with ample time, the car trip was a confortable silence, I was too sleepy to make conversation and he was just as amiable not to hear it.

I was very glad that he came in with me to talk to the staff, something I didn't think he would do. I thought he was just going to drop me and go. Whilst my Japanese has improved I still have a considerable amount of trouble understanding company employees. The use the polite phrases over normal speech making it very difficult for me to comprehebd their meaning. Not to mention I don't hold the sufficient vocabulary to talk about flight itinerary and check-in and all that aero-nautical nonsense.

Playing the happy part of the confused foreigner, a role which I sometimes use to my advantage, I checked in my luggage, got my ticket and made my way through the gate all in under 10 minutes. I bought a small bag of Oreo mini's and a packet of Grape Haichuu (A gum like lolly which I'm fond of) for the flight, I waited until bording at 8:10 and demurely trudged onto the plane with the other passengers. I knew I was going to Tokyo but I wasn't feeling the excitement considering I wouldn't really get to see Tokyo except through the window of a bus which is about as humane as dangling a mouse in front of a starving cat.

On the plane, I found most of the staff to be bilingual, one of them bid me a good morning in English and all of the instructions were repeated in English as well. I don't think this was just for my sake although I doubt there were any other foreigners on the plane, but simply a standard routine.

Also when being offered beverages they asked in English but I replied in Japanese, mostly as a little display of defiance that not all foreigners are as dumb as we looked. After that, the hostess and I got into a quick conversation about me being an exchange student and all. Niceties really but I figured that if I'd answered in English she wouldn't have been so willing to speak to me. I'm used to making mistakes in Japanese by now, there isn't much point in being hesitant or I'll never learn anything, right?

Inside the flight, all electronics were to be turned off until we reached altitude which meant I couldn't even listen to my iPod for like half an hour. I think I did anyway though as all the hostess' were tucked up safely in chairs of their own and I could see another guy using his. The flight was pleasant, it took around an hour and a half although we were delayed by 20 minutes at Nagasaki and then again at Haneda Airport, waiting for clearance for landing space or something.

Getting off the plane and being able to see the city started stirring up my excitement a little. I followed the crowd to the baggage colection point where it took its own sweet time arriving. Walking through the point of no return and into the arrival lobby, I only then realised I had no idea what I was looking for. I kind of flicked my eyes around and stepped over to the side not to block anyone when my vision fell upon a sign bearing JFIE. The name of my exchange company.

I walked over and said Hi to the guy who was named Masa. I don't think I've met anyone as geeky in a very long time. He is one of those people who lives in a perpetual state of childish happiness and throws out a dorky laugh at the most mundane of things, including his own jokes. I thought it was amusing at first as I was in a good mood but he quickly wore down my patience.

From there, we had to catch a bus to another terminal as I had arrived on JAL and the next student was coming on ANA. As the bus arrived to a stop, I got and slung my bag over my shoulder and was waiting at the door, when suddenly it started to move again, throwing me backwards with a squeak as I snatched at a pole to keep my balance. That was embarassing, luckily the bus was fairly scarce of people at that time.

We were to be joined by one other student from what he calls 'Inaka' or 'The country' and then were to proceed together by bus to Yamanashi-ken were the camp was being held. The other kid, Tony, had his plane scheduled for around 11:30 to arrive but when we went to the sign where all of the comings and goings were posted, we were dismayed to find a looming, yellow, 'Indefinite' staring us in the face.

'Indefinite'? What kind of information is that? It could mean it was on it's way, waiting to leave, not leaving, being cancelled, exploded, etc. 'Indefinite' could mean any number of things and not being a little more specific bothersome to me. Without the information we needed, it was all we could do but wait patiently. We went to a convenience store to buy a portable lunch able to be eaten on the bus however, that quickly went to waste after we received word after an hour of waiting from Tony via. text message that his plane hadn't even left yet due to maintenance.

You see, the weather that day hadn't been very good and I had been pretty lucky as all of the flights from Nagasaki to Tokyo after mine had been cancelled so although I didn't like waiting, I liked it a lot better than being stranded in an airport in Nagasaki.

So, after another hour and a half or hearing Masa babble on about Australia, which he'd visited, and New Zealand, where he lived for three years although his English didn't show it, Tony's plane finally landed. We had to wait another half an hour for Tony to come out and to locate him as we had been waiting at the more likely of two possible gates and he had come out the other.

Due to the 2 hour or so delay of Tony's plane we had quite obviously missed our bus which meant in order to get new tickets we had to get certification of that very fact. We also had to get something for Tony to eat before going by the train to Shunjuku station where we were going to catch our bus. You must be able to understand my anxiety when the train doors opened at Harajuku station and I had to force myself not to drop my bags and run towards Harajuku and hide out amongst the ample Tokyo Gaijin community for the next 5/6 months. So tempted.

We got to Shinjuku, seeing glimpses of the famous Tokyo Scramble Crossing which was naturally packed with people. Apparently, there is a long-standing offer of money to anyone who can take a picture of the Scramble Crossing without one person on it, a feat which I imagine is quite impossible unless you were in I Am Legend and one of the last people alive on earth except for the Zombies.

Tony and I were quite thrilled to find that we had around an hour before our bus was newly scheduled to come which means we had some chance to play. Of course, we weren't allowed to go to Akihabara or Harajuku but Shinjuku would have to suffice. Before we were allowed to explore though, Tony said he was hungry and I encouraged him strongly to eat his Obentou under 5 minutes or there would be punishment.

Luckily, he got within the limit, I wanted to go inside the shops but Tony just wanted like a general tour which I found a bit annoying. They had electronics galore and I wanted to have a look around but instead all we did was walk in a big circle. It just made me more determined to come back one day, independent of any sort of company where I could do what I want, when I wanted to. Kitty will come with me, won't you? The time there flew ridiculously quickly, we didn't really see much except that there are Gaijin EVERYWHERE and no one gives them a second thought and we were soon in the bus, travelling 2 and a half hours away from the miraculous land of Tokyo to some place I'd never heard of.

Not to mention, I had some weird lady sitting next to me on the bus. She was the last one to arrive and seemed to be something of a scatterbrain as she settled down beside me and started firing questions at me. Like, where I was going, what I was doing there and the such. She didn't even ask the standard questions like where I was from and whether I was a student the end, I tried to make a point to ignore her by stuffing my headphones in my ears and closing my eyes for most of trip.

All up, we would have talked less than 20 minutes and yet she asked me for my address so she could write me a letter. I did have it but I said I didn't so instead as she was getting off at her stop she gave me her address and told me to come and visit her in Tokyo if I had time. I nodded, thanked her and acted like I wasn't totally creeped out by this and was very glad to be rid of her presence when she left.

It was spitting when we got off the bus in Yamanashi and we had to walk a short way before arriving at the camp as everyone was finishing dinner, we quickly introduced ourselves before shoving down a cold, satisfactory meal of rice, bread, hamburger patty abd salad. Then we were rushed into the baths and told to bathe quickly and be somewhere by 7:40. I went in, undressed, as usual taking off my little leather strap and watch, and bathed. There weren't many people in there and without my glasses they were just blurs anyway. I seemed to be meeting lots of people naked lately...In fact, it was only 10 minutes into showering when I noticed that I actually had one of the other foreign exchange students bathing next to me.

We had a brief conversation, about what I don't remember. She left before me and I enjoyed being alone in a public bath for the first time. I hadn't planned on getting in the bath, content with just taking a shower but the being alone I found it to tempting to resist. That is the great thing about Japanese baths, they are so big they are like steaming swimming pools and even in the summer, they really refresh you. Once I lounged in there for a bit, I became aware of the time and hurriedly dressed myself, grabbed my stuff and left. I actually wanted to take a photo of the bath while I knew there was no one in there but as I made my way out to get my camera I became aware that there was a lady waiting for me which made it somewhat impossible to ask if I could take a photo of the bath.

Luckily, the guys were still bathing and we told them to hurry up and then scurried along to the place we were to meet where everyone was waiting. There I met Abram and Darren, two of the other instructors for a workshop called Kamishibai!

Kamishibai basically is just telling a story with picture cards. I should probably mention that around 15 Japanese Junior High students came as well as four other exchange students: Tom, Louise, Tony and Mitch. We were split into three teams the names of which were: Tom's Tomatoes, Mitch's Monkeys and Louise's Lemons. I, ironically, was apart of Tom's Tomatoes, my most detested food.
It was only when I sat down at the table that I realised I wasn't wearing the piece of leather I always wear on my right hand and that I must have left it in the bathroom but it was quickly put out of my mind as the workshop begun. We were given a comic strip by Abram to use as a model if we wanted, we had five pieces of paper to draw on and make a cartoon of our own with the last panel supposed to be funny. Tom and I left most of the thinking to the Japanese guys who came up with an idea using Doraemon. However, both Tom and I needed some help from the instructors in understanding their explanation. Their story was this:

One day Nobita, (a little boy) was playing with Doraemon (a cat from the future) when Jian spotted them. (Jian always bullies Nobita when he sees him.) Nobita was worried, what should he do to get away from Jian? Luckily, Doraemon gave him a magic hoop. Nobita used the hoop to escape through a wall to hide from Jian. Jian was very angry with Nobita but couldn't get through the wall.Nobita hadn't noticed but on the other side of the wall was a dog who bit Nobita.

Apparently, it was meant to be funny. We had trouble understanding the concept of the magic hoop which allows you to walk through walls or something. That night we quickly ran out of time and thus was left with only an hour to draw and colour all the pictures the next day.

Once that was over we had free time which the foreign exchange students mostly used to swap stories even though we were supposed to be interacting with the Japanese kids, it had been four months since we had seen each other, we had to have some time to talk. Apparently, Cameron has been kicked out. I have no idea whether this is certain or not but it really wouldn't suprise me. The kid was an absolute grot, he was into Death metal, he talked tough like he was cool but really he was just an arrogant little turd, at least that was my impression of him within two days.

The other thing that surprised me greatly is that Mitch, who is a really decent guy, had been kicked out of his house. I can't remember all of the details but he was living with a single mum who had I think three kids of her own. I think they were pretty poor as it was. One night, the mother made fish and egg with rice, Mitch doesn't eat fish or egg so instead of just eating rice he found it easier not to eat at all. After that, the mother came up and started yelling at him that he wasted things like not drinking the leftover milk after eating cereal and stuff. Mitch apologised and went to explain that in Australia it was different and if she explained the right way he would change but she cut him off, crying, 'You are not in Australia!'

He tried to follow her and put things right but she avoided him all night. Then, the next day he tried to talk to her but she wouldn't talk except sharply so he gave up. The mother then started asking why he wouldn't talk to her, and he asked why she wouldn't talk to him and then she handed him a letter telling him that he'd be moving next week, he called his counsellor and stayed at a friends house for the night. A week later he moved into the street that Tom lives in and now he is really happy. Apart from that, apparently a few years ago someone's host family didn't feed them at all and they had to buy every meal. It makes me glad that the families I have are so nice.

I went to bed a little anxious about not having my piece of leather but I figured we were the only ones using the fascilities so it would be there tomorrow. The girls in the room talked a little but I just stuck in my earphones, it had been a long day after all.

The second day came as most days do, unremarked and unnoticed. We woke up ridiculously early. The schedule gave us from 6:30-7:30 to wake up and get dressed but the girl insisted on getting up at 20 past 8 which then left us ready more than half an hour early. We ate a breakfast of bacon and eggs which Japanese people don't seem to understand how to make. The best was the toast with jam.

With our stomachs filled we went for a short walk over to a vast expanse of lake being guarded by an impressive Mt. Fuji as its sentry. I didn't know we were going to see Fuji so I didn't bring my camera that day, very stupid of me. This photo was stolen from Louise. We couldn't see the whole mountain, just part of the top and the bottom as the middle was hidden beneath a slick fog which gave the place an even moodier atmosphere.

Between returning from our walk and the next workshop, I rushed over to the bathhouse to grab my bracelet but was deeply dismayed to find the door had been locked. Though, at the same time I was conforted to know that if I couldn't get it, at least it was safely locked behind doors.

The next workshop was the presentation of the story we made up yesterday. The best group was the one below who did a parody of a famous Japanese story of the little boy in a peach who was found floating down the river by an elderly couple. This was their story:

Once upon a time there was an elderly couple living in the mountains.One day there was a peach floating down the river.

But instead of cutting the grass, the Grandpa was playing golf.And instead of the Grandma picking the weeds (or something) she was playing Pachinko.

So, the poor little peach floating down the river was never found.

After the presentations we sung the song, Imagine, a few times and then played some games like a race version of Chinese whispers, an object version of celebrity heads and then our fun was interrupted by the schedule of the Solar Eclipse. We all journeyed outside to see it but alas, our vision was impaired by the heavy fog and the Solar Eclipse came and went without as much as a comment from us. We were playing frisbee at the time. Tired from all the exertion we made our own lunch of Curry Rice from scratch, except for the flavouring. We made our own fire and everything and even though I am not particularly good at it I seemed to be in charge of the cooking. The curry turned out a little runnier than expected but it was still pretty good in the end.

The next workshop was learning about symbols of peace and then we had to draw our own symbol for peace and explain it. Everyone was thinking about our design when I started doodling, I drew an eye and then for no reason just stuck a picture of the world inside. Tom saw what I was drawing and I was like, 'It's just a doodle' but it quickly became our design. Tom came up with the accompanying logo, 'See the world as one'. After drawing it we all signed each others shirts, they are kind of cute actually. The other groups had some good ideas too.

After that we ate a dinner of, I don't remember what, it was obviously not very memorable as most camp food is. Although it was the YMCA which made me laugh out loud on principle. Then came the camp fire which we played games around, they were just the foolish camp type. Ours was the one where you have a detective in the middle of a circle trying to pick who is starting the pattern everyone is copying. I was the detective but I failed miserably. The light was bad. =0 The other games were one person had to steal the towel out of our pocket and we had to avoid them. The third game was counting as high as we could in a circle but every number alternated from English to Japanese which was harder than expected.

Then we had some time before we could bathe so a few of us ran away with Louise as she had brought her guitar and TimTams ad lollies for us to eat cause she is cool like that. We wanted to hear her play so we hid in an unused room away from the Japanese kids, poor guys. We sat there and swapped stories and listend to Louise's cute hippie songs and soon we only had half an hour left to bathe so we made our way over. On the way, I explained to Louise what I'd lost: You guys probably know it too. I wear it on my right hand everyday, it is a piece of leather with an Australian flag charm which mum gave to me.

It is precious to me because it makes me feel that as long as I wear it, not only am I carrying around a piece of Australia but it makes me feel closer to my home and my mum. It takes away my homesickness because I know that as long as I wear it, I'm still at home, really. My body is just in asia for a little while but I am still connected to Australia. It acts as a constant reminder of who I am and that I'm in the same world as Australia and that I'll be home soon enough. So, when I walked into the bath house and saw that my bracelet wasn't where I had left it, you could say I started to panic just a little bit.

The only thing that would have made me freak out as much was my ipod, and that is because not only does it have all my movies and music on it but it also has all of my photos. Once I put my photos on the ipod, I delete them off my camera so I'd freak out if I lost my ipod because I'd lose over 1,500 photos. Which would be sad, not to mention my anime. >_<

So, I bathed and encountered a teacher in there, I didn't go in the bath today. I was sitting about 4 seats down from where I had bathed yesterday. My mind was racing, I was trying to comfort myself by saying: It's ok. We are the only ones that use these facillities. Surely someone would have found it, I mean it had an Australian flag on it. Wouldn't you assume it belonged to one of the five exchange students from Australia, right?

Anyway, as the teacher, a somewhat bulbous lady, and I were getting dressed she told me that because this would be the only chance the exchange students got to catch up during the program, she was happy to let us have some time after curfew to talk but only until midnight. I thanked her for being so generous and then told her about what I'd left there yesterday and asked her if she could ask the YMCA staff. She said she would.

Later, she reported back saying that they hadn't found anything and that I ought to ask all the girls in case one of them had found it which I did but it all came up negative. That was when I really started to worry. Every kept talking happily around me but I felt as if everything were surrounding by a hazy fog that only I could see. Everyone sympathised with me losing it and told me I'd find it but the words just sounded empty as they fell upon my ears. My life was like, an abyss, you know? Just spiralling downwards...(Lol.)

I tried to be cheerful the rest of the night and when we were all ushered to bed, I went to join the litte Gaijin party which ended up being crashed by all the girls wanting to hear Louise play the guitar. Before the were shooed away at 11, half an hour past their curfew, by the teachers. We chatted easily and shared another packet of TimTams, just swapping stories and listening to music and so on. Tony and I got in a brief discussion about anime. He kept calling me Otaku even though he used to be much more of an Otaku then I am now. I told him that in a year, I'd be more of an Otaku than him. He said he believed me. >_<

((For those who don't know, Otaku is a Japanese word basically meaning fanatic and generally used to describe fans of anime, manga, sci-fi, games and all the fun geeky past-times. ))

We all went to bed and awoke on the final day at 6 o'clock due to an understandable feeling of restlessness. It was the last day in Tokyo, I would be returning to Nagasaki whether I liked it or not. If I left this camp ground without finding my bracelet or at least making an effort to find it, I would regret it. With that mentality, I got up at 6, dressed, tipped everything out of my bag and searched it just in case it had somehow gotten in with my clothes and I hadn't realised. The search was a negative so I repacked my bag, made up my futon and went out to ask permission to search near the bath house in case I dropped it somewhere on the way. I felt better doing that then sitting there doing nothing.

It was around 7:00 when I left which meant I had half an hour to search before needing to go and meet for our walk. I walked carefully along the path to the bath house trying to remember the path I had taken on my way there the first time though I hadn't known the grounds at that time so it was all a blur to me. The only place I could think of was were I had dumped my clothes in my bag outside the bath house whilst waiting for the boys to finish up. Reaching the entrance I saw a chain had been drawn across but I seriously didn't care. I bent under and searched the little board walk for any sign that would be my bracelet but my eyes met nothing.

I was surprised to find the door to the female baths ajar and could hear the sound of rushing water coming from the men's baths, adjacent. Taking a quick peak inside and seeing no one, I walked inside and searched the ground, every little locker with my hand even though I could clearly see that they were all empty. I walked back out, disappointed. Re-checked outside before having the ridiculous urge to go back in the bath house and re-search despite knowing that it wasn't in there. I looked around and as expected, nothing and then, as I turned to leave I decided to take a peak inside the bathroom. I knew no one was in there as there were no other shoes there but mine, I just wanted to see whether they emptied the bath and cleaned it or not. I didn't get my answer as it looked quite clear that it hadn't been cleaned yet.

Against all logical reason, my eyes swept the floor, still searching despite the fact that there would be no reason on earth for my bracelet to be inside the place where we bathe. No reason at all. And yet...when I swept the floor with my eyes, they quickly met something long and black pressed up against the edge of the floor, directly underneath the little ledge where we wash ourselves before getting in the bath. I rushed over with complete disregard for my socks, (luckily the ground was dry), and bending down I confirmed that it was, indeed, my missing bracelet.

In that moment I swear I nearly coughed up a lung with my sigh of relief. I bounded out of the room as I rubbed at the flag charm tentatively getting off some soap which had stuck to it. I smelled the band and pulled back. Before putting it on my wrist I took it, lathered it with soap and scrubbed to remove any lingering odours before drying it and putting it safely back on my wrist.

I had only taken 15 minutes so I made my way back, bought myself a celebratory coke and told everyone, very joyfully that I had found it and not to worry even though they weren't. I was so thankful that I'd found it, I would have been devastated if I had to get back on a plane without it, not only because it made me feel better but because I would have hated to tell mum that I lost her gift and that it was floating around somewhere in a YMCA near Tokyo. That would have killed me.

We went for our walk and this day I took my camera although the fog covered the whole mountain and you couldn't see any of it unfortunately however the view over the lake and the general area was still very peaceful. So, I improvised:
The rest of the day I was much happier, all we did that day was present our peace t-shirts, say thank you speeches, take photos, talk before a lunch of flavoured rice and departing to the buses. We said farewell, was sat next to Louise but Tom really wanted to talk to her, I swapped with him.

A few stops later the seat next to me was filled by a man with shaggy black hair and a goatee, he reminded me of a Japanese Sirius Black. I think I set the mood for the ride by glancing once at him dismissively before closing my eyes again and listening to my music for the rest of the ride. Throughout the bus trip he kind of leaned on me the way sleeping people do, jerking back when he realised before falling asleep and doing it again. I didn't really mind, there wasn't much he could do to prevent it so I just pretended to be asleep too.

We all said Goodbye when we arrived at Shinjuku station and Tony, Masa and I were off again through subways, trains and monorails and I got to experience two firsts on Tokyo Trains. The first is being able to sit down and the second is being pushed off. As I was trying to get on two people pushed me off, forcefully, without so much as a 'sumimasen'. The tinny voice of, "The doors are now closing, please stand clear." were audible as they pushed me off so I pushed back and managed to get on before the doors closed, so did 3 other girls that pushed even though there was no more space to push.

We got to the airport about 20 minutes before my plane was scheduled to depart. We hurried upstairs and Masa tried to get me to go straight through the gate but I was like, I don't have a ticket, I've only got this piece of paper. We checked in, I got my ticket, it was too late for my luggage to go to through so I had to carry it. It was 5 kilos. By that time it was only 10 minutes until my plane left and the hostess asked me if I could take a later plane, I surprised myself by saying no, out of concern for my host family having to wait for me. Then, I was whisked through the gate, being allowed to push in and then I had to run to gate 70. The lady told me it was to the right and a bit far. The gate being so far away was the main reason they thought I wouldn't make it but I wasn't not going to try. They said if I didn't catch the plane to come back and tell them and they would arrange a later one.

A bit far? It was much more than that? I couldn't even see the sign from where I was standing. So I ran and ran and passed people staring at the stupid foreigner, including staff with buggy carts. I felt like yelling, "Stop staring and give me a lift, for God's sake!" I managed my way to gate 67 through a combination of running, walking and travellating when I heard the final boarding call come for my flight.
I felt like swearing. I probably did.

As I rounded the corner, there was a staff member standing there and she called out to me saying, "Nagasaki?" before trying to say in good but slow english, "Are...you..going...to...Naga--" I cut her off, I didn't have time for egotistical attempts of English when I could speed things up. I replied in Japanese, "Yes, I'm going to Nagasaki." She nodded and led me to the gate while I was puffing from my little sprint down the airport straight all the while apologising for my lateness. She assured me that it was ok, everyone was already seated and my face was undoubtedly flushed. I had a strong urge to shrug and say, "Someone's got to be last" but I resisted it by thinking that I couldn't translate it with the humorous inflection and that no one would understand the Bridget Jones reference anyway.

I felt glad that I'd made the plane and kind of rebelliously proud that I could say I'd delayed a plane. Not that it is a good thing but just as a matter of principle. It was another five minutes until we took off due to the procedures the flight attendants had to do. A lady came around offering blankets and when she looked at me with my puffing and fanning myself, she just smiled, and said "Atsui desu ne?" meaning, "It's hot, isn't it?" She didn't offer me a blanket, how astute of her.

The plane trip home went without coincidence and I spent most of it watching Mighty Boosh Live which I would have watched around 6 or 7 times by now. It still makes me laugh. Arrivig back, I didn't have to wait at luggage retrieval because it was with me, waiting for me were the females of the family, the mother, Akiko, Akane and Nozomi, (better known as Non-chan) the younger sister. We went to the car and drove to Gasto, a restaurant cafe for dinner. They advertise really delicious looking pancakes on TV. I had a potato cheese thingy but it turned out to be really small so the mother ordered me a pizza even though I insisted that I was fine. I told every one to have some but only Akane and the mother did. I managed to eat it all, turns out I was hungrier than I expected.

Then I came home, read, ((Currently reading Memoirs of a Geisha which I'm enjoying)) and then fell into the blissful haze of sleep.

That is my trip to Tokyo, some things were annotated but it still managed to be nearly 6000 words so you really can't blame me in taking so long to write it. I am forgoing sleeping and reading and watching anime to write these blogs to you. I don't mind but I'll be glad once I get up to date so I don't have to spend everyday at the computer.

I'm going to go now and watch some Neon Genesis Evangelion and maybe some new episodes of Haruhi.

<3>Ashley-chan.

Happenings Part II

Don't blame me, blame my mind. It has been calling this teacher Hatsuharu since the first day I saw him. I know, it's a disgrace to Haru's name.

Look, a Hatsuharu who has gotten older, lost all sense of style and really let himself go.

The day I got back from school camp, Cullen was meant to be coming to Tea Ceremony practice. However, I had only just learned that the practice was for only the third years and not for everyone but I figured they would be cool with Cullen and I coming if not just for the practice. So, we waited. And waited. And waited. The clock past 3.30 when it was supposed to start and then continued on travelling until 4.00.

I was annoyed and confused, I talked to one of the Sempai and they were stuck as they didn't have a key and no one had turned up which left me frustrated as we detoured to Kendo to fill the space of time. I could only stay until 5.00 as that was when Akane finished English club. After spirals of confusion, backtracking and aggravation they finally said it wasn't happening which just kind of left me pissed off. I mean, I could have been downloading anime. Angst. >_<

I told them Cullen wanted to see so they arranged for it to be done at 1.00 the next day as being the last day of school, everyone finished early. So, the last day passed fairly ordinarily, we farwelled Kris from our school. He is staying in Nagasaki though so we may still see him around, there were lots of speeches and an hour of cleaning in which time we got less done than in the usual 20 minutes as Cullen, Kiyo-chan and I were planning an outing before Cullen returned to America. Plans which are actually tomorrow. I'll tell you after.

So, with all things said and all things done, we waited torturously for school to end and discovered we had an hour to kill before tea ceremony started. Really we just talked to Kiyo, I played on the computer and Kiyo decided that since his club started at 2.00 he would like to come and have a look at Tea Ceremony as well.

Trudging down to the Tea Ceremony Club room, everyone was rushing around to prepare for us, the unanticipated guests. By everyone I mine all two students and the teacher. They explained a little and I had to translate, Kiyo helped me and then the Okashi came. Because we were doing it properly we were allowed to take two from the plate instead of the usual stingy one we are allowed in club practices.

I had to teach them how to move the plate between you and the following person, bow to excuse yourself from going before them before moving the plate in front of yourself, lifting it to show gratitude and then take your silly little sugary snack. All that fuss for a bite-size snack, honestly... And yet, when the tea came I felt myself feeling slightly overprotective, especially when correcting them. They reached for the tea with two hands instead of just the customary right hand. It reminded me of how foolish I must have been the first time I participated in one of these ceremonies back in Nagoya high school, three years ago. Funny how time changes things. Soon, it was all over and my legs were positively killing me.

Chie, our 部長 (Club Leader) was doing the proper ceremony in front of us which took more time than usual which meant even my patience swayed as I readjusted myself during the ceremony, something I don't usually do. Once it was all over, they showed us each tool and explained what it did and I learnt about some of the positively outrageous costs that they pay for such simple tools. The tea bowls we use, $100. The boiler which we have two of costs over $5000. The whisks are normally $300 but for some reason our school decided to buy $10 ones. That left me bewildered considering that they paid full price for everything else. Go figure.

After finishing tea ceremony Cullen was kid of like, "So, what do I do now? I can't catch a train until 4.00" so I was like, "Well, everyone is getting together at Ringer Hut and I'm heading down there now, you can come if you　like, it is only a 10 minute walk, after all. He agreed and that's exactly what we did. We headed down to Ringer Hut, home of Nagasaki Champon, Nagasaki's most famous dish and was suprised to see not only a small gathering of students but Kris and Jon Min as well.

((Jon Min makes me laugh, he's from China, speaks Japanese fluently and for some reason we just get on really well. He's kind of so awkward it's funny but endearing at the same time. ))

They'd finished eating so basically we sat down for 5 minuted before everyone got up, paid and left. It was after Kris and Jon Min saying they had to leave that I think it was Yuuri got the horrible idea of going to Elena for a repeat performance of desert. If you remember the time when 7 people bought a tub of ice-cream and ate it with spoons in front of the store, that is exactly what I'm referring to. Except this time it was nine people sharing the same tub. >_<

After that, I enthusiastically supported the notion to take Purikura, none of which has been sent to me yet so I can't show you unfortunately. I did ask them to send it, annoying children. So, you'll have to wait for the time being. We hung around the game arcade for like two hours, I was dismayed to find them offering live rhinocerous beetles as prizes. I only did one game, Mario Kart which I won despite being deplorably hopeless at. After everyone had done games and we were hanging around more or less, just for the air conditioning we got kicked out by a staff member. Fail. That was funny. Thus, we said goodbye and headed back off to the station and I went home. Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix was on that night and though I was tired and had Sadou the next day I had to watch it considering not only had I not seen it in ages but I'd planned to see the new, shiny movie on the 20th.

So, yes. The next day, my first day of holidays consisted of me getting up at the exact same time as school and catching the train to Isahaya Station and then waiting for Anan and Shibata, two other members of Sadou who were in my class. They were 15/20 minutes late and had been sitting inside Mister Donuts the whole time with complete disregard for my presence despite the fact I was freaking out. Ever so slightly annoyed.

As a result, we had missed the available buses and trains and had to walk the half an hour required to get to Isahaya High School. I was glad for that fact in the end, but nevertheless was annoyed at the time. We arrived 5 minutes late but no one really minded. Saturday was set for preparation for hosting actual customers on Sunday. It was hosted in the library because it had air conditioning and we transformed the room from a library to a veil of white. In truth, we just covered all the book stands in white sheets, set up the bowls and tables and kind of bummed around waiting for everyone to finish. It was pretty boring in truth although some of the covers to the novels were manga-style and therefore interesting to look at.

Around 1 o'clock, the second years finished their preparations. Anan and Shibata whisked out of there like nobodies business which left me standing there being like, 'Thanks guys, we walked here and you're just gonna leave me to get back on my own without help? Nice.' I know I'm not their responsibility but it would've been polite to check whether I was ok, or to offer me their phone to call someone. Not just leave me in a place I've only been to once. Luckily, I had the information that the library was nearby, not to mention that I did actually memorise the route from the station for the purpose of visiting the library in the summer holidays.

The school and the library were practically parallell to each other and thus with a short walk I decided to hae a look at the library's foreigner section. It wasn't anywhere as good as Kikitsu, no Stephen King but they did have lots of classics and some translated novels by Japanese authors. After deciding to borrow a novel called "Crossfire" about a Japanese girl with pyrokinesis which she uses to murder, and "Memoirs of a Geisha" I dawdled over to the media section, not intending to borrow anything but simply to see what they had.

I was browsing the movies and while mentally noting that they too had Edward Scissorhands, a call of "Ashley?" diverted my attention. Looking up, I was confronted with a gaijin. It was Cullen. I was taken aback by this, not having expected to encounter anyone I knew let alone the other foreigner in my class.

I said hi and also talked a little to his host father who said that they were about to go sightseeing and asked if I wanted to come along. I was a touch hesitant, both not knowing him and not having permission from my host family. He assured me that he would ring to inform them and would drop me home afterwards. Considering I didn't have a ride I said that it would be fine as long as he rung my family which he did and off I went on a totally unexpected sightseeing tour. First was a Japanese garden that stood behind Isahaya High School.

It wasn't the prettiest of gardens but it had some atmosphere and a cute olden style house, which we got to enter when I serendiptiously ran into one of Akane's friends whom I had dined at Joyfull with. She was part of her school's Sadou Club too and was also preparing for something, so she let us inside and did a quick explanation that it was 400 years old and about the fascilities and so on.

After that we visited Isahaya's megane bashi, I was given a free coke by Cullen's host dad and I wolfed down my previosuly bought Melon パン　for lunch. Then we climbed to the top of a hill. It was pretty small but it was all really deep steps and for some reason I found myself puffing really quickly. Shows how out of shape I am. T_T;

On the top was a nice view of Isahaya and a really huge tree which engulfed me in its absolute hugeness. I'm actually in the photo below you know, so is Cullen. Try and spot us.Then we travelled by car to some other place. Where? Don't know. It was between Nishi-Isahaya and Hizen-Nagata where I am currently living. We parked the car on a winding mountain path and then started to walk. You do have to remember that I am doing this on a fairly humid summers day in my uniform and loafers.

We walked in a blank circle once around a mountain path including a scary slope which was covered in moss and had a decent gradient to it. Then, after deciding we were going the wrong way and turned around I became horribly afraid that I'd have to go back up which would be much more of a challenge than going down. Considering I was wearing a skirt and my loafers had no grip whatsoever to them and that I had　to wear my uniform tomorrow and couldn't afford to get it dirty!

Luckily, we just took the tar road leading back to where we were previously without all the embarassment and hassle of mountain dangers. Taking the right fork this time, we were led up a smaller slope where we spotted fresh mountain water which I filled up my empty coke bottle with and the water was accompanied by orange crabs. We continued up the path until we reached a waterfall that didn't have water falling as much as trickling politely as to not splash anyone.

There was also a shrine where they prayed to the 水神, the water God, I declined to do such honour, the tucked away room was sweltering with incence and after Cullen's peculiar display of hitting every different gong instead of just one gong, two times I simply wanted to get back into the cooler air even though that air was still positively oppressive.

The lady talked for a bit about the place and how it was home to the water God and that they did purification rituals or something were a person (probably a monk or something) would wear a white robe and purify the person underneath the water. I also later learnt that that would be the place where we do the funny Shakan Shakan dance with the poles.

After that delightful lecture we made our way back down the mountain and Cullen suddenly became immensely interested in the miniature crabs after hearing the details of how his host father used to cook them when he was a kid. So, Cullen set off gathering up all the crabs he saw in the way. A grand total of four, he put them in an old plastic bag I found in my bag and then we drove back to his house, hurriedly dumped the crabs off to his host mother to cook for him before having the luxury of returning me home.

By this time it was about 6 o'clock. I was quite tired from the day but it did save me doing nothing I guess. Sunday was the day of the proper tea ceremony thing. The third years dressed up in Yukata's and everyone else was just in uniform. We had an unsteady influx of customers throughout the day and I mostly acted as the doorman, greeting them and giving them a piece of paper they would need in the ceremony.

It was pretty boring actually, although before the customers arrived we all got to have out turns. I also acted as someone's second. I'd only ever practiced the greeting before and not having practiced what came after and only seeing other people do it I did forget to give the bowl to my tea maker person and had to be prompted. I felt bad about that but I don't think anyone really noticed, I don't think it really mattered anyway. But I did say the greetings perfectly.

We also got the chance to have a go at Isahaya High School's Tea Ceremony club which was held at the building I had visted the day before with Cullen. There's was better to be honest, everyone was in Yukata and they all played their part very well. Though the room was fantastically hot and I had sweat rolling down my neck before we were ended, the snack was good though. It was the first time I'd eaten one the proper way with the little wooden fork instead of just my fingers. Seiza killed. Proper ceremonies seem to take forever. This is what our okashi looked like:

Once the day was over we had to return back to Kansho (on foot, I saw this bridge on the way, isn't it cute?)Arriving back we went to pack things up and then I played around on the computer for a bit before making my way to the station. It was really coincidental actually because I was talking to my Taxi Driver friend when my host mother showed up out of the blue, if I hadn't stopped to talk to my friend I would have already been inside the station.

((By the way, my Taxi Driver Friend is just a dude who drives a taxi but I walked past him heaps on the way to school. It started off with just nods, then waves, then greetings but this was the first time I'd actually talked to him. Odd, huh? ))

And now, I'm going to briefly cover the 20th, the day I went to see Harry Potter: to Nazo no Purinsu. The reason I say briefly is that I'm getting tired from all this writing, not to mention that my mind was already a little sluggish after having read "The Secret Garden" today all in one hit. 5 hours at the library will do that. I didn't actually know we were going for five hours, I just thought we were popping in so I could return my book after shopping.

We went shopping for Jumbei which is something you wear to a festival, Akane needed one as Kawa Matsuri (River Festival) was supposed to be on today but it rained so it's been postponed. I don't think I ever told you this but Yui's cousin made me a Jumbei for free. How nice is that? Lolz, I also bought the most hilarious top today at Shimamura. I thought it was too odd not to buy, I mean, when would I ever buy a shirt with frills? But it was too bizarre and I found that I liked it in a ridiculous sort of way so I bought it. I also got a black and white muffler with skulls for only $3. How amazing is Shimamura?

Warning: Small amount of Spoilers although they are book spoilers, not movie spoilers. If you've read the 6th book, you'll be fine.

Anyway, Harry Potter. We left for Cocowalk around 11. We met Anna at the station and were on our merry way. At first I was under the impression that An-chan wanted to see Harry Potter too but it turned out that she was there to keep Akane amused and I saw the movie by myself.

The movie was pretty good, Snape had his hair longer and thus was epic sexy of course, they changed around the events and thus Snape killing Dumbledore wasn't as dramatic as I expected but decent nonetheless. You'll also notice that the layout for Dumbledore's office has changed dramatically YET AGAIN. I know it is a magic castle, but I didn't think it was magic enough to change the configuration of the school and the rooms EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

I also spotted a mistake in the movie which I am proud of. It's only a silly little thing but still...

If you want to know what that mistake is, read the P.s.

End of Rant.

The great thing I found about Japanese movie theaters is that although they do not have frozen drinks and the subtitles are a smidgen distracting, they have merchandise shops! Merchandise for the movies. They had pens, keychains, book covers, notepads, diaries and all sorts of things. Of course, Snape was rare on these and it was Gryffindor stuff so the only things I bought were the two things with Snape on it.

One: an A4 plastic sheet holder and

Two: One of those things you put under your paper to stop the pencil/pen imprint going through to the next page. The whole day cost me around $40 but Harry Potter is so worth it. I don't think I'll see Public Enemies but I'll have to go and see The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus cause it looks awesome and I'll be back in Australia for Alice in Wonderland so no worries there.

After Harry Potter was over and I died with happiness and fell in love with Snape for twenty billionth time we went and took some Purikura which again, I don't have a copy of. I need to be more persistent, I know Akane has one but Anna has the one I really want. I'll show you when I get it. Lolz, we met a giant Naruto before taking Purikura and I took a photo with him because I knew Jack and Ross would envy me for it.

Tadaa! How n00bish am I. I don't even really like Naruto but I got a headband and showbag all the same. So, after a fun albeit expensive day I got home, packed for Tokyo which was the next day and fell fast asleep. Told you Harry Potter would be brief. >_<

And with that, I leave you as I do dislike ditching my host family in order to blog, I know I haven't done it lately but that's because I've been so damn busy. Tomorrow, I am going to Karaoke with a bunch of gaijin (Cullen, Keri and Carlos, some guy from Latvia) which should be fun. So, I probably won't blog tomorrow. But I will after that about my grand and troublesome adventure to Tokyo and back. However, until then I simply will leave you with my fragmented mind.

Nutmeg Crochet Trumpet Sock.

<3

Ashley-chan.

P.s:

Spoilers:

Right towards the end after Severus has seductively murdered Albus (and I almost cried at how he must have been feeling) McGonagall raises her wand in like a salute to him. Everyone else follows suit BUT Hagrid is in the background. I swear I saw Hagrid holding up a wand. Does everyone not remember that after the Chamber of Secrets was opened the first time, Tom Riddle blamed it Hagrid saying that Aragog was the monster from the Chamber of Secrets and thus Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand BROKEN. The shards of which he then hid in a pink umbrella, therefore in the final scene,Hagrid should NOT be holding up a wand but a nice pink umbrella in homage to his precious Albus Dumbledore.