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.
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. 
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 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.
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 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.
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. 
Warning: Small amount of Spoilers although they are book spoilers, not movie spoilers. If you've read the 6th book, you'll be fine.
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. >_< 
Not speaking any real Japanese except for Sugoi, Oishii, Dame, Hen and Baka which he uses frequently, I was gifted with the role of temporary translator for both him and Keri, a girl also from somewhere in America who came with the same company although is a year below.
I had been told a few weeks before about an English camp on the 14th and 15th of July. With no further information about where it was or what we would be doing there, I assumed we would leave in the morning and be returned to school at the end of the day. Asides from one conversation with Chris, who said it had been at some place on top of a mountain last year, I received no information. Tuesday at 11:10 took me to outside the front of the school gate where Keri and Cullen were both waiting with bags. I was like, "What are the bags for?" and they were like, "Uh...you know it's overnight, right?" and I was like, "Obviously not." Which left me panicking slightly, I didn't want to go anywhere without knowing whether or not I would be coming back or in what condition. I definitely didn't want to spend two days in my school uniform, that was for sure.
Everyone was just like, 'Why isn't that freaky gaijin in the corner getting changed?' I just excused myself from the room and waited for everyone to come back out. People did offer to lend me clothes but I was like 'It's all good, I'm going home later 'cause I didn't know that it was overnight.' 
Do you know they have macha flavoured kit-kats? I haven't tried one yet though.
Arriving back around one. I wasn't sure what classes I had so I figured I'd just lounge around with Cullen and Keri and the other students until the end of the day.
The rules are that everyone takes 7 red cards which have various things, names, places, events written on them and they take turns putting down a green card which has an adjective on it like 'weird', 'scary' or 'brave' and you have to put down a word that compliments that card. It can either be a word that is close, funny, or completely opposite. It just has to make sense. 
So, all in all it was a somewhat hazardous camp and I'm sorry I've been slack and haven't written. I'll write again tomorrow detailing Tokyo and Sadou but I am done for today. 
