It's interesting to see what the kids I teach are into. They bring little things into class - the usual tamagochis and cutesy little hello kitty type things hanging off their bags and mobiles. Mr Tamagochi must be fabulously wealthy. Often a kid will have 2 that are married to each other. Yes, married! You feed them, take them to the toilet, put them to bed, rear them and send them off to be married and reproduce. One girl has an eighth generation tamagochi. They have more going on in their digital lives than I do.

One day a boy produced a very realistic matt-black metal semi-automatic pistol with a very realistic action. I was a little disconcerted! Another boy (ridiculously cute, but naughty 3-4 year old, wearing donkey ears and tail) had a little gun which also appeared to be cute, but when I had to fish for him under the table I saw down the barrel a pea-sized ball bearing pointed at me. Mum didn't seem to mind. Not the toy I'd choose for my little kid! There seems to be a certain naivety about stuff like that among some parents here.

This weekend I went to Kyoto to see my old church friends Simon and Theresa! They were on a holiday from Australia after a trip to China. Simon's a doctor and Theresa's an interior designer - Simon was putting his skills and training to great use to help people in China, whilst Theresa cared for children with special needs and orphans, among other things. I'm sure if you don't know them that you've guessed by now that they are wonderful people.

They are a kak to observe as a couple, especially when Simon is asking Theresa's opinion about clothes. It was really great to hang out and just mosy around the ceramics, sweets and souvenir shops leading uphill to Kiyomizu-dera, one of Kyoto's most famous temples. Autumn is peak season to come and see the sights and we were mixing it with a steady moving throng just about everywhere. There were some amazing kimonos out and about as I think some girls/ladies like to get into the ambience of the place and have their photos taken. If I was a girl and I had a kimono, I'd be wearing mine in Kyoto... if I was Japanese... oh forget it! Anyway, they looked great. There was one couple I saw where the guy had one on too (a male one) - they looked very cute together. Of course you can go the whole hog and get made up as a geisha or maiko (apprentice) for a not-very-small fee. In Kyoto they call geisha geiko, but it sounds too lizard-like for me - I'll stick to geisha.

We outdid ourselves at the sushi-train. It was so cheap and oishii! I am constantly confounded by what is expensive and what is cheap here. I guess it must have to do with what's local, what's imported (or more to the point, where it's imported from), what's fresh, what keeps etc. Here are some examples:

bananas are almost reasonable
Chinese veges like buk choy and Chinese cabbage are cheap
most other fruits and vegetables are expensive (a gift rockmelon will set you back a couple of hundred AU$!)
fruit juice is really expensive (no, I don't have scurvy...I splurge on juice)
pastries are cheap
bread is a little expensive
pizzas are quite expensive
rice is super expensive
Kahlua is cheap!
whisky is cheap (I'll post a photo - they sell 4 litre bottles!)
electronics are cheaper than Australia
CDs and DVDs are generally through the roof
business clothes are cheap! (why oh why did I bring all those new shirts!?)
shoes are cheap
casual clothes range from cheap to insanely dear (depending on the store)
bath sheets are cheap (I got one for about AU$3.50)

The bath sheet is a tale of woe. I was excited by the price and vast proportions of said item (90cm by 170cm). I took it home, used it the next morning to find that I knocked everything over in my bathroom the first time I wrapped it around myself. I then wiped the steam off the mirror to see that I was covered in smurf dandruff (it's blue). I was finding the stuff on me all through the day. I guess you're supposed to wash it first. As a result I know use a thick hand towel about 30cmx30cm instead. Not as epic, but more useful.

I think the basic division in price is what comes from China and what's made in Japan. I guess that's not so different from home. And if you go clothes shopping in Ginza in Tokyo I guess you're going to pay for the prestige. Hence I'm pretty safe at the Kippy Mall, Sanda :-)

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Great to hear from all who've written comments or emails... I really appreciate it.

I want to make an an announcement. No, it's not my highly anticipated engagement to a maiden of the East, but you'll be the first to know. No, this announcement itself is indicative of the need for it i.e. the fact that I think it newsworthy shows the need... (drum roll) to pledge that I shall write far less from now on. I have come to my senses and realised that there is no way in the world I would read that much self-indulgent guff written by anyone. I shall therefore post shorter entries, and force myself to convey my experiences in concise, pithy sentences. I should reserve the detail that my mother loves to personal spam. But now that I've lost you all, I guess you're the only one reading this, right Mum? Mum? Anyone ...?

I'll leave you with some piccies of my home-away-from-home:

my loft and my toast ("Sorry Young-san, we're all out of the thick toast, will this do?")

The smell of smoke and a slight haze is filling the air around here nowadays as rice fields are being harvested, and chaff is being burned. Sanda means 3 fields. I guess it's like the names "Strathfield" or "Marsfield" back home. The fields lie uncultivated in winter fallow as the cold starts to come on. Yes, in just these few weeks, the temperature has dropped noticably. The other night I was really cold! Soon should come the strong autumn colours I've been hanging out for...(I can't wait to see Kyoto in orange and red).

Well to sum up the last 10 days...

If you know me even semi-well after reading my next anecdote you will either shake your head as if to say "this would only happen to Ian" or you will nod in recognition - "yes, this is Ian". Last weekend I lost the key to my apartment somewhere between Sanda and Osaka.

I had been having a great day in Osaka, enjoying the relief of seeing a familiar face - catching up with my friend Mizuho (wife of Brad, for those who know them... they are among the best people you will ever meet!). It was when I reached the door to my apartment at midnight that I reached into my pocket to feel my pants and my thigh... and that's it. Whaaaa!!????

No key. No more trains. No phone numbers... except Mizuho's! Ah! I walked to the next station waiting for a passing cab to take me back to where I'd bought a can of coffee. I wasn't thinking too clearly - I was imagining I might have dropped the key, (yes that "nifty credit card thing" I was bragging about previously), when I pulled out my wallet at the vending machine. But no cabs came along and there were no public phones along the way. I went to a police station which had a sign announcing "police on duty - feel free to come in". So I walked in and there was noone there. I tried to use their phone but I couldn't get a line out. Anyway, I found a pay phone and got through to Mizuho. After some to-ing and fro-ing (I didn't even know my address!) she was able to ring for a 24 hr locksmith!

What a legend. Anyway, I walked back to the apartment and at 3am this car pulled up. It looked like a middle aged couple and their 20 something son. But then the older guy (he would have been great as a yakuza boss - really hard feaures, bryl-creamed hair) comes up and says "Are you Ian Young?" and upon confirmation they started getting gear out of the car. Three of them! The poor woman just seemed to have to stand there with a clip board and look worried and irritated. The young guy put on a caving headlamp and set to work on the door. After the lock refused to be picked (an awkward 10 minutes or so - me standing there sheepishly with 3 people I've dragged out of bed at 2:30am from who knows where) they pulled out the big guns. The young guy unscrewed the spyhole and then fed this armature thing through the hole. After measuring the door up he then levered the latch on the inside of the door open. I was impressed. I tried not to show it too much though for fear of just being snarled at. He was nice about it though and wished me a good night. The old guy had the look of having seen a thousand hapless key-losers at 3am before and the lady just looked plain miserable and wishing for her pyjamas. I apologised and shut the door, safe in the knowledge that I live in a veritable fortress! It takes 3 highly trained people to break in here. Well, one locksmith and 2 sleep-deprived company people.

The week went by building up from a shocker of a start to a good finish. Some classes are hard work, some I really genuinely enjoy. Anyway, the weekend came and so Sunday I headed to Osaka again and met with a pen friend, Tomoko. It was great to meet her after some months of exchanging emails - kind of weird, but cool. We had okonomiyaki for lunch which is a kind of cabbage and noodle pancake with different meats mixed in, topped with sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes. Oishii!

I then went to Nishinomiya Kitaguchi, to an upstairs dance studio to go to church! Nishinomiya Crossroad Bible Fellowship. It's a group of around 35 people - mostly 20-30 somethings and a few young families. They are mostly Japanese, but there are a few foreigners too - Americans and a Malaysian. The service was long but good - a girl who had accepted Christ a month ago was baptised after she talked about how she'd previously gone through life wanting to die. She was so happy now that she knew God's love, it was great to see. They were really warm and friendly people and you could tell that they know how to have fun. They even offer hula dancing lessons! Keiko, the teacher is a half-Japanese girl out from Hawaii. Anyway, it was great to spend time with these guys over church and then with some of them over dinner. I'm thinking I might make this church my home.

This morning I went to my first Japanese lesson here. It's a fantastic deal. I have my own teacher to myself for 2 hours a week for 6 months for 2000yen. That's next to nothing! My teacher is a really nice lady named Kinu. I'm going to try to be really nice to her, as she is pretty much volunteering her time for me. We spent the time today just generally chatting about ourselves, so that she could gauge my proficiency. Needless to say, we spoke mostly in English!

After class I took up an invitation to join the NZ teacher from my school and 2 Aussie high school exchange students (from the Blue Mountains) to visit their host school. It was a strange experience - these girls have got it made - there's only 2 subjects that they have to attend, I think. Anyway, it was interesting to feel the atmosphere of the place - friendly but regimented. The uniforms are fairly military in style. I had curry rice from the school canteen - a bargain at 230 yen!

Sorry to go on, but I met this funny staunch anti-Bush American guy at the supermarket across the tracks from my place. He's been here for 24 years and has never bothered to learn Japanese! Hard to believe. Anyway, we had a good chat and I could read into what he was saying and what he wasn't that he's been through some really heavy times. He said that he hated a lot of years spent here, but he should thank Bush for making him enjoy Japan that much more by the sheer fact that he's not in the States! Anyway, I hope to hang out again with this self-proclaimed lapsed "Mormon who drinks, swears and is thinking about messing around too" (he was joking about the last bit). He seems like a really thoughtful, interesting and honest guy... if not a little crazy.

I'm stoked that I've met so many nice people this weekend.

Well, as good as it is here, I've forfeited certain privileges in coming to Japan and have already missed some big milestones. I've missed the weddings of 2 good friends (hi Nick and Sparrow if you're reading this... if you are, why are you!?) and the birth of my new nephew, Aled! A cute kid I'm told, and I can see that too from the photos (thanks fam!). Things like these really make you aware of the distance. Anyway, spam you later...

From the top:
1. Yes, they have wanted posters in the Wild Wild East.
2. This thing marks the path of steps leading up to a Shinto shrine near my place.
3. One of the best reasons why I'm teaching!
4. This saucepan seems strangely appropriate for me.
5. You get the odd train ride with noone but yourself in the car. Country!
6. Gloomy bears. Do not feed!
7. I love this car. If you told me you were going to paint your car skin colour I wouldn't think you were being too smart, but I think this car is kool. I guess you could patch any scratches with band-aids.

Well it's been a while... almost 2 weeks in fact... and a hectic 2 weeks it's been. I figured tonight's the night to break the silence - I'm feeling upbeat even though it's been a long, tiring week ...and I even just caught the last train after getting rained on ...and this morning I was fantasising about doing a runner and flying back home to Australia. But that's a pretty good summary of the time since I last did a blog (that's blog, not bog). Since arriving in Sanda there's been so much to get used to - within the same day I can be so happy about being here and then so bereft. I wax and wane between confidence and feeling plain inadequate... about living here, liking here, growing as a person and in my faith... and doing the job.

TRADING PLACES

It's a strange kind of arrangement - I've basically taken over someone else's identity - literally! The teacher I've replaced is now safely back home in Canada and I've assumed her life in many details. I've taken her apartment, her utilities, all the household goods she used (even her bedding! ...kind of weird), her job, a slice of her social life here (which is a pretty thin slice, mind you... not because she was unpopular, but because there's limited opportunity to meet people socially in this role of late-working teacher) and pretty much precisely her daily routine. Having said all that, I don't think I'll ever replace her. She took me through a hand-over week of school last week and it kind of freaked me out to put it mildly. I've never before had to keep track of so many things, so many people at once. This week was my first of teaching on my own and it's been a mixed one. But I am slowly starting to relax, which I think is the key. I think I've done some good lessons and some stinkers. The odd kid though just brightens your day. I know you shouldn't show favoritism, but you can't help feeling it. One little girl, Haruka, is just the best. She's so bright and playful it just makes you all sappy. If you know Monsters Inc, she out-cutes Boo by a mile! And there's a boy I teach one-on-one called Keisuke who's just such a good sport and always so appreciative and cheerful that I felt like grabbing him yesterday and saying "Thank you! Thank you! You've given me a reason to keep going!", but I figured that may have disturbed him and my manager... so I paid him with calories instead.

WHERE IN THE WORLD AM I?

Good question, often I'd say in the State of Confusion, but I'm slowly getting my bearings. Sanda is the name of the main city in these parts, but I'm more on the outskirts in a place called Gosha. I teach on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays one stop away in Okaba, Thursdays in the outskirts of the city of Kobe in Kita-Suzurandai and Fridays at the main school in Minami-Woodytown (yes, South Woodytown... next door is Flowertown... I kid you not!).

GOSHA

Gosha is two places, depending on how I'm feeling, which in turn depends on how much sleep I've had or how the day's classes have gone. The first place (seen through well-rested, optimistic eyes) is obscure and romantic Gosha. As I walk the path between the rice paddies and then into the tight street amongst the houses with bonsai (will post a photo soon, Benji), amazingly trained trees (you know the ones - those trees in woodblock prints and ink paintings - they stretch out and turn impossible angles) , sculpted hedges, traditional roofs and those funny little cars parked millimetres away from the walls... I think wow, I'm really in Japan. But when I trudge to work and home again bleary-eyed, weighed down with 2 or 3 books for each level I teach, plus flashcards, tapes and props; when I sit there in my apartment listening to the level crossing beep about 30 metres away and then hear the inevitable passing of the train (there's a generous 4 and a half hours hiatus a night); when I watch all the traffic whiz by on the main road and on the monstrously huge spaghetti highway flyover that dominates the sky behind Gosha station (seriously I'd estimate it's 20 storeys high)... I think no wonder they're all just passing by - I'm living in the back-end of Japan! But I think Gosha is probably a bit of both those places.

Crabs on the footpath between the paddies!
Bamboo thickets that rise storeys up to you from the stream below.
Little groups of stray cats that come out at night.
Red eyes, the smell of alcohol and smoke on the last train.
Oops, women-only carriage to stop groping hands.
The glow of vending machines at the station.
Walk past the unseen dog, gives a fright.

I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a poem. We'll pretend it is. (Imagine Japanese flute and shamisen if that makes it more credible!)

MOUNTAINS

The area generally is really mountainous. The train ride from Kobe generally just goes up and up - rising from sea level (Kobe is a port city - it's really nice) to 500+ feet in Sanda. You see houses covering the sides of hills (generally I'd say you see houses built on the flats next to the hills in Japan) and there's an enormous concrete damn at one point, rather threateningly facing the train line! You get names like Yamanomachi (literally: mountain town) and the store across the line from me, Nishiyama (west mountain) - although it might be the name of a chain of stores. When I first walked past Nishiyama at night I thought the logo looked like an enormous donut. Needless to say I was excited. The next morning I saw it was a flower - it's basically a supermarket - probably far more useful for my preservation than a donut emporium, but disappointing.

DUMP, ANYONE?

Well today I was told that Sanda gets dumps of snow in winter. I knew that Osaka gets the occasional fall, but Sanda actually gets ground cover. Hard to believe when it's only 2 or 3 months away and tonight I turned on the air con when I got home at midnight. As we learned in class tonight: "It's humid!"

MY APATO

Well, just as convenience store here is conbini (thanks for correcting me Will!), my apartment is my apato. It's pretty cool, despite the close proximity to the trains. I have a lot more room than I'd feared which is a relief, and a fast internet connection, which is for more than what I'd hoped for. I even have 4 channels of satellite TV and can buy an expensive car through it should I desire ... and should I find the necessary funds. The key is basically a thick credit card which is nifty and the bathroom is a waterproof booth which seals and allows you to shower and then soak in the tub (haven't managed that yet. Apart from finding the time, it's a bit of an adjustment to think of washing and having a bath, coming from water-restricted Australia!).
I sleep in a giant loft on a futon - the design is such that the living space has a high ceiling (yay, I've always wanted one!). The kitchenette is pretty cramped and stuck in the entrance hallway, but it does the trick I guess. Wouldn't really know - I've only cooked twice so far! haha

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT BLEARY EYES?

Well, to those who've made it this far reading, I'm touched! Many great athletes have less stamina. As you can tell from my rambling fingers it's getting REALLY late, so I shall retire lest I see the walk to Gosha station tomorrow through sullen and bleary eyes, thinking "What was I thinking? Why did they drop me into this hole of a place? How am I going to wing this class - I spent all my preparation time on that stupid blog!"etc etc

So, on that note, toodle-oo

or as we say in Japan, tuda-ru! (not really)

Will post some photos soon. Ja mata!

Oh, I made a mistake... I'm off to Sanda tomorrow - I'm still in Tokushima.

The head office is not as impressive as I'd imagined. It's this sizable car park in front of an unimposing building. When I arrived, we walked in and there seemed to be noone around. Tumbleweeds wouldn't have been amiss. Then, once a door or two opened, I could see all the mystery drivers of all those cars - sitting side by side working away in silence! I've since learned that Japanese people let it all hang out after work, but during worktime virtually nothing is said by anyone. "Silence is golden" must be a Japanese adage. We were kept pretty much separate from the Japanese staff. There seems to be a real fear on the part of the Japanese and a real disinterest in engaging with them on the part of a lot of Westerners here. I find that a bit strange, but I guess we're all here for different reasons.

Speaking of reasons for being here... I love the food! It's funny, I order from pictures mostly - tonight I thought I was ordering, among other things, a coke and some lychees. I got an ice coffee and some pickled onions! Luckily they went with my salad anyway.

Had a lot of fun riding around town tonight... around the castle ruins of Tokushima-jo. All that's left is the stonewall base. Sadly that's the case with the majority of castles in Japan - with Himeji Castle being the notable exception. It's magnificent. Others suffered the fate of wars, lightning strikes, fires, earthquakes and Allied bombing in WWII. Some have been reconstructed from ferro-concrete (like Osaka-jo... you take an elevator up to the top!), but it's not the same as the real deal that you get at Himeji. Akita and Hirosaki are also faithful to the old wooden construction. There must be others, but they're the ones I've been to.

Where was I? Oh, bicycles... They're great because you don't lose much time if you go the wrong way, unlike going around on foot. I'm still finding my cycling legs (i.e. I'm pretty unco-ordinated), but you can ride in relative safety. Back in Sydney I wouldn't have the gumption to ride a bike - people drive like maniacs. You can ride on the footpath here, so you mainly just have to dodge people and other bikes (I'm sure the school kids see me as a pothole).

Got a new watch battery today! Hopefully I won't have anymore dramas to do with catching buses or clocks with the wrong time (see previous post). Fingers crossed. Oh well, lesson learned - not everything over here works. Most things do, mind you! Are you reading this back home, Cityrail?

Anyway, time to catch some kippers...
Ja mata

p.s. re: the photos. Didn't realise as I was taking the "kombi" that the owner was waiting to get in! He seemed pretty chuffed that I was that interested. The dance is something Tokushima is famed for... the awa odori. Basically the ideology surrounding it is that one should adoptat a nightclub (so I'm told... I don't get out much!)...

the dancing fools
and the watching fools
are foolish the same
so why not dance?

Can't argue with that!

First of the Last

Irrashaimase!

Whether family, friend or if you've just stumbled in here... Welcome to Last Spamurai! This is Ian's blog - luncheon meat made in Japan from not-so fresh Australian produce.
No, I am not a devotee of Tom Cruise! Yes, I know it's not technically spam as I'm not dumping it in your inbox, but it's what I would dump if I wasn't too lazy to deliver it.

___________________________________________________________________

I am working for a Japanese company which has a large chain of conversation schools (eikawa) across Japan. I'm teaching kids in a city called Sanda, just northwest of Osaka, and northeast of Kobe.

I've been in Japan just 5 days now... having completed training I'm about to move from the head office in Tokushima, Shikoku to my new home of Sanda, in Hyogo prefecture, Kansai area of Japan.

LEAVING

Well, packing and leaving felt like a last minute affair. Even though I'd left work a few weeks prior, there were so many things to take care of. A computer-related issue kept me up all night which wasn't great as I had an overnight flight ahead of me (flew via Singapore). Saying goodbye was harder than I imagined. I'd had a great weekend of saying goodbye to heaps of family and friends and that didn't seem too hard to do, but heading to the airport was something else. My immediate family came along which was really nice, but it made it really hard to go through those gates...

ARRIVING

I was more than a little bleary-eyed when I got to immigration at Kansai International. I managed to leave something on the plane (my company handbook with contacts etc!), but in typical Japanese style it was seen to promptly - I could stop sweating! I think I'd totalled about 5 hours sleep in the previous 2 nights put together.

TO TOKUSHIMA!

Thankfully catching the bus to Tokushima was a straightforward affair... I plonked myself down and after taking in the sights of Osaka Bay (i.e. MASSIVE heavy industry and ports among reclaimed land... ugly but amazing ...omoshiroii! Kobe comes as a nice sight for sore eyes), I fell fast asleep. My highly anticipated trip across the 1.6km Onaruto Bridge linking the islands of Awaji and Shikoku was a bit of a let down - I was in the land of Nod all the way! I woke up to see that my stop was next... Tokushima Eki.

TO WORK

I was met there by someone who was delegated by someone who was delegated to do so. It was no snub of any sort - I just had delusions of grandeur and imagined a plush red carpet, pyramid of champagne glasses overflowing with all staff lined up like the opening time of a department store. Feeling less than special I arrived at HQ (or Honbu) and was shown to my dorm. Over the next few days we were trained in the ways of the force - how to be genki teachers of American English to Japanese children. I was surprised to see that we only really interacted with other foreign staff. In a professional setting, to the Japanese we really are gaijin or outside people in the true sense of the word. This has come as a bit of a disappointment but not a complete surprise. My trainer was Australian; the group consisted of an American, a Canadian, an Englishman and an Australian. Yes, it did sound like a bad joke - especially when we walked into a bar!

KARAOKE

After finishing our training it was time to let the proverbial hair down and so karaoke was sought. After having dinner in a traditional-style pub (or izakaya - the food here is unreal) we headed to Ingrid's - a foreigners' bar in downtown Tokushima about the size of a Japanese apartment (small!). Ingrid appeared to be Philipino, but I'm not certain. The crowd was mainly us, but it was a mix of Japanese and foreigners. Ingrid offers free karaoke and so after surprisingly little encouragement for the second time in my life I programmed a little number or two. Perhaps it's just the fact that I've stepped out a way in coming to Japan and trying a new type of work that it seems a pretty small way further to do some amateur singing in an obscure nook of an obscure city! Needless to say, my rendition of "Cracklin' Rosie" of Neil Diamond fame ended to a rousing reception. The fact that I was singing along in my head to the very drunk-sounding version by Shane McGowan of the Pogues helped. I was sober, but inspired... I admit it, I was pretty good! haha. They then programmed in "Sweet Caroline" which unfortunately wasn't so sweet. Oh well... I guess you're only as good as your last job.

NARUTO

I was determined to see the Onaruto Bridge up close and so I headed there yesterday. More than the actual bridge I wanted to see beneath it - the waters of Naruto Strait where it's famed giant whirlpools form. So I biked it into town and caught the bus (about an hour's ride). Beneath the road level of the bridge is Uzu-no-michi - an enclosed walkway from where you can see the waters swirling below. As the tide changes contrary currents meet to rush through the straits, forming swirling patterns and whirlpools. The odd whirlpool picks up a lot of speed and size. I saw fairly unspectacular whirlpools, but the overall effect is quite captivating. You would not want to be in those waters! In parts it looks like someone has taken the plug out of a bath - the water is moving that quickly.

STRANGE MEETING

I hung around for quite some time, but eventually I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to see any travel-agent-poster, perfectly-formed funnels of water. Had I really been here that long? I was surprised to see on a clock that it was 7pm (my watch battery died). I was then a little concerned to see a bus leave just as I got back down near the stop. I was then fairly concerned to see that the last scheduled bus was at 6:21. I was then a lot concerned when, after walking for about 45 mins along the route the bus had taken, I reached the expressway which had nowhere to walk and it had gotten dark. I had hoped in vain to find a bus stop which serviced another route that might still be running. So, I took a little detour - a road that seemed to run parallel to the expressway. As I went along it dropped lower and lower until there was a thick band of dense bush and trees between me and the elevated expressway. I was basically on a country road hemming rice paddies and other fields. There was the odd farm house dotted around. I saw a figure in the darkness approaching - it was an old lady. I asked her if Naruto Station was far - she pointed in a few directions, none of which was the one I was headed in. We had a very broken conversation and started walking briskly together (she was out joggingu!) in the direction I'd come from. She was going to walk with me back to the hotel where, if there were no buses running, I could catch a taxi (a last resort here - they are exorbitant). Out of politeness she offered to drive me, but I felt terrible and declined. She pulled out her phone - it said it was 6:18! Arggghhhh! The clock at Uzu-no-michi had been wrong! I had walked all this way for nothing! There were still buses running when I'd left and now I was probably going to miss the last one! We reached the bus stop and checked the times. The last one was due in 5 minutes time! Phew, close call. She gestured me through the waiting doors of the bus, I thanked her, (later thinking I should have bowed much lower!) and I slumped into the seat as the driver pulled away, leaving her in the darkness. I thought it was sad I'd never see that wonderful spritely old lady again.

NEXT UP

My school at Sanda awaits. I was really excited when I was given my class schedule and saw the kids' names. My class sizes are pretty small, so it should be fun. Should be ...haha. I'll start meeting them tomorrow...