Hagi Christmas

A very different christmas for me this year but it was an extremely enjoyable one!! Dan and Rosie were the perfect hosts. We ate lots, still drank lots despite hangovers and had a jolly good time. Rosie was a trooper in the kitchen and served up a great meal. Christmas dinner with silver chopsticks - bizarre!


What is this I see? Saori, my JTE, giving an inflatable sheep a blow, a nasty blow. (thanks for the sheep jo, coc and liz!!)

It's Christmas!!

Christmas is here! Looks like it may be a white one aswell! kurisumasu omedetou!

Tsunoshima

In an attempt to redeem ourselves from waking the whole of Takibe up in the early hours, we had a mature alcohol-free day visiting the island of Tsunoshima. It was bloody freezing but worth it. The views were amazing. We then visited a log cabin cafe on the sea front, run by a couple who live in Yamaguchi city but retreat to Tsunoshima on weekends. We sat drinking tea and eating 1/4 of a BLT (they were not prepared for 11 hungry foreigners) whilst overlooking the sea. Perfect!

Festivus!

Festivus - a new concept for me. I don't know much about this particular holiday, but I know I like it! The concept, taken from American sitcom Seinfeld, is to repel the commercial and joyous aspects of Christmas by sitting around an aluminium pole and then air your grievances against anyone present. Potentially dangerous and vindictive but also potentially hilarious. The jury is still out but I had a great night.

Would anyone care for a bit of raw horse whilst you drunkenly slag your friends off?The night continued to a Karaoke bar. This happened.......

then this happened.....Upon departure from the bar, we discovered a covering of snow and insisted on rolling in it, throwing it, sliding in it and lying in it. Dave, however, took it too far, as somebody always does, and dump tackled Megan head first into the floor. What made it worse was that it was in front of a shrine. Honestly, some people!Smithers was up to his usual Tom foolery but was the perfect host. Back to his for mulled wine, aluminium pole dancing and door smashing. "Don't answer me back, bitch! Now go get me another beer."

Hagi Half Marathon - I did it!

Well despite my anxiety and doubts I did it! 1 hour 47 mins - not bad, even if I do say so myself. Pete proved us all wrong and came in first (1h35) Dave second (1h37) and me third. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. Jen (who has buggered off to Thailand with all the good pics of the day), Chorong and Pauline were troopers and cycled around the course to give us support.Unfortunately Chorong had a minor mishap on the bike, landed on her head and cut her finger so they were unable to make the finish. At around the 7km mark i started to slip behind and lose Pete and Dave but ended up running with a really cool guy from Shimonoseki who spoke really good English (very handy as there was no way I was going to try my bad Japanese, I could barely breathe!). I was very surprised by the amount of people who I knew and who were cheering for me. It was a huge ego trip!!

After the race we hobbled straight for Mos Burger (crawling distance from my house) and then an onsen to soothe our blisters aches and pains.
Then back to mine for a well earned drink or two or three. Then dinner at Chanmen (also crawling distance) and we then frequented Mos Burger for the second time. Believe it or not, it was actually a really relaxing day. Thanks to Pete and Dave for talking em into it and being great company (Pete didn't rub it in too much) and to our cycling groupies.

The race

Jostling elbows and snide glances were exchanged through the steam venting from each determined grimace at the start line. As far as I was concerned, there were only three competitors in this race: The first an experienced runner and undoubtable victor, the second a smarmy git forever talking himself up since the word go and the third - yours truly. The remainder were insignificant.

A heavy police presence and crowds lining the streets only confounded the unforgiving pressure. It was cold. It was early. It was not my idea of fun. Why had I agreed to this?

The rest I can't retrieve from the stew of excruciating pain, regret and "ganbare's" offered from the side. The other two were ahead every step of the way. I ended up in a disappointing fourth. FOURTH! FOURTH! FOURTH! I was racing my elementary school for God's sake! It was only 3km! There is no way I can do 20km on Sunday. I'm done for. It's been nice knowing you guys.

Wales - a beautiful city in England that's stuck in the past

Today at my elementary school the Kocho Sensei wanted to show me a NHK English Education video as it featured a report on Wales. Well all I can say is that I'm no longer surprised why the few Japanese people that have heard of Wales immediately think of stereotypes from yesteryear.

First of all it implied that we all work at slate quarries - this being the only matierial we know how to build with. As the narrator announced "and here are some locals", a group of quarry workers hopped on to carriages loaded with slate and they merrily darted through the green countryside with their legs dangling over the edge. This was all beautifully edited with some delightfully bad folk music.

At this point I thought it was quite funny but then the kocho sensei translated what they were saying.

Apparently in Welsh schools we use slate and chalk instead of blackboards and paper. WHAT? Maybe 200 years ago..... I asked him to clarify whether they were commenting on our history. NO!! They definitely said that this is now, today, 2005!! Unbloodyfuckingbelievable! I give up.

Hagi Half Marathon

So my training for the Hagi Half Marathon started today - 3 days before the event!!!! What am I doing? I thought I did really well, however, I just calculated that I only ran 3.5 km. That can't be true. If it is then I'm well and truly buggered on Sunday. The course goes near my house and Mos Burger at the 6km and 14km point. I'm sure no one will notice if I drop out in a stealth-like manner and cough my guts up, paralysed in bed with only a teriyaki chicken burger for company.