Well, I have yet to hear from the Japanese embassy in NZ re. my application. I'm trying to tell myself that it's because they are swamped by applications at the moment, but last time they were very prompt in letting me know my application had arrived... Ah well, until I get an email saying it was in too late, I will continue to hope. And then after I get that email I will send begging, pleading, crying emails :)
At least I have an AWESOME distraction from worrying about whether it made it - because Kate arrives on Saturday! Jeff and I are going to spend the day checking out Okayama, then Kate turns up at the bus stop at 11:10pm and we have a loooong drive back to Jinseki. Not sure how long, but we will be home in the wee hours. It's going to be so much fun having my little sis here - although perhaps I should have expected it, as when I lived in America she came to Kentucky, when I lived in London she visited me enroute to France and now I live in Japan, she is going to visit me here, too!
I'm trying to keep this brief as I want to go for a walk in the sunshine and get some vitamin D, but Jeff and I had a great time in Osaka over Sunday-Monday. We got picked up at 7:30am for the "4 hour" drive there. We got in at 11:15am after a long breakfast stop and dropping Jeff at the hotel, thanks to my boss driving at 130kph! Eek!
Jeff headed out to go shopping while the rest of us went to the teaching English conference. Matt (my boss) and the two Japanese teachers shot into a presentation while Tristan, Robert and I (those who teach because they want to live in Japan), stood around going 'hmm... what now then?' I had a bit of a look at the different textbook stands, so if my boss asked I could give him my opinion, then we went out to get food. We returned to attend a talk on using flashcards - and were lucky to have the others attend the same talk, so we didn't have the awkwardness of trying to persuade them we did attend some of the conference! After we took off to meet up with Jeff and have lunch.
Normally Jeff and I poo-pooh cities and thoroughly dislike crowds. However, I guess we've been rural too long, because we both felt invigorated by Osaka. I think the difference is a) the number of shops aimed at tourists and therefore applicable to us and b) the number of white faces (not many, but way more than on our home turf!). I bought a couple of Murakami books translated to English (I'm on a mission to read all his writing) and some Body Shop stuff (it's the only place in this country I can buy products and know what I'm buying, so I stock up when I find it. God bless English labelling). We tried fugu (blowfish) for lunch - we were told it is the THING to eat in Osaka.
At 6pm we headed back to the hotel to meet everyone, then headed out for dinner. We started with Subway, because Matt said the bar we were going to to eat had such small dishes that it cost him a fortune to fill himself up. Subway was as tasty as ever - not something I had been craving, but I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. I steered clear of the chicken options though, as chicken in Japan tends to be much fattier than in NZ. After our traditional Japanese meal of Subway, at the request of Rie, one of the Japanese teachers, we went to a... umm... an English pub! We all had Guinness and fish and chips (oh, how I missed you, battered fish!). My cute-as little half-pint Guinness glass may or may not have fallen into my handbag...
We then finally hit up the Japanese bar, where we had a few beers and I spent most of my time watching the fish tank at Jeff's back, where a small shark was swimming in circles eyeing him up. After we got bored of that place, we found a place where you ordered a small dish of food for 280 yen (just under $5) and for another 280 yen you could drink as much as you liked for half an hour. Admittedly they served us pretty slow, but I still managed four drinks in my half hour :D I liked half an hour as a 'drink fast' period, because half an hour's drinking doesn't do any serious damage to your tomorrow.
Well, I speak for myself there, actually. Poor Narumi, one of the Japanese teachers, had been trying to match us big foreigners with the drinking and she felt TERRIBLE the next day. She threw up every time she drank water, so was still looking haggard when teaching that evening! Tristan and Robert had gone back out when the rest of us got home that evening so they were also not looking great. Jeff swore he was fine, but I kept reminding him that was AFTER he had taken painkillers for his head! I think Matt and Rie were ok, but it was telling that Jeff and I were the only ones who made it down for the free breakfast (rice and green tea toast... yum!).
So it was a fleeting visit, but we had a great time and are now really keen to go back when we can afford. Which won't be any time soon, what with all the other travel we have coming up, but Osaka won't go anywhere in the meantime, so we can go explore sometime next year.
Hope you are all well,
Charly
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