Merry Rilakkuma Christmas!

Well it is now THAT Boxing Day.  The one were I drive "an hour and a half" to work in Fukuyama, then "an hour and a half" back to Jinseki and a last "hour and a half" back down to my Fukuyama apartment.  HOWEVER, despite leaving home the best part of half an hour early, I arrived to work at 8:23 - 23 minutes later than normal and 3 minutes after I should have arrived!  Luckily the Vice Principal felt I had probably been in the school gate by 8:20 so I didn't need to do 'I'm late' paperwork.  Even so, it was very embarassing and I'm very angry at those drivers who felt that it was necessary to drive at 10km/hr down the hill (actually a mountain) because of snow on the road.  If you don't have snow tyres and need to drive extra slowly, fine.  But a) pull over to let others overtake and b) don't do your driving at 7:30am when everyone who had enough forethought to get snow tyres is trying to get to work!  Unfortunately, it wasn't only one driver that had me shouting swearwords behind my sealed windows, but several nervous drivers, so I guess I have to accept that I will repeat this frustrating exercise every time I drive from Jinseki to Fukuyama for the rest of the winter.  And that I have to leave well before 6am next time.  *sigh*

To update you on last week, poor Jeff came down with a stomach bug on Tuesday.  He went home from work early and threw up and had to miss the English Club's end of year dinner.  On Wednesday and Thursday he went back to work but was eating like a sparrow and was not up to attending his work party Thursday night.  By Friday he was sick of being left out, so he came with me to dinner at J-mum and Sonoko's place.  Determined to enjoy himself, he ate plenty of tomato nabe and had some beer.  Halfway home I had to pull over because he couldn't keep it down.  Saturday was the fundraising concert dinner where we were meeting friends.  Once again, Jeff didn't want to be stuck at home, so he gave it a go.  Although he wasn't feeling top-notch he didn't throw up (yay!) and he was all set to enjoy Christmas Day! 

Christmas Day turned out to be a Skype marathon.  We spoke to Jeff's parents, then my sister Harry, then my family, then Jason and Shelley (albeit briefly).  By then it was gone midnight in Harry's part of the world, so she Skyped us again so she could open her present over Skype!  Everyone seemed to be having a good day - especially Mum's puppy, which was running around with a cracker hat round it's neck. 

Our Christmas dinner turned out AWESOME.  We had bought a pre-roasted chicken (Christmas special - only time of the year you can buy whole chickens at the supermarket!) and used Luc's wee oven to roast potatos, carrot and onion.  Peas done in the microwave completed our meal.  To top it off, Sarah kindly gave us two Christmas crackers (sent all the way from England!) so we could have hats while we ate dinner.  It may not seem extravagent to you people reading this from home, but for us it was definately the most Christmassy thing we've had in the last year and a half!! 

On the present front, Jeff seemed taken with his very sharp handmade knife from Onomichi.  He marvelled at how easily it sliced things and got a bit carried away on slicing open the packet of peas - several times - exclaiming with delight that he had just sliced a pea in half.  Jeff had struggled to think what to get me, so he decided to go with a theme - Rilikkuma theme.  For those that don't know, Rilakkuma is a bear character that is popular in Japan - a little like Winnie the Pooh is popular on everything back home.  For myself, I'm a big fan :) 

So Jeff hooked me up with Rilakkuma chopsticks, mug, fingerless gloves and an awesome 'poncho blanket' with a bear head hood.  Perfect for the cold Jinseki winter - warm hat and blanket in one!  I didn't take it off all day, although Mum complained she couldn't have a serious conversation with me while I wore the bear head.  I also got a cute new backpack which I'm excited about using in Singapore and Malaysia - as cool as my handbag is, it weighs a ton BEFORE I put a Lonely Planet in it!  I reckon this backpack will improve my mood when I travel by up to 80%  :D

That is about all there is to say...  Tomorrow we fly out for Singapore and ten days/eleven nights of exploring Asia.  So this is my last update for 2011.  I hope you all had a great year and that 2012 brings good things.  Happy New Year for next week!

Now I'm off to share cake.  We were given not one, not two, but THREE cakes by neighbours yesterday, so Jeff and I ate cake till we felt ill yesterday and I have two to share out at work!