Diving on Iriomote and the first days with Yumi's family

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27 / 06 - 2010
I woke up around 10 in the morning, feeling well relaxed. I took a shower and cleaned the room a bit. Takuma came by around 11.30 and together we drove down to a “secret” beach, with 2 staff members from the hotel. Fortunately the hotel had plenty of snorkeling equipment to borrow from, so with the trunk full of beverage and equipment, the 3 lads and I rode down to take a swim. It was low tide, so it was somewhat hard to get out into deeper waters due to the poisonous coral, but we managed. There I took some pictures and some movies, which I have posted. Unfortunately the pictures don't show all the multitude of colors, apparently I hadn't set the cameras configuration correct, bummer!. We swam quit a long way out, and when Takuma began talking about white-sharks, I got a bit afraid. There had been sightings of white sharks the last couple of years. But since I'm writing this, you can guess nothing happened. I swam in a T-shirt to prevent my sunburn to reach a critical state, it helped a lot. Though my fines where too small, so when I finally took them off, I had a pair of very red and very swollen feet, ITAIYO! (it hurt). After a couple of hours in the water, we got up, had a cold beer, and drove back to the hotel. Kinda funny since there was only 300 meters from the hotel to the beach. Back at the hotel, I took a shower and by the time I was done, Takuma had come by with noodles and desert. We ate while watching some Japanese TV, and afterward we helped each other with rubbing after-sun on each others backs... ahh coooled.
I packed my stuff and we took the hotel-car down to town, bought some fruits and I got on the ferry to Ishigaki-jima. In the evening I went out to eat by myself and got some rice with chicken with soup and a cold beer, nice. Went home early and tried figuring out the blog stuff. Fortunately I found this site, seeing as how I couldn't post on the other homepage.
* note * for those who want to take pictures underwater; It Is Difficult (IID) :)


28 / 06 - 2010
I woke up early, got into some long pants and a long sleeved T-shirt(didn't want anymore sun), this was the beginning of a very hot hot hot day.! I walked around town, looking a different stores, and asked directions for a denkiya (electronic store), where I could buy a denshijisho(electronic dictionary). I found one next to a high school, roughly 15 minutes walk from the dormitory I'm staying at. After an hour of looking through the collection, I took one and bought it. :) yaahee. I went to get something to eat at a little local shop and chilled in the cold air in the shop. I also stopped by an ice cream shop to try Japanese ice, but its the same as in Denmark, though more melted. I got home, feeling hot and sticky, so I took a bath and sat in my cooled room and played with my new gadget. Around 6 - 7 Yumi came and picked me up with her daughter Iko,3 years old. She is so cute! We drove the a large mall and bought what we needed for the night, beer, food etc.
We pulled up at a apartment complex, and carried the stuff upstairs, she lived a few kilometers away from the central. I was placed in the living room (on a chair) with view into the kitchen with a beer in my hand. Yumi began cocking while I tasted various foods she presented to me, some yummy, some not as good. After 15 minutes Yumi's little sister came home, and we talked about various things, mostly about Denmark and Japan. The had lots of laughs at my expense, though it was really fun! They are both very nice people. I was placed on the floor at a low table, with tons of food in front of me. I tasted TacoRaisu, raw fish, various rice courses, Natou(fermented beans - taste like H***, imagine socks worn for a week, then placed between the buttocks for a week, sealed in a airtight bag and left there for a month. Take it up and take a bite... Oishii?). Furthermore I tasted Yagi Sashimi (raw goat meat). For future reference* don't ask what some raw stuff is until you have tasted it - knowing what it is, doesn't always motivate you to eating it!!! *
After eating a ton of food, and having swallowed at least 6 cans of beer, I felt pretty well on-top of things. After dinner, Yumi's husband came home, and we had a lot of fun, the 4 of us.
Felt like everything was going well with speaking in Japanese, when BAAM! I hit the 3 hour marker! Be warned! If learning Japanese, you will get acquainted with this invisible line!
After 3 hours, the first thing that happens is 1) your head is spinning trying to figure out what language you are currently speaking in. 2) your head gets very, very VERY tired. 3) you have reached the point where you cant speak about what you have done in your life anymore, or what you are currently doing and what you will do afterward. Moreover you have breached every single topic rehearsed in school! SHOCK! So what do you do? Simply nothing, you don't say that much more, and then all hell breaks free!! then they start to ask a lot more questions, though contrary to before, these are much more twisted, trying to get details about already breached subjects! S**T. And last reason 4) I had probably also had 1 too many beers. :) but I have had similar experiences with other people, when sober, so the it is a fact! There is a 3 hour marker! Beware!
Before going home I made plans to drive around with Yumi the next day, seeing the island.

29 / 06 - 2010
I awoke startled to a women shaking me. Yumi? But why was she in my room? What was the time? Oh shit! Slept until 12.24, fortunately Yumi had also been late. I took 5 minutes getting up and prepare myself. Jumped out of the room and out into the car! Lets go!
We stopped by a gas-stop to get gas and bought some bread, it was sweet with cheese, not my favorite! We drove around until 5 in the evening seeing tons of stuff including a wet stone cave-thingy awesome!

When I got back I told Yumi I would take the night for my self, though planned to meet here outside around quarter to 4pm. The next day, so we could go collect Yoko-sensei (my Japanese teacher).
I got home, wrote some of this entry took a shower and went to get something to eat. It was some fried chicken and some fries.. :) it was good! After wards I went around in search for a place where they would send the Japan Vs. Paraquat soccer match. I went into a “seven&eleven” and asked the store employees, though none knew where. Luckily a girl in the line knew of a place, and after she had bought here stuff she took me there, things where turning kinda interesting. I was lead down a small alley, done another alley, went up some rusty stairs, and walked into something taken out of a Cinderella movie! EVERYTHING WAS PINK!!! it was a snack bar. A snack bar is a place where 1 beer costs roughly around 1000 yen. You think you will make it last long, but that is quickly crushed as the bartender lifts your beer and pours a couple of glasses for herself and maybe her friend. Felt so used, but since they showed the match I didn't complain. I ended up buying 3 beers, Auch! Though I meet a nice guy called Jim (Japanese/American), who told me how to lose money fast, and how to hold on to them as best as possible. Where to go, and where not to go.
Came home around 02.30 and went straight to bed.

Henrik

Stay tuned! more awesomeness to come!

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