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Published: September 18th 2007
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Long weekends are such a good idea… I feel as though I’ve barely been at School since I came to Japan!
So Laura and I set off very early on Saturday morning. We stopped off for a drink and a chat with Mindy in Fukuoka (as she couldn’t afford to come to Hiroshima) and then got the bullet train to Kure City (where Sarah lives). She invited everyone to stay at her house as she said she had 5 rooms… we all assumed that she meant 5 very small rooms but oh no, she had 5 bedrooms! And various other rooms on top of that! It was like a mansion! But… it is completely in the middle of nowhere. There is no way I could live there - she’s the only foreigner for miles around and her house is right at the top of a hill… very spooky at night-time which wouldn’t be good for me and my overactive imagination!
We arrived about lunchtime and joined some of our other friends from the training on the beach… it was a gorgeous day so we really enjoyed sunbathing and swimming in the sea.That evening, we found an okinomiyaki restaurant that
was literally an old woman’s kitchen! We got lots of stares and funny looks as the locals are only just getting used to having one foreign face around so a group of 12 foreigners was obviously a real head-turner!We bought some drinks from a local shop and everyone was keen to stay up to see the sunrise on the beach. I wasn’t convinced that I could stay up for a further 10 hours (as I really cherish my sleep!) but I was told that I wasn’t allowed to leave the beach and be a ‘part-timer’! We had lots of fun on the beach… we made a bonfire (not that we needed it to keep warm!) and played a few drinking games. At midnight, we all decided to go for a swim and jumped in the sea… the water was so warm and it was really relaxing to float in the water and look up at the stars! At about 1/2am a lot of people started flagging - some of them went to sleep on the beach and a few of them even went back up to the house... I was determined to stay up for as long as I could
though! Eventually, at about 4am we all felt rather weary so went to sleep on the sand… Laura woke me up at half 5 as it was starting to get light. We then watched the sea for about half an hour, slowly realising that it was getting lighter and lighter but that we weren’t seeing any beautiful sun rising from behind a mountain! We stumbled back up to Sarah’s house and told everyone at the house that we’d just seen the most amazing sunrise anyway!
We had a couple of hours to crash at Sarah’s before heading off to Hiroshima City… Sarah, Paddy and I went to the Atomic bomb dome and the museum… It was really interesting to learn about the bomb and its effects but rather harrowing to see the remains of objects which burnt instantly and to hear stories of how much people must have suffered. I also got to see some of the peace cranes which Sadako had made… for those of you who don’t know the story, Sadako was 2 when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. A few years later she was diagnosed with leukemia and told she only had a short time
to live. She started folding origami paper cranes in the belief that if she could fold 1000 she could make a wish and ask to live for longer. She died after making 600 cranes, so her friends continued to fold the paper cranes until they had reached 1000. We also looked around the Peace Park which I’m sure would be lovely on a sunny day but, unfortunately, a typhoon had hit a nearby area in Japan and we had non-stop rain all day! We went out in the evening to a pizza restaurant and, as we were absolutely starving, had about 3 starters each and a pizza! Maybe I don’t need to worry about my trousers feeling loose after all!
I’m back at School today and STILL giving my self introduction… even the teachers must be so bored of hearing it by now! Other than that, I’m back to surfing the internet at school when I don’t have classes to teach… trying to plan how to spend this coming weekend! Laura and I will probably go and see Mindy in Fukuoka and either have a shop and a few drinks/go to a club in the evening or we might
go to a beach close by. It is very expensive to travel to different parts of Japan so I might have to stop going out and eating/drinking in bars and restaurants and save up my money for train tickets instead!
OH NO! I've just been invited to another enkai and I've said yes! AH, why didn't I think of an excuse?!
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helen
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your back with us goody was getting worried. you had fun at the weekend. love the tree you will be full of knowledge when you come home. i hope you had a fire circle on the beach and followed the safety rules miss price! what a sad story about the little girl.were you skinny dipping at midnight we know what there like over there any excuse to get naked, talking of naked wonder if this enkai you will be in the hot tub maybe they let you off last time been new girl, oh dear watch out. who's the porky eating 3 starters and pizza. i had jam tart with cream on top off cake fairy today mmm. oh by the way the power point went fine after a scare off the projecter not working. what is that woman cooking?