Yukata & Baseball

Last Wednesday in my lunch break, I ran out and bought a yukata (summer kimono) to wear to the Summer Seaside Festival next weekend. I practiced tying the obi on myself, then made Martina be my model while I practiced some more. Doesn't she look cute?



As for the baseball, well, I was really hoping to get to a live Sumo match, but was unable to, so thought I'd check out a baseball game instead. (VERY popular here.) Wanted to go down to the Fukuoka Dome. But after church today, Toshi was asking around to see who was interested in checking out a baseball game at the university oval. Said he got some tickets from a friend (but not whether he paid his friend?), so wouldn't take money for them. So 5 of us went down and watched the Softbank Hawks vs the Tigers. Yay! So much fun! We were cheering for the Hawks, the most popular team in this area, but they weren't doing very well.

It wasn't enough for Toshi to just give us tickets to the game. The perfect Japanese host, he disappeared part way through the game, and walked in the sweltering heat to the supermarket to buy us all icecreams and chips!

Since it was unplanned, I didn't have my sunnies, parasol (I'm a little pink!), or, sad to say, my camera, so I can't share any pics. The atmosphere was good, with the usual noise maker thingies, lots of chants and songs, etc. After the 6th inning, a bunch of people let these balloons go flying up into the air... very pretty! I've heard in Fukuoka, its even more spectacular! The Tigers even had a small brass band sitting in their stand, belting out an upbeat song after each good inning! So much fun!

My bad!

At about 9:57 this morning, I was standing in my PJs trying to decide what I should do before work, when my phone started ringing... "Hmm, maybe work want me to come in early or something... no one ever rings me at this time of day!" I thought.

I anwered, to hear Natsuko asking, "Uh, Heather, are you coming in?"

DOH!! It all came back in a flash! I had agreed to swap with Brendan and work early today!! And being a dumb bumb, had not written it in my diary! DOH! DOH! DOH!

In 23 or so minutes, I managed to shower, dress, eat breakfast and make it down to the bus stop (that's gotta just about be a record for me!), so I made it there in time for the second lesson.

There was only one student in the 10am lesson, so she did a lesson over the company intranet with an instructor somewhere else in Japan who had a free, so that worked out okay. But my pay will be docked a reasonable amount of course, and it will go on my Nova record that I missed a lesson without notification. :( I totally deserve it, but I wish I'd managed to keep my good record until after I'd got a reference letter from them!! ;)

On the plus side, it was nice to have a short day today!! :)

Miki in a bag!

What do you do with your friends who are too tired to walk? Little Miki is, like most Japanese women, tiny, light and flexible, so the solution is obvious... pop her into a backpack and carry her!

Ain't she just too cute for words!!

Zipping her up... feet didn't quite fit

Trevor (above) and Brendan (below) both have a turn at carrying her around!

Yes, it's true!

You may have heard a rumour, and yes, it is true - I am moving back to Australia! I am coming back around the 24th of August, just in time for Ruth's and Mum's birthdays.

I made the decision on Monday, and handed in my resignation on Tuesday. Although I absolutely LOVE living here, and will miss it so much, I just feel like it is time to come home. Besides the hugest factor (Ruth being pregnant!), it has been a long time since I've been able to spend quality time with my family, hang out with old friends, go shopping in stores where shoes are big enough and pants are long enough, and stuff like that.

I am SO excited about coming back and feel like it is the right decision, but at the same time, I feel so sad about leaving. I wish that Ballarat was as close as Pusan, Korea (5 hrs by bus and ferry), so I could stay here but come home for a long weekend every month. Who knows, maybe I'll come back one day. If anyone is looking for a year-long time out/fun adventure, I highly recommend this teaching in Japan thing - seriously, it's awesome!

Not sure exactly what I'll be doing when I get back. After such a cushy, fun job here, I'm a little worried about finding a 'real' job again! But I'm sure there's something good waiting out there! And I'll be moving back to Ballarat, in with Mum and Dad again, at least for the time being.

See ya'll in 49 days or so! (Not that I'm counting...)

Balcony Bonfire

It's Sunday evening... Martina and I are engaging in our usual evening activities... watching movies, eating and playing solitaire.

Martina looks over and comments: "We waste SO much time playing with those cards! Since we got them, we never do anything constructive like study Japanese or paint our nails... I wanna burn them!"

My head jerks up. "Can we???" I ask, full of enthusiasm as I pick up her cigarette lighter.

"Outside, outside!" she cries. "Do you want to set off the fire alarm??"

So the movie is paused, and out to the balcony we trot, armed with our well-worn pack of cute-as-a-button Winnie-the-Pooh cards and the fruit bowl. Martina stokes the fire, while I roast my mini marshmellows, and we watch the evil time-wasters slowly burn.

What a fun way to spend the equivalent of 2 games of solitaire!