Super sleuth on the prowl

On the 23rd August, Ace Detective Heza Buraisu-san began her assignment monitoring a flight from Nagoya to Kuala Lumpur:

08:40 - A.D. Heza arrived at the Nagoya International airport, and lined up to check into her assigned flight. 20 min early, so she could monitor passengers as they arrived.
But just ahead of her, she noticed two shady looking characters had already arrived!! Terror Suspect 1 (TS1) was about 175cm, and of thin build, with dark hair and a small mo. Terror Suspect 2 (TS2) was shorter, a little chubby, and blonde. They were speaking a funny language, and so A.D. Heza knew that something was a bit strange.... these two would be worth keeping an eye on...

08:55 - with a small line already forming, and the checkout counter due to open in just 5 minutes, an announcement was made that due to complications (the system was down) check in would be delayed!! *Gasp* Could this be the work of terrorists??

09:20 - check-in begins manually. Ground staff appear stressed, and relax a little with certain checks as they try to process waiting passengers as fast as possible. Hmm, not good for security, but great for A.D. Heza's overweight suitcase, which slides through without the blink of an eyelid.

10:00 - passengers are weaving through the lengthy security check line. A.D. Heza keeps an eye on TS1 and TS2, a tricky thing, as they keep separating and re-meeting... strange behaviour indeed! TS1 is particularly intent on prolonging goodbyes with a teary family... could it be he knows it is his last goodbye?

11:00 - boarding the plane, A.D. Heza finds her seat the opposite side of the plane and a few seats forward from the terror suspects. However, the seat beside her is empty, which should make discreet monitoring a little easier. Ripped off! If it was my last ever flight, I'd demand my boss fork out for first class!! Maybe there are no plans of disaster for this flight after all...

11:05 - A.D. Heza holds her breath for take-off (a long-standing family tradition)

11:15 - TS2 has the window seat, and seems to be loving the view... his nose is glued to the window. Unfortunately, the view of TS1 is blocked by a tall, unusually large-headed man in the centre aisle.

11:45 - a yummy lunch is served. TS1 & 2 are unobtrusively eating their meal.

13:45 - A.D. Heza flicks her head around, breathing a sigh of relief when she notices terror suspects still quietly in their seats - she got engrossed in a movie and forgot to monitor the suspects!! If anything had happened in this time frame, her supervisor would have had her head for sure! (Assuming he could find it amid the wreckage.)

14:53 - doing a random check, A.D. Heza catches the eye of TS2!! He eyes her suspiciously:15 then gives a knowing nod! Oh no! Is her cover blown??

16:15 - TS1 rises to go to the bathroom... or is it for a more sinister reason??

16:23 - TS1 returns to his seat... either there was a line, or...

16:33 - nothing blown up yet, so obviously it was just a call of nature.

16:47 - A.D. Heza decides to check out the Master Instruction Manual for any possible guidelines for future actions. Guidelines:

Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. (Odd! I'm only just on my way back there!! Should I be leaving already??) I will cause you to become the father (??) of a great nation. I will bless you (yay!) and make you famous (no thanks!), and I will make you a blessing to others (cool!).*

Hmm... strange instructions... oh, wait, they're addressed to A.L. Abraham!

17:00 - just when A.D. Heza thought she was about to perish, yummy chicken rolls were handed out - thank goodness!!

17:11 - all is quiet as TS2 takes a nap, and TS1 is still out of vision due to Big Head.

18:25 - as the plane touches down, A.D. Heza holds her breath (family tradition, remember?), then lets out a big sigh of relief... another mission over without any casualties!

18:31 - TS1 & 2 (who are no longer actually terror suspects) disembark. As they pass by, they give A.D. Heza a knowing smile... as if to say, you escaped without harm this time, but you may not be so lucky next time! Maybe they were terror suspects after all!! (Or, maybe they were innocent passengers, who were saying with their smile... yeah, we know you were checking us out!)

18:50 - A.D. Heza thankfully finds a bookstore in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, so that she can have something to do on the next flight besides freaking out all the other passengers with her weird behaviour!

Yeah, so I'm weird... but seriously, travelling for hours by yourself, unable to sleep on planes, you have to have something to amuse yourself! And the whole searching for terror suspects kept me so entertained!! (I spared you the details of all the other TSs...)

So, I'm back. Doing nothing. Took me a few days to celebrate birthdays with my sister (25th) and mum (26th), unpack and all that good stuff. Next week, I'm going up to Broken Hill to visit dearest Tab, who I haven't seen in like, a year and a half, so I'm looking forward to that!! And the week after, I guess I'll get my bum into gear and get serious about getting a job.

Anyway, I'll keep ya'll posted if anything exciting happens!! :)

*Genesis 12:1,2

The End

And who would have thought it would be so hard?

I thought I was coming to Japan for an extended holiday. You know how you feel at the end of a holiday - kinda blue about leaving, but it's no big deal. That's what I thought it would be like, maybe just to a little bigger degree. But it turns out I'm leaving a home, not a vacation spot.

People asked if it was hard when leaving Australia, but it wasn't so bad, 'cuz I was about to go on a big, cool vacation, and I knew I was coming back. Now, everyone asks if I'm excited about going back to Australia, but I'm too busy being sad about leaving Japan, 'cuz I'm leaving a home, and I don't know that I'll ever be back.

I have approximately 5 hours left in Sasebo. With, of course, packing, cleaning, errands, etc enough to last at least 15. So, signing out for now - catch you in 4 days when I'm back in the land down under.

Wah! I hate goodbyes!

The pics

Yumiko and Hiroko next to a Kakiemon platter

Me in the gorgeous garden outside Genemon Pottery

A bit of the beautiful Mount Kurokami (sorry, my pic doesn't do it justice!)

The women in the kitchen doing their stuff
And the delicious barbeque
fireworks after dinner
from left: Masafumi-san, Fumika-chan, Kayoko-san, Okaasan (mum)

Me with the family! :)

Cramming in the fun

Well, I'm cramming in as much fun as I can before I leave! I had just one day off this weekend, and I again spent it with Hiroko and Yumiko. They took me driving to Arita, famous for it's pottery, where they gave me a guided tour of the most famous names in pottery. Of the three names I remember, Kakiemon, Genemon and Imaemon, I liked the second the best - beautiful blues. And for a mere one month's salary, I could have picked up a gorgeous dish! We did go to some cheaper places too. And being the generous hosts they are, they refused to let me pay for my coffee and cake, and bought me a present to boot! A pair of ceramic wine glasses - very beautiful! They said it was a wedding present for when I get married!! LOL!! That's my second wedding present now!!

We toodled up to Kurokami Yama (Black hair mountain), which was stunningly beautiful. It was cool to see as well, because I catch the Kurokami bus home all the time! (obviously, getting off well before Kurokami!)

After, we headed back to Hiroko's place for a barbeque dinner. It is Obon season right now (a time to remember the dead - a big family gathering time), so I got to meet Hiroko's family! It was so much fun!! Lots of Japanese was spoken, which I loved listening to... it's a beautiful language, I reckon, and I could pick up words here and there, which was fun. But English was certainly spoken too. Hiroko's poor 13 year old neice was told to "Sit next to the Australian and practice the English you're learning at school!!" Poor kid!! She did well though, especially since I think she's only been learning for a matter of months!

The barbeque was yummy as!! I got to help a little with the preparations, and made my first onigiri (rice ball) - yay Heather! So now I know how to make them for you all when I get back! After stuffing ourselves with food and iced tea, we lit some fireworks / sparklers, and had fun playing in the backyard.

Was heaps of fun to hang out with a gorgeous Japanese family in their home! Fun way to spend my last day off! Anyway, gotta go to bed, cuz I'm going to the beach on the island of Hirado tomorrow morning before work... isogashii (busy), so will upload pics later.

I cried

Sad day today... I taught my favourite kids class for the last time ever. A group of 6 girls, aged 10 to 12. They are my favourite students at Nova (of any age, kids or adults) - they are so cute, and so much fun!

After class, I told them I was leaving (they understood in English! they're getting so good!!), and took their photos. As they were leaving the room, they were digging in their bags, pulling out rulers and pencils to give me as goodbye presents! One girl took off and gave me her necklace!

I hugged them all goodbye, then went into the staffroom and started to cry. I only had a few minutes to compose myself and get ready for my next class. But I feel all heavy and sad! :( I am really leaving soon!

Poll

What should Heather do after August 24th?

a) bum around for 5 months then return to Japan in January;
b) get a job as a check-out chic;
c) join the airforce as a fighter pilot;
d) get a 'real' job (please specify); or
e) other (again, please specify).

All recommendations welcome. Best idea will receive a *special* prize.


Disclaimer:
~ all submissions are strictly non-confidential
~ prize is non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, and there is no guarantee recipient will like it.

More fun in the sun!

Eating on the rooftop Part of the view, with the moon dipping behind some buildings

Well, the fun didn't end with the baseball on Sunday night. In the evening, we had the Nova farewell dinner for myself, Brendan, Trevor and Chizuru. We went to a beer garden for an all you can eat Korean BBQ - very awesome! It was the perfect summer night - the humidity was down, and we were sitting up on top of an 11-storey building, looking out over the city lights. There were 12 of us altogether - a great group of people. After tea, of course we had to go out for karaoke. It was a very late night, but SUCH a fun one!! We inadvertently terrorised one stranger in the karaoke bar with our boisterous singing, but a few came and joined our group! Fun, fun!

Mike and Brendan let it rip (left), and on the right, (from right) half of me, Rob (Trev's visitor), and Sarah sing along with a friendly stranger.

On Monday, I went with Hiroko, her mum and Yumiko to a beautiful river about 40 min drive away. We set up our picnic spot, where they fed me yummy-as sushi and green tea, then Hiroko and I set off for our swim. The river was very small and rocky, and we had to wade, stumble and slip our way up-stream to where it deepened. The scenery there was even more gorgeous!! (Unfortunately I couldn't get my camera there, cuz I would have smashed and drenched it on the way.) We spent ages floating in our floaty ring thingies, drifting down the river (and occassionally doing a little white-water ring-thinging!) then making our way back up again.

The water was cold and the sun was hot, the scenery was breath-taking and we were far from noises of civilisation. Utterly peaceful. Hiroko commented that when she came here, all the stress of work just melted away. At that point, I suddenly realised that my mind had been totally still and at peace - surreal!

We had tea at a little Japanese restaurant... a yummy bento - sashimi (raw fish), miso (salty seaweed and tofu soup), rice, pickles and tempura (battered, deep-fried stuff) - it was SO good! I got home around 7:30pm, thoroughly exhausted but relaxed from my weekend of socialising and sun!