February and March Update

Hello Again Everyone!

Hope all is well, don't forget to let me know what you're all up to as too.
So here is another update from the land of Sumo and Sushi. I hope it's not too boring but I don't have too much to do at work at the moment as it's the school spring vacation. Unfortunately in Japan teachers are expected to come in, even during school vacation, unless they use their annual leave. I don't have a great deal left so I'm coming in without too much to do really. I hope reading this can dwindle away a bit of idle time at work for you, just as writing it has for me. Anyway it's been another busy couple of months since my last email and a lot has gone on so here are some of the highlights.

Just after my last email I went up to the northern island of Hokkaido with about 40 other JETs from my prefecture, to go to the famous Sapporo Snow festival. It was a brilliant long weekend. We took an overnight ferry from a city called Sendai. On the boat we had one big tatami mat room for all of us and the there was a nice restaurant, bars and karaoke onboard so it was a great way to start the trip. We arrived in Sapporo in the early afternoon and had a few hours to check into our hotel rooms and relax a little bit before we headed to the Sapporo beer factory. Unfortunately there was no tour of the brewery but we did have a huge cavern style room booked for 2 hours tabehoudai (all you can eat) nomihoudai (all you can drink) yakiniku (Korean style indoor BBQ) You cook the food yourself on tables of about 8 with a big hotplate in the middle. The food was really nice and the waiters replenished the food and drinks as fast as you could finish them. It was a great atmosphere which was obviously somewhat alcohol fuelled. After the beer factory we stumbled past some of the snow sculptures before finding our way to an Irish bar. Ireland were playing in the 6 nations rugby, but the game didn’t start until midnight Japan time, so by the end I was the only one left. I had got chatting to an absolutely huge Australian detective, earlier on at the bar. He must have been close to 7 ft and apparently my best drunken Mick Dundee impersonation hadn’t impressed him all that much, nevertheless we still sat and watched the end of the game together over some more beers.

The next day we went to see some more of the snow sculptures. Some of them were enormous, and amazingly intricate, I’m not sure my pictures really do them justice, but you can get an idea from the few below. We spent most of the day looking round and enjoying the festival and we were lucky to have brilliant sunshine all day. There were also some pretty cool freestyle ski-jumpers doing some really impressive jumps off a temporary snow ramp they had constructed in the middle of the city. I’m not even sure I could have bettered them on my snowboard, ha ha! That evening we stayed in smaller groups and 5 of us headed for a slightly more civilised but also quite expensive meal. The famous food in Hokkiado is crab, so we thought the restaurant with a gigantic crab on the wall would be a good place to go. There were big rock pools inside and outside the restaurant filled with huge live crabs, so we could have a preview of what we were about to eat. In fact everything in the restaurant from the lamps to the ash trays were decorated with crabs. It turned out that the only thing on the menu that didn’t contain crab was plain rice. This didn’t work out too well for Tracy as she is allergic to crab, but she said she wasn’t too hungry anyway. The rest of us tucked into every different type of crab imaginable. We had raw crab, crab stew, crab brain, crab noodles, crab soup, crab pate and much much more. By the end of the meal I was well and truly crabbed out but it was good to try a local delicacy to the full. After the meal we took a walk to look round the ice sculptures at night. These were on a lot smaller scale than the Snow sculptures but no less impressive. Actually in my opinion some of them were even more impressive. Some of the artwork and detail was incredible, and we got to see one of the sculptures at work. They start with a chain saw to carve the main shape and work down to a tiny ice pick for the finishing touches.
Later on we headed to a couple of ice bars and had some hot baileys, which was really nice in the cold weather. I also met up with a friend that I had met when I first arrived in Japan at the Tokyo Orientation. He has been living in Hokkaido since then so it was good to hear what he had been up to. He showed me the way to a funky little underground bar, and I proceeded to lead a group of about 20 of the JETs from Fukushima there. We took the bar over a little bit and it turned into a bit of a wild night, involving a lot of bar top dancing and free drinks being poured down throats. The next morning it was time to return home. Needless to say the return trip was a little more sombre. I was travelling for about 18 hours before I got back pretty shattered at about 11 at night. Unfortunately the rest of the week was also really hectic at school and it was a bit of a struggle to get through it.

The next couple of weekends were spent hitting the slopes and enjoying some great powder. I had planned a long time ago to attempt the Tokyo Marathon on February 17th but it was a good thing I’d given up hope of that a while before, because I really wasn’t in any shape to run 26 miles when the date came round.

At the start of March I went down to Yokohama (near Tokyo) for a conference for returning JETs. It was a really useful and enjoyable conference and gave me a bit more motivation to get things sorted for when I leave Japan. Tracy and I had gone down to Tokyo a couple of days early to look round the Odaiba bay area. We took a few ferrys to get there and then a really futuristic monorail across the rainbow bridge on the way back. It was really nice and it was good to see a different side of Tokyo. We also had a nice meal with a fantastic view over the Bay area and the bridge.

The weekend after one of the nearby Ski-resorts held an international sk/snowboard day, where a days pass for any non-Japanese person was only 500 yen (about £2.50) It was a great day and there were over 100 JETs there. They had a fancy dress competition and also offered 2 free drinks to anyone willing to do a run in their swimwear. Never one to turn down a free drink I stepped up with 4 other good mates and we all headed down in nothing but our skimpies. It was good for me to get some more use out of the Speedos I had bought for Christmas day on Bondi Beach in Sydney. If you haven’t seen the video yet, be sure to check it out on my Facebook profile.

It was more snowboarding the following weekend and we hired a cabin locally and had some people from around the prefecture come and experience a couple of the resorts in the more remote area of Minamiaizu. It was another great weekend and although the snow was starting to get a little slushy, the bright sunshine, clear skies and great views definitely made up for it.

This week my parents have come to visit Japan. I met them in Tokyo on Thursday evening and on Friday we headed to see some famous temples in a place called Nikko. Tracy came and met us in Nikko as well and again we were really lucky with the weather. After the weekend they came up to Tadami and met some of my Japanese friends here. They wanted to do a bit of skiing while they were here so we spent a couple of days going to one of the local resorts. My parents weren’t exactly rocketing down the slopes but they seemed to enjoy it, and the weather was very kind again. I also took them to a famous old Samurai village and Aizuwakamatsu which was an important city during Samurai times. We visited a famous spot on a hill where a group of Samurai called the White Tigers thought they had seen there castle burning, and with the shame of defeat decided to comit sepuku (ritual suicide) It turned out the castle wasn’t burning but it was a bit late for all but one of them who survived just long enough to tell the tale.
To try and get some slightly better snow towards the end of the season we decided to take a trip to one of the bigger resorts called Zao a few hours North. It took us a while to get up there as we travelled for an hour and a half on a road that turned out to be closed so we had to return and get on an expressway. We eventually arrived at our lodge shortly before midnight and got straight to bed looking forward to a couple of days early. Unfortunately when I woke up I felt pretty rough and spent the first day in bed while my parents enjoyed the skiing. I didn’t really manage any food that day or night but by the next morning I felt a bit better. The resort was huge with over 45 lifts, and a longest run of over 8km. It was great fun but unfortunately it was extremely foggy so it was quite easy to lose your way. Afterwards we had a really nice sulphur onsen (hot spring bath) and then made the trip back to a city called Koriyama where Tracy lives. When we arrived back in Koriyama late in the night, I started to feel pretty rough again. I spent the whole night being sick and at times felt like I might have to go to hospital. I’m not sure what I had but it certainly wasn’t pleasant. The next day my brother Kirk, who had coincidently had to fly to Tokyo with work, came up to Koriyama and surprised my parents. We had a nice meal, although I still unfortunately didn’t have much of an appetite. Later on my parents headed off to spend a week travelling around the north of Japan. I’ll meet them again before they fly home next week.

The next few weeks should be a lot quieter for me and I really need to work on finding a job for when I leave Japan. My plans are still the same to travel back to the UK through china, before moving out to Melbourne, but I really need to start getting things sorted to make this a reality now!

Anyway if you haven’t died of boredom reading this, here are some photos, Take care and stay in touch!
Bryn

On the boat on the way over

The bar on board

Me enjoying the yakiniku

An artistic shot of one of the snow sculptures

An Ice Castle

Thought I'd put a recent email I sent up here. To be honest I don't think this programme is very good. It seems to tak ages to load pictures and stuff. And that is why I so rarely update it.

Hey Everyone,

Hope all is well!

Ok ok so popular demand might be quite a large over-statement but there has definitely been more than one person who has asked me to recommence a regular "Bryn Emans Group Email" again! Whether this will actually become a regular thing or not I don't know we'll see, but I thought I'd send this one as I have a little bit of time. I did try the whole blogging thing but I'm not sure I have the motivation to update it on a regular basis. If there is anyone on this list who really couldn't care less what I'm up to and would prefer not to have to delete my long and boring emails. Just drop me an email and I'll remove you from the mailing group. If however you really like reading what I'm up to please show your appreciation by sending me an email, or preferably some money! Ha ha!

So the real reason for this email was just to say a big thank you to everyone I managed to catch up with while I was back in the UK briefly. It was great to see so many of you again. I had an absolutely Brilliant time but it was pretty tiring. It was a shame I couldn't see everyone but time was always going to be against me. I had a great couple of nights in London and it was amazing to see so many people turn up. Special thanks to Mouse and Al and Jamie and Rob for letting me crash at your places. Also a big thank you to Ginger, Al and Kirsty for helping me make my video of London for my students. It was my first attempt at editing a video but I was pretty happy with it and the Kids really seemed to like it. If you anyone wants to check it out I've put it on Facebook.

After London I had slightly more relaxing time at Home on the sunny south coast. I had a very Merry Christmas and it was brilliant to see my family again for the first time in 18 months. Also managed to squeeze in a couple of victories at 5 a side footy which was nice, though I'm not sure my wayward shooting really helped clinch either of the victories.

Shortly after Christmas I flew back to Japan with my Brother, Kirk, my Brother's mate, and Strehlau, Ben, Hield, Chris and Craig. We had a really good and very drunken few nights in Tokyo. On NYE we had a great meal where we had all you can drink for a couple of hours. Unfortunately we all lost track of time a bit and ended up spending the count down to midnight in different Taxi's. It was a little bit annoying but the rest of the night was brilliant. We ended up in a club called AGEHA which is the biggest in Asia. We all got pretty trashed and returned to the hostel between about 6 and 9 in the morning. The next night I was expecting a quiet one to recover before we headed back to my town in the North of Japan. It didn't turn out that way though and we played drinking games in the hostel til the early hours. I was particularly battered after scrounging a load of gin from to lovely Norwegian laddies at the end of the night. Hieldy also took a fair bit of punishment but that was mainly on his arms from Chris. Ha ha!

This all made the journey back up to my apartment a bit less enjoyable and my forgetfulness didn't really help matters. It usually takes about 5 and a half hours to get from Tokyo to my apartment but we didn't reach mine til quite late at night. We did catch a rare glimpse at Mt. Fuji from the train on the way up which was pretty spectacular. It's not particularly close and you can only see it on very clear days. It was the first time I have seen it from the train and there was a really nice sunset too.

Kirk and his mate headed to the south of Japan and Me and the boys spent about 5 days at mine hitting the slopes. It was a little bit hectic with 6 of us all in my little one bedroom apartment but we survived and had some great days snowboarding. Everyone picked it up really quickly and I think really enjoyed it. There were no broken bones or even any injuries at all which is always a bit of a Brucey Bonus! One night we had a very traditional "enkai" style Japanese meal in Tadami. It was good for the boys to experience but I think we were all a little too tired to really enjoy it unfortunately. We also went to a traditional Japanese festival in a town near me. A lot of Japanese men wearing nothing but a big cloth wrapped like a nappy run through the freezing town, drinking sake, jump in a pool of cold water and then try to climb a rope up to a bell in a temple. It was all very strange but it was a great spectacle. Unfortunately one other foreigner (that I don't know very well) who was participating, got a bit too drunk and far too excited and had to be carted off by the police. A couple of days later the boys headed back down to Tokyo for a couple of nights before flying home, but unfortunately that wasn't the last they saw of the Japanese police. Ben and Hieldy have some stories to tell there but I'll leave those for them to tell. Needless to say they are all back safely in the UK now!

The weekend after the boys left, Kirk came to visit. We actually spent a couple of nights at my girlfriend's apartment and a friends lodge on a lake, and went to one of the bigger slopes nearer to her. It was nice for my brother to meet some of my other friends here. The snowboarding was great and despite Kirk's claims I was definitely the best Emans on the slopes. Ha ha! After the weekend Kirk came down to Tadami and spent a few nights at my apartment. Unfortunately I had to work so he had to go snowboarding by himself, which meant me getting up an hour early for work to drive him to the slopes. He also had to do a fair bit of waiting around but I think it made him appreciate the onsen (hot spring) more when we got there.

Kirk left a few weeks ago now. It was great having everyone over but it was also quite a tiring few weeks for me. Things have settled down now though and I've continued to go snowboarding every weekend but my apartment feels a little empty now. I've had to make a pretty big decision recently as I have had to decide whether or not to renew my contract and stay another year in Japan. My board of education were practically begging me to stay (of course!) but I have decided no to re-contract, and I gave the forms in last week. It was a tough decision but I feel quite happy with the choice I've made. I have actually now decided to try and move out to Australia after August. My girlfriend, Tracy, is from Melbourne and she is a qualified teacher, but she needs to work for another year before she would be able to teach in the UK. Also she is hoping to do some further study so it makes sense for her to return to Australia. I fancied living in sunnier climates for a little while so I thought I would head there too. As Tracy is hoping to study some more she is looking to move back into her parents house, at least in the short-term. So I am actually planning to move in with another friend of mine from Melbourne that I also know from Japan.

It's been a really tough decision, as my life here in Japan is pretty easy so I was a quite tempted to stay another year. Also there is of course loads of things and particularly loads of people that I miss in the UK and I also really want to live in London for a little while in the near future. But right now I think it's time for a new challenge. I figure it wouldn't be too hard to move back to the UK but this may be the only time I am in a position to move to Australia. Now I've just got to find a job, find an apartment and get the visa sorted, which isn't going to be easy, but I've already started the process.

My current plan is to fly to Melbourne around mid September via a few weeks in China and the UK. Not the most eco-friendly route I know, but I really want to visit China while I'm out in the East, and I also want to return home before I head off again. My dad's 60th Birthday is on August 19th so the plan is to be in the UK for at least a couple of weeks around this date, though I'm gonna try and keep that a surprise. Of course it's all pretty cash dependent at the moment but I'm looking into planning things now. Hopefully I'll be able to see lots of you again over the summer.

Ok I think I have broken my previously held world record for longest ever email. I hope nobody has died from boredom trying to read it! Anyway I had a bit of time so I wanted to send one to keep in touch. I'm quite stuck out of the way here in Japan so often have a fair bit of time by myself. It's always good to hear from people, so please let me know what your up to as well.

Koho Tadami Diary Entry - June

When I arrived in Tadami, one of the things they asked me to do was write a short article in the town newspaper each month. The newspaper is called the Koho Tadami, and it's a free newspaper that is delivered to every home to let them know what's going on in the town. Apparently my activities are of much interest as I am the only foreigner. I write them in English and one of the teachers translates them for the paper, which is why the English is usually quite simple. I thought I would put the English versions up on this blog so I can keep a permanent record of what I wrote.

Bryn’s Diary Entries – June

Although we are now in the rainy season, for me June has been a great month to get outside and enjoy the natural beauty of Japan. The mountainous countryside of Japan is very different from the countryside in England where it is a lot flatter. It is getting very warm now and I think it is a lot more humid than England, which is something that I find a little difficult to adjust to.

I have been trying to go running regularly to practice for the Tokyo Marathon, but I won’t know if I have a place until October. Last year there were 3 times as many applicants as there were places and it is decided randomly so I just have to wait and see if I have a place.

In June I managed to go to the beautiful 5 colour lakes near Mt. Bandai. It was very scenic and very peaceful to walk round the lakes. I went with a friend from Koriyama and an international group there.

I also climbed Mt. Asakusa on the opening day of the climbing season. It was a very enjoyable climb, and in parts it was quite slippery and challenging. There were many people climbing Asakusa and some had come from a long way so I felt very lucky to live so close. My friend Richard who is the ALT in Tateiwa came to climb the mountain too and the picture at the bottom is of me and him at the top.

Climbing Mt. Asakusa

This weekend I headed to Koriyama on Friday afternoon to spend some time with Tracy. I've been trying to use the afternoons off on Friday as best as I can, and it's good to be able to leave reasonably early to go to Koriyama as it takes over 3 hours to get there. We had a really nice relaxing evening and I made some awesome salmon pasta (if I do say so myself) Unfortunately I had to head off on Saturday afternoon as I wanted to get back to Tadami for the opening day climb of Mt. Asakusa.

Mt. Asakusa is the largest mountain in Tadami and it is right on the boarder of Nigata. It's only about a 10 minute drive from my apartment and I have been meaning to climb it since I got here so I figured the opening day of the season was as good a day as any.

I'm not quite sure how it works but in Japan most of the bigger mountains have official opening days. Sometimes it is because it is too dangerous to climb them before this date because of the snow, but often it is actually possible to climb before the opening date. Personally I think it is more of a cultural thing, as in Japan everyone seems to want to do things all together. So mountains have to have an official opening day so everyone can turn up at the same time to climb it. The opening was supposed to start at 6:00 am, I was told that it took about 3 1/2 hours to get to the top and about the same time to get down which was the reason for the early start time.

Rich (The ALT in Tateiwa) and I turned up a little late and it was nearly 7 by the time we started. When we got to the start there were lots of cars in the car park but very few people. We had obviously missed the opening ceremonies, but they would have probably been a bit dull so we weren't too worried. We were given a free glass of sake to start the climb and also a free commemorative badge. Upon seeing that I was climbing in shorts the lady also gave me some insect repellent which I was very grateful for. We started the climb at almost exactly 7 and it was very quiet and tranquil as we started.

Me and Rich at the start of Mt. Asakusa.

After about 5 mins the path turned into a stream and we had to walk up it for about 10 minutes.

After about 20 minutes Rich and I caught up with different groups of people. There were a lot of people on the mountain and we were overtaking a lot, but then most of them were a lot older than us. I was actually quite surprised, the majority were probably upwards of 60 and it wasn't a particularly easy climb. We were stopped by lots of people wanting to chat to the only gaijin (foreigners) on the climb. I was wearing my Tadami Ekiden t-shirt and there were lots of comments made about it. Many of the people climbing had come from a long way away as it is such a good climb.

About half way up the views started getting really impressive. We had to walk along a few ridges where you could see the lakes and rivers below. It was really humid and I was sweating like a beast, but when we hit the ridges and got above the tree line it was a lot cooler.

Me and Rich about half way up, near the ridges!

Me on one of the ridges

The view looking down!

Still plenty more to go to the top though!

Towards the top the path got very busy and it was quite narrow so it was difficult to pass people. To be honest my idea of hiking and climbing is to get away from the masses of people but that doesn't seem to be how they do it here.

When we reached the top section there were a few paths to take. We saw one path heading to the peak and another heading to some snow sheets. Even though it was June and at the bottom the temperature was about 25 degrees, at the top of this mountain there were still huge snow and ice sheets. Rich and I decided to head to these first before going to the summit.

To get to the ice sheet you had to go down a very short but steep little bank. I pretty much slid down on my arse and straight under the ice!

We then climbed up to take some posing photos, one of which you can see at the top of this post!

Me climbing the snow sheet.

Rich is really into Karate so was doing some poses on the ice - Not as good as mine though!

This was my "Cliff Hanger" impression! - Sly Stallone has nothing on me!

Me and Rich on the Snow sheet!

We then headed towards the summit. There were loads of people everywhere, far too many for my liking really. When we got to the top we were a little disappointed to find out it was only 1585 metres high. It had actually felt like further because the climb takes quite a long route, still it was a new highest peak for me!

Me and Rich at the summit!

Don't we look pleased!

It had taken about 3 hours to get to the top and we arrived just after 10 am. We spent about an hour and a half walking round the top, admiring the views, and taking lots of photos. We had a very small snack (As I had forgotten to bring anything and Rich and I had to share!) and then headed back down. I actually found going down a lot harder than going up. The path was quite slippery at times and my trainers didn't really have the best grip. There were lots of places where I was very pleased there was a rope to climb down with!

We got down just after 2pm and near the bottom we stopped at a little river to have a drink and wash our feet shoes. It had been a really enjoyable climb but I was pretty knackered and very hungry!

Me looking pleased at what we had just climbed!

Afterwards we headed straight to Urari for a well deserved onsen. It was lovely to completely soak away any aches! Then we headed to a little restaurant in Tadami. Lunch was never needed more!

Koho Tadami Diary Entry - May

When I arrived in Tadami, one of the things they asked me to do was write a short article in the town newspaper each month. The newspaper is called the Koho Tadami, and it's a free newspaper that is delivered to every home to let them know what's going on in the town. Apparently my activities are of much interest as I am the only foreigner. I write them in English and one of the teachers translates them for the paper, which is why the English is usually quite simple. I thought I would put the English versions up on this blog so I can keep a permanent record of what I wrote.

Bryn’s Diary Entries – May

It’s nearly the start of June now, and I am really enjoying the recent good weather. The colour of the trees has really come out in the mountains, and the town is looking really green and beautiful.
The end of April and May has been a very busy but very enjoyable time for me. I really enjoyed the sakura season, although it seemed to pass so quickly. I also feel I am much more settled into the new Tadami junior high school now, and am really enjoying all the new challenges.

During golden week I was lucky enough to be able to go to Kyushu and visit the town where my brother lived and worked as an ALT for 3 years. My brother is now back in England but it was great to meet some of his Japanese friends and see where he lived.
Also a few weeks ago Jason, who was the ALT here before me, came back to visit Tadami. It was nice to meet him for the first time and it was great to see he has completely recovered from his accident. He came in to visit the new school and I think all the children and the teachers were pleased to see him again.

I am now very much thinking and planning for the year ahead in Japan. I want to improve my teaching skills and I hope to leave a positive and lasting impression with all the students that I teach. I also have many personal goals I would like to achieve. I hope to climb Mt. Fuji at some point while I am in Japan, and I am hoping that climbing Mt. Asakusa here in Tadami next month will be a good warm up. I am also hoping to run the Tokyo Marathon in February next year. It will be a very hard challenge so I am beginning my preparations now.

Below is a photo of myself and the other current ALTs in Minamiaizu, with Jason and his family when he came to visit.

Koho Tadami Diary Entry - April

When I arrived in Tadami, one of the things they asked me to do was write a short article in the town newspaper each month. The newspaper is called the Koho Tadami, and it's a free newspaper that is delivered to every home to let them know what's going on in the town. Apparently my activities are of much interest as I am the only foreigner. I write them in English and one of the teachers translates them for the paper, which is why the English is usually quite simple. I thought I would put the English versions up on this blog so I can keep a permanent record of what I wrote.

Bryn’s Diary Entries – April

The end of April is nearly here and spring has well and truly arrived. Last weekend I went to Koriyama to view the cherry blossoms, and this weekend I hope to see them at the castle at Aizuwakamatsu. I hear Aizuwakamatsu is one of the best locations to view cherry blossoms in the whole of Japan so I am very excited.

The start of the new school year has brought many changes and many new challenges. I am really enjoying teaching at the new school, the new facilities are fantastic, and I think the students will enjoy having the opportunity to make lots of new friends. Also it is great for me to have 3 English teachers to work with every day, as I can learn so much too.

I still can not believe how fast my time here is passing. Every day, week and month seems to go in the blink of an eye. I have requested to renew my contract here so I hope I can stay for at least another year. There are lots of things I still wish to see and do here in Japan, and one year just doesn’t seem long enough. One of the main reasons I want to stay in Japan, is to spend another year in the beautiful town of Tadami. The friendliness of the people of this town is amazing, and everyone has made me feel so welcome here. I often think that experiences are not shaped by where you are, but by the people you meet, and I don’t think I could have a better location anywhere in Japan.

I haven’t taken many good photos in the spring months yet, so below is a picture of me snowboarding. I enjoyed winter here very much and being able to do winter sports made it probably the best winter I have ever had.

Spring Changes and Trip to Thailand!

(Me and the teachers of the New Tadami Junior High School)

This post has been the result of many days with little to do. If you have any intention of reading all of it I would recommend setting aside at least a similar amount of time!! For those of you who are slightly interested then here's a bit of what I've been up to in the east:

It's been a long while since my last post and there has been a few changes here. Firstly the snow has practically all melted and the signs of spring are about in Japan. It's not exactly tropical in my area - still between 0 and 10 degrees generally - but it's a lot milder than just a few weeks ago! It won't be long till the cherry blossoms are out in full bloom here. In Tokyo they're already past there peak and they are working there way up the country steadily. The cherry blossoms are a very big deal in Japan and they generally only stay out in each area for a week or 2. The Japanese celebrate this as the end of winter and the start of new life by holding lots of "Hanami" or flower parties. Basically everyone gets together under the blossoms, admires the view, drinks lots of beer and sake, and generally has a good time! I'm really looking forward to the arrival of the cherry blossom and I'm hoping to go to my first Hanami next weekend!

The other biggest change here is that my previous 3 junior high schools have all merged into one in a brand new school. The school is really nice and I think it'll be very good for the students social skills to be able to interact with the students from the other schools. Previously the students in my town spent their entire compulsory education, from 6 to 15 years old with the same small class of about 15 - 20 students. It was not until they went to High School that they would have the opportunity to meet other friends at school. With the new Junior High school though the students from the 3 elementary schools will all merge at the age of 11. It's all a little hectic at the moment and nobody seems to be completely sure what's going on with lessons, least of all me, but I am hoping that when it has all settled down in a week or so I will hopefully have some new challenges and get a lot more involved with classes and other activities in the school!

I can't really remember much else to have happened in Japan of much interest since my last email. It's been school as usual during the week and parties and things at the weekend. Apart from, that is, the graduation ceremonies. These were a bit long and boring for me really but it was quite a big occasion for the kids and their parents I suppose. I made all my students a video CD with photos of their times at school to the tunes of Everybody's Free by Baz Luhrman and Good Riddance (Time of your Life) by Green Day. I took my guitar in on my last days of school and played Good Riddance for the students. Even made a few of the girls cry - though probably cos it was so bad.

Me playing the guitar with some of the 3rd grade students from Asahi Chu

Me and two teachers dressed in formal kimonos for the graduation

Some 3rd Grade students after their graduation
Some students celebrating by throwing one of their teachers in the air!

Me and some of the graduating girls.

After the the graduation I had one of the best Enakis (Work drinking parties) I've had here. The parents of the 3rd grade students who had just graduated, organised it all and took all the teachers out for a meal and lots of drinks. The parents were on a mission to get all the teachers (Especially the home room teacher of the graduating class) ridiculously drunk. They then dressed us all up and made us up in opposing gender clothing and we all had to do some stupid dancing. It was very funny but I didn't feel quite drunk enough at that point to really get in the mood! However by the end of the night I had been plied with copious amounts of alcohol and when the parents all went out of the room I didn't really know what was going on! About 10 minutes later when they all returned dressed in their kid's uniforms, singing the graduation song their kids had sung earlier, I was in stitches. Immediately I could recognise the parent of every child, they were the spitting image. It was a long night and as always we ended up at the Karaoke! We all had school the next morning and it was pretty tough to drag myself in but I was pleased to see some of the other teachers looking just as bad as I felt and it was a very relaxed day!

So I've written a huge essay already and I haven't even mentioned my trip to Thailand yet! Woh this is gonna be Mahusive!!

So Thailand:

On Saturday 24th March I finally left my apartment at about 9 in the morning, after waking up to clean my apartment and pack my bags at about 5:00am. An hours drive, 5 hours on trains, 7 hour flight, about an hour in a taxi and a couple of hours of hanging around at different points and I finally met up with Mr Ryan Edwards in Bangkok at about midnight local time (2:00am Japanese Time) As you can imagine I was pretty knackered so there was only one thing to do really! Go out and have a beer! It wasn't a particularly long or heavy night but it was great to have a few drinks and catch up with Ryan (From IBM). Also in the very first bar we went to after just a couple of hours of being in the country I was told by a very attractive barmaid (maid not man hopefully) that if I returned the following evening, she would love to have her wicked ways with me! Ha ha! I didn't oblige her wishes though!

Anyway the next day I couldn't even sleep in, partly cos my sleeping pattern was so messed up and partly because it was so warm. So I woke Ryan up and we headed to see some of the sites of Bangkok. We took a few boat taxis and saw some really impressive stuff, such as the Capital City Wat, and the reclining Buddha.

Me and Ryan on a water taxi to the capital city wat.

Me Posing by the watMe framed beautifully by the window!

Me and Ryan at a tree where Buddah is said to have found enlightenment.Me and Ryan at the Reclinng Buddah

We also had a bit of a tour from a very informative guide round one of the temples, which was really interesting to learn a bit about Buddhism. We finished the tour with a nice Thai massage in the official Traditional Massage School at Wat Po. It was very relaxing but I was actually a little disappointed mine wasn't a bit more vigorous. I don't think I clicked once in my 30 mins but I found out later that you really need at least an hour or 2 for them to really get to work on you! Then me and Ryan caught a tuk tuk to meet up with his girlfriend Na in a nearby shopping mall for a meal.

My first Tuk Tuk Ride!

Na was very cute and I think she probably fancied me (Unsurprisingly) but we also discovered she weighed less than half my weight, so I decided it'd be best to leave her with Ryan ha ha!

That night we headed out hoping to see some Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) but when we got to the stadium it was pretty pricey and the fact that they were charging foreigners about 5 times the amount that Thais had to pay annoyed us enough to boycott it and just head straight to some bars! We headed towards Kao San road and took a stroll down before heading to a bar, with a candle at every table, that is a working petrol station during the day. God knows what the health and safety would say about it in the UK but we stayed there for a couple of drinks and luckily nothing blew up! We then headed to another bar which had some live music and met up with some of Ryan's friends for a few more drinks!

The Bar/Petrol Station!

Ryan, Na and Me at Kaho San Road

Then Hieldy finally got in contact so I went and met him on Kao San before returning to the bars for more drinks and, in one, a bit of a smoke on a sheisha! Was good to catch up with Hield again and was really cool meeting up with 2 of my good mates from different times in my life, in completely different location!

Me, Hield, Ryan, Na and some of Ryan's friends at the live music bar!

I decided to crash in Hield's hostel that night as Ryan had to go into school the next day, and also I was drunk and Hield's was closer! We didn't get up too early the next morning but when we did Hield and I headed to the Sky Tower Hotel. Its the biggest building in Thailand and one of the biggest in the world. Hield didn't want to pay the money to go up so I went alone. Started talking to a funny old Aussie couple in the lift on the way up and was chatting to them as we went round the revolving roof at the top. The view was amazing and its by far the tallest building I've ever been up! Had a free drink in the bar at the top too so I decided a Manhattan would be sort of appropriate!

Me at the top of the Sky Tower Hotel

Having a cheeky Manhattan at the Sky Bar

Hield and I went back to Ryan's and said good bye to him and Na before heading to the station to catch the over night train up to Chang Mai. Hield was most gutted when we were buying our tickets to find out that all the second class tickets were sold out, and that the price would jump from about 10 to 11 quid in order to upgrade to first class with air con! I however was very pleased as I was absolutely shattered and it turned out to be probably the best nights sleep I had all holiday! It was a really comfortable train ride and we had a 3 course meal for less than a couple of quid.

We arrived in Chang Mai at about 5 in the morning but I was actually feeling pretty refreshed. We got persuaded at the station to go for a middle priced hostel by one of the people trying to push them. Hield again was wanting to go for the cheapest option but I persuaded him to increase the budget as we were sharing a room and he was only staying one night. It was actually quite a nice hostel and I ended up staying there for 3 nights, but unfortunately they didn't have any cheaper single rooms so it was a little more expensive for me than I would have hoped but I couldn't be bothered to look elsewhere! It was owned by a little old lady who called herself Madam Honey! She was quite a character and was always trying to sell us stuff but I only did a couple of things and I was pretty pleased with both of them! That day me and shield hired a couple of mopeds to take a look round Chang Mai. Saw some really cool Wats and it was great having the freedom of our own transport! Hieldy's was a lovely camp shade of pink too! ha ha! We buzzed round the place in the hetic traffic all day on the mopeds without too much of a problem but a couple of times when we stopped I completely forgot that I had it in gear, and once reved and crashed in to a tin fence, much to Hield's amusement!!

Me looking pretty bad ass on my bike!

Hield looking a bit special on his pansy pink bike!

Me and hield trying a bit of meditating!Mark said "Who's fatter Bryn or the satue?" - Cheeky Bastard!

Me and some statues of elephants!

A Buddhist Quote - What words of wisdom!

Me doing a silly jump in front of a wat ruin!

That evening I went to a temple on a hill which overlooked Chang Mai. (Hield didn't want to pay for it again, but his money was pretty low as he was nearing the end of his years travelling) Madam Honey had sold it to me as a sunset visit, but the sun actually set directly behind the mountains so you couldn't see it at all ha ha! Was still a great view of the city though and the temple was one of the most spectacular I've seen. After I returned me and Hield went out for what turned out to be the messiest night of my trip. We went to a few bars, most of which were surrounding a Muay Thai boxing ring! It took a few drinks for us to get in the mood but then we met up with lots of lovely "girls" in one bar and played a few games of pool with them! Although the night isn't too clear I can remember Hield and I were taken to another more lively bar, where we had a bit of a boogie and got steadily more and more drunk! Then we headed back to the hostel and Mark had a "ladyfriend" with him so he got a separate room! It all goes pretty blank from there but I was booked to go on a jungle trek the next morning. When I was woken up by the trekking guide I was still a bit drunk and it was a bit manic trying to pack stuff up and get going. I also noticed Hieldy was in my room on the floor, woke him up to say goodbye but didn't really find out what happened to his "ladyfriend"!

It was apparently about a 3 hour drive to the start of the jungle trek. The journey is a bit blurry too. I was the first to get in the back of the truck and we picked 6 other people up from 3 different other hostels/hotels. I kept falling asleep and I think the others noticed that I wasn't completely sober, but I just about managed to introduce myself without making too much of a fool of myself! I was on a trek with 3 other couples. A young Aussie couple who were on their honeymoon, an American couple and an Austrian couple. I was the only person by myself but everyone was really cool. It was a really international group which made it really interesting. Our main guide was really funny Thai guy called Bart. He originally lived in one of the mountain villages but now lived in the city organising and taking the jungle treks. Our other guide was Bart's cousin, he was a bit quieter but still very funny. I never found out his actual name but Bart always called him Peter Pan!

After the 3 hour drive we stopped off at Mork-Fa waterfall for a quick dip to call off. It was so refreshing and just what I needed! There were some local people there dancing to the beat of people banging on a plastic oil container and a glass bottle! Some of us decided to join in which made them all laugh! We then drove a little bit further to a very remote little cafe, which was not much more than a little hut! We had some basic but very tasty Thai food and also got to try some fried crickets. They weren't too bad but just tasted like oil to me! Like the dodgy bits of chips at the bottom of the portion that don't really have any potato. After this we finally headed to start our trek! We trekked for about 4 hours through some beautiful jungle. Mostly there were paths but some times Bart was hacking away in front. We stopped off at a hot geyser which was pretty cool!

Me and Bart at the Geyzer

The views as we were trekking were amazing and Bart was really informative and always making me laugh!

Me in the hat Bart made out of a leaf!

The trek was pretty tiring but we made it to the village where we were staying at about 6pm ish! The village was completely isolated and had a population of less than 50. The nearest other village was a 2 hour trek and you could only get there by foot. We were staying in a hut which was really basic but we had everything we needed. I helped Bart and Peter Pan make the dinner which was really tasty traditional Thai food. It was only at this point I realised that Bart had been carrying all of our food for the night and for breakfast the whole way, his bag weighed a ton! There was also plenty of drinks at the village so we had a few beers and sat around chatting. It made me laugh because the only way to get to the village was at least a 2 hour trek through the jungle, yet they still managed to have a huge supply of Singh beer waiting for us! There was also a guitar which Bart had bought for the village so me and Peter Pan played a few tunes too!

The village we stayed at.

Enjoying a well deserved meal after the trek.

The next day we go up early and had another 2 hour trek to get to the elephant camp. It was really surreal to walk up to the camp and just see elephants everywhere! It wasn't a commercial place at all and it seemed like the elephants were well treated. We helped make and test the bamboo rafts we were going to get on later and then got on the elephants. As there were 7 of us and three couples the couples sat on the wooden seats of 3 different elephants, two other guides sat on the heads of two of the elephants and I straddled the neck of one while Bart and Peter pan followed down the river on the bamboo rafts! Sitting on the neck of the elephant wasn't all that comfy as it was really wide and stretched my groin a lot, and also the elephants shoulder blades kept pounding my arse! But it was a great experience and it felt very strange sitting on such a huge animal! We were on the elephants for at least 2 hours by which time my bum was well and truly aching and it was a relief to get off!

Me on the neck of the elephant with the Aussie Couple.

We then got onto the rafts and headed down the river for about another 3 hours! The bamboo rafting was so relaxing and we went through completely untouched jungle which was beautiful! After the rafting we got back into the van for another very bumpy 2 or 3 hour ride and I got back to the hostel at about 6pm. That night we all met up for a meal and some drinks with Bart which was really cool, especially as now Hieldy had gone back to Bangkok and I was by myself so didn't have much to do!

The next day I had another look round Chang Mae I ended up buying a new electric Acoustic guitar in a music shop because it was so cheap. It was also my first real personal experience of racism though as at first the shop owner wouldn't sell to me as I was white. I managed to talk him round after a while though. Then I had a fantastic massage to get rid of the aches from the trek and chilled out in the hostel.

In the evening I went to the station to get a train back down to Bangkok so I could fly down to Koh Samui. Unfortunately there wasn't any spaces left on the trains so I had to go to the bus station and catch a bus. It was no where near as comfy as the train and I wasn't able to get much sleep, but it wasn't too bad. I arrived in Bangkok around 5 in the morning and headed straight to the airport. My flight wasn't until 11 but it was lucky I was nice and early as I ended up going to the wrong airport. It turned out all domestic flights apart from the one I was getting, go from the domestic airport but mine left from the international airport.

I still made it to the right airport with a bit of time to spare and I got chatting to a German guy. He was a DJ and was on his way to Koh Phangan. I was told that Koh Samui wasn't that great and I was intending to go to Koh Phangan for the full moon party anyway and he told me I could catch a free speed boat with him and some of his friends who had organised a big party on this great beach called Ao Thong Nai Pan. So after arriving in Koh Samui Airport (which was probably the coolest airport I've ever been to, just 1 runway and palm trees everywhere!) we had a few drinks and a massage and waited for his mates.

Flying into Koh Samui

They had hired some speed boats to take everyone over. We went down to the beach and jumped on board. It took about 30 mins to get over and when we arrived ther were loads of people partying and we were all given flower reefs and a free cocktail! It turned out it was quite a big event and there was about 150 German and Austrian party goers. I had a little difficulty finding a place to stay but managed to get a little hut for about 100 baht (Less than 2 quid) a night! It was pretty basic just a bed and a fly sheet, no shower or toilet or anything but was all I could get and it was cheap so I didn't mind. The bars by the beach had toilets with showers so I made the most of those while I was there!

The boat over to Koh Phangan

I spent 4 nights on Ao Thong Nai Pan and every night there was a big party. I managed to see the sunrise directly opposite our beach every morning. One of the nights I fell asleep in one of the bars and was just left there til I woke up at about 6 in the morning. As I was walking back to my hut I bumped into some people going scuba diving. I decided to tag along, but as I was a bit hung over I was just going to go snorkelling. We went out to a big rock called Sail rock about an hour off the coast. Once I got out snorkelling decided I had to give the diving a try. The water was absolutely crystal clear and there was so much marine life but just snorkelling I couldn't quite get up close. Luckily I had listened to all the diving instructions on the way out so I was able to just suit up and head straight out! It was amazing being down in amongst everything the colours were awesome. Once we we surrounded by a huge swarm of fish it felt really weird but no matter where you swam the fish didn't hit you. On the second dive we went up through a "chimney" in the rock. It was an amazing experience, and I was so glad I decided to do the diving.

Me Diving

The next day I went to look round the island some more got a few water taxis and stopped off at some great beaches. I ended up getting dropped off at a beach just up the coast from mine. Not wanting to get another water taxi I managed to borrow a canoe and dropped my stuff back at my beach, then I borrowed a mask and fins, canoed back to where I borrowed the canoe from and then tried to swim back again to my beach! It was only about a mile or so swim but half way I got some stinging in my legs and wasn't sure what it was so I thought I had better swim to the rocks. I got out on rocks that were like razor blades and cut my feet to ribbons. I realised I must have swam through some Jelly Fish and had welches all over my legs, never the less I managed to scramble over the sharp rocks and back to my beach and I had saved myself a whole 200 baht for the water Taxi!

Me at one of the beaches I stopped off at called Bottle Beach

That night, my last night on Koh Phangan was the night of the full moon party! It was on Had Rin beach further down the Island so I caught another speed boat down. I had arranged to meet Matt Harris (Who is the nearest JET to me in Japan) it was pretty hetic but luckily our planned meeting point worked out, even though niether of us had ever been there before. I met up with Harris and some of his mates from America and we had the cumpulsory buckets of Thai Whiskey and Red Bull, and went to party the night away! I was feeling a bit knackered from the whole holiday and wasn't really in Full Moon Party mood but still had a great time. A couple of times I had to go to a bit of a quieter bar for a more chilled out beer, a quick power nap and then back out for more partying! I lost Matt and his friends at one point then bumped into Matt again trying to work his magic with a Thai girl. I ended up leaving at about half 5 in the morning. It was well before the party finished but I was done! I got back to my beach just in time for one of the best sunrises I have ever seen.

Me at Sunrise after the Full Moon Party

In the afternoon I took the scariest taxi ride of my life in the back of a 4x4 truck, along a road that wasn't properly built overtaking on blind corners at about 60 mph. I thought I was going to die on more than one ocassion. My last and probably funniest memory from Koh Phangan was driving past Matt Harris just after he fell off his moped. He was struggling to push it up a hill after losing all momentum and he was being helped by some little old Thai man while all his friends were at the top laughing!

I made it back to Had Rin beach though and caught a ferry back to Koh Samui. I stayed the night in a little hut by the beach and went to the airport at 6 to catch my flight back to Bangkok. I chilled in Bangkok all day and caught a movie in the evening before flying back to Japan. Thailand was one of the best holidays I've ever been on but I was knackered after having crammed so much into 12 days! It was good to be heading back to the tranquility of Tadami though I wasn't looking forward to having to be at school the next day for a bit of a boring opening ceremony!