Summer holidays

At the moment I'm enjoying my 9 days summer holiday. It has been a bit of a whirlwind. I went to a small town called Soja near Okayama (in between Hiroshima and Kyoto) to visit my Japanese friend who used to live in England. We had a great time together visiting her local temples, wearing traditional Japanese dress at the summer fireworks festival, and spending time with her family.

Since then, I have been really busy sorting out all the beurocracy for my new flat with my new Japanese housemate. I also bought a fridge and a cooker this week. I am moving at the end of August.

We have had an eventful time at church, with one of the families leaving the country in a rush due to a serious illness. They will be gone for a few months, and we are all feeling tired from the trauma of it all and the loss. But we have had fun with a church BBQ and picnic and are excited about the next few months as we continue to lay the foundations of our new church.

Also, I have had my friend Hannah to stay, and have been cathching up with some of my Japanese firends in Nagoya... I will be going back to work for a rest!

Here are some pictures from my time in Okayama...

for more holiday pics, click here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43578&l=333a0&id=796335200

When my mum was here, we were invited to a Japanese tea ceremony. It was quite an amazing experience. We didn't go to watch it, we went as guests to be part of it! I didn't take any pictures of the ceremony itself, but here is one of the lunch we had together afterwards.

for more tea ceremony photos click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33896&l=3ccd7&id=796335200

I have decided, with some persuasion from Liz, that it is time to put some photos on here of my flat in its unpacked state. So here we go...

for more house pictures, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37999&l=81bdd&id=796335200

Mum in Japan

My Mum has been in Japan for 10 days, which has been great.  We have spent some time hanging out in Nagoya, and also went away for a few days into the foothills of the Japanese Alps. We stayed in an old town, went to an onsen (Japanese hot spring), and visited a world heritage site - a valley of old Japanese houses built to withstand the mountain snow.

Here's a cafe in the old town

Here's the onsen

Here's the world heritage site

for more holiday pics click here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32853&l=3b2ae&id=796335200

I have added some photo albums on facebook, cos it's much easier than putting them all on here.

Click here for cherry blossom pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27632&l=1b524&id=796335200

Click here for Tsurumai park pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27629&l=10903&id=796335200

Click here for Tokugawa park pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27631&l=722e9&id=796335200 (there's a couple on there especially for you Sue!)

Click here for Gifu pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27628&l=0e8ff&id=796335200

Aside from that I don't have much to say... which must mean that life is feeling more normal! I have stopped taking pictures of absolutely everything, which means that things are feeling less strange too. Work is all consuming this month as I have parents observations for 2 weeks, and am doing 3 weeks of special exam classes for groups of children. I have a holiday coming up in 10 days which I am really looking forward to. My mum is coming to visit and I am very excited!

Today was a great day

Today was a great day. We had a BBQ together...

(for more BBQ photos click here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24124&l=0236d&id=796335200)

followed by the collection of my new pink scooter.

(for more scooter photos click here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24126&l=55cbd&id=796335200)

Followed by an evening out with my new Japanese friend, and my first trip to a Japanese petrol station.