Nagoya Liberty Hotel

... I was puzzled as to why Yumi had told me to bring warm clothing! I guess I'd just been lucky (even moreso in hindsight, as a typhoon hit the mainland just a few short days later). Anyway, I finally made it to Hamamatsu early on Sunday afternoon, although there was a slight mix-up as Yumi and me were waiting for eachother at different exits! Confusion aside, it was lovely to see Yumi's smiling face again, and little Karin was simply gorgeous. Two of Yumi's friends who ...

Hi Everyone, A very kwick update. The busy month of October is over and I can finally breathe and smell the roses again. We had the Halloween party on Friday and Saturday for school. It was a lot of fun for the kids. I had fun...but it was a lot of work. I think it took us 8 hours to set up and 8 hours to tear everything down including smashing the mouldy pumpkins. The highlight was when one of my kids dressed up as Bruce ...

Tällä kertaa ajateltiin suorittaa matka Tokiosta Nagoyaan bussilla, koska Shinkanset (luotijuna) on niin älyttömän kallis! Käytiin varmuuden vuoksi jo eilen varaamassa liput Shinjukun asemalta, ettei vaan jäädä ilman. Bussilipun hinta Nagoyaan oli 5100 jeniä/lärvi... Kaikki varoittelivat, että ei kannata mennä bussilla, koska se on todella hidasta ja epämukavaa, mutta vielä mitä! Bussi oli todella hieno, ainoastaan ...

... some more. On that level there was another bread shop, so I stopped in there and looked around too. I decided to buy a couple chocolate croissants, a raisin bread and a few sandwiches (the same ones I ate at the airport). We continued walking and we found a takoyaki shop! Takoyaki is literally translated as "Grilled octopus" which sounds really gross to most western cultures. But it was the first thing I had when I met my host family in Japan 5 years ago, and it ...

... and had a nice little photo session with one of the fishermen, who ended up offered him a beer and eventually his first catch of the day (which Kyle declined). Kyle has about 5,000 pictures of this man, so I'm sure you'll see him in his next update! On the second day, we found a nicer spot on the beach and set up again. We spent the day swimming and trying to escape the searing heat and sunshine. The new spot had a really nice breeze so we were able to enjoy a nice fire and have a ...