Yokohama Mandarin Hotel

... to Audrey and Jessica's room to chat about Hawaii. I am planning on getting off the ship with them in the morning and then meeting up with Emily and Amanda around noon while Jessica and Audrey go skydiving. Over 100 S@Sers are planning on jumping during our time in Hawaii. We headed to bed around midnight since we all have to get up for face to face inspection upon arrival into Hawaii at 6am.

... to the Hard Rock Cafe so Veronica could buy 2 more shot glasses, as she did not yet have Yokohama versions. Then we came across a restaurant which ruined my whole evening. Sizzler. The very same Sizzler which used to be all over Australia, with the all-you-can-eat soup, pasta, salad and desert bar. And this one had an identical menu from what I could see. Having already had dinner, we couldn't justify ...

... came up and put the mic way up above his head. The plan was for me to play a song and sing, I had even chosen the song, but alas, my voice was not with me at the time. The song I had chosen had some pretty high notes that there was no way I could reach with my throat in its current condition. So I opted to play, sans introduction, a little acoustic song with no words that I like to play from time to time. I think the people enjoyed it, it was kind of a classical type ...

... thanks! And a nice glass of white wine to wash it down. I was ably looked after by the owner, and introduced to his very nice daughter, grandaughter (didn't seem to like me much, can't think why), and all the staff to boot. After an enjoyable couple of hours sharing stories I had to cut the party short and head off into the sunset to catch my train back to Tokyo; it being the last valid day of my railpass, I really ...

... attend the time-capsule opening, then." Choosing between the two events was done by the process of elimination and choosing lesser of the two evils. Eight hours of Global Festa, plus commuting plus unforeseen plus, plus, plus... The capsule opening was expected to last two hours. The school was only ten minutes away from home on foot. Besides, contrary to my sympathy with Yuusuke, I decided that I would rather regret ...

... yelling, arguing, laughing, moving product in every direction. A controlled chaos which leads to feeding millions in Japan and around the world. It became apparent, quickly, that big eye tuna is the main game. It seemed like every other stall featured the chubby, oval creatures. We saw specimens ranging from 20 to 300 lbs. Clearly they're obsessed. It's hard to believe that the oceans can continue to offer these massive quantities for years to ...

... being an Eirennach goes hand in hand with being an alcoholic so it took us 4 weeks of drinking to say goodbye. Just enough Sundays in Lent to allow me to drink. I managed to save up my Sundays and use them liberally near the end. However a couple were actually outside lent. Oh I gave up drink for lent, for those that don't know already. Seriously it's hard getting back into it. Quick rundown of Carol's Goodbye Parties ...

... Now, when I say spacious I mean in comparison to our current apartment, which is a 12 by 12 room with a narrow hallway and a bathroom where your knees hit the wall when you sit on the toilet and you have to squeeze between the sink and a wall to get into the shower. Also, in our current housing the bathroom is so tight that the shower and sink controls are the same knob. It's hard to explain. Anyway, this new apartment has hardwood floors and a decent sized sleeping ...

... tried but that would be a very boring day. Let's face it, Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. We relocated to a smaller and slightly cheaper hotel the next night. This place was $30 a night and was a traditional guest house, called a ryuken. The floors are covered in tatami mats (bamboo mats) and a folded futon mattress is on the floor for you. Pretty simple and clean. The day was spent sight seeing. The huge government buildings ...

It had to happen, we experienced our first dud. It was decided to go to an art exhibition in Shinjuku and I thought it was an exhibition of impressionist art but apparently they all knew that it wouldn't be that. Anyhoo, this exhibition was just one Japanese artist who had obviously lived in America for a while cos all of his paintings were of small town America - not good paintings by the way. We wandered through quite fast and were all glad it only cost 500 yen and ...