Yokohama Plaza Hotel

I got up a little early to study for Islam and then when to class to take my test. I went to Energy class later on in the afternoon but we didn't meet for the whole time since Dr. Connetti spoke this morning in global studies. I met up with Lindsay and Grace in the late afternoon for "froyo (ice cream) and fellowship" and we sat around the pool while talking about our adventures in Asia since we haven't ...

... again. I was close to giving it a go though. It was 8:30pm by that stage, so we followed our notepad of directions in reverse, and returned to the hotel, gave the girls a bath and got them ready for bed. This should be the part of the trip where I say that we are packing up and leaving Yokohama in the morning, to head to Tokyo, as this was our original plan, with the Hotel booked and everything ...

... One of the more enjoyable pieces to play. The people said, "Amen" and I took my seat and listened as Michael, sitting to my left, did his best to interpret the sermon at break neck speed. It was a very nice sermon about the power of prayer, true prayer, and how prayer is often confused with hope. He did a good job even though the paster was speaking really fast and not taking a lot of breaks. The pastor, also an english speaker, even included a short scripture reading just ...

... than 35 separate and distinct honorific ways of addressing someone in their language, depending on their age, social status, profession, and relationship. It is almost impossible to have a conversation in Japanese without knowing whom you are speaking to, what their profession is, and their age. (This is actually the explanation behind the sometimes wearisome exchange of business cards that occurs upon meeting someone ...

... my embarrassing past than not going. After all, it is twenty years ago. We ought to laugh off our own youthful foibles. My primary school is named Shinyoshida dai-ni primary school. Shinyoshida is the name of town. Dai-ni denotes "No. 2". Even as a kid I did not like the name. It sounded so bureaucratic and tasteless. At least they could have named it after the adjacent river, Hayabuchi River, or the old ...

... hemispheres! Day 2 was orientation. I finally had built up enough energy to explore Tokyo. As you can see they have their own take on Western cuisine including Midori and milk as a cocktail and minature chicken wings(well I hoped it was chicken). But the technology and talking buildings surrounding me was amazing. It was everything I always thought Tokyo would be!

... First party may have been Karaoke I can't quite remember. That was an all night effort until the first train. Then there was the "goodbye party" in Shibuya. Again all you can drink for some stupid cheap price. That was the night that we had a good arguement with some horrid wee Japanese man on the train who decided that the foreigners were the only people talking on the train and decided to make an issue out of it. Needless to ...

... there is the same feeling of the air waking up to something, of streets leading to so many possibilities. It's when I get the itch to travel, when I think of buying a plane ticket and packing my bags, or simply feel welling in me the urge to get behind the wheel and take off. The days are getting longer and when the afternoon light begins to grey, there's a tingling sensation and thoughts of where will I go next?

... to try the fourth one. Definite highlight was a night out with Mac and his Japanese work colleagues. They took me to a pachinco hall. Pachinco is a Japanese national obsession. It is a game involving ball bearings flying around everywhere and is a bit like a slot machine except the aim is to collect as many of these ball bearings as you possibly can and I won a lot of them! As gambling is illegal in Japan ...

... which gave us a much better idea of what was going on and we really got into the final few bouts. The huge Bulgarian, Kitooshu, won his bout as did the yokozuna, Asashoryu, so the crowd was quite happy. A really good day out and a true slice of Japanese culture. Meanwhile, the job search was plodding along. We had applied to the main English schools here and had put our (imaginatively enhanced) details on www.findateacher.net - a website ...