01/02/04

First play rehearsal...Momotaro is underway!

05/02/04 
- 10/02/04

Laid up with flu.  Dammit.

But managed to go for a walk on the 8th, to enjoy the snow.

See the photos

11/02/04

Foundation Day (yup...you guessed it...another national holiday)

Went to see "Rabu Achuari" ("Love Actually") with Tom - fantastic film.  Then went out to Coco's for steak, chips (fries) and sundaes.  Wonderful wonderful food, and much needed after being unable to eat for a week!

13/02/04

Party at Mary's.  Lots of wine and gossip.  Good times!

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14/02/04

Valantine's Day 

Romantic meal at Girasol with Tom!  Wonderful food, and the company wasn't bad either ;)

Party at Nana Iro's - nomihodai (all-you-can-drink).  Music.  Dancing.  Alcohol.  Friends.  Nuff said!  Thanx to Em for organising it, and to Will for DJ-ing.

See the photos

15/02/04

Meal with Chiaki and family
Thanks to Chiaki and Nao and their mum for cooking us fabulous okonomiyaki!  :D

Yosakoi
Hurrah!  Made it to a rehearsal (having been ill for two weeks, and missing the first couple).  So, yosakoi has restarted, and with it my attempts to co-ordinate feet and hands.   In vain, I might add.

16/02/04

Really suffering from yosakoi yesterday!  (well, it finished back in October!).  Finding classes very difficult (but not as difficult as getting TO the classes...up the stairs!).

Aerobics

Yes, fool that I am, I trundled off to aerobics with Christina and Brandon, having not been able to go yet this year.  Oh dear!  Good work out though (and excuse for a gossip).

17/02/04

And I thought my legs ached yesterday!

18/02/04

No lessons for the rest of this week (so I can catch up with the Japanese correspondence course I'm doing).

Making Bread
In a bid to occupy the few teachers that were actually in today, we all got together to make bread (hamu roru - simply the best food in the universe - raisin banu and chi-zu banu - raisin rolls and cheese rolls).  Great fun!  We ate some of our ham rolls there and then (bear in mind, these aren't sarnies - the ham is baked into the bread and topped with chopped onion and mayonnaise).  Gochisosamadeshita! ("we had a feast").   

20/02/04

Obama

Brandon, Christina and I caught the train to Obama (in the south of Fukui-ken) and met up with some friends there.  We had a party at Amber's (huge thanx to Amber for hosting the party, and for letting us stay).  It was good to catch up with people we don't see very often. 

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21/02/04

To Okayama

After a much-needed lazy morning, and a lovely breakfast, Amber, Brandon, Christina and I went to Okayama (via Kyoto, on the Shinkansen - bullet train!).  We went for a wonderful dinner at an Asian restaurant (filled with gaijin - a strange sight for us!).  We met up with Craig - Brandon's friend - who was preparing to take part in the festival.

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The Festival - Haddaka Matsuri

Naked men.  Well, almost.  Running through the streets.  Getting wet.  And scrabbling for a stick.  TOo complicated to explain...so just see the photos.   

22/02/04

Okayama Bike Ride

Beautiful day, bikes, poor map reading skills, great time.

See the photos!