This will be a post mostly of pictures;

And just to make things interesting the pictures are not in chronological order...sorry it will be a tad disjointed.

In Brief, this saturday I went to my first Okinawan wedding, much fun. I also failed in my endeavour get much study done due to one thing or another! Oh yes, I also had my last english conversation club lesson...sniff :(.
Me in my wedding get-up.

The Bride and Groom in their final costumes. The Bride, Arisa Teachaa is from my school.

So here I am with my English conversation club kids. I decided to fast forward Easter and have an Easter lesson, mainly because I though it would be fun and I had some rather delish Easter eggs I had bought on base I wanted to use. We painted eggs, had an egg hunt outside and rolled eggs. Much fun was had by one and all.



Yeah, looking good! I had plans of getting a sly one hour of study in on the ferry back to Izena but this cool cat had other ideas.

He had accomplices too, I didn't stand a chance, look at the evil intent on their faces! They had been to run some race on the main island and decided I was going to be their antidote to the boredom of the ferry ride.

Moshi moshi! This kid really liked to pretend to talk on my phone.
I and my fellow teachers after the wedding and before heading to the nijikanme (2nd party). As you can see we are all clutching identical bags, an unlikely accessory matching disaster!? No, at Japanese weddings guests pay the Bride and Groom ichi man (50 quid) and then recieve a present of about equal value! Wicked! I got two for some reason, I didn't take two! I was GIVEN two! But then I went ahead and thought I would just leave them BOTH in the pub....luckily Big Ben (whose house I stayed at) was a wee darlin' and popped down and picked them up for me.
Rocking out to the music on my shuffle. Yeah baby!
The eggs my kids painted, pretty good ne!

So yah, the wedding eh. An Okinawan wedding is a little more fun and lavish then a mainland wedding I am told. At an okinawan wedding approx. 400 people come while the best the mainland Japanese can do is a meagre 100. There are also many performances by friends, family and work colleagues of the Bride and Groom. As a work colleague of the Bride (Arisa 先生) I and the other teachers performed a silly dance dressed up as construction workers. We wore white helmets, long-johns and painted out faces in the most ridiculous manner conceivable! The Bride and Groom wore three different costumes the finest of which was the first; splendiferous white wedding kimonos but I was too excited and forgot to take a picture. There was also a professional announcer/singer (yes one person did both)! It was Nancy in case any of you know her, does radio I believe. One assumes she must REALLY like the sound of her own voice. So the wedding was fun, highlights were doing my first BANZAI! Very excited I got to do that, I will cherish the memory along with when I got my first GOKOROSAMA. Another personal highlight was getting a string of paper flags. Allow me to elaborate, after we banzai-ed the happy couple (after they came and lit a candle on our table) we were wildly out of control and let of party crackers willy-nilly. One cracker emitted a coloured string of paper flags, all the flags of the world! For some reason it stuck me that I should very much like to have those flags but I dismissed the thought as silly. About ten minutes later I hear genki 'KUREIGU SENSEI' (Craig teacher in japanese) down to my side, I look down and there is the little daughter of the cleaning lady presenting those very flags to me! I was touched! 'Oh thankyou, Arigato!' I cried, (cried as in said it loudly, not cried tears! Suggest otherwise and I will punch you). I had just had a conversation with her and asked her to kindly look forward to studying english with me when he becomes a yochien (kindergarten-er) later this year. Must have made an impression or just got plain lucky, that or she is a very perceptive and cunning child, her or her mother. Anyway I was happy. After the wedding we went to J's bar and much fun was had. My teachers all left earlyish but a bunch of mainland Japanese came to keep me company. They were very nice and good company. It was after 2am before I left! My impressions of mainland Japanese are that they have been very nice and friendly. Although it is oft said how much warmer the okinawans are. This is the conventional knowledge but I am not convinced, not that okinawans are unfriendly, far from it! However all the Japanese I have met have been extraordinarily nice. I had not yet met as many friendly and helpful people as I did in Nara. I felt like saying well if Okinawans are so much friendlier how comes it's your guys who are here talking with me (and extolling the virtues of the Okinawans none the less). They did tell me that in mainland Japan the Groom cannot invite ANY females to his wedding, not even work colleagues as a relationship would be suspected! The same applies to the Bride. That is a bit crazy. I pursued the point a little and got the impression that perhaps if you are really in culture then the okinawan culture is kinder but for someone who is still a guest in this country it doesn't make a huge difference. It is a commonly noted aspect of general Japanese culture that they are very welcoming and accommodating toward guests. On Sunday I met some friends of BBs from mainland Japan who were visiting him. The family of a previous student of his. They were also nice and funny and didn't mind at all that a random (me) accompanied them to the pineapple park. Ah ok that's all, oh no, Takeru is back. One of the first friends I made on the island. He left to get a job on the mainland ages ago but he is back for a few months, nice. Those who came to my island all those moons ago he was the guy with the afro (sadly lacking now).

Some traditional Okinawan/Japanese food

Cutting up a fish for sashimi
Kelly and I before the marathon
Kelly and I after the marathon!
Kelly, her Grandparents and I at the Tropical Dream Centre
The orchids drawing in their unsuspecting victims
A vine growing across a concrete roof

Goodmorning!

This weekend was a good one. Two main causal agents were running the Okinawa marathon and meeting Kelly’s grandparents. I met the Grandparents first so let’s start there. They arrived in Okinawa about a week ago to visit Kelly and have been experiencing one of Kelly’s world renowned tours of Okinawa. Kelly and her grandparents came to meet me at the port on Friday and I came off the ferry to meet them with armed with a haircut, trimmed beard and a bag of several large and heavy books. Large and heavy books can be useful in a number of diverse situations.

They were very friendly and I liked them immediately, one naturally hopes their impression was similar, then off we all went to gather to the pineapple park. As a side note I share the opinion that Americans are generally very friendly, open and polite, that is to say easy to become congenially acquainted with. They don’t tend to stand on ceremony or be stand-offish. I really like this however I am a cynical and grouchy Brit and sometimes the over the top (subjective I know) exuberance of Americans makes me feel uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable in that I don’t like it, it is great to be optimistic and enthusiastic about everything (within reason of course) but I am uncomfortable acting that way myself. I tend to communicate my positive emotions in devious and subtle ways, so pay attention! I wonder if you can take it as a rule of thumb that when Americans say something one aught to take into account probable overstatement and factor down greatness/awesomeness accordingly. And also when a Brit says something one must factor in understatement and scale up the greatness/wonderfulness.

American English : British English

Awesome = not bad

Well anyway I am going off on a wild tangent and I am not sure I really believe what I just wrote, it was just a thought.

So on with my tale. On Saturday we spent most of the day in America! Technically at least, we were on Kadena airbase. It did feel like we had left Japan, the roads suddenly became about 5 times wider, the buildings more spaced with swathes of immaculately cut lawn in between, men carrying guns. Kelly’s grandparents were extremely generous and paid for everything, Thankyou! They had also brought me a nifty LED headlamp gizmo from the states, much appreciated! Kelly was in heaven shopping at the commissary, mountains of all the food from home she had been missing! She did however show considerable restraint and didn’t buy too much at all. I was half tempted and half sort of disgusted. After Japanese food this just seemed to be endless HUGE portions of fatty, sugary death to your body. You get a lot of that in Japan now, but not on my island and certainly not in the school lunches that I get. This said when I spent a year in America I actually lost weight, although I was in southern California and surfing everyday that I could, but I was eating burgers and Doritos almost everyday too. Scottish food is at least as bad if not worse, although like everywhere there is good food if you look hard enough (ie. generally NOT in supermarkets). Argh I have digressed again. So it was a tip-top day and ended with a pleasant meal at the NCO club again courtesy of the ever generous Grandparents of Kelly.

SUNDAY: RACE DAY

Oh boy. The Okinawa marathon is a hilly little blighter to say the least. We knew that and were somewhat prepared. However several things which we weren’t prepared for tested us even more. At around 10km into the race Kelly got a neck crick. You know when you can’t move your neck cos it bloody hurts to do so! It hasn’t happened while running before and goodness knows why it happened then but it did. I could tell the poor girl was in a lot of pain. She was a real trooper and battled on though! I tried to be motivational and cheer her on as much I could, I again drew on the inspiration of John and told her to run with a smile and wave at the supporters. This she did very bravely but the smile came out more as a little scary grimace. But she did it! I am immensely proud of my gal, she showed she had guts and kicked that marathon right in the goodies. Despite evil towering hills (down-hills are probably worse than up towards the end of the race as they hurt your knees much more) and neck pains she finished this marathon a little faster than the last one! We finished in 4 hours and 24 minutes and some seconds. This time Kelly was one second faster than me and she deserved every nanosecond of it ;)! Way to go Kelly!

As for me the arch of my left foot is bothering me but it is not so bad now, my toes also took a bit of a beating. But that was the last endurance event for a little while. I have been in constant training for over a year now and it is time to let me knees and other connective tissue a chance to heal. Not that I am stopping, are you crazy! But I will switch to bike and swim training for a while. Hopefully I can do some 10Km or 20Km races in the near future and build up some speed.

Well done to Josh, Fidi, Charolette and Helen for also running the marathon and to Perry for rocking the ten Km race that day and for getting a PB at the Tokyo Marathon the week before. Good luck for Miako you crazy buggers! Also thank you to Kelly’s grandparents and Yasmine for cheering us on during the race.

After the marathon we had a slap up meal at macaroni grill (camp foster) where we were joined by the ever genki Ryoko. After facing the ordeal of the steps up to Kelly’s apartment again we iced aching limbs again before collapsing to bed.

Monday we went to the Tropical Dream Centre where we were treated to an amazing display of orchids. An old plant science professor of mine once described them as the Brazen Hussies of the plant world. However that think that is a little unfair and I am quite fond of them. A little gaudy and over the top at times but beautiful none the less.

This week I will have my last English conversation class. I am sad as I have grown quite fond of my class. The ‘thank you for being our teacher’ card they gave me on valentines day I will treasure. They are a good bunch of girls and I don’t think I will have time to get to know the new lot quite so well. I am working on giving them a lesson to remember and so far it involves chocolate so I think I am on the right track.

After doing my night time English conversation class on Monday (I have three such classes) I was invited by a teacher to some shindig so off I went. There were quite a lot of people there and lots of good okinawan/Japanese food. Incase you are curious as to food here I posted some pics. On the table you can see pigs tongue and in the bowl; diakon (like a white turnip), pigs ankle, tofu, seaweed, hotdog sausage and a boiled egg. The pigs ankle is pretty yum, its really soft and you just suck the skin, fat, tendons right off the bone. Yes yes, I know, I eat everything. The other picture if off a chap preparing the sashimi (sliced, raw fish). I have another party to go to tonight, there must be something going on, but as usual I am clueless! Probably to do with the up coming gradations and completion of a school year?

KABUTOMUSHI!

I spent the weekend studying and precious little else. Well quite allot of study anyway. What was going to be a start break to the school on Saturday to check my emails turned into a 3 hour study holiday; I first chatted to my mum then it started raining (heavily) and then Kelly came on line and I talked to her. I ended up getting very wet on the way home, I had to strip off in the doorway. Sunday I had a 30k run scheduled and I managed that and about 6 and half hours of study, not bad. The big news was I acquired a pet on my run. I got my self my very own Kabutomushi (helmetbug) which is the vulgar Japanese name for stag beatles. Most of the native Japanese species are of the genus Dorcus. Unfortunate name really. Having looked at a few pictures I would guess that is it Dorcus Rectus (doubly unfortunate name) or Dorcus Platymelus, given that Dorcus Rectus is much common I would hazzard a guess that is it. However to be honest they all look very similar. My chap (it is a male) is about 40mm long although I haven't measured him yet. As a side note these beetles are very popular in Japan. Some species selling for huge amounts (circa. 100 dollars) and are popular amungst adults and children alike. It seems to me that children here are crazy about any and all bugs, during the summer one often sees primary school kids wondering around with bug net and regulation bug box (I have one ;)). The Katbutomushi is undisputed king of all bugs in Japan and therefore highly sought after. I think this is mostly due to its pretty fearsome appearance and the fact that they fight! Put two stags on a branch and they will lock horns and spar until one falls off! Monsters fighting is a pretty popular theme in Japan (my reference for this is almost ALL anime and manga -you at least know about pokemon- and a good proportion of TV and movies) also the beetles are generally unhurt which of course makes it all the more suitable for kids. There are popular kabutomushi card games and an arcade game that I often see kids playing called MushiKing where children fight beetles against each other. Anyway I have one now so HAH! I came across him about 24km into a 30k run just sitting right there in the road! I couldn't pass up the chance so I decided to carry him back the remainder of the run. A couple of Km later his squirming was bothering me so I broke off a branch and put him on it, he clung there happily until I was home. I was passed by one or two cars, I wonder what they though about me running while holding a stick with a large beetle on it? Whatever, I can be as eccentric as I please, humph!
I had an unexpected blast of Britishness just before bed last night. I finished the last financial management chapter on my to-do list and turned on the TV while I munched some supper (oatcakes and smelly Danish blue). What was on? The bleeding last night of the proms that's what! If you do not know what that is, well, it is like a musical festival but with classical music, kind of, held in Britain. The BBC philharmonic was playing a rather racy piece (complete with the slightly passée attractive lead violinist) moreover who was commentating but none other than Ground forces finest Alan Titchmarsh! I would have preferred Charlie Dimmock but that's by the by. He is quite a ridiculous fellow, well he is definitely English at least. It really could not have been more British if it tried (and it appeared they tried very hard), within moments there was a sea of Union Jacks waving to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, not once but twice (following tradition) and accompanied by a video clips of the 80 year reign of the Queen! Land of Hope and Glory........... followed by a series of naval bugal calls which were answered by the other wings of the proms in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland (each waving appropriate flags). That was something to do with the Battle of Trafalgar. It was almost a bit too much for me, I saw some other famous Brits in the audience but I couldn't place their names. Been away for a while I suppose! I missed what came between Danny Boy and Rule Britannia because I was trimming my beard and as it was getting late with a final Pum Pum Puddle-iddly-um I had to go to bed. Just for the record in theory I despise nationalism and even the idea of nations. As to nationalism my opinion is that if you need nationalism to give you some identity then you are solely lacking in that department. I consider myself to have quite enough identity without having to resort of nationalism or nationalistic labels.....generally. Although in practice nationalism (of ones own country and tending to view foreigners in terms of the nation they are from) is.....easy, I hesitate to say natural as it is probably a result of social/cultural influences.

Pictures of Whales , Flowers and a Fair Maiden and a post about something else entirely.....

That's a Whale of a tail!......yeah yeah, I'll get my coat.

Sakura! That is cherry blossoms for those of you out of the loop (shame on you). These ones are to be found at Nakijin-castle.
Who is that hiding umungst the Sakura? It was a lovely day btw.
Eating bento (boxed lunch) under the sakura, how Japanese!

Well, what up?
My hat is set at a jaunty angle because my dear friends and family my jib is a well cut one and in addition to that, and I include my Mysticete friends in this, I have been disposing myself adroitly, it has also come to my attention that none are quite as apt in the art of brevity as I.

Sorry folks but you may need some insider information to understand the above sentence. If you weren't with me on Saturday morning (the 10th Feb) you can happily ignore the reference to the Cetaceans.

I spent a wonderful long weekend with Kelly. Don't run away! I shan't bore you with tales of our canoodles I promise! Instead I will inform you of things last week what made me laugh.

THINGS LAST WEEK WHAT MADE ME LAUGH

I got assaulted by my kindergarten kids; they rubbed my beard and hair, stuck their fingers in my ears and held my nose so I sounded funny. I did the only thing I could and responded in kind with an emphasis on the ear poking.

I (unintentionally) assisted a kid give another kid a kancho.

The 4th grade (primary school) kids told me I should dye my hair black. WHY?! You little conformists!

My favourite 4th grader has a new catch phrase to do with me (she made it up), instead of saying 'see you next time,' she says 'see you neck tie!!!!!'. Oh the Hilarity, it is actually quite funny when we do it in unison with the neck-tie (tie) motion.

A first year held onto a karuta card so hard I had to hold him upside down by his ankle and pull the card down with my other hand. He held on for quite a while and perhaps stretched an inch or two.

I was running when three little elementary kids (1st year and yochien) decided to come running with me. They weren't even wearing shoes! They however assured me their feet didn't hurt and even told me they would do the triathlon next year;). After coming about 400m with me and going up a nasty hill they showed no signs of slowing down so I had to stop and tell them to go back (telling them how awfully well they had done of course). It was getting dark and I didn't want to be responsible for them!

After the school relay race (ekiden), while eating zanzai (sweet red bean soup and mochi) a student told a teacher she looked like she was taking a shit (in Japanese). I was much amused. It happened thus: I am talking to said student (female), a teacher near by (female) squats down to eat her zanzai. At this point I should mention squatting is the perfered way to sit down in japan, especially in rural areas and places with a lack of chairs (ALOT of places). It's a similar action to squatting down to answer a call of nature while you are actually in nature. Anyway said student decided said teacher looked to much like she was doing something...else...and cries out
'UNKO!'
which means 'SHIT!' (as in faeces).
Said teacher hurriedly brings her knees together and in the ensuing (friendly) conversation decides it would be best to actually sit with her bottom on the ground as to avoid any more misunderstandings. The teacher wasn't annoyed by this in the slightest.

This is a manner of talking which would never be acceptable in a British school, at least I can't imagine it!

Take care Y'all

Craig

I will miss Japan. A kind of mild panic constricted my chest when I thought about leaving. I have just been reading through a short illustrated book (provided to me by the British Council as part of an free educational pack) detailing the relationship between Britain and Japan from it's earliest beginnings to the present. Of particular note is William Adams the first recorded Briton to come to Japan and the first foreigner to achieve samurai status. He gave great service to the Tokugawa shogunate and married a Japanese woman. He never returned to Britain. I think Japan is a very Charismatic country. By this what do I mean? Allow me to explain. Charisma of a person is viewed quite rightly as an intangeble and difficult to define characteristic. A person's Charisma however clearly stems from one or more extraordinary and unusually powerful personality traits. A countries personality can be said to be its culture. Japan has a unique and very strong culture, pervading all facets of life in Japan. I think a culture of this sort can hold influence over individuals much like a charismatic person can.
Or maybe I am afraid that my ego won't be able to take it when children no longer shout 'KUREIGU' or 'HAROO' when they see me. I am like royality smiling and waving as I ride my bike to school or if I pop back during lunch. Some kindergarten children go home around lunch time and I often pass them. They have now aquired the habit of demanding 'touchie touchie' before I can continue on my way. 'Touchie' is japanese for a high-5.
Or maaaaaaaaaybe I miss the wonderful food! They really are fearless about trying crazy combinations of food here. Only a few days ago they hit me with a double wammy in one meal (school lunch). The first wammy (?) was a salad. A typical Japanese salad heavy on the sea weed and heavy on the vinegar. In fact the dressing might have been only strong vinegar, strong tasting stuff! Anyway for some reason they added diced orange to it. Curious. The second wammy was cold mashed potato with raisins as a desert!
Today we had chicken, pork and squid in the same dish. Not that I minded the more meat the better I think.
Then there is always the classic (had it 3 or 4 times now) dessert comprising of nuts, dried fish mixed together and glazed with sugar. Yummsters!
I have so far eating everything put in front of me at school lunch and only refused one things outside of school (horse meat) and in the main it has all be yum except for some of the salads.
Oh yes and they always try and sneak fish into everything, tiny little transparent fish hiding in the salads or sometimes the rice! One can spot them by their eyes.
I will really really miss the food here though, I say that in utter and complete sincerity.

THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT THAILAND BUT THE PICTURES ADMITTEDLY ARE!
Playing mit baby elephanten.
Big tree in Tomb Raider temple
Kelly inside Angkor Wat

Lalala so what is up?! I have meant to write a post for a while but never seem to have time. The big news is that I am leaving Japan this year! It came as a little shock, having been told (informally) I had got the transfer to the main-island (my condition on staying). So as a result Kelly had already signed her recontracting papers for another year when I was told the transfer process had fallen at the last hurdle (the part which has supposedly been a mere formality). After a moments pause to collect my thoughts I began to come to the realisation this was probably for the best. Anyway Kelly changed her recontracting answer to no, and so we are leaving together, and that is all that really matters. Also it is probably time to leave, I have achieved all I can on Izena, I came up with some more things I would have like to have done on the main island but they were never long held and cherished goals of mine. Also for the best part of this second year I have not been planning on recontracting, it was just the easy option. Also having had no special interest in Japan or Japanese (and still not being amoured with it all except the food) it might look bad on the CV. BUT NO! No easy option for me, I must venture forth and face the unknown with my meagre funds. And hopefully have a wizzo time too! So far the plans are travel then volunteer then..............grad school. Goodness there were a few things I wanted to say, oh yes I had a good moment at the elementary school. I have these special needs kids who join my 6th grade class. I have struggled to integrate them. Outside the class room they are umungst the friendliest kids and one in particular always tries to speak to me. However in the class they are a bit unresponsive, I think because of being in a different group (class) and being Japanese they are all about the group right, they probably also feel dumb compared to the other kids. Anyway I was playing a review game, making giant faces on the board and I get one of the special needs kids, so I choose an easy flashcard and pop it up so he sees it first, he gets it and there is a surprised murmur around the class. When he came up again I repeated the same trick and he got it again and the whole class erupted into cheers for him. Quite a moment. Anyway. Also I almost got sucked into acting in a Japanese play. Well my neighbour recruited me and I attended one rehearsal where I played 'man 4' and had one line. However with marathon training (2ish hours a night including shower etc.) and having to study for the distance course I am enrolled in I have no time. I need to devote more time to study I have already fallen behind my own schedule! Drat! Mmmm what else...oh I have been randomly dropped what I am doing and thinking recently. Not even sure what I am thinking about. While working out (outside) I randomly stopped and stared at the moon for almost an hour. I had thoughts on nature and love in case you were wondering. I thought that there is so much inherent beauty in the world why do we try so hard to create our own, why not appreciate nature? And even more tragically by our actions we are destroying natures beauty. I wished humans would just bugger off and leave the world alone! Humans I think are incomplete on their own and try to fill this void with anything and everything. When all you need is love (SHUTUP!) and once you have love you can calmly appreciate nature. I admit this is a similar sentiment expressed by Serganov through his character Pavol in 'on the eve'. However it is different when one reads something and realises it for oneself. Also later after reading a book on the Crimean war (composed of accounts and recollection of the soldiers who served) I pondered the love of ones country. First the book made me wonder if I hated or loved Britain. Then I realised how foolish it was to love a country, one should love a woman (or man - despite our increased hairyness and smellyness) or even a puppy, something that can love you back. But not a country which can never love you back and all to often proves a harsh mistress, generously spending the blood of her subjects in her own interest. Anyway sorry, enough of that nonsense. Back to work!
Craig

I had a break from the 'routine' yesterday. My neighbour came around and told me about a music event happening in the hotel near my house. I wasn't sure if I was going to go (I may have been watching a movie at the time) but my neighbours wife emailed me telling me to come quickly so I came. It was quite good, a chap from mainland Japan (a tokyoite) played the pan pipes and a sort of bamboo recorder. I gather he had spent some time in Bolivia. He was corpulent and amusing and got suitable engrossed/animated by the music he was playing. There were also coffee and cakes supplied, how civilised ;). Mostly teachers came, and with other civilised members of Izenean society (dentists wife etc.) sat near the musician. Other Izeneans of a more countrified nature sat at the far end of the long room and proceeded to talk in above acceptable levels and most horridly laugh mid-performance at private jokes! When they decided to clap to the music (without the musicians accent) the upper table resisted their oafish attempt to make amends (they tend to clap to sanshin music -and talk loudly during it- at their own social gatherings) and they were cowed into silence by our disapproving countenance. Jolly good evening and I even managed a good conversation with the chap afterwards, he is very well travelled. E's even gone and went to Zimbabwe (country of me birth don'tchaknow)! Mainland Japanese are so much easier to talk to, being that they speak the language I am trying to learn, Japanese. Izenians speak something else. Even okinawa honto (main island okinawa) people can't understand them when they are drinking etc. Okinawa honto people are also easy to talk to. It is nice sometimes to make use of the Japanese I have learned.

So I have left it far too long, and you have already lost interest in the hols but here are a few pics and a terribly short account of what we did. Actually I shall split up the post, I realise the pictures would make it far too long a post. Don't want to scare you off.
So here are TEMPLES (we saw many more but these are the most noteworthy ones, acutally I think we lost count of the number of temples -Wats- we saw, and that's not counting Angkor....).


This is apparently the finest example of a northern style Wat (temple). It was called Wat Chaing man and was in the city of Chaing mai.
This is another northern style Wat (also in Chaing mai). They seem to be mostly constucted of wood (Teak) and while coloured in gold paint much less shiny than the Wats in Bangkok. There were many Wats in Chaing mai but I don't really want to post 100 odd pictures of Wats, really there are that many! Perhaps we have around 2000 pictures between us. I am not even sure if these are the best ones because I haven't taken the time to look through them all in any great detail yet! These first two pictures are out of sequence however I am not about to start this whole post again so you will just have to bear in mind went to Chaing mai (a small city in the north of Thailand) in the last 5 days of our trip.
The grand palace, former residence of the King of Thailand (In Bangkok). And let me tell you they LOVE the king, pictures and paintings of him adorn buildings everywhere, EVERYWHERE! Any street will have 2,3,4 pictures of him or shrines devoted to him. Big pictures too, covering the sides of sky scrapers in Bangkok. We noticed that many people seemed to be wearing yellow polo shirts. We later learned this was to show devotion to the King, yellow is his colour.


Wat Pho, the oldest Wat in Thailand (or just Bangkok, either way, old).
Chedi at Wat Pho, these are essentially tombs.
The Emerald Buddha Wat and surrounding shiny buildings, they really were very shiny, quite spectacular.

Short and skirts and other immodest clothing are not allowed in this temple area (around the royal palace), bit of a pain in the heat!
Kelly posing with some colourful chaps. We saw these two temples on our first day in Thailand, and then in the evening of the same day we caught a Konn performance. Konn is the traditional Thai dance and we were lucky enough to see an extra special piece which had been recently commissioned for the Kings birthday, yes the King again.

Here are a couple of my favourite pics from the floating Market we visited. We had a lovely 'driver' for our boat who after asking if we were interested in visiting the many tourist nicknak stalls and recieved a resounding no took us on a tour of the residential waterways of his town. He told us that most of the people there did not own a car but everyone owned a boat, nice. For an account of our trip upto Cambodia and Angkor Wat I would refer you too Kelly's BLOG. The link is on the side bar (right hand side) of my BLOG. Her latest two blogs cover the first half of our trip. I will get round to writing but to be honest I haven't even finished my journal writing on the trip!
Just as a side note: the floating (and terrestrial) markets still serve a functional role in traditional Thai society however they are also becoming increasingly affected by tourism. If we had more time we could have sought out a wholly traditional market (catering only to Thais) however time was off the essence (these markets happen according to a lunar calender) and we had to go to a well known market in close proximity to Bangkok. We avoided the touristic side of things as much as possible by not taking a tour. We took a local bus to the town nearby where we stayed in that town sole hotel (a bit of a cold dreary hotel but clean and functional) before getting up early the following day to see the market. The town is about 2 hours from Bangkok and the tours leaving that morning arrive en mass at 9am, and from then on tourists outnumber Thais. We managed to have a couple of hours of peace before the hoards descended, upon which time we made our leave. I believe later that day we chose a tailor, got fitted for suits and then saw Thai Boxing in the evening. I will write up a full and comprehensive account later...sometime....

Happy new year (MY year -year of the boar-). Well I am back from the most amazing holiday I have ever had, to say it went far and beyond my expectations is an understatement. I am still marvelling at the good fortune (in placement and timing and serendipitous plan changing) we were on the receiving end off. I can think of nothing that would have made the trip any better. However it is going to take sometime for me to put together a blog of the trip, I think I will have to do it in several instalments. I am also hindered by a respectably sized mountain of photographs, I and Kelly filled our memory cards about 5 times each so I have a small stack of cds with pics from the trip. Kelly estimates she took around 1000 pictures, goodness knows how many I took. So I shall start by posting some pictures of the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was the most beautiful thing we saw on the trip and the 4.30am wake up and freezing tuktuk drive were well worth it (we were lucky to get a perfect spot right next to the reflecting pool). I filled a whole memory card just that day (of Angkor Wat and 4 other Wats we saw) but I will just post pics of the sunrise just now.

Here is the actual sunrise (using my sunglasses as a filter)



Here is one of Kelly's pics I really like.

And it was pretty before the sun came up as well! All blues and purples.



Here comes the sun (this time using Kelly's brown sunglasses as a filter).

I will return to inflict more of my holiday snaps upon the world; until then rest your retinas.

Ah Christmas, the festive season, full of goodwill and cheer! I am starting to feel it! First I had my fun Christmas party with my students then yesterday I got a surprise visit at the Junior High from the Kindergarten Teacher. She gave me my first Christmas present! A DVD of the kindergarten lesson I had done the previous week (the one the Board of Education and PTA observed). I was quite touched, I will have to get her something nice from Thailand. It even had a picture of me with the kids printed on it and with typical Japanese care and attention to detail she had first put the DVD in a Universal studios Japan bag and then a Comme ca Du Mode bag. Sigh... who is this brute who want to leave this island and its kind folks!
Well anyway and if you have a moment spare why don't you find out about the real Saint Nicholas. The site has a wealth of information of Saint Nicholas and how he evolved into Santa Claus (Santa San in Japan). I am not saying Santa Claus is bad, he is a wonderful character but like the site says Saint Nicholas is just better. One preaches commercialism the other compassion, you choose.
Here is the link:
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38
Or if you are in a hurry just go to this page (it compares Saint Nic. to S.Claus):
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=36

Have a wonderful Holiday season!

My Christmas party and history of the traditional okinawan dish - 'Win-on a bowl or rice'

I and my English conversation class kids posing with Christmas choc lollys my mum had sent.

The last two presents in the pass the parcel were magnifying lens glasses and bunny ears, a victim was chosen.

Yesterday I had my English conversation class Christmas party. Normally I have the first years 6-7 and then the 3rd years 7-8. However sometimes I combine the classes and I thought that would be more fun for the Christmas lesson/party. It was heaps of fun and ended up going on until almost 9pm! Three hours! I had only planned on 2 but we played Monopoly.......
They are good kids and I enjoy taking the class (plus I get a half day on Monday because of it). Oh and Kaho braught some cakes her mother had cooked, maiu datta.
Sooo did you know katsudon is called katsudon (katsu meaning 'to win' ) because it is eaten before sports events, and its like a 'hey lets win food'. Or maybe it was already called katsudon and thats why they eat if before a game. Anyway whichever is the cause and whichever is the effect, it is a breaded pork on rice dish called 'win - on a bowl of rice' and it is eaten before sporting events.

However, Lib Dem chief of staff Norman Lamb said: "To have the government conspire to close down an investigation into serious corruption allegations in the international arms trade on the same day as the prime minister is interviewed by the police over domestic corruption allegations shows how far from 'whiter than white' this government has moved.

A passage from the below article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6181621.stm

Mr Blair and his NEW Labour party, bah! Bunch of nimcumpoops, let it be on the record that I never liked him!The conservatives may be a bunch of well, conservative old farts, but they are generally decent. Not just drooling lap dogs to Bush who are also apparently fairly corrupt on their own too. Margret Thatcher (conservative) should be treated with reverance for bringing our economy into the modern world. She could have done better in some areas but we are all better off for her, I think, although she is still a very vilified figure (especially in scotland).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3685881.stm
Back to the corrupt Labour party - remember Peter Mandelson and David Kelly (Not to mention starting an illegal war and failing to call for a ceasefire in the Isreali Lebanon conflict)? I am not sure about Brown (our probable next Prime Minister), I would give him a chance, I hope that new Labour isn't rotten to the core.
Anyway enough of politcs it generally makes me depressed when I think about it too much.

Why am I in a country that doesn't show cricket on TV! Booooo! Well I suppose it saved me tears on the first two tests but 3 more to go! Monty, the Sikh of Tweak, went on the take 5 wickets, becoming the first English spinner to ever do so in Perth. With the Ossies dismissed for 244 this is Englands finest chance, let's hope they don't mess it up. It is about time we had a big knock from Flinty I think!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/6178327.stm

And I fully support Monty to win the beard of the year! A coveted accolade!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2006/12/beard_of_the_year.shtml

Still 2-0 down in the ashes but Monty is finally here!

He's only gone and done it! Monty Panesar the bearded genius strikes! On his second over! Claiming his first ashes wicket! Long live King Monty Panesar!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/6178327.stm
http://www.ecb.co.uk/england/sdf,10969,EN.html

Panesar and Mahmood have just been picked for their first Ashes (the most important and bitterly fault cricket game played between England and Australia, there's history man!). Just shows what you can achieve if you play as part of the team (Monty recieved a standing ovation as he came on to bowl his first over in an ashes series). Don't be a hater be a cricket player! If you come to our nation try and be postive part of it! Be a fair sport, anything else is just not Cricket.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Panesar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sajid_Mahmood

I am also a fan of Amir Khan, we all watched him avidly during the 2004 olympics (he got silver at the age of 17). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Khan_%28boxer%29

In finding these links I discovered that both Amir and Sajid are from the same Pakistani Punjab royal warrior clan, Janjua.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janjua

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6196464.stm
Pretty interesting I feel. Especially if you go down to the full report (PDF file). I recomend that you do, I was quite disappointed with allot of that the young people thought, especially the London kids. Little buggers. Oh in for a penny in for a pound, while I am on the topic of slating British kids; here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6173441.stm
They can't speak either. ...sigh

The catalogue from AU.
Me sporting the rather Bon Ton Izena kindergarten team strip!

Ah. Today I did a demonstration class? Maybe, I was asked by the primary school if I wanted to teach yochien (kindergarten) on Tuesday the 12th of December. They told me there may be some PTA watching. So I planned a packed lesson with the Yochien teacher, first time we have planned a lesson together which I was quite proud of as we planned it speaking only Japanese. Anyway then closer to the day Amec sensei (head of english at primary school) tells me it is an important lesson. On the actual day he tells me there may be 30 people watching. And sure enough all the BOE (board of education) and all the PTA were there plus most of my fellow Junior High School teachers. Not to worry though the Yochien are my favourite class and they rock your socks off. When Amec sensei told me they were maybe the best in Kunigami (northern Okinawa) I just gave him an incredulous stare as one might looks at a person proudly uttering 'the world is round you know!' or 'Complementary micro RNA can pre transcriptionaly inhibit gene expression'. What I am trying to express is DUUUUHHHHHHHHH! I don't know who idolises who more me or my Yochien. And yes they are mine! As is this island etc etc. Aside from all that, so yes the class went well despite one of my star performers crying (he rallied round), oh yes! and we had special yochien teacher sweaters for the class, specially made, wicked! So again, aside from all that I got a birthday present from AU! AU is the mobile phone company I use in case you are unaware. The sent me a mid sized book shaped parcel. Inside was a voucher for 5000 yen and a catalogue. Just a regular home shopping catalogue with everything from furnishings, to kitchen stuff, to jewellery and bags to camping stuff to everything (except clothes). I assumed I could spend 5000 yen in the catalogue but there were no prices so I asked. Apparently the voucher is 5000 yen off my next phone and the catalogue, well I can order any one thing from it! I was slightly taken agog, but have since spend a few happy idle moments flipping through the pages wondering what I want. I have decided on a thing, A wind up torch solar powered LED lamp radio keitei(mobile phone) charging thing. I think it will be fun for camping and such like. Shush you! I LIKE gadgets! Also very excited about going to Thailand, toodles! 5000 yen is about 25 quid btw, better than a swift kick up the arse!

PS. Almost 1 in 10 Brits live abroad, interesting (at least for me, being one of their kind)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6210358.stm

So as you may know my birthday was on Monday. I mentioned on Monday to the kids in my after school english conversation class that it was my birthday. 'Happy Birthday' they cried. What I wasn't expecting was the following. On the Wednesday I popped home to get some flash cards I wanted to laminate for the elementry school the following day. When I came back all the teachers where having a meeting. Argh I though but I needed to laminate so I bust into the room and got the laminator as quietly as I could (dropped a bit of it). While I was laminting three girls from my english conver appeared. They seemed happy to see me, when I asked them what they were upto they said 'suprise' and went off. They reapeared a little while later with a bag, 'Birthday present!' they declared! Wow! I was Happy! They gave me a bag (Christmas) filled with candy and things, I made a show of it and rummaged around. That is when I found the rather feminine bracelet. They started giggling but I decided to throw caution to the wind and had them put it on me, then I trooped them next door so I could show off the bracelet (fake pearls with a silver heart) to the secretary (a guy) to much giggles from the girls. Then the tea lady popped in so I asked her if it was cute too. More giggles. I told them I was 'cho ureshii,' more giggles and then they left. The cute (and cheeky) little blighters. I intend to wear it to class. BTW that pic of from my phone (on the highest setting - not bad).

The wonderful lamp that kelly made for me as one of my brithday presents from her. Thankyou darling!

I am coming to the sad conclusion I aught to stop doing skids with my bike....until I get a new tire that is! I was getting quick good, I could skid into a pretty tight space, useful for parking inbetween all the student's bikes at the school.