Kurohime - 25th - 27th Aug 2006

After a long and tiring week at school preparing for next week's lessons, the girls and I were looking forward to a weekend of Gaelic Football (!) at Kurohime (Lake Nokujiro). Of course I had not only never played Gaelic Football, I had also never even heard of it so was slightly apprehensive to say the least. The weekend was advertised as more of a watersports weekend with a BBQ and a bit of football thrown in so thought we'd give it a go - plus get to see more of Nagano prefecture.

We joined about 35 other GAAs (Gaelic Athletics Association) who turned out to be mostly Investment Bankers from the south of Ireland - and as the only JETs there we were able to meet some very interesting people who have lived in Japan for years working for real Japanese companies. They were all a good bunch and welcomed us 'newbies' with open arms...although they did try to get me to sing Flower of Scotland as part of an initiation test but thankfully someone piped up with Swing Low Sweet Chariot and managed to divert the attention (phew!)

Our accommodation for the weekend was a HUGE Japanese style chalet complete with futons and comunal showers and bath (note singular bath) which was really comfortable and clean. Friday night was really just getting to know everyone as they arrived (most were coming from Tokyo) and then up early on Saturday morning to participate in either golf or wakeboarding at the lake (top picture). I was really keen to try wakeboarding (after being too chicken to try at Loch Earn) so for £15 each the girls and I (plus a canadian guy called Tim) boarded a speedboat with a Japanese guy called Ken (picture) for a morning of wakeboarding. The lake was stunning and very clean so we were looking forward to having a swim!

Tim turned out to be a bit of an expert so he went first and impressed (and scared) us all with his jumps and other tricks. Kyla was up next and took to it really easily - she was standing up almost straight away and held on for ages! After I made sure Ken understood the meaning of 'slow' I was happy to take my turn next (and DEFINITLEY didn't ask what sort of 'things' live in the lake). Needless to say, I wasn't very good but really enjoyed it all the same. I stood up on my first go - albeit for about 3 seconds and then after than I could hardly get out the water! So many things to remember. So don't get excited - the next pic is NOT me, I couldn't stand up long enough to get a picture so this is Kyla instead!!!

Pretty good eh?!!!

Kat went next and thankfully was just as bad as me (sorry Kat!) so we all had a good giggle!

After a lazy morning soaking up some sun and chatting with everyone, it was time to start playing some football... well, time for 2 hours of intensive training! The boys team went off and did their own training and then started to play a match, whilst the girls started off with 2 laps of the baseball pitch, some stretching and a sprinting exercise. Followed by some kicking and hitting the ball in pairs (GAA is a cross between football and volleyball) and some more sprinting. After another round of sprinting they decided to go easy on the newbies and let us train a little with one of the injured players called Caroline who taught us the kicking and hitting techniques as well as letting us try some tackle techniques. The warm down was then a lap of the pitch again and more stretches. The poor boys had to then run the 5km road back to camp and do 60m sprints after their game! Thankfully though, it was a lot cooler in Kurohime than what we've been getting used to here in Iiyama - if this was not the case I am 100% serious in saying I might have died during training... which would not have made a very convincing impression!!!

Back to the camp for a feast of BBQ and beer (whilst trying to stay awake) and everyone getting excited trying to convince us to sign up for the tournament in Shanghai... hmm they obviously didn't see me collapse after the 'warm up'. Up early again and back to Iiyama on Sunday to get ready for my speech to 400 students in Japanese tomorrow morning for school starting. Although I feel like I've been hit by a bus today, I can proudly say I tried 2 new things in one day here in the lovely Japan!

Me, Kyla and Kat - on our boat BEFORE attempting to wakeboard!