Last week kicked off with a block meeting in the city that inlcuded a visit to a neighbouring town called Matsushiro, where we saw old samurai houses and gardens and then visited the Daihon caves built during WWII. There was so much hype built up in the JET community about this meeting and how it was "too much fun" to be a compulsory part of our training but to me, it was a nice day out of the office and the chance to miss teaching my least favourite class!



I just couldn't take him seriously with that helmet on!


Or them!


A portrait etched into the caves






Samurai street


Watch tower looking over the valley in Nagano

After our day out, Belinda and I were faced with getting ready for Kiren's Hen Party on the bus as we drove back to Nagano. Kiren's friends and family from Australia and the UK were in Japan for her wedding and so we all went out for dinner (Shabu Shabu - meat and vegetables boiled in a sweet soup) and general merriment! The second part of the night was an all-you-can-drink karaoke session which I was GUTTED to have missed out on but my last train was calling. Oh and of course, it was a school night!


Kiren with her mum and friends from home


Kiren and Bel

Kiren and Nic got married at Zenko-ji in Nagano on Wednesday and Belinda and I joined them at the Green Gerberah for the "Nijikai" (wedding reception) afterwards.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet and then on Saturday Kyla and I drove down to Saku for Erika's birthday bash titled "Kimono and Keeki party" (keeki is Japanese for cake!). The venue was Kat's lovely big house and we all donned out best kimonos (complete with obis bought from the 2nd hand store) and brought along our keekis to munch on. I have about a million pictures of gaijins (foreigners) in kimonos because to tell you the truth, the novelty just didn't wear off! We all drank and danced the night away until eventually Kat and I realised that everyone else had gone to bed and we could hear the famous cockrels that wake her up every morning!


No more explantion needed... here are some pictures!

Kyla and Kat

Kyla and me

Abby, Nadia and Toshio

Abby, Zia and Nadia with their keekis!

"BANZAI!"