A shrine to the god of rice is (of course!) a hugely important shrine in Japan. On Sunday, we went to 'Fushimi Inari' Shrine.

'Fushimi' is just the name of the area the shrine is in. 'Inari' is the name of the god of rice. There are lots of statues of foxes at this shrine, as foxes are thought to be the messengers of the god. Also quite amazing are the 10,000 red gates (Torii) that line the path up the mountain. They were given to the shrine as offerings by worshippers or companies that want some prosperity and good luck.

It was nice to be out of the city, and to walk in the mountains, but there were a lot of Japanese tourists there! I was quite surprised, as I didn't realise how popular this shrine was, and I didn't think many tourists would be out on a winter's day. But, it has been a very mild winter, so I guess everyone had the same idea as us.

Isn't it cute how they make sure all their gods are dressed?

As it hasn't been a very cold winter here, Michael and I have decided to visit all the 'must see' shrines and temples and castles around Kansai area that we haven't gotten around to seeing yet. A mild winter is the best time to go sightseeing here, because it's not crowded with Japanese tourists. In spring and autumn, all the 'must see' places are crammed with buses and tourists and guides with flags and megaphones... and summer is waaay too hot and humid to walk around comfortably.

So in the weekend, we went to 'Nijo Castle'. This castle is well known for it's 'nightingale floors' that sing and squeek like nightingales even when you tiptoe on them. (the noise is to catch intruders). And also it's known for having a lot of hidden cubbyholes and sliding doors for guards to hide away and surprise intruders. Hmm the Lord of this Castle must have been extrememly paranoid or there must have been many people wanting to intrude into his castle.

Of course, it doesn't look like a fairytale castle. For that, we'd have to go to Europe. But it had very detailed and beautiful carvings on the outside, and huge paintings on the screen doors inside every room (but we weren't allowed to take photos inside).

The Entrance Gate to the Castle and a Close up of the Detail on the Roof of the Castle:

Detailed Carvings of Phoenix on a wooden beam above our heads.

The Rock Garden: I don't know what those tall straw things are... personally, I prefer a more green garden, but this one is kinda unique ... each to his own.

Last week, I had my last class with the 3rd Year students. Soon, they will have time off school to study for their final exams and then graduate in April. So, we made a 'Memory Book' of all the good memories of their 3 years at high school, and each student gets a copy of the 'book'. Here's a photo of my 3rd year class. I've taught them regularly since they were quiet little first years, and so I'm most attached to this class. Can you find me in the picture? Where's Wally? haha.

Fattie has grown so big and fluffy. He's so cute and not scared of humans at all, he just goes all floppy when I pick him up. Look at those big golden eyes! awwww.

Michael and I had a good weekend. We ate at 2 new restaurants! Now, the thing I do like about living here is that there are sooo many restaurants and shops, that it's impossible to get bored with them!

One 'new' restaurant wasn't really 'new'. Well, it's just down the road from our house, but we've (mostly me) never mustered up enough courage to eat there (no English or picture menu...) I know, what a cowardly excuse. So, after 2 and a half years of 'looking' at this small restaurant, and saying 'we really should give this place a try one day', we finally ate there on Friday night! It's a very small 'homestyle' restaurant run by an old Japanese couple. We didn't have any problems ordering (I guess our Japanese is more than adequate now to order and talk about food without being able to read the menu..) Although I like the general homely athmosphere of the restaurant, I do prefer it when I go out, to have a bit of impersonality in a restaurant. What I found disconcerting during our dinner was the feeling that the 'mom and pop' who ran the restaurant were watching us and listening to us, as well as the few other regular customers who were there. I mean, it just comes with the whole 'gaijin' thing and looking different (well, Michael, not me).

Anyways, it was very yummy, hearty food, and the owner grows her own organic vegetables and pickles them herself, so it's nice and personal that way. But I just don't like personal as in the owners watching us as we eat... our photo was taken after the meal, to be put on their 'photo board' with a whole lot of other photos of previous customers. That was cute. I think we'll eat there again sometime! And next time, I'll bring my camera, and take a photo of the restaurant we hestiated to enter for 2 and a half years! The old lady told us that she'd seen Michael walking past and peering through the window (trying to check out the food!) in the past! haha!

The other new restaurant we tried was in Kyoto city, in the Shijo shopping area. It was an Indian restaurant. It was quite a posh one, and the food was really expensive, but yummy. They served South Indian kind of curries (and many varieties!) nice and tangy and spicy flavor to their curries. I finished off my dinner with a cup of sweet chai:P It was a Saturday night, but it wasn't very busy. I imagine that such spicy and tangy kind of curries may not be very popular among Japanese people, because they aren't used to eating very spicy foods or foods with a lot of flavor. Ew, you should try Japanese curry...sweet watery fake 'curry flavored' brown stuff piled in a heap on top of rice. Yuk yuk yuk. My tea ceremony teacher served it to me 2 weeks ago, and the fake curry smell made me feel so sick. I had to put lots more chilli powder in it to make it less than halfway decent. Then, she made me drown my rice in it, saying that I should eat it the Japanese way. ugh, yuk!

Ear muffs of course! What were you thinking?
They're so warm and outrageously fluffy!

As I was complaining earlier, I had a New Year's tea ceremony to perform at in the weekend. Actually, because I practiced so much (Friday, Saturday night, and Sunday morning!) it went more smoothly than I anticipated.

My teacher lent me her Kimono to wear for the day. I was expertly bundled and tied into it by two old Japanese ladies, who didn't seem to have any qualms in pulling all my clothes off (and putting extra spongy padding in my chest!) in front of an 11 year old girl and two other ladies who were in the house. Ah well, it's a different culture, and they all bathe together naked in the hot springs (onsen) too.

Here's the back of my kimono, and me performing the tea ceremony:

Michael came later on with his friend Gareth. They were put to sit in the 'waiting room' and made to have uncomfortable 'introductory' conversations with giggling girls in kimono.

The food was excellent. I was regretting the tightness of the 'obi' around my waist, as it didn't let my stomach expand to take in all the food. haha. There were really cute sweets served before the tea. They were shaped like flowers.
Care for some lunch? There were really huge strawberries too.

The 11yr old girl who came along must have had too much to eat or something, because she threw up after lunch! (there was a lot to eat... and her lunch was the same size as ours), and we were served more cakes and chocolate and cookies after the lunch... so I'm not surprised she was sick. I'm a bit ashamed to think this way, but that far surpassed any memorable faux-pas us 'gaijin' could have done at the tea ceremony!

Everybody at the New Year's Tea Ceremony party.

Afterwards we were so tired. It was about 4:30 by the time we left. Michael and Gareth had been there since 12, and I'd been there since 10:30am. It's really tiring talking to Japanese people all day because the conversation doesn't flow naturally and easily, and the boys were quite tense about making faux pas in such a highly ritualised and formal occasion. All in all, it went quite well, and I'm pleased that it was the last tea ceremony I'll ever have to perform (touch wood!).

Gosh, since I've been back in Japan, I've been really busy doing things I don't want to do! Not really lessons, but 'after school activities'. I'm so not a team player. Clubs are so stupid. But in Japan, I belong to the tea ceremony club and the English club (which I have to run).

I've been practicing tea ceremony hard-out for my teacher's New Year's tea ceremony. She has forced me to make the thick green tea for the big New Year's party at her house. Sigh. And I've only just learned how to make the thick tea, and I've been on holiday for 3 weeks. The last thing I feel like doing the first week I get back is rehearsing for something I was coerced into doing. grrr.
I kept telling her that I'm not good enough to perform yet, but she keeps saying that it's okay and all the guests can be my teachers. WTF?! More like, they are all going to watch me really closely to see what mistakes I make!! And doesn't she want someone who can do a perfect job? Is she just parading the Gaijin (foreigner)?! I dunno. But, I have been practicing so much, she thinks I'm actually really serious about tea ceremony whereas actually I'm doing it because I don't want to stuff up in front of everyone in a formal-kimono type party. I mean, I like it for a hobby, but don't get me into performances against my will!

And, there's an English Festival coming up, where all the schools in my area prepare a drama or songs in English and give a painful performance in a big hall. And of course, the AETs (foreign English teachers) have to do something for the show too. So, I have to spend more of my time in the weekend trying to organise a drama or a song with 2 other AETs who don't really want to do it, and who don't have a clue what drama or song to do. Last year, we danced around to 'Old Mac Donald Had a Farm' and the audience (and ourselves) thought we were so lame. My pig and chicken mask weren't as cool as I originally thought. And, my English club is doing a performance too, which they haven't started practicing yet...and I have to help them today after school, which I can't be arsed doing either. HA. C'mon it's a friday, I usually slip out of school early on a friday!!

Man, I'm such a bad example of international enthusiasm and happiness.

Here's my weekend...
Thursday: practiced tea ceremony for 3 hours!
Friday: Help after school with English club's drama. Then, it takes me an hour to get home.
Saturday: Meet up to discuss what drama the AETs are going to do.
Sunday: Tea ceremony performance.
What a suck weekend....maaaan.

I arrived back in ChCh on Friday afternoon, and for dinner, Adeline and Simon treated our family to some Indian food in Sumner. yum yum!
That sunday, my family went to Michael's family's house for a get-to-know-the-new-in-laws-BBQ. Michael has such a huge family. He gave his whole family a strict lecture about what constitutes offensive behaviour. haha. And they spent a few hours cleaning the house in preparation for my family's arrival. Aww, how sweet. Here's a pic of Simon, Adeline and Ming looking rather relaxed at Michael's house.

In the end everything turned out ok. Michael's parents got on well with my parents, no-one hated anyone else, the 6 kids were SO well behaved! I was very impressed with them. Maybe we'll even do it again sometime.

Dad looks pleased to have such handsome and smart additions to the family...

This year's Family Photo:

We had an early Christmas this year, because Adeline was going to spend the real Christmas day with Simon's family. Michael gave Josiah his Iaido sword for Christmas. Josiah seemed very happy to have another potentially-lethal weapon.

My Christmas present to Adeline and Simon was to pay for them to get tattoos done! Here's Adeline before she gets her tattoo. Boy, she sure looks nervous! She got the Chinese characters for 'Angel', and Simon got the Hebrew word for 'faith'.

Christmas Day: Josiah and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 8am to make pancakes for mum and dad. They were good pancakes too, we put blueberries and ice cream and maple syrup on them! We didn't have any presents to open, coz we'd already opened them all on our earlier 'Christmas' with Adeline and Simon, but it was a nice relaxed time anyway, and we enjoyed eating the pancakes with a hot cup of Irish-Cream Coffee.

Later in the afternoon, I went to Michael's house to have Christmas lunch with his family. The kids had all woken up at 6am to open presents, so all the adults were looking pretty tired by lunchtime! It was a huuuge BBQ lunch! (and late too, about 3pm!) We had so much dessert, I was rolling out the door...to have dinner at 6pm with my family! Luckily, I still had space in my stomach to eat Singaporean food yummy Singapore Chicken Rice! What a great Christmas!

It was so good to hang out with my old friends again. We didn't get to spend much time together because I was so busy this time back. But, it was great to catch up. We went to Sumner beach and climbed the big rock and took photos. Then went to a cafe for some dessert and drinks. Felt just like the 'old times'when we used to hang out every week.

Jo's 21st Birthday I thought all my friends had already turned 21 a long time ago, but Jo must be one of the few very young friends I have! Her birthday was a great excuse to wear the new dress that I'd bought on impulse while shopping with my sister. We were in Principals and she told me about this amazing dress that she'd bought, and she'd shown it to Hannah, who also bought the dress, then she got me to try it on, and it just looked so good, I had to buy it too! Luckily we all live in different countries!

Jo's party was a lot of fun, but actually I had the most fun at the end when most people had left and it was only Jo's family and me and Ruth left. We helped her to open all her presents, and danced around crazily to pop music on the juke box. Not something I could have done earlier in the night...trying to look classy and 'grown up' in front of church people I hadn't seen for ages.

Happy New Year!!

I was expecting a quiet New Years spent at Michael's house this year. But, plans changed, and we ended up dancing in town. So, we were in the square for the big countdown and fireworks. I got to wear my new dress again - yay! We met up with Maeli and Yulia, and his friend, Chi and her friend, and Danielle. As you can see, I have forgotten two people's names...they were introduced to me when I was slightly intoxicated. It was a freezing cold night, what kind of summer is this?! So it was a pain when the all the nightclub's bouncers seemed to be on a very picky mission to exclude everyone they could. We got turned away from 2 clubs because, the first time, Maeli and his friend were swaying the second time was because Michael had pants with cargo pockets on them (but they were actually very neat cargo pants). Ah well. We got into the Treehouse, and then we got into Cayotes (the hip hop bar that all the asians go to!)hehehe. I blended in real well, but I think my non-asian friends felt a little outnumbered after a while, and wanted to leave.
So, that was my New Years. I can't believe I used to go dancing every Friday and Saturday night, and still go to work early on a Sunday. On New Year's day, I was sleeping in till 1pm, and still couldn't be bothered getting out of bed! Michael brought me breakfast in bed! Lucky me.

Family Trip to Akaroa: I don't have the photos we took in Akaroa coz they were taken on Dad's camera. But here's a photo we took on the way home from Akaroa. We passed some fields with purple wildflowers growing everywhere, and couldn't resist taking photos like tourists.

Here's some pics for those who have been asking questions about the bride and bridesmaid's dresses... they are getting made by Christine, a wedding dress maker and friend of my mum. She also made my sister's wedding dress and her bridesmaid's dresses.

So far, I have only chosen the material for the dress, but not the long fur-hooded coat that goes over it. Am hoping that more winter-material choices will start appearing in ChCh soon.

These pics are of Ruth and me draping material over ourselves to check if the colors suit us, and also if the colors go well together.

I think Ruth looks great wearing red, don't you? and at first, we were thinking cocktail length dresses, but when we saw that red material draped down to her feet, it looked so much more elegant than knee-length!

Unfortunately my sister couldn't make it to the material-shopping, but we're pretty sure she'll suit that color too.

Writing to you from Singapore Airport, after a 6 hour stopover! It's really late at night, about 12:30 Singapore time, and much much later in NZ time, so Michael and I are very sleepy and a little cranky. We found a nice place to sleep in the airport though, a lounge area with chairs that are reclined back for people with incredibly long waits like ours. I slept a little and read a very girly book that my sister gave me.

Weighed myself this morning and found out that I'd put on about 3kgs since going back to NZ, been treating myself a little too frequently! haha. (yes, I ate all the pies...and lollie cakes...and rocky roads) Anyway, back to the healthy eating lifestyle of the Japanese now, so I'm not too worried.

See ya

Going back to Japan tomorrow. Looking forward to having my own house again, but not looking forward to work of course! My favorite memories of this trip were: Going to Akaroa with my family on a cold rainy day and browsing in all the craft stores,and eating seafood chowder with garlic bread...mmm... Giving Adeline and Simon tattoos for Christmas! Hanging out with my friends in Sumner beach. Eating lots of good Singaporean food with my family. The very drunken New Years celebrations in Cathedral Square.

Today, I've just been hanging out with the family, they came with me to buy 'omiyage' (souviners) for the Japanese people I work with. It's dumb to feel obligated to buy stuff back for people I don't really care about, but that's life I guess.

Ok, going to spend more time with the family now. Anyways, I will be back in NZ in 6 months time! (FOREVER finished with Japan!!) Will put up some photos soon!

I've been back in NZ for 2 and a half weeks now, and it's gone really fast (as usual!). The weather has been so terrible here...sooo cold and rainy and windy. Feels like winter! And I was looking forward to wearing all my summer clothes and spending time on the beach and in the park. But today was about the first really warm sunny day since I've arrived! Made the most of it and took Angel (the dog) for a walk in the park. AND, today I did my full licence driving test and passed!! Yay! Now Dad will let me drive his car past 10pm and I can legally take passengers who don't have their full licences (e.g. nearly all my friends!!).

Well, the past couple of weeks haven't been as relaxing as I'd hoped, but after I did my driver's test today I feel like a load of worry has been taken off my shoulders. Now I can drive the campervan around Europe!  Basically since I've been back, Michael and I have been organising wedding stuff and also trying to put in some good quality time with friends and family.

We have decided on the venues for our wedding. I would have liked the ceremony and reception dinner to be at the same venue, but it just didn't work out that way. We have chosen the Provincial Chambers (a historic building in Christchurch - opposite the central library) to hold the ceremony. The building is a very old stone building with lots of large wooden beams on the inside and lovely curved wooden ceilings, and huge stained glass windows. It's the historic debating chambers of Christchurch city. And for the reception dinner, we've chosen Landsdowne Homestead (behind to Rossendale Winery) in Tai Tapu. It has a large area with huge old trees that will make for good photos. Feels good to have finally made the bookings!