Tales from Hiroshima

P.S. my last photograph

2007-03-26T14:40:00.000+09:00

Sayonara

2007-03-22T16:24:00.000+09:00

I had high falutin plans for the final post in this little adventure but in reality I have so many things on my mind at the moment that I feel like I am stuck in the middle of a very fast lazy susan and no one will let me off!

Enough of the whinging.

I have led a very charmed life for the past 18 months and although I once complained that I had to go out for lunch five days in a row I am sure that there might come a time when I am knee deep in nappies and will wistfully look back on such decadence. Somebody once said that if there was such a thing as reincarnation he would come back as a "Mazda wife", not such a bad choice I reckon.

Without wanting to sound cliched living in Japan has been a chance in a lifetime, we have had some wonderful experiences and made some great friends along the way too. Many people have said "oh but the language must be such a barrier" and while it is difficult it has never prevented us from doing anything. During our first week here we went to a restaurant with a menu entirely in kanji, unfazed by this we managed to ask the waitress to bring us as much food as our budget allowed. Fortunately we're not picky eaters and we dined like kings that night. I think the moral of the story is that if you think something will be a barrier then it will be.

When I have explained to some people that I do not have a 9-5 job here they have looked at me in horror and said "But what do you do all day? Aren't you bored? It must be a long wait for Martin to get home at the end of the day". The way I saw it was that there was a whole new country out there to explore. And explore we did. I spoke to a couple of Japanese ladies at lunch (I did go out for lunch a lot!) the other day and when they asked me where I went to in Japan they were surprised to hear that I had visited places they had not been too. When I wasn't going on off on adventures I took Japanese lessons, taught English, finished a course in Art History, worked for a translator and started a book group. None of these things were particularly demanding or stressful but I enjoyed them all, learnt lots of new things and met many new people because of them. I was certainly not bored and most definitely did not sit by the door waiting for Martin to get home at the end of the day.

Nevertheless, it was lovely to see Martin at the end of every day. For the first time in our nine year relationship/marriage I got to see my husband seven days a week. Most people take this for granted but before we got married it was a long distance relationship and when we got married Martin was working in Germany a great deal of the time so being able to spend so much time with each other was a big bonus in coming here. I know it sounds corny but spending so much time together has been one of the best things about this whole experience.

We have made some lovely friends here and it is even harder to say goodbye when you know that it will be such a long time, if ever, that you will see people again. On the plus side it will be lovely to see our friends at home who we have really missed since we've been away. Being away from them has made me appreciate them even more and I really treasured all the phonecalls and care packages of Green and Black's chocolate and the Sunday Times Style section!

Well that's the end of my blogging and the last of my tales from Hiroshima. If the next couple of years bring anywhere near the amount of tales, travels and tribulations as the last couple then I will be very lucky indeed.

Sayonara from Hiroshima, a great city to live in.

"Time stop"

2007-03-13T16:56:00.000+09:00

I read a book last year called "The Lady and the Monk" about a young English guy who goes off to live in Kyoto for a year and falls in love with a woman called Sachiko. Whenever her boyfriend introduces her to something new and exciting Sachiko would always say in her broken English "time stop". I think I speak better English than Sachiko but I really wish I could "time stop" right now.

Our time in Japan is almost over, this day 2 weeks we will have moved out of the apartment and in three weeks we will be at home in England. After Christmas we were really excited about getting home and would list off all the things we were looking forward to when we got back, mostly family and friends but also little things too like the pub, the Daily Telegraph on a Saturday, sausages, going shopping and actually finding clothes that fit ! Now it's time to go I find myself thinking about all the things I will miss when I leave Japan and the list seems to grow each day. I wish we could stay just a little bit longer.

Last week I spent the afternoon with my friend Ryoko at her parents house. Ryoko was my Japanese teacher and would come to the apartment every Wednesday and Friday to teach me to try to read, write and speak in Japanese. I am far from wonderful but I learnt enough to shop and eat and travel to all the places where I shopped and ate. Like me Ryoko loves baking and handbags, so our lessons always included an opportunity to have a break for tea and cake and handbag talk. I gave Ryoko some baking lessons, she now loves traybakes and her grandfather is very fond of caramel squares. (I'd like to think this will become Northern Ireland's contribution to Japanese cuisine and increase the sales of condensed milk too.) I will fondly remember the morning Ryoko arrived with her latest handbag purchase, a Kate Spade number in brown corduroy with beautiful pink script on the front and back saying "Hello" and "Goodbye". When she came in the bag was held to say Hello but as Ryoko left she laughed and got in a fluster because she hadn't turned the bag around to say goodbye. It was all these little things that so endeared me to Ryoko, always smiling, pretty, thoughtful and considerate.

Her family are just as lovely and it was real treat to be invited into their home (mostly Japanese people entertain outside of their homes). Her grandfather was so sweet and enthusiastically showed me around the garden and all the lovely stone lanterns he had built. Their home is a very traditional Japanese style house with lovely tatami rooms and shoji screens.
Ryoko's Mum had gone to a lot of trouble and made me feel really welcome, she even put on an exhibition of Hina dolls!

Ryoko and the Hina dolls.

I think I'm doing well if I give someone tea in a cup and saucer but this put me to shame. Each of us had an individual tray with bonsai plant, banana leaf, powdered green tea served in the finest Hagi pottery and mochi inside beautiful red lacquer ware bowls.

When I recognised the pottery her mum was so chuffed that I liked Japanese pottery that she ran off to give me some plates that she no longer used. On top of this she made me a notebook, a lemon cake complete with a piping bag of cream, a fruit hamper, mochi, rice crackers and even dressed me up in her engagement Kimono. Somehow the little basket of cookies and flowers that I arrived with seemed very inadequate for all this hospitality and generosity. It was lovely to be made feel so special and I will really treasure all these little experiences when I leave Japan.

Looky, looky and Lazy Susans.

2007-03-04T11:41:00.000+09:00

Despite my concerns about Air China I'm safely cocooned back in Hiroshima. What an adventure! Since we were with a Japanese tour group (and therefore the source of much intrigue) we packed into four days what most people would normally do in six, wake up calls were received at 6 each morning and meals were wolfed down at frenetic speed from round a Lazy Susan. I will never be able to look at a Lazy Susan again without thinking of China and the scrum we endured at every meal just to get a morsel of food inside our mouths. For the rest of the tour group round our table you would have thought they'd never seen food before and then when you tried to whizz the lazy susan your way they'd put their finger on it and hog it for ages! In fact, there was enough Lazy Susan whizzing to give anyone a dizzy head.

The weather was pretty grim so all my photos seem to be engulfed in a grey haze but hey ho I still made it to the Great Wall of China...

and when I got to the top there was a camel...

and a roller coaster too. How odd I thought.

Not as odd as the Starbucks slap, bang in the middle of the Forbidden City though. I wonder what Mao would say about that.They had to remove the huge Starbucks sign from outside the store as they thought it wasn't complimentary to the surroundings. You think?

The surroundings were mighty impressive though.

Tiananmen Square is just across the road from the Forbidden City, it's vast and foreboding.

After that it was back on the bus and up to the Temple of Heaven.

I have to say that the driving in Beijing was crazy and way worse then anything I have ever seen in Italy (well almost, I saw a man drive over the top of a roundabout in Naples). Sometimes it looked like there were five lanes of traffic in a road meant for three and there were hundreds of cyclists darting in and around this craziness. We drove past an incident involving a bus and in the absence of traffic cones they had used a fire extinquisher to alert oncoming traffic. Let's hope no one drove into the fire extinquisher.

Whenever we arrived at our destinations we would always be greeted by hoards of people trying to sell us something and poking at you saying "looky, looky". When you thought you'd escaped the worst of it you'd see a fake Fendi or the like being shoved through a fence accompanied by the familiar call of "looky, looky". There are many beggars too and coupled with the desperation of the people trying to sell you stuff it is really quite sad but I guess that the people living in Beijing have it a little better than those in the country. There is an obvious sense that things are changing very quickly and there is building work everywhere in Beijing. There are also swathes of rubble from where the old hutongs have been torn down in advance of the Olympics. Hutongs are traditional narrow lanes with houses in the form of quadrangles on both sides where close knit communities of families live. We were lucky to have a peek around some of them.

Like the man in the last picture I was pretty wrecked at the end of my adventure but had a great time all the same. It was interesting to see glimpses of the old and new China and I was really impressed by how eager people are to speak English. I was even approached by a waitress in a cafe with a pen and paper who wanted me to give her a quick English lesson. After a few minutes of writing and talking I left and she seem so chuffed with her piece of paper and the new English phrases she'd learned that she said "cup of tea don't money" - she was very sweet.

After this mammoth post I'm off to make a cup of tea myself.

Ps. Apologies to anyone who was eagerly anticipating Martin's blog post. It was clearly just a rumour and he was too busy eating sushi to put fingers to keyboards.

All the tea in China

2007-02-24T11:59:00.000+09:00

I am going to Beijing on Monday to drink lots of tea and eat plenty of Peking duck. Food is always an important part of any holiday for me so I have great expectations for the Peking duck, if it aint good in Peking then there's no hope. Besides eating and drinking I'm going to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden city, I'm mega excited as the Great Wall is something I always thought was so far away and would never be able to visit. I'm leaving Martin to fend for himself for a few days and will need to show him how the rice cooker works before I go as he still doesn't know after a year and a half. There are rumours circulating that he might even do a blog post. Stay tuned.

Spring winds and the "Prum Brossom"

2007-02-20T13:50:00.000+09:00

It seems that winter is already over in Hiroshima and that Spring has finally arrived. My friend informed me that the Spring wind came last week, I have no idea what the "Spring wind" is but I love the idea of Winter being blown away! Not that Winter was so bad, it rarely got very cold and we didn't even get any snow this year. One of my favourite things about Spring in Japan is the arrival of plum blossom or "prum brossom" as my friend Ailsa likes to say. Everyone makes such a big deal out of cherry blossom (the national flower) that poor old plum blossom kind of gets forgotten about, I reckon it's vastly underated. It was so beautiful this morning that I tootled off to the nearby gardens to check out the plum blossom. With the soothing tones of the Japanese shimasen being piped through speakers and the trickle of water it was just like walking through a plum blossom wonderland!

I came across this pair of lovebirds in the garden posing for their wedding photographs, what a stunning kimono and her hair is amazing (probably a wig but years ago they actually had to have their hair styled like that and had to rest their heads on a stand while they slept so the style wasn't disturbed!).

Rolling up seaweed

2007-02-11T15:38:00.000+09:00

Despite the fact that I've lived in Japan for well over a year I had yet to make my own sushi until Erin hosted a sushi party last night. When I first came to Japan I expected to find little sushi bars with their neverending conveyor belts and counters stacked high with empty plates on every street corner but that wasn't the case. There is way more to Japanese cuisine than sushi and chicken teriyaki than I could ever have imagined and although some of it is an aquired taste I have really enjoyed trying out as many culinary delights as possible in my time here.

Regards the sushi, it was really simple to make, so fresh and tasty and I think it will be making a regular appearance in my bento box when I return to work.

Erin armed with her sushi mat and seaweed and poised to start the demonstration.

I love the look of pure concentration on Orlando's face.

My first attempt at sushi! Spicy tuna rolls, and very tasty they were too.(I'll blame the wonky shot on any alcohol consumed.)

The evening was rounded off by a fun and at times tenuous game of Battle of the Sexes. I really love board games but I tend to get a bit too competitive. Iddya was my partner in competitive crime and we didn't take too well to the boy's smugness. See, don't they look smug?

I met Cheyenne for the first time last night and on introduction he said he knew me from somewhere. It turns out he recoginsed me from my blog! When he met Martin he said there mustn't be many pictures of him on the blog as he didn't recognise him. This made me laugh so I have included a picture of Martin with his very own sushi roll and mysterious hand just to balance things out.

Martin's sushi was also very good although he was a bit heavy handed with the wasabi which gave a few people a bit of a shock and a tingly nose.

You heard it from me first...

2007-02-05T17:37:00.000+09:00

You know me always ahead of the gossip. Remember a few posts back I told you how we saw Matthew Perry and Meg Ryan out for dinner in Hawaii well I came across the following article in the news today!

Is Meg Dating Friends Star?
Meg and Matthew sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G...

OK, perhaps we are getting ever so slightly carried away.

But with all the rumours flying around we just can't help ourselves.

The word on the street is that Matthew Perry has been making rather a few trips to Meg Ryan's LA homestead.

And it has been reported that they have also been out for a candlelit dinner for two.

Hmm...

Now, we're big fans of this supposed coupling... as far as we know they're both single and we think they'd be rather cute together.

Sure, we're just old romantics at heart - and so we'll be sure to keep our ears to the ground for any word from the Meg or Matt camps.

Now I really do regret not snapping a picture, I'm sure People magazine would have paid a pretty penny.

Gaijin Invasion

2007-02-04T19:50:00.000+09:00

Check out this catchy little tune from "Adam and Joe" about Tokyo. The diving outfits are fantastic and the line "the buildings are kinda tall, the people kinda small and everybody eats a lot of fish" really made me chuckle. If it doesn't make you laugh then at least you'll learn a little Japanese along the way.

Today in Kurashiki

2007-01-31T20:00:00.000+09:00

Today I went to the lovely town of Kurashiki with a friend, we chatted endlessly, drank lots of coffee, rummaged through boxes of obi in a secondhand Kimono shop, looked at pictures by Monet, Picasso and Jackson Pollock in the art museum, pottered around the shops some more, ate some more and then we headed home. I love days like this; just taking it easy and looking at nice things.

A strong cup of coffee in this little place was the perfect remedy for a sleepy head.

Who would have thought some twigs, holly and a rod of bamboo could have looked so good.

Spring is in the air! The first signs of plum blossom.

A lonely red building stands out amongst all the black and white.

I couldn't resist snapping these little kids in their jaunty party hats, they looked so happy skipping along the road and were probably wondering why I was taking their picture.

Far flung corners

2007-01-24T17:14:00.000+09:00

Every evening Martin and I like to download the Nolan Show podcast so we have something to listen to before we go to bed. This podcast provides us with a great source of humour, familiarity and sometimes, a fair bit of anger too. A cry of "I can't believe they just said that" or "catch yourself on" will often be heard emanating from myself or Martin as we tune in to hear the great people of Northern Ireland talk about water rates, swinging or parking tickets. I will never forget Irene from Lisburn, who complained about getting a parking ticket and said "I will never,never,ever be back in Lisburn again to do my messages". Two things amused me about Irene's call, for a start I hadn't heard someone talk about getting their messages for a long time and secondly, she parked in front of two parking spaces. When it was brought up that she got the ticket because she parked in front of two cars she merely said "aye, but I left enough room so they could reverse out the side of me."

Little gems like those make my day but I'd noticed lately that the podcasts weren't being uploaded at such regular times and therefore, I couldn't listen to people like Mavis from Carrickfergus talk about traumatization and disablements (her words not mine). So I sent off a little email asking for the podcasts to be uploaded at a more regular time and it turns the Nolan show were very interested to hear from us and we've even made it on to their blog!

Wish you were here?
Ian McTear
23 Jan 07, 01:03 PM
We received an email yesterday from a couple of expats in Japan who like to listen to the Stephen Nolan podcast every night to keep in touch with what's going on at home.
And we know of another man in Japan who listens to it on the bus in the way into work.
So where in the world are you listening? We'd love to hear from you.

So there you have it, it turns out Martin and I are not only the only people who listen to the Nolan show in Japan. If there are any other Norn Ironers listening in from from far flung corners they'd loved to hear from you so you can leave a comment at the end of their blog - I included the link above. Sandra, I know you'd be partial to flapping your ears to the Nolan show too.

Ps. the picture above was taken from the kitchen window in Limavady. It's such a good view that no wonder it takes me a long time to do the dishes when I'm standing there - on the other hand, my siblings seem to think that it's because I'm a bit lazy and like to keep my hands in the hot water.

Reunited

2007-01-21T14:38:00.000+09:00

Watch out Hiroshima the Green Bullet is back on the street. I still can't believe they actually found it and proves my trip to the police station wasn't entirely in vain.

On to less dangerous matters, we went to see The Departed last night and I would thoroughly recommend it. Martin Scorsese is back on fine form and some of the acting is fantastic. Jack Nicholson has some classic moments, I particularly enjoyed his facial impersonations of a rat and the line from Matt Damon's character that Freud said "the Irish are the only people impervious to psychoanalysis" sparked some interesting conversation on the way home. I'll leave you to think about that one for yourselves.

End of the holiday posts

2007-01-17T16:03:00.000+09:00

Since January seems to be whizzing by I thought I'd better wrap up the holiday posts otherwise I'll still be chatting about Christmas in April.

Towards the end of our stay in Maui we went for a really nice dinner at the Halemaile General Store. The food was yummy and the people watching even better.

We were given a table by the door and windows which normally isn't a good thing but it meant I got have a good look around and I do like my people watching.

Anyway, just after the above picture was taken I caught the eye of the person standing at the window outside and staring in. It turned out to be Matthew Perry. So I quickly turned to Martin and said "you'll never guess who's standing outside" to which Martin replied "someone from Limavady?'' (which wouldn't be that unlikely, we often meet people from home in the strangest of places). So I had another conspicious look and he was with Hank Azaria and Kevin Pollak.

A few minutes later they came in and took their seats 2 tables behind us so I had plenty of opportunities to have a good nosy. They were with a lady I couldn't put a name to so I asked Martin if he knew who it was. He turned around and told me it was Farrah Fawcett. I didn't think it was her so I had another look and it was Meg Ryan. Poor Meg, it's not good when someone mistakes you for Farrah Fawcett. As the evening went on they played games including the one where someone puts a sticker on your forehead and writes the name of a famous person it and you have to guess who you are. Kevin Pollak was Michael Douglas and Meg Ryan was the last to work out she was Dennis Hopper. Maybe they should just have used their own names.

On our adventures around Maui we spotted lots of interesting little places. I loved this quaint little church built from lava rock on the road to Hana.

Along the roads there were lots of wonderful little stands selling coconuts,guava juice and freshly baked banana bread (not as good as my own though!).

There are all kinds of beaches in Hawaii, including red, golden, grey, glass and black. The black sandy beaches were such a contrast to the pale blue waters.

After Maui it was a hop, skip and a jump over to Honolulu to see in the New Year, do some shopping and visit Pearl Harbour.

Oh, how I wish I was in Hawaii today, it's so grey here that it has taken grey to a whole new level but I guess Spring and the cherry blossom isn't too far away. Bring it on.

Braking all the way down.

2007-01-11T17:13:00.000+09:00

I would say I was a pretty organised person and every time we go on holiday I take a folder with itineraries, phone numbers, maps and booking references. This holiday was no different except the folder was significantly bigger than previous trips. For a start there were 2 trains,7 flights,3 accommodation bookings, 2 rental cars and numerous other restaurant and trip reservations. Such a folder comes in very handy when you have to get up at ungodly hours and drive through the dark to make it to an early morning activity. Take for example our sunrise bike tour from the top of Haleakala.

We awoke from the warmth of our bed at 3am and drove down to the tour company office to join up for the tour.Smiling and brimming with enthusiasm while everyone else lurked sleepily in the corner,we approached the desk and gave our names. "No" the receptionist said, our names were not on the list. He asked did we have a booking reference with us, heck no, we'd left the folder at the house. He trawled the bookings and announced yes we had a booking but it was made for the NEXT DAY. And the moral of the story is, a folder is all well and good but it's no use unless you check it!

Despite the fact that they were one short of being full to capacity they managed to sqeeze us in and off we set on a great adventure. We piled into the mini buses to get up to Haleakala before sunrise and then we would make our own way down on the bikes. Our bus driver was most informative and plied us with a couple of anecdotes that made me laugh all the way from the bottom of my heart. Here are my favourites.

At the top of Haleakala and just before her 38 mile cycle down a woman approaches the bus driver.
Lady to bus driver - "Do I need to be able to ride a bike to do this?"
Bus driver - Blank stare of disbelief
Lady - "But my husband said I would learn on the way down."
Bus driver - "Lady, I think your husband's trying to kill you."

Haleakula is situated well above the clouds which makes it pretty dramatic but for some it's all a bit too dramatic. On seeing the clouds one woman said " Oh no, we had real bad turbulance on the flight over, there's no way I'm riding my bike through those clouds". Overcome with fear, her bike was taken away and the woman rode down on the minbus. On the way down and through the mist the driver let go of the steering a little bit giving the effect of turbulence. Apparently she had an absolute conniption.

I know you may be a bit skeptical but I firmly believe these stories are 100% true. I don't know what it is about humans but whenever we become tourists we seem to lose all rationality and common sense. When we go on holiday do our brains have a break too?

It was freezing cold but watching the sunrise from Haleakala was really spectacular, Mark Twain said it was "one of the most sublime spectacles ever seen."

At first everything was pitch black and you couldn't see a thing but slowly...

an array of colours appeared.

Little by little the sun popped its head up and over the clouds

and a little bit more...

until this!

It looked like Mars and it was really hard to gauge the distance but apparently it is 2.5 miles from one end of the crater to the other.

We got our bikes from the van and took a leisurely few hours to make our way down to the coast, stopping to take in the views, have a picnic breakfast and check our map. I say leisurely because I was a bit cautious of some of the 66 switchbacks and I braked practically the whole way down. This caused a bit of cramp in the hands but there was no way I was wiping out. After a few hours I asked Martin when the rest of the hills were coming up but he said it didn't matter as we appear to be going up the hills faster than coming down them due to my cautiousness!

Not a flattering photo I know but Martin thinks it best illustrates the lack of speed and constant braking. Anyway, you have to wear the helmet so we both looked like dorks together.

After a wonderful trip we safely returned to base and were happily told by the receptionist that we were the last ones back, not that he wanted to make us feel slow or anything. Poor Martin, I'm sure he would have been finished in no time but he happily stayed with me. In the afternoon we gave our hands a rest and had a lovely time browsing the boutiques and galleries in the wonderfully artsy town of Paia.

Cheers from the speed demon until the next post.x

Sunrises and star gazing

2007-01-06T11:40:00.000+09:00

After Kauai we boarded the "Ford Escort express" one more time for our short flight to Maui. Thankfully, there were no handbrake turns this time and a cheery "Aloha" replaced "Yee Hah".

About the same size as Northern Ireland, there is so much to do on Maui that it's just like one giant water park with an adventure playground in the middle. Boasting some of the best beaches in Hawaii, you can frolick with dolphins and sea turtles in crystal blue waters, spot whales playing with their calves while driving along the coast roads, go horseriding in upcountry ranches and explore the Mars like volcano at Haleakala.

We stayed in a beautiful old plantation house in upcountry Maui. It was miles from anywhere and so quiet that the silence was almost noisey. Situated on a protea farm as soon as you got out of the car it smelled as though you had arrived at an open air flower market, if only I could have bottled that sweet smell and taken it home with me. At night the stars were so clear it was like a planetarium.

I am never happier than when I'm reading and drinking a good cup of coffee and every morning I did just that on the adirondacks with a book and a cup of Kona coffee.

When Martin finally dragged me off the adirondack we clocked up lots of miles around the island, some by car, foot, bicycle and horseback.

On Christmas Eve we went horseriding at a nearby ranch and a merry ride it was. My horse, "Abba", was certainly a bit of a dancing queen so don't be fooled by the gentle exterior. She refused to move when I wanted her to and then unannounced she would set off into a high speed gallup. In one particular incident she took off at great speed through some woods and I thought I was going to get my head chopped off by a large branch. Up on the hill the rest of the group could see a small blue dot whizzing by atop a horse and screaming "stop" very loudly. Then when she did stop all she wanted to do was eat, apparently she had been sent to the ranch on fat camp. Despite this it was a wonderful afternoon and Martin had a very relaxing time aboard his horse "Pegasus".

On Christmas morning we had a 6am start for a spot of whale watching with the Pacific Whale foundation. The weather was beautiful and the sea so calm that whenever the boat's engine was turned off you could have heard a pin drop - the silence only being broken by the splashing of baby calves and the blow of the whales.

In the afternoon we packed a picnic and headed to the beach for some fun, sun and snorkelling. It was just like "Finding Nemo" and Martin was so excited by the whole experience that he lay face down in the water for a bit too long without reapplying sun cream and now adorns some comical sunburn marks on his back.

I must go as last night's chilli with cornbread topping is being reheated for lunch and the smell is wafting through the house making me very hungry. I think if I were on death row my last meal would definitely include cornbread, ribs and coleslaw - I'd probably have a cup of tea and a traybake too! Anyway, I'll be back soon with the sunrises and star gazing (of the human form) so stay tuned.

We lived the same day twice

2007-01-04T18:12:00.000+09:00

All packed up and buzzing with excitement we left our apartment at 8:30am on 19/12/06 and arrived jet lagged and tired in Hawaii on 19/12/06 at 8am. How weird is that?! Initially I thought that I would get to live a day longer than everyone else but then we missed out on 03/01/07 travelling back so I guess it's all swings and roundabouts.

We had an absolutely wonderful time and I managed to take a whopping 473 pictures in between sunning, reading, eating and drinking a few Mai Tais. First stop was Kauai which is the oldest and northernmost of the Hawaiian Islands and is also home to the wettest place on earth at Mt Wai'al'ale. Whoever made that claim clearly hasn't been to Strabane in Northern Ireland.

When we got to Honolulu we had to board an inter island flight to Kauai. The plane was so small and there were so few passengers that we had to be moved around in our seats to balance out the plane. As we took off the pilot shouted "yee hah" and when we landed he rallied the plane around the runway like it was a Ford Escort and even tried some manoeuvre that was suspiciously like a handbrake turn ! I appear to be prone to these runway adventures and endured a frightening road rage incident between the luggage carrier and the shuttle bus on the runway at Venice airport.

We made it safely off the plane and had a thrilling time exploring the island.

The Waimea Canyon may be dubiously nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific but it holds some pretty cool vistas and it's hard to believe such an immense canyon can be tucked away inside such a small island - the canyon alone is 3000ft deep.

If you come to Hawaii the Napali Coast on Kauai is a must see so we booked a rafting adventure to get a good look, in fact the only way you can see it is by boat anyway. We arrived at the harbour and saw a small rubber raft tied to the dock where our Captain told us this was "the boat" and not a boat used to transport us to another boat. The sea was quite rough that morning so for the next five hours we held on for grim life as we surfed 25ft waves and took in some amazing sights. Just as we left the harbour we were met by a pod of spinner dolphins, there were loads of them and they were so playful as they swam alongside the boat.

One of the big draws into going to Hawaii was being able to see whales and shortly after the dolphins we spotted a humpback whale. It was so amazing to see 50ft and 40 tonne of whale breach into the air that I will never forget it. It kept waving its pectoral fin at us which was really cool and before it went down for a dive it blew 15ft of water in the air.This is why the whalers coined the famous term "thar' she blows". Fortunately this was the first of many whale sightings throughout the holiday since humpbacks come to Hawaii to give birth and nurse their calves in the winter.

Being on a raft made it hard to get steady pictures but the coast looked really magical with the mist rolling in and I can see why they filmed Jurassic Park there, you half expect a dinosaur to appear any moment it looks so mythical. It's hard to imagine that up to 1,500 Hawaiians lived in the valleys between those cliffs at any one time and the last ones left in the 1930's - a school teacher had to be shipped out to the children every Monday and he was picked up again on Friday.

Driving through the island there was always something to stop off and look at like the patchwork of taro fields and meandering river at Hanalei.

As always we like to try out the local eateries and we had a beautiful lunch at the hotel on Hanalei bay. Curiously, Martin came all the way from Japan and still had to have a bento box!

This is where Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right out of her hair in the movie South Pacific and it was my favourite beach of the whole holiday. We practically had the place to ourselves for the whole afternoon barring a few surfers and one lazy monk seal who was wise enough to lie there until the tide came in and washed him right back out to sea. Talk about an easy life!

Well that's it from Kauai and I don't want to bore you anymore so I'll be back soon with more from Maui.

Temporarily leaving the blogosphere

2006-12-18T19:38:00.000+09:00

This is just a quick little post to let you know that we won't be around for a few weeks as we're going to Hawaii. I can hardly curtail my excitement. We have lots of fun things planned like cycling 38 miles down a volvano (you only have to pedal the last 400 yards!), taking a rafting tour of the Napali coast where Jurassic Park was filmed, snorkelling, horseriding and generally having lots of fun.We hope to return in one piece although I am a little worried about the man who got his hand bitten off by a shark in Maui in September - I think the baking, blogging and photography skills would be seriously hampered if that happened to me. Hopefully I'll be alright and return with plenty of pictures and tales from our adventure.

We took a brief interlude from the packing and whizzed down to Peace Boulevard this evening to snap some pictures of the fantastic illuminations on display. In true Japan style there are many wild and wacky creations but they look wonderful. Unfortunately, I didn't get great pictures due the fear of being run over by a cyclist if I stood in the same spot too long. Cycling in this country should be called an extreme sport. Anyway, the packing awaits me.

Lots of love, Martin and Therese,xx

PS. I hope you all get very merry and eat plenty over the next couple of weeks!

Just another ordinary day

2006-12-17T19:18:00.000+09:00

Well I thought I'd better move on from the embarrassing discovery that my musical taste matches that of a NASCAR driver - Martin reckons it was all the Dixie Chicks and Gretchen Wilson CDs in my collection that did it. Not much happened today, we both got our haircut (not matching), went to the swimming pool (where I momentarily popped out of my tankini), cycled to the supermarket, then snuggled up on the sofa with a bar of Dairy Milk and watched ET in the afternoon. At the moment Martin is busy in the kitchen making some homemade burgers and wedges for dinner. So there you have it, just another ordinary but cosy Sunday in the McCloskey house. Now I must scadaddle as dinner is ready.
Love until I have something more interesting to post,
T,x

PS. The picture above shows the spider sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois outside of the Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills. There is also a copy outside the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Hmm

2006-12-13T12:16:00.000+09:00

Your Musical Tastes Match: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

See his whole playlist here (iTunes required)

What Celebrity Matches Your Taste in Music?

I'm not even into NASCAR.

Fish tales

2006-12-11T17:15:00.000+09:00

Every morning at the crack of dawn Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo is alive with the noise of trucks ferrying boxes of fish around, fishmongers wielding knives like Samurai warriors and auctions selling Tuna valued at £5,000 per fish! One of the world's biggest fish markets, 2,300 tonnes of fish pass through Tsukiji every day and you'll be able to find salmon from as far away as Santiago, eels from Taiwan and crab from Brazil. The auctions start at 5 in the morning for the wholesalers and at 7am the restaurateurs of Tokyo arrive for their pick of the day. Most of the action is over by 8 so you have to get there early. Although we had been shakin' our stuff to U2 only a few hours earlier we still got up at 6 to see all this madness - the things we do in the name of food!

You can choose from over 400 different kinds of fish.

The tuna fish are frozen solid and look like shining silver torpedoes ready for action. At £5,000 per fish the bounty on the trailer below must be worth around £35,000!

The poor man operating the ice machine spent all morning lifting huge blocks of ice onto the conveyer belt, he wasn't even wearing gloves.

The market covers 56 acres of land so there are plenty of fish stalls to peruse...and plenty of ice to slip on too! I slipped once and almost fell straight into the path of oncoming forklift, from then on I held on tight to Martin.

Some of the fish were so fresh they were still moving. I got a bit of a shock as I walked by the squid and it was still moving around!

Outside the market there are lots of wonderful stalls selling some of the freshest sashimi and sushi in the world. Many commuters stop off on their way to work for a breakfast of fish and noodles. Apparently, the tuna sashimi is melt in your mouth good.

If you go to Tokyo you must visit this place but watch out for the men driving the forklifts - they're more concerned about the fish on the back than the people in front!

Lambs and legs

2006-12-09T17:09:00.000+09:00

While waiting for dinner the other night I said to Martin,

"I'm so hungry I could eat the lamb off the leg of God."

Martin said I was wrong and claims that it should be,

"I'm so hungry I could eat the leg of the Lamb of God."

Can anyone clear up this trivial misunderstanding?!

Random Place Thursday:Tokyo Food Town

2006-12-07T14:16:00.000+09:00

If you want to open a restaurant this is the place to go. There are streets upon streets of shops where you can buy sinks, plastic food,big knives, tills and menu signs. It's amazing. I bought a quiche tin, bun tin, mini muffin tin, a loaf tin, scone cutters and a glass cake stand all for under 15 pounds. Martin bought a plastic piece of brie which also doubles as a fridge magnet. (We are not opening an restaurant but I do like to bake. I also like quirky tourist attractions.) Everytime we walked past a shop full of empty display units I thought the shop must have just closed down. Then I realised that the shop was actually selling display units!

Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, I had to be conspicuous as the shop owners get a little fed up with all the gaijin laughing and taking pictures of plastic pizzas and fake fish.

(Note how the forks are suspended in mid-air. I love it.)

Plastic food is a big deal in Japan. There were several shops in the area selling the stuff and it is really expensive, this is largely due to the fact that it is handmade and painted. Outside of restaurants there will usually be an arrangement of plastic food matching that written on the menu. When the food arrives at your table it is identical to the plastic food on display outside. I have always wondered whether the real food is modelled on the plastic food or vice versa.

The noodle bowl store.

Fancy buying a menu board?

Everything and the kitchen sink!

PS. It is really cold here today, it has rained heavily all day and it is so dark I've had the lights on since I got up. For lunch I treated myself to baked beans on toast with my friend Ailsa. (I'm not poor it's just that baked beans are seriously expensive and really hard to find-you'd think they were contraband or something!) Roll on the sunshine of Maui, Kauai and Oahu!

Part 1: Sensory overload

2006-12-06T15:03:00.000+09:00

We got back from Tokyo last night feeling very, very tired. With only two days in such a fascinating city I think we are suffering from sensory overload. Everything was so much bigger, brighter and trendier than Hiroshima and all this made me feel very much the country girl. Looking back I think I was unprepared for how different it would be to Hiroshima, Tokyo is a world city just like London or New York. When we were having lunch in Roppongi the menu was in English and the radio was tuned to Virgin FM - I felt right at home. With all this familiarity I almost got reverse culture shock and it was lovely just to be able to read a menu in a flash and not have to worry about speaking Japanese.
Most importantly though I finally got to see U2. It was so surreal and as I was two rows from the front I felt like I was watching them on TV rather than in person!

The best things about the concert were:
1. When Bono asked all the Japanese people to sing Pride, 40,000 people screamed Pride. When he asked all the Irish people to sing Pride, a handful shouted Pride. It was nice to be among that handful.
2. Their performance of "Bullet the Blue Sky" was fantastic and the first time in the concert when I really felt I was watching U2 at their best.
3. Hearing thousands of people sing "Erebation" as opposed to "Elevation'', the Japanese have difficulty pronouncing the letters "V" and "L".
4. During "Mysterious Ways" the band brought three Maiko on to the stage. It was so cool and really fitting for the song. I will never forget the three of them dancing down the catwalk staring straight ahead, waving their fans and looking deadly serious. Then all of a sudden it got too much for the one in front, her eyes lit up and she flashed this big, bright toothy grin across her deathly white face. When they are dancing they shouldn't really smile or show too much emotion but I think the enormity of the situation and all the adultation overwhelmed the poor girl. They were so beautifully turned out, the colours of their obi and kimono were really dramatic and just looking at their perfect hair and makeup was truly amazing. For me it was the highlight of the concert.

I met with a Japanese friend today who asked what I'd been up to over the weekend. I told her I went to see U2 in Tokyo and when she found out that it was my first time to see them she laughed very heartily. I asked her what was so funny and she said "but you are from Ireland and the first time you see U2 is in Japan!" Indeed, life is very unpredictable sometimes but that's what's good about it. My friend Iddya has since reminded me that although she is Puerto Rican she only learned to Salsa when she came to Japan.

NB. In case you were wondering, Maiko are trainee Geisha and we can tell them apart because Maiko wear white makeup but Geisha do not. Maiko also wear a little red bun in their hair as a sign of their purity. If you want to know more I really recommend reading "Memoirs of a Geisha", although entirely fictional Golden's research is meticulous and the book gives you a great insight into an otherwise closed society. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the movie, it is beautiful to watch but it is also pure Hollywood.

Too much excitement

2006-12-03T16:52:00.000+09:00

Tomorrow we're heading up to Tokyo to see U2 play at Saitama. It's only 26 hours until I see Larry Mullen Jr. in the flesh and I am so excited I think I am going to scream. All this excitement reminds me of my fourth Christmas when we were heading down to midnight Mass in the car and I got so excited I vomited all over Daddy and my new red velvet dress from the "club book". Daddy and I had to go straight home. Let's hope we don't have a repeat performance tomorrow. Anyway, when I have calmed down I will be back to post plenty of pictures of the "city of blinding lights" that is Tokyo.

The green bullet lives again!

2006-12-01T14:49:00.000+09:00

Hey, two posts in 24 hours! I must be running away with myself.

Anyway, it's back. A little letter from the police arrived telling me that the green bullet has been tracked down and that I could go and pick it up. Now I can get rid of Wendy. Martin thinks this is most unfair and that I am turfing her into the night like an unwanted lover. C'est la vie Wendy!

Random photo Thursday

2006-11-30T17:09:00.000+09:00

Green tea and sweets at Ryokan Tomoe in Hagi.

Thatched cottages and Autumn colours

2006-11-25T11:33:00.000+09:00

After a brief trip to an English cottage via the blogosphere we're back in Japan to look at thatched cottages Nihon style. For the final part of our trip to Northern Japan we visited Takayama, a lovely town tucked away in the mountains. Traditionally, houses in this area were built with thatched roofs made to withstand the heavy snowfalls in the winter. Unfortunately, many of these wonderful houses were destroyed in the 1960's to make way for a dam, however a small number were taken apart and rebuilt at the Hida Folk Village (a bit like the Ulster American Folk Park!) just outside Takayama. There you'll be able have a peak inside 19 of these houses that are beautifully maintained and give you a glimpse of the way life was in rural Japan up until the mid 20th century. I particularly enjoyed looking at the marvellous array of sleighs they used to nip around in, they looked great craic. We visited the valley in the early morning to avoid the onslaught of Japanese tour guides, who always seem to wield large megaphones and umbrellas to keep their groups in tow. Visiting at this time was a wise idea as a lovely soft mist enveloped the area and showed the Autumn leaves in all their splendour. I'll leave the pictures to do the rest of the talking.

The red, golds and yellows of the trees were really breathtaking and everything seemed so calm, bright and peaceful.

Finally, a rare picture of us to prove that Martin and I really do live in Japan and that we really do visit all these places.

Goodbye little house

2006-11-23T17:30:00.000+09:00

After many months, sleepless nights and a few tears too we have finally sold our little cottage and the new owner moved in on Monday. Although we are really happy to have sold it we are a little sad too as it was our first house, the house we lived in when we got married and we have many, many fond memories of it. Even though Martin was away most of the week working in Germany I never felt lonely living there and I always felt that the house had a really happy feel to it. We spent a lot of time decorating our home and to our friends we became known as the DIY King and Queen, as a result we often had many a stand up row in Homebase over "Farrow & Ball" paint colours and other such frivolities. Like the incident in Homebase where I failed to understand why we couldn't just fix a floating shelf to the stud wall in our kitchen to hold a ton of cookery books.

Here are some pictures of no.95 and a few of our memories to share, I hope you enjoy them.

When I looked at the picture above I had a really good laugh remembering the day we bought the enamel jug you can see on the worktop. Whilst on holiday in Cornwall we decided to hire some bikes and cycle fron Wadebridge to Padstow, which is only a 12 mile round trip and very pleasant. Unfortunately, I was not the accomplished cyclist then that I am now and we had a few hairy moments along the way. At one point I heard a surge of cyclists coming behind me and looked back to see how many there were and whether I should pull in. I needn't have bothered as my looking back caused me to swerve and I ended up in a heap in the ditch. Up front Martin heard a scream and looked behind to see me laughing my head off with a bicycle lying on top of me.

We got to Padstow at lunch time and as we were a little tired we decided to take a seat on a park bench and admire the view of the harbour. After our rest we got up, walked around the village, did some shopping (where I bought the big enamel jug) and stopped for a Cornish pastie. In hindsight Martin remembered a group of people laughing at me but he thought nothing of at the time. It's a really pretty little place so Martin decided to take a picture of me in front of the harbour. Here is the picture.

After this picture was taken I turned around and Martin told me that there were big brown horizontal stripes on the back of my top. I checked Martin and he also had the same brown stripes on the back of his top. We'd sat on a freshly painted park bench! I swear we nearly wet ourselves laughing.

It turns out that the painters had gone off for lunch and conveniently forgot to put up a sign. We tied our tops around our waists and got ready to cycle home but the jug wouldn't fit in Martin's backpack so we had to tie it to the straps. I will never forget the sight of Martin cycling all the way back to Wadebridge with this huge enamel milk jug swinging from side to side.

We spent lots and lots of time painting our house and as you can see from the pictures every room had exposed studwork. (In my ignorance of listed buildings when we first viewed the house I asked the owners if they did the studwork themselves and I was met with very strange looks. Oops.) I think we kept the masking tape industry in business for that year alone. On average we used six rolls of masking tape in each room. I'm amazed Martin and his Dad didn't break their necks when they redid the hallway - it was masking tape hell!

Our first and only Christmas there was a very happy and cosy one. As I came down the stairs on Christmas morning I heard the crackle of the fire, smelt the turkey in the oven and smiled at the twinkle of the fairy lights in the dining room. All this excitement caused me to miss the last three steps of the stairs so I slid down them hurting my bum really, really badly. Martin had to help me to the sofa where I spent the rest of the morning reading while Martin cooked the dinner. (All wives out there this is an excellent idea to get out of cooking on Christmas day - the bum was fine by the end of the day.)

I can't believe we ate that much food, Martin has just looked at this and said "that was some feed". I think it is impossible to cook a Christmas dinner just for two and we were eating turkey and ham for weeks. Seriously, we were. However, we would really appreciate a slice of ham like that now.

Since our house was so small every piece of furniture we bought had to be measured exactly right. We had been on the hunt for a pair of leather armchairs for the living room for a long time and I found some on the internet that looked and sounded like they would have fitted perfectly. They arrived... and they were huge, the internet had given the wrong measurements and since they couldn't be returned that day we had to live with them for two months until they could be sent back. They were so big they actually cast a shadow all over the room and sucked all the light out of it. Of course if they were scratched or marked we wouldn't get our money back so I spent the next two months living in fear anytime anyone sat down on them. Fortunately, we found the ones shown above and they were perfect for sitting and reading a paper on.

During our 18 months there we had lots of weekend guests who came to sleep in our little spare bedroom with the "not quite double but not quite single either" bed, it was 4ft wide. I always enjoyed the fondue nights with Stuart and Marianne, lazy Sunday mornings with Anne and Paul and lots of Balderdash with Steve and Louisa. Jimmy, I'm sure you remember the time Martin spent all afternoon cutting and measuring the end panel for the kitchen cupboard only for it to be cut way too short! Boy, did we laugh, unfortunately Martin was not so amused.

I know it might sound cliched but it is all these wonderful memories and experiences that make a house a home.

On the road again

2006-11-14T10:45:00.000+09:00

Following a few days of sightseeing around Hiroshima we packed up the car and headed north towards the Japanese Alps. 450 miles and a gazillion tunnels later we arrived in Kanazawa. The top sights to see in Kanazawa are the Kenrokuen gardens (one of the top three in Japan), the castle and the old Geisha and Samurai districts. Kanazawa is a really beautiful, cosmopolitan city and I wish we had more time to spend there, it actually felt really European with lots of lovely little boutiques, museums and coffee houses to wile away the hours in.

One of the best things about Kanazawa was visiting the Ninja Temple,it's the only one of its kind in Japan and from the outside looks like an ordinary temple, but lurking inside were secret hiding places for the guards and a donation box which also functioned as a pit trap. It was so cool and well worth the guided tour even though it was in Japanese. It actually has nothing to do with Ninjas and more to do with Samurais but so called "Ninja" because of all its tricks. Those Samurais were really sneaky, they managed to build all these nifty little tunnels, concealed doors and even hid an entire fourth floor inside the temple. When you go down the stairs you can even see the secret space where guards with long, menacing spears waited to jab the legs of intruders through the paper screens between the steps. On the fourth floor was the suicide room where the Lord would disembowel himself if the temple was overun by enemies, once you shut the door it could not be opened from the inside so I guess your time was really up.

Four is a very unlucky number in Japan as it is very similar to the Japanese word for death. Hence the suicide room on the fourth floor consisting of four tatami mats. Many hotels in Japan even skip out the number four in their rooms. As luck would have it Martin and I live on the fourth floor of our apartment block, there are two apartments on each floor and the one next to ours was empty for the last year - I wonder why?! Anyway, armed with the luck of the Irish and a bottle of holy water we've always been very happy in apartment 401.

The McCloskey's in Japan

2006-11-12T16:33:00.000+09:00

As Therese mentioned, Mum and Dad came to visit us in Japan. After a mammoth plane journey via London and Dubai they were tired and jet lagged, but soon recovered to enjoy two weeks of sightseeing across Japan. First up were the "must see" sights of Hiroshima, namely the Peace Memorial Park, the old town of Takehara and Miyajima Island, home of the famous Torii gate.

We also visited our favourite noodle shop in Takehara, home of the famous soba noodles served on a hot roof tile (previously featured on this and other blogs!). Mum and Dad bravely tried all the Japanese cuisine we encountered on the holiday but I don't think either sashimi, sushi or tofu will be making it on to the menu in Limavady.

Takehara is a lovely little place to go for lunch and wander around the streets popping into all the little craft and antique shops.

After a few days in Hiroshima we then set off on our road trip to the Japanese Alps.

Long time, no blog...

2006-11-12T16:05:00.000+09:00

Dear Readers,
In case you were wondering where we've been over the past few weeks Martin's parents came to visit so we've been really busy entertaining, eating out and taking in all that Japan has to offer. We have lots of lovely pictures to post so instead of doing one marathon blog we'll be posting lots of mini blogs over the next few days.

Speaking of marathons, Martin and I ran the Hiroshima Peace Marathon last week. Before you fall to the ground in shock it is a marathon in name only, Martin ran the 10km and I ran the 5km. It may not be 26 miles but considering that this time last year we couldn't run the length of ourselves I think we did well. In case you are interested Martin ran the 10km in 57mins and I ran the 5km in 29mins! Woo Hoo!

It is good to be back and I apologise to our faithful readers who have been checking regularly for updates and are probably fed up looking at that picture of me and the green bullet.
Love T,xx

Ps. I hope you enjoy the pictures, we saw some beautiful sights while we were away.

The green bullet bites the dust

2006-10-17T13:04:00.000+09:00

Unfortunately, my beloved green bullet is no longer. It was stolen from outside the apartment last Wednesday afternoon and hasn't been seen since. Although it was unlocked, Martin's bike was also unlocked beside mine and they didn't take it. Why they preferred my Miss Marple-esque, gearless bicycle complete with wicker basket over Martin's super dooper "Trek" machine I don't understand, maybe it was the pure comedy value. Big sister suggested that it was probably because there was a good book, a traybake and a hot cup of tea in a china cup in the basket but this was not the case.

Anyway, I tootled off to the police station on Friday to lodge a report and what an experience that was. They even asked me who took it, well if I'd known that I wouldn't have been there in the first place. After explaining that I didn't know the cretan who took it I was asked to draw a detailed map of the crime scene and label everything in Kanji (one of the THREE Japanese alphabets). My ability to write in Kanji is hardly wonderful and every time I made a mistake I was finger printed and asked to place the finger print on the mistake. By the end of the exercise it looked less like a map and more of a collage of my finger prints.

On Saturday, I went bicycle shopping and assured Martin I would buy a bike with gears this time as he had instructed.

Meet Wendy.

Wendy has no gears but she's kind of funky in a retro 1980's kind of way. I would have loved a red "Chopper" (they're all the rage here) just like the one Kevin had in The Wonder Years but there were none to be found. Below is a picture of Kevin and Winnie with the red "Chopper". Martin reckons my Wendy is nowhere near as cool as Kevin's bike.

Must go now, but if you see the green bullet around Hiroshima please ambush the bicycle and the thief, it's still a much nicer bicycle than Wendy.

Cocktails and charity work. Common misconceptions about the expat wife.

2006-10-10T10:22:00.000+09:00

I never planned to become an expat wife, it just happened. I loved my job and all the buzz at Westminster, not once did I dread going in to work and had no plans to leave anytime soon. Then Japan happened. Luckily, I got a career break and off we trotted for two years in a country as close to another planet as you can find. Before we left, I endured much teasing about becoming an expat wife and to be honest I was a bit embarrassed about it. Afternoons spent sipping gin and tonics by the pool followed by a round of golf at the local country club isn't exactly my kind of scene. I'm more of a hot cup of tea, a packet of biscuits and a good book by the fire kind of girl. Unfortunately, when people label you as an "expat wife" they conjure up images of the former. I'm happy to say that isn't the reality either, it might be the case in some places but not in Hiroshima. For a start, space is such a premium in Japan that there's little room for vast country clubs and outdoor swimming pools for expat wives to wile away their afternoons. Here's the reality of being an expat wife in Japan.

1. I do not possess a 1980's power suit with gold buttons and shoulder pads.
1b. I don't have matching shoes and handbags.
2. I don't have a credit card.
3. I ride a bicycle (without gears) as opposed to having a driver.
4. I don't get manicures every week.
5. I don't go for cocktails in the morning.
6. I clean my apartment.
7. I do my own grocery shopping.
8. I make my husband's lunch every morning.
9. We do not have a maid. If we did I would not do points 6,7 and 8 and have more time for points 4 and 5.
10. I do play scrabble every week. Not very glamorous I know, but it keeps the brain ticking over.
11. I shop in Gap not Gucci. However, if you give me the money I'll happily shop in Gucci.

So next time you meet an expect wife don't assume she's all about cocktails and charity work. It's a harder life than you think, living in a foreign country with three different alphabets isn't always easy! It's certainly a challenge and makes life interesting but I'm looking forward to getting back to my friends, family and job. Like Joni Mitchell sang in Big Yellow Taxi "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".

Love is in the air

2006-10-01T22:44:00.000+09:00

I can't believe it's two years since Martin and I stepped down the aisle. It's gone so quickly and little did we know that within a year we would have moved continents. The biggest plan we had that year was to redo the kitchen and the bathroom - only the kitchen got done. Life's funny that way.

Despite the fact that I was a whole 45 minutes late it really was the best day of our lives. I know it's acceptable for a bride to be a little late but I think 45 minutes was taking the biscuit. Poor Martin, he thought I had jilted him. I blame it all on the hairdresser and the contact lenses.

The cermony was set for 12:30 so I booked the hairdressers for 8:30 thinking that this would give us plenty of time. So chief bridesmaid and I trotted off to the hairdressers at 8:30 only to find it all locked up and not a soul about. We stood outside the salon in the freezing Northern Irish weather for a whole 30 minutes only for Mrs Hairdresser to amble in at 9am and not even apologise for being late. Then she had the cheek to say it would take a "good while for the water to heat up". So she starts to do my hair and then the regulars start coming in looking for their cuts and blow drys. She continually abandons me to attend to other customers and at one point I saw the assistants in the backroom trying on my tiara - didn't they think I'd see them in the mirror?! By 10:30 I'm finished and take a seat to wait for chief bridesmaid. I'm sitting there all dolled up with a tiara in my head and this women walks in, sits down next to me and asks "are you getting married today?" and then she lights up a cigarette. Unbelievable. I asked her to move.

We sped on to the makeup artists where there were no major hickups and made it home for 11:50, ok we were cutting it fine but there was still time.

I had only recently started to wear contact lenses and was no good at putting them in yet, especially in a hurry. Big sister's friend and fellow contact lenses wearer was called to the rescue and helped me put them in. This was not a good idea. Aware that I was becoming very late my eyes would not stay open and the things would not go in. No one would tell me the time and because I hadn't my glasses on I couldn't see the clock. It was getting very late and we finally got them in at about 12.25.

It was finally time to get dressed, I must have been the quickest bride ever dressed. I was done in 2 seconds flat. The bridesmaids were packed off to the chapel which took an awfully long time, it turns out the driver went in the completely wrong direction and the sisters didn't even notice! The driver claims he didn't want to get the car dirty on the country roads.

Anyway, I eventually made it down the aisle at quarter passed one and saw a very relieved and pale looking Martin standing at the top of the altar.

I was watching the wedding DVD a while back and as my father and I got out of the car a guest said to my Father "your a wee bit late James Anthony". My father replied "I thought it was next Saturday". Always good to make light of these situations I think!

Thank you Martin for a wonderful two years, you always make me very happy, even through poison ivy, earthquakes and failing house sales.

There is more love in the air for our lovely friends Anne and Paul (pictured below) who got engaged in Hungary last week. We are really happy for you both and can't wait for the wedding. We thoroughly recommend that you book a punctual hairdresser!

Extreme weather.

2006-09-26T16:58:00.000+09:00

This has not been the best of weeks, our house sale fell through for the third time this year, I contracted poison ivy and we had an earthquake this morning. Nevertheless, life goes on and as I always say "everything happens for a reason". I have to admit though, I can not think of not one good reason why anybody would get poison ivy. Both my right and left legs look like they are going to fall off just above the ankle...Nice.

Well the typhoon passed us by, not much happened and Martin had to go to work. Despite the lack of extreme wind we did get woken up by an earthquake this morning . I awoke just after 7am to what sounded like a giant stamping his foot on our ceiling - last time this happened I thought it was our incredibily noisy neighbours but they have since moved out so I knew right away it was an earthquake. Anyway, Martin and I dashed under the dining room table for the last of the shakes and swaying. It was pretty quick and nowhere near as violent as the one in June but pretty scary all the same. I guess it's because when they start you never know if it's going to be a big one or not. When it happened in June, I woke up to an almighty roar, which was probably the concrete in the building, looked up towards my neighbours and said "what the hell are they up to now?" In reality, my choice of vocabulary wasn't quite so pleasent. When the room started to shake violently I realised pretty quick that it wasn't the neighbours and a very scantily clad Martin and Therese ran for underneath the dining room table. Despite the fact the building was swaying sideways, up and down Martin and I spent the whole time laughing very heartily that I had mistaken a 6.3 earthquake for our neighbours and were still laughing when the whole thing was over. It's always good to see a bit of humour in the midst of disaster, I think it must be a Northern Irish thing.

Anyway, it's all calm on the weather front and as you can see from the picture above it's a glorious Autumn afternoon in Hiroshima.

Typhoon Watch

2006-09-17T10:35:00.000+09:00

September is the peak of typhoon season, and like most other things in Japan the first major typhoon has arrived bang on time. At the minute it is dry with hardly a breath of wind outside, the calm before the storm I guess, but by 9pm tonight it should be quite exciting. We currently have a weather warning for flooding and high winds, so it sounds like it could be quite a big one. One fringe benefit is that I might get tomorrow off work. Of course, I won't be able to go anywhere, but I get a lie in!

We will do a running commentary on the blog charting the progress of Typhoon 13.

A cup of tea, a decent biscuit and a sit down.

2006-09-10T18:43:00.000+09:00

In case I haven't mentioned it before it is near impossible to find a decent biscuit in these parts. Proper English tea is hard to find too but that's ok since we packed 500 PG Tips in our shipping container along with 6 packets of chocolate covered HobNobs. We have about 350 tea bags left, the HobNobs lasted about two weeks. I have to say that there are few things better in life than dunking a chocolate HobNob in a hot cup of tea (and few things worse than dunking it in the tea for too long, losing it in the bottom and having to make a fresh cup).

We didn't get up to much today since Martin has four massive blisters on his feet from golf yesterday and I quite liked the idea of doing nothing, so I spent the afternoon baking chocolate chunk cookies, singing along to Snow Patrol and reminiscing about Saturday nights boogying on down at Dundee Student Union.

Although tasty, the cookies are no good for dunking in a hot cup of tea but they are still way better than the McVitie Green Tea Digestives on sale here.

Here's the recipe should you feel inclined to get your pini on.

* WARNING: This recipe makes a lot of cookies, about 30 in fact and my baking tray only took 6 at a time. Fortunately, I have an eager husband who was willing to check on said cookies, take them out of the oven, put more on and do this palava 4 more times.

50g of oats, grind to a fine powder in the blender
225g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
100g butter
75g sugar
75g brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
250g chocolate chips

Thoroughly combine all the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

Cream together the sugars and butter. Add the eggs, lemon juice and vanilla, stirring well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until they are fully combined. This requires extreme muscle power but once again willing husband was eager to lend an arm.

Put the dough in the fridge for at least an hour or if you have the patience, overnight is even better. I have no patience and don't even think I waited an hour.

Spoon dessert spoonfuls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking tray. Pat them down slightly and leave plenty of room as they will spread out as they cook.

Cook on 170 degrees for 13 minutes or until they are golden around the edges but still slightly raw in the middle.

Cool the cookies on the tray for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. I couldn't be bothered with all that waiting around and had already sampled one 2 minutes after it came out of the oven.

Enjoy.

Ps. We now have a mountain of cookies on the worktop which will have to be dispatched to work with Martin tomorrow otherwise I will eat them all. This seems to go down well Martin's colleagues who receive such treats on a weekly basis, they too miss a decent biscuit and I wont turn into a big heifer.

Golf in Japan

2006-09-09T17:41:00.000+09:00

It's Martin here this time, to tell you about my first golfing adventure in Japan. Needless to say after over a year off the course, I hadn't improved, but I was nowhere near as bad as I thought I might be. In fact, I even managed a par on a par 5, and won closest to the pin on one of the par 3's. Of course, I still managed to lose a few balls, and duff a fair share but it could have been worse. The greens were really, really fast - well at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

First of all apologies for no pictures, i forgot to take the camera. The golfing experience is all a bit more upmarket than my usual pay & play experiences back home. For a start, when you pull up, a team of helpers unload all the gear from the back of the car, and make sure it is all safely transferred round the back and strapped in to your pre-allocated buggy. Next you go in and check-in, almost a bit like a hotel. You get a numbered wallet with your card, which you use like a hotel key in the clubhouse and around the course for drinks, lunch, the driving range etc

A quick change in the very plush changing room (no changing in the car park here!) and out to meet your buggy. The big thing about these, is that they are automatic and remote control! Press the button and the buggy sets off up the fareway a preset amount, or until you tell it to stop! Buggies are mandatory, as it keeps everyone moving, but even if the weren't with the heat & humidity, they are essential. To keep you hydrated there are little drinks kiosks after the 4th & 13th holes, where everyone stops for a swift beer.

Needless to say the course was immaculately prepared, and the setting was beautiful. It was nestled in the moutains and seemed to have been carved out of a natural forest, absolutely stunning - I promise photos next time.

After the first 9 holes, it was a lunch (a tasty noodle dish) and of course you weren't going to lose your place as you had an allocated tee time for the back nine.

Once the wagers had all been settled in the 19th, it was time for an Onsen to refresh and soothe muscles. All in all, a very pleasant experience - with a price tag, but it was worth it.

Sorry to have bored any golf widows out there, I'm sure Therese will be back with another post about cafes, onsens and muffins soon.

Adventures in a mud hut through a 2ft 6" doorway.

2006-09-03T18:10:00.000+09:00

It's Sunday night and Martin and I have returned a tad sun beaten but refreshed from a little jaunt to the old fishing port of Tomonoura on the Inland Sea. Fortunately, Tomonoura is not touted as a "Little Kyoto" in the way that so many tourist destinations in Japan are but fail to be and if you come expecting to see hoards of old samurai houses you'll probably be disappointed. Nevertheless, it is beautifully situated on the Inland Sea and it's lovely just to dander around all the narrow little alleyways and take in the ramshackle nature of the place, look at all the weird fish people sell on their door steps, chat to the locals and catch a glimpse of real, old Japan that you wont see in Kyoto.

Typical street scene in the village, it was a very tight squeeze driving down these streets, especially if you met another car. Fortunately, most people here drive little bento box sized cars and they all have buttons that automatically pull your wing mirrors back.

I love all those little gates and fancy roofs.

Freshly caught shrimp laid out to dry on the street.

Once we were done wondering around we caught the ferry over to Sensuijima Island which cost a grand total of one pound twenty and when we disembarked we thought we should head for an onsen. Well this was going to be no ordinary onsen, for a start we had to wear clothes - oh the horror of it! Martin and I then proceeded to change into our flashy airtex polo shirts and shorts supplied by the onsen (Martin had to search high and low for a pair of shorts big enough and when he reappeared I burst out laughing as they were a tad figure hugging - he claims he still maintained his modesty). Next up, we had to go and lie in the sauna which was not your usual pine clad monstrosity. In fact, this was a mud hut, with a thatched roof, mounds of seaweed on the floor, built on top of a roaring fire and could only accessed by crawling on your hands and knees through a 2ft 6" wooden door- see picture below.

Once inside, we had to lie on our backs on the roasting hot seaweed covered floor with only a rod of bamboo as a pillow and sweat it out before the staff let us out. Now after a few minutes of sweating profusely I began to feel a little claustrophobic so I clambered around in the dark until I found the door and crawled my way out. I emerged covered in black seaweed -face, arms, legs and all, boy must I have looked good.

After the sauna ordeal we got to soak in the cold bath which was rather pleasant as it was built in a nice rock pool overlooking the sea. Except this time we got to wear rather fetching sun visors (I'm sure they bought them in 1985) with floats attached to our necks. We enjoyed floating in the water until we were summoned for another sauna adventure, this time lying on a floor of damp tea leaves. After this was over we were ushered down to the beach where we had to sit in the sea for a while before our final sauna experience.

By now I was getting into the swing of things and quite enjoying it although I have to say I have never sweated so much in my life before. This time we laid on a bed of dried aromatic fruit leaves which was really nice. After this was over we headed for a soak in the hot bath where we enjoyed sipping green tea and looking out towards the sea.

We really enjoyed our fun little adventure and it's always good to try something new- even if they say you should never try anything new in a foreign country!

I know I've been in Japan too long...

2006-08-29T11:08:00.000+09:00

It's been almost a year since Martin and I first set foot in Japan and I began to think about how our life has changed and how differently we do things in contrast to this time last year. Here's a few to begin with...

1. I never wear shoes in my apartment or my friends' apartments.
2. When I go to friends' apartments I select my shoes on how easily I can get them on and off.
3. I own a pair of toilet slippers.
4. I prefer to eat noodles with chopsticks.
5. We own chopsticks and actually use them...occasionally.
6. In everyday conversation to English speaking friends I occasionally drop in Japanese vocabulary.
7. When I encourage Martin on the treadmill at the gym, I raise my fist and say "Gambatte Kudasai" with great fervour.
8. I have eaten raw fish, rice and tofu porridge for BREAKFAST and it didn't kill me.
9. I have eaten the poisonous Puffer fish and it didn't kill me either.
10. I buy ridiculously overpriced, individually wrapped carrots, onions and potatoes.
11. I quibble over buying a three sliced loaf of bread or a five sliced loaf of bread.
12. More worrying is that recently I have been thinking that a loaf with eight slices is way too big.
13. I wait patiently for the taxi cab door to swing open and close automatically. Much to the taxi drivers distress in the early days I would always try to open and close them myself.
14. I never, ever cross on the red man and always wait for the green man.
15. I get annoyed with foreign tourists who cross on the red man and eat in public.
16. I smile at every foreigner I see on the street.
17. I assume that every other foreigner I meet can speak English.
18. I ride my little green bicycle everywhere.
19. I even wear short skirts, tight dresses and high heels when I ride my little green bicycle and I do not look out of place.
19b. Unfortunately, I have not yet managed the art of holding an umbrella, texting a mobile message, hanging large shopping bags from the handlebars, carrying a passenger on the back wheel and wearing high heels all at once while riding my bike!
20. When I am thirsty I like iced green tea.
21. I pay an extortionate amount of money to sleep on a straw floor and rest my head on a rice pillow at a Ryokan but I love it.
22. I love onsens even more and don't mind being naked with lots of other Japanese people.
23. At 5'4" I feel tall. (That's the best!)

The Good Life

2006-08-20T17:41:00.000+09:00

With only the vaguest of directions, Martin and I headed off into the mountains in search of a pottery we saw advertised in the Jazz cafe at Yuki. Making our way through the twisting, one track roads we eventually found the pottery and its potter in her garden tending the bonsai and wearing a wide brimmed straw hat with lots of glossy black hair flowing from underneath. This was definitley the Japanese equivalent of Felicity Kendal in The Good Life.
We said we had come to see the pottery and she led us inside the most beautiful, traditional Japanese country house. There was a lovely stone entrance hall where we took off our shoes and then stepped up into the shop area which had a traditional clay cooking pit in the middle of the polished wooden floor. From this room, we were led into the main living area with tatami flooring, shoji screens and a veranda opening out onto the garden. The lady gestered for us to take a seat on the veranda, so we duly pulled up a straw cushion and sat down not knowing what to do. She magically reappeared in front of us bestowing a tray of iced green tea and homemade biscotti - pure bliss.

We immediately began to cool down sipping our iced green tea and admiring the view of the garden, the only noises interupting us were the occassional quacking of the ducks (well there would have to ducks wouldn't there?!) and the cutest little dog who wanted to nibble on our biscotti.

After taking as long as possible to finish our tea we browsed the pottery and decided to purchase a pretty little plate and salad bowl.

Yes, that is a real duck in the picture above! We put our shoes back on and headed out to the garden to admire the bonsai and look at the ducks, who had just produced the biggest silver blue duck eggs I have ever seen. I reluctantly said goodbye to this lovely little version of "The Good Life", although I briefly contemplated moving nearby and being just like Margo with Martin as my Jerry.

We drove on to an onsen village where we cooled down and admired the views of the valley from the Japanese baths. On our way back from the onsen we walked along the river and saw some fabulous flora and fauna.

We spotted this really huge butterfly with a wonderfully, intricate pattern on its wings.

We dabbled our feet in the cool river waters and then headed back to the city. It's not a bad life.

Some Random Pictures

2006-08-17T10:13:00.000+09:00

On Monday we went to Onomichi which is about an hours drive away. However, it was so hot that the three of us had to abandon ship at 2pm and go home. We were among the few people on the street at time, I think the Japanese had the sense to stay indoors.

This is a one person van. I dread to think how it handles corners.

We drove back along the Inland Sea from Onomichi. It was really scenic and the views were beautiful.

On Wednesday we stumbled upon this cool little cafe in the mountains. I saw a frog on the front step but I was only mildly hysterical as it was really small and almost cute. It was about the size of an M&M and hopping along like it hadn't a care in the world. There was a little river beside the cafe that Julie and Martin dabbled their feet in but I was too afraid of the frogs so I stayed well indoors.

Yes, your eyes are not mistaken, that is a Porshe inside the cafe.

Summer in the city.

2006-08-09T20:20:00.000+09:00

I realise that its been a while since I have posted anything on the blog and thought I had better do something about it before you all think it has been abandoned! I blame it on the heat, it really is terribly hot here. Today was 36 degrees but it is the humidity that makes everything much worse. By the time I get anywhere I have evolved into a big sweaty puddle. Really, it is just like living in a sauna and it's not even like you can get a tan, the sun is way too strong for that and there are very few green spaces around. Anyway, enough ranting about the heat.

On Saturday Martin and I decided to escape the metropolis and head for the mountains. It was lovely and green and a little cooler up there too. We sampled a cool little jazz cafe and ate one of the best beef curries I've had in a long time. Generally, the Japanese don't like spicy food so it is a real novelty to taste something with a hint of heat. Here are some pictures, we had a fine carbonara too. This should also prove that Japanese food isn't all about sushi - just like the Irish dont eat stew every night of the week. In fact I am surprised by how few sushi restaurants there are around and the good stuff is really expensive.

Kind of looks like it should be in the Alps or something doesn't it?

...and a tasty morsel it was too.

Martin dishing up the carbonara. This is yet another peculiar custom in Japan. Whenever you order a meal in a restaurant the food will be shared with whoever you are with. So a word a warning, never expect to get a whole plate of food sat in front of you. This is very irksome, especially when you're really hungry or just really greedy and want to eat the whole thing by yourself.

Birthday greetings to Sheena and Stuart. Sheena, if you were here we would take you for a special sushi dinner and then shoe shopping. Stuart, we wish we could go to Ascot with you and drink lots of Pimm's and Champagne - hope it isn't as hot as it was the last time!

Love until next time, Therese,xxx

Martin is a giant. Our trip to Matsue.

2006-07-17T22:13:00.000+09:00

We are just back from a wonderful weekend in Matsue, a three hour drive north of Hiroshima and as you can see from the following pictures the hotel we stayed at was rather small. As soon as we stepped out of the elevator it looked like everything had shrank to three quarter size, I felt just like Alice in Wonderland.

Note how small the doors are and the width of the hallway.

What you see is really what we got. When Martin stood in the shower his head hit the ceiling. The entire bathroom was 3.5ft by 5ft.

The bedroom was so small that there was only room for a small double bed squashed up against the wall and no wardrobe. It certainly was compact.

Surprisingly, I actually slept really well and we had a lovely weekend that involved lots of teas, coffee, museums, castles and gardens.

On Saturday we visited the Louis C. Tiffany village near Matsue. The museum has an outstanding collection of Tiffany lamps, stained glass, jewellery and art nouveau furniture. The attention to detail is amazing and they have even recreated a church to showcase the Tiffany inspired windows.

The museum and church are surrounded by English style country gardens, they are really beautiful and I really didn't feel like I was in Japan as I admired all the wonderful flowers and plants.

Afternoon tea in the attached tea room was every bit as good as it looked and they even had Tiptree jam!

On Sunday we drove out to the Adachi gardens, frequently voted the best in Japan, they really are a sight to behold - even if they do look a bit like Telly Tubby Land.

Everything is raked and pruned to perfection and the gardens can only be viewed from inside a glass building. I know that sounds a little odd but I guess that gravel wouldn't look so perfect if there were thousands of tourists tramping on it everyday.

After the gardens we headed off for coffee made by the 2nd best barista in the world (according to the World Barista Championship, 2005). As expected the coffee tasted pretty good but the presentation was even better.

Isn't that so cute?!

Despite the fact that it rained constantly for two days (even our hotel room leaked) we plodded on and took in plenty of sights. Next up was Matsue Castle one of the biggest in Japan and the view from the top was pretty cool - we had to climb five sets of really old rickety stairs which were more like ladders but the risk was worth it.

We rounded off our little sojourn with a coffee made by the brother of the 2nd best barista in the World at a little cafe in Matsue. It was pretty similar and the presentation was just as cute.

One of the things I love about Japan is that there's always a cool cafe lurking somewhere just around the corner!

Muffin tops - the edible kind and not the ones spilling out over the top of jeans

2006-07-06T23:00:00.000+09:00

Being the book worm that I am, I recently started a book club in Hiroshima to meet some more new people and just talk about books and maybe eat some nice food along the way too. Anyway, the book group (all four of us - well you have to start somewhere) met at my place tonight and it provided a perfect opportunity for me to get in the kitchen and whip up some more muffins.

So, especially for Big Bean who was so excited by the sound of Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins here's the recipe.

1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1/2 cup of sunflower oil
1 cup of chocolate chips
2 eggs
Splash of milk

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line with muffin cases a muffin tin ( I prefer the rustic look so I don't bother with muffin cases, although it does make the tin harder to wash).

Combine all the dry ingredients together and sift into a large bowl. In another bowl beat the eggs, stir in the pumpkin and then add the oil. Blend all this together really well. Now make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the pumpkin mixture. Stir until blended - if you think it looks a bit too dry add a splash of milk. Now add the chocolate chips. If you are anything like me you will have significantly less chocolate than when you started out - I can't help but nibble. All you have to do now is spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and bake for about 20-25 mins. 23 mins is usually the magic number for my muffins but all ovens are different.

Let them cool in the tin for a few minutes and then put them on a wire rack. I am currently wire rackless but the one in the grill does the same job. These keep in a tupperware box for a few days but they generally get eaten much quicker than that.

Tonight's little meeting went really well and next month we are reading the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency which sounds quite good. If any of you have read it let me know what you thought of it.

The English classes are going great, it's really good fun and I am enjoying them much more than I thought I would. In fact, I am taking on more classes so I am going to be very busy and will definitely have less time to spend baking muffins. This will probably be no bad thing for the waistline, although I am still going to the gym three times a week and can now run a mile in ten minutes - this is a big deal for me! Anyway, I am going to give three classes per week to one girl who is going to live in England for three months. It should be really interesting as she wants to learn more about English life and culture (maybe I can make some scones with jam and cream!). I know we will have plenty to talk about.

That's it for this week, have a good weekend and happy muffin baking!

Rainy days and Sundays

2006-06-25T19:00:00.000+09:00

Rain, rain and more rain as seen from our balcony this afternoon.

It is officially rainy season and it has rained non stop all day, it is raining so hard that I am beginning to think that there can't be anymore rain left up there! Nevertheless, it's Sunday and rainy Sunday afternoons are perfect for endless cups of tea, baking and watching TV. While watching the Discovery Channel and dreaming of sunnier climes I dreamt up the idea for Pina Colada muffins (pineapple and coconut doesn't sound anywhere near as exciting). As soon as they were baked and cool enough to eat my friend Julie came round for tea. Julie comes around for tea every Sunday afternoon and faithfully acts as guinea pig for my latest muffin creation, other experiments have included pumpkin and chocolate chip, banana and walnut and mango and raisin. However, I have to say that the Pina Colada muffins were slightly disappointing (I really had high hopes for them!) and pumpkin and chocolate chip remains the firm favourite.

The rain has also given us the perfect excuse to stay in and recover from the rest of the weekend's exertions. We attended two leaving parties, one last night and one on Friday night. The party on Friday night was held at a local french restaurant, the food was excellent and the mojitos and bubbly were flowly very freely. In fact, everyone was having so much fun that the police arrived to tell us to keep the noise down! There were lots of very sore heads on Saturday morning and last night's party was a bit more subdued as most people were still getting over Friday night.

Tonight we are going out for dinner and then watching the football at the pub, I hope there are no penalties as I don't think I will be able to stay awake until 2 in the morning! However, watching England in a penalty shoot out is always a fun experience!

Here is a random photo to keep you entertained until next time.

Geta sandal maker in Hiroshima

NB. Those are some serious built up shoes in the middle of that picture.

Earthquake!

2006-06-12T12:59:00.000+09:00

At 5:01 this morning, Therese and I were woken by our first big earthquake in Japan. Therese was awake straight away, and once we realised what was going on we made a quick dash for the dining room table, and dived underneath just as the last few tremors shook the building. Naturally, we were straight on the internet to find out how strong it was - the quake.

As you can see from the link the epicentre was about 160km (100miles) away, and was recorded as 6.3 on the Richter scale, which is officially classed as 'Strong'. Amazingly nothing fell over or got broken in the flat, but the pictures were a bit wonky and the elevator had stopped working. According to the local news, 5 people were injured, although none seriously.

It's sort of hard to describe what it feels like - a bit like when you are on a train or tube and it goes over a bad part of track, and suddenly shakes from side to side, and it lasts much longer than you imagine. Having experienced one, I'll be quite happy to not have to experience another - I prefer the ground to stay still at all times!

Anyone for Pimm's?

2006-06-11T10:10:00.000+09:00

The hot weather has finally arrived, it was thirty degrees yesterday, really hot and humid - so where did I spend the afternoon?
In one really hot and humid kitchen for about 3 hours making food!

We invited our friends around for a Pimm's and cocktail party to celebrate the start of the World Cup and get everyone warmed up for the England game. Ok, it wasn't going to rival Posh and Becks' "Full Length and Fabulous", for a start I will never be as thin as Posh but then again I bet she can't bake a brownie like I can. The food was really tasty, we had curried turkey salad, chicken, pumpkin and couscous with a sweet chilli dressing, pasta salad, bruschetta with pesto, garlic and tomatoes, fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic, chocolate and walnut covered strawberries and finally, some yummy brownies. Martin was a whiz at the bar, mixing up banana daiquiris, mojitos, campari cocktails and about four jugs of Pimm's! After all food and alcohol was consumed we merrily headed into town to watch the football. There is a little excitement about the World Cup but the hype is just not quite the same as being at home. Poor Martin sat up late on Friday night to watch the opening game only to realise that the Japanese coverage was a programme of two men watching the game on their TV. You didn't even get to see their screen and you couldn't understand the commentary as it was all in Japanese - not quite Match of the Day!

We've had a busy week, Martin has been working hard, I've been planning our trip to Thailand in October, plus starting up a book group in Hiroshima and I will also be teaching some English classes from next week on. I'm a little nervous about it as one of the students has only a really basic grasp of English but I guess it will force me to improve my Japanese, I'm sure they'll be plenty of fun and games along the way...

Well there are lots and lots of glasses, dishes and plates to be washed up so I better make a start and then we are going to the gym to soak in the outdoor jacuzzi - just what I need after all that hard work yesterday.

all gone...

Toukasan, turtles and cute kids

2006-06-04T12:03:00.000+09:00

We are just recovering from a wonderful weekend enjoying the Toukasan Festival or Yukata Festival in Hiroshima. Yukata are a kind of colourful, cotton kimono and the festival signals the start of yukata wearing season in Hiroshima.There was a really good atmosphere around town and thousands of people out on the streets. Hundreds of street stalls with games and snack foods lined Chuo Dori Avenue, including goldfish scooping, balloon fishing, grilled cuttlefish, squid, octopus, okonomiyaki on a stick, yakatori and many more. The festival site was packed with children in yukata and young couples indulging in kakigori, or flavored shaved ice -tasty stuff ! I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the kids in their yukata, they looked so cute and their parents were so chuffed when you asked to take their picture.

Bit of a difference between Louis Vuitton and these little stalls! Little bikes like the one that guy is riding are really popular here as they fold up and don't take up so much space but they do look a little funny when you see a grown man on one!

Isn't he just adorable?

Girls enjoying flavoured ice in their yukatas.

I don't know why these kids had giant plastic bottles strapped to their backs, I suppose you could collect a lot of spare change in those things.

Street vendor selling yummy sweet cakes. It's always a bit of a lottery buying these things as you never know what lurks inside. You could hit the jackpot and get a cream filled one or be really unlucky and get one with soy bean paste.

People in Japan love to make a V sign when they have their picture taken and as you can see they start early, this little sweetie can't have been more than three.

The weather has really started to heat up this week but it hasn't stopped me getting out and about on the green bullet (Martin said it's the slowest moving bullet he's ever seen). Anyway, cycling in this heat is actually pretty good because you manage to catch a bit of a breeze. On Friday I popped down to Shukeien Garden for the afternoon and the turtles were loving it out in the hot sun.

He actually fell off that stone just after I took the picture!

Must go and get the house shaped up, love until next week,xxx

Ps. Happy Birthday Dympna!

Beautiful brides and charming grooms

2006-05-22T18:53:00.000+09:00

Hello everyone,
We're back and have lots of pictures to share of the weddings. We had a really brilliant holiday in the UK, it was really nice to see all our family and friends again and even better that we were back for such happy occasions.
Happy wedding no. 1 was Sheena and Rob. Although the weather had been miserable all week the sun came out for the wedding and we had a great day. Sheena looked beautiful and was resplendent with a silk dress and Vera Wang shoes (4 inch heels!). Rob was very James Bond like in his white tie combo and dark suit. We had a great day and Martin and I did plenty of dancing to the Nolans and Dolly Parton! Here are some pictures (note the attractive bridesmaid).

Check out those strappy sandals!

Next up the aisle were Steve and Louisa at Athelhampton House, Dorset. The setting was beautiful and the whole event was just like something from a Richard Curtis film. Louisa looked so elegant in her duchess satin gown in blush pink and Steve looked very dashing in his pink tie and suit. We had a really brilliant day and it was great to be able to dance the night away with all our friends to Guns and Roses with our blow-up air guitars!

Our good friends Stuart and Marianne (who are also a couple!) were chief bridesmaid and best man and they all made a lovely bridal party.

All in all we had a really great holiday. Fittingly, the last people we said goodbye to before we went to Japan were Steve and Louisa and we were all very sad. We had such a great time that it really was hard to say goodbye to everyone but life goes on and we have settled in again just like we were never away (though I would give anything to be able to scoot down to Sainsburys for some vintage manchego and a pot of hot gooseberry chutney).

Here are some more random pictures from our trip.

Athelhampton House, Dorchester.

Martin and the latest Carten addition, little Phillip.

Lambing season was in full fling at Carten's.

Martin with Hannah and Lucy on their trampoline.

Ice cream time in Ballycastle.

My birthday cake but Sarah Jane beat me to it when it came to blowing out the candles!

Until next week,xx

Kyoto, mochi and Northern Irish traybakes

2006-04-05T11:47:00.000+09:00

Climbing the steps to Nanzen-ji Temple, Kyoto in the rain.

Dear all,
We have just returned from a wonderful weekend in Kyoto but unfortunately all but three of our pictures got erased from the camera so we have hardly any to post. Nevertheless, there was so much to see that it really was a feast for all the senses. The cherry blossom was in full bloom and looked magnificent dangling over all the little canals and narrow alleyways that weave their way around the city. We spotted a number of meikos (trainee geisha) who looked as if they had just arrived from another time, they wear fabulous kimonos, heavy white makeup and the most amazing wooden platform shoes I have ever seen, how they negotiate the cobbled streets and steep steps I don't know. Unfortunately we didn't see any geisha, they are very elusive and only really come out at night time when they are on their way to work. The food was delightful, there are hundreds of little cafes and restaurants where you can sit and watch the world go by over a cup of green tea and mochi. We had a splendid lunch on Saturday in Gion (the Geisha district) where I dined on raw chicken, I know it sounds very dangerous but it really was beautiful, so fresh and served in a really tasty marinade - obviously I wont be trying at home with Tesco value chicken or anything. It rained all day Sunday which wasn't so nice but somehow I think it suited the city and created a wonderful atmosphere around the temples (there are almost 3000 temples in Kyoto). There are many excellent craft shops to visit and the pottery was exquisite as was the price but I did buy a traditional red paper umbrella! All in all it was a great weekend and the Ryokan we stayed at was really lovely with all the usual treats - green tea and sweets on arrival, Japanese hot baths, rice pillows and sleeping on the tatami floor. I have just realised that rice pillows and sleeping on the floor may not sound like a treat but it really is and it is one of the few ways to sample a real taste of traditional Japan, I definitely recommend this if you ever come to visit - although the ability to speak some Japanese and eat weird food is essential!

PS. A couple of funny things happened at the weekend.

1. First of all you must understand that toilets in Japan are a little unconventional and not everything is where you expect it. Anyway, after we stepped off the bullet train I really had to use the toilet so I went to one in the station. When I went to flush there were so many buttons and so little knowledge of kanji (one of the THREE alphabets) in my head that I just pressed any old one. Unfortunately for me, this was the emergency alarm button and Martin was standing outside hearing all these sirens go off. In fear that they would break the door down I got out as fast as I could only to see security come running at ninety miles per hour and Martin having a great laugh.

2. On Saturday afternoon, Martin and I were walking along a really busy street behind two women wearing Kimono. It was very crowded and my eyes were closely on these ladies as I admired their kimono. Next thing I knew one of the ladies stopped, let out a little yelp and we all ground to a halt. Somehow, I have no idea how, but she managed to walk on top of a traffic cone - I mean it literally disappeared inside her kimomo. Anyway, between the two of them they managed to untangle her from the traffic cone and away they went giggling like little school girls.

We have been in Japan almost six months now and nearly everyday I still see, hear, taste or experience something that makes me smile!

Mochi - these are Japanese rice cakes often served with green tea. They are made by pounding the rice with wooden mallets and then pressed into shape. Sometimes they are filled with soybean paste or strawberries. Although they might look strange they actually taste pretty good with a cup of green tea. However, as they are so sticky they can be a little tricky to eat and several people die each year from choking on mochi.

I often think that mochi is similar to Northern Irish traybakes. They are both extremely sugary, great with a cup of tea but probably very bad for your teeth. Here are some caramel slices I whipped up yesterday, they are almost like caramel squares but instead of a shortbread base they have a coconut, oatmeal and flour base. My friend Ryoko was so enamoured that she asked for some to take home to her parents and wants to learn how to make them. Isn't it wonderful that traybakes have made it to Japan!! (As has my Limavady First Presbyterian cookbook, a great source of knowledge for all things traybake like and recipies containing condensed milk.)

I saw a man wearing a TV

2006-03-21T22:10:00.000+09:00

Yes this is true, I was ambling around town on Saturday when I saw a robot like creature come towards me. The man in question was wearing fluorescent orange shoes, matching orange space suit and on top of his head a silver helmet with a 14 inch flat screen TV attached - and yes the TV was even switched on ! As Murphy's law would have it this was one of the rare moments in Japan that I did not have my camera. So amazed by this vision and aware that it would make a great picture for the blog I went back on Sunday armed with my camera and was determined to track him down. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen but I did spot this little man.

He was really cute and did some nifty little moves - note how small he is, must have been a midget or a very small child.

This was definitely light relief in comparison to how I was feeling on Friday morning. I had a coffee morning in the apartment for 26 people and as they would say in Limavady "I was up to high dough" - in this case mini chocolate muffin mixture (as soon as I put them into the oven they slid to the back and looked more like ski slopes than domed shaped muffins). As you can imagine with 26 women, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, American, Australian, Greek, South African, Romanian, British and a New Zealander, there was plenty of coffee (about 90 cups drank), eagle eyes surveying my home ( I was offered tips on dusting, even though I had cleaned from top to bottom in anticipation of such remarks) and idle chitter chatter. Nevertheless, it all ran smoothly.

Not much else to report on, only three weeks until we're home!

Here's a random picture to keep you satisfied until next week.

This is the gym I go to and it is every bit as luxurious as it looks. When I go the only thing I have to take is clean underwear as everything else is provided including shorts, socks, tee shirt, swimsuit, towels, trainers, bathrobes, cotton buds, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and lots of nice lotions and potions. It is so nice that every session usually takes me about 3 hours and only 45 minutes of that is spent exercising. The relaxation room is so relaxing that I fell asleep there for an hour one day - but then again I always did know how to take it easy!

Love until next week, xo

Plum blossom - not to be confused with cherry blossom

2006-03-13T21:34:00.000+09:00

Just a quick blog to say hello. We had some friends for supper last night so we are feeling a little tired today and a little fat due to the huge chocolate fondue that we made (it was sooo good though and I will have to work very hard at the gym tomorrow). This morning I had to get up bright and early, abandon the mammoth amount of dishes to be done and head off to Ikebana, it was a lovely afternoon so afterwards I visited Shukkeien garden to see the plum blossom in full bloom. The garden is really lovely and such a peaceful oasis that you would never believe you were in the middle of the city.

Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get a chance to take many pictures except for one of my coffee. Even though it came from a vending machine they still put it in a little cup and pretty tray!

I went to the pretty little town of Takehara on Friday and picked up some cute things for the house. The first shop we went into was an antiques shop but in reality it was the tatami room of someone's house, which made it all the more interesting. I don't think the woman had ever seen so many people in her shop at once - there were nine of us rifling through all these wonderful teapots, kimonos, prints and pottery. I managed to pick up a wonderful Obi for about 20 pounds, Obi are the sashes tied around kimonos and they make wonderful wall hangings, the colour and detail are amazing.

Then we went to a Sake brewery, where we tried not to get too drunk on the very strong sake samples. There was a fantastic gift shop attached and I bought a little salad server with tongs and a bamboo bento box.

That's about it for now. It is White Day tomorrow which means that the men buy their women biscuits or cookies (on Valentines Day the women buy the men chocolates). However, Martin knows me better so he bought me chocolates and true to form, I have already started to eat them.

Ps. With all this talk of chocolate and fondue, you probably think I have turned into a big, puffy heffaflump. Fortunately, this is not the case and I have been working up quite a sweat at the gym three times a week.

A lady of leisure

2006-02-26T19:04:00.000+09:00

Hi everybody, it's been a while since we've posted anything so there is plenty to catch up on.
At the beginning of February I left Martin on his own for a few days and went to Kyushu, the southern most part of Japan, with some other ladies of leisure from Hiroshima. Kyushu looks really different from Hiroshima, it's sunny, with lots of palm trees and pineapples everywhere. We stayed at a lovely Ryokan hotel and I decided to make the most of it and booked myself in for a massage at the spa. However, I soon relised that this was not going to be the relaxing massage I hoped for but more a form of torture. I had to get naked and lie on top of a table (face up!!) while some woman scrubbed every inch of my body with a loofah. As if that wasn't enough, she then proceeded to rub me viscously with salt - I was beginning to think I would be raw flesh by the end of this ordeal. To add to the embarrassment a few of my friends arrived just in time to see the woman throw a bucket of hot water over my scorched body. I think it is safe to say, "never assume anything in a foreign country".
Even toilets are not the same here, see picture below (click on the image to see a larger version).

I think the flushing sound and powerful deodorizer buttons are genius and let's not forget the wonderful heated seat facility which is very nice on a cold and frosty morning.

Last weekend Martin and I went on a little jaunt to nearby Takehara City. We spent the morning browsing a few local craft shops, sampling Sake at the numerous Sake breweries and stopped off for lunch at a cute little restaurant. We decided to opt for the local specialty which is soba noodle served on top of a steaming hot roof tile. I know it sounds weird but it is actually a really tasty bite to eat.

We also spotted the smallest clothesline in the world, I know the Japanese are small but this really takes the biscuit.

There are plenty more travel expeditions on the horizon for the McCloskeys, as we are going to see U2 in Tokyo - I am just so excited! Every rock concert that I have ever been to I couldn't see a thing but in the land of the small people I will get to see everything. Unfortunately, this will not be the case for those standing behind Martin. Before the concert we are going to spend a couple of days enjoying the cherry blossom season in Kyoto and then head off to see the bright lights and all the crazy fashion in Tokyo.
Best of all we are going home for a month on the 11th of April for Sheena and Rob's wedding and Steve and Louisa's wedding. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone, going shopping for clothes that fit, eating proper sausages, reading the Daily Telegraph and seeing lots and lots of green grass.
I must go now but a big congratulations to Callum Carten, who got an A in his eleven plus. Well done Caks!
Not much else to report, I'm still taking it easy and Martin's still working hard.
See you all in six weeks - not that I'm counting or anything.

Japanese hanging basket!

Deadly fish and the Japanese bathing experience

2006-01-29T15:48:00.000+09:00

Hello again everyone,

We realise we haven't been doing a great job of keeping the blog up to date, so here's a monster blog post to catch up.

For the most part it has been back to our regular Hiroshima lifestyle after the Christmas & New Year vacations. Back to work for me, lots of trips on our bikes and more adventures to the supermarket. Although laid up for a week with a bad flu, Therese is back to full fitness now and has been keeping herself busy with Women's Club stuff, Japanese lessons and has even started a course in art history. She has also been teaching her Japanese teacher how to bake scones- a tough life!

This month also brought the 30th anniversary of my entry into the world - scary stuff. Hard to believe that I really am that old, but thankfully I've taken it quite well - no birthday blues or anything like that. In saying that, the first sign of a mid-life crisis arrived when I decided to buy myself a guitar. For those of you familiar with my musical ability, you can stop laughing now.

To celebrate my birthday, I took a couple of days off work and Therese and I headed off to the old samurai town of Hagi, on the north coast of the main island about 2 hours from Hiroshima.

A view of Hagi

A typical street, with the old samurai and merchant houses

Some of the elaborate gates and roofs

Hagi is a historic town, that was the base for many of the wealthy families and their samurai who protected and ran their businesses. Many of the traditional houses remain, which makes it a really interesting place for a stroll, taking in the old buildings.

After exploring the town, Therese and I checked in to Ryokan Tomoe, where we were staying for the night. Ryokan are traditional Japanese inns and our Ryokan was one of the most luxurious in Japan, lots of Japanese Prime Ministers have stayed there and even the Emperor has visited. The rooms have tatami flooring, with simple decoration and your meals, which are included in the price, are served in your room. Every room has a wonderful view of a traditional Japanese garden, it is all very "zen" and feels so calm and relaxing. On arrival guests are advised to enjoy a traditional Japanese bath, this involves sitting on a small wooden stool and using a shower head and wooden bowl to give yourself a good scrub. Only when you are absolutely spotlessly clean are you allowed into the piping hot and very deep Japanese bath. It may sound very odd but it feels really good. Guests are then expected to change into Yukata, a light cotton robe which is very comfortable. The hostesses (who are dressed in traditional Kimono) will then bring dinner to your room and serve it to you - it was definitely a little strange to be sitting on a chair with no legs at such a low table. The whole dinner process takes about 3 hours.

The entrance to Ryokan Tomoe

Therese in her Yukata

We had requested Japanese food, but we had no idea of what we were having. The menu wasn't much help as the only thing we managed to translate was 'melon'.

Our personalised menu

When our first round of courses arrived though we were in for a shock - the large platter in the middle of the table was lots of slices of the famous - and potentially deadly - blowfish, or fugu.

Fugu- tasty but deadly...

Reassured that our Ryokan was fairly reliable, we tried some. It is tasty, but not enough that I would risk my life for it. We had read in the paper that so far this season nine people in Hiroshima prefecture had died from trying to prepare their own fugu. One of Japan's most famous actors dropped dead at a Fugu banquet in 1975 only minutes after eating the fatal fish.

Anyway, after we had finished our selection of sashimi, including the fugu, our next course arrived, then the next, and the next.....in fact we counted 15 courses in all. Even with Japanese portion sizes, we were still stuffed.

By the time dinner was over, we were definitely ready for bed. Our hostesses made up our bed for us - futon mattresses on top of the tatami mats. I'm not sure I could sleep on it every night, but it was pretty comfortable.

Bed on the floor

Breakfast next morning seemed to be just a continuation of the previous night's dinner, with yet more fish (raw and cooked), rice, tofu and miso soup. It was certainly different to be eating that sort of food first thing in the morning, and though it was all tasty, I think I'll stick to cornflakes. By the time Therese got round to tasting the fermented soy bean paste cake it was almost all too much.

Me tucking in to breakfast

After another short stroll around some more of the sights of Hagi, we headed back to Hiroshima via the small town of Tsuwano in the middle of the mountains. Tsuwano, like Hagi, had quite a few traditional Japanese houses, and strangely a Catholic Church that had no pews, only tatami mats on the floor.

Some views of Tsuwano

Tsuwano also has one of the largest Shinto shrines in Japan, so we decided it was worth a look.

All in all we had a wonderful break and enjoyed our Ryokan stay so much that we intend to make Japanese baths a regular feature in our lives - we even bought a small wooden stool and bowl so we can do it in our own apartment!

Will write again next week, take care.

Ps. It has been great to know that all our friends in Kelvedon and Westminster have been keeping up to date with the blog, keep logging on!

Happy 2006

2006-01-03T16:14:00.000+09:00

Hello again and a very Happy 2006 to all our blog readers. It been a while since our last post and there's loads to tell. We've been 'down under' for our big holiday of the year, and spent Christmas on the beach in Sydney. Following that our friends Anne & Paul came to visit and spend New Year with us.

Back to the beginning; on 16th of December, Therese and I flew from Osaka to Sydney on our Australian adventure. Neither of us had been before, so we were both very excited. We spent the first half of the holiday in the Blue Mountains a couple of hours outside Sydney. We based ourselves in Katoomba and stayed at the Kurarra Guest House. From there we went bush walking, explored the Jenolan Caves and spent a day on horseback at the Megalong ranch. Check out the photos below.

View of the 'Three Sisters' from our bushwalk trail

Govett's Leap

Some of the scenery near the Jenolan caves

The Three Sisters at dusk

Christmas Day on the Beach

The Harbour Bridge on Christmas evening

From there we headed back into Sydney, for some Christmas shopping and more sightseeing. We stayed in a cosy hotel, the Russell, just minutes from the Harbour Bridge and Opera house. Apart from the obvious sights and shopping, we went to the aquarium which was really impressive (lots of sharks & tropical fish) and took a day trip out to the Hunter Valley, one of Australia's biggest wine regions, and spent a day going round the wineries.

Christmas Day was certainly different - going to Mass in shorts & T-shirt, before heading off to the beach, but it was really enjoyable and very relaxing.

After travelling back to Japan on Boxing Day, Anne & Paul arrived to spend New Year.

Photos of snow & other random stuff

2005-12-11T20:40:00.000+09:00

As I mentioned before there was great excitement at the arrival of snow in Hiroshima this week, albeit for a short time. Here's some pictures to give you some idea of what it was like

Therese has been out and about with the camera this week, snapping whatever quirky things catch her eye. This weeks entries are:

Mobile Phone Promotion Girl with Yellow Balloon strapped to her back

Mobile Phone Promotion girls are a common site in and around the centre of Hiroshima. They are invariably dressed in ridiculous costumes, but the huge yellow balloon deserved a photo. They are also always very upbeat and smiley, despite the thankless task of pestering shoppers and as you can see they are quite happy to have their photo taken. Of course once Therese had asked to take her photo, every tourist within 100 yards decided they wanted a photo too, so the poor girl was stood there for 5 mins before she could escape.

Over Priced Food Hampers

It seems to be quite common to give everyday items like food, drink and even washing powder as gifts, just as long as it is nicely packaged. Sticking to our theme of food, here's a fine example of what you might find under your Christmas Tree in Hiroshima - a Melon, 2 Apples & 2 Pears. Price £33.50, bargain!

And just to prove we weren't joking about the washing powder....

Snow !!!

2005-12-08T18:57:00.000+09:00

There was great excitement on Monday morning this week, when we were greeted with a fresh covering of snow. Of course it was all gone by lunchtime, but it managed to stir up many stories among the locals of how this was going to be the coldest winter ever. Also on Monday our lease furniture arrived so the flat is looking much more homely and not quite so spartan.

As you might have guessed from the snow, it has turned distinctly colder here, and when the wind comes from the North (i.e. Siberia) it would cut through you. This has put a hold on my cycling to work, as it is just that bit too bracing.

Therese managed to snap some pictures of the snow and other random stuff so those will be added in due course.

Therese goes to the supermarket

2005-11-27T19:36:00.000+09:00

Dear friends
For the past week i have been a computer widow. Every night when Martin came home from work he would spend ages at the computer trying to get everything connected, this inevitably led to many angry Martin moments. Although, i have also suffered from the odd lapse of patience, particularly with the excessive amount of wires and computer paraphernelia cluttering up my home. Thankfully things are now back to normal, i have a calm, loving husband ( the computer gear still looks messy though) and life has continued as usual for Therese in Japan. Hopefully, the following snaps will give you a glimpse of everyday grocery shopping in Hiroshima.

Therese gears up for another supermarket adventure

There are many weird and wonderful fish around

...and more soy sauce than you will ever need.

Bento boxes-TV dinners the Japanese way

and the infamous three slice loaf of bread.

a little piece of Essex in Japan!

computer problems.....

2005-11-27T17:00:00.000+09:00

Dear All,

Apologies for the break last week, but since last Friday I have been trying to sort out the new computer. First I couldn't connect to our broadband service - and after a weekend of banging my head against the computer screen I discovered that my passowrd was typed wrong in the modem setting ( I have a # in my password which was coming up as a £, because the keyboard was set to UK instead of US - aaaaaaaargh!)

Then we couldn't access Therese's hotmail account - this is now resolved but only after hours of fiddling with different settings of the computer, wireless base station and modem. The modem was particulaly trying as all the setup screens are in Japanese!.

Anyway we're back on-line!

As requested here is a picture of Therese with her bike, just for Louisa.

Kurashiki

2005-11-13T20:57:00.000+09:00

Unfortunately no funny stories this week. Time is zipping by and it seems like yesterday I was writing about Miyajima and getting my hair cut. Our bikes arrived this week, so I’ve been cycling to work dodging the crazy school kids who never look where they are going. The weather is perfect for cycling – dry, crisp and sunny and it is only 3 miles so I don’t arrive at the office too sweaty. Hiroshima is built on a river delta so it is completely flat which makes cycling not too difficult.

Yesterday we drove to a town called Kurashiki (see pictures). Dubiously titled the “Venice of Japan” (I counted only one canal), it was once the rice trading centre of western Honshu. Nonetheless it does have an attractive, historic town centre, with the old rice warehouses converted into craft stores, cafes & galleries. We enjoyed the pleasant autumn weather and the sight of many of the leaves changing colour. Lunch was a set menu in a little bistro – pumpkin soup, steak with vegetables and side salad (and rice of course) and coffee for £6.75 each. Eating out is can be great value in Japan! After lunch we visited the Ohara Museum of Art, which has an impressive private collection of impressionist and modern art. The Museum also had a traditional Japanese garden (see photos). Along the way, we also came across some turtles sunbathing on a rock in the middle of a pond in case you were wondering what they were doing.

Also we have decided to go down under for Christmas. We are off to Sydney and the Blue Mountains for the week leading up to Christmas. We are staying in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains first, before heading back to Sydney for Christmas. It will be strange to be on holiday at Christmas, but waking up to a view of the Opera house and the harbour bridge (in the middle of summer) should make up for it. Maybe we can have some barbequed turkey!

The best surprise though this week was a very unhealthy supply of delicious chocolates courtesy of Anne & Paul – Thanks!

Every day is another adventure

2005-11-06T21:37:00.000+09:00

As promised another week, another update.
My big adventure this week was going to get my hair cut. With some trepidation I randomly selected a barbers in the centre of town, and strode in. After the customary introductions, we managed to establish that I wanted a “cut only”, and I showed my ID Card picture as a guide to length and style (if you could call it a style). 10 minutes later and I was pretty happy with the outcome, and was all ready to leave when I was whisked over the sink for a rinse & shampoo, followed my a head massage, then a shoulder massage, then some nice hot towels, then a close shave of the neck & side burns, blow dry and final check over. I felt fantastic, and was looking better groomed than ever. They even trimmed my ear hairs with one of those Remmington trimmer things. I was wondering if this was a “cut only”, what else was available? The cost for all this five star treatment – 1700 Yen, approx £8.50. You have got to hand it to the Japanese, they really know how to do customer service!

Another adventure this week, was our first attempt at a traditional Japanese restaurant. We had pinned our hopes on the restaurant having a set menu deal, which is pretty common. Unfortunately, after some busy searching through the phrase book, we ascertained that it was all “a la carte”. Neither my nor Therese’s Hiragana abilities were up to reading the menu, but we managed ask the waitress to bring us as much food as she could for 5000 Yen. Our surprise menu, started with some stewed pork & lotus root with miso soup, followed by a delicious prawn salad. Next up was a fantastic platter of sashimi, which was super fresh and beautifully presented. Then came a couple of pork dumplings, followed by Therese’s favourite, some sort of steamed fluffy pancake, which you stuff with roasted chicken & salad, kebab style topped off with a creamy mustardy sauce. Next was the obligatory bowl of rice – ours was fried with mushroom, egg & tiny fish, although Therese was perturbed by the fact that the fish still had their heads on, eyes and all. Dessert was coconut flavoured bean curd, which tastes much better than it sounds. Before you think we are greedy gluttons, the portions are really quite small.

Hi, it’s Therese here, Martin has just had an “angry moment” with the computer and needs to chill; I think that my constant proof reading over his shoulder was just a bit too much. Things are going pretty well, I have almost finished my intensive Japanese lessons, it was tiring doing six hours a day, one on one, but I managed to pick up loads – I bought Martin a mobile phone, ordered curtains and exchanged a too small shower curtain and bath mat at the DIY store. It is very odd but everything seems to come in miniature in this country, maybe this is because the people are smaller? Carrots come individually wrapped at 75p a go, although I have managed to track down a wee man who sells 3 for a £1! You can even buy baby Kiwis, they are only slightly bigger than an M&M and the mind boggles at how you would even try to eat them. Melons are square, wrapped in a giant bow and obviously a luxury at £20 a pop. I saw the most expensive mushroom in the whole wide world the other day, one mushroom all wrapped up in cellophane and measuring 7cm in length and 3 in diameter was £24 – it must have been one serious magic mushroom. The slightly cheaper version imported from America was only £12.

Everyday is a bit of an adventure at the moment, I always see something that makes me stop and think. I saw this girl today and she was dressed liked Queen Victoria but wearing Dennis the Mennis striped socks and 10 inch high built up shoes (as you can imagine in Japan this made her head and shoulders above everybody else- I was standing at the traffic lights once and even I was taller than everybody else). At a different set of traffic lights this woman just started talking to me and walked the whole way to the supermarket with me speaking Japanese, I think she was trying to say that she thought I was American and that her Grandfather had gone to America. I have no idea what else she was rambling on about but was pretty relieved to get to Fresta and buy some more hideously expensive food. Did I mention that the good old pan loaf is also a luxury – it is normal to get 4 slices in a loaf and this will cost about 80p, the most you can get in one go is eight slices but this is very rare.

Clothes are also very tiny, these girls are so thin I think they must have to run around in the shower to get wet. However, there was great excitement amongst the western fraternity yesterday when Zara opened in town. I found a pair of size ten trousers that fitted, which makes a change from the day that I tried on a pair of size large trousers and they wouldn’t go up my leg – that was a low moment in Hiroshima.

I will have to sign off now as my enthusiasm for writing anymore is fading fast and the house still has to be cleaned – though I hear you can hire an OAP for £2 an hour and they will clean the whole house!!! (Martin reckons this can't be true and must be some form of slave labour)

Bye for now, see you next week.

Ps. My bike arrives tomorrow, it is my first new bike ever and has a wicker basket with a leather seat but no gears – I can't wait!!! Pictures will follow. Oh, Martin has calmed down, just in case you were wondering.

Apologies...

2005-10-31T06:41:00.000+09:00

to all our avid blog readers for the shockingly poor record of posts in the last few weeks. As you can imagine it has been rather busy, but that is no excuse. From now on we have set ourselves a target of a minimum of one update a week, normally on Sunday night or Monday. To make up for it we are going to add some pictures of our trip to Miyajima Island today.

Miyajima Island

2005-10-30T21:42:00.000+09:00

Today (Sunday 30th October) Therese and I headed off to Miyajima Island, just off the coast to the south-west of Hiroshima. Miyajima is No. 2 on the Hiroshima tourist trail (after the Peace Park) mainly because of the famous 'Torii Gate', but also because it has an ample supply of shrines, temples and some beautiful scenery. There are also lots of very tame red deer getting fat on all the treats given to them by the tourists.

Tired, but ready to go...

2005-10-18T01:39:00.000+09:00

It's been a crazy last few days - from a long weekend of farewells, our anniversary, two very tiring moving days, then back into the office to clear up the last few things but we are finally ready to go. Tomorrow morning, we get picked up at 9:15 and fly at 13:00 to Tokyo, before our internal flight down to Hiroshima. All in all I reckon it will take 24 hours door to door. Thankfully we have a day's rest on Monday as it is a public holiday in Japan.

Preparations & Goodbyes

2005-09-29T21:08:00.000+09:00

Well things are getting busy, as we prepare for the move. Therese has left work - saying a tearful goodbye to the House of Commons for a couple of years. We've started our round of goodbyes and farewell outings as well, culminating in the official London bash at the weekend in Vinopolis, followed by Maggie Jones's.

We're scheduled to move out next Tuesday & Wednesday, so you might not hear much more from us until we are moved into our flat in Japan the following Tuesday. I'll make sure to send everyone the address and phone no. before we go.

As if this wasn't enough, it is our first wedding anniversary on Sunday - amazing how quickly a year goes by! We're celebrating by spending a night in the Great House in Lavenham, http://www.lavenham.co.uk/greathouse/, the place where we got engaged almost 3 years ago.

BTW if anyone fancies buying a delightful, 2 bedroom, terraced cottage then we'd be much obliged - check out http://www.rightmove.co.uk. The photos don't do it justice, it's actually much nicer than that - honest!

Home in Hiroshima

2005-09-27T21:14:00.000+09:00

Below is a photo from the window of our new flat in Hiroshima. As you can see we're by one of the 7 rivers in Hiroshima, Enko-gawa in our case.

In contrast here are some pictures of our home in Kelvedon, we will really miss it, especially since we have spent so much time and effort in doing it up.

Up & Running....

2005-09-27T17:05:00.000+09:00

Welcome to Martin and Thérèse's blog!!

This is going to be our online record of our adventures in Japan over the next two years. That is until I sort out a better website...but in the mean time, we hope you like it.