Thoughts, Snow, Japanese girls and I'm coming home to Blighty!

So this is the last post before I fly back to England for Christmas with my family. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, and being back in the warmth that only family can provide. I just hope my journey home will be easier than the difficulty I had this week!

Well, I went into Hiroshima city on Thursday to do my Christmas shopping, and what a pain in the arse that was...Anyway, Evan mentions to me, when I got back that I need a re-entry stamp in my passport otherwise they won't let me back into Japan.

BOLLOCKS.

So before work on Friday I had to traipse back into the city, and travel to the Adminstration buildings. This in itself proved to be harder than even I expected. A myriad of 12 storey interconnected concrete monsters. Luckily I managed to get all this done and return to Saijo in time for work.

I will miss Japan for the two weeks I am away, but I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family again...oh and growing a Obi Wan Kenobi style beard (NOVA rule #121 No facial stubble)...ha ha ha.

Snow. We've had shitloads. And its bloody cold. On Saturday night we maybe had about 6 or 8 inches of the stuff. Great!

We also had a party here on Saturday. Me, Evan and 13 Japanese people. It was great. Plus I got the number of a cute Japanese girl...can't be bad.

Anyway peeps! See on the otherside of the world very soon!

Daniel Bissett - Aged 3 years (and one day)

HERE ARE A FEW WORDS TO SAY

I'M SORRY I'M NOT THERE ON YOUR SPECIAL DAY,

BUT HEY, HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY DAN

FROM UNCLE JUSTIN IN JAPAN

See you at Christmas!

Chibiko's, Christmas and Confusion

It's still bitterly cold here in Saijo. I don't know the exact temperature, and it probably isn't as cold as the good old UK, but when you are awoken by your feet freezing and open your window to find about 6 inches of snow on rooftops then you know it's cold.

As my photo shows, we had snow here in Saijo on Sunday night. It was a beautiful sight, and rather suprising seeing how hot it was here only 4 months ago. Apparently it's colder here in Saijo than in Hiroshima, because we are higher in the mountains. Japanese houses also have NO central heating or insulated walls.

Anyway, whats been going on in my world ?

Well on Friday, I had to travel to Okayama for Chibiko training. The Chibiko programme is for kids aged 2-4 and classes only contain a maximum of 4. Plus 1 parent. So I have to sing, dance and act like a total loon in front of 4 Japanese ADULTS. I had to go to training with Suzette which wasn't as awkward as I thought it might be (we had a serious falling out the week before this, but I won't bore you here). We chatted and laughed, and I am trying hard to move past my feelings (Kareoke on the previous weekend also helped). I think this trip together was also rather cathartic.

Now, I just thrust straight into the fire last Saturday with my first Chibiko lesson. Lets just say that the Chibiko songs are now stuck in my head like some kind of torturous melody ("Its a triangle, Its a triangle (make triangle shape with hands), What is it ? What is it ? (shrugging of shoulders)")...

I am looking forward to coming home to the UK this Christmas. I know it's a strange thing to say, but I need to clear my head and what better time or place to do it than with your family at Christmas. All of my family (thats about 10 of us) are going to be there, which I think may be the first and probably only time.

I am confused though. The last month has been the hardest I've had here in Japan. My relationship with Suzette turned sour. I have been through a no-love period with my job. Evan is moving out so he can get a place with Kaori (it's a logical step for them and good luck to 'em). Jason is getting on my nerves so much, I fear that I'll do something I will regret...

I guess I just want to go home.

To feel loved and feel wanted.

Then I can come back and make up my mind about what I want to do...

I have thought about transferring to another school...but I think I just need to wait it out.

Snow in Saijo

Yes, we had snow in Saijo last night. Here is what I awoke to this morning...nice eh ?

Harry Potter in Japanese (well with Japanese subtitles)

So yesterday, I travelled down to Diamond City (the big Shopping mall) in Tegingawa, just outside of Hiroshima, to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I went with Noriko, who for some reason decided to run all the way from the train station beacuse she didn't want to be late meeting me. I told her it was okay to be late (especially after she said she may be 15 minutes late), and we had a good laugh about it.

Anyway, as I usually try to do, there is a review of this movie below -

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In this the fourth adventure of the teenage wizard, a British director, Mike Newell, gets to take over the franchise. In what is a doorstop of a book, Newell and screenwriter Steven Kloves have hacked and slashed at the material, so what remains is Harry's story and his trials in the Tri-Wizard Cup. Gone are the Dursleys. Gone is Hermoine's SPEW campaign. And Goblet of Fire is all the better for it.

Newell keeps the tone set by previous director Alfonso Cuaron, yet infuses GOF with a impending sense of menace, missing from the previous 3 films. This is a dark movie. Yet the light-hearted comedy remains, and is handled better than previous outings. Newell feels at home with the British humour, and it's these lighter moments (Ron's awful Yule Ball outfit) that mirror the tragedy in the final act.

The child actors have all stepped up a notch. Radcliffe now gives Harry a more rounded nuanced perfomance. Rupert Grint again plays Ron for laughs, but his timing and sparring with Harry and Hermoine show what a talented comedic actor he is. However in the adult cast, Michael Gambon has now made Dumbledore his own (now showing a greater breadth of emotion than he was allowed in Prisoner of Azkahban); Brendan Gleeson is wonderfully eccentric and dark as Allister "Mad-Eye" Moody, and Ralph Fiennes Voldemort is the stuff of nightmares.

The effects in this movie are great with some breathtaking set pieces. Witness Harry's first task in the Tri Wizard Cup as he battles a nasty dragon.

All in all, HPATGOF is throughly entertaining although rightly given a 12A certificate.

8 out 10