Ok this up date is back dated to the 12th of March. I wrote them but didn’t have net access so I couldn’t post. So this week will be a blog bonanza!


This weekend, my first ever visitor from Canada arrived. I met Lauren almost without a hitch. Ok, that’s not even close to true. I am a disaster with train travel lately. I have lived here for about 7 months and only now for some reason I start making all the rookie errors of traveling. I when to the wrong platform and got on wrong trains. IT was such a screw up. It took me over four hours to get to the airport from central Tokyo. I was wondering what I was going to do with all my extra time because I had left so early. Thank God Lauren had to check her bags and her flight was a few minutes late getting in or she would have been waiting for a very long time. Secondly there wasn’t adequate discussion of exactly where we would meet. Apparently the help desk people were paging me but Japanese people have a hard time saying my name. I though I heard it once but I wasn’t sure. Lauren had been waiting for about thirty minutes by the time a located her. In the end though, all was well and we headed back to Ueno station without error. And for the rest of the weekend, our traveling as a raging success.
We enjoyed all the things I love about Tokyo. Cherry blossom season is just beginning so we Lauren got ot see some of them. They are so beautiful. We had a busy weekend ahead of us. We went to several shrines and temples, we went to the Tokyo National Museum where we were treated to a lovely concert by two of the singers from the National Opera company singing selections from Verdi operas. They were both incredible singers but I would have to check the program to tell you their names. A museum is such an amazing space for a voice recital; you could hear them through all of the hall ways while you looked at the exhibits. The singers stood on a huge marble staircase. It was very dramatic.　This picture is a little dark unfortunately, I didn't want to use too much flash because it might be distracting for the singers. Then we headed off to the Meiji shrine with is the largest shrine in Tokyo. We were really lucky here for two reasons. First, we met a group of university students who were hoping to practice English with foreigners. So they walked us through the shrine and helped us to participate in all the ceremonies and rituals that you do there. There is a hand washing ritual and a coin toss for good luck. They explained the significance of what Japanese people do at a shrine and about the structure itself. All complete with loads of bowing. Their English was very good and they were cool to hang out with. I don’t always get to hang out with Japanese people my own age so it was really great to meet them. The second great thing was the their was a traditional Japanese wedding being held there and it was absolutely beautiful. The trend now is to have western weddings. I think that it is very expensive to have a traditional wedding nowadays so the chances of me seeing one again are pretty slim. The kimono the bride wore was huge. It has so many layers. The wooden plaques pictured above are of peoples hopes and wishes. You write them on a wooden plaque and tie them to the shrine. Then once a month, they are taken into the preists and read out and blessed. They include wishes for health, love, exam success, career goals etc. There are thousands of them! Then we went down to the Harajuku district and saw all the crazy youth fashion on display. Anyone who wants to pose in the latest lolly goth fashions can be scene there. Then we headed back to Shinjuku station for a little light shopping. We went to some ridiculously expensive districts too. All in one block we had Dolce, Coach, Gucci and all the rest. It was perfect for anyone looking for their next 3000 dollar hand bag. Which was not us. The weather couldn`t have been better either. It was almost twenty degrees the whole weekend. When we got back up to Shiojiri of course it was a little chillier. We had snow on the ground again.
We headed home on a completely random bus because the normal one to my city was sold out. This one took us to a neighbouring city and we were able to catch a local train home from there. We stayed up quite late last night and I was not that interested in getting up for work this morning. Well I guess that’s just life in the fast lane. We have an action packed week of stuff ahead of us even though I have to work. It should be exhausting but fun. And of course I am now stocked up on all the goodies from back home. Lauren is going to team teach my elementary classes with me this week. Although she is an elementary teacher back home, I think this will be a bit of a shock.



Ok, back to the present tense. I have to work during school holidays which is a little strange but I will talk about that more later. Basically it means I have a lot of time on my hands for the next two weeks. The good side of this is that there is lots of time to update you on all the crazy stuff that has happened in the last week or so. I can't believe how busy I have been! I hope you are all doing well. Lauren is back home safe and sound now. She is trying to recover from a lot of jet lag and lack of sleep. Thanks for visiting me!!! It was amazing to see and speak with someone form home and also to share my life here with someone for the first time. We didn't get to do a lot because of work but I had a really good time and I am glad that she could come. Thanks for baby sitting the ferrets too!