We were finally ready to leave the onsen at about 5pm, and made the short ride over to Maruyama. There was a nice hill on the way down so Joe and I shot off down it chasing a car, topping out at 66km/h. Nice! :D We'd just set up the BBQ when Yoko showed up with her friend Megumi and two of Megumi's colleagues, Rafael and David. They were all super cool people so they were good company, and made for a really friendly BBQ. Just after we'd started cooking everyone else turned up - Hiro, Louise, Skye, and Kazu the Greatest, and even Mitsue and later two of Mitsue's friends too. We all had a great time making the fire, drinking, eating, chatting and generally lazing around.

That night Nate, Miho, Joe, Hiro, Kazu and I squeezed into Ewan's tent for the night, although I didn't really get much sleep. I felt ok when I woke up though, somehow, and we packed up and stuffed everything into Hiro's / Kazu's car. They said they'd drop the stuff off at my house in about an hour, so Nate and the rest of us rode back the quick way down through Sakoshi, stopping at Circle K for brunch. But the celebrations weren't over - Nate had organised another BBQ on the banks of the Chikusa River, so once again we shot off to Jusco to meet everyone and pick up supplies. I realised that most of the people that were coming were the same as the night before, hehe, but there were a couple of new faces including Yuko and one of the teachers Joe teaches with, Katsuchi, and one of her friends. We managed to get another roaring fire going and cooked up our tasty meat and veges before getting stuck into some serious frisbee throwing and, once Minato-san arrived with his family, bike riding.

It all wound up around 4:30pm, with everyone heading off in their own directions after dumping stuff at my house. I felt a bit lost as to what to do then, as I'd been with people and having an awesome time since the Friday night. So being on my own with nothing to do turned out to be pretty intense! So, I played Dawn of War 2, haha, and dug out my dodgy toaster oven to eat the frozen pizzas that Mitsue had, for some unknown reason, brought to the BBQ :) And finally, on Wednesday, the last day of Golden Week, I caught up with Kometani-sensei from the night school enkai. We went for lunch together along with one of her friends to an interesting little restaurant called Arushokudo in Himeji. It had all-you-can-eat-bread, so I was Happy :) After that I went and bought myself a new wallet (it has a picture of Himeji castle on it, wheee) then at night I put a semi-decent dent into the backlog of TV series I had collected due to my month without Internet.

And that was my Golden Week. It was definitely one of the most fun times I've had here in Japan, and I think that a big part of that was the fact it was spent locally, and with local friends both Japanese and gaijin. It hit that perfect middle ground, and it just made for a lovely experience. So much so that it was extremely hard to get out of bed today and come to school. Now I understand why Japanese suffer from 'May syndrome', when people tend to get a bit down in early May because of moving companies / schools at the start of the new financial year and the subsequent adjusting and because the wonderful holiday that is Golden Week has come and gone. But like anything, I'm sure that feeling will pass. I already have a great weekend lined up ... it's just a matter of getting through another 1.5 boring school days :)

Early May in Japan brings Golden Week, an infamous string of national holidays during which the entire country grinds to a halt. Almost everyone is on holiday during this time, and as a result it's one of the few times of year when Japanese people (especially families) can actually travel and have a real holiday. So naturally, it's a logistical and financial nightmare. Roads, trains, shops and restaurants alike are jam packed and the price of everything goes up. Needless to say, I'm not a huge fan. So this year again I decided to stay local and avoid the crowds and prices. Which actually turned out to be a bloody good plan :)

On the Friday night before the madness started I caught up with Keisuke, Amanda and Misa for dinner at an izakaya in Akashi. Misa and Keisuke were going away during Golden Week, so we'd all decided to catch up before it actually started. It was a good night, but I was extremely tired (as always :/) and try as I might I just couldn't keep up with their Japanese, especially when Keisuke's friend (who speaks no English) arrived. I was a bit upset about it and left as soon as we finished up at the izakaya, even though they were kicking on to karaoke.

Saturday was a good day as the Perth group (Amanda, Emma, Matt, Goran, Suzie and Aimee) all came over to Ako for the day. We bought up supplies at Jusco and caught the bus down to the seaside park, where we ate, drank, played frisbee and cards and generally had a great time. Around 4pm we climbed the smallest mountain in Hyogo Prefecture (about 20 metres, haha) and mucked around on the top for a while before catching a taxi back to my place. We all pitched in to cook takoyaki, okonomiyaki and yakisoba for dinner, and talked and played cards until around midnight.

The next day I shot off to Kobe to meet Joe and Yuko for some more rock climbing. I had a really good time and solidified what I'd learnt last time as well as learning some new things. I felt a bit more comfortable in the gym too, as I'd seen a lot of the people there before. Some of them smiled at me as I walked in / came down from climbs (falling more often than not, hehe) which was really supportive. After really struggling to get into the groove of talking Japanese and making some silly mistakes (I was tired and had been talking to Joe in English for an hour on the train beforehand), I also got talking to Akisa and Kawabata-san, the people at the front desk. They're really cool people, and they told me that there are some rock climbing courses at Mount Rokko, near Himeji. Wheee!

I finished up at the gym at around 4pm when I tore a chunk of skin off one of my fingers after losing grip on a rock, but Joe and Yuko managed to keep going until around 5pm. We grabbed a quick dinner and then Joe and I headed back to Ako to meet Nate and Miho to start our Banshu Ako Golden Week :D We'd all decided to keep it local, and as so many of our friends were returning to Ako/near Ako, we all decided to stay too. So we met everyone at Minato-ya and over okonomiyaki and beer Nate told us the plans.

That night they all crashed at my place and then on Monday morning we bought heaps of BBQ food in preparation to go camping at Maruyamu beach. Ewan had already set up a tent for us there on Sunday, and Joe borrowed a bike from our new friend Hiro, so all we had to do was pack our bags and ride. It was a lovely ride too, as it took us through the beautiful Misaki area and then out to a long, flat path that went along the ocean. Unfortunately that path ran out before I thought it would, so we ended up having to carry our bikes about 100m up a fairly steep set of stairs to the road (whoops!), but we came out directly across from Kanpo-yu, an onsen. None of us had showered and we'd gotten hot on our ride, so we were all anxious to get clean. And it was a damn good onsen! :D

On Sunday Misa came down to Ako to explore, and we checked out the Ako museum and the remains of the castle. It was pretty interesting, even though I couldn't read much of what was written. Around 5 or so we headed back to my place for coffee, only for me to realise that I didn't have any - haha. So we went to Jusco and bought a coffee maker. We also grabbed some bento for dinner and spent the rest of the evening listening to music. Good times!

The Tuesday after that, I finally managed to have Ewan and Ai over one Tuesday night. I'd been meaning to have Ewan (and many others) over for dinner for a long time, but my old house was so horrible and out of the way that I never got around to it. Now I'm central and have a wonderful house, I can finally entertain :) Well, try to, anyway, haha. The night Ewan came I was running very late as it was my athletics night. So I was only just beginning to prepare when they arrived, and admittedly spent most of my time in the kitchen. Apparently the food was good though (random chicken stir fry thing and takoyaki) and we had some interesting conversations, so overall it was a good night. I realised that despite having been in Ako for 1.5 years, I really don't know Ewan that well. Still, it's never too late to start to get to know good people.

The last weekend in April was really busy. I caught up with Misa, Amanda and Case for lunch on Saturday at a funky little restaurant called Dada, near Himeji station. It was super cool hanging out, just the 4 of us. Around 4pm I had to shoot back to Ako for a dinner, though, which was a shame - I didn't really want to leave as the others were all going back to Amanda's for a movie/wine/cheese night! Still, I'd promised Kanatani-sensei and her family that I'd have dinner with them at their house in Ako, and it turned out that I was really glad I went. Her family is lovely and as is so common in Japan there were 4 generations at dinner. I loved talking to Kanatani-sensei's grandma, who is ancient but still very genki. I couldn't always understand what she said but I did my best, and I realised that she was one of the ladies I often used to see wandering around when I rode to school from my old house. So that was kinda cool :D

Kanatani-sensei's younger sister was there too, along with her two little kids - one around 3 years old, the other just over 1. So I played with them and stuffed their faces with the chocolates I'd brought, hehe, and I weathered a storm of interest and questions about me and Australia over about three hours worth of handmade gyoza, katsudonburi and liver salad. Fan-delicious-tastic :D I also talked to Kanatani-sensei's youngest sister and coincidentally my ex-student on the phone - she's been in Australia on a working holiday for nearly a year. I was really surprised how good her English had become!

Finally, the month finished on yet another high note as I scored myself some new furniture through pure luck :) Minato-san's wife's sister has gone to Brazil for 3 years and as a result sent all her furniture to Minato-san. He doesn't have room for it all in his house so he gave me his fridge, washing machine, dryer and a table with two chairs. I didn't really need the fridge or washing machine, but they were much nicer than the ones I had and as he needed somewhere to store it all and was being very generous letting me borrow it all in the first place, I couldn't refuse :) So I spent a public holiday Wednesday morning helping him move his old stuff out onto a truck, moving his new stuff in and then moving all the old stuff into my house. Good times! Having a dryer is going to be great during rainy season, especially as I don't have any eaves/a verandah to dry my washing under any more, and I really needed a table.

April was a little less crazy than March, but there was still a lot on. I took the opportunity of having moved to throw a bit of a housewarming party (cultural exchange right there, housewarmings aren't really done in Japan :D) which was actually pretty big (about 20 people) and went really well. The next day I went rock climbing for the first time with my friend Joe. He'd found a great free climb bouldering gym in Kobe and really liked it, so invited me along too. To my surprise, I found that I really enjoyed it, and I think I might have found a new hobby/sport :) I like it because a lot of it is about technique, planning and intelligence rather than brute strength, although fitness, strength and endurance are important too. It's also good because it has a really supportive community and it's not a team sport, meaning I can go at my own pace and if I mess things up I don't feel bad.

The Tuesday after that my parents arrived in Ako to visit me :) I hadn't seen them for over a year, so it was lovely to catch up. Unfortunately, the new school year had just started, so I wasn't able to take any annual leave to hang out with them during the day. Luckily though, they were able to shoot off to Himeji and explore Ako during the day, and we had plenty of time to catch up over dinner after school each day. Plus, we arranged to spend the weekend in Hiroshima, which turned out to be a blast.

We had planned to go to Hiroshima after I finished school on Friday, but it turned out that I had my kansougeikai (farewell / welcome party) for my day school that night. So, my parents went to Hiroshima during the day and I went to the enkai and then joined them late that night. On Saturday we went to Miyajima and had a fantastic time exploring. It's such a lovely place and this time I had the opportunity to go into Itsukushima Jinja, the famous shrine that's built over the ocean. After that we headed to one of my favourite little bar/cafes, Opium, for dinner, and then I had planned to head out into the great Hiroshima night life. Planned, anyway - after a day in the sun and not having been sleeping well for the past few weeks, I was asleep by 9:30pm, hehe. Still, it was probably for the better that I got some good sleep :)

On Sunday we did our own things, my parents heading up to Shukkeien while I caught up with my good friend Erika. As always it was super fun to hang out with her - we had kaiten sushi for lunch and wandered around the shops chatting about random things. Which is pretty much our MO whenever I go to Hiroshima, hehe :) Finally, I met back up with my parents and we finished up our trip with a dinner at the famous Okonomiyaki-mura. On Monday I said goodbye to them and headed back to Ako for my first day of night school. Which was very boring, hehe.

That week remained pretty boring as well, as I had very few classes at school :/ So I made up for it by doing lots of stuff outside of school hours instead. One of those things was joining the school athletics club. So now, I run for about an hour with the long distance team every Tuesday. Yes, I know, Daniel running ... unbelievable, right? :D I started doing it because I realised that I liked ultimate frisbee enough to want to actually be somewhat good at it, and I needed to improve my endurance and speed in order to do that. I also wanted to lose the weight I put on over winter and get fitter in general, so it seemed like a pretty good deal to me. I'm also thinking of joining the sprint team on Thursdays as well, but we'll see :)

The weekend after that brought with it my night school's kansougeikai, which had a completely different feel than my day school's enkai did. The biggest difference, I think, was that it was much smaller and everyone knew each other much better. So the atmosphere was much friendlier :) I was surprised at how well I was able to understand what everyone was saying, too, so I was feeling pretty good :) And it was nothing short of awesome to be able to sit down and chat with everyone informally, especially the younger teachers. I also met two teachers who had just finished their time there - a friendly young teacher called Kometani-sensei and Toda-sensei's (an English teacher at my day school) wife, both of whom were really genki and a lot of fun to speak with.

Towards the end of the night I got a bit down, though, as I suddenly realised that it was unlikely I'd ever be able to become friends with these night school teachers either. We only work together once a week and naturally they work completely different hours to me for the other days. The weekends are common, but I don't know if they would have the spare time to hang out with me. I suppose the language barrier makes me a bit tentative here too, and although I'm really trying my best, the realisation of how difficult it can be to live in a country where you can't speak the local language fluently really hit home again. Still, I decided that if I never tried, I'd never know, so I made sure I asked Kometani-san for her contact details before the party finished :) I'll be damned if I'm going to let the (rapidly dropping) language barrier prevent me from making friends or being happy in general!! :D

March turned out to be a really busy, fun month! I think that was mostly because of the fact the weather was a little bit warmer, which made me feel a whole heap better. I'd been in a bit of funk towards the end of winter, and it was nice to feel happy and genki again and to get out there and start catching up with people I hadn't been able to during the winter.

First up was dinner with Nishitani-sensei, one of the English teachers I teach with here at school. This was pretty groundbreaking for me, as in the past I'd never really managed to hang out with teachers outside of school very much. This was mainly because the teachers are always so busy, but also partly because I wasn't really sure if it was appropriate. It's always been a bit of a sore point for me, actually, as teachers (especially English teachers) represent the best potential source of friends for me here, even now.

However, I finally got over all my (silly) concerns and thanks to the teachers having a bit more spare time due to the school year ending, arranged to have a quick dinner after school on Wednesday. And as I expected, it turned out to be good fun. So I'm really hoping that it's something I can do again, both with Nishitani-sensei and some other teachers I like.

On the Friday that same week I went out for dinner in Sannomiya with my friend Deyi, whom I hadn't seen for ages! She's one of the new JETs I met last year at the Tokyo/Yashiro orientations, so it was really interesting to talk to her about her experiences through the year. The next day I shot off to Akashi and finally managed to hand over to the next Hyogo PR, Goran, at the final HAJET meeting for the year. It was a big load off my mind, as the position had gotten a bit heavy thanks to the difficult times I had towards the end of last year.

After that meeting I met up with my friends Emerald and Ann for a small dinner at Emerald's house (yakiniku - yum!) and the next day we went to the Tagata-jinja Hounen Matsuri. This festival is one of the most infamous in Japan as it is a so called 'fertility festival' and pretty much involves putting a giant wooden penis on an omikoshi (portable shrine) and parading it through the streets of a small town called Komaki, in Aichi prefecture. It's pretty crazy and was a lot of fun, although there were a few too many gaijin being silly for my liking.

In late March I took some nenkyu and went up to Tokyo to meet my friend Jane. We hung out up there for a few days exploring, sightseeing and generally buying far too many cool clothes and random junk. She also came down to stay with me in Ako for a while, which was slightly unfortunate timing as I was moving house over the weekend she was here. Still, it turned out that it wasn't such a big problem after all. We went to my friend's photo exhibit on the Friday night (which was great!) and she met a few people who were going to party in Osaka on Saturday night. So she went off there and did an all nighter, hehe.

That freed me up to pack up the rest of my house on Saturday and then move everything on Sunday. The move wasn't too onerous overall, although I was pushing it to get everything done in time to go to my friend Kazu's wedding reception on the Sunday afternoon. I'm really glad I did manage to go, though, as it was an absolutely wonderful party. Kazu looked really, really happy and was in good form (his usual crazy, genki self, hehe) so I was overjoyed for him, and we all had a fantastic, relaxed time. The whole Ako crew was there and I met a heap of his pretty interesting friends too (great Japanese practise) so all in all it was a sweet deal.

And that was my March :)