Summertime!
It’s summertime and that means holidays! Tomorrow I am heading off with Emiri on holiday to Ibaraki to visit her parents and then to Aomori to visit friends there. It will be great to get away from classes etc and have a bit of time to relax and recharge! We are going by ferry from Hokkaido (Tomakomai port) to Ibaraki (Oarai port), a journey of 19 hours by ferry! You can see from this map that it would only take 5 by plane and train, but where is the fun in that? Besides, there is a sento on the ferry, and a cinema, and a big room to sleep in, so hopefully we can arrive without so much of that manky been travelling feeling. And it works out a bit cheaper too…
Summer also means it is my birthday! Well it was my birthday… Thanks to everyone who sent birthday emails or cards or wishes or anything!
I have had a lot of fun thanks to getting a year older, last week Emiri came and made me dinner, and students from school invited me over to make gyoza (dumplings) and eat them, we had a special birthday english class too as my birthday was on a Tuesday. But to top it all, last Saturday Emiri had told me too ensure I was free for a special secret birthday surprise… I have been able to borrow a car for a few weeks while another missionary isn’t in Japan, and we drove to near the airport, where we met a guy in a car and strapped to the top of his car was, lo and behold, an Old Town canoe! The last time I had seen one was last September when PC, Andy L and I climbed in and risked life and limb just to get an all you can eat chinese and a chance to sleep on the cold ground in an over croweded tent!
So off we went canoeing down the Bibigawa river. It was beautiful, quiet, peaceful and the weather wasn’t too bad either. We took about an hour to paddle down to the get off point that the rental guys had set up. Short and uneventful, but a lovely chance to get out on some water and to introduce Emiri to the joys of paddling!
Anyways, I might get to post some photos etc from travelling, but we will see!
