Thankfully my tough week is behind me and this last week I've had a great time at Shinozaki! I even went out with one of my teachers to a pub quiz on Saturday. The quiz is in English and the pub is owned by a British husband and wife. Although almost everyone who plays is foreign, there are some Japanese people who come to improve their English. We came in 3rd place with 38 points, the winning team only had 42 points, so we were close! I hope to go back next month and maybe next time we can win!
As this week came and went it's really started to dawn on me that this will be my last year. Patrick and I are both talking about how we will eventually pack up our apartments and what we'll do once we get home. We're also talking about all the places we want to visit before we return home. With that in mind I've made a bunch of plans for the coming year and I couldn't be more excited!
My first trip will be small, over a long weekend in October. I got a shinkansen and hotel deal through a local travel agency and will be heading two hours up to 神戸 (Kobe) with Leah! I'm really excited to explore and try some real Kobe beef! There's also some gardens I want to check out as well as a museum and a sake brewery. I'm excited to spend some time on the boardwalk and generally hang out with Leah in a new setting. That's only three weeks away so look forward to some pictures from Kobe soon!
December and January will also be a busy time. Mike will be visiting me during Christmas and New Years. We don't have any plans for those days yet, but in between we will be visiting 名古屋 (Nagoya). Nagoya is between Osaka and Tokyo, but I don't know too much about it. There are supposed to be great museums, gardens, and shopping there as well as a beautiful castle. We'll catch a shinkansen up on the morning of December 26th and come back to Kokura on the 30th. I'm really excited to explore this new city with Mike! We're also going to catch a train to Nagashima Spa Land and ride the longest roller coaster in the world!
The first full week of January I have plans with Patrick to visit 札幌 (Sapporo). Both Patrick and I are really excited to see the snow again and hopefully go skiing or snowboarding. Sapporo is the largest city in the northern island of Hokkaido. We'll stay in Sapporo, but take the train around Hokkaido to make sure we see a ton of things! This trip we'll make by plane, but with the Japanese travel agencies we could get a deal on the plane and hotel together. My Japanese exchange teacher, Mr. Kanatsu, grew up in Sapporo and his family still lives there. Mr. Kanatsu father worked for many years as an English teacher and might be able to give us a tour of Sapporo, which would be so cool!
Those trips are all booked already, but Patrick, Caol, and I also want to head down to 沖縄 (Okinawa) in February. We are looking into it now, but figure we have a lot of time to book something! I will also be taking a trip at the beginning of April with Mike and my family! We'll meet in Tokyo and travel around. We don't have a set plan yet, but we might go to 高山 (Takayama) and from there visit 白川郷 (Shirakawago).
Next week I promise I'll go back to more exciting entries with pictures, but last week was pretty uneventful. I have the day off tomorrow for a national holiday and I'm not sure what I'll do yet. Tonight my friends are coming over to play board games and I'm really excited! I'm so excited for all these trips, I'm definitely going to make the most of my last year here!
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