So last weekend I caught up with an old friend from Uni. Three (real name Chalisa) was also doing the Masters at Deakin a few years ago when I was there, we worked on a major documentary project together. When i visited Thailand over Christmas 2007 she was very generous with her time and acted as a tour guide.
So when she mentioned she was coming to Japan I was keen to return the favour, although my tour guide skills are inferior. She and her brother flew in on Saturday, Three came from Thailand but her brother flew up from Melbourne where he is studying.
We went out for dinner, I don't think either of them were really prepared for the cold here, but they survived. Sunday we had a look around Tokyo, Harajuku, Shibuya and went to Yokohama in the evening. Wakana met us there and we had dinner. Wakana recently passed her kimono exam, so she is now qualified as a professional kimono dresser, she offered to dress Three in a kimono while she's here and they apparently did the deed last night. I got a small pic sent to me on my phone, which you can see in the gallery.
On monday I took the day off, but I came back to Gunma early and brought the tourists with me. We went for a drive up route 122 to Nikko, but the weather was pretty bad and track leading to the waterfall we wanted to see was closed off.
It was still nice hanging out though.
They leave on Sunday, I'll go back to Tokyo to see them again this weekend.
On other fronts, next week is intense ALT day activity, with 3 different school visits during the week. On monday we are playing Cluedo at Niisato, I am playing the character Colonel Mustard. I have never played Cluedo, so it should be interesting.
The Melbourne International Animation Festival selections are announced in March, so fingers crossed 'Flip' gets chosen there. I have entered 20 festivals now and have yet to hear about selection from any of them.
Just a few weeks left of this term, then the new school year starts in April. It's going by pretty quickly, I have put in an application to help out at the Tokyo orintation for new Jet's in July. It's competitive as lots of volunteers apply from all over Japan, some of them are a long way from Tokyo and want the free trip. But someone from Gunma has to go, so it might be me. I have put forward a proposal to talk about using technology in the classroom, I think I've got a handle on the subject and could deliver a better session than the one I attended on that topic last year.
Thursday today, but I'm too tred to go into Kiryu for curry, looks like cheese on toast and an early night for me.
