At A Glance
1)For those that don't know already, my trip to Japan was both a)long and b)fraught with f**kups. The average time from Cairns International to Kansai International airport is Tokyo is 8 1/2 hours. However, my *darling* travel company, Terra Australis decided to take the scenic route. 32 hours later I arrived in Fukuoka domestic airport (get the atlas) to find that my last flight to Matsuyama (quick! get the atlas) had been cancelled due to budget reasons. Terra (terror) Australis had neglected to ring up and check the flights (durrr!) After bunking down in Fukuoka for one night I continued on my way to Matsuyama and then to Imabari, one hour away. Slept the last hour in the taxi to Imabari, much to amusement if my Rotary travelling companion.
2) The Zombie Soyabeans are actually Nato, a delicacy of Japan that even the people themselves are divided over. It seems to me that this is a case of Japanese vegemite*, being you have to be born into eating it to like it. To the best of my knowledge, they put some sort of germ (huh? lost in translation) in with the beans and let the evil forces of the Devil take over and convert the peaceful legume into a nasty smelling, nasty tasting, snotty little titbit. They then mix this with raw(!) egg and pile onto hot rice which is supposed to cook the egg (it doesn't). The result is tendrils of a snot like substance such as Influenza has never seen with whole soybeans suspended in it. If you have ever smelt a vegetable trash bin from your local supermarket that has been left in the sun too long in the middle of December then you will know what I smelt! *I'm gonna expose my family to this delish food at a later date!
3) This is still in the works as I still, after one week, have the bloody cold. Subsequently, I haven't been to school all week and have no idea what the weather outside is like as I haven't been outside in days. (I hear its cold, hehe, thank god for the space heater!) Apparently, early attack on the symptoms, namely in a visit to the hospital is the mentality of the Japanese people. However, when asked if I wanted to go to the hospital I was appalled (as all hospital fearing Australians are) as hospitals have always been the domain of the gravely ill to me. So have put the visit off, thereby probably prolonging the wretched thing! So have given in and am going today to try and nip (nuke) this thing in the bud.
4)I saw snow in Imabari (apparently a very singular thing) the other day! Yay! Only lasted like 30 seconds but didn't stop me rushing outside onto the balcony and trying to catch snowflakes on my toungue like a loser. Spent the next hour in front of the space heater to conpensate. (Following posted on Saturday) We had a freak snow storm this afternoon! It was crazy! There was snow swirling everywhere! But the earth had heated up in the afternoon sun so much that all the snow melted once it had fallen to earth. :( However was captivated for a good 20 minutes and sat glued to the window blowing huge fog circles on the glass watching the little darling snowflakes fall. Must have looked like a right turkey! All the while the sun shone and shone in my window and I worked on my tan whilst watching the snow fall. How strange is that?
Will post more as it happens!
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