Back in Japan...

OK...

y'all bin waitin' to hear from me...


FRIDAY 28 JANUARY 2005

The flight from BNE to TPE was good... I watched "Garden State" written and directed by Zach Braff, who also starred. It was a good movie. If the name doesn't ring a bell, he plays "J.D." in "Scrubs", the all-time best hospital comedy since, I don't know, M*A*S*H?

Then I slept for hours, and when I woke up I watched "Shark Tale" again... I'd seen it the first time on the way TO Australia in December.

I arrived in Taipei at around 5pm... got met by the hotel people, and taken on a bus with a group of other transit passengers to our hotel. The hotel we stayed in was the Miramar Golf Country Club... 36 holes... designed by Jack Nicklaus... REALLY nice hotel. 30 min out of Taipei... look it up on the web, http://www.miramargolf.com, it's a nice place. Dinner, breakfast, and the night's stay were all included in my China Airlines airfare... NICE.

SATURDAY 29 JANUARY 2005

I flew out the next morning and arrived in Naha at 11.10... got on the monorail from the airport, and my first stop was the local Vodafone shop, so I could reconnect my mobile. Then I emailed a couple people to let them know I was back in the country.

While I was checking my email in the afternoon, Arina dropped by, and then we went out for taco-rice. After I got back to the apartment, Dermott arrived home from work and we caught up on our hols. He'd gone to Shanghai for Christmas with his girlfriend.

SUNDAY 30 JANUARY 2005

I worked from 11.40am till 7pm. Work seemed to be "same old, same old". There has been one change... before I left, we'd been using a new textbook with levels 7C, 7B and 7A... from Jan 6 they've been using a new text for Level 6, so that was something to get used to. From Feb 1 we'll have a new textbook for Level 5.

After work I met Melissa at Bambohe for some yakiniku. All-you-can-eat barbecue basically, you cook it yourself at your table. A good deal. Great food. Melissa delivered the "let's just be friends" speech. And that was before we even got a table. Then we ate, and then I went home, via the video store, where I rented the three tapes remaining in Series 8 of X-Files that I hadn't seen yet.

Hmm.

MONDAY 31 JANUARY 2005

I worked today 1.20pm till 9pm, then went out to an izakaya and then karaoke with Mike P, Mel, Clare, Arina, and Elaine. Arina's girlfriend Itsuki met us at izakaya. I just got home.

I'm about to watch my second last videotape of X-Files Series 8... several beers in my stomach... good food... belted out a few good songs earlier. Which ones? Well... "Beautiful Day" by U2, "Linger" by Cranberries, "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, and "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake among others.

That's it for my trip "home" to Okinawa. I had fun. How 'bout you?