Another chapter ends, and another one begins......only this time in English!!

Hello to one and all. To say a lot has happened since that last photo of me in the classroom with judo suit is the understatement of the century!!

Where to begin??

Well, Japan has finished. It snook up on me out of nowhere, and before I knew what was happening I was down to my last week on that wonderful island and was having going away dinners, final classes in school, going away ceremonies galore, final trips to the city to see the friends I had made there for probably the last time in most cases, and final trips out to the island for my friends whom I made there. It was an emotional rollercoaster to use an old cliche, very surreal and exciting at the same time, and having a nostalgic side to me as I do, it was a time to think back over the 2 years and reflect on all that had happened.

First off the judo guys said goodbye to me in proper fashion. I had slacked off in my training near the end as I was so busy organising stuff, but they insisted I come down once more to have a scrap with each of them and to say a goodbye. That was a nice one, of all the Japanese people I was around constantly, these guys came the closest to forgetting the fact I was foreign and treated me like just another person. This is mostly due to the fact not many of them were from the island and were from cities around Japan,, so westerners weren't as much of a novelty to them, but it was nice to be able to hang out with these guys in the evenings and be out of the spotlight. The last session was fun, normal enough for the most part but then at the end I said my thank yous and goodbyes, and each of them said them to me which was quite moving as the things they said were unexpected, and before I could leave, they said along the lines of "you've lived here for two years, you have to do do-ah-ge before you go". I had no idea what that was, but before I could say anything they had crowded around me and were in the process of hoisting me up, which they did in what was a crazy tradition of hoisting someone who is leaving aloft and roaring "whaaaaaaaaaaay" on each hoist. It was cool, and when they put me down they ran out and surrounded the car as I got in, and then chased after it as I drove off waving and saying goodbye. That sounds weird doesn't? It was, but in a good way, they are childish in some respects but its so refreshing too. It was a great goodbye, I told them I probably wouldn't be back as I want to leave Osakikamijima as a great memory, and coming back might spoil it, I would dearly love now to have a 2 hour training session with these guys now and sit around for a laugh after it though. I miss them a lot.

It was goodbye in each school as well, and they really go to town on these. In each case, the whole school piled into the gym and a formal setting was arranged where the principal would come forward and say his piece about me, and then 3 students came forward with flowers, gifts, and then a piece read out in English, and then each class presented me with hand-written pieces saying various goodbyes and tributes. It was all too much really, not in that they overdid it or anything, but more the fact that it was all so major and it all happened so close together that I couldn't really take it all in and found myself feeling numb for the most part. The ceremonies in the schools were a lot like that, very big and monumental feeling, however, the final classes were more relaxed and they were really cool as I brought my laptop in and hooked it up to the overhead in each class, and just did a class of showing my photos and telling stories and things. All the real stuff of what they thought of me at first came out as we were good enough friends at that point to not be shy and so on, and it was fun. The going away speeches were nice, a lot of tears from the teachers as compliments from foreigners (in Japanese) go a long way with them, and I said some nice things about them and talked about my first impressions and how welcome I was made feel. Nice days, I was relieved when they were over which is not to say I didn't enjoy them, but I wanted them to be perfect and to leave with good memories, and they were.

Then there was a whole slew of going away enkais or office parties. These were fun too. In Japan, enkais start out all formal and stiff with speeches here and there, and everyone sitting up and being all formal, and then they start drinking and within 25-30 minutes the whole attitude ahs changed and its easy going and fun. Each of these were the same, I had to give a small speech at each one, then the vice principal, then the principal, then they started proper. A lot of fun nights, I can barely remember each one individually as they happened over the course of a week and a lot of them were on consecutive nights, exhausting on both physically and emotionally, but worth it all. Lots of gifts, lots of stories, lots of people saying things they wanted to say but didn't have the courage in a way during normal time, lots of well wishing, lots of good stuff all round.

After all these, that was nearly it. Few trips to see some of my favourite people who were not in on the parties but who I had gotten to know well, my old boss, my judo coach and a few others, and then it was time to wrap it all up, post all my stuff home, get my apartment ready to hand over, close all my accounts, and await the final morning. On the second to last morning I wanted to see a final sunrise on the island so I got up at 4.30am and drove to the top of Mt. Kannomine on the island, and waited for it, watching the town wake up from the exact place I was two years previously on my first day. The scenery was absolutely magnificent, no camera can do it justice, and when the sun rose I performed an old Japanese tradition and roared "BBBBBAAAANNNNNZZZAAAAIIIIIII" at the top ofmy lungs for about 20 seconds until I was spent. I took my time going back, had my last day in the office, and then had my final night where I packed fully, walked around the apartment a final time and got it ready to leave, and set the alarm for 5am to go. I was awake long before that with nerves, I don't know about what, but I had an anxiety that wouldn't shift.

The final morning came, I had my bags outside from 4.45am onwards and was just waiting for Kanda to show to take Judy and myself to the ferry. When there, people starting arriving as I knew they would, conversation class students, current teachers, old teachers, current vice principals and principals, and former ones, students, and randoms. It was nice, I said even more goodbyes and these were really final ones, and then the ferry came and it was time. Walked down the ramp to the ferry, said a final final address from the steps of the ferry as they all watched on, and then boarded and went to the overlook and began the waving where they all reciprocated as the ferry pulled away, and this continued all the way until we were out of sight. I was numb again, watching these folks disappear from view along with the island was a strange moment. I was excited, it was time to leave and begin the next stage of my life, and I have so much to look forward to, but so many things happened while this was my home and I had so many truly great memories and events happen in that place that to see it like that was tough going. Kanda, myself and Judy stood on the overlook for the entire 30 minute ferry ride, and I was silent, I had nothing to say really as I was so deep in my own thoughts.

I got a huge amount of out Japan, certainly volumes more than I gave to it even though I thought I did a good job as a teacher and an ambassador for my culture and so on, but what I took from Japan has been life changing. Not material stuff, but experiences, the best fiance a man could ever ask for, memories which will last a lifetime, some wonderful friends who I had great times with, some days which I feel truly blessed to have been involved in, and an insight into a culture and people so different from those of my own that it can only be described as an experience of the highest order and one which I'll never ever forget. Its shaped the person I am now more than I thought it would, it had its down points and there were times I thought that I was finished and didn't want to be there any more, but overall, I have only positives to say of my JET experience and count it as something truly remarkable in the truest sense of the word. I miss it a lot, the excitement of being in the US with Tiffany for the short time I was there and then in Ireland for the month to see people, as well as the initial excitement of London meant I hadn't time to think about it, now things are settling down though, I often think back of going for a drive over the mountains in the sun on the empty roads, having a laugh with my old boss, messing around with the judo lads and winding them up, going jogging around the apartment and the laying out on the beach with my book. I do miss it, not enough to ever question my decisions as my life ahead is as exciting as a man's life can be, but it was a wonderful place.

Anyway, enough sappy nostalgia. After I left, (and got a free business upgrade from Narita - Washington....get in!!) I was Washington bound to see the love of my life who I hadn't seen since my trip over in April. This was the last one too, the last time I would only get to see her for a short, fixed time so it was really exciting, and this time I wasn't going back to Japan but on to Ireland, so it all felt different. Business class was nice, really nice, and I milked it for all it was worth by ordering about 5 of everything on the menu which they were only too happy to supply me with. With all the food, space a comfort I could possibly need, the 14 hours went much more quickly than usual stuck back in economy class, and before I knew it I was touching down in DC again, more refreshed than I usually feel. Tiffany was actually away on business and couldn't be there to greet me, but I called as soon as I landed and what a thrill to be in the same time zone and place again. She came the following day, and we had 3 glorious weeks together, seeing friends, organising more wedding stuff, going to dinners and parties, and just hanging out with each other. It was the quickest trip ever, it was a little longer than usual at just under 3 weeks, but it felt like I blinked and all of a sudden it was time to leave for Ireland, such was the wonderful time we had together there. As hard as it is to leave her, and it never gets any easier, we could console ourselves this time knowing that this is the last one and after this time apart the waiting is over and that we have made it. That doesn't make saying goodbye at airports any easier, but this thought has been my motivation ever since.

Well, I left and all of a sudden I was on to Ireland to see the folks for the first time in over a year. I arrived an hour early, but that was cancelled out by having to sit on the apron in the airport for almost an hour waiting for a slot to open, the biggest indicator I wasn't in Japan any more!! I was home though, back where I started two years previously when I showed up way too early and really nervous in July 2006.

Since this, Ive moved to London and after some time trying to get settled down, have begun working, studying and living here at last, and now countdown to my finest hour is fully on. I count myself as truly lucky to have ahead of me the things I have, it hasn't be an easy transition whatsoever, coming over here with an economics degree during financial mayhem was possibly the worst timing imaginable, but all has settled and things are running smoothly.

I don't know whether or not to carry on with this blog. As my predecessor in Japan found out with his, when you are in Japan, everything is noteworthy and pictures of the most trivial and mundane things are worth it, back in reality though its much harder to make things like that into stories.

I have really loved doing this (some might even say I was a "keen blogger".....inside joke), I read over it now and then when I have the time and can remember all of the events perfectly as if they happened yesterday. I always smirk when I read the entry where I first wrote "Tiffany the Texan" on the Fuji trip and think of where we are now, when I see photos of the island and the apartment for the first time and thought at how daunting it all was and by the end I could almost drive from Shosen to my front door with my eyes closed, how stiff and awkward Tabo-san was when I first met him compared to the final time I was in his house for dinner, how difficult it was to remember the formal greeting which I was to say to the office compared to how my Japanese was by the time I left the island, certainly not at any level which could be deemed proficient but good enough to be able to make all my work colleagues laugh at parties and to join in the jokes with the lads at judo. All of these and how they all changed over time have been great to be a part of, but its time to move on and get ready for my new life here.

Thank you all for reading it, sorry for the long gaps between them where I was too busy/lazy to spend the time to write it. What really made it special was that the emails I wrote to tell people I had posted it often resulted in back and forth chats, and those were fantastic and just what I needed sometimes when the island felt quite lonely.

To finish here are some photos which I could never fit into any blogs but thought should be included as they were very much part of my time there.

Funny story to this photo, one of my schools got a random call one day from Asahi Newspaper (one of Japan's daily nationals) from a journalist who had read the town newsletter, and they wanted to do a quick story about the foreigner who got a black belt in Japan. This was the photo they used, and the journalist came out to the school and asked me a bunch of questions, and a month later it was in the newspaper with a story beside it. The newspaper itself is at home and Ill put it in when I get my hands on it.




This one was quite a random photo. The woman in the photo is Akko, without whom every JET in the history of JET to come to the island would be lost and would probably end up going home after a week. She sorts out just about everything for us, and also works as a maths teacher in one of the schools. Always thought this one was funny, can't even remember why this was taken, there was a camera in one of the classrooms one day and this was the result!!




Nothing too special, this was a combination of two of my favourite classes in a photo from my final day of teaching. Great kids.


This was also one of my favourite students. Asumi, she found my face hilarious, its peculiar, she could not take me seriously and this was me on the last day trying to explain something to her, and I thought the gravitas of the situation would make her take it seriously. I began to speak, and as usual, this was the reaction.



Finally, this was from that wonderful wonderful trip to Hokkaido from a long time back. Always like this photos, just us having the famous Genghis Khan dinner from the local place. I think we have a similar photo somewhere back, but this one was always one I wanted to include.
Thanks to everyone for reading and emailing,
God bless,
Graham

The Judo Kid......get in!!

Not much to say really. Back in December, after 5 weeks of almost daily training in a freezing cold dojo with one other person for the demonstration, the time had finally come to take the black belt test. I already had 12 points and 13 are needed, so on the morning of it, had to fight one more competition where I got more points than I needed, and finally Junpei and I were ready for the demo. Went great, we were right in front of the 7th, 8th and 9th dan judges and they were impressed from what I heard, and a couple of weeks later I got a call from the club telling me I had passed and that they would have a belt with my name embroidered on it as well as an official framed certificate from the judo head office in Tokyo soon.

This is the belt obviously with Gu-ra-mu written in katakana, the Japanese phonetic alphabet for foreign words and names, and here is the certificate which will be framed and put on my wall as soon as I'm settled in a new place. The photo at the top was when I wore the whole thing into school to show the kids, good day, they can't get their head around the fact that judo is so popular around the world, so seeing me wearing what is essentially samurai warfare attire never ceases to amaze them.

In the final run up to finishing in Japan now, about 10 weeks to go and then my time here will be over. Gonna do a final few posts soon before I leave, stay tuned for them.

Hope everyone is well,

Graham

Christmas USA!!

Shortly after Tiff went back to the US to get started on the work side of things, we decided that Christmas and New Years would be a perfect time for me to make a trip over as it would cover several things we needed. First it would give us a chance to go and see the Church and reception venue for the wedding in Washington DC, and as well as that we could finalise a few other things that needed to be addressed with regard to the wedding as well as make a trip to New York for the four days around Christmas. With my tickets bought and all things in place, I set off at 5.30am one cold December morning and made it to the ferry on time to begin the long long trek from the remote island of Osakikamijima to the east coast of the USA. A long journey, everything ran on time and there were no hitches but it was still a tough one as the flight from Tokyo was 13 and a half hours, but waiting on the other side of the doors was my fiancee whom Id been dying to see since the day she went back a couple of months earlier!! It was only 11am Washington time though and Id been awake for over 24 hours already by that point so it was a tough day to get through, but I was so glad to be there and to have all the waiting over at last.

Washington DC is a cool place, lots and lots of history and things to see and do, so for our first day we set off to do some sightseeing around the US capital. There were so many that its hard to remember which building was which and what we were looking at, but I remember distinctly the US supreme court, the capitol hill buildings, the WW2 memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and what we called the Forrest Gump lake outside it, as well as the White House. First stop was here where we got to meet some surprisingly friendly security guards as well as some of the midwest's craziest tourists who were over on the east for a sightseeing trip. The place had a really nice feel to it as there were massive Christmas trees everywhere and people in generally cheerful mood, save for the always grumpy looking metro workers (more on them later!!!). In DC all of these sights are very close together and are connected by very long and scenic roads and lawns, and in winter time they were very nice to wander around. The roads are flanked by the famous musems like the Smithsonian and the natural history museum with others like the aviation museum and a few others that I cant think of right now. Huge, impeccably kept buildings with no entry fee and are open all the time for tourists, impressive. Anyway, we wandered around all of these sights for most of the day, my favourite being the WW2 memorial which leads to the pond up to the Lincoln Memorial, shown in so many films and things that it was like walking around a film set. As a true sign of the times, when I saw big Abe sitting in his chair overlooking the lake, the first thing I thought of was Lisa Simpson appealing to him for help with her moral dilemma in an episode of The Simpsons, not something to be proud of, but there ya go!! The speeches inside the memorial are cool to read, everyone has heard the opening lines of them but for me it was a first chance to read them in full and think about the motivations behind what he was saying and how masterful a man of words Lincoln was. Not only a place of great spectacle, but also quite a thoughtful place to walk around. The WW2 memorial has a lot of info on the people who died during the US' involvement in it, and then later on the Vietnam War Memorial is a tough one to walk through as it literally has every name of every US soldier who died during that time, and its not even that long ago as it only ended in the mid 70's. Whether or not you agree with the war or not, or war in general, it occured to me as I walked through it and saw all the names of these folks that if I listed the names of every person I knew or considered a friend, it would only take up a tiny fraction of the wall as it stretched for quite a distance, a thoughtful time to see it. I didnt take any photos of it as I thought that a bit tactless, considering as there were people there who were looking at the names of loved ones who had been lost in it, but it was a reflective moment. Finally we saw the White House which is actually the most underwhelming of them all, as you can only see it from quite a distance unless you want to stand in a mile long queue to take a tour (ehmm, no!!) of one of the wings of it, but it was a great day of walking and sightseeing. We finished that evening with a trip to see the Church we are to be married in, and then for dinner in the wedding reception venue. Both were actually beyond our wildest dreams in terms of how perfectly they suited our envisioned goal for the wedding, but I am gonna save the pictures for the added effect for everyone coming over. Its worth it, utterly spectacular.

Only a couple of days after getting there we began another exciting trip, this time a four day excursion to New York City. What is there to say about NYC, one of the most famous places in the world and 4 days including Christmas Eve and Day was an event Id been looking forward to for months. We got a bus from DC all the way up there and the first glimpse of it from the bus window made me start to feel excited as its something Ive seen so many times in postcards and on tv, but its quite a spectacle. They really weren't joking when they said it was fast paced, standing down off the bus in downtown Manhattan with a suitcase and now idea where we were going was one daunting experience, fast crowds and pouring rain with these huge buildings on either side of every street, and its hard to know how to get your barings as stopping in the street is enough to get you trampled on in those crowds. We got to our hotel and took a rest, and than began to think about what we were gonna do for the few days we were there. We had some activities planned like a Christmas Day broadway show, but other than that it was a blank canvas in terms of what to do with our time. We decided, we aren't locals so there was no point pretending to be, so instead of trying not to look like tourists and all that, why not get the tourist bus and go from there, which we did. A great idea it turned out to be too. Opened topped tour bus was our mode of transport, the first of which started right in the middle of Time Square and went all the way around Manhattan and down to the Battery Park area where you can catch a gimpse of the Statue of Liberty. It was cold, really cold as the North East gets a brutal winter, but we were both so excited at seeing all the sights of it. As many times as you see it on tv, it really is something to see the high rise buildings everywhere and have so many places from films pointed out to you and so on. The bus was full of tourists in various states of discomfort at the cold, I wasn't too bothered and Tiff was well wrapped up, however the tour guide kept making fun of the poor Venezuelans and Floridians who looked like they were having the worst time of their lives. The bus tour operated on several loops, and we got the downtown ones as well as uptown and Brooklyn, the only disappointing one being uptown which was kinda boring as it mainly consisted of "an apartment in this building costs 3 million dollars, Alec Baldwin lives over there, Bruce Willis lives here" and so on, but the downtown ones and especially around Central Park and the like, were great. Brooklyn was cool too as it offers great views from the bridge and from the other side of the island, and it itself is an interesting place to drive around, although they day we did that was especially cold and my face was literally numb at the end of that one. Speaking of central park, on Christmas Day we had a very typical NY Christmas as we went for lunch in a Malaysian restaurant, and then went to Central Park where we got a horse and carriage ride around. Really nice, the guy guiding the horse was Armenian and really seemed to like us (to the annoyance of the folks in the queue who thought we had been unfairly taken without having to wait 2 hours like some others did!!) and was full of chat as we went around, even taking these photos for us. Thats a really nice part of NY, down amongst the high end hotels and central park, really nice place to be, especially on Christmas Day with the sun shining and the park full of people out wandering. Later that day, after the carriage ride and the park walk, we went to Radio City to see the show which Tiffany's Mum had gotten us tickets for for Christmas, the Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Wow, I know Ive been using similar expressions but there really isnt much else to say about this show, it really is something. Its a collection of dancing, singing, acting, and acrobatics, with the Nativity Story in there too for good measure. Cameras are frowned upon so only a couple of shots, and then afterwards to little Italy for a meal the likes of which I hadn't had in a long long time, rounding off a perfect day. A wonderful 4 days.

The rest of the time we spent getting things in place for the wedding, but as I said Im gonna save these photos cos it really would spoil the surprise. I got to meet a lot of Tiffany's friends for the first time which was really good, finally good to put voices to photos.

A wonderful trip, over much too quickly for my liking but we packed so much into the two weeks that I was satisfied it was worth all the planning. It was great to see my wonderful fiancee again for a couple of weeks and get to meet all her friends and her housemates and so on, and to be among western culture again with nice food and spoken English and the like was a welcome change from Japan.

Check back in soon for some more nice news,
Graham

.........and finally!!

If you've read my previous updates you'll have seen that I had but two days left on my trip home and still had one monumental thing left to do.

The trip home covered many things, introducing Tiffany to my family, my friends, to Ireland itself, and to introduce each of these to her, and to see my big sis get married. However, those in themselves would have been plenty in the normal run of things, but several months ago I made the easiest decision of my life in regard to where I wanted to go from this point onwards, but also with whom I wanted to spend my time with from here onwards. I thought, and prayed, and thought.....and prayed, and one evening in May, just after we returned from Borneo decided that while we were in Ireland, I would take a knee on O'Connell bridge and ask for Tiffany's hand. The day would be exactly one year to the day since we climbed Mt. Fuji together, and I also wanted to have introduced her to all my family and friends before proposing so that they had all met her beforehand. I decided to do it, and embarked on planning everything to work out perfectly for that night.

I began engagement ring shopping, which, is tough, very tough. After a couple of aborted attempts in Hiroshima City, I decided on a highly recommended and reputed online diamond seller, and with the aid of an "as you shop" skype call which they offer for advise and expert knowledge, chose the diamond, then the setting, and then the band, and they set about building it for me after I settled up for it. I decided to have it delivered to Ireland for the day after we arrived there for the trip, highly risky as I would have to get it into the house undetected and hide it somewhere where nobody would stumble across it, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy!! I kept the whole thing a secret from everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, and this in itself was tough as I was dying to tell eveyone my plans but knew it would spoil the moment if I did. Despite some close calls (like the diamond company phoning me literally 20 seconds after I left Tiff's apartment one sunday night to give me an update on the ring building process, dont want to think how I could have explained that one away had I still been inside!!) the whole thing remained a secret, and we left for Ireland with me knowing I had a task ahead of me to make this run smoothly.

The day after we arrived, I saw a van pull up and a delivery man get out with a decent sized box. I knew it must be the ring, ran to the door, signed for it, ran upstairs and hid the whole thing in the back of my wardrobe with loads of clothes over it. When asked who it was I told a fib and said it was just books from amazon for the flight home (ahem!!). That night, I got up in the middle of the night and opened it as quietly as possible, unwrapped the fifty million layers of bubble wrap, and finally got to the shiny box with ring inside. It took me back for a second or two, and the realisation then hit that this was real.

In put it out of my mind to avoid nerves until the day when I had planned. That night, we were to meet friends from college for dinner. First hitch came when I realised that the box it came in was not easy to conceal at all, and after a couple of shot down attempts to wear a jacket, had to go with a pair of slightly too casual looking baggy combat trousers to hide it in. I was worried it was showiung through the cargo pocket, but it was well enough concealed so nobody could see it. Anyway, dinner was great with the college folks, and we decided on a drink in Temple Bar afterwards. The nerves began rising as I knew the moment was drawing near, so I excused myself and went outside to ring the US to ask Tiffany's mum Carleen for her consent. After several long rings I almost panicked as the answer was not forthcoming and it was a problem I hadnt forseen, but she answered and I nervously said my piece. She was in shock, and after almost giving me a heartattack by jokingly saying "no, absolutely not", gave her consent and wished me well. I returned and tried to rejoin the conversation innocently, and then it was time to go. I suggested going for a walk to see the city at night, even though the suggestion was strange as it wasn't a great night as it was cold and a little drizzly. We walked, at all of a sudden we were on the boardwalk coming up to O'Connell Bridge. On the bridge however there was a whole host of what we Dubliners call "drunk young fellaz" and I didnt want to do this in front of them for a number of reasons, and realised that where we stood, on the boardwalk just in front of the bridge was absolutely perfect as Dublin looked wonderful from there, so as we stood gazing at the bridge and the river at night, I took a deep breath and took a knee, said my piece without choking..........and she said yes!! Absolutely wonderful, so surreal looking back on it as I was lightheaded with the amount of emotions running through me, but it was a truly once in a lifetime feeling of absolute ecstasy. Wonderful、Im remembering the feeling now again as I write this, and it hasnt diminished in the slightest. We drove from town to tell my parents and all the people they were out with as they knew nothing of my plans beforehand, and even though it was after 12 at night I then stood out to phone all my friends and tell them the news, possibly the best calls Ive ever made as each of them said some of the nicest things to me about us. Great great night, one we'll remember forever, August 30th, 2007.

Since then we've had a wonderful time as Tiffany's Japanese contract finished on Septmeber 1st and for the month of September she moved to the island to stay with me until returning home to the US on November 2nd to begin her new job. A great month. The locals were so happy to hear our news that they threw an engagement party for us where they dressed us up in ancient traditional Japanese kimonos, the real deal stuff with all the layers and proper ties and knots and all that. A real honour, these items are sacred to these folks and are part of their family's heritage, so to let a couple of "gaijin" wear them was a real compliment. They take ages to put on and embarrassingly enough you need someone to literally dress you to wear them, but it was worth it for the experience.

Thats almost it, Tiff left for home from Osaka about a month ago and since that Ive already organised my Christmas and New Years trip to visit until I move there after Im finished here.

While in Ireland we got great news that my home church Lucan Presbyterian should be able to help get me set up to begin my theology career in the US which suits our plans absolutely perfectly, so all this great news has given us a future which we are immensely excited about.

Thanks for reading this far if you have, hope the new format of smaller posts has made it more enjoyable, and please email me with any news or for a catch up,
Graham

(grahamruddle@gmail.com)

Trip to Ireland.

Just after Judy arrived and got settled, I had to leave with Tiffany to return to Ireland for my sister's wedding and also to introduce my family and friends to my wonderful girlfriend who I met here. We had been planning this for months at it felt at times like the departure date would never arrive as the heat in Hiroshima was literally unbearable at the time, so the thought of an Irish summer was a welcome one!! The day arrived and we set off early that morning, although we also had another disaster as at the check-in they looked up from checking Tiffany passport and said "where is your visa or letter of invitation to enter China?". I felt the dread rise instantly at the remembrance of the Malaysian nightmare we had, and was ready to go off on one, but they realised almost immediately that we were only stopping over in Shanghai so it was no problem. Unfortunately we were booked in on China Eastern Airways, which meant the chairs were all made for 5'7 and slim Chinese people, and I don't fit that description, so the 14 hours from Shanghai to London was, well, lets just say it wasn't all that comfortable. In Heathrow airport we waited at the AerLingus terminal for our flight to Dublin and it was so strange to be surrounded by local Dubs again, just listening to the accents and stories felt so strange. Tiff thought they sounded great for the parts she could understand, so for any bus drivers from Finglas reading this, you are now stars in the eyes of one Texan!! The Heathrow Dublin flight was pretty uneventful except for the lovely attendant who chose to literally shove me to wake me up as we were coming in to land with a very eloquent "we're landing soon, you have to wake up, put that arm rest down" to accompany it. I felt at home instantly, Japanese politeness and manners have their charms, but there's no place like home. After about 24 hours of travelling we emerged through the doors into arrivals and for the first time in ages I saw my parents and finally got a chance to introduce them to Tiff. Lovely moment, although overshadowed by the realisation that although I knew Ireland's weather is by and large awful, I thought the final weeks of August would be nice, but was wrong, and we were freezing walking out of the airport into the blustery outdoors which felt like a cold Hiroshima winter's night. Back to the house to meet everyone and see my old place, as well as to give Lana and Adrian their wedding present of an authentic Japanese tea set, crazy feeling with Tiff sitting in my old living room having tea with the folks!!

The trip home was fantastic, and we packed it pretty full with meeting my friends from school and college, as well as a trip out to the west to see to Cliffs of Moher and meet up with Rob and Trish who lived in Hiroshima during last year. Great trip, the road trip to get there was an event in itself as we got to see the beautiful scenery of the west, and as I didn't want Tiff to just see Dublin, it gave her a chance to see what the majority of Ireland looks like with the rural setting.

Back in Dublin we set about seeing the city. I don't actually know all that much about Dublin City in the historical sense, so like every Dubliner I have a smattering of knowledge here and there without much worthwhile. To combat this, we took the Dublin Bus Tour, which was absolutely brilliant!! Really was, such a surprise. Informative, fun, and gives a great view point of the places you visit. We got on at Lower O'Connell street and it went up D'Olier Street, around College Green up Nassau Street, around Merrion Square and then out toward Kilmainham past Guinnesses (where we also made a visit, Tiff seen here balancing a pint in the squashed lift surrounded by Norwegians!!) and back in through the Phoenix Park and then past Parkgate Street up the quays back to O'Connell street before rounding Parnell Square back to where we started. The driver was also the narrator so he was full of songs and chatter the whole time, although only myself and the Germans for some reason knew the words to the songs he was singing. I was shamelessly gorging on western food at home as I do miss it out here, so we were frequenting all my favourite places in the city on my insistence, mostly the epicurean food hall though for the very Irish "Taco-Taco" lunch!! We got an amazing day for all this city touring, uncharacteristically hot and sunny, and in this climate Dublin looked wonderful, so the walk all around Grafton Street and Trinity was pretty stunning. During the evening we made trips to the old local to meet my lifelong friends, some of which I hadn't seen in a couple of years, and those were some of my favourite nights of all. It was good to catch up with them as as I said I hadn't seen some of them in a long time, and exchanging stories from our travelling lives and also stories from the past made for a night Ill remember for a long time. Great craic, they all loved Tiff as I knew they would, and all in all I couldn't have asked for more as everything worked out perfectly.

The main reason for being home however was that my older sister Lana was getting married to her fiance Adrian. They had been together for several years and had recently decided to move to Ireland to settle down. The wedding day went off very well, again with a very lucky sunny day which is a gamble at all times in Ireland!! The setting for the hotel was in a beautiful hotel in Leixlip, just outside Dublin in Co. Kildare, and on the day the whole setting looked wonderful as the wedding guests enjoyed the ceremony and reception which followed. Celebrations went long into the night with both contingents getting on famously, no hitches whatsoever and I can now boast a brother-in-law!!

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and visiting friends. For me mass consumption of home food was the order of the day and for Tiff a hair appointment with an English speaker was a luxury not afforded in Japan, so she took full advantage!! As I expected would happen, it was over all too quickly, and all of a sudden it was down to our last couple of days. I still had one massive thing to do which I had been planning meticulously for months, and for that I'm going to need a separate entry, so read the next one for that news!!