Abbie and Meredith in Asakusa

So, I know what you're thinking, it's been quite a while since my last post. Sorry! Things have been really busy round here over the past month and I'm really enjoying it! With the new teachers this April has come more work and responsibility. Plus the spring has come and May has been glorious. Although June's rainy season is looming I am feeling great and looking forward to the summer.

The beginning of May was Golden Week. The week of holiday in Japan that is a collection of different national holidays. I'd been in Tokyo for the week before with my 3rd year student's school trip. I had a lovely time with them and they had an action packed week that included a trip to Disneyland and Cirque du Soleil!

After the school trip I stayed in Tokyo with Meredith and we met Abbie on the Sunday morning. It was great to see her again and it didn't seem like 5 minutes since we'd last seen each other. We had a few action-packed days of sightseeing in Tokyo before getting the train up to Shimogo. We spent a night in Aizuwakamatsu with Yui and his family where we discovered that Abbie has a natural talent for shuji (calligraphy) and went to see Tsurugajo castle. Unfortunately, Golden Week in Japan is like August Bank Holiday in England or Labour Day in America, so getting anywhere fast is a challenge. After a lovely week together and finished off with a fun karaoke night in Tajima Abbie headed to Tokyo to fly on to Thailand to meet Scott. And I got back to work. I did however write about Abbie's trip to Japan with her photo in the latest edition of "Shimogo Coho", Shimogo's town magazine.

Since then I have been relaxing enjoying the fine weather and waiting to go out hiking again. I'm thinking about buying a mountain bike too as there's no shortage of places to ride one. I'd better hurry though before it gets too hot!

Meredith and I have booked our summer trip to the States. We got a great deal and are stopping in Hawaii for 5 days on the way there! I can't wait. I feel a little guilty as most Japanese teachers won't take any holiday this summer. I don't know how they manage!

The girls, in Aizuwakamatsu - Hiromi, Abbie, Kannon, Meredith.