Quick post before bed

Ok... This will have to be quick, because it's 10:15 and we need to be up at 4:30 tomorrow.

Today was zazen (zen meditaion), welcome lunch at scout hall and okinomiyake for dinner. You'd love zazen, Mum. The object of it is to sit perfectly still for half an hour with perfect posture and think about nothing. Without fidgeting. It's certainly worth trying once just to day you've done it.

Lunch at the scout hall was great - we met the Scouts and Venturer Scouts and had soba noodles. I'm getting better with my chopsticks and even better at asking what things are. Today I was told there was "ground (as in dirt) fish" in my noodles. We figured out it was tuna. The scout hall is a little building on a huge property by Australian standards, which makes it amazing for Japan. It's about 300+ metres long and about 75m wide. I found that I'm much taller than almost any Japanese person of my age, too.

FYI, she's 16. And apparently not too short, either!

Tonight for dinner we had okinomiyake for dinner. These are like Japanese pancakes, and according to Ms Hirano (who we once made them with) the translation is roughly "as you like it", which is how they are done. You add various vegetables to the batter and then fry them. After serving, you add mayonaise and okinomiyake sauce as topping. We should try them on Bernie sometime.

After dinner, we got out my iPod and showed them photos of everything and videos of MGS and AJ. They were fascinated, especially by outback trek and my musicals. I spent 15 minutes explaining the plot of All Shook Up to them in Japanese. That is INCREDIBLY hard, and it got simplified. A lot. Here there's no Gang Show or school musicals, and apparently Japanese people are too shy to make either work. Not sure how much of a joke this is after everyone who introduced themselves today mumbled at me and wouldn't make eye contact. They are very keen on Gang Show. I think we need to work out a way to transate some of it and caption the video.

Tomorrow we're up at 4am to be ready for the 7:30 bus to the jamboree site, which is three hours away. I'm going to find where the contingent's computer (which will be in the International Headquarters) is tomorrow night so I can put up more photos of today and yesterday.

To answer your questions; I'm fine for money. Everything is really cheap and we haven't been shopping. This will probably change at the Jamboree as we saw a lot of the Japanese scout gear and it's very cool. The food is fantastic, even if it is a little weird. There's huge amounts of tofu. :D Mary's kimono was lent to her by her host sister, who is about the same height and weight. Too bad she also has a really thin build - Mary found it very tight in some places. Having said that, it's not designed to be comfortable.

My favourite words so far: "daijyobu!" = OK, that's OK/great. Very useful for describing food, beds, everything. Also; "moichido" usually followed by "eetoo... wakaranai..." = Could you say that again, and hmm... I don't understand. Often comes after people comment on how good my Japanese is. XD

PS: Just gave them the presents, and they love them. Nick's food went down very well, and they really like the badges, caps and paintings. We had an interesting moment explaining the Sidney Nolan print - they don't know about Ned Kelly, and I'm pretty sure they don't have that style of painting here (but still like it) I'm going to try to explain it more on the bus trip tomorrow. "The Pioneers" was instantly much loved. Presents = success.

We have a new letterbox

Yep, that's as exciting as it got here in downtown Yarraville today.
Bean recovering from his cold reasonably well. I had French toast - lots of it and tonight Dad is watching a really boring old movie in TV.

I took a good look at the UK contingent site to see if I could get a look at the camp site. Not many pics of the site yet - just lots of shots of UK Scouts playing table tennis etc. Hopefully they will have more stuff later on.

Letterbox looks a bit plain. Bean and I may have to work on decorating it a bit ...

OMG - You're in Japan!

WOW - you really are in Japan. Pictures and everything. Thanks for showing me that you are still in 1 piece. You look like you have had a great day. Hope you get some sleep tonite. Don't forget to take photos of the neighbourhood etc. Is that Mary sitting next to you in the group shot - did they get her a kimono to wear?

Have you got enough money for everything? Remember you need to give us time to transfer it - so don't leave it until the last minute.

How are you going with the food? Glad the chopsticks are working out ok. Please tell Mrs M I said thankyou for looking after you so well.

No exciting news here - but Almost Famous was on TV tonight. Of course I watched it.

"Be bold - and mighty forces will come to your aid" - Elaine to Russell.

Day 1 ｗｉｔｈ ｈｏｓｔ ｆａｍｉｌｙ

Firstly, I'm very envious that you got Pancake Parlour while I couldn't sleep on the flight. The man behind me grumbled every time I put my seat back until he fell asleep at 1.30 with his foot jammed up against my seat, making moving it back impossible. The solution: move to the empty seat on the other side of the aisle.

The other Australians are all very nice, with varying Japanese skills. So are　my　host family, who have been great. The father (Masahiro) speaks fairly good English, and with the help of my dictionary we've been chatting a lot. His wife speaks a little English, but Taka and Atsu (the kids, 13 and 9) speak no English, but Nick and I have discovered that Mario Kart is a fairly　good communication method. :)

Today, after landing and meeting host families, we went back to the house - a 2 hour drive from Narita airport. It's amazing how green everything is. This impression is helped by the fact that there are little house-block sized bamboo growths everywhere. It's very different to Australia in how things are laid out. Nagareyama (where I'm staying) is about 25 minutes from the centre of Tokyo, but is very densly populated. Strangely there are very few cars off the main roads. The house itself is very nice, and is quite traditional - tatami matting for the floor and shoji screen doors. Nick and I will be sleeping on futons in the spare rom tonight.

The soy sauce factory was interesting, and I now know more about the making of soy sauce than I really need to know. Still interesting, and a nice chance to get to know the other Aussies a little more.

After getting settled in, we had lunch. Nick and I were presented with our own chopsticks, and I managed to actually eat a full meal with them. We also went to the local Supa (supermarket) where everything is incredibly cheap. Coke cans are around $1 each.

This evening we were guests at a welcome party/dinner attended by some of the scouts from the groups which are hosting us. Dinner was good and again I managed with chopsitcks. I'm thinking I'll be pretty pro by the time I come home. After we got home from that we went to the park to light fireworks. Please note that while fireworks is the literal translation they were more like overpowered sparklers. The Murakamis were amazed when I explained that you can't buy fireworks in Australia.

Last of all I had a bath. This is quite different in Japan, where you have a quick shower before getting in and then just sit in the very hot bath (40 degrees) to relax.

Tomorrow: Zen meditation in the morning and then who knows what for the afternoon. I might be missing freezer cake at Music Camp, but fireworks and Japanese pickles are quite a substitute. :D

Where is Elias' software?

The 2 copies of switchit software were on the computer desk their cases, switchit jigsaw and switchit make it, where have you put them?

Update: I found them in a box in the office. Thanks!

More of an update: How clever am I? I managed to take some software off my laptop which I didnt have the installation disc for and move it to the main pc for Bean. I burned the files on the laptop to dvd (didnt have a usb), copied them from the dvd onto the pc, found the right files to make it all run and created shortcuts to them on the desktop! Hah! Mum = Legend.



What are you up to today?

Are you there yet?

I hope so, because otherwise the plane has been delayed. Was the flight good - did you sleep - was the food ok? What are the other members of the Oz contingent like? Are you at your host family yet?

Sorry I missed the flight. I was about 10 minutes away on the freeway when you rang. I am glad you took the earlier flight 'though - the later one would have been cutting it a bit too fine in Sydney.

A bit of a quiet day planned here. Bean has a cold, so we are not going to walking school. The weather looks gray and rainy. I was wondering about going to the beach this weekend but apparently the forecast is for rain and hail - so I think staying home will be best, especially so Bean can rest.

Hey, you can see the surf at Pt Lonsdale here
http://www.coastalwatch.com/camera/cameras_large.aspx?cam=5700&state=VIC&t=9:08:19%20AM&camName=Point%20Lonsdale Looks pretty flat today - should be building up by Monday.

Other good cameras from Queenscliff and Pt Lonsdale area are on the Surf Life Saving Club site. http://www.pointlonsdaleslsc.asn.au/surfcam.htm

Dad and I went to Pancake Parlour after you left last night. We drowned our sorrows in potato and cheese, cottage fries and hot buttered walnuts!

Added to the blog :D

I managed to add myself to the blog, so here I am posting before I leave. Meanwhile I've got the CD player on loud - I need to get my fill of great music before I leave and all I have is my little iPod earbuds.

The rules

• Don't do drugs
• Don't get hurt
• Don't get lost
• Don't get sick
• Don't get arrested
• Don't forget to eat properly
• Don't forget your hat
• Don't forget your sunscreen
• Don't forget to stay warm
• Don't forget to stay cool
• Don't forget to stay dry
• Don't get too homesick
• Don't forget to miss us just a little
• Don't forget to ring your mother
• Don't forget to blog your mother
• Don't forget to take lots of photos
• Don't forget to have the time of your life
• Don't forget your manners
• Don't forget we love you

(And while you are at it: get a job, get a life, get a PhD.)