Konnichiwa, how are you going?

I have finally arrived in Kochi and it is really hot. I must talk about Tokyo first. It is a never ending city with tall buildings and a ton of concrete. It has streets like the back streets of Wellington but it also has highways better than you have ever seen. There are about one million taxis that work all day and in the night it does not get much cooler. The air cannot escape because the buildings are so tall.

We had orientation for the first two days. On the first day I went swimming for two hours in the hotel pool as I did not feel like sitting through seminars. The pool was on the roof of the hotel and it was rather small. The children here do not run around the pool, they walk and sit and wait for their parents. You must be careful about shoes that you wear as people start yelling if you walk in the wrong area with the wrong shoes on, very scary.

After lunch I went to some seminars and learnt absolutely nothing but there was plenty of food and drink so I put up with it. That night we went out to a all you can drink and eat for 2000 yen. It was a good night.

The Americans here are really annoying. The Kiwis, Aussies and UK people stick together and the Americans wonder what we are doing. They speak one octave higher than everyone else and they speak so loudly. They push around and area always complaining about what they have to do. Glad I never went there.

The second day was seminars again and I attended morning sessions which were very good. In the afternoon I decided to go shopping and have a look around. Other people went to seminars.

The malls are also very tall and I fit nothing in the shops. My feet are also considered very big. When you walk in a shop the shopkeeeper will say SUMIMASEN which means excuse me can I help you. They say it really loudly and everyone knows and looks around at you.

Kochi city is about one and a half hours by plane from Tokyo. It is a lot like the South Island and is surrounded by mountains. It is extremely hot and humid but the breezes are often nice. We live by a canal that has biking paths all along it and that is how we get to the city. The city is about 9km from our apartment. Our apartment is very small and Karna has to duck his head to go under some parts. We may move out later on.

My high school is very big and has all the sporting teams here. They train all day with a road run in the morning. We also have the best baseball team in Japan. Karna and I have been invited to go to the kokutai which is a national sporting event. I am not sure what we will do but we are meant to help with coaching. On Saturday we performed in the yosakoi which is Kochi city's dance festival. You compete against other teams. We wore traditional Japanese costumes and I won a medal for my dancing on the stage. Cool eh?

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Karna had many photos taken of him as he is the biggest person in the whole city. He also got a medal but I think they felt sorry for him in his little costume. Well I have to go now but keep up the good work, and I will email later on. We are buying a digital camera so more photos to come later on.

Mrs Luke.