pinwheels

Pinwheels and Totoro's at the International Festival

わたしはせいとにプレゼントをもらいました。

I got a present from a student.

Swimming with men/sumimasen

Oh we have just been so busy!

Last friday night our friendly local gallery Birdo Flugas had a closing party for a sweet acquaintance of ours, Kaori, celebrating her first solo show.

Here she is, with a carved self-portrait. (We all got to wear the cute cheek patches too)

The bulk of the show was a collection of drawings of her family plus a very wee carving of her grandmother.

Oh and the party had such delicious food and drink! nom nom nom

Home-made vanilla and lemon ice-cream. The best I've ever had.

Little chip things shaped as ghosts.

Home-made umeshu (plum wine). This is my favourite Japanese drink. I would love to whip up my own batch but it takes at least a year to mature to its absolute deliciousness.

And what is a party without a cake!

This one was such a goody.

On saturday we scurried off to Tokyo again to met up with rad friends Gemma and Harriet, who were winging their way to Berlin.

It was really nice hanging out with them, just eating treats in the park, looking for felt pens, wandering the streets, hearing Christchurch stories, learning their interesting ways of remembering Japanese phrases (swimming with men = sumimasen) and enjoying NZ accents.

After a delightful izakaya dinner in Shimo-kitazawa, the thrill of World Cup quarter-finals lured me and Gareth into a 'British pub' till 5 in the morning. Gareth was able to enjoy his first IPA in almost a year. I managed to fall asleep in a large glass of cider.

Once the sun rose we popped across the road to sleep for three hours in an internet cafe cubicle on a surprisingly comfortably large vinyl couch.

Then it was one last meander round Harajuku with Gemma and Harriet before they flew off to Abu Dhabi and we bullet trained ourselves back to Sendai.