The boys are (back) in town!

Xav and Geoff arrived in Hagi smelly! They had been travelling for a while, so they were desperate to get changed! Once they had done that we went to have lunch, and go for a walking tour around the inner part of Hagi – the arcade, various residences/birthplaces/cemeteries for the Hagi luminaries of old.

Of course, along the way, we attracted a fair amount of attention. After all, 2 new foreigners are noticeable in a city where there are normally 12 foreigners. This meant that the kids stopped and stared, or gave us lollies, or wanted to take photos of us! The boys loved it, and I had to explain that it can get tiresome – especially when they tell you they saw you buying noodles and onions at the supermarket and want to know what you cooked!

I introduced the boys to Purikura (sticker photos), and we even did some with some students from one of my schools.

For dinner we had Korean BBQ (yakiniku) – totally appropriate for their first proper meal in Japan!

On Saturday we went to a Hagi Yaki (Hagi pottery) studio, watched a video which showed some handy techniques with the clay, and then we sat down for about an hour. The end results weren’t so attractive! Xav’s milk jug had kind of an awkward face around the spout, and Geoff called his mug Prince Charlesesque – so big that it needed to big handles if you were to use it.

We ate lunch in the park around the castle ruins. Some of the sakura (cherry blossoms) were out, and Xav climbed a mountain (a small mountain!) so it was a pretty good day.

That night we went out with a couple of my friends for dinner, then karaoke, then dessert. Xav managed to find himself 2 potential Japanese girlfriends – a friend of mine, and another Japanese girl who I see around a little bit. Not sure which one he is going to choose though!

This is Xav with girlfriend Number 1!