On saturday morning, I went to Nagasaki on train (with my host okaasan and Ming Xian). It was really nice to see the Dutch 'island' as well as the site where 26 Catholics were martyred and subsequently sainted. The Nagasaki peace memorial park also served as a nice juxatposition to the Hiroshima peace memorial park. The Nagasaki peace park also brought images of Kurosawa's "Rhapsody in August" in my mind. It seems to me as if my textbook and studies are coming to life. That is one thing I love about the Arts and Social Sciences. Things are real and are ever evolving. I wished that I could have spent more time in Nagasaki but I couldn't because I caught the 10 pm bus to Kyoto!

So, by the time I returned to Fukuoka, it was 7pm. That gave me an hour to shower, change and pack up some last minute stuff before heading over to Hakata Eki (the largest train station in Fukuoka) to meet Allison. Ming Xian joined me as well, because he wanted to go to Kyoto but didn't manage to book a ticket on Friday. So, we took our chances and asked for a ticket for Ming. Thank goodness he could get one to Kyoto but we were told that the return bus was full and therefore Ming had to call the company the next day. It took a lot of cajoling before Ming caved in and joined us. The bus ride wasn't very comfy as we were sitting right at the back and those seats could not recline. To add, it was near the engine and therefore was rather warm too. As you can imagine, a 9 hour bus ride on such conditions was not much fun. Oh gosh...I could tell you so much about Kyoto but it would be too long an entry. But, I must say that I am thankful that Ming came along...he provided entertainment as well as a Level 4 Japanese speaker. Oh...Alli and I are such lazy people...we just let Ming do all the talking (haha). On the way back to Fukuoka, we were crossing all our fingers and toes in the hope that Ming could get a ticket on the same bus as us (the stupid person at the company kept telling us that it was full). Ming, being the super lucky guy that he is, managed to get a seat and I burst out saying ,"YOKATA!!!!" I think the guy who checked our tickets was very amused. As our bus also stopped at Osaka to pick others up, we ended up meeting the rest of the crazy ATW students to went to Kyoto and Osaka. So nice to see so many familiar faces.

Oh...I have yet to mention that my crazy schedule involved me returning today at 7 am and I headed straight for school. Which is why I am posting my blog at this time. I am in school. Class begins at 10. After nihongo classes, I am going to give my afternoon *yawn* class a miss and go 'home'. I have a fireworks (hanabi) tonight that I have to prepare for! My host parents bought me a Yukata which I will be wearing tonight. So cool eh? Okies..I will probably get plastered tonight too...I will let you know the details another time. =)