Still alive....just

Well I am still alive, despite several harrowing trips down the road on motorbikes, let alone just crossing the street itself, but I seem to have got the hang of things now and settled into life here.

The trick when crossing the road is to just keep walking and look straight ahead, apparently this way motorcyclists can go around you, but it takes some getting used to for those of us not born with nerves of steel I tell you!

We went to the beach yesterday and swam (OMG my first time in SEVEN months!!!) oh it was glorious I tell you - especially the water - sooo warm.

But then the weather turned bad as a storm struck, but Lauren, bless her, is from Ohioin the United States and insisted on trying to sunbathe despite an obvious lack of sun, extremely violent winds and torrential rain!

Ohio you see is 13 hours from the nearest beach and I guess being a kiwi I just take it more for granted than she does. I mean I'm sure that's what a normal day at the beach is like for your average Londoner! hee hee:)

Anyway, it was sooo funny to me that she was determined to get a tan even amidst a tropical storm.

I think she's one of these people who have envisaged what their holiday will be like well before they go you see and had hoped to present herself back in The Potato's arms as a bronzed beauty.

And i'm not kidding about the potato thing either, I really am not being mean, she has said it as much herself!

Here's a case in point: Yesterday I pointed out an old man with a big pot gut who was frolicking happily away in the waves whilst his WHITE ass crack was hanging out for all to see and she said that's what Martin ('Le Potato'), who is a short stocky Irishman with a big flabby belly and also starkly white bod, would look like if he were there!

Not to worry though, we're hoping for the sun to come out again today.

I have to say though that after so long in Japan, this trip has really reinforced for me that experiencing something entirely different is sooooo good for you.

It really makes you update your perspectives on life which is SOOO refreshing!