Attack of the Clouds

Went climbing last night and managed to crack two routes! The first one was the big overhang that Ive been trying for teh last few weeks. I was so chuffed when I managed to do it! The second climb was one I tried in January. It's a really nasty twisty one that's on a bit of an overhang, so technique is really important to conserve your strength. This week I managed to do it, so I was really chuffed about that. I'll keep practicing both routes to get the technique perfect. I'm also starting on an endurance route around the bouldering wall. There are about four or five of these routes, eacha different colour and each hold in a route labelled 1 to 32. You can put your feet anywhere, but you must use your left hand on the odd holds and right hand on the even holds. I got as far as hold 15 on the pink route before my arms gave out.

When I got back home, my brothers were online. I'd been talking with my mum about both my brothers coming over to Japan for Easter so we started looking for flights for them. It took a while for us find a good website and then a bit longer to find affordable flights. But we eventually got lucky. We found a pair of flights from Manchester to Tokyo for about £570 each. A bit more expensive than what they were looking for, but the flight leaves and lands at Manachester at a good time for them to get to the airport from David's house in St Helens. Once they were booked I went to bed. It was 2am.

So today I've been a bit tired. I've also been very distracted. I'm really excited that my brothers are coming to Japan, but I'm also really scared that they'll have a bad time in Japan. It's the same feeling I had when Helen came to visit and I have the same questions to ask myself; where shall I take them? How shall we get there? Where shall we stay? Will my Japanese be good enough to to makethe most of their time here for them? Will they like what I show them? I guess I have a month to sort all of this out so I shouldn't worry too much at the moment.

After school today I went for a haircut and Kom, the name of the barbershop that is two minutes walk from my flat. I don;t know if the barber's name is Kom or not. This was the third time I've been here so I guess I'm starting to become a regular. Like every other person in the Japanese service industry, my barber pulls out all the stops ot do the best job that he can. Also, his haircutting routine is quite elaborate, more so than any haircut I've had in the UK. First off he washes my hair. The barber's chair is spun round and reclined to my head is in the sink. My barber puts a white cloth over my face to stop the shampoo and water getting into my eyes. Once washes, he sits me back upright, spins the chair to face teh mirror and dries my hair. I ask for "Koko wa migikai (pointing ot back and sides), koko wa chotto (pointing to the top)" with some hand gestures which means, "Short here, and a little off here". Then the cutting starts. He starts by chipping into the top. Then once I'm happy with the length there, we starts with the short back and sides. Instead of clippers, he uses comb and scissors. He also shortens the hairs on my sideburns. Then he makes final adjustments to to the top to match it with the back and sides. Once done, he spins me round and washes my hair again, dries it and gives me a head and shoulder massage. And with a little bit of gel, he's done. And how much does this haircut cost? 3,000 yen. 15 quid. And I also get a conversation so I can practise my Japanese in the price too. An absolute bargain, especially when in London, all you can expect for a tenner is ten minutes of quick clipping and token chopping.

Tonight I've been reading through replies to a mail I sent this morning. The Snow Festival takes place this weekend and sent a mail out to the Niigata ALTs asking who was interested in coming so I could book a restaurant for them all. At the last count, anything from 12 to 20 people could be coming. Chotto muzakashii desho?