Hello!!

Hello Japan!
So sorry - recently not very organized so I keep forgetting to blog! This week, Shun is going back to Japan for a while so we are a little busy preparing for his trip. 来週からいいbloggerになるよ！みんなげんき？私はげんきです。天気はよくなった。夏ぽい。気持ちいい。：）

Part-Time Shop Girl

Hello, this is the shop where I now work part-time! M & Co. It sells cheap, quite fashionable clothes (but not as fashionable as H & M) and seems a very pleasant place to work. The staff are friendly and smiley, which is very reassuring. This week I am working 9 - 1 and of course I am "In Training." Yesterday and today I put the newly-delivered clothes on hangers and steamed them with an amazing steam-iron! Then I tidied the clothes on display in the shop and said, "Hello!" to customers. So far, the customers have been very nice people. I wonder when the strange ones will arrive? Nearly all the staff are women (aged between 16 and 51) but there is one man (ちょうオネエっぽ い）called Patrick. Today he told me he can say three things in Japanese: これはなんですか？and どこですか？and おねがいします! I was very impressed. (But why does he know them? Hmm . . . a mystery . . . )
The weather is terrible! Today is like February - grey skies, cold, unbelievable.
Last week we had a general election. The horrible Conservatives got most seats but not enough to make a government, so now there a lots of "discussions" (arguments) between the main parties. Very depressing. Bad British weather and bad British politics - a horrible combination. I have to read a lot of fiction to escape!

Sorry!

Hello friends in Japan! So sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Last week was a little busy so I forgot to blog! Last Wednesday I applied for a part-time job in a clothes shop in Sevenoaks. Today I had an interview and got the job. Hooray! It is only 4 or 5 hours a day and very low pay, but the staff seem very friendly and I can walk there! Maybe tomorrow I'll take a photo of the shop to show you (it's not very exciting). It's part-time so I still have time for my writing every day, so I'm very happy about it.
On Saturday, Shun and I went to our friends' (Simon and Kate's) wedding. I know Simon because I worked with him at the cinema museum a long time ago. He still works there and the wedding party was at the museum so it looked really cool. Lots of film equipment and old movie posters everywhere. The food was lovely, the music (a French Chanson band) was great and we had a really good time chatting and eating and dancing. Many congratulations to lovely Simon and Kate!Saturday was the last day of good weather :( Since then, it has become quite cold again. Why? Why? Why? それがイギリスです。がまんします。On Sunday, we had a big family lunch, which was great. Aunts, uncles, cousins. Baby Edie was the star attraction (again). She can now say, 「バババババババババババババンンンンンババババババ」The sad thing is, we all listen to her.

Shun's birthday Saturday - Part 2: the rest of the day

We found a great Japanese cafe for lunch. Lovely friendly Japanese staff. The cafe's name was . . . . . . and they served a very good katsu curry. Mmmm! (First "Mmmm!" of today's blog - exciting)
After our very fine Japanese lunch, we went back to the museum and saw more small and big things, then we went to Arsenal (north London) - home of Arsenal Football Club and full of drunk Arsenal FC fans. Our Italian friend has just opened a bar in Arsenal so we met some friends there and drank delicious prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) all evening, and ate bread and cheese and olives ("Mmmm!") and Shun gradually became very drunk and I laughed.

Beginning to drink . . .

. . . happy-drunk . . .
. . . sick-drunk . . . Funny.
The End of Shun's Birthday festival. Thank-you for watching.

Shun's birthday Saturday - Part 1: the morning

Saturday was Shun's Big Birthday Day. It was great weather and in the morning we took a train to London and went to Borough Market at London Bridge. It's a famous market. Jamie Oliver (famous English TV chef) goes there a lot! Everything looked delicious, and we had breakfast in a nearby cafe.
After that, we got on a lovely big red bus . . .

. . . and went to the V&A museum again - Shun's favourite museum in London. There, we saw some very small things . . .(ねつけだよ！）. . . and some very big things . . .
（ねつけじゃない）

うるさい！

今日はいい天気だ！くまんばちはうるさくなった。今朝はイタリアンマーケットにいった。お兄さんたちの英語はみんなとても強いイタリアのはつおん。（俳優かな？）We bought spicy salami and a big deep-fried risotto ball (!) and some anti-pasti. It looks really good. 今晩のご飯たのしみ！カメラをもっていくの忘れちゃった。Sorry!

誕生日祭り

今週はしゅんちゃんの誕生日祭り。Yeah!　誕生日は火曜日だけどこの一週間はずっと祭りのふんいき。火曜日はプレゼントと美しいカップケーキの山をあげて、夜に映画館に行ってから中華料理を食べに行った。映画はイギリスの映画。なまえは　Cemetery Junction. とてもおもしろかった。料理は　crispy duck pancakes (mmmmmmmm!) and spicy prawns and the restaurant's special noodles (mmmmmmmm!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHUN-CHAN!

This morning my sister and baby Edie came to give Shun his birthday present. イーディーちゃんがラッピングペーパーを食べてみたけど大丈夫だった。イーディーちゃんはちょっとヤギみたい。何でも食べたい。
明日はSevenoaksにイタリアンマーケットある。おもしろいかどうか分からない。何時にはじまるか分からない。でも見てみる。誕生日祭りぽいイベントだから。