Last weekend I went to Ushimado, south of Okayama, to stay international villa. Shell organized all of that.

 

In the morning I went to shell's place to meet Shell, Steff and Jon and we went to maxvalue to buy some foods. Then we went to Himeji station to meet Kyoko, Ben, Jane and Matthew. I drove my car first, Matthew's car followed. I didn't know where is Ushimado, so I used my car navigation. We went throgh the country side and the bridge build over the sea. It was a nice view. After we got to Ushimado, Steff said the word 'cow' few times. I didn't know why, but I realized. She read the kanji about Ushimado (牛窓）. '牛' means cow. I think Ushimado is strange name. I read about where dose the name come from with a pamphlet, but it didn't mention clearly. Jon's guess was Ushimado imported beef from Australia. (We talked with Shell at lunch.) I thougut it was definitely wrong.

 

At the villa we met Troy. Then we walked to the olive farm. We saw a nice view, the world's second best scenery, and played at the playground. After Shell and Steff went back to the villa by Sakane-san's car, the rest of us went to the place called Roman Hill. It was not good place. Almost nothing was there. We just climed up the hill and got tired. So I was hiding from playing frisbee and badminton after I got to the villa. 

 

At the dinner we cooked yakisoba, takoyaki and chijimi. All of them was delicious!! We enjoyed eating and drinking. After that we enjoyed fireworks. We chose some weapons. Jon, Troy and Matthew chose the weapon called rocket fireworks. It was scary. It flew everywhere and the sound was so loud. We said stop many times, but they didn't stop. Finally Jon managed to set fire to his T-shirt. We should not have played with fireworks after drinking. haha  Then we played card games, uno and bullshit, and watched world cup soccer game.

 

Next day we went to Ushimado shrine. The shrine was funny. The notice on the wall was written with casual style Japanese. And the Chief Priest was also funny. He talked with us in English and gave us his card. The card has his nice smile photo. I've never visited such a funny shrine. Then we walked by the sea and went to ramen-noodle restrant for lunch. The restrant had a lot of autographs on the blind. Some films made in Ushimado. Now I wanted to see that. Then guys decided to see an old lighthouse, but I was so tired, I decided to take a rest in my car. On our way home Sakane-san's car drove frist, Matthew and I followed her. She chose different way from the way we went throgh yesterday. It took 2 hours, it was shorter than yesterday. Should I have chosen that way? But we could see a beautiful scenary. I think it was good.

 

After I got to Himeji, I went to Reza's place with Shell, Steff and Jon. Steff wanted to say good-bye to Reza. We chatted for a short time. Then we walked to the castle moat to see firefries. It was nice time. I drove to Shell's place and said final good-bye to Steff. I felt so sad. Take care during your trip. See you again in Himeji!