Halloween night

cher kia ora whanau, well last friday nite we attended the annual JET halloween party and boy did we get hammered. We started the night with a few pre drinks at our pad and invited a few peps over to get the night started. I cracked open a few cans of the "Precious" or the sweetness that is TUI courtesy of chanels dad (thank you), so the night got off to a great start. Chanel was dressed a Ojisan or a Japanese Koro, while i was dressed as a Maori All Black or an old school Arthur Stone with a Fro.
By the time we hit the party i was a bit tipsy, while chanel was well on her well going hard on the whiskey in which she would regret the next day.The party was cool and got to catch up with a few peps and meet some new people, though it was sad that kimi and jody werent there but im sure they were having a miki time in NY(we'll have a tui cuz, once you get back).well the party finished at 12am then moved onto the 2nd party. chanel cruz home as she had had enough, while i continued on. stayed until about 3-4 then decided to call it a night.. had a really top time. gee next morning the old head was paying for it , but not as bad as chanel, well i guess thats what you get for going hard on the whiskey shots i guess...well whanau thats it from me laters..Paora

Halloween night

Nate, Chanel and Dan on the gas


Paora at the halloween party with the masses.




Me , Chanel and our mate ken dressed as a kiwifruit or a eggplant ,not sure which one.


Dressed as a Maori All Black and sipping on the bird.

Dad and the Boys in Japan 2

DAY 5 - Today Dad , the boys and Paora came to my school where they had a lesson with one of my classes. this was really cool and like paoras school the boys were again like lil superstars as the students were amazed at the boys and saying "kawaii", "kawaii" again. It was good my students to have a good interaction with the whanau and paora.

DAY6- Today we trooped to kyoto to look at the sights. we visited Toji temple, Kinkakuji, and Ginkakuji. This was a big day but Dad was amazed at the temples and the construction of the temples out of wood, it really blew him away to the piont where he was saying" gee its abit over the top isnt it".all in all it was a great day

DAY 7- today it pissed down with rain , but that did not stop us as we ventured to Hikone castle and checked out the castle and its surroundings.

DAY-8 chilled

DAY 9- today after recharging the batteries we headed to Nara to check out Todaiji temple. The boys were blown away by the deer that were wandering the streets and that you could fed and pet them and also that there were heaps of them. Dad was really impressed with the two huge wooden carvings of the warriors and at first thought that they were carved out of one tree but then after seeing how they did it was impressed at they you couldnt see the joins of the wood.

Dad and the boys were amazed at the sheer size of the temple and the amount of work gone in to build this temple and bronze Budda

DAY 10 - Chilled

DAY 11 - Well today after finding a plank of wood last night, was full on with making a Tewhatewha. Dad asked paora what he should carve, paora suggested a couple of manaia, then dad said why not a Tewhatewha, we then said sweet, and so the was us helping dad with the Tewhatewha. It was cool for paora to see the process of making and carving a tewhatewha and he is interested in having abit more of a tutu when we return home. It was a pretty rough job but for what we had and the resources we had on hand it turned out to be the miki. So a big thanks to dad from me and paora for carving us a tewhatewha.

later on that night we introduced dad and the boys to our favourite restaurant " StaminaTaro" japanese BBQ and all you can eat. This was a cool way to end our time in shiga before heading to Osaka. Dad reckons he might have to build one of those when he gets home...

Day 12 - Well today we all headed to Osaka. We started at USJ universal studios japan. We arrived about 10:15am we tried to do as many of the rides as we could but with all the long cues we did enough till we were nakid. Went on snoopy water slide, jaws, watched the water world show, jurasic park, backdraft and spiderman... an awesome but tiring day..... we all enjoyed the day and left about 6pm. headed back to the hotel and chilled, then headed out for dinner and a look about Osaka. Went up on the huge hep ferris wheel and went for a tiki in a huge gadget store, picked up paul a mp3 player which he was rapt with.

Final Day - Sent the whanau off about 11ish... said our goodbye's... pretty sad but a little envious too... felt like buying a ticket and jumping on with them. but said sayonara and headed on our way home..... so overall was an awesome time having them here with us... really made us forget japan and teaching ... thanks!

Dad and the Boys in Japan Pics2

Dad me and the boys before saying goodbye





The whanau going hard at "stamina-taro"











The whanau at Toji temple in Kyoto



Me and Johnny on our "Mamachari"


Paul and Johnny at Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto

Dad and the Boys in Japan Pics

Arriving at the airport
With Paoras Art teacher and Students
The Boys meeting new friend Yuki.
Johnny Trying some Japanese Kai
Johnny with Japans answer to meat pies "Onigiri"

Dad and the Boys in Japan

Kia ora whanau..well saturday night we went to Kansai Airport where we ended up spending the night waiting for the arrival of Dad and the boys(Paul and John) and what a mish..well we thought that the airport was 24 hours running but this airport stops flights at 10pm..so me and paora were the only people in the airport although abit unsettling but sweet as, so we crashed at the airport as Dads flight was 6:20am.. It was so cool seeing dad and the boys and to actually have them here in japan is such a buzz ..we arrived home and chilled out most of the day and rested .
Later in the evening we went to have some Japanese food ..Katsu -don, this was abit of a eyeopener for Dad and the boys but they liked the food. Got home and crashed what a long day...

DAY 2.. today we watched paora play rugby in otsu so the whole whanau trooped over to see some rugby and look at the area of shiga,ended up being a long day but Paul and Johnny ended up making a Japanese friend which was cool and it seems that with kids language is no barrier..went home and chilled.

DAY 3 today we went to paoras school to check out his school and also Dad brought his chisels so showed paoras art teacher some maori carving..this was a cool day with the boys being like little superstars as paoras students crowded around them and shouting "Kawaii" " Kawaii" or " Cute"
" Cute"...
after this we went up to Hachiman Temple up on Hachiman Mountian..Dad could not get over the Japanese Carvings at the temples and shrines and was amazed by the quality of work..

DAY 4 -chill out day as we had to go to work...

well thats it so far will update later on...we've checked most of omihachiman still heaps to see and do..with Hikone,kyoto,Osaka and Nara still to see..so laters for now..