Kids on the weekend too; just 'cause I like 'em so much

For 3 hours yesterday I was at an orphanage in Kasaoka with a bunch of other foreigners trying to entertain 70 kids with stupid games and in a very small room indeed. Mario (bloke from Peru) had organised the trip up there and since we would get a free lunch he got a fair few of us to go. We played a whole bunch of games, had lunch and then played some more games which mainly consisted of running around and screaming a lot. The kids love it when you are violent with them so I ended up dragging them around by their feet and pretending to throw them out windows and was completely astonished that none of them threw up in the excitement. We left at about 2pm and went straight to the nearest drinking hole to recuperate. Five courses of Italian food and three bottles of wine later we were all very much recovered, although probably starting to head down the other side of the hill.

I met some more of the foreigners in the area one of whom said I didn't have an Australian accent at all. Weird. I also found out that the little lumps that have been turning up on my hands are from mites in my tatami mats! Yuck. Apparently you have to spray the mats with this stuff to stop the mites living in there because my landlord is too tight to replace the tatami mats everytime someone leaves. I am thinking I should sleep in the kitchen tonight since my bed is right on the bloody floor. Well, at least I have yet to see a spider here....

Went and had a haircut today and the hairdresser was so gentle it seemed as though he thought my hair had feelings or something. He was using his whole body to comb the hair rather than just bend his elbow and everytime he hit a knot (which was a lot) he would spend five minutes untangling it strand by strand even though he was just about to cut it off anyway! He did a good job though I think. They cut the hair when it is dry here so you can really see what it looks like while they are doing it. It was quite cheap too, only about $30 for a wash, cut and blowdry. Well, cheap for the amount of time and care he took over it. You don't walk out of the salon here with telltale pieces of wet hair clinging to your neck and shoulders like you do at home.