last weekend we went to shimane. it was a bit hard with all the driving and visiting of friends, but on the whole we had a good time. it was nice to see so many people, even some of yoshi's old co-workers. the weather was beautiful. on saturday we went to a festival (sansai--mountain vegetables) and ate tempura and wild boar stew. hiro kicked over my cup of tea and got my socks all wet. kind of funny... on sunday we went the the city's festival. kind of boring really, not like a traditional festival at all. we had lunch in our favorite restaurant and then went to a big park and walked around for a while. after that we went to an onsen, which hiro didn't enjoy too much. too loud, too many people and too big (the bath itself). i couldn't really relax either, especially with all the older ladies giving me advice...