Kaetsu Girls Trip

Each year, at around this time, the girls from the Kaetsu high school in Tokyo, will make an annual trip to the Kaetsu Centre in NewHall College... Every year, the centre hires a few student guides to bring the girls around Cambridge... As I had a lot of fun doing this last year (how could a person not have fun spending a day with bubbly japanese teenage girls??) and so, I decided to do it again this year..



Unlike last year, this year, I was given a smaller group of only four girls... But it was fun anyway... The girls (Aasami, Shiori, Satomi and Rino -- in pic) are your typical bubbly, cheerful, and boisterous japanese teenage girls... Although the tour was supposed to start at 10am, it was delayed by two hours as a couple of girls ended up being trapped in a lift in their London hotel (don't ask me how they managed to accomplish that!!).. So, by the time they got to Cambridge, it was already noon...



I knew that the girls would be very hungry (as all teenagers are)... So, I cut down on the college tour this year.. I quickly brought them down from NewHall, through the back door of St Johns so that we could quickly reach the bridge of sighs and Johns backs.. Then, we made our way to Trinity's chapel to see Newton.. However, the chapel was closed and we could only see it from the outside... Then, we quickly made our way to King's chapel.. They were interested to see King's chapel.. However, when I told them that they would have to pay to enter, they decided against it...



So, it was off to lunch then!! Since they had eaten Fish-n-Chips already, I asked them what they'd like for lunch... They kept saying "chips"... And I didn't understand them at first until I asked them if it was "ya-su-i"?? And they bobbed their heads up and down... So, it's "cheap" not "chips"... They thought of eating at McD, but we ended up getting some Cornish Pasties.. At least that's still quite english... Over lunch, we browsed the stalls in Market Square... Then, it was off shopping!!



Over the next few hours, I brought them round all the shops in the centre of Cambridge town... They didn't end up spending as much as the bunch I brought around last year.. However, they still managed to spend quite a large sum.. Aasami especially, bought something from almost every shop we visited... Satomi got a really cute Angel christmas decoration, which she promptly attached to her bag... Shiori spent less than the rest.. Rino really wanted a pair of leather boots, but that proved too expensive for her (30k yen!!)...



At the end of the day, the girls were nice enough to give me a goodie bag again this year!! Filled with all kinds of Japanese food and some Japanese paper products... I still have the paper products I got last year (although I finished up the food really quickly)...



According to Hiroko and Robert, next year, there will be 4 groups coming.. Hence, there will be 4 days of touring instead... And they will be asking us to bring the kids around for 4 days... I may volunteer for 2 next year if I'm up to it... The reason that the group size has increased is because the school has expanded this year...



It was fun...