wow, i haven't updated since exams have finished simply because every day is jam packed with farewells, dinners, parties and just all in all being plain busy organising winter holidays.
yes i said WINTER holidays. What an uncanny feel to that word because at the end of the year, i am used to SUMMER holidays, basking in the sunshine of Sydney beaches (or maybe GC beaches), and eating watermelon or something...chilling at biccentenial.. yeah u get it : )
its been really sad saying bye to everyone... 4 months have gone by so quickly. although I'm glad at times like these that i do homestay and not seminar house because they have to say bye to a new person everyday... until the place just empties out. its been such a great experience meeting all these awesome people from all over the world and it really has a strange dreamlike quality about it because u feel like you've known these ppl all you life.
well i'm done packin now, cleaned up my mess, and i'm ready to roll after the laundry dries. Its been really cold these last 2 days around 6-7 degrees CELSIUS. annnd i'm literally freezing my NOSE and ears off. but my canadian friends and american friends from michigan are like "well it is a little chilly." UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR MUCH?
maybe because this is as cold as it gets in sydney, but the WORST is yet to come. i am shivering thinking about korea.
i'm really looking forward to moving out. although i do suppose i will miss the dog here.. gen chan. he is currently resting his huge head on my foot. its keeping me nice and warm. but i will not miss his stinkiness and his hair shedding all over my clothes.
will update you guys on where i am soon!!! i'm REALLY EXCITED ABOUT TOKYO. leaving in 3 days!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
He knows and understands
O Lord, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Psalm 139: 1-2
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Psalm 139: 1-2
Friday, December 10, 2010
munchlings on nourishing food, receiving spiritual food
thank you guys for your prayers! I got through all 3 tests fine today and it is all because of God's blessing upon my life. I am currently munching on some dutch gingerbread cookies that rorence gave me : ) when you receive something really lovely, you start to consider how awesome generosity is , and how great it is when its bestowed upon you. i think rorence is a great example of someone with a really generous heart (NOT just about cookies of course hahaha) so i have a lot to learn from the ppl around me.
today, my devotional was on 2 corinthians 9. This is something I have been praying about: generosity. How much should i give while i'm on exchange? constant negative cash outflow doesn't help in growing generosity. I always have to remind myself that I can never give more than God gives me ... ( although is that how i'm supposed to think about it ? hahah sounds like i'm comforting myself that i'm always at an advantage). buuut yeh, compared to the gift that God has freely given to me through JEsus, the gift of Salvation, nothing i ever give can compare.
I just want to be someone who joyfully gives, EVEN while im povo and EVEN while i'm on exchange because that means in ALL situations, not just when i'm rich, I will be combatting the little demon called greed within human nature.
2 corinthians 9
Generosity Encouraged
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
Pray that I will generously and joyfully give, EVEN TO MY DISADVANTAGE because our mission in this world is to love LOVE and let God's light and grace be displayed through our actions.
my friend's actions today spoke louder than any words.. even though it was something small, it was enough to influence and affect me, inspiring a desire to better myself as well, and strive to be more Christ-like everyday.
today, my devotional was on 2 corinthians 9. This is something I have been praying about: generosity. How much should i give while i'm on exchange? constant negative cash outflow doesn't help in growing generosity. I always have to remind myself that I can never give more than God gives me ... ( although is that how i'm supposed to think about it ? hahah sounds like i'm comforting myself that i'm always at an advantage). buuut yeh, compared to the gift that God has freely given to me through JEsus, the gift of Salvation, nothing i ever give can compare.
I just want to be someone who joyfully gives, EVEN while im povo and EVEN while i'm on exchange because that means in ALL situations, not just when i'm rich, I will be combatting the little demon called greed within human nature.
2 corinthians 9
Generosity Encouraged
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
Pray that I will generously and joyfully give, EVEN TO MY DISADVANTAGE because our mission in this world is to love LOVE and let God's light and grace be displayed through our actions.
my friend's actions today spoke louder than any words.. even though it was something small, it was enough to influence and affect me, inspiring a desire to better myself as well, and strive to be more Christ-like everyday.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
aspiring to...~
My FOCUS will be on:
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.(Matthew 6:33)
just to add something more, i just received a call from the loverly da-hee kim who is safe and sound in kyushu as we speak <3 God again shows us that he has our utmost welfare in mind and her host family is not only awesome but has an elevator in the house because they own a ryokan.. AMAZING MUCH? God wants us to have great experiences and he created us to live fully , the way we were created to live in Him. so we both learnt today that we should trust and not be of little faith and worry our hearts out about something we have no control over anyway. Trust & let go of the steering wheel.. let God drive and remember the above passage : )
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.(Matthew 6:33)
just to add something more, i just received a call from the loverly da-hee kim who is safe and sound in kyushu as we speak <3 God again shows us that he has our utmost welfare in mind and her host family is not only awesome but has an elevator in the house because they own a ryokan.. AMAZING MUCH? God wants us to have great experiences and he created us to live fully , the way we were created to live in Him. so we both learnt today that we should trust and not be of little faith and worry our hearts out about something we have no control over anyway. Trust & let go of the steering wheel.. let God drive and remember the above passage : )
can almost TASTE the end
its really sad and stressful that the semester is going to come to a close
i still have another 7 assessments left but i shall blog because i have not updated.
i have 3 exams tomoro, so that leaves 4 to study for over the weekend..
tomorrow, i have sakubun test, speaking test then final quiz for gender & sexuality.. i think i've had enough of reading about lesbians for now.. T__T
the other day in class the teacher passed around lesbian erotica for our perusal . like huh? what? what am i supposed to think? .. i still dont know at this point.
i've already written out my sakubun and my script for speaking...now to memorise... and er.. i've studied 1/4 of the material for tomoro's test.. i hope i'll b okay...
I really do need your prayers guys! and thanks for sending me emails guys : ) its so nice to have some sort of contact bak with ya'll in australia. miss you all a lot even if we hafn't talked for a long time
to be honest, i'm ready to come back because everyones leaving to go back home which makes me wanna go home too.. buuuuut i'm not homesick yet.
next semester is going to be pretty tough because 'im lookin for my own apartment and i'll haf to take care of most things myself... i'm sorta excited and scared! (btw, i still hafn't found an apartment yet..) so please pray that God will provide a place for me to stay.. preferably closer to osaka city because i work and go to church there
God really performed a miracle for me today! I left the house 20 minutes later than I intended because of my inability to read the time... and as I got on the bus, I was hating on everyone who was slowly getting on... and i was annoyed the bus driver didn't accelerate faster.. all this stupid stuff. HAHAH. buut God was like, why are you worrying? what is the POINT of you worrying and having all these angry feelings? well, i said, because i spent y'day STUDYING for the test, so i dont wanna MISS it. buuut as soon as I gave over my worries to God, and i said a really quick prayer.. "Lord please make straight paths for me" the lights were literally green the WHOLE WAY. all the red ones turned green as our bus approached.
Praise GOD!!! in the situation it is hard to be patient, and faithful and trusting. but when you do, God will be like "behold!" and u will be like " oh . wow. " and feel very silly for worrying.
:)
so that's my update for today~ i shall soldier on !
i still have another 7 assessments left but i shall blog because i have not updated.
i have 3 exams tomoro, so that leaves 4 to study for over the weekend..
tomorrow, i have sakubun test, speaking test then final quiz for gender & sexuality.. i think i've had enough of reading about lesbians for now.. T__T
the other day in class the teacher passed around lesbian erotica for our perusal . like huh? what? what am i supposed to think? .. i still dont know at this point.
i've already written out my sakubun and my script for speaking...now to memorise... and er.. i've studied 1/4 of the material for tomoro's test.. i hope i'll b okay...
I really do need your prayers guys! and thanks for sending me emails guys : ) its so nice to have some sort of contact bak with ya'll in australia. miss you all a lot even if we hafn't talked for a long time
to be honest, i'm ready to come back because everyones leaving to go back home which makes me wanna go home too.. buuuuut i'm not homesick yet.
next semester is going to be pretty tough because 'im lookin for my own apartment and i'll haf to take care of most things myself... i'm sorta excited and scared! (btw, i still hafn't found an apartment yet..) so please pray that God will provide a place for me to stay.. preferably closer to osaka city because i work and go to church there
God really performed a miracle for me today! I left the house 20 minutes later than I intended because of my inability to read the time... and as I got on the bus, I was hating on everyone who was slowly getting on... and i was annoyed the bus driver didn't accelerate faster.. all this stupid stuff. HAHAH. buut God was like, why are you worrying? what is the POINT of you worrying and having all these angry feelings? well, i said, because i spent y'day STUDYING for the test, so i dont wanna MISS it. buuut as soon as I gave over my worries to God, and i said a really quick prayer.. "Lord please make straight paths for me" the lights were literally green the WHOLE WAY. all the red ones turned green as our bus approached.
Praise GOD!!! in the situation it is hard to be patient, and faithful and trusting. but when you do, God will be like "behold!" and u will be like " oh . wow. " and feel very silly for worrying.
:)
so that's my update for today~ i shall soldier on !
Thursday, December 2, 2010
final 16 days of semester 1.
i'm typing 7 mins b4 i haf to leave and i hafn't brushed my teeth yet. ew.
HAHAHHA
sorry i hafnt' been updating but its the last 2 weeks and i've got close to 10 different assessments ranging from small to big... ITS HECTIC!! please pray for me ! and another prayer point is that i want to find an apartment to live in..its just more convenient for me... thank you guys..!! another semester and i'm HOME!!
will update soon!
HAHAHHA
sorry i hafnt' been updating but its the last 2 weeks and i've got close to 10 different assessments ranging from small to big... ITS HECTIC!! please pray for me ! and another prayer point is that i want to find an apartment to live in..its just more convenient for me... thank you guys..!! another semester and i'm HOME!!
will update soon!
Friday, November 26, 2010
interesting observations about japan
1) every boy plucks / shaves his eyebrows and all girls draw on their eyebrows or tattoo it
2) the back and legs of the train seats are heated starting autumn
3) japanese ppl sit in the cinemas until the end of the credits. NOONE stands up
4) i love warm toilet seats, its actually SO good on a cold day. HAHAHAH.
2) the back and legs of the train seats are heated starting autumn
3) japanese ppl sit in the cinemas until the end of the credits. NOONE stands up
4) i love warm toilet seats, its actually SO good on a cold day. HAHAHAH.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
complaints&co.
will complain on every electronic source to vent my bitterness (i'm even drinking black coffee as we speak)
firstly, host mum decided to vacuum at 2am in the morning.
i guess thats not such a problem since i was tired and i suppose i can sleep thru the noise.
secondly, no milk this morning so here i am in my miserable state, clutching a long black.
(SPEAKING OF LONG BLACK:
IN JAPAN, (and america apparently) they dont have classifications of flat white, short and long black and their cappucino is only one shot of espresso with 2/3 cup of foam. why wud u order foam?
like HUH?!!!!!)
thirdly, she put out chocolate spread from TWO months ago that i clearly didn't touch because i didn't like it ( i even bought my own peanut butter to show i didn't like it ) for me to eat for breakfast.
fourthly, i have yet again 2 onigiris for lunch. literally tasteless riceballs. and i may 320 000 jpy for homestay.
just to complain some extra and suit the theme of my blog post, a stinky dog is sittig next to me as i eat breakfast and type this.
.....
...
ok, done complaining. but yesterday was really awesome. I went with my speaking partner Nao, her friend Tomoka and my 2 norweigan friends Miina and Wictoria to Sweets Paradise in Shinsaibashi! There were some lovely pastas and curries, plus a MYRIAD of sweets. to be honest, i dont like the desserts at buffets. its like.. really flavourless.. just sweet. HAHAH
SO i dont think i'll be interested in going to buffet again after twice at ninja sweets and once at swipara.
we then went to uniqlo and of course purikura.
i'm going to tennoji todaY!! gotta leave in an hour : )
firstly, host mum decided to vacuum at 2am in the morning.
i guess thats not such a problem since i was tired and i suppose i can sleep thru the noise.
secondly, no milk this morning so here i am in my miserable state, clutching a long black.
(SPEAKING OF LONG BLACK:
IN JAPAN, (and america apparently) they dont have classifications of flat white, short and long black and their cappucino is only one shot of espresso with 2/3 cup of foam. why wud u order foam?
like HUH?!!!!!)
thirdly, she put out chocolate spread from TWO months ago that i clearly didn't touch because i didn't like it ( i even bought my own peanut butter to show i didn't like it ) for me to eat for breakfast.
fourthly, i have yet again 2 onigiris for lunch. literally tasteless riceballs. and i may 320 000 jpy for homestay.
just to complain some extra and suit the theme of my blog post, a stinky dog is sittig next to me as i eat breakfast and type this.
.....
...
ok, done complaining. but yesterday was really awesome. I went with my speaking partner Nao, her friend Tomoka and my 2 norweigan friends Miina and Wictoria to Sweets Paradise in Shinsaibashi! There were some lovely pastas and curries, plus a MYRIAD of sweets. to be honest, i dont like the desserts at buffets. its like.. really flavourless.. just sweet. HAHAH
SO i dont think i'll be interested in going to buffet again after twice at ninja sweets and once at swipara.
we then went to uniqlo and of course purikura.
i'm going to tennoji todaY!! gotta leave in an hour : )
Thursday, November 18, 2010
update!
wow i haven't blogged in forever.
quick recap because i'm lazy
8th : went to get my re-entry permit at cosmo square which is 1 1/2 hours away near osaka bay. there are absolutely no people and is the most dead places i've seen in japan. (beautiful nevertheless).
9th: went out with rohan and david to tenmabashi for a drink... the station has a beautiful waterview yet there are hardly any outdoor dining areas. rohan and i were contemplating its wastefulness. in sydney, ther'd definitely be a riverside grill , bar, restaurant etcetc. but its very nice !
11th: i had my speaking japanese lesson test which went quite well;; but as per usual, my grammar is terrible.
12th: went to Neyagawa 6th junior high school to "speak english " with the kids there. basically, i just played with the girls. because the boys were too shy to speak to me. one tried, and when i said "sorry?" he turned bright red and hid behind his friend.
13th: i went to work.. teaching ENGLISH conversation. which is uch harder than i expected because dont teach them proper english;; u teach them NATURAL english. so i dont know is i dunno. its totally hard for me because im a speech and drama teacher back home so i dunno is UNACCEPTABLE!
lool
14th: had an awesome time at church learning about supernatural occurences and spirits and then chilled, then ate dinner with everyone. SAMGYEOPSEOL for the first time in 3 months is epic. but oh the regret afterwards. u feel like there is solidified fat in ur tumtum
18th: did another lesson test for reading writing japanese. it wasn't so bad but for 3 questions i had 50/50 chance of getting it right and i got all 3 wrong. rotten luck haaha.
i bought some autumn japanese sweets to comfort myself on theway home today...
got work at bit later.. my first shift!
weekend coming soon!!!! i'm exxxxsmitted!!
quick recap because i'm lazy
8th : went to get my re-entry permit at cosmo square which is 1 1/2 hours away near osaka bay. there are absolutely no people and is the most dead places i've seen in japan. (beautiful nevertheless).
9th: went out with rohan and david to tenmabashi for a drink... the station has a beautiful waterview yet there are hardly any outdoor dining areas. rohan and i were contemplating its wastefulness. in sydney, ther'd definitely be a riverside grill , bar, restaurant etcetc. but its very nice !
11th: i had my speaking japanese lesson test which went quite well;; but as per usual, my grammar is terrible.
12th: went to Neyagawa 6th junior high school to "speak english " with the kids there. basically, i just played with the girls. because the boys were too shy to speak to me. one tried, and when i said "sorry?" he turned bright red and hid behind his friend.
13th: i went to work.. teaching ENGLISH conversation. which is uch harder than i expected because dont teach them proper english;; u teach them NATURAL english. so i dont know is i dunno. its totally hard for me because im a speech and drama teacher back home so i dunno is UNACCEPTABLE!
lool
14th: had an awesome time at church learning about supernatural occurences and spirits and then chilled, then ate dinner with everyone. SAMGYEOPSEOL for the first time in 3 months is epic. but oh the regret afterwards. u feel like there is solidified fat in ur tumtum
18th: did another lesson test for reading writing japanese. it wasn't so bad but for 3 questions i had 50/50 chance of getting it right and i got all 3 wrong. rotten luck haaha.
i bought some autumn japanese sweets to comfort myself on theway home today...
got work at bit later.. my first shift!
weekend coming soon!!!! i'm exxxxsmitted!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
when things are not in your own hands..
all there is left to do is do ur best and let God handle the rest : )
the whole of last week, I've been attempting (for the millionth time) to take things into my own hands and handle life and organise winter break and worrying unecessarily about unconfirmed details, or worrying that the price will go up if I dont book early. but yet again, God reminded me that I should just trust him in all aspects of my life;; if i've done all i could , then that is fine . Its also really good to catch up with those back in sydney who continue to talk to me and see how i am doing and encourage me in many things;; thank u bonnie , caleb and nathaniel and all those who have been praying for me. i need ur constant encouragement and its always so lovely to share my struggles here : )
So yesterday, i handed all my worries to God and today has been amazing. He's sorted every worry I had;; since I have to organise everyday's accomodation after dec 25th 2010 till feb 7 2011, i do have to get planning early..more over its peakseason. Yet, all my tickets, accomodation and connections from one leg of the journey to another has fit 2gether perfectly. (NOW I KNOW WHY PPL USE TRAVEL AGENCIES).
Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
TOO TRUE. need to keep that in mind because i DO WORRY for what i will eat, drink and wher i will sleep.. like life's basic needs LOL... this one year exchange does have some life skills elements involved.. T_T I'M DOING MY BEST !! i will go thru each day joyfully
the whole of last week, I've been attempting (for the millionth time) to take things into my own hands and handle life and organise winter break and worrying unecessarily about unconfirmed details, or worrying that the price will go up if I dont book early. but yet again, God reminded me that I should just trust him in all aspects of my life;; if i've done all i could , then that is fine . Its also really good to catch up with those back in sydney who continue to talk to me and see how i am doing and encourage me in many things;; thank u bonnie , caleb and nathaniel and all those who have been praying for me. i need ur constant encouragement and its always so lovely to share my struggles here : )
So yesterday, i handed all my worries to God and today has been amazing. He's sorted every worry I had;; since I have to organise everyday's accomodation after dec 25th 2010 till feb 7 2011, i do have to get planning early..more over its peakseason. Yet, all my tickets, accomodation and connections from one leg of the journey to another has fit 2gether perfectly. (NOW I KNOW WHY PPL USE TRAVEL AGENCIES).
Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
TOO TRUE. need to keep that in mind because i DO WORRY for what i will eat, drink and wher i will sleep.. like life's basic needs LOL... this one year exchange does have some life skills elements involved.. T_T I'M DOING MY BEST !! i will go thru each day joyfully
Friday, November 5, 2010
KG Sai day 2
today was AWESOME ~!
The day started off well because i met shane at the station at gotenyama so i didn't have to do that crappy walk all alone in the morning with my ipod. when we got there, the lounge was closed so we chilled outside in the sunshine : ) it was hilarious because when we took off our jackets, it turned out we were both wearing tartan shirts over a tshirt inside and shane said to one of our friends "its like we completely planned this, and walked to school like this". the funny thing was that we DID walk to school 2gether lool.
after a relatively successful kanji test, i went to see the dance club (ZERO) perform. It cost me 300 yen but it was the best 300 yen i had spent at the festival because the performances were amazing! they had so many people yet they were synced VERY VERY WELL. however, my camera wasn't so good for fotos / videos in the dark.. i will try to upload a few that were visible..
after that here is the list of food i ate during festival
yakiudon
yakisoba
hot cakes
mustard and tomato sauce on a sausage
tempura vanilla icecream
hahaha .. in need of restraint much?
after that we spent most of our time watching rock bands and they were REALLY GOOD wit their electric guitars, drums and SOME vocals. the reason i say some was because some were literally screaming into the mic and sounded completely tone deaf >< it was however very enjoyable because the club ppl lined the ENTIRE classroom with black plastic so it gave it the feel of a concert.
i must mention at this point that the costumes for both dance and rock band performances were REALLY amazing and specially effective for the stage.
after all this amazing festival shimozzle, i went to mika's house along with my lil japanese crew to have a TAKO PA (short for TAKOYAKI PARTY) and again we enjoyd yuki's cooking so very very much! we added a variety of things to the batter, from kimchi to cheese to tenkasu.
mika's house is very clean and pretty, and she's got a warm rug !! makes me miss my hot floor back at home;; but overall today has been a GREAT day. : )
have to wake up at 7:30 on saturday morning so i better get crackin and go to sleep !!
The day started off well because i met shane at the station at gotenyama so i didn't have to do that crappy walk all alone in the morning with my ipod. when we got there, the lounge was closed so we chilled outside in the sunshine : ) it was hilarious because when we took off our jackets, it turned out we were both wearing tartan shirts over a tshirt inside and shane said to one of our friends "its like we completely planned this, and walked to school like this". the funny thing was that we DID walk to school 2gether lool.
after a relatively successful kanji test, i went to see the dance club (ZERO) perform. It cost me 300 yen but it was the best 300 yen i had spent at the festival because the performances were amazing! they had so many people yet they were synced VERY VERY WELL. however, my camera wasn't so good for fotos / videos in the dark.. i will try to upload a few that were visible..
after that here is the list of food i ate during festival
yakiudon
yakisoba
hot cakes
mustard and tomato sauce on a sausage
tempura vanilla icecream
hahaha .. in need of restraint much?
after that we spent most of our time watching rock bands and they were REALLY GOOD wit their electric guitars, drums and SOME vocals. the reason i say some was because some were literally screaming into the mic and sounded completely tone deaf >< it was however very enjoyable because the club ppl lined the ENTIRE classroom with black plastic so it gave it the feel of a concert.
i must mention at this point that the costumes for both dance and rock band performances were REALLY amazing and specially effective for the stage.
after all this amazing festival shimozzle, i went to mika's house along with my lil japanese crew to have a TAKO PA (short for TAKOYAKI PARTY) and again we enjoyd yuki's cooking so very very much! we added a variety of things to the batter, from kimchi to cheese to tenkasu.
mika's house is very clean and pretty, and she's got a warm rug !! makes me miss my hot floor back at home;; but overall today has been a GREAT day. : )
have to wake up at 7:30 on saturday morning so i better get crackin and go to sleep !!
a test amidst the festivities
well today was my last exam which i expected to be easy but instead did so absolutely crappily in because i didn't know small details about when each leader was executed. during 19th century and during ww2 is like way too close for me to differentiate. = (
admittedly, i wasn't really studying ON THE DAY for the test so i thought the whole studying before the last minute was a good thing. obviously not. i am going to revert back to panicked last minutes running on adrenaline and doing the exam. HMPH. my short term memory appears to serve me much better.
NOW. onto brighter happenings..such as the GAIDAI SAI (Kansai gaidai festival ) !! there was plenty of food from yakisoba, yakiudon, TEMPURA ICECREAM (in caramel choco and strawberry flavours) tori nabe and a myriad of other yummy japanese food at cheap prices ranging from 100 to 250 yen.
the highlight of the festival was the cheerleading squad consisting of all girls. they singlehandedly manage to get a girl standing on their shoulders without struggling ridiculously and did all sorts of mid air flips and twists . it was absolutely amazing for a squad with 0 guys.
later of course, being the stupid gaijins we are, orhan decided that andrew should stand on his shoulders so with the help of like 7 ppl, we got him up there, and took a foto alongside the cheerleaders (foto to be uploaded soon !!! )
(tb continued)
admittedly, i wasn't really studying ON THE DAY for the test so i thought the whole studying before the last minute was a good thing. obviously not. i am going to revert back to panicked last minutes running on adrenaline and doing the exam. HMPH. my short term memory appears to serve me much better.
NOW. onto brighter happenings..such as the GAIDAI SAI (Kansai gaidai festival ) !! there was plenty of food from yakisoba, yakiudon, TEMPURA ICECREAM (in caramel choco and strawberry flavours) tori nabe and a myriad of other yummy japanese food at cheap prices ranging from 100 to 250 yen.
the highlight of the festival was the cheerleading squad consisting of all girls. they singlehandedly manage to get a girl standing on their shoulders without struggling ridiculously and did all sorts of mid air flips and twists . it was absolutely amazing for a squad with 0 guys.
later of course, being the stupid gaijins we are, orhan decided that andrew should stand on his shoulders so with the help of like 7 ppl, we got him up there, and took a foto alongside the cheerleaders (foto to be uploaded soon !!! )
(tb continued)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
studying for last midsem
i have the whole house to myself on this lovely public holiday to study so i'm rather happy.
i love to have alone time esp after periods of mobbing around in massive gaijin groups. HAHAHA ; not that i dont love that either..
its sunny and nice and there's fresh air pouring in;; + i'm somewhat interested in what i'm reading too !
i guess the day at starbucks studying was quite good because i realised this course is actually rather interesting !
Yesterday, i went to Watami Izakaya at Korien with my friends from seminar house 2 and of course my trusty australian rohan and dave : ) it was good fun but the drinks were on the pricey side.. 523yen! (about 7 dollars?)
I think I have like obsessive compulsive money spending disorder...where i just have to spend money whenever the opportunity arises. walking into a konbini and not buying anything makes me uneasy. LOOL.
to end the night, i was delighted by Rohan's omiyage from australia..: ARNOTTS MINT SLICE. OmG yum, i will eat them well! THANK YOU ROHAN-SAN !!
okay! now to enjoy this chillaxed day at home ... i see an instant okonomiyaki for lunch and 2 rice balls with some tsukemono .
i hope my host family next semester will be just as lovely if not better.
there are 2 reasons i would like to move out
1) the dog's hair gets ALL OVER MY CLOTHES. he's a big golden retriever too..and they dont really clean it properly so i get allergic reactions (not massive ones..just itchy and red eyes)
2) its always good to get to know a new area, try new foods, and i guess i can go thru the excitment and anticipation of new ppl all over again ? hahaa~
its definitely not because i dont like my host family... i really want a host sister though..! but come what may, wherever God puts me I will go.
Can't wait to make holiday plans after this midsems.. OH EXCITEMENT!
i love to have alone time esp after periods of mobbing around in massive gaijin groups. HAHAHA ; not that i dont love that either..
its sunny and nice and there's fresh air pouring in;; + i'm somewhat interested in what i'm reading too !
i guess the day at starbucks studying was quite good because i realised this course is actually rather interesting !
Yesterday, i went to Watami Izakaya at Korien with my friends from seminar house 2 and of course my trusty australian rohan and dave : ) it was good fun but the drinks were on the pricey side.. 523yen! (about 7 dollars?)
I think I have like obsessive compulsive money spending disorder...where i just have to spend money whenever the opportunity arises. walking into a konbini and not buying anything makes me uneasy. LOOL.
to end the night, i was delighted by Rohan's omiyage from australia..: ARNOTTS MINT SLICE. OmG yum, i will eat them well! THANK YOU ROHAN-SAN !!
okay! now to enjoy this chillaxed day at home ... i see an instant okonomiyaki for lunch and 2 rice balls with some tsukemono .
i hope my host family next semester will be just as lovely if not better.
there are 2 reasons i would like to move out
1) the dog's hair gets ALL OVER MY CLOTHES. he's a big golden retriever too..and they dont really clean it properly so i get allergic reactions (not massive ones..just itchy and red eyes)
2) its always good to get to know a new area, try new foods, and i guess i can go thru the excitment and anticipation of new ppl all over again ? hahaa~
its definitely not because i dont like my host family... i really want a host sister though..! but come what may, wherever God puts me I will go.
Can't wait to make holiday plans after this midsems.. OH EXCITEMENT!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
an overall relaxing week
this week can be summarised in one word "chillxed"
so i spent most of my days chillaxing in the lounge after classes have finished and i dont have to worry about any assessments because there weren't any this week (aside from the usual tan go and kanji quizzes)
On Friday, Halloween costumes were worn by almost everyone;; in the end , i didn't get a costume but my friend ayano kindly lent me her minnie mouse ears and mittens..they were so cute! the fotos are , as you may already have seen, on facebook : ) there were some pretty hectic costumes, and some were a bit .. "sorry..but uh..what are you?"
Saturday: went to see takarazuka , (aolai.tumblr.com) check out ROMEO. "he " is so charismatic! all the "men" in takarazuka are trained to walk and talk lke men and they are amazing. It is very difficult to get into the takarazuka school...HIGHLY competitive.around 1 in 50 people get in . then there's very gruelling training and discipline so its heKKKKtic.
we saw the flower scroll painting show (this was a kabuki inspired display of Japanese ancient culture) and The officer and the gentlemen. (an american play)
i really enjoyd the performance;; i think takarazuka is a MUST for anyone coming to japan
sunday: host mum very enthusiastically offered to take me to the cheap supermarkets to show me around. so that was lovely of her;; unfortunately, that meant i had to skip church..but because she is so busy, I do make an extra effort to spend time with my host family. She bought me wagashi as a present.. (this is a japanese sweet made from beans and mochi). It wud've been nice to enjoy it with some green tea, but i dont have any...
I bought bananas, apples and mandarins..this time my shopping bill was only 2100!!! amazing stuff.. (i bought other things of course) but it is much cheaper than the supermarket at the station (mainly because its convenient).
now i shall study for the religion mid sem which i've absolutely forgotten about..
so i spent most of my days chillaxing in the lounge after classes have finished and i dont have to worry about any assessments because there weren't any this week (aside from the usual tan go and kanji quizzes)
On Friday, Halloween costumes were worn by almost everyone;; in the end , i didn't get a costume but my friend ayano kindly lent me her minnie mouse ears and mittens..they were so cute! the fotos are , as you may already have seen, on facebook : ) there were some pretty hectic costumes, and some were a bit .. "sorry..but uh..what are you?"
Saturday: went to see takarazuka , (aolai.tumblr.com) check out ROMEO. "he " is so charismatic! all the "men" in takarazuka are trained to walk and talk lke men and they are amazing. It is very difficult to get into the takarazuka school...HIGHLY competitive.around 1 in 50 people get in . then there's very gruelling training and discipline so its heKKKKtic.
we saw the flower scroll painting show (this was a kabuki inspired display of Japanese ancient culture) and The officer and the gentlemen. (an american play)
i really enjoyd the performance;; i think takarazuka is a MUST for anyone coming to japan
sunday: host mum very enthusiastically offered to take me to the cheap supermarkets to show me around. so that was lovely of her;; unfortunately, that meant i had to skip church..but because she is so busy, I do make an extra effort to spend time with my host family. She bought me wagashi as a present.. (this is a japanese sweet made from beans and mochi). It wud've been nice to enjoy it with some green tea, but i dont have any...
I bought bananas, apples and mandarins..this time my shopping bill was only 2100!!! amazing stuff.. (i bought other things of course) but it is much cheaper than the supermarket at the station (mainly because its convenient).
now i shall study for the religion mid sem which i've absolutely forgotten about..
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
relaxation at home..is the best
today i woke up at 7 , got ready to go to school 40 minutes early, so i got onto the computer and LO BEHOLD, GOT STARTED ON MY ASSIGNMENT!
now, i was on such a roll that i decided school would have to wait till tomorrow because i wanted to do this assignment.. after a while, i watched some anime (consisting of fairy tail and one piece ) went on facebook and actually continued my assignment..
i fed myself a yummy sandwich, banana, and ate these DELICIOUS PASTRIES that flo brought from HK to tokyo and posted them to me in Osaka. I am very surprised i got it so quickly because she had written on it Koken instead of Korien for the suburb.. HAHAH. well done mail man.
after that i took a nap and now i'm awake and feeling on top of the world. this is the first time i have gotten 10 hours of sleep within a 24 hour period.
i am going to finish this assignment now. before 8 oclock. then i shall reward myself with a trip to okinawa or something. HAHaha.
GO aolai!!!! (WORD COUNT : 1600 but need to edit down to 1400 of GOOD STUFF rather than random shieet)
now, i was on such a roll that i decided school would have to wait till tomorrow because i wanted to do this assignment.. after a while, i watched some anime (consisting of fairy tail and one piece ) went on facebook and actually continued my assignment..
i fed myself a yummy sandwich, banana, and ate these DELICIOUS PASTRIES that flo brought from HK to tokyo and posted them to me in Osaka. I am very surprised i got it so quickly because she had written on it Koken instead of Korien for the suburb.. HAHAH. well done mail man.
after that i took a nap and now i'm awake and feeling on top of the world. this is the first time i have gotten 10 hours of sleep within a 24 hour period.
i am going to finish this assignment now. before 8 oclock. then i shall reward myself with a trip to okinawa or something. HAHaha.
GO aolai!!!! (WORD COUNT : 1600 but need to edit down to 1400 of GOOD STUFF rather than random shieet)
Monday, October 25, 2010
mondayitis
we got all our tests back .. i didn't do too badly ! 62.5 / 70 for written, and 88.7/100 for speaking so its all cool.. they dont count for that much: ) speaking class consisted of another awkward session of asking japanese students really random questions like "how do u live ur life? " thinking: " are u serious..."
today after class i was supposed to get started on an assignment (which i still haven't started atm)
however, i happen to bump into ryan who suggested we should go to this huge store "near" school to get our halloween costumes.. so i said yeah sure. can we walk? he goes.. well it would be much faster by bike.
as it happened, i soon ended up in the pouring rain beating down on my face, balancing myself on the back of ryan's bike next to a truck that was less than a foot away for about 15 minutes. dont ask me how or why i thought it was a good idea. LOL well actually, it wasn't such a bad bike ride because the road was relatively smooth compared to that from school to hirakata station..but it doesn't change the fact that after i get off the back of a bike , my legs are numb, my butt is bruised and my abs hurt from holding my legs off the ground.
ryan also flamed me (nicely of course) for tryin to HELP him get the bike started by wriggling like caterpillar on the back of bike (which as it happened did not aid but instead hindered) the bike in going forwards.
matthew, even without someone on the back managed to slip outta control almost 3 times.. so that was good fun . hahaha
the store was massive, there were many costumes from maids , school girls, animals, to a myriad of glitter, diamontes , nails, fake eye lashes etc. most excitingly, there was a LOT of imported food (YES INCLUDING TIMTAMS) and i managed to convince ryan into buying a packet (not for me to steal of course)
i bought myself a fake fringe which is going to be my "Supposed new hair cut".. but after trying it at home, i decided it looked too weird, so i'll leave it to rot in my suitcase.
now uh... to start this assignment.. ? maybe?
today after class i was supposed to get started on an assignment (which i still haven't started atm)
however, i happen to bump into ryan who suggested we should go to this huge store "near" school to get our halloween costumes.. so i said yeah sure. can we walk? he goes.. well it would be much faster by bike.
as it happened, i soon ended up in the pouring rain beating down on my face, balancing myself on the back of ryan's bike next to a truck that was less than a foot away for about 15 minutes. dont ask me how or why i thought it was a good idea. LOL well actually, it wasn't such a bad bike ride because the road was relatively smooth compared to that from school to hirakata station..but it doesn't change the fact that after i get off the back of a bike , my legs are numb, my butt is bruised and my abs hurt from holding my legs off the ground.
ryan also flamed me (nicely of course) for tryin to HELP him get the bike started by wriggling like caterpillar on the back of bike (which as it happened did not aid but instead hindered) the bike in going forwards.
matthew, even without someone on the back managed to slip outta control almost 3 times.. so that was good fun . hahaha
the store was massive, there were many costumes from maids , school girls, animals, to a myriad of glitter, diamontes , nails, fake eye lashes etc. most excitingly, there was a LOT of imported food (YES INCLUDING TIMTAMS) and i managed to convince ryan into buying a packet (not for me to steal of course)
i bought myself a fake fringe which is going to be my "Supposed new hair cut".. but after trying it at home, i decided it looked too weird, so i'll leave it to rot in my suitcase.
now uh... to start this assignment.. ? maybe?
Sunday, October 24, 2010
post exam partying
On thursday, i was stressed and burnt out because Friday is the last exam..and by the time you reach the last exam, u no longer want to study.. (in hindsight that was a bad idea because i failed at the kanji section of the exam)
SO, being all stressed, i went to starbucks to grab some overly priced coffee... there I met 2 Japanese girls (naoko and miho) that I had spoken to once before at CIE and they invited me to go to a festival called JIDAI matsuri, which is one of the 3 biggest and most famous festivals in Kyoto ( Jidai, Gion and Aoi matsuris).
They paraded down in clothing from the different periods of Japan, (meiji, edo, kamakura and many more!).
Miho's grandad was supposed to parade in the matsuri on a horse, but unfortunately, on the day, he had to go to hospital. Miho got us front row VIP seats in the parade so we didnt have to stand on the crowded streets of kyoto. At first, only roarence and I were going but then as I was walking to over to the cafeteria, I told stefania about the festival and she just goes " that sounds good! i will tell the others ! " I love spontaneity!! and i Love italians :)
so gloria, stefania, shiro, raffa and gia came along with us.
It was a very interesting cultural experience, and i'm really glad we went. Afterwards, we went to Gion-shijo to do some shopping then ate at NINJA SWEETS yet again . The first time was really good, and the 2nd time was okay... i dont think i want to go there again however.
After that, we went to a birthday party that was held at a random park. We ended up at a completely different park and so had our own little party with the italians and stefania's 2 japanese speaking partners.. mainly because there was a massive slide :) (oh we are so mature)
so yes, we didn't end up getting to any party.
come saturday and i had to go to school to give in the copy of my passport. I finished reading Over to You by Roald Dahl in the library (YES I GO TO THE LIBRARY TOO ! )
AND then headed home to waste time on skype talking to justin about the australianisms i like to use in my speech.
NOW SATURDAY NIGHT was just hectic. I told Gloria i would go to her b'day.. and so i was on skype earlier with sherwin and i convinced him and elora that beronica would be the place to be on saturday night. in the end, i think every KG student that was out on saturday night was there..the club was literally a private KG party HAHAH.
The venue was stunning.. the walls were actually sliding doors and the decor was AMAZING. They played a variety of music and the atmosphere, people and costumes were delightful : )
I left earlier with the italians because Gloria and I live in the same suburb, but i ended up losing them anyway.. everyone eventually ended up on the same platform at kyobashi on the floor... just lying there wanting to sleep.
i got up at 2pm today.. wasted time uploading pictures and editing pictures... then went back to sleep at 5.. got up at 6:30 and had dinner at 7. tonight, we had NABE which is japanese hotpot with a lot of veggies, tofu and noodles. It was yummy.
now.. uh.. to get started on that assignment due on wednesday.. lets see..where's the assignment sheet?
SO, being all stressed, i went to starbucks to grab some overly priced coffee... there I met 2 Japanese girls (naoko and miho) that I had spoken to once before at CIE and they invited me to go to a festival called JIDAI matsuri, which is one of the 3 biggest and most famous festivals in Kyoto ( Jidai, Gion and Aoi matsuris).
They paraded down in clothing from the different periods of Japan, (meiji, edo, kamakura and many more!).
Miho's grandad was supposed to parade in the matsuri on a horse, but unfortunately, on the day, he had to go to hospital. Miho got us front row VIP seats in the parade so we didnt have to stand on the crowded streets of kyoto. At first, only roarence and I were going but then as I was walking to over to the cafeteria, I told stefania about the festival and she just goes " that sounds good! i will tell the others ! " I love spontaneity!! and i Love italians :)
so gloria, stefania, shiro, raffa and gia came along with us.
It was a very interesting cultural experience, and i'm really glad we went. Afterwards, we went to Gion-shijo to do some shopping then ate at NINJA SWEETS yet again . The first time was really good, and the 2nd time was okay... i dont think i want to go there again however.
After that, we went to a birthday party that was held at a random park. We ended up at a completely different park and so had our own little party with the italians and stefania's 2 japanese speaking partners.. mainly because there was a massive slide :) (oh we are so mature)
so yes, we didn't end up getting to any party.
come saturday and i had to go to school to give in the copy of my passport. I finished reading Over to You by Roald Dahl in the library (YES I GO TO THE LIBRARY TOO ! )
AND then headed home to waste time on skype talking to justin about the australianisms i like to use in my speech.
NOW SATURDAY NIGHT was just hectic. I told Gloria i would go to her b'day.. and so i was on skype earlier with sherwin and i convinced him and elora that beronica would be the place to be on saturday night. in the end, i think every KG student that was out on saturday night was there..the club was literally a private KG party HAHAH.
The venue was stunning.. the walls were actually sliding doors and the decor was AMAZING. They played a variety of music and the atmosphere, people and costumes were delightful : )
I left earlier with the italians because Gloria and I live in the same suburb, but i ended up losing them anyway.. everyone eventually ended up on the same platform at kyobashi on the floor... just lying there wanting to sleep.
i got up at 2pm today.. wasted time uploading pictures and editing pictures... then went back to sleep at 5.. got up at 6:30 and had dinner at 7. tonight, we had NABE which is japanese hotpot with a lot of veggies, tofu and noodles. It was yummy.
now.. uh.. to get started on that assignment due on wednesday.. lets see..where's the assignment sheet?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
tomorrow i am free
today i had a speaking japanese writing test.
does that make sense? tomorrow, i have a writing japanese writing test: )
today's test was awesome, i got an entire section wrong because i just fail at keigo (polite japanese) SIGH. but oh well
yesterday i got a question that everyone got right because i skipped class. yay !
today was an awesome day at the cafeteria with seminar house 1 people. thank you adam for your asian drama stories. we could write an entire plot based on ur life in japan HAHAHHA
After tests i never feel the desire to study so usually, i just bum around and hang out for a lonnng time before heading home... today before i went home, i stayed at cie, went to new delhi (an indian restaurant ) for the first time with panda (who ordered a yummy coconut nan with REAL SHREDDED COCONUT INSIDE) and met a girl working there who is Japanese Chinese and she's half shanghainese : D omg. there are no shanghainese ppl here so it was uber awesome !
I studied at starbucks after school and one of the girls that i was with, her grandad will be dressed up for the JIDAI matsuri parade tomorrow!!!
jidai matsuri is one of the big 3 matsuri's (festivals) of japan , where they dress up as people in the olden days and parade down the streeet :)
i'm really excited ( that's if i decide to go)
btw, the thing that cracked me up so hard today was my friend benjamin's facebook status:
"A staff member in the KGU library came over and woke me up. He was saying: "You should not sleep here. If you are sleepy, you should go home." He had a point, I was the only one sleeping, at least the only Gajin. Who cares about the 47893548375347589 (yes, I counted them) Japanese people sleeping there anyway..."
lolololol japan is so racist in its own way. HAHHAHAHAH.this is hilarial (sorry, i think i've had too much sugar today )
does that make sense? tomorrow, i have a writing japanese writing test: )
today's test was awesome, i got an entire section wrong because i just fail at keigo (polite japanese) SIGH. but oh well
yesterday i got a question that everyone got right because i skipped class. yay !
today was an awesome day at the cafeteria with seminar house 1 people. thank you adam for your asian drama stories. we could write an entire plot based on ur life in japan HAHAHHA
After tests i never feel the desire to study so usually, i just bum around and hang out for a lonnng time before heading home... today before i went home, i stayed at cie, went to new delhi (an indian restaurant ) for the first time with panda (who ordered a yummy coconut nan with REAL SHREDDED COCONUT INSIDE) and met a girl working there who is Japanese Chinese and she's half shanghainese : D omg. there are no shanghainese ppl here so it was uber awesome !
I studied at starbucks after school and one of the girls that i was with, her grandad will be dressed up for the JIDAI matsuri parade tomorrow!!!
jidai matsuri is one of the big 3 matsuri's (festivals) of japan , where they dress up as people in the olden days and parade down the streeet :)
i'm really excited ( that's if i decide to go)
btw, the thing that cracked me up so hard today was my friend benjamin's facebook status:
"A staff member in the KGU library came over and woke me up. He was saying: "You should not sleep here. If you are sleepy, you should go home." He had a point, I was the only one sleeping, at least the only Gajin. Who cares about the 47893548375347589 (yes, I counted them) Japanese people sleeping there anyway..."
lolololol japan is so racist in its own way. HAHHAHAHAH.this is hilarial (sorry, i think i've had too much sugar today )
Sunday, October 17, 2010
eye of the cyclone
a relaxing sunday if not for the upcoming tumultuous MIDSEMESTER EXAMS!
surprisingly, (or not) everyone is on facebook. we are currently witnessing a mass phenomenon known as procrastination where everyone is not OUT playing but within their seminar houses, host families or apartments simply procrastinating their brains out on facebook, books, anime, DS games, and God forbid, even CLEANING their desks and rooms.
I have just had a shower (which in itself was procrastination because for the past 1 1/2 hours, i have grudgingly written 2 sentences in keigo and have repeated to myself lamely twice to make a show of supposedly memorising it .. now that i try to remember , i can't. clearly the efforts were very very poor)
now i am blogging about it to guilt trip myself into studying. ahhhh the game of self deception and conviction continue in a horrible cycle of eating to distract me, as well as making a huge pile of books in front of me to constantly remind me of my duties.
in another 15 miutes, dinner time shall approach so i suppose i can't do anything productive but blog.
ON A MUCH BRIGHTER NOTE:
1) i discovered that daniel and i actually unwittingly stumbled into a happy science building and even took PICTURES there during out 2nd week in japan, only to find out recently that it is some strange religion (please wiki it if you are interested)
2) at church today, the main message was that we are born into this world naked, with nothing and we leave this world with nothing...therefore everything we DO HAVE IS A BLESSING! and we should indeed be grateful for them and appreciative while they are there. when they are gone, the most incorrect response would be to blame God because those things we take for granted are not things that we have earned or deserved but simply given to us freely... even in trials of losing things that we have had all our lives, or things precious to us, we should instead praise God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us and thank him that He always has OUR best interests in mind. all our trials are part of his plan to refine us into finer silver, and he will never test us beyond what we can handle.
now. to dinner then study for SURE
surprisingly, (or not) everyone is on facebook. we are currently witnessing a mass phenomenon known as procrastination where everyone is not OUT playing but within their seminar houses, host families or apartments simply procrastinating their brains out on facebook, books, anime, DS games, and God forbid, even CLEANING their desks and rooms.
I have just had a shower (which in itself was procrastination because for the past 1 1/2 hours, i have grudgingly written 2 sentences in keigo and have repeated to myself lamely twice to make a show of supposedly memorising it .. now that i try to remember , i can't. clearly the efforts were very very poor)
now i am blogging about it to guilt trip myself into studying. ahhhh the game of self deception and conviction continue in a horrible cycle of eating to distract me, as well as making a huge pile of books in front of me to constantly remind me of my duties.
in another 15 miutes, dinner time shall approach so i suppose i can't do anything productive but blog.
ON A MUCH BRIGHTER NOTE:
1) i discovered that daniel and i actually unwittingly stumbled into a happy science building and even took PICTURES there during out 2nd week in japan, only to find out recently that it is some strange religion (please wiki it if you are interested)
2) at church today, the main message was that we are born into this world naked, with nothing and we leave this world with nothing...therefore everything we DO HAVE IS A BLESSING! and we should indeed be grateful for them and appreciative while they are there. when they are gone, the most incorrect response would be to blame God because those things we take for granted are not things that we have earned or deserved but simply given to us freely... even in trials of losing things that we have had all our lives, or things precious to us, we should instead praise God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us and thank him that He always has OUR best interests in mind. all our trials are part of his plan to refine us into finer silver, and he will never test us beyond what we can handle.
now. to dinner then study for SURE
Saturday, October 16, 2010
saturday with host mum at a local matsuri
today was one of the most RANDOM days i've had in japan...
i woke up expecting a lazy saturday, some cleaning, laundry , reading then study...
as it turned out, after doing the cleaning and laundry, host mum asked if i wanted to go to a local autumn matsuri near our house so naturally i decided to go.
after enjoying some green tea and wagashi (japanese sweets made from some sorta bean and red bean,
i saw these beautiful kimonos worn by the performers of Japanese dance.. my host mum randomly went up to one of the ppl working there and asked if they would be able to dress me up since i'd just come from australia and wanted to experience japanese culture. (of course i hadn't said this and didn't expect to do anything aside from admire the stuff at the festival).
to my GREAT surprise, she said it was fine, and did my hair and make up and put on a kimono. now putting on a kimono is NO easy task...there's about 15 pieces of things you've got to put togeher, thread through, layer, tie, knot..etc. etc. so it took around 20 minutes just to get into that thing. make up was very interesting , because my skin was 5 shades whiter and had this bright red lipstick.. strangest of all was the random white streak down the middle of my face? (its japanese dance stage make up..)
more over the kimono i wore was one that japanese brides wear..and i had a huge heavy wig on with another 3 or 4 accessories pinned into it..so my head was very heavy.
after dressing me up, i expected i would just take some fotos and then head home.. but NO. i was expected to go onto the stage, comment in english or japanese about how much i liked japan and then TO MY HORROR sing a song. firstly, my japanese is pretty crappy, so i was like.. oh my GOsh, someone save me. anyway, I just said how much i enjoyed japan, thanked them for putting on my kimono and then sang twinkle twinkle little star in english HAAHAHA.
ironically, tourists wanted to take fotos with me.. even though i'm the one doing the touristy activity? haha... everyone thought i was some maiko from kyoto .. so the benefit of being asian is that you are just accepted as japanese .
after that, the staff there even took fotos of me and printed them out for me to keep! Japanese ppl are soooooooo nice. then the staff also took pictures with me HAHAH.
host mum treated me to some yakisoba and tako sen (which is egg, mayo, sauce, takoyaki all in a crisp outer layer) and oolong tea. i also had the best melon pan today!
now time for some study i suppose...
i woke up expecting a lazy saturday, some cleaning, laundry , reading then study...
as it turned out, after doing the cleaning and laundry, host mum asked if i wanted to go to a local autumn matsuri near our house so naturally i decided to go.
after enjoying some green tea and wagashi (japanese sweets made from some sorta bean and red bean,
i saw these beautiful kimonos worn by the performers of Japanese dance.. my host mum randomly went up to one of the ppl working there and asked if they would be able to dress me up since i'd just come from australia and wanted to experience japanese culture. (of course i hadn't said this and didn't expect to do anything aside from admire the stuff at the festival).
to my GREAT surprise, she said it was fine, and did my hair and make up and put on a kimono. now putting on a kimono is NO easy task...there's about 15 pieces of things you've got to put togeher, thread through, layer, tie, knot..etc. etc. so it took around 20 minutes just to get into that thing. make up was very interesting , because my skin was 5 shades whiter and had this bright red lipstick.. strangest of all was the random white streak down the middle of my face? (its japanese dance stage make up..)
more over the kimono i wore was one that japanese brides wear..and i had a huge heavy wig on with another 3 or 4 accessories pinned into it..so my head was very heavy.
after dressing me up, i expected i would just take some fotos and then head home.. but NO. i was expected to go onto the stage, comment in english or japanese about how much i liked japan and then TO MY HORROR sing a song. firstly, my japanese is pretty crappy, so i was like.. oh my GOsh, someone save me. anyway, I just said how much i enjoyed japan, thanked them for putting on my kimono and then sang twinkle twinkle little star in english HAAHAHA.
ironically, tourists wanted to take fotos with me.. even though i'm the one doing the touristy activity? haha... everyone thought i was some maiko from kyoto .. so the benefit of being asian is that you are just accepted as japanese .
after that, the staff there even took fotos of me and printed them out for me to keep! Japanese ppl are soooooooo nice. then the staff also took pictures with me HAHAH.
host mum treated me to some yakisoba and tako sen (which is egg, mayo, sauce, takoyaki all in a crisp outer layer) and oolong tea. i also had the best melon pan today!
now time for some study i suppose...
almost midsemester exams and yet..
the smell of osmanthus flower in the air has faded, which saddens me because it makes my walk home a lot more pleasant, bathing in the greatness of God's creation thru this nasal channel HAHHA.
the last two days at school have been lovely because i discovered a FICTION section in the kansai gaidai library and i have rekindled my love for READING... atm i am thoroughly enjoying roald dahl's short stories .. they are maliciously macabre and that's the only way to describe them.. reading kiss kiss atm , HIGHLY recommended
SO TODAY, i rewarded myself with an azuki nan bread (100yen of course) for walking to hirakata station. i bumped into a girl from my speaking class called brooke and we went to the city office to file her alien rego and then we went to a really nice cafe and i had a jersey cream croissant and a coffee, while she had a potato and bacon pastry with mixed osaka juice (which is a banana and other fruits smoothie).
MMMMM.
I went to watami-chi for "dinner" because rohan told me to eat dinner before coming because they only got a table at around 9... some of the yakitori tasted like "horsemeat" as rohan termed it , and it really did taste rather horrible. but we did have a lovely strawberry lychee soda which everyone kept ordering :)
so.. basically all i've been doing is reading (i borrowed another 5 books)... so i decided i like to read many books at once so i dont yet bored of the books... of the ones i've started, free by chris anderson, animal farm by george orwell (yes we all know) ( I HAVEN'T READ IT BTW), kiss kiss, why men dont listen and women can't read maps by allan and barbara pease and of course my trusty Bible :)
so... at least this is... productive procrastination ? (that's bad because i feel JUSTIFIED)
the last two days at school have been lovely because i discovered a FICTION section in the kansai gaidai library and i have rekindled my love for READING... atm i am thoroughly enjoying roald dahl's short stories .. they are maliciously macabre and that's the only way to describe them.. reading kiss kiss atm , HIGHLY recommended
SO TODAY, i rewarded myself with an azuki nan bread (100yen of course) for walking to hirakata station. i bumped into a girl from my speaking class called brooke and we went to the city office to file her alien rego and then we went to a really nice cafe and i had a jersey cream croissant and a coffee, while she had a potato and bacon pastry with mixed osaka juice (which is a banana and other fruits smoothie).
MMMMM.
I went to watami-chi for "dinner" because rohan told me to eat dinner before coming because they only got a table at around 9... some of the yakitori tasted like "horsemeat" as rohan termed it , and it really did taste rather horrible. but we did have a lovely strawberry lychee soda which everyone kept ordering :)
so.. basically all i've been doing is reading (i borrowed another 5 books)... so i decided i like to read many books at once so i dont yet bored of the books... of the ones i've started, free by chris anderson, animal farm by george orwell (yes we all know) ( I HAVEN'T READ IT BTW), kiss kiss, why men dont listen and women can't read maps by allan and barbara pease and of course my trusty Bible :)
so... at least this is... productive procrastination ? (that's bad because i feel JUSTIFIED)
Monday, October 11, 2010
kaimono: shopping
hehe :) ya'll may as well learn japanese with me
today i went to kyoto and the main shopping place is called gion shijo where there are HEAPS of department stores and small shops...
in particular, we went to a department store called OPA where most of the young ppl do their shopping...there's some crazy fashion there, from gyaru to hippie to country bumpkin looks buuuut its all very exciting so i've uploaded an album for you to see whats in in OSAKA...it seems like this autumn, furs, and the snowflake design is hot stuff hahaha... everything is furry... and ppl seem to like to hang a dead animal tail on themselves;;
after some intense shopping at OPA , we went to NINJA sweets to eat lunch. The waiters and waitresses there are dressed up as ninja and they establish these rules on a scroll before you start eating... there was SO MUCH delicious food and they give u an hour and a half to eat... which is MORE THAN ENUFF...from pasta, pizza, curry, rice, fried rice to a myriad of desserts from cakes, mochi, waffle, crepes, pavlova, icecream.. u name it :)
the best part was that NINJA were ninjaing around HAHAHA
and it all cost 1500 yen (approx 17 aud) which is MUCH cheaper than any buffet (and much more delicious might i add) than any buffet in sydney...
we ate till we literally could not breathe then continued on our shopping.
of course the day is not complete without purikura (sticker fotos)..so they will be uploaded soon as well
next stop: osaka aquarium & USJ
I AM SO ANGRY!!1 I SPENT 1 HR WRITING CAPTIONS FOR MY FACEBOOK ALBUM AND IT DIDN'T SAVE :( : ( : ( arrrghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh wel, i'll do it now. then i'll study. perfect procrastination i say.
today i went to kyoto and the main shopping place is called gion shijo where there are HEAPS of department stores and small shops...
in particular, we went to a department store called OPA where most of the young ppl do their shopping...there's some crazy fashion there, from gyaru to hippie to country bumpkin looks buuuut its all very exciting so i've uploaded an album for you to see whats in in OSAKA...it seems like this autumn, furs, and the snowflake design is hot stuff hahaha... everything is furry... and ppl seem to like to hang a dead animal tail on themselves;;
after some intense shopping at OPA , we went to NINJA sweets to eat lunch. The waiters and waitresses there are dressed up as ninja and they establish these rules on a scroll before you start eating... there was SO MUCH delicious food and they give u an hour and a half to eat... which is MORE THAN ENUFF...from pasta, pizza, curry, rice, fried rice to a myriad of desserts from cakes, mochi, waffle, crepes, pavlova, icecream.. u name it :)
the best part was that NINJA were ninjaing around HAHAHA
and it all cost 1500 yen (approx 17 aud) which is MUCH cheaper than any buffet (and much more delicious might i add) than any buffet in sydney...
we ate till we literally could not breathe then continued on our shopping.
of course the day is not complete without purikura (sticker fotos)..so they will be uploaded soon as well
next stop: osaka aquarium & USJ
I AM SO ANGRY!!1 I SPENT 1 HR WRITING CAPTIONS FOR MY FACEBOOK ALBUM AND IT DIDN'T SAVE :( : ( : ( arrrghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh wel, i'll do it now. then i'll study. perfect procrastination i say.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
another friday night
friday nights include generally ending up with no money... i started off with 10000 yen this week and now i have 2000 yen.
SO... it all started with some innocent karaoke and drinking as per weekly tradition.from hirakata, i rode on the back of phil's bike (well jeff's bike but phil was riding it ) all the way back to cafe istanbul which is somewhat close to uni.. I believe it would've been quite a workout with me on the back especially since the ride consisted of a few uphills.. to make things all the more fun, it was pouring rain and we had neither raincoat, umbrella nor plastic bags.
Since everyone was heading to Hiroshima this weekend, the rest of us were partaying it up at cafe istanbul where we tried a variety of shisha flavours from golden grape, double apple mint to strawberry mint.. Phil, jake and james were rather adept at blowing smoke filled bubbles which was quite a sight. the shisha did nothing but give me a massive dizzy spell that lasted for 2 hours..so i dont think i'll ever be doing that again.. also the kebabs in japan have nothing on the ones we get in australia.. true authentic kebabs i bereev.. i really miss lebanese pizzas at ovenbake near church..and jimmy's kebabs..... omG... this kebab wasn't even 1/10th as good.
after cafe istanbul, it was a short bike ride (where i had to further injure my bruised bum) to shunskies house. yuki and shunskies cooked kimchi nabe for us..and finishd it up with delicious udon and nama tamago.. *droools* and MEAT. (remember meat is rare in japan)
the night consisted of everyone trying to find somewhere sleepable onthe floor, 3 ppl squishing onto a single bed and other ppl lying like sardines on the floor. It wasn't so bad because i really enjoy hard beds so the floor is good.
when we got up, we cleaned up, watched shunskies and yuki and pil play ps3 soccer and baseball...seungje continued to sleep, and wictoria and miina had longg disappeared back to their homes.
jay gave me a ride from shunskies' house to hirakata station, which was by far much scarier than phil's ride because it was wobbly, and on many an occassion, i would cover his eyes with the umbrella that i held with shaking hands while i clung onto jay for dear life. so at moments where we were on a busy road, and unable see the road is pretty scary in hindsight. moreover, there were pedestrians, trees and BUMps on the road which made my ride just a tad more painful
i ate kappa sushi with my host family and we sat in a row so it was the most anti social dinner i have ever had... halfway thru my host brother left and went to sit in the car... LOL
welll.. schleeeping nowwww GNITEEE
i ended up getting home at 5:30,walked home int he rain
SO... it all started with some innocent karaoke and drinking as per weekly tradition.from hirakata, i rode on the back of phil's bike (well jeff's bike but phil was riding it ) all the way back to cafe istanbul which is somewhat close to uni.. I believe it would've been quite a workout with me on the back especially since the ride consisted of a few uphills.. to make things all the more fun, it was pouring rain and we had neither raincoat, umbrella nor plastic bags.
Since everyone was heading to Hiroshima this weekend, the rest of us were partaying it up at cafe istanbul where we tried a variety of shisha flavours from golden grape, double apple mint to strawberry mint.. Phil, jake and james were rather adept at blowing smoke filled bubbles which was quite a sight. the shisha did nothing but give me a massive dizzy spell that lasted for 2 hours..so i dont think i'll ever be doing that again.. also the kebabs in japan have nothing on the ones we get in australia.. true authentic kebabs i bereev.. i really miss lebanese pizzas at ovenbake near church..and jimmy's kebabs..... omG... this kebab wasn't even 1/10th as good.
after cafe istanbul, it was a short bike ride (where i had to further injure my bruised bum) to shunskies house. yuki and shunskies cooked kimchi nabe for us..and finishd it up with delicious udon and nama tamago.. *droools* and MEAT. (remember meat is rare in japan)
the night consisted of everyone trying to find somewhere sleepable onthe floor, 3 ppl squishing onto a single bed and other ppl lying like sardines on the floor. It wasn't so bad because i really enjoy hard beds so the floor is good.
when we got up, we cleaned up, watched shunskies and yuki and pil play ps3 soccer and baseball...seungje continued to sleep, and wictoria and miina had longg disappeared back to their homes.
jay gave me a ride from shunskies' house to hirakata station, which was by far much scarier than phil's ride because it was wobbly, and on many an occassion, i would cover his eyes with the umbrella that i held with shaking hands while i clung onto jay for dear life. so at moments where we were on a busy road, and unable see the road is pretty scary in hindsight. moreover, there were pedestrians, trees and BUMps on the road which made my ride just a tad more painful
i ate kappa sushi with my host family and we sat in a row so it was the most anti social dinner i have ever had... halfway thru my host brother left and went to sit in the car... LOL
welll.. schleeeping nowwww GNITEEE
i ended up getting home at 5:30,walked home int he rain
Thursday, October 7, 2010
tests make me miserable
yesterday i had a lesson test that i thought was tomorrow...and tomorrow i DO have a lesson test. today i had a kanji test
OH hectic...
so i've officially screwd up the first one but looking on the bright side, i didn't get 0, so i didn't lose the WHOLE 10%
buuut considering all my marks count, i shud really be working harder...
today i spent the whole day bumming around and eating, then i went to the LIBRARY for the first time!!! IT IS SO SILENT....
then i was lazy and went home on a bus to hirakata station because i didn't want to walk..
host mum is away for 3 days so i fix dinner for myself...she gave me 3000 yen for 3 days.. so first thing i did was spent 1000 yen on a big bunch of juicy grapes MMMAMMmmmm.... i will always complain about the price of fruit here...
i am eating really unhealthily *sighh* and getting no exercise. *sigh* and i'm stresssed from tests *sigh*
no more playing for aolai, lets knuckle down and STUDY from now!
today was also hot so it was too hot for leggings and that sorta made me grumpy.. *sigh*
hahah everything is annoying me because ihave to study
on a nicer note, there is a distinct smell of osmanthus flower in the air here in osaka.. osmanthus happens to be my favourite floral smell so the air is soooo delicious to breathe in :)
also i cooked myself a dinner of soba..AND..soba.
hahaha i ate a donut for dessert Mmmm :)
OH hectic...
so i've officially screwd up the first one but looking on the bright side, i didn't get 0, so i didn't lose the WHOLE 10%
buuut considering all my marks count, i shud really be working harder...
today i spent the whole day bumming around and eating, then i went to the LIBRARY for the first time!!! IT IS SO SILENT....
then i was lazy and went home on a bus to hirakata station because i didn't want to walk..
host mum is away for 3 days so i fix dinner for myself...she gave me 3000 yen for 3 days.. so first thing i did was spent 1000 yen on a big bunch of juicy grapes MMMAMMmmmm.... i will always complain about the price of fruit here...
i am eating really unhealthily *sighh* and getting no exercise. *sigh* and i'm stresssed from tests *sigh*
no more playing for aolai, lets knuckle down and STUDY from now!
today was also hot so it was too hot for leggings and that sorta made me grumpy.. *sigh*
hahah everything is annoying me because ihave to study
on a nicer note, there is a distinct smell of osmanthus flower in the air here in osaka.. osmanthus happens to be my favourite floral smell so the air is soooo delicious to breathe in :)
also i cooked myself a dinner of soba..AND..soba.
hahaha i ate a donut for dessert Mmmm :)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
tireedd as...
i'm officially sick :(
after all the playing it has taken its toll on my body, and i woke up with a husky voice that is a bit croaky, so i dont really get that nice sexy effect of husky voices. instead, it is also accompanied with a nasty cough that sounds like i've "smoked 5 packets of cigarettes" Patrick.
i'm going to take it easy this week i think..especially because all these tests are coming up yet again but this time they're BIGGER and BETTER. not.
yesterday i went to korean bbq (yakiniku) and ate meat till my hearts content so i've satisfied my meat quota for this month ! i think the meat imported into japan actually tastes better than australia ! :O
i went with phil, jeff and panda so they had a great time taking retarded fotos of themselves involving chopsticks, beer schooners and of course just their faces.
the cie lounge has now been coined the FISH BOWL as it is made of glass and japanese ppl walk past just to look at foreigners hahaha.. very interesting concept, but everyday is fun within our fishtank home :)
i'll take fotos of campus sooon !!
after all the playing it has taken its toll on my body, and i woke up with a husky voice that is a bit croaky, so i dont really get that nice sexy effect of husky voices. instead, it is also accompanied with a nasty cough that sounds like i've "smoked 5 packets of cigarettes" Patrick.
i'm going to take it easy this week i think..especially because all these tests are coming up yet again but this time they're BIGGER and BETTER. not.
yesterday i went to korean bbq (yakiniku) and ate meat till my hearts content so i've satisfied my meat quota for this month ! i think the meat imported into japan actually tastes better than australia ! :O
i went with phil, jeff and panda so they had a great time taking retarded fotos of themselves involving chopsticks, beer schooners and of course just their faces.
the cie lounge has now been coined the FISH BOWL as it is made of glass and japanese ppl walk past just to look at foreigners hahaha.. very interesting concept, but everyday is fun within our fishtank home :)
i'll take fotos of campus sooon !!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
heeeepeleptic weekend
saturday...sunday...
so after karaoke, i got home at 1:30. remembering that i was supposed to go support my seminar house for soccer in the morning, i got up at 8 to get to uni by 10 . Intending to go as a spectactor, i happily hurried to the game..only find there were only 5 of us there..and desperately in need of more players..
seriously the worst 30 minutes of aolai in her 20s.... i realised how unfit i was and it has temporarily inspired me to exercise a bit more. BUT it was such awesome fun !
after that we just hung around enjoying the transition from spring to autumn :)
saturday night we headed out to a club called explosion in umeda which is a gay club. we thought it'd be very interesting to see..and indeedy, as expected. 2000 yen entry and 3 free drinks along with it ..very upbeat music ..i liked how it was remixes of rnb songs because i'm generally an rnb fan :)
went home at 5:30 in the morning and got home at 6:30...had breakfast, showered and then went to bed and woke up at 9 to go the garage sale at osaka expo park.
I met up with my host mum's previous student angelica and 2 of her friends who are doing a program between their undergraduate degree, and grad...
it was absolutely fantastmologically cheap...with clothes and jackets and shoes ranging from 100 yen to about 2000 yen...which is HEAPS HEAPS HEAPS cheap.. i uploaded fotos of what i purchased in the gay club album .
Thanks to angelica, we ate onigiri, banana and the best corn soup flavoured chippie thing in the world... will def be visiting the 100 yen shop to buy that.
the only down side was that it started pouring so then we all had to go home :(
(and also that i dropped my onigiri so that was pretty tragedy tooo...)
btw as predicted, onigiris are my staple food ^^
i am tired.
yet again.
school tomoro !!
so after karaoke, i got home at 1:30. remembering that i was supposed to go support my seminar house for soccer in the morning, i got up at 8 to get to uni by 10 . Intending to go as a spectactor, i happily hurried to the game..only find there were only 5 of us there..and desperately in need of more players..
seriously the worst 30 minutes of aolai in her 20s.... i realised how unfit i was and it has temporarily inspired me to exercise a bit more. BUT it was such awesome fun !
after that we just hung around enjoying the transition from spring to autumn :)
saturday night we headed out to a club called explosion in umeda which is a gay club. we thought it'd be very interesting to see..and indeedy, as expected. 2000 yen entry and 3 free drinks along with it ..very upbeat music ..i liked how it was remixes of rnb songs because i'm generally an rnb fan :)
went home at 5:30 in the morning and got home at 6:30...had breakfast, showered and then went to bed and woke up at 9 to go the garage sale at osaka expo park.
I met up with my host mum's previous student angelica and 2 of her friends who are doing a program between their undergraduate degree, and grad...
it was absolutely fantastmologically cheap...with clothes and jackets and shoes ranging from 100 yen to about 2000 yen...which is HEAPS HEAPS HEAPS cheap.. i uploaded fotos of what i purchased in the gay club album .
Thanks to angelica, we ate onigiri, banana and the best corn soup flavoured chippie thing in the world... will def be visiting the 100 yen shop to buy that.
the only down side was that it started pouring so then we all had to go home :(
(and also that i dropped my onigiri so that was pretty tragedy tooo...)
btw as predicted, onigiris are my staple food ^^
i am tired.
yet again.
school tomoro !!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
spontaneous friday nights
the best thing about fridays is that everyone knows that something will be on, but noone knows what until about 6pm..and whoever takes the initiative to organise will always end up with a whole bunch of ppl both ones they know and randoms (all from kansai gaidai of course)
i ended up at karaoke with another fellow aussie girl from adelaide because i was just so happy to meet an australian LOL...when i turned up i didn't know a single person there but it was still heaps fun because they WEREN'T ALL AMERICANS!! the atmosphere was awesome because every single of them were belting out songs at the top of their lungs at the karaoke (ring). at ring, i happened to meet another friend there who was playing darts..so i'll be sure to try that next time :)
today i met up with my speaking partner Nao and her friend Tomoka to eat curry near the main gate.. it was only about $6 but you got a MASSIVE nahn bread, curry, small salad, rice, and soup.
it was sooooooooo yummy!! but before that i had a mcpork so i wasn't as hungry as i would've liked to be... mcporks are only 100yen as mentioned in my previous post.
Also, i skipped class (the snooze one) because i would say the teacher successfully bullied me into this behaviour. LOL.. nah, its actually because I had already said i would have lunch with my speaking partner and it has been 2 weeks since i met her..usually i dont have class within that period but JUST fridays, i have class during lunch hour... *SIGH
but i'm very much tired now..and its the 2nd of october already!!!!
so much to do, and midsems are sooooooooooon !! time is passing heaps quickly . going to sleep now!
need to buy :
winter clothes! the weather is quickly turning chilly >o< !
i ended up at karaoke with another fellow aussie girl from adelaide because i was just so happy to meet an australian LOL...when i turned up i didn't know a single person there but it was still heaps fun because they WEREN'T ALL AMERICANS!! the atmosphere was awesome because every single of them were belting out songs at the top of their lungs at the karaoke (ring). at ring, i happened to meet another friend there who was playing darts..so i'll be sure to try that next time :)
today i met up with my speaking partner Nao and her friend Tomoka to eat curry near the main gate.. it was only about $6 but you got a MASSIVE nahn bread, curry, small salad, rice, and soup.
it was sooooooooo yummy!! but before that i had a mcpork so i wasn't as hungry as i would've liked to be... mcporks are only 100yen as mentioned in my previous post.
Also, i skipped class (the snooze one) because i would say the teacher successfully bullied me into this behaviour. LOL.. nah, its actually because I had already said i would have lunch with my speaking partner and it has been 2 weeks since i met her..usually i dont have class within that period but JUST fridays, i have class during lunch hour... *SIGH
but i'm very much tired now..and its the 2nd of october already!!!!
so much to do, and midsems are sooooooooooon !! time is passing heaps quickly . going to sleep now!
need to buy :
winter clothes! the weather is quickly turning chilly >o< !
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
schoolmatters
gaidai students have officially returned to uni and its more like a university now~ there are heaps of japanese ppl prowling around just WAITING to hunt one of us and make us into their....
friend :)
LOL.. or boyfriend? girlfriend?
hahaha... today i found out there are 3 watering/feeding holes... shokudo 1 and 3, + maccas is shokudo 2
after a great day sitting around getting laughed at for my australian english, my day was thoroughly ruined by...surprise, surprise, the class i dread most because i am positively sure the teacher hates me.
as ya'll might've prviously read, I said the class was "snoozefest" within earshot of the teacher..so the class started with him telling me to be quiet while he called the roll...during the class, i opened my fone to read a msg (I WASN'T EVEN IN FRONT OF HIM) and he stops the class and says "Why dont you pay attention and take some notes?" and i'm like okay.... but i dont move expecting him to get on with class...then he's like.. "if you dont have a pencil, you can get one from the front from me." i reply as nicely as a i can " no thank you, i have a pencil. " and he WAITS for me very deliberately to open my book and write something.
seriously. give me a break, i take notes if i want to take notes
ARGH.
i hope i dont fail the course, seriously someone shoot me ... teachers should appreciate honest feedback and try to DO something about it..
最悪だ。。。。
i was scared to fall asleep in class today because of him
どうしよう？！
on a very positive note, i ordered a smile at maccas today along with my mcpork..but i got something more like a giggle.
also, i drank the best coffee i've had in japan y'day at starbucks... thank you boy working there, you made my day by caffeinating me ( i learnt this term from emily : )
friend :)
LOL.. or boyfriend? girlfriend?
hahaha... today i found out there are 3 watering/feeding holes... shokudo 1 and 3, + maccas is shokudo 2
after a great day sitting around getting laughed at for my australian english, my day was thoroughly ruined by...surprise, surprise, the class i dread most because i am positively sure the teacher hates me.
as ya'll might've prviously read, I said the class was "snoozefest" within earshot of the teacher..so the class started with him telling me to be quiet while he called the roll...during the class, i opened my fone to read a msg (I WASN'T EVEN IN FRONT OF HIM) and he stops the class and says "Why dont you pay attention and take some notes?" and i'm like okay.... but i dont move expecting him to get on with class...then he's like.. "if you dont have a pencil, you can get one from the front from me." i reply as nicely as a i can " no thank you, i have a pencil. " and he WAITS for me very deliberately to open my book and write something.
seriously. give me a break, i take notes if i want to take notes
ARGH.
i hope i dont fail the course, seriously someone shoot me ... teachers should appreciate honest feedback and try to DO something about it..
最悪だ。。。。
i was scared to fall asleep in class today because of him
どうしよう？！
on a very positive note, i ordered a smile at maccas today along with my mcpork..but i got something more like a giggle.
also, i drank the best coffee i've had in japan y'day at starbucks... thank you boy working there, you made my day by caffeinating me ( i learnt this term from emily : )
Monday, September 27, 2010
host family & plans
well time to do a quick intro of my family
I live in a suburb called Korien which is 4 stops away from Hirakata station. My host dad is into rock n roll, 70s, 80s and 90s music.. my host brother is called Yuya. he likes guitars, cars and clothes (well thats what he likes to look at on the computer) As soon as he gets home he likes to take off all his clothes down to his trunks. one the first day he apologised but after that he just does it . he doesn't eat all his rice in his bowl and seems pretty spoilt by okaasan.
and my host mother works at an expensive department store called Hankyu who happens to own one of the train lines.
There is also Ojisan the grandad who graduated from Kyoto Uni one of the elite universities in Japan and loves to talk about economics and world travel so he can speak some random english!
They're all really lovely people... the only complaint i have is my crappy bed and pillow that obviously needs to be thrown out and of course the infamous breakfasts of jam and toast. daily. for almost a month. No drinks but sometimes yoghurt.. recently i've been getting more because I bought a huuuugee amount of fruit from the supermarket to hint that i liked fruit. So i got some slices of nashis and once grapes and once kiwis in the month that i've been here.
aside from breakfasts and room , everything else is really good : ) altho other host families are taking them on excursions, i am pleased to announce they are TAKING ME TO KYOTO TO A TEMPLE OF THE 10 YEN COIN next sunday. I'm a bit bummed its on sunday, but it will be my first family excursion so i'm EXCITED!!!
compared to some cases we have heard of, I am lucky!
also, i'll be going to USJ (universal studios japan) and Sweets Paradise (dessert buffet) very soon!... so that's 3 things planned already ! also, I am planning to head up to tokyo as well as hokkaido to learn to SNOWBOARD in december, so need to plan early because i will be kicked out on CHRISTMAS DAY....
also need to decide if i will do homestay again or live back at the dorms. and i want a job. I WANT A JOBBBBB~~~ since i want to travel i should really work ... pray for employment ? loooll..
I live in a suburb called Korien which is 4 stops away from Hirakata station. My host dad is into rock n roll, 70s, 80s and 90s music.. my host brother is called Yuya. he likes guitars, cars and clothes (well thats what he likes to look at on the computer) As soon as he gets home he likes to take off all his clothes down to his trunks. one the first day he apologised but after that he just does it . he doesn't eat all his rice in his bowl and seems pretty spoilt by okaasan.
and my host mother works at an expensive department store called Hankyu who happens to own one of the train lines.
There is also Ojisan the grandad who graduated from Kyoto Uni one of the elite universities in Japan and loves to talk about economics and world travel so he can speak some random english!
They're all really lovely people... the only complaint i have is my crappy bed and pillow that obviously needs to be thrown out and of course the infamous breakfasts of jam and toast. daily. for almost a month. No drinks but sometimes yoghurt.. recently i've been getting more because I bought a huuuugee amount of fruit from the supermarket to hint that i liked fruit. So i got some slices of nashis and once grapes and once kiwis in the month that i've been here.
aside from breakfasts and room , everything else is really good : ) altho other host families are taking them on excursions, i am pleased to announce they are TAKING ME TO KYOTO TO A TEMPLE OF THE 10 YEN COIN next sunday. I'm a bit bummed its on sunday, but it will be my first family excursion so i'm EXCITED!!!
compared to some cases we have heard of, I am lucky!
also, i'll be going to USJ (universal studios japan) and Sweets Paradise (dessert buffet) very soon!... so that's 3 things planned already ! also, I am planning to head up to tokyo as well as hokkaido to learn to SNOWBOARD in december, so need to plan early because i will be kicked out on CHRISTMAS DAY....
also need to decide if i will do homestay again or live back at the dorms. and i want a job. I WANT A JOBBBBB~~~ since i want to travel i should really work ... pray for employment ? loooll..
Sunday, September 26, 2010
churchskies ~
today i went to church by myself... and i was scared of going alone since i dont really know anyone at church and I wasn't even really sure of the way to get there since I might've forgotten from last time..so i prayed that God would bless my path and provide for me, because I was going to church with one intention and that was to glorify and worship him. Having faith in God really produces fruits.. in that when you do something that might be uncomfortable, or daunting, God will provide.
He is truly great. Not only did I have no trouble getting there, as soon as I got there, there were people from seminar house 4 at church !! Joy overflowed within me as I had already found others! God knows that I hate being alone and blessed me with these people at church..but after service they all left for SSB. However, God continued to provide for me with a lovely girl called Keiko I met last week at church and she even gave me food they made during lunch. God provided food for me when i was SUPER HUNGRY and my stomach was full rumbling in church. Praise the LORD! I made a lotta new friends at cell group and I stayed there till about 7pm even though cell finished at 5:30 or roundabout.
today's service was about commitment. That you have to make a commitment everyday to follow Jesus and that we should really think about this central decision everyday. Justin said that its so sad that people spend more time pondering which brand of icecream to buy at the convenience store than the decision on who they date. We spend more time positioning their lives around what we are concerned about...and if we are centrally concerned about money, or ourselves, then our lives will reflect that. As christians, our central priority is God and we are to love and worship him with ALL of our life because he deserves it.
i'm blogging just to remember the message for myself ;; I've been heaps blessed today and I want to remember God and be thankful to God! Thank you all for your continued prayers !
email me if you have prayer points!! I will be so happy to pray for u !
He is truly great. Not only did I have no trouble getting there, as soon as I got there, there were people from seminar house 4 at church !! Joy overflowed within me as I had already found others! God knows that I hate being alone and blessed me with these people at church..but after service they all left for SSB. However, God continued to provide for me with a lovely girl called Keiko I met last week at church and she even gave me food they made during lunch. God provided food for me when i was SUPER HUNGRY and my stomach was full rumbling in church. Praise the LORD! I made a lotta new friends at cell group and I stayed there till about 7pm even though cell finished at 5:30 or roundabout.
today's service was about commitment. That you have to make a commitment everyday to follow Jesus and that we should really think about this central decision everyday. Justin said that its so sad that people spend more time pondering which brand of icecream to buy at the convenience store than the decision on who they date. We spend more time positioning their lives around what we are concerned about...and if we are centrally concerned about money, or ourselves, then our lives will reflect that. As christians, our central priority is God and we are to love and worship him with ALL of our life because he deserves it.
i'm blogging just to remember the message for myself ;; I've been heaps blessed today and I want to remember God and be thankful to God! Thank you all for your continued prayers !
email me if you have prayer points!! I will be so happy to pray for u !
Saturday, September 25, 2010
flea market & arashiyama MONKEYPARK
last night i finished up at hirakata station for drinks at 12, but got up this morning at 6:30 to meet up at hirakata station at 7:15 to leave for kyoto to explore the flea markets.. we had to catch the keihan line, hankyuu line and randa line to get there so the total return cost was around 1700yen!! altho we could've caught the train then a bus, we haven't quite figured out the bus system yet. The transport system in japan is efficient, fast and very high quality BUT of course ur paying for it... just like the fruit...hahah.. but there aren't any day passes as such so u end up paying a LOT.
we got to the flea markets and there were foods of all sorts, from delicious okonomiyaki and takoyaki (the usual:..on a side note every family in Osaka has a takoyaki machine) to meat onigiri, mochi in all shapes and forms, karage chicken, sugared sweet potato..etc. etc.
The shops mostly sold souvenirs, kimonos, fabrics and all sorts of crockery and interesting pieces of furniture...although i must say the prices compared to china are still quite high. (for market quality stuff)
after that at around 1, we headed over to arashiyama which is famous for its monkeys!!! They were so cute and its about a 20 minute walk up the mountain, where it is 166m above sea level..so you can feed the monkeys and enjoy a panaromic view of kyoto city. On the way there, there was a beautiful bridge over the spectacular scene of the river with beautiful willow trees lining the riverbank :)
it was heappps fun especially because from the top of the mountain there is actually a slide for KIDS to slide down on ..and some equipment like see saws and swings... of course our seminar house 1 ppl got in touch with our young side and decided to abuse it in all sorts of interesting ways as well as take lots and lots of happy snaps..
we then finished the day with... PURIKURA..as per usual ! decorating purikura is always fun..and its awesome that its so cheap here in japan..around 6 dollars as opposed to the 18 dollars for machines at capitol
photos will be on facebook ^^ i will now catch up with all my anime + sleep
we got to the flea markets and there were foods of all sorts, from delicious okonomiyaki and takoyaki (the usual:..on a side note every family in Osaka has a takoyaki machine) to meat onigiri, mochi in all shapes and forms, karage chicken, sugared sweet potato..etc. etc.
The shops mostly sold souvenirs, kimonos, fabrics and all sorts of crockery and interesting pieces of furniture...although i must say the prices compared to china are still quite high. (for market quality stuff)
after that at around 1, we headed over to arashiyama which is famous for its monkeys!!! They were so cute and its about a 20 minute walk up the mountain, where it is 166m above sea level..so you can feed the monkeys and enjoy a panaromic view of kyoto city. On the way there, there was a beautiful bridge over the spectacular scene of the river with beautiful willow trees lining the riverbank :)
it was heappps fun especially because from the top of the mountain there is actually a slide for KIDS to slide down on ..and some equipment like see saws and swings... of course our seminar house 1 ppl got in touch with our young side and decided to abuse it in all sorts of interesting ways as well as take lots and lots of happy snaps..
we then finished the day with... PURIKURA..as per usual ! decorating purikura is always fun..and its awesome that its so cheap here in japan..around 6 dollars as opposed to the 18 dollars for machines at capitol
photos will be on facebook ^^ i will now catch up with all my anime + sleep
Thursday, September 23, 2010
night out followed by nara day trip
Tomo and Mayo arrived in Japan and visited CIE and enjoyed the scenery there for a bit before we headed out to SSB yet again for some takoyaki and shopping...this was then followed by sushi train where japanese was spoken at lightning fast speeds resulting in the complete lack of understanding on my part. Shane on the other hand laughed at all the japanese jokes they madE.. *sigh*! WATTA genius for someone who's only been doing jap for 1 1/2 years!
after shane left, david met up with us at SSB station and we had drinks back at tomo & mayo's hotel... was VERY deliciousss :) after a bit mayo konked out and we talked about the great topic of suicide and why it was/or was not wrong in itself >< great topics of discussion aye...
thenn... tomo went to sleep..altho i wanted to sleep, it was a bit strange for david to just sit ther so we wisely decided to head out for some yakitori .. it started pouring monsoonally for about half an hour...it didn't subside, so we had to walk back in the rain..
woke up this morning at about 10:30 for nara ...the WEATHER changed dramatically.. it went from 32 degrees to 17 degrees so obviously i was inappropriately dressed and very cold for the whole day . it takes about 1 1/2 hours by train annnd its famous for its deer and its HUGE buddhist temple where the buddha is like about a few storeys big and there is a hole in a massive pillar thats child sized.and if u crawl thru it u will surely be happy..or something like that.
we also went to a japanese style tea house and drank icey GREEN green tea (because as we know from becca that green tea is sometimes a nasty yellow colour) ...and this DELICIOUS jelly like dessert covered with sugar and soy bean powder.. MmmMMm
after the long day, we had sushi train.. so twice in 2 days... 100 yen / plate , i usually have 10 plates...its SOOOOOOOOOO goood here...
but now i've spent about 1/3 of my total money and i've been here for 3 weeks. this is not cool
anyway, i'm too tired.. going to study for kanji test tomoro byebyeee
after shane left, david met up with us at SSB station and we had drinks back at tomo & mayo's hotel... was VERY deliciousss :) after a bit mayo konked out and we talked about the great topic of suicide and why it was/or was not wrong in itself >< great topics of discussion aye...
thenn... tomo went to sleep..altho i wanted to sleep, it was a bit strange for david to just sit ther so we wisely decided to head out for some yakitori .. it started pouring monsoonally for about half an hour...it didn't subside, so we had to walk back in the rain..
woke up this morning at about 10:30 for nara ...the WEATHER changed dramatically.. it went from 32 degrees to 17 degrees so obviously i was inappropriately dressed and very cold for the whole day . it takes about 1 1/2 hours by train annnd its famous for its deer and its HUGE buddhist temple where the buddha is like about a few storeys big and there is a hole in a massive pillar thats child sized.and if u crawl thru it u will surely be happy..or something like that.
we also went to a japanese style tea house and drank icey GREEN green tea (because as we know from becca that green tea is sometimes a nasty yellow colour) ...and this DELICIOUS jelly like dessert covered with sugar and soy bean powder.. MmmMMm
after the long day, we had sushi train.. so twice in 2 days... 100 yen / plate , i usually have 10 plates...its SOOOOOOOOOO goood here...
but now i've spent about 1/3 of my total money and i've been here for 3 weeks. this is not cool
anyway, i'm too tired.. going to study for kanji test tomoro byebyeee
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
danjiri, ssb and school
its STILL SO HOT. wish i could visit bondi to chillax with friends there...buuuut unfortunately hirakata is not ideally situated to go beaching all the time like sydney
well, update on recent events
1) danjiri festival and namba on sunday
2) shinsaibashi shopping
as ya'll might've gathered from the facebook fotos, i went to the above places :)
The danjiri festival is held in kishiwada which about 1 hr away from where i live. Its a harvest festival and hundreds of ppl pull intricately designed floats around and there are ppl on them playing traditional japanese instruments and jumping around on the top while its moving. Especially when they go around the corners, the ppl who pull the cart RUN. so its dangerous to stand at the corners because ppl actually died in previous festivals... there were many activities to do and lots of yummy food...i had an okonomiyaki like thing ON A STICK (chopsticks) and i watched this little boy catch fish with a paper net (so its super hard) but he caught 2 gold fish..!
now shinsaibashi, was an adventure with the aussies that i have managed to find amidst the 400 something students that are here... It was a very typical australian style meeting, in which everyone was at least an hour late but we managed to meet up somehow. So the story was, david decided on saturday that we were all going to go shopping in umeda and said we had to meet up early because he had to leave at 3:30...so we decided that 10 was a good time...but to get there at 10, rohan and i had to wake up at 8:30. of course being very smart, david and shane went to nomihoudai and didn't get home till 6:30 that morning. at 10 i msg ppl and no reply from ANYONE... eventually rohan msgs that he's on his way, expecting david to already be in umeda..and expecting to be the latest.. turns out he was the earliest. FAIL WHALE with punctuality story. (luckily no japanese ppl involved!!! otherwise they wuda been super angry.) yokkattaaa. but it was fun. I wasn't happy with the ramen because it was greasy and gave me a massive stomach ache.
after that i went home and had a bbq with my host family, and another Kansai gaidai student's host family. It was soooo YUM because meat is rare~~~ after that my host brother went out and came home around 11pm and took off his shirt and his WHOLE body was red coz he doesn't hold alcohol very well..but his face was alrite.. LOL;; asians and their alcohol allergies
NOW, today i went to school and it was fun as always learning new lingo from dirty americans and canadians eg. rim master??
and hung out with some awesome japanese ppl who helped me with my homework..
oh well speaking of which, i got a test TOMORO and on friday~~~~
better study now bcause i'ma PARTAYYY TOMORO because its FULL MOON FESTIVAL yayayy~~! and tomo is coming to osaka yatta ^^
well, update on recent events
1) danjiri festival and namba on sunday
2) shinsaibashi shopping
as ya'll might've gathered from the facebook fotos, i went to the above places :)
The danjiri festival is held in kishiwada which about 1 hr away from where i live. Its a harvest festival and hundreds of ppl pull intricately designed floats around and there are ppl on them playing traditional japanese instruments and jumping around on the top while its moving. Especially when they go around the corners, the ppl who pull the cart RUN. so its dangerous to stand at the corners because ppl actually died in previous festivals... there were many activities to do and lots of yummy food...i had an okonomiyaki like thing ON A STICK (chopsticks) and i watched this little boy catch fish with a paper net (so its super hard) but he caught 2 gold fish..!
now shinsaibashi, was an adventure with the aussies that i have managed to find amidst the 400 something students that are here... It was a very typical australian style meeting, in which everyone was at least an hour late but we managed to meet up somehow. So the story was, david decided on saturday that we were all going to go shopping in umeda and said we had to meet up early because he had to leave at 3:30...so we decided that 10 was a good time...but to get there at 10, rohan and i had to wake up at 8:30. of course being very smart, david and shane went to nomihoudai and didn't get home till 6:30 that morning. at 10 i msg ppl and no reply from ANYONE... eventually rohan msgs that he's on his way, expecting david to already be in umeda..and expecting to be the latest.. turns out he was the earliest. FAIL WHALE with punctuality story. (luckily no japanese ppl involved!!! otherwise they wuda been super angry.) yokkattaaa. but it was fun. I wasn't happy with the ramen because it was greasy and gave me a massive stomach ache.
after that i went home and had a bbq with my host family, and another Kansai gaidai student's host family. It was soooo YUM because meat is rare~~~ after that my host brother went out and came home around 11pm and took off his shirt and his WHOLE body was red coz he doesn't hold alcohol very well..but his face was alrite.. LOL;; asians and their alcohol allergies
NOW, today i went to school and it was fun as always learning new lingo from dirty americans and canadians eg. rim master??
and hung out with some awesome japanese ppl who helped me with my homework..
oh well speaking of which, i got a test TOMORO and on friday~~~~
better study now bcause i'ma PARTAYYY TOMORO because its FULL MOON FESTIVAL yayayy~~! and tomo is coming to osaka yatta ^^
Saturday, September 18, 2010
a very mortifying moment
Oh, friday was also rather horrific because I was walking down the stairs with my friend Patrick, who asked me ,"hey aolai, so what classes are you taking?" So i'm like.. well, i'm taking "onna to otoko. that is the MASSIVESSTTTT SNOOOZEFEST" This is all of course, said in the overly dramatic aolai style voice. and knowing my luck, the teacher appears 1 metre away around the stairs. T__________________________T
F
M
L
all i really wanted to do was use the word snooze fest... i learnt it from Jessie on the 2nd day and i loved on hearing it. Oh disastrous !!!!
Of course to comfort me, lovely Rohan reassured that "well...we all know who's getting a D this semester".
*SIGHHHHHHHHH*
F
M
L
all i really wanted to do was use the word snooze fest... i learnt it from Jessie on the 2nd day and i loved on hearing it. Oh disastrous !!!!
Of course to comfort me, lovely Rohan reassured that "well...we all know who's getting a D this semester".
*SIGHHHHHHHHH*
saturday morning after all you can eat and all you can drink
I've just woken up and there appears to be nobody home.. where is everyone?
anyway, a quick recap of the mischief i got up to yesterday...
after class, most of the seminar house 1 ppl decided to go to Osaka for some shopping at shinsaibashi, leaving the rest of us to either have a quiet night eating with friends, or, to turn it into a massive party when jessie got back from osaka..
so being the ppl who would never let a friday slip by, let alone a LONG WEEKEND friday, we (the other aussies from perth, and i ) decided we would firstly eat mos burger after walking to the staion together, then at 8 do all you can eat korean bbq for 2000 yen for 90 minutes, and all you drink at doma doma at 10 afterwards. Now this is definitely a one off ppl, otherwise expect to see the true form of obesity.
Now at MOS burger, david said that the way you eat mos burgers is that you eat the burger, then if thers sauce left over at the bottom, you dip your fries in it. So me being me, said, "yeahnah, we dont have fries though" . Shane then helpfully says, "oh really? I didn't know that, thank you for pointing out the obvious". and i just cracked up so much because I miss australian humour . we also discussed how ppl dont really say, "yeah , nah i'm fine " in anywhere other than australia. so "yeah, nah, i'm good" is a very strange comment to make apparently.
secondly, at mos burger, shunsuke gave me a call, and i was talking in Japanese until i realised i couldn't be screwd after a minute so i tried to smoothly transition into English, which made both shane and david crack up at my fail japanese phone conversation skills as they watched me go "epic fail, going to give up "
so shane and david follow me back home to drop off their stuff, then we head to the supermarket to buy some stuff for lunch and cough lollies for shane's throat (he mysteriously lost his voice?)
anyway, so i bought a peanut butter called SKIPPY so i thought it'd taste like normal peanut butter. (the REASON: the peanut butter that i thought was peanut butter was in fact some sort of caramelly looking peanut JAM?????) OKAY, so this looks normal, smells normal, then i taste it and its STILL SWEET. arghhhhhhhh~~~!!! does everything that go on bread HAVE TO BE SWEET?~! but moving along....
we got to hirakata at about 8 and met up with our new japanese friends, Miho and Mari (who have also promised to take us to sweets paradise which is all you can eat dessert!! I thought Mari was normal sized, but when i saw her standing up she stood about up to my shoulder. All these japanese girls here are soooooooo petite.. think of the pretty asian girls in sydney then shrink them to about 2/3 and you get japanese girls.
anyway, the meat was soooo yummy... rohan tried to "trick" me into eating tongue, but of course, being Chinese, we've had everything from chicken feet, to giblets, to all sorts of strange MEATS. now speaking of meats, our friend david (aka murakami san) has the tendency to turn anything into a dirty joke.
and speaking of murakami san, here is a tip for making reservations (credits to Rohan) Always use a japanese name because OTHERWISE, the restauarant will tend to give your table over to any foreign looking ppl .. luckily for us david is half egyptian and half japanese so we had a REAL murakami san, as opposed to Rohan's sarutobi-san... Rohan tries to make up eccentric sounding Japanese names, then absolutely loves it when they're like.. "hai...*bOw* sarutobi - sama". etc. etc. they tend to say a lotta things when its keigo (honorific language) and usually means one thing like, you can sit here. it would usually be something along these lines:
"excuse me for disturbing you dearest most highly valued customer, but wouldn't it please you very much for you to kindly drag your carcasses over to this table, if that is in accordance with your pleasures."
or something like that, yes i did engage a bit of hyperbole =)
So at 5:30 am, david goes... so guys.. what are we doing tonight ?
might head out into osaka tonight. but i do have tests nxt week so I should study a bit.
Tomorrow is DANJIRI festival !
Its a once a year event where ppl carry floats around with ppl on it... (what its for i'm not sure yet, but i'll update you soon)
in the meantime, here's a pic of a float
anyway, a quick recap of the mischief i got up to yesterday...
after class, most of the seminar house 1 ppl decided to go to Osaka for some shopping at shinsaibashi, leaving the rest of us to either have a quiet night eating with friends, or, to turn it into a massive party when jessie got back from osaka..
so being the ppl who would never let a friday slip by, let alone a LONG WEEKEND friday, we (the other aussies from perth, and i ) decided we would firstly eat mos burger after walking to the staion together, then at 8 do all you can eat korean bbq for 2000 yen for 90 minutes, and all you drink at doma doma at 10 afterwards. Now this is definitely a one off ppl, otherwise expect to see the true form of obesity.
Now at MOS burger, david said that the way you eat mos burgers is that you eat the burger, then if thers sauce left over at the bottom, you dip your fries in it. So me being me, said, "yeahnah, we dont have fries though" . Shane then helpfully says, "oh really? I didn't know that, thank you for pointing out the obvious". and i just cracked up so much because I miss australian humour . we also discussed how ppl dont really say, "yeah , nah i'm fine " in anywhere other than australia. so "yeah, nah, i'm good" is a very strange comment to make apparently.
secondly, at mos burger, shunsuke gave me a call, and i was talking in Japanese until i realised i couldn't be screwd after a minute so i tried to smoothly transition into English, which made both shane and david crack up at my fail japanese phone conversation skills as they watched me go "epic fail, going to give up "
so shane and david follow me back home to drop off their stuff, then we head to the supermarket to buy some stuff for lunch and cough lollies for shane's throat (he mysteriously lost his voice?)
anyway, so i bought a peanut butter called SKIPPY so i thought it'd taste like normal peanut butter. (the REASON: the peanut butter that i thought was peanut butter was in fact some sort of caramelly looking peanut JAM?????) OKAY, so this looks normal, smells normal, then i taste it and its STILL SWEET. arghhhhhhhh~~~!!! does everything that go on bread HAVE TO BE SWEET?~! but moving along....
we got to hirakata at about 8 and met up with our new japanese friends, Miho and Mari (who have also promised to take us to sweets paradise which is all you can eat dessert!! I thought Mari was normal sized, but when i saw her standing up she stood about up to my shoulder. All these japanese girls here are soooooooo petite.. think of the pretty asian girls in sydney then shrink them to about 2/3 and you get japanese girls.
anyway, the meat was soooo yummy... rohan tried to "trick" me into eating tongue, but of course, being Chinese, we've had everything from chicken feet, to giblets, to all sorts of strange MEATS. now speaking of meats, our friend david (aka murakami san) has the tendency to turn anything into a dirty joke.
and speaking of murakami san, here is a tip for making reservations (credits to Rohan) Always use a japanese name because OTHERWISE, the restauarant will tend to give your table over to any foreign looking ppl .. luckily for us david is half egyptian and half japanese so we had a REAL murakami san, as opposed to Rohan's sarutobi-san... Rohan tries to make up eccentric sounding Japanese names, then absolutely loves it when they're like.. "hai...*bOw* sarutobi - sama". etc. etc. they tend to say a lotta things when its keigo (honorific language) and usually means one thing like, you can sit here. it would usually be something along these lines:
"excuse me for disturbing you dearest most highly valued customer, but wouldn't it please you very much for you to kindly drag your carcasses over to this table, if that is in accordance with your pleasures."
or something like that, yes i did engage a bit of hyperbole =)
So at 5:30 am, david goes... so guys.. what are we doing tonight ?
might head out into osaka tonight. but i do have tests nxt week so I should study a bit.
Tomorrow is DANJIRI festival !
Its a once a year event where ppl carry floats around with ppl on it... (what its for i'm not sure yet, but i'll update you soon)
in the meantime, here's a pic of a float
Thursday, September 16, 2010
missing....
good coffee, vegemite, aussie accents and OMG WHAT IS THAT I SEE?? moshikashite...PEANUT BUTTER?????
OHH EMM GEEE i see peanut butter in the kitchen...please please please let that be my breakfast tomoro morning... because after more than 2 weeks of jam on toast, i'd like a change of spread...
and vegemite..everyone thinks its nasty stuff but its just salty? i dont get how it can be nasty. I suspect its because it looks like chocolate , so when it enters your mouth with the expectation that it'll taste like chocolate, it will probably end up being a strange sensation. sa~ wakanai.
today a test was sprung on me...luckily i've been studying recently so it wasn't toooo difficult...i'm now in intermediate japanese with the funniest japanese speaking teacher. His name is Saigo-sensei..and everyday he shows us random japanese videos that are funny purely on the basis that they are random.
I have a kanji test tomorrow..basically, classes are as follows
japanese speaking classes everyday for 50mins
japanese reading and writing 3 days for 50 mins
then 2 subjects for 90 min each twice a week
we've been having tests , tests and more tests, buuuuut whats really fun about this is that its like HIGH SCHOOL. you go to class, play with your friends (and listen of course) and then after class, everyone hangs out either at the cafeteria during lunch time or CIE lounge where you just mingle and spontaneously plan activities from ... all out eating fests, drinking fests and dessert fests...they are like buffets but focused on one course and is usually about 1200 yen (give or take a little)...
speaking of the YEN, the aussie dollar has gone up FINALLY.. even though its just a little bit... 79 yen = 1 aud.
AND SPEAKING OF AUSSIES, i met another 2 aussies today, one who grew up in sydney, and one from WA. There's more aussies from perth than sydney, but i love it anyway... because hearing the accent is just soooooooo goooood. ppl who dont correct me when i say "awesome" . they say ARRRHHHsum. have to demonstrate it for ya'll. and accentuate their "r"s
today in religion class, a guy from france said... "and then the Gods will be cross with you" and all the americans including the teacher was like.."cross???" do you mean "crossed"? the variety of lingo is my source of entertainment everyday=)
NOW , i am going to complain about coffee at seattle's best. which is definitely NOT seattle's best i must say. So i ordered a tall cappucino, expecting a normal coffee.. instead what i got was half a cup of foam and some really watery coffee...and so i asked him why the cup was so light. He explained to me that cappucinos are meant to be half foam.
w.
t.
h.
someone teach this person what a real cap is please.
but on a much nicerrrr note
we are going to OSAKA tomorrow for jessie's birthday!! probably going to karaoke...
also the weather has become nice and cooL so i'll need to buy autumn clothes sooon.
okay test tomorrow..need to study again! i'm working so much harder here because its seriously like school..and they make u hand in homework and stuff. everyone here is so hardworking too, its a nice change from my bludginess.
OHH EMM GEEE i see peanut butter in the kitchen...please please please let that be my breakfast tomoro morning... because after more than 2 weeks of jam on toast, i'd like a change of spread...
and vegemite..everyone thinks its nasty stuff but its just salty? i dont get how it can be nasty. I suspect its because it looks like chocolate , so when it enters your mouth with the expectation that it'll taste like chocolate, it will probably end up being a strange sensation. sa~ wakanai.
today a test was sprung on me...luckily i've been studying recently so it wasn't toooo difficult...i'm now in intermediate japanese with the funniest japanese speaking teacher. His name is Saigo-sensei..and everyday he shows us random japanese videos that are funny purely on the basis that they are random.
I have a kanji test tomorrow..basically, classes are as follows
japanese speaking classes everyday for 50mins
japanese reading and writing 3 days for 50 mins
then 2 subjects for 90 min each twice a week
we've been having tests , tests and more tests, buuuuut whats really fun about this is that its like HIGH SCHOOL. you go to class, play with your friends (and listen of course) and then after class, everyone hangs out either at the cafeteria during lunch time or CIE lounge where you just mingle and spontaneously plan activities from ... all out eating fests, drinking fests and dessert fests...they are like buffets but focused on one course and is usually about 1200 yen (give or take a little)...
speaking of the YEN, the aussie dollar has gone up FINALLY.. even though its just a little bit... 79 yen = 1 aud.
AND SPEAKING OF AUSSIES, i met another 2 aussies today, one who grew up in sydney, and one from WA. There's more aussies from perth than sydney, but i love it anyway... because hearing the accent is just soooooooo goooood. ppl who dont correct me when i say "awesome" . they say ARRRHHHsum. have to demonstrate it for ya'll. and accentuate their "r"s
today in religion class, a guy from france said... "and then the Gods will be cross with you" and all the americans including the teacher was like.."cross???" do you mean "crossed"? the variety of lingo is my source of entertainment everyday=)
NOW , i am going to complain about coffee at seattle's best. which is definitely NOT seattle's best i must say. So i ordered a tall cappucino, expecting a normal coffee.. instead what i got was half a cup of foam and some really watery coffee...and so i asked him why the cup was so light. He explained to me that cappucinos are meant to be half foam.
w.
t.
h.
someone teach this person what a real cap is please.
but on a much nicerrrr note
we are going to OSAKA tomorrow for jessie's birthday!! probably going to karaoke...
also the weather has become nice and cooL so i'll need to buy autumn clothes sooon.
okay test tomorrow..need to study again! i'm working so much harder here because its seriously like school..and they make u hand in homework and stuff. everyone here is so hardworking too, its a nice change from my bludginess.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
the first 16 days of KANSAI
Things have finally quietened down (wait is that even a word?) but HELLO EVERYONE from your very own aolai in OSAKA : ) i can't be bothered to type everything thats happened in the past 2 weeks buuuut the important thing is, i'm having fun, my host mum is lovely but she gives me jam on toast EVERYDAY. and my host brother actually TALKS to me and host dad does my japanese homework for me... i'm 20 minutes away from kyoto city centre and osaka city centre so i'm well situated to play as much as i like in kansai...i'm doing japanese everyday and studying religion and sexuality in japan =D osaka is a gastronomical heaven, and takoyaki and okonomiyaki is everywhere...coffee is expensive and i LOVE all my awesome friends that i've made both exchange students and japanese students alike..whatta blessing ! and i found a church!
(sorry, that was really unorganised and random buuuut i promise i'll regularly update from now on )
been to
kyoto kiyomizu
kyoto kuramayama
osaka hep 5 where i take all the sticker photos
shinsaibashi, namba and umeda for INTENSE shopping experiences
today i had no money in my wallet....so i was hungry =(
only 200000 yen left for 2 months coz my bank account hasn't been finalised yet...i am so tired...and my pet dog "gen chan" really stinks
(sorry, that was really unorganised and random buuuut i promise i'll regularly update from now on )
been to
kyoto kiyomizu
kyoto kuramayama
osaka hep 5 where i take all the sticker photos
shinsaibashi, namba and umeda for INTENSE shopping experiences
today i had no money in my wallet....so i was hungry =(
only 200000 yen left for 2 months coz my bank account hasn't been finalised yet...i am so tired...and my pet dog "gen chan" really stinks
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