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 : )
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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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