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..
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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< !
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