Once upon a time in Japan...

ITS OVER!!!

2007-10-22T23:46:00.000+09:00

SAD SAD SAD!!! It's all ending. 95% of the teachers in our area have decided to stop working since we haven't been paid for last months work. It doesnt seem like we will either. No teachers working, mean schools can't operate. By the end of this week all but 2 schools will close in our area. Those schools that will stay open will have no more than 1 teacher yikes! And so Mish's official last day at work was on Sunday, mine will be this coming Thursday. The majority of teachers will go back to their home country next week since many can't afford to hang around unemployed, and the japanese staff will probably also be returning to their hometowns far far away. Its soooo sad!!!!! And because of the sudden closures there hasnt been any chance to say goodbye to all the students. I feel sorry for the students as well. The teachers are losing about 2-3 grand in wages but some of the student are losing so much more than that since NOVA has a prepaid system for lessons. I talked to one student last week and she had 6k worth of lessons paid up front that she wont be taught or getting refunds for. Anyways goodbye parties are happening all this week. Makes me wanna cry!!!

Mish and i will still hang around in Japan though. I'm doing part time work elsewhere at the moment so surviving won't be a problem. It'll just be tight. I guess life will be back to being a university student budgeting and heaps of free time. I think it'll be a good break though but it'll be very lonely since the people we know here will significantly decrease. Not many people to hang out with.

2007-10-10T09:25:00.000+09:00

Nova's situation is worstening day by day. We've been hearing about NOVA in the news/internet a lot recently and receiving unprofessional and uninformative faxes from the CEO as pay day on the 15th Oct slowly approaches. I was talking to some fellow workmates yesterday and we came to the conclusion that the future looks grim for NOVA. Now we're kind of just working voluntarily and morale at work is low at most branches. I'm only going to work for 2 reasons, the poor students who probably won't get their money back if NOVA closes and the poor Japanese staff that have to deal with the problems if we Toppatsu. Honestly, I don't think we'll get paid on the 15th, but if by some chance a miracle does happen, we might get paid on the 19th, but i highly doubt that...

A few days ago, the Australian government issued a warning to us to have a contingency plan. Jeremy and I are lucky we'll still be able to survive if NOVA doesn't pay come pay day but I feel sorry for new instructors some of which have only been in Japan a few weeks and instructors with families - they've probably got it the worst!!

So, if NOVA doesn't pay on the 15th Oct, should I go into work on the 16th? That's the big question on a lot of instructor's minds at the moment who are still working for NOVA. I'm still undecided and I think Jeremy is too...*sighs* ...nevertheless i think there'll be a huge strike nationwide. I'm anxious to know our fate. Fingers crossed we'd either get paid or NOVA declares bankruptcy so we we're entitled for unemployment from the government right away. Worst case scenario - NOVA just drags this on...in which case, if we quit, we won't be entitled for unemployment for a while....

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Ok enough about NOVA! I've been hanging out with Miki a lot lately. She's probably the closest friend I have here now. Last week we went to Tokyo to get our hair done together. We spent over 4 hours in the hair salon. I know it's shocking but at least u can say at least we kind of got our money's worth. I got my hair cut (more like a trim), coloured (a brownish colour with pink tones which some people can see and some people can't haha) and I got treatment too!!! The hairdresser curled my hair with a curling tong and I thought it kind of looked cool on me, so I was thinking of buying a Babyliss or a GDH straightener (coz u can curl ur hair with a straightener). I heard from June she bought a GDH and according to her 'it was a good investment' lol..Anyway ill think about it when I get back to Melb, I dunno if they sell it here...and if they did I wouldn't know where get it...perhaps i'd have to go to Tokyo.

Next week if we get paid, Jeremy and I will be going to Tokyo again and probably stay the night there. Even thought I went with Miki last week I didn't buy anything so next week I hope to update my wardrobe with some new winter pieces and dresses. The weather has kind of cooled down a bit especially at night. Since I took most of my clothes back to melb in June I'll have to buy a new batch of clothes from scratch again. I like shopping. Wait, let me rephrase that, I LOVE shopping, but...I'm so indecisive!!! I need someone to help me decide, someone I can trust, someone with the same taste as me...ahhh so difficult!! Well I know the look I want for this winter so shouldn't be too hard, hopefully.

Honeymoon stage: OVER!!

2007-10-04T00:40:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was me and me best mate's last day working together. It's not gonna be the same without him. Actually my branch have lost 4 teachers in the last month or so. First it was Karl who transferred up North, then it was Neil and Helen who went back home and now it's Alain turn who's just gotten another job, since NOVA is so insecure at the moment. Good luck to em all! The Bell Mall group dynamic was so great too, now with all the new teachers it's a little strange. Actually theres new teachers everywhere up here now, (THE ORIGINAL GROUP IS GONE!!) but at my branch at the moment there are 3 girls and one old dude, making me the official number one STUD of BELL MALL!!! Unfortunately it wasn't through a student election or anything but more a natural flow of status since Alain's gone and me being the only guy under 55 years old. Also with him gone it also makes me the most experienced instructor there, with 1.5 years of experience which just means i'll be doing everything arghhh

With the original crew of when i started gone, everyday is beginning to feel like actual work. It use to be like hanging out with mates, piss farting around at the office. I actually use to look forward to going to work everyday, now i dread it like every other job i've had. My motivation to conduct good lessons have also gone down. I think it's a sign that my teaching time is Japan is up. Even the original students are slowly dissappearing as the weeks go by. SADNESS!!!

Anyways good news is AKIRA (my stalker) hasn't attempted to contact me anymore, PHEW!

Is this the beginning of the end?

2007-09-25T21:44:00.000+09:00

Salary payments for NOVA teachers usually fall on the 15th of each month, so far this month NOVA has been late to pay all of their teachers. They apologised for the late payment and inititally promised payment on the 19th of September, the 19th comes and still many teachers weren't paid. A fax was then sent out by the CEO saying that salary payments will come on the 21st. The 21st comes and still no payment. Another fax is sent out that gurantees payment on the 25th... and you know what? today is the 25th and NOVA have no yet paid some of their teachers. Empty promises mate. Apparently they promised salary payment to be tomorrow. Somehow i don't think it'll happen. Japanese staff are suppose to be getting paid on the 27th . I don't think they'll be getting paid either. Looks like me and mish will be out of a job soon, which means we'll be coming back really soon if the situation gets worst... NooOOoOOOoOOOooooo

Pink Bunnie going DOWN!!!

2007-09-19T22:00:00.000+09:00

wadup ya'll.... it's been a while since we posted. Sorry ya'll... we've been kind of busy with a few teacher going back home recently and their goodbye parties etc. Also i haven't been able to find any energy to fund brain power since mish keeps eating all MY FOOD!! i stock up supplies for when im hungry late at night and can't be bothered going to 7/11 only to find everything has been eaten when i go to look for it!! and then to find the wrappers in the bin sneakly hidden at the bottom of the bag. i'm having to start hiding my food when i buy em now, MISH BUY YOUR OWN FOOD!!!

Anyways all hell is starting to break loose in Japan. I don't know if you've heard but the Age posted an article in the paper about NOVA's situation at the moment. For the last 3 months or so NOVA hasn't been paying their Japanese staff on time as well as the rent owed to the landlords. Many teachers have been kicked out of their NOVA apartments and many have jump boat since this month they haven't paid for the month of August. If NOVA goes down we'll be making an earlier trip home than planned. Every NOVA staff is shit worried at the moment, except MISH!

Teachers called in sick last week on strike due to this and what's MISH's reply? "lets call in sick tomorrow too and go shopping in Tokyo!" i have friends struggling to stay alive with no money for food and rent and all mish is worried about is shopping. geez typical. Her other response to this situation, "I hope NOVA closes, so then we can move to Tokyo then i can go shopping everyday and not work", what kinda gay ass spoilt brat response is that eh? Mish, never a worry in the world as usual. I hope they hold out for everybody's sake - students, teachers and staff. I hope my friends dont get kicked out of their apartment too! Where will they go? i will have to shelter them like refugees!

More breaking news. I went to lunch with some female teacher friends last week. It was so nice to be eating with civilized unbarberic people!! They ate slowly, chewed with their mouths closed, didn't have rice hanging in random places on their face like THEIR FOREHEAD! They ate just enough, didn't go for seconds and didn't even look twice at the dessert bar at the buffet restaurant trying to get their money's worth. I didn't understand this behavior. i haven't been in such a presence for some time now. It felt strange.

Hairstyle

2007-09-07T08:26:00.000+09:00

Bob's and various versions of it are so in fashion here in Japan...everyone seems to be wearing one around here...if only i suited short hair i would so go for the chop...!! i think it looks so cool and cute~ Actually should i get one since i have a problem with split ends? but it really emphasizes ur eyes and i don't think i want my eyes to be anymore emphasized...they are strange enough...but if i was to get one, it'd prolly b similar to the 2nd pic but with straight messy hair and fully volumized....

O sashi buri desu ne

2007-09-05T18:12:00.000+09:00

Some pics from last month...enjoy! Recently I've Been preparing for my vtac application for DipEd next year (thanks ivy, tim and tom for helping)...and also been doing some research for Linda with her preparations for her big day!!! =) I might be going to tokyo next week with miki to get our hair done again and maybe pick up a few new clothes for autumn/winter....the weather is starting to cool down a little bit...but it's still quite humid...

i love nagase tomoya!!!

2007-08-14T18:35:00.001+09:00

I just finished watching a Japanese drama called "MY BOSS MY HERO" it's soooooooooo goood!!! Nagase Tomoya is so cute and funny in this movie!!! The plot of the movie is basically about a 27 year old yakuza (Nagase Tomoya) who is sent back to school to graduate so he can take over his dad's position as boss!!!

I've always been into K-dramas and have never really watched many J-doramas until now...I'm really getting into them...especially after watching '1 LITRE OF TEARS' last month...its based on a true story and it's so dayem sad!!! ...and I watched my first anime ' BLEACH' which was good too!!!

I highly recommend these shows!!! You won't be disappointed~ =)

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pics from karaoke the other day...

I have my own stalker!!!!!

2007-08-14T00:07:00.000+09:00

update on the Akir* situation. Today i got one of the japanese staff (Keiko) to call him and tell him that i was not back yet since he was calling me today. He dragged the conversation out for about 5 minutes. After the convo Keiko told me that he kept insisting that "jeremy IS back in Japan", saying that he wants to meet me!! OMG is he thick or what? Keiko was saying he was really strange and yet i haven't even told her anything about what's been happening. 10 minutes later Keiko comes in and asked me what his name was. So i replied "Akir*", then she gave me this look of horror and said "this afternoon an akira dude rang our office and booked a trial lesson for this sunday and said that he wanted to meet you". HE'S COMING TO MY WORKPLACE TO FIND ME NOW....OMG OMG OMG!!! i wonder if he's been stalking me all this time, if not then why was he so sure i was still in JAPAN. im totally freaked out now. i've only met him twice, WHY IS HE SO OBESSESSED WITH ME?!?!?! i'm sooooo horrified and shocked, Keiko suggested that i do a swap and work at a different branch that day. But i was thinking NOVA wouldnt let me do it. But then apparently the staff got worried and rang my manager. He offered me a swap after a series of questions of how i know him etc to assess the situation since they was a recent killing of a NOVA teacher from a strange ass stalker. i'm soooo paranoid now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways after work i went to Alains house to have some cake. I came home pretty late and was thinking mish might be worried about me since my phone was on silent and didnt realise. I walk in the door and the first thing she says to me in her squeaky gay ass voice is "where's the cake?, did you bring me back any cake"?!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-10T21:21:00.000+09:00

OH NO!!! AKIRA IS BACK!! yes the wierd ass dude whose house i went to not long ago, that basically wants to meet me everyday and can't take no for an answer. arghhhh I told him i was going to Australia and won't be coming back til june 29th night. June 30th morning he was calling me non stop for like 2 hours and then every hour after that. Finally i got my japanese friend to tell him i was still in Australia and wont be coming back til mid August. Just now i accidentally answered the phone from a strange number...and he was like "jeremy"? arghhhhh but then i played dumb and pretended like the phone had bad connection and kept repeating "hello, helloooo, helllllloooo", it's been an hour and he still hasnt stopped calling OMG!!! It's fully killed my phone battery, I turned my phone off for like 30 mins, turned it back on and then i got 15 missed call sms's!

the sms's displayed his miss calls at, 8:48, 8:50, 8:51, 8:52, 8:53, 8:55, 8:56, 8:58, 9pm, 9:06, 9:09, 9:10, 9:13, 9:15, 9:16, 9:18 etc etc up to 9:42 WHO THE HELLS CALLS THAT MUCH!!!

piss off you crazy person!!! i'm trying to figure out how to bar his number so he can't call through but it's a little difficult from the phone going off every MINUTE!!! lucky i didnt tell him where i lived!! I hope to god he doesn't come to my workplace, that would be tragic!!

Yokohama

2007-08-09T10:41:00.000+09:00

Had a fun filled weekend exploring Yokohama for the first time. I must say it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Maybe my expectations were too high from everyone raving on about it. Chinatown was pretty good i thought, it even smelt like China, (well i haven't been to china so i wouldn't know exactly but it smelt like Julia's house and that'll be my point of reference). Anyway, it's quite futuristic especially around Minato Mirai 21. Mainly just did the usual, abit of sightseeing and shopping.

The thing I liked best about Yokohama would have to be the food =P Jeremy and I kinda went on a eating spree...but it's ok, we did alot of walking to make up for it hehe...especially looking for a hotel to stay at....went to about 5 hotels and they were fully booked?!?!!? Well i guess it is summer vacation season here....

Miki's (choco) boobs violated photobucket's rules!! LOL

2007-08-05T22:17:00.000+09:00

G’day ya’ll!!! It’s been a bad day at the Pham residences today. Mish’s bike got stolen and I popped my back tire on the way back from work. It’s gonna be like 1765 again for us having to walk everywhere tomorrow, in the super humid weather too!

Yesterday was the annual Utsunomiya festival, Mish, Alain and I headed down to go for a wander and to get something to munch on for the night’s tea. We ended up with some noodles, fried chicken, buttered potato, Japanese pancakes, desserts and ice cream. What a FEAST! We chowed it down whilst watching die hard 4.

The other night we also feasted on some Thai food with little Yuko, Mish loved it, but isn’t it the same with all foods? She ended up devouring 60% of what was on the table. She would have eaten the display flower and the dirty tissues if i hadn’t stopped her. What an ANIMAL!!

Our weekends’ coming up, YAY!! We’ll be heading down to YOKOHAMA for two days, (yups Mish to shop and me to be the human shopping cart).

We’ve also heard some SUPER EXCITINGGGGGGG NEWSSSS but we have not yet sure if we have the permission and authority to disclose it. Keep checking and we’ll keep you posted. Only hint is Mish is super jealous of this person and I’m getting a major headache from Mish complaining everyday about it!!! HELP!

Next week we’ll be going on another weekend away, this time with Miki. The initial plan was to climb FUGI SAN but Alain pulled out and with Miki and Mish who ain’t so excited about going on a 15hour hike up a mountain and back, I’ve decided to cancel it!! Unambitious little turds!!

Oh and I’ve also quit piano school!! The fee system sucked big time. They expected me to pay for lessons for the month I was back in Melbourne when I had already given them advanced notice and to also pay for lessons that don’t occur when the teacher calls in sick. What kind of gay ass system is that? So in my disarray I pulled the plug!! “Zannen desu ne, (what a pity)”, is what they said, yes pity indeed, NOT!!

Next poker game is in two weeks Yay!! Not so confident about this next one coming up because they all know what I have up my sleeve. I shall try my best

2007-08-01T18:33:00.000+09:00

2007-07-29T19:05:00.000+09:00

Thunder and lighting outside now! One minute the sun's out, the next it's raining. The guys were supposed to shoot up some fireworks tonight but because of the weather, I don't think it's going to happen till next week!

Some topics in the today's news:

* FUKUOKA -- A department store has sold a box of rare mandarins for a staggering 105,000 yen (~$1000).

* East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) intends to develop a new bullet train with a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour for its Tohoku Shinkansen Line

2007-07-25T13:25:00.001+09:00

Oh i forgot to write about the first real earthquake i experienced. I was teaching some time last week when suddenly the table started shaking, so i looked at my student strangely thinking she was shaking the table when in true fact it was actually an earthquake! When i finally realised what it was, i was a little freaked out but it was a cool experience. Buildings in Japan are built to withstand earthquakes and shake/sway when they happen kinda to absorb the force of it...hard to explain...but yeah it was a pretty big quake, especially up in Niigata...I have a friend up in Niigata. Lucky for her and her family, the earthquake didn't affect them.

Here are some photos taken the last few days...

On Monday I met up with Yuuko again in Tokyo. We went shopping the whole day and grabbed some extreme bargains. I ended up buying 2 dresses, 1 skirt, 1 pullover one piece thingymajiga, 2 jeans, 5 t-shirts, earrings, a ring, and 3 tops for gem and it didn't cost me a fortune coz everyting was practically 50-70% off except for the jeans...i love everything i bought. Yuuko bought heaps too...but more worky/feminine stuff...mine were more casual...anyways fun fun day and i even got to eat those yummy eggy ramen noodles at Shibuya...mMmmm...EGGSsss!!!! =)

Oh and getting into the whole facebook thing now...but i still dont know how to use it...

Remember me?

2007-07-24T21:20:00.000+09:00

Yeah im still updating even tho ever so infrequently =P going to try the good pizza shop now everyone recommended...will continue this when i get back!

Wadup bizz snitches! It’s been a long time since the last update. We haven’t been doing much so there wasn’t so much to write I guess. We’ve only been working a lot to make up for the swaps we did for Australia. I’ve just I finished my long stretch. 14 days nonstop working is a long time I tell ya. How ya’all doing? I’ve heard snippets from Mish that there’s holiday plans for Loz soon, Julz will go back to Australia and also a holiday for the end of the year and June’s job thing. Update me please! Tim’s arrived in Japan. I haven’t had much of a chance to go see him yet. He’s settling in ok he tells me and already has a job at NOVA lined up… Good luck pal!

I played poker on the weekend with me NOVA mates… it was a 5000 yen buy in ($50). We started at 8:30pm and didn’t finish until 4am. By the time I got back home the sun was out and I had to work the next day too!! 8 hours of poker whoaa it was worthwhile though because I came 2nd and won 10,000 yen woo hoo. I losted the first time we ever played a few months back and so everyone underestimated me this time around and used that to my advantage muahaha At the first game I assumed it was only going to be a laid back game with everyone piss farting around so I didn’t concentrate, but only to find out when money is involved, shit starts to stir and people change! At the game just pass, again hostile personalities started to show, a lot of bitching, anger and even tears were present. It wasn’t a good place to be I tell ya, especially when it’s from people you least expect.

i love my IPOD!!!!

2007-07-06T00:34:00.000+09:00

I had the most amazing self reflection relaxation time in the world yesterday!!! As usual I went to teach private lessons, only to find out my student cancelled on me at the last minute and because it was pissing down I was too lazy to ride back home and then back again for the next student. So I had two hours to myself waiting in a room with nothing to do. With the IPOD on, I stood by the window staring at nothing from the sixth floor for about an hour. I didn’t even realize I had stood there for so long. I was totally alone, in my own world, without a worry in the world. It was the best feeling ever. I think the music from the POD played a major part; music plays an ENORMOUS part in my life. I can’t even find the words to describe how good it felt. I don’t think I’ve ever achieved such total relaxation before. After that hour, still in my own world, I started observing the people, the cars, cats, people on their bikes riding by, people in their garden, houses and apartments as well as the way the rain was falling on the trees, the leaves and in the puddles. A million random thoughts ran through my mind. I started to think, “where that guy going?”, “it must be so boring to be a cat eh?”, “these people I’m seeing for the first time will probably also be the last time I’ll ever seen them again in my life”, “this past year has gone really fast”. It was “really” strange.

Being back in Australia last month, having sufficient money to survive, not having to work and having no worries whatsoever yet I couldn’t get this same feeling when I was there. Being back home wasn’t what I expected it to be. I don’t know if it’s my house, my surroundings or whatever but my mindset jumped back a year and it was like I never went to Japan and it was all just a dream. It was a terrible feeling. It felt like I had lost a year of my life when in actual fact i have gain heaps. Having been back to Japan and going to LIAM’s and ANGELA’s goodbye party, it really made me rethink about relationships. While I was back home I thought to myself, “if I quit right now I would never see my Japanese students again EVER”, I don’t totally adore my students but I don’t know why it started to make me really sad. I think if anything, Japan has made me learn to treasure friends and those around me more and become a better friend and person to others.

PART THREE

2007-06-26T16:57:00.000+09:00

Linda

I met her at Monash, I was really shy when I met her knowing that Mish had shared many things about our relationship with Linda. We met outside the main library; I struggled to see Linda’s appearance properly that day because so many people were walking by and all I could see were pairs of knee caps; a quick glimpse of Linda’s face before another a few pairs of knee caps passed by covering her face again haha And what did we do after we first met? Naturally we went to the food court and ate!

(Michelle) Yang

Which brings me to Yang. I met Linda and Yang on the same day and place. Yang had (and still does) really bright red cheeks. It’s like she has a tomato for a head at times when she’s blushing. What struck me about Yang was at the canteen she ordered only (I think it was) steamed carrots and that was all she had for lunch, no sauce, no dressing no nothing. I didn’t realize she was a vegetarian and thought she was either really povo or just weird haha I mean who has just carrots for lunch? Not in my world up till then anyways. Yang was a rare breed because she was the first vegetarian I met. To date I think I’ve met Yang less than 15 times, but our many special outings (e.g GOR) and verbal harassments every time I go to put a piece of meat in my gob have made us amigos.

Mish

Last but not least, ”The Empress!” My first thoughts when I saw her, “she’s got some weird ass eyes”, “her facial feature combinations make her look like an outer space creature”, when she smiled at me for the first time and tried acting all cute, I cringed!! (Immediate thought), “OMG I feel sorry for whoever becomes her boyfriend in the future, poor bastard!” and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!! They say bad people get punished which fair enough, BUT WHAT DID I DO!@!? Putting aside the bossing, food restrictions and occasional beatings I love this chick to death, (prob more that she loves shopping, gosh is that even possible?) Probably marry her one-day when she decides to proposes to me. As I’ve told many people, I’m already suffering as it is, why would “I” propose and put my life into endless years of sufferance?!

Ahh so many memories with you guys, from throwing up on Mish, Linda curling my hair, our weekend trips, all the birthdays parties, balls, clubbing and meals we’ve had together, starting from being strangers to you guys (in your own mind thinking I’m your) best friend. Good times!

blah blah blah WHAT!!?! ENGLISH PLEASE!

2007-06-24T23:24:00.000+09:00

"To make recommendations to ensure the uniform interpretation and application of the Conventions concluded as a result of its work as well as those concerning the NomenClature for the classification of goods in Customs Tariffs and the valuation of goods for Customs purposes prepared by the European Custom Union Study Group and, to this end, to perform such functions as may be expressly assigned to it in those Convertions in accordance with the provisions therefof."

That is the longest sentence i've ever seen. Does anyone have a clue what this is saying because i don't... and there's alot more where that came from which i have to study for my exam on tuesday! WTH!! Why can't they write law in laymens terms pft

Part 2

2007-06-22T11:32:00.000+09:00

While i was in Australia my parents got a new little puppy since my dog died after getting hit by a car a few months back. This one is soooo small and it was sooooo cute!! i usually don't like animals (well besides from Mish) but dogs are so cute when their small (just like everything else i guess).

First Impressions Continued:

Tom

I met Tom through Cze ee not so long ago… At first

sight he seemed like a really goodie two shoe but after knowing this dude more he turned out to be a hardcore Melbourne shuffler! He taught all the GOR’er’s how to dance that night. Recently I discovered he’s also a shifty little lady-killer too. He’s dating YANG now! How they ended up together I do not know. I would ask you to give me some tips how to be a lady killer but I’m a one ladies man, (ermz) totally in love and…….umm happy with what I have at the moment….. (Tom's smack bang in the centre in the white next to me)

Darren

I had outings with Darren 4 times before leaving for Japan last year. First time was at some restaurant near the beach in Port Melbourne, 2nd time was at Mosquitoes in Clifton Hill, 3rd time was a Chinese BBQ at his apartment and the last time was at my 24th b’day party. Wow my memory is great! Daz is also a lady killer, he scored Loz! Him and Tom must have been hanging out together heaps while I was in Japan. It’s sad to not see you when I get back to Melbourne next year mate. All the best in Malaysia!

Avenell

Little Dr. Avenell! Met this genius from Perth in June 2005. Mish has got a really multicultural family. First thought of him; who’s this Eurasian dude? Why’s he using such strange and big words like LOVELY, ENVIRONMENT, PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS!! Anyways he’s moved to Melbourne now. I don’t know how he lived and survived with Mish, I went crazy after the first week in Japan and he seemed to stay sane for many months. Good luck with your studies. Enjoy Mish’s absence and bossiness while she’s away.

Here's everyone at me 24th birthday dinner. (back L-R) Tom, Yang (wooo was something going on there already?) Anthony? (can't remember his name) Darren, (Middle) June, Linda, Loz, (Front) Lorena, Julia, ?, Mish, Ave, Shelz

June

June I also saw at Mish’s 18th birthday but there wasn’t a peak from her at all that night. Another snob like Julz; with her black-framed glasses and slightly orange-brown hair. Geeez Ma-lay-shi-anh tu-gud-fur mee oneeee…. First memory of June was her surprised birthday party; a lot of effort was involved, including blind folding her, taking her to a secret location and then hand cuffing her to a chair, (ok that last part I think is another memory of someone else and it ain’t Mish muahaha) but DRACULAS was where we went. I’ve seen June go through a major transition the last 5 or 6 years. From glasses to contacts, Uncool to cool to uncool phases, June, it’s been a pleasure.

Sheila

I met shelz on the same day that I first met Mish, Her and some other gay people went to a few university open days and I happened to be in the city and so we caught up. I don’t remember Shelz that day; she was really hard to spot because every time she turned sideways she disappeared. Hahaha But my first real memory of Sheila was also at Mish’s 18th birthday. Me, Phil, Mish and Sheila was in the food court at crown and Sheila kept making all these dirty kinky remarks, then she dared Mish to drink a bottle of Fanta that I had put some of my fried rice in. Mish took up the dare and it put me right off!! Red fanta with lemon sauced fried rice ewwww That was 7 years ago but im sad to say Sheila’s still strange.

Back and first impressions

2007-06-18T21:56:00.000+09:00

I’m back in Japan!! So tiredddd!! Sydney airport really screwed me up. I didn’t know that the domestic section and international section were at two different buildings and that you need to take a bus to get to the international side. I had a one hour transit upon landing at the domestic terminal and spent 40minutes lost with no one around to ask being 9pm at night. I finally get to the gate on time all tired and sweaty having ran through customs etc and find out my flight was delay by 1.5hours. Grrrr o wells at least I didn’t miss my flight. I flew QANTAS on an AIRBUS plane, it was pretty good, a lot of space, entertainment was good, airplane was new and food was quiet good. I’ll definitely fly QANTAS again; however QANTAS’s domestic plane from Melbourne to Sydney was a little crappy.

Although it wasn’t really that hot today in Japan, I’ve had two showers today already. I can’t imagine how it’ll be when it reaches the peak of summer. I nearly died last year. Then to top it off, I went to the ATM to get some money for food having only 5000 yen (approx $50) on me and the ATM gave me some error message and didn’t give me any money arghhh $50 to last me 10 days till Mish comes back. A little tight but I think I could do it! Anyways just in case I needed the extra dough I rang the bank and use my broken Japanese to get a translator and now I have money YAY!! It’s been a longggg day!

Meeting everyone again back in Melbourne was nice, most people have boyfriends now, which is lovely because it doesn’t make me look like such a pimp being the only boy hanging out with so many girls anymore. Thanks to all that came to the last big gathering last Friday night. It was exciting seeing everyone again. It made me think about the time I first met everyone and my impressions of them.

JULIA
I remember meeting her at Mish’s 18th birthday party in 2001 at Crown. She wore super baggy pants with a rainbow colored scarf. Maybe Julz was just quiet and shy but my first impression was that she was really snobby, acted like she was too cool for school haha but after knowing her properly I came to realize that she was just a dork!!! I think it took over 3 years before me and Julia started to become good friends. Yes that’s how snobby she was. I remember her saying to me not long after that, “Gem your hairstyle is sooo fashionable, you’re so cool, please be my friend”. (GOSH!)

A photo of Julia 5 minutes after she came off the boat., unfortunately now she has been deported back to where she came from. The other one is her with Guy Sebastian haha

LORETTA
I think it was on the same day that I met Loretta, Mish’s 18th birthday, but it was a dinner at Box hill with Me, Mish, Loz and Phil that we formally met. Phil and I drove up to take them out for dinner and I remembered Loretta eating really slowww and Mish kept getting embarrassed at us watching her eat. Towards the end of the night Mish and Loz played dumb and told me they don’t know their way home from Box hill and so made me drive around for an extra 40 minutes, giving me gay ass directions (to Billy’s house) and wasted 30 bucks worth of petrol to find his and their house. I remembered thinking to myself, “Gosh these posh people from Doncaster are really dumb, they don’t even know where they live”. Not long after that Loz started to dislike me, still to this day I don’t know why that was the case, but now she loves me so that’s ok. Haha

A young Loretta greasing the camera at Nandos Chaddy with Uncle Jase a few years ago. She looks the same don't ya think?

More first impressions and old photos to come next time.

Finally caught up with my moley friends

2007-06-09T15:42:00.000+09:00

MIKI in MELB

2007-06-07T20:37:00.000+09:00

i've just been looking at some of our old blogs and pictures, gosh, it's been less than a year but it feels like it all happened a lifetime ago. Really good memories!! It's a really nice feeling to have when you've got something nice to treasure forever. Even when i think about my first ever trip to Japan it still puts a smile on my face. Actually the reason why i started reading our old blogs was because i was looking through some old photos of my first time in Japan. I can't believe it was 5 years ago, it doesnt feel like it was THAT long ago. Looking at the photo made me a little embarrassed. The way i use to look and dress, TERRIBLE!! Mazui da yo! And worst of all some of the items of clothing in those pictures from 5 years ago i was still wearing last year. GOSH!!

Reflecting on the year, i don't think i've changed much, though in some ways i feel like i'm a little more open, more kind and patient. How much of this is true i guess those of you who know me will see in due time. It feels nice to be back, really refreshing but i'm missing japan and all me mates back there already. Once we get back another major outflux of teachers will go and it'll be sad goodbyes again. SUX! but that's what it's like with this job. Before you know it, it'll be our turn to leave, i'm sure our next year will fly by as fast as the one just passed.

Home Sweet Home

2007-05-30T18:05:00.000+09:00

We're back in Australia, and it feels really strange. Everything feels bigger, esp my bedroom, it's like the size of half our Japanese apartment. Everytime i go to reach for the door i miss the door handle cause it's higher here and it's really neat being able to understand all conversations around ya. Best of all everyone speaks English (derrrr). The thing is, the most simple problems in Japan takes much time and difficulty to fix due to the language barrier. Besides my driver being a little out of wack and my room super dusty, it doesn't even feel like i even left Australia at all.

It's been GO GO GO since i've arrived, re-newed my drivers license, paid rego, got a new medicare card, re-newed my bank card, studying and finally I just finished my EXAM!! YAY!!! Now i can do other things. Miki is coming on the 1st. Will be busy taking her around the next few days. Melbourne is not so exciting, where to take her? aRGhhh

BACK IN OZ

2007-05-28T04:22:00.001+09:00

TUESDAY 29th we'll be back!!

KALS Welcome Party

2007-05-16T18:39:00.000+09:00

Just over a week left till we’re back… It’s getting a little exciting though it’s I’m also super worried at the moment. We’re getting out visas processed at the moment and I’m not sure if it’s going to get done on time. Thing is, if it’s not we won’t be able to re-enter into Japan. It would be such a pain in the butthole if it that’s the case. Fingers crossed.

Anyways I went to a party last night. It was a welcome party for me and Helen at this new place I’m working at doing part time work.

Random Parties and Pics

2007-05-11T00:19:00.000+09:00

Ethan's and Lauren's Farewell Party

Liam's, Angela's and Karls B'day

Interpark Kids

The Experience

2007-05-09T08:51:00.000+09:00

I got me self a new bike on the weekend. A nice shiny blue one. It’s a little bigger than my first one; the wheels are bigger so with less effort it goes further, making it the best bike I’ve owned to date.

I finally went to Akira’s room. After hearing on the news about an English teacher being murdered by her friend/student, I’ve been pretty paranoid so I’ve been hesitating about visiting his room. I must say the visit was truly an expereience. In the car I kept thinking, “I hope he ain’t a crazy dude”, and just when I committed to trusting him, he turned into this forest area, super dark with no houses, cars or people in site. Instantly a few drops of pee started trickling down my leg.

He parked so I got out of the car and walked behind him in case he attacked me from behind. I swear it was pitch black. I couldn’t see where I was walking. Then he led me into this little warehouse. It looked like those scenes in the movies where they do illegal drug dealings and stuff. The dude lives on a construction site with all these machines and massive trucks. Right at the end of the warehouse was a door and behind it revealed a really long hallway with 5 black holes on each side that appeared to be empty rooms. It was like walking through a one of those haunted house attractions. I kept thinking something was going to jump out at me and attack me. We walked and walked and it seemed like forever. He lived alone at this place, 10 rooms and it’s just him that lives there, Strange! The thought was kinda scary.

Finally we reached his room and to my relief it was pretty normal besides the fact that it was this super old run down place and really small. There were numerous holes in the wall and the air conditioner was so old its remote control was attached to the system by a cord haha It was 100 times wost than the guesthouse julia mish and i went to in Nagano last time around. All in all, I’m still alive so I’m happy.

2007-05-08T01:51:00.000+09:00

2007-04-30T08:49:00.000+09:00

I didn’t realize how long its been since I last updated. Not much has happened anyways. I’ve gone so fat lately. Not a good impression for when I get back to OZ and see my parents again. I’ve been totally exhausted yet I’m putting on weight. D hell. I read in an article that was titled, “don’t sleep enough and your waistline pays the price”. I think I’m one of those special people who put on weight when they stress out and not sleep enough. Well that’s what I’m sticking with for now anyway.

I made a new Jap friend recently, Akira, since Alain the bastard got a new girlfriend and no longer has any time for me. I found Akira’s email on a notice board and then went on a blind date with him haha I’ve been to a LIVE HOUSE with him as well as a Jazz bar. In person he’s a nice guy but via email he sounds a little freakish, he keeps asking me out every day and also insists every other day to come over to his room. Hope he ain’t a gaybo or something.

My first day off in 3 weeks next Tuesday, yippee! Was really looking forward to going to Japanese lessons again but its cancelled this week since it’s GOLDEN WEEK. Initially I had no plans but after a terrible incident yesterday night I now have a task, I need to go bike shopping because, SOMEONE STOLE MY BIKE!!! Out of the 100 bikes there, why MINE?!? I parked it in front of LA LA SQUARE and caught the bus to Interpark for work, 4 hours later I came back to find it gone, forever!! Now Mish and I no longer have matching bikes grrr how “annoyance”!! I got the tire fixed just only last week too when I hit a pothole and the tube exploded on me.

Was looking through the cupboard to decide what I should bring back to Australia, I realized I haven’t bought any clothes. Where did all my money go to? Strange…

Recently I’ve been super addicted to “You Tube”. I jump on to look at one thing and 4 hours later, eyes barely opening at 3am in the morning, I’m still awake watching stuff. Heaps of interesting links just keep popping up; it’s so hard to shut the site off!!! Arghhh

2007-04-18T09:17:00.000+09:00

I got Gem to cut off my extensions the other day and he used a knife to do it!!! I think he cut quite abit of my real hair off coz my hair seems quite thin now lol...Anyways it's great to be able to run a brush right through my hair without any hesistations. I don't think many people have realised that I've got my extentions off...I guess my hair doesn't look much different without it...

Yesterday went out with 2 of my x students Yui and Arisa...we went to Saizeriya for lunch and went to the movies to watch The Holiday. I quite enjoyed it, but I dont know if they did because I dont think they fully understood it even with Japanese subtitles. Then we took purikura just before they had to leave to go to work.

I'm working today for Liam, gotta get ready for work now...

Visiting Yuuko in Niigata

2007-04-13T10:15:00.000+09:00

Enjoyed every minute of our trip to Niigata and due to the fact that Yuuko, Nobu and Yuuko's family were the perfect hosts. They fully went out of their way to do everything for us which made us feel soooo bad. But, we had an awesome time! Yuuko if you are reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!!

As soon as we arrived on the first day we went shopping at Bandai City and Next 21, and later after Nobu and Yuuko finished work they picked us up from the hotel and whisked us away to the tallest building in Niigata where we enjoyed the beautiful night view of the city and and the ocean. We thought we were going to eat dinner there, but instead they took us to nobu's favourite lil posh japanese/chinese restaurant. The food there was yummy and the atmosphere was really nice with dim lights and music playing in the background.

The next day Yuuko met us at Niigata station (to our suprise...with shinkansen tickets she bought for us!!!). The plan was to spend the day with her family. We met Mayumi, Yuuko sister at this famous ramen restaurant where we had lunch and then later went to her house/farm where we met her mum and grandparents. They were all so hospitable. Her mum took a day off work for us and her grandpa had a haircut coz we were coming lol...how cute!!! Yuuko told us her family couldn't speak english at all but they were all not too bad at all. Japanese people are really too modest!! Her mum and sister then took us to see cherry blossoms at a park and then headed up this mountain place where we visited a shrine and took a cable car up the mountain for a view of Niigata and it's hundreds of rice fields on one side and the sea on the other. On the way back to the car we stopped for mochi and konyaku which was famous there and then headed home. Yuuko's mum prepared dinner for us and then we rushed off to karaoke after, where we stayed till late. By the end of the day we dropped dead of exhaustion but it was rather an joyous and eventful day!

On our last day we went shopping again this time with Yuuko but our main intention was to buy Yuuko, Nobu and her family something, which we accomplished doing in due time and we even squeezed in a shopping spree too hehe =) The clothes in Niigata are alot nicer than the ones in our area. Bought myself jeans, a top, shorts, 2 dresses, 2 bags, a lil wallet thing, a keychain thingamagig and a necklace. And this time no complaints...I like everything I bought!! =) At 7 Nobu and Yuuko saw us off at the station. We took the 7.19 shinkasen back home to Omiya and gem decided to go all out and take the shinkasen back to Utsunomiya from there which is like 3 times the cost of a normal train ticket!!

2007-04-09T21:19:00.000+09:00

I rode past the river to work last week and they've put up these fish kites. I wasn't sure the reason so I thought i'd google it and Children's Day came up...but the thing is, it's not till May so I'm not sure if it's related. Anyone know?

Anyway, one of my students gave me another present a few days ago. She just came back from Canada and bought me these chocolates, etc. How sweet!!! =) She really loves Praise mayonnaise, so I think ill buy her some when/if I come back to Japan. I'm still thinking whether I should stay or not due to some circumstances at work. Perhaps you might see me back earlier than you think. I won't have much to do til January if I go back, but it'll give me an opportunity to keep an eye on my dad.

Last night we celebrated Preston's birthday at Toyo Bowling. He booked a few lanes and we bowled till they closed. I was really into it at the start but after the 2nd round I started to lose interest. The guys were too good and were killing it with strikes. I prefer competing against people of the same level as me. Believe it of not Preston got a scored of 200!!! Watta star~Anyway haven't been out with the nova crew in a while so that was good. I expect they'd be many farewell parties in the next few months since everyone is leaving.

Tomorrow we're off to Niigata for the next 3 days. Quite excited to visit Yuuko =) Going to meet her family and friends and visit her farm hehe...gotta go pack now and have an early night coz we're leaving super early tomorrow morning. ~ja

testing...

2007-04-05T12:28:00.000+09:00

I LOVE THIS PROGRAM IT"S SO KAWAII!!!

The Hanami Festival

2007-04-04T20:37:00.000+09:00

...is another one of the 100's of festivals Japan celebrates. It is now currently being celebrated!! Hanami means 'flower viewing'. It is most commonly associated with the viewing of cherry blossoms (sakura) from late March to early April, which bloom all over Japan. The blossom forecast is announced each year by the weather bureau, and is watched carefully by those planning hanami as the blossoms only last a week!! Japanese celebrate the Hanami Festival by having drinking parties underneath the sakura either during the day or at night.

Lucky I don't drink...

2007-04-04T20:14:00.000+09:00

People whose faces turn red easily when they drink are more vulnerable to throat cancer, according to a study by the World Health Organization.

In research published in the April issue of the British medical magazine, the Lancet Oncology, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is affiliated to the WHO, reexamined the causal link between alcohol and cancer for the first time in 20 years, with the latest findings reflected in the study.

According to the study, alcohol, or ethanol, is the most significant source of cancer. While an enzyme called ALDH2, a kind of aldehyde dehydrogenates, plays an important role in breaking down alcohol, the study pointed out that people with the enzyme poorly functioning due to partial deficiency increase the risk for throat cancer depending on the amount of alcohol, by up to 12 times more than those with the normal enzyme.

- The Yomiuri Shimbun

...there goes the theory that turning red when u drink is a sign you're healthy Jules!!!

Lush

2007-04-03T23:45:00.000+09:00

Apparently, it has been scientifically proven that smelling sweets can satisfy your appetite for them, which is very handy to know isn’t it? Especially for you LOZ! found that useful piece of info on the Lush website: www.lush.com <--the write up on each item they sell is pretty informative and really enticing!!! Check it out.

TAKING BATHS is my latest addiction!!! Now I realise what Sheils use to go on about!! It all started when I bought my first bath ball from Lush the other day and I had the most amazing bath ever...it must've been coz of all the essential oils and natural goodness in it...it was sooo relaxing and I had the best sleep after!! Most bath balls at Lush would set you back about 650yen (around $8), which is a reasonable price to pay if you take a bath once in a while (especially since it's all handmade), but if you want to take one more regularly it could get quite pricey. I can't afford to spoil myself, I've gotta find a cheaper alternative, but not before I try the Lush bubble bar slice!!! (pictured on the left) Anyway any suggestions?

2007-04-02T21:06:00.000+09:00

Just wanted to start by saying...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY POO!! =)

Ok, now that i've got that out of the way lemme go on to say...You've gotta love celebrity gossip! Supposedly Miranda Kerr is going out with Orlando Bloom. What a gorgeous couple they make!! I still remember when Miranda was in Dolly magazine. I knew she would win the competition. There was some controversy about her age at that time about her being too young but now, a few years later, she still looks the same except now she's the next big thing in the modelling world, especially after appearing in the Victoria Secret show. I think she's really cute and sweet especially when she smiles with her dimples and all. Go the Australian Models!!!

...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKI for yesterday!

New songs uploaded yay!

2007-03-28T23:51:00.000+09:00

G’day peeps. Its 12am and I’m up trying to study. Grrr so burnt up today. Started work at 9:30am today and didn’t finish till about 9pm. In the morning I was doing one of my privates and then a full shift at NOVA. Worst part is I’m also doing the exact same thing tomoz. Guess I can’t complain since it was overall my decision. Now I’ve got full time work, plus part time work plus part time study as well as other miscellaneous stuff on the side. I wonder how long I can keep this up. I heard some news at work today that made work seem shitface. A NOVA teacher was found in a bathtub murdered by one of her students sometime this week. Ekkk I’ll be sure not to piss off any of my students.

Anywayz the new apartment is going swell, besides the fact that everything is still a mess. But comfort wise everything is pretty much settled. I got no space to set up my practice drumkit now but then again I don’t really have any time to practice. School is kicking into the core part of the subject and I’m busting my ass just to keep my head above the water. Piano is also kicking off too with new more complicated things for me to learn. I can’t wait to go back to Australia and just chill for a while. Going home will be exciting, i'm sure nothing's changed but its still excited. I’m most excited by the mere fact that for the first time in my life, I can chill out back home with some money in my pocket. When I had time to chill back home I was either a super poor student or unemployed. 2 weeks of doing absolutely nothing!! YES! First thing i'm going to do is eat a pizza!!

We have no potential visitors for the next few months. I think initially everyone thought we were coming back after one year so everyone tried to come before the one year period was over. We fully maxed out on visitors I think. It was average one person per every two months.

I was in Tobu the other day, i went to a secluded toilet hidden on the top floor in a secret corner for a tinkle (not on purpose but because it was the nearest one) and to my surprise i heard this dude on the loo using the bidget thing that shoots water up ya ass to clean it and he was making all these noises like "ahhhhh" "ohhhh" "MmmM", i don't know about you but i think he was enjoying the experience a little too much there. I don't think he knew i was there cause i'm a silent tinkler. (the trick is to pee around the toilet bowl muahah) (too much info? i think so too) So i quickly ran out to save him the embrassment. I really wanted to see who it was though, so i hung around outside pretending to look at some sporting wear for a few minutes but no one came out. grrr maybe he wa still on the loo still enjoying himself with the spray.

Me best mate just got a new girlfriend this week. Watta player! He’s had like 2 girlfriends and a few lady friends since I’ve known him. Watta stud! I wonder if I would have had his winning streak if I was single here. I guess I’ll never know. Next week marks another year anniversary for the empress and I , (yes please send sympathy e-cards to jeremypham@hotmail.com). By golly, I can't even remember when i could make decisions without someone nagging in my ear. geeez

I should get back to studying before I get lazy and scrap the study session.

A Smart but Messy Shopaholic!!

2007-03-28T09:59:00.000+09:00

Been doing some window shopping online this morning...actually I tend to always end up doing that in my free time when I'm at home =P (hehe yup i have nothing better to do!) Anyway, I really love the stuff at TOPSHOP! I first found out about this brand a few years ago when my parents went to Singapore and bought me a heap of stuff from that shop. Since then, my fondness of the store has grown over the years. They have Topshop in Japan (it opened late last year) but unfortunately the store in Harajuku doesn't stock all their stuff...otherwise I'd be there like everyweek.

I went to my Japanese lesson prepared this week unlike the last, which I sat through 50% lost and 50% clueless. I actually studied before I went to class this time and it paid off...I understood everything!!! It's great to have that feeling of accomplishment...and as an added bonus, it has actually motivated me to study more!! Also, we browsed through the 100yen store yesterday and came across a poster of the hiragana. We bought it and following Neil's suggestion, have put it up in the toilet lol...

Last week our house was a mess, we cleaned it up and it was spotless but now, it's back to it's orginal state - aarghh!!! Looks like a tornado hit our apartment, everything is everywhere!!! I'll probably try and clean up a little after finishing this blog. You know when you know people are coming over, you tend to keep things more tidy and organised? Well, we still haven't had anyone over yet. That's my explaination as to why our place is so messy hehe or maybe we're just naturally grotty people =P

Gem wanted me to upload some photos..but I don't even know where the camera cable is...o wells...maybe i'll find it whilst I'm cleaning up.

Also, I just signed up to MySpace yesterday because it seems like everyone is on it...I haven't done anything fancy to my page yet though...If you've got MySpace, add me: megamish@hotmail.com

2007-03-23T08:02:00.000+09:00

**********~ HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY LOZ!!! ~**********

I hate thinking of topics!!

2007-03-21T18:21:00.000+09:00

I’m 24 now!!! Thanks to all of you who remembered my birthday, for all the wishes and the presents =) I must say I was quite touched to see the number of people who remembered. I haven’t had a chance to reply your emails as I have been really busy with our new place…but I will reply them in due time =P …didn’t really celebrate my birthday this year…in fact I had to work…and even had to do overtime!!! Ah wells, birthday’s aren’t really a big thing for me anyway…just reminds me of how old I am getting…*sighs*

Having done a swap for Preston and Helen, Jeremy and I had Monday off. We initially had plans to go to Tokyo Disneysea but we scrapped that idea in the last minute because Miki and Yuko etc. couldn’t make it. So instead, we decided to spend the last 3 days in our area.

Things we accomplished the last 3 days:

We attended Japanese lessons – It was the 2nd lesson for me and I found it really difficult coz it was really fast paced. Our teacher only spoke Japanese in the lesson so that made it harder. Now I know how our students feel. I’m sure this experience will make me a better teacher.
We furnished our new place. It’s really nice and cozy now. We bought ourselves necessities like an iron, vacuum cleaner, clothes hangers, kitchen utensils, cleaning agents, etc. and not to mention a PS3!!! (yes..an essential!!)
Jeremy managed to squeeze in 2 practice sessions at the music studios whilst I did some shopping. Jeremy bought me a bag, 2 tops and pants for my birthday - I love it!!!…and an LV bag is on the way from my dad hehe…he said I could choose anyone…so I’m trying to find one I like…so far I’m thinking the ‘Handbag Riveting’…but it’s pretty expensive here…like 2.5K…I wonder if it’s cheaper in Australia or elsewhere. I also like the ‘Cabas Raye GM’ but I’m not sure if I want to pay that much for denim…seems to be a bit of a waste. These are the dilemmas I face…(OMG I just reread what I wrote and I’m rhyming)

Jeremy’s playing the PS3 now as I’m writing this..he bought a new game today called Power Smash 3…It’s the no.2 game out here now. Initially I thought it was crap but then when I realized you could change the appearance of the character, the game suddenly seemed more interesting…plus it’s not all standard tennis as I assumed it would be…you can play all these other related games too to build your skills…it’s quite cool.

Better be off to prepare dinner. I'll upload pics later. And how come no one leave messages anymore here huh????

My turn! It’s been over a month since we’re written anything proper here. Sorry dudes. Mish has been busy with her dad and working to make up for the swaps she made to get holidays and I’ve been busy doing other secret men’s business. Not to mention also having moved, this has killed the last 2 weeks of our time, moving, cleaning and settling into the new place.

So much has happened lately: New apartment, band, new job, Mish’s b’day, school, etc…
I’ve been going to a music studio heaps lately to practice songs for the band, we’re having our first jam session this coming Sunday, can’t wait!! Our official band name: TELL TALE, (Japanese pronunciation, Teru Taru, haha) Anyways I was shocked and horrified when I tried the first time to play the drums again in over 10 months. I’VE LOST MY RHYTHM AND GROOVE! My hands were so stiff, fingers couldn’t move as fast no more and I couldn’t even play in time. It was so depressing. Anyways I’m happy to report after 4 trips to the studio I’ve finally got my timing back, still can’t play properly though grrrr

It was Mishs’ b’day this week. I didn’t know what to get her so I ended up just taking her shopping. We went to her favourite store and I let her do her thing, little did she know I was planning to pay for everything. After mish confirmed she had finished and I reconfirmed and asked her “are you finished?” and she replied “yeah, I’m done”. So, while we were at the counter I told her “ok I’ll pay for everything, it’ll be your b’day present”, and SUDDENLY she starts liking everything else in the shop, picking up random things and looking around ferociously with those little crossed eyes for anything she’d like and could quickly grab and bring back to the counter before the girls in the shop finished packing the bags. Sheshh watta titeass.

I went to a job interview last week for a different English school. I ended up getting a job to do some private part time English lessons. Money ain’t too bad either. I start my first lesson this Friday. How excitement! (yes excitement)

School works’ been busy too. As most people would have read, I’m currently studying online at the moment. I wagged my first class today. Check this; I take my classes online which means every 2 weeks I log on to a site from the comfort of my own home for one hour to participate in a virtual classroom. Usually I just leave the speakers on watch TV, surf the net or whatever. Learning doesn’t get any easier than that and I was too lazy to do that today. How shameful!

Piano lessons are kicking off too. I’ve been learning chords and my teacher is also showing me some extra funky stuff. I’m sorta taking an excel course in piano at the moment. Pretty soon I’ll be able to play properly and accomplish that dream of having a baby grand piano in my future house with the 6 wives and 2 latino maids.

Mish and I are planning a trip to Nigata in the next fortnight or so to visit Mish’s only friend in Japan, Yuko haha Tokyo Disney Sea, we’ll be going to sometime soon also to have a buffet lunch while all the Disney characters run around the tables. COOL! We’ll be doing heaps of overtime next month. And before you know it’ll be the end of May and we’ll be back in Melbourne again.

Hmz what else? Oh we got a Ps3 today, its mad! I usually don’t play games but now my life is complete. I’m loving our new apartment, it’s a smaller than the old one but it’s new and much more cozy. I’ll take some pictures and put em up once we finish cleaning it a bit more. The moving process was shocking!! Took us 2 days just to move everything across. Mish’s clothes alone took like 3 trips. Have I mentioned she’s purchased 16 pairs of shoes since being here? OMG!!! Anyways we don’t have much room to store clothing at this new place. We have like half the cupboard space of the old place and worst of all; we also have to share it, before it was one massive cupboard each. No more clothes shopping for me.

Work again tomoz… grrr I can’t be bothered, even though I don’t mind it when I get there. I’m working at three different schools this month. I can’t even remember where I’m meant to be working half the time. Next month I’ll be at Mish’s branch 1 day per week. That’s gonna be a disaster, even though Mish is super excited about it.

P.S Happy Belated B’day Joseph.

Our new place

2007-03-17T21:44:00.000+09:00

MOVED and got the net working at last!!! I love our new place it's super cozy but really it is a mess right now. Everything is everywhere!!! Not enough cupboard space I say!! I have no room to put anything anywhere. The loft is great though really space efficient and comfortable but you gotta keep low. I've hit my head on the roof of it twice already while I was up there=P

Anyways HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Joseph for tomorrow. I'm sorry I forgot you told me it was your birthday on the same day as mine. I told you I have bad memory. Anyway thank you both (Linda and Joseph) for remembering mine and for the gift you sent. It was super sweet of you's =) and I love it!!!!

Back to unpacking and tidying up!...I wonder where Gem is...he's still not home...

In need of a break!!!

2007-03-12T20:57:00.000+09:00

14 consecutive days of work finally over!!! *phew* Fully felt like it dragged on forever. Glad to get that outta the way now though.

Packing at the moment. We're moving apartments tomorrow!! It's going to be another long longggg day...*sighs* I guess it's something to look forward to but I'm physically and mentally drained...can't wait till next week when I can just chill and relax in my home sweet home.

Covered most of Japan that I've wanted to visit...

2007-02-25T23:37:00.000+09:00

I'm backkkkkk!!! Been away the last 10 days taking my dad here and there and everywhere. Covered Utsunomiya, Nikko, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Himeji and Kobe. So so tired!!!

My favourite place outta all the above is definately Hiroshima, Miyajima Island. I love the deers there...they are sooo tame and so cute!!!!!!!

Anyways I'll give ya a picture story of my adventures. Scroll over the photos for captions and click to enlarge.

NIKKO

OSAKA

KYOTO

HIROSHIMA

HIMEJI

Gingerbread man

2007-02-21T19:35:00.000+09:00

What’s the world coming to these days; I had to make my own lunch and dinner today shesh Not happy Jan!

On Tuesday I went to my first proper Japanese class. It was embarrassing because I met a student that I usually teach English to and it turns out she’s a teacher at my Japanese school. Reversal of power, so it felt strange, would have extra weird if she was my actual Japanese teacher. Anyways I’ve started while the class is half way through the semester so I was pretty much playing catch up most of the lesson. I thought I did alright though. I learnt my first Japanese words and how to write my name hooray and my listening is better than I thought. I’ll be coming back every week that’s for sure.

Here’s a present from one of my favourite junior kids, it’s a lolly. Her mum speaks pretty good English and told me her daughter’s giving me the lolly because she thinks the ginger bread man character looks like me with everything being so round! Geez told I’m fat by a little Japanese girl, magic!

Been busting my ass studying lately, all these law case studies that I have to read. The language in the case studies aren’t even English, I can’t even understand what on earth one sentence means most of the time. I have to read it a hundred times and it’s like super duper long! Why do they have to write so complicated? Ironically being a native speaker and English speaker I feel my English has improved since I’ve started studying again and writing these blogs etc.

Three more weeks till we move, can’t wait! Something to look forward to since nothing exciting is going to happen anytime soon. We have no more potential visitors and nothing special seems to be happening soon. Here’s a picture of the layout of our aparto. I think it’ll be quiet small but it’ll be cozy, cool design too, I like I like! The sleeping area is up top (top right hand) and under it is the entrance, bathroom, toilet, kitchen etc. The open area is the living / dining room. It’s going to be so troublesome to move. We’re basically going to transport Thailand style, pack everything and transport via our bikes hahaha Maybe we’ll get a taxi for the bigger stuff hmz

I go to play ski

2007-02-17T23:28:00.000+09:00

It’s like I hit the jackpot this time around, 7 days without the Mish. By golly! I’ve already spread the word to everyone that I’m a free man and to include me in every outing event and party woo hoo…

Anyways I’ve committed to taking Japanese lessons. I figured since I’m going to be here for at least another year so I should get a little more serious about the language. So now it’s going to be Japanese lessons, online studying, piano lessons, work and the band. Jammed packed Melbourne life, Welcome back! Being busy is good though I guess. It’ll give me less opportunity to spend money. I need to save big time. It’s so hard to save here.

Was just looking through Mish’s cupboard today, I feel like I need more clothes. Lacking bad compared to Mish, but if you ask her she’ll tell you she’s got no clothes. 16 pairs of shoes: she’s got since being here. That’s 5 times more than what I have! But then again her breathe is 5 times worst so I guess it evens out. Why do people insist on eating things like onions, garlic, creamy pasta etc geez

I taught at Mish’s branch today, it wasn’t exciting as I thought it would be. I had crappy little shy high school girls and super old retired men who had nothing interesting to talk about. Made my day go super super slow. I also taught a really crappy infant (chibiko, 1-3years old) class of Mish. I was basically singing and dancing by myself. It was embarrassing!! QUESTION: Do anyone know the song and actions to head, shoulders, knees and toes? I had to sing and do the actions to that song today, I didn’t know the tune and I couldn’t follow the actions hahaha the kids knew it better than me, OMG! Now that was embarrassing!

Anyways while teaching a class at Mish’s branch I couldn’t stop laughing because the conversation was so weird and strange. Basically I gave the students 2 minutes to free talk on any topic and it went a little something like this:

S1: Where do you live?
S2: I like carrots, What do you do?
S1: I’m engineer, I go to shopping on day off. What sports you like?
S2: I play with myself at golf range.
S1: I have one daughter
S2: I have fish and rice and soup at breakfast

Hahaha

More v'day gifts YAY!

2007-02-15T23:38:00.000+09:00

Here are some of the few portable gifts i got from V'day, portable meaning i could of taken 'em home with me. Dayem i missed out on so many not working yesterday grrr and not to mention all the group gifts we got that i can't take pictures of. Anywayz V'day in Japan, mainly the girls are meant to shower chocolates etc to the boys and then on "White day" which is on the 14th of March the boys are meant to reciprocate by giving to the girls that they recieved gifts from a little something back. So far i've only got two personal gifts so i guess i'm only going to be making two special something's. I'll post a pic of it up when i'm doing making it. Just for the record Mish got nothing , watta LOSER!

Chinami's gift front and back view.

Here's a block of chocolate from one of my favourite female students *winks*

I'm gonna be working about Mish's branch on Saturday and taking over some of her kids classes as well. Hope they aren't shithead kids. Nothing worst than crappy kid classes with them not speaking English and me not speaking Japanese. O wellz i guess it'll be no games for them and public humilation if they act up muahaha Anywayz Mish's dad (Ng PAPA) is here at the moment hmz

Love is in the air

2007-02-13T18:26:00.000+09:00

Happy Valentine's People!!

Mish is working at my workplace today, rode her to work this arvo. Nothing interesting happened really. Though on the way, Mish was overtaken by an old lady that wasn’t even trying and Mish was struggling to catch up to her haha Anyway, just came back from a pig out session with Alain. I need to part myself from this dude, how am I suppose to lose weight with the way he eats. After dropping Mish off at work we went for lunch at an Italian restaurant, Coffee, soup, a salad, spaghetti, cake and coke. O my gosh! My whole week’s diet ruined by one man!

I got a Valentine’s Day present from one of my students on Sunday. I got some nice little chocolates and a card, how sweet. She gave me a little present during the Xmas / New Year period too. Looks like I’ve have to give her something back on White day. Alain also just came back from a 3 day trip of Sendai. He bought us presents. Two little wooden doll thingies. It’s cute. So many gifts this week woo hoo

Why is that on days you have off you always end up waking super early and can’t get back to sleep and on days when you have work no matter how much you sleep, it’s never enough. I guess it’s just Murphy’s Law eh?

2 more days till pay day yay!! First thing I’m going to do is buy a printer. Seriously going blind, been studying like a maniac lately and worst of all I still don’t understand anything. After two year studying this course part time I’ve realized why it’s so hard, I didn’t realize it was LAW I was studying! OMG how dumb am I? Lol Customs Law! My course has a 90% drop out rate by second year and an 85% fail rate on the final examinations. Grrr

Is anyone enjoying the songs put up? If you’ve noticed it’s mostly power ballads hehe I like foreign music especially Korean. There’s a Chinese song on my playlist, I don’t know what it’s called so I just called it Sher Sher sher because that’s every second word I hear haha (listen out fo it) I also put a file up with just a narrative i have no idea what she's saying but it sounds nice her voice, so gentle and sweet. It's different too all the nagging i'm use to. I just got a microphone for my online classooms so i might incorporated some recorded voice msgs on the site if i have something interesting to say, see how we go. Oh my Japanese band is finally on the way, official band meeting, 25th of February. Can't wait! So far it's two girls and 3 boys.

One of my students drew a picture of me, i think it really looks like me! what you guys think?

Hokkaido

2007-02-08T22:30:00.000+09:00

Just got back from Hokkaido with my family. It was amazinggggggg!!! Spent 2 quality days there...I totally loved it. Best holiday ever.

Day 1

We stayed at this really cool hotel which had lifts just outside the doors. Went skiing and snowboarding for the first time till late at night and I must say it is quite difficult but still I had lots of fun. This is the first time I've really experience snow too...and the snow was awesome...really really soft powdery snow. You walk on it and just sink in...hehe..

The hotel we stayed at had an indoor and outdoor onsen and since James booked this hotel for that sole reason I thought I might as well try it out....but whoaaa the water was really hot...42degrees...fully burnt me..but it was really nice in the onsen outside with snow all around and watching carp swimming in the pond next to the onsen - definately worth the experience. Downside was all the ladies there were super skinny...I think I was the fattest one there...kinda makes you a little depressed. Also, suprisingly the onsen really moisturized my skin and hair. The minerals etc. in it really does wonders!!!!

Also ate lots and lots of food...in fact 3 buffets!!! You know what it's like with buffets. You just eat and eat and keep eating until you are like fully bloated and can't breathe. Well...I don't know about you, but that's me!! hehe Had the best buffet ever!!! Lots of variety and lots of fresh seafood....especially crab!!!

Day 2

Headed to Sapporo and stayed a night at a hotel close to the Snow Festival. Spent a whole day looking around there. It snowed the whole day and was freeeezing especially at night. The ice scupltures were really reallly cool especially when lighted up at night. My favourite was the one with Stitch hehe...Unfortunately though, many of the ice sculptures were melting because apparently this year winter's been quite warm in Hokkaido (global warming?!).

Anyway, tried the ramen (which Hokkaido is well known for) but it didn't taste too much different to others I've tried around Japan. Oh..and bought a heap of those chocolates with those dried strawberries inside. Yummy!!! and those chocolate biscuits for Gem hehe...

The hotel we were staying in Sapporo also had an indoor and outdoor onsen but I was too lazy to go hehe but James and Ivan went and said the outdoor one had an open roof and it was snowing ontop of them whilst they were in the onsen...How cool!!!

Day 3

Woke up late, had buffet breakfast, relaxed, packed, did a super quick round of Sapporo Station and headed back to Tokyo....and met up with Linda and Joseph one last time.

--------------------------------------------------
Also really glad to have met up with my cousins in Tokyo a few days ago. They're all so lovely. =)

Mish-less times 2

2007-02-06T23:42:00.000+09:00

MmM ice cream for breakfast, coming home after the street lights have turned on, and allowed to use more than 3 squares of toilet paper a day… so much freedom!!! Yes I have once again been blessed; Mish is away again, this time for 4 days. Too bad I can’t fully pig out though; I’ve got a massive ulcer and can’t even swallow saliva without it hurting. Haven’t done anything exciting though, it’s towards the end of the monthly pay cycle and everyone is too broke to do anything including me.

Went out for my usual outing with Mr. Alain-san Sunday night. Man that guy’s a pig! We went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant; this place served relatively oversized dishes unlike the super small Japanese portions you usually get. Anyway Alain ends up ordering a massive plate of noodles, 6 gyozas, an extra fried rice and an all you can drink thing. 30 minutes later we went to Coco’s and he claimed he was still hungry and ended up getting another all you can drink ticket, a dessert and a plate of chips. Within the next hour he was hungry again!! Watta fat ass!! Yet he’s still so skinny! I guess he inherited the skinny genes and I got the good lookin ones :p

Mish is at the snow festival thing in Hokkaido now. I jokingly told big Miki at work yesterday that with Mish being away for 4 days, I won’t be eating for 4 days because I don’t know how to cook and I don’t know how to use a microwave so I can’t buy supermarket food. She didn’t seem to understand that it was a joke, and recommended that I could buy sandwiches. LOL hope she doesn’t think I’m that pathetic. Anyway just in case anyone was wondering I have been eating well. I’ve been studying hard at home. I feel like I’m totally blind now after having read 45 pages of this week’s work from my computer screen. Haven’t got around to getting a printer yet. Printers are so expensive here for some reason. It’s like $150 for the cheapest one. You can get printers for less than 100 bucks back home. Guess not all electronics are cheap here eh?

Just a curious question to all that read our blog out there, when you talk face to face with someone, where do you look? Cause I’ve noticed I don’t look at people’s eyes but rather their mouths. Strange eh? Haha And when I do look into someone’s eyes I feel a very close connection, which can be very strange when you’re in a 2.5m X 3m room with four male students. Ekkk

I saw a short person today and it made me think of you Julia, so i thought i'll post a pic of you up haha hmz which one is the walrus? You both have big eyes and bad breathe. Maybe you should of taken your toothpaste with you when you left lol just kidding, you know your breathe ain't as bad as Mish's. She eats onions ewwww Yuko gave me a present just before she left. It was nicely wrapped and all (thanks Bazuko) but for some reason it had a Mother's day sticker on it. hmm

I can’t believe it’s already February, it’s nearly been a year! Time really flies here, but having been here so long and knowing the area (within biking distance) quiet well I’ve started to notice things are slowing down and it’s beginning to feel like home here (minus the language thing). Things like dreading work when you wake up; having nothing to do on the weekends anymore, etc… still I prefer it over Melbourne any day. I’ll be spending the rest of me life in OZ so I’ll enjoy it while I can here. Actually I got a dose of home last Wednesday, logging on the online classroom and hearing all these super THICK Aussie accents, hearing all the slang and idioms again. It was great because I think my English has gone worse and my Australian-ism (if there is such a word) is slowly diminishing.

Double post today wow!

2007-01-30T17:51:00.000+09:00

Linda and Joseph have left for Kyoto; the sound of their voices and laughter have started to dissipate slowly as well as the bad smell they brought along with them to our apartment as the days pass by. I think it’s been three days now. Wonder how they’re doing. So many people leaving us this week, it’s kind of putting me in a sadish mood just thinking about it. First Linda and Joseph, then Yuuko and within the next few months a bunch of teachers are going to be leaving with a new batch coming. nooo I like the group now, hope the next batch ain’t going to be pain in the asses. I HATE SAYING GOODBYES.

Anywayz as Mish mentioned we’re moving out of NOVA apartments. It’s been long overdue and wasn’t as hard as I had imagined, not speaking the lingo and all. Either my Japanese has improved or I over-estimated the difficulty of the situation. Went for a bike ride to find it before, it’s about a 10 minute bike ride from where we are now. Not so far but probably be far to walk there. The location of our new place was really easy to choose. Anyone that knows Mish enough knows of her addiction to SHOPPING! The only thing remotely great about our place is that it’s close to 2 major shopping centers, PARCO and TOBU. Besides from that its’ further for me to get to work, its’ further from the station, we’ll prob get less visitors due to its walking distance etc. grrr I’m quite happy with it though. Its’ really peaceful but still inner city.

Signed a one year housing contract yesterday morning, so I guess that means I’m going to be staying an extra year starting from March, a few months longer than my already intended extended stay, which was suppose to only be till December this year. My best mate Alain was happy to hear that. Geez that means I would have had lived in Japan for nearly two years. O wells loving it here and ain’t home sick whatsoever. Hopefully by the time I get back home I would have paid off my car loan, my HECS debt as well as finish studying my online course. It would be a great start to life in Oz again. Not sure when Mish is deciding to leave, it will definitely be before me though.

We’ve been busy the last week with Linda/Joseph and trying to entertain them. Hope we were good host and that they enjoy their time in Utsunomiya. Also went to a super delayed “New Year’s party” on Saturday night at an Italian restaurant. I have a Japanese language exchange friend here who invited me to it. 16 people, mostly Japanese who spoke broken English and the rest were all foreign who spoke Japanese quite well. I was quiet surprised by my listening and comprehension of the Japanese language, but my speaking skills needs major work! Sort of depressed and motivated me at the same time. Anyway Mish, Linda and Joseph ended up going to the same restaurant for dinner (to spy on me? Hmz). It was awkward seeing them at the other table. Although… Mish hasn’t accused me of trying to chat up any girls that night yet phew! Hiding in the corner really worked!! AND OH… for the first time in my life! Someone said to me, “Jeremy your sexy”, by one of the chicks there!! Definitely highlight of the night mate ….. The next night (Sunday) Yuko had another farewell party with close friends only. Another late night.

Mish is in Tokyo now, 3 days by myself. Finally I’m able to do all the things I’ve wanted at my own pace. One of the main reasons I came to Japan was to escape from my busy lifestyle back home. I was working full time, studying part time 3 nights a week, band practice every Thursday, the whole of Sunday devoted to church, piano lessons and all the other hours in between for Mish or my family. It was great coming to Japan for the first few months, no stress no worries, but I’ve realize everything I’ve tried to escape is catching back up with me again. Starting tomorrow I’ll be working full time and studying part time again, I’m currently also taking piano lessons here, trying to learn Japanese, spending heaps of time with Mish and soon I’ll be part of a band so practice sessions etc will start soon also. Gosh… I really hate how I have so many hobbies and want to accomplish so many things at the same time sometimes. But being busy as I will be, I think I’ll enjoy doing it all here while I’m in Japan compared to Australia. I can’t wait till Mish proposes to me so I can stay home and be a house-husband and pursue all my interests. C’mon MISH!! My time is running out.

After going to that café lounge thing in Daikanyama with the live music last week, the experience really reignited my burning desire to be in a band and make some quality music. I never thought I would ever be able to play in a band in Japan but to my surprise one of my student prepositioned me join his newly formed band last Friday. Obviously I said yes! I can’t wait till our first jam session. Apparently there’s a vocalist, guitarist, bass, drummer, pianist, saxophonist. Sounds perfect already! We’ll most likely be playing some Fusion, Jazz and maybe soft rock all being Japanese of course.

O its dinner time, hmz what should I make? Chicken or Beef cup noodle?

Bye Yuuko

2007-01-30T11:06:00.000+09:00

Awww...yesterday was the last day I saw Yuuko...it was soooo sad...she bought gem and I presents and wrote us really touching going away letters and it made me cry when i read mine...she's my best friend here in Japan...I'm going to miss her sooooo much. Well I wish her all the best in Niigata..and we shall visit her there soon...

In Tokyo once again...spending time with my brother, James. Ivan's gone off to Osaka/Kyoto/Hiroshima etc. with Lil (she's so sweet!) and Daichi apparently...so I won't see him till next week. My dad will be arriving in Japan tomorrow. I'll go with James and pick him up from the airport. I'll have to go back to work on Thursday but it'll be a short week for me coz on Monday i'll be back in Tokyo again and going with my family to Hokkaido for the Snow Festival which should be really good. As Gem mentioned below, most probably going to miss out on seeing my cousins...i feel so bad...maybe ill go and visit you in Perth again some time soon..Towards mid feb ill be taking my dad around...maybe take him down to osaka and kyoto and hiroshima etc. still undecided...but i managed to get about 9 days off so that's sufficient time to do a lil travelling...

Oh guess what guess what? Jeremy and I are moving apartments hehe we should've moved along time ago...we would've saved alot more money if we did....Our new place is like half the size of the one we have now but it'll be alot more cosier i hope...as for the location...it's abit further from the station, but it's okay, coz we have bikes!! Going to move in around mid march. We're abit excited about it now.

Ok..im going to wake James up now. Usually I'd wake him up much earlier but i thought i'd let him have abit of a sleep in coz he was up till super late last night...playing with our new camera. It's so cool...takes really good shots...Here are some below...

P.S Hi GEM =) I miss you...hehe

Oompa Loompa is in the house

2007-01-26T00:52:00.000+09:00

G’day peeps, how’s it going? Nothing much interesting has happened lately hence the delayed update. Little Linda and little Joseph are visiting at the moment. First time meeting Joseph, Linda’s new boyfriend. Nice guy, kinda reminds me of myself, two arms, two legs, human. Anyways just been occupied taking them around the place. Not much too see around here really, but luckily their laid back and don’t really care what we do.

I asked Linda to get me a toothbrush from Australia because the toothbrushes in Japan are so small!! The whole brush literally could only brush one tooth at a time. Anyways she ended up getting me five!! FIVE!! Even if I used all five toothbrushes at once I wouldn’t be able to use it all. (Hmz but that means I have less than 5 teeth now, Ok kinda exaggerated but c’mon) FIVE?! Dunno how im gonna use it all. Thanks anyway Little Linda.

Found out Odele, Cavell and Mervelle aint coming up to Utsunomiya anymore. On behalf of Mish I apologise for any inconvenience caused. Was looking forward to meeting you all too. O wellz. Hope u have fun when u come to Japan. Mish’s dad is coming in FEB so she’s gonna be on a few different trips to spend time with her family. Do you know what that means? I GET 3 WEEKENDS WIF NO MISH!! WOO HOO. Im gonna go wild!! Wear my left sock on my right foot, bike ride with thongs, turn the lights on during the day and eat cup noodles with a spoon. REBEL MATE!! Its only been the 25th day of 2007 and i've already broken my new years resolution, to practise piano everyday, geez i must say i have practised more than i usually would though but all that will probably change soon. The online course i signed up for is starting next Wednesday, gonna be a busy little bee. Can't be bothered going through all the assignments and exams again! arghhhhh

TOUCH OF PARADISE!

2007-01-17T18:04:00.000+09:00

Had a taste of home yesterday… was so great!! Felt like I was back home in Australia and like a tourist in Japan. Headed down to Tokyo, had no plans, was just going to be a relaxing laid back day. Ended going to quite a few different places though, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Daikanyama and Shibuya. The day started off with all you can eat yum cha slash Chinese food in Shinjuku. Although it wasn’t exactly Chinese and had a hint of Japanese style, it still tasted pretty dayem good! In Japan, restaurants used disposable wooden chopsticks which are about 3/4 size of a normal size chopstick, kinda like the ones you get when you buy two minute noodles. For some reason I couldn’t use chopsticks properly yesterday, everything was so slippery. And cause it was so long I couldn’t hold em properly.

Anywayz that aside, while we were in the restaurant we sat aside, (in my eyes), two perfect girls. On my left there was a chick that was soooooo gentle. When she sat down her ass was like a feather falling slowly towards the seat. When she moved or talked it was so soft and gentle. I have seen this kind of behavior for 5 years and so im not use to it. Usually chairs break when a certain someone sits down, and it’s like the sound of thunder when she speaks. To my right was the most patient girl ever! There was a feast displayed on her table but because her (I assume) bf was in the toilet she sat and waited patiently for like 10 minutes, hands on lad, not picking at the food or nothing. And then when she was eating it was so civilized. Chewing with her mouth closed and wiping her mouth at least once during the entire meal. She didn’t even wipe!! she dabbed it clean. Whoa these two girls were like angels compared to what was sitting opposite me.

During the New Year period Mish made me buy some super tight pants. Wore them for the first time yesterday. I’m using to wearing “normal” sized clothes so it felt really strange. Felt like I was wearing no pants at all and the colour on my legs were just painted on. Pants were so tight at one stage after getting off the two hour train ride I thought the pants had cut off all circulation to my lower body. To top it off the pants were button upz! Took only 20mins to get out of and another 20 to button them back up every time I needed to twinkle in the little boy’s room.

The night ended well. Went to Diakanyama to check out this little café with live music Mish, James, Ivy, Lorena and Julia went to last week. It was a nice place, very quiet and mellow. Ended up staying there about two hours and then back to Shibuya where we had TGI’s!! hmmz tasted EXACTLY the same and all the waiter’s spoke English. Really felt like being back in Donny minus the smell haha

Another day another 5 cents

2007-01-16T08:30:00.000+09:00

It’s payday today!! Yay! It’s nice having more than 5000yen in me wallet. It might seem a little strange but I’ve only come to the realization of it being 2007 today. Yes 15th days after the New Year haha I wrote 2006 on the board in one of my kid’s classes today and one of the kids picked up on it. I felt like an idiot! Was watching the Nova kids while on lunch break today. They looked so happy and innocent, I would so love to be a kid again! To be able to eat and sleep, do nothing all day, not worry about a thing like money, what other people think, or be brand conscious etc o yeah and poo my pants Ahhhh not a worry in the world. In the words of Avenell “How lovely”! Speaking of Ave, haven’t spoken to him for months! How you been Ave? Been busy? U SNOB!

My new year’s resolution, I wanna practice the piano everyday! I wanna master the piano. Well not master but I want to be able to be good enough to compose me own songs. I’ve always wanted a grand piano in my house as well as build a music studio. No point having one if I can’t play any melodic instruments. But then again my finance’s will be controlled. Also if I’m lucky and do all the chores in the house for the rest of my life a certain someone might allow me to use my OWN money to build one. Sheshhh

There’s been so many people visiting or will be visiting. Linda, her bf, Mish’s three cousins as well as her dad are all coming within the next month. Whoa busy busy… It’s nice having visitors but unfortunately I’ve realized that everyone that’s coming will be here to specifically see Mish and not me! My family ain’t coming and I have no friends visiting. Even Julia Mish’s closest friend to me wasn’t here for me. Poor me!

Oh me best mate Alain-san got a new gf yesterday. Congrates dude. All his love affairs, love triangles and multiple gfs are finally over. Let me tell you, this guy was in high demand. He went to a singles party where there were 4 girls and just him being the only male!

A student asked me what Australian money was like last week. He asked me to list what notes and coins we have and I’m so ashamed to say this but I’ve actually forgotten what Australian money is like. I mean I haven’t been here that long, I can’t believe I can’t remember. Someone please refresh my memory, do we have a $20 note?

Thanks for visiting us girls...

2007-01-11T09:26:00.000+09:00

I was in Tokyo again the last 2 days. I was lucky to have managed to accomplish a lot of things.

DAY 1
We (Yuuko, Julia, Lorena and I) left Utsunomiya early in the morning and when we arrived in Tokyo, we split up. Julia only has a few more days left here and wanted to make the most of them, so Lorena and Julia went to Ikebukuro Sunshine City whilst Yuuko and I did our thing. Started by dropping our luggage off at James’ place in Shinjuku and then went for lunch at this authentic Vietnamese Restaurant and we had ‘All-you-can-eat’!!! The food was not too bad but as with all, “All-you-can-eat’ restaurants you tend to indulge yourself and eat way too much. Anyway after that, Yuuko and I went to get our hair done. I got a well needed treatment and extensions!!! My hair is so long now but I like it hehe I think Julia is planning to get some too now..I can’t wait to see how it looks on her. After our haircut, we met up with James and Ivy and went shopping crazy again. Seriously when my brother is around I have no control what-so-ever. I bought another 5 pairs of shoes to add to the 4 I bought last week and bought a heap of clothes too…arghh…. Honestly, I’m not like this usually…especially when I shop with Jeremy. I think the reason is because I’m really indecisive, but when James is around he helps make decisions for me. Anyway after our shopping spree, we met up with the girls for Yakitori again. It was their first time and they totally loved it!!! =)

DAY 2
I woke up late unlike usual. James, Ivy and I went shopping again in Shibuya and then walked to Daikanyama. We wanted to eat at this Tofu restaurant but unfortunately it was closed so we ate at the restaurant next door which was crap. It was my first time to Daikanyama so it was quite exciting for me.

I was surprised that it was so close to Shibuya yet it was quite deserted. I like it there, it’s quiet and peaceful yet with enough small boutiques selling unique things to do shopping to keep you occupied and small cafes and restaurants to relax and have a meal. Stayed in Daikanyama until Julia and Lorena arrived at like 5pm, this was to be our last meet up. We walked around a bit and then found our way to this little latte art café. I loved it there, the drinks were great and there was live music too!! The girl singing and playing the piano there, Tomomi, she was so good I bought 3 of her CD’s hehe…

After that, we said ‘BYE BYE TO JULIA AND LORENA’ and headed back to Shinjuku to pack our stuff and James and Ivy followed me home to Utsunomiya where we met up with my other half back home. We were starving and so we had gyoza, fried rice and ramen for our very late dinner downstairs.

James and Ivy will be spending perhaps 2 nights here before heading back to Tokyo. Next week Ivan, Linda and Joseph are coming and the week after Del, Merv, Cav and my Dad. My next few weeks are going to be really busy. I’m trying to get time off work mid Feb to spend with my Dad…but I still don’t know where to take him hehe…

ahhh peace and quiet

2007-01-09T17:05:00.000+09:00

It’s sooo sooo quiet now…. Mish, Lorena and Julia have left for Tokyo today. It’s just me at home for the next three days woo hoo, finally some resting time. As much as I enjoyed Lorena’s and Julia’s company the last few days, it’s nice for things to go back to normal. It’s 3.30pm atm and the sun is already setting. It gets so dark so quickly here in winter, makes the day go so slow. I’ve done jack all today, so much cleaning and unpacking to do still from last weeks’ trip.

AHHHHH Me ears’ bleeding like crazy now, just accidentally ripped me earring out of my ear AGAIN!! Every time Julia comes she puts a new hole in my body, Julia pierced my other ear last week, this time the overall piercing experience wasn’t as bad as last time but the after effect has been killing me. Don’t know why I keep accidentally yanking it out. Anyways, I’m hungry now and there’s no one to cook or to go buy me food hehe Julia was quiet useful while she was here, we maximized her time here by making her pay our bills and buy things for us such as toothpaste, phone cards etc while we were at work haha

Got a complaint from one of the students at work before the Xmas break I thought I’ll share with everybody. Most ridiculous thing ever!! My AT had to pull me aside one day to tell me that one of the parents of one of the kids that I teach, said that her child felt sick after sniffing my hair wax from class one day and would appreciate it if I could change my hair products lol I never thought you could go wrong with GATSBY.

Oh another thing that annoyed me just before the Xmas / New Year break. At my workplace (which is a shopping mall), I’ve been eyeing this jacket for 2 months that I totally love but thought it was too expensive so I have been waiting for it to be on sale. Those who have seen me know I’m quiet “big bone” haha and compared to the Japanese guys here I’m like Jenny Craig material, so I figured no one will buy this jacket because NO ONE WILL FIT IT! Anyways just before Xmas I finally committed to buying it at the non-saled price and to my surprise IT WAS GONE!!! I thought I was the only fatty in Utsunomiya, little did I know there’s another fatty stealing all my clothes here. Geeez maybe I’ll see him at Maccas one day.

WE'RE BACKKKKKK - HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-01-05T10:57:00.000+09:00

9 days away you would think I would now be experiencing total relaxation reaching my inner chi, but I’m totally exhausted! It’s good to be home. Back to the countryside, nice and quiet and non-populated.

Places we visited within the Xmas-New Year break;

Osaka

Namba

Domtombori
Americanmura
Shinsaibashi

Umeda

Osaka Aquarium

Osaka Castle

Kyoto
Gion
A few famous temples (forgotten the names)
Golden Pavilion

Tokyo – Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku.

*sings* I’m not a man, not yet a woman…. Gosh… spending a few days with 3 girls in one hotel room I can honestly say I’ve experience womanhood. If you thought one girl took long to get ready, try 3!! And why the hell do girls take 7 years to get out of a toilet? Well the first toilet waiting experience I had was an exception I guess since Julia dropped her train pass in the toilet bowl and had to pick it up ewwwwwwww… poo fingers!!! And den Lorena did the exact same thing the next day!! OMG!! Maybe it’s a honkie thing?

Anywayz mish and I arrived in Osaka Namba first and spent two days shopping and just roaming the place, it was nice but very busy. Lorena was second to arrive and then Julz the on the same day. It was a strange experience when I saw Julz for the first time in 3 months. She said I went skinnier hehe and then she gave me a hug. I feel strange when she hugged me; I’ve never been hugged by a man before.

Julia was such a show off during the trip. Every morning after mish annoyed everyone and tried to wake us all up at 7am!! Julia would get out of bed showing off all the different colored rainbow jocks she had. The first morning was RED, the second RAINBOW, GREY and the last night was WHITE with a smudge of brown. Lol

Anyways we did so many things, maybe mish or Julia can update you more with all the other details in between. We spend New Years in Osaka and headed down to Tokyo where we did some extreme shopping. Super sale now in Japan, it was CRAZY!?!?! Worst than when we went to Tokyo dome. I’m totally broke now. Going through all the shops looking for bargains I felt like a refugee fighting for food off the aid truck.

Julia: I would like to clarify some of Gem's coMMents:
I DID NOT stick my hand into the toilet bowl! my card only fell on the floor next to the bowl! The rainbow and red jocks i have to admit that was true but not the white one with bRown Smudge! >_< btw Gem, I came to visit U too!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T22:42:00.000+09:00

Finally met up with James and Ivy the other night...they are staying in Shinjuku...I love their place...its small but really nice and cozy and they have those cool toilets!!! I wish I was living there instead of here....anyways caught up with Taka again...he's still exactly the same in terms of looks but his english has really improved. I wonder what people will think of me when I come back from Japan...hehe...i bet everyone will think im exactly the same...

Just came back from Christmas dinner with Yuuko...she got me a Christmas present...it was exactly what I was going to get her lol...seriously we are wayyyy alike!!! Our families are alike, our boyfriends are alike, our personalities are alike....everything!!! She is seriously my twin...too bad we don't look alike though. Anyway...pissed off...can't believe, Gem, Alain and Alain's bro and another unknown abandoned us on Christmas Eve!@#!@! They suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packing for our Christmas/NewYear trip to Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto now...going to leave straight after work tomorrow hehe...i can't wait!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS '06 everyone =) We'll be gone for a while...gona meet up with Jules and Lorena...hehe...holiday time...so we wen't be updating this page for a week or so...peace out!

カンチョー

2006-12-20T11:48:00.000+09:00

Thanks to my good friend MR Tim Tang, I have been enlightened. I always found it weird why the kids here would randomly try to stick their finger up the other children in the classrooms rear end, and why parents do it to their own kids. It’s actually a game!! Called KANCHO, カンチョー. it’s a prank performed by children by clasping your hands together with only the index finger pointing up and attempting to insert it into the other person south region when they less expect it. Don’t know about you but that’s just wack. I remember it happening to me the first time from a kid in my junior class. I turned around to get flashcards and got a shock of my life. At first it was uncomfortable and felt strange but then it started to feel quite nice. LOL j/k

From copyright reasons:
Artist: smlelv2002 grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

ITS BACK!!!

2006-12-19T10:30:00.000+09:00

OMG FINALLY IT’S BACK!!! I haven’t been able to taste “anything” for the last 7 days or so because I’ve been sick the last 3 weeks. Don’t know why it just suddenly disappeared and took so long to come back. I was getting worried that I was going to lose it forever. I would have lost another one of the many pleasures in life, (having lost so many after meeting mish, e.g. freedom of speech, free will, free thought… etc). It was really strange not being able to taste anything though. I still had cravings but every time I ate or drank something I could only imagine how it tasted. I got so annoyed at one stage I started to eat strange things just to test the waters. So for lunch at work, I ended up eating salads with no dressing… a full bowl of ONLY rice… extra chilly with my food… and even cheese (YUKKKK)… and surprisingly enough, NOTHING! Mish showed no sympathy and the tightass even took advantage of my condition and made me eat yuki flavored things, as well as restricted me from eating delicious expensive things because it was a waste if I had eaten it, and it would be more economical for her to dispose of it down her own gob. GEEEEZ

Anyway I’m happy to report my taste buds are back and unfortunately I felt the full effect of mishs cooking last night hahaha it’s not like mish can’t cook but sometime she makes some really strange things. Speaking of mish, I won’t be seeing her for the next 3 days or so. James just arrived in Japan and she has gone down to Tokyo to meet up and stay 3 days with him. Unfortunately I have to work so I couldn’t go. I didn’t really want to go anyway, trying to conserve money for our Osaka trip coming up next week. Lorena should be arriving in the next 3 days or so and Julia in a week and a half. Although work will finish in exactly a week and I’ll be in Osaka in exactly a week from now, I can’t say I’m feeling any excitement hmzz I wonder why. I’m not even sure what we’re doing when we get there.

I must say it’s really quiet without mish here. Quite peaceful actually hahaha but I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll be so bored. I guess I’m getting a sample of what it’ll be like if I was living here by myself. We’ve actually confirmed out flights back home already. May 27th, 2007 is the date so far. We’ll definitely be coming back home. Mish’s decision at the moment is leaning towards not extending her stay here. I’m definitely staying an extra 6 months. So after flying back home and staying for about 2-3 weeks I’m heading back here again. The only reason I needed to come back was to continue and finish what I was studying back home. But I’m actually studying it online now so I get to enjoy the best of both worlds.

I’ve just realized, that ever since kinder garden started for me, (if you include the last 6 months) I’ve only had a proper 1 year break from studying (not including the usual school breaks of course) my entire life. 6 months after uni finished, I started a part time course while working full time after realizing that my other half’s dream job was to be a housewife (THAT’S NOT EVEN A JOB) and I probably wouldn’t be able to support her on my current salary

Anyways mish mentioned in her blog how we went to the Tokyo Dome sale. I had two major surprises while I was there. One was how civilized everyone was. Although there were hundreds of people, there was no pushing or shoving as well as pushing in. Everyone was so patient and well mannered. That’s one of the reasons why I love Japan so much. If it was in Australia you know there would be people falling over and trampled on etc… just like the Boxing Day sales at Myers each year. The second surprise; how women suddenly receive super human strength when they walk through the venue of a sale. It was like shopping with a thousand Superwoman’s. I was getting pushed about and knocked around left right and center from high school girls, office ladies, teenage girls, little old ladies with walking sticks and hunched backs etc. They look so fragile, if a speeding car drove past the wind force would probably knock them over but yet at these sales… gosh! I guess I shouldn’t have been in the women’s underwear section in the first place. Lol

Christmas is spectacular in Japan, I recommend visiting in December!!! Getting comments motivates us to write more since we know people are visiting so keep it up peepz.

Thanks for your comments Odele. I must admit it was kinda strange hearing u call me GEM. Don't know why.

Tokyo Dome

2006-12-16T23:29:00.000+09:00

Whenever we go to Tokyo I feel so exhausted. The day is always jam packed with activities to do as we want to make the most of our trip down and yesterday was no exception. Took the first train down to Tokyo at 4.42am as we(Gem, Yuuko and I) wanted to check out the bargains at the Tokyo Dome Sale and try our luck at winning some stuff like LV bags for 2006yen (around AU$23!!!). Yuuko and I really expected to win something…but Gem was skeptical, as he’s always been quite unlucky with these sorts of things. Anyway I had a really good day yesterday besides the fact that my feet were killing me at the end of it all…let me tell you about it…

So got to Tokyo Dome at about 7am and believe it or not there were hundreds of people already there (keeping in mind that the sale starts at 10am). We waited for 3 hours to enter!!! All of us there are damn serious shopaholics I tell ya…!!! =P Anyways after spending 5 hours shopping in there and blowing a load of cash, we decided to head off for lunch…went to the closest restaurant because we were starving. The food wasn’t great but it kept us full for a while I guess…Took a rest and then walked around La Qua area...Yuuko and I went on the rollercoaster there (Gem was too chicken) and omg it was like the best rollercoaster I’ve ever been on. I totally recommend everyone to try it!! Really gets your heart pumping and makes you feel really energized after it all…makes you feel like you can do anything!!! Yuuko actually cried when she was on the ride can you believe it? Lol…

Anyway after that, we got our caricatures drawn…The last time I got it done was when I was in Year 12 with Loz (Loz do you remember??) My picture looked soooo soooo terrible then because I had braces back then and they really exaggerated that…Since I haven’t been wearing my braces, my teeth have gone back to its original position and now I have bunny teeth again..The artist really emphasized that this time around! =(

Anyway not long after, it was dark and we were fortunate enough to be able to check out the Christmas decorations around there. It was actually really beautiful and it really felt like Christmas (with the cold weather and all…). Next, we decided to make a stop at Roppongi to check out the Christmas illuminations there. It was our (Gem and I) first time there…we were impressed!! I’d love to live there…doesn’t really feel like you are in Japan when you go there because it jam packed with tourists. I even heard some of my fellow Malaysians talking with their fob accents hehe…

Ate yummy crepes…took lots and lots of photos... then we decided to head home…got home at around 12am and was fully drained… and to add the icing to the cake, Yuuko left her keys in my bag so she ended up staying at our place!! Haha…

This morning I couldn’t wake up and my body was so sore and to top it off I had 6 kid classes today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =) Fantastic~

Inside my head 2006

2006-12-13T10:26:00.000+09:00

Since being here, a lot of people have come and gone. It’s really sad meeting someone you like and when they leave realizing you’ll probably never ever see them again for the rest of your life but knowing they exist somewhere doing something. It really makes me appreciate the people around me more.

Was listening to a song on me iPod while riding to work the other day and the lyrics made me think about life in general. Obviously everyone makes choices in life, what path they choose and decisions they make will determine who they meet, where they go and how their lives will end up.

Made me think, if I had gone to a different university, where I would be now. Whether or not, I had made the right choice to come to Japan or if I should of stuck at my job and accepted the promotion. If I hadn’t come I wouldn’t have met my workmates and students. I wouldn’t have even known of their existence and vice versa. How our lives would have been different now. It feels really strange when I think about it. It all makes me wonder and I would really like to see where I would be now if at a point back in time somewhere I had made a different decision. It’d be nice if once you died and get to heaven to be able to see a picture of how you life may have been different if you had made different choices at various stages of your life on earth.

Saw a really old lady walking on the street when I was on the bus last week. For some strange reason it made me think of my parents and then my grandparents. I’ve tried not to rely on family for anything since I finished high school, even if that means making $5 an hour delivering noodles to not have to ask them for any money, hence I’ve always seen myself as being independent, but never enough to oppose my parents’ decisions or doing anything without their approval first. But ever since the start of the year I’ve actually seen myself as really grown up and in a way grown up enough to go ahead with things even if my parents opposed to it. To me, it’s a really lonely, scary yet exhilarating feeling, to know I’m 100% in charge of my life now. I’ve got to start taking care of my parents now and not the other way around anymore.

My mindset has changed heaps I think since I’ve been here. Whether or not it shows through my personality I don’t know. I guess I’m not so different, still cracking dumbass jokes and laughing at others at their expense but I feel my mind has matured 10 fold. I guess it’s from hanging out late nights at Coco’s with Alain and being able to voice it to someone I trust and getting opinions rather than keeping thoughts all to myself like I did back home. It’s really hard finding someone that connects with you on the same level in all aspects. I’m really happy to have met a bunch of good lads here.

My turn...I'm not going to write much just post a few pics...Took my camera to work the other day coz I wanted to take a pic with Naeko before she left as I didn't attend her going away party the night before because I was sick...so...yeah above's my name tag, my wall of kids drawings for me...and on the right a pic with Naeko for the last time....

Getting excited now that everyone's coming...last night wrote a mega long email to Jules and Lorena planning our trip to Osaka and Kyoto...can't wait!!! 12 days till Christmas and 12 days till I'm on holidays...YAY!!! Can you believe it? They make you work on Christmas Day!!! shocking~

Been researching on that LV bag in my previous post...I've decided I'm going to buy it...but does anyone know which country would be cheapest to buy it...I think Japan is more expensive. So out of Italy, HK and Australia, which is the cheapest country to buy Louis Vuitton???

Shopaholic

2006-12-08T22:43:00.000+09:00

<-- Louis Vuitton Damier Azur Speedy 30
I want this bag!! Or something from this collection...I like it much better than the brown ones.... Yuuko and I are going to a major sale next week...I hope we can grab some good bargains...hehehehheh...I can't wait!!!

Utsunomiya wa samui desu

2006-12-05T10:04:00.000+09:00

Riding a bike in conditions of 10 degrees and under ain't a good idea. It literally takes me 30 mins in front of the heater each night after work to regain feelings to my hands and face. Alain-san and i will soon take a bus to work. That's an extra 100 bucks of my paycheck each month to take the thing. Grrr The cost of travelling in Japan is soooo expensive.

Anywayz i was on the train going to do overtime at another branch. Saw this old couple on the train. As fruity as this might sound i found it really sweet what i saw. Mish and other people are always telling me how they find old couples cute but i never thought so, dunno why now ive changed my mind. I guess as u get older u imagine that ur life would turn out to be the same once u hit their age. The old lady had a thermal flask packed with green tea and was basically serving her husband. They looked so old and frail as well as dopey. Dunno it was really sweet and nice, gave me a strange warm feeling. Hope i could experience the same thing when i get older. Im yet to find my perfect match though :p

Recently i've really enjoyed teaching all my kids. Besides the grannies just mentioned, i think i'm beginning to really love children also. I'm actually known as a hard ass kids teacher at my branch, so therefore i get all the shit kids classes so i can whip them into shape. But besides from them, i have tonnes of kids i love to teach. I act kinda dumb most times in class and even the kids look up at me with this "what the hell is he doing" look haha... Just the other day one of my kinder kid (which are like 4-6 years old) randomly came out of no where up to me and pinched my cheeks. WTF it should be the other way around. And it aint the first time its happened either. One time a junior kid told the other children in class i looked like a cartoon. Kids are so cute!!

anywayz gotta go, mish is getting annoying trying to kick me off trying to find out whether she has been poisoning us by feeding us sprouted garlic. That might explain why i was suddenly super sick for no reason and still am.

She's leaving.....

2006-12-05T08:32:00.000+09:00

It's now officially WINTER!!! so so cold here already...especially at night...heard there's snow at Nikko already.

Got some sad news the other day...Yuuko my closest friend here is LEAVINGGGGGGGG!!! =( She is transfering back to her hometown for work. Lucky for me though, she extended her stay for an extra month (just for me!!! awww)...gotta make the most of our time together!! I guess Niigata is not too far from here anyway so I'll probably visit her...at least before I leave Japan...what am i going to do when she leaves??? poor me!!

So anyway the other day my other half (Gem) met Yuuko's other half...and we really wanted them to get along...i guess they did but the communication barrier made it difficult...I think Nobu-chan is a really nice guy though...and you can really see he loves my kakoii otaku Yuu-chan very much...so sweeeet!!

Went to Hiro's and Helen's welcome party too on Sunday night...went to some izakaya on the east side called 'wara wara'...serves bigger portions and its cheap mate...cheapest party i've attended so far and I ate a good amount of food too hehe...(gotta eat more food coz i don't really drink so gotta get my money's worth right?)

YAYyyy 2 weeks till I see some familiar faces again!!! Loz or sheils if you are reading this, I need some help with advice with facial products...haha...tell me what is good....!!

Reignition

2006-11-28T20:33:00.000+09:00

Googled 'nova' and just came across some random girl's blog. It just so happened she was an x-nova teacher from the same area as us. Anyway read her blog and it was really interesting...I could relate to alot of things she wrote...aanndd...its motivated me to update this blog more often, so please do come and check up more regularly and don't forget to drop us some comments!! =)

Today was our day off...and suprise suprise once again we did nothing interesting...started the day with lunch at this cheap restaurant (we are on a budget at the moment you see...i spent quite abit of money when i went to tokyo last week), then went to do some grocery shopping and bought neccessities for our house. Later went to Yodobashi and I bought us a MICROWAVE!!!! I'm soooo happy we finally have one!!! Quite silly how I only get a microwave 6 months after I arrive...but you see...i thought we could do without...but its been quite hard and with winter just around the corner...I thought we better buy one and just make the most of it till we leave and perhaps we could give it to Alain or Yuuko when we go.

Also did a massive clean up job at home today...Gem was assigned the bathroom and me the kitchen....I spent like over an hour scrubbing...i don't think I've ever done so much housework before in my life..prepping me for the future i guess..(my job as a housewife hehe =P)!!

Gonna meet up with Yuuko tomorrow whilst Gem's doing overtime in Oyama. Dallas has left now for Australia but I dont know how much different it will be. I met his girlfriend for the first time the other day and she is soooo nice...they are totally the opposite to one another...I don't know how they have stayed together for so long...but then again...Gem and I are quite the opposite too...I guess opposites do attract after all!

Jeremy's Blog

2006-11-22T23:24:00.000+09:00

Jeremy's blog - this is what our page has turned into since mish has been so lazy. All she does is eat and sleep. Poor me cleaning, cooking, feeding the kids, etc etc

Anyways payday was just last Wednesday woo hoo, everybody was so broke. Alain and i was up to our last thousand yen on the last day (equivalent to 10AUD) for food and leisure. Ended up going to eat budget food. 4 bucks for a pasta 2 bucks for a all your can drink card and 4 bucks for snacks from the supermarket. Feels great to have money now. And guess wat we did as soon as we got paid, SHOPPING!! yes SHOPPING. Went to visit a massive outlet store (picture below) with yuuko, (Michelle's only friend in Japan). Ended up buying stuff that i didnt need. Mish the tightass didnt buy much. She's so tight now she's steals my clothes to wear!! pjz, tshirts, jackets and undies. (joking, ermz not really). She also convinces me that i should buy certain things because she wants to wear it sometime in the near future, for eg. the yellow and white stripe adidas zip up in the Sano photos is mine. The mickey mouse zip hoddy in the Tokyu hands is mind, as well as the black tshirt in the rabbit photo. geeeez so if u were wondering why things look oversize, now u know the reason

Anywayz organized a karaoke night and only cool people were invited. So if ur reading this and ur not in the photo (reality check - ur not cool!!) if u've notice mish is not in it either.....

Lil miki (which is the chick in the top left of the picture) is mish's new recruit to her group, (the fat gang) They go running once a week, for tens minutes per session hoping to lose weight. Lil miki actually use to work wif me and is also a japanese staff at nova who recently transfered to mishes branch. Alain, my AT (Assistant Trainer aka boss) is one of my good friends here. He's from Melbourne too.

Lil chubby Joyce came to Japan a few days back, so we headed out to Tokyo to meet her. She stayed in a hotel in Shinzuku (real pronounciation SHINJUKU). I personally don't think we were good hosts, (sorry Shinzuku Joyce). Due to time contraints we were only able to head out to the Shibuya and Shinjuku area.

Just to clear something up for any potential visitors, we live 2.5hrs from Tokyo. Alot of people think we live quiet close but we're based out in the sticks.

It's someone's birthday today...

2006-11-14T17:26:00.000+09:00

To think we were once strangers....seems like we've know each other for ages!! Anyway can't wait till you and lorena come and visit me hehe...we'll have lotsa fun!!!

Anyway....

Visitor number 2 - d jods

2006-11-10T23:55:00.000+09:00

if anyone has been wondering why it's been mainly me that's been writing lately, its cuz mish is too lazy to do it now. Anywayz great news, Jodie came to visit us!! Has anyone ever heard Jodie sneeze? Sounds exactly like a cough. When she sneezes i dont know if she's coughing or sneezing haha. Oh and a it has been confirmed that lil joyce will be coming at the end of the month to visit as well...

If your wondering what the picture of the briefcase is, to make a long story short, work was throwing heaps of packaged tissues away because the promotion for this month was over and i thought it was such a waste so i took it all home. That's how i packaged it home. I thought it looked pretty cool, looks like a briefcase full of money.

The local utsunomiya police have been on high alert lately. I keep getting pulled over when riding my bike. DOn't know why they always pick me when its meant to be random. I look so innocent too. But den as soon as i start speaking english, they get al nervous and left me off. Actually i feel kinda dorkish and geeky riding my bike sometimes. Its kinda embarrassing especially riding home from work and with my students driving by and seeing me on my little red bike.

anyways was smiling today and saw myself in a mirror, ive realised something that has made me quiet sad. its my face. its very expressionless. Because i have such big cheeks, when i go to make a smirk, little smile or any expression, it looks the same as though ive done nothing. Why du i have to have such fat cheeks!!! Anywayz so i was smiling about something this morning when i walked passed the mirror, and when i saw myself I was surprised to see my face looking sooo expressionless!! so den i took a few steps back while holding my facial expression which was meant to be smiling and just felt So sad, so sad... whys is it that wen i put on weight it al goes straight to my cheeks? (ah hum, face) Even my 4-6year olds kinder kids pinch my cheeks when i teach them and its meant to be the other way around.

Thanks for the hair brush Jodie!

Gems and mish's trying to be artistic photo shots - which u fink is better?

Nikko is Nippon

2006-11-02T12:53:00.000+09:00

We only live 45 minutes from Nikko, but 5 months later (yesterday) we finally made our way up there with Yuuko. Apparently its the best time of the year to go as the leaves are changing colours. It was fully packed with tourists. Anyway, mainly checked out Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls and the surrounding areas and had yuba (famous in Nikko) for lunch. Was disappointed we didn't see any monkeys, deers, bears etc. that we heard plenty about. Wanted to check out the World Heritage areas but got there too late. Gotta make another trip up there again before we leave this time to check out the other side like Kirifuri etc.

Anyways we bought some Nikko chocolate mochi but unforunately before we had even boarded the train back home we had finished it all, as you can see in the picture. The box colour and shape is nice though.

Woo hoo

2006-10-30T10:16:00.000+09:00

Finally i manage to add an audio streaming thing! Took agessss!!

Another day another 2 dollars

2006-10-26T23:40:00.000+09:00

Was looking through me old photo album and look what i came across hahaha

Received my first complaint today regarding my teaching quality at my home branch. I aint gonna make up excuses why i sucked, but i will take it as constructive criticism. grr i must say the situation doesnt really motivated me to go into work tommorrow. Anyway... been doing heaps of kids reports lately. I actually feel like a real teacher doing these reports. Its good though, its a chance for me to get all the little brats that make my job difficult payback... giving them low marks and all muahahaha

Just came back from having a late night supper with my branch manager. I guess you can call him my closest friend here. He's from Melbourne also, so theres' much more of a connection between us, knowing the same places and all. Turns out we have a mutual friend we know back home which was such a coincidence. What a small world it is. Anyways our conversations always end up being about girls, boy talk, secret mens' business stuff. We were talking about this girl hes been courting. Brings back memories of what it was like to be single. How i miss that initial courting stage. My favorite part of a relationship.

I walked into a girls toilet by "accident" the other day. The total shame and embarrassment i felt when i walked out realising it was the ladies room. I did find it strange how there was no urinals when i first walked in, but thought nothing of it and thought a cubical would give me the same satisfaction. The total shock i got when i opened the door to find a woman standing at the taps. And not to mention the horror on her face when she saw me. lol Anyways on my way out i saw a few more girls entering the toilet and when they saw me walk out they had thought they went to the wrong toilet and had to walk back out and double check themselves. I dont think i've ever walked so fast in my life.

I heard from a little bee that there was an earthquake in Melbourne the other day. WDH i thought Australia was earthquake free!! hope everybody is ok and it didnt cause to much damage. If mish was still in Melb, maybe you could of pointed the finger at her for causing the quake if she fell or something but she's not atm so *shrugs*

Weather in Japan has been shocking, super windy, raining some days and other days its so so but very cold at night. Not what i imagine Autumn to be like. My headphones for my O2 mp3 player busted the other day. Worst part is cause its a PDA normal headphone jacks are too big and i cant seem to find anywhere that sells an adapter. Its like torture riding to work with music only coming out of the left ear. Just doesnt sound the same. Might need to order some new headphones online. Hopefully they'l ship to Japan.

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Yumcha MmmMm...

2006-10-20T10:20:00.000+09:00

hello, or as mish would pronounce it, "hel-oh". i've been busying working this month, turns out i've only got two days off in October. Had a day off the wednesday just passed. Was sooo good!!! Mish and i went down to Omiya, they have 5 shopping centres in a radius of 500m in every direction whoaaa. Took 1.5hours to get there though. It was kinda interesting sitting on the train travelling from Utsunomiya towards Tokyo direction. Don't get me wrong, the people where we're from aren't ugly, but as u head down towards Tokyo direction the people become more and more atttractive. From the station we get on (Utsunomiya), (for illustration purposes) i guess u can classify them as "aliens", as you go 2 or 3 stops down towards Tokyo, "gremlins" start to board the train, a few more stops and u'll see orges jump on, and then it moves from orges, to goblins, trolls, elves, human and then angels. That's what i fink anywayz, lol. Anyway, we were walking around Omiya around lunchtime and came across this 'all-you-can-eat YUMCHA' upstairs in SOGO...sooo...yup you guessed it...thats what we had for lunch!!! First yumcha in 4 months...but its not the same...I miss Taipan!!! ...Left Omiya early that day with one extra pen and one extra jacket.

Mish took some overtime and we ended working in the same branch for 9 hours. Longest 9 hours of my life. (love tip: never work with your gf). I had to act like such an angel in case she finds out all the shinanagens i get up to at work. So for the whole day i barely said a word. Ahhh...no wonder he was so quiet!!! Now it all makes sense...sheshhhh!!! It wasn't what I expected it to be working with him, it was nothing special really...actually working at his branch sux...my students are much better, nicer and funnier too...but an upside was that it was fun travelling to and fro from work together on our bikes! speaking of bikes, i wanna modify my bike but mish finks its a waste of money. i wanna add a cup holder!! whoaa hahaha a rear view mirror, spray paint my basket gold and add heaps of reflectors onto the spokes of my wheel so that when a car shines its light on it it'l look like i have illuminated wheels!!!

BEEP BEEP BEEP! news just in! ive noticed an alarming number of Japanese kids (ranging from ages 0-7) with blonde hair. what are these people thinking? the acid in the dye will make them bald by the time they reach 10. Crazy mate.

My best friend - the toilet!

2006-10-08T21:35:00.000+09:00

The toilet was my best friend last nite. I experienced the first time ever being totally maggoted, off my face, drunk as a lord, watever u wanna call it. I always thought of myself being quiet strong when it comes to alcohol but was shamefully outdone by a Scotsman. how shameful!! hahaha I think mish was quiet stunned and also annoyed after she saw the state i was in when i came home 3am in the morning, and she has every right to. (sorry babe) i didnt realise how badly i reacted to the alcohol yesterday either. i havent talked to mish today yet so i cant ask her what happened. i remember waking up and finding myself on the toilet floor numerous times not knowing how i got there in the first place. haha i fnk i spewed on the floor next to the bed too. eww

anyways the nite started at ethan's apartment where we had a few drinks to start the night, vodka coke, rum coke, red wine, beer. we decided to head out and i was already tipsy when i was trying to ride my bike down the road. We hit a club called Birdie land (i think, cant remember), the club was jammed packed with guys, and not jap guys, but white guys, latino guys, african wanna be american looking dudes. there were like 10 girls there and obviously already being chatted up, so we went for a few more drinks, tequila shots, tequila and tonic, drinks are so cheap here. 5bucks a shotie. Must of been the alcohol talking but everyone i met that night for some reason i kept telling them i was JAY Z... lol i started speaking Japanese i didnt know (at least i tink it was japanese i was saying) and dancing with random guys on the dancefloor on my way to the toilet to spew. The club was alright, only bad thing was that the toilet could onli fit one person at a time, so if u wanted to spew u would have to hold it in until it was your turn. Not a good idea at all.

All i can remember is not being able to open my eyes fully, those of you who know me know my eyes are huge, i could have my eyes closed and it'l look bigger than mishes so called one line eyes, yet it was a struggle. i cant even remember how i got home, but my bike is downstairs so im assuming i somehow managed to ride home. Took a sickie today, massive hangover, dont tink'l be drinking dat much again for a while. Although in my drunken state, i still remember a classic one liner from mish last nite. She questions why i was throwing up black and when i told her it was prob the vegies (high priced) she responds by saying, "Wat a waste, if i knew you were going to drink i wouldnt have let you eaten it" *shakes head*

Macca's Mate!

2006-10-04T15:01:00.000+09:00

I just had Macca's for lunch!! You gotta love the burgers here...for example this new sesame prawn burger came out like a few days ago...http://ebipuri.com/ ~ Yummmo....!!! Oh and I found out something interesting the other day. Apparently, you know the character 'Ronald McDonald'? Well in Japan, McDonald's changed his name to 'Donald' because Japanese people find it hard to pronounce 'R'. So they all know him as ''Donaldo''. Interesting eh? Maybe not hehe =P but i think so and so do my students...

At the end of this month Jeremy and I and maybe Yuko plan to go up to Nikko. It's autumn here now and I've been told that the end of October is the best time to go there because all the leaves are changing colours and its very beautiful..so lots to look forward to and also Barny will be coming too at the end of the month...!! Jeremy, Alain and him can have a big reunion...secret mens business!!

We had Miyuki's going away party the other day. I'm actually quite sad she's left to go back home to Sendai. She was one of the people I seemed to have had more in common with here. That's the bad thing about working here, friends come and go. I had the same problem back home too with international friends, maybe I should be more selective with choosing friends when I go back home.

and I didnt' forget...HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO MISS JUNEY PRUNEY!! cheers~

T I T E A S S

2006-09-29T00:29:00.000+09:00

G'day all, havent been able to update much since we've been too busy or too lazy... working like crazy or recovering from going out so much. Next month because im doing overtime and shift swaps with the other teachers, i get like 3 days off for the ENTIRE month... "ENTIRE month"!!... whoaaa gonna be so tired. Its a good way to save money though since i wont have much time to go out. But then again, work is so laid back and relaxed here, everyday feels like a weekend to me... going out on a work day and coming home at 3am doesnt seem too bad anymore... Mish and i are going to start traveling around Japan more within the coming months. We wanna visit a few amusement parks, (il make sure i wont eat before going on the rides so the moomba incident wont happen again) and a few touristsy attraction places... wanna go snowboarding as well when Winter comes... cant wait!!

The more i live with Mish, the more of a titeass ive realise she is!!! she's always complaining about how im unable to save, yet upon coming to Japan i had to fork out over 2k to buy a laptop for usage in Japan, im paying for the internet we use here and just last week i had to fork out another 300bucks to buy an external hard drive for the time we'l be here. Yet she hogs the comp EVERYDAY for hours on end, when everyting all belongs to ME, (but im not bitter about it or anyting) and then complains i ignore her when im on the net for 10mins or so. When we got here i had to buy her a mobile phone cause she was too tite to get one herself. And the titeass moment of the century, She self confessed to me the other day... Because she is too tite to buy fruits cuz prices are sky high here, she frequently goes to the supermarket on her lunch breaks where she works and eats all the little pieces of fruits they cut up for sample taste testing... OMG!!!! definitely chinese ancestory!!

Harrroow

2006-09-25T19:05:00.000+09:00

Getting lazy to update this page now...I'm waiting for Jeremy to come back home...Had a pretty good week at work. The week flew by pretty fast. We will be doing abit of overtime the coming month so we will be really flat out. One of my favourite students is leaving soon. He's going to Australia to study english. He had a going away party the other night, below are some pics.

Anyway Julia's in Milano, Italy now!!! We had a little voice chat the other day on MSN after accidently finding out Jeremy's laptop has an inbuilt mic. I wonder if I can Skype with my family back home, perhaps I'll try later.

During the bus ride on the way back from work today, I thought about my mum, I do miss her, it still doesn't feel real that she is gone. They'd be no problems back home if she was still around.

Anyway anyway guess what? I came across the first mean, rude Japanese person the other day and it so happened to be in the toilets haha..She's the cleaning lady at the shopping centre where I work. I can't be bothered going into the story but anyways after the toilet incident, everytime she sees me now, she greases me!!! haha...

Going to go have some party gyoza and flied lice with Gem now.

See you rater!!! (Don't you just love Japlish!!) Peace out~ Ruv Micherre

Don't worry, I remembered!!

2006-09-18T18:56:00.000+09:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA!!! Hope you have a great day~ Hope you like the gift I got ya!!! hehe

Maid Cafe

2006-09-16T19:27:00.000+09:00

We went to a maid cafe last night straight after work and it was nothing like we pictured it to be. (i was expecting it to be like a hostess bar, being raunchy and stuff but) It was like 10 times crapper, the place was small, super bright and there were only 3 maids (none of which looked attractive at all), the drinks/service was crap too and expensive, 5bucks to play darts for 10mins only. But it was an experience in itself I guess, plus I was the only female customer hahah. I quiet like the service though, everytime someone went to the toilet they would notice and give you a wet towel to wipe your hands once u get back to your seat, sweeto! We didn't stay long, headed to an izakaya for drinks and dinner and enjoyed that! Below are some pics... didnt end up getting home til 3:30am, and we both had to wake up at 8ish the next day, whoaa i had a super bad headache from drinking some super strong sake and was buggered the next day at work. Dont think i'l be doing this as often as i would like to.

Anyway, Ive finally got some confirmed dates of people coming to visit. Ivy, Del and Merv, can't wait to see u guys!!!

Oh yeah, last Wednesday, we went to the movies for the first time in Japan...ill let gem tell u the story lol.. O we also went to watch a movie on Wedsnesday, Miami Vice, the movie overall was ok, went for too long i fot. Our first movie experience in Japan, i was expecting something different but wen we got there besides from the snack everything else was quiet the same. Snacks were weird!! Curry flavoured popcorn, cheese cant remember the rest.. ewww curry!!! The cinemas was soo hot... for some reason japanese people dont like turning AC indoor, i nearly fainted from lack of air, but then mish let some out so i was fine, was toxified but at least i was still able to breathe. Oh someting else that i found super hilarious, its customed for japanese people to sit through the ENTIRE CREDITS after the show, absolutely no one moved until it was nearly ending CRAZY!!! the lights were still off and everything like the movie was still rolling. Most funny part i found was it was all in English no subtitles watsoever and none of the japz can read it so i dunno why they bothered to sit and watch it lol anywayz i took a photo of the credits rolling while waiting for it to end....

Update!!

2006-09-11T21:13:00.000+09:00

OMG we finally got our net back - thanks to me (Gem was no help what-so-ever!!) hehe...it's so good to be connected to everyone again~ So so soooo much has happened since we last updated! The main thing was my besttt friend Julia came to visit meeeee!!! =) Had a great time in Tokyo and an even better time in Utsunomiya hahah I'll let Gem fill you in when he comes back from work tonight...in the meantime I'll try get some photos uploaded!!

woo hoo! We're up and back!! its been sooo diificult living with no net the last month or so. The good thing was it made us get off our lazy asses and go mingle with the commoners and peasants of this place. SOoooo has happened, where to start?!?... we got paid so we not longer lived in poverty, (hence no more borrowing toliet paper from work), i caught a disease from the students at work and was sick as a dog for nearly a week, nd den mish caught it off me and was sick for a few days also. I did my first all niter karaoke session with the her teachers, singing and drinking from 12am to 6am non stop, i had to purchase a new camera cause mish broke my original one, julia came to visit for a week (thats a whole blog there just by itself), we went to tokyo and spent 3 days there, (in various accomodations, lol), we took heaps of photos, over 200!! (thinking if we should post em all up, will take forever to do!!) Also been trying to learn japanese too, and i actually understand what their trying to say, (sometimes). woo hoo! Mish and julz got their hair done while in Tokyo, (so look for the before and after shots in the photos) i also got my hair dyed (home job by mish) and got my ears pierced by julz (also home job) while she was here (ouch didnt know it would hurt so much). WHat else?! oh ONE OF MY HOTTEST STUDENTS TOLD ME I WAS HANDSOME whoaa (definitely main highlight of Japan), i went to a local jazz club and met some "interesting" old people. Then i got to get up and have a jam with them, which was kinda of embarrassing cause ive never played jazz in me life. Oh mish crushing julz when she rolled over and lyed on top of her when they were both sleeping. (julz can explain the story, funny as!!) o yeah, julz trimmed, cut and shaped my eyesbrows lol. The weekend passed i went on a blind date, and turns out her sister was MISS TOCHIGI and also MISS NORTHERN JAPAN 2005 whoaaa!!! soo much more i havent mentioned. Will keep updating on the previous months we've been netless as we find the time.

Julias dumbest comments in japan....

(when wanting to eat MOS burger on her last nite)..... hey!! i cant wait to eat "MOSES burger"

(when she tried to be funny and wrote a note on the "please comment on our service card" at MOS burger).... "i dont understand Japanese, here "IN" english version is what i think"... (BAD ENGLISH! worst than my japanese students)

"when you buy a box of one dozen eggs, how many eggs do you get?" (lol ok i made that last one up)

"since its raining outside, if i ride the bike with no umbrella would i get wet?" (haha i made dat up too but dats a typical julia comment)

Going out wif julia was like going out wif a foreign exchange student, she didnt understand half the words we used, eg. shabby, ferris wheel, book, camera geez..

OH yeah and before I forget, THANKS JUNE AND LOZ for the stuff ya got us from AUST lol esp for the toilet paper =P

JULIA'S COMING!!!

2006-08-24T13:19:00.000+09:00

omg omg omg my best friend's coming next week to visit meee n gem!!! i still cant believe ittt.....happy happy joy joy!!

two brats in the same house... oh i feel so jollified...

Back to Basics

2006-08-15T12:04:00.000+09:00

Yo peeps, our net at home is down at the moment so havent been able to update or write blogs lately... not sure what happened but it suddenly didnt work no more, after 14000 phone calls to YAHOO BB we`ve had no luck cuz absolutely nobody speaks english. Thinking of disconnecting it too but not sure how we`re gonna be able to communicate that across either. So until then consider us to have dissappeared off the face of the earth. Check our page periodically in case we shall return if the world needs saving, ermz... think of us like SUPERMAN.... Megamish (Mega as in MEGA-fat) and Supergem.

Its been so boring with no net. nothing to watch, download, no one chat with. Its like living in 1935, all thats missing is the antique furniture from mishes house. Guess we gotta go make our own fun now. Gonna go hang out with the boys on wedz-dee nite, its like a multicultural gang... there`s one guy from Scottland (i can imitate him pretty good now, i love the scottish accent), one guys from New york, New Zealand, and gonna be a few others from England and Ireland. Gonna be checking out a few jazz clubs/bars as well within the next week or so... wanna find a nice place that i can go to a few times a month.

Julz, we wrote that postcard one month ago but have been to lazy to post it... u got it pretty fast... only one week hahaha...

thanks for all ur comments guys and gals, its nice to read up on it and see who`s actually checking out our page. We even get comments from ppl we dont even know which is kinda nice haha.

anyways at a public computer so cant stay long. about my recording, ermzz the more i listen to it the more embarrassed i get. so no comment from me.

P.s just so everyone knows im returning a half used roll of toilet paper back at work on Thursday!

Utsunomiya Festival

2006-08-07T19:49:00.000+09:00

During the weekend we went to the Utsunomiya Festival. It was held just outside our house, all down the main road, and some other roads. Japanese people really know how to celebrate and when they do everyone attends!!! I can't believe the number of people that went...I didnt know so many people lived here in Utsunomiya...there was like probably a million people or close to that!!! And all the chicks were dressed up in their yukatas...so prettttyyy....i want to get one!!!

Sorry if the pics are abit blur...I think I wrecked Gem's camera, it doesn't have flash anymore and doesnt take motion shots...gonna get it check out tomorrow...

we are so so poor at the moment.... well at least i am anyways.. onli got 20bucks left to last me til payday which is next tuesday. How am i gonna survive!!?! arghh Mish poos sooooo much here!! hahah we've actually ran out of toilet paper recently and have been using the free tissues they give out on the street. I actually had to wash my ass the other day cuz we're povo, lol onli joking (ermz maybe). But all good things much come to an end... we ran out of those free tissues as well yesterday, so i had to borrow some toilet paper from work today. (see above) i took a half used roll of toilet paper from work hahaha i promise to return it when we get paid next week. i'l just use half and i'l secretly put it back where i found it last. Ive counted, i need to return 129 sheets.

JOHARI WINDOW can u please do this for me?--> http://kevan.org/johari?name=megamish THANKS!!!

OMG

2006-08-06T19:44:00.000+09:00

Whoaaa massive festival outside... so so so so many hot chicks in their yukata's. Apparently they wear nothing underneath it... anyways gotta go downstairs and get meself some eye candy...

Gem and Sakura singing at karaoke: http://www.sendspace.com/file/6x0thm <-- What do u think??

I know its a little out of tune =P

Our weekend

2006-08-02T19:44:00.000+09:00

Ohhh before I tell u about our weekend, the other day Gem did something really sweet for me...he prepared a candlelight dinner for the both of us and got me these flowers in a noodlebox hehe..very cute!!! awwwww....if only he was like this everydayyyyy hehhe...

Anyway yesterday did another round of Tokyo, this time to go shopping for the Gemster. He was in search for some summer clothes as its still really hot here. We went to the usual places Shibuya and Harajuku(where i saw the hottest guy ever$ in the whole wide world)...and later we went to Ikebukuro. I think it was our first time there...He blew a load of yen on these new funky glasses he bought hahah...but i must say it looks pretty cool...

Today met up with Yuko and Sakura to check out some second hand bikes and later went to karaoke. Its was our first time going karaoke since we arrived in Japan. Its sooooooo cheap here to go karaoke here..100Yen (~$1) per person per hour inclusive of a drink, can u believe it?? It was so fun!! Sakura's voice was amazing!!! She sang Yuna Ito's 'Endless Love' and she sounded exactly like her. Eventually we persuaded Sakura and Jeremy to do a recording together hahah...some Disney classics. They ended up singing 'A whole new world' and 'Beauty and the Beast' together hahah...so now we have it on cd. Sakura's gona burn some copies for us...ill try and upload it once i get it hehe =P

Oh and some people have requested pics of our bikes hahah here they are!! Enjoy~

My legs feel like noodles

2006-07-31T00:45:00.000+09:00

I came with the intention of shredding a few pounds (or 50) when coming to Japan and Ive been trying to lose weight since ive been here… but its so not working with all the weird and exciting foods sold everywhere. ITS JUST SO HARD!! Newayz ive decided since im in Japan and not making any progress thinning down I might as well set a goal more attainable… yes im gonna be a sumo!

Mish and I rode our bikes to my workplace just now (11PM) by golly its far!! Seems so close on the bus though, grrr as long as the weather aint too hot I guess I can survive the distance, after all I do get to pocket all the travel allowance by riding…kekeke I was checking out ebay the other day, I saw something that’s worth 12k in OZ and approx 6K in Japan and the US going for 800 US buckaroos!! I couldn’t believe it!!! How?! What?! HUH!!?! Im so tempted to buy it but I dun wanna get jibbed! Any eBay experts out there who can tell me firstly how western union works? Thanks mate.

Can’t believe another week has gone by, seemed like only yesterday that we went to Tokyo and here we are, nearly another week. Its nearly August too, we came in mid June and to think its been nearly two months whoaaa we’l be back in no time. Im considering going to Tokyo again this coming Tuesday, my turn to go shopping crazy!! Purchased some Korean concert cds’ at HMV shibuya last week. So disappointed, the cd case says “1st live concert”, yadda yadda yadda so im tinking, “cool something to watch” turns out it’s a live audio recording of the concert! Why would I wanna listen to a concert?! Why would anyone wana listen to a concert!?! Watta waste of 40 bucks! Worst part is I saw the album for d/l on the net yesterday grr

I had my 3rd piano lesson yesterday, I aint learning it the conventional way here, im learning song by song and picking up little technicalities etc as I go through the music. My teacher doesn’t speak English and I dun speak nihon go (Japanese) so u try imagine how weird my lessons are. Ive managed to learn MOONRIVER in just 3 weeks, my teacher was horrified I learnt it so fast ekeke need to get my moneys worth! Plus I recently purchased a piano in Japan, so I need to use it regular to depreciate the value so I wont feel so bad. Next week im learning a new song, I told her I like ballads and asked her to pick me a good song to play; hopefully I’ll learnt something nice. I wanted to play something and put it up on this site but unfortunately I cant find a site that allows me to upload to it and put the link in html format, anyone know of any? Mish and I could put up songs we like to this page if so.

Mish and i went for dinner at an izakaiya (i think dats how u spell it) with one of our jap friends the wednesday just passed. Her English is quiet good but she made some super funny comments. It was basically japanese translated directly into Japanese. eg when speaking to us about her ex she says, "i didnt like his face". haha we need more jap friends here though. I dun really wanna hang wif the other teachers, i came to Japan to meet japanese people not foreigners.

Back to work..

2006-07-28T10:29:00.000+09:00

Wednesday we picked up the new guys from New Zealand, a nice couple, we showed them to their place. Jeremy and I were shocked when we went into their apartment because it's so much nicer and newer than ours (with the exception (thanks av) that it's outlooking a cemetery, which is abit freaky), they are paying less than us!!! Seriously thinking of moving...either that or asking Yuko to move in with us as she is looking for a place closeby too..

Spent the whole day with Yuko yesterday, eating and shopping, I'm ashamed to say I bought heaps again..but at least everything I bought was on sale hehe so I kinda made a saving =P Yuko almost lost her wallet...but lucky we found it in the bike basket. Thing with Japanese people is that no one steals...well, not many people do it anyway except maybe the punks! She spent heaps too..she recommended me to read some book called 'Shopoholic' lol...

Ohhhh last nightt...i found out for the first time I am allergic to something...I'm not sure what it is...perhaps it was the Oden (which Barny recommended me try) or the rice crackers I was snacking on...I got so so sosoosososo itchy everywhere...and had hives all over my body. I looked like Gem when he had that allergic reaction just before we left to Japan. I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror and now I have all these scars from scratching lol I wonder if any of my students or workmates will say n e thing later...

Well about to leave to work in about an hr. Late shift today, but its ok...This week should hopefully fly by since its only a 4 day week for me hehe..ciao ciao for now!!

Lost in Tokyo

2006-07-26T09:12:00.000+09:00

Arghh!!!! I was updating our blog yesterday and then Gem's laptop just decided to freeze on me just as I was about to finish and publish it!!! ...and I wrote sooo much too!!!...Guess it'll teach me to save periodically...

Anyways Gem and I went to Tokyo on Tuesday and had an awesome time, though half the time we were lost and trying to find our way around but I guess it was an adventure in itself. We left the house at 7.30am and didn't get home till 12.30am. First we visited Harajuku and Omotesando Hills, then we made a few wrong turns, got lost and ended up at some random train station. So we decided to take the train to Shinkjuku and our last stop was Shibuya before we headed home.

Unless my memory fails me, Harajuku seemed to have changed a little since we last visited. But our good ol crepe store was still there...so we had a strawberry strawberry...it was d-licious!!! After abit of shopping, we headed to Omotesando Hills, where all the big brands reside, nothing of which we could afford haha...but nonetheless, it was good window shopping!! We intended to head back to Takeshita street and the back streets around there but somehow got lost for about an hour...ended up at a residential area haha and was totally starving...wanted to eat Japanese food but ended up in a Chinese restaurant owned by some Honkie dude...food was so so...but it filled us up so we were happy! Then walked a little and lucky for us we found ourselves at a train station, one we'd never heard of~

Got to Shinjuku in a jiffy but headed out the wrong exit so the smoking police headed us in the right direction. On the way we went to a game centre (arcade) and won ourselves a toy with 600 yen, not too bad I guess~ There are soooo many humongous departmental stores in Shinjuku...Takashimaya/Tokyu Hands, Odakyu, Keio, Mylord, Isetan, Mycity to name a few!! Seriously didn't spend enough time there, but really wanted to go to Shibuya so we left.

Back to Shibuya again, this time I went shopping...went crazy at 109 I bought heaps hehe..finally I have some new clothes to wear!! Went past heaps of bizarre looking people...I wanted to take pics of/with them but Gem wouldn't let me!!! =P Went to HMV, had dinner then went home.

Was totally drained by the end of the day and didnt realise we had to change trains on the way home so took us twice as long to get home. Probably a total of 5 hrs travelling that day!...but it was worth it =)

Drip Drop Drip Woo hooo

2006-07-24T09:28:00.001+09:00

The weather has been absolutely beautiful this last week. Nothing but overcast and rain, (anything but the hot humid weather i say). Its nice being able to sleep without waking up in shock from drowning in ur own sweat. So, how has everybody been? I wonder if everyone is even checking out our page every now and then. Havent really spoken to anyone besides Julz via msn. People seem to be busy. Hope ya all doing well!

Anyways mish and i have been kinda scraping the bottom of our pockets lately, but having said that we've decided to head down to tokyo tommorrow. There's only so much we can do here (wen i say do, i mean shop). Not sure wear exactly we'l be going yet... mostly likely it'l be shibuya or harajuku. Doesnt make much difference though cuz they're onli one station apart. It aint like Melbourne where u can prob see half the city in one day. Each "suburb" (and i use that term loosely) is a major city in itself. Could probably spend a whole day in just one area.

We went to Varios the other day. Its the amusement park where i played soccer wif my workmates in a cage on the roof of the building. Havent gotten together to have a kick for a while though, since the last time we played one guy broke his wrist and another guy pulled a ligament (<== write spelling?) Those european boys are quiet serious about their soccer. ahaha Anywayz Varios, when im there its like a kid in a candy store. U basically pay about 70yen (about 1bux australian) per 10 mins while ur in there and everything in there is basically free!!! They have heaps of weird and cool games. I love the air rifle one, its like being in a real shooting range. I mite go back there tonite if i can b bothered. Its not close but i wouldnt say its far either. Its a nice ride if the weather holds up. oh just in case u didnt know, mish and i ride bikes around everywhere where we stay. Your prob tinking bikes?!?! must be really countryside hahaha... we'l take a picture one day and put it up. mish cant really ride properly still, ive seen old ladies ride with no hands and mish is struggling, (rolls eyes) shes getting better though. Pretty soon she'l be in the BMX champsionship (yeh rite!)

Was shocked outta my jox to hear that my workmate got run over by a car whilst riding his bike 2 nights ago...he claimed to have looked left and right and not seen the car and then the next thing he knew it he was in hospital...lucky he didnt get any serious injuries just some bruises etc. Anyway...I just got back from work...was glad to come home to see Gem had done a little bit of cleaning around the house this morning...yayy....Today is like friday for me, I've got the next 3 days off =) Will be busy busy busy having fun fun fun heheh...p.s 'hi linda' hahah...

Japan VS Australia

2006-07-22T23:17:00.000+09:00

WOW!! been so busy lately... training, work, going out, resting, sleeping... yada yada yada I didnt realise how fast time flies... im having a blast here. I didnt actually realise that i've been in Japan for nearly 6 weeks now until i was reminded today when i was staring aimlessly at the calendar on the wall during my lunchbreak and it hit me.

Looking back i dun miss a single thing about Australia. If i didnt have my parents and a career that ive already half way through and once finished wil give me the "fully accomplished in life" feeling, i could see myself living here forever. Who knows maybe a few more months and i mite decide to stay forever. The culture, the people, working enovironment and atomosphere in general i feel is all so suited to my personally. Im so relaxed here and just loving it period!

I met a few interesting people and had quiet a few business ideas flowing through my mind today. I had this student who actually does the same job i was doing back in Melb. It kinda gave me hope that maybe i can make a career for myself here doing the same job back in Melb but in JAPAN. I dunno if i could teach English, or at least work for my current company my whole llife. If i was to do something with English it would have to be something bigger and better, a university lecturer, work for the Japanese government or even start my own business. I actually have a potential business partner already. We'l make an awesome team i reckon.

Shibuya

2006-07-20T11:39:00.000+09:00

Yesterday we went on the shinkansen for the first time, it was a pretty comfortable smooth ride. It didn't seem to travel as fast as I thought it would, but I guess it was fast afterall because it got us to Omiya in half the time it would if we took the normal trains.

After training in Omiya, we headed down to Shibuya, Tokyo. I love Shibuya, its like my absolute favourite place in Japan- seriously there's so much to do there, so much to see, so many people!! Brought back all the old memories of when Jeremy and I were last there 2 years ago.

Went for food and drinks last night with some workmates at a random izakaya. Wasn't the best place for food but everyone seemed content. Then Jay, Mike, Gem and I made a mad dash back to the train station so we wouldnt miss the last shinkansen. Lucky we made it just on time!! Don't you just hate how public transport always ends so early?

Didn't join the others for drinks again after coz gem got travel sickness (again) so we grabbed some good ol maccas and went home and watched fast and furious tokyo drift. As always, I fell alseep before it ended =P so ill have to watch the rest tonight...Also watched pirates of the carribean last night...that was good!!

Mister donut

2006-07-17T22:49:00.000+09:00

Its 9pm and mish is already sleeping (having not showered I might add ewww)… ahhh some things never change. Living in Japan has been an interesting experience but living wif Mish has been an even more interesting experience. It’s like we’re basically a married couple now. A lot of changes and adaptions need to be made, mostly on my behalf. Dunno how Av didn’t lose his mind. Hmz how should I describe? Its kinda like… umm...

Well u know when u get a super itchy asshole, and for some reason its always when ur in some public place where there’s tones of people around and u cant get to it discretely? … so u go about your day trying to wiggle the itchiness and irritation away or try to do things to keep urself occupied so it’l take ur mind off it. Well living wif mish is kind of like dat… from time to time she’l irritate me for a while wif her bossiness or whining, and then I’ll go about my day trying to ignore what happened. Great analogy eh?? hahaha…. Well this is just my side of the story I’m sure there’s things about me that irritate her too.

Currently d/ling “Pirates of the Caribbean, dead mans chest” now, its not released in Japan till this Saturday, was planning to go to the cinemas to watch it but tickets are quiet expensive.. Approx 30bucks per person whoa!!! I conveniently found a link to d/l so I guess we’ll just watch it at home and save the dosh. I wanna watch a movie in Japan though, just for the experience esp with their weird snacks etc. Might go watch MI III wit workmates even though I heard it’s a crap movie. But like I said, just for the experience.

Thinking of going to Tokyo next week even though we’re just scraping by. Actually we’re gonna go to Tokyo this Wednesday, we got training in Omiya which is apparently not that far from Tokyo so we’ll drop down there for a while esp. since our company’s paying for our training traveling cost woo hoo.

Anyways we have a day off tomoz… got plans to pick up our alien registration cards at the city office tomoz. The cards basically an ID carda saying we’re foreigners (gaijin as Japanese pplz call us), saves us having to carry our bulky passports around everywhere anymore, which is a massive pain in the ass. You need that card for everything. Signing up for a phone, video card, bank account… kinda likes a license id thing. You basically can’t even poo before presenting the card to the toilet police.

Its raining its pouring...

2006-07-15T19:52:00.000+09:00

Theres rain, thunder and lightning outside at the moment...the weather is absolutely horrible...its so muggy!! Thank God for air conditioners!!! =) Don't know how I'd live without it on a day like this. Anyway, Gem's just left for his piano lesson so I'm stuck home alone, so what do I do? Jump on the net of course haha..

Today was by far the longest day ever, well it felt like it anyways. There's two things I hate about work, teaching senior kids classes and voice, both of which I had today (just my luck!). Then to top off the day, had to fully squish at the back of the bus, lucky had Liam, Adam and Rachel to keep me company.

About voice, it can be good some days I guess..but today I had 2 super low level students in my class, 2 super high level students and 1 inbetween. Low levels should be banned from voice!! They can't even carry a basic conversation, so it's pointless them being there. Today I asked the guy 'what do you do' (job) and he didn't even get that!!! Argghhh...really tests ya patience I tell ya!!! Anyways, please help me think of topics to talk about in voice. So far I've talked about 'the perfect man/woman', 'dreams', 'if you had 1 month to live', 'if you won 1 million dollars' and about good ol 'Australia' hehe how exciting, NOT!!

Gem and I got our first paycheck yesterday but it was only for half a month so we are running low on cash but nevertheless we're gonna head down to Tokyo this week after training with Mike and Jay... I can't wait..I can't wait!!!

I've got a new hobby!! Guess what it is? It's reading =P Yang will be proud of me for sure as I'm up to the 10th chapter of the book she got me 'Across the Nightingale Floor'.

Wondering how everyone is back home? So great to hear from ya all via email, very sweet of u all to keep in touch with us...xoxo

Annyong Haseyo

2006-07-14T23:08:00.000+09:00

Greetings from Utsunomiya, the land of gyozas (pronouced "go-za)and not much else!! We finally got the net connected today (yayyy!!!) and now we can get our blog up and running.

From now on, everything in PINK is written by MISH, and everything in BLUE is written by GEM and everything in YELLOW is written by BOTH OF US. Wakari masu ka?

The reason why we chose 'wakarimas3n' for the name of our blog is because we hear it everyday and also it is one of the few words in Japanese we know, which just so happens to be rather useful. 'Wakarimasen' in Japanese means 'I don't understand' *yawns* alhough we stated that yellow is from the both of us that was all mish writing in her wanna be sophisticated tone blah blah.. let me wake u all up wif a quick joke.. wat do u call a deer wif no eyes.... "no idea" hahaha OMG talk about stealing my joke!!! lol I told that joke in 'Voice' today and none of my students got the joke!!! So if you don't get the joke, either your super slow (jules?) or your english is really bad (jules?) ....Time for my next joke... what do you call a dead deer wif no eyes.... "still no idea" lol... OMG copyright mate!! Its late, got work early tomorrow, so I'll leave it at that for now...we'll keep this blog updated, so come and visit regularly ok?