Gingerbread man

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

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!

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

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

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.

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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

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!

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?