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.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
Back to work..
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!!
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!!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Lost in Tokyo
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 =)
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 =)
Monday, July 24, 2006
Drip Drop Drip Woo hooo
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...
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...
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Japan VS Australia
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.
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.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Shibuya
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!!
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!!
Monday, July 17, 2006
Mister donut
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.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Its raining its pouring...
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
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
Friday, July 14, 2006
Annyong Haseyo
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?
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?
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