Merry Christmas

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

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!!!

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

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

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

<-- 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

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.....

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....!!