Cherry Blossom Adventures

Well it is no surprise to me that I hate skiing almost as much as I hated snowboarding. While I wish I would like it I just don`t. It hurts my already crap ankles, I hate falling over and it is a hell of a lot of exercise! But I was better at skiing than I ever was at snowboarding….I just didn`t like it much.

That is not to say I didn`t have a fantastic time at Hakuba in Nagano-ken on the weekend. Because I had a bloody brilliant time, as most of the following photos will show you. You can see them all here!!!

I didn`t need to be skiing or snowboarding to have a great time. I was happy taking photos (I took even more than are uploaded to flicker above), riding the gondola, making snow things (We didn`t quite make it to a snowman though), drinking coffee, eating katsu curry, watching my friends stack it on their skis and snowboards and drinking and playing uno at night. Plus I love snow!!! There has been no snow in Tokyo this winter so it was good to get out of Tokyo and into the snow! The seven of us had a lot of fun…

Thanks to Junni and Leader for driving. And thanks to Junni, Leader, Mai, Cat, Nao and James for providing great company. Thanks to James and Leader who tried so hard to get me to ski…and for all the pointers. Sorry I still wasn`t having a bar of it (thanks to an old friend for lending me his expression! Hope your well WN) Can`t wait for next year. I`ll take Shumpei and perhaps attempt to ski again…or snowboard (although skiing is a lot more likely…but if shumpei has his way I will be snowboarding!)

I know I haven`t been uploading my blog much recently. I seem to spend all my time working, or spending time with Shumpei and friends on weekends. I work three nights a week too doing private lessons which I am actually really enjoying. I have done private lessons before but my current students are really good. Especially my little girl on Monday`s! She is so interested in learning and studying English and although she is only nine already knows she wants to study abroad!!

Work at the kindy is still going great too. The kids are so good and cute. Sometimes I want to steal one and bring her or him home with me. Shame there is no space in our apartment. I am pretty sure after 48 hours straight of the same child I would be ready to return them though!!!

There is something really great about watching a kid learn to write his or her name…then realizing they can do it, and watching them write it on everything is really really giant letters!!!! Sometimes not always in the right order!

I wonder what kind of adventures the new week and next weekend will bring!

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Nothing beats doing, eating, going to and spending time with your favourite things, places and people. Especially on your birthday!!! I managed to fit a lot of my favourite things in on my birthday weekend.

- A party (In which 27 of us ate, drank and went silly!)

- Seeing best friends. Some old and new!

- Date with Shun!

- Cake (I had three cakes!)

- Presents (Including Chocolate, flowers, photo frame, coffee cups and soup cups, body shop stuff, plants, furoshiki, a helmet and glasses, clothes, candles, a cool little camera and much much more!!!

- Shopping (with James of all people!!! And then Shumpei, Cat and Toshi on Sunday)

- Went to Odaiba (Forgot camera though!!! damn it!….)

-Caught the monorail to Odaiba (Have many fond memories of the monorail on the goldcoast!)

- Purikura

- Screwdrivers

- Other assorted cocktails

- Karaoke (And no other head injuries!)

- Phone calls from home. From mum, dad, brother and Gem (bro`s gf). Oh and emails from friends (Big shout out to Stacie, who got up and moved to Ireland without telling me. It was great to hear from you babe!!!)

- Asian ethnic food (Nothing beats a mix of Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian food!)

-Ferris wheel ride

-Fake statue of liberty

And they are just some of my favourite things!!!!!!!!!!! Can`t wait til my next birthday!! Photos will follow!

Update: Photos here!

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I`m still here just got nothing of interest to write about!! Valentines Day went well earlier in the week. Valentines day in Japan is not like Valentines Day in Australia. For one thing girls don`t receive gifts or anything. Instead they make chocolates or cookies for their partners or someone that they like ( I was lazy and bought them!) and then one month later on March 14th, a day known as white day, girls receive gifts from their partners. Basically it is all commercialism…the more holidays the more the department stores can have whole floors dedicated to valentines day or white day!!

It was nice though. We even managed to go out for dinner after work on Wednesday and spend some time together so it was nice. What did everyone else do for their Valentines Day?

And tonight I am having a party to celebrate my birthday which is tomorrow. I will be 22! I was in Japan for my 21st a year ago and it was a great night so I am hoping tonight goes well too. Just going to an Izakaya and then probably onto karaoke!!! And tomorrow Shun is taking me to Odaiba. I have only been to Odaiba once but I love it and am really looking forward to going tomorrow (Although I doubt we will get up before 2!!)

I got a birthday card from my Dad earlier in the week with money and a note and band aids. The note said that the money was to pay for singing lessons before I went to karaoke again so that maybe nobody would get the urge to hit me over the head. The band aids were for in case the singing lessons didn`t work!!! It made me laugh!

Occasionally I get postcards from my dad. He doesn`t have a computer and I doubt he knows what email is. I speak to him on the phone about once a week a so usually too. But the postcards or notes are my favourite parts. I still have a whole collection of them from when I lived in Japan last time. I love post, but something from my dad is guaranteed to make me laugh.

My mum sent a huge package filled with new jeans and clothes for me too and now I have jeans that fit!! YAY! We have been planning our trip to China recently and I will be going for 10 days in August with my mum. It feels like I haven`t traveled in ages and ages so I can not wait. We will be visiting Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, sort of on an independent tour thing!!! My mother is also going to Europe a couple of weeks after that with a close friend of hers and I am so happy for her. She has always wanted to go to Italy to visit a friend of hers. Her best friend from highschool, also named Laura (apparently It is not my namesake but I think it had a bit to do with it!) has lived in Italy for years with her husband. Mum has talked an talked about going to visit her for years and now she is finally going and she will be doing a cruise around Europe too. I am so jealous, but I can not wait to hear all about it and to hear more about all the planning!!!

My friend Cat has also started going out with an absolutely lovely guy and I am so happy for her. They are both coming tonight to the party and I am so happy to see her happy. This last year, coming back to Japan for us, has been a great one, but it has been tough as well. We have both been trying to figure out where we belong, if it is here, or our home countries or somewhere else. Not to mention employment problems, money problems to name a few. But things for both of us recently have all seemed to fall into place and while she is currently searching for a new job I know she is going to be here for awhile too and I know that the perfect job is just around the corner for her

Well James has just arrived so i better be off. He is supposed to help me decide what to wear since Cat is unavailable!!! He is not to happy about his new job…

Have a great weekend everyone!

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I got tagged by Enny to do this…last week, or perhaps the week before, or maybe even the week before that. I think I have done it before but I checked through my archives and all I could find was this and this and 100 things. So maybe I haven`t done it before…Or maybe I just didn`t look hard enough. I might of mentioned some of these in the 100 things…I don`t remember!

So most like the five things I am going to reveal about myself

1. I had my first kiss at 10. It was a childhood friend and now I found out recently he is dating a high school friend of mine…I introduced them a long time ago but they have been reacquainted recently since I have been back in Japan this time. (Yes mum it is who you think it is!!! ). There was also Bryce in preschool…and we gave each other a peck and walked out of school holding hands and told our mums. That was also the year I had the coolest birthday cake ever shaped like a ghost!

2. I used to get car sick/bus sick. Yet I would still read in the car. Now I hardly ever ride in cars or buses but when I do I must have water, a snack and a book (if I am not driving)

3.I had a teacher in kindergarten called miss Rainbow. Well at least I thought that was her name. Now I am a kindergarten teacher I realize how cool a name like that would be!! I mean I am`Dora` which is also pretty cool but not as cool as `Miss Rainbow`

4. I am a very emotional person. I can get emotional over the silliest little things. I also panic over small things…Like when I don`t hear from a friend who said she`d call. I worry that they might have had an accident or worse and people tell me I am ridiculous.

5. I always get excited about things and spend lots of money on`so-called hobbies` and then never do much after about a month. I should pull out my beads and make some jewelery! Or the stamp sets and make some cards!!! You get the picture….( Don`t get the wrong Idea I still do stuff like that occasionly but I am always so excited in the beggining!)

You can do the meme if you wish! I am not going to tag anyone. Since I don`t think anyone really reads my blog anymore cos I keep forgetting to update!!

Have a good week everyone!!!

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Not really a surprise!! Go take the quiz! Which sesame street character are you?

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you’re a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth.You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you’ll eat anything if cookies aren’t around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. “Me want COOKIE!”

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

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• I saw a dog the other day wearing earmuffs…It was wrong.
• I just chipped my front tooth, it is tiny, and Shun swears he can`t see it but I can. Now I have two chipped teeth…I don`t know how you fix things like that. Does the dentist file them?
• Mothers that think their children are perfect annoy me. For example if your child bullies another child and you tell both sets of parents about the problem you do not expect the mother of the bully to ring the owner of the school and complain about why we spoke to her daughter about bullying. Well, silly mummy, when your child says ` NO (followed by other child`s name)` repeatedly and `Your drawing is bad` for no apparent reason then we have to do something.Sure they are five, but it is still bullying, and we did not use that word by the way, but we felt we should explain to the girl in question why she shouldn`t say things like that and why we are all friends at school. When we explained to the mother she said she understood and that was ok, but then she rang the owner to complain saying that her daughter had said she hadn`t done the things we said. Yet all three of us teachers saw it. (By the way I am in no way in trouble over this, our native japanese speaker teacher did. I am just complaining that it is unfair and that parents need to realize that sometimes their children are going to do wrong!)
• Getting staples out of your head doesn`t hurt nearly as much as getting them put in.
• My birthday is coming up and I am really looking forward to it. Usually I am not a huge fan of b`days but I am organizing to have all my friends meet up for dinner and drinks and I can tell it will be a good night out!!
• I have finally lose some weight, only a couple of kilo`s but at least it is starting to come off now. YAY!
• There is a fish restaurant called kaikaya by the sea in Shibuya…If you are in Tokyo, and like seafood then you must go there. Fantastic!!!
• I had more observations but I forgot them…I should really keep a journal.

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