Cherry Blossom Adventures

Yes, we are moving tomorrow and since Mandy left on Tuesday morning the week has been filled with packing, packing, more packing, buying stuff, and more packing. Which is why i have not written about my awesome weekend last weekend while Mandy was here. It might be put off for awhile since we move tomorrow and still have no idea when internet will be set up in our new apartment. Could be anyway from one week to six weeks….

The current apartment consists of empty furniture and boxes…boxes piled under the desk, on top of bookshelves, at the end of bed, on top of our getabako (shoe cupboard), on top of the fridge and just about anywhere else you could think of. Because turns out our stuff takes up more room when it is not contained inside drawers and closets!!! The new apartment is waiting for us in Nakano and once we are all set up I want to have a housewarming party…. but it probably won`t be before I get back from China since we won`t have furniture for a little while. (Am really looking forward to the Ikea trip though!)

So this is goodbye for now as it might be awhile before I can get online again! Big hugs though!

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A typhoon (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070716a1.html) and an earthquake (http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070716p2a00m0na001000c.html)have hit Japan this past weekend (The earthquake this morning at 10am). While we had some rain and wind from the typhoon Tokyo was more or less OK. The earthquake, which hit Niigata (Similar to the one that hit the same area in 2004) could be felt in parts of Tokyo. But just to let everyone know, we are fine. Apparently the typhoon even made news in Australia!!

Will do a proper update of weekend in the next couple of days. Have lots of photos from Mandy`s trip to Tokyo!

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My visa for China arrived on the weekend, all glued, stamped and ready to go in my passport. I was so thrilled not to have to go to the China embassy which is all the way in Roppongi! Shun filled in my forms online and I had to pay at extra 1000yen but it meant that I sent my passport and information by takubin (courier!) and they sent it back to me a week later.

It is a shame that I can not do that with immigration. I went and applied for my work visa about a month ago and I now have the notice saying I can go pick it up! For the last 18 months I have been using a Working Holiday Visa which gives Australian`s 18 months to stay in Japan and not have to get a work visa. I could of gotten a work visa when I signed a contract for my current job but I decided to wait it out a bit and apply now so that my trips to immigration have been spaced out a little. So as soon as I go to immigration and have it stamped into my passport I will have a legitimate working visa! Yay! While I know I handed in all the right documents and did everything right, until you get the little notice saying that you have being granted a work visa, you never know if they are going to turn around and reject your application so when you receive that little notice it is a bit of a relief!

Immigration is a depressing place. I am not sure if anyone else finds it to be like that or not. It is always crowded and the one in Shinagawa always has people outside one entrance smoking and standing around (Where immigration prisoners are held…people that have overstayed their visa`s etc) and they kind of look at you weird…I don`t know if that is just me or if they really do look kind of scary. Then you go inside and the people behind the desks are so sick of dealing with crap (Not that i blame them!) that they are always so rude. I have never had a nice immigration worker…maybe they do exist although unfortunately I have never had the pleasure of meeting one. You think they could at least be a little nice since chances are you have been waiting for more than 2 hours for them to call your number…

But anyway now that I have my visa issues sorted out, I am free to leave the country and go to china (I organized my re-entry permits already…I believe this is just another way for the government to get money off me…) and come back and stay for at least another year (possible 3…it didn`t state whether I was granted a 3 year or a 1 year visa)

So yay for me!

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• More dot points. It that allowed?
• Today I saw a cheese grater for 40 dollars. I paid 1.50 australian for our current one!
• It is 15/16 days until we move to our new apartment. It is 35 days until I go to China. It is 8 days until my friend Mandy arrives from Australia.
• Is it weird that I find packing up our belongings kind of relaxing? So far I have only packed things we really don`t need in the next two weeks, ie books, cd`s, dvd`s, winter clothes etc…but I have to say it is kind of fun.
• Cat`s brother is In Tokyo for a couple of weeks and we are all meeting up Saturday. I am really looking forward to a good night out on the town. I hope there is Karaoke. I have met Andrew before (When I was in Scotland!) but am really looking forward to catching up with him again.
• I quit one of my private lessons today. He is actually quiet famous (Although I had no idea when I met him…In fact I had no idea for the first couple of weeks, until Shun notices his business card and was like ` Why do you have this card?`….he wrote a famous comic in japan years ago and is still living off the riches etc. He is a nice guy, but due to moving, and everthing I had to quit. He is my longest lasting private lesson ever…I have been teaching him for a year and a half. I am keepin up the two different nine year old girls I teach since I feel like I can teach them more. Depending on how stressful moving and going home to Nakano each day is I will keep thing going as long as possible. It was kind of sad to say that the last lesson will be next week…
• Seriously, pregnant people are everywhere lately. Online, in real life, old friends etc….I am slightly worried! I read a blog the other day and one lady gave birth in the car on the way to the hospital….the thought of it scared me shitless.
• What the hell is facebook, and why is everyone going on about it?

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Dot points are in order…

• Shumpei and I signed a contract on a new apartment yesterday. It is officially ours on Saturday although we will not be moving in until the weekend of the 21st!!! Our new apartment is in Nakano and here is the floor plan….I can not wait to go shopping for furniture but renting the apartment is putting us back a few yen so it might be awhile before anything goes into it!!! Still very excited. Most excited about the fact that I will be able to have a table to eat at…instead of eating dinner on my lap, on the floor of our current apartment, in the bedroom!!! ( Don`t get too many ideas, the new apartment is still small by australian standards…it is 42m sq around about….)
• My friend Mandy arrives from Australia in less than two weeks…so excited!!! I need to email her ( Mandy if your reading…have not forgotten about you…really so excited! Will email you sometime this week!!!)
• My kindergarten (where I work) is being sold…It will be official sometimes next week and the new owner (Obviously depending on if she signs the contract or not) seems great! She is half Japanese and half American (Completely fluent in English and Japanese…grew up here from what I can tell) and I am really looking forward to working with her. Not sure if I mentioned that the two girls I work with Stefanie and Sumi are not resigning their contracts (This was decided before the current owner told us she was selling) so the next couple of months will be a little bit strange (and sad…I have really enjoyed working with them both!) and very busy. But I am looking forward to the challange!
• Apartment hunting is so stressful. I am so glad that technically it is over. We still have to move though…
• Am still debating whether or not I will give up blogging…I think if I did I would miss it. But recently I have not been blogging at all. I define blogging as writing my own, and reading others, but I have really been doing absolutely nothing. I think I will wait until after we move to make a decision!
• I am going to china in about 5 weeks. Quiet excited. I will get to see my mum, and do some travelling. I haven`t really travelled in over 18 months (Not including trips back to Australia…can you call a trip back to your home country travelling?) and I can not wait to get out and look around China. We are actually doing a private tour through a company called Helen Wong Tours…anyone know them? My mum got a lot of good reccomendations from others about the company so hopefully it will be good.
• I just want to say that I am so proud of myself. While my parents are going to help me out a little bit with moving costs (Did I mention it is costing us over 7000 Australian dollars just to get a new apartment) I have managed to save a lot myself to do it (Although I think shumpei will have to pay for the moving truck etc because I am now broke until the 25th!)…I have managed to save money before (ie. before I moved back to Japan in 2006…and I travelled through Europe before I came home but again I received a lot of help from my parents…Have I ever said that I have awesome and supportive parents? Well I do!) but I am really proud of myself this time. I saved about 2 and a half grand aussie dollars in two months!
• What is happening out in blog world?

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