Cherry Blossom Adventures

I enjoyed been interviewed so much the first time I signed up again to be interviewed. This time by Amanda! So here goes…I think I am going to be pretty busy tomorrow so am doing this Saturday night before I go to sleep…and making sure it will get posted tomorrow…don`t you love technology!

1. In your response to Enny’s first question, you mentioned that there’s so many place you’d love to live, you can’t narrow it down to just one. Are there any places you’ve visited that you definitely wouldn’t want to live in?

There is no place that I definitely wouldn`t want to live in….I have quite liked all the places I have visited for different reasons. However I don`t think I would enjoy living in China very much because of the pollution…I know Tokyo is not much better but the pollution in Shanghai was dreadful…even though I liked the place alot.

But I think I could make a home for myself anywhere if I had too. As for living in other places in Japan, I could do it but I quite like living in a big city. I have foreign supermarkets, other foreigners, a lot of signs in English and Japanese and places to buy foreign sized clothes. I think the biggest thing is that while I am foreign,….In Tokyo nobody notices you as much as they would if you were in the country where foreigners are few and far between. Shumpei`s family lives in Chiba and even there I get stared at more than I would in Tokyo….and that isn`t even the country.

In fact I think I would always like to live in close proximity to a big city no matter where in the world I lived.

2. Do you think, should Shun and yourself have children, you’ll raise them in Australia, or in Japan? Or somewhere completely different?

It would be either in Japan or Australia I think. I think that when there were younger we would raise them here…I think once they reach school age, especially for junior high and high school that I would like to think that we could reassess the situation and decide what would be best for the kids. There are a lot of half Japanese half foreign children in Japan and they fit in a lot better than they did 20 years ago. It is a lot more acceptable now to have children that are biracial…However children that are half are definitely treated different. I have heard stories, both good and bad. People coming up to young children on the street and demanding they say something in English, or being teased at school due to their lighter coloured hair and eyes. If we had children and they were facing these problems then I might rethink living and raising them in Japan….I have thought about it a lot but until we have children it is really hard to answer this as we really do not know what will happen.

3. You get to teach your students one life lesson- something you don’t think they should live without knowing. What would that lesson be?

That they should treat people the way they wanted to be treated. This is something my mum instilled in me growing up and it is a great piece of advice….Even if people don`t treat you back the way you wish to be treated at least you know that you did the right thing. I think that I try to do this with the kids at school….even at three a child knows that they don`t like to be pushed or have their toy taken away…so if you explain to the child when they do that whether or not they would like it to be done to them they learn quickly that if they don`t push their friends their friends won`t push them back. Of course they are children, and the pushing is still going to happen sometimes!

I think the best thing about international schools is that a lot of times the Japanese kids in the classes get to associate with foreign children (and teachers) I love the fact that the lesson of acceptance is been taught to them at a young age. In Australia it is different because it is such a multicultural place and while I know that racism exists there is still acceptance in most places. The Japanese children will remind each other to speak in English if one of the foreign children is playing too because they know that they might not understand otherwise. They are very accepting of the foreign children that come to school (the foreign children are also accepting of the Japanese children ) and I think that this will help them later in life. I am not saying all Japanese people are afraid of foreigners but the kids in my class are more likely to help a foreigner as they get older just because they have been exposed at a younger age….I think that once they go off to Japanese schools if there are foreign or half children in their class I think that they would more than likely be one of the first children to befriend the child that is not full Japanese.

4. What would you show a visitor to Brisbane, assuming you were home to host them?

I don`t know. The beach…although I guess we`d go to the Goldcoast for that? This is hard…I think when you are from somewhere it is hard to decide what visitors would like.

If they were visiting Australia from another country then I would take them to Lone Pine Sanctuary and Mt Kootha to see the view. Then maybe into the city around Queens street. Also to have fish and chips down at Manly. I have done all of these things with Shun!

If they were Australian maybe to the valley, just because there are a lot of good place to shop and eat and drink around there.

5. Is there anything you wish you’d done differently in your past?

I wish I had studied Japanese in high school when given the opportunity…Then when I entered university I could of started at a higher level. My level now would probably be the same but it would have meant my first six months in Japan I would have been able to communicate better.

I also wish that I had practiced Piano more and kept it up….I played from age 3 or 4 til I was 18 but I was never as good as most people who had played for that long.

There are a lot of things I could have done differently and didn`t. I wouldn`t say I regret anything because where I am now is the place I want to be at….but like I said I could have done a lot of things differently. There are some friends from childhood and after that I wish I had kept in contact with better but I guess losing touch is part of life.

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Now it’s your turn. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment including the words “Interview me.” I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don’t have a valid
email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Last time only one person signed up to be interviewed, so come on people I want to be the one asking questions for a change!

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Am on my way out to Shumpei`s parents place for dinner….I don`t really want to go. But I am going….I even washed my hair! I like Shumpei`s family but sometimes there is too much talk of the future when I am there…at first his mother wasn`t so happy about us living together before we got engaged or married and 18 months later we are still living together and are not engaged or married…

How do people handle in-laws?

Anyway am off to Design Festa tomorrow and am very excited…might even meet up with some fellow blogger friends (Some of which I already know in RL and others which I might meet for the first time tomorrow!) I am going by myself…It starts at 11 and I want to be there by then so it will mean an early wake-up (If you consider 9am early, as I do!) but I slept on and off until 3pm today so it shouldn`t be a problem.

In other news, the move to the new school is happening this weekend so from Monday I will be at the new place.

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Yes it is only 40 sleeps until Christmas! I can not wait.Christmas is my favourite time of year with out a doubt, no matter where I am (In other words I do not care if it is hot or freezing, raining or snowing!)

I have always loved Christmas. I was the kind of child that woke up on Christmas day anywhere between 2am and 5am…I could barely contain my excitement. My brother and I must have driven our parents nuts! It wasn`t even just the presents that got my brother and I so excited (Although of course that contributed)…It the carols, the food, the shopping streets, the present buying and giving, the present receiving, seeing family, going to midnight mass, Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, wrapping presents, making cards, advent calenders, stockings….Everything together just made the whole day, and days leading up to it so special.

We used to leave carrots for the reindeer’s, and milk and cookies for Santa. My parents would go overboard every year and buy about 5 times the amount of presents they should of! My brother and I were the most spoiled children I knew….

One Christmas memory I do have from when I was about seven or eight years old is staying down the goldcoast for Christmas…and my mum and dad organizing for us to go to a special restaurant for Christmas lunch. My parents paid a ton of money for this lunch which I think was a buffet…and my five year old brother asked for a Vegemite sandwich (Might have been peanut butter)…he refused to eat anything….and me I was always a fussy eater (Still am!) and probably only ate a small plate of dessert and turkey…

This was also the year that I saw the `REAL` Santa Claus…I knew even at this age that their were many `Santa`s helpers` that helped Santa out at Christmas by dressing up as him to speak to all the kids and hear what they wanted so that they could pass it onto the `real` Santa….But that year at a department store on the goldcoast I saw the `real` Santa….he was perfect. Perfect Santa outfit, perfect beard, old enough to look like a real Santa and the most amazing glasses….the glasses did it……They were magic glasses that completed the whole look! I will never forget that Santa….I remember telling my parents that I had thought he was the real Santa and my dad saying `You know Lu, I think your right`

I am so excited to be spending Christmas home in Australia this year!

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I saw a post on Amanda`s blog the other day and couldn’t`t wait to try it myself! You set your ipod to shuffle and write about the memories you have from each song….

I skipped two songs in the shuffle while doing this…Just thought I should let you all know I cheated a little! One was dialog though from a movie and the other song I don` think I had ever heard before and I still have no idea how it ended up on my ipod. You might notice that there is nothing really new on my ipod…This is because since my computer broke earlier this year (Late last year even?!) I haven`t been able to upload any new music to my ipod…I have to be content with listening it at home on Shumpei`s computer or on the cd player!

OK, here goes…

Sgt.Major- Jet

Don`t have any particular connection or memory with this song in particular but this album has been played over and over again. I know I got completely sick of the song Are you gonna be my girl….but even now when I listen to this album I still can`t help but think you can`t bet much better than Aussie rock (Most of my favourite bands are Australian!)

The way you make me feel- Michael Jackson

This comes from a number one hits album that my friend bought in Hong Kong! The first tape I ever got was Michael Jackson (after tapes with kids songs and nursery rhymes I mean) and it brings me back to a time when I had a little white tape deck….that I swear still worked until a couple of years ago….You could also record voices with it and my brother and I would sing and talk into it and send it to my grandparents in New Zealand. Michael Jackson always makes me think of primary school when we learnt `Heal the world` and sang it all the time in school….we even had actions. I know this song, `The way you make me feel` quite well but there are other Michael Jackson songs that I know better….I also have some Jackson five on my ipod somewhere.

Four Seasons in one day- Crowded House

Wow, I have had this CD for such a long time. My second ever CD after Tina Arena (Which strangely enough I do not have on my ipod :p) Any time I hear songs by crowded house now I can`t help but think of Paul Hester`s suicide….I had a cousin commit suicide when I was very young…I did not know him well but anything about suicide makes me think of him. I adore crowded house, it has been a love that started young and has lasted the long haul………When I think of the amount of music I have, some of which I might never listen to again, this is a song and band that I will always come back to, no matter what the trends in music bring.

Fly- Lenny Kravitz

On a mix Cd my brother sent me the first time i was in Japan. Lenny Kravitz was all the rage in high school and this is one of my favouirte songs by him I`d have to say. This song made me realize that I used to know all the words to this song and many others but now I have to be content with just humming along because I seem to have forgotten most of the words to the verses.

Paint the Silence-

I have no recollection of this song…but I really like it. At first when it came on I wondered if I had even heard it before but I realize now that I have….I have added it to my on-the-go list so that I can listen to it and develop memories of it for the future! (The memory will be discovering it while doing a meme for my blog!)…In fact I have no idea who the artist even is since it didn`t come up on my ipod. It is a mystery song!

Did you ever love somebody- Jessica Simpson

I would first like to point out that this is the only Jessica Simpson song on my ipod…I think! It brings me back to high school when Dawson’s`s Creek was my world and how I wanted to be just like Joey. This song comes off a Dawson`s Creek soundtrack and is one of two that I own. I can`t say that it was my favourite song on the album but I have listen to this album about 500 times or more so that means I have probably listened to this song that amount of times also….

Strawberry Sex- Ken Hirai

Japanese pop….This is the funniest song although I do not know the whole meaning of the Japanese lyrics…It starts of with the words love love love over again. This song reminds me of conbini music….some conbini`s have music playing in the background of their stores and it is always this kind of genki Japanese pop music. I fell in love with a singer called Ai Otsuka from listening to her music at the local conbini near my university when I studied here in Tokyo originally….I was given a mixed CD of Japanese pop from a friend before I returned to Australia in 2006 and this was on it.

From what I can tell strawberry sex refers to holding hands and hugs!

Weir- Killing Heidi

This brought back memories of BDO 2001 and receiving this CD for my birthday. I saw Killing Heidi live in 2001 amongst a bunch of other bands…It was my first BDO (and so far my first!). I had a crush on a younger boy at the time and he was at BDO with me that day…and my friend Clarie! We came home covered in mud…..

Til I hear it from you- Gin Blossoms

Empire Records how I love you so! This has got to be one of my favourite films ever…and this song is from the soundtrack…You might start to notice that I have a lot of soundtracks on my ipod…after Aussie Rock it is is probably my favourite genre of music….I love that on one CD from any film you can find music from all over! I can`t remember the exact first time I watched this film but I can remember the many numerous times I have seen it since. I love this soundtrack almost as much as the movie…

I used to have quotes from this movie scattered through my school diary at LHC….

Warren:: Who glued these quarters down?
A.J: I did.
Warren: What the hell for, man? A.J: I don’t feel that I need to explain my art to you, Warren.

Full Forever- Goo Goo Dolls

Every song on this CD reminds me on the kaikan at Cat K and the third floor kitchen. The kaikan is where I lived the first time I was in Japan…….Cat K had a copy of this CD and we played it over and over while sitting around in the third floor kitchen, cooking dinner, drinking wine, vodka, beer and anything else we could find and smoking cigarettes. There might have even been some dancing……One of my strongest memories of Cat K and this CD was Christmas Day 2004 in which we polished of several bottles of wine and champagne after breakfast and wrote to her friends in Britain to tell them her boyfriend of several years had dumped her on Christmas eve…….we were drunk by 9:30 in the morning and spent most of the day watching 24 and listening to music. Cat K and I are not in touch so much anymore….and I really regret this….but every time I hear any goo goo dolls song (Or Matchbox 20) I think of her….and every time Christmas rolls around I remember this day!

No Eleanor Rigby- B.B Seaton (Trojan Beatles Tribute)

A reggae cover of the this famous beatle song. I have a vague memory of buying this Cd and I remember that it was cheap and that I bought it hear in Japan. I love the Beatles and at the time I was going through a huge reggae period…The first time I was in Japan I made friends with some people that DJ`d reggae music and I went to a fair few gigs…This is going on my must listen to again sometime pile!

Waterloo- ABBA

What ipod is complete without something by Abba or The Beatles…Abba and this song remind me of three things….my fathers hate of ABBA, My high school friends Jen and Nicky dressing up as ABBA for a dress-up party because they love ABBA with a passion and a pub that used to called the Waterloo although hasn`t been called that in years….Although I doubt they every played ABBA there. At the old Waterloo was where poor Shumpei was refused entrance because he had no ID and he was so embarrassed because he was 24 at the time!

One Love- Bob Marley and the Wailers

Vivid memories of this song. Camping in Chichibu in Saitama three and a half years ago. First time camping in Japan and Ryomei played this CD non-stop for the whole time we were there….I woke up with one of the worst hangers of my life and it was also the weekend that I found out that in Japan camping food is curry…….and that in Japan GIANT bugs do exist. This is also a favourite Karaoke song……

Commerce.TX- Ben Kweller

I totally forgot I had this guy on my ipod. I guess that is what happens when you have 20GB…I got this CD from a good friend Anna. Her and I share a love for similar music (Including our biggest joint passions The Whitlams and Powderfinger. I have no recollection of this song whatsoever but I feel myself and Mr Kweller are going to be getting a lot more acquainted again over the next couple of weeks. He reminds me of another artist…I can`t quite put my finger on it. Ben Lee perhaps?

I`ll be Okay- Amanda Marshall- My Best Friends Wedding Soundtrack

Not my favourite song off this soundtrack but I like it all the same and the lyrics of the whole song fit the movie so well (`I want you to be happy…you`re my best friend). I got this CD when I was 12, the Christmas before I started high school and it has got to be one of my favourite CD`s of all time. The title always striked me as so simple but yet so perfect….

Big Brother- Stevie Wonder

Well I remember when I knew I loved Stevie Wonder and I have my friend Hiro to that for that……This song reminds me of a DJ event I went to by the afore mentioned Hiro. I owe Hiro a lot because the reason my Japanese got better over the summer that I was off from uni in Japan is because he spoke no English really and spoke only to me in Japanese. The DJ event was a mix of soul and RnB music. I love to raid Hiro`s record and CD collections too and this song is off a CD I got from there.

Stevie Wonder is someone I would really love to see live!

I Wish- Alex Llyod

I am noticing that I tend to have memories of artists or albums more that I do from particular songs. This if from my favourite Alex Lloyd album and I do love this song….I am a big believer in wishing and hoping and songs with words and lyrics like this.

I remember when I first discovered Alex Lloyd…summer of 2001/2002 December….Stradbroke Island with my high school girlfriends….camping for a week. I was 16 and it was the song `Amazing`…not sure if Straddie was the first time I heard it or if it is just the first time I remember hearing it….I could make a life soundtrack from that summer with a bunch of music from all over and this song would definitely feature on it. That was an amazing week. I met my first bf and first love that week and we were together for two years. This was one of the funnest weeks I ever had as a highschooler……I guess it had a lot to do with freedom. I was 16, going into my senior year and away for a week of fun, playing in the sun and drinking and I guess Alex Llyod and his song Amazing and his songs that followed remind me of that week!

Little Sister- Jewel

I heart Jewel…I am so glad she came up on this. This is off the first Jewel CD and my favourite song off the CD. I can`t explain it, but its the pace of this song that I like…….

It reminds me of a time when I was in Choir…I had never really met anybody else that liked Jewel much until I started singing for one of the really small choirs at school when I was 14. I made friends with two girls Lucy and Alana……both of which had these amazing voices. They both adored Jewel also and we used to sing some of the songs together…I only did choir for a year and a half but it was a fun time.

And it Stoned me- Van Morrison

I have some strong connections to Van Morrision and my love for him started in the summer of 2001/2002 that I mentioned earlier. If I listened to too much Van Morrison I would start to cry…..He was introduced to me by my ex-boyfriend and his father…….Him and The Eagles. I knew of him and the Eagles before this of course but when I told the ex`s father that I didn`t really know that many songs by them he made me listen to the cd`s over and over again. The ex once wrote a message about missing me with some lyrics taken from a Van Morrison song…

Thrillology- Powderfinger

I have seen Powderfinger live a couple of times and they are the most amazing band. I adore them! This song reminds me of my senior year when this CD was played so many times I could probably have sung the whole CD from beginning to end in my sleep….I am pretty sure that the song `My Kind Of Scene` featured on my senior video.

Any time I hear a Powderfinger song I think of a concert I went to near South Bank, I don`t remember the name of the place they had it but they have a lot of concerts there and it is an open stage. Lying on the grass waiting for them to come out (John Butler Trio was the start act) and when they came out and started…….and their encore. Amazing…

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This has taken me a long time to write out (I had most of it written in my diary….I wrote some of it on the train on the way home from work the other day)….but 20 songs is now finished. I loved doing this……..It is amazing to think how much music really does play a soundtrack to our lives….

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Apparently all foreigners in Japan *might* be terrorists so from the 20th of November every foreigner entering into Japan will have to be fingerprinted and photographed...this is not just visitors to the country but even those who live here and have visas (In fact even people with permanent residency here will need to do the same thing…people who have lived here for years and years and years)….The thing that gets me is that there has never been an act of terrorism in Japan that wasn`t done by Japanese people…yet this is their excuse for demanding these details….although at the end of video I watched they also mentioned it is to keep out `Foreign criminals` and people who overstay their visa…….Apparently the fingerprints and photos are also able to be exchanged with other governments.

Since I am traveling back to Australia in December on my way back in January I will need to do this for the first time. Do you have any idea how long that will take??? Plus you have to do it EVERY time!!! I can just see myself after a nine hour flight arriving back in Tokyo, just wanting to get back to my apartment to find instead of an hour waiting in line I will need to wait five.

It is times like this I really hate Japan…..We are already forced to carry alien registration identification cards on us at all times (Which police or government officials can demand to see at any time…without reason) and now we have to be subjected to this……Perhaps this really is needed to stomp out terrorism but I do not beleive this to be the case…

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I noticed this post over on Enny`s blog the other day and It was interesting to see what questions Enny answered for her interview! So I signed up and received my questions from Enny…then if someone reads my blog and wants to be interviewed by me I can ask them five questions!!!!

1. If you weren’t living in Japan, where do you think you would be living?

If I wasn`t living in Japan then I think I would be living in Brisbane still, or maybe Melbourne. If it wasn`t in Australia though I would like to think I would be living in Edinburgh, Scotland or maybe in France. Or maybe Ireland. The possibilities are endless! I love this type of question because I would love to live somewhere else other than Tokyo or Brisbane before I die! My favourite question for people is where they want to go next…

I hate that I never have enough money to travel. Unless my parents are helping me out…becoming financially independent is on my lifelist…It is something that I have wanted to acheive since returning to Japan but haven`t had much luck with it yet. Working on it though!

Oh and I also loved Munich in Germany…I could live there!

2. If you and Shun were to get married, would you take his surname?
What type of names would you likely give your children?

I am not sure if I would take Shun`s surname…but probably I would, or would definitely use it most of the time if we had children, even If I didn`t legally change it. I would become Laura Marushima. If we had children then they would most likely have short japanese (maybe English) names that are easy to pronounce. Although it would mean giving up on a couple of the names I loved growing up!!! For girls something like maya, mia or yuri for boys maybe Kai, Kei, Jack or Hiro.

3. You took me and The Hun around Harajuku and we had a fantastic day.
Which 3 - 5 bloggers would you love to show around Japan and why?

Bit of a tough questions.

Deb: I would love to take Deb around Japan because as a photographer I think she would love it. She had also been planning on coming here but her plans fell through which was disappointing but I know I will get to show her around one day. I would hope that some of her photography talent would rub off on me at the same time.

D`Jen: I would love to take Jen around Japan because I think the cuteness of it all would overwhelm her and it would be fun to watch! I think she has always liked Japanesey things and she seems to like my blog which means she is tops in my book! Also we got on well in real life and I would love to see her again….we had a road trip to the goldcoast and I think that if I got around to getting my license changed to a Japanese one then we could have a road trip out to izu for a couple of days, a beachy area of Japan! I would want her to bring Jac along for the ride of course! I think Jen would get a kick out of the way things work here too, I think it would give her enough blogging fodder for months!!!

Suzy: I want Suzy to come back to Japan and instead of showing her around I would like to show off her new baby boy to the Japanese world! Suzy and I used to work together…and now that I am getting crafty I wish she was around so that I could show her what I was doing and she could fix my mistakes and inspire me. She already knows her way around Japan but I would love to take her to all her favourite places from the times that she was living here. Even though we didn`t see each other that often after we both left our old jobs it was always good to catch up with her….she did attempt to teach me to knit just before she returned to Australia and it was hopeless but now that I am knitting again I really wish she was here again! I hope this one counts, even though I wouldn`t technically be showing her around Japan!

Rachel: I want Rachel to come because she is just across the sea in Korea and I met her when I was in Scotland a couple of years ago (She is Catherines best friend!) and it would be great to see her again. I kind of like playing tour guide and I think we would run a riot in Tokyo if she came over. I really think Catherine would love to see her too!!! I do hope she makes it over here before she moves on either back to Scotland or wherever her life will take her.

Gala Darling: I discovered her blog a couple of days ago and so far have been so inspired! I want to meet her! She loves Japan apparently too and I would love to spend a couple of days exploring Tokyo with her. I can tell she`d be a lot of fun! ANyone that has never checked out her blog simply must…NOW! I think she could show me a few things about Tokyo that I wouldn`t know either!

4. What jobs do you think you will have and/or wish you could have in your life?

I love books, I really adore them and I have always wished I could work in a bookstore. or even own a bookstore that had a coffee shop attached. Books and coffee…I would fuel both my passions in one go.

I have a degree in PR which I have never really used. I suppose I could do PR?! I am good at organizing stuff, so event PR would be a lot of fun I think! I think this is more likely a job that I will get into if I went back to live in Australia. I don`t handle stress too well though so maybe it won`t hapen!

I wish I could be a translator too but I know my Japanese will never reach the level I need to become a proper translator!

I also think it would be fun to be a tour guide. I did this a little in Australia with Japanese high school students who came to Australia…I was more there translator than tour guide as there tour was already planned and I just got to go on for the ride. I love traveling, although I think the problem with tour guiding is that you have to visit the same places over and over again which might make you crazy after awhile.

I thought I would list the jobs I have had up until this point also…

- Newsagent clerk, Kmart check out chick and lay-by girl, secretary at a Property rental place, temping various places mostly government work…admin and some basic PR, International School Teacher, Assistant manager of a company in Japan that helps foreign woman organizing events and writing for some of their magazines and also sales for the same company…thats about it.

One thing I know for sure is that I never want to do a job in sales again

5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

This is tough because I really have no idea. I really have no idea even where I will be in the world. But I will probably be married with a child or two living in either Tokyo or somewhere in Australia. I hope I own a bookstore! I can never answer this sort of question well…but I love reading other peoples answers to it! I hope to have acheived a lot mroe in my life before the 10 years are up though that is for sure!

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Now it’s your turn. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment including the words “Interview me.” I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don’t have a valid
email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the
same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

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November is National Blog Posting Month (I am guessing that National refers to America…Shouldn`t it be International?!?) and I have decided that I will attempt to blog everyday for the rest of the month. Don`t think I can do it? Neither can I! But hey I am putting it out there and it is the 12th today so really I only have to blog for everyday for another 18 days. I am obviously not joining the real NaBloPoMo since I am too late but I am jumping on the bandwagon for now. I wonder if posting a photo counts as a blog post for one day? I have a couple of ideas for blog posts, but at the moment definitely not enough to fill 18 days worth…and by the time I get home from work I have forgotten anything interesting that has already happened to me because I just want to sleep or watch TV….

Is anyone else attempting to do something for NaBloPoMo?

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Yesterday and today are the first International iCiNG Day (Thank you to Sigsy for putting me on to this great blog!) which is a celebration of ourselves and what we hold dear to us. The theme for the first International iCiNG Day is `I Love…` Since I have only discovered this blog today (and it just happens to be international iCiNG Day) I haven`t had a lot of time to think about it, but I thought for the first one I would just write a list of things I love (Since I do not have the time before midnight to throw a party for all my friends and family who I love dearly!)

So here goes…things I love as of 11th of November 2007…Keep in mind I am going for more of a random list of things

• I love discovering new blogs such as galadarling.com and having those inspire me to do something.
• I love the colour pink and the colour green and can not imagine life without them.
• I love the fact I am going back to Australia at Christmas time…
• I love that it is almost Christmas
• I love that I have finally learned to knit again properly
• I love that lately I have become more creative
• I love my winter clothes
• I love Autumn crispness
• I love Craftster.org
• I love haircuts (I desperately need one!)
• I love massages
• I love discovering new restaurants in my local area and finding places that we love and continue to go to all the time until the staff and owners begin to recognize us (Although I do tend to stand out a little in restaurants usually!)
• I love remone, a Japanese softdrink.
• I love chocolate cupcakes.
• I love weekends
• I love Japanese fabrics and wish I could learn to sew with them
• I love strawberries especially in fruit salad
• I love learning to cook new things!
• I love it when I can remember Japanese words for things
• I love my ipod
• I love books and wish I could surround myself with books all the time
• I love many more things but it is too hard to list them all here at this time since I could go on forever and forever and forever.

And of course I love Shumpei, my family and my friends! I love you guys most of all!!!!!!!!!!

I am now going to devote the rest of my evening to doing things that I love…maybe some knitting, beading and cruising around on other people`s blogs!

What do you love?

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• Will need to be in dot points since I have a lot to say on a lot of different topics. I got my blogging mojo back a couple of weeks ago and was posting a lot and then I got stressed out with work and life and things going on back home in Australia and lost it again. I will try to get back into it though…I like blogging, I like reading other blogs and I like the fact that it gives me a chance to write when normally I wouldn`t write anything in English anymore. Except maybe my diary…which like blogging happens in stages. I am in a diary writing stage at the moment so am writing or doing something in it everyday (For anyone that keeps a journal or diary I have found keri smiths sites inspiring!) however because of that it has meant I have not been blogging.
• Kyoto last weekend was fantastic….I had a great time and it was so good to catch up with kanako. I would post pictures except I dropped my camera on the first day I was there and now it doesn`t work. I have taken to get it fixed but it will take a couple of weeks. I was so angry that I wanted to cry…I had been so looking forward to taking lots of photos. Anyway apart from that everything went well….We visited about 10 different places and I love the fact that you can get a 500yen bus pass in Kyoto that lasts you all day. It was just as I had remembered it…this time though I did manage to see a couple of other places, even a couple that were not as populated with tourists…Seeing all the zen gardens really makes me want a Japanese garden……I loved the rock gardens too. The amount of effort they put into them each day is amazing. Seeing Kanako again was great like I said. We met up on the Friday night, just her and me, for coffee, and I have to say it was a little strange to be seeing her again after so long and we had a couple of awkward silences (We found it hard to choose a language to speak in…up until now in person we had only ever used English…although recently when I had spoken to her on the phone I used Japanese because I thought it would be easier….we write emails too each other in English though….we started out in Japanese but switched to English later as she said she never gets an opportunity to speak English with native speakers anymore….I am so jealous of her English…..Even now, after been back in Japan for 5 years her English is still fantastic, if not better than it was when she lived in Australia.) We met up again the following night for dinner and Shumpei came and her boyfriend Kengo, it was my first time meeting him but he was great, a real funny guy. We used Japanese mainly that night since the boys don`t speak English much. Then her and Kengo came to say good bye to us the next day at Kyoto station where we all had lunch together before getting on a shinkansen to Tokyo! Since coming back to Tokyo a week ago we have emailed back and forth a few times. It really was so great to see her again, and to remember what we had been doing five years ago in Brisbane, and three years ago in Kyoto. It made me realize how much I had missed her and I think her and her bf will be coming up to Tokyo early next year to stay with Shun and I (The best thing also was that Kengo and Shumpei got on great…Shun is a little older than him and usually the both boys are a little shy but they got on famously!) I hope to visit Kanako again sometime next year after she returns to Nagasaki to become a junior highschool English teacher. I have never been that far South (I have only been as far as Hiroshima) so I am looking forward to that too.
• I am going back to Australia for Christmas. My dad was meant to come here on the 26th of December but he can`t come now and there has been a lot going on in Australia recently with my family, some of it which has contributed to my stress etc recently, so I have decided to go home for 2 and a half weeks on my winter break. My dad`s health hasn`t been so great lately but it isn`t the only reason I am going home. I can not wait to spend some time with my mum and my dad and my brother and his gf (Although they take off for Europe on the 1st of January for six weeks, lucky things). My parents are separated and this will be the first Christmas I have been in Australia since they separated which I think is going to be a little bit strange for me…..but then again my parents still get on well and have always been there for each other so I am sure it won`t be much different to Christmas’s` in the past. I look forward to doing almost nothing for 2 and a half weeks….I really need the break!
• I have been getting really crafty lately…I even want to bring my old sewing machine back to Japan with me in January. But I have being beading more and have started knitting. Am on to my second scarf but I did a lot of squares to work out some new stitches etc recently too. I have a fair bit of yarn stock piled with some other projects in mind…I attempted some baby booties the other day but they need a little work…Might go back to them this afternoon. I have also bought some cards to make my own Christmas’s cards…I need to get a start on them though otherwise Christmas will come and I won`t have even started. Might do some of that later this afternoon also. When my camera is fixed I promise some photos of some of the things I have made….Although my flickr does have a couple of photos of earrings I made a few weeks back.
• Have been so stressed lately. Like I said with stuff going on back home, but also here in Japan. I like my job, but lately I have been so stressed out lately and we really need another assistant at school. Before the school was bought by the new owner we had always had three teachers on staff…I had been the last one to join the team also. Now it is just me and the owner running the classes and I feel like I can never get everything I need to get done because I just don`t have the time in the afternoons to do all the craft prep etc for the following week. Plus the preschool class, which I teach with the owner, is growing and we need the extra hand there in the mornings. Because I am stressed out I feel like I am not giving my best to the kids anymore. I am also hating the fact that teaching is making me feel like I would make a bad mother…up until this point I had always thought that eventually, when I had children, that I would probably make a good mother…I hate that my job is making me feel that way. I am sure it is just a phase and it will pass but still…The school is moving next weekend too, so not only do we have to teach classes everyday this week, plus prepare for the following week, we also have to pack up the whole school. We have one day, next Monday, to prepare the new school (Everything will be moved there next Sat and Sunday) for the kids who will return on Tuesday. I can tell it is going to be another stressful week…
• In other news I had dinner at James` house last night with Erika, Koki, plus Shun and me…because I had to work yesterday we didn`t arrive until just after 7pm and the other three had already cooked up a storm! It was lovely to sit down, eat, drink some wine and chat! I haven`t seen Catherine in what feels like ages, but I am sure we will be catching up this week or at the weekend.
• Things with Shun and I are going really well. For awhile there he was doing so much overtime that it was driving me insane that we never had anytime together but lately things have been really great and we go out to eat dinner together at least once a week and he has been getting home by 10 every night, sometimes earlier! We are still thinking about moving to Australia next year for six months…I really want to go, and I think I will be going….Shun is still thinking about it but lately he has been asking me to speak to him in English more, which I see as a good sign that he is leaning towards coming to Australia!
• I still have the ongoing headache that comes and goes. The doctor says it is caused by stress…which doesn`t help me much!!!

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Announced during circle time

Little girl aged four: ” My pants are so small they are going up inside my butt”

Teacher: “You mean you have a wedgie? You can say I have a wedgie”

Nope, the teacher wasn`t me…I was too busy rolling around on the floor laughing.

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We have set up a tree in our classroom and when the kids do something good they can get a leaf…Like positive reinforcement instead of only scolding them for what they do wrong. It has backfired a little….If one child gives a toy to another child they stand up and say ” Do I get a leaf” or if another child does something good maybe they will say ” so and so gets a leaf I think”

I think we will be getting rid of the tree when we move the school to a new location in a couple of weeks.

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My favourite of the kids Halloween costumes

Boy aged four dressed as Mario from Mario Brothers….He plays WII at home! You can`t see his overalls but they are there! Standing with my pooh pumpkin cookie!

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I have had a headache for two weeks and finally went to see the doctor today and they gave me some medicine…I think it is a migraine but the migraine medicine I usually take wasn`t working. Hopefully this medicine helps. I went to have a massage today too as the doctor suggested it could be tension from my shoulders. Hopefully it goes away now….I am sick of it.

I am off to Kyoto tomorrow morning bright and early. I hope we are not too early for the autumn leaves although I have a feeling we might be!

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