Cherry Blossom Adventures

• Arrived in Australia ok….first time in awhile that I haven`t had trouble at least one of the airports on my trip. My ticket was fine, my luggage arrived, nothing was delayed. Didn`t sleep because I can never sleep on planes…I think it is because I am afraid I will fall into a deep sleep and accidentally fall onto the person beside me or something. At least the trip back is a day flight! My parents were at the airport to meet me…
• Christmas went well. Hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas. We had dinner out on Christmas eve to celebrate my return and well, Christmas eve! I am a huge fan of seafood and it is hard to get the kind of seafood I like in Japan so it was great to eat out. I definitely over indulged but isn`t that what you are meant to do on holiday. Christmas day was a little disjointed but still fine. This is the first Christmas I have been back for in Australia since my parents separated… so it was kind of weird to not spend all the time with both of them. But we were all at my mums place for breakfast and present opening in the morning ( I got thoroughly spoiled…apart from the new Olympus camera that I have been using for the past month already I got a dress, two pairs of jeans/pants, shoes, a wallet, a certificate to get my hair done and for some products, a book,underwear and lip glosses…..among other things.) After breakfast and getting ready I went with my Dad to my cousins place for Christmas lunch. Was good to see some people I haven`t seen for a few years…like my second cousins who I used to baby-sit for when they were aged 5, 6 and 7 and now they are 14, 15 and 16….How did 10 years go by so fast??? Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas food, in particular Christmas ham!??! After lunch my dad had plans, my brother was with his gf and my mum was with friends so I went to my Friend Clarie`s house and hung out there….the fact that I am not technically her family doesn`t bother her family in the slightest and I am always welcomed with open arms! We hung out, drank wine, played trivia pursuit and watched The Sandalot Kids! Overall a lovely Christmas day.
• I have already started on the shopping….went to DFO on boxing day with Gem, my brothers gf. And today I went to Carindale the check out the Myer sale with Gem and my brother….I am already running out of money….But I have loads of cool stuff including several dresses, tops and a couple of pairs of shoes!!! I am addicted to tights so most of the dresses are summery and made to go over tights.
• Caught up with my friend Dani for tea tonight and it was the first time in 6 months where I have had a proper steak…She is always a laugh and we had an even bigger laugh watching the people doing karaoke at the pub!! Will definitely be seeing her again before I go.
• Tomorrow morning I am having breakfast with the girls….Jen, Deb, Jac and Kristy and I are meeting up at southbank for breakfast….I haven`t seen them in six months but I can tell already it is going to be a breakfast filled with non-stop talking and coffee drinking!!!
• I miss Shun, I wish he could have come with me to Australia this time too. But he will be here in July when we come back so I suppose I can`t complain. Especially since we have still spoken on the phone every day since I arrived…
• Heading up the North Coast with my dad this weekend for Saturday night…hopefully it will be good weather and I will be able to fit a swim in! I am not a huge beach person but I am so excited that I can barely wait…I guess the longer you are away from it the more you miss it!
• I can`t believe New Years is almost here….I will definitely have to type up my life list soon as I will not be having resolutions as such this year…It is pretty long so expect a long post that you can probably skip over the next week!!!
• I don`t have definite New Years plans yet…in fact I am not a fan of New Years at all…but I figure since I am here that I should make an effort and do something….I feel however that NYE always tends to be a major let down. What have you got planned for NYE? Anything exciting?!?!?

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I am going back to Australia today! I am all packed and ready to go and Shun and I will have some lunch out before he sees me off at Shinjuku station! I am so excited. I haven`t had Christmas at home it what seems like SOOOOO long!

I will miss Shun though…last Christmas was our first Christmas together in the same country and it was lovely too. We made our own Christmas traditions….I wish he was coming with me to Australia today but at least he will be in Australia next year for Christmas!

Anyway blogging might be light while I away! Merry Christmas to everyone that still comes here to read my drivel! Hope you all have a lovely time!

ps: I am just watching the news now and they say it might snow in Tokyo/Chiba area today?!? It doesn`t seem quite cold enough for snow but hey the news said it might happen…And I will miss it too….damn!

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Autumn is well and truly over…and the freezing cold has arrived. The weekend had leaves blowing everywhere….and me wrapped up like this watching Shumpei`s soccer game

• Leave for Australia on Saturday for 2 and a half weeks and still haven`t packed….and tonight was the last night I was going to have time to pack. Maybe I will do it after this but I doubt it….I will probably leave it until Saturday morning!!!
• I got my first Christmas card yesterday courtesy of Amanda!!!!I love Christmas! Thanks Amanda!
• Have been working on my life list and am thinking about posting it on my blog….Instead of new years resolutions I will have my life list and start working on things from that….Except I have over 200 things on it now….written down in my journal…Who else has a life list? What about new years resolutions?!?
• Have read one book for my Japanese Literature Challenge so far….I am not very good at writing book reviews but will eventually do a post on the books I have read for this challenge…
• And to finish up some photos from the last couple of weeks….Jon`s goodbye party, Youichi`s Birthday, Nabe party at James`s parents house…not in any order!

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Autumn in Japan is one of the best times of the year….as it is getting colder and colder too I think this will be the last weekend that we can say Autumn is still here. I like living a place that has seasons…Brisbane is kind of the same all year round with just a slight change in temperature!

Last weekend I went for a BBQ at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa and got to take lots of photos of the colourful leaves!!! Here is a couple of my favourites but you can see the whole set

It was nice to have a BBQ too. It was actually with a family that James knows….he works with the father. I love that while Tokyo is a really big city but still has beautiful parks close by!

There are a lot of things I love about Tokyo I will miss it when I go back to Australia next July for a year. But I know I will be back and spending the year in Australia, the more I think about it, Is going to be a lot of fun too.

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Is it true…do you learn something new everyday? Does this include things you learn about your partner?

A couple of days ago I bought bananas…I deliberately bought them a little green because I will only eat `new` bananas…In other words I will only eat them after buying them on the first or second day. A little neurotic perhaps but that is the way I like them. If I haven`t eaten them after three days then they will not get eaten, I can guarantee it.

Turns out Shumpei only likes `new` bananas too. I never knew that…After three years together I am still learning new things about him. I know it is crazy to say that you know EVERYTHING about your partner and I don`t believe people that say they do…and if they really do know everything there is to know then I pity them a little bit because where is the fun in that. I love it when I learn something new about Shumpei, even if it is something trivial to do with bananas.

Wouldn’t`t it be true to say that you learn more than one new thing everyday? I read the news on-line and everything I read it I am learning something new right? Does this count?

Do you think you could go the whole day without learning something new? What new things have you learnt recently?

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You would think because I live here in Japan that I am always reading Japanese books…definitely not the case. Of course I have read a few, and always have a few on my TBR pile but most of the time I tend to pick up something else to read first (Which is a shame because I often really enjoy the books by Japanese authors that I do read…Some favourites include Murakami and Tanizaki and even some non-fiction selections)

When I noticed this reading challenge happening on another blog I was quick to decide I was in!

So I bring you my list for the Japanese Literature Challenge…

It was my goal to read more books by Japanese authors next year for another reading challenge I am doing so it feels good to be getting a small start this month…although a couple of my choices for the challenge are also for the triple 8 challenge…But I promise not to read them before January starts!!!

Challenge hosted by: Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza

The challenge rules: Read three books by Japanese authors between November 30 2007 and January 30 2008 and post about what I thought of them. I can do that I think!

Any three of the following…Books with Astrix’s show the books I plan to read for other challenges.

Quicksand by Junichiro Tanizaki

The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi Nagai

Snow Country by Kasunari Kawabata*

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto*

Yakuza moon: memoirs of a gangster`s daughter by Shoko Tendo*

Have you read any good books by Japanese authors lately?

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I have had a very busy but lovely and relaxing weekend!

• Dinner with cat in Shinjuku, delicious and cheap Chinese food
• Drinks in ni-chome Shinjuku
• Sleep in on Saturday
• Drive to West-Tokyo with Shumpei`s friend from work and his gf so that Shumpei could buy an aquarium (I am now a mummy of some fish and some shrimp….)
• Dinner at our place with shumpei`s friend and gf (Junpei and nori-chan)
• BBQ today at Showa Kinen park with James, Cat, Nao and a family that James knows from work. Played some catch ball, badminton, ate lots of bbq food and drank Australian wine while taking in the lovely autumn leaves! Not to mention taking lots of photos of the maples and ginkgo trees that were everywhere in the park!! Will post them later in the week!!!
• Dinner tonight with Shun at a Turkish restaurant we have been meaning to try for a long time!!!
• Now sitting down to watch a movie!!!

Back to work tomorrow but feel relaxed and ready to go…Although will see how I go when I have to wake up at 7:30 tomorrow!

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