Cherry Blossom Adventures

Well the photos finally uploaded to flickr after much effort and waiting on my part I might add. We did have a lovely weekend down on the Gold Coast though (Coolangatta) and it is just so nice to be able to spend time with my dad (and Shun of course) especially considering how is health was only 4 months ago.

We actually stayed down the coast because for Father`s Day I gave dad two tickets to see Toni Childs in concert at Twin Towns just over the border in New South Wales. In the end he asked me if I would go with him so I booked a place down the caost for us to stay the night as part of his birthday present (Fathers Day 1st Sunday of September and his Birthday is today, the 20th). While we only had two tickets we thought staying down there was the best idea and it meant Shun could come with us even though I couldn`t get another ticket to the concert.

There was fruit juice and smoothie places EVERYWHERE! We went for a walk along the main street in Coolangatta before we could check in checking out the smoothie bars, the beach, the new resteraunts and hotels that had popped up since we had last been down there and of course I checked out my favourite all-time second hand book place (I was good and only bout 8 second hand novels!!!!)

At dusk we hung around the pool.

And luckily we had booked into the seafood place downstairs for dinner. Honestly, if you are ever staying down at Coolangatta and like seafood you should definitely book a table at Fisherman`s Cove. We went a couple of time when I was younger (We used to stay at Calypso , the hotel above, over Christmas, Summer holidays) and it has always been good. Check out the bug dinner….Dad & Shun certainly enjoyed it (I had ginger chillie prawns which were also bellisimo!)

The concert was awesome. Toni Childs ( I am not sure if any of you have heard of her? but her most famous songs were Zimbabwe and Many Rivers to Cross) had the most powerful voice I have ever heard and she danced around the stage barefoot and I honestly think that so many people in the audiance were just in awe of her talent. I have to say that the girl before her Jess McAvoy was also quite good- her voice was not quite as powerful but she was an excellent entertainer and a brilliant guitar player. I quite liked her and have since downloaded a couple of songs from Itunes!!!

Despite been out quite late the night before we were up early the next morning (early for me on a weekend at least- just after 8am). Dad had already been for 2 walks along the beach by the time we got up not to mention almost completed the Sunday paper crosswords (he got up at 4:30am which is the time he pretty much wakes up every day…sometimes on Sundays he sleeps in an extra hour though).

We checked out, ate a lovely local breakfast and had a quick walk along the beach before heading to Currumbin Bird Sanctuary which we had decided to stop at on the way home.

I haven`t been to Currumbin Bird Sancturary since I was a baby. It has been so long in fact, that I do not remember. It wasn`t really like how I imagined and surprisingly we saw no lorrikeets which the sanctuary is famous for (we were there the wrong time) but we did see the wild bird show and reptiles, feed the kangaroos and emus and saw a crocodile which was so big that we actually thought it might have been fake (and therefore dead).

Do you see the last picture of the emu? See the black tuffs of hair on the side of its face- that is its ears. Does anybody else find that weird??

Anyway, we had a great weekend and if definitely goes to show that a weekend away can make the world of difference in attitudes. It was so nice to get so much fresh air, sunshine and conversation in on one weekend. I hope Shun & I or Shun, Dad & I can take another weekend away together soon. In fact I think a weekend away to Melbourne in November may be in order…

Today is the last day of Septemer, and I have successfully posted everyday so yay!

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I have tried for over an hour to upload some of our photos from the weekend up here and they are still not all up. I don`t know whether to blame the so slow Australian internet or the super mega sized photos which I probably should of made smaller before deciding to upload.

Some of the weekend photos are up at flickr- others are not and will hopefully make it up there in the next century.

It is frustrating the hell out of me and I keep thinking about what I could of done with that time instead (Although while it was happening I did watch La Bumba the story of Ritchie Valence….you know, the guy who died in the plane crash with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper? Well it was good anyway. I have mentioned once before my fathers random taste in dvd`s and this was one of the ones from his collection.

In other news I sent off for my information about AFWJ (Associaton of Foreign Wives Japan) and will be joining up soon. A lot of women living in Japan married, engaged or living with Japanese partners are members and it is a great way to meet up with other foreign women living in your own area. It especially seems to be great for women with kids (A little way off that yet, ourselves!) as they can meet up and chat and share experiences. I already belong to a couple of other online forums, Foreign Wives Club & MIJ and it is great to hear about how other women are doing. It might seem a bit strange to those not in international relationships but I think we can all agree that it is nice to be part of a community and when I return to Japan while I will still have my friends there and Shun`s family (and Shun of course!) it will be nice to have an even larger network of people that I know I can turn too if I need it.

I have well and truly totally fallen off the weight loss wagon- I know I am doing it too yet I can not stop myself. Exercise, apart from walking Abbey a couple of times a week and hooping about 5 minutes a day, is non existent. I have also stopped counting points for weight watchers and haven`t been to a meeting in 3 weeks. I am bad. I know I need to get back on track- I was doing pretty well but I have already put a bit of the weight back on (only a little bit so far but still!). I need to get back on track but I just can`t seem to find the motivation lately…

Shun finishes up English school this Friday- he will have done 8 weeks which means he has been in Australia for about 12 weeks now. Time has definitely flown by. He will be looking for a part time job. We are not really sure what he will do yet or what he can do really. His English is still quite limited but we will write up an English resume for him and see how he goes. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe at a cafe in the kitchen or something? Or maybe a supermarket? I am just not sure he would be able to find any work in the IT/Computer industry unless his English was a bit better….which is a shame because I know he is missing his job.

Anyway it looks as though the photos are almost finished uploading so I might be able to do a post tomorrow with them. If you want to ave a look before then check out my flickr. This is such a random post of mismatched sentences…

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I had a great time over the weekend. I promise a post tomorrow or Tuesday with photos from our weekend trip. It was nice to get away and most importantly my Dad had a great time.

I have only JUST managed to get through reading all the blog posts I missed since Thursday (had very little internet time on Thursday and Friday as well!), all the comments, checking my email, facebook and forums. I really must cut down on internet time.

I can`t believe September is almost over (and posting every day will also be over for me!)…less that 3 months til Christmas and less than 8 months til our wedding and less than 9 months til we return to Japan. Time is flying by.

Abbey was ok while we were away, we couldn`t take her with us, but luckily my brother and my mum both came over to visit and feed with her during the 36 hours we were away.  She was definitely happy to see us upon our return though!

I was going to write up a bit blog post with pictures but I am too tired and I want to spend at least a little time tonight studying Japanese since I haven`t done any this weekend. Kanji is still doing my head in- I have no idea how I manage to speak Japanese just fine yet reading anything above an 9 year old`s level is impossible.

I am also going to spend a little time before bed watching ainori- I love that show!

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In about an hour I am off down the coast for the weekend with Shumpei & my dad. Dad`s birthday is on Tuesday (as is my friend James`!!! Happy Birthday) and for father`s day earlier in the week I bought him some tickets to see Toni Childs on the Gold Coast at Twin Towns. He asked me to go with him so I booked accomodation for his birthday and now we are off down the coast for a little mini weekend holiday!

We will be staying here…. which is just across the road from the beach. And well, tomorrow it is supposed to hit 30 degrees so might even have a dip.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend- I will try to come back tomorrow with some photos.

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Conversation earlier in the week with a 17 year old at work.

Girl- “I am a vegetarian now!”

me- ” Oh yeah, why?”

Girl- ” I am reading this book called skinny bitch (This girl is a size 0) and they talk about how cruel they are to the animals and stuff so I gave up meat!”

me- ” So what you got there?” point at her lunch

Girl- “Egg noodles with vegies from the chinese shop”

me- “You know they cooked those in meat broth probably right?”

Girl- “Really? Oh no!”

But she continued eating…

Me- “So will you stop wearing leather?”

Girl- Looks at her leather jacket “um, no…probably not”

Me- “Oh well at least it is a good thing you don`t have fur” I was joking

Girl ” Oh actually I do have a fur coat!”

I stopped the conversation there. Honestly, I am all for people who want to give up meat or become vegetarian, vegan or raw, in fact I have  A LOT of friends who are vegetarian or vegan etc but I don`t like it when people don`t think through what they are saying before they say it. That said, she is only 17 so for now I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

I went to school with a girl who told us she was a vegetarian but we always used to catch her out eating pizza rounders which had bacon in them.

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On Thursday nights we have dinner at my mum`s house- it is great because she is like me and can not cook small dishes so there is always leftovers and lucky for us that usually means lunch for Friday. Tonight was lasange-Yummy!

In Japan I drank a lot during the week- Shumpei worked late so I would often have a couple of glasses of wine by myself or stop off at a bar where I knew the owner for a couple of drinks, before heading home. Yet in Australia, I hardly drink at all. Occasionly if I go out for an event (For example a concert or wedding or dinner out if I am not driving) I will have a couple drinks but I never drink in my dad`s house. Yet sometimes, as a contribution to the fact mum makes us dinner once a week, I might take a bottle of wine. or 2. Like tonight for example. The amount I was drinking in Japan bothered me a lot which is why I gave up alcohol for a month or so earlier in the year- I was worried that I had a problem with drinking but am releived to say it didn`t seem to be the case because I gave up coffee at the same time and that was a hell of a lot harder to give up than alcohol

So long story short, I am a little drunk on a Thursday night due to the wine I took t mum`s. Shun drove home since he hadn`t had anything but iced coffee and vitamin water. As I said, in Australia I hardly ever drink on weeknights, if at all, so I am slightly worried about how I will pull up tomorrow.

But hey, I can`t be too drunk since I remembered to blog!

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Kissing guinea pigs.

Along with missing Japan a lot lately I have found myself missing my old students a lot also. I miss the kids so much and by the time I go back to Japan, while I won`t be returning to teach at that school I don`t think, I am definitely going to have to go for a visit. A lot of my kiddies will have moved on by then though….

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Had a crap day.

But just ate toast with butter and vegemite and it was damn good. It is definitely my comfort food. That and chocolate of course.

I wish my comfort food was something like vegetable sticks or rice crackers though so that I wouldn`t have to feel bad for eating it.

I never eat butter when I am trying to lose weight but after the day I had the butter was worth it. So was the chocolate I ate before it. Toast is also my sick food- I live on toast when I am sick. That and lemon C drinks which unfortunately you can`t get here.

What is your comfort food?

In other new somebody did a search for a cherry blossom futon cover and ended up on my blog- so yeah, if you come back and have found out where you can get one, let me know, because that would be cool and I want one now that you have brought it up.

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My little brother turns 21 today…I vaguely remember when he was born or at least I remember been dropped at my grandmothers house in what seemed like the middle of the night (Although probably would of been only about 8pm). I was 2 and a half when he was born and don`t remember much except that he was a big fat buddha of a baby (10 pound 10) who constantly sucked his thumb and had a shock of white hair. My brother was born with his thumb in his mouth and at the hospital after he was born a nurse joked that if the pizza man came it would be for him because he looked like he should of been on solids from the word go.

My brother and I got on quite well when we were younger but as he headed into his teenage years our relationship was a little strained. I think all teenage boys go through that grunting stage though? He is ok though, most of the time. I am hoping the older we get the more our relationship will become more adult. At the moment though we still seem to annoy each other too much! Although he took care of a lot while I have been away including supporting both my parents when they separated and also was hear to support them again when my dad had a bad turn in 2004 when I was in Japan on exchange.

He is not so little anymore- he is over 6 ft tall and while I am tall he still towers over me! He came to visit me in Tokyo the first time I was living there as a student. He had just turned 17 and we went to one of my favourite bars in Kichijoji on his first night there and Abe-san, the owner of the bar, said ” So this is your older brother?” and I replied ” no, my little brother” and he took one look at me and one look at him and said “But you are underage which makes him very underage… so am I going to get in trouble for serving him beer? What will your mum say?”. The first time I ever saw snow was the next day, and I got to share it with my brother.

Despite hating piano lessons when he was younger and giving up within the year he has now found his musical talent and taught himself to play the guitar (He is left handed- he taught himself originally on a right handed guitar upside down before getting his own left handed guitar!) and now plays the piano again as well. When I am away in Japan he sends me CD`s and the names of bands to check out so that I don`t  lose track of the Australian music scene!

His hair is kept pretty long now. In fact in this shot above we had very similar haircuts- I paid a lot for mine yet his just grew like that and ended up like that because he didn`t cut it!

He has been with his girlfriend for three years now and she is great. They suit each other and she is lovely- in fact her and I probably get on better than he and I do most of the time but at least she keeps me up to date with what is going on with him!

Last night we had a family dinner at a seafood restaurant at Portside. It was so delicious and it was lovely. He did not want a big 21st party or anything so we decided dinner would be best. There was 9 of us altogether. Mum, Dad, me, Paul, Shumpei, Gem (his gf), Gem`s parents and Gem`s little brother. I hope he had a good night also- I think he did

Happy 21st Birthday Paulie! I love you!

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I am really really really bad with money. Anybody would tell you. I try to save but my money just disappears. While Shun & I are in Australia I am the only one working full-time and while he might eventually get a part-time job or baito it is basically  my salary that we have to live off. He came with quite a bit of savings but English school was very expensive and with no incoming money his money will run out soon I am sure. When I was in Japan I would go a couple of months ok and then my parents would send me some extra money because I would get stuck…That is how bad I am with money just to give you a bit of an idea.

It isn`t like we have a lot of expenses here in Australia…my dad lets us live here rent free and while we contribute to groceries each week that is the extent of our “living” expenses. On top of that there is our train tickets, petrol (which isn`t too bad because I don`t use the car much during the week) and social outings! My parents are also helping out A LOT with our wedding expenses so there are only a couple of things that Shun & I will be paying for ourselves.

Looking at that, I should be saving a lot right? Well I have hardly saved anything since I have been here…but I really really need to try harder. When we go back to Japan we need to have a bit of money behind us if we want to buy a car and to put down key money and bond on a new apartment.

Last night Shun & I were talking about money. We have talked about money before but not really to much extent…I know that Shun`s salary is not great (compared to a salary for the same job in Australia it actually quite shit…) and I know that if I go back to teaching for a couple of years before we have kids then my salary won`t be great either.

Later on down the track when we have kids I would like to be a stay at home mum for awhile…even if it is just for a couple of years. During that time I would probably still do some private English lessons but I would like not to work full-time. The main reason for this is that I want our children to be bilingual yet if I am not with them often enough in their first 3 or 4 years then their English would probably be minimal.

Unfortunately I know we probably wouldn`t be able to make ends meet if we only had one salary coming in. So I really really need to try and save more while we are here this year. I also need to figure out what I will do for work when I go back to Japan and what I could do to work from home once we have kids. So I really need “good saving” vibes from all you dear readers (and ideas of how to keep money coming in after children!)

I felt really bad asking Shun what he thought we would do for money once we went back to Japan knowing that his salary is not great. I felt like I shouldn`t bring it up but I am a big believer that if we talk about things then we could come up with good solutions together. He seems to think it won`t be a problem and luckily he is a lot better with money that I am…I need to learn how to be better! I still can`t help but worry though…

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