Cherry Blossom Adventures

Julia from Pink Moonz tagged me for the random facts meme….

Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.

I have actually done this meme before….which you can find here and also I have 100 facts about myself here but in the spirit of passing on a meme I will be happy to do it again.

1. My blood type is A+ and I only found this out recently. In Japan everybody knows their bloodtype and I had been asked so many times (Questions when you meet somebody new are usually where are you from? How old are you? When will you get married? and What is your blood type?) and a lot of people had said they thought I would be A (Yes Japanese people believe that bloodtype is like starsigns and that each bloodtype reveals a little bit about who your are!)….So there you have it I am A!
2. I have ridden in an ambulance three times…..and had one called for me one other time. All three times were because of something that had happened to me.
3. I have had three dogs, 2 birds and two fish in my lifetime! The dogs were Kelly, Abby and Sophie (Yes all female and yes they all had human sounding names), the bird were budge and bluie (Budge`s real name was seasle (sp?) be the budge) and the fish were Jo and Tilly! I have Jo to the preschool where I used to work cos I can`t take him home with me!
4. I once one a competition when I was about five for coloring in a pair of shoes in a magazine….I won canvas shoes with puffpaint designs on them (My memory is a little hazy on this? This could have been a dream…my mum would know)
5. My favourite flowers are gerberas and cherry blossoms. I can`t really have real cherry blossoms in my wedding (Even though that is the theme!) but am contemplating having gerberas!
6. When I was little I was scared of the dark (and I also thought a Native American Indian lady lived in my closet) and I slept with the light on until sometime in highschool! I still must always have the wardrobe closes when I sleep at night and prefer to have a little light coming in from somewhere!!!
7. I am not ticklish.
8. One of the most embarrasing things that ever happened to me was when I was about nine and in year four and we were having a fashion parade and I was parading togs (swimmers!) and one of the straps come down revealing one of my breasts and I didn`t notice…..Everyone in the whole class saw!

Now onto the tagging….eight people huh?! Ok here goes!

I tag Mandy, Sara, Nay, Illahee (It can be in letter form Illahee!), Guera, Paul , Amy (When you get back from Italy!) and Jo! Have fun with it guys!

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Today on the train when I got on in Shinjuku I watched three friends (2 girls, 1 boy) from Keio Elementary school ( Hard to get into private school!) hop on and sit down although as one of the girls went to sit down her seat was taken by someone else so she was standing. Almost immediately the young boy stood up and offered his seat to his female friend.

These kids were about seven. I couldn`t believe that a boy of that age would know to offer his seat to a girl!

In the kindergarten we taught the boys in our class (after quite a few pushing and running in the hallway incidents!) that if they were big strong boys that they should let girls go first! It took them a little while to get the hang of it and sometimes they still needed to be reminded but they eventually got it! Some of the mothers even mentioned that they had started to be more cooperative at home and let their sisters do things first!

Whoever that little boys parents or teachers are they are doing a great job of raising such a charming, polite little boy!

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Yes it has begun. Since I have now finished up work it means that I need to spend the next two weeks cleaning up our apartment and packing everything into boxes. Packing is by far the worst part of moving….but when you are moving overseas but know you are coming back it is even more difficult. I quite like unpacking too but I won`t technically be able to do it for more than a year! So where is the joy in packing?

I have to pack according to three (sometimes four) categories. One, stuff we want to take to Australia (Then this has two sections too- take on board and sending), chucking out/dumping and leaving in Japan. Oh not to mention the fact I am packing up a couple of boxes for cat of stuff we don`t need that she can have (So far most of this has come out of the drugs drawer under our bed….. I have numerous over the counter medicine from Australia and here….Oh and clothes and handbags etc that I can`t take with me that she can have!). All of the stuff we are leaving in Japan is going to one of two place. Most of it is going to Shumpei`s parents place somewhere on their second floor and some of it is going to Cat (Mainly big stuff like our fridge, coffee maker, washing machine, oven etc- She will keep it for the year cos she has just moved and doesn`t have any of those things)

It would be different if we were moving to Australia for good. I could just do a good clean out, sell off our big stuff and then send everything else. But nope, we have to make it difficult by only going for a year. Plus, we will live with dad and he has a fully furnished house.

Well moving date is set to the 27th of April….then I will be out in Chiba for two weeks until I leave on the 13th of May. Shumpei will be here until sometime mid July (Which means I have to pack the stuff he will need between now and then into separate boxes….)….So I now have less than two weeks to get everything in order. At the moment I am trying to tackle one big task a day (although I can`t really pack much into actual boxes yet cos we still need it) and yesterday that was the closet……two full garbage bags later or stuff to dump and two bags for charity later, three coffees and two and a half hours later I was done. It felt good to clean it all out…..I realized, yet again, that I have way to many clothes. Even what is left in there now can`t all be taken to Australia. I packed up our winter coats because we won`t be needing them in Brisbane and even packed away some clothes that are too small now but that I hope to fit into again one day.

Now, I don`t know what to do with the clothes that I want to give to charity. Any ideas from those living in Japan? Giving stuff away in Japan is actually a hard task….All of the clothes are clean and in fairly good condition and I am sure that somebody could get good use out of them. If I can`t give them to a charity of some sort I will have to dump them which seems like such a waste.

Oh and another question. I have an old laptop (4 yrs old) which still works except if you wanted to use it you`d have to plug in a keyboard because the keyboard doesn`t work anymore…..how do you dispose of these in Japan? Can you get like a 100 dollar cash back for the parts somewhere or something like that?

OK, I better go do today`s task. Which is clean out the drawers under the bed…..These drawers are used for everything we don`t know what to do with like manuals, bits of paper, shumpei`s numerous soccer clothes (WHICH HE NEVER USES…..He only uses the same two uniforms every time yet he has like a million others under the bed)……..Wish me luck!

Ps: Shun and I also packed up all the books and manga we didn`t need over the weekend because the book off people came yesterday. 260 books and manga later…..I think we read too much.

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A couple of posts ago I asked my readers to ask questions if they had any…..I only received a couple but figured I would answer them in this post….

Mandy asked…What do you consider to be the three most significant days of your life?

Um I am really bad with these types of questions…because generally I have no idea. But probably the day I started highschool, the day I arrived in Japan for the first time and the day I met Shumpei. Just because they all made me the person I am now I guess….By the time I started highschool I was so ready for it…I needed to be in highschool and after coming from a very small Catholic primary school it was all so different. The day I arrived in Japan because obviously if I had never come to Japan on exchange that year then I never would of learnt to speak Japanese, make so many friends here and decided to come back. I say the day I met Shumpei is significant because he is the man I am going to marry!

Oh and meeting you Mandy when we were 4 as well!!! hehehe!

Sara asked… Kind of a geek questions but what manga do you have?

Actually I have no manga. I never really got into the manga craze but I once read Nana (like the first 2) and another one which I think was called Peach Girl. I am more of a Japanese drama girl….my favourites being Orange Days, Boku dake no madonna, Regatta and a recent drama called Puropozo Daisakusen!

Nay asked... Just to help you out with your blog posts, here is a question from me!
Would you say that your move back to Australia is filled more with excitement of going home, or sadness for leaving Japan? How is Shun feeling about coming to Australia for 1 year, giving up his job, losing his spot in the “Japanese job market” etc?

I think that my move back to Australia is filled with both excitement and sadness…I will only be gone a year though and I know Japan will still be here when I get back. I am a little nervous about going home….for me as well as Shumpei. I am nervous for myself because it is has been 2 and a half years since I lived back in Australia and even then I was only there for 10 months while I finished uni….most of my close friends are here in Japan and most of my close friends in Australia are no longer in Brisbane bar a couple! So that will be difficult because I have such a great support network of friends here in Tokyo who I will miss so much. But my family is in Australia and I need to be with them for awhile. I am nervous for myself also because I will need to find work and I know how stressful that can be! I am nervous for Shumpei because he is leaving his job and his friends and family behind and his motivation to do this is me….that is a lot to bear. As most of you know Shumpei`s English is not great and while it is getting better all the time he can`t really hold a conversation with someone that doesn`t understand Japanese…while he understands English quite well now he finds it very difficult to respond in English. I am hoping this will get better while we are in Australia.

It took Shumpei a very long time to decide to come with me. I had decided that I would be going back for six months whether or not he came with me or not because I needed to be with my family and he understood that. I gave him the choice and said that he could come of course….when he finally told me he was coming I cried. He had been thinking about it for about three months already and I really thought he wouldn`t come. As for giving up his job I think this is what he had to think about most. As some of you know the job market here is weird….people do not change jobs willy nilly and most stay with the same company for life. While this is changing a lot more now it is almost unheard of for someone to leave a job unless they already have a job lined up. Shun`s company has actually told him that he might be able to come back to his old job after 1 year….

I think the pressure from his family about leaving his job was more the problem that his own feelings about it.

Christelle asked …I’d love to hear more about your wedding plans, I know you said you couldn’t think about much before going to Australia, but you must have some image in your mind? Traditional wedding? Garden wedding? His family going to Australia for the ceremony? Big? Small?

When people ask me about my wedding plans I never know what to say because basically I haven`t done any. I never grew up thinking `OMG at my wedding I want to do this this and this` In fact I had never really given it much thought. But we have told quite a few people we are engaged and I am ultimately always asked the `What will you do for your wedding` question.

So far we have booked a venue…I wanted a place where we could have the ceremony and reception at the same place because we will have international guests most of which would not have transport to different venues. I also wanted it to be fairly local to the area that my parents live so my mum helped me book a place that had received some good reviews and had recently been done-up. We will be having a garden wedding and the reception in one of the function wedding rooms on site. The best thing is that this place also has a motel on the grounds so international guests will have a place (super close!) to stay!!! While I am Catholic, I never really had this huge desire to get married in a church and I quite like the idea of a garden wedding!

I have asked three friends to be bridesmaids! Catherine (who is here in Tokyo), a highschool friend Clare (who lives in Mt Isa for work) and Mandy (who reads and comments on my blog) who is my best friend from primary school and she lives in London. So yes my bridesmaids live in three different countries and none of them live in Brisbane where the wedding will be (Although Mandy and Clare are from Brisbane originally!) Shumpei has asked our friend James to be best man because we thought it would be best to ask someone that spoke English! hehe….It is great because James speaks Japanese fluently also! While James is actually originally my friend him and Shun have gotten really close and it was Shumpei who suggested we ask James (Although Shumpei had no idea what a best man was as the time) Shumpei has mentioned to a couple of his friends that he will need two more friends to be groomsmen it is something we can`t really decide right now because we are not exactly sure who is coming but I think he will ask two of his university friends! Having all of the wedding party so far away will make dress fittings for bridesmaids dresses a nightmare!

As for a theme, I am actually going to steal Nay`s idea (Don`t worry I asked her) and have a cherry blossom theme…as you can tell from my blog I love them!). While the wedding is in Australia Shumpei and I met in Japan, he is Japanese and ultimately we will be living here so it is very important for me to include something from Japan. I am not exactly sure how I will work it in but am thinking of cherry blossom invitations, cake, favors and maybe some decorations! Not really sure yet though and will have to wait til I get back to Australia before I decide anything for sure. I have also heard of a tradition they do in hawaii where they fold 1001 cranes which grants you happiness in your marriage. I like this because origami cranes are Japanese and I could give some to the guests etc but again not really sure about this.

I have no idea about colours yet though, this part is difficult as I love pink! and would love my bridesmaids to wear pink and for me to have pink flowers etc but I am not 100% sure yet. So maybe pink, silver and white for colours….

The wedding is not going to be very big. Maybe about 50 people. I thought less at first but I think a lot of Shumpei and my friends here in Japan might actually make it over for the wedding which would be fantastic. Obviously Cat and James are definitely coming but some other friends have said they would love to also!!! Shun`s parents are coming and maybe his grandmother and brother too!

The next question I am sure will be about the dress but this is something I really do have no idea about!

Because we will be having the ceremony in Australia a lot of people have asked whether we will be doing a ceremony in Japan also and at this stage the answer is no. But when we return we will have a ni ji kai for our friends and probably some kind of dinner with Shumpei`s extended family!

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Dear Cherry Blossom Advenures readers…

It is hard to believe that a week has passed between posts…..so much has happened, stuff I will eventually blog about I am sure! Apparently this is the month of letters (If you are participating in NABLOPOMO) so I thought it was time I wrote a quick letter to you all!

Lets see. This Friday I finish up work at my current job….after 18 months.

I have already knocked a couple of things off my 101 things in 1001 days list but info on that will also come in another post. I am supposed to do a update at the end of the month and I hope to have at least another couple of things crossed off! Including actually adding a page to my blog with the list!

I am up to N in my encylopedia of me and I am still not sure what I will write about. N is for Names perhaps? Or maybe N for Nancy Drew……

I am spending way to much time on the internet reading blogs, playing around on entrecard and writing emails but not nearly enough time writing on my blog…..It is hard to beleive that after posting for 3 days in a row last week I thought I might be able to do NABLOPOMO this month…..and then a week went by between posts so I guess I am not ready for that yet!

We need to be out of our apartment by April 27th….I have not yet done any packing but I will eventually get to it…I have done some cleaning though and have a man coming to pick up all our books and manga on Monday to take to book off. I have also begun to clean out my closet but it is a bigger job that I first thought! I will also be leaving Japan in just over a month….This is even harder to believe and I know it really hasn`t sunk in.

You know what also hasn`t really sunk in yet? The fact that I am getting married next May (The 9th actually!)….so far I have booked a venue and that is it. I have just kind of given up on doing anything until I get back to Australia! Although Shun and I did go look at engagement rings on the weekend……

I sprained my ankle last week although it is healing ok but still a bit bruised and swollen. Get this I did it by WALKING in my apartment…..yep to the bathroom. I am such a klutz.

I am the heaviest I have ever been and that is depressing…..I know I could start doing something about it now but have decided to start afresh the day I arrive back in Australia! Will be dieting with my mum and exercising with my dad I think! He walks everyday and wants to get a puppy so that will be our motivation. Also want to get a hoop!

I am going to Kobe in a couple of weeks to meet up with Sara which is super exciting and I can not wait! I will also get to go to Nara while I am down that way and that is also awesome since I have always wanted to go!

Oh last week on my week off I went to Disney Sea…another post perhaps?! Photos also? I also did Hanami on Saturday with Shun, Sumi, Junni and James and it was a random day but so much fun! We had no plans when we woke up that morning but the day turned out brilliantly!

I revised my resume for the first time in almost 2 years……I wasn`t even sure if resumes were still done the same way.

I signed up for entrecard….am already slightly addicted although don`t think it does anything for the traffic of my site but have already discovered some other great blogs! Although this isn`t helping my internet addiction at all because it just means I spend more time on the net reading blogs and stuff than I do doing stuff on my own blog or stuff like packing! Or even reading……I feel like I haven`t done nearly enough reading of actual books lately!

Now over to you readers, do you have any questions for me? You can ask me anything and I will try my best to answer! I have seen a couple of bloggers open up comments to their readers asking the same question `Do you have any questions` and it seems like fun. So fire away….

Hope you are all having a good week,

Love Lulu xoxoxoxo

ps: I just read the above…..talk about random. I do believe a letter is incomplete with a post script.

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• I always resort to dots when I have a lot of stuff to say but not much time to say it! Or a lot of random stuff that doesn`t really warrant its own posts!
• I am starting the 101 things in 1001 days challenge on April 1st…with Mandy and Paul I think it will help get wedding plan stuff done as well as a fair bit of stuff I have on my life list! I first read about this on the blogs here and here and have loved reading about their progress! Does anybody else want to join in????
• I am almost halfway through my encyclopedia of me meme and was wondering if anybody had any ideas of things they would want to see me write about for m onwards (I have L done!)
• I have booked a flight back to Australia and my tickets have arrived…It is a one way flight leaving Japan May 13th and arriving in Brisbane early morning on May 14th…..The ticket was pretty cheap….only 60,000yen including tax (That is about 650 dollars I think?) and thank god it was cheap because I have no money! I took a lot of sick days in the last couple of months meaning my last pay check was significantly less than usual!
• I finish work on April 11th so will have two weeks to pack up the apartment (We need to be out by end of April) and then another two weeks to relax in Chiba at Shumpei`s parents place until I leave to go home. And best of all I also have a weeks holiday next week…My second last week of work will be spent having a paid holiday. I like that! I am not sure how much relaxing I will be able to do at the in-laws place….I am not usually even allowed to put my own bread in the toaster…Shumpei`s mum insists on doing it for me. Let alone allowed to wash my own plates. This is something that really bothers me because I feel like I am taking advantage even though i offer EVERY TIME. I lived at Shumpei`s parents place for two months when I was first back in Japan…
• Shumpei taught me to play Mahjong and I really liked it. It is a Chinese game that Shumpei sometimes plays with his friends at a place especially for Mahjong…Not many people know how to play it I think so chances are I will forget how to play it before I get another chance!
• I read The Kite Runner the other day and it was awesome. Everyone should read it!
• Oh by the way the two quotes that nobody got on my movie quote meme…..One was from The Blues Brothers and the other was from Moulin Rouge!!!
• Oh I almost forgot!!! I got some more blog bling from the delightful Guera!!
• I really liked this award because I love reading blogs from around the world and have been doing more of it recently. I was so happy when she passed this on to me. So I have decided to pass it onto some other ex-pats bloggers I read similar to like what Guera did!
  (I am not sure if they all read my blog or not though!) There are heaps of others I would love to pass it onto also but I am not sure how may I can pass it onto! Also I am not sure where this award originated but it is great!
  • Mandy
  • Eurotrippen
  • Illahee
  • Amy
• My next post will be L is for…..

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I originally say this at Enny`s blog but have seen it doing the rounds on a lot of blogs I read in the last couple of weeks and it sounds and looks like fun so here goes!

Here are the rules:
~Pick fifteen of your favourite movies.
~Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
~Post them here for everyone to guess.
~Strike it out when someone guesses correctly in the comments, and put who guessed it and the movie.
~NO Googling or using IMDb search functions.

1. “I better have my lawyer take a look at these. I’m just a simple country boy. There’s all kinds of big words in here I can’t even pronounce. Hell, you might be takin’ me to the cleaners for all I know.” Nat got it with Sweet Home Alabama, Jake is such a cutie in this film!
2. “No I mean, do you really know where Harvard is? It’s another planet man- another universe. Totally unlike the one we know. Filled with big blond guys who eat ivy and row boats. What I’m trying to say is, you and Corey just aren’t made for each other. She’s different from you.” Amanda is correct with Empire Records, my favourite movie of all time with out a doubt!
3. “marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, only it doesn’t last 22 minutes. It lasts forever.” Jen got it with Knocked Up, a movie I saw when I was in Australia over Christmas!
4. ” Crème brûlée can never be Jell-O. YOU could never be Jell-O.” Jo was correct, it was My Best Friends Wedding starring Julia Robert!
5. “: You know, if we fix up this car, it could be make-out city, you know that.” Amanda again with Grease!
6. “This is smores stuff. First you take the graham. You stick the chocolate on the graham. Then, you roast the mallow. When the mallows flaming, you stick it on the chocolate and cover it with the other end. Then, you scarf.”Natalie got it with The Sandalot Kids, my favourite childhood movie and one of my fathers favourites still!!!
7. “Dolphins, yeah! They think they’re so cute. Oh, look at me, I’m a flippy little dolphin, let me flip for you. Ain’t I something?” I had thought it would be someone with kids that got this! Finding Nemo, thanks Illahee
8. “You were outside, I was inside. You were supposed to keep in touch with the band. I kept asking you if we were gonna play again.”
9. “This is a sin, it’s a wicked indulgence. Didn’t they have any butter pecan?” Illahee again!
10. “That’s a tough one. I would have to say April 25th. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket.” Natalie got this one too!!! It is Miss Congeniality!
11. “Besides, that whole see-through blouse, colored-bra thing… reads a little, you know, desperate, older gal, trying to hard. Don’t you think? Yeah, you want to make him work for it.”Jo agin with Maid in Manhattan!
12. “You know Graham, I just broke up with someone and considering you just showed up and you’re insanely good-looking and probably won’t remember me anyway… I’m thinking we should have sex… If you want.” Tokenwoman got this with The Holiday, I am surprised it didn`t go sooner. When I saw this film last year I loved it, I thought it was one of the best romantic comedies to come out in awhile!
13. “Do you know the most surprising thing about divorce? It doesn’t actually kill you. Like a bullet to the heart or a head-on car wreck. It should. When someone you’ve promised to cherish till death do you part says “I never loved you,” it should kill you instantly. You shouldn’t have to wake up day after day after that, trying to understand how in the world you didn’t know. The light just never went on, you know. I must have known, of course, but I was too scared to see the truth. Then fear just makes you so stupid.” Madison got it with Under The Tuscan Sun, I am a huge fan of this movie because I would love to just pack up and move to Tuscany! Off to check out Madisons blog since she is new here! Thanks for participating Madison!
14. “Christ! what are you? 15? My God man! You gotta be gettin’ that young stuff! The young stuff is the best stuff in the world. Your jail bait, their jail bait. You turn sixteen and your looking at three to five. Jac got this, It is Little Miss Sunshine, one of the best movies I watched last year!
15. The difference between you and I is that you can leave anytime you choose. But this is my home.

If you know, have a guess! Try not to guess more than two at a time right away so that others can have a chance to play!!!

I promise to do a real post tomorrow! I have one in my drafts for J is for… but haven`t finished it yet!

ps: Well so far eight have gone, any suggestions on the others? Anyone can have a go!! If you have already had a guess, then have another! Thanks to those who have played so far!

Update: Only three left! Lets see who can get the last three. Some hints. No 8 was from a pretty old movie, I think it come out early 80`s and it features some awesome music and musician appearances! No. 12 is from a really new movie that I only saw last year and it stars some pretty famous actors! And no.15, well, a hint, Nicole Kidman is in it!

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Shokai suru means introduce yourself! So here I am, most people that would usually read this blog are regular readers and therefore know a fair bit about me because I write random stuff about my self all the time….

But a little introduction for those joining from the Ultimate Blog Party which is hosted at 5 minutes for mum! Firstly welcome to my blog…I am recently 23, recently engaged and I live in Tokyo with my fiancee Shumpei and we are moving to Australia mid year for one year before we come back to live here in this urban jungle! I am originally from Brisbane Australia and all the background info about me can be found on my about page and if you are into random facts then check out my post with 100 things about me or write meme into my search box and I am sure you will be overwhelmed with more info about me than you ever wanted to know!

I have no kids but am a preschool teacher here (I seem to be surrounded by mummies at this blog party! Or should I say mommies as I realize a lot of you are American)

I like to take photos which you can see here and I like to write a lot (as you can see from my blog!). I also love books, cherry blossoms (hence the blog name) and food….plus I dabble in a bit of knitting sometimes!

I love a good party, and you would usually see me bringing wine and cheese or mini pizzas!!! So pull up a chair and have a look around…..or better yet dance around, I have just put on an album by `The Fray`!

Oh and if you are into cocktails, here is my favourite. I don`t think it is an original recipe but a bartender in Thailand taught me how to make it!

You need a blender, white rum, dark rum, cointreau, pineapple juice and some grenadine (Orange curacao also adds a nice flavour!)! Mix it all together, and wah lah, you have a beautiful fresh tasting cocktail….Yummy!  Do be careful though, they may taste like juice but they are super strong!

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At home sick with a cold, so thought, why not, I should join in on the 2008 Ultimate Blog Party just in time for International Women`s Day!

Have no idea what I will do for the week of the party, but will have to get my thinking cap on because the party has already started….I suppose I am fashionably late! Look at for my next post which will be an introduction to me and my blog!

Anyone else want to join in? It is not too late!!!! Head over to Five Minutes for Mum for details! Am off to blog hop and think about my next post!!!

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• Firstly big congratulations to Sarah and Ryohei who should of gotton married today. They were filing the papers anyway, hope it all went by with out a hitch….Congratulations! All the best for your future together
• Well I have started to tell more people Shun and I are engaged….it still seems weird to say though…perhaps it comes with practice….like I still refer to him as my boyfriend in Japanese instead of fiance (Mainly because konyakusha, the word for fiance, is kind of weird)…I think we have a place for the wedding….It is thankfully the only thing that needs to be done before I return to Australia (book a place I mean)….I had no idea that there was so much stuff involved in a wedding though…really….It all seems a little crazy. Did you know you need a theme? Or at least a colour scheme? My mother has informed me of the above….
• I think I am going to sign up for 101 things in 1001 days…..Maybe start in April. Since writing my life list (Which I am still extremely proud of by the way) I have lacked some motivation and I thought that if I had an end date it might help…..plus with all the wedding stuff I have to do I thought it might be nice to include some of the wedding stuff in the list too….A couple of bloggers that I read are also doing it and they blog each time they cross something off….perhaps something like this would keep me more motivated.
• I have a lot of random photos from this month and now seems as good a time as any to post them! Firstly, I met my friend Jen`s baby boy last week and he was adorable….also got to see Jen and Emma who I had not seen in months and months…..It is hard to believe I will be gone in May, Jen in July and Emma most likely before I return to Japan in 2009….



• Second, The ume are out…And when the Ume come out it means Hinamatsuri is close!

• Thirdly, I don`t usually post many photos of my kindy kids here, although there is a school blog if you ever want to check it out which has lots of photos uploaded by Ai the owner if you are interested but this video was too good o pass by. Deanne, it is for you firstly and foremost since I know what a diehard hooper you are! Ahh..the video is screwing up my formatting….so if you want to see kids hooping go here…

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