How can they try to turn away money that might help handicapped children? She might just be doing it for publicity but if she actually donates the money then good on her…Perhaps she should of just made an anonymous donation though but if she wants to go public with it that is her choice isn`t it?!

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Story from here

Prostitute offers sex for charity

A high-class Chilean prostitute touched by a charity
telethon’s bid to raise money for handicapped children has stepped
forward with her own contribution - 27 hours of sex.

That’s how much paid sex work the escort, Maria Carolina, has said she wants to contribute to the Teleton association.

The money she earns from the marathon session, scheduled for November 30-December 1, will go to the charity, Ms Carolina said.

She said she would post a picture of the bank deposit slip on her website afterwards to dispel any doubts.

“I am going to contribute with my work to a purpose that touches me deeply,” Ms Carolina said.

She has spread her message through several online sites and television programs.

But the administrator of the Teleton foundation, television
presenter Mario Kreutzberger, has thrown cold water on the proposition,
saying it falls well outside his moral guidelines and he cannot accept
it.

Ms Carolina, though, said she was determined.

“How can someone question a person who wants to put her job at the service of a noble cause?” she asked.

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It was a long weekend this weekend, friday through to Sunday and I have been ill for most of it. On Thursday night I had a temperature but on Friday it was gone so I went out to do some christmas shopping (Almost finished!) and then yesterday I had a headache all day and stomach cramps and then today I feel so ill, like I have the flu but with stomach cramps too that come in waves and nausea which means I haven`t eaten anything all day…nothing but water.

I hate being sick!

At least I can write this from my bed on my mac which has wireless! Isn`t wireless a great invention!!! Plus now both computers seem to be functioning fine with the internet….

I still wish I wasn`t sick though. If I wake up feeling the same tomorrow then I won`t be able to go to work….All I have done today is wake up check my email, watch a movie, slept, checked facebook, slept and now I am blogging. I have barely left my bedroom….

AGHHHHHHH……………….I don`t want to be sick yet again!

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I don`t smoke….and Shumpei quit 18 months ago when we moved in together. We had no veranda, just a window and I wouldn`t let him smoke inside the apartment. Except now he has started again….I don`t mind so much, I knew he had the occasional cigarette when he was out drinking with friends but it had become a bit more regular recently until he told me he had started again and started carrying around packs of smokes again.

I act a lot more pissed off than I am about it. I figure if he wants to smoke thats fine, I would expect him to quit for good if we had children. He can`t smoke inside and to tell you the truth he hardly ever smokes in front of me anyway. He must have a cigarette walking home from the station then doesn`t have another one until I go to work in the mornings.

Should I be more angry about this? I tell him all the time he smells of smoke and that he won`t be getting any sex from me if he keeps up the smoking or that I refuse to make breakfast for someone who smokes but really I don`t care much. I figure he will quit again when he is ready…

Should I be more worried that he has developed this habit again?

I guess I am just used to smoking, so many people here smoke and in restaurants and bars etc everyone smokes. The other day my taxi driver smoked while he was driving me home…..I think shumpei will be in for a shock when he goes back to Australia since you can`t smoke anywhere there anymore except in the privacy of your own home or car….well we`ll be using my car and we`ll be living with my dad probably and there will be no smoking in his house!

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Went to Design Festa yesterday and it was such a nice day walking around looking at all the stuff by some super amazing and talented designers! I also saw Deanne and Masao who own TOKYOMADE (If you have never checked out their site go NOW!) whom I hadn`t seen in ages so it was great to catch up, even though they were super busy! I also met Yuki from kissui.net for the first time….her and her bf were there and he is from Brisbane so it was good to meet her and have a chat with her bf about Brisbane!

I was so angry that I couldn`t take any photos since my camera broke in Kyoto and I have been told it is not fixable. I will be getting a new one sometime before Christmas (Chrissy present from my mum, Yay! Thanks mum! I love you!) and I can`t wait to start taking photos again. Not having a camera makes you want to take photos all the time!!! I think when I get a new one I will be right back into taking photos everyday!!!!

But since I have no photos to show from the day I thought I would show you some photos of jewelery I have made in the last couple of weeks!!! I wish I could show you the things I have knitted also (Only a couple of scarfs so far and one bootie…which didn`t really turn out!) but I will have to wait til I get my new camera before I can take photos. I have also started thinking about Christmas cards….will have to get stuck into making them this weekend otherwise Christmas will be here before I know it…It was inspiring to walk around Design Festa and see what other people make and do….I was very jealous since I don`t have the talent to come close to being as good as most of the people at the event…

Posting everyday is going OK so far. I suppose when you say your going to do something it is easier then to actually remember to do it…as opposed to thinking to myself that I should blog more!!! I might be going camping this weekend though so blogging may be difficult…I really should how to learn to do short posts from my phone!

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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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It has started…we are officially apartment hunting. Today we picked up some brochures, we also went into one place to have a look at what they had on offer and ended up going out to see three apartments. Apartment hunting in Japan is crazy…I was so wrecked by the time I found my apartment last time and I was reminded today why I hate it so much…

Real estate agent: `So are you married?`

us: no

Real estate agent: Do you both have guarantors?

Us: Yes, shumpei`s parents

Real estate agent: Well because you are not married she (meaning me) can`t use your parents. She will need to go to a company and pay for a guarantor since she doesn`t have any other Japanese family right?

Us: But his parents are willing to be our guarantor?

Real estate agent: sorry that wouldn`t work…

We thought about this for a bit, and apparently if only Shumpei`s name goes on the lease, we can still live together but I won`t need a guarantor then.

We filled in a couple of forms saying what we wanted etc…

Real estate agent: You realize, before I can show you any apartments I will need to ring and mention that an unmarried couple, one of which is foreign, might want to rent their apartment.

me: Ok, I guess. (I couldn`t really say no now could I?)

Real estate agent then started to do this in front of me.

Real estate agent (to owners): . I have a couple looking for a place, they are not married is that ok? (He would wait for them to say ok …..none of them said no at this point…although one did say as long as we weren`t planning on having kids it was ok???)

Real estate agent: Oh and the girl is foreign…….

Some people actually said no straight out….and he would say `Ok I understand` and hang up. Some would ask more questions…like whether I spoke Japanese, where I was from, whether I had a job, what job I had etc.

The couple of places that said ok, would receive this reaction from the real estate agent ` Oh thank you so much for, thank you so much` As if them thinking about renting an apartment to me was nothing short of a miracle.

TO tell you the truth, the guy that helped us today was actually pretty good. Some people I dealt with last time, especially if Shumpei or Shun`s mother weren`t with me, some of the things they would say to me were terrible….One guy refused to even show me places I wanted to see because I was foreign…he wouldn`t even ring the owners and ask if it was ok. Shun was with me that time, and by that time I was so over apartment hunting that I hadn`t even wanted to go into the place because I had said to them they were always so mean and he said they wouldn`t be mean to me if he was there. And that guy that time was the worse…

We saw three apartments today, two of which I liked ( I could ride to work from both of them in less that 30 minutes). The thing is we really need to get the 7000 dollars we will probably need to move together first….We were hoping to move by the end of June but it doesn`t look like it will happen….That is a lot of money, money that we don`t have lying around. In fact I have no savings at the moment and Shumpei only has a little….

I really want to move though….I am so sick of our little cramped apartment!!! We were talking about money today and if we live really tightly we might be able to get the money together before end of July…then it would be just a matter of finding an apartment.

Oh the joys of apartment hunting!!!!!!

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Do not rub your eye when you have curry powder on your hand/fingers. Because then your eye swells up, goes red, stings like crazy and you can`t see. Luckily, now, 2 hours later, my vision is returning to normal.

I`m an idiot.

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Our apartment is 25m sq…If your not sure how small that actually is and you live in Australia then it is probably the size of your bedroom… Put it this way my mothers bedroom is bigger than our whole apartment. Our apartment consists of a bedroom, a hallway (that has the kitchen* in it, as well as the washing machine, and 5 bins.) and a bathroom which two people can not stand in comfortably. I know this because we only have one mirror, one sink etc so when we are both in a rush in the morning cleaning our teeth at the same time can become a challenge unless one of us stands in the bath/shower.

And I am sick of it. I am sick of having no space. And because we have too much stuff then the apartment always seems messy. I hate mess and I am a fairly clean person but this apartment does my head in because it never ever seems clean. But what really annoys me is that if I clean it then less than a day later it is messy again. I can`t really blame Shumpei…he is not as clean as me but he isn`t dirty or messy either. It is just there is no space. From the toilet to the sink in the kitchen it is only 1 and a half meters apart… I know because I just measured it….and that is just crazy.

I want to move. And we will be moving later this year because living in a space this size might be OK for one person (in fact for Tokyo it is not bad in terms of size of a 1k…which means one bedroom and kitchen.) but with the two of us here it is just too much. I eat, Internet, sleep, watch TV and get dressed all in the one room. Because there is no other rooms.

We will be looking for an apartment classified as a 2DK…which means two bedrooms (But one of the rooms will most likely be the size of a closet while the other one we will sleep in) a dining and kitchen. They might not be separate it depends on the place but usually a DK just means a bigger kitchen…and you should have place for a table. I really want a table. I am sick of eating on the floor or on the bed. It just seems so gross…

I am sick of a lot of things. I used to love this apartment. I think because technically it is my first flat…I either lived at home or at a dorm up until now so it was so nice to have my own space. Then Shumpei moved in, which was great, but it meant that I had half the space…and really there wasn`t enough space to begin with. We have lived like this for almost a year now and the thing is it doesn`t bother him at all. Sure he agrees it is kind of small for two people but he would be quite content to stay in this apartment. I know it is a money thing too….for both of us. To move we will have to pay about 6 months rent…. We pay just over 1000 Australian dollars a month to live here at the moment but for a bigger apartment we would have to pay more obviously. And the system in Japan is that you pay 2 months key money (which you never get back ) 2 months bond (which you might get back) one month agent fee then your first months rent. So to move we`d probably have to put forward about 3500 dollars each or 380,000yen.

We haven`t really started apartment hunting yet mainly because I do not have the money to move at the moment. I wish I did, but it will take me at least a couple of months to save that much. Plus I have a ticket to China to buy, among other things.

Don`t get me wrong there are some great things about our apartment. For example it came with a washing machine, microwave and fridge (although we have our own fridge now) so when I moved in I didn`t have to buy any of those things, It is in Kichijoji (A really great place) and it is less than a five minute walk to the station. But I guess I am just over it… I am not sure how much longer I can stand living in an apartment this small.

Anyone want to give us an apartment for free? In Tokyo? Preferably still in Kichijoji? I would really appreciate it…Thanks!

Oh and the picture at the top is not of our apartment but it is basically the same layout and size.

*When I say kitchen I mean sink, and one hot plate with 3 inches of bench space. The microwave, rice cooker and fridge are all against the wall in the hallway.

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While mine won`t be as entertaining as Steph`s…I have decided to write about my garbage distress…unlike her`s mine doesn`t end with hot garbage men or me in little shorts and a see through top!

In Japan, well at least where I live, the garbage system is way to complicated for a simple foreigner to understand. I have instructions on my walls in English and Japanese ( I used to have only English but then the bf moved in and he kept making mistakes so I had to get a Japanese copy from the building manager…He was putting clean paper and plastic together…WHICH IS JUST NOT DONE!)

Firstly there are three coloured bags. Oh and garbage is taken out everyday Monday through Friday.

Monday is burnable rubbish. Green bags.

Tuesday is non-burnable rubbish. Also green bags.

Wednesday is plastic, separated into two bags. Clear bags. (One has clean, washed plastic, the other has plastic pet bottles with labels and lids removed…the labels and lids go in the other plastic bag.

Thursday is burnable rubbish again. Green bags.

Friday is paper (clean only), glass (bottles etc must have caps and labels removed), cans (washed) and dangerous garbage (meaning batteries and aerosol cans). All in clear bags except the dangerous garbage which goes into red bag.. The paper must be bundled with red string if it is magazines or boxes. Tape must be removed from boxes…

I live in an apartment that is 25m sq (read: TINY) and half of it is taken up with fricken garbage bins. I have five in total…inside my apartment plus the plastic bottles and non-burnable garbage ( I never have much…) goes onto the floor. Because I don`t have any space for other bins.

Oh by the way all bags have to bought and are pretty damn expensive! The garbage has to go downstairs into the entrance sometime between 9 at night and 9 the next morning. I am quite lucky now, my oya-san (means owner, although she is actually the manager I guess of the building) is not that pedantic about it and I think if people make mistakes she just fixes it (BUT EWWWW…..OTHER PEOPLES GARBAGE) although if it is not in the right bags she usually returns it to the person if she knows who it is or leaves it downstairs with a note on it.

But before, when I lived at the international house when I was university student all hell broke loose when the garbage system for our area changed to the above (By the way the above system is not a japan wide system or even a Tokyo wide system…I can not believe they have different ways of separating garbage in different suburbs but they do!)…before that it was just burnable and non burnable and cans, glass and dangerous garbage was separate. And it was all in the same colour clear bags. Oh and burnable was paper and food and non-burnable was plastic (Now for some strange reason plastic (dirty) is burnable…clean of course must go out with the other plastic on Wednesday!). We had lectures on garbage separation, were given English instructions (the Chinese girl was given Chinese instructions) and I believe there was a couple of powerpoint slide shows. But basically none of us could be bothered. And our oya-san was hellish…SHE WOULD GO THROUGH OUR GARBAGE AND THEN PUT IT BACK IN OUR KITCHENS OR OUTSIDE OUR DOORS IF SHE FOUND SOMETHING WITH OUT NAME ON IT OR SOMETHING TYING IT BACK TO ME or SOMEBODY ELSE.

This is where it got complicated. One guy hated her (the oya-san). And would cut everything up with his name on it tying back to him or leave it and put it into other people`s bins cos he was a lazy fucker who couldn`t be bothered to separate his garbage. HE PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER. It was a nightmare. She knew it was him but couldn`t prove it. There were letters flying back and forth…Once she even pulled certain things out of the garbage and put them outside his door. It was just gross.

Plus there was 3 or 4 people sharing a kitchen. We were all responsible for our own bedroom rubbish but the kitchen rubbish there was a roster. And none of us ever remembered to do it until it was overflowing and the oya-san would relent and take it out for us. Then leave notes. My biggest pet hate was washing out juice containers then having to cut them up…THAT`S RIGHT….CUT THEM UP.

I believe in recycling. I do. But this is just too much….Especially when you only have such a small space to keep rubbish in your apartment and no big bins in the basement of anything to put it all. If you forget one week your stuck with it…In your apartment…til the next time. (Note: Not all apartments are like this…most big places have basements with big garbage bins)

So next time you think `Oh I don`t want to take out my ONE bag of garbage` or ` God, I don`t want to take out the bin.` think of me…and the fact I have to wake up 15 minutes before I have to just to separate and prepare my garbage for collection!

Ps: Read this for some other interesting points. This is not my area but I too have to do most of the things listed.

pps: I left out the instructions for clothing and shoes and handbags…they don`t all go together but there are different rules for them. Oh and there are special days if you want to throw out fridges, freezes, microwaves etc too.

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Had a hard day…dot points it is.,,

• Turns out when you have an asthma attack while you have a cold and can`t breath through your nose it is very very scary. I haven`t had a full on asthma attack in at least two years and while I was stupid enough to avoid seeing a doctor for the last ten days I have had this CRAPPY cough, I didn`t think it would get this bad. But a trip to the hospital, an hour on the nebulizer machine and two hours with a drip left me feeling like I had been hit by a truck as good as new almost.
• Oh and now I have five different assorted drugs to occupy myself with for the next couple of weeks. Very cool looking asthma inhaler…but unfortunately also have the very crappy powder type drugs that Japanese doctors are always handing out. Your supposed to be on of the most technically advanced nations in the world…CAN`t YOU PUT IT IN TABLET OR CAPSULE FORM (so that I am not forced to choke down vile powder that sticks in your throat as you imagine powder would. But at least you got the inhaler to taste like nothing, and three tablets, so at least it is not ALL in disgusting powder form.
• Is it sad that when I couldn`t open a jar of sauce tonight that I googled `how to open hard to open jars` because after 20 minutes of trying I was exhausted and needed to nap. In case your wondering you should knock it with a blunt object, of hold it with a sponge that has a hard side….NEITHER OF THESE WORKED THOUGH! Eventually (after nap) I tried again and it popped open.
• Got home early (after hospital visit….I kind of had to leave work in the middle of the day and walk to the hospital cos I thought I was dying…since I couldn`t breath and all that) and watched `The holiday`. Great movie! Light weight but a nice watch (Can you say a nice watch…You can say a nice read so I am guessing it is ok)
• Speaking of books, the books I ordered from amazon arrived today. I love books.
• How did i miss what a cool band Eskimo Joe was when they were popular like 10 years ago or whenever it was.
• Loving Google reader. In case anyone is wondering, Alaska had a lot of earthquakes today.
• Is cous cous like one of the best foods ever? My favourite part…It doesn`t come in a stupid hard to open jar.
• Is it bad that I have favourite kids that I work with? It worries me because what if I have kids and I like one of them better than the other. I would feel so bad if that happened. I have two favourites at school. I love them all, of course, but these two are my favourite (In fact the one that say`s I`m toilet when she needs to use the bathroom and the one that wants to grow up to be a robot (can`t be assed linking…see post below) are my favourites! Other teachers out there have favourites? I am guessing it is normal, but doesn`t stop me from worrying I will favour one of my own kids over the other.
• On the 24th of this month I will be hosting a hanami party! There is going to be a surprise party joining us too, but more details on that later. So excited that cherry blossom season is starting again. Best time of the year without a doubt!
• I think I have my blogging mojo back. I went though a phase were I stopped checking blogs, and stopped writing my own, but am definitely getting back into it and tuning out a couple posts a week again. Do not be surprised if from here on in though they are all meme`s!! hehe. Nah, just kidding…I might through in some photos too!
• Shun is still not home from work at it is after 10…I hate it when he actually has to work hard. Is that bad of me? hehe.
• Why are the word mojo and googled not in the spell check dictionary. They are SOOOOOOO words!

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