Cherry Blossom Adventures

Last time I left Japan for awihle was almost three and a half years ago and it was three days before my 20th birthday. I knew I`d be back, and while I said a year, I didn`t really know how lon it would take. With out a doubt, the best year of my life was coming to an end.

To make it worse, five weeks earlier I had met Shumpei. I was in Japan almost 11 months and for some crazy reason fate couldn`t have brought us together any earlier it seemed.

The day I left was also the day two other exchange students were leaving so the kaikan, where we lived, was a buzz of activity and rushing around. Quite a few people had gathered to say goodbye. Shumpei had come by car the night before (Monday night) after work to stay. He had taken the following day off to drive me to the aiport.

I knew it would be hard to say goodbye. We all gathered downstairs, loaded luggage into the cars and I said goodbye to those not coming to the airport. And I started to cry. Leader, an awesome and dear friend, also had takent he day off work to drive the others going home to the airport plus a couple of others who were coming all the way out to say goodbye.

I cried halfway to the airport (It is a long drive!) and with Shumpei driving not really knowing what he could say to make it better.  Of course there were dramas at the airport. I had sent two boxes of stuff to Australia already but my suitcase still weight eight kilos over (I was literally pulling out clothes from my suitcase and throwing them in the bin at the aiport!) and I had so much hand luggage (My backpack was 18kg! Not to mention a laptop, large handbag and a bag carrying goodbye gifts I had gotten!). In the end, I can`t remember how much they charged me for the extra weight in my suitcase but it was about $500. I think mum is more likely to remember! I had an emergency credit card and I rang her in a panic not knowing what to do (While  Leader and Shumpei were withdrawing money from their accounts to pay for it also!) and she let me put it on there.

We ate dinner and Shun gave me a letter to read on the plane and we all got ready to say goodbye. I was crying so much and as I walked through the doors to get my handluggage x-rayed I was still crying and waving goodbye to everyone that had come.

Less than 12 months later I landed back in Tokyo on a delayed flight from London, where Shumpei was waiting for me at the airport!

This time is a little different! Again, I know I will be back. I even know it will more than likely be at the end of May or June. But I still have mixed feelings. I want to go back to Australia for a little while, I do. But I know if it is anything like the last time I left, I will miss Japan terribly. Shumpei and I will only be apart for 2 months but that is still the longest we have been apart since I returned to japan two and a half years ago. And my friends here, I will miss them so much. They are so great to me, especially Catherine and James. I don`t know how I will go in Australia without them!

Tonight is my goodbye party that Leader, Catherine and James organized. It is a formal place apparently so I have a dress and Shun will wear a suit and we will be meeting Cat and James early in Roppongi for a couple of drinks before we head to Omotesando! I am very excited but it will also be sad because today will be the day I say goodbye to my friends here in Tokyo, and for most it will be the second time I will be saying goodbye!

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In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...)

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N is for Nancy Drew…

As a child I could always be found with my nose in a book…Once I bought 200 books at a school fete for $10 because it was the spending money mum gave me but I was on crutches so couldn`t go on any of the rides or walk much.

I am not sure when I first read Nancy Drew…or who gave it to me but I would say I was about nine and I think it was my mum who maybe gave me a three in one book which I probably went through in like a day! It was easy to get a lot of other Nancy Drew books second hand or at the public library!

I loved those books!!! I wanted to be Nancy Drew! eighteen, a blue mustang and a gorgeous boyfriend named Ned not to mention who two best friends (George and Bess I think it was?!) I thought she had it all…Not only that but she had curly strawberry blond hair and was smart enough to solve any mystery! She was a bit like the Scooby Doo Gang, except so muc cooler!

It isn`t even that my favourite books from childhood and adolecence were Nancy Drew (My favourite were Anne of Green Gables, The Orphan Series by V.C Andrews, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, Alison by Margaret Watts and Dear Venny and Dear Saffron….oh and maybe chuck in some Judy Blume books also!) but they were easy and fun to read and I must have gone through hundreds of them.

I donated most of them to a hospital when I moved to Japan for the first time but once I have children old enough to read Nancy Drew I am going to go out and buy lots of them for them. I do hope my children are big readers like me!!!

Mandy was a sweet valley high junkie! Do you still have them babe? While I never really got into Sweet Valley I did read a lot of teen trashy romance novels from the 80`s (I picked them up at that fete!)….I don`t remember the name of them….sweet teens or something?? Oh and lets not forget the Baby Sitters Club….I think I read all of them also! Actually I read everything including some of my mums mills and boons I think!!

Did anyone else read Nancy Drew? Or did you have a different favourite series and hero/heroine that you read? I have many favourite books from childhood and would love it if you could share yours also!!!!

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In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...) Today`s post is a little delayed…I have published D is for.. and E is for… before C is for Cancer…

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I think almost  everyone has had someone close to them affected by cancer…This disease sometimes seems as if it is taking over the world. In my life, several family members, friends, parents of friends have had cancer…It is a horrible disease.

When I was fifteen my father was diagnosed with  lymphoma, stage four. It was one of the biggest shocks of my life. We grow up thinking our parents are invincible and when something threatens that our lives feel like they are falling apart.

I remember that I didn`t know how to tell my friends at school that it was happening. I had told one or two of my friends but didn`t know how to tell them all….It is such a hard thing to stand up and announce without breaking down, or crying…especially when you are fifteen and an emotional mess. I wrote them a letter…and when I gave it to them I apoligised for not been able to say what was inside.

It took a year for  him to have chemo, a stem-cell transplant and go into remission. Since 2001 he has been in remission until now. Then a month ago they found cancer cells, in a routine check-up. My father has had other health problems over the last couple of years and we were waiting for test results on another check when these results came in. It was the last thing we expected…after a stem-cell transplant, for the same cancer to come back is a rarity….one we thought we had bypassed…

I am so far away from my family…I can`t zip home for the weekend or for dinner once a week…I can`t be there to help my dad. or my family. This is not the only thing I haven`t been around for, in the last couple of years a lot of stuff has happened, stuff that I can`t go into on a blog that is as open as this one, stuff that I can`t control. But that still makes me upset that I am not there for my mum or my dad or little brother….

Shumpei and I had decided to go back to Australia in July, part of this was so that he could learn English and get to know my family and part of it was because I wanted to, needed to, be around my family…and then this happened. So I know we have made the right choice. I have decided I will be returning to Australia a little earlier than planned…in mid-May…I will be finishing up work in April….As I mentioned on here a week or so ago, I have a stomach ulcer which they say is caused by stress….I have had a lot of stress recently with all this going  on back in Australia and also with work….So I am going home a little earlier, even though it means Shun and I will be apart for about 6 weeks to two months. We have done long-distance before and we both think it would be a good idea for me to spend time with my family alone before he follows me over.

Nothing has been decided with my fathers Cancer at this stage…It is stage one and the lumps are not even big enough to be felt…We are waiting for other test results, and at this stage it is definitely not as serious or as advanced as it was seven years ago…A decision will be made about treatment in the next month or so. You may wonder why no treatment has been decided as of yet but there are other test results and tests that needed to be conducted before anything can be decided….

Cancer is a horrible disease and it is affecting so many people…people we love and care about, people we admire….I can not believe it is affecting my family yet again….

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In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...)C is for… will not be posted for a couple of weeks although it has already been written…

This is technically my fifth post…(Although I just realized this is also my 250th post on Cherry Blossom Adventures)

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Have you ever had a year where you could consider it the best one of your life? March 2004-Feb 2005 was like that for me. I have no way of knowing if it will be the best year of my life for the rest of my life but for now it is definitely number one.

I came to Japan for the first time ever in March 2004…I had studied Japanese in my first year of university….but my Japanese was considered basic at the most….I had applied to go on exchange and was accepted based on my grades…I turned 19 just before I arrived in Japan. The first few months my Japanese didn`t improve at all and I struggled but once I got into the swing of things I never wanted to leave… (For those of you who every wondered…I only studied Japanese 8 months before coming here and could barely say my name and where I was from when I first arrived here…so when I say basic I mean BASIC)

It was my first time living away from my family and I consider it to be the year I grew up a lot also… I have so many wonderful memories of that year…It truly was the best year ever. We all wish (meaning those of us that were on exchange together) that we could go back to living in the Seikei University Kaikan (International dorm)…there was always something happening, always people around and so many life long memories formed!

I had so many great experiences and formed many great, lasting friendships…(and relationships…Shun!).

Seeing my first cherry blossoms, trips to Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and beyond, izakaya experiences, summer fireworks and yukata, my first view of snow, my first attempts at snowboarding, reggae bands and clubs, Fuji Kyu Highland and Disneyland, meeting Shumpei at a house party and then having to say goodbye a month later…

I made a slideshow of photos, which describes my year a lot better than I can put into words!(You will need Macromedia Flash Player to view it…oh and the photos do have some weird names like tobesorted 472…because I am lazy and have never gone through and named them all)

I had to go through over 5000 photos last night to choose some to put in the slide…I hadn`t seen some of those photos in over a year and it was a good chance to look through them and reminisce about that year. Anyone that gets a chance to go overseas, and experience another culture and step out of their usual surroundings should jump at the chance…If you could go for more than a holiday, even better! If it is something you have thought about doing and put on the back burner for now well pull the idea out and play with it a little bit….what have you got to lose?

Going on exchange changed my life…If you had asked me 5 years ago when I had finished highschool if I had thought this is where I would be today I would have answered with a `No way`…It is funny what can happen in a short amount of time…I never thought I would be living in Japan at 22, or planning to get married to a Japanese boy and live in Japan…I never even thought that I would be a kindergarten teacher. Coming to Japan on exchange in 2004, changed the path of my life that I thought I would follow.

Do I have any regrets? No, now, I couldn`t imagine my life any other way!

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When I was about 11, grade six, i remember attending the St Rita`s school fete and spending less than 10 dollars but taking home more than a 100 books (I was given 10 days for the day and it all went to books except for a drink I think). A lot of them were light weight crap, but I read them all…I was on crutches at the time (Not the first, and not the last let me tell you!) and my mum`s friend heather had to carry the boxes of books to her car for me since I couldn`t do it. It was near school holidays when I bought the books…and I read a couple a day for the whole holidays. I love books, I have always loved books. There are photos of me as a toddler on the toilet reading books, reading to my dolls and bears and sitting on the floor pouring theough my parents ancient funken wagnells.

My parents were supposed to move while I was in Japan in 2004/2005 so before I left I had to pack up my room and I was limited to one box of books that I could keep. I have over 500 books for sure and I sold a lot of them to a second hand book store on the goldcoast and gave the rest to the mater hospital in Brisbane. I had never parted with books well. No matter how old or crappy they are, I always wanted to keep them. Even if it meant having piles and piles of books in my closet, and the spare room closet, and on my floor and on my book shelves. I kept books that I would want my children to read, especially if they were girls, as well as my favourite books. But I actually did fairly well at clearing them out. Now that I live in an apartment the size of a shoebox I am limited to how many books I can keep here. I have a small bookshelf and one shelf has non-fiction that I keep. Mainly travel guides, writing guidlines and some history stuff. The other shelf has japanese-language and study books. And I have allowed one shelf for fiction that is always overflowing…But I can keep about 30 to 35 fiction books in the apartment at a time…so I have to part with books a lot more than I used to. I realize now though that I have to get serious, stop buying more books, and read the ones I have.

I might not be what the call a `well-read` person but I have read more than my fair share of books. Considering the amount of books I read it is a wonder why my spelling and grammar are still so bad but that is another story. I remember reading Anne of Green Gables for the first time as a kid. My grandmother in New Zealand had sent me a copy and it had been bounded upside down by mistake. By the time she realized and took it back there were no more so she sent it to me anyway, with a note that said `Sorry you`ll have to read it upside down/back to front but you`ll be the only girl with an upside down copy of Anne of Green Gables`. I still have it.

Lately I have had a hard time getting into a book (In fact I have been starting books and not finishing them and putting them back on the bookshelves to start another…This is not like me at all). It isn`t like I read really in depth stuff. There are a couple of reasons behind this I think (This been that I can`t seem to get into a book). One is that I don`t catch the train or public transport much anymore and that was always my time for reading, and if I was into a book then when I got home I would lie on the bed and read some more yet now that I don`t have that I never seem to have enough time to get into a book. Two, my eyesight is getting worse and I kept forgetting to wear my glasses when I read meaning that the words all kind of blur together making me tired very quickly. Three, I haven`t come across a really good book recently and usually when you read a really good book and finish it it makes you want to read more.

I have realized that I needed something to get me motivated and reading again. There are lots of reading challanges out there on different blogs and website (I have been thinking about books and reading a lot in the last week and have started reading a lot of book, writing and reading blogs that review books and blogs of people that read a lot), but most start at the begining of a year. I did come across this one though and the guidelines are fairly loose so I thought I would sign up in the hope that it would give me some motivation. It is for spring, and starts later on in the week and more info can be found here

I can choose any amount of books and while I have a lot of stuff that I already own laying around the apartment and I recently picked up a few classics that I feel I SHOULD read. I aim to read at least 10 books during the challange although since I am a bit of a mood reader I will put up 20 or so books and will choose the 10 from there. I will put the list up in a couple of days, because to be a proper participant I have to give a list.

So who else there likes reading? Leave me info about books if you think I should read them. I usually read anything, (except science fiction mainly…but I don`t like to exclude anything!) and am always up for suggestions.

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Last weekend on Sunday I had the worst hangover I have had in over a year. The one before that been the night after my 21st birthday. Although my worst hangover ever …happened at a campsite (and unfortunately in a car ride down a windy mountain) in Saitama prefecture, Japan aged 19. James would agree that he also had the worst hangover ever that day also….It is really bad when you don`t have a proper toilet to throw up in…and worse still when the bathrooms have spiders! Actually out of the 20 of us camping together that weekend I think more than a few of us walked away feeling a bit worse for wear. It is never good to start drinking at 2pm and continue to till 5am then have to wake up at 8am to head back to Tokyo.

Anyway, no matter how sick I wake up the next day the next weekend I am always jumping back on the horse (so to speak) and having something delicious to drink. I am not saying I wake up every weekend with a hangover, with age I have actually gotten more of a handle on the `moderation is key` motto that my mother was always going on about. But sometimes I slip, or sometimes I go to bed feeling fine and still wake up feeling like I am dying. What`s with that?

AM I STUPID?

Is it just me, or is this a lesson people never seem to learn. I am sipping a glass of Aussie sparkling wine (good old Jacob`s Creek) as I write this thinking `What am I doing`….I don`t have a big night planned. Just dinner with some friends so the chances of me having a hangover tomorrow are near impossible but that said, who knows what the night will bring.

Despite the hangovers I have never given up on my favourites. Wine and Vodka. No matter how sick I am the next day the next weekend I will be back drinking one of the two….;Yet I hear all these stories of people that can`t stand the smell of certain booze due to a bad experience. Why hasn`t this happened to me? One friend suggested it was because I haven`t gotten sick enough off them, but I beg to differ.

Ok everyone, share your hangover cures. Is there really such a thing? There are a lot of theories but do any of them work?? I hate hangovers, and I doubt anyone out there is going to say they love them, but I mean I REALLY hate them. But not enough to give up drinking. I guess I am stupid.

People that do not get hangovers should not comment, because it will just piss me off!

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Two years ago I was also in Tokyo for new years. My brother arrived in Japan just after christmas to meet up with me and it snowed the following day marking the first day ever my brother and I had ever seen snow. It wasn`t a lot but enough to get us excited. Two days later Tokyo had a record snow fall only a couple of days before the new year.

Here are some photos from that day. Considering we had a 17 degree day on Wednesday and the most rain Tokyo had seen in forever on Tuesday it seems so different from my snowy and cold new years two years ago…therefore making it a blog worthy moment.

These photos were all taken at my Japanese university, Seikei University in Kichijoji. I doubt Tokyo will see any snow this winter, and even if it does I doubt we will get as much as this.

1. Grounds in Seikei near the entry.

2. My brother and I (possibly before or after a snowball fight)

3. Our pathetic snowman barry who had flowers for eyes.

4. Me and Cat (#2)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Ps: Several days after this I went snowboarding…now that was a lot of snow!!

Pps: When this is published I will be drinking with friends…I am so organized for once in my life I managed to do a `publish on 30th Dec at 7pm` set-up thing. I am so proud.

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I was sitting in starbucks this morning in Shinjuku and i managed to resist cream in my coffee and the yummy snacks they had on offer. I even got a short coffee instead of my usual grande or tall. And the best thing about my morning coffee was they were playing Ray Charles…(I love Ray Charles…but I really was just glad to hear something other than christmas carols)

I grew up with music from the likes of Ray Charles. Not to mention The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Roy Orbison, John Lennon, Simon & Garfunkle, Hermans Hermits, Aretha Franklin, Carole King and many many more…

Not only did dad have many records and cd’s and a very eclectic style in music but he also had a record player and that was the one of the best things about been home with Dad when nobody else was around because he would put on a record lay on the floor and just listen to it…

My father can also sing…The best thing about that is that i can also (luckily) hold a tune (when I want to)…so I not only inherited my height from him but also my singing voice. The other great thing about my father singing is for some unknown reason when dad sings, he sings like the artist…My father can sing like John Lennon and then turn into Aretha Franklin at the drop of a hat.

I think before I knew how to sing twinkle twinkle I could sing Imagine by John Lennon and I am a Rock by Simon & Garfunkle..and by 8 I could play them on the piano.

I think my father (and mothers) love of music rubbed off on both me and my little brother because despite growing up catholic I grew up thinking that prayer time was a sing along of 60’s music. If I ever have children then I would love to instil a love of music in them also…although for lessons on the 60’s and 70’s they would be going to their grandfathers place.

Dad always regretted not learning an instrument when he was younger…he would tell stories of how boys and girls who could play instruments were also hits at parties and got all the girls (or boys). He told me this everytime I did not want to go to my Piano lessons…”You’ll be sorry when your at a party and a nother girl can play better than you or if a boy whips out a guitar..” At the time I always thought it was so strange that people used to play instruments at parties but now I understand. My little brother has jam sessions over beer with his friends all the time. He owns three guitars, a keyboard (the piano is at Dad’s place) bongos, a harmonica and probably other assorted instruments…

When I was about 8, I had already been learning the piano for 4 years or so, Dad decided to start getting lessons. It didn’t last long but I will never forget coming home from school and my father saying excitedly…”lulu lulu…come listen to this” because he had taught himself to play I can see a rainbow…

I received my first cassette player at 5 and my first CD player at 11 or 12. My first cassette was Michael Jackson in the early 90’s and my first CD later on in the 90’s was Crowded House. My father approved of both my choices even if he thought they were not QUITE old enough for him. I now have a very eclectic taste in music and my ipod carries tunes from all over…

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This is one of my favourite photos taken while i was in Japan in 2004/2005…It was taken a couple of weeks before Catherine went back to Scotland and we were at Asakusa buying souvenirs for her to take home for everyone and it was also the day of the Sumidagawa fireworks. Actually below is another of my favourite photos taken the same day…

Thanks to Ei-chan for taking the first one, and some random stranger for taking the second one…They are both perfect tokyo summer shots.

I can’t wait to go to see the hanabi ( fireworks) and o-matsuri (festivals) over the summer…

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I just received news that a high school friend, Annie, has gotten engaged. Congratulations to her and Wade. I didn’t even know that she had moved to Adelaide earlier this year to be with him when he got transferred but thank you to Nicole for keeping me up to date with gossip from back home. We are getting so grown up…Nobody my age ( and i am 21… and Annie will be too a little later this year!) that i know has gotten engaged before so it has got me thinking about it….(well not that i know of!!). Earlier this week i heard of another high school mate that had bought a house with her partner……

Our lives have all gone in different directions… and while i know some of the old LHC groups that were around when we all left high school in 2002 are still in touch and still hang out together…So much has changed, i am really only in touch with 3 or 4 people i went to high school with, and one friend from primary school. It really does seem like just yesterday that we were all running around like crazy looking for shoes to match our formal dresses but it is 4 years since then….I can’t believe how time has flown by……

humpei is still moving in soon, and for me that is a big step and while marriage has been discussed before, it is something that we talk about which might happen in the far away future…but i guess you never know. As my friend Nicole said “It will be fun for you and Chump to play house”….That is true, i think it will be……but i think i definitely want to play house for a little while before i just have to do house… Playing house sounds more fun anyway!

I was looking around to see i had a photo of her, but no luck….did come across some old photos though from a couple years back…They were all taken during January/February of 2004…Just after i got a digital camera and just before i left for Japan to go study at Seikei…

The above photos were taken a year out of high school, but we still seemed like kids…I guess i still half think of myself as a kid still……But around us everyone is growing up, even me…My how time flies…

Well i didn’t come across any photos of Annie, but congratulations again to her…and i wish her all the best!

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