Sunday blues

Went to church again yesterday. Valerie wasn't there, but Heather was and greeted me cheerfully. After the service tho, everyone just up and leaves really soon after! I started to talk to one lady, but I had to initiate it, and noone does stuff after the service, so I just went on home. Felt really bizzare, just to be sitting at home on a Sunday. Got lots done, tho. Went to church again in the evening, and this time Heather wasn't even there, so I sat by myself, and afterwards, I slowly got up and meandered to the door, but there no one came to talk to me, and I didn't feel like throwing myself into a circle. So I left. I felt like crying as I walked home. Made me miss home and friends so much. Went home feeling blue and lonely.

Got a message that teachers were going out with the Nova Japanese staff for tea, and did I want to come. I was so excited! I said yes, of course, and went out for a lovely tea and pleasant conversation with intelligent people. Afterwards, we moved on to a bar called Grammaphone. I had such a great evening! Pleasant people, intelligent conversation. Went home feeling accepted and inspired to do stuff with my life (and admittedly somewhat inebriated).

What's the deal with that???

Same blog, new name

Time for a new name!! I know you'll be glad, Chris, since there are so many blogs already named "The Journey". So what does "gaijen" mean? Alien or foreigner. That's what I am here. It is a very common term - everyone is either Japanese or Gaijen. I like it... I feels like it describes me well. I am accepted, but I'm not the same, and never will be. I'm not from here, I'm just living here the best I can, and enjoying learning the culture. It's cool.

Starting to kinda enjoy work, and the hours are unreal! Feels like I only just had a weekend, and I've only got one day of work left before another weekend!! Yay!!

If you wanna pray for me, pray that the internet on at home really soon! Be so much easier than going into JJ's all the time!!

Braving the shops

Believe it or not, one of the scariest things for me here is the shopping... I braved a supermarket the other day for my first proper grocery shop. A lot of items are a little different than in Aussie supermarkets, and it:s all written in Japanese! (Duh!) For someone who doesn:t like cooking at the best of times, its a little daunting to try buying mystery ingredients to make tea with!

I have discovered some basics tho. At the moment, my diet consists of toast and strawberry jam, smoothies (lots of bananas and strawberries here, and managed to find the yoghurt!), and vegetable pasta - I found these packets of pasta sauce,and simply add a whole bunch of vegies and serve with thin spaghetti stuff. For snacks I eat chocolate biscuits from the Family Mart downstairs, these yummy-as sweet buns available everywhere for about $1.30, and really yummy donuts from Mister Donut near work. I:m pretty unadventurous with food, so basically eat the same stuff every day! I like it tho, and will get around to trying new stuff eventually! (Everything comes in a smaller version here - a `loaf` of bread only has six slices!!! Admittedly, they are very huge slices!)

For work, every month I have to do a Special Voice - a two hour session on a topic of my choice, with activities etc to get people talking and having fun. Yikes!! Any suggestions? I can, of course, do `Australia Travel Voice`, but to be honest, I don:t really know many facts about Aust to do quizzes on - I:ll have to do some research! Francie is doing `So you wanna be a star?` this month - lots of drama, and quizzes about stars - cool. BTW, Francie is leaving! =( She got a transfer to Fukuoka in about 3 1/2 weeks. Everybody wants to transfer out of Sasebo at the moment, cuz they don:t like the US Navy base. Sad for me, cuz I don:t want to move, and I:m loosing all my new friends!!! Ah, well, such is life!

Gotta go look for the Post Office - I think I recognise the last Kanji in the word, so will go in to the right building! Can:t wait to be able to read and understand Japanese!!!

XXOO Luv yas!

Sunday again...

Wow, I can:t believe its already Sunday again!! Been an action-packed week...

On Monday I went to Fukuoka for Orientation and training. As people warned me, orientation was fairly boring and almost entirely unproductive, but it was a great reunion... there were nine ppl at orientation, and we were all Aussies and had flown at least from KL together! Unreal! Cuz we:re all in a strange country, it was like being reunited with long-lost friends, even tho we barely know each other. I stayed in a cute little hotel in the room next to Lyndal, a Victorian who is unreal. She looked after me and helped me catch trains, etc. Training wasn:t really thrilling. OnTues night Bryan also came to stay at the hotel, and we met up with Belinda and Mike (Mike who I work with but was up from Sasebo visiting Belinda). We went out to a Karaoke place - very fun! You book this little room all to yourselves - how cool! Has a little platform stage with tv screen in front of it, and a huge screen for the rest of the ppl in the room. Didn:t get to bed til 3:30, which is probably why the rest of training wasn:t much fun.

New rule for self: if working the next day, must catch the 11:03pm (last) bus home!

On Friday morning, caught the train back to Sasebo, to start work at 5pm. Got an unreal schedule:

• Tues & Thurs: 1:20pm - 9pm (8 lessons)
• Wed & Fri: 5pm - 9pm (5 lessons)
• Sat: 10am - 5:40pm (8 lessons)
• Sun & Mon: OFF!! :)

Worked 2 days and already getting into the swing of it. Fairly easy job, but I plan on getting good sleeps etc, so I can stay alert and enthusiastic. Also gonna have to be creative to keep Voice classes interesting.

Church: Ian contacted Robyn, who contacted Alayne, who contacted the Heath`s who are pastor missionaries in Sasebo, and the end result is I got to go to an English speaking church today!! Yay!! A Baptist church, but much more traditional than our church - hymns only, KJV of the Bible, much longer sermon, and I was really glad I wore black pants and a nice top instead of jeans (will probably wear skirts in the future - haven:t been to a church like this for a while! Interesting...). Met a couple of US Navy wives (pretty young - a bit younger than me perhaps?) who I will catch up with at some stage. They said they can get me on to the base to watch movies in English at their own little cinema! Awesome!! One is named Heather... actually, in a church of 50 or so people, I am the 4th Heather... bizarre!!!

Sunday sightseeing

Hello again people!! I went to a Catholic church this morning - interesting. Felt bad cuz I was one of 2 females in the whole church who wasn:t wearing a white head scarf - doh! Didn:t understand a word, so was a bit bored, but some of the singing sounded nice, even tho I couldn:t join in. Then I went to the guys place cuz David had the day off today. We got on a train and visited Arita, a little place nearby. Was pretty little place with HEAPS of pottery stores. Not much else to see, even tho we walked around heaps.

Back in Sasebo we shopped around a bit, and I also bought a digital camera - YAY!! So now I can take some pics, and in a month when I get internet at my house, I can put pics on my blog for you all! Yay! Also got a mobile yesterday. I:ve been quite productive really. Packed my bag for training already, and dropped it back at the guys place, cuz we:re going to Korean BBQ or some place tonight (all you can eat and drink for I think about $70- actually more like $40), and I:ll just PLAN to stay at the guys place rather than try and find my way home in the dark and then get back early again for my train to training.

Gotta go to tea! Thanks for the email - made me laugh lots Ruthie!! Luv you all!!

I`m here...and sleeping on a park bench!

Hey folks - I made it!! Funny part - I don`t actually live in Nagasaki! I live in Sasebo near Nagasaki! LOL! Shows how much research I did before I arrived! He hee! Was a long travel to get here - left my house at 9:50am on Tues morn, and got to my apartment in Sasebo about 6pm (Aust time) on Wed. Slept for about 2 or 3 hrs on the second flight cuz it was a pretty empty flight so I could use 2 seats. Was fairly stuffed by the time I arrived. Didn`t meet too many ppl on the first flight, but met some more at KL, and then couple more at Osaka. Met up with Jacinta and Amy from SA in KL as planned - they seem really nice, but are actually living in Nagasaki. Also met Lyndal as I was getting off the plane in KL - she`s cool, and we`re staying in the same hotel in Fukuoka next week to do our training! Yay! Glad I know someone already!

So, you`re wondering what this sleeping on a park bench is all about... well, it wasn`t quite a park bench...

On Wed when I arrived, the guy that met me at the train station, Mike, asked if I wanted to go out for tea with all the English teachers... I said sure. So we caught the bus to my apartment and he waited while I showered, then we walked back to the arcade (the longest covered mall in Japan!). It was about a 30 or 40 min walk, and seemed fairly straight forward. Another teacher, Brian, showed me around a little, including where the guys apartments are (only about a 2min walk from Nova, which is at the start of the arcade). Most of the teachers finish at 9pm, so tea wasn`t til then. Met Francie and Martina, my flatmates, who are very nice. Francie is an extreme sanguine! About 11pm, they were gonna move on to a new place to keep drinking. By this time I was pretty stuffed, so I said goodbye and headed home. The buses stop at 11pm, and as I thought it was pretty close to then, and I wasn`t sure about catching buses, I just decided to walk.... bad idea! (Ps - it is very safe in Japan - there were plenty of other females walking around alone) I walked for ages, circling around, with no idea where I was. I had left my address card at home, so I couldn`t even catch a taxi or ask for directions, cuz I didn`t know where I actually had to go, and I can`t speak the language anyway. Finally, I decided I would never find it, and I walked back to Nova, then found the guys place (only 2min radius to scan ー much easier!) There was no one home, so I settled myself down on the bench outside their apartment. About 2am, David came home, and as he didn`t know the way to the girls apartment, he just let me sleep the rest of the night in his spare room! LOL! What a way to start! Caught a bus home the next morning, and even in the daylight, I overshot, and walked for miles after getting off the bus, before turning around and finding it on the way back! Hopefully getting home today will be easier!

Martina didn`t have internet on at home :( but Francie wants it, and since I have a computer (thanks Matt!) we`ll get it on asap. Only thing is it takes about a month... doh! But today I came all by myself to JJ Club, signed up for a membership, and can now come use the internet for approx $5 / hr. Not bad!

Going to Fukuoka for training next week, so might be next Fri before I can blog again. Miss you all lots!! Feeling slightly unsettled, but not too bad. Feeling pretty positive. Thanks for your comments on my blog and emails (and snail mail Kelly!).

Luv ya all! XXOO Vi

Fond farewells

Alas, the end is here... (or is it just the beginning?)

After a 3:21am party, an icecream pig-out with a lactose-intolerant friend (hope you're okay Katie!) and many dinners and coffees, it is time to finally say goodbye. It hit me this morning that I'm actually leaving, and tears have been not too far from the surface all day.

To all you wonderful people who have made life in Ballarat so amazing, may every bit of love you have given me come back to you tenfold. I love you guys so much! I was gonna write individual letters to everyone to express my thanks for your wonderful friendship and list all the ways you have blessed my life, but there isn't enough time... the list is too long. So, thanks. I'll miss you all heaps!

I'm leaving in the morning, so the next post you'll see will be from Japan! Wohoo! Don't forget to write to me every now and then! (In the first couple of weeks would be great ;) )

XXXOOOOXXXXOOOOXXXXOOOOOXXXXOOOOXXXOOOXXXXXOOOOO

Birthday Ballooning

Well, tomorrow is my 24th birthday, and I wasn't gonna do anything for my birthday this year (besides getting mum to make me a pig cake!), but my siblings and Hannah & Giles had other ideas... on Saturday they got me up at 3:20am to send me up in...

A HOT AIR BALLOON!!!

Unreal!!! It was so bizarre - it was literally floating 2,600ft above ground in a large picnic basket! Very trippy! The most fascinating part was that you can't feel the wind because you're actually floating with it - it makes sense, but I'd never thought about the fact that it would feel so still. We got up to about 30km/hr, but also went to the other extreme - dropping to tree level, the air movement was so minimal we were at one point only moving at 2km/hr! It was awesome that we could get so low, and just be hovering above the forest. When the driver wanted to get moving again, he simply let out some more gas, and we moved up as if in an elevator, caught a faster moving wind stream and we were off again!

After an hour & quarter flying, we landed in someone's paddock (beautifully soft touchdown), and had champaign and chocolates, then trekked back into Bendigo for a scrumptious breakfast. Katie, who I sat next to at breakfast, knows a christian guy named Shaun living in Nagasaki, so she's gonna get me his email - yay!! Another friend! (Well, hopefully!) Adam, Ruth & Kelly were in the pick-up car that came to get us from the paddock and they got to come eat breakfast with us, which was cool too! Thanks heaps guys for such a memorable birthday!