Doing that touristy thing

Well, on Sunday I got to do the whole touristy thing in my own city! Very fun! Amy & Jacinta came to visit, and we had a great day! The weather cooled, and was so beautifully pleasant all day - unreal!!! We had coffee, wandered around the city centre, had lunch, then jumped on a bus for the 99 Islands (Kujukushima in Japanese). For 600yen, we had entry to the aquarium (small, but quite interesting), museum and a little imax theatre. In the kids section of the aquarium, there was a human sized cage, with rabbit & monkey ears, pig and elephant noses, etc - we got right into it, taking turns dressing up and snapping pics! The funniest part was the number of Japanese ppl who stopped to watch us, and then had a turn of their own when we were done! There was no one there before! LOL!

We stopped in at the imax theatre for a 30min show - In the Deep. The commentary was all in Japanese, but the scenery was beautiful, and the background music was very relaxing. It was then time for the cruise on the pirate ship - quite a funky ship really. We were right at the end of the line, and were a little worried that there wouldn't be room for us up on the deck. We forgot we were in Japan, where people are paranoid about tans! As we got on the boat, the bottom two levels were quite full, and we had as much space as we wanted up on the deck!! LOL! So we enjoyed our almost-hour sailing around some gorgeous little islands on a pleasantly warm day, with a cool breeze blowing - nice! And b/c we had been to the museum etc, it only cost us 1000yen! ($12.50ish)

After the girls left, I went out for a yummy-scrummy dinner with almost all the instructors and staff - very fun! So much for an early night tho!

The weekend fun didn't stop there either... on Monday evening I had dinner on the US Navy Base with Matt, David, David's navy friend Zac, and 2 of Zac's friends - Eddie & Tomoko. It was such a yummy dinner (how's that - out to proper restaurants 3 nights in a row! Very happy weekend!) - and the cost? Nothing - Zac paid for all 6 of us! Sweet! We had Baskin Robbins for desert, and then headed up to Mt Yumihari to look out over Sasebo. It was Eddie's last night, so he wanted some pics. Tomoko drove the others, and I went on the back of Zac's motorbike - fun! Once again, wasn't an early night, so I am gonna be really stuffed by the time I get back from Fuji!!

Yes, that's right... I leave tomorrow!!! I have to be at the bus stop downstairs at 5:33am! How exciting!

Ramen Club

Because Sat is my early finish day, Natsuko & Miki invited me to once again join them for Ramen Club (ramen is noodles, a few vegies like spring onions, and sometimes meat in a broth). I have been with them once before, so I knew this "club" existed, but tonight I found out how serious it is... they have a spreadsheet printed, listed with many names of places nearby where you can get ramen, and space to fill in what each of them got, the cost, and a comment! I felt privileged to not only join them, but be allowed to pick the restaurant!

I chose Tenshin Pozu - a chinese restaurant I've been wanting to try out for a while. It was awesome! I had pork ramen. Also, the waitress was a student at Nova, so she brought us free entree - gyozu (I think) - dumpling/dim sim type things, which we ate dipped in soy sauce and vinegar, and then she brought us free dessert - a custardy pudding which you could add either caramel-type sauce or fruity sauce! We sipped on green tea, and it was all delightfully yummy!! And all for the bargain basement price of Y680 each! ($8.50) It was fun hanging out with Miki & Natsuko, too, even tho it did make me realise just how little Japanese I really know!!!

When I got home, Martina was still up, so instead of going straight to bed, I stayed up and chatted to her for a while - what a good way to end my 12-days-working-in-a-row! Can't sleep in tomorrow tho - 2 Aussie girls I flew over with are coming to visit, and we're gonna go for a cruise around the 99 Islands! Yay!

On my first day back in Australia...

On my first day back in Australia, I am gonna eat weet bix for breakfast, Kellogs cornflakes for morning tea, a meat pie, fruche and Cadbury caramello supershake for lunch, Kellogs rice bubbles and 2 packets of tim tams for afternoon tea, a roast for dinner with chocolate pudding and white custard for dessert, and all-in-together pudding and icecream for supper. Oh, and maybe for a midnight snack, I'll have some choc goo slice.

Mmmmm..... yum!!!

Obon & Shoronagashi

Long time no blog... sorry! I've been lazy! Last Monday night (15th) I went with Odette (from Japanese class) and watched the Obon festival - Shoronagashi. Obon is a time when Japanese return to their home town to pray to their dead ancestors, who return home from the 13th - 15th August every year. On the evening of the 15th, the ancestors are said goodbye to in the Shoronagashi festival. At this time, boats are made for all who died within the last 12 months. The more important the person, the bigger the boat. The boats are covered with lanterns, and sometimes have a pic of the person on the front. They are carried in a big procession down the main street of the town. In most of Japan, this is done in silence, but in the Nagasaki prefecture, there are firecrackers galore!! I thought I was gonna go deaf! Traditionally, the boats were sent out to sea, but due to pollution issues, they are just taken to a big meeting place (in Sasebo, the local baseball park). I'm not sure what happens to them later.

I also stopped by the river, where prayers were being written on lanterns, which were then lit and floated down a river. It was very beautiful! (Once again, b/c of pollution issues, there was someone around the bend of the river to catch them before they got to the ocean!)

Although I'm obviously not into praying to the dead, it was interesting to watch this traditional Japanese occasion. Very beautiful! I love the way the Japanese have held onto their culture so much even though there is so much Western influence!

At this time in one week, I'll be in Tokyo!!! Yay!! The shift swaps were approved, and I've worked 8 days of my 12 days in a row that resulted from my swapping - almost time for a day off!

Still enjoying Japanese class. Bought a notebook, and today started my new habit of keeping a diary in Japanese! Today I wrote 4 sentences!! LOL! Between that and my inability to read The 3 Little Pigs, I feel like I'm back in kindergarten!!

Fuji-san, Fuji-san, here I come!!

Yay!! I'm gonna climb Mt Fuji!!! Rachel and I went in and booked and paid for our flight to Tokyo today! Our shift swaps haven't technically been approved yet, but Darren said over the phone that there shouldn't be any problem, so here's hoping, since our airfare is non-refundable!

I'm a little nervous since this guy Chad just got back and said it was 12 hours of hell, but hopefully we'll make it up okay!!! We will be pretty stuffed... the plan is to leave the house about 5:30am Wed 31st of Aug, catch a bus to the station, catch the 6am highway bus to Fukuoka, then fly to Tokyo, get another bus to the base of Mt Fuji, yet another bus up to Station 5, then start climbing from there. We'll climb overnight, so we can watch the sunrise from the top, then hike back down again.

Don't know how well it'll all fit in, but we would like to then find a youth hostel to crash in for a few hours, and head over to Tokyo Disneyland in the evening! (Its cheaper after 6pm, and way less crowded.) We fly out of Tokyo in the morning on Fri 2nd Sept, and should make it back to Sasebo with time for me to get home, shower, change and be at work all fresh (???) by 5pm! How much fun!!

Oh, yeah, my sty is heaps better already!! Yay!

There's a sty in my eye...

:( I'm very sad. When I went to bed last night, my right eyelid was starting to hurt. I didn't sleep very well, and when I woke up this morning, it had turned into a sty!! It isn't grotesque yet, just looks a little odd, and hopefully it won't get worse during the day, and will have recovered by Tues, cuz how distracting and disturbing would that be - for your teacher to have a huge ugly sty? Yuck!

Talking about distracting, I now have that song stuck in my head - There's a flag in the sky, let the whole world know... - only my version is about a sty in my eye.

Flower Fire & Yukata!

This weekend was the Sasebo Seaside Festival. I was gonna go by after work on Saturday to check it out, but it was raining, so I didn't. :( On Sunday night tho, I did make it to the fireworks!! (In Japanese they are called flowerfire!) It was quite spectacular! There were 10,000 fireworks - it took flamin' forever! About 45min! It was almost a little too long - we got up and wandered around checking out a few of the food stalls etc for part of it. I was going to take photos, but on the first one my camera batteries died - doh!! Rachel got a good one, so when she puts it on the computer, I'll put it on my blog.

There were lots of people in their yukatas (summer kimono) - they all looked very cool! I bought a yukata yesterday arvo, but I didn't wear it to the fireworks, because I didn't know how to put it on. But there is another festival next Monday, so I plan to wear it to that. Yay!! I'll have to get staff to show me how to tie it all up before then. I saw a very pretty yukata for 10,000 yen, but decided to get one for 4,000 yen instead.

And guess where I'm going next.... Mt Fuji!!!! Yes, John, you will get your pic! Still in the planning stages, but hopefully will happen on the 31st Aug & 1st Sept. Yay!! Hope I'm fit enough!

Dancing, porridge and audio

Well, had my second dancing lesson yesterday. Was fun. And they let me pay! Everyone was paying, so it must have just been a first of the month thing. Wish there was somewhere to actually dance, rather than just practicing once a week.

Daily life continues as normal. I work, eat, sleep, eat, watch TV, eat, then go back to work again. I miss some Aussie foods - weet bix, meat pies, fruche and tim tams to name a few. Haven't been drinking coffee since I got here either, cuz I decided it was a needless, unhealthy expense, but I think I'm about to crack and go buy some - the weather is all rainy, and just right for sitting down with a cuppa - near the air conditioner. (Yes, rainy season is over, but now its monsoon season, which means its raining again!)

While shopping, I was excited to see some oat-like stuff. Yay, I thought, I can eat porridge for brekky! They aren't real oats tho! :( It kinda makes a gluggy gruel with clear chewy lumps in it. Oh, well - I'll still eat it now and then - it kinda resembles porridge, is okay with lots of sugar, and it's cheap.

Oh, yeah - this computer has a microphone!! So if you are chatting to me on msn and you have a mic too, we can actually have a real conversation!! Cool, huh? Stay warm! (Oh, yeah, Beck, maybe the better phrase for you guys would be Samui des ne? - Cold, isn't it?)

We have visual!!

Very exciting news... my photos are on my computer, and slowly becoming available on the web! It has been a bit of a process... I bought my camera here, and so we had fun trying to put the software on the computer - it's all in Japanese!!! Rachel is a legend, and got it on there. Then Matt G helped get the photos saved there, then I laboriously uploaded a few on my other website

www.vianapics.blogspot.com

or else you can click on the link at the side of this blog (yes, I've finally started doing some housekeeping stuff like putting in links!). There are only 3 photos up at the moment (there have been some complications, and I just can't be bothered doing any more at the moment), but I will hopefully soon have lots of wonderful pics for you! Stay tuned!!