Yoga!

While Martina has been away, I've been going to yoga on Wednesdays with Stephanie. It is so much fun! Well, actually, sometimes it is painful and hard work! Today, Steph was very smart and brought her camera along... she emailed me a couple pics - above is me doing an arch, and below is our sensei (teacher), his helper (next to him) and a couple other students. (Can you believe the one next to me is 35??) Sometimes after class we stick around and have ocha (green tea) and snacks. 'Tis very fun, and good motivation to keep studying Japanese, as conversation is severely limited!

Strange hobbies

A question that is frequently asked between students at Nova is... "What are your hobbies?" I just love some of the answers! A selection of common answers:

Driving; watching TV; drinking; watching adult videos (ok, so that one's only been mentioned a couple times, but seriously... what the??); eating; sleeping; coming to Nova; and of course some regular things like tennis, etc.

Who says sleeping is their only hobby? How bizarre!! I was talking to a student yesterday about 'what makes you happy'. I asked her when she is happiest. Her answer? When sleeping!! What the...?? In my head I'm saying, 'Girl, you're unconscious... how can you say you feel happiest then?'. Whatever!

It says something about the lifestyle of many people here though... things that we consider normal necessities of living are for them one of the few things they do for themselves, and therefore classed as a hobby. The amount of time some people spend at school or work is insane! Australia truly is a lucky country!