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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I am back from my golden week trip down to Kobe to meet up with Sarah! Sarah and I had never actually met in real life before although we have been blogging, email and facebook friends for awhile now! It was great to finally meet her and she was exactly how I imagined she would be (I wonder if I am like what she thought I would be?!) We got on really well and to look at his you wouldn`t have known we only had just met I don`t think!

I had so much fun! Sarah kindly let me stay at her place with her and her husband Ryohei (Who is a crack-up!) and we met up just after 5pm on Friday. I had taken the Shinkansen down, and after a bit of a mix-up in Tokyo, (I thought my train was 11:22 but turns out it was 10:10 so wen I got there just after a 11 I was in a bit of a panic but luckily they told me I could still catch the next Shinkansen and just sit in the open seating area!) I got to Kobe just after 2pm and I put my stuff in a locker and went exploring. I had never been to Kobe before and it actually reminded me a little bit of my home town Brisbane…obviously not as big as Tokyo, but the central area, Sannomiya, was still fairly busy and I am not sure why it reminded me of Brisbane but it just did! (I guess the fact that it is still a big city but that it is kind of small and not quite as busy as some, similar to Brisbane)

I grabbed a map from the Tourist center and made my way up to Ikuta jinja only a short walk from Sannomiya station as I had a couple hours to spare before I met Sarah! I am glad I did because they had one of those little rows of red torii! I love Torii!

It was kind of funny waiting at Sannomiya station for someone I have never met! But we recognized each other straight away and very quickly fell into a casual conversation! I am really surprised at how quickly we completely forgot that we we just met! We headed back to Sarah`s place to wait for Ryohei to come back so that we could head out for dinner! We ate yummy yummy Hiroshima Okonomiyaki! Ryohei was a sweetie also! He is really funny! Ryohei is not really how I imagined though, although all I knew about him was what Sarah had talked about on her blog. I guess I figured he would be shy like Shun (Shun is really shy around people he first meets) but Ryohei didn`t seem to be shy at all! They both made me feel extremely welcome!

On Saturday we woke up fairly early (For me anyway….I am lucky if I get out of bed on Saturdays before lunch time!) and Sarah made blueberry pancakes! We didn`t actually leave very early because we were going to Sarah`s friend Miranda`s house to meet baby Toshi! They live right near the water, which I am guessing is part of the port in Kobe! It was such a nice area and despite the heat it was a lot cooler to be closer to the ocean! Miranda made me feel extremely welcome also….she basically said when I walked in `My home is your home`! We ate lunch there and sat around talking for a couple of hours. I guess it is always nice to meet other foreigners who are living here and are married or engaged to Japanese men because I guess it makes me feel like there will always be people around in similar situations to me! Here is baby Toshi!

After leaving Sarah and I headed back into Sannomiya for a couple of hours before going to Osaka for another of Sarah`s friends Birthday parties at the Hardrock cafe! In Sannomiya though we walked upto Kitano which is where a lot of old foreigner settlements are….European style houses and food! It was a bit of a hike up (in 26 degree heat!) but on the way down we did enjoy a lovely icecream. It was nice too because there was a mini festival happening…..People from dfferent countries had made designs and pictures out of flower petals, bark and dirt. Here is my favourite photo from there, although there are more over at my flickr.

We headed into Osaka at about 4:30pm and met up with Sarah`s friend Muriel who was having a birthday party at the Hard Rock Cafe. I have never been to one before but there was definitely an American feel about the place…I had forgotten what meals that size looked like! It was great fun and while I am still on my no alcohol diet, I stuck to water and pigged out on a salad, burger and cheesecake instead (So giving up alcohol is doing nothing as you can imagine!)….It was great to meet another new bunch of people but by the time we left I think both of us were feeling a little sick from over eating! hehehe! It was very yummy though!

On Sunday, we got up early and headed to Nara! I have always wanted to go to Nara and Sarah was kind enough to come with me on my journey! It was on my list of 101 things in 1001 days so I will be able to cross it off! Yay! It was a super super hot day (about 28 degrees….I can`t believe it is just May!) and it was a bit of a hike to get to Nara from Kobe but I am so glad we went. I think we both had a great day despite been a little tired and weary by the time we got home!

We didn`t get to see everything but we did see the three story and five story pagodas inside the Kofukuji Temple grounds (Which is also where we spotted our first deers of the day!). This is part of a Buddhist temple complex! I love pagoda`s (almost as much as red torii!)

We then walked up through the park (Inside this park is where the deer run wild and also where most of the main things to see in Nara are) towards Nandaimon gate which would talk us to Todaiji where the big Buddha is! On the way we stopped to pet some deer! It is not really surprising that these deer as so tame considering the amount of tourists which come through Nara each year (they are much nicer than the deer on Miyajima Island down near Hiroshima!)

Todaiji, which houses the great Buddha of Nara, is apparently the largest wooden structure in the world! The building which stands now is not quite as large as the original but it still very impressive! It was amazing to see the inside of the building and the Buddha as well! I took heaps and heaps of photos but here are a couple of my favourites.

Sarah and I both like Japanese gardens and on the information we had it mentioned that Isuien Garden was a nice Japanese style garden so we went to check it out. It was lovely and cool inside with a couple of traditional Japanese tea houses thrown in amongst the gardens…all of the buildings inside had thatched roofs which was really cool to see! The garden is meant to represent the design of gardens during the Meiji Period (1868-1912)

After our day out in Nara Sarah and Ryohei cooked Nabe for dinner, Niigata style! It is the way that Ryohei`s family cooks it and it was yummy! It is kind of more like shabu shabu because you dip everything into ponzu sauce before you eat it!

Sarah and I talked almost non-stop the whole time we were together about our plans for the future (family vacations together!) and how we felt about staying in Japan. When I come back to Japan next year Sarah will most likely be living in Kanto from August 2009 so I am sure we will be able to see more of each other then! I really can`t say thank you enough to both her and Ryohei because they both made me feel so welcome! I really had such a great time and I can not wait to see them both again!!! Next time we meet up Shumpei will be coming with me (he spoke to them both on the phone while I was down there)! I actually think him and Ryohei will get on well because they have similar sense of humour…Shun is a little bit shy but once he gets to know people he really warms up a lot so I am sure they will get on great!!! Like I said already too, Sarah and I got on really well also and I am glad our online friendship transcended into a RL friendship so nicely

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Japanese Azalea (ツツジ）in Nara: Isuien Garden

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A sunset in April in Tokyo, Yoyogi park

Only on my fifth week of this and already finding it hard to decide what to put up. Photos of me and my friends don`t seem appropriate but they seem to be all I have! Need to get out more and take my camera and go shooting! Maybe tomorrow along the small river that runs by Shumpei`s parents place!

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This is my first update since starting 101 things in 1001 days! You can see my list here….I was going to have photos for everything I did but it didn`t really work out that way so you are just going to have to trust me (or ask Shun)

7. Visit at least five areas I have never been before in Tokyo or surrounding areas (5/5)

Well I actually managed to visit five different places including Akasaka to have lunch with my friend Jen (Her, her husband and her beautiful baby boy live there!), Disney Sea (Photos of Disney Sea are here), Machida (Shumpei played soccer there yesterday actually…..It was like a Shibuya in the middle of Yokohama?!?), Iidabashi (For dinner with friends….Yummy Spanish food. Iidabashi was nothing like I thought it would be!) and Akabane (I am unsure if Akabane is still in tokyo-to or not it might be in Saitama) because Catherine moved there a couple of weeks ago and I have already visited her a couple of times. I would love to explore Akasaka and Machida a little bit more sometime!

11. Buy and keep a wedding notebook to keep track of stuff

Done! I bought a cute little book at Disney Sea and have glued in some stuff already! Number 12 on the list is choose a theme of colour scheme and I have basically done that also but am not going to cross it off yet til it is 100% sure!

35. Do EFT everyday for two weeks (In Progress)

Started on Thursday the 24th of April! Haven`t really seen any changes yet but will keep at it for the two weeks!

37. Learn 10 new recipes (3/10)

I learnt three new recipies! Two are really really simple Japanese dishes which I should of already known but didn`t! I learnt to make miso soup (Yes I did not know how!) and also kinpira gouba which I love and always buy at the supermarket but didn`t know how to make! It is made from carrot and burdock and it is delicious! The other recipe I learnt was Beef and red wine casserole found over at Guera`s cooking site! and this was a huge hit also! Shumpei loved it and I am definitely going to have to make it again in Australia when I can get my hands on some cheaper beef!!!

38. Give up coffee for a month (In progress)

Had my last cup of coffee on Saturday 26th of April….I have had headaches since which shows how much I drink coffee. Giving up coffee is a lot harder for me than giving up alcohol….I gave up alcohol the same day and have had two social outings since where others were drinking and I haven`t had any cravings for wine! I think this is a good thing…..but I am already dying for a cup of coffee!

43. Get back into a proper skin care routine including sunscreen everyday- Keep it up for at least 3 months (1/3)

I bought some new stuff at the end of March and have been trying it out! I am usually pretty good at the sunscreen everyday but stopped a little while I was teaching because I wasn`t wearing make-up but am back into the habit now of doing it everyday. As well as cleansing, moisterising etc etc

74. Add a new section to my blog

Done! I added the new part about my 101 things in 1001 days. I hope to add a new section soon of all the books I read because I love checking out what people are reading as I think it shows a little more about who they are! Plus if anyone close by (Either in Japan while I am still here) or in Brisbane once I am back there wants to read any of the books I have read and I still have them I could always send them on!!!

78. Do a monthly update for each month that I do 101 things in 1001 days on my blog. (1/33)

Doing it now!

79. Keep track of my blog stats and referrers by checking at least once a week (In progress)

This is in progress but I have been checking each week, sometimes a couple of times a week. Before switching to wordpress I had never ever checked my blog stats….. I had no idea what they were. It is kind of interesting to look at which sites refer the most traffic my way (At the moment it is entrecard and once a week it is the wordlesswednesday site) plus interesting to see what searches take people to my site. Mainly stuff for cherry blossoms or finding a Japanese man! hehe!

90. Read the last Harry Potter Book

Done I read i finished reading it a couple of days ago! It seems weird that the series is now over! It didn`t take me that long to read…maybe about five days! Recently I haven`t been reading much at home…..just when I am out at coffee shops by myself or on the train. Back in Australia I hope to get back into reading more just for the hell of it (maybe try to cut down on my internet time which is absurd!)

98. Clean out my closet and donate or throw away all clothes that no longer fit me or are ratty and old!

I did this when we moved. I threw out four  big garbage bags of stuff and gave a whole backpack worth of clothes to Catherine. She thought it was great!!!! It is weird to see her in clothes that belonged to me once. They suit her better (Cos she is so damn skinny!)

There are a couple of other things in progress like reading 100 books in a year and keeping a journal for a year but I will add them next time when I count up how many months I have to go and how many books I have read so far this year (I think it is about 35?)

So this is my progress so far. I didn`t do as much as I would of liked but it will have to do for now! There are quite a few things I look forward to getting stuck into over the next couple of months in Australia. I do think though that May might be a little slow for things to cross off but I am hoping June will be a killer month!!!! I have only crossed off five things completely so far but I am happy with that especially since I have quite a few others in progress!

For anyone thinking about joining in on the challenge I totally recommend it. While I have a life list the 101 things in 1001 days has a time limit and it a little bit easier to keep motivated I think!

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• Moving is DONE! We moved to Chiba yesterday…packing and cleaning are done for now! My muscles ache from moving boxes and trying to fit everything that couldn`t go in the moving van into Shumpei`s grandmothers tiny little car. Last night I fell asleep before 8:30 and did not use the internet all day….I have made up for that today of course
• Am going out soon to meet Shumpei and his work friend and his girlfriend for dinner. Jyumpei, his workfriend and I do not always see eye to eye. He makes fun of Shumpei and I don`t like it even though he says it is all fun and games. He does not do this while his girlfriend is around (I like his girlfriend) so tonight we should not have any problems (They are the same age so this isn`t a sempai/kohai thing….which means senior/junior… but more the fact that Jyumpei thinks he is better than Shumpei….He often asks me why I am with Shumpei and I always tell him it is because he is 100 times nicer than him)
• The reason I am leaving  the house at 4pm (for dinner!) is because Shumpei`s family dog doesn`t like me. In general it doesn`t like people other than Shumpei`s parents and it barks at me if I go downstairs. Shumpei`s mum will go to work just after 4pm (for a couple hours a day she works at a hoikuen, kind of like a daycare centre) and I would need to leave before she comes back so I will leave with her otherwise the dog would go pyscho and not let me out of the house…..I had the same problem when I lived here a couple of years ago!!! So I will go to a coffee shop and drink tea (Because the coffee and alcohol ban started early….from Saturday) or juice and read my book or write in my dairy (Possibly about the psycho dog!)
• I am off to Kobe on Friday, not long now!
• It is just over two weeks until I leave for Australia….the fact that I am leaving Japan again has not yet hit me. I am sure it will once I am back in Australia (and without shun for 2 months)….I usually get pretty bad reverse culture shock!
• Thank you to everyone who commented on the last post….I replied to you all in the comments just before but I wanted to say thank you here! I really appreciate all of your encouragement, advice and everything!

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Before (Jan 2006)

Now (Mar 2008)

I am overweight…I never used to be but it has crept up on me since I have been back in Japan the last 2.5 years. I am not going to state my weight but my BMI is 28.8 (Some of you smarties might be able to figure out my weight from that if you also know my height) and apparently anything over 26 is considered overweight….

I stated on my 101 things in 1001 days that I wanted to lose five kilos then another five but the reality is to go back to the weight I was when I left Australia in January 2006 I would have to lose about 18 kilos. Yep…you heard (read?) right 18 kilos in less than 2.5 years. You can`t really see much in the first photo (Europe Jan 2006…One of the few photos where I am not wearing a big bulky coat) but even in my face and arms you can see that I weighed a fair bit less.

I put on 10 kilos when I was 19 and in Japan on exchange and when I went back to Australia I lost 8 of them in the first 2 months from not really doing anything. I am hoping the same thing will happen when I go back to Australia this time but I don`t like my chances….but I am determined to lose weight.

So in preperation for returning to Australia and starting a weight loss program ( I will be joining weight watchers with my mum) I have decided to give up COFFEE and ALCOHOL for the month of May (There is one exception, I wasn`t going to have an exception but upon mentioning my decision to my closest friends here in Tokyo they all said I was crazy because my going away party in on May 10th and will be the last time for more than a year that I can go out with my Tokyo friends and let loose….so the 10th is the exception on the alcohol ban…but I am going to make an effort to drink water between each drink and stick to wine and stop before midnight even if we end up at karaoke!).

I would like to do a mini detox at some time during May also but might have to wait til I am back in Australia because for the next two weeks Shumpei`s mum will be cooking for us and I don`t want to say no meat to her because I would hate to be an inconvenience (and while I am in her house she won`t let me prepare my own food)

The other thing I am going to try (From May 1st if not before) will be crossing off EFT  every day for two weeks off my 101 list. I think it will be a good opportunity to get my mind ready and intune with my body for the weight loss I want to achieve!

While be in Chiba from Sunday and also hope to try and get a little exercise everyday….even just 20 minutes! I spend way to much time on the computer watching TV when even while doing that I could be doing some stretches or some kind of exercise! I think I will have to have a mini checklist of all my goals for each day. No coffee, no Alcohol, 20 mins exersise, EFT! hehe!

I feel that by putting this on my blog that maybe it will keep me more motivated and more honest. A lot of blogger friends are starting there own weight loss plans recently and I think reading their progress will also help to keep me motivated. Wish me luck (or give me hints!)

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Can`t find my USB camera cord in the mess in our apartment at the moment….It is probably in a box somewhere?!

So here are three photos from my flickr account that people have favourited the most….all from the same day, same camera, taken in Harajuku! They are not the best photos I have ever taken or anything but for some reason `Harajuku girls` are popular I guess!!! They were all taken two years ago!!

Happy Wordless Wednesday everyone!!!

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I really really hate packing….I am over it already. It really sucks. That is all I have to say on the subject!

But last week I was looking at wedding dresses online and I found a couple I liked one of them is this one…(I wouldn`t mind her body also…then if I was to wear the dress it would actually work on me!)

Blogging might return to normal at the end of the week….If I finish packing and have something more interesting to write about instead of how much I hate packing!

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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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