Well, no fullmoon party either.. Why ? Because after googling up some pics with Chikako, the one that started at midnight seemed sort of boring; monks in a line carrying candles and just walking.. So, me, Ryo, Tomokun, Chikako and Todd headed out to rent a movie. The place we got to was just insanely cheap : 50 YEN per movie/music cd and you keep it for 7 days !!!! Gobstruck.... They even had all Naruto seasons, and any other anime, Korean drama, American series etc that you can imagine... Unfortunately no English subs...
We got Identity and Silent Hill and I found all of Home Made Kazoku´s albums to get home and copy. We got some snacks at 7/11 and headed home for movie night !!!
I finally got my room sorted out as well, papers are in neat order at my desk, and my clothes are sorted out!
Monday 15th
Woke up at 11am, got dressed and headed out, Takkun´s parents picked me up and took me to Takkun´s tiny apato for lunch. We had meat and a delicious potatoe salad, which Tomokun´s mom had made as well, but it contained apples as well.
The potatoe salad contains boiled potatoes, ham, mayo, cucumber and hardboiled eggs! So freaking delicious !!
Takkun has a model´s wardrobe, with vintage coats and shirts, a great sense for fashion. He promised to show me some cool second hand stores that are in Kyoto ! The kid has such a thick hair, I think it´s 3 times the average person, yokatta, but he is gonna cut it to shoulder length which I think suits him more though. He has a beautiful girlfriend, Yui who lives in Tokyo, they have been dating since highschool!
Headed back home to study, took a so called powernap that lasted 3 hours, woke up at 6pm, got something to eat and then I tried to study some for my review test. Tomokun was studying for his TOEFL exam, so we ended up studying together, but instead we just started talking about Japanese history, culture etc. Todd, Eddie and Chikako joined our convo that lasted until 4am !
Off to sleep !
Thuesday 16th
Test at 10, went pretty well I think, Speaking and Writing was troublesome with the kanjis again, but Im studying hard at it!
Lunch with Viktor and Sebastian with fun topics of why Japanese girls walk with their toes pointed inwards while wearing high heels.
Political economy class was very interesting, we discussed East Timor and it´s future procedures and then me, Sabrina and Yuji prepared for our expert panel which is on Thursday, where we have to discuss Washingtong consesus and a chapter in our book for about 15-20 minutes in front of the class. It is an active discussion!
Met Masayo in the hallway and headed to the basketball/football/freesbee court where Aika, Ayako, Alex, Mischa, Tomokun and miss Pineapple san Madoka were playing freesbee, and some cool Japanese guys were attempting football in the gazing sun !
There is one very kakkoii boy among the ryuugakusei students ;). It was pure entertainment watching the football match I have to say !
After the freesbee, me and Masayo decided to finally make an attempt at making cheese cake, I had promised her for days and days ! Headed to Fresco with her, Tomokun and Ayako on her funky moped to get the ingredients.
Back to the dorms, where we started making dinner, and baking cheese cake. Everyone got curious about our cheese cake, and the only problem was that we didn´t have anything to bake it in, so I rode with Ayako to the 100yen shop to get a couple of tiny baking tins. Everyone was getting impatient about the cheese cake. Even Koshin, who came to visit. I decided to bake 4 of the cheese cakes in the oven, and put 1 in the freezer.
After dinner and many minutes of waiting, we finally had our cheesecakes ! And it was a success !! Everyone who tried them loved them, YATTA !! The one that was put directly into the freezer turned out to have a icecreamy kind of flavour. I noticed we used a bit too many biscuit crums but it was all good !!
Finally watched the Silent Hill movie with Tomokun, and it was creepy but not in the horror sense but in the "strange movie" sense....
Off to bed, I have a vocabulary quiz tomorrow, manga class and then the resultats of that freaking Friday negotiation will be revealed, yikes !
I got my computer back, finally ! So there will be pics up, probably tomorrow, be patient !!
Love from Seminar House 4 ;)
tisdag 16 september 2008
söndag 14 september 2008
crazy days
I have been soooo busy this past week. We have classes everyday, and some start at 9am. Lunch is usually around 11 or 12 and then I have afternoon classes. And HOMEWORK ! It feels like highschool all over again.
I have been thinking of dropping one class because it is a bit too many classes. However, I like all my classes: Speaking Japanese, Reading and Writing Japanese, Japanese popular culture and media; (about anime, manga and tv drama), Political economies in East Asia (very interesting, about political and economical situations in countries such as East Timor, South Korea, China, Japan and so on), Negotiation.
My negotiation class this Friday was about us doing pair work negotiations, I was a company who sold motor vehicle pistons and my partner was a company who wanted to buy pistons. We each got our instructions and had about 25 minutes to prepare for it. Then we set up a meeting somewhere on campus for the negotiation. I had a hard time getting my cheap partner to buy the pistons for the price I wanted him to and he complained about our pistons´ quality having been bad in previous sales.
So when we finally settled, he told me wanted us switching papers and reading eachothers instructions. I GOT SCAMMED ! His company wanted to buy pistons from us at any price, and they were desperate ! I was too kind ! We handed in the paper and I decided that I have to continue this course just to improve my character integrity !!! Revenge time !
My Speaking Japanese seems good, but Im struggling with our new kanjis, I have to study harder !
People here get drunk all week long. So when I wanted to do something fun on Friday, most people were already hungover from the other night. So me and Sachiko went to a izakaya, drank cocktails and umeshu and ate delicious food. We called Koshin up who came and joined us. Later we went to the Ring, which is an entertainment complex where you pay an amount of money and then do karaoke, play pool, whatever. Free softdrinks included.
After that, I took the train to Makino Station, where Koshin met me up on his motorscooter, he followed me home, these kind Japanese :). However, the shortcut we took was in the middle of the road so maybe not the safest way home.
Yesterday aka Saturday 13th, I wanted to go clubbing. Viktor and Sebastian where leaving a bit earlier though, so I decided to give up that. There is a club called Pure in Osaka, where girls pay 2500 yen aka 150 kr, and guys pay 3500 yen aka 250kr, then you get free drinks all night, and they are open until 5am !
I hung out with Masayoh, Madoka, Chikako and Aika, we drank umeshu wine which I had bought and they got tipsy after about half a glass haha. David and Jonas were sipping beer. Then came A.J and wanted us to play Flip Cup; you stand at a table on a line, 2 teams, and pour beer into plastic cups. Then you drink them up and have to flip the cup upside down with your hand. You get pretty drunk after a while...
After a couple of rounds, it was karaoke time. I declared my love yet again for Chin, the guy at Big Wave and poor him, he blushed. Since I was a bit tipsy, I asked whether he had a girlfriend and he mumbled no, but at that time we got our room. We were about 15 people in one room, screaming and singing and drinking. I felt a bit over it so I snook home after half an hour and went to sleep and slept until 11 the next day. I managed to lock my phone because I kept dialing the wrong code, so Im trying to look for the code paper which I brought.
Today is Sunday, and I had some awesome steak, fried shrimp and rice with Taylor, Eddie, Bill and Liz at Obaachan´s. 500 yen aka 35 Sek for lots of food.
Tonight there is a Fullmoon festival in Kyoto which starts at 1am, so everybody is taking the last train from Hirakata and stay there until the festival is over and head back with the morning train at 5am. We have a Respect the Aged holiday tomorrow so Daijobu !
kisses from Seminar House 4
I have been thinking of dropping one class because it is a bit too many classes. However, I like all my classes: Speaking Japanese, Reading and Writing Japanese, Japanese popular culture and media; (about anime, manga and tv drama), Political economies in East Asia (very interesting, about political and economical situations in countries such as East Timor, South Korea, China, Japan and so on), Negotiation.
My negotiation class this Friday was about us doing pair work negotiations, I was a company who sold motor vehicle pistons and my partner was a company who wanted to buy pistons. We each got our instructions and had about 25 minutes to prepare for it. Then we set up a meeting somewhere on campus for the negotiation. I had a hard time getting my cheap partner to buy the pistons for the price I wanted him to and he complained about our pistons´ quality having been bad in previous sales.
So when we finally settled, he told me wanted us switching papers and reading eachothers instructions. I GOT SCAMMED ! His company wanted to buy pistons from us at any price, and they were desperate ! I was too kind ! We handed in the paper and I decided that I have to continue this course just to improve my character integrity !!! Revenge time !
My Speaking Japanese seems good, but Im struggling with our new kanjis, I have to study harder !
People here get drunk all week long. So when I wanted to do something fun on Friday, most people were already hungover from the other night. So me and Sachiko went to a izakaya, drank cocktails and umeshu and ate delicious food. We called Koshin up who came and joined us. Later we went to the Ring, which is an entertainment complex where you pay an amount of money and then do karaoke, play pool, whatever. Free softdrinks included.
After that, I took the train to Makino Station, where Koshin met me up on his motorscooter, he followed me home, these kind Japanese :). However, the shortcut we took was in the middle of the road so maybe not the safest way home.
Yesterday aka Saturday 13th, I wanted to go clubbing. Viktor and Sebastian where leaving a bit earlier though, so I decided to give up that. There is a club called Pure in Osaka, where girls pay 2500 yen aka 150 kr, and guys pay 3500 yen aka 250kr, then you get free drinks all night, and they are open until 5am !
I hung out with Masayoh, Madoka, Chikako and Aika, we drank umeshu wine which I had bought and they got tipsy after about half a glass haha. David and Jonas were sipping beer. Then came A.J and wanted us to play Flip Cup; you stand at a table on a line, 2 teams, and pour beer into plastic cups. Then you drink them up and have to flip the cup upside down with your hand. You get pretty drunk after a while...
After a couple of rounds, it was karaoke time. I declared my love yet again for Chin, the guy at Big Wave and poor him, he blushed. Since I was a bit tipsy, I asked whether he had a girlfriend and he mumbled no, but at that time we got our room. We were about 15 people in one room, screaming and singing and drinking. I felt a bit over it so I snook home after half an hour and went to sleep and slept until 11 the next day. I managed to lock my phone because I kept dialing the wrong code, so Im trying to look for the code paper which I brought.
Today is Sunday, and I had some awesome steak, fried shrimp and rice with Taylor, Eddie, Bill and Liz at Obaachan´s. 500 yen aka 35 Sek for lots of food.
Tonight there is a Fullmoon festival in Kyoto which starts at 1am, so everybody is taking the last train from Hirakata and stay there until the festival is over and head back with the morning train at 5am. We have a Respect the Aged holiday tomorrow so Daijobu !
kisses from Seminar House 4
måndag 8 september 2008
How about studying anime and getting credit for it ^^
Sunday 7th September
Had checkout and checkin. This meant bringing down your dirty linnen, checking your room for damage and mark them on a map of your room so that you won´t have to pay for damages when checking out. We finally got our keys to the gate so that we can enter the Seminar house after the gates close at 10pm. We even got a cabinet with a key with a cup, a spoon, a teaspoon, a fork, a knife, a plate, a soup bowl, a regular bowl and small dish, kettle and tray.
Cleaned up the room after the Seminar House residence meeting. Sachiko came at 3pm, we had some Pocky, crackers, Kex and drinks and talked for about an hour, I even showed her around. Afterwards I wanted to go buy some food, so while heading for Topworld, my eyes spot Avail, which is a clothing shop with really cheap clothes, opposite the main library, about 3 minutes from my dorm. I just wanted to check it out, but we ended up staying there for 2 hours !
I found soooo many things, including a black hat (finally!!!), a checkered top, a redcheckered shirt, a furry vest, a white longsleeved Nightmare before Christmas print, and a white plain tshirt ! All of this for about 600 SEK. I wanted to buy more but that was all the money I had on me ~
I headed back home after waving Sachiko off at the bus stop, changed my clothes and then headed out again to meet Sanzhar for dinner. Actually we were gonna have dinner the day before but he was late and there was some confusion. Anyways, we went to Hirakata station, had some dinner; I had beef with mushroom and sauce, and he had a club sandwhich, 600 yen aka 35 SEK each. Then some icecream at Baskin n Robbins, it was veeeery delicious, matcha and strawberry ! I never seem to get enough of matcha ~~
Back to the dorms, and sat in the park outside until about 2am, had some beer and cider and talked about our families which are kind of similar, Kazakstan tends to be rather similar to Iran when it comes to system and how people act. It was so peaceful and warm outside and almost nobody in the park.
Monday 8th September
Biked to campus at about 12.40 to get to my class. I chose the following courses:
1. Japanese popular media and culture
2. Political economies of East Asia
3. International negotiations: resolving the conflict and closing the deal
4. Spoken Japanese
5. Reading and Writing in Japanese
I had the popular media and culture class today. Basically; it´s about manga, anime and television dramas. I wanted a fun course to even out with the more serious ones. However, I wanted to take the history class and the Japanese society class as well, but the history class is already full, and the society class collides with negotiations class so well...
I had David and Luke with me in class so it was cool. Surprisingly there were as many girls as guys there, about 80 percent Americans, 2 people from HK, one Korean, one Taiwanese, one Thai and 5 Europeans.
There are a couple of Naruto fans, some are Cowboy Beebop fans, Gundam fans, Nausicaa fans, Ghibli fans. We will watch some anime in class and read manga extracts for each session so it seems fun ;)
I was a bit worried though that I didn´t have a course about Japanese society, so I decided to check out the Intercultural communication in Japan class. David and Rebecka were in that one. We had to do some peerwork presentations, I spoke to a guy name Yohei, who was very nervous about his English but I told him that people are nice and that he shouldn´t worry and to ganbarre!
The course seems to be interesting but we will see.. Biked back home after that and chilled in the dining room with Masayoh and Alex who just got himself a black Softbank cell. I need to get mine, probably I will try getting one tomorrow afternoon.
I had told Chikako to take me grocery shopping, so while she, Madoka, Ryo and Bill were in Osaka, me, Alex and Masayoh watched 2 eps of the OC. Masayoh liked it so yokatta!
Grocery shopping at 7pm; and well I might reconsider the whole cheap thing. 300 grams of minced meat cost me about 60 SEK, chicken breast about the same. Everything was in tiny portions, because they cook so many side dishes in Japan so maybe that makes it a bit cheaper. I have to start thinking like that.
I had the most bags; I bought chicken, minced meat, preserved tomatoes, milk, fish, rice, spaghetti, water, karage powder, kimchi.. I think it went up to about 400 SEK. It was a pain in the eye getting it all home, and Masayoh skidded with her bike and fell.
As soon as I got home, I started cooking Spaghetti Bolognese and some sallad, and it went very fast to make it, because the stove got warm really fast.
I had Koshin who was here on a visit and Ryo try it and they loved it ! Koshin and I decided to have a Naruto maraton tomorrow evening, YOOOSHI Dattebayo !!
Off to sleep, I got Speaking Japanese class at 10 tomorrow, after that I have Reading and Writing at 11, then lunch, then Political economies at 1 pm. And hopefully a phone after that !
Oyasumi
Had checkout and checkin. This meant bringing down your dirty linnen, checking your room for damage and mark them on a map of your room so that you won´t have to pay for damages when checking out. We finally got our keys to the gate so that we can enter the Seminar house after the gates close at 10pm. We even got a cabinet with a key with a cup, a spoon, a teaspoon, a fork, a knife, a plate, a soup bowl, a regular bowl and small dish, kettle and tray.
Cleaned up the room after the Seminar House residence meeting. Sachiko came at 3pm, we had some Pocky, crackers, Kex and drinks and talked for about an hour, I even showed her around. Afterwards I wanted to go buy some food, so while heading for Topworld, my eyes spot Avail, which is a clothing shop with really cheap clothes, opposite the main library, about 3 minutes from my dorm. I just wanted to check it out, but we ended up staying there for 2 hours !
I found soooo many things, including a black hat (finally!!!), a checkered top, a redcheckered shirt, a furry vest, a white longsleeved Nightmare before Christmas print, and a white plain tshirt ! All of this for about 600 SEK. I wanted to buy more but that was all the money I had on me ~
I headed back home after waving Sachiko off at the bus stop, changed my clothes and then headed out again to meet Sanzhar for dinner. Actually we were gonna have dinner the day before but he was late and there was some confusion. Anyways, we went to Hirakata station, had some dinner; I had beef with mushroom and sauce, and he had a club sandwhich, 600 yen aka 35 SEK each. Then some icecream at Baskin n Robbins, it was veeeery delicious, matcha and strawberry ! I never seem to get enough of matcha ~~
Back to the dorms, and sat in the park outside until about 2am, had some beer and cider and talked about our families which are kind of similar, Kazakstan tends to be rather similar to Iran when it comes to system and how people act. It was so peaceful and warm outside and almost nobody in the park.
Monday 8th September
Biked to campus at about 12.40 to get to my class. I chose the following courses:
1. Japanese popular media and culture
2. Political economies of East Asia
3. International negotiations: resolving the conflict and closing the deal
4. Spoken Japanese
5. Reading and Writing in Japanese
I had the popular media and culture class today. Basically; it´s about manga, anime and television dramas. I wanted a fun course to even out with the more serious ones. However, I wanted to take the history class and the Japanese society class as well, but the history class is already full, and the society class collides with negotiations class so well...
I had David and Luke with me in class so it was cool. Surprisingly there were as many girls as guys there, about 80 percent Americans, 2 people from HK, one Korean, one Taiwanese, one Thai and 5 Europeans.
There are a couple of Naruto fans, some are Cowboy Beebop fans, Gundam fans, Nausicaa fans, Ghibli fans. We will watch some anime in class and read manga extracts for each session so it seems fun ;)
I was a bit worried though that I didn´t have a course about Japanese society, so I decided to check out the Intercultural communication in Japan class. David and Rebecka were in that one. We had to do some peerwork presentations, I spoke to a guy name Yohei, who was very nervous about his English but I told him that people are nice and that he shouldn´t worry and to ganbarre!
The course seems to be interesting but we will see.. Biked back home after that and chilled in the dining room with Masayoh and Alex who just got himself a black Softbank cell. I need to get mine, probably I will try getting one tomorrow afternoon.
I had told Chikako to take me grocery shopping, so while she, Madoka, Ryo and Bill were in Osaka, me, Alex and Masayoh watched 2 eps of the OC. Masayoh liked it so yokatta!
Grocery shopping at 7pm; and well I might reconsider the whole cheap thing. 300 grams of minced meat cost me about 60 SEK, chicken breast about the same. Everything was in tiny portions, because they cook so many side dishes in Japan so maybe that makes it a bit cheaper. I have to start thinking like that.
I had the most bags; I bought chicken, minced meat, preserved tomatoes, milk, fish, rice, spaghetti, water, karage powder, kimchi.. I think it went up to about 400 SEK. It was a pain in the eye getting it all home, and Masayoh skidded with her bike and fell.
As soon as I got home, I started cooking Spaghetti Bolognese and some sallad, and it went very fast to make it, because the stove got warm really fast.
I had Koshin who was here on a visit and Ryo try it and they loved it ! Koshin and I decided to have a Naruto maraton tomorrow evening, YOOOSHI Dattebayo !!
Off to sleep, I got Speaking Japanese class at 10 tomorrow, after that I have Reading and Writing at 11, then lunch, then Political economies at 1 pm. And hopefully a phone after that !
Oyasumi
lördag 6 september 2008
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN MOVIE ROCKS !
Friday 5th
Another hot and humid sunny day. Registered my bike and then went home and slept for 3 hours, karaoke does stuff to ya man !
The day was spent chilling in the lounge, I went to Topworld for grocery shopping with Kaylee and borrowed a book from Wes, I haven´t read a book in ages, so it felt nice doing so.
Sebastian and Viktor had a fun time at the Kyoto trip that was organized during the day, since I already went there I passed.
I tried to get Tomo kun to ask his crush out on a date haha, he was like no no no, why don´t you and Wes join us. lol.
Takami chan, my buddy, came by because her friend was one of my dorm mate´s buddy. She liked the dorm a lot, and later took off for karaoke, but I was doing laundry so I couldn´t join plus I wasn´t in the mood for karaoke really.
Saturday 6th
Got up at 6 am, washed my face, and went to wake Bill up. It hit me that the gate was still locked and I was unsure of when it would open, but according to Bill it would open at 7.30.
So at 7.30 after breakfast we took our bikes and headed for Makino station to get the train for Kuzuha station and from there on take the bus from the 4th platform for Cineplex and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN KIZUNA MOVIE !!!!!!
We bought some popcorn and took a seat in an almost empty theatre, Bill tried chatting up a Japanese boy on whether he preferred Sasuke or Naruto but the boy was too shy and his parents smiled gratefully.
The movie had awesome fight scenes with Naruto and Sasuke against the enemy, loved it ! Especially Naruto´s scenes. I actually understood what the story was about and could basically follow the plot somewhat :). We even got a Naruto necklace which is 3Dimensional and has Naruto´s face plus Kizuna (Bonds) in kanji on it.
After that, shopping time !! I bought a dress, a shirt, a tunic and a top for about 430 SEK ;) . Then Bill and I bought ourselves some sunglasses because mine was broken and his had an unfortunate fate with a chewing gum involved. At the sport supply store where we bought our sunglasses, I browsed around for some prices; Le Coq Sportif sweatpants cost about 329 SEK, Converse shoes about 300 SEK and Adidas sneakers about 600 SEK.
There was a pet shop, and there where the cutest puppies in different cages, and my heart basically melted, I snapped so many pictures of them !
Lunch = RAMEN ! Gotta keep the Naruto theme going ;) It was very good and very cheap, about 700 yen which is roughly 42 SEK.
Bought alarm clocks as well, mine is red, Bill´s is black, they are on tripods and have swinging heads on springs, 1000 yen aka 60 SEK.
Tonight´s plan is dinner with Sanzhar I think, but we haven´t decided a time, so we will see when and if that happens. Wes and the Swedes are probably heading out, either to Osaka or Kyoto.
Tomorrow Sachiko is coming over for some tea, it´s gonna be really nice, she can see my dorm.
^^ xoxo from Hirakata
Another hot and humid sunny day. Registered my bike and then went home and slept for 3 hours, karaoke does stuff to ya man !
The day was spent chilling in the lounge, I went to Topworld for grocery shopping with Kaylee and borrowed a book from Wes, I haven´t read a book in ages, so it felt nice doing so.
Sebastian and Viktor had a fun time at the Kyoto trip that was organized during the day, since I already went there I passed.
I tried to get Tomo kun to ask his crush out on a date haha, he was like no no no, why don´t you and Wes join us. lol.
Takami chan, my buddy, came by because her friend was one of my dorm mate´s buddy. She liked the dorm a lot, and later took off for karaoke, but I was doing laundry so I couldn´t join plus I wasn´t in the mood for karaoke really.
Saturday 6th
Got up at 6 am, washed my face, and went to wake Bill up. It hit me that the gate was still locked and I was unsure of when it would open, but according to Bill it would open at 7.30.
So at 7.30 after breakfast we took our bikes and headed for Makino station to get the train for Kuzuha station and from there on take the bus from the 4th platform for Cineplex and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN KIZUNA MOVIE !!!!!!
We bought some popcorn and took a seat in an almost empty theatre, Bill tried chatting up a Japanese boy on whether he preferred Sasuke or Naruto but the boy was too shy and his parents smiled gratefully.
The movie had awesome fight scenes with Naruto and Sasuke against the enemy, loved it ! Especially Naruto´s scenes. I actually understood what the story was about and could basically follow the plot somewhat :). We even got a Naruto necklace which is 3Dimensional and has Naruto´s face plus Kizuna (Bonds) in kanji on it.
After that, shopping time !! I bought a dress, a shirt, a tunic and a top for about 430 SEK ;) . Then Bill and I bought ourselves some sunglasses because mine was broken and his had an unfortunate fate with a chewing gum involved. At the sport supply store where we bought our sunglasses, I browsed around for some prices; Le Coq Sportif sweatpants cost about 329 SEK, Converse shoes about 300 SEK and Adidas sneakers about 600 SEK.
There was a pet shop, and there where the cutest puppies in different cages, and my heart basically melted, I snapped so many pictures of them !
Lunch = RAMEN ! Gotta keep the Naruto theme going ;) It was very good and very cheap, about 700 yen which is roughly 42 SEK.
Bought alarm clocks as well, mine is red, Bill´s is black, they are on tripods and have swinging heads on springs, 1000 yen aka 60 SEK.
Tonight´s plan is dinner with Sanzhar I think, but we haven´t decided a time, so we will see when and if that happens. Wes and the Swedes are probably heading out, either to Osaka or Kyoto.
Tomorrow Sachiko is coming over for some tea, it´s gonna be really nice, she can see my dorm.
^^ xoxo from Hirakata
torsdag 4 september 2008
KARAOOOOOKE !!
Wednesday 3rd
Out of 438 people, I got lottery ticket number 297, which means that I have to wait for 296 people to register before I can register. Poor Bill got the last one, so we wondered which courses would be full and which courses would not.
Payed my housing fee, liability insurance fee etc and handed over my insurance policy.
Meetings about safety for girls, apparantely there has been a weirdo following some girls but they caught him lol. But no worries other than that, it is pretty safe here.
Talks about no noise, do not drink in the park because it is no place to be drinking in, in Japan one should not drink in public, so you ask yourself where should they drink, well you can stop and take a sip of your coffee or water but walking and eating or drinking is considered rude behaviour. And since Japanese homes don´t have isolation, for sound, then you can hear everything !
Talks about recycling, here in Japan they even remove the label sticker on pet bottles, but then they sort paper as burnable and soft material plastic Plasticas. While we in Sweden recycle paper in a separate bin and but soft plastic as burnable alongside food.
Talks about careful and using Condom-kun :D .
Got home, had some food, then I went for karaoke at Big Wave (singing songs while following the lyrics on a screen), with Todd and some others, meet up with Bill and sat in his group´s room. For 1000 yen per hour there is all you can drink. So we ordered beer after beer, I sang Rihanna, and we sang Michael Jackson, Totoro.. Soooo much fun, headed back home after 2 hours and got home just half an hour before the gate was going to shut.
Chilled with Alex who went for basketball instead of karaoke. Suddenly Chikako came running saying a guy and a girl were lying on the floor in the boys´ corridor on the second floor. It seemed as if they were kissing, and she was a bit embarrassed to see that being done so openly.
So me and Alex sneaked up, and there they were, a bit tipsy and they started laughing, we just ran back down again haha.
Discovered Bill loves Naruto as well, so our goal for the weekend is to watch NARUTO SHIPPUUDEN MOVIE !!!!! mohahaha !! yup Dattebayo is probably not ready with the subs until next year !
Thursday 4th
I overslept !! I woke up at 9.50, and I had to be on campus at 10.30 to register for my course ! I just got dressed and fixed and everything in 10 minutes and headed off with Alex, who returned back to the SH because he forgot his reciepts from . I got there in time and handed in my chosen classses; business course, political course, culture course.
Went with Alex and Swedish guy David to buy a bike, finally !! I found a cute light blue one with a basket, it cost only 6500 yen which is about 400 swedish ones. it is a second hand one, but it looks brand new ! The owner worked so fast to get the papers and sticker (because every purchased bike gets a registration number which you have to carry everywhere since cops might stop you to make sure you are not riding a stolen bike ! Plus a registered bike has your name on it so you can park it at the university after registering there as well, which I will do tomorrow).
The owner thought my Japanese was good, which made me happy since I hear people who have a far more advanced vocabulary and studied more years than me.
After the bike purchase, me and David headed into downtown Hirakata to head over to City Hall to make an Alien registration, it took a while to find the building and it was so hot!
We had some sushi after the registration and then hurried back home, because we had a welcome ceremony and dinner at 3 pm ! We arrived at 2.20, and I rushed inside to shower, change and do my hair and makeup, I did all this in 30 minutes !!! When I came downstairs, everybody already left so I just hurried by bike to get there ! I got in just 3 minutes over 3 and the head president of the university had already started the speech so me and some others had to wait outside while his speech was done and then we could sneak inside.
The counsel of America and Australia were invited to make a speech and a student from the US made a great speech about experiencing a new culture and making bonds,pretty stable ! Then a KG student made a cute speech were she talked about Slam Dunk being her favorite anime and welcomed us.
So 4pm time for dinner! We headed over to the cafeteria where they had setup an amazing buffet, with sallad, and dessert and fruit and chicken and deepfried shrimp and sushi and cold meat and sandwhiches. It was really good !! There was even soft icecream, with matcha, strawberry and chocolate flavour. I talked to Sanrjar a bit, and then just chilled with David, Viktor, Sebastian and Jonas who is also from Växjö, studies Sport Management. We had lots of fun and laughed a lot, Viktor made a great reaction while tasting the dessert which made us encouraged in eating them, so we had to scout out for them, it was strawberry vanilla mousse and panna cotta, really delicious !
Plans for the night: KARAOKE!!! We went at 7pm with Mykel from SH 3, Bill and the others where going later. We were lucky to get there earlier because it got really crowded later and people had to wait about 1 hour for a room.
Me and the Swedish guys ordered beer after beer, and gin and tonic, I had about 5 during the 2 hours we sat there ! We sang Roxxette Sleeping in my car, Gangsta´s Paradise by Coolio, Final Countdown, Thong song by Sisqo, Michael Jackson´s Bad. We had a lot of fun, almost had a head ache. After karaoke I met up with Sanrjar and Swedish guy Christian and we walked home together and talked. We chilled out in the park and then I went inside just before 11pm.
It is time for bike registration and safety issues meeting. Don´t know about the plans for the evening, but probably something fun ;)
Hugs
Out of 438 people, I got lottery ticket number 297, which means that I have to wait for 296 people to register before I can register. Poor Bill got the last one, so we wondered which courses would be full and which courses would not.
Payed my housing fee, liability insurance fee etc and handed over my insurance policy.
Meetings about safety for girls, apparantely there has been a weirdo following some girls but they caught him lol. But no worries other than that, it is pretty safe here.
Talks about no noise, do not drink in the park because it is no place to be drinking in, in Japan one should not drink in public, so you ask yourself where should they drink, well you can stop and take a sip of your coffee or water but walking and eating or drinking is considered rude behaviour. And since Japanese homes don´t have isolation, for sound, then you can hear everything !
Talks about recycling, here in Japan they even remove the label sticker on pet bottles, but then they sort paper as burnable and soft material plastic Plasticas. While we in Sweden recycle paper in a separate bin and but soft plastic as burnable alongside food.
Talks about careful and using Condom-kun :D .
Got home, had some food, then I went for karaoke at Big Wave (singing songs while following the lyrics on a screen), with Todd and some others, meet up with Bill and sat in his group´s room. For 1000 yen per hour there is all you can drink. So we ordered beer after beer, I sang Rihanna, and we sang Michael Jackson, Totoro.. Soooo much fun, headed back home after 2 hours and got home just half an hour before the gate was going to shut.
Chilled with Alex who went for basketball instead of karaoke. Suddenly Chikako came running saying a guy and a girl were lying on the floor in the boys´ corridor on the second floor. It seemed as if they were kissing, and she was a bit embarrassed to see that being done so openly.
So me and Alex sneaked up, and there they were, a bit tipsy and they started laughing, we just ran back down again haha.
Discovered Bill loves Naruto as well, so our goal for the weekend is to watch NARUTO SHIPPUUDEN MOVIE !!!!! mohahaha !! yup Dattebayo is probably not ready with the subs until next year !
Thursday 4th
I overslept !! I woke up at 9.50, and I had to be on campus at 10.30 to register for my course ! I just got dressed and fixed and everything in 10 minutes and headed off with Alex, who returned back to the SH because he forgot his reciepts from . I got there in time and handed in my chosen classses; business course, political course, culture course.
Went with Alex and Swedish guy David to buy a bike, finally !! I found a cute light blue one with a basket, it cost only 6500 yen which is about 400 swedish ones. it is a second hand one, but it looks brand new ! The owner worked so fast to get the papers and sticker (because every purchased bike gets a registration number which you have to carry everywhere since cops might stop you to make sure you are not riding a stolen bike ! Plus a registered bike has your name on it so you can park it at the university after registering there as well, which I will do tomorrow).
The owner thought my Japanese was good, which made me happy since I hear people who have a far more advanced vocabulary and studied more years than me.
After the bike purchase, me and David headed into downtown Hirakata to head over to City Hall to make an Alien registration, it took a while to find the building and it was so hot!
We had some sushi after the registration and then hurried back home, because we had a welcome ceremony and dinner at 3 pm ! We arrived at 2.20, and I rushed inside to shower, change and do my hair and makeup, I did all this in 30 minutes !!! When I came downstairs, everybody already left so I just hurried by bike to get there ! I got in just 3 minutes over 3 and the head president of the university had already started the speech so me and some others had to wait outside while his speech was done and then we could sneak inside.
The counsel of America and Australia were invited to make a speech and a student from the US made a great speech about experiencing a new culture and making bonds,pretty stable ! Then a KG student made a cute speech were she talked about Slam Dunk being her favorite anime and welcomed us.
So 4pm time for dinner! We headed over to the cafeteria where they had setup an amazing buffet, with sallad, and dessert and fruit and chicken and deepfried shrimp and sushi and cold meat and sandwhiches. It was really good !! There was even soft icecream, with matcha, strawberry and chocolate flavour. I talked to Sanrjar a bit, and then just chilled with David, Viktor, Sebastian and Jonas who is also from Växjö, studies Sport Management. We had lots of fun and laughed a lot, Viktor made a great reaction while tasting the dessert which made us encouraged in eating them, so we had to scout out for them, it was strawberry vanilla mousse and panna cotta, really delicious !
Plans for the night: KARAOKE!!! We went at 7pm with Mykel from SH 3, Bill and the others where going later. We were lucky to get there earlier because it got really crowded later and people had to wait about 1 hour for a room.
Me and the Swedish guys ordered beer after beer, and gin and tonic, I had about 5 during the 2 hours we sat there ! We sang Roxxette Sleeping in my car, Gangsta´s Paradise by Coolio, Final Countdown, Thong song by Sisqo, Michael Jackson´s Bad. We had a lot of fun, almost had a head ache. After karaoke I met up with Sanrjar and Swedish guy Christian and we walked home together and talked. We chilled out in the park and then I went inside just before 11pm.
It is time for bike registration and safety issues meeting. Don´t know about the plans for the evening, but probably something fun ;)
Hugs
torsdag 28 augusti 2008
Have you ever had a ferry turn back for you ?
Thuesday 26th August
Breakfast at cafe on the subway station, then headed for adapter after saying bye bye to Masako. I ended up buying a very cheap (50 kr and YES I should stop being surprised) laptop battery chord with Japanese socket.
Headed for the train with Yumi back to Mie. We arrived around 8 pm, had dinner, and then her dad and brother came home, Yumi`s mom`s friend, who I had dinner with in Sweden, invited me to their home, I saw pics of her son who also goes to Kansai Gaidai so I will probably meet him ! He might go to Spain as an exchange student. I was given a beautiful paper fan as a present, arigatoo !
Came back home and had a political/historical/culture comical discussion with Yumi`s dad and brother. Her dad is really funny; " This is a pen" ,which is the only thing in English he really know, turned Mr Pen san, which I will contact whenever in emergency in Japan. SL = Short Legs which is a description of Japanese according to him haha, or rather a description of himself !
Yumi´s brother aka tonton is really good at history, he knows dates by heart.
Pen san thought that Yumi was mean for dragging my around a lot, but I had enjoyed it so much, had seen so many things this past week.
Wednesday 27th August
Yumi was packing for Sweden and I payed my bills. So later in the afternoon we went to a second hand bookstore where I found KODOMO NO OMOCHA manga !!! 5 volumes for 35 kr hahaha !!
Kodomo no omocha; or Kodocha is a anime and manga about Kurata Sana, tv show star who fights her arch enemy Hayama Akito who later develops a secret crush for Sana. So funny, because Sana is really hyper !!
While leaving the bookstore we ran into a group of boys; around 10-11 years old, who started staring at me ( because Im a gaijin aka foreigner). They started calling HELLO !! So I said hello back then they giggled and went inside. So as we sat in the car they came back out and kept staring so Yumi made me say Bye bye to them, and they became excited and waved and yelled Bye Bye back !
This is not my first encounter with the gaijin effect. People sometimes stare at me on the train or subway; a group of guy went `Look at that pretty girl gaijin` in Japanese :) . And another group of teenagers went wow look it is a gaijin ! They dont think I can understand Japanese though ..
Anyways, back home to get dressed for a tea ceremony, chanoyu ! Yumi`s mom had invited her friend who is skilled at tea ceremonies, to come and teach us how to make it. I wore a yukata which is a kimono for girls. Kimono is a robe which is nowadays worn at festivities such as weddings and other occasions. Yukata is often worn at summer festivities.
I got dressed and went downstairs to be seated on my knees and then I was brought green te and okashi, japanese sweet to which I had to bow and request permission to eat.
Then time for change of role, My turn to make the tea and serve it. I had to fill a bowl of hot water, empty it, add 2 spoons of tea plus 3 mouthful of hot water into the bowl, then whisk it with the bamboo whisk until a foam is created and end it with making the hiragana NOの to remove the big bubbles. Then head out to serve it. The bowl is awefully hot but you cant hurry this procedure, especially while wearing a yukata which requires small steps to be made, or else you will slip and fall flat on your head and have the tea land in the lap of the customer.
I had to enter the room with my right foot and leave it with my left foot first. It was a lot of fun, though it was hot in the room and I had to make tea for Yumi`s parents which made me feel a bit nervous, but it turned out great.
Yumi`s dad kept joking around while Yumi was filming and her mom worrying of whether or not I was tired. Grandma looked at me with amusement and said that I looked pretty in yukata.
Maybe I forgot to tell you, their house is a 2story house, with Grandma and the deceased grandpa who lived on the main floor and Fujino family living on the second floor, but they use it all together. The house has a main entrance where you take off your shoes and then either put on slippers or not. Then you have tatami mats in the bedrooms and ceremonial rooms. Other parts have rugs and wooden floor. The bathroom has a shower and a bathtub which is used only for bathing, not showering. This means that you wash yourself; hair, body and everything, scrubbing carefully, before entering the bath water in the tub. This water is used by all to save water and lying in the tub is meant for relaxation.
Yumi kept packing at midnight, then it was time to sleep.
Thursday 28th August
We woke up at 5 am to have breakfast and then head for the ferry which left for Nagoya at 8.20. Yumi was taking the Finnair flight for Helsinki and I was going to meet up with her sister to do some sightseeing in Nagoya. I fell asleep and was woken up by Yumi`s mom racing the streets to arrive to the ferry on time. We ran towards the ferry and the staff at the ferry quickly helped us getting on board. However, Yumi`s mom was still holding my makeup bag while Yumi and I took a seat. I saw it and told Yumi that she could bring it on Saturday. But, while the ferry was ready to leave, Yumi`s mom had them turn back to the dock and then she handed over the bag to them. People on the ferry were laughing in amusement (thank god that nobody got angry) and I got my precious bag ! If you ever wanted to feel like VIP, then this is the occasion to do so ;)
So we arrived at the airport in Nagoya where we met up with Yumi´s sister Hitomi (who works for Ikea Kobe at their restaurant) and after waving Yumi off, me and Hitomi went to Starbucks and then took the train for Nagoya and had some lunch, tonkatsu , pork cutlet. It tasted very good !
Hitomi has a friend at the mall in central Nagoya who works for Dolce n Gabbana so we got to take a look around and she gave us some catalogues in a bag to browse, people kept staring at my bag afterwards lol. Hitomi´s other friends worked at an expensive French brand clothing store with amazing clothes.
So off for Nagoya Castle, or so we thought ! Heavy rain !!! The street turned into a swimming pool, and while standing there waiting for the rain to stop, there was this kind lady who came up to us with her umbrella and asked us if we wanted some cover to the nearest conbini aka convenient store to buy an umbrella ! So nice of her to do so. I bought a transparent one, I think they are really cool.
Off to Nagoya Castle, built in the 1600:s, destroyed by air raids in Second world war, now back in restoration. Extremely beautiful and magical. Went up 7 stories, it was that high !
Had some matcha soft icecream and then headed back for Kobe.
Back in Kobe, we went to an izakaya for yakitori which is barbecued chicken marinated in soy sauce, mirin and sugar. The yakitori sauce can be purchased in Sweden ! I had some tofu kimchi as well (kimchi is Korean fermented hot cabbage, really tasty). Tofu is soy bean cheese.
The grillmaster at the izakaya looked like a chubby Charlie Chaplin, kind of. He said that I was the first Swede he had ever met and that I didnt look like a 23 year old (duh never heard that before).
Bought a Japanese fashion magazine and went home to crash in bed.
Friday 29th of August
Hitomi went to work, and I slept a lot because I was really sleepy after all those days of travelling. Got up, fixed some papers and just chilled with some ramen for lunch and dinner.
Saturday 30th of August
D as in departure day, Yumi´s parents and their friend came to pick me and Hitomi up to head for lunch at Bikkuri Donkey, a hamburger restaurant, and then head off to IKEA.
IKEA was just like IKEA is in Sweden with kids running around and so many couples checking out their dream home. It was cheaper than Sweden but at the same time most products are made in China.
I bought some Daim, licorice, Ballerina crackers and Sourcream chips!
Off to Hirakata ! We arrived at 5pm and checked me into Seminar House 4, my roomnumber is 4326 and it is just exactly as the video I posted and cleaner if possible ! Modern, fresh, new.
Went to meet Takkun, Yumi´s parents friend´s son who was so slim and had such a long ponytail. His hair was even longer than mine before I cut it and so thick. He was very nice and bought me sweets and gave me a tour around campus. Then we had dinner at a okonomiyaki shop (okonomiyaki is an omelette made from eggs, flour, cabbage and onion plus meat such as pork and seafood). You eat it with a special brown sauce and Japanese mayo.
After dinner it was time to buy slippers at Saya, a huge department store. I got slippers and a cardigan, and body milk.
Back to Seminar House at 8pm, went to my room, took a shower and talked to my room mate Chikako, she is 19 and 2year student, majoring in English. Decided to meet up with Sachiko on Sunday for lunch. Slept on futon beds on the floor. We each have our own desk and chair and closet and we share a table. The floor has tatami mats. We have cards to access our rooms and computer rooms, just look a hotel!
Sunday 31 August 2008
I felt a bit dizzy when I woke up, it was really hot in my room, so I got a heat stroke because I didnt drink enough water. I had to meet Sachiko at 11.30 outside Hirakata library which is 2 minutes from my seminar house and while waiting I felt very hot. Fortunately there are vending machines everywhere to buy water, so it is very good.
Sachiko was a bit late and she had cut her hair so she looked very cute. We went to Hirakata station to have Soba aka noodle made of buckwheat floor, a bit thicker and more gray looking than regular noodles. After lunch we went shopping, I bought a bunch of tops at Sally and then we had icecream parfait at a café, I had strawberry, Sachiko had matcha. We even took purikura.
Then we headed off to Sachiko´s tiny apartment, it is very cutelooking. She even has loft where she can sleep in the winter if it gets cold!
I took the bus back to the Seminar house by myself, I just listened to the voice whenever we were heading for the next bus stop, I had to get off outside the Hirakata library.
I checked my orientation packet, filled with forms and sheets and maps and schedules. I talked to some American guys, Brandon, Bill, R.J, Wes, Garrick, Alex and Morgan. It was fun and they were very nice. Bill had done an intensive course during the summer in Japan so he knew a bit more Japanese than me. Alex is really good as well, I felt really bad next to them, but the Japanese say my pronounciation is good, plus I already use slangs such as majide (really), uso(liar, no way), mecha (totally, totally delicious = mecha oishii), yabai (awesome as in kore yabai = this is awesome, about food or anything) etc.
Our R.A:s are very nice as well, Maki san, Aika san.
I talked to a girl named Masayoh who is very sweet, she kept saying Aida wa Masayoh no aida desu. Aida means in between or in the middle in Japanese so everytime I say my name to a Japanese I do the sign of being in the middle and they start laughing, so everyone knows my name.
Masayoh told us that her birthday is the day after tomorrow so me and Bill had the brilliant idea of making a cake for her.
Monday 1th September
Bill already bought a bike but we decided to walk to campus, (which only took us about 25 minutes and it was really hot), alongside 3 Swedes and some Americans and Australians. The Swedes are David from Mälardalens högskola in Eskilstuna, Rebecka and Sebastian who study at Växjö University (Rebecka is actually Norwegian and a freemover and Sebastian is Finnish, but I couldnt tell because their Swedish is that good! ).
Neither 3 of them speak any Japanese at all, haha! I tried helping David out with some info.
We had a guided tour of campus at 11 and when we walked past the cafeteria Bill went wow now we talking ! So lunch for about 300 yen which is about 18 Swedish kr. We got fried chicken with rice and sallad plus water ;) .
Time for language lab at 2 pm ( Bill had his at 3pm so we decided to meet up afterwards to buy the cake). The language lab session was about handing out passwords and id:s and teaching us how to use the language lab programs to do recordings and download homework listening segments. We met another Swedish guy in the lab whose name I now have forgot.
Met Elin san from Japanese class at campus, she was staying in number 1 but she is doing homestay later.
I finally met Kim as well, I got to know her trough facebook, she is really kind !
Topworld supermarket, apparently no readymade cake but they had sponge cake. So we decided to buy readymade whipped cream, chocolate sauce and frozen strawberries to make the cake.
We told Maki san about it so she would keept Masayoh from the kitchen.
I was very dizzy so i decided to take a nap before hitting the books to study for the replacement test which we had the following day. Me and Chikako did our laundry together, but we made a mistake by adding her towels to the laundry so we had tiny pieces of cloth all over our clothes lol. We decided to buy hangers to dry the clothes up in our room.
Eating and studying a little bit, but mostly chatting up with people, Japanese guy Kaoshin, very charming and funny, he has been to the States to study. Arielle, American girl who is very good at Kanji, she has kanji cards which she made herself! Australian guy Todd.
Tako kun ( i think) is very nice as well, he wants to know more about Scandinavian countries so I offered to do my part !
I didnt really study that much in the end, because I felt like I knew my part. Everybody was pretty confident, some of them have studied Japanese for 6 years !
I just checked some emails and stuff that night and then went to sleep, still very dizzy and fevrish.
Thuesday 2 September
Replacement test time ! I have never felt so sick in my life, I have been drinking 3 litres of water and eating licorice and stuff to stabilize again but it seems to take a while. Now while typing I feel much better so I guess im good now.
Test was at 10.30 at the Multimedia hall. First we had a listening comprehension:
You can only hear each dialogue and question one time, and once the tape starts it cannot be stopped ! (Japanese instructor) the crowd went lol.
But then it wasnt that much lol anymore. It went very fast, too fast. Not like the dialogues one was used to listening to at Japanese class back in Sweden !
Next part, translation hiragana and katakana, did pretty good. Grammar contained of A-E, so depending on how long one had studied Japanese you had to do those levels, for 1 year like me; A and B. I did good and A but some parts on B where a bit difficult.
The thing is , the instructor told us we shouldnt do random guesses so everybody went oh whatever.
So kanji part, trying to recognize the kanjis. Out of about 80 kanjis I recognized about 6 !
We have learned 100 kanjis but not many of them were used, there were really difficult ones instead. Arielle later told me she knew almost all of them , which I knew she would !
Time to xerox Brandon´s funny book Making out in Japanese, contains the basic phrases ;).
Banking session for opening up an account. :O
You have never experienced a more complex procedure. We needed to copy our passport and then copy a page from our passport, write our home adress with a pencil, then copy that sheet, then fill out the 3 forms. So far so good. BUT,
1. you have to write the letters exactly the way they are written in the passport, for example small u in passport, small u on your application. A on your passport, dont write it A. Everything has to be the same !
2. Don´t write past any lines !
3. Don´t refill any letters !
4. Rewrite your signature from form 1 on form 3 and copy it EXACTLY the same way !
Some people had to redo it a couple of times, I was kinda nervous and still dizzy so I felt sleepy while waiting to go up and see if my documents were in order. I finally met Mykel Dodson from facebook as well, we chatted, he is staying at Seminar house 3, the strictest one as they say, but he likes it. It is more apartment style, 8 people share a kitchen and lounge. compare that to our massive dining room and lounge and kitchen shared by about 112 people !
So while staying in my seat, a guy came up to me and started talking, Sanrjar (I think), he is from Kazakstan but stays in the US. However, he has been studying for 2 years in Norway and even visited Denmark and Sweden, he liked Sweden the best. He is staying in Seminar house 2 , or was it 1 ?
When I told him my name is Aida, he went wow my aunt´s name is Aida. LOL
So finally my turn, and guess what? AIDA GOT AN OK !! wohooo, banking session done !
I had a meeting with my buddy, yes they have a buddy system here as well, it is called Speaking partner. I was going to meet her at 4pm, she was coming by train from Osaka where she lives.
She is very cute and tiny ! Her name is Tamaki and she is a 19 year old 2nd year student with a major in English. We went to the cafeteria where i had some cheap curry for 200 yen, yup 12 swedish ones and she had apple juice and ballerina which I gave to her as a gift !
We talked and laughed, her English is not so good compared to my Japanese but it´s ok, she will improve ! We went to Lawson´s convenient store where I got some balloons for Masayoh´s b day party and some scotch tape to remove the cloth from our clothes !
I took her to my Seminar house and she thought it looked very nice. One of her friends stays here as an R.A.
The rest of the evening just chatting, another Swedish guy from Växjö; Viktor, and Italian guy Michele who probably is the first one to get a cell phone, he just took his passport with him, usually we have to wait until our alien registration forms have been completed but evidently not. He got a pink one from Softbank.
There is a Turkish guy, Serkan, but I would never have guessed that he is Turkish, he has blue eyes and brown hair but a bit light for a Turkish guy. He guessed immediately that I was Persian because I looked like one, he has many Persian friends back home in the States where he lives.
So what´s up for tomorrow? Registration lottery for courses, so the better the number the better the chance of recieving your course of choice. We have a general meeting at 9.30 so I have to get to sleep now. And paying fees of course, plus in the afternoon us girls have a special Women´s meeting and ending the day with a mutual STD health issues meeting at 4pm.
Long day tomorrow.
Oh and about the pics, I have no internet on my laptop because of there being no wireless in the Seminar house or on Campus ( writing from the computer lab) so I will get back to you.
Goodnight from Japan ! and by the way it´s still warm here, around 28 degrees Celcius !
BIG LOVE
Breakfast at cafe on the subway station, then headed for adapter after saying bye bye to Masako. I ended up buying a very cheap (50 kr and YES I should stop being surprised) laptop battery chord with Japanese socket.
Headed for the train with Yumi back to Mie. We arrived around 8 pm, had dinner, and then her dad and brother came home, Yumi`s mom`s friend, who I had dinner with in Sweden, invited me to their home, I saw pics of her son who also goes to Kansai Gaidai so I will probably meet him ! He might go to Spain as an exchange student. I was given a beautiful paper fan as a present, arigatoo !
Came back home and had a political/historical/culture comical discussion with Yumi`s dad and brother. Her dad is really funny; " This is a pen" ,which is the only thing in English he really know, turned Mr Pen san, which I will contact whenever in emergency in Japan. SL = Short Legs which is a description of Japanese according to him haha, or rather a description of himself !
He kept speaking really fast in Japanese but ended up describing things with English words !!
Yumi´s brother aka tonton is really good at history, he knows dates by heart.
Pen san thought that Yumi was mean for dragging my around a lot, but I had enjoyed it so much, had seen so many things this past week.
Wednesday 27th August
Yumi was packing for Sweden and I payed my bills. So later in the afternoon we went to a second hand bookstore where I found KODOMO NO OMOCHA manga !!! 5 volumes for 35 kr hahaha !!
Kodomo no omocha; or Kodocha is a anime and manga about Kurata Sana, tv show star who fights her arch enemy Hayama Akito who later develops a secret crush for Sana. So funny, because Sana is really hyper !!
While leaving the bookstore we ran into a group of boys; around 10-11 years old, who started staring at me ( because Im a gaijin aka foreigner). They started calling HELLO !! So I said hello back then they giggled and went inside. So as we sat in the car they came back out and kept staring so Yumi made me say Bye bye to them, and they became excited and waved and yelled Bye Bye back !
This is not my first encounter with the gaijin effect. People sometimes stare at me on the train or subway; a group of guy went `Look at that pretty girl gaijin` in Japanese :) . And another group of teenagers went wow look it is a gaijin ! They dont think I can understand Japanese though ..
Anyways, back home to get dressed for a tea ceremony, chanoyu ! Yumi`s mom had invited her friend who is skilled at tea ceremonies, to come and teach us how to make it. I wore a yukata which is a kimono for girls. Kimono is a robe which is nowadays worn at festivities such as weddings and other occasions. Yukata is often worn at summer festivities.
I got dressed and went downstairs to be seated on my knees and then I was brought green te and okashi, japanese sweet to which I had to bow and request permission to eat.
Then time for change of role, My turn to make the tea and serve it. I had to fill a bowl of hot water, empty it, add 2 spoons of tea plus 3 mouthful of hot water into the bowl, then whisk it with the bamboo whisk until a foam is created and end it with making the hiragana NOの to remove the big bubbles. Then head out to serve it. The bowl is awefully hot but you cant hurry this procedure, especially while wearing a yukata which requires small steps to be made, or else you will slip and fall flat on your head and have the tea land in the lap of the customer.
I had to enter the room with my right foot and leave it with my left foot first. It was a lot of fun, though it was hot in the room and I had to make tea for Yumi`s parents which made me feel a bit nervous, but it turned out great.
Yumi`s dad kept joking around while Yumi was filming and her mom worrying of whether or not I was tired. Grandma looked at me with amusement and said that I looked pretty in yukata.
Maybe I forgot to tell you, their house is a 2story house, with Grandma and the deceased grandpa who lived on the main floor and Fujino family living on the second floor, but they use it all together. The house has a main entrance where you take off your shoes and then either put on slippers or not. Then you have tatami mats in the bedrooms and ceremonial rooms. Other parts have rugs and wooden floor. The bathroom has a shower and a bathtub which is used only for bathing, not showering. This means that you wash yourself; hair, body and everything, scrubbing carefully, before entering the bath water in the tub. This water is used by all to save water and lying in the tub is meant for relaxation.
Yumi kept packing at midnight, then it was time to sleep.
Thursday 28th August
We woke up at 5 am to have breakfast and then head for the ferry which left for Nagoya at 8.20. Yumi was taking the Finnair flight for Helsinki and I was going to meet up with her sister to do some sightseeing in Nagoya. I fell asleep and was woken up by Yumi`s mom racing the streets to arrive to the ferry on time. We ran towards the ferry and the staff at the ferry quickly helped us getting on board. However, Yumi`s mom was still holding my makeup bag while Yumi and I took a seat. I saw it and told Yumi that she could bring it on Saturday. But, while the ferry was ready to leave, Yumi`s mom had them turn back to the dock and then she handed over the bag to them. People on the ferry were laughing in amusement (thank god that nobody got angry) and I got my precious bag ! If you ever wanted to feel like VIP, then this is the occasion to do so ;)
So we arrived at the airport in Nagoya where we met up with Yumi´s sister Hitomi (who works for Ikea Kobe at their restaurant) and after waving Yumi off, me and Hitomi went to Starbucks and then took the train for Nagoya and had some lunch, tonkatsu , pork cutlet. It tasted very good !
Hitomi has a friend at the mall in central Nagoya who works for Dolce n Gabbana so we got to take a look around and she gave us some catalogues in a bag to browse, people kept staring at my bag afterwards lol. Hitomi´s other friends worked at an expensive French brand clothing store with amazing clothes.
So off for Nagoya Castle, or so we thought ! Heavy rain !!! The street turned into a swimming pool, and while standing there waiting for the rain to stop, there was this kind lady who came up to us with her umbrella and asked us if we wanted some cover to the nearest conbini aka convenient store to buy an umbrella ! So nice of her to do so. I bought a transparent one, I think they are really cool.
Off to Nagoya Castle, built in the 1600:s, destroyed by air raids in Second world war, now back in restoration. Extremely beautiful and magical. Went up 7 stories, it was that high !
Had some matcha soft icecream and then headed back for Kobe.
Back in Kobe, we went to an izakaya for yakitori which is barbecued chicken marinated in soy sauce, mirin and sugar. The yakitori sauce can be purchased in Sweden ! I had some tofu kimchi as well (kimchi is Korean fermented hot cabbage, really tasty). Tofu is soy bean cheese.
The grillmaster at the izakaya looked like a chubby Charlie Chaplin, kind of. He said that I was the first Swede he had ever met and that I didnt look like a 23 year old (duh never heard that before).
Bought a Japanese fashion magazine and went home to crash in bed.
Friday 29th of August
Hitomi went to work, and I slept a lot because I was really sleepy after all those days of travelling. Got up, fixed some papers and just chilled with some ramen for lunch and dinner.
Saturday 30th of August
D as in departure day, Yumi´s parents and their friend came to pick me and Hitomi up to head for lunch at Bikkuri Donkey, a hamburger restaurant, and then head off to IKEA.
IKEA was just like IKEA is in Sweden with kids running around and so many couples checking out their dream home. It was cheaper than Sweden but at the same time most products are made in China.
I bought some Daim, licorice, Ballerina crackers and Sourcream chips!
Off to Hirakata ! We arrived at 5pm and checked me into Seminar House 4, my roomnumber is 4326 and it is just exactly as the video I posted and cleaner if possible ! Modern, fresh, new.
Went to meet Takkun, Yumi´s parents friend´s son who was so slim and had such a long ponytail. His hair was even longer than mine before I cut it and so thick. He was very nice and bought me sweets and gave me a tour around campus. Then we had dinner at a okonomiyaki shop (okonomiyaki is an omelette made from eggs, flour, cabbage and onion plus meat such as pork and seafood). You eat it with a special brown sauce and Japanese mayo.
After dinner it was time to buy slippers at Saya, a huge department store. I got slippers and a cardigan, and body milk.
Back to Seminar House at 8pm, went to my room, took a shower and talked to my room mate Chikako, she is 19 and 2year student, majoring in English. Decided to meet up with Sachiko on Sunday for lunch. Slept on futon beds on the floor. We each have our own desk and chair and closet and we share a table. The floor has tatami mats. We have cards to access our rooms and computer rooms, just look a hotel!
Sunday 31 August 2008
I felt a bit dizzy when I woke up, it was really hot in my room, so I got a heat stroke because I didnt drink enough water. I had to meet Sachiko at 11.30 outside Hirakata library which is 2 minutes from my seminar house and while waiting I felt very hot. Fortunately there are vending machines everywhere to buy water, so it is very good.
Sachiko was a bit late and she had cut her hair so she looked very cute. We went to Hirakata station to have Soba aka noodle made of buckwheat floor, a bit thicker and more gray looking than regular noodles. After lunch we went shopping, I bought a bunch of tops at Sally and then we had icecream parfait at a café, I had strawberry, Sachiko had matcha. We even took purikura.
Then we headed off to Sachiko´s tiny apartment, it is very cutelooking. She even has loft where she can sleep in the winter if it gets cold!
I took the bus back to the Seminar house by myself, I just listened to the voice whenever we were heading for the next bus stop, I had to get off outside the Hirakata library.
I checked my orientation packet, filled with forms and sheets and maps and schedules. I talked to some American guys, Brandon, Bill, R.J, Wes, Garrick, Alex and Morgan. It was fun and they were very nice. Bill had done an intensive course during the summer in Japan so he knew a bit more Japanese than me. Alex is really good as well, I felt really bad next to them, but the Japanese say my pronounciation is good, plus I already use slangs such as majide (really), uso(liar, no way), mecha (totally, totally delicious = mecha oishii), yabai (awesome as in kore yabai = this is awesome, about food or anything) etc.
Our R.A:s are very nice as well, Maki san, Aika san.
I talked to a girl named Masayoh who is very sweet, she kept saying Aida wa Masayoh no aida desu. Aida means in between or in the middle in Japanese so everytime I say my name to a Japanese I do the sign of being in the middle and they start laughing, so everyone knows my name.
Masayoh told us that her birthday is the day after tomorrow so me and Bill had the brilliant idea of making a cake for her.
Monday 1th September
Bill already bought a bike but we decided to walk to campus, (which only took us about 25 minutes and it was really hot), alongside 3 Swedes and some Americans and Australians. The Swedes are David from Mälardalens högskola in Eskilstuna, Rebecka and Sebastian who study at Växjö University (Rebecka is actually Norwegian and a freemover and Sebastian is Finnish, but I couldnt tell because their Swedish is that good! ).
Neither 3 of them speak any Japanese at all, haha! I tried helping David out with some info.
We had a guided tour of campus at 11 and when we walked past the cafeteria Bill went wow now we talking ! So lunch for about 300 yen which is about 18 Swedish kr. We got fried chicken with rice and sallad plus water ;) .
Time for language lab at 2 pm ( Bill had his at 3pm so we decided to meet up afterwards to buy the cake). The language lab session was about handing out passwords and id:s and teaching us how to use the language lab programs to do recordings and download homework listening segments. We met another Swedish guy in the lab whose name I now have forgot.
Met Elin san from Japanese class at campus, she was staying in number 1 but she is doing homestay later.
I finally met Kim as well, I got to know her trough facebook, she is really kind !
Topworld supermarket, apparently no readymade cake but they had sponge cake. So we decided to buy readymade whipped cream, chocolate sauce and frozen strawberries to make the cake.
We told Maki san about it so she would keept Masayoh from the kitchen.
I was very dizzy so i decided to take a nap before hitting the books to study for the replacement test which we had the following day. Me and Chikako did our laundry together, but we made a mistake by adding her towels to the laundry so we had tiny pieces of cloth all over our clothes lol. We decided to buy hangers to dry the clothes up in our room.
Eating and studying a little bit, but mostly chatting up with people, Japanese guy Kaoshin, very charming and funny, he has been to the States to study. Arielle, American girl who is very good at Kanji, she has kanji cards which she made herself! Australian guy Todd.
Tako kun ( i think) is very nice as well, he wants to know more about Scandinavian countries so I offered to do my part !
I didnt really study that much in the end, because I felt like I knew my part. Everybody was pretty confident, some of them have studied Japanese for 6 years !
I just checked some emails and stuff that night and then went to sleep, still very dizzy and fevrish.
Thuesday 2 September
Replacement test time ! I have never felt so sick in my life, I have been drinking 3 litres of water and eating licorice and stuff to stabilize again but it seems to take a while. Now while typing I feel much better so I guess im good now.
Test was at 10.30 at the Multimedia hall. First we had a listening comprehension:
You can only hear each dialogue and question one time, and once the tape starts it cannot be stopped ! (Japanese instructor) the crowd went lol.
But then it wasnt that much lol anymore. It went very fast, too fast. Not like the dialogues one was used to listening to at Japanese class back in Sweden !
Next part, translation hiragana and katakana, did pretty good. Grammar contained of A-E, so depending on how long one had studied Japanese you had to do those levels, for 1 year like me; A and B. I did good and A but some parts on B where a bit difficult.
The thing is , the instructor told us we shouldnt do random guesses so everybody went oh whatever.
So kanji part, trying to recognize the kanjis. Out of about 80 kanjis I recognized about 6 !
We have learned 100 kanjis but not many of them were used, there were really difficult ones instead. Arielle later told me she knew almost all of them , which I knew she would !
Time to xerox Brandon´s funny book Making out in Japanese, contains the basic phrases ;).
Banking session for opening up an account. :O
You have never experienced a more complex procedure. We needed to copy our passport and then copy a page from our passport, write our home adress with a pencil, then copy that sheet, then fill out the 3 forms. So far so good. BUT,
1. you have to write the letters exactly the way they are written in the passport, for example small u in passport, small u on your application. A on your passport, dont write it A. Everything has to be the same !
2. Don´t write past any lines !
3. Don´t refill any letters !
4. Rewrite your signature from form 1 on form 3 and copy it EXACTLY the same way !
Some people had to redo it a couple of times, I was kinda nervous and still dizzy so I felt sleepy while waiting to go up and see if my documents were in order. I finally met Mykel Dodson from facebook as well, we chatted, he is staying at Seminar house 3, the strictest one as they say, but he likes it. It is more apartment style, 8 people share a kitchen and lounge. compare that to our massive dining room and lounge and kitchen shared by about 112 people !
So while staying in my seat, a guy came up to me and started talking, Sanrjar (I think), he is from Kazakstan but stays in the US. However, he has been studying for 2 years in Norway and even visited Denmark and Sweden, he liked Sweden the best. He is staying in Seminar house 2 , or was it 1 ?
When I told him my name is Aida, he went wow my aunt´s name is Aida. LOL
So finally my turn, and guess what? AIDA GOT AN OK !! wohooo, banking session done !
I had a meeting with my buddy, yes they have a buddy system here as well, it is called Speaking partner. I was going to meet her at 4pm, she was coming by train from Osaka where she lives.
She is very cute and tiny ! Her name is Tamaki and she is a 19 year old 2nd year student with a major in English. We went to the cafeteria where i had some cheap curry for 200 yen, yup 12 swedish ones and she had apple juice and ballerina which I gave to her as a gift !
We talked and laughed, her English is not so good compared to my Japanese but it´s ok, she will improve ! We went to Lawson´s convenient store where I got some balloons for Masayoh´s b day party and some scotch tape to remove the cloth from our clothes !
I took her to my Seminar house and she thought it looked very nice. One of her friends stays here as an R.A.
The rest of the evening just chatting, another Swedish guy from Växjö; Viktor, and Italian guy Michele who probably is the first one to get a cell phone, he just took his passport with him, usually we have to wait until our alien registration forms have been completed but evidently not. He got a pink one from Softbank.
There is a Turkish guy, Serkan, but I would never have guessed that he is Turkish, he has blue eyes and brown hair but a bit light for a Turkish guy. He guessed immediately that I was Persian because I looked like one, he has many Persian friends back home in the States where he lives.
So what´s up for tomorrow? Registration lottery for courses, so the better the number the better the chance of recieving your course of choice. We have a general meeting at 9.30 so I have to get to sleep now. And paying fees of course, plus in the afternoon us girls have a special Women´s meeting and ending the day with a mutual STD health issues meeting at 4pm.
Long day tomorrow.
Oh and about the pics, I have no internet on my laptop because of there being no wireless in the Seminar house or on Campus ( writing from the computer lab) so I will get back to you.
Goodnight from Japan ! and by the way it´s still warm here, around 28 degrees Celcius !
BIG LOVE
måndag 25 augusti 2008
JAPAN FINALLY !!!!!!!
Wow, Im finally here !!! I cannot believe it at times !! First of all, is it anything like I imagined ? Yes and No ! Yes, because I imagined something mysterious lying over this country which there is. And No because there are things you really need to experience to be able to judge and believe in it !
Ok, let us start from the beginning:
Friday 22nd of August
1. I did not sleep at all, I got some things fixed and just loaded my mp3 with music, I was a bit nervous about my luggage even though I only had 2 kg overweight ^^
5.37 Train leaves Vxo for Gothenburg airport
9.00 Arrived at Landvetter airport, luggage checked in and myself prechecked in, everyting OK!
12.30 Boarding airplane for Helsinki
15.15 Arrived at Vantaa airport, wandered around, tried to get free internet with my laptop but failed so payed 3 euro for 30 minutes, it was worth it ! I read Elle and just chilled.
20.00 Checkin and boarding
20.20 Airplane left for JAPAN !!
On the plane, good food, good service, sat next to 2 Japanese girls who seemed nice. Only "problem" with the flight; there was no tv screen in front of you. There was one in each isle so they showed movies at night and you attached your headphone for sound, I watched Nim`s Island with Little Miss Sunshine star Abigail Breslin, it was cute.
Saturday 23rd of August
11.30 Landed at Kansai International, went to the big line for passport and visa checkpoint
12.20 Done and OK, fingerprint scanned and entered Japan boarder ~~
12.30 Got my bag, met up with Yumi in the humid and rainy weather and we drove off for Osaka and lunch !
15.30 Finally we found a Kaiten sushi after Yumi having argued with her GPS system and the crazy Osaka traffic ;) By the way, cars in Japan are wider and more squared than other cars (picture proof coming soon)
16.30 KAITEN SUSHI !!!!! wow, I had 14 pieces for ONLY 60 Swedish Kr, It costs 100 yen per plate which is about 6 SEK and one plate consists of 2 pieces !!!
Kaiten Sushi = Basically sushi plates on a conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant, you pick your preferred sushi plate and eat, you already have Gari (ginger), sushi and green tea at the table. The waiter later counts your plates, writes a reciept and you pay at the door when you leave. Really cheap is my comment and quality good !
After sushi we headed for Kobe, where Yumi' sister lives. , arriving around 20.30, still very hot and humid weather, but it finally stopped raining.
Hitomi san works for Ikea in Kobe and lives in a modern flat with a cool lock which uses an electronic pad to open. I showered and then we headed for a izakaya, which had a meal for about 100 kr including 1 drink. I had umeboshi, which is plum wine, it is really delicious and sweet.
Izakaya is a good place for that first date ;) . Im saying this because at the table next to us were a group of 4, 2 guys and 2 girls, it seemed to be their first date, group date, and the guys kept joking around and getting loud and ordering drink after drink and the girls kept giggling.
Izakaya = a pub that serves small dishes of food with drinks, such as yakitori (grilled chicken skewers, sashimi (raw fish filet). Cheap prices so you can sit and drink and eat for hours.
I did some Skype with my parents to let them know I was alive and then repacked a bag for the upcoming days...
Sunday 24rd of August
Woke up early, at 7 o clock, to go to Kyoto !! Haruka came from Tokyo and we wrote down places to visit and things to eat in Kyoto. We headed for Kyoto by car around 10 and went to Fujimi Shrine, which is known for people going there to pray for wealth. Kyoto itself used to be the capital of Japan and is known for its wellkept shrines, temples and old monuments. It is really beautiful. We went through some orange gates called Torii which are the entrance to shrines. You can see the Fujimi Shrine torii in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha.
We managed to climb up many stone steps, but it was too humid to continue and very steep. So we headed back down in time to meet up with Masako who came from Fukouka. We had some Ramen, which is nothing like instant ones we buy at home. This place had you get a number and sit down outside for your turn, it was that popular ! We had a bowl of ramen in a broth with meat for around 45kr. For those of you who do not know of ramen, NOODLES ! Enough said !
Then we went for a beautiful park, at the Ryoanji temple, aka the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon. There was a main temple with wodden floor, stone garden and a beautiful pond next to it. It was so peaceful just sitting there and taking it all in. The temple is from the 1300:s.
Then dessert time, we went into Kyoto`s entertainment district Gion for some delicious matcha parfait. Matcha is green tea and you can make ice cream and cake with the matcha powder.
We finally headed for Yumi`s hometown Mie to stay at her parents` house; a traditonal japanese home with sliding doors and tatami mats, beautiful. We arrived at 9pm, had tempura aka fried vegetables and meat with rice, OISHIKATTA !! (it tasted good)
KARAOKE TIME after dinner (singing while following the lyrics on a screen), we got a booth and started singing !!
I did Se7en`s 2nite (or tried at least), Eminem`s Loose yourself (I managed it) and Michael Jackon`s Thriller ! I think that the girls were far better than me vocally (they have had more practise I guess!)
Monday 25th August
After a nice traditional Japanese breakfast of Miso soup, egg and rice, We headed to Osaka by train, to have dinner. We walked through Dotonbori , the young fashion and entertainment district of Osaka. So many girls with loads of makeup and dyed hair and amazing clothes, and really handsome guys walked past us. We had takoyaki; octopus fried ball and did purikura. Purikura basically means taking photos in a photo booth while doing different poses, and then you get to decorate the photos with hearts, letters and other symbols. The quality of the photo makes your eyes very bright and your skin looking very light, you look like a prince/ess.
We had a buffe dinner where you picked out the food and then deep fried it at the table. It included dessert such as soft icecream and cake, very yummy. It cost about 200 kr but it was worth it !
After waving Haruka off to Tokyo, we went looking for place to stay for the night, because we hadsome business to take care off in Osaka the next day. So this is where the Internet cafe comes handy!!
Right now Im writing from the Internet cafe that we chose; it is open 24h and it consists of you filling out a form by the desk and paying around 140kr for 10 hrs access. For that fee you get a booth with access to a computer and free internet, free nonalcoholic beverage such as coke, water, slushies, coffee and tea, shower, dvd movies and to read as much manga as you want !!
Right now Yumi and Masako have kept on reading volume after volume while Im writing this short story of mine!
The whole purpose of this cafe is mainly for people who cannot return home due to missing the last bus/train or having business to attend the next day, such as business men commuting and doing overtime or late night party goers. You get headphones, so that you do not disturb the people who wish to sleep. It is about 4 am here and we got here around 11 pm, and are staying until 8am til we head for breakfast somewhere and then waving Masako off.
Tomorrow aka Thuesday we are planning to get me an adapter for my laptop because the multifunctional one with 5 different fuses for the US and Japan, Asia, Europe, Africa does not work for my thick HP laptop fuse..... And of course I need to get to the bank to withdraw some money and open a bank account later on, for that I need to fill out an Alien registration form. With that form I can even get a Japanese phone ! The phones here in Japan allow each owner to get an email adress so that emails can be sent from a computer to a phone and vice versa.
However, my Swedish phone actually works here strangely enough so I might just get a phone card instead....
Some comments about Japan:
1. Hot and humid, sticky weather but good for your skin at the same time ! It rains here a lot at times during the summer season which reminds me of Vaxjo, but on the other hand the temperature is warmer here and entertainment whise you can escape the rain by either doing karaoke or buying a cheap and cute plastic see through umbrella !
2. CHEAP !! Forget everything you ever heard about this country being expensive! Yes, some imported produce might be more expensive than Sweden perhaps, such as pasta, but Japanese people love their rice which is cheaper than in Sweden, who on the other hand has cheap potatoes.
For example> you can find vending machines everywhere on the streets of Japan wich contain water, jasmine tea (cold of course), cold coffee drinks and soft drinks. A bottle of Jasmine tea by Suntory 500 ml costs 145 yen ~ 8,50 SEK, water costs around 11 SEK (180yen). Subway ticket 10 SEK.
3. Couples !! They are everywhere !!! Walking around hand in hand, having dinner, buying teddy bears, saying goodbye at the train station, it is both adorable and annoying (or I think it is called jealousy, right?)
4. Comfort . Everything is automatic; you have machines everywhere that you pay, from train tickets to parking meters while a voice is telling welcome and have a nice day! There is a convenient store in every corner with cheap prices there as well! Pressbyran, please drop dead !! Train ticket prices stay the same at all times so SJ might drop dead as well !! You get a wet towel at restaurants to clean your hands before eating and you are always welcomed by a hello how are and welcome to our store. People work hard here to please and wish for you to have a pleasant time in Japan ! Even at the gas station, they fill up your gas then help you drive out by checking out for upcoming cars and then waving you off !!
That is why people are sleeping standing up on trains, there is no seat available because the train is so cheap plus they have worked hard all day, ganbarimashita!
5. Clean, you cannot find a trash can for safety reasons such as terrorist attacks, however you cannot find a drop of filth or trash anywhere for that matter! I had a chewing gum in my mouth for 2 hours because I couldnt spit it out anywhere until we reached home and I tossed it! I didnt wanna pollute the clean streets.
5. Old meets new. May it be traditional style Japanese homes with grandparents staying in the same house as the children and grand children or keeping the politness in language, the Japanese managed to keep their values and beliefs alongside reorganizing the society into a modern community; call it utopia if you will. Who ever said oldfashion is a bad thing? I have never agreed with such a thing and I never will; only at drastic cases such as certain governmental issues can oldfashion mean the death of people, but if the people is happy then nobody may ever judge it!
6. Western ideal. Why do Japanese girls put so much effort in having big eyes and looking Western? With makeup or anything, they look beautiful the way they are!!! I saw at least 4 or 5 gingerbread type girls with bronzer for 4 and makeup for 7 ! There are girls who are natural here as well and frankly in my opinion they are the true Asian beauty! I even saw a gingbread guy today, goodlooking but basically the guy was black !! Im not kidding, I never got the chance to snap a picture though..
7. Smoking anywhere, I hope they prohibit it!
Speaking of pictures, I have taken pictures and they will be posted soon, so read this in the meanwhile and I will be back with some photos!!
To the guys at CORPORATE EXPRESS: Det finns inga gulingar har, snarare ar folk mer bruna an gula :p
Time to get some sleep, I have a long day tomorrow !
おやすみ！ （ Goodnight ! )
Ok, let us start from the beginning:
Friday 22nd of August
1. I did not sleep at all, I got some things fixed and just loaded my mp3 with music, I was a bit nervous about my luggage even though I only had 2 kg overweight ^^
5.37 Train leaves Vxo for Gothenburg airport
9.00 Arrived at Landvetter airport, luggage checked in and myself prechecked in, everyting OK!
12.30 Boarding airplane for Helsinki
15.15 Arrived at Vantaa airport, wandered around, tried to get free internet with my laptop but failed so payed 3 euro for 30 minutes, it was worth it ! I read Elle and just chilled.
20.00 Checkin and boarding
20.20 Airplane left for JAPAN !!
On the plane, good food, good service, sat next to 2 Japanese girls who seemed nice. Only "problem" with the flight; there was no tv screen in front of you. There was one in each isle so they showed movies at night and you attached your headphone for sound, I watched Nim`s Island with Little Miss Sunshine star Abigail Breslin, it was cute.
Saturday 23rd of August
11.30 Landed at Kansai International, went to the big line for passport and visa checkpoint
12.20 Done and OK, fingerprint scanned and entered Japan boarder ~~
12.30 Got my bag, met up with Yumi in the humid and rainy weather and we drove off for Osaka and lunch !
15.30 Finally we found a Kaiten sushi after Yumi having argued with her GPS system and the crazy Osaka traffic ;) By the way, cars in Japan are wider and more squared than other cars (picture proof coming soon)
16.30 KAITEN SUSHI !!!!! wow, I had 14 pieces for ONLY 60 Swedish Kr, It costs 100 yen per plate which is about 6 SEK and one plate consists of 2 pieces !!!
Kaiten Sushi = Basically sushi plates on a conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant, you pick your preferred sushi plate and eat, you already have Gari (ginger), sushi and green tea at the table. The waiter later counts your plates, writes a reciept and you pay at the door when you leave. Really cheap is my comment and quality good !
After sushi we headed for Kobe, where Yumi' sister lives. , arriving around 20.30, still very hot and humid weather, but it finally stopped raining.
Hitomi san works for Ikea in Kobe and lives in a modern flat with a cool lock which uses an electronic pad to open. I showered and then we headed for a izakaya, which had a meal for about 100 kr including 1 drink. I had umeboshi, which is plum wine, it is really delicious and sweet.
Izakaya is a good place for that first date ;) . Im saying this because at the table next to us were a group of 4, 2 guys and 2 girls, it seemed to be their first date, group date, and the guys kept joking around and getting loud and ordering drink after drink and the girls kept giggling.
Izakaya = a pub that serves small dishes of food with drinks, such as yakitori (grilled chicken skewers, sashimi (raw fish filet). Cheap prices so you can sit and drink and eat for hours.
I did some Skype with my parents to let them know I was alive and then repacked a bag for the upcoming days...
Sunday 24rd of August
Woke up early, at 7 o clock, to go to Kyoto !! Haruka came from Tokyo and we wrote down places to visit and things to eat in Kyoto. We headed for Kyoto by car around 10 and went to Fujimi Shrine, which is known for people going there to pray for wealth. Kyoto itself used to be the capital of Japan and is known for its wellkept shrines, temples and old monuments. It is really beautiful. We went through some orange gates called Torii which are the entrance to shrines. You can see the Fujimi Shrine torii in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha.
We managed to climb up many stone steps, but it was too humid to continue and very steep. So we headed back down in time to meet up with Masako who came from Fukouka. We had some Ramen, which is nothing like instant ones we buy at home. This place had you get a number and sit down outside for your turn, it was that popular ! We had a bowl of ramen in a broth with meat for around 45kr. For those of you who do not know of ramen, NOODLES ! Enough said !
Then we went for a beautiful park, at the Ryoanji temple, aka the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon. There was a main temple with wodden floor, stone garden and a beautiful pond next to it. It was so peaceful just sitting there and taking it all in. The temple is from the 1300:s.
Then dessert time, we went into Kyoto`s entertainment district Gion for some delicious matcha parfait. Matcha is green tea and you can make ice cream and cake with the matcha powder.
We finally headed for Yumi`s hometown Mie to stay at her parents` house; a traditonal japanese home with sliding doors and tatami mats, beautiful. We arrived at 9pm, had tempura aka fried vegetables and meat with rice, OISHIKATTA !! (it tasted good)
KARAOKE TIME after dinner (singing while following the lyrics on a screen), we got a booth and started singing !!
I did Se7en`s 2nite (or tried at least), Eminem`s Loose yourself (I managed it) and Michael Jackon`s Thriller ! I think that the girls were far better than me vocally (they have had more practise I guess!)
Monday 25th August
After a nice traditional Japanese breakfast of Miso soup, egg and rice, We headed to Osaka by train, to have dinner. We walked through Dotonbori , the young fashion and entertainment district of Osaka. So many girls with loads of makeup and dyed hair and amazing clothes, and really handsome guys walked past us. We had takoyaki; octopus fried ball and did purikura. Purikura basically means taking photos in a photo booth while doing different poses, and then you get to decorate the photos with hearts, letters and other symbols. The quality of the photo makes your eyes very bright and your skin looking very light, you look like a prince/ess.
We had a buffe dinner where you picked out the food and then deep fried it at the table. It included dessert such as soft icecream and cake, very yummy. It cost about 200 kr but it was worth it !
After waving Haruka off to Tokyo, we went looking for place to stay for the night, because we hadsome business to take care off in Osaka the next day. So this is where the Internet cafe comes handy!!
Right now Im writing from the Internet cafe that we chose; it is open 24h and it consists of you filling out a form by the desk and paying around 140kr for 10 hrs access. For that fee you get a booth with access to a computer and free internet, free nonalcoholic beverage such as coke, water, slushies, coffee and tea, shower, dvd movies and to read as much manga as you want !!
Right now Yumi and Masako have kept on reading volume after volume while Im writing this short story of mine!
The whole purpose of this cafe is mainly for people who cannot return home due to missing the last bus/train or having business to attend the next day, such as business men commuting and doing overtime or late night party goers. You get headphones, so that you do not disturb the people who wish to sleep. It is about 4 am here and we got here around 11 pm, and are staying until 8am til we head for breakfast somewhere and then waving Masako off.
Tomorrow aka Thuesday we are planning to get me an adapter for my laptop because the multifunctional one with 5 different fuses for the US and Japan, Asia, Europe, Africa does not work for my thick HP laptop fuse..... And of course I need to get to the bank to withdraw some money and open a bank account later on, for that I need to fill out an Alien registration form. With that form I can even get a Japanese phone ! The phones here in Japan allow each owner to get an email adress so that emails can be sent from a computer to a phone and vice versa.
However, my Swedish phone actually works here strangely enough so I might just get a phone card instead....
Some comments about Japan:
1. Hot and humid, sticky weather but good for your skin at the same time ! It rains here a lot at times during the summer season which reminds me of Vaxjo, but on the other hand the temperature is warmer here and entertainment whise you can escape the rain by either doing karaoke or buying a cheap and cute plastic see through umbrella !
2. CHEAP !! Forget everything you ever heard about this country being expensive! Yes, some imported produce might be more expensive than Sweden perhaps, such as pasta, but Japanese people love their rice which is cheaper than in Sweden, who on the other hand has cheap potatoes.
For example> you can find vending machines everywhere on the streets of Japan wich contain water, jasmine tea (cold of course), cold coffee drinks and soft drinks. A bottle of Jasmine tea by Suntory 500 ml costs 145 yen ~ 8,50 SEK, water costs around 11 SEK (180yen). Subway ticket 10 SEK.
3. Couples !! They are everywhere !!! Walking around hand in hand, having dinner, buying teddy bears, saying goodbye at the train station, it is both adorable and annoying (or I think it is called jealousy, right?)
4. Comfort . Everything is automatic; you have machines everywhere that you pay, from train tickets to parking meters while a voice is telling welcome and have a nice day! There is a convenient store in every corner with cheap prices there as well! Pressbyran, please drop dead !! Train ticket prices stay the same at all times so SJ might drop dead as well !! You get a wet towel at restaurants to clean your hands before eating and you are always welcomed by a hello how are and welcome to our store. People work hard here to please and wish for you to have a pleasant time in Japan ! Even at the gas station, they fill up your gas then help you drive out by checking out for upcoming cars and then waving you off !!
That is why people are sleeping standing up on trains, there is no seat available because the train is so cheap plus they have worked hard all day, ganbarimashita!
5. Clean, you cannot find a trash can for safety reasons such as terrorist attacks, however you cannot find a drop of filth or trash anywhere for that matter! I had a chewing gum in my mouth for 2 hours because I couldnt spit it out anywhere until we reached home and I tossed it! I didnt wanna pollute the clean streets.
5. Old meets new. May it be traditional style Japanese homes with grandparents staying in the same house as the children and grand children or keeping the politness in language, the Japanese managed to keep their values and beliefs alongside reorganizing the society into a modern community; call it utopia if you will. Who ever said oldfashion is a bad thing? I have never agreed with such a thing and I never will; only at drastic cases such as certain governmental issues can oldfashion mean the death of people, but if the people is happy then nobody may ever judge it!
6. Western ideal. Why do Japanese girls put so much effort in having big eyes and looking Western? With makeup or anything, they look beautiful the way they are!!! I saw at least 4 or 5 gingerbread type girls with bronzer for 4 and makeup for 7 ! There are girls who are natural here as well and frankly in my opinion they are the true Asian beauty! I even saw a gingbread guy today, goodlooking but basically the guy was black !! Im not kidding, I never got the chance to snap a picture though..
7. Smoking anywhere, I hope they prohibit it!
Speaking of pictures, I have taken pictures and they will be posted soon, so read this in the meanwhile and I will be back with some photos!!
To the guys at CORPORATE EXPRESS: Det finns inga gulingar har, snarare ar folk mer bruna an gula :p
Time to get some sleep, I have a long day tomorrow !
おやすみ！ （ Goodnight ! )
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