Ramblings:
This has just been a fantastic week, and I don't think the amazingness is going to run short anytime soon! So far, THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE HERE!!! =) They are just really gorgeous and a welcoming sign of spring and *temporary* warm/not humid weather! I had a "review" meeting with my manager and was a little nervous going in to it, as before I have been caught off guard with random complaints...but...she had nothing but good things to say about me!!! Not like it matters so much since I am not renewing again, but I work REALLY hard there, so it means a lot to know it is appreciated! My parents are now in Tokyo!! We will be reuinted on Sunday and already have a plethora of fun things planned (some they are not even aware of...like karaoke all night hehe) and so forth! I can't wait! My friend is leaving me though =( But we are having one last huge hurrah so it will be a lot of fun this weekend! And...some other smaller but fun things have happened as well ;). Yeah, it is good times over here!! In fact the only "downer" of the week was that I had to wake up at SIX IN THE MORNING (yes that is correct) today to hand out flyers at 7:30 am. And then I worked until 9:30 pm! So I was in zombie mode at work today. But then I went to a "cook your own" okinomyiaki (Japanese pancake thingy) restaurant after work with some coworkers and fun students so that is what has kept me awake until midnight typing away here!
Anyway just wanted to announce that at 2 days past my "7 months left" mark, life isn't too shabby at the moment =)
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
And I totally just jinxed myself
Maybe what? 10 minutes?? after writing that last post it has started POURING. =/ Well at least it is still warm and not humid! (Let's hope I did not just double jinx myself)
And literally in the blink of an eye
Spring is officially here. Well I am 98% certain at least. When I said in the blink of an eye, I wasn't exaggerating. Last Saturday it was so cold it was slightly snowing a little. Then the following day it was a gorgeous, warm, clear blue sky day (the kind that makes you want to head straight to the beach). This entire week it has been so warm I haven't needed a jacket at all, not even at night. This morning when I walked to work I noticed an ENTIRE tree that was bare the previous day had magically COMPLETELY BLOOMED with gorgeous fragrant white flowers. Annd the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom! =) Once again, as I sit here at 2am with my window wide open in a tank top, I am having a difficult time believing less than a week ago it was kind of snowing.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I am starting to get kind of spoiled
Like I said in a previous post, my coworker was gifted with this weekend getaway deal to a hot spring resort in the mountains. We went this past weekend, and it was really great! It was three of us girls, and a perfect quick getaway.
We decided to drive, so we rented a car and first headed to Mt. Aso, which is an active volcano area south of Fukuoka. The sights were really great, and the weather (still going!) was GREAT. Bright, clear, blue skies. So rare! It was funny because I and my other friend who is a foreigner as well thought Mt. Aso was just one volcano (based off pictures we have seen). Turns out it's an entire valley made up of mountains/volcanoes, and the "Mt. Aso" we thought it was was actually quite tiny and we almost missed spotting it while at the lookout point looking at the REAL volcano (smoke and all). We thought it was funny that a while back we were thinking about "climbing it"--ha. That whole area is renowned for its water and hot springs (where I went back in November), so after that we went to this stream area that was ranked in the top 100 best drinking waters of the world, or something like that? You could drink from the stream there. I got a little worried after I took a sip and this little old man came rushing out to us speaking Japanese, afraid he was telling us we drank out of the wrong stream and that the water I just ingested would give me cholera or something. But turned out he just wanted to show us how the water comes into the stream--through the ground, kind of cool, and take our pictures (even though they turned out incredibly blurry).
Then we headed off to Mt. Kuju where our resort was. We were LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere. Like we drove through deserted fields, up a mountain, and there was our resort, and that was it. It was sunset at that time, and just strange to be so removed from everything else (after being in a large city for the past year). This was my first time since being in Japan staying somewhere actually posh and although I am proud of my ability to "rough it" when needed...it made me feel spoiled again. Yeah, it was a nice place =). And I got to sleep in a comfortable bed...which I haven't done since April 2, 2008, the last night I spent in my bed in CA! We had a six course dinner which included wagyu beef (what you consider "kobe" beef--a luxury), we reserved a private onsen (hot spring) that was outdoors, so we got to sit there and relax and gaze at the AMAZING stars. Then we went to the "public" onsen and hung out there for a bit longer. We decided to wake up around 6 to watch the sunrise, but we seemed to miss it. Oops. But we did go to another private onsen at 7am. At first I was thinking, "why oh why did we reserve it for 7 am?!" but maybe that is the best way to start your day ever? It had a sauna, massage chair, 3 different pools with different temperatures, robes, coffee, tea...it was so nice =). Then we had an amazing WESTERN breakfast (this place knew how to do "Western" well, I'll tell ya!). Then we had to go home =(. I didn't want to leave!! The drive back through Oita was really nice though.
*Can I just tell you how RIDICULOUSLY expensive it is to drive in Japan though?? To Aso (about one hour or so of a drive) it cost us 25 bucks on the highway, and on the way home through Oita (about two hours or so) it cost us around 35 bucks. 60 dollars to drive to places not very far away!! Robbery!
And now I am back to "normal life" for...about another week and a half until my parents come and spoil me even more!! Hahaha. =) Life isn't so shabby these days.
We decided to drive, so we rented a car and first headed to Mt. Aso, which is an active volcano area south of Fukuoka. The sights were really great, and the weather (still going!) was GREAT. Bright, clear, blue skies. So rare! It was funny because I and my other friend who is a foreigner as well thought Mt. Aso was just one volcano (based off pictures we have seen). Turns out it's an entire valley made up of mountains/volcanoes, and the "Mt. Aso" we thought it was was actually quite tiny and we almost missed spotting it while at the lookout point looking at the REAL volcano (smoke and all). We thought it was funny that a while back we were thinking about "climbing it"--ha. That whole area is renowned for its water and hot springs (where I went back in November), so after that we went to this stream area that was ranked in the top 100 best drinking waters of the world, or something like that? You could drink from the stream there. I got a little worried after I took a sip and this little old man came rushing out to us speaking Japanese, afraid he was telling us we drank out of the wrong stream and that the water I just ingested would give me cholera or something. But turned out he just wanted to show us how the water comes into the stream--through the ground, kind of cool, and take our pictures (even though they turned out incredibly blurry).
Then we headed off to Mt. Kuju where our resort was. We were LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere. Like we drove through deserted fields, up a mountain, and there was our resort, and that was it. It was sunset at that time, and just strange to be so removed from everything else (after being in a large city for the past year). This was my first time since being in Japan staying somewhere actually posh and although I am proud of my ability to "rough it" when needed...it made me feel spoiled again. Yeah, it was a nice place =). And I got to sleep in a comfortable bed...which I haven't done since April 2, 2008, the last night I spent in my bed in CA! We had a six course dinner which included wagyu beef (what you consider "kobe" beef--a luxury), we reserved a private onsen (hot spring) that was outdoors, so we got to sit there and relax and gaze at the AMAZING stars. Then we went to the "public" onsen and hung out there for a bit longer. We decided to wake up around 6 to watch the sunrise, but we seemed to miss it. Oops. But we did go to another private onsen at 7am. At first I was thinking, "why oh why did we reserve it for 7 am?!" but maybe that is the best way to start your day ever? It had a sauna, massage chair, 3 different pools with different temperatures, robes, coffee, tea...it was so nice =). Then we had an amazing WESTERN breakfast (this place knew how to do "Western" well, I'll tell ya!). Then we had to go home =(. I didn't want to leave!! The drive back through Oita was really nice though.
*Can I just tell you how RIDICULOUSLY expensive it is to drive in Japan though?? To Aso (about one hour or so of a drive) it cost us 25 bucks on the highway, and on the way home through Oita (about two hours or so) it cost us around 35 bucks. 60 dollars to drive to places not very far away!! Robbery!
And now I am back to "normal life" for...about another week and a half until my parents come and spoil me even more!! Hahaha. =) Life isn't so shabby these days.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Bday Weekend
Considering I went into it not expecting anything and not really making any plans I was really surprised and touched by my friends out here! If any of you people read this---thank you!!!
It all started off with Sat night. Went to a yakitori (grilled meat on a stick-one of my favs) shop, then to this fantastic karaoke place.
*Here is something you need to know about karaoke here. It gets VERY expensive! You usually book a room for 2 hours and it's 2500 yen (~$25)...which doesn't sound bad at all, except karaoke is a time vacuum and it feels like 2 seconds later you are being told your time is up...so what do you do? Extend of course. And extend. And extend...until you walk out 4 hours later with a bill of around 50-60 bucks!*
OK, so back to my story. This karaoke place is a little less... "attractive" however, it only costs 2,800 yen all you can drink for FIVE HOURS. AND they have costumes!!! It was so much fun with our big group! Everyone was wearing a costume (there were even costume changes), and was really into it. So we did that until about 4 am. At that point we had been doing it for so long we were kind of out of songs to sing haha. So we went down the street to a bar we go to often and stayed there until around 5 am. Then I went home with my coworker and we stayed up even later talking until I realized it was 7:30 am and insisted we sleep.
Then, I woke up at 3pm, and headed off to my friend's do it yourself sushi party at 5pm. It was just really relaxed with a whole group of friends, and then they surprised me with a really cute cake and some gifts! Like I said, I was really touched! That party wound up lasting until about 11:30, then we headed off to do MORE karaoke (no costumes this time), then went back to my friends and played some games....and then I went to sleep around 4 am.
I spent my actual bday resting lol. But it was a really great time! However...this month is just getting started! SOOOO many fun things planned!!!
It all started off with Sat night. Went to a yakitori (grilled meat on a stick-one of my favs) shop, then to this fantastic karaoke place.
*Here is something you need to know about karaoke here. It gets VERY expensive! You usually book a room for 2 hours and it's 2500 yen (~$25)...which doesn't sound bad at all, except karaoke is a time vacuum and it feels like 2 seconds later you are being told your time is up...so what do you do? Extend of course. And extend. And extend...until you walk out 4 hours later with a bill of around 50-60 bucks!*
OK, so back to my story. This karaoke place is a little less... "attractive" however, it only costs 2,800 yen all you can drink for FIVE HOURS. AND they have costumes!!! It was so much fun with our big group! Everyone was wearing a costume (there were even costume changes), and was really into it. So we did that until about 4 am. At that point we had been doing it for so long we were kind of out of songs to sing haha. So we went down the street to a bar we go to often and stayed there until around 5 am. Then I went home with my coworker and we stayed up even later talking until I realized it was 7:30 am and insisted we sleep.
Then, I woke up at 3pm, and headed off to my friend's do it yourself sushi party at 5pm. It was just really relaxed with a whole group of friends, and then they surprised me with a really cute cake and some gifts! Like I said, I was really touched! That party wound up lasting until about 11:30, then we headed off to do MORE karaoke (no costumes this time), then went back to my friends and played some games....and then I went to sleep around 4 am.
I spent my actual bday resting lol. But it was a really great time! However...this month is just getting started! SOOOO many fun things planned!!!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
All good things must come to an end
Well only a good thing for me that is. In less than one month the yen has dropped 10 yen, and is now at 99 yen to the dollar, so pretty much equal. When I arrived it was 105...but in these past recent months it has been high at 89 to the dollar, making my bills back home discounted.......but now alas that is over and Japan is also attending the downfall of the economy. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it gets worse as in January it was reported that Japanese export rates dropped 46% (!!!!!!!). So we aren't doing so hot over here either. The economy is a global problem...maybe we can all become homeless due to bankruptcy and foreclosure, and resort to being a caveman world again using shells as currency.
Oh...and my permanent straightening is wearing off too. =( Time for an appointment!
Oh...and my permanent straightening is wearing off too. =( Time for an appointment!
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