Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
It's been a while, but I remember I said last time: "If all my dreams come true and I'm really lucky and get the JET CIR position"... well, I did!!!!!!!
Can't really say how over the moon I am about this (and also the great relief of actually having a job post graduation now!). This is something I've really wanted and worked very hard for, so I'm really really glad that I got it.
So, on the 30th of July I will be on my way to Heathrow airport once again to catch a flight to Tokyo! I don't yet know where I'll be sent to after that, but at the moment I'm just really too happy just to be going back to Japan (More rice and noodles!!!!!!!) to give that one much thought.
Thursday 21 April 2011
Friday 7 January 2011
The End? Hopefully not.
Warning: This is probably going to be a horrifically schmaltzy, soppy and self-indulgent entry. You have been warned.
First up, I have to mention one of the running jokes of my blog: 東方神起 (Touhoushinki) split up!!!!!! Kuroki Meisa is still ok though it's not as bad as it could be...
Secondly, IRIS ended a while back but there's a sequel (ATHENA)! All rejoice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGcsdFp30yc&feature=fvsr
(They even filmed a bit of it in Japan, in Tottori, not that far from where Yoo lives...)
Basically, I figure this is going to be the last entry here for a while at least, I'd do a proper "Farewell"/conclusion entry.
I decided to take JLPT 1 last December. I won't get the results for another month or two, but I think I actually did okay overall, though there were some tricky bits... If I pass then I'm legally fluent in Japanese (I personally wouldn't say that but hey, if the Japanese government wants to I'm not gonna stop 'em). To be honest, when I first went to Japan I never really thought I would get to the level where I would take the exam. I think a fair amount of credit is down to my 2nd semester Kanji teacher, Nakanishi-sensei, who always encouraged us to make JLPT 1 our goal. Anyway, even if I pass I still need to study some more...
I might have actually forgotten to mention this ANYWHERE on the blog, but just for the record if you go out into the countryside, Japan actually has a lot amazing number of actually stunningly beautiful natural scenic spots. That's something I never knew before I went...
So, it really was the most amazing year ever, and I really did fall in love with Japan. So amazing, I decided it wasn't enough so I've applied to got back as a CIR for the JET programme! I'd really really love to get this, and if I do I'd be working in a city hall somewhere as a "Coordinator for International Relations" from August this year! Basically I'd be doing translations, cultural promotion and helping out foreign residents living there. It maybe sounds kinda sappy to say this, but I really think that since I had such a great time out there it would be great to have the chance to help others have a similarly amazing time. I've asked to go back to Osaka, though I'm fairly certain that won't be possible.
On a related note, if anyone reading this is even just vaguely considering studying or working abroad I would absolutely 100% recommend it. Doesn't matter where you go (thought obviously Japan would be good!), I think you'll have an incredible experience.
I think the most important thing I can say about my year abroad is that I have no regrets about anything I did (except maybe eating those noodles at Stevie's leaving party...), only perhaps a small number of things I did not do. But even saying that, even given the chance I wouldn't change a thing.
I touched on this last entry, but I really think I did a lot of growing up out there, and I really have had a lot to think about these last few months since I got back in terms of where I go from here, what I want from life and where I want to be and particularly what that would mean. To be honest, I don't really feel comfortable sharing some of the conclusions I've come to. On the other hand, I think that the fact I've been able to think about this stuff at all has shown me how much I've developed as a person thanks to my experiences on my year abroad. I guess the truth is that whenever you learn something new about yourself there are good sides and bad sides to that knowledge, and most importantly there are consequences to every choice.
So I guess this is the end. For now at least. If all my dreams come true and I'm really lucky to get the JET CIR position (I might be a little biased but I do believe I would be an excellent candidate), I figure this might get a sequel... So maybe not so much goodbye, but hopefully "see you again sometime soon.
Thank you everyone for reading this!
P.S. If you have been reading these posts please tell me sometime, either a comment here or facebook or just tell me in person, I'm always so happy to find out it's not just my Mum! ( Note to Mum: Although you're always a very appreciated!)
First up, I have to mention one of the running jokes of my blog: 東方神起 (Touhoushinki) split up!!!!!! Kuroki Meisa is still ok though it's not as bad as it could be...
Secondly, IRIS ended a while back but there's a sequel (ATHENA)! All rejoice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGcsdFp30yc&feature=fvsr
(They even filmed a bit of it in Japan, in Tottori, not that far from where Yoo lives...)
Basically, I figure this is going to be the last entry here for a while at least, I'd do a proper "Farewell"/conclusion entry.
I decided to take JLPT 1 last December. I won't get the results for another month or two, but I think I actually did okay overall, though there were some tricky bits... If I pass then I'm legally fluent in Japanese (I personally wouldn't say that but hey, if the Japanese government wants to I'm not gonna stop 'em). To be honest, when I first went to Japan I never really thought I would get to the level where I would take the exam. I think a fair amount of credit is down to my 2nd semester Kanji teacher, Nakanishi-sensei, who always encouraged us to make JLPT 1 our goal. Anyway, even if I pass I still need to study some more...
I might have actually forgotten to mention this ANYWHERE on the blog, but just for the record if you go out into the countryside, Japan actually has a lot amazing number of actually stunningly beautiful natural scenic spots. That's something I never knew before I went...
So, it really was the most amazing year ever, and I really did fall in love with Japan. So amazing, I decided it wasn't enough so I've applied to got back as a CIR for the JET programme! I'd really really love to get this, and if I do I'd be working in a city hall somewhere as a "Coordinator for International Relations" from August this year! Basically I'd be doing translations, cultural promotion and helping out foreign residents living there. It maybe sounds kinda sappy to say this, but I really think that since I had such a great time out there it would be great to have the chance to help others have a similarly amazing time. I've asked to go back to Osaka, though I'm fairly certain that won't be possible.
On a related note, if anyone reading this is even just vaguely considering studying or working abroad I would absolutely 100% recommend it. Doesn't matter where you go (thought obviously Japan would be good!), I think you'll have an incredible experience.
I think the most important thing I can say about my year abroad is that I have no regrets about anything I did (except maybe eating those noodles at Stevie's leaving party...), only perhaps a small number of things I did not do. But even saying that, even given the chance I wouldn't change a thing.
I touched on this last entry, but I really think I did a lot of growing up out there, and I really have had a lot to think about these last few months since I got back in terms of where I go from here, what I want from life and where I want to be and particularly what that would mean. To be honest, I don't really feel comfortable sharing some of the conclusions I've come to. On the other hand, I think that the fact I've been able to think about this stuff at all has shown me how much I've developed as a person thanks to my experiences on my year abroad. I guess the truth is that whenever you learn something new about yourself there are good sides and bad sides to that knowledge, and most importantly there are consequences to every choice.
So I guess this is the end. For now at least. If all my dreams come true and I'm really lucky to get the JET CIR position (I might be a little biased but I do believe I would be an excellent candidate), I figure this might get a sequel... So maybe not so much goodbye, but hopefully "see you again sometime soon.
Thank you everyone for reading this!
P.S. If you have been reading these posts please tell me sometime, either a comment here or facebook or just tell me in person, I'm always so happy to find out it's not just my Mum! ( Note to Mum: Although you're always a very appreciated!)
Saturday 1 January 2011
Back in the UK - 3 Months On
So I promised I would definitely not do what I have in fact ended up doing, which was leaving this blog unfinished... sorry guys! I'm going to try to put this right now. So here I am, been back in the UK for 3 months now and finished my 1st semester of my (hopefully!) final year of uni. Since it's the beginning of a new year I just thought now would be an appropriate look over the most amazing year ever (last one) and get this finished off.
First up, arriving back in the UK wasn't such a bad thing really. It felt really nice to be back in some ways (seeing people again, eating cheese), all thought at the same time for a long time I had this really weird feeling like I was just "on holiday" in the UK and would be going back to Japan soon. Obviously this wasn't the case :-(
So, I thought it might be interesting to list a couple of the weird things that happened to me, silly mistakes I've caught myself doing and strange observations I've made as I've tried to readjust to the weird and wonderful place that is the UK
1) The UK is CHEAP!!!!!! I arrived back at Heathrow Airport and went to Caffe Nero for a coffee and a pastry. It cost me about £3.50. I actually said to the barista: "Is that all?"
2)I forgot how UK currency works... I literally was reduced to holding out a handful of coins and letting the shop assistant find them for me on a few occasions. Another time the sales assistant said £2.20 or something and I gave them £40 and asked "Is that enough?". This was obviously rather embarrassing...
3) The UK is kinda dirty... especially the bathrooms :-(
4) I have an embarrassing habit of bowing to people, especially lecturers when I say thank-you/ goodbye.
5) It took me a while to get used to being surrounded by people who all speak English... This let to a few cringe-moments where I would be telling a dodgy story a little too loudly like I'd been able to in Japan and all of a sudden everyone sitting round about would go very quiet... :-X
6) It took me about a month to get used to eating European food again... I spent about 5 weeks eating seeds, nuts, raisins and dried apricots and such like because I literally could not find anything I wanted to eat in shops... Japan definitely changed my tastes in food (well, not just food but those are other stories). I really miss rice... and noodles (ラーメン食いたい). Have developed a somewhat odd attachment to yoghurt and granola... I don't particularly care for pasta anymore. British Chocolate is far too sweet.
7) British TV has it's weird bits as well. I actually miss those Japanese food/chat-shows...
8) I get irrationally frustrated that my parents don't understand Japanese.
9) I've lost count of the number of people I knew before I went to Japan who don't recognise me anymore. Occasionally this comes in handy.
10) I miss rice and noodles everyday whenever I wanted them.
11) I miss Korean food. Luckily this is not impossible to come by here. The Korean Takeaway in Edinburgh needs to work on their チヂミ (I'm not sure if that just means make it more Japanese...) but otherwise is pretty good. The staff find it funny that I seem to be the only white person in Edinburgh that knows how to pronounce "jaepujaegh" or "doghbokgeh" semi-properly. I havn't had the heart to tell them I'm basically just ordering in Japanese (It seems to work just fine!!!)...
12) In contrast the Korean supermarket in Birmingham refuses to accept that yes, I really do want to buy that Kimuchi, and yes, I do like it.
13) Since I'm now doing my 3rd year classes, I'm in with what was the year-group below me in 2nd year. They're actually a really nice bunch! Anyway, since they didn't actually know who I was when I randomly appeared in their lectures in October, it turned out they just assumed I was an ERASMUS student, and started asking me where I was from in kinda slow, simple English which I thought was pretty funny. This got better when I found out about a month later that having introduced myself as "From Edinburgh and did a year-abroad in Japan", this had mutated into half the year group thinking "From Aberdeen and half-Japanese"... I was understandably more upset about the Aberdeen part... ;-P Do I really look Asian?????
Actually, I was pretty impressed they noticed it was Japanese I was speaking on phones etc, not just assuming Chinese...
14) I have caught myself using American English on occasion. I say "What's your major?" and "Cellphone". I blame Shin, Tony, Marina, David, Carlos, Andrew, Alek and Basim for this. Australian English has been mostly kept to a minimum. Thankfully.
That's most of the funny stuff that I can remember... To be honest, It's been easier to fit back in to life here than I expected. Not to say it's been easy... I really miss so many things and so many people, but I think the fact I've been so busy with 3rd year studies has actually helped... I've actually enjoyed this semester the most out of all my time in Birmingham. Oddly enough I think my Japanese has improved since I got back rather than forgetting it all...
First up, arriving back in the UK wasn't such a bad thing really. It felt really nice to be back in some ways (seeing people again, eating cheese), all thought at the same time for a long time I had this really weird feeling like I was just "on holiday" in the UK and would be going back to Japan soon. Obviously this wasn't the case :-(
So, I thought it might be interesting to list a couple of the weird things that happened to me, silly mistakes I've caught myself doing and strange observations I've made as I've tried to readjust to the weird and wonderful place that is the UK
1) The UK is CHEAP!!!!!! I arrived back at Heathrow Airport and went to Caffe Nero for a coffee and a pastry. It cost me about £3.50. I actually said to the barista: "Is that all?"
2)I forgot how UK currency works... I literally was reduced to holding out a handful of coins and letting the shop assistant find them for me on a few occasions. Another time the sales assistant said £2.20 or something and I gave them £40 and asked "Is that enough?". This was obviously rather embarrassing...
3) The UK is kinda dirty... especially the bathrooms :-(
4) I have an embarrassing habit of bowing to people, especially lecturers when I say thank-you/ goodbye.
5) It took me a while to get used to being surrounded by people who all speak English... This let to a few cringe-moments where I would be telling a dodgy story a little too loudly like I'd been able to in Japan and all of a sudden everyone sitting round about would go very quiet... :-X
6) It took me about a month to get used to eating European food again... I spent about 5 weeks eating seeds, nuts, raisins and dried apricots and such like because I literally could not find anything I wanted to eat in shops... Japan definitely changed my tastes in food (well, not just food but those are other stories). I really miss rice... and noodles (ラーメン食いたい). Have developed a somewhat odd attachment to yoghurt and granola... I don't particularly care for pasta anymore. British Chocolate is far too sweet.
7) British TV has it's weird bits as well. I actually miss those Japanese food/chat-shows...
8) I get irrationally frustrated that my parents don't understand Japanese.
9) I've lost count of the number of people I knew before I went to Japan who don't recognise me anymore. Occasionally this comes in handy.
10) I miss rice and noodles everyday whenever I wanted them.
11) I miss Korean food. Luckily this is not impossible to come by here. The Korean Takeaway in Edinburgh needs to work on their チヂミ (I'm not sure if that just means make it more Japanese...) but otherwise is pretty good. The staff find it funny that I seem to be the only white person in Edinburgh that knows how to pronounce "jaepujaegh" or "doghbokgeh" semi-properly. I havn't had the heart to tell them I'm basically just ordering in Japanese (It seems to work just fine!!!)...
12) In contrast the Korean supermarket in Birmingham refuses to accept that yes, I really do want to buy that Kimuchi, and yes, I do like it.
13) Since I'm now doing my 3rd year classes, I'm in with what was the year-group below me in 2nd year. They're actually a really nice bunch! Anyway, since they didn't actually know who I was when I randomly appeared in their lectures in October, it turned out they just assumed I was an ERASMUS student, and started asking me where I was from in kinda slow, simple English which I thought was pretty funny. This got better when I found out about a month later that having introduced myself as "From Edinburgh and did a year-abroad in Japan", this had mutated into half the year group thinking "From Aberdeen and half-Japanese"... I was understandably more upset about the Aberdeen part... ;-P Do I really look Asian?????
Actually, I was pretty impressed they noticed it was Japanese I was speaking on phones etc, not just assuming Chinese...
14) I have caught myself using American English on occasion. I say "What's your major?" and "Cellphone". I blame Shin, Tony, Marina, David, Carlos, Andrew, Alek and Basim for this. Australian English has been mostly kept to a minimum. Thankfully.
That's most of the funny stuff that I can remember... To be honest, It's been easier to fit back in to life here than I expected. Not to say it's been easy... I really miss so many things and so many people, but I think the fact I've been so busy with 3rd year studies has actually helped... I've actually enjoyed this semester the most out of all my time in Birmingham. Oddly enough I think my Japanese has improved since I got back rather than forgetting it all...
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Bye Bye Japan Part 2: Hong Kong
First up:
Dear the 2 random Japanese girls sitting next to me on the flight to Hong Kong: I thought it was very nice of you to do nothing except giggle at my funny accent or whatever when I translated what the Chinese flight attendant was trying to explain to you. I was particularly impressed by the gratitude you showed me by not even saying thank you when I tried to help you out of a situation your own ignorance created. I would also like to thank you for following this up with that "Shit, what do we do now we know that the foreigner next to us understands our entirely unremarkable conversation" act I grew to love so much. It was particularly nice of you to remind me of the thing I liked least about Japan while I was rather upset about having to leave.
I hope you have a lovely holiday in Hong Kong.
Oh, come on, did you really think I was going to let this blog go without a last rant :-)
So, Hong Kong! It was of course my luck that there was a typhoon on the one day I was there :-) And Tony was in America :-( sob sob...
It's pretty jam-packed and completely different from Japan. This was made clear to me pretty quickly when I got my ticket for the Airport Express into Central from the Airport:
Me: Hi, can I get a day return to Central please?
Station attendant: "Buy your ticket in Central. AND GET ON THE TRAIN NOW DAMNIT!!!!!
Hong Kong Dollars are pretty cool, although the coins are way too big.
I thought Central was a bit boring to be honest... Although if I happened to have loads and loads of money...
Went over to Mong Kok at Christina's suggestion, which was much more interesting. The Goldfish market really is something to see... about 4 solid blocks of fish stores... They like to stare there as well. Not like Japanese "I wasn't looking, honest" staring though... as in "walk right up to you and look you right in the eyes and then up and down for as long as it takes for the traffic lights to change" staring... They have Yoshinoya and 7/11 (complete with Pocari Sweat!!!! I'm gonna miss that stuff...) over there at well!
The Star Ferry was really cool as well. Perhaps best not to do that when it's blowing a Typhoon on the other hand. Oh, and I think I saw the SDU raiding the boat in front of ours in the middle of the harbour...
Overall I thought the place was pretty interesting, thought I'm not sure I'd want to live there... it's a bit like a dirtier version of Japan minus the politeness... On the other hand that does come with plus-points. Probably a good idea to visit on a day when there's no Typhoon as well.
Oh, and even though there was a typhoon chucking it down, it was something like 32C and humidity of 7 bazillion (worse than Japan!)
Oh, and they put my passport stamps on the same page as my Japanese ones (Just under my now cancelled Student visa) :-( Now it just looks like I have tons of Japanese stamps :-(
It was kinda strange to be back among so many westerners as well... Central seemed to be about 50/50 Chinese/western... Maybe that's why I liked Mong Kok more... Guess I'll have to get used to this again. Also, it was kinda hard to make sure I didn't speak Japanese to the Chinese people :-X
Oh, and I made the obligatory Starbucks visit... Final results: Japanese > UK = Hong Kong > Philippines.
Asia, I'll miss you X
Dear the 2 random Japanese girls sitting next to me on the flight to Hong Kong: I thought it was very nice of you to do nothing except giggle at my funny accent or whatever when I translated what the Chinese flight attendant was trying to explain to you. I was particularly impressed by the gratitude you showed me by not even saying thank you when I tried to help you out of a situation your own ignorance created. I would also like to thank you for following this up with that "Shit, what do we do now we know that the foreigner next to us understands our entirely unremarkable conversation" act I grew to love so much. It was particularly nice of you to remind me of the thing I liked least about Japan while I was rather upset about having to leave.
I hope you have a lovely holiday in Hong Kong.
Oh, come on, did you really think I was going to let this blog go without a last rant :-)
So, Hong Kong! It was of course my luck that there was a typhoon on the one day I was there :-) And Tony was in America :-( sob sob...
It's pretty jam-packed and completely different from Japan. This was made clear to me pretty quickly when I got my ticket for the Airport Express into Central from the Airport:
Me: Hi, can I get a day return to Central please?
Station attendant: "Buy your ticket in Central. AND GET ON THE TRAIN NOW DAMNIT!!!!!
Hong Kong Dollars are pretty cool, although the coins are way too big.
I thought Central was a bit boring to be honest... Although if I happened to have loads and loads of money...
Went over to Mong Kok at Christina's suggestion, which was much more interesting. The Goldfish market really is something to see... about 4 solid blocks of fish stores... They like to stare there as well. Not like Japanese "I wasn't looking, honest" staring though... as in "walk right up to you and look you right in the eyes and then up and down for as long as it takes for the traffic lights to change" staring... They have Yoshinoya and 7/11 (complete with Pocari Sweat!!!! I'm gonna miss that stuff...) over there at well!
The Star Ferry was really cool as well. Perhaps best not to do that when it's blowing a Typhoon on the other hand. Oh, and I think I saw the SDU raiding the boat in front of ours in the middle of the harbour...
Overall I thought the place was pretty interesting, thought I'm not sure I'd want to live there... it's a bit like a dirtier version of Japan minus the politeness... On the other hand that does come with plus-points. Probably a good idea to visit on a day when there's no Typhoon as well.
Oh, and even though there was a typhoon chucking it down, it was something like 32C and humidity of 7 bazillion (worse than Japan!)
Oh, and they put my passport stamps on the same page as my Japanese ones (Just under my now cancelled Student visa) :-( Now it just looks like I have tons of Japanese stamps :-(
It was kinda strange to be back among so many westerners as well... Central seemed to be about 50/50 Chinese/western... Maybe that's why I liked Mong Kok more... Guess I'll have to get used to this again. Also, it was kinda hard to make sure I didn't speak Japanese to the Chinese people :-X
Oh, and I made the obligatory Starbucks visit... Final results: Japanese > UK = Hong Kong > Philippines.
Asia, I'll miss you X
Monday 20 September 2010
Last few days in Japan. Part 1
So, I'm here in Hong Kong Airport again (Ironically about 2 gates down from where I wrote that post almost a year ago to the day last time I was here...), and as I promised here's the beginning of the "dignified" ending to my blog.... sob sob.
So I had a lot of goodbyes... the fun ones; Tanaka Sensei, who told me some HILARIOUS stories but swore me to secrecy about them (By the way, she still loves you Mark). All I'll say is apparently she went to Korea. And seems to have G-Dragon bought a Bentley... Pei, who is better at choosing cake than I am. Nanami and Yuusuke and the sheep up at Mount Rokko Farm (which is pretty much exactly like Nara-Park except with Sheep instead of deer...),
Yuuko. There aren't many people I will voluntarily got to Himeji for... Next time: Seoul! (with Eunbee)
The goodbyes I didn't actually get to properly make: Ryoko, Mikuru and a couple of others.
And the really really hard ones :-( Tsukasa, Ryota, Mayuko, Yoo and Takeo...
Oh, and special thanks to Ga and Ryuuka for helping me pack and taking all my stuff so I didn't need to throw ABSOLUTELY everything out :-) And particularly Ryota and Reiko for coming all the way out to Kansai Airport at 7am to see me off :-)
Rather ironically while I was on the phone arranging to have my electricity disconnected I had a final "I have absolutely NO idea what you just said" moment...
I've been in Japan almost exactly one year to the day, and I have to say staying on this extra month and a half was a great decision, these last few weeks really have been amazing.
So I had a lot of goodbyes... the fun ones; Tanaka Sensei, who told me some HILARIOUS stories but swore me to secrecy about them (By the way, she still loves you Mark). All I'll say is apparently she went to Korea. And seems to have G-Dragon bought a Bentley... Pei, who is better at choosing cake than I am. Nanami and Yuusuke and the sheep up at Mount Rokko Farm (which is pretty much exactly like Nara-Park except with Sheep instead of deer...),
Yuuko. There aren't many people I will voluntarily got to Himeji for... Next time: Seoul! (with Eunbee)
The goodbyes I didn't actually get to properly make: Ryoko, Mikuru and a couple of others.
And the really really hard ones :-( Tsukasa, Ryota, Mayuko, Yoo and Takeo...
Oh, and special thanks to Ga and Ryuuka for helping me pack and taking all my stuff so I didn't need to throw ABSOLUTELY everything out :-) And particularly Ryota and Reiko for coming all the way out to Kansai Airport at 7am to see me off :-)
Rather ironically while I was on the phone arranging to have my electricity disconnected I had a final "I have absolutely NO idea what you just said" moment...
I've been in Japan almost exactly one year to the day, and I have to say staying on this extra month and a half was a great decision, these last few weeks really have been amazing.
Monday 13 September 2010
I seem to be leaving :-(
First things first, the good news. I sort of thought that I'd only just passed the JLPT test but turns out I'd got the pass mark wrong and I actually did pretty respectably :-)
So yea, it kinda hit me the other night somewhat predictably while I was picking out onigiri in a Konbini (Convinience Store). I'm leaving next week... as in like, leaving leaving. As in end of year abroad...
On an unrelated note I feel the need for a disclaimer:
Mayuko and Ryota's recent English-vocabulary additions have absolutely nothing to do with me. I have absolutely not been teaching them naughty words. 100% True. And by true, I mean false. To be fair they asked. Sort of.
Anyway, to be honest, I've sort of been (fairly justifiably) more concerned with enjoying these last few days here to the max rather than writing about it here... I'll write something while I'm sitting around Hong Kong airport on the way back...
Oh, and packing is a bitch.
So yea, it kinda hit me the other night somewhat predictably while I was picking out onigiri in a Konbini (Convinience Store). I'm leaving next week... as in like, leaving leaving. As in end of year abroad...
On an unrelated note I feel the need for a disclaimer:
Mayuko and Ryota's recent English-vocabulary additions have absolutely nothing to do with me. I have absolutely not been teaching them naughty words. 100% True. And by true, I mean false. To be fair they asked. Sort of.
Anyway, to be honest, I've sort of been (fairly justifiably) more concerned with enjoying these last few days here to the max rather than writing about it here... I'll write something while I'm sitting around Hong Kong airport on the way back...
Oh, and packing is a bitch.
Monday 6 September 2010
合格！
I passed JLPT 2 :-) Yaaaaaay
So, we had a rather nasty Typhoon the other day... ended up missing Kobe/Osaka (as usual) and smashed up Tokyo instead. Kanagawa-prefecture (southern Tokyo) got hit pretty badly actually. What was most shocking though was that THEY SHUT DOWN THE SHINKANSEN (Bullet-trains)!!!!!! :-O What the hell? This is Japan, this sort of stuff just doesn't happen!
On the other hand, rain! And not-unbelievably-sweaty-scorching hot weather for a change! Thomas likes.
So, we're at the less than 2 weeks mark here... Don't really want to talk much more about that.
I've been doing a lot of wandering around my neighbourhood recently, kinda doing a bit exploring. I'd always assumed I lived in the middle of nowhere up a mountain with absolutely nothing of interest. Turns out I live in the middle of nowhere up a mountain with absolutely nothing of interest.
Fair chance we'll get some more Typhoons coming through before I leave. Kinda want to see a big one... I live up a hill, I can just sit here and watch Osaka get flattened... It'll be like 日本沈没。。。
So, we had a rather nasty Typhoon the other day... ended up missing Kobe/Osaka (as usual) and smashed up Tokyo instead. Kanagawa-prefecture (southern Tokyo) got hit pretty badly actually. What was most shocking though was that THEY SHUT DOWN THE SHINKANSEN (Bullet-trains)!!!!!! :-O What the hell? This is Japan, this sort of stuff just doesn't happen!
On the other hand, rain! And not-unbelievably-sweaty-scorching hot weather for a change! Thomas likes.
So, we're at the less than 2 weeks mark here... Don't really want to talk much more about that.
I've been doing a lot of wandering around my neighbourhood recently, kinda doing a bit exploring. I'd always assumed I lived in the middle of nowhere up a mountain with absolutely nothing of interest. Turns out I live in the middle of nowhere up a mountain with absolutely nothing of interest.
Fair chance we'll get some more Typhoons coming through before I leave. Kinda want to see a big one... I live up a hill, I can just sit here and watch Osaka get flattened... It'll be like 日本沈没。。。
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