Another long awaited update...
So hello to all my dear loved peoples, with a special shout out to all those poor souls that are in the middle of exams, you have my sympathy.
Apologies for not updating ever, but I keep forgetting to put photos on my memory stick so that I can take them into uni and upload them, and no update would be complete without at least a few photos. And then the longer you leave it the harder it is to update because you've done a million things since you last looked at lj and the mere prospect of trying to express it all is too tiring to contemplate. It was particularly hard this week because I barely got enough sleep for a few nights let alone an entire week, so I looked like a zombie for most of it. But I got a good night's sleep last night and Wodger is being sneaky and picking up the internet today so it seems the clouds have lifted and it was just meant to be.
Metaphorically speaking only, of course. The rainy season has started and it's been storming since about eight o'clock last night. Apparently it's supposed to rain most of June which is fairly exciting because I'm not sure I've ever lived through a rainy season like that. It is a pain in the bum for washing though. I just poked my head out the window to speak with Gen and in the process making my way to the window I tripped over my sheet, which is spread over my chair and desk, drying, got tangled in the rest of my clothes that are hanging just inside my window, and then got a bra caught in my hair when I eventually made it to the window. Stupid rain.
Brigitte has a friend who has a small gallery of Japanese pottery type things a little way from where we all live, and she invited us to come and see it one day. Thursday last week we took her up on the offer. She even let us make things. We were supposed to be making cups but most of them turned into bowls/vases. I also made a wombat. I was aiming for a sheep but it was too stumpy.
Isa, Andy, Gen, Karin, Marta, Brigitte (who you can't really see) and the pottery lady whose name I have so awfully forgotten.
That Saturday we were supposed to go and see Pirates but as it only came out the day before, the tickets were sold out. So instead we went out for dinner and karaoke. If you start after 10:30 you can stay all night for a flat rate. We did. I think we got home at about 4:30 in the morning with not much voice left.
Robert (visiting friend of Dutchies), me, Adzu, Julienne, Baudewijn.
The next day we thought it would be nice to take advantage of teh beautiful weather and headed to the imperial palace gardens to read, listen to music, write letters and if we felt like it, do some homework. (We didn't feel like it.) So we spent most of the afternoon lying on Juliennes "fine rugmat" (Engrish for picnic rug) doing not much at all.
Study Tour
I'm not entirely sure why they called it a study tour because there was absolutely no study involved, but last week (Wednesday and Thursday) we went to Fukuiken (the next prefecture to the east, on the north coast). Perhaps they called it a study tour because it was compulsory and the uni paid for everything, who knows? Anyway, it was wonderful.
The first place we stopped was a temple with lots of monks. We were given a little speech by one monk at the start of the tour and everyone was taking photos while he was speaking. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take photos because he looked a little uneasy. Eventually he spoke to one of our teachers who relayed the message "if you would like to, you may take photos of the monks you see around the temple, but please not this monk." Finding this all very intriguing, someone asked why. "He's camera shy" was the answer. heehee.
The gardens were rather stunning. This reminded my of Lord of the Rings.
I told them to look touristy and this is what I got.
(back) Jos, Julienne, Rinke, (front) Gen and Talyn.
Afterwards we went to this cliffy place on the coast which is apparently very popular suicide place. I can see why.
But it was beautiful. This is my new hat. Apparently it makes me look like a retired mushroom. Excellent.
We stayed at what must have been a very expensive Japanese style hotel. There were no beds, but proper futons were set up for us in the evening. I have never slept so well in my life.
They also had really yummy green tea.
My room. Gen, Cherry, Julienne, Carla, me, (forgotten name), Marlon, Brigitte.
They give you these 'yukata' to wear as pjs but being touristy, we all decided to wear them to dinner.
After dinner we went to the ofuro, which is a big public bath. Yes, it does sound weird, a whole heap of people bathing together, but it's actually not awkward at all. I have never been so relaxed in my life. There was a group of herbal spas and big hot baths and even an outdoors bath, my personal favourite. The only time it got a little weird was when Gen, Julienne and I went to get changed after our bath and there were some Japanese women who were absolutely fascinated with our big white bodies. Strange. But yes, really really relaxing. We sat outside the baths for a while watching people come out and everyone had the same "I am about to melt with relaxedness" expression on their faces.
It was one of the Korean women's birthday so we all hid and waited for her to finish her bath and surprise her with "Happy Birthday to You" sung in Korean. She cried.
This is Tsuneda-san, my supervisor, doing karaoke with some backup dances.
The next day we went to his lovely tourist trap of a park. The gardens were quite nice but it wasn't the most exciting place. Full of shops selling absolute crap, but it was nice to wonder around for a while.
Julienne, Gen and Totoro.
Next we went to this lovely little castle and had lots of fun trying to climb the steep stairs/ladders in the stupid slippers they give you because you're not allowed to wear your shoes inside.
Lee the monkey-man.
Lovely gardens again. This is my head and Flavia.
Wednesday was some festival on at the uni so there were no classes. Phillip took the opportunity to have a huge birthday bash on Tuesday night. We ended up in a Brazilian bar in Kawaramachi until the wee hours of the morning, dancing to bad music and laughing at the Japanese pimp and his scary white bitches.
On Wednesday I finally got to see Pirates. I will not say much because I'm not sure how many of you have seen it. What I will say is this:
- OMG
- There may or may not have been more than one audible sob
- OMG
- I may or may not have died a little or a lot inside at one point
- OMG
- Orlando Bloom may or may not look rather fine in black piratey clothes even though I'm not normally a fan
- OMG
Guess what ad was in the previews? The "where the bloody hell are you" Australian tourism ad. What a coincidence, huh?
I have a huge black bruise on the back of my thigh and I have no idea where it came from. Hmm...
And there you have it. I shall now go and mope over some work for a while.
♥
Apologies for not updating ever, but I keep forgetting to put photos on my memory stick so that I can take them into uni and upload them, and no update would be complete without at least a few photos. And then the longer you leave it the harder it is to update because you've done a million things since you last looked at lj and the mere prospect of trying to express it all is too tiring to contemplate. It was particularly hard this week because I barely got enough sleep for a few nights let alone an entire week, so I looked like a zombie for most of it. But I got a good night's sleep last night and Wodger is being sneaky and picking up the internet today so it seems the clouds have lifted and it was just meant to be.
Metaphorically speaking only, of course. The rainy season has started and it's been storming since about eight o'clock last night. Apparently it's supposed to rain most of June which is fairly exciting because I'm not sure I've ever lived through a rainy season like that. It is a pain in the bum for washing though. I just poked my head out the window to speak with Gen and in the process making my way to the window I tripped over my sheet, which is spread over my chair and desk, drying, got tangled in the rest of my clothes that are hanging just inside my window, and then got a bra caught in my hair when I eventually made it to the window. Stupid rain.
Brigitte has a friend who has a small gallery of Japanese pottery type things a little way from where we all live, and she invited us to come and see it one day. Thursday last week we took her up on the offer. She even let us make things. We were supposed to be making cups but most of them turned into bowls/vases. I also made a wombat. I was aiming for a sheep but it was too stumpy.
Isa, Andy, Gen, Karin, Marta, Brigitte (who you can't really see) and the pottery lady whose name I have so awfully forgotten.
That Saturday we were supposed to go and see Pirates but as it only came out the day before, the tickets were sold out. So instead we went out for dinner and karaoke. If you start after 10:30 you can stay all night for a flat rate. We did. I think we got home at about 4:30 in the morning with not much voice left.
Robert (visiting friend of Dutchies), me, Adzu, Julienne, Baudewijn.
The next day we thought it would be nice to take advantage of teh beautiful weather and headed to the imperial palace gardens to read, listen to music, write letters and if we felt like it, do some homework. (We didn't feel like it.) So we spent most of the afternoon lying on Juliennes "fine rugmat" (Engrish for picnic rug) doing not much at all.
Study Tour
I'm not entirely sure why they called it a study tour because there was absolutely no study involved, but last week (Wednesday and Thursday) we went to Fukuiken (the next prefecture to the east, on the north coast). Perhaps they called it a study tour because it was compulsory and the uni paid for everything, who knows? Anyway, it was wonderful.
The first place we stopped was a temple with lots of monks. We were given a little speech by one monk at the start of the tour and everyone was taking photos while he was speaking. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take photos because he looked a little uneasy. Eventually he spoke to one of our teachers who relayed the message "if you would like to, you may take photos of the monks you see around the temple, but please not this monk." Finding this all very intriguing, someone asked why. "He's camera shy" was the answer. heehee.
The gardens were rather stunning. This reminded my of Lord of the Rings.
I told them to look touristy and this is what I got.
(back) Jos, Julienne, Rinke, (front) Gen and Talyn.
Afterwards we went to this cliffy place on the coast which is apparently very popular suicide place. I can see why.
But it was beautiful. This is my new hat. Apparently it makes me look like a retired mushroom. Excellent.
We stayed at what must have been a very expensive Japanese style hotel. There were no beds, but proper futons were set up for us in the evening. I have never slept so well in my life.
They also had really yummy green tea.
My room. Gen, Cherry, Julienne, Carla, me, (forgotten name), Marlon, Brigitte.
They give you these 'yukata' to wear as pjs but being touristy, we all decided to wear them to dinner.
After dinner we went to the ofuro, which is a big public bath. Yes, it does sound weird, a whole heap of people bathing together, but it's actually not awkward at all. I have never been so relaxed in my life. There was a group of herbal spas and big hot baths and even an outdoors bath, my personal favourite. The only time it got a little weird was when Gen, Julienne and I went to get changed after our bath and there were some Japanese women who were absolutely fascinated with our big white bodies. Strange. But yes, really really relaxing. We sat outside the baths for a while watching people come out and everyone had the same "I am about to melt with relaxedness" expression on their faces.
It was one of the Korean women's birthday so we all hid and waited for her to finish her bath and surprise her with "Happy Birthday to You" sung in Korean. She cried.
This is Tsuneda-san, my supervisor, doing karaoke with some backup dances.
The next day we went to his lovely tourist trap of a park. The gardens were quite nice but it wasn't the most exciting place. Full of shops selling absolute crap, but it was nice to wonder around for a while.
Julienne, Gen and Totoro.
Next we went to this lovely little castle and had lots of fun trying to climb the steep stairs/ladders in the stupid slippers they give you because you're not allowed to wear your shoes inside.
Lee the monkey-man.
Lovely gardens again. This is my head and Flavia.
Wednesday was some festival on at the uni so there were no classes. Phillip took the opportunity to have a huge birthday bash on Tuesday night. We ended up in a Brazilian bar in Kawaramachi until the wee hours of the morning, dancing to bad music and laughing at the Japanese pimp and his scary white bitches.
On Wednesday I finally got to see Pirates. I will not say much because I'm not sure how many of you have seen it. What I will say is this:
- OMG
- There may or may not have been more than one audible sob
- OMG
- I may or may not have died a little or a lot inside at one point
- OMG
- Orlando Bloom may or may not look rather fine in black piratey clothes even though I'm not normally a fan
- OMG
Guess what ad was in the previews? The "where the bloody hell are you" Australian tourism ad. What a coincidence, huh?
I have a huge black bruise on the back of my thigh and I have no idea where it came from. Hmm...
And there you have it. I shall now go and mope over some work for a while.
♥