The hugeness...
It's been over a month since I updated this thing, isn't that terrible? The only excuse I can offer is that the last weeks of the semester were pretty hectic, as was the first week of the holidays. But now I have some spare time and I spent all day yesterday uploading photos with the ridiculously slow wireless that I am thieving, any slower and it would be going backwards, I kid you not. So here goes...
So the rainy season has finished here, finally. I can now do my washing without having to worry about whether or not they'll dry, and it is very nice. I thought it would be kind of fun, having rain every day for a month, because let's face it, when does that ever happen in Australia? But it wore thin pretty quickly. Even if you have an umbrella and are really, really careful, you're still going to get wet. It's okay when you're on your way home but terrible if it's first thing in the morning and you have to sit in your wet clothes all day. Japanese people are big fans of the air conditioning, so classrooms were freezing. That with the being constantly wet and it was only a matter of time before I caught a nasty cold. In fact, I think the last straw was this night:
It was about 5am and we'd just rode our bikes back from the city in the pouring down rain. Ah, good times!
Mrs Hammond, my highschool Japanese teacher, has been carrying on the Japan trip tradition, so we thought it would be nice to try and meet up this year, in the few days they were in Kyoto. I have to say, the accents were music to my ears!
This was taken at the Gion shrine.
This one was taken on the same day at Kiomizudera, which I think translates as fresh water temple. It's a temple in the mountains where water from the mountain springs collects. Apparently the process takes hundreds of years. It's a beautiful place so we thought we'd attempt a wistful gaze. Turned into a JD moment.
Despite hideous colds and the usual tests to study for, we planned a trip to Tokyo. Emma, who is studying at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies has joined the cheerleading club and they had a big competition in Harajuku. Well, Emma is far too cynical to be a cheerleader so we found this hilarious (as does she) and so decided to road trip it there to watch. In the end, we made a long weekend of it.
So after a trip from Kyoto to Tokyo on the night bus, despite the complete lack of sleep, we did the tourist thing.
These was taken in Asakusa, where we stayed in Tokyo. We arrived on the weekend of the Star Festival so it was all mayhem, but in a good kind of way.
Harajuku is such a fantastic place. I'm not sure why the crazy people spend all day standing around, basking in their craziness, but they do. And they don't mind people taking photos.
Of course we had to find a shop that sold these kind of outfits and try on as many as was physically possible. The outfit I tried on was a bit like the girls on the left's, but with more red. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos.
Who could resist this?
Now this shop was hilarious.
It was made even more funny by the fact that as we were taking this photo, some familiar faces emerged from the shop. A few of the TIGS year nine students that we'd met a few days earlier. So naturally we shamed them with "what were you doing in there? we'll tell your teacher!" Of course we didn't. So by some weird and crazy coincidence, we ran into the TIGS group again, eight hours from where we met them before in one of the biggest cities in the world.
Tokyo trains are really as bad as they are made out to be. I didn't believe it until this trip home.
I had a tiny lady standing in my boobs for most of the trip.
This was taken in one of the subway stations. The fence is to stop people jumping in front of trains, apparently a rather popular means of committing suicide in Japan.
And then there was the cheerleading thing. I expected it to be very Bring It On and was not disappointed. It was terrifying.
But then there was a familiar face and we couldn't help but get into it.
After the competition we went for a bit of a wonder around Shinsaibashi, which is all huge and cityish.
This one is of Shibuya, which you may have heard of. It's the place with the enormous crossing and big screens everywhere. We sat in one of the buildings for a while, watching people cross the road. The lights change every three minutes and there is always a huge crowd of people waiting to cross. It's insane.
And then it was time to get back on the night bus for an uncomfortable trip home to Kyoto. We had some time to kill before our bus left and wanted to go to karaoke, but none of us knew where one nearby was. In the end, Emma got out her laptop and we did some Tokyo Station Karaoke.
Much to the disgust of teh policemanofficer.
The amused glances we got from our fellow commuters were hilarious.
And then the night bus, not to be confused with the Knight Bus OMGHARRYPOTTER!. I was sitting next to this horrible woman who spent the entire trip either asleep on my shoulder or trying to steal my seat. Stupid mole. We arrived back in Kyoto at about 6am, just in time to get back to Saiin, have a shower and head into uni for monday morning classes. That was an interesting day.
As I've said before, Gion is very close to where I live, and every year there is a festival there called... the erm, Gion Festival. It was actually compulsory for us to attend on the parade day but I'm pretty sure we all would have anyway.
A few months ago now, Gen and I bought yukatas (summer kimonos) and this was a perfect opportunity for us to wear them. They are actually kind of difficult to get on on your own and I spent a good hour getting dressed that morning. I finally emerged half an hour later than I meant to be, only to discover that I'd wrapped my yukata the wrong way, and that I was in fact, dressed like a dead person. So I got changed in a photo booth on the way to the station. You can imaging how interesting that was.
Anyway, we finally made it and it was lots of fun. This is one of the big floats. There's about fifty men pulling it through the streets. The wheels don't actually move around corners so they have a whole heap of sticks that they lie on the ground and then pull the float around the corner. It takes forever.
This is Gen and me in our yukatas. The locals found us very interesting. Probably because we were foreign and dressed like that. I had my photo taken more that day than most of the people in the parade. "Can I take photo with you?" "You take photo with my wife??" and so on...
But for once I didn't mind the attention because it meant we got away with so much more than most people would. Gen shouted out to these people to ask if she could take their photo and to get them all to look. They replied with a "can we take YOUR photo?? Come on, come here!" So we did. We were actually in the parade for a little while. All the boys behind us were saying "mecha ii, mecha ii". I guess the closest translation would be "Hell yeah!" It was a good day.
As you all know there's been a lot of Harry in the air lately, what with the new (and last) book and the new movie coming out. I thought it deserved a whole section to itself.
Actually, this doesn't really have much to do with Harry Potter, but it's funny and I wanted to include it. No wait, it does. This was taken in Kawaramachi at about 3am, five hours before the book was released. :D
The day after I bought the book, Emma came down from Tokyo and we went to see the movie. This is before we saw the movie, but after we'd visited the merch shop. hehehe
About two seconds before the movie started
I really liked it. I thought the movie was actually done better than the book was. And the dual scene? DAMN! I may see it again on Wednesday. Wednesday is lady's night at the movies so it's cheap. Hehehe, I love that there is lady's night here.
And lastly, everything else I've been doing since the start of the holidays.
Well, I teach two days a week at this little cram school in Uji, which is about 45 minutes away, and that will continue through the holidays. I also got roped into doing this four day culture course at the uni. Rather bitter about it actually, was not supposed to be compulsory but it may as well have been. I told them I couldn't do it because I was making plans to go away, but they kept coming back to guilt me into it. So in the end, Gen and I had to teach 36 nine year olds, two hours a day for four days. They were enthusiastic, which made things easier, but they were more enthusiastic about hurting each other. Stupid children. I did get a very sweet letter from one of the girls though. Here's a rough translation:
To Miss Carly,
Thankyou for coming from Australia to teach us for these four days. I have only been about to come for three of those days, but it has been a fun three days. Whenever I see your face I feel happy (wow, that sounds corny translated, but that's what it says) Don't forget about me when you go back to Australia, I won't forget about you. Thankyou!
From Nagisa
Cute, huh?
We taught in Japanese, because they obviously don't speak English, so I suppose that it's a pretty good confirmation that our language is actually improving. And we got a 3000 yen (about $30) gift voucher out of it so some good did come of it.
Of course it hasn't been all work. I've made plenty of time for some partying as well since school ended.
This one was taken at Bar Moon Walk when Emma was here. It's basically one tiny room with a big long table where everyone sits and talks. We met some great random Japanese people that night.
We also went temple hopping again, so of course there were karate kids impressions.
And pool. I'm terrible but it's fun. Check out how fifties I look in my Grease skirt! I bought it at Spinns, this fantastic op shop, for about six dollars. It's got a poodle on it and everything.
We have all been dying of heat and humidity here so we thought it was time for some beach. Of course, there is no beach here so we had to catch a train and a bus. This is at Saiin station, my home away from home, at about 7 in the morning. We look weird all dressed up for the beach in the middle of the city.
Of course, Harry came with us. We'd all been too busy to finish it so we read it everywhere.
Waiting for our train to Kobe, reading Harry.
Waiting for our bus to the beach, in some random, and not quite clean part of the station, reading Harry. Actually, this is where I finished it. You can't really see me in the photo but if you could, you'd probably see the tears.
The beach we went to wasn't so much a beach as a glorified rock pool, full of algae and jellyfish. But it was about a million degrees, so everyone was in the water in a flash. We managed to convince a group of Japanese boys that we didn't speak English and they should therefore leave us alone, only to be accosted by a HAWT Japanese guy with a beer gut, beer in hand and fag in mouth (while he was swimming). He later managed to convince us to join in a game of Wack the Melon, which involves putting on a blindfold, being spun around, then guided to where the water melon is, given a big stick, then hitting it as hard as you can. There's no doubt in my mind that they were just a bunch of middle aged perverts but it was fun.
We are the masters of the self portrait. Who else can get eight people in a single shot while taking the photo themselves?
On Tuesday we met with some Japanese friends from uni for fireworks by the river in Kawaramachi. The Kamogawa (duck river, bwahah) to be exact.
Then we decided to amuse the locals for a bit with some Kamogawa fireworks karaoke. Behold, the best rappers you will ever see.
We're so white! Some nearby people started taking photos and we decided it was time to give it a rest.
On Friday night there was birthday karaoke which lasted until 5am. I work on Saturday mornings and I had to be there for 9am, which meant I had to leave before 8. Logically, I didn't sleep that night. Was an interesting day. Luckily, the students I had that day were there for conversation class, and their English was pretty good, so it wasn't too difficult.
And there you have it, my life for the past five weeks. I'm certain I've left a lot out but that's what you get when you don't update for so long.
LOVELOVEHUGS! ♥
So the rainy season has finished here, finally. I can now do my washing without having to worry about whether or not they'll dry, and it is very nice. I thought it would be kind of fun, having rain every day for a month, because let's face it, when does that ever happen in Australia? But it wore thin pretty quickly. Even if you have an umbrella and are really, really careful, you're still going to get wet. It's okay when you're on your way home but terrible if it's first thing in the morning and you have to sit in your wet clothes all day. Japanese people are big fans of the air conditioning, so classrooms were freezing. That with the being constantly wet and it was only a matter of time before I caught a nasty cold. In fact, I think the last straw was this night:
It was about 5am and we'd just rode our bikes back from the city in the pouring down rain. Ah, good times!
Mrs Hammond, my highschool Japanese teacher, has been carrying on the Japan trip tradition, so we thought it would be nice to try and meet up this year, in the few days they were in Kyoto. I have to say, the accents were music to my ears!
This was taken at the Gion shrine.
This one was taken on the same day at Kiomizudera, which I think translates as fresh water temple. It's a temple in the mountains where water from the mountain springs collects. Apparently the process takes hundreds of years. It's a beautiful place so we thought we'd attempt a wistful gaze. Turned into a JD moment.
Despite hideous colds and the usual tests to study for, we planned a trip to Tokyo. Emma, who is studying at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies has joined the cheerleading club and they had a big competition in Harajuku. Well, Emma is far too cynical to be a cheerleader so we found this hilarious (as does she) and so decided to road trip it there to watch. In the end, we made a long weekend of it.
So after a trip from Kyoto to Tokyo on the night bus, despite the complete lack of sleep, we did the tourist thing.
These was taken in Asakusa, where we stayed in Tokyo. We arrived on the weekend of the Star Festival so it was all mayhem, but in a good kind of way.
Harajuku is such a fantastic place. I'm not sure why the crazy people spend all day standing around, basking in their craziness, but they do. And they don't mind people taking photos.
Of course we had to find a shop that sold these kind of outfits and try on as many as was physically possible. The outfit I tried on was a bit like the girls on the left's, but with more red. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos.
Who could resist this?
Now this shop was hilarious.
It was made even more funny by the fact that as we were taking this photo, some familiar faces emerged from the shop. A few of the TIGS year nine students that we'd met a few days earlier. So naturally we shamed them with "what were you doing in there? we'll tell your teacher!" Of course we didn't. So by some weird and crazy coincidence, we ran into the TIGS group again, eight hours from where we met them before in one of the biggest cities in the world.
Tokyo trains are really as bad as they are made out to be. I didn't believe it until this trip home.
I had a tiny lady standing in my boobs for most of the trip.
This was taken in one of the subway stations. The fence is to stop people jumping in front of trains, apparently a rather popular means of committing suicide in Japan.
And then there was the cheerleading thing. I expected it to be very Bring It On and was not disappointed. It was terrifying.
But then there was a familiar face and we couldn't help but get into it.
After the competition we went for a bit of a wonder around Shinsaibashi, which is all huge and cityish.
This one is of Shibuya, which you may have heard of. It's the place with the enormous crossing and big screens everywhere. We sat in one of the buildings for a while, watching people cross the road. The lights change every three minutes and there is always a huge crowd of people waiting to cross. It's insane.
And then it was time to get back on the night bus for an uncomfortable trip home to Kyoto. We had some time to kill before our bus left and wanted to go to karaoke, but none of us knew where one nearby was. In the end, Emma got out her laptop and we did some Tokyo Station Karaoke.
Much to the disgust of teh policemanofficer.
The amused glances we got from our fellow commuters were hilarious.
And then the night bus, not to be confused with the Knight Bus OMGHARRYPOTTER!. I was sitting next to this horrible woman who spent the entire trip either asleep on my shoulder or trying to steal my seat. Stupid mole. We arrived back in Kyoto at about 6am, just in time to get back to Saiin, have a shower and head into uni for monday morning classes. That was an interesting day.
As I've said before, Gion is very close to where I live, and every year there is a festival there called... the erm, Gion Festival. It was actually compulsory for us to attend on the parade day but I'm pretty sure we all would have anyway.
A few months ago now, Gen and I bought yukatas (summer kimonos) and this was a perfect opportunity for us to wear them. They are actually kind of difficult to get on on your own and I spent a good hour getting dressed that morning. I finally emerged half an hour later than I meant to be, only to discover that I'd wrapped my yukata the wrong way, and that I was in fact, dressed like a dead person. So I got changed in a photo booth on the way to the station. You can imaging how interesting that was.
Anyway, we finally made it and it was lots of fun. This is one of the big floats. There's about fifty men pulling it through the streets. The wheels don't actually move around corners so they have a whole heap of sticks that they lie on the ground and then pull the float around the corner. It takes forever.
This is Gen and me in our yukatas. The locals found us very interesting. Probably because we were foreign and dressed like that. I had my photo taken more that day than most of the people in the parade. "Can I take photo with you?" "You take photo with my wife??" and so on...
But for once I didn't mind the attention because it meant we got away with so much more than most people would. Gen shouted out to these people to ask if she could take their photo and to get them all to look. They replied with a "can we take YOUR photo?? Come on, come here!" So we did. We were actually in the parade for a little while. All the boys behind us were saying "mecha ii, mecha ii". I guess the closest translation would be "Hell yeah!" It was a good day.
As you all know there's been a lot of Harry in the air lately, what with the new (and last) book and the new movie coming out. I thought it deserved a whole section to itself.
Actually, this doesn't really have much to do with Harry Potter, but it's funny and I wanted to include it. No wait, it does. This was taken in Kawaramachi at about 3am, five hours before the book was released. :D
The day after I bought the book, Emma came down from Tokyo and we went to see the movie. This is before we saw the movie, but after we'd visited the merch shop. hehehe
About two seconds before the movie started
I really liked it. I thought the movie was actually done better than the book was. And the dual scene? DAMN! I may see it again on Wednesday. Wednesday is lady's night at the movies so it's cheap. Hehehe, I love that there is lady's night here.
And lastly, everything else I've been doing since the start of the holidays.
Well, I teach two days a week at this little cram school in Uji, which is about 45 minutes away, and that will continue through the holidays. I also got roped into doing this four day culture course at the uni. Rather bitter about it actually, was not supposed to be compulsory but it may as well have been. I told them I couldn't do it because I was making plans to go away, but they kept coming back to guilt me into it. So in the end, Gen and I had to teach 36 nine year olds, two hours a day for four days. They were enthusiastic, which made things easier, but they were more enthusiastic about hurting each other. Stupid children. I did get a very sweet letter from one of the girls though. Here's a rough translation:
To Miss Carly,
Thankyou for coming from Australia to teach us for these four days. I have only been about to come for three of those days, but it has been a fun three days. Whenever I see your face I feel happy (wow, that sounds corny translated, but that's what it says) Don't forget about me when you go back to Australia, I won't forget about you. Thankyou!
From Nagisa
Cute, huh?
We taught in Japanese, because they obviously don't speak English, so I suppose that it's a pretty good confirmation that our language is actually improving. And we got a 3000 yen (about $30) gift voucher out of it so some good did come of it.
Of course it hasn't been all work. I've made plenty of time for some partying as well since school ended.
This one was taken at Bar Moon Walk when Emma was here. It's basically one tiny room with a big long table where everyone sits and talks. We met some great random Japanese people that night.
We also went temple hopping again, so of course there were karate kids impressions.
And pool. I'm terrible but it's fun. Check out how fifties I look in my Grease skirt! I bought it at Spinns, this fantastic op shop, for about six dollars. It's got a poodle on it and everything.
We have all been dying of heat and humidity here so we thought it was time for some beach. Of course, there is no beach here so we had to catch a train and a bus. This is at Saiin station, my home away from home, at about 7 in the morning. We look weird all dressed up for the beach in the middle of the city.
Of course, Harry came with us. We'd all been too busy to finish it so we read it everywhere.
Waiting for our train to Kobe, reading Harry.
Waiting for our bus to the beach, in some random, and not quite clean part of the station, reading Harry. Actually, this is where I finished it. You can't really see me in the photo but if you could, you'd probably see the tears.
The beach we went to wasn't so much a beach as a glorified rock pool, full of algae and jellyfish. But it was about a million degrees, so everyone was in the water in a flash. We managed to convince a group of Japanese boys that we didn't speak English and they should therefore leave us alone, only to be accosted by a HAWT Japanese guy with a beer gut, beer in hand and fag in mouth (while he was swimming). He later managed to convince us to join in a game of Wack the Melon, which involves putting on a blindfold, being spun around, then guided to where the water melon is, given a big stick, then hitting it as hard as you can. There's no doubt in my mind that they were just a bunch of middle aged perverts but it was fun.
We are the masters of the self portrait. Who else can get eight people in a single shot while taking the photo themselves?
On Tuesday we met with some Japanese friends from uni for fireworks by the river in Kawaramachi. The Kamogawa (duck river, bwahah) to be exact.
Then we decided to amuse the locals for a bit with some Kamogawa fireworks karaoke. Behold, the best rappers you will ever see.
We're so white! Some nearby people started taking photos and we decided it was time to give it a rest.
On Friday night there was birthday karaoke which lasted until 5am. I work on Saturday mornings and I had to be there for 9am, which meant I had to leave before 8. Logically, I didn't sleep that night. Was an interesting day. Luckily, the students I had that day were there for conversation class, and their English was pretty good, so it wasn't too difficult.
And there you have it, my life for the past five weeks. I'm certain I've left a lot out but that's what you get when you don't update for so long.
LOVELOVEHUGS! ♥