I love lists.
I have some form of romantic obsession with them.
We had a big old white-board filled with places we wanted to visit.
We've been drawing up itineraries and lists of places we are going to go on our pit-stop tour of Japan.
So here is a quick up-date of what will be our hectic week travel plans (mainly concerning me and Cloudia, but I believe Michelle will be joining us for points too):
Tuesday:
Lunch time: Leaving ceremony
Afternoon: Leaving Party
Evening: 12 hour coach to Osaka 0_o
Wednesday:
Early Morning: Arrive in Osaka grumpy and shitty respectively.
Morning: sex-plore Osaka
Afternoon: go to Spa world (various onsen styles in one place plus swimming pool with slides for me :D)
Evening: check into hostel, see what night-life there is on offer.
Thursday:
Late Morning: check out of hostel.
Afternoon: go to aquarium :)
Evening: over-night coach to Tokyo 0_o
Friday:
Morning: Arrive at DISNEYLAND
Day: Go round DisneySea (after much discussion we think it looks better than Disneyland - bigger rides etc.)
Evening: Find hostel and see what's about nearby.
Saturday:
All day: Mystery tour - our plan involves going from Tokyo Tower to Harajuku and seeing what's on the way!
Sunday: undecided!
In conclusion: As you can see from this I am doing Japan in a whirlwind. I am coming home a month early for various reasons and so are doing an epic trip up the country and back down again.
x
Sunday 26 June 2011
Friday 24 June 2011
Dear Nana,
I know I'm meant to be in mourning for you right now. You will never know how sorry I am for not being able to. But I lost the person you were 4 years ago now and I think my grieving process started from that last time I saw you. Some instinct part of us may have recognised each other, but in reality we had no idea who the person was sat in front of us. And so I am so sorry I haven't cried bar the initial shock, but I am so far emotionally and physically removed I can't quite believe it's real.
I can't say anything as trite as 'I hope I will make you proud', because I have no idea what would do so. But I tell people that you raised me as a little girl, because the only few memories I seem to have kept from then are of you. So I'm sorry I can't cry and don't appear upset, I hope you understand I am thinking about you though and I am worrying about my mum, but I like to think you understand and know I am happy and that will make you proud.
This is what I want to update:
I am be in mourning but today served to reinforce the idea that Life is Beautiful. It's 32 degrees out here and today I actually had a paid job. Yes! I had a paid job in Japan. I can't describe how awesome that feels. I was judging a speech contest with a teacher and a nun (I love nuns by the way, all old nice people remind me of you and 'Nan'). But the best part was when I stood up to be introduced and over 500 people simultaneously went 'kawaii!' It was amazing and that all reminded me life was beautiful.
Tonight I'm going out drinking and dancing. I know that is not what I should be doing in the circumstances, but I don't think its an awful decision either. Life is for living and as there is nothing I can do at the moment I am going to keep having experiences I can tell you about.
I'm going to tell mum to send you some sweet-peas for me. If there not in season I will just ask her to give lots and lots of different wild flowers.
I love you Nana,
and thank you <3
I know I'm meant to be in mourning for you right now. You will never know how sorry I am for not being able to. But I lost the person you were 4 years ago now and I think my grieving process started from that last time I saw you. Some instinct part of us may have recognised each other, but in reality we had no idea who the person was sat in front of us. And so I am so sorry I haven't cried bar the initial shock, but I am so far emotionally and physically removed I can't quite believe it's real.
I can't say anything as trite as 'I hope I will make you proud', because I have no idea what would do so. But I tell people that you raised me as a little girl, because the only few memories I seem to have kept from then are of you. So I'm sorry I can't cry and don't appear upset, I hope you understand I am thinking about you though and I am worrying about my mum, but I like to think you understand and know I am happy and that will make you proud.
This is what I want to update:
I am be in mourning but today served to reinforce the idea that Life is Beautiful. It's 32 degrees out here and today I actually had a paid job. Yes! I had a paid job in Japan. I can't describe how awesome that feels. I was judging a speech contest with a teacher and a nun (I love nuns by the way, all old nice people remind me of you and 'Nan'). But the best part was when I stood up to be introduced and over 500 people simultaneously went 'kawaii!' It was amazing and that all reminded me life was beautiful.
Tonight I'm going out drinking and dancing. I know that is not what I should be doing in the circumstances, but I don't think its an awful decision either. Life is for living and as there is nothing I can do at the moment I am going to keep having experiences I can tell you about.
I'm going to tell mum to send you some sweet-peas for me. If there not in season I will just ask her to give lots and lots of different wild flowers.
I love you Nana,
and thank you <3
Sunday 24 April 2011
Jong: 23 April
What's the weather like there? Is it hot? I've never been to that side of the world so i'm curious. :D
24 April at 10:34
Well whether the weather be hot, or whether the weather be not....
Basically I'm fucking jealous because it seems England is in the midst of a heat wave and here is just...humid...
Basically we arrived in the middle of a week long heatwave (when it was pissing it down in england) but this was when we weren't allowed to show any arm (cultural fact: we were told japanesesys did not like arms on show. That's not true. Apparently they just have a starting date of the start of summer [July 1st!!!![ and that's when arm skin can go on show. Before then I shall melt.)
So now its kinda humid, it's sort of spat with rain for the last few days and it gets quite cold in the evenings (but i guess thats because we're so close to the sea here)
So in conclusion: The rainy season starts soon and then I will send you all hate mail if you continue with your lusheous weather.
Fuck you all.
With kindest regards,
Me.
xx
24 April at 10:34
Well whether the weather be hot, or whether the weather be not....
Basically I'm fucking jealous because it seems England is in the midst of a heat wave and here is just...humid...
Basically we arrived in the middle of a week long heatwave (when it was pissing it down in england) but this was when we weren't allowed to show any arm (cultural fact: we were told japanesesys did not like arms on show. That's not true. Apparently they just have a starting date of the start of summer [July 1st!!!![ and that's when arm skin can go on show. Before then I shall melt.)
So now its kinda humid, it's sort of spat with rain for the last few days and it gets quite cold in the evenings (but i guess thats because we're so close to the sea here)
So in conclusion: The rainy season starts soon and then I will send you all hate mail if you continue with your lusheous weather.
Fuck you all.
With kindest regards,
Me.
xx
Thursday 14 April 2011
Big Daddy 11 April at 08:55
11 April at 08:55
So here goes my massive message:
My English has become nightmare-ish as you can see from the roughness of the last message to you. By using Engrish (dumbed down English) for the last week, or however long, my brain has melted and now I find it difficult to write in proper sentences. But I think I'm getting back to normal now :)
I like hearing that your bored at home because that's normal. And there ain't a whole lot of normal here. So I want you to row with your parents for me, see your friends and eat some good old fashioned English pub food. Because those are the sort of things I suppose you take for granted normally and I'm starting to miss them out here (excluding arguing with parents).
You boys and your doing of essays! Although I'm going to have to be a good girl while I'm out here I suggest you take a day off somewhen and do something silly and fun. GO TO THE PARK. I don't want your brain to melt too! (The workload is REDONKULOUS out her. Seriously. Twice what you are doing in Winch because of the fucking TEFL. But then I keep mantra-ing: 'this is good for me, I can learn to do essays in advance, not the night before, this is good for me'. Which is so far working. The Japanese have a brilliant serious work ethic and I'm pretty sure my host family would make me do work if I was reluctant. But atm I'm wanting to do it myself so it's done, so YAY! I is learning a normal people skill :)
ANYWAY THE DRAMA THAT IS ME:
I'm not sure where to begin... Firstly I will give you places to google image search because that is easiest. So search Nara and Kyoto. Now look how beautiful they fucking are. That is that simple. I didn't go to everywhere shown in Kyoto obviously but I saw the golden temple, I saw a room with 1000 life-size statues and I prayed at a shrine fr a good marriage and a good husband. The tourist attractions are amazing for a reason. They are fucking beautiful. My host family are amazing and took me there. I call them my J-Fam (like J-pop). Legends.
Apparently they are rich but I don't think so. They seem pretty normal to me. I live on a house with 2 floors but upstairs is the living quarters, because they run there own business, so downstairs is just a big office room. I have my own room wuth a western-style bed but the parents and Hisako (older sister, Noriko is the younger one: 15. Can be moody but you know, she's 15) have roll up futon things. They have a dog who lives outside (:( and they don't have a garden :() called Lucky who is a yappy terrier thing, who I have the joy of living above. All I hear alot of the time is barking.... But in conclusion my j-fam is fab. The girls speak alot of English and the host mother is really expressive and speaks some good english too, enough normally to communicate. The father is quite a traditional man so I don't really talk to him much plus I don't think he speaks much English. In conclusion: I am lucky and love it.
University: You will be the first person who I've made this comparison to, so you better appreciate it. The man running the show is called XXX. Now I think he's creepy but everyone else thinks he's nice atm (you know when you know someone is going to an asshole somehow- well I think that) Anyway the reason I find him so creepy (other than the fact he stalked my facebook and then told me about looking at my pictures!!!) is that he has the exact voice used by Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. It is creepy as sin. Fine in the film. Creepy in real life. Anywayyyyy Uni is going to be hard. I will leave it at that for now because I will moan at you for subsequent weeks about it :) Other than that it is a beautiful uni on 1 campus and is all girls. We live in a room called inspiringly 'the winchester room' where most of our lectures are and people pop up and try and make friends with us which is cute.
Homesick: Not really. I talk to my Mum every other day and I talk to Tez every night. If I don't think about it it's okay and where I have facebook and letters and things I've literally surrounded myself with a coccoon of you guys. I like hearing what you guys are doing because then it doesn't feel weird that I'm alone in doing this because your all off for Easter. So keep me updated :) And Even if I don't reply to peoples messages for awhile I check facebook every day, just to check everyones okay and stuff.
Anyway, longest message ever :)
Hope your having more fun and doing less work,
Love from Asia :)
xx
p.s. I put on a pikachu costume yesterday and sat in one of those Japanese photobooths. It was fucking awesome.
So here goes my massive message:
My English has become nightmare-ish as you can see from the roughness of the last message to you. By using Engrish (dumbed down English) for the last week, or however long, my brain has melted and now I find it difficult to write in proper sentences. But I think I'm getting back to normal now :)
I like hearing that your bored at home because that's normal. And there ain't a whole lot of normal here. So I want you to row with your parents for me, see your friends and eat some good old fashioned English pub food. Because those are the sort of things I suppose you take for granted normally and I'm starting to miss them out here (excluding arguing with parents).
You boys and your doing of essays! Although I'm going to have to be a good girl while I'm out here I suggest you take a day off somewhen and do something silly and fun. GO TO THE PARK. I don't want your brain to melt too! (The workload is REDONKULOUS out her. Seriously. Twice what you are doing in Winch because of the fucking TEFL. But then I keep mantra-ing: 'this is good for me, I can learn to do essays in advance, not the night before, this is good for me'. Which is so far working. The Japanese have a brilliant serious work ethic and I'm pretty sure my host family would make me do work if I was reluctant. But atm I'm wanting to do it myself so it's done, so YAY! I is learning a normal people skill :)
ANYWAY THE DRAMA THAT IS ME:
I'm not sure where to begin... Firstly I will give you places to google image search because that is easiest. So search Nara and Kyoto. Now look how beautiful they fucking are. That is that simple. I didn't go to everywhere shown in Kyoto obviously but I saw the golden temple, I saw a room with 1000 life-size statues and I prayed at a shrine fr a good marriage and a good husband. The tourist attractions are amazing for a reason. They are fucking beautiful. My host family are amazing and took me there. I call them my J-Fam (like J-pop). Legends.
Apparently they are rich but I don't think so. They seem pretty normal to me. I live on a house with 2 floors but upstairs is the living quarters, because they run there own business, so downstairs is just a big office room. I have my own room wuth a western-style bed but the parents and Hisako (older sister, Noriko is the younger one: 15. Can be moody but you know, she's 15) have roll up futon things. They have a dog who lives outside (:( and they don't have a garden :() called Lucky who is a yappy terrier thing, who I have the joy of living above. All I hear alot of the time is barking.... But in conclusion my j-fam is fab. The girls speak alot of English and the host mother is really expressive and speaks some good english too, enough normally to communicate. The father is quite a traditional man so I don't really talk to him much plus I don't think he speaks much English. In conclusion: I am lucky and love it.
University: You will be the first person who I've made this comparison to, so you better appreciate it. The man running the show is called XXX. Now I think he's creepy but everyone else thinks he's nice atm (you know when you know someone is going to an asshole somehow- well I think that) Anyway the reason I find him so creepy (other than the fact he stalked my facebook and then told me about looking at my pictures!!!) is that he has the exact voice used by Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. It is creepy as sin. Fine in the film. Creepy in real life. Anywayyyyy Uni is going to be hard. I will leave it at that for now because I will moan at you for subsequent weeks about it :) Other than that it is a beautiful uni on 1 campus and is all girls. We live in a room called inspiringly 'the winchester room' where most of our lectures are and people pop up and try and make friends with us which is cute.
Homesick: Not really. I talk to my Mum every other day and I talk to Tez every night. If I don't think about it it's okay and where I have facebook and letters and things I've literally surrounded myself with a coccoon of you guys. I like hearing what you guys are doing because then it doesn't feel weird that I'm alone in doing this because your all off for Easter. So keep me updated :) And Even if I don't reply to peoples messages for awhile I check facebook every day, just to check everyones okay and stuff.
Anyway, longest message ever :)
Hope your having more fun and doing less work,
Love from Asia :)
xx
p.s. I put on a pikachu costume yesterday and sat in one of those Japanese photobooths. It was fucking awesome.
Big Daddy 04 April at 15:37
04 April at 15:37
Sorry quick email cos its 11.30 pm and should be sleeping cos its opening ceremony tomorrow ( yea that makes me sound like I am the Olympic games...) It's easiest to skype me atm, cos my scheledule is shifting, my timetable starts officially from monday but atm I'm all over the place :)
Ahh sorry late and had a busy day today (trying to buy a cell phone in japan is fucking hard even with a translator...)
anyway be good and safe :)
xx
Sorry quick email cos its 11.30 pm and should be sleeping cos its opening ceremony tomorrow ( yea that makes me sound like I am the Olympic games...) It's easiest to skype me atm, cos my scheledule is shifting, my timetable starts officially from monday but atm I'm all over the place :)
Ahh sorry late and had a busy day today (trying to buy a cell phone in japan is fucking hard even with a translator...)
anyway be good and safe :)
xx
For Millie 09 April at 06:59
09 April at 06:59
Oh shush you, you write long messages so it takes awhile to have enough time to reply okay?!?! Right...
So the other wweekend we took the bullet train to Kyoto (2 and a half hours away on the train: look at a map: thats far away so they are stupidly fast) and went to various world heritage awesome buildings and shrines whilst we were there. And we went to Nara which was awesome (deer place)annnnd we went and prayed at a shrine for good marriage and a good husband haha. So Tez wins. haha.
It was all stupidly beautiful. But Japan is a headfuck. At night it is beautiful and how you picture it. During the day. Its not how you imagine it. Before i went I thought of it as two side of a coin: industrial and skyscrapers and modern and also old fhasioned and beautiful. Which it is. But there is also the rim of coin. Where it meets. Nothing fits perfectly together. Its a weird inbetween place of modern and old and cvlean and grey coloured and friendly and confusing. Its weird.
Oh and on that weekend we went to Gion whcih has always been one of my dreams and I saw a geisha and apprecntie geisha. It was frreaking sweet. They run really fast though....
My stomach is crying. Right now i have a rash from my stomach to the base of my neck. I'm not scared to ask my host family about it but its pissing me off. I think is an allergy thing and it could be anything so im not saying anything. So I think that was something i ate last night. Last night we went to a restaurant where there were fish pools in the middle eughhhhh....luckily i had already eaten. My family literally love to eat. Favourite hobby: eating. So im eating everything and getting fat. But my family are leaning what i likeand im trying not to think about what im eating. But still of this moment, vegetarianism will be a life choice when im back.
My family are amazing. I call them my J-fam (after japanese pop music: j-pop) They are lovely and look after me and the 2 daughters speak more than enough english to translate stuff fr me. But they talk japanese alot which is cool and hopefully i will learn it through osmosis.
I'm starting to observe lesons this week so will start the week after/end of this week. Its going to be fucking hard. So fucking hard. I worked with a group yesterday at this ''fun activity'', 2 girls spoke barely any english to me yet they are doing a degree in it. It is going to kill me. On the plus side we've made friends with osme 4th year girls who are semi-fluent and are awesome and helpful :)
I'm glad the meeting with that guy went okay. You should of had sex with him though.
GET SKYPE. I talk to Tez every night (i don't know why: i don't like him really) and my mum on it like very other day. so i want house skype chats after your easter break.
Anyway sorry fr spasmodic message. Brain to writing ratio has sunk into Engrish mode (this is what japanese girls speak when they arent fluent in english: engrish) I think in complete sentences now and say anything with an L in it as an R. Eughh
MUCHO LOVE. HAI TO POPPY-FERRRRRRRR
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oh shush you, you write long messages so it takes awhile to have enough time to reply okay?!?! Right...
So the other wweekend we took the bullet train to Kyoto (2 and a half hours away on the train: look at a map: thats far away so they are stupidly fast) and went to various world heritage awesome buildings and shrines whilst we were there. And we went to Nara which was awesome (deer place)annnnd we went and prayed at a shrine for good marriage and a good husband haha. So Tez wins. haha.
It was all stupidly beautiful. But Japan is a headfuck. At night it is beautiful and how you picture it. During the day. Its not how you imagine it. Before i went I thought of it as two side of a coin: industrial and skyscrapers and modern and also old fhasioned and beautiful. Which it is. But there is also the rim of coin. Where it meets. Nothing fits perfectly together. Its a weird inbetween place of modern and old and cvlean and grey coloured and friendly and confusing. Its weird.
Oh and on that weekend we went to Gion whcih has always been one of my dreams and I saw a geisha and apprecntie geisha. It was frreaking sweet. They run really fast though....
My stomach is crying. Right now i have a rash from my stomach to the base of my neck. I'm not scared to ask my host family about it but its pissing me off. I think is an allergy thing and it could be anything so im not saying anything. So I think that was something i ate last night. Last night we went to a restaurant where there were fish pools in the middle eughhhhh....luckily i had already eaten. My family literally love to eat. Favourite hobby: eating. So im eating everything and getting fat. But my family are leaning what i likeand im trying not to think about what im eating. But still of this moment, vegetarianism will be a life choice when im back.
My family are amazing. I call them my J-fam (after japanese pop music: j-pop) They are lovely and look after me and the 2 daughters speak more than enough english to translate stuff fr me. But they talk japanese alot which is cool and hopefully i will learn it through osmosis.
I'm starting to observe lesons this week so will start the week after/end of this week. Its going to be fucking hard. So fucking hard. I worked with a group yesterday at this ''fun activity'', 2 girls spoke barely any english to me yet they are doing a degree in it. It is going to kill me. On the plus side we've made friends with osme 4th year girls who are semi-fluent and are awesome and helpful :)
I'm glad the meeting with that guy went okay. You should of had sex with him though.
GET SKYPE. I talk to Tez every night (i don't know why: i don't like him really) and my mum on it like very other day. so i want house skype chats after your easter break.
Anyway sorry fr spasmodic message. Brain to writing ratio has sunk into Engrish mode (this is what japanese girls speak when they arent fluent in english: engrish) I think in complete sentences now and say anything with an L in it as an R. Eughh
MUCHO LOVE. HAI TO POPPY-FERRRRRRRR
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Millie
01 April at 01:45
I love you, I will write soon, trying to not go on computer too much atm so my host family don't think I'm rude.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
s 01 April at 04:39
oh and get skype and add me!!!
01 April at 04:39
Whale does not taste bad nor nice, just chewy....
01 April at 14:21
Right Silly Old Willy,
Whale doesn't taste bad or nice. It was just really chewy, Liek obviously I'm not clued up on raw fish but I just ate it and took it on face value cos my host family put abit on my plate (it was just on top of sushi) he next day they told me because I think they thought I would over react at the time but I just said 'ha cool'. I mean its not like I would go out my way to eat whale or would want to. But I have so meh. I got more freaked out swallowing the live fish. That was gross. and didn't taste but you could psychologically feel it wriggling afterwards eughhh.
I'm eating everything they put infront of me. My stomach is killing itself and I'm going away with the faily for the weekend and staying in the same room as the 2 daughters. They will have to put up with my stomach either making angry rumbling noises or the delicious smell of my poop if and when I do so :)
haha gross...
And atm I'm happy: everything is new for me so you know its just weird but in a good way. And I'm not missing anyone yet (no offence) but you know it would be worse if I thought about missing poeople, wheras at the moment I'm more concentrating on everything else...
love you
xxxxxxxxx
I love you, I will write soon, trying to not go on computer too much atm so my host family don't think I'm rude.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
s 01 April at 04:39
oh and get skype and add me!!!
01 April at 04:39
Whale does not taste bad nor nice, just chewy....
01 April at 14:21
Right Silly Old Willy,
Whale doesn't taste bad or nice. It was just really chewy, Liek obviously I'm not clued up on raw fish but I just ate it and took it on face value cos my host family put abit on my plate (it was just on top of sushi) he next day they told me because I think they thought I would over react at the time but I just said 'ha cool'. I mean its not like I would go out my way to eat whale or would want to. But I have so meh. I got more freaked out swallowing the live fish. That was gross. and didn't taste but you could psychologically feel it wriggling afterwards eughhh.
I'm eating everything they put infront of me. My stomach is killing itself and I'm going away with the faily for the weekend and staying in the same room as the 2 daughters. They will have to put up with my stomach either making angry rumbling noises or the delicious smell of my poop if and when I do so :)
haha gross...
And atm I'm happy: everything is new for me so you know its just weird but in a good way. And I'm not missing anyone yet (no offence) but you know it would be worse if I thought about missing poeople, wheras at the moment I'm more concentrating on everything else...
love you
xxxxxxxxx
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