Mini rant...or not!

Originally i had a post ranting about how i couldn't go out friday night. But i ended up being able to go out ^_^ so happy!

Ok anyway on Friday i went out to chatan town to buy some winter clothing (for my trip) and look for some other things. I got what i wanted then i went to go on my first date with Kazz ;). We met at 7th heaven koza (the bar he works at - yep he's a bartender!) and hung out for a while. I hadn't eaten and i started drinking. I realized that was really stupid so i went to eat something. I bought some yakisoba but i didn't eat much and later on Kazz & i went to a different bar with some of his work friends. We ate some more food and drank some more. It was fun but i was kinda tired by that point (3am!) we left there at 6am and went back to his house. We talked, drank and ate a little more and then he went to sleep. I wanted to sleep but for some reason (i dont know why) i couldn't get to sleep. Maybe it was because i was not at home, because i was dead tired. Anyway at around 6pm i left for home and i ended up staying awake til 1am (that's 43hrs being awake)!

On Saturday i didn't do much, i slept in until 8 or 9 but i was still kinda out of it. Sunday was good, i went shopping with hiroto. I (finally) bought a new camera (YAY). Originally i got one from ebay but they never sent it to me (they did refund me though). I also got a birthday present from him (a jacket). I got some birthday presents from my mum & siblings (jewelry) and my dad & grandmother are sending me some money. So i want to thank you all for being so awesome!

Felicia got back on Sunday night, so hopefully i will have most of today off and tomorow. I am going to go meet Kazz today or tomorow and get my denshi jisho (electronic dictionary) because i left it at his house. I am also organizing what i am going to do while i am gone. I am going to be spending so much money! Hopefully my suitcase dosent become too full!
This morning Felicia didn't have to go into work until 9 so i was able to sleep in, but did i? Of course not! Andrew decided to come into my room at 4am!!! I don't know which is funnier, the fact i didn't get to sleep until midnight the night before, or the fact i couldn't fall back asleep! I am serious when i say i am going to buy some sleeping pills because this is driving me crazy. I mean i had sleeping problems back home too so i know it's not the place, i am just tired of always being tired!!

That's all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season etc. Dont forget me ok :)
Jya ne!

p.s. Weird sentance of the week: "Indulge in momenary pleasures toy fireworks is verry silent"(yes, that is exactley what it says)

p.p.s. Also please check out my photo album (http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc177/From_Japan/) There are many new photos but check out the poo gummi - I bought this candy for 10 yen (10 cents maybe). It says unchi-kun gummi, unchi= poo kun=title (so basically mr. poo gummi)I am too afraid to taste it...Anyway expect some decent quality ones soon as i am picking up my new camera today!).

sick alien!

Yes that's right, i am a sick alien! Stupid winter, i was hoping not to get sick but oh well. It's just a cold but at least if i have it now it will be gone before my trip to mainland! As for the alien part, i have registered for my alien card which means i can stay in Japan for more than three months. Anyway apart from being sick things have been pretty good for me. I have been trying to do well in my studying and organizing things here.

I got to have another 4 day weekend (for thanksgiving) so it was nice to relax a bit. On the weekend we didn't do much (actually i didn't even realize it was a long weekend because nobody told me!). I went to a friends house and also on the Saturday night i went out with Joe to gate2 street. Basically Gate2 street is where all the Americans hang out so i was kinda hesitant, but its closer than going to Naha so i went. We had fun, first we went to Fujiyama (rock bar) then to some weird bar that i didn't like, and finally to a place called "7th heaven koza" which was good.

The week was kinda dull, Felicia was preparing to leave to Korea so that was keeping people busy. Actually it was funny because everytime she was supposed to leave something would happen. Her plane kept breaking and i was begining to think she wasnt going! But all is well now. She will be gone only two weeks this time and during the first week Joe will have an excersize so i will have extra hours. It doesnt bother me much because it will be quiet in the evening and i can study more.

On Friday night i met up with my friend Tomo and we went to a club (again on gate2 street) called club red. It was quiet and some American guys were hitting on us so we decided to leave. After that we went to 7th heaven again and had a good time there. Haha the funnies thing about this night was we didn't pay for anything! Most bars/clubs around there are free for girls to get in and we didnt have to pay for any drinks! But not only were the customers buying us drinks but the bartender was giving us free ones too! I got into this arguement with an American guy, it was kinda funny. At one point he asked me "are you going to give me your number or keep me guessing" so i said "yes, guess all the digits". Eventually he left coz i said i didn't like Americans! We were there until around 3am when the people who worked at the bar took us out somewhere else. We chilled out at this small place until 6am when my friend and i decided to go home. I was starting to feel sick from my cold by that point so when i got home i showered and went to bed! It probably wasnt the smartest move to stay out all night but it was really fun.

I am sure this week will be kinda slow, as i will be working more and sick at the same time. Hopefully i recover from my cold soon and then i can be energetic for when i leave. I really want to study more too but its hard to be motivated when you feel crap :p Anyway that's all from me. I cant believe it's almost Christmas! It's going to be so weird but i am sure enjoyable.

Jya ne

hisashiburi desu ne (it's been a while hasn't it)

Hi again, i have been pretty lazy since my last post so i will catch up on it now. I have probably forgotten a bunch of what i have done already LOL. Anyway i will start with my trip to the dentist! It was a Japanese dentist and my friend was helping me talk to him. He asked me if it was my first time at a dentist! (for the record i went once when i was a child...i think) anyway i have known for a while that i have had one bad tooth, but i was saving to come here so i didn't do anything :p One of the other reasons i waited was because my Japanese teacher told me it was cheaper in Japan. Anyway some of my other teeth have problems - but only small ones. He looked at my tooth and then i got an x-ray and he described to me what needed to be done - a root canal! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_canal) This sounds painfull and expensive, but it was neither (here at least anyway) so i had that done. When i left i got a $10 gift certificate and some pain killers, but i didn't need them (the pain killers anyway). I have to go back again because it is not finished, the last stage has not been done yet and it is sharp and rubbing against my tounge (painfull!). When i told Joe how much it cost me (around $85AU) he gave me around $100AU to cover it (and the final part) so i was surprized!

On that weekend it was a 4 day weekend for me! I did alot of shopping in Naha (main city of Okinawa) and bought some more wintery clothing. I went a few other places with friends too. I went out to eat a few more times too. So far i have tried many different types of Japanese food since i have been here and i really like most of it. Some things i am not too sure i want to eat (frog, pig ear and pig foot) but i think i have been pretty good with eating new things (chicken skin on a stick, peanut tofu, seaweed by itself and more). My friends have been very kind to me and taken me to many new places so i am lucky.

Because i live right next to a sugar cane feild we get alot of small animals in the house, mostly bugs but also geckos. After halloween we had a jack o-lantern outside and when i came back from a walk with the kids one day there was a shrew inside it! (basically an ugly looking mouse). I trapped it and waited until Joe got home so i could show him. Also there are many big spiders that get into the house! I am usually ok with spiders but there are so many big ones that get in and it freaks me out a bit (i hope that they wont come into my room :s).

Anyway also on my long weekend i went to Ryuu Kyuu mura (i don't think that is spelt correct) which is an old Okinawan town thing. You can see how their houses were and stuff like that it is very interesting. They have performances with people in costumes and dancing, you can eat old Okinawan food and try playing some instruments.

Felicia came home on the friday before the weekend so i could go out as much as i wanted during the week. The best thing was that Joe had night shift so at night Felicia was home and during the day i only had to look after the kids until Joe woke up. I felt kinda lost because most of my friends worked or studied during the day so i didn't know what to do. I studied more and just chilled out, so it was nice.

The last weekend i didn't do anything out of the ordinary, going out to eat, shopping hanging out with some friends. This time i had dinner at Naha and the place we went had really good food! Last weekend my friend went to mainland and brought me back presents! I got a phone charm, a framed picture and some snacks. I didn't go anywhere interesting so i made her some chocolate chip peanut butter cookies :) Everyone here liked my cookies (even Joe and Felicia's co-workers) so i will be sure to make more cookies soon.

Haha the other day Joe and i were watching clips on youtube and the children were watching TV. Anyway we turned around and Andrew was sitting on the couch with the french vanilla flavoured powder (for coffee) and it was everywhere! I couldn't stop laughing as he was eating it and making more mess. I took a photo of it and i will upload it eventually! Kids are funny sometimes!

I have spent alot of time latley organizing my trip to mainland. I have been changing my plans many times but i have a good idea of my iteninary now so i will share it. On the 14th i am leaving Okinawa to go to Fukoka to see my friend Rina for a few days, then i am leaving for Tokyo for my 21st birthday! I am staying there with a host family until Christmas when i am going to see the snow (i have never seen the snow before). After that i am heading to Kyoto for new years celebrations and then back to Okinawa. I will be gone for roughly 2 and a half weeks so it is very exciting for me! I plan to do alot of shopping so if you feel like sending me a birthday or christmas gift....*cough* money. Sorry if that sounds rude, but y'no.

Recently i made a facebook and myspace account. I mainly did this because i wanted to meet more people in Japan and it's an easy way to do that (because then i know what sort of things they like - and they speak English!) However if you have a profile and want to add me as your friend i will accept - i just don't really use them for contacting friends.

Not much else to say really, i am trying to catch up on sending emails but i have so many (especially from Japanese people) so it is a bit overwhelming at the moment. I am going to try and send more i promise. But people who know me know i procrastinate everything...:p

Hope everyone is having a good time in Australia, i miss you guys so much!

Jya ne!

happy halloween

How was everybodys halloween? For me i didn't do much. On the weekend i hung out with Joe and Frank and drank. The next day i went snorkeling again, so that was nice. During the week Ariana and i did halloween preporations, we made a jack o-lantern and halloween cupcakes. Check out my photo gallery for some pictures. That was fun - and alot of mess! On halloween night i was supposed to do something but i didn't end up doing anything much. Frank and i went out for tea at a place called tantan man (Chinese food). It was nice :)

My friend introduced me to an Okinawan girl who is learning English. The three of us went to an izakaya (Japanese pub) and ate a variety of foods. This was my second time at an Izakaya but first time to sit at a tatami mat. It was an enjoyable night and the food was great. I tried many new things including chicken skin on a stick (it was nice, but i didn't know what it was). We had some sake and talked in English and Japanese.

Also that week i went out and had tonkatsu with another friend. I had this vegetable and pork stuffed thing but it was really nice. When they bring you the food there is a motar and pestal with sesame seeds which you grind and pour on the tonkatsu. There is also a sauce you dip the peices in and miso soup comes with it (which you drink out of the bowl). I enjoyed it!

On the weekend Joe had to have the beeper which means he couldn't drink or do anything in case they called him in. It sucks that he couldn't have the thing when Felicia got back, oh well. This weekend was kinda boring, but Sunday was good. Well Sunday afternoon was good. Anyway i went on base with two Japanese people and an American person. I had met one of the girls before and we all went bowling. This was the first time i had done that so it was interesting (i suck!!) but we had fun. After that i went to american village (off base) and went shopping. I bought a few new things (like shoes) and then met up with another friend and we did more shopping. After a while we went for dinner at a jamaican resturant. I had a really good time there, we sat outside (even though it was raining it was nice) the atmosphere of the place and other customers was really good. The people sitting next to us were really friendly and spoke a little English. They were funny. But then, at the only part of the weekend i was enjoying, Joe gets called into work and i had to leave!

On Wednesday night i went out for a walk and it was so nice outside. I walked by the ocean and it was really refreshing. Today i am going to the dentist so i am a little worried. Hopefully it dosent end up costing me too much money!

This weekend i almost have a 4 day weekend! (with the exeption of friday morning until like 7:30) so hopefully i can do something fun. No beeper, Felicia will be back and plenty of time! Also i am organizing to go to Fukoka to see my friend Rina for around a week later this month and i am pretty excited :) Anywayz that's all for now

Weird sentance of the week: You are the only one. Heal your mind my singing voice.

jya ne!

So busy!

It has been a while since i posted but i have been busy this week and keep getting distracted. Felicia left to go back to the states (for work) so for the next three weeks it's just Joe, the kids and me. In this first week he is has been doing this thing where he is working like 12hr shifts so that means i have to look after the kids while he is at work (6pm-6am) and while he sleeps during the day :( but at least they are giving me extra money for it.

Last week was good, i got to go to an autumn festival (aki matsuri) it was the first festival i have been to since i have been here. There were fireworks, dancing and good food - it was fun. I also went to a hawaian resturant and out to see some sights. My friend and i went past these neon covered hotels and he told me they were 'love hotels' so you can imagine what they are used for...at least they are pretty. I also saw feilds of these flowers (i forget the name) with small lanterns over them to simulate the sun - i wish i had my camera on me because it was so beautifu. I got to go shopping in Naha (largest city in Okinawa) finally so that was fun - many shops :)

The weather at the moment is really nice - it's not too hot but it's still sunny, and there is a lovley breeze. I was sitting outside yesterday and looking at the view wishing i could be doing something fun :p hopefully it will still be nice on the weekend. I have been practicing my Japanese and picking up bits along the way. I bought the DVD fruits basket (anime) on amazon and because Joe has a p.o. box on base it should come really quickly (and the postage is cheap too) yay!

Well i am pretty tired - i never get to sleep in here so sometime i am going to need to go sleep at someone else's house (you try going out late then getting woken up early by noisy children every weekend!) Last night Ariana woke up at 11:30 and when i asked her what she wanted she said 'candy' so i was kind of annoyed. On a good note the kids and i found a new park - it is part of some school or something but there was nobody there so we played for a while.
Halloween is comming up soon and although Japanese people don't really celebrate halloween they decorate everything for it so it's kinda cool. I am hoping to get a carving pumpkin from the grocery store on base and do one of thoes. I did one once in Australia but it wasn't really designed for that and it took ages to scoop all the insides out. Also people take their kids on base and do trick or treating there so i really want to go do that too!

Anyway that's all for now, i will post again when i have something interesting to say. But check out my photo gallery beacuse i have updated it http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc177/From_Japan/

Jya ne!

After 1 month work...

Hi again. Like i promised i made a photobucket account to put my crap quality photos on so here it is http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc177/From_Japan/ I uploaded some photos but there is a photo of what looks to be a kitkat drink - but it wasnt. I saw it in a vending machine and i swear it was the only chocolate and it was in a glass container. I only bought it coz i thought it was a drink but it had 4 kitkats in it - i was kinda dissapointed. There is also a glass jar with these candies in it - i saw them in an anime and wanted to buy some. Oh and halloween pocky! It's really nice there is pumpkin flavor - so if anyone wants me to send some down i will. The cigarettes are candy - i just thought it was weird to see them coz they were banned in Australia ages ago. There are some more things i will put in there when i get the photos, still waiting on my camera too.

Not much to say about the begining of the week but on Thursday i met my friend Saori at chatan town after work, we went shopping and at this hippy store i bought incense for my pig and a t-shirt. Later we went to an Okonomiyaki resturant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki) and i had a negi (leek) and bacon one. It was really cool because there is a hotplate on your table and they make the food in front of you.
On Friday morning when i was getting ready the kids wanted to go outside and i said ok. After a while i was wondering why it was quiet and the kids had opened the gate and got outside! Luckily nothing happened but i was so freaked out! Later on i went out with another friend to an izakaya which is a traditional Japanese pub. We ate some really nice food and i drank some sweet sake.

On Saturday i got up early and went out with some people snorkeling. It was heaps of fun but the waves were a bit rough so we didn't see much. Later we went to a beach called sunset beach which is kinda enclosed so there weren't many waves which was nice. We had a giant enflatable bed thing and you take it to this area and people inflate it for you so that was good. I ate taiyaki today which is a fish shaped desert and we went to Coco's which is a curry place that makes Japanese curry. I ate something called pari pari chicken curry and it was really nice! I also picked up a magazine called Okinawa living which has lots of things to do or things that are on in Okinawa and it's in English so it's really helpfull. In the evening Joe Frank and i went out to gate street where there are lots of clubs etc. First we went to Club Fujiyama which is an American/Japanese rock club and it was interesting. Later we went to the airman's club (which is on base) and had a few drinks.

On Sunday i didn't do alot, just bummed around Joe was hung over from the night before. I went to the shops and bought frozen gyoza dumplings which i had with Japanese mayonaise and smokey BBQ sauce ^_^ I also picked up some sweet potatoe chips which were really interesting.

On Tuesday the satelite guy finally came and fixed it for us - now we have more than one channel in English! Not much else to say really i plan to go to Kyoto in November if i can and hopefully Tokyo in December and then to see the snow a bit further north. I hope everyone is having a good time in Australia!

One more thing, i keep seeing weird sentances in English and some of them are funny so i am going to start putting them on here. So here is the first weird sentance of the week: You can't hold down a joyfull heart.
Jya ne!

Woot - long weekend!

This week i met up with a few more people from the net. One guy's name is Hiroto and he was pretty cool. We went out to chatan town and had tea, it was at one of thoes sushi train places (exept they don't call them that here :p). I lost the stylus for my denshi jisho (electronic dictionary) and i had to go to the electronic store and order in a new one, luckily they only cost around 315yen. I also bought a new bikini and it is pink :) very pretty. We went to the beach (not to swim) and there were heaps of cats around! They are all strays and so skinny - i wanted to take one home.

Joe picked up a radio thing for me that can play my ipod too. I am happy but we only get two radio stations here - one in English and one in Japanese. I like to listen to the Japanese one at night when i am going to sleep.

This week Andrew has been waking me up early (like 5-6am) and Ariana has been sleeping! I don't mind so much beacuse one child is easier to look after than two. During the day i was doing the dishes and Ariana and Andrew were upstairs. They were being quiet so when i went up there i saw they had got into the paint! It was a big mess :p

I really wanted to go swimming on the weekend beacuse i finally got a bikini and there was a typhoon in Taipei. Because of this it meant that the weather here was crap and i couldn't go to the beach or Rocktoberfest because it was cancelled.

On Friday the bad weather started and the kids and i made a fort :p so that was fun. I had been waiting for crap weather before we did that because it takes so much time and effort to set it up. Anyway later on i met up with another person from the net named Ayami. She and i went out and just hung out for a while. We bought some fireworks but when we went to set them up we got told we couldn't :( Eventually we did it anyway but not many. Hopefully we can do that again sometime :)

On Saturday i initally planned to go to a Japanese pub with my friend Atsushi but he wasn't feeling well :( But i did go to the shops and pick up my stylus and see some fireworks on the way home which was nice. We also got some tapes for the video camera so i was able to play around with it in the afternoon.

On Sunday Hiroto and i went to the Shurijo Castle park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuri_Castle (they go there in Azumanga daioh). It was really beautiful and we had some sweet ice. After that we went to Uruma city to do more sightseeing and i saw the weirdest thing! The toilets in some places here are in the ground - meaning you have to squat :( They flush and everything but i still think it is kinda gross :s This picture i got of the net but it is exactley like the one i had to use. We also went into a pet shop and in the small animal cages you can actually put your hand in and pick them up! I was holding these adorable hampsters and they also had squirells, feretts and weird looking birds. I was amazed about how tame they were - now i want one! On the way home we were driving and there were these weird guys in suits on the side of the road. I had the camera right there so i filmed it but i had no idea what they were doing there!

On Monday Joe and Felicia had the day off so it gave me the day off too! I went with Felicia and Ariana to the shops and bought a new skirt. We also had lunch out and i had a teriyaki chicken burger - it was really nice! I met a few more of Felicia's friends and came home.

Well that's about all i have to say for the moment. I plan to get a photobucket account and put mroe photos that arent so brilliant quality on there for you all to see. Including that one of thoes guys in suits :p I also bought a phone card so now i can call people :) yay! Sorry i have been late in replying to emails - there are many emails from home and new friends so it's hard to keep up with. Have a good week and i will post again soon

-Alicia

It's so hot!

Hey again. This was a pretty good week. On Monday and Tuesday i didn't do much exept go out for tea in the evening. On Wednesday i caught a bus for the first time to Chatown. The busses here are pretty expensive so that sucks! I went to the electronic store and bought a Japanese to English electronic dictionary. It was expensive but i was really happy to get one because i have wanted one for so long. It recognizes kanji so i can draw them in with a stylus and find out what it says so that rocks! I found some English instructions on the ineternet so i know how to use it. Later i went to the shoping centre and when i was leaving i saw these two girls doing this dancing/singing/rapping thing. It was weird but they were pretty good, if i knew what they were saying. Above is a picture if me and Ariana being silly in front of the webcam :p

I have talked to a few different people in Japanese and it has been good so far. Most of the time it is just sales people but sometimes i see this lady when the kids and i go for a walk and she always says hello. She asked me once wether the kids were my siblings and i didn't know how to say i was their nanny so i just said yes - lol. I have also been talking to alot of American people. I am not quite used to saying the words they use like ketchup and diapers also buiscits are not sweet they are these pastry things (they call buiscits cookies).

On friday it was airman appreciation day which mean Felicia and Joe came home early and i got the afternoon off! I went to the max value and bought a dvd, and even though it's in Japanese the kids still watch it (i am so sick of watching charlotts web and spongebob squarepants). I also bought a text book for my Japanese, i am trying to learn Kanji. The weird thing is the text on it, it says: "You are the only one. Heal your mind my singing voice." I also picked up a manga comic thing, i want to practice reading and there is kanji with furigana (the small hirigana above it) so that will help me too. I found a website with the kanji children in grade 1 in Japan learn (there are 80) so i am starting with that but there are so many to learn. There is a kanji dictionary called the Daikanwa Jiten and it contains 50,000 different kanji which is thought to be comprehensive but more recent mainland Chinese dictionarys contain 80,000 or more characters but most of these are not in common use in either Japan nor China. I got that information from wikipedia so it is probably true.

I was looking at stuff on youtube recently and i found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brh6KRvQHBc it is a live action version of the simpsons intro i thought it was pretty good. I also found this Japanese thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVoLz88hiU it is too weird! I have been watching lots of naruto too ^_^ thanks mick!

I went to a 100 yen store for the first time on Saturday :) i bought a bunch of stuff - it was fun! I saw thoes party popper cone shaped things you see in anime alot and when i have something to celebrate i will buy some. I have been enjoying it so far here but i have been a bit lonley so i decided to make some Japanese friends. On Saturday night i met up with a Japanese girl from the internet. Her name is Rian, she is 20 and lives in Yomitan too. She is nice and we had a good time, we went out for drinks and to some random arcade. There was this little market on and it was really cool, i want to go back there sometime.

On Sunday Felicia and i went shopping and i ate at Moss burger. I remember one of my Japanese teachers Kaoru said was good - i told her if i went to Japan i would eat there and now i have! I had a rice burger which is like a normal burger but the patties are just rice - i liked it. The one thing we thought was funny was their slogan was 'hamburger is my life'. I have also tried a matcha (green tea powder) flavoured ice cream and it is nice, not alot like matcha though.

Not much else to say really, i want to do more shopping and go into Naha city but by bus it'll cost me $10-$15 one way so i am hoping one of my new friends can take me :) There are lots of things i want to see in the area like the castle ruins and Rocktober fest is on next week (Like Octoberfest but with Japanese rock music). Also i am still trying to find a bikini for myself - it seems really hard but it shouldn't be because it is so hot here (some days its over 30 degrees) and there are so many nice beaches! So that's all for now, thanks for everyones nice comments and emails i would love to know what's happening with everyone too. I will post again next week.

-Alicia

1 week after work...

Hi everyone who bothers to read this, sorry it is long!

It has been pretty good, the kids are mostly good and we are getting into a routine now. I get up around 6am and have a shower, most of the time the kids don't wake until 6:30. I make myself a coffee and something to eat while they come down and I get them some breakfast. After they have eaten and cleaned up we usually go for a walk to the park (while it is still cool - and assuming it doesnt rain). When we get back i put on a DVD so i can rest for a bit (it gets really hot and the pram is heavy to push). During the day we do various things, but around 11:15 i make lunch so at 11:30 they can eat. After i have cleaned Andrew up i put him to bed - and he usually sleeps 2-4hrs! I let Ariana play computer games while i clean up the lunch mess and when i am done we do something that Andrew is too small to do. Around 4pm Joe or Felicia come home and that's all for me!

I like to go for walks around the place, there are alot of things i want to take photos of but i still dont have my camera (stupid ebay). I have my SLR and i have been playing with it but i don't like to take millions of photos with it because film and developing etc. The area is really beautiful, there are sugar cane feilds everywhere - some right near our house. The view here is lovley too, you can see the ocean from the window. The picture to the left is part of my backyard and some of the view, it is prettier from upstairs. In my bedroom at night i can see the city lights from one of the islands here and it's really nice too. The weather is crazy here, one day it's really hot and sunny the next it's really windy and rainy (but not cold). It starts to cool down in December but it never gets lower than around 15 degrees c.

I have been to the local max value (a large supermarket) and it is quite strange. They have lots of advertising around the place (video and radio) and one time i was walking and i heard a song from the radio singing "denshi renji" which means microwave lol. I found that things werent heaps expensive which is good (exept mellons which are $12-$15 but can be more in different seasons!) I also saw alcohol and fireworks in the ailses, which is nice i guess. I recently bought fantasia on DVD for around $5! I have wanted that for ages and although it has Japanese subtitles there isn't much talking in it. I also bought a bag wich is clear and has cute clovers on it, i need something i can throw everything into when i take the kids for a walk - good for going to the beach with as well. I went to the local mall (thing) and bought clothing, i was happy! The things i have seen are pretty decent too.

I have been on the American base several times now. I was surprized because it was so big - they have resturants, dorms, swimming pools, shops, bank, cinema, church and lots more. If you wanted you would never have to leave the base (i don't know why you would). It is weird going there because it is like a whole other country - i am experiance this Amreican culture as well as the Japanese so it is quite strange but i like it. I got to try Reece's peanut butter cups and i really like them :) The things on base are pretty cheap, and it is nice to have a place that speaks English too. Oh and alcohol is cheap too, i saw some of that absolut vodka (around $40AU at home) for half the price here! I bought some of that lychee liqure here and it is really nice (if you like lychees).

Some other random news I have decided to try a different type of Japanese drink from the vending machines every day. I have had a few different sports drinks, teas and juices. There are so many different types it is fun trying them, they taste different to drinks from home. I bought a new mobile phone :) it is black and nice looking and it came with a mini stationary kit (?). The brand is softbank which i thought was weird but it was cheap ($50 + $30 worth of credit free). I have been looking for some friends in Okinawa to show me around and practice my Japanese on, i want to meet someone who is around my age but i have alot of older people msging me :s oh well.

This weekend Joe and Felicia had some people over from work for a BBQ. It was nice to meet new people and not hang around kids all the time! On Sunday two of their friends and us went to the aquirium. It was the first thing i got to see besides going on my walks and down to the base. It was so full but it was still nice to see. We had Japanese food for lunch and then went back home.

Not much else to say, i have been busy alot and i hope to soon figure out the bus system here. I really want to buy an electronic dictionary so i am investigating that :) i am having a good time though. I might update my blog weekly for people to look at but i will stop emailing you all coz i dont think everyone cares that much. Hope everything is good in Australia (i have been watching chaser online and looking at the news every now and then). Cya

-Alicia

Arrival

Hello!

My flight to Taipei was kinda boring. I watched 3 movies and some other things. When i got there i was surprized because i thought i had to book a hotel for myself, but the airlines organized it for me! It was really muggy and hot there, but everything was air conditioned. They took us to this fancy country club and gave us free breakfast and lunch. There was one channel on the TV in English (CNN) and all this free stuff in the room so i was happy.

The next day it rained in the morning and then went for a walk. It was alot cooler but it was still uncomfortable. I saw alot of shrines and stuff like that, but we were too far away from any shops so i couldn't buy anything! I was supposed to call some people but i lost my mobile phone! The phone itself wasn't such a loss, but now i don't have anyones numbers anymore! So if you want to email me your number do that at some point!

The bus took us to the airport and i got the chance to buy some souvineers (so the money i exchanged for taxis wasnt in vein). The flight to Okinawa was only an hour and 10 minutes and when i got there it was hot (even in the evening). Right now is Japan's Autum, but because Okinawa is right down the bottom of Japan it is quite warm. Okinawa is famous for it's different dialect, beaches and typhoons. I am staying in Yomitan (see map) After i filled out heaps of forms i saw Felicia and Joe and they drove me home!

It was weird being in Japan, there are vending machines everywhere! I knew this before i came but i saw vending machines for cigerettes and alchohol. They said once they saw someone stop his car in the middle of the street and run out to get something from one once.

Felicia, Joe and the kids are all really nice. They are only in their 20's so it's nice to be around people that i can hang out with too. The house is really cool too, two stories and has air conditioning ^_^.

Last night there was a typhoon here, it wasn't very bad but it was weird seeing the storm and hearing the wind. Lots of trees around here are held up with wood so they don't blow over becayse typhoons are so common.

That's all for now, i start working on monday and i had a bit of time to get to know the kids. I will probably update in a week or so. Cya!

Delays

It turns out I am not flying out on Saturday anymore! The situation is I had to send my visa to the passport office in Melbourne and I was told by the post office people it only takes two days to send via registered post. Anyway the visa office sent the passport on time but it didn’t arrive here on time so I have had to delay the flight to next Wednesday, which means I won’t get to Okinawa until Thursday! I feel really bad for a few people (the family I am going to be working for and my friend Rina who is meeting up with me) but I can’t get on a plane without a passport or visa! Anyway this means I have a few more days in Sydney with my Dad (which is good). So I am really frustrated at the moment with the post office, this makes it harder for a lot of people.

In other news has everyone been watching what the chaser guys are doing at APEC? LOL! Also as a side note my Dad has this radio in his car which is security code protected. Anyway he got the car second hand and at one point the radio had to be taken out and when it was put back in the code needed to be re-entered. Well my Dad did not know this code so for about 3 months has had no radio. He has been randomly typing in 4 digit codes but it seemed highly unlikely to actually guess it. When I came to visit he told me about it so I thought I would try typing in random codes to see if I could get it – and I did! On my fourth try I had a good feeling about these numbers and what do you know – radio again! So yay for me and my lucky numbers!

That’s all for now.
-Alicia

Sydney

Well I am in Sydney at the moment. I got here last night and I will be here until Saturday morning when I leave for Taipei (Taiwan) and I leave for Okinawa on the Sunday morning (yes I have to spend a night in Taipei!).

The next few days will just be visiting family and such. I don’t really have a lot to say except thanks to everyone who came to the airport or saw me off in the previous weeks. It means a lot to me that everyone was there and I wish I had more time to see people. Also thanks to everyone for showing their support for me doing this, I don’t know what I would do without you guys!

I hope everyone has a good time while I am gone (not too good :p) and please keep me informed on all the news etc because I doubt I will have a lot of time. That’s all for now, I will post again when I am leaving for Japan (probably). Wish me luck for the trip.

-Alicia

Confirmed!

I have officially got a job in Japan now! I am going to be an au pair for an American family in Okinawa. For anyone who care they went to Okinawa in Azumanga daioh (anime) on a class trip. Anyway the children are 3 and 1! I know that is young but I think this will be a great experience for me. I am leaving Sydney on the 8th of September and stopping in Taipei (Taiwan) before I arrive in Japan on the 9th.

I am going to take many photos with my new camera (which I will get soon from ebay) and post some here, but all the good ones will be on my deviantart account, (see the side). That’s all for now.

-Alicia

The beginning

Welcome to Alicia's journal.

This was created to keep all my friends and family posted on the news from my working holiday in Japan.

First a little about me. I am female, 20, and from Australia. I have a boyfriend named Sam and we live together in a small flat with 2 cats, a bird and a mouse. I am a waitress in a uni cafeteria and study Japanese.

Now on with the story. I recently decided that in order to accentuate my studies working in the country where the language I was learning was all around me was a good idea. I have never been overseas before so it is a little strange to me but I am excited none the less. My first move is to look for a job. I have skills in hospitality so a bar job would be the best bet.Since this is only the first chapter I will leave it at that for now. I will update soon with more information!

Wish me luck!