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!