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