1. Good ramen
2. Bamboo forests
3. An excellent train system
4. Earning Yen
5. H&M Osaka
6. Costco Amagasaki
7. Pre-cut meat in the supermarket
8. Daiei using the Rocky theme song as background music
9. Combinis
10. Mountains
11. Spring weather
12. Onsens
13. A large proportion of the food
14. Visiting other parts of Asia
15. Ceremonies
16. Tracksuits

Sometimes, when living in a foreign country, you have bad days. It just happens. Then sometimes (at least in my experience) people are so kind and generous that you are overwhelmed with the niceness that bubbles over like a fountain of rainbows.

Be prepared for mushiness.

Yesterday I needed to go to the doctor. I go to the doctor a lot in japan, with everything from the dreaded influenza A (cue ominous music) to an infected knee from falling down a mountain in front of a very awkward looking bunch of school boys.

I asked if I could take leave to go to the doctor, and needed to take 2 hours, as my school (of 21 students) is in the middle of nowhere and is only served by two busses per afternoon. They told me I could take the afternoon (from 2pm) off without taking leave .

On my way to the bus stop, I dropped by the convenience store to buy an umbrella. With my appalling nihon-go, and her nit speaking English, we had an amusing game of charades to try and buy said umbrella. Turns out they had none.

So, with my bus coming, I walked across the road and waited in the rain for my bus to come. Soon the shopkeeper wandered over. She felt bad for me with no umbrella, so lent me hers!

This was just one day. I have so many more similar experiences.

Now, together, all say “awww”.

I got sick, so the above never actually happened, ’cause “I sat around in pain doing not much” doesn’t make a very interesting blog.

I went to Hong Kong for the last few days, I will make a post of that soon.

 

Well.

I have come to the conclusion that I am terribly, terribly bad at keeping my darling friends,  family, and random internet strangers informed of my goings on. I have decided to rectify this situation by attempting to write a post about my day, every day this week. This will hopefully provide a small glimpse into the life that is mine.

I have been in Japan for a wee while now. I feel too much time has passed to try and update everything, so instead will just try and cover some of the basics:

*I have enjoyed visiting a few places. Probably the most touristy is Kyoto, which I have been to twice

*I lost my passport on the day I arrived in Kobe. I got it back about a week later. Very scary.

*I have made wonderful friends. We live in three main locations in Kobe. I live in a rural area, 20 minutes by train to the city centre.

*My work takes one hour and 20 minutes door to door. It doesnt feel that bad though.

*I hurt my foot and was on crutches for 2 weeks earlier this year.

*Summer was PAINFULLY hot. Painfully!

 

I will start to write posts on different aspects of culture, experiences, observations etc, at a later point.

I love karaoke. It is official. Just to let you know. It’s like singstar but better.

That’s all I really have to say.

For a while these blog posts will be short and sweet as I am blogging from my phone. I have been enjoying life here, even though it is excessively hot. I had lostmy passport, and spent a few days having to panic and organize things. Luckily, just after I had sent some photos home it turned up at a random police station I had never been to. We suspect it was found in a taxi.
The town I am living in is cute, and about twenty minutes to the centre of town. Unfortunately, due to the fact that it goes through a mountain tunnel, it includes the most expensive single stop subway ride in all of japan, at about ten nz dollars each way. Thankfully I will be getting a monthly pass for work.

3/8/10 – 8.30 AM

I am writing this overlooking Tokyo from my hotel room. I love being on the 33rd floor – the view is spectacular – directly opposite us is the Tokyo council building, and then it is a sea of buildings for miles. There is a park with really bushy green trees around the council buildings, and the streets below the hotel are also tree lined, so it gives a really interesting  contrast where the green suddenly stops and there is simply a mass of buildings.

Yesterday was good. Wehad a really long meeting in the morning. There were some really good speeches, especially one on culture shock, the was really informative and really funny. I have to admit I am a bit anxious about culture shock, but am trying to learn as much as I can about the signs and symptoms, and ways to get through it. I am aware that when moving to a country with such a strong difference in culture, then culture shock is almost inevitable. I just want to be as prepared as I can. I did have a headache through the session through, I guess brought on by tiredness and the fact that I was dehydrated. After lunch we had electives, and then finally a welcome reception.

After the reception, at about 8.30 I went out for a while with some other Christians on JET (they have a “special interest group”). That was really nice. We wnded up going to a courtyard surrounded by buildings that seemed to play “spacey” music, which was quite fun. We had some intetresting discussion too. After that another kiwi guy, and a girl from North Carolina and I went and looked for Krispy Kreme donuts. I had a chocolate custard doughnut and a really yummy peach fizzy, that had little pieces of peaches.

Tomorrow I fly to Kobe, which I am quite excited about, but a bit anxious too, which I feel is understandable!

3/8/10 – 8.30 AM
I am writing this overlooking Tokyo from my hotel room. I love being on the 33rd floor – the view is spectacular – directly opposite us is the Tokyo council building, and then it is a sea of buildings for miles. There is a park with really bushy green trees around the council buildings, and the streets below the hotel are also tree lined, so it gives a really interesting  contrast where the green suddenly stops and there is simply a mass of buildings.
Yesterday was good. Wehad a really long meeting in the morning. There were some really good speeches, especially one on culture shock, the was really informative and really funny. I have to admit I am a bit anxious about culture shock, but am trying to learn as much as I can about the signs and symptoms, and ways to get through it. I am aware that when moving to a country with such a strong difference in culture, then culture shock is almost inevitable. I just want to be as prepared as I can. I did have a headache through the session through, I guess brought on by tiredness and the fact that I was dehydrated. After lunch we had electives, and then finally a welcome reception.
After the reception, at about 8.30 I went out for a while with some other Christians on JET (they have a “special interest group”). That was really nice. We wnded up going to a courtyard surrounded by buildings that seemed to play “spacey” music, which was quite fun. We had some intetresting discussion too. After that another kiwi guy, and a girl from North Carolina and I went and looked for Krispy Kreme donuts. I had a chocolate custard doughnut and a really yummy peach fizzy, that had little pieces of peaches.  Tomorrow I fly to Kobe, which I am quite excited about, but a bit anxious too, which I feel is understandable!

Written 2/8/2010 – 8.10 AM

We arrived safely in Tokyo at 6pm Japan time last night. Immigration and customs was very smooth, but up until that point we had to wait in line for what felt like forever, as there was no aircon.

The journey started on Saturday, when we had a pre-departure orientation in Christchurch, before flying to Auckland for the night. Auckland was a really nice temperature. It was really mild, especially after spending the last week in Christchurch. After the orientation we boarded buses to the airport, said our final goodbyes to friends and whanau, and flew to Auckland. In Auckland five of my wonderful friends from Hamilton decided to surprise me by showing up at the hotel. Caleb, Ellen, Toby, Lyndal and Glen – you guys rock!

We then enjoyed a 5 am wake-up call, before boarding our flight to Christchurch. Our flight to Tokyo was good. About 2 hours into the flight I discovered my seat didn’t recline, as it was broken, so the friendly Flight Attendant moved me to an aisle seat with no one in front of me. I later discovered my new TV was fuzzy, so discussed it with the Flight Attendant, and he and I agreed that I could just use both seats – one to fly in, and the other to watch movies and chat in. I believe he would have found me a new seat otherwise. Air New Zealand’s service cannot be faulted! On a side note -there was a situation which displayed Air NZs dedication to the safety and well being of the customers. I don’t wish to divulge any more here, except to say that I now have even more faith in Air NZ, especially if something goes wrong with your health whilst flying. Blatant advertising for AirNZ over. Well not quite over – you do know they are the international Airline of the year for the awards that are equivelant to the airline oscars. They are that amazing.

Anyway, back to the story. The flight was quite fun, as there were a lot of JETs, and we hasd the chance to wander around and chat a bit, except when the seatbelt sign was on, which was about half of the flight, as there was a fair amount of Turbulance.

We arrived in Tokyo last night, had glorious, glorious showers and dressed in our very limited best, ready to go and find food, as we are staying in Shinjuku. The hotel is flash. FLASH. Keio Plaza – look it up. Our room even has one fo those space age toilets – it runs water automatically when you sit on it to mask the sound of your ablutions! I am sharing my room with two others from the Christchurch consulate, which is nice, as it means I already knew them.

We then went out for dinner in a group, seven of us from the South Island/ Christchurch consulate. We went to this restaurant underground, and tried a whole range of Japanese food, especially as a couple of members of our group had lived in Japan before, and everyone, except me and one other guy, had been to Japan before. It was really yummy. I even tried salmon roe!

We are about to go to our first meeting. We have been up from five, as our bodies are still on New Zealand time, and we are sleeping with the window open, as our view is so spectacular, especially from the 33rd floor!

Anyway, I will write more later.

Laura

I spent a week in super exciting Blenheim this week.

The town of Blenheim is known to be very, very boring  to many many people. My friends and I tend to disagree for one simple reason. Clearly the Paris of Marlborough. We decided this for the following reasons:

1. Paris is the main urban centre of France, Blenheim is the main urban city of Marlborough.

2. Paris has a river. Blenheim has a river.

3. France is a wine place. Marlborough is a wine place.

4. Paris has buildings painted white. Blenheim has buildings painted white.

Clearly one can ascertain Blenheim’s role as the Paris of Marlborough!

Some highlights of my time in Blenheim include:

*Time spent with my sister – Gosh she’s cute. I will miss her!

*Visiting my mother’s wine club. It involved delicious food, and fantastic wine. I had beautiful steak for dinner.

*Church with my mother. It was lovely, with a real Social Justice focus.

*Nowhere near enough study!

Tomorrow I take the train to Christchurch. I am so excited.