Wednesday, 23 February 2005

Beijing Here I Come!

Well, I'm off to Beijing tonight on the 6pm flight NW011. Still have lots of packing to do and housecleaning before I go. I'll be in Beijing until the 28th (getting back in Japan at 1:30pm) so have plenty of time to see the great wall, tombs, palaces, etc. Can't wait!

Saturday, 19 February 2005

X-Men:Dark Phoenix Rising - presented by Newgrounds.com

X-Men:Dark Phoenix Rising - presented by Newgrounds.com -- A hillarious X-Men parody! Very fast to watch. Great fun!

Wednesday, 16 February 2005

It's SNOWING!!!!!!!

So cool! It's snowing right now, and pretty heavily too!!! Love it! Japan looks great in the snow..... man, it's going to be freezing getting my Visa today! :o

Monday, 14 February 2005

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Not really as big here as I was lead to believe. Some of the Japanese staff gave us a few pressies. Here in Japan the women give the men gifts on Valentine's Day. A month later, in March, the guys give the women gifts on "White Day". Go figure.

Sunday, 13 February 2005

A Student Walkout!

Heard this a few days ago when I was covering Jackson's shift at Sengendai (where I used to work every Thursday last year, but had been moved off without my concent while I was in Australia on holidays) and was told by Michiko (Japanese staff member) that 5 students out of my 7 student kindergarden class were quitting because I was no longer their teacher! It's sad, because they were such a good class and really had a great time doing it but I can't help but feel good about myself and the quality of my teaching!

On a completely different topic, I went into Roppongi earlier this week to get my Chinese Tourist Visa and discovered a few things:

1) You need an information desk to help you find an information desk.

2) The map the information desk gives you is pointless as half the streets aren't on it and there are no street signs on Tokyo roads!

3) Wind, rain and cold are no fun in Tokyo.

4) After 1 hour of trying to find the embassy, I found out it was closed because "Tomorrow is a public holiday." "What the fuck?!?" I hear you say? Me too.

5) Roppongi has some of the best shops in Tokyo! Had a great time window shopping here and even found a Roppongi Hills Starbucks mug!!!

Wednesday, 9 February 2005

Go, system errors!!!

In December I participated in an online secret santa using Amazon.com's wishlist programme. There was a system error with one of my secret santas and I got a complete stranger's present; a hardcover Little Women collectors edition book! I emailed Amazon.com and gave them all the information I could, and the said they'd sort it out.

Well it's been 2 months and I still havn't receieved my present but today I got in snail mail, an Amazon.com Gift Certificate for US$115.46!!!!

Not bad, eh? LOVE IT!

Tuesday, 8 February 2005

Virgin Galactic

Wow! Just surfing the Lonely Planet site (they've got a great article on the top 5 countries to visit this year!) and they had a link to Virgin Galactic. Needless to say I was suprised.... but I've also signed up for updates!!! It's great to see a REAL company actually plan for space travel like this! Definitly worth checking out!

Wednesday, 2 February 2005

How have I changed?

Someone asked me how I had changed since being in Japan last week, and to be honest my immediate answer was "I havn't". But after a few minutes of thinking I realised I had changed a bit. I had developed a zero tolerance for people's bullshit. i.e. Racism, rude behaviour in public, etc. Having never really been exposed to racism I guess I had never developed a personal defensive mechanism. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. When someone displays racism against me my immediate reaction is to think "Who the Hell does that any more? What a moron!". I don't see it as a personal attack at all. Just interesting I guess.

Annyyyway... I thought of another way that I've changed! My taste in food! Well it hasn't changed that much but I'm really digging all these different tofu products and bean pancake thingys. Soba noodles are also my friend as is takoyaki and akonomiyaki (can't spell sorry!). I'll definitly be eating these when I get back to Oz!