14/12/10 - 19/12/10 (I can't be imaginative. I just typed this whole post)

Okay, I'm going to start with an apology: I've been busy/lazy, and therefore have not updated this for about 2 weeks. Never fear, you won't miss anything. Just bear with me, it's gunna be a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong post. Also, I gotta apologise coz I'm writing this while I'm watching a Hannah Montana Forever marathon, so I'm sorry if some random lyrics pop up in the middle of an I'm still good sentence.
Here goes. Good luck.

Tuesday 14/12/10

We had our first Japanese culture class today. We made Christmas cards with ahiga, traditional style paintings. It's like a really strict version of watercolour painting, which were never my favourite, but still fun =)
School finished early, coz of exams. We stopped at Mos Burger on the way home for lunch. Chicken teriyaki burger = om nom nom. The rest of the afternoon I spent blobbing under the kotatsu. Yay!
Then at about 6, I set off (on foot) with Masato to Eikun (Masumi'S brother)'s house. I thought we were just going for a feed/family get together. Turns out it was a memorial day for Ji-chan's parents. There was a traditional Korean ceremony - it involved lots of bowing (really glad I a. have new jeans that fit b. wore a long top), incense and a little chanting. I didn't understand and of it, of course, coz it was all in Korean. I was absolutely terrified that someone was going to set their tie on fire when they were leaning over the candles... eep!
Oh, and I tried sea cucumber. Nice taste (fishy, but hey), but the texture is so strange! I can't even describe it... kind of muffled crunchy, slimy, slightly chewy... I don't know.
However, on the upside I learnt how to play games on a Wii and I found the second half of the bullet train ticket I thought I'd lost. Yay!

Wednesday - 15/12/10

Started off at the primary school, with the 5th graders. There was one girl whose English was AMAZING. They were all pretty good though. Nice and quiet =)
We had a double period of koto, with lunch time in between. We learnt the really difficult part of Sakura. For some reason, I found it easier. It's faster, but it means that I don't start speeding up by accident!
At lunch time, we ate Okonomiyaki with Ms Ukida, Mr Haws, Ms Inoue and Mr Yamamoto (the primary school principal). It was, once again, very yummy, and we got a brief lesson on the history of the dish too!
School finished early again , but exams are finished now, so Rika doesn't have to study to odd hours of the night anymore. Yay!
Anywho, we caught the train to Hondori and went shopping. I was trying to look for presents, but everywhere we looked was really expensive. However, I found about 3 different pairs of shoes that I've fallen in love with. Now, I just need to get my cards working... so, after purikura (Google it) and pizza, we caught another train back to ALSOK (no idea what it stands for, so don't ask) and we saw A Chorus Line. Of course, it was all in Japanese, so I spent most of my time trying to remember the English words to the songs, or observing the dancing (which was quite good... how do the guys get so flexible? Seriously!) I bought a programme too, and don't understand a word of it. My goal for the end of 2011 is to translate all of it =)

Thursday 16/12/10

So, today I finally figured out how to rock the pigtails look. And I also found out that I can do french braid pigtails. Who knew? Anyway, at Yasuda you're not allowed to wear your hair out, ever. So, it's either pigtails or a ponytail. Very little creative license can be used... I don't think I've seen one quiff, ribbon, or coloured hairclip in the past 2 weeks.
At school today, we had an intense double period of Japanese (note top self: write out good copy of homework BEFORE class), then calligraphy, which was... interesting.
We didn't really understand the activity, though. I think we were supposed to be practising how to write kanji with (wait for it) chopsticks, straws and cardboars. Yeah, that didn't really work out so well for us... We did make some nice paintings though!
At lunch, I went to the canteen with Miwa and Chelsea and bought PEACH BREAD. I was pink, peach flavoured, and had actual peaches in the middle. I think Hiroshima is a little like heaven - you can get anything peach flavoured =P
After lunch, we had our second culture class with the alumni association. We painted haiga again - I think I'm improving a little bit. I painted some hinamatsuri dolls, and they actually looked okay!
Then, the big achievement of the day... I got home, on the bus and train, BY MYSELF.

Friday - 17/12/10

Today, after another intense double Japanese lesson, we had a PE lesson. The sports uniform is SO CUTGE - and way warmer than I was expecting. Mind you, the day wasn't as freezing as yeaterday, so I guess it just felt warmer. Anywho, we were playing soccer. Not my strong point, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fun =P I hugged the other team's best player for about 5 minutes, so my team could win. Yeah... we lost. But in my team's downtime, we played on the bars, for the first time in AGES. I've lost any upper body strength I ever possessed. *shrug* oh well.
After lunch, we went to the tatami rooms to learn about the traditional Japanese tea ceremony - and we got to drink one lot that we made ourselves. It was the nice tasting stuff, thank goodness - like the ice cream. Nice and sweet =) Once we'd tried making macha, we ended up sitting for about an hour and talking (in mostly Japanese) with the two teachers. It proved to me that when I need to, I can discuss things in Japanese. Yay!
I caught the bus home by myself again. I'm getting pretty good at it, I think.

Saturday - 18/12/10

SCHOOL. On a SATURDAY. Whut? I feel so backwards right now. And REALLY tired. That could have something to do with the not-much-sleep thing, but we'll ignore that. Anyways, went to school for half a day. Japanese lesson (again), discussion time with Ms Donaldson, and then another culture lesson. This time, we made these really cool little origami-type umbrellas. They are AWESOME!
Then, school finished, so I went with Rika and Mika to Hondori. Technically we're not supposed to go anywhere but between school and home in our uniforms, but I'm assuming no one reading this will dob us in =P We had lunch at this cute little underground restaurant, then wandered around for a bit... THEN my first try of Mr Donut. It was SO GOOD. I think I had a strawberry flavoured thing. Not 100% sure, but hey, it tasted good, so what do I care?
For dinner, we went out to a Chinsese restaurant (me, Rika and Masumi) to have dinner with Ji-chan and 2 Korean friends who are going home tomorrow. Am I the only who finds it kinda ironic that I, a New Zealander, went to a Chinese restaurant in Japan to eat dinner with some Koreans?
I figured out whi I eat so much here though. Everything comes out as individual dihes, and you never know exactly how much you've eaten until your pants get uncomfortably tight.

Sunday - 18/12/10

It was Masato's birthday today. Masato, Masumi and I got up early (ish) and headed out for some sightseeing adventures. We drove for about an hour and a half, then stopped at this little roadside thing. I have no idea where it was, but it was cute, had lots of souvenirs, and the food in the restaurant tasted good.
After that we drove for another 20 minutes or so, and went to the ______ bridge. It's quite cool... like the Japanese footbridge interpretation of of the bridge at Balclutha.
Anyways, I took a picture of the castle at the top of the hill, which was closed so we didn't bother walking up the hill. (In actual fact, it turns out I tooka picture of someone's house, which I mistook for the castle. Whoops...) At the little township, though, we stopped for an ice cream at this little place in the town square. They had 100 different flavours. I had no clue what half of them were. Apparently, there were wasabi and curry flavoured ones. Interesting. There was also a monkey. A performing monkey, dressed in clothes (no fez, unfortunately), on a leash, sitting on a little stool, waiting for something to do. He looked so sad!
Then, we went to Miyajima. It was pretty cool. First, we tried oysters (Hiroshima is famous for them). They tasted good, but the place we bought them from looked a little bit dodgy. I'm still okay, though, so obviously it was alright =P
Anyhow, we went to see the temple, and the floating torii. It was low tide, though, so there was just a lot of green snot weed floating around, instead of nice clean water =( Even so, it was still pretty amazing!
At the temple, I got a fortune thingy. Only problem is, I can't read it. One day, I'll figure it out! Might be a bit late if it tells me I'm going to die tomorrow, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. After visiting the temple, we went back through the town to the ferry port thing - we arrived at the island quite late, so didn't have much time for any more sightseeing. However, we did have time for some souvenir shopping. I got almost everybody's gifts on Miyajima. I spent a fair bit, but I'm still (reasonably) on budget, so it's okay. Oh, and there's deer EVERYWHERE on the island. I saw one eating a paper cup.
We drove back to Hiroshima, which took about another hour and a half (I swear I know every word of that Selena Gomez CD now), and then went out for Masato's birthday dinner. It was at an AMAZING teppanyaki restaurant (there was a valet. A VALET. We took a taxi though, so it wasn't much use to us. But still. VALET.)
We walked to Heiwa no Dori (Peace Boulevard) on the way home to see the "Dreamination", more commonly referred to as "Illumination". NOT to be mistaken, as I found out, with elimination. It has nothing to do with reality TV.
Anyway, about 6 blocks are all decked up in lights, on both sides of the street. It's kinda like Fairfield and Waldronville go together, had a baby, and then fed it copious amounts of growth hormones. There's honestly NO other way of describing it. It was AH-MAY-ZING. Yes, it does require splitting one word into three. That's how cool it is. There was a pirate ship, and a merry-go-round, and a WHALE and a castle made of lights, and SO many other things. It was awesome. Then when I got home, I had a wee Skype chat with the parentals and Mark in HOLLAND. Yay! Apparently, it's quite cold there. Like, homeless people freezing on the streets cold. And snowy cold. We all know how Mum loves the snow! =P


Right. Posting this lot now. Another big, long, more than a weeks worth of stuff will be headed your way in a couple of hours. You have time to prepare your eyeballs =)

P.S. Another apology - if there's spelling mistakes, I'm sorry. I'm still not very good at using the laptop/Japanese keyboard.

Been here for a week now, and I'm getting used to it... most of it =)

11/12/10 - Home

I had a lie in today. Yay! However, I was woken up by the sound of a lawnmower. I kid you not. I live on the tenth floor, in the middle of the city, not a square inch of mowable grass within about a 10km radius, and I could swear I heard a lawn mower. New Zealand summer is coming to haunt me!!
Also downstairs or upstairs, I'm not sure which, someone is doing construction. At 9am. On a Saturday. It's quite loud.
The birds are also REALLY strange. Nothing like NZ birds at all. We were walking to the elementary school with Ms Ukida the other day, and heard this weird squawking noise, so asked her what it was. She told us that the birds were singing. No joke.

Peace Park

Today, Masumi and Ji-chan took me to the へいわこうえん、or the Peace Park. It was both amazing and really scary. (My blood sugars went low while I was there, and I wasn't actually sure if it was the exhibits making me feel all shaky, or my sugars. I always get more emotional when I'm low. Hence the crying during a Hannah Montana episode. 'Nuff said?)
Anyway, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SUCK. I kind of already knew how bad it was, but seeing all the 'material witnesses', like the clothes and photos of people with radiation burns, and hearing some of the stories (I had an audio guide) almost brought me to tears. I have NEVER heard a museum so quiet. At the beginning of the exhibit, people were still talking, and acting normal,. Everyone walking out was a hell of a lot quiter and paler. Really, there's no words to explain everything that was there. You'll have to go to Hiroshima to understand it - the atmosphere in the room makes all the difference.

Afterwards

So, after the museum, Ji-chan took me and Masumi to an Okonomiyaki restaurant. It was yummy, but probably not my favourite food so far. For dinner (after I successfully figured out how to upload photos) we had sashimi. Definitely not my favourite food so far =P I don't mind raw fish on/in sushi, but it seemed kinda weird to be shoveling whole pieces of it into my mouth... I think I'll grow to like it though =)

13/12/10

Yesterday morning, we got up nice and early to see Kagura, which is the tradtional Shinto dancing. Lots of oni (evil spirits) and samurai (I think) and singing that I couldn't understand... but it was really interesting! The one thing I couldn't really fathom out was how the performers changed their masks so fast!
And the toilets at the theatre... After the third act (we skipped the fourth and went home) I lined up, as you do, and then whaddaya know, they're all traditional Japanese toilets. I left in rather a hurry... they scare me just a little bit!! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it.)
But anyways, when we got home, I had a mass upload of photos to Facebook, yay! I have a feeling I'll be taking more than 8GB of photos and video, though. I deleted the 124 photos from the Mazda museum today though. I took most of them for Mark, and they're on FB now, so my work is DONE.
The Mazda Museum was really interesting though! The hydrogen cars were really cool =) I thought the blue one was quite funny. It looks really futuristic on the outside, all bubble-like, then on the inside it has really old school 90's bus-style patterned seats. It made me laugh, just a little =P

Right, ttfn, more to come!!
Anna x

First week, first Friday. Mochi, sushi and trees. =)

10/12/10 - School, 8.15am

Yes, I am at school before 8.30. Don't get any ideas, Dad.
Anyways, at the start and end of each day, everybody (well, almost everybody. Some students are lazy =P) bows at the gate, in the general direction of a shrine/memorial thing to theYasuda students who died in the A-bomb.
Oh, and there's a sakura tree near to the gate that survived the A-bomb, even though it's less than 2.5km from where the bomb was dropped.
Speaking of trees, we arrived here on Tuesday to find that there were about 4 trees all wrapped up in dried flax-grass type stuff. Apparently, it's to keep them warm/alive during the winter. Who knew?

Later - in the car, after lunch

We finished school early today, coz it's exam time, so Masato took me and Rika to a kaiten-zushi restaurant for lunch - it's one of the awesome sushi-on-a-conveyor places =) Oh, and I ripped open a crab and ate its legs.It tasted good, but it was really hairy... and kinda scary. I was afraid that it was going to wake up and attack me!
It seems that everyone here is obsessed with wet hand towels. Don't get me wrong, they have their uses, but I never know where to put them when I'm finished with them!
At school today, we went to the primary school again, to teach the third graders. We've met half the school now =)
Then, after that, we went to the kindergarten to make mochi! It's basically pounded, mushed up steamed rice. Once it's steamed, it gets put into a giant nortar and pestle thingamy, and gets all beaten up to a... paste, I guess you'd say. Ah, it's too hard for me to explain. Look here: click. Anyway, it's really yummy, and it was really fun to make.

So, you know how I went to aerobics the other day? Well, now my legs (especially the left one) are so sore, that straightening them is actually really difficult. BUT the aerobics instructor, who is Masumi's friend, dave both me and Rika a box of delicious German chocolate each. I'm in heaven.

Right, 'nuff said from me for now. Disney Channel calls!

おやすみなさい！(Goodnight)
Anna x

The past few days... I've been dreading this.

I've been putting this off for SO LONG. I keep writing too much each day, and the idea of updating the blog just seems to get more and more daunting. Anyway, here goes.

6/12/10

Today was my first day at Yasuda! It was really fun =) I did my self introduction speech thing in front of my home room and the teachers. It went okay... We met Ms Donaldson today, a fellow kiwi working as an English teacher at Yasuda. She gave us the tour and told us about all the rules (I'll do a seperate post later, maybe. Someone email me and remind me!)
Then, we went to the kindergarten, and helped Chucky Gomez (hahaha Chucky) teach an English lesson about USA Christmas The kids are SO CUTE. Then, lunch, where I met lots of Rika's friends. Oh, and we sang Tutira Mai Nga Iwi at the kindy, with the actions. At least, what we could remember of them =P
After lunch, we had a Japanese lesson with Mr Inada. He's 72! Anyways, he's a retired English professor from Hiroshima University, and really nice. And I can understand most of what he says in Japanese!
After that, we went with Ms Ukida (culture teacher) and Ms Okita (koto teacher) to Hondori, Hiroshima's main street. According to a guy we met while we were there, it used to be the #2 route between Kyushuu and Osaka/Tokyo during the Edo Period. Now, it just has heaps of shops. They're all so pretty! Anyhow, we went to buy koto nails. It was a strange experience - this old guy putting paper-type stuff rings on the ends of our first 3 fingers on our right hands, then gluing the pick thing into them. Hopefully, actually learning the koto will be fun =)

Things from today that need to be said:

1. The inside/outside shoes thing is confusing/ANNOYING. Very much so.
2. If one more person calls me cute, I'll die. Seriously. A random down the street actually pretty much yelled it out to her friend as we passed.

My welcome party was really fun! We went to a yakiniku (Korean BBQ) restaurant, and the food was delicious. I forgot to eat my rice =P
So far, I haven't found any foods that I really don't like. I think that's a good thing... Also, I sang at the restaurant - Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I got halfway through, then realised I don't know all the words. Whoops...


7/12/10

Today, we did our speeches in front of the whole senior high school. It went really well, considering.
Oh, btw, there's a TV in the car. No lie. AND I've figured out why everyone drives the weird van-type wagon things: their bikes fit inside without them having to lay them down or dismantle them!
Anywho, a few random things that need to be said:
1. Heated toilet seats are strange.
2. There are vending machines EVERYWHERE. There's one on pretty much every corner, and at least one more in between those. There's so many, I'm actually surprised there isn't one in my bedroom.
3. Yesterday, at the yakiniku restaurant, there was mouthwash in the bathroom. Like, a full bottle, with little paper cups beside it. I thought it was a little bit strange, but very smart =)
4. They have little machines in the toilets (actually in the stalls) that you wave your hand in front of, and they make a flushing noise. Go figure.
5. I walked into my homeroom today, and a girl walked across the room to sniff another girls's hair, then walked back and sat at her desk. I think I'll fit in just fine.

We went to the elementary school today, with Ms Ukida and Ms Inoe (?) to teach another lot of English lessons. To three different first grade classes. I told them I was 102 =P They spent most of the lesson asking us questions. Oh, and we taught them heads down, tails up. It was really fun.
Understanding Japanese is becoming easier now, but I'm still using a mix of Japanese and English.
Ooooh, they have 3D cellphones! In all seriousness. I saw an ad for them on the TV on the way to school this morning. I wouldn't mind one, to be honest.

8/12/10

I could swear the school thinks that I'm a whale. The school uniform coat they gave me is MASSIVE. you could probably fit me in it twice. No kidding.
Also, turns out the apartment is really close to the hospital. Are ambulance sirens really necessary at 10.30pm? I mean, come on!
Oh, yesterday, on the way to school/during breakfast, there was a TV programme on about rabbits. They were really cute. This morning though, the same programme was talking about politics, or some sort of law change. Not 100% sure.
At school, we went to the primary school (again), this time for lessons with the 4th graders. They were a lot quieter than the first graders. It was nice to still be able to hear when I left.
We also had our first koto lesson today. It was really hard! And wearing the nails hurts, BUT it was fun, and quite interesting.
Tonight, I went to an aerobics class with Masumi, at her gym. It was so much fun. I had absolutely no idea what the instructor was saying, but I managed to waffle through it. I think that I'll be quite sore tomorrow.

9/12/10

I totally understand the whole face mask thing now. Ms Donaldson explained it to us. There's this stuff called yellow sand, that's so fine it can pass through a filter, and it gets blown over to Japan from China. Apparently, this is one of the reasons why most Japanese people hate Chinese people. Anyway, the sand gets EVERYWHERE, but the thing is, on it's way here, the sand passes over many industrial areas, and therefore carries lots of harmful toxic chemicals with it. And THAT is why people wear face masks here. Yay!
Also, the school bell sounds like the town hall. Oh, and everyone ALWAYS asks me and Chelsea if we have boyrfriends. No clue why, either, as most of them are girls.
So, at the end of each school day, we have to clean our home rooms. Everyone has an apron, and a certain job to do. I help my friend Ami to clean the desks. The funniest thing about this time, though, is my homeroom teacher, Mr Ishida. He wears a business suit to school each day, but while we are cleaning, he also wears an apron. FUNNIEST THING EVER.
Oh, oh, you can get hot chocolate milk from the vending machines. Like, coffee and mochas and such, but also flavoured milk, in a carton, that's been heated. I'll take a picture at some point. The straws that come with most of the drinks in cartons are SO STRANGE. Instead of folding, they're kind of telescopic.
Today, we had our second koto lesson. We're learning sakura, the really famous Japanese song. Ms Okita made us sing today. Personally, I think it sounds much better as just koto, but we did it anyway.
We also had our first calligraphy lesson today. I learnt how to write the kanji for sakura, or cherry blossom. Today has been very sakura-oriented =P
Tonight, I was going to go to yoga with Masumi, but my legs are so sore from aerobics last night. So, I stayed home to update this blog. I'm watching Finding Neverland (again) on Disney Channel. It's such a novelty to have DC, even though half of it is in Japanese.

Anyways, bed now. Again. BTW, I love the bed. As soon as I lie down, I'm asleep. It might not be the bed, though. It may just be the constanat thinking in Japanese. I don't know.

Toodles!
Anna x

I AM HERE

So, here I am. Alive, in a different country/continent/HEMISPHERE. I'm going to start from the start though, so... here goes =)

N.B. Just so you know, this is pretty much a copy of my Travel Diary.

4/12/10 - plane to Auckland

Well, we got off to a fantastic start in Dunedin - we were the last to board our plane... the VERY last. The guy at the gate started yelling at us. Also, I swear the head steward on this flight is gay. He sounds EXACTLY like Mr Shields.
Of course, today is the nicest, sunniest day of the year, which makes the fact that I'm leaving NZ for 2 months just that little bit more depressing. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet, to be honest.
I'm getting really excited for the plane ride to Japan though. It's going to be SO MUCH FUN. Hopefully =P
So far, I've managed to pilfer about 8 sick bags for my letters. I need 21. This could prove difficult, but I'm sure I'll manage!

Later - Auckland Airport

So, I still love Auckland. Especially the airport. We ate Macca's for dinner (fantastic last supper, I know) and as we were sitting down to eat, this guy from our Christchurch to Auckland flight came over to talk to us. His name is Kale (apparently, he's named after a 'really nutritious' sea vegetable). He's from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and he makes videos. Apparently he's quite good at it too...
I discovered the pitfall of having a 9.4kg cabin bag - wearing it over my shoulder and round the front, like Mum told me to, is that I end up walking with a pregnancy waddle. Not really a good look, but oh well =P I almost got pulled up for being overweight (the cabin bag, not me), but I pulled the "I have diabetes, and therefore a heap of medical crap, you wanna see my doctor's note?" card.
Then Chelsea and I went to try perfumes! New favourite = Princess by Vera Wang. Om nom nom. We saw Misaki as well, and I promised to go sit on her knee during the flight to Osaka =)

3.00am (NZT) plane to Japan!

I'm about to go to sleep, but first

1. I ate dinner, on a plane, at1am. No kidding.

2. Hardest thing I have ever done: changed my pants in an airplane toilet.

3. Scariest thing ever: the flush in the airplane toilet.

5. It just happens to be -40 degrees outside. No biggie.


5/12/10 - Train to Shin-Osaka

Osaka is very strange. As we were pulling away from the airport station, we could see all these really tall buildings across the water (the airport is kind of like an island...). When we got across the bridge to the 'mainland', suddenly we could see the big buildings (they're bigger up close) but in between them are little traditional houses, all squeezed in like sardines. Then, in the middle of all the office and apartment buildings, and the houses and the cars and the streets, right beside the train tracks, are rice paddy fields. Seriously. It's kind of bizarre.

Rika's house

Masumi took me to a nearby department store today to buy a lunchbox, and chopsticks, and a cloth thing to wrap and tie around everything. I thought it was a mall, but it's a department store. However, it's bigger than all three of Dunedin's malls put together =P
We went into the supermarket as well, and it was so BUSY I explained to Masumi that on Sundays in New Zealand, I work in a supermarket, but it is NEVER as busy as what it was today! I asked her if the mall was busy, and she said yes, because it's a Sunday. Almost the opposite to New Zealand, but oh well.
It amazes me how... obedient the shopkeeperes are! Masumi strutted in, and suddenly there was one following us around. As soon as anything was said, or even suggested, they'd jump to and bring it. It 's like they were 2 steps ahead!
Another thing Chelsea and I noticed on the shinkansen (after we had to move seats, coz we'd been put on the wrong carriage) was how similar the coutry side in NZ and Japan is. The architecture, of course, is COMPLETELY different, but at one point, I could have sworn we were driving through Central Otago!


Right. I'm going to bed now, but I'll update about the last few days tomorrow. Then, hopefully, I can try and post something every couple of days, for you reading enjoyment!

おあすみ！
Anna x

P.S. I apologise for any spelling/grammar errors. I'm starting to write English similar to how I translate Japanese. Some things may read a little strange =)

One more sleep!

So, I'm almost ready to go... I have EVERYTHING I need now. Including my Christmas music, courtesy of Glee :) I've spent most of today sorting out my iPod. In the process, I discovered I listened to Let's Be Friends by Emily Osment 126 times in the past 3 weeks... Do you now understand the need for new music? :P
Mum made me unpack last night so she can have a last minute check through everything I've packed. And apparently my packing method isn't as airtight as it could be... We'll see :)
This time tomorrow, Chelsea and I will be on the plane to Christchurch! I think it will be my personal mission to see how many sick bags I can pilfer from each flight :P
Anyway, nothing much more to say right now... So, next update will be from Japan! Yay!
Anna x

6 days....

So, first attempt at a blog... be prepared for several "And then I found twenty dollars!" moments - but at least you can just skip through these ones :)

For those of you who don't know, I'm leaving for Hiroshima, Japan in six days! Yay! (And then you'll all be rid of me for two months :P) Chelsea and I will be spending two months on an exchange to Yasuda Girls' High School, hopefully improving our Japanese and learning all the ins and the outs of the quirks of Japanese culture! It'll be souper exciting!!

Dad leaves for Vegas tomorrow, while I'm sitting my music exam, and he gets back after I leave, so I won't be seeing him again until February 5th. Ah, but through the beauty of Skype, I will still be able to see his gorgeous/slightly scary face on those oh so important days - Christmas, New Years... that's about it.... :P

I guess everything's starting to hit home now, really... Everyone is leaving so soon!! I almost had a fit this morning when mum started to unpack my suitcase to get to my jeans, which she had decided needed a wash. Of course, they were at the other end of the bag, and at the bottom. I'm not sure if it was just a sneaky way of getting me out of bed, though... either way, it worked :)

Today, after my last shift at work for 2010 (!) we went shopping for the last minute items... a travel diary, a journal, a notebook, pens... I have a lot planned for the plane ride over ;) When I figure out how (sometime next year) I'll upload a photo of my journal. Not the inside, no one will EVER see that. But the outside. For those of you who appreciate REALLY CUTE books, be warned: you may have a coronary where you sit.

Speaking of which, last week I finally got around to transferring my savings for the trip out of my Bonus Bonds. I wasn't expecting the money out till about Wednesday... However, on my lunch break today, I rang phone banking (as you do) to see if I had enough money to buy a bottle of water. I thought I had about $3ish left over, but then I heard "The balance of your account is: one - " and right about here is when I thought: "Dammit! What did I spend it on?!" Then, of course, the really slow and annoying automated voice says " - thousand..." At that moment, I thought maybe I was going to have a heart attack right there beside the bulk bins. For the next week, someone, anyone, PLEASE keep me away from my EFTPOS card. Things could get messy...

Wow, so, that was fun! I might keep posting things before I leave, just for the heck of it, but the quality of the waffle will improve when I actually have something specific to waffle about... check back on Monday-ish next week, and hopefully there'll be something worth reading by then :P

Toodles for now :)
さようなら！Anna x