Had a noice weekend ... well Friday night...

Hello everyone of yous.
I thought I should put up a few photo's from Australia Day celebrations in Kobe, Japan. Despite the fact we had all had a very busy day, visiting schools and watching classes and then another trip to the Board of Education to update a compilation of teaching resources, we managed to party into the wee hours of the morning. Yay for us.

The rest of my weekend was very very boring with only an occasional trip from my apartment to go tutoring and grocery shopping, on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Anyway, back to the cool bit, which was the Australia Day party... we had some awesome food as you will see... and lots of non-Australian friends emblazoned with the Aussie flag tattoo on our behalf.. very kind I have to say.

Oh and a special thanks to this lovely lady Basabdatta for quickly whipping up some awesome chicken which added a multicultural flare (and supposedly that's what us Aussie's are all about right?). For those of you who don't know already, Basabdatta (nicknamed Moon for the pronunciation impaired) is my across-the-way neighbour, a delightful woman from India, whose ability to cook food that tastes like heaven-on-a-plate never ceases to impress me!
OK.. now for more photos!


Mandy, Emz and Reegs... 3 fabulous Aussies, if I do say so myself!


Leigh, our South Australian, brought a nice spot of Andrew Garrett sparkling red.. classy, unewesual...


as you can see, we like to label our guests with a stamp on the forehead...


we even made Leigh put one on... but, as Pauline Hanson would say, he 'didn't like it'.


Reegs made some delicious pies.. and even decorated one with a pastry gumnut leaf.. .which attracted the attention of this little fella!


And as if that weren't enough.. after the pies came dessert - bread and butter pudding courtesy of Leigh, and pavlova.. another amazing product from Reegan the wonder Aussie!



You're teeeerrible Dustin... no prizes for guessing what this San Fransicans fave Aussie movie is!

Ugh. I was gonna add in more pics, but I am tired now... I will put up a whole album on my msn.live.spaces website if you wanna take a look.

Slow on the Uptake...and a few other things.

Hello.
I have only just realised that the link to my MySpace website had a tiny yet critical error. Now the link should work. I am very slow, I have to say. My dad had already told me he couldn't get onto it, but I just thought.. well, I think I didn't think. Honestly, who reads my blog drivel anyway?

Anyway, it works now and I will hopefully be updating it sometime soon.

Oh, and good news - my Mum is coming to visit in Spring - yay!!! I am already brainstorming the cool things us girls are gonna get up to.

I have heard it's hot in Australia right now - about bloody time! It's cold here today, as usual. The sun is shining, the air is freezing my nose as I walk down the street. Typical day, noice.

This Friday is Australia day. Us expats will be gathering people in my abode, watching the mockumentary 'Kenny' on DVD, eating pies and tim-tams, drinking duty-free Aussie wine, and then going out on the town covered in fake tattoos of the Australian flag. Should be greache.
I will hopefully remember to take some pictures.

That's all for now! Boiye!

My Weekend

Yes, yes... it's all very boring, but it must have been quite a weekend, because today I am tired and yeah, well, a little grumpy. That is probably more to do with the fact it's Monday and two of my three classes that I taught this morning were frankly quite badly behaved and I just wanted to throw things at them.
Anyway, I am going to recount the most pleasant aspects of my weekend, to give me a little cheer...

On Saturday, Alison and I went to the Suntory Museum and saw the Pompeii exhibit which was just really cool and reminded me why I had so badly wanted to study Ancient History when I first went to University. I have decided that at the very least, I am going to brush up on the Greek/Roman mythology and try to remember which God did what exactly.... So that was Saturday's highlight.
Sunday's highlight was going to visit my dear friend Suzi and going for a walk (and bit of a disco dance) in the foresty mountain known as Hanayama. It was nice, though we only walked for about an hour cos it was getting dark. We decided next time we are going to get started earlier and go further... and possibly do more dancing amongst the trees... the sight of the two of us dancing to imaginary techno music was possibly a sight to behold, though I can say with 99% certainty, it was only beheld by us... that is probably a good thing. Anyway, we had fun, and that's what matters. Then Suzi cooked me delicious pasta and put on the 'Inside Man' DVD for me to watch. Clive Owen certainly is a man of talent.. aaaahhhh.
Caught up with my NZ pal Nikki-noo which was lovely too.
As for today.. well, I am hungry and about to go buy some lunch... as for tonight - I am making brownies in the rice-cooker.
Wish me luck!

Some Very Sad News

Recently, someone very dear to me passed away. John Price was a kind man, who always had a smile to offer. He knew how to laugh and to enjoy the company of others. I will miss him dearly, and I know his family are devastated to lose him.
I send all my love to his mother, wife and sons. My thoughts are with you. I don't know what else I can say. The only thing that comes to mind is what my parents said to me last night when I called home to tell them the very sad news - it's just not fair.

Take a closer look...

An oddity that I walk past every day several times whenever I enter or exit my school. An interesting pair of statues... very artistic... and perhaps they warrrant a raised eyebrow. It certainly is the strangest thing I have seen outside a Junior High School. I got so used to walking past it everyday, to the point where I had forgotton how unusual I had thought it to be when I first came here. But when Dustin came by to do his Santa gig in December, he was practically stopped in his tracks by the oddity of it, and I was forced to take another look. Since then, I have to supress a giggle every day. Maybe I am just childish!

Ok, to clarify, the statue on the left has a nice maple-looking leaf and the statue on the right is holding her hands up in front of her... apparently...
And no, I have no idea what they are looking at... or why their other (and obviously less significant) appendages seem to be absorbed by the very stylistic oblong design. I would ask my teachers, but I wager they would not have a clue what I was talking about, after all, it's very nice... yep...noice, un-ewes-ual, diff'rent.

Tuesday, Tuesday

This has to be the messiest looking post I have ever done! My feet have been slowly turning to icicles as the day has worn on at school. I have written letters and emails, pretended to prepare lessons for my private students and elementary kids (in absence of any work to do for my actual school). But sadly none of this changes the state of the weather!
I am going to the gym when I get home in an attempt to jump start my circulation. In the meantime it's the memories of my reunion with family and friends in sunny Queensland that is getting me through the day.... good times!

So here are a few photo's from my happy vacation at home. I miss everyone already... although to be honest I would have to say I miss the summer more at this particular moment... ok, that's a lie - it's a fifty-fifty split!

Say No to New Years Resolutions!!!

Ahh- happy memories of sun and surf...

I am back from Australia - WAAAHHH! Right, now I've got that out of my system it's time to focus on the bright side of being back in Japan ...which would be primarily earning money rather than spending it (just about died when I looked up my bank balance.. how much can one girl spend in 2 weeks??). Also, it was lovely to get back to my cute little apartment which was clean and tidy just as I had left it (I know my parents still don't believe that - will I ever live my dishevelled childhood down?) and I will soon be posting the pics to prove that my apartment is clean and Mandyfied

Strangely, what did stand out to me when I returned was how low the ceilings were... I mean they aren't really that low, just compared to Mum and Dad's place they are. But it definitely felt more like a little box... still, that's a good thing when it comes to trying to heat the place or it would never get warm.

Dang, 48 hours ago I was on the beach! I had better not torture myself with these thoughts.

Had a beautiful Chrissie and New Years - I made absolutely no formal resolutions... other than to do what I want to do, soon as I figure out what that is exactly! I mean - who keeps their New Years Resolutions anyway? I think people honestly make them to break them, or perhaps it's just that everyone I happen to know can't keep theirs...

Happy New Year to all my nearest and dearest... and to the ones who aren't so nearby!