Sunday, March 29, 2009

When I went to Tokyo a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of eating at a very Italian restaurant. It was the closest thing to real Italian I think I've ever had and I almost cried over it. This food was so beyond delicious.
The other day, I took a long lunch break and met up with Steven and his friend. After eating, we took a little stroll down the way. Steven saw a rare patch of grass and had to take advantage of it. Grass is not a common sight here in Japan, even in the countryside. Especially not such soft grass, dead as it may be...


Last night I invited a few friends over to my apartment for a Hanami party (flower viewing party) As I have mentioned before, the shrine by my house is quite beautiful this time of year. Unfortunately, we planned the party on a very cold and overcast day but I enjoyed myself immensely.

Energy Mind!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

This happens every year in the land of seasons. Spring is here! It's still kinda cold but the Sakura has fully bloomed! The world is waking up! Everything's bright and energetic and alive!

AND I!!!!!

am sitting at my desk :P

Anyway, as of this morning, I have pretty much decided to go to Yamasa. It's gonna be much more money than living with my friends but *sigh* quality is never cheap!

I'm gonna be eating dust for dinner every night but at least I'll be learning tons (TuT)

What else, what else...

I saw Twilight last night for the first time. I don't care what anyone else says, that movie is totally my speed. Vampires are the best (-^u^-) =*geeky giggle*

Hmmm, oh! My trip to Sendai. The day I left warm sunny Kochi a cold front swept through Japan making the entire country colder and so Sendai seemed much worse than it normally is. But lordy it SNOWED!!!!

Kochi: Cherry blossoms
Sendai: effing snow

Alright so it was just a little flurry here and there but STILL!

Basically the whole trip was full of stress. Thinking about going to the good school but not being able to afford it. Thinking of staying with my friends but being disappointed in the school and realizing that Nina and cold weather just don't mix. Having more than 5 months of cold just doesn't flow with me. I'll get so depressed I might do things I'll regret.

Yeah thanks mom and dad for moving to Florida. Now I'll never be satisfied with anywhere else!

Oh to be back in the land of 1 month winters where a light jacket and jeans will hold me over till mid February...

grrrr ENERGY!!!

I need chocolate...

A Nina by any other name...

Monday, March 16, 2009

...would still be a hard core Otaku...

I'm planning a party for this weekend. If you can't figure out what we're talking about, trust me, it's really not that interesting. But I giggled to myself audibly enough to warrent a blog post about it.


Nina
heehee
I'm looking forward to geeking it out

10:11pmAnnMarie
I love DDR too. Lots and lots.

10:11pmNina
but check this
you're gonna bring guitar hero, do you need a Japanese playstation for that? Leah is gonna bring DDR, and Hank is gonna bring her Wii with DDR
this is nuts :D:D

10:12pmAnnMarie
No, it's for American.
It's a good kind of geeky nuts though.
Kinda reminds me of the old LAN parties where people would drag their hard drives, speakers, and monitors just to play DOOM together.

10:13pmNina
omg
I did that
you know how stupid it is to lug around some huge ass monitor AND a tower PC?!
ugh
I can imagine having these speeches with my children's children
when I was young, we didn't have computers in our brains
we had to carry the damn things around with us on our backs!
up hill to school! BOTH WAYS!!! And it didn't have wireless neither!
this convo is too funny not to blog about
HA!

Quality Vs Comfort ROUND 1 DING

Spring is coming! I see it! I can see flowers starting to bloom. Pretty soon the Sakura flowers will be all over the place. Covering the street and my car. Hanami parties will last for weeks! And the rice fields are being flooded. Pretty sure they'll be green with shinmai (new/fresh rice)

But I can't feel it. Sure the weather is slightly warmer and the sun comes out earlier but for some reason I can't feel the energy that comes with this time of year. Usually, I begin waking up at about 6 in the morning. I feel energised and ready to work. I usually wake up and clean the house! I just go nuts. Throw out old things and scrub the bathroom floor. Reorganise the book shelves and clean out the pantry.

But this weekend? The sun came up earlier than usual and I slept in until 11am. Sleeping in for me is 8!!!

I must have accidentally dropped my energy in the subway station in Tokyo...

Other than that, since I have no classes to teach until April, I'm preparing for "Life After JET". I've been getting my tax forms together, making lists of what I should take home, sell, leave, throw away, etc. But mostly, I've been figuring out my finances to see if I can go to school and for how long!

See, I was thinking of going to Sendai to study Japanese. I have a friend up there who's family has kindly agreed to let me stay with them. However, when I went to Tokyo for the conference, I learned that the schools in Sendai were only mediocre at best. I was then given a recommendation for a different school in Aichi (nowhere near Sendai). I checked it out and it's hella better than Sendai schools!!!!

But it doesn't come with a host family who will take care of me, cook and clean, do laundry, watch movies with me, chat over dinner, talk about the weather...In fact, the Aichi school is far from that. It comes with an itty bitty apartment where I basically stand in the toilet when I chop veggies for dinner. Yeah, I've gotten used to tiny sizes since being here in Japan but this is ridiculous. The apartment costs more and food will cost more as well. I won't have to commute to school like I would in Sendai, but that's a small cost for how much extra I would spend to live on my own. (roommates are not an option for me. Thanks but no thanks)

...but it's a better school...

So which do I go for, quality or comfort?

I'm leaning towards the former....

I have a trip planned for Sendai this weekend (planned a month ago, can't get give the ticket back now..) so I'll let'cha'll know how it goes.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A friend of mine found this in Nagoya station. It's advertising a diet pill...

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I just got back from my trip to Gunma and Tokyo yesterday. First, I visited a friend in Gunma for two days then went to a conference for returning JETs in Tokyo. The conference was all about what to do when you leave JET. Taxes, jobs, interviews and resumes. It was quite depressing. The job market is just...yeah. I'm sure you already know (TnT)

I also finally got the DVD with pictures and all from the Yosakoi Dance I did back in August.

This is a picture of a picture. It is absolutely an amazing shot and it's not on the DVD!!! They just gave me the hard copy of it to keep for myself!

Anyway, here's a link to the video

The video is highly edited and the music doesn't always match the dance which is only irritating if you know how it's supposed to look. Whatever, it's awesome anyway. I'm at the very end :)

WANT

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Do I go and spend $60 to see these guys?



That means I don't eat for a week!!!! (ToT)

So that new bike my student gave me bit the dust the other day. The chain just popped right off. One of the links must have broken. Luckily, I wasn't late for the train :)

 
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