Day spent at Asakusa and Ueno

Invited my friends to go with me to Asakusa to watch the Samba Carnival. But in the end, I ended up not seeing much coz there were so many people and I'm so short! Doesn't matter though as it was still fun to hang out in a group. Yuliang brought us (he's not in the group picture though) to a really cool Arabian restaurant in Ueno. A little pricey but nice food and ambience!

Where's the typhoon??

Was waiting eagerly for the typhoon to come yesterday night. People must be thinking, "Crazy Singaporean girl who has never experienced the violent side of nature!". Hehe. Was pretty disappointed when it was only raining in the late evening. Actually, it was raining on and off the whole day. I had to ride in the rain to school and it was horrible! The rain coat didn't protect me much especially when I had no pants suit (just bought it after the horrible ride) so my pants were thoroughly soaked. And the rain kept coming into my eyes and I could hardly see! I looked totally unglamourous when I walked into the school. Ahh...but who cares...no cute guys to impress! :p

Ok..back to typhoon n not cute guys. hehe. It did come..Typhoon No. 11..later at night. It was just heavy rain and big wind. It was very loud though. I know it sounds frivolous to say that the typhoon was nothing because I was safe and dry indoors. I wouldn't be so smug if I were caught in it while riding on my bike!

Fighting against the wind

It's getting windy these days. That makes it harder to ride. Have to force my legs to push harder. It's raining now. The rain stopped after a storm just now but now it's raining again. Seems like we're heading for the typhoon season. Being in Japan has made me more aware of the changeability of nature. Sure, it's tougher to live here. But it made me realise not to take nature for granted.

The times I enjoy here....one of them is when I'm riding in the town. It's so peaceful except for certain times when I almost bang into cars or things! :p It feels great to cruise on the bike when there are few cars around and I see students walking to their schools. Also, it feels great when I'm riding with the cars coz I was so scared of them at first!

I love durians but not this one!

A durian costs $30 in Chinatown! Not a basket but just one durian. Well, isn't that not surprising since a watermelon costs the same here too!

My second choice of placement

If I had gotten Yokohama, I would be able to come to the port every now and then for a stroll and enjoy the breeze. If only... There seem to be so many things to shop n see in Yokohama. And the ferris wheel! Must ride it the next time! There's only 1 carriage that's purple. Wonder if it's a special one for people celebrating their wedding anniversary or so. It so doesn't feel like Japan here.

Yo Yo Yokohama

Yokohama on a rainy afternoon. But luckily it cleared after lunch. Took 2 hrs to reach. Had a 9 course Chinese lunch for 1500 yen. Not too expensive considering I had shark fin soup, prawns n meat n it being a restaurant in Japan's Chinatown. Luv Yokohama! It has a place with my roots (sort of..heh) n it's so cosmopolitan. The scenery changes completely upon walking away from Chinatown (Chuukagai). And I escaped the earthquake in Saitama coz I was enjoying myself here! Saw mooncakes there and reminded me that the festival is coming soon. Sigh...

Shiraoka

As u can see in the 3rd picture, the rice is harvested. When I first came, it was full of green. Now it has turned brownish yellow and almost empty.

Emergency Kit

Had to go to the supermarket to buy canned food n bottled water for my kit. My KIND predecessor left those for me but they expired in 2002! How many more expired stuff must she leave me with?? And not to mention lots of useless stuff that I have to sort carefully to be thrown as garbage. It's her fault that I can hardly walk around in the kitchen without banging into the bags of rubbish that can't be thrown out until the designated days!!!

I've been cleaning this apartment for days but I'm still not done. It's so dirty n it's hard work cleaning it alone!

Anyway, back to the kit. Ohh, I really wonder if it'll help because what if I'm trapped in the part of the house that doesn't have my emergency kit! I'm so not looking forward to the next large earthquake.

Can u believe it?

Ok, these flowers were arranged by me...can u believe it?! I had the help of the "sensei" of course. This was the first culture workshop I had to go at the Saitama orientation. Wasn't keen at all coz flower arrangement doesn't appeal to me. But kind of had fun when doing it. Though I would never take up (kado) - a school of ikebana or any ikebana. I don't have a good sense of beauty for this.

Back to Shinjuku

Going back to my orientation...the group photo was taken at the JET welcome reception at Keio. Now the Singaporean JETs are all over Japan. The people I'm hanging out with now are CBCs, ABCs and some Caucasians coz I'm the only Asian asian JET here. Maybe not actually hanging out though coz i dunno if we'll still contact each other after the Saitama prefecure orientation ended tdy. I should make the effort to coz the guys I talked to are pretty friendly n funny.

That view was from my hotel room. Nothing special. It could have been any city. The business district in Shinjuku kind of reminded me of Suntec city.

I can't move!

My first time wearing a kimono. So exciting! 3 Japanese ladies helped me and it took more than 1/2 hr. This was part of a culture workshop at the Saitama orientation. The obi is the most complicated n difficult to wear. It feels like a corset. My back n hips hurt from wearing the kimono just for a while. It feels hard to eat and walk about in a kimono. But it's so beautiful!

My Japanese keitai

Got my keitai with vodafone! Mine is prepaid though so I dun get much selection so I'm stuck with an orange cover phone. And I don't get to enjoy so many services like a contract user.

I did it!!

Yeah, achieved a great accomplishment tdy!! I rode on the bike (charinko in Japanese) to the BOE (Board of Education) by myself wearing a skirt and heels! Was worried about what disaster I would end up with riding in a skirt and heels. But i did it! My skirt (pretty long) flew up a few times in the wind though n i had to keep pressing it down. I am most certain that a young guy who witnessed that embarrassing moment was smiling when he drove past my bike. Oops, I hope he didn't see anything @ all!

Tokyo orientation in Shinjuku

This is the hotel - Hilton Tokyo where we stayed. We were the only 4 at Hilton. The other 9 Singaporeans were staying at Keio which is 10 mins walk away. So we were like buddies to each other during our stay in Tokyo.

Tremors again

Couldn't sleep well last night coz the earth shook a few times. The floor was rumbling. Was afraid they would turn out to be major ones. How do the Japanese sleep well at night???

Earthquake!!!

Oh shit! I was using MSN (just discovered tt i can have free wireless connection @ hm...wonder how long it'll last) when I felt the living room shaking!!! It was an earthquake. The floor and the walls shook for a few seconds. My first earthquake experience at 1.10 am on 7 Aug....pretty undramatic! I hope it's not going to happen again though.

Life in Japan!

My sixth day in Japan! In Tokyo, it was alright. No big deal. Just orientation at Keio Plaza Hotel...really nice n comfortable. Hilton Tokyo where I stayed was really nice too. But Shiraoka machi (town) is so foreign to me. The Japanese lifestyle is so strange! Australia was just different but Japan is STRANGE! First of all it's pretty rural....there's nothing but some convenience stores, supermarkets n restaurants. It's not as convenient as i thought. And I have to ride on the bike almost everywhere. And it's so big n heavy n it's so scary to ride on the narrow roads. I've bruises on my legs and scratches on my hand. Summer is just HOT HOT HOT! It's incredibly hot and humid. Things just melt in my apartment. The thing that really bugs me is throwing garbage at home. Garbage has to be separated into many different categories for disposal. And they are not collected everyday...only specific days of the month which means rubbish have to stay at home for some time before u can get rid of them. And I don't even know what types of rubbish they are....they're just rubbish to me!! My aparment is still a big mess n I have to really clean n arrange it this weekend.

All such negative things...:p. I don't hate the lifestyle here (at least not yet..hehe) but it's just a very strange and different experience. Travelling n living in Japan is worlds apart.