Blogs from Shizuoka, Japan, Asia - page 21

I am so behind in my blogging that I was going to abridge all the events from the last couple of weeks so you wouldn’t have to spend an hour reading this entry. But how can you abridge a Fuji story?! Plus, there’s not much more to add except that I spent $1000.00 on new furniture last weekend after feeling a bit of disgust and depression at the oldness (and consequent bugginess, mousiness, moldiness, style-less-ness, etc.) of my house. I’ll post pictures as soon as my stuff is delivered/assembled. So here’s the real story: Two weeks ago, after a week of confinement with my fellow foreigners at KAPIC (the Kagoshima Asia-Pacific Intercultural Centre) for a week-long Japanese course, I felt like I needed a break. Although the course was supposed to be an opportunity to relax, ... read more

I am in Japan!!! A long way from Adelaide, Australia, but here I am in Shizuoka for a year teaching at an English Kindergarten while seeing and experiencing as much of this crazy, mixed up, amazing country as I can! Its my birthday, Happy Birthday!!! Well who would have thought on the 3rd September 1983 that on the 3rd September 2006 I would be celebrating my 23rd birthday in Japan!!!! Certainly not me, in fact if you had told me on my 22nd birthday last year that next year I would be celebrating my birthday in Japan I would have laughed and told you to have another drink. But things change, and sometimes doing something that you never dreamed you would do can turn out to be the best thing youve ever done. Ok enough philosophising... ... read more

NOTE: if you want to receive automatic notifications everytime I update this blog, either send me your email address (either by directly emailing me or by sending me a message on this blog) or you can do it yourself by clicking the subscribe button when you enter the blogs main page. Also, i miss you all and ive loved your comments and messages so keep sending them if you can!! Last weeked Rich, Junco, and I climbed Mt. Fuji. Junco says they have a saying here that if you climb mt fuji twice, you are a fool. i think that i might agree, although it was definitely something im very glad i experienced. So, for anyone considering the climb to mt fuji, let me describe the process: 1) you will leave your place in tsukuba ... read more

I am in Japan!!! A long way from Adelaide, Australia, but here I am in Shizuoka for a year teaching at an English Kindergarten while seeing and experiencing as much of this crazy, mixed up, amazing country as I can! Between returning from Hokkaido and heading on to Kyoto we spent a few days in Shiz with Marissas parents. Mrs Nagata had a BBQ with hilarious results- the Japanese really dont know how to do a barbecue like the Aussies- and Spiro was nearly beside himself at the lack of heat and know how on display!! We went to Mishima for their Summer Festival, and saw some traditional dances and costumes. Most importantly the clouds parted long enough for us to see Mt Fuji from the Shink station at Fuji City- thank you mountain goddess!!!! That ... read more

I am in Japan!!! A long way from Adelaide, Australia, but here I am in Shizuoka for a year teaching at an English Kindergarten while seeing and experiencing as much of this crazy, mixed up, amazing country as I can! Summer in Japan is fireworks season- you can buy them everywhere, convenience stores, supermarkets and the Lemon Shop, no matter how old you are. The kindy kids were even allowed to light them at their sleepover- admittedly these were not much better than sparklers but it still made me nervous!!! The Japanese call fireworks, and the festivities surrounding them hanabi- and on the 29th of July there was a festival on the Abe River- culminating in a 2 hour firework display!!! So, seeing as how we looooove a Japanese Festival and I looooove fireworks we went ... read more