umeda sky building <3

ok first off - here's my phone ;D~ the emoticons are so cool! but sadly, they don't seem to show up when i email you guys *shakes fist* ~~ i can also watch tv on my phone for free

umeda sky building. i think we went up 42 floors or something. the view was great (as you'll see below). the weather was nice too making it even better <3...24>

doesn't this look PRETTY? omg --- i just LOVE how the desserts are presented here. this was at elephant cafe in umeda. we ordered quite a bit of food - salad, prawn crisps, nan bread, noodles, rice paper rolls and three desserts costing us 1600 yen each. i reckon that's a reasonable price to pay and i was actually full too!

my dessert up close and personal. sure it looked pretty and it was pretty big for 500 yen, but there was just WAY too much cream!! i haven't eaten that much cream before in my life T_T --- i hate cream too! in the end i just forked out all the chocolate sponge cake and ate that haha.

escalators going down from the sky building. i thought it looked pretty trippy so i took a photo of it haha.

these carp kite-like things are hanging up in celebration of "children's day" on may 5th, and yes this is a public holiday -- yay! more specifically, this is a festival for boys. girls have their own festival too which was in early march.

this place is pretty neat. the design is old school dating back into like the samurai periods i think. it's in the basement of the sky building and these shops are just all restaurants. and the thing that i'm standing next to is called a tengu^^

hehehe i couldn't resist. i love taking photos like these XD~

this was also a man made (?) mini garden outside of the sky building. it was so pretty! i'm a sucker for rocks and water hahaha.

i just thought i'd post this up cos look! a school with a roof top swimming pool!! talk about luxury T_T -- but i don't know how comfortable you'd feel about having people look at you from the sky building lol. i felt like a peeping tom! those microscope things that you usually see in towers were really creepy. i took a look at it and i had clear shots of offices and houses. i could see what everyone was doing lol --- CREEPY!

i've been trying to find myself an outdoor rooftop and this was the closest thing i could get to it. a lot of rooftops are off limits which SUCKS cos i really wanted to experience it (as seen in dramas and anime XD haha). anyways, the sky building has an area where you can go outside to look at the view and this was one of the views.

if you look really closely, you'll see a red train passing by. that's my train!! haha. the hankyu rail line.

another view from the sky building roof top. talk about DENSE!! buildings galore.

megumi and me <3

on the left is brad and on the right is kumi. kumi is megumi's friend who came along today and brad is kumi's friend haha. brad is from the states and has been in japan for FIVE years - yah - FIVE lol. he's teaching english here. anyways, they were really friendly. kumi was also in melbourne for 10 months and she said she missed eating chips back home - well kumi, so do i! haha. fat chips *drools*

anyways, i'm buggered so i'm going to sleep now. i have a headache as well. the internet service provider here can't get my credit card working, giving me extra stress! i had to use the payphone at family mart before T_T. there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my credit card so i don't know what the problem is!! sigh.... ok bed - oyasumi!

mandarake~~きゃー

i went to a mandarake last night in umeda with the two girls from china, shiso and mengmeng <3

i ended up buying volumes 15-20 of yamato nadeshiko because i can't wait for the english translation anymore. it is too slow!! so i'm just going to try and read the raws haha. they only had up to v.20, but the manga is still ongoing so i'm going to keep my eyes peeled! i also bought two gintama doujinshi, so the total ended up being around 4000 yen *dies* doujinshi though is expensive (T_T) it's unbelievable. there are like so many doujin that i want too hahaha AHH! mandarake is an evil shop i tell you (T_T)

i really wanted to buy junjou romantica but i'm a bit poor at the moment haha. so i might just wait until it finishes. i will definitely get the set before i go home, so plennnty of time ne XD~

we spent about two hours i think at mandarake then we went to a family restaurant in ishibashi to eat. talk about CHEAP. the whole meal ended up costing us about 800 yen each and it was like all you can drink too.

shiso and me with our purchases HEHEHE <3

cheese focaccia and fried chicken. the chicken was amazing but i was disappointed with the focaccia. i thought the cheese would ooze out but that didn't happen. the 'cheese' part of it was little bits of crumbed cheese on the top (T_T)

yes...we ordered two servings of the chicken XD~ then we got a doria gratin and a hamburger set <3

mengmeng and me ~~

this is us on a PACKED (look below) and moving train

an all too common characteristic of japan - packed trains. i found it amusing so i secretly took a photo ;D

the good thing about being with mengmeng and shiso is that both of them are good at japanese but wants to improve their english whereas i am the reverse and i want to improve my japanese. so we always talk in half japanese and english, but it gets even more complicated! haha. sometimes if something is said in japanese and it's not understood, mengmeng and shiso will talk in chinese and then try and translate it back into english hahaha. i find that rather amusing cos the ppl around us are probably thinking we are three very odd, odd girls haha.

okays so i'm gonna head off now. i have a shitload of kanji to learn for another quiz on monday and a translation exercise to finish (T_T) ahhh -- i can't be bothered. i will hopefully get to post some things out to people some time next week or the week after so anticipate it!

nomikai~~

so i enrolled in this one class - bioethics health law - only because the teacher is known to always have class parties hahah. he apparently has two a semester, one at the beginning and one at the end. so anyways, he made one of the class parties today and we went to a bar in izakaya. it's nomihoudai (drink all you want within two hours) but the food was like a set menu. NOT ENOUGH FOOD I TELL YOU!! hahaha far out, i was hungry!! anyways here are pictures ~~

that's right...the dude in the suit singing away is my teacher...setoyama sensei LOL

zenna (london)~~~this guy is always doing things at his own pace hahah XD

the guy is yurien (i think that's how you spell it XD). anyways he's from holland and goes to the same uni as evelyn^^ he also seems to like to mock the aussie accent too haha *shakes fist*

a bunch of japanese students in the class lol. it's hard remembering names!! anyways this was another reason why i registered for this class - a lot of japanese take it XD ~ most of them are from the law department which is logical since it's a bioethics health law class haha

bunch of guys on my table~ it was a tad segregated cos there wasn't a table or room for that matter big enough to cater for all of us so some people had to go into different rooms. anyways from left to right - satoru, yurien, zenna, taka, victor (? i've never really talked to this guy so i don't know lol) and a japanese guy who i don't know XD~

the girls on the table^^ from left to right - ayumi, melissa, (forgot her name ><) mariko and (forgot her name ><) ~~~ i'm so bad lol. gomenasai m(_ _)m

alright well im knackered and am going to change and get ready to sleep! i have to study tomorrow (T_T). i have two tests on thursday *cries* and i need to also find my supervisor!! i totally went to his office like twice today and called like three times and he wasn't there...frustrating! i emailed him last week and he didn't reply me D: he better be in tomorrow!! i also changed the settings now so now anyone can comment - u don't need to sign up now^^

oh oh! and before i forget - when they were karaoking, ARASHI - HAPPINESS CAME UP HEHEHEHHE <3

::namba::

yay~~ one kanji test down D: so now i'm going to bludge a bit before i do my readings ;D

Melissa (from Canberra), Evelyn (from Holland) and me went to Namba last friday night and this was one of the things that we ended up doing - ride a ferris wheel hahaha. as you can see, the view from this particular ferris wheel is pretty shit. we were disappointed T_T it was 600 yen too for a ride! but we did end up having crepes when we got off and it was YUM. i had a chocolate, nuts and cookies crepe and it was just divine haha. it was worth the 430 yen ;D

that drummer mannequin thing behind us is like a famous mascot in osaka. that restaurant is apparently closing down in august so there were a flood of ppl taking like last shots of them and mr. drummer haha so we did the same too. i ended up buying a keychain of it as a momento <3 style="font-size:85%;">

good ol' billboards. i took this especially for you karen!! hahaha. isn't pi hot <3

that athletic dude in the background is another mascot of osaka hahah so we took a photo. the river below it though is absolutely filthy ~~ just thought i'd share that hahah.

this was an izakaya (japanese bar) in ishibashi, which is an area that's pretty close to the uni. all of the dishes there are small but they all cost 315 yen. in the end, the total per person was about 1200 yen, which wasn't too bad^^ most of the stuff here were quite delicious, but the ones that stood out for me was the yakitori and yakionigiri <3

so i decided to participate in one of the sado meetings (tea ceremony). the dorm here has like cultural classes every month - tea ceremony and ikebana twice a month. the tea ceremony is 200 yen per class and so i went and gave it a go. i had absolutely no idea what they were talking about and it was a little bit hard to stay awake hahah but it was interesting in its own way. but i guess the highlight here is the food haha. the teacher provides like sweets and stuff. the picture above was the sweets i had last week..i had a pink one XD

shiso making tea haha. she was pretty good. i wouldn't be able to remember all the steps! it's like so rigid haha..your right hand must do this in a certain way while ur left hand does this -_-

shiso again~~ this was at pot luck. i'll explain that later haha. but yeh shiso is from china and she started last autumn. she's gorgeous and most of all - she likes boys love manga too HAHAHA. though she says she's more into shounen type manga now over BL *sniffles*

on the left is julia (US) and evelyn in the middle. these girls are so nice <3~~>

on the furthest left is mengmeng or "mia" hahah. anyways, she's from china and she's a regular exchange student. but like shiso and me, she too likes boys love manga HEHEHE *bond*

so this is pot luck haha. all that really happens is that everyone brings in one dish each, we gather then we eat. since my cooking is horrible, i made a fruit salad. so i only had to chop hahah. julia brought fruit salad too ~~ we both had apples and strawberries but she had pineapple and i had kiwi XD. but fruit here is e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e! one bag of apples (5 apples) is like 400 yen T_T - almost 1 dollar for one apple~!

pot luck. pity i didn't take a photo when everyone dug in haha. seriously - we were like savages! there were a range of stuff though - mash potatoes, spaghetti, pumpkin pancake, evelyn's potato pancake (really yum!), stir fry, fried rice, soup, a couple of chinese-styled cooking dishes, chicken...and that's all i can remember haha. dessert was fruit and ice cream. there's this one type of ice cream that's really nice. i bought it yesterday at family mart XD i'll take a photo later, if i remember ;D

i met ayako again after a year and a half! she came down to osaka cos her mum comes down here all the way from kyoto to get a 5 minute massage thing hahaha. it's not really a massage but it's something for her back. so anyways, it's expensive haha like 6000 yen for 5 mins LOL. anyways, we ended up going to eat and karaoke <3

my rice cooker!! hahaha. yes i had to take a photo of it. a 5 cup rice cooker for about 8000 yen <3>

and just in case if anyone is wondering what kind of food i'm cooking - well this is it LOL. i really don't know what the hell i'm doing half the time haha. i just throw everything into the pot and stir fry with salt and soya sauce haha. well "japanese" type soya sauce hahah. there were different types and i didn't know what to buy so i asked a lady at the supermarket and she like explained it to me hahaha so kind <3.>

Finally!

ok so after being here for abount two weeks, i've finally got myself settled. the first week was hectic, extremely overwhelming and just shit overall. i have never wanted to go home so badly before in my life! but the 'me' now compared to last week is doing a lot better and i'm more relaxed now, which feels bloody great! and my room feels so homey now~~i almost feel like i could live here for a long period of time hahaha. anyways, here are some photos of my room.




it got messy and cluttered after one week hahah. but one thing i don't like is that THERE IS SO MUCH DUST!! you could wipe down everything in a day but the very next morning, everything would be covered in dust again. it's ridiculous. there's like a never ending supply of it or something. i even open my windows and let the wind blow into my room hoping that the dust will fly out but it doesn't work T_T. the room is small but cozy for one person. the bathroom though is bloody small hahaha. i keep hitting the wall with my elbows every time i wash my hair T_T.

and here's the view i get~~ i'm on the fourth floor so i don't get amazingly great views haha but it's good enough XD


ok well it's 430 and i have a kanji test tomorrow morning, so i need to head off. i'll post up more pics later when i'm on my 'study' break which will probably be in another half an hour or so haha xD