[2008 Japan]

back again ~~

2008-10-16T16:03:00.001+09:00

ok so like i'm lazy to post lol. but i haven't done anything lately other than go to tokyo and nagoya last month. since pictures speak for themselves, you can go here: JESSROCKS

teehee :3 *runs*

ごめんね！BARBARA!

2008-08-16T16:35:00.013+09:00

ok so..lack of silence = lazy to post. you already knew that barabara!! and because i read your heartbreaking comment i will now post m(_ _)m

so i'm done with semester 1 (yey) and it's summer break now. before summer break actually started i hung out a lot with bra and julia cos they were leaving super early. went to festivals, karaoked, FACIAL *ooh yeh* and zenna's dinner and whatnot lol. also had an overnight trip @ koyasan, where i slept in a temple and showered for the first time in PUBLIC O_O *blinks* i know, wow. it was an experience and it really wasn't all that bad, but never will i do it again if i had the choice *nodnod*

more recent events - i went to okinawa for 3 nights which was fan-bloody-tastic!! the beaches were beautiful, the atmosphere was great and i enjoyed just buying a whole bunch of useless, cute things lol. i spent more than i expected, but what the hell. also went to the aquarium there which kicks osaka's aquarium's ass ANY DAY! it was amazing. got to see a dolphin show too, where stupid me, accidentally deleted the photos that i took that day *CRIES* but that's ok, i got some photos from mengmeng <3

i also got to go to a highschool baseball match a few days ago @ koshien! *yey* i have always read about koshien in mangas and seen them in anime, so to be able to go to that stadium was just exciting lol. the enthusiasm and hype about highschool baseball was also far from my imagination too. they have a goods store that sells MERCHANDISE for these highschool baseball teams! hahahah i just couldn't believe it - like wow.

the tickets were all sold out too for the whole day when we went, but we were lucky to get some seats *for free * :D afterawhile. we kinda had to struggle our way through and find a spot to stand where we weren't in other people's way, but eventually some people left or something and then we scored some seats. it was really hot that day too so under the scorching sun was difficult, but thanks to that i am finally BROWN!! HOHOHO...and slightly burned >_> hahah but that's ok! i have never really cared whether i was fair/tanned but since coming here, i've become a lot more determined to tan mainly because i can't believe how fast i toast here lol. if i've already started to turn brown then why not go all the way ;D ~ the cheerleading teams for each school were also fantastic lol. they had their own bands and stuff and everyone were just really into it haha - that's japan for you!

anyways, i've posted most of my pictures up on photobucket, so u can go here http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t122/jesslynchan/

it's A LOT faster to upload in bulk *-* photobucket ftw!~! here are just a few, but this blogging site sucks. everytime i do something, the formatting of my post goes all crazy -_- pisses me off.

ok well i'm in the process of uploading videos, so if you can be bothered, check my photobucket later~~~ tenjin matsuri video is a must see! hanabi~~

久しぶりのポスト

2008-06-23T21:57:00.010+09:00

i've been putting off posting mainly because i've been too lazy haha. but i figured i better update now after having such a long period of silence. the weather here is horrible. HUMID! it's disgusting. i feel grotty everyday :(

anyways, photo time~ this was a couple of days ago when i went with evelyn and babara to the boys' dorm (at 2am!) to watch the soccer match when netherlands was playing russia. sadly, netherlands lost *cries* but it was a fun night either way. i got to play table tennis! ended up getting home at like 730am and slept for two hours before i went out with evelyn again to go shopping x_x

i took these photos for you bryan! last time you said you wanted to see how my area looks like and this is pretty much it haha. and yes, i do live across the road from the cemetary.

i took this photo yesterday just cos i thought the clouds looked pretty haha. but that's pretty much how the weather has been like lately - overcast, rainy, HUMID *dies*

i went to eat indian food today with jennifer. just look at how big those nan bread are! *-* for the record, my meal (the one with two pieces of cheese nan) was 1000 yen~

evelyn cutting jurjen's hair haha. i decided to sit there and watch to see the finished product *points below* :D

the next set of photos are from a couple (?) of weeks ago when it was ken's birthday. zenna decided to throw him a surprise party (awww)

terasaki and self portraits...lovely isn't it haha.

look how cool those icy poles are! they are so cute! totally looks like you're eating an iced watermelon/honeydew. pity that it didn't taste anything like it though haha. the watermelon ones even had red beans in it to make it look like watermelon seeds XD

a couple of korean girls went too! chang and son. they are so cute haha ~ always smiley and so friendly <3>

zenna cooked that night. this was one of his dishes - meatballs! yum *-*

ken @ the ripe age of 25!

i couldn't resist. the boys' dorm is nice...but the kitchen is filthy haha. this is just an example of it haha.

viktor and tomaaaaa hahah...his name is really thomas but he's french, so i asked him how to pronounce it in the french way and well, i just call him that now. it's way off from the french pronunciation though ^^;;

samuel and evelyn~

SURPRISE! ken just came from playing table tennis by the way haha.

zenna doing dishes *thumbs up*

this was in math class - yes, "the joy of doing math" haha.

shiozaki~ i didn't end up going to the gospel concert at the church but i did go afterwards to eat ;D ~ it was a korean church and well, i have to say that the moment i walked in i felt like i was back in jeonju again lol. exactly the same as the churches in south korea ;o

a turtle named roger...

2008-06-06T21:49:00.015+09:00

went to karaoke today with mengmeng, shiso and wendy <3 karaoked for about 4 hours and it ended up being about 400 yen each! and that's including a drink each too hahah. cheap *-*

but the funniest thing would have to be those 'home made' pvs hahaha. they are not really home made i guess, but it's more like a 'creative' take on things :x hahaha. for example, we were singing yuki no hana and guess where the bloody karaoke lyrics came up?? it was -the- most random things haha...the lyrics were coming up as part of a text message on a mobile phone LOL, on top of a birthday cake, written on mugs, in the snow or in the reflection of the pond or whatever hahaha. it was absolutely ridiculous hahahah.

shiso~~風のうた! hunter x hunter FTW *-*

mengmeng ~~ やっぱり、中島みかだねーXD *ヒューヒュー*

ok for some reason i can't type underneath the photo with wendy haha. but that's wendy below~~こ・ど・も（笑）

shiso singing XD~~

zenna, evelyn and the (now named, roger) turtle haha...this day was pretty eventful. was walking back to the dorms with zenna and evelyn cos i needed to change shoes and what do you know? we see a turtle...in the middle of no where hahaha. we were wondering how it got there in the first place. it was pretty far away from any form of water o_o

anyways, they decided to put it back into the pond...lake or whatever you want to call that thing near our dorms lol. the water is filthy...but anyways, that's besides the point haha. so zenna ended up carrying the turtle back lol. i filmed it. it's below - so enjoy :)

poor thing was so scared that it fully hid its head into his shell ;o

the birth of "roger"

i ended up going to see the gospel performance at toyonaka campus on monday, i think it was. only one of the singers came and she was from korea. the above (and below) clip is part of the romeo x juliet anime OP by lena park *-* ... i haven't heard that song in awhile so hearing it at this performance made me feel all nostalgic *sigh---*

i also got my hair cut too on the day roger was born haha. 4200 yen! i pretty much look the same; in fact exactly lol. but the staff were all really friendly. even if they were just doing their job to be polite and weren't genuine, it still made me feel happy lol. i think i will go back there cos i got this coupon card that gives me 50% discount off my next cut if i get a friend to go. that friend also gets 50% off too haha. i ended up giving it to mengmeng xD~ oh and the chick who cut my hair also said that i could go in to get my fringe cut for free....FREE! lol how awesome is that? *am thinking of abusing it*

common cafe

2008-05-31T01:31:00.004+09:00

i haven't taken photos in awhile which is why i haven't posted lately haha. but i decided to blog now since i have new photos^^ there's not a lot but at least it's still something xD~~~

this is shiozaki~~ about two-three weeks ago when i was waiting for evelyn at the library, she approached me asking me if i wanted to go to a gospel concert lol. i was really confused because i was thinking "why me" haha so i thought they were trying to like promote some club activity or something. it didn't turn out to be anything like that haha, but anyways we ended up exchanging contact details and she was nice enough to email me twice on two different occasions asking me if i could make it for the gospel concert and twice i declined ><;;

so i felt bad! i didn't want her to think that i was making up excuses to not go so i asked if she'd like to meet at another time and so we met on thursday. at first i was a little hesitant cos i didn't know what i was going to talk to her about, but funnily enough i was able to talk to her just fine lol...i talked to her like for FIVE HOURS LOL. pretty good for a first meeting eh!

then she told me that there's going to be two performances at toyonaka campus next week so i think i'll check it out^^

evelyn is a dork haha ~ even though she said she wasn't going to go out cos she had to finish her thesis, i (the bad influence) made her go out twice already lol. thank you for coming out with me tonight!!

kumiko and her new hairstyle haha. kawaii desho! i ended up going to that bar thing that kumiko invited me to. it was actually quite fun. most of them could speak spanish so it was a pity that i couldn't understand! and everyone was so internationally inclined and nice XD

evelyn came with me haha. well i thought it would be nice for her too cos she can speak spanish. good practice!

this guy is a bartender but he also performs as well. this wasn't the first time that these people have gotten together, so i think it's always like this. you go to the bar, drink/eat/chat then listen to him play haha. he was actually pretty good. he had like a folk-like genre. his voice was nice~~

some of the other people who were there. susanna and norio (?) are both spanish, but yukiko can also speak spanish too ~~

other japanese people who were there. youhei and keiko i think it was. their english was pretty good T_T ...i hope my japanese can be like that one day lol *jealous*

超HAPPYだぜー！

2008-05-24T20:08:00.010+09:00

went to shinsaibashi last night with evelyn for shoe shopping cos we both wanted to get new shoes before the rainy season started. all the shoes i brought over were slip ons, so i needed a pair of shoes that covered my whole foot to save it from getting wet! we walked up and down the shopping arcade (i think it's called that haha...it's just an undercover shopping strip) for like three hours. went into each all the shoe stores and in the end evelyn didn't find anything that she really wanted other than a pair of lacostes that she didn't end up getting. as for me, i ended up liking the first two shoes that i saw at the beginning *-* so we went back to the first store, but unfortunately, they didn't have any in my size!! the shop assistant told me to go down to sneaker land in ame mura but we got there too late and the shop was already closed :(

so today, i decided to go to ame mura again, this time with melissa. i ended up buying both pairs *-* they are both comfy and CUTE~!! i mean, just look at them!! *points down* :D :D

the adidas ones were about 6700 yen and the gravis ones were 6900 yen, which i thought were reasonable prices to pay for those shoes. i was going to get vans, but when i tried it on, it made my feet look SUPER manly cos of the style of the shoe. the adidas slip ons are also a little wide at the front but it doesn't make my feet look as big as the vans. and cos it's pink haha it looks a little gentler XD ~

anyways there was only one size left in the gravis shoes and luckily it was just right for me *wipes sweat*. the adidas ones took a little bit more effort to find. i only saw it in only one shoe store. but the guy in sneaker land told me to try ABC Mart at big step instead cos i didn't see any in the shopping arcade last night. so we went there and they didn't sell it. at this stage i was getting really depressed lol, then the lady told me to try the adidas store and gave us directions *thankful*. got to the adidas store and they had it!! in a variety of sizes too!! i was and still am soooo happy :D

another thing i need to note is my impression of ame mura haha. ame mura and shinsaibashi/namba are like next to each other and i find it so amusing how different the atmosphere and styles are in both areas! shinsaibashi/namba has a lot more rockstars, people who think they look and act cool haha. but ame mura on the other hand is totally punk rock and a little scary lol. i don't think i'd feel comfortable walking through ame mura by myself haha. it just has this really unsettling atmosphere to it haha. i don't know why. maybe it's cos all the punk rockers and goths are sitting around smoking and looking all hardcore lol. who knows. even though these areas are so close to each other it's like you're walking into a whole different fashion world haha. *fascinated*

this is a pretty random note haha but i tried to make japanese curry today haha. it looks ok doesn't it! haha. it also tasted ok too *shocked* hahaha. but for next time, i probably need to add a bit more curry paste in. this had taste and a kick to it but the flavor wasn't as deep as i would have liked it. i didn't add any onions in it either cos the supermarket i went to were selling MASSIVE onions in a pack of three T_T. i chose to not buy it cos i knew the other two onions are going to go to waste. so maybe i'll try adding onions next time too haha

videos^^

2008-05-08T17:57:00.009+09:00

aquarium & maid cafe XD

2008-05-08T15:25:00.016+09:00

so, mayuko came down to visit me for two days <3

the aquarium was pretty funky. all the fish were really huge O_O so too were the penguins. the main attraction seemed to be jinbeizame (whale shark)...everyone awed at it and mayuko couldn't get enough of it LOL. she took like so many photos of it haha. i tried to get some photos but they weren't so clear, but i did manage to get it on video <3 river cruise - well....it was relaxing lol. 1700 yen was a tad expensive for a 1hr ride and i felt like we didn't really get a view cos the design of the boat had too many metal bars crossing the windows. i got a shot of osaka castle from the boat though but yeh haha...that's as interesting as it was.

we also went to namba to have okonomiyaki and there were so many people! as expected of golden week. i thought that i had gotten accustomed to the ridiculously large crowds here, but this still shocked me lol. walking through shinsaibashi was a struggle!! and people were sitting on the narrow staircases of the okonomiyaki shop that we went to and wouldn't move so it was really hard to like climb the stairs to go up T_T ~~ i ended up bashing this guy while i walked up and i'm glad that i didn't say sorry!

after dinner, mayuko wanted to go up the umeda sky building so i went up for a second time again^^ cos we went up at night the floor of the rooftop lighted up so it was really pretty~~ and there were so many couples!

and for the maid cafes, they were really cute haha which was expected. we really wanted to go to a shitsuji cafe (butler cafe) but we couldn't find one :( i was so frustrated!! nipponbashi is like the equivalent of akihabara, so there should have been at least one shitsuji cafe around :( sigh~~ it was kinda funny cos there was this pamphlet that marks down all the recommended maid cafes in the area hahah and there's an "otaku route" LOL haha.

so anyways, we settled for a maid cafe since we were really hungry and couldn't be bothered trying to look anymore haha. we ended up going to two. one to have lunch and the other to have dessert. the interior of both shops were really pretty and the maids all kneeled to take your order. i don't remember being called an "ojousama" at the first shop, but the second shop never failed to call me that and i have to admit, it was a bit odd LOL. kinda gave me chills haha. i think the maid also felt embarrassed too cos i was embarrassed XD~~

they were all really kind and friendly though. it's the perfect place to go when you're alone cos they don't rush you to leave nor do they pressure you to order more food/drinks. i can see the reason why men go there haha. it's actually quite relaxing, which makes me want to experience a shitsuji cafe all the more! and yes - there were other female customers there too!

also, in order to get a photo of the maid you need to pay 500 yen haha so mayuko decided that she wanted one, and yes i was dragged along too LOL. it was totally embarrassing!! omg haha. they take the photo with their camera and it's like done in front of everybody .... we were being stared at quite intently!! what's more is that the maid made us do the bloody cat pose! the nyan pose T___T hahaha omg...i have never felt so embarassed in my life LOL.

then on our way back to the station, we happened to see some idols (anime) performing LOL. it was really funny ahhaha, i took a photo of it but i also have a video, so watch it! hahaha.

anime idols performing haha XD ~

choco banana crepe at one of the maid cafes. to be honest, the food isn't all that great haha but i guess people don't go there to eat. the dining wear though were so adorable and the bell is used to call the maids to come to serve you lol it was kinda embarrassing so we didn't ring it lol...we just waited.

i couldn't get a good shot of it, but this was the 500 yen photo that you get with the maid lol...if you click on it to see the larger picture then you can see the bloody nyan pose more clearly lol.

MY ADORABLE JINBEIZAME CUSHION~~~LOOK AT IT!!! ISN'T IT SOOOO CUTE *-*

the boat we took for the river cruise. i was a little disappointed lol. it looked more futuristic and cooler in the pamphlet T_T

osaka castle in the background~

mayuko ordered a omurice and as a part of the service, they will draw/write whatever you want on it lol. mayuko didn't know what to request so she just asked for the 'normal' thing lol and it turned out to be the cat haha. they also put in your sugars and milk for you too when they serve you tea haha...i really felt like an ojousama!

behind mayuko is the interior of one of the cafes...i thought it was a nice atmosphere^^

part of the 'otaku road' haha in nipponbashi~

shinsaibashi packed with people T_T...it doesn't look so bad in the photo, but it really was bad! if only i had a bird's eye view of it ;o;

okonomiyaki <3

teehee ~~ jun on a vending machine XD

i couldn't resist okay haha - shunnn <3

nemo!!

that's pretty much how jinbeizame looks like LOL

i thought the jellyfish were so cute! just look at them haha...i took so many photos of them^^ mayuko thought they were disgusting though T_T

isn't this cute~~ looks like a family <3

the infamous jinbeizame haha...that school of fish wouldn't let go of him haha always followed him

mini crabs!! XD

haha yes...random photo. i finally tried mow's ice cream (pi advertised it which was why i tried it haha) and well...i can't say that it's my favorite ^^;;

outside of the aquarium. there were so many people! it was crazy. the first time we went to line up the estimated waiting time was 70 minutes! so we ended up going for dessert and went back an hour later. the estimated time dropped to 50 minutes by then haha.

warabi mochi parfait!! this was so yummy *-* i really like warabi mochi haha. if i can, i'm gonna make sure i bring some home!

manken のnomikai & icho-sai~~

2008-05-02T22:54:00.009+09:00

the manga club had a nomikai on the same day when i went to universal studios. i left about 6ish and made it for the nomikai. there were a fair bit of people there *shocked* but everyone was really friendly~~ and cos i'm new to the club, i didn't have to pay for it ;D~~

i didn't take a lot of photos that night. we went to karaoke after the nomikai and that was the only time i managed to take a photo. the rooms were quite small so people went off into different rooms. LUCKY! haha. i was kinda hesitant with having to sing in front of a bunch of people that i had -just- met haha. that would have been embarassing ><" i ended up being in a room with mengmeng and shiso <3 and two other guys from the manga club^^ throughout the night though, people started to come in and out of our room, but by that stage i didn't care who heard me sing haha. i made a fool out of myself already haha it didn't bother me anymore XD

one thing that i have to mention is that there was no furigana!! i mean some of the songs had it while others didn't T_T and also, when you sing, the lyrics would light up one by one right? well no! some of the songs (e.g. hirai ken - elegy) just had the lyrics on the screen without a count-in or highlights! so i got lost for like the first half of the song T___T

wada-san and matsumoto-san. matsumoto-san did a really good imitation of asahina's song from haruhi LOL hahah

this was at the icho-sai today. that's hank on the right! he joined the acappella club and performed today haha

the icho-sai was fun^^ there were a ton of food stalls. i had yakitori (which took forever, mind you -_-), pancake with honey, pancake with cheese and takoyaki ...MMM HMMM! i was quite full after the pancakes which was surprising haha. so i ended up giving most of my takoyaki to hank.

there were also performances and stuff like comedy duos, dance groups, acappella groups, bands etc. i went to see the acappella group and they were really good haha. quite entertaining! i took two short videos of it - here are the links^^ in the second video, you can see hank on the far right hahaha XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TrMjv19_ME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fwf8x-XRHg

sadly, when i rewatched it my computer, the base wasn't as strong as it was live. it was much better live <3

USJ!

2008-05-02T21:20:00.010+09:00

i went to universal studios yesterday and it was so FUN! haha, expensive but fun! admission was like 5800 yen but we also bought a fast pass for like 4500 *dies* i have to admit though the fast pass is so worth it. some of the rides had a waiting time of 60 - 90 minutes :O~ by far the best ride was the hollywood roller coaster. i think it was called the dream rider or something like that lol. the rush that you feel after riding it is absolutely AMAZING. i liked it so much that i went on it twice XD~

the other rides were nice, but it just didn't give me that same level of excitement like how the roller coaster did haha. shrek 4D was bloody amazing though! that was my first time watching something in 4D and it was fan-bloody-tastic! the jurassic park ride was S-L-O-W!! the only exciting part of it was at the end when you come down ... that didn't last for long either haha. it got my endorphins running but the ride was too tame~~ anyways, photo time~~

i tried to attack as many human sized mascots as possible! haha so this was one of them XD go charlie!

i saw this performance on my way back. actually i didn't really stop to watch it cos i was in a rush, but i just wanted to take a picture of that monkey hahaha it's so CUTE! *pinches*

yes! another human sized mascot! haha snoopy was being attacked like crazy haha. you have to be aggressive and push your way through just so you can take a photo with them. hello kitty was also being brutally attacked too haha. i managed to get a photo with it but it was kinda funny cos the person in the costume looked like they were trying to run away haha.

yes, i'm a dork. i love taking photos like these at theme parks hahah. i ended up buying the hat in my hand..the one with the flower lol. figured that i'd add that to my useless collection back home haha. 2100 yen mangs!! *dies*

this was in front of the pink panther cafe. i have a thing for plastic food models haha *nods*

no i am not a hello kitty fan! but you have to admit, this is cute right?

shrek 4D!! this was sooo good! i really liked this haha. like you'd get sprayed with water when donkey sneezed or when the spiders all came out there was this weird sensation attacking your legs hahah. it was really trippy! you know that it's water, but at the same time i couldn't help but feell that i had donkey's snot on me LOL. it was a gross, gross feeling. the spider part was really freaky too haha. i don't know what it was, but it really did feel like creepy crawlies were brushing against my legs T_T

these were the girls who i went with <3 julia, claire and melissa

this was in the land of OZ~~we watched the musical [wicked] which was good^^ the actress who played the witch had such an amazing voice O_O ~~ it was just so STRONG! i honestly got goosebumps just listening to her sing.

that was the stage for wicked~~

human mascots for the win!

that's the roller coaster in the background. i couldn't get a shot of the whole thing, but it was a REALLY FUN ride!! *reminisces*

umeda sky building <3

2008-04-30T00:08:00.012+09:00

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

2008-04-25T12:54:00.014+09:00

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~~

2008-04-22T23:02:00.014+09:00

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::

2008-04-21T16:26:00.021+09:00

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!

2008-04-20T16:12:00.000+09:00

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