Aqua

Aqua aerobics really is incredible.

I can't believe how toned my arms and legs are.

Obviously it's down to the step aerobics as well but I think it's the aqua that does the most work.

I don't understand why I'm the only young person in the class! Don't people understand how much it works wonders for getting a seriously buff body!!!!

And the cute old ladies....

Awwwww.....

I love the fact that whilst they are practically submerged underwater, I have to bend my legs to actually get the benefit of it all! The deepest point in the pool is only 1.20m!!!!

LOL!!!

Obsessed with Bingo!

One of my elementary school teachers is absolutely obsessed with bingo!

Every week, no matter what the topic, he wants to play bingo.

I take it he's not listening to the cries of 'mata?!' from the students!! And he never listens when I say that we should play something else!

He gives me a lesson plan and I lead the class, so today when it got to the point where we were supposed to play bingo, I announced that we would be playing a totally different game.

The look of shock on his face was priceless!

But when he realised how awesome the game was and how much the kids loved it, he came up to me and said that it was a good idea and thanked me.

LOL!

And then he gave me next weeks lesson plan...and guess what?

BINGO!!!

LOLOLOLOL!!!!

Lovin Life

I've just spent the last 3.5 hours talking on Skype.

First was to my girl in Australia and then another friend in UK.

I haven't spoken to either of them in the longest time and it was just so AWESOME catching up.

And then I realised how much I am loving life right now!!

There is so much that I'm looking forward to and then there's the move to Tokyo.

Everything is so good.

I printed out some pics from my trip at Christmas to send home to my family and just looking through them has made me realise how much amazing stuff I've been able to do since I came here. And it all just put a massive smile on my face!

LOVIN IT!!

xx

Road Trips

So I'm in the midst of planning a road trip around Shikoku.

I really am amazed about how much awesome stuff there is to do there!

I thought Shikoku was like 4 seriously inaka prefectures but there are a billion temples and gorgeous parks, scenery and coastlines to be seen!

I'm really looking forward to it.

I was planning the route out with my girl today after we went to the gym. I love planning and organzing trips! Other than actually going to a place, the planning is the best part!

Like I could never imagine just going on a trip that I hadn't taken part in the planning of. It's weird, I just LOVE organizing things! But more than anything, I just love spending my free periods scouring the pages of Lonely Planet guides and then checking out photos online of all the places that I think I wanna see. It just builds up so much excitement!

And I just love having something to look forward to. Becaus everyday that you are working your arse is one day closer to when the road trip is gonna happen!

It's gonna be 3 days of awesomeness. A lot of driving and probably a lot of crankiness but getting to see 4 prefectures will be really cool, deshou?

Totally excited!!!

xx

Dumbass

You know what?

For someone so smart, I can be really effing dumb sometimes.

STUPID.

*sigh*

Bored!!

Man I am so bored!

I really want someone to come over and make me a feast. I've been eating all day but I'm still starving.

And I'm bored.

I've looked at so many pictures of Indonesia I actually can't look at any more. The frustration that I have to wait another 3 months to go there kills me!

Maybe I should have a nap...

I would go out but it's raining outside. And if you know me well, you know how much I hate going out in the rain.

I was thinking though that this month I really have to save money. Which means no mammoth shopping trips. The only thing I wanna buy is rain boots. Everything else can wait. But I SWEAR I will not go on a shopping spree this month.

Seriously!!!

I know you don't believe me - but I WILL prove you wrong!

xx

Sleeping In

I was in bed by 11pm last night coz I was so knackered not having slept after getting in yesterday morning.

I woke up at noon.

13 hours.

Nice.

Still feel a lil bit tired though. I checked my phone this morning and turns out I spoke to a couple of people after midnight. I don't even remember the conversations - that's how tired I was.

I promised myself that today would be my cleaning day.

Right.....

I LOVE Travelling

I am so excited about the trips coming up.

The first one will be a road trip across Shikoku.

Next, is 5 days in Kyoto.

And then the big one. 10 days in Indonesia. Java. Bali.

This is gonna be one of the most incredible trips of my life.

Not only is Bali paradise, but Java has got some sights I know are going to literally take my breath away. And I'm really excited because a friend from England is coming and meeting me there.

Funny that it's cheaper for her to fly to Bali from London than it is for me to fly there from Japan.

When you get a good group of people together, it MAKES a trip.

You don't have the loneliness that sometimes occurs travelling alone.

The best it is that you have the option of splitting off and doing your own thing. Everyone doesn't have to stick together. And a couple of the people that I'm going with are like me in that way. If I wanna do something that no one else wants to do, I just go off and do it. When it comes ot travelling, I always know what i wanna do and I make sure that I do those things. You can't fly to another country and just follow the crowd. That's not cool.

I am so damn excited. When I see pics of where I'm going to be going, I just get into this state of disbelief that i am going to get to experience something so incredible.

It's totally worth not saving a penny if this is what I'm getting from it.

Worth every damn penny.

I can't wait.

Doh!

I said to myself last night that I was gonna come home after the dinner.

LOL - I ended up pulling an all nighter!

Doh!

It was OK though - I somehow managed to land discounted entry and 2 free bottles of bubbly from this girl that worked there. She saw me and was like 'Jaaaaaaadddddeeee'.

I was all like 'Heeeeyyyyyyyy girl!!!!'

I didn't have a clue who she was.

LOL!

Cuteness

So as you know I've been baking cookies for my kids to decorate in class.

Well at one particular school one kid HATES Valentine's Day because he has never received anything - not even tomo-chocos. Needless to say he is the big kid.

I made him some cookies separately, iced them and wrapped them up all pretty and made him a heart shape Valentine's card. Of course I couldn't do it just for him, so I did it for the other boys in the class too. Luckily there are only four of them (gonna be screwed on White Day when I need to give presents to 10 girls!!).

You should have seen his face when I gave him his present. It lit up like a light bulb and he just gave me this mammoth hug. It was so cute!

Awwwww!!!!!!

To Shiver or Sweat - That is the Question

A little while ago I was having a conversation with some friends about whether they prefer the summer or winter.

In Japan they are both unforgiving.

I thought aout it for a long time and I have decided now that I prefer the summer.

The winters are so cold and with no central heating, I find it a constant struggle to stay warm. Wearing so many clothes that I look like I'm a size 20 and sitting in a freezing cold house that never seems to heat up. Although I still adore winter fashion - that's about the only thing that it has going for it. I don't like snow (but I do think it is pretty!!) and I certainly don't like being out in it!

The summers are so hot that you have to carry a towel around with you to wipe off the sweat! BUT, it's much easier to stay cool. You go go into the sea, leave the windows open, run a fan or the air con that actually manage to keep your house cool. I mean, yeh it is uncomfortable but it beats freezing your ass off. And then off course, they're the tan. Everyone looks better with a tan! Not to mention beach parties, BBQ and going out in the evening without a coat! Yay!

So def the summer for me.

Although the spring wins over all of them. Well, springs in Japan, definitely not in England! That period where the weather is warm without being humid and it's just so DAMN NICE!! Especially with all the cherry blossoms. So pretty!

Bring on the spring!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

My cookie decorating class went down better than I could have ever hoped.

You would not believe how amazed my kids were with food colouring!

I swear down, their reactions were priceless.

I left beaming!

xx

Why?!

Why has it gotten so cold again?!

I knew I was premature in thinking that I could put away my electric blanket! I was freezing my ass of last night!

The weekend was gorgeous!!!

What's happened?!

Enough with this shitty cold weather! I can't stand it anymore!!!

Cookies

I've just baked over 100 cookies for my kids to decorate in class tomorrow.

I just hope they appreciate my efforts!

Especially since now I have a load of cleaning up to do - my kitchen is absolutely covered in flour!

LOL!

Still on a high from passing the JLPT!!!

I don't think there's much that can dampen my spirits this evening!

:-)

OH MY F****** GOD!!!!!

I FUCKING PASSED THE JLPT LEVEL 3!!!!!!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!

I told you after I took the test that the only part I knew I did well on was the listening - well, I cruised through with a whopping 96%.

The rest of it was just guess work. I told you I made a Christmas tree shape with my answers! I'm not gonna sit here and pretend to have amazing Japanese and was being all modest about it coz I don't.

COMPLETE fluke!

And I might like to add here that I SCRAPED a pass! LOL!! And that's only coz I did so well in the listening!

But the score isn't on the certificate so it's all good!

Shocked as hell!

It's totally made my day! I'm beaming from ear to ear!

xx

Slow Jamz

The best thing about shuffling your songs is that it means you end up listening to songs that you haven't heard for time!

I've been listening to a lot of slow jamz recently. I love my slow jamz. I really am an RnB/Soul girl at heart. I mean, I like everything but RnB would probably have to be my favourite genre.　I just love being at home and listening to slow jamz. There's no better music to relax to on a Sunday.

Slow jamz stir up so many memories. Some of the songs are so unbelievably romantic that I actually have to stop what I'm doing to take the time to appreciate the lyrics....

Awwww.......

As well as the slow jamz, I've also been listening to a lot of Placebo and the Cardigans. It's been such a long time since I've listened to anything by either of those artists and it just takes me back! And I'm still singing along!

懐かしい！！！

Long Nails

You know what? I have no idea how the hell Japanese girls cope with such long fake nails.

I went out last night dressed as a Harajuku girl. Naturally, that involves long fake nails.

They drove me absolutely mad!

The most annoying thing of all was trying to get dressed. It took forever for me to do the buttons up on my shirt! not to mention putting on trousers and having to deal with the button fly.

And they weren't even as long as some of the other fake nails that I've seen!

I really don't know how they do it!!!

It was a good fun night out though. Definitely something different - but a lot of fun. Even if no one else did dress up!

xx

Something Really Cool...

....which you probably know already!

But I'm new to the whole iPod thing, so you'll have to bear with me!

With the new nano, when you shake it, it shuffles!!!

How cool is that?

Yeh, yeh, I know, I'm miles behind.

But I've always been an iRiver girl! I don't know a thing about iPods!

Quickly learning though!

;-)

Damn the Rain!!

I've been told twice today about how spring is the season that brings the strongest winds.

As if I hadn't noticed already!!!

I don't mind if it's just raining...well, I do, but whatever......but wind AND rain is a whole other story!!

And it means I can't wear my manga shoes out tonight!

They're white and would get completely filthy if I was to wear them out in the rain.

No thanks. Not after the amount I paid for them. LOL!

Typical really. The last couple of times I've been on a night out in Karatsu it's rained.

Bollocks to it - that's what I say!

Music! Music! Music!

OK, so I bought an iPod yesterday.

I've put 1000 songs on it so far.

In my iTunes library I actually have 5000 songs and the iPod can only take 4000.

So today I've been selecting the music I KNOW I'm gonna listen to loads and putting it on my iPod. There's still loads more I want to download too.

Such a long process!

But I'm so excited that when I go out in my car tomorrow, I'm gonna have music!

No more singing!

Yay!

Spending Spree

So I can back from shopping in Fukuoka 6.5man lighter.

Whoops! I wasn't supposed to spend that much!

But to be fair I did give in and buy an ipod! I was gonna go for the classic but then I decided that I could live with shuffling music around every once in a while and went for the 16gb nano instead.

Of course I bought it in pink.

There were still quite a few sales on so I managed to pick up quite a lot of stuff.

Including a really nice coat which shall so nicely for next winter.

Didn't find the boots I was looking for though.

Still, it was a nice day out with the girls. Won't be doing any more shopping for a long time now though.

I promise!

xx

Manga Shoes

I bought the most awesomely obnoxious shoes today.

They're white - normally for me that would be a massive faux pas in itself - but they are covered in manga! And I love them because they just scream Japan and have ridiculously high heels!

I shall post a photo when I can be arsed!

Woman!!!!

The effing school nurse!!

She has one of the most annoying high shrilly voices that I have ever heard.

And what's worse - she NEVER shuts up!!

I had no classes today so I was in the staff room all morning.

And had to listen to her rabbitting on about the school lunches for over an hour!!

And what's EVEN worse is that no matter who she's talking to, she always decides to have a conversation with that person from directly behind my desk.

If I pushed my chair back it would barge straight into her fat gut - that's how close she is to me.

And the person she is talking to is on the other side of the room. So she is literally shouting in my f****** ear talking to someone across the room.

In THAT voice.

All morning.

Why my effing chair?!?!

MOVE BITCH!!!!!

One day, I WILL hit you.

No joke.

Back to Sleepless Nights...

I totally couldn't sleep last night.

I kept having all these horrible thoughts of people around me dying.

And then I just got this feeling...

....that someone close to me will not be around for very much longer.

That kept me up all night.

I finally fell asleep around 4am.

When my alarm went off, I nearly called in sick. So close.

But I'm glad I didn't...coz I went in and found out that all my classes were cancelled anyway!!

So just one this afternoon. I think I can manage that!

xx

More Emotional Ramblings

I have spent the whole day thinking and watching online TV.

In all of the shows that I watch, there is always something that I can relate to. OK, well maybe not Heroes, but definitely in all the other shows.

Sometimes I like that and sometimes I hate it.

It makes me think so much.

And what I've been mainly thinking about today is

'when do you stop fighting?'

Everyone always says that you should fight for what you want. But when do you stop fighting? I've seen it in these shows - people who want something and they fight for it for a little while and then they stop fighting. Sometimes I think that people have given up too easily and other times I think that people should have given up a long time ago.

But with the things that I want - the things that I have been thinking about..

I really don't know when to stop fighting.

It's not one isolated thing. It's loads of things.

And right now I honestly don't think that I'm trying hard enough. I'm thinking that I'm giving up too easily.

Especially since this is something I really, really want.

Success.

I'm not sure why I'm so emotionally charged right now...

...actually yeh I do.

It's coming up to that time of the month!!!

LOL!! It's funny coz I get like this every month. Yet it always takes me a little while to work out why. And then it's always when I reach for my pill and see that I've nearly finished the packet that I realise.

Funny how I've been taking the pill for so long I still can't always work out the signs.

LOL!

Bring on the Summer!

God, I am so done with this crappy weather.

It's been cold since October. I hate winter. I hate the cold. I hate snow.

Time for the summer!!!

I'm just so impatient to get to the beach and start having barbeques and camping parties. Especially because they're gonna be my last ones here.

I'm saying now that I wish time was going faster but I know that before I know it I'm gonna be leaving.

But I don't care.

HURRY UP!!!!

Whooopps!!!!

I am so bad.

I woke up this morning at my usual time, but I just couldn't open my eyes.

Pure exhaustion.

I'm not sure why. I didn't get back too late yesterday. But I think it was just emotional tiredness from so much thinking.

Or maybe just pure laziness!!!

So I called in sick. To be honest I would be absolutely useless at teaching today given the mind set that I'm in.

I also can't help but think that I'm leaving and have sick days left, so why not use them up every now and again?

Not cool I know.

But my mind is just on one thing.

Tokyo.

Saaaaaaadddddd

This weekend went way to fast.

I got to Tokyo late on Friday night, woke up late yesterday morning, spent the day in Odaiba, the evening in Ginza.

And then it was all over!

I actually choked up when I was saying goodbye to my friend at the airport. I was really sad to leave.

And felt even sadder when I arrived back to the arse end of nowhere.

I now know I have definitely made the right decision to move to Tokyo.

I didn't even get annoyed by the trains like I usually do. I took it all in my stride and it felt great.

It probably will but I'm hoping from now until August, time will fly.

I'm ready to leave.

And I REALLY miss some people.

REALLY badly. After seeing my friend this weekend...I dunno, I'm starting to realising how much I miss my friends.

Those friends that you can reminisce about the past with. There's no one where I am that I can do that with because they didn't know me back in London.

I'm different now.

But I'm ready to move back into city life.

I miss you.

xx

Changes

So there's been this thing going around where you write 25 things about yourself.

I've actually found them really interesting as they reveal a lot about people. I ended up witing one myself today.

I think what else is interesting is the content. The things that people have decided to write about.

It reveals a lot about them. I don't think some people realise that.

It's also made me think about how much people, including myself have changed over the years.

Too much thinking for my tired mind.

I'm off to bed.

Night.

xx

Done

I finally handed in my re-contracting decision form today.

The look on my supervisor's face when she saw that I'm leaving broke my heart.

I've now promised myself to enjoy every class that I have left. Sure, some of them suck but in 7 months I won't have to see any of them again. So I wanna make the most of it all - of the good and the bad classes. I have some GREAT teachers that I work with so I am gonna work really hard to go out on top. I don't wanna not care just because I'm moving. I want the kids to remember me!!!

I'm gonna make the most of having a car.

I am REALLY gonna miss having a car.

And the beach.

As soon as the weather is good enough, I am gonna hit up the beach at every possible opportunity. I can already see myself delaying packing to go to the beach.

I am REALLY gonna miss the beach. Beach BBQs, beach parties, camping......

And Fukuoka. I LOVE partying in Fukuoka. And the ramen there is AWESOME.

And the people. I have made some really good friends here and there's no denying that I am gonna be really sad parting ways with them.

But that's the way of life. The amount of people that have gone in and out of my life.....well.......

Here's to an awesome 7 months.

Cheers!

Oh, I don't have a drink!

;-)

Zzzzzzzz

I had no classes today.

And for once, I was really productive with my free time!

I'm still really tired after my workout last night so I'm just gonna chill tonight. It's gonna be the first time in 16 days that I haven't been out the house in the evening.

Wow.

LOL - i got a package from home yesterday and the note from my mum cracked me up!

She said 'Love the photographs. You looked well, if a little thin.'

LOL!

Oh yeh...

.....I forgot to mention that I've put on 3 kilos!

YAY!!

The downside to that is it's all gone to my stomach and you can't see my abs anymore!!

Grrrrrr.......

Macarena!!!

I have just got back from an awesome workout!

There was a new routine in my step class which I actually picked up really quickly. No way near as retarded as I used to be.

And then I went to the フリーclass which had loads of steps that I just couldn't do. But the best part of that class was when the instructor put the macarena on....

...and then showed us the most hilarious dance routine I have ever seen!!!

It involved stamping you feet in different directions whilst waving your hands all over the place!! And then a couple of body rolls and stuff! LOL!! I could barely do it for laughing!! And watching everyone trying to do it was even funnier!!

LOL!!!

Not that I should take the piss - it knackered me out!

I'm gonna sleep so well tonight!

Setsubun

Today is Setsubun in Japan.

I've only ever known it as the 'bean throwing thing'.

It marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People throw beans and chant:


鬼はそと福はうち

to get rid of evil spirits and bad luck and to bring happiness and fortune into their homes.

My elementary school class this afternoon was about this. The HRT led the class for the first time and fair enough, it was mainly in Japanese, but it was still fun.

First, the kids had to teach me how to draw an oni using English. I've already taught them body parts and shapes so it worked out really well. The finished picture looked nothing like an oni but it was awesome! The kids then made fuku and oni masks (including me) and then we all went into the corridor and started chucking peanuts at each other! I don't know what was going on with my aim but I kept hitting all the kids in the face! I tried to chuck a nut to the teacher because he didn't have any but I somehow managed to hit him on the nose!

Whoops! (snigger, snigger, snigger)

Good times!

;-)

Hard Work Pays Off

I was up until 2am this morning watching movies as part of my lesson prep.

But it was totally worth it.

My kids were so excited to be acting out a scene from a film and were laughing their arses off when they realized which scenes they would be doing.

Even during their breaks they were talking about how they were gonna make the scenes work.

It's gonna be awesome!

Back in the Day

I was reminiscing about my uni years today.

I didn't have the typical uni life. Whilst other students were hitting up the student union bar, drinking £1 shots, I was sipping champagne in London's celebrity haunts.

It was at that time I got one of the best compliments I've ever had.

'You look like a young Aaliyah'.

I was only 19 and I used to straighten my hair all the time back then. I also wore it over one eye and I got that Aaliyah compliment a lot. Everytime I heard it, I was always amazed at being likened to such a beautiful woman.

What a waste of a life.

Sometimes I miss the lifestyle I used to have - champagne, martinis, members only clubs, VIP, queue jumping, launch parties and rubbing shoulders with some really incredible people.

Maybe one day I'll tell you about how I made a complete arse of myself in front of Timbaland.

I really miss Aaliyah.

R.I.P. Baby girl xx

What IS It?!

I feel like I have this massive weight on my shoulders.

And I can't work out why.

This burden which is making me desperate to know what the right thing to do about it is.

Yet, I don't know what that IT is.

Not gonna get me very far, eh?

Vanity?!

What is it with men and their obsession with training?!

I haev a friend who is pretty tall and skinny. He's defined but not in that massive chunky muscle way. Which is fine because he doesn't have the build to carry off muscle man.

Yet, he thinks he's fat and today he bought scales and starting working out at home.

When I asked him why he's starting now he thought I was having a go at him!

Ooooh tetchy!

Blatantly because of a girl!!

I just want him to be careful because he looks good the way he is and if he gets all muscly....well, I'm not sure how much that would suit him!!

Oh well - I guess it's his body!!!

Weary Bones

God I am so tired.

After the weekend and watching 5 movies yesterday.

Not to mention that my cold isn't helping.

My classes went well today but I was just looking forward to the moment when I could hit my bed.

During the lunch break I fell flat out asleep on my desk.

And even now I can't rest because I have 2 more movies to get through.

:-(

Titanic

I haven't seen this movie for years.

But I watched it today as part of my lesson prep.

And I still love it.

And it still makes me bawl my eyes out!

Big softie!

;-)

Bollocks!

Man, I don't think I did my cold any favours partying the way I did this weekend.

Especially Friday night.

I haven't had a hangover like that for a LONG time!

Think this is gonna be a tough week!

:-(