Catching Up

I've had a really nice chilled out Saturday, spent catching up with one of my best friends.

We were planning on hitting up Nakameguro for lunch but the weather was so effing horrible and I wasn't gonna make it by the time we had agreed to meet, so we just hung out at my place.

Fabulous. 

Catching up, chilling out, a bottle of wine, home cooked madras, bouncing ideas off each other about future plans....it was great.

I switched on the TV and Twilight was on. My friend had never seen it before....and to my pleasure (and his horror) it was a marathon! HAHAHA! I then realised that I hadn't seen Breaking Dawn yet and scrambled on my laptop to download it.

My friend escaped but I've just finished watching it.

LOVED IT.

I remember that I was really late to get on the Twilight wagon, but then I read all the books (including Breaking Dawn) and then started watching the movies. I don't know what it is about it that completely draws me in....and it's not just the fact that Jacob never wears a shirt....although that helps! ;-)

I'm gonna go crazy waiting for Part 2 to be released in November!

Don't judge me!!!!!

xoxo

Fullllll

OMG I have been stuffing my face with home cooked goodness all day.

You know after you do a massive shop at the supermarket and your fridge is just rammed with so much food?

Yah.....that's the state of my fridge at the moment, and even though I'm not actually hungry, I keep making stuff.

Dish of the day was a stunning chicken madras.

God I miss decent Indian!!! 

Also cooked up a couple of tofu dishes, loads of fruit salad and other bits and bobs.

Yes - there were a couple of twixes thrown in there too! Well, I couldn't be healthy ALL day right?!

(^_-)

xoxo

Back To The Gym!

After 2 months off, I finally dragged my lazy arse back to the gym and back to my aqua class.

WOW - that was seriously hard work!!!

But it feels amazing!!!

Now I just need to keep it up!!

xoxo

 

Eastern European?!

Last night I went out for dinner and a few drinks with my girl.

Disappointed with the lack of eye candy, at least I had fantabulous company! We were chilling out at a bar, being approached by complete tools, when we were approached by this Scottish guy.

He told us that him and his mates on the other side of the bar were trying to work out where we were from. LOL - the disappointment on his face said it all when we told him we were both British.

They thought my girl was Chinese or Japanese. She's half Filipino, half British but at least they kinda had the right part of the world!!! To be fair, she doesn't even look REMOTELY Japanese in my eyes but hey...

Then it came to me. The guy we were talking to thought I was....

RUSSIAN?!!?!?!?!

And then apparently one of his friends thought I was.....

POLISH?!?!?!?!?

WWWWTTTTTFFFFFFFF?????????

I was like, seriously?! You're mistaking me for being Eastern European?! Are you blind?!

OK, so I know I don't have a tan right now, but that's like the 6th or 7th person in the last 6 months that has mistaken me for a white girl!! I wonder if it's coz I was rocking straight hair.......I dunno, but he was totally shocked when I told him that I was half black.

Either way it was totally weird. I have been mistaken for many ethnicities in my time...Latina, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Egyptian, Asian, North African, Middle Eastern.....but I have NEVER had Eastern European.

I guess there's a first time for everything, huh?

Wonder what I'll get next....

xoxo

 

Nom Nom Nom

I love Twixes.

LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

They've always been one of my favourite chocolate bars and I've always gorged on them when I've gone back to the UK.

I SWEAR you couldn't buy them everywhere here before, but recently I've been noticing them in more and more convenience stores.

YAY!!!

I saw recently....I mean this week! HAHAHA! 

Either way it means I can satisfy my cravings on a daily basis! Of course I'm gonna try not to - my diet since I've been back from Thailand has been absolutely shocking and that dress size I lost has more than come back. (T T)

I promised myself I'd go to the gym this morning, I got up and got ready and everything. But then I started sifting through a whole pile of bills and before I knew it, it was too late to make it to my aqua class in time!

I'd love to say that I had a productive morning instead, but I just blow dried my hair and sat through about 3 episodes of House.

Seriously rate that show. Definitely one of my favourites!!

xoxo

Time

Last night I saw that movie 'In Time'.

To be honest, I hadn't heard that much about it, or even seen a trailer, but for some reason I had just assumed that it was going to be cack.

OMG.

I LOVED it! It was such an interesting concept!

Since I saw it, I have been thinking a lot about time. On my way back into Tokyo, I was looking around at people and wondering whether they realise how much time we waste doing pointless, menial things day in, day out.

People are always telling me that they admire how I decide to do something and then just do it. It's weird because I don't feel like I do that - even though I may do something eventually, I feel like I spend a long time pondering over it first. It's not a bad thing, but then I have realised that so many people talk about doing things and then create a whole load of obstacles for themselves which they then use at excuses not to do something.

Entiendes?

I dunno. I was talking to my friend yesterday and I am all for embracing change. It's just that initial step of making the change that is the most daunting.

Great movie - if you haven't seen it, then I highly recommend it.

xoxo

 

Nice!

Considering that I've been up since 4.30am, I'm feeling pretty good!

I got jolted awake by an earthquake this morning. A 5.2 in Saitama. 

The huge one on Wednesday was in Chiba, this one Saitama....I swear it's literally a matter of time before one hits under Tokyo. And it's definitely due apparently!

I couldn't get back to sleep after and seeing as my alarm was set for 5 anyway, I just decided to get up and mooch around before I had to get ready for work.

Off to Shinjuku and was super proud that I didn't go shopping! It's so hard working directly opposite Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Gucci!! And I decided to finish up at 2.30pm so it was even harder to just walk past and straight to the station.

My plans for tomorrow night have fallen through, so I've decided to have a weekend in...and tomorrow I'm gonna do all the things that I said I was gonna do tonight!! HAHA!

Gonna be weird to be in all weekend - I haven't done that for a while!

xoxo

 

Hakone

Yesterday I headed out on a day trip to Hakone.

My friend (who also did the CELTA a few years back), told me that he was gonna treat me to a day out to celebrate me finishing the course.

How sweet is that?!

We had a blinding day out. Up super early but it was all good as we strolled around, hit 6 different transportation methods (train, cable car, ropeway, ship, bus and taxi) and topped the day of with a nice soak in the onsen.

Soooooo realxing!!!

And then I realised when I was there, that it's been pretty much a year since I drove down there with my friend from Kyushu. Weird, ne.

It's been such a great month since I've been back - just in terms of being able to catch up with so many friends. Before it was all work, work, work but as dissatifaction increases, it becomes much easier to say, f*** it - I'm gonna go home early and chill out.

It makes a nice change!

I spoke to another friend yesterday as well, and he's invited me to head up to Fukushima at the end fo the month to do some volunteer work in Iwaki city. If you're not familiar with it, it was pretty much wiped out by tsunami last year. It'll be great to actually get up there and do some good!!!

xoxo

You Joka!!!

Working in ESL teaching you really do get all sorts.

On Sunday at work, I met with a regular client, who, to be completely honest, is never gonna get any better.

Why?

I don't know why she's studying. SHE doesn't know why she's studying. She doesn't repond to correction, she ignores literally EVERYTHING I tell her and she's just out for a good time.

In other words, a nightmare client. She's nice and everything but is one of those people that I consider to be a complete waste of my time. It annoys me coz there are people who want to take my lesson who are serious about improving and they can't coz clients like this woman nab my open slots.

At the weekend she had the cheek to complain that she wasn't making any progress. LOL - I'm not surprised!!!! She straight out asked me why her English wasn't getting any better. 

Me: Because you never review and you don't listen to anything I tell you.

Client: Yes, I do!

Me: No, you don't.

Client: I ALWAYS listen to you.

Me: *sigh* OK, choose a number between 1 and 8.

Client: 9!

Me: I rest my case. 

LMFAO!!!! She was HILARIOUS! She said '9' in this strong, confident voice. I just burst out laughing!!!! At least she was the type of client that could laugh at herself. 

That's kept me amused all week that has! LOL!

Is That You, Spring?

Tokyo looks absolutely stunning today.

Fair enough, it's only 6 degrees and you all know how much I hate the cold, so I'm still freezing my arse off.

BUT

The sky....flawlessly blue and the sun is shining that it's made me feel like spring is just around the corner.

LOL - I'll just keep on hoping!!! Last year, spring was absolutely freezing and it didn't start getting warm until May. But I can hope! 

To be honest it's just nice to look out the window and not see rain! Last week was so miserable and grey....at least when the weather is gorgeous like this, it actually makes me motivated to do something productive!!

And to start it all off was a quick rummage through my wardrobe to find clothes that I don't wanna keep any more. Granted, I only actually did this a couple of months ago, but I was looking at stuff that I absolutely LOVE, including stuff that still had the damn labels on it, and decided that if I haven't worn it in the last 2 years, then deep down I know that I'm probably not going to wear it again.

It's shit though, coz Japan doesn't have charity shops. I know of one Oxfam and it's gonna close down. So I'm gonna send the clothes abroad - there's no point in throwing brand new clothes away. That's just wasteful.

And I have to say that I'm LOVING how colourful my wardrobe is now looking!!!

Now it's on to a whole load of tidying up...and I think it's time to put the kotatsu and electric blanket away!!! Maybe?

xoxo

Retail Therapy

After the emotional stress of yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a mini shopping spree. 

I palmed a lesson off onto someone else and closed all my lessons from 10am. 

And then I realised the shops open at 11.

11?!?!?!?!?!? How lazy is that?!

So I passed the time having an early lunch with a friend and then it was down to business.

I made it to one shop.

2 hours.

BUT...

...only 30,000 yen spent and decided to call it a day there.

YAY!

I was totally good and went high street, so for that amount of money I actually picked up loads of stuff.

Now I just need to wait for spring to get here so I can actually wear it! Bold prints and super bright colours - yellows, pinks, turquoises, fuschia....I've picked up a bit of everything! And they will go fabulously with my newly self manicured blue nails. Really looking forward to spring now!! HURRY UP!!!!

Just need to make sure that I'm productive for the rest of the day now I'm home.....

 xoxo

Pray For Japan

I've been dreading this day for over a month.

When I was in Bangkok, I was wishing that I didn't have to come back to Japan until after this date.

March 11th.

The one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that brought Japan to its knees.

And took the lives of 8 of my friends.

(T T)

So young. Such a cruel way to go.

And now I have to live life for all of us.

I was on the train at 2.56 on my way home from work. The train stopped between stations as we had a 1 minute silence to remember. 

I lost it.

The tears just started falling as I remembered how it felt when the earthquake first hit. As I remembered how it felt as I got news of my friends one by one. As I remembered how it felt when my legs gave way beneath me and crumpled to the ground. As I remembered the horror at seeing the footage on TV - and then the feeling of my heart breaking for all the people of Tohoku as the magnitude of the disaster unfolded. What happened in Tokyo isn't even a fraction of what happened up north.

Such vivid memories.Such raw pain that has come rising to the surface.


I'm avoiding the news today. I don't want to see the images played over and over again.


All those people who have lost their homes and living in evacuation centres. All those people who lost their lives. All those people who risked their own lives at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant to save ours. Such heroes.


And lastly to my dear, dear friends. 


Gone, but not forgotten.


R.I.P


I love you.


xoxo

Stagnation

I am so jealous of people that just have stuff fall into their lap.

Don't get me wrong - I am not scared of hard work. I've worked my arse off for everything that I have, but just for once, I wish I wouldn't have to work so hard for absolutely EVERYTHING.

I found out today....well, I didn't find out but I've made a very educated guess....that the only thing that I love about my job could very well (and probably will) be taken away from me.

Training.

You KNOW I love training. I love presentations, I love helping people develop, I love being part of people's success and being able to learn from them at the same time.

Why does it feel that the desire to develop is such a big problem for other people?! I don't get it! Employers should be happy that they have staff who are always looking to improve their skills. I am by no means at the top of my game...I want to be, but every time I try, all that seems to happen is that I get a big, fat, heavy boot slammed in my face.

Someone please explain the logic in that?!

So apart from having to work my arse off my whole life to prove that I CAN do stuff and I do have the INTELLIGENCE to do stuff, I now seem to have to work even harder for the right to develop.

It makes absolutely no sense to me.

No sense at all.

I feel like I have stagnated. And that wouldn't be a problem if I was already at the top, if I already knew everything that there was to know, but I'm not at the top and I DON'T know everything that there is to know. So that makes this essentially one of the worst positions to be in. Stuck before I've even reached my full potential.

Why can't people see that? And why does it feel like people are trying to stop me from getting there?

Is it really too much just to ask for a chance?!

I don't understand.

At all.

xoxo

All Done!

Filing taxes is such a pain in the arse!!!

I got down to the tax office and for some bizarre reason, I was thinking that I could just nip in and out in like 20 minutes.

OMG the queues!!!!

But it's good to see that they have made the system way more efficient than last year. Just shove some numbers into a computer and all the calculations are done for you.

I won't get a lot back, but it's better than nothing!

I probably could've avoided those queues but seeing how I spent most of the morning chatting and skyping with my girl, I got down there much later than I was planning.

Oh well. It's all good.

Quickly got time to get changed and then it's straight back to work.

*sigh*

xoxo

:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I just checked my mail.....and the provisional grades for the CELTA are out.

PASS B BABY!!!!!

Over the effing moon, I really am!!

And that doesn't even come close to how happy I'm feeling right now. It's after midnight, I'm knackered after a long day at work and getting that news has picked me right up.

I was spending today thinking about all my options and have made the decision to start jobhunting and see what's out there. I'm not planning on quitting my job anytime soon - I mean, I'm taking too much holiday this year, but it's good to know that I can now go for a slightly higher teaching position now that I'm a QUALIFIED TEACHER!!!

 It feels amazing.

I can't even begin to tell you.

So happy.

xoxo

 

Ermmmmm....

So I HONESTLY, REALLY had the intention to go down to the tax office this morning and file my tax returns.

I was up early, sorting through my receipts and then sorted through a huge pile of bills.....

...and then it got to like 10.30.

Now I need to be at work before 1.30pm and there's never any telling how long these things are gonna take. I was gonna just go down there, scope it out and if it was looking too crazy, I'd just turn around and come home to get ready for work.

But then I decided it makes much more sense to go tomorrow. I don't have to be at work until 5.30, so I'll have time to make it to the gym, pay all my bills AND file my taxes.

Sounds much more productive no?

So what am I gonna do until I have to go into work this afternoon?

Blow dry my hair and paint my nails! 

LOL!

xoxo

Pure Procrastination

After a fantabulous lunch today, I swore to myself I would come home and sort all this stuff out.

I was gonna finish unpacking, get all my laundry done, sort through the bills and fill out my tax return forms.

LOL - yeh right.

I plonked my arse in front of my laptop and pretty much haven't moved since. I spent over an hour and a half catching up with one of my CELTA girls on Skype - what can I say?! There was just too much gossip to be shared! LOL! 

I just feel knackered and lazy and the rain isn't helping. That's what I'm gonna hide behind. 

But I'm gonna be really good tomorrow and file my taxes before I go into work. EVEN if it's raining I swear!!! REALLY!!!!

And then I'll start on the rest of it on Wednesday.

Too much crap to get through. I just wanna chill on the beach with a Corona.

So jealous of everyone left in SE Asia in the sun.

So jealous.

xoxo

やばい！！！！！

Uffffff.....this first day back at work has been an absolute disaster.

I got up on time......and forgot that I can't faff around in the morning like I was doing in Bangkok. Got to the station, forgot I needed to renew my commuter pass and missed the train.

Coming up to 2 years at my current company and I haven't been late once.

WTF?!

Get to work and kicked straight off with sales. All good....a month outta work and the minute I step back into it, I remember all the reasons why it was doing my head in before I left to do my CELTA. 

*sigh*

Knackered and I really thought I'd be able to continue my red bull-free streak back here...but I have a feeling I'm gonna be right back on it tomorrow. 

The crap stuff....

Clients I thought were gonna finish their course while I was away, thus never having to lay eyes on them again, have renewed. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

My office is relocating in May, making my commute that little bit longer. DOH!

I had pretty much a morning of clients that I seriously can't stand, that I just wanna slam my stiletto in the middle of their forehead. >_<

The good stuff.....

I got to go to lunch with my fabulous coworker and share CELTA stories, talk about future options and just have a fantabulous time.

Gave up on work early and came home - and now I have to do my damn tax returns and sort through this pile of bills on the table. Great. This is not part of the good stuff by the way!!!!

I just want the damn rain to stop!! It's so depressing (T T). I'll take the sweat of the summer any day!!!

xoxo

Reflection Time

I'm sitting in my apartment back in Tokyo and it feels weird. When I arrived back at the airport late last night, I was having seriously mixed feelings about being back. Should I stay here? Should I think about moving on?


And then I looked out the window and took in the Tokyo night view.


It's stunning. It really is stunning. 


And then I smiled.

I'm home. (*^_^*)

It feels like I never left, but at the same time it feels like I've been away for ages.

One month.

How time flies! I'm staring at my case and can remember packing it to leave for Bangkok like it was yesterday.

Today I was lying in bed for hours, just having that necessary reflection time about everything that's happened over the last month.

The last 2 weeks of the course were so busy, but after I finished on Wednesday, it was all about unwinding every night and lightly suffering every morning. And then it gets to the last night.....it's the last chance you have to do something that you've been wanting to do from the beginning....it's the last chance you have to say something that's boiled up over the duration of the month.

What did I do?

I'm not telling you.

What did I say?

I'm not telling you.

But everything is playing on my mind and leaving me with this really bizarre sense of confusion and to be honest, I really can't work out what it is.....what it means.....either way, I guess it doesn't really matter now, but I feel kinda....grrrrrr....about having something/someone in my head.

Doh! That definitely wasn't supposed to happen! I truly honestly thought I would just go in every day, do my thing and then come back and pick up exactly where I left off. I wasn't expecting to make friends and it's a really nice surprise.

Better than nice.

But then it ends with the same sense of frustration that I always seem to be left with every time I leave Japan. Why can't this person be in the same country as me?!?!?! 

Same old story.

Uffffff....guess I should crack on with this unpacking. 

xoxo