Each week it is becoming more and more like a ghost town in here eh? I don't know why I bother. But I shall keep doing it don't you worry. Maybe not like clockwork but relatively routinely. If I have anything to say that is.

The weekdays were filled with good and bad moments as per usual. I think I figured out that I actually finish a lot earlier than I anticipated because my subjects don't have an exam during the exam week....at least that is what I hope is what is happening. Because that means I may be able to travel around more, and I will know plenty of people here then to hang out with. HOPEFULLY

I also found out from macquarie that I may not be able to graduate because they are being stupid and bureaucratic. You see as part of the original degree I enrolled in, I had to do four 100 level japanese subjects. This included a vacation unit over the summer, as I was in Singapore I decided not to enrol in it, especially as it didn't have any NCCW (Not Counted for Credit With) subjects attatched in the handbook. However as it turns out they won't let me enrol in it again, because it would be unfair now that I have undertaken 200 level japanese. Gahhhh, so hopefully that will work itself out.

I have been good recently about going to classes, I think this is the third week in a row where I haven't skipped a single class. I was getting worried about how many I was skipping especially since I miss a few when I am on the cruise. So I will keep going until the break I suppose. Speaking of the cruise, I am getting quite excited now that it is getting closer. It seems you aussies are brainwashed by the definition of a "cruise"... seeing as whenever I mention to people (ie Suj and Rachel) that I am going on one they think I mean the harbour type party cruises that you guys go on. No, for the record, this is a REAL cruise. 2 weeks around south east asia.....cannot wait. I can also not wait for some heat, two winters in a row is mighty depressing. No wonder english people are such miserable assholes, it's the weather!

Friday morning I got up bright and early to go finish off the process for my reentry visa that I begun the week before. The bus ride was a nightmare, took so long. and when I got there I just handed in all my documents and literally like 2 minutes later it was done, again to take the 40 minute bus trip to uni. I probably should have gone a little later coz I got to uni 2 hours early for class, so I just sat in the cafeteria and studied for my test.

Friday night Julia knocks on my door and tells me we are going out to sushi. As I had already bought a day pass for the bus that morning I figured it would be a waste if I didn't use it. So we caught the bus to the uni and went to this sushi train place nearby. It was fun, there's a screen where you can order whatever sushi you want, or just take one you like off the conveyerbelt. Also there is a slot where you put the used plates, and when you put 5 plates in you get to play a minigame and if you win you win some little thing to put on a mobile phone.

We had to split up because we were such a big group but I was with Carlos, Magnus, Tia and Milje. It was the first time I had eaten sushi the whole time in being in Japan (outrageous I know) but it was good. I stuck to the simple ones, wasn't very adventurous, but it was good nonetheless. For desert I had this choco-banana pudding thing....it was soooooo good. It tasted like real banana too, not the fake banana crap.

Anyway we each tried to play the mini game but kept losing. We were up to 37 plates by the end, and still had not won. So we ordered 3 extra plates just so we could get a multiple of 5......we were all really nervous when the final game started. We let milje do the honours. It was like a pokie machine, with the spinning pictures that had to match.....so they started, 2 matched, 3rd slowed down. Tension building. and it stopped on the matching picture. We let out a tremendous cheer only to look in horror as it slowly moves one more time. We lost AGAIN. We were livid, we felt cheated out of what was rightfully ours. But soon enough we calmed down and paid and waited outside

We were not content with just going home so we decided to walk/bike around nearby and look for either karaoke or a good bar to go to. Eventually we found a good karaoke, which was like $9 for 4 hours then like $15 for all you can drink for 2 hours. Seemed like a good deal. I didn't give in my ID when they asked being underage and all but I managed to sneak in just fine :P. The room was quite cool, had a stage and everything. It was a lot of fun.

Surprising as it may be, I did not partake in the all you can drink portion of the night overly. I did have a few drinks, but I can say that i didn't go over the top as I have been known to do on occasion. I acted in solidarity with my neighbour Zina who couldn't drink because she had to have her wisdom teeth out the next day. Anyway I saw some people sink low into drunken stupor. Mats in particular was bad (although he was the one who took the photo of my with my head on the table, so I felt slightly victorious) he had his heads in his hands for a while then went off to the toilet to be sick. Carlos and Zenen helped him for a bit, but then when Zina and I went to go find them Mats why by himself on a couch.

We looked for Zenen and Carlos for a bit and then I noticed they were in a different Karaoke room....with these Japanese girls, it was quite weird. We knocked on the door and asked what they were doing. All of a sudden we get invited in too and told to sing mariah carey songs. Eventually though we had to leave though because the people that worked there came and yelled at us to go back to our own room lol.

I lost my voice a lot so I couldn't sing very much more but time was almost up anyway so I went and sat with Mats outside as he was being sick. Inside it turned out that the place was trying to screw us over by saying that we ordered drinks after the "all you can drink" period was over so they charged us more, they also said we had an extra person. I think they assumed because we were foreigners that we would just give up, but they put up a good fight. Eventually though we couldn't be bothered and just paid it.

Meanwhile as I was outside with Mats, Thomas came out and he was hilariously drunk, like stumbling around and stuff. Apparently this was the first time he has ever been drunk. I watched him and asked him if he was ok which he yelled at me to "not treat him like a drunk". He then tried to get on his bike....I told him not to....but he did anyway. He rode 1 metre then fell off onto the ground. So i promply took his keys away and made him sit down like a child.

Leaving, Gavin and his friend offered to ride Mats' and Thomas' bikes home as they were clearly incapable. I took them with me in the taxi back home. On the way Mats started retching. The taxi driver freaked out and got him to get out then was yelling at me asking me if he had been sick inside at all, which he hadnt. But we got home eventually and I took Mats to his room. By this time it was like 4 in the morning and when the bikers came home I hung out with them for a few minutes in the kitchen. Zenen and Zina recounted how JeongJu crashed her bike over a ledge and fell on her face, they were sure they would be making a trip to the hospital, but she was ok luckily. We were waiting for her to come out of her room and when she never showed we got a bit worried.

Zina and I went into her room and found her lying sideways across her bed with all her clothes and jewellery on. We woke her up but she wouldn't move, so I had to pick her up and forcibly put her on her pillow while Zina took her coat and earrings off.

Saturday was pretty quiet as lots of people had bad hangovers, not me though. I woke up fresh as a daisy. It was nice.

Sunday was a nice day, sunny after so many days of rain. I went to the supermarket and had a walk around a bit. Other than that though I didn't do much at all. I have a big test this week that I studied for and I also did my laundry, not very exciting stuff. Tomorrow I have to go to uni at 9 (even though my class doesnt start until 1) because there is a "Pre-Departure Meeting"

I have no idea why it is so early but I have to go. It's also kinda depressing to think that it's almost over. Zina said she would cry lol.

Anyway that was the week that was. Tune in next week for more

TALES OF INTEREST

Love, Jono

Ok well I am only posting because I promised I would, but this one will be super duper short because I haven't done much.

Thursday was American Thanksgiving, and being an international house, the americans in our house (particularly Zenen) decided to throw a marvelous thanksgiving feast. After school Taku's mum and sister drove the car from Osaka where they live to take Taku, Zenen and Zina shopping for food. Meanwhile I stayed behind and pealed so many potatoes to make a huuuuge bowl of mashed potatoes.

So anyway the dinner was set for 7:30 and they came back with food to prepare at 5:30.....this is where the teamwork had to kick in. We had about 10 of us working nonstop to try and get everything done, seasoning and putting chicken in the oven, making salad, making pumpkin soup, peeling apples and making apple pie, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, bean salad. One of my menial tasks was to whip cream, not fun at all but I always get stuck doing it.

Surprisingly we got everything done on time and we took it all downstairs. Ashley had set up a hand-turkey drawing station....it was funny. Mrs Morita didn't understand what to do and she made hers into an elephant....looked so much better than a turkey anyway :)

Anyway the food was soooo good, it was so filling and yum. I at bits of everything and there was just enough for everyone. Then we hung around and chatted and Taku's mum came back carrying a guitar and this okinawan instrument that looked like a shamisen. Then taku and his sister dressed in traditional okinawan yukatas and he SANG and played the intrument thingo.....i've heard him sing in english quite...badly, but in Japanese he was really good. He sang Shima Uta which is quite a catchy song from....Okinawa!

Friday after school I planned to go with Tori and Amy to the immigration office to get a reentry visa for when we go on our cruise. Tori said the place closed at 5 so we needed to go rather quickly....we waited for amy for a long time but turns out she was eating (selfish bitch! :P) Then when we got to the busstop she realised she forgot to bring her passport (Sigh)....so we went home, got the passport and got on the bus. Finally we got there at 10 to 5 rushed up. Turns out it actually closed at 4....gahhhhh. Nevertheless we managed to knock on the door and ask for a form so it wasnt a total waste.

Saturday I cleaned my room because I had anticipated my friend coming to stay (don't read so much into this paragraph ben). I was planning on going out to karaoke with her and her friends but being clumsy stupid me as I was getting my washing from downstairs I tripped up the stairs and twisted my ankle and stubbed my toe. I had to hobble back to my room and sit down. So i texted her saying I couldn't come. And then she never turned up. Next day turned out she was out to really late so couldnt really make it here. Stood up eh lol. Down 1000 yen too.

Sunday I also planned to go to Nara with Tori and Amy but again it was too uncomfortable to walk, so i didnt.

That's it

Hey guys, sorry for my hiatus. Last weekend I did pretty much nothing worth writing about and this weekend I have been quite tired so no motivation to write.

So yeah school is getting very monotonous, but I have entered week 8 which means I am on the downward stretch already, it also marks the halfway point for my whole exchange trip. Now that I am closer to being in Sydney than when I arrived I am getting a bit homesick, the whole halfway blues thing. If you think about it I will be back before your holidays end, so in a sense that's not very long at all. I am expecting all of you to leave between the last week and fortnight of your holidays completely free because I will be wanting to do a heck of a lot with you guys to make up for lost time.

So yea uni was the same (I will probably stop starting with this line because it never changes)....but yea friday night the house was so empty. Lots of people went on a trip to Kyushu to stay at our Partner University campus in Beppu. I was not really interested very much because they actually went to lectures and stuff (most of them just went to get a trip to Kyushu). Instead we invited German Vanessa over and got her to bring some wine. Anne made Gluwein (Sp?) which is a hot german spiced wine, very christmassy, delicious. So people were drinking and having fun (I was not drinking this time either though) It was lots of fun.

One by one people went to bed until Me, Tori, Vanessa and Ben remained in the kitchen.....they were quite drunk and Tori and Ben got into quite a heated argument. It was a bit scary. They were swearing in the hallways and stuff.

Next day people were having a hangover sleep in, I meanwhile got up at 10 fresh as a daisy and the house was sooooo quiet, it was kinda creepy. Eventually though I heard the familiar screams of children because my manager's grandchildren were staying with them again. They're so cute, they always say hello to us in slow Japanese thinking we are crazy gaijin that can't understand them.

I couldn't sleep on Saturday night for some reason so was up until like 3 listening to music and talking to Malishka lol....needless to say it was horrible. I woke up at 11 by Anne breaking into my room to find out why I wasn't ready to leave. So i quickly got ready and we caught a bus with Anne and Tori to the station, caught a train to Umeda station in Osaka and stumbled around looking for the Umeda Sky Building (which was in the Amazing race wooooo) I mean we assumed it would have to be close to Umeda station and we could SEE it, we just couldn't figure out how to get there.

Finally after asking cops we found it and were greeted by the gates to the Christmas market. It was rather lame, but I guess how many german people could there be in Japan, I think all of them were at that market. Anne was having a good time though, she had to take lots of photos and interview people because she was writing an article for her student newspaper back in germany. So we walked around and it started to rain and the girls wanted to go shopping so we went to this big department store and walked around looking at the crazy english Tshirts which don't make sense (never gets old)

We got to the top and had lunch, I had Teriyaki chicken, it was awesome. I also found a shop and bought Mi Goreng, I was so happy :)

Afterwards we decided to go to the Harbour and see if the aquarium was worth taking a look at. We got there and it wasn't too expensive so we decided to go for it. The aquarium itself didn't have a lot of exhibits but there was a huge tank with 2 whale sharks in it. There was also a manta ray and these huge spider crabs. Nothing you ever see at Sydney aquarium, it was cool. There was also a petting tank to touch stingrays and sharks, rays feel like slimy jelly, and the sharks are like sandpaper.

By the time we left it was getting late and we were tired, but Anne wanted to go back to the chrismtas market again to see it at night. So we went back. Then we left to go back to Kyoto, our feet were soooo tired but we had to stand the whole train ride back. Hell

So we got back and went straight to bed

and that was my weekend. Hope you all are well

I will be back on Sunday/Monday. I promise :P

In order to be consistent ben, I followed your thinly veiled threat and yes I am posting, but this has been a very slow week so it will not be a long entry at all.

True to what I predicted in the last entry, I developed a cold. Monday morning I was starting to feel the effects of it so I wore a mask to school. My friends all made fun of me, and I didn't really need it but I figured where else in the world can you wear a face mask and blend in perfectly. The Japanese people on the bus didn't even give me a second glance. Whereas if I was at home there would be a mass exodus of any public transport I was on.

I managed to make through Monday and Tuesday reasonably well, Wednesday morning I woke up and felt crap so I skipped my 9am class and went to the next one because I had to be a part of a panel for my United Nations class for the topic of "Should the United Nations Security Council be reformed?"....my argument was not very strong, but I got through it fine enough.

However by Wednesday night I was coughing and sneezing like crazy yet I still intended to go to class the next day, did all the homework and everything. However I woke up on Thursday and I really could not get out of bed. So all day I stayed in bed with my trusty laptop. Friday was much of the same just home all day. In those 2 days I think I maybe ate 1 piece of toast, so of course I was wasting away. Saturday I still felt pretty bad but I really needed to go to the supermarket so I made the trek down and bought enough food to last me a while.

That night while some people went to Osaka to go clubbing, I stayed home with a few of the usual gang and made Maultaschen (my spelling is probably terribly wrong) it is basically like huge German ravioli....we made the dough and everything it was a lot of fun, and it was so delicious too. So we stayed up for ages talking but I was getting weary so I went to bed about 1ish.

Today was another lazy day, I was feeling much better this morning after JJ the Korean girl gave me some weird pills that I, of course, swallowed without question. I had to catch up on the work that I missed from being away. Pretty boring

So yea, thats pretty much it.

Later days

ok sorry that I am ONE DAY LATE....sheesh, anyone would think I was charging you all to read this damn thing.

So yes my week began on tuesday when I went to the city to buy a halloween costume....We went to this big shop that had lots of things to choose from, then we found the hat wall. OMG so many hats, and needless to say there were so many photos taken of us wearing said hats. I was particularly enamoured with the one shaped like an icecream cone, because it was one of the only ones that fit, so I bought it. Meanwhile Zenen bought the fish hat, and we tried to get Jeong Ju to buy a crab hat....she was so sad but we persuaded her. Afterwards she said to me:

"I think I made a mistake, I wanted to be cute, not funny....This is my only halloween and my dream was to be a princess, a crab wasn't my dream"...

it was hil.ari.ous......as was trying to get flora to be a cake, she was sooooo angry because we wouldn't drop it haha, but she got it in the end

A recurring theme in these blogs seems to be the consistancy in which i make a total ass of myself. This time it was something new, I was catching the bus home after buying my hat, when I fell asleep and woke up just near my stop....and I got off, WITHOUT TAKING THE HAT......i realised as soon as I got off, but it was too late by then.

The next day I walked to the bus depot, which isn't too far from where I lived and asked them if they had it, but my Japanese must be atrocious because they had no idea what I was saying....I promptly gave up. LUCKILY I tried again the morning of the halloween party (friday) and a woman was there who spoke english so it was much easier to describe having lost an icecream shaped hat.

My friend Clarice from Macquarie also decided to pay us a visit from Nagoya for the night, so we got her a ticket to the party too.

The party itself was lots of fun, although it went for like 2 hours.....such a shame. There was all you can eat/drink. Zina my neighbour who is also underage encourages me to illegally drink with her....and you could say I caved to peer pressure :P....although I was much more responsible, I have definitely learned from past mistakes (although maybe not enough, but that is to come)

The room itself was so hot, especially in my hat....but it was definitely a huge hit. I had lots of photos taken with my by people I had never met before.....Javi the spanish guy who lives in my dorm also professed that he would like to eat me because I am so "smooth, cool and creamy". hahaha

After the party we all gathered at the uni to decide where to go next, some of us wanted to go to karaoke, so off we went. The room was bloody small, but again free drinks, which seems to be my downfall. It was quite fun and I went pretty hoarse from all the singing, afterwards I was so tired that me and Clarice headed home.....although once we got there some people who didnt go to the party were still up (and hilariously drunk)......so we hung out with them talking.....at this point I was still pretty good, then I had a glass of wine.....kinda the straw that broke the camels back. I felt like I was going to be sick, but I wasn't, and I managed to run away to my room when the others were distracted

Saturday was a hangover day, didn't do anything. Nobody go up until early-mid afternoon and even then the were not in much of a doing anything mood.....that night we had some people over and had a cocktail party downstairs. I did not partake in the alcoholic cocktails you would be glad to know....the mocktails they made me were pretty damn delicious though.

Sunday we decided to bike to Arashiyama which is pretty much this touristy, old place....really beautiful though. Problem was it started to pour as we got there so we had a picnic under a nice tree. We also saw a wedding taking place, I felt so bad for them. We walked around some shops for a while and through a cool bamboo forest then headed home after a few hours.......I got absolutely drenched, which brings me to the final point

I am sick

Although it might be getting a lot better before it really got bad, I have been gargling this awful medicine as well as wearing face masks. the masks themselves are pretty unnecessary but I figured, where else in the world could I wear a mask without being stared at constantly......I was rocking it too

so there you have it. I am contemplating taking day off to recouperate seeing as I have a busy/early wednesday. Talk to you anon

jono

Hey, most likely only Ben....or Malishka if I tell her about it.

This weekend was pretty kickass, although now I am sick so this coming week might not be so crash hot. But let me tell you about it shall I......

For once something interesting actually happened on a weekday this time. I don't exactly remember which day it was, but it was at lunchtime and we were standing around the foreigner benches as we have dubbed them....when this woman came up to my friend Anne and asked her if she knew any guys who could be male models or something along those lines......I was just standing there while they pondered, waiting.....still waiting.....then she left. Needless to say I was highly offended. Eventually though she ended up talking to the douchy american tool.

A few minutes later a camera crew came and there was a big commotion. Apparently some "famous" comedian came and was pretty much making fun of the foreigners.....so he talked to a few of them who had better Japanese skills, and then promptly left. So that was the most interesting thing during the school week.

So anyway I thought Friday night would be pretty quiet because noone had told me of any plans to go out or anything. So I made some spaghetti and ate it in my room....about half an hour later however I get a call on my room phone from one of the damn swedes, Julia, asking me if I wanted to go out to dinner with them......I could not turn it down. So we walked down to an all you can eat, cook yourself type place.....it was really nice, and as it was just Me, Tori, Julia, Amy and Zenen it was pretty good. We ate a lot in the 70 minutes they alotted us, definitely worth it, we want to go there again sometime.

Julia and Tori straight away began drinking wine and beer at dinner. You could tell right away that Julia was getting drunk because she began to talk loudly about very inappropriate and sexual things at the dinner table. It was hilarious. After dinner was over we walked home and headed to the kitchen to hang out. Eventually more people came and brought more drinks (but this time I actually abstained from booze, to prove I am not a total alcoholic).....We were trying to find the Korean girl Jeong Ju's limit....but she';s a total beast and didn't even seem the slightest bit drunk.

Saturday I think I didn't wake up until 1 or 2 in the afternoon/.....pretty much did nothing for the rest of the afternoon until the super awesome houseparty at night. I had made lamingtons a few nights previously, which was quite a feat mind you as we don't have an oven......So I used the oven setting on the microwave to bake a cake, it was very interesting.....anyway the party was really fun. Mr and Mrs Morita made Takoyaki....it was so good.....everyone had brought food, it was all delicious, I was so full by the end. Then Tori had made a trivia contest....guess who's team won by the way....that's right, it was MINE.....booyeah!!!.....didn't win anything though, just the satisfaction of winning. After that Freddie did a card trick for us, his magic is becomming a common thing at parties now, it's really cool.....i still maintain that he is a witch.

Today I was supposed to go to a baseball game of our university vs our rival....however I woke up this morning with a really bad headache and sore throat and was coughing quite badly, so i decided not to go and just take it easy at home. Anne made me some sort of german pastry, it was yummy. Other than that I didn't leave my room once coz I was feeling quite crap

So here I am, I have to do some more study now. I apologise for the shoddy and rushed appearance of this entry, but I want to get in as much study and hw as I can so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour. For you see this week I have to get up early 3 days a week because I am rostered on to garbage duty with my neighbour Milje.....bah, no sleeping in tomorrow :(

Hope you all are well, hopefully more people are reading it now that I am more consistent with my posting

Miss you all still very much

Jono

Hey y'all,

I am making good on my promise to update this blog when I can. Right now I should be doing homework, especially as I chose to stay home instead of going out in order to do it. So I will get back to it as soon as I'm done with this. So yea, nothing really knew going on at uni, classes are hard, but workload isn't as bad as I was expecting. I definitely feel that my japanese is improving, although I still struggle with speaking. Often times people will talk to me in Japanese and I understand what they are saying, but I can't express what I want to say. That obviously makes me seem like I don't understand at all. So that is what I'd like to do. I'm going to keep trying to talk japanese as much as I can because that is definitely my weakness at the moment.

I also do 2 english language subjects once a week which is a big relief, as I am able to express my opinions properly. First one I do is the UN. I think it is quite interesting, but the teacher is a bit boring. He likes to talk about his own credentials with the UN a lot, but every second week we have a bit of a panel debate.....and because half the class is japanese and I guess aren't confident enough with their english it makes it easier to speak up.....so I hope that helps with my confidence in class when I come back home.

The other subject I do is called International Peace Studies. Surprisingly it is actually pretty good. It is run by a Danish professor who is head of some big peace foundation, he has also been all over the world so he definitely knows what he is talking about. So we learn about peace funnily enough. Last week was the Gandhian ideal of nonviolent resistance.

Anyway, monday I finally got my bike fixed after leaving it at the school. I was so happy because I was able to converse with the bike shop owner enough that he knew what to do, and he would ask me questions that I could answer. However it became apparent that my bike really is a piece of crap. I needed a whole new tyre and he kept asking me if I wanted the pedals or the brakes fixed too....but all together I could have bought a new used bike for the same price.....maybe I should have instead.

The worst thing though is, I spent that money on fixing it, and now I have lost the damn key! So I haven't been able to ride the damn thing. I have looked all over my room and I can't find it anywhere. But it has to be in the house somewhere because I needed it to lock my bike outside. It is very frustrating.

Friday night it was a girl called Yuka (who doesn't live with us) 's birthday so we went down to the river. There were heaps of international students there, it was quite cool because I don't know all of them. Anyway one of the buddies, Junko, came and took a few of us to her "special place", which is an izakaya in some creepy back alley. (an izakaya is basically like a bar)......so anyway the deal was we would have nomihoudai (all you can drink) for one hour and it only cost 1000 yen, which is about 12 dollars i think.....so yea cheeeeeap as

Unfortunately I may have taken advantage of this offer a bit too much, I lost count of all the various tequila and vodka drinks I had but it was a lot nonetheless, and I got a bit loud and annoying from what I can remember. Luckily for me an Australian girl called Amy got most of the ridicule when she puked in the sink......so she was our House's drunk of the week instead of me. I also don't remember coming home, but people have told me that we took a taxi back and they took me to bed.....so at least I live with some nice, responsible friends here. A lot like back home :)

So yea that was a bit regrettable and I think I may keep it on the backburner for a bit, lest I make a complete ass of myself.

Yesterday I felt so crap too, headache, felt like I was going to be sick....so I just lay in most of the day. I had to go shopping so I went and did a massive shop at the supermarket, other than that didn't get much done. Which brings us to today, again nothing being done....must get back to homework.

So I'll catch y'all later

Jono