11:20pm セミナーハウス
天気：晴れ
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY; not that I did much!!! Today was, for the most part, unproductive. It was sunny, but still very cold. When I got up, everyone had already left, so I took my time getting ready and having some breakfast; I guess I’m revelling in the last few days of sleeping in. I talked with Carly for a while, and then had lunch at about 12:30. I finally figured out the best way to toast bread was in the grills under the stoves. After lunch I went up to Ash and Katie’s room, and hung out with them until we went into uni; Peter came up too, and we had some good discussions. At uni, Ash and Katie handed in their forms, and then Katie and I tried to get money out of our own banks, to pay for the accommodation. Unfortunately, there was a withdraw limit on both of our cards. I’ve decided I’ll withdraw another bout tomorrow, and then loan the rest out with the uni; it is interest free and I can pay it back as soon as I get my next JASSO stipend.
We had some Makkas (I just had a milkshake), and then Katie and I went to do some grocery shopping at Fresco. I found an 8 piece loaf of bread! The slices are really thin, but anyway. It was about 5:30 when we got back, and we decided to meet for dinner at 6:30. The place we went to was so tiny! It’s an Indian/Nepalese place just across from Shimamura and Avail. But wow, the food was excellent and so cheap. You got a curry of your choice (I got the meatball curry), a big plate of rice, Nam bread, salad, and dessert (yoghurt) for under $10! The curry was really spicy, but a really good shock to the system. The woman there was so nice, and even put the extra curry in a container for us to take home. So now I have free meal for tomorrow; just have that with some bread.
Feeling very content, we walked home in the freezing, and then I had an early shower before meeting Ash and Katie out in the lounge; they didn’t want to disturb their sleeping roommate upstairs. Simon joined as shortly after, and we had a good conversation together; Luke is the other guy’s name! Anyway yeah, we stayed there watching TV for a few hours, and I got another back massage; this time it really hurt. So we’re going to the onsen tomorrow after the loan session at uni; should be great. I haven’t been able to rope anyone else in as yet, but I guess it’ll be nice to soak alone. We called it a night at 11, and I made a quick detour to the kitchen, and enjoyed some of Biancha’s Nutella on Liz’s bread while talking with her and Jo for a while. Hopefully I’ll be able to do my laundry tomorrow. Well… time for sleep!
Showing posts with label massage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label massage. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Day 148 - 25th of January
11:26pm セミナーハウス
天気：雨天
I’m in the computer room again, since Hugo’s already in bed; fair enough since he’s has to get up early for orientation stuff. Hopefully it’s like this for the rest of the semester; it’ll be nice to get to sleep at a decent hour. Jamie’s out and about, so won’t be coming back here tonight; gates are already locked… Well today was the complete opposite of yesterday in terms of weather; cold and wet. I didn’t get out until around 3, when I went into uni for koto club; I spent the morning lazing about, and doing a bit of study. When I got to uni, I started out be handing all my forms in, which all went smoothly. Then I went to the club room to find Marika; she has her own key since she’s always in there. I decided, with her consent (she was studying for her jump test on tomorrow), to practice for a while. I got through hanagoromo and almost all of sandan before Midori and Mori Sempai arrived.
Midori sempai made chocolate, and we all had a good sampling, until it was all gone; this happened during the meeting. The meeting was short, and Chi sempai basically summarised what would be happening for the concert (who would be playing what), and when and where we’d be meeting; Moriguchi station at 2. I’m kinda disappointed that Marika and I will only be playing hanagoromo, but i guess we’re not ready for sandan. After the meeting, there was much talk about English slang, particularly swear words. I always find it so funny when the Japanese use our swear words, when they really don’t understand the impact of them. They are just so blasé and the girls especially will have a little giggle while dropping the F bomb. Anyway, I found out that making the “Huh” sound in Japanese is really offensive; that was interesting.
I got bored of practicing the first koto part of sandan, so soon switched over to the second part. Mori spurred me on by saying I might be able to play it at a later concert since the sensei wouldn’t be there; now I’m more determined than ever! Since today was the last day of term for the Japanese (they’ll be going on spring break), we had a short photo session, which was really nice. Midori sempai is studying for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), so we had a “frenzy” pose; one of the words she has to know. Seriously though, some of the English words she has to memorise are unbelievably stupid; words that we never use in common day language anymore. Anyway, since it is spring break that unfortunately means no more koto practice again until March.
However, I’ll still be able to practice here, as I did shortly after I got back from uni. I walked back with Jacinthe, and a few others, and just as I got in, Simon arrived. I soon met him, and he seems like a really nice guy; hopefully we’ll be able to hang out. He said it was so weird coming from really hot Australia to this; I can’t imagine! So yeah, we chatted for a while, and then I went up to have dinner (cup noodles), and brought it down to the lounge to sit with Katie and Ash and a guy from Denmark with an amazing name that I’m not even going to try to spell. We talked for a little while, and Shizuka (who helped organise the INFES) joined the conversation. Then, Okaasan came in, and as soon as she spotted me she started talking about koto.
Again, I was literally dragged by her to get up and play. Katie and Ash were about to head up, but seeing the opportunity to hear me play (since they haven’t yet), they stuck around. Okaasan wanted to play too, but wasn’t feeling up to it; some pain in her legs. So it was me playing Sakura sakura again. I did get to practice sandan (first part) too though, so that was good. I should be able to get loads more practice in before the concert, and for that I am very grateful. After my “concert”, I went up with Ash and Katie, and received a back massage from Katie. It hurt a lot, but was really great; she’s slowly getting the knots out of my back. She told me to drink plenty of water, since all the toxins would be coming out, so she knows her stuff. With that, I left the room and had a snack (bun, milk, and banana), before going back down. Don’t know what I’ll be doing tomorrow, but at least be going out for dinner…
天気：雨天
I’m in the computer room again, since Hugo’s already in bed; fair enough since he’s has to get up early for orientation stuff. Hopefully it’s like this for the rest of the semester; it’ll be nice to get to sleep at a decent hour. Jamie’s out and about, so won’t be coming back here tonight; gates are already locked… Well today was the complete opposite of yesterday in terms of weather; cold and wet. I didn’t get out until around 3, when I went into uni for koto club; I spent the morning lazing about, and doing a bit of study. When I got to uni, I started out be handing all my forms in, which all went smoothly. Then I went to the club room to find Marika; she has her own key since she’s always in there. I decided, with her consent (she was studying for her jump test on tomorrow), to practice for a while. I got through hanagoromo and almost all of sandan before Midori and Mori Sempai arrived.
Midori sempai made chocolate, and we all had a good sampling, until it was all gone; this happened during the meeting. The meeting was short, and Chi sempai basically summarised what would be happening for the concert (who would be playing what), and when and where we’d be meeting; Moriguchi station at 2. I’m kinda disappointed that Marika and I will only be playing hanagoromo, but i guess we’re not ready for sandan. After the meeting, there was much talk about English slang, particularly swear words. I always find it so funny when the Japanese use our swear words, when they really don’t understand the impact of them. They are just so blasé and the girls especially will have a little giggle while dropping the F bomb. Anyway, I found out that making the “Huh” sound in Japanese is really offensive; that was interesting.
I got bored of practicing the first koto part of sandan, so soon switched over to the second part. Mori spurred me on by saying I might be able to play it at a later concert since the sensei wouldn’t be there; now I’m more determined than ever! Since today was the last day of term for the Japanese (they’ll be going on spring break), we had a short photo session, which was really nice. Midori sempai is studying for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), so we had a “frenzy” pose; one of the words she has to know. Seriously though, some of the English words she has to memorise are unbelievably stupid; words that we never use in common day language anymore. Anyway, since it is spring break that unfortunately means no more koto practice again until March.
However, I’ll still be able to practice here, as I did shortly after I got back from uni. I walked back with Jacinthe, and a few others, and just as I got in, Simon arrived. I soon met him, and he seems like a really nice guy; hopefully we’ll be able to hang out. He said it was so weird coming from really hot Australia to this; I can’t imagine! So yeah, we chatted for a while, and then I went up to have dinner (cup noodles), and brought it down to the lounge to sit with Katie and Ash and a guy from Denmark with an amazing name that I’m not even going to try to spell. We talked for a little while, and Shizuka (who helped organise the INFES) joined the conversation. Then, Okaasan came in, and as soon as she spotted me she started talking about koto.
Again, I was literally dragged by her to get up and play. Katie and Ash were about to head up, but seeing the opportunity to hear me play (since they haven’t yet), they stuck around. Okaasan wanted to play too, but wasn’t feeling up to it; some pain in her legs. So it was me playing Sakura sakura again. I did get to practice sandan (first part) too though, so that was good. I should be able to get loads more practice in before the concert, and for that I am very grateful. After my “concert”, I went up with Ash and Katie, and received a back massage from Katie. It hurt a lot, but was really great; she’s slowly getting the knots out of my back. She told me to drink plenty of water, since all the toxins would be coming out, so she knows her stuff. With that, I left the room and had a snack (bun, milk, and banana), before going back down. Don’t know what I’ll be doing tomorrow, but at least be going out for dinner…
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