Italia - Part II (final part)

In two days’ time I’m heading back to Florence for a “long” weekend. Might have interesting things to write after that. But then I realise, I’ve not even finish the second half of my first trip there in July! And then Paris came too. Lots to write about. Not enough time. Maybe. I’ve been known to procrastinate after all.

Well, without further ado, let’s get back to Italy part II. ^_^


Florence's symbol


For the first time, I wasn’t just passing through Florence. After being there for four times you would imagine that I know it like the back of my hand. Right. That obviously didn’t happen. We went to Rome during my first “stopover” in Florence 2 1/2 years ago. Then the following year was Venice. Christmas was a whirlwind affair in 3days/2nights. So when I get lines like “so you must know Florence really well by now”, “what’s your favourite part?” I can’t answer them, at all. *sigh* But thankfully that changed! Thanks to my sister (yes Marc contributed a lil’), who happened to pop for a few days when I was there, I finally went to the Uffizi, saw David at the Academia, ate that lovely tiramisu and tried tons of gelato. That’s the way to see Florence, the centre of Renaissance a few centuries back.


A Jewellery shop on Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge that was not bombed during WWII.
Interesting fact: There's nothing but jewellery shops on this bridge!


"Gelato, gelato, gelato!"

Being the crazy tourist in Florence is quite the interesting experience. Because Marc abhor carrying cameras there (because he is now “local”), I could only go photo-crazy with my sister, who was there for the first time. I’m sure Marc would have joined in if he could, but the poor bloke had to work. (Well, someone has to make a living!). But he made it up by spending Saturday with us doing touristy stuff!


Grace with the fake statue of David by Michelangelo behind her (the real one is in Academia)

We ended Saturday with a special dinner to celebrate Grace’s new job. We actually
dressed up for the occasion even though the restaurant was only down the road! Great Tuscan restaurant, who said that Italian food was all pasta and cheese?!


All in all, we had a great time. He met a member of my family, and everyone had fun! ^_^
Next is him visiting me in Paris, city of Love, city of Lights …

ciao!

Italia - part 1!

Maybe it's the Commonwealth connection, but the beauty of not needing a visa to enter Europe is great. At least that was what I was thinking until my arrival in Rome which changed my opinion on this. But then again, I can still blame the Italian immigration for incompetence, stupidity, and just plain uncooperative and un-informative. Pick any adjectives along these words and I'm sure it fits their description beautifully. At least I managed to get through and in after some "checking" done by them... That is another story altogether which will not be featured in here. But now I've made my way to Paris after spending about 10days in Elba Island and Florence, which makes better post that the previous incident!

And what an eventful trip it was! Upon arriving close to 11pm in Florence from Rome on Friday the 20th, I was taken straight to Marc's place, only to drop my bags and then go downstairs to the pub where I met the lovely people he hangs out with. Granted, due to the status change in our relationship there was quite a list of people whom I had to meet, but never would I have expected the honours to began the night I arrived... They even came in a car to the station (after Marc had left on foot!) to pick me up when they heard that he was meeting me. Let's say that he was just as surprised at the enthusiasm as I was.


That aside, the next day we left very early in the morning to catch the 7.30am train. I just keep racking in the travel miles!! In the space of two days I had done Tokyo-Beijing-Rome-Florence (which ended up taking close to 24 hours) and now to Piombino, where we later took the boat (or ship seeing that it was so huge!) to Cavo on Elba Island* to spend the weekend there; a weekend getaway that Marc had planned for us and kept as a surprise. It was an amazing weekend. The sun, the sea, the food, and of course, the great company! It was indeed a big change from Japan. I had a tan and "rosy cheeks" by the time we left on Sunday.

Elba Island taken from the boat


Marc and I on the boat/ship

* Elba Island is famous as the place where Napoleon was exiled. It is near Corsica, where he was born. Now we'll have to visit Corsica too to complete the Napoleon "tour" ^_^

typhoon?

I heard that this weekend there will be a typhoon. The thought of it just give me chills. I definitely do not want rain and constant rain the whole day! But I guess even with the whole population wishing the same thing it really isn't going to work. So typhoon, (well up to now I really don't know if it's a real one), constant rain has been pouring since this morning.. and it will last for two days... yucks!!!!

Definitely more reason to look forward to Europe!! Sun and beach!!

Harry Potter World Premiere

Guess what? June 28th came and gone, with us at the BBC not being very busy after all. Harry Potter is supposed to be top news priority for us, but funny enough, the Japanese organisers decided to block all foreign media red carpet access. Even London couldn't do anything and hence, it was a rather "quiet" day....

But yes, Daniel did come, apparently he greeted the Potter fans in Japanese too. Well done!

Day 3 & 4 - On the Island

The day began at 7, being awoken to a beautiful sunrise and mist covered land that reminded me so much of the view seen from the top of Fuji. All that was missing was the “shadow of Fuji” on the “clouds”. Janice and I went jogging before breakfast, while the folks followed behind/ahead of us in the jeep, stopping occasionally to snap photos of us.

The highlight of the day was the VIP tree planting at 11am. Janice and I had the honour of planting two palm tree seedlings in the VIP patch, with a board of our names and date next to the trees. Immortalised forever… now we’ll have to come back to check its growt; perfect excuse to make a trip back… ^_~


Later in the evening we went to one beachside hotel for dinner of local dishes: deep fried fish, matoke, posho and some peanut and bean sauces. To top it off, we were greeted by such a lovely sunset that simply was, indescribable!

The next day was a slow one, but the weather was lovely. After lunch, we head down to the company’s private beach (they are trying to build it) to admire the view. How different it feels compared to the normal sandy sea beaches! Because Lake Victoria is a freshwater lake, the air remains fresh and clean; no salty taste. It was the perfect place to relax, do some reading, or just simply enjoy the view. There is a sign which says “Welcome to the island of peace, palm, and prosperity”. Forget the 3Rs, we’ve got the 3Ps right here, lol! I would really love to return here somewhere in the near future. I definitely didn’t feel like leaving the next day.

Day 2: Lake Victoria and Bugala Island

What an amazing second day. An early start to the day as we needed to make it to the ferry before 2pm, we checked out early to run some errands – shopping and lunch! Lol We went to the crafts area to get some African goodies, and then head off to lunch at a Korean restaurant before driving all the way back to Entebbe to catch the ferry to Bugala Island, the biggest of the 84 islands on Lake Victoria, in which 64 are actually inhibited. If you’re having a hard time imagining what I am trying to tell you, just think of Venice, and times that by 10 to get the size, I hope!

The ferry ride is a 3h long trip, cruising 10knots down south on Lake Victoria. We were privileged enough to know the captain, and was given permission to visit the captain’s deck. The ride went pass the equator, and we were trying so hard to snap the 00”00 but were unfortunately not fast enough, getting a 00”03 S instead. But we will have another chance when we return to the mainland, perhaps we’ll get lucky then.


View from the ferry. The land seen at the back is Bugala Island.

We reached the island around 5pm. The journey into the estate takes another hour, and this time it’s bumpy dirt road all the way. The scenery shifted from Kalangala town, to greeneries – jungle and palm trees. Occasionally monkeys ran across the road, and little children ran and hid when they saw a car coming. There were various birds flying around, I felt as if I could reach out and touch them. We saw the lake most of the time too, as the island is of a longish shape.

The view from dad’s house, or this area, is breathtaking. Situated on top of a tiny hill, from one end one can see the stretches of palm trees, while on the other side we can see the nursery, and then suddenly, the lake itself glittering like diamonds in the day, and also the other nearby islands. Eagles fly really low around here, but thankfully they don’t attack… I think.

Due to an early and busy day tomorrow, the evening ended early. Besides, lights out at 11pm, which means even if I had wanted to do anything, it would have been too dark to do so. For the first time in ages, I slept before midnight! More to come in the next few blogs…

Africa trip - Uganda. Day 1 - June 15th

“We are not beginning our descend into Entebbe. Please fasten your seatbelt.”

My heart did a quick leap. Finally! After delays and delays for takeoffs in each and every airport that I passed through, the plane finally landed in Entebbe International Airport, the old capital of Uganda. Great! Next step? No idea. Typically it would be immigration, baggage pickup and then customs, in that order, before I am able to get out. But I was quite certain that somewhere there would be a glitch. And voila! After some visa confusion (as I insist over again and again that I do not need a visa for entry, while the Americans apparently did, I played the blind person as I just walked out without much caring for stopping to be checked… As they say, ignorance is bliss.

My parents and my youngest sister met me at the airport. From there we travelled another 40mins into Kampala, the current capital, where we will be spending a night to catch the ferry to the island where dad works the next day. As I look out at the dusty houses, the worn road, I couldn’t help but felt a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps you know, perhaps you don’t. I spent my childhood in estates because of my father’s work; and until today I remember the dirt smell of the truck, the bumpy roads, dust everywhere. You can say that I was well contented to be here.


After a short rest, and a quick swim, we head out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. You might or not be aware, but there are many Indians here. I recommend watching “The Last King of Scotland” to brush up a bit on your Ugandan history. In short, the Indian food is very, very good; very, very spicy; very, very authentic. In fact, it was so spicy that I was sniffing...! From dinner we went to a bar/club/hangout (never found the right word to describe it, but you get the picture), where we met loads of people from dad’s work. It was opened air, very dark, only the stage had lights as there were some performers, and since the people we met were all Africans, I couldn’t tell them apart at all, seeing that besides their eyes and white teeth, I had trouble seeing them in the darkness! There were two memorable things to take away from this place: 1. an earthquake (perhaps it chased me all the way from Japan… 2. the funny performances. Tired as we were, we ended the night early since it was going to be a long day the following day. I was so happy to be able to sleep in a bed after spending 24hours in planes! (A total of 5 airports (Tokyo-Osaka-Dubai-Addis Ababa-Entebbe), 4 flights. Left 9pm, arrived 9pm (JST))

Friday once more

I love Fridays; the start of the weekend, and especially for this week, a much needed break.

Let's recap this week:

Since Monday, a friend from Wales is here, and will be here for two months! He's slowly discovering Japan, and for me, it is very refreshing to see Japan from a foreign person's point of view. LOL. I might be a foreigner, but after living here for so long, nothing surprises me anymore, although the news freak me out....!

I finished all my presentations, yes! Now all I need to do is to write a report for Tuesday, and submit in my translation drafts for another class before I head off to Africa 6 days away. ^_^

And to top it off, the yen is strengthening slightly ^_^

D-Day

June 7th is here. It is past 3 in the morning, and I've finally finished my handouts for tomorrow/today's presentation... Not happy with them but it can't be helped. It's a "Just Do It" situation ... LOL

Other than that, I've been having an alright week. Had some good news that kept me smilling to myself, I bet people on the road thought I was senile. Well, can't help it! Joy is joy, and true to my name I must stay.

In a week's time I'll be heading off to Africa... yeah! A much needed holiday, although I'll be working on my thesis at the same time. Perhaps I should just write about sustainable development and get my father to help me... lol

Definitely looking forward to next month, with some friends from Norway coming in, and then me heading off to Florence..! ^_^ Now if Paris works out perfectly, can't ask for more.

BEd time!!!!!!!!!!!

A new month

Ohh.... it's already JUNE... we're closing in fast to mid-year, end of the 2nd quarter. Craziness. I really wish that time would go by slower. Just the other day, while I was in the radio studio with Chris, he said: "isn't it funny how long a minute can be when you're waiting, but how fast it goes by when you're in rush?" How true! I am most definitely feeling it this very moment.

Seeing that time is of great importance, I shall now return to my work...sigh. I've got 2 back to back presentations for my seminar class next week (what an idiot I am for agreeing to do two at the same time...!!), and then a short piece on Murakami Haruki for the third period. Good thing litterature is well fun; at least something that I enjoy that I've gotten that done already, haha.

Right, have a good weekend folks, wherever you are!

crazy Tuesday

It is amazing how things can change in a short period of time, in the space of a day or even in an hour! This might sound strange, even I am not sure what I'm actually trying to write here.

Let's start with a recap since my last post.
1. I've finished my DALF! YES! Although I didn't do very well, in my opinion, but no point being down when there's nothing more I can do.
2. I bought my air ticket between Florence - Paris. Hmm, revising some countdowns:
Africa: 16days, Florence: 50days, Paris: 61days! Some things to look forward to, yippie!
3. I've decided to perform a short version of Hagoromo, a Noh play, on stage. Well, this is the target that I've set with my teacher as to not disappoint him, and to show the effort that I've put in. Let hope it goes well.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is out! Johnny Depp was here for it, and a friend of a friend was his translator, lucky girl! Oh it has been announced that Tokyo will host the world premiere of Harry Potter ^_^ If I'm still here when it comes out, I definitely want to go! I wonder if Daniel Radcliffe would be coming? The BBC might cover it, I should be nice to the bosses....

That's my random thought(s) of the day.

random stuff

It's been a nice warm day today. The weather is finally starting to be nice! I'm thankful that the evenings remain cool, no need for air-conditioning but not too cold that I have to use the heater... just swell!

So what progress have I made lately?
no.1 Today (or more like yesterday according to the clock), my translation professor gave me the OK to start on my individual project pieces.
no.2 I finally bought my air ticket for Europe! However something went weird during the booking and somehow my first and last name got mixed up. *sigh* Got to ring up KLM office tomorrow to sort things out. Bugger!
no.3 I can now start all my flight countdowns...!! Countdown Africa: 22days; Countdown Florence: 55 days, Countdown Paris: 66 days. I am ignoring all the return flights... LOL
no.4 I've finally made up my mind on what I really want to do for my graduation paper - comparing multiracialism and multiculturalism. NOTE: Not the same thing!
no.5 Negative countdown: less than 6 months to get my thesis completed, OUCH!

Oh yes, I do have round 2 of DALF this Sunday. Can't be bothered anymore, seeing that I did well bad enough in the previous Sunday... *sigh*

My current emotion: caught between two sides of the coin, but still not neutral!

Music of the week

What's on my playlist lately:

From the Heart (Another Level)
Shadows of You (Nakashima Mika)
Hitoiro （一色） (Nakashima Mika)
Carpe Diem (Alderbert)
La complainte de l'ex-fumeur (Alderbert)
Kuroi Namida (黒い涙）(ANNA TSUCHIYA inspi' NANA)
Can You Feel My Word (Wang Lee Hom)
You've Got A Friend (Hirai Ken)
Sakura Biyori （桜日和）(Hoshimura Mai)
Let Go (M-Flo feat. Yoshika)
Home (Angela Aki)
The Nearness of You (Norah Jones)

Nakashima Mika's voice is so beautiful, I really wish I could sing like her. Can't stop listening to her songs, they are quite addictive!!

Moving to the airport...

At least this is how I feel, when I think about the number of times I've been going to the airport this year, and will be going to!
Let's recap...
January: came back from Paris; Feb: went back home for CNY; March: came back to Tokyo; April: send mom off. In May I would have been at the airport too, but opted to not there to send my friends off.

What about the future? Let's see, LOL.
Next month I'm heading over to Africa to visit my folks. Just a short, slightly over a week trip to dad's place in Uganda, and then stopping over Kenya for a quick safari before heading back. It'll be well cool to visit Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile. How nice to go for a cruise down the Nile too, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, unfortunately!

On to possible airport visits... In July I'm heading back to Europe! Yes YY, I so love it over there... hehe. This time because of school I can't stay for a very long time, but long enough to do a short language course either in Florence or Paris. In any case back to the airport again in August... hehe If not, going back to Narita again in September, as my folks come over for a visit!

Conclusion? I should have gotten a year pass for the airport...!!!

Kyoto in the Spring

Yes, it is not Spring, it is Summer, as far as Japan is concerned. We didn't have Spring, Winter left and Summer came instead! Just when the weather was well warm and everything beautiful, I had such a cold day (like yesterday). Well, whatever it is let's recap a bit of the lost Spring.


Lunch at Gion - really yummy!!


Maiko dancers at the annual festival in Kyoto


Mom was here for the lovely cherry blossoms. We even went all the way too Kyoto for it, on a day trip (two night buses in a row, it really kills!). Kyoto is and will remain my favourite Japanese city. I love how one can never get lost, how there are always quaint and ancient things to discover, how although throngs of tourists stamp their mark there every year this little city strives to stay unchanged.



Ryoanji Temple, the Zen Garden

Canal Cafe

What a wonderful day Friday is!

Today I met an old friend whom I had not seen for months. It was really lovely to meet again. We had lunch sitting on a bench under the trees on campus. It was well nice, but if only the wind was not that strong! Because we were in the shades we were quite cold although the sun was out, it was really funny!

Friday evening is the day I have my DALF preparation class at the French-Japanese Institute in Iidabashi. After two hours of intensive French, one's brain can just die from exhaustion. Good thing I had dinner plans after that! After class I met up with a photographer friend that I met during my internship with the BBC, and went for dinner at an Italian restaurant by the river in Iidabashi! FYI, there are rivers in Tokyo you know. It reminded me so much of the Seine, and my friend agreed too (he's French). It was really a lovely time, with pizza, pasta and a bottle of lovely red Italian wine. Just what I was craving after the doc told me to stay away from alcohol for a few days after I had my yellow fever vaccination jab. The restaurant was really lovely, it had an outside terrance by the river, where one can just enjoy a nice meal, or even do a bbq party if one wishes so! They also provided cute red blankets to keep us warm. It was a pity that the blankets were a little small. Because it was so cold, I wished they had turn on the heaters instead.

Now I am back in my place, dressed in a thick sweater as I defrost myself. Time for bed soon as it is past midnight, but just wanted to record things down.

Welcome, the weekend!

the 100th post!

Wow, my 4th? 5th? year posting, and finally I reach the 100th post. Took me a while to get here, it did indeed.

I have been feeling blog-ish lately. Wonder why. The advantage of a blog is that it lets you let out your feelings, thoughts, stress, anything, you name it. I feel great after blogging, there's a sense of achievement, which coming from Ms.Procrastinator (me!), it is a BIG achievement, *laughter*

There has been much progress in my studies. So glad that I've got my presentation dates fixed. Need to concentrate on my graduation paper as well, so once I get all the other annoying, time consuming school stuff out of the way I can concentrate better. At least in 2-3 weeks' time my DALF exam would be over, and that will be one big relief, I must say. Regardless of the results, it will be done with as far as I am concerned. Turns out to enter graduate school in France one does not really need the DALF certification. bugger. I guess if I want a pursue a second degree there it would well come in handy...

There's big progress with my lawsuit too. Recap: We're suing our ex-landlady for incompetence, basically. We're submitting the papers to court next week, and then all we have to do is to wait. Finally after months of preparation (no thanks to one, but big thanks to the Foreign Students' Office), we are ready. I am now keeping my fingers crossed and pray that our ex-landlady will completely ignore the court order, hence the court will just rule according to our request, and then she just pays us. Now, if everything is a fairytale, life would be well nice!

Oh, I had the nicest Turkish lunch yesterday with the ACCU Culture department staff. They treated me to a farewell lunch at a Turkish restaurant. It was really yummy! Apparently the restaurant took part in the Aichi Expo 2005 at the Turkish house. They even have the Turkish ice-cream, the "hot and cold" one! Definitely going back there for that. Comfort food indeed.

What have I been up too lately?

Well, before you decide to gang up on me and bash me for not writing, please note that I do have a good reason - BUSY - to keep me away from my blog! Come to think of it, half of you are also out there working your arse off so don't go calling the kettle black... although I do admit that you probably are a more faithful blogger than I will ever be...

So, back to the big question that is on the title...

I have been working my arse off, what else is there to do anyway in this no-life of mine? Ok, ok, I should be more detailed. I am right now doing an internship with the BBC; to be more specific BBC News Tokyo. They officially offered me the spot after the two week trial with the Chinese premier, in which my Chinese came in handy and well earned me some points! It is a well interesting job, as you know that the BBC has both radio and TV, and since we are such a small team we handle both. This is really nice since I get to learn how to do live broadcasts and radio interviews, getting in touch with London and Singapore via satellite, on-site reporting etc. We have been busy in April, with the murder of a British girl Lindsay Hawker in March, and the Lucie Blackman verdict that came out end of April. (I even made front and second page on the Japan Times, unintentionally! Page 1 at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070425a1.html and page 2 at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070425a6.html. It was well cool!!)

Being a British corporation (if you haven't figured that out from the name yet...), we focus mainly on UK or UK related news like Japan-UK news; although we do work on interesting and big events like Wen Jia Bao's visit, the Live8 concerts etc. I've learnt how important teamwork is, how crazy the media world is, and best bit? I've well polished up on my British accent LOL

My stint with ACCU will officially come to an end today. I've opted for an "early retirement" from my volunteer duties (ha!) since I really need to work on my graduation paper,hence I'm moving on to mainly part time jobs at ACCU when they come in. I am going to miss this place though, I've been here since last October, how time flies!

Other than that, I am doing well with my teaching jobs, working myself to death of course! The good thing is that I've cut down my number of class times (I can see Marc nodding to this one...). Well, if the Euro drops, then I don't have to kill myself working and saving for the summer.

Last bit of news: I've found a job in Tokyo with a Japanese firm (oh no!), which means that I will be staying here after graduation! It's a weird contradiction (and I've been told!) since I would like to move to Europe, but I guess God has his plans that are beyond me. But grad school is not out of the picture, I will go back to grad school, I will move to France (or Italy, if that ever happens!) and pursue what I want (don't ask me to elaborate, it's forever changing...)

That's all for now, I guess. Satisfied with this long update? No complains will be entertained but your valuable comments are most welcomed!

Spring is here

Can't believe that March is almost coming to an end. These past weeks have been so eventful it is hard to believe that it has only been almost 3 weeks since I came back to Japan.

Quick update: I've been job hunting! Crazy as it sounds, I've decided to work first, gain some pratical experience before I go back to graduate school in the next 3-5years, perhaps. Rounds of interviews after interviews, submitting application sheets and getting rejections... what a mentally and physically exhausting time! I am already considered to be late, missing many foreign companies' deadlines. So far the companies that I have applied are mainly Japanese firms with international fame in the area of banking and consultancy. No idea where I would end up, but as long as I do my part, I can only trust God to lead me all the way.

Can't wait to get this job hunting out of the way. Once April starts, I'll be juggling classes and an internship with BBC! Just the Tokyo news bureau, a rather small one, but still cool all the same. In any case the internship is a trial, to evaluate me for further opportunities. At least something positive after I got rejected by Bloomberg, boo.

So much more to let out from within me, but I'll stop for now. Can't get my thoughts concentrated. Until next time!

CNY in M'sia

It was great to be back in M'sia. Although only for a short 2 weeks. Except for my younger sister who was stuck in Swiss for her internship, the other members of the family came back. As usual, I ate and ate and ate... It the beginning, when everyone saw me, they went:"You lost weight! What happened?" But towards the end my mom said that I'm starting to put back on the weight.. oh no! LOL

I met up with my long time friends too, who went to Australia, US, UK and Germany. So swell to see everyone! It was interesting to note that our conversation was more serious than before, we ended up talking about long lasting relationships, jobs, income tax(!!) etc. What a difference from the old days, when we talked about uni and our future. Guess we must be growing up after all!

To stretch CNY thin, I brough back all the yummy goodies to enjoy here.. lol... 新年快楽！

lost...

How does one gets over heartbreaks?
How does one become whole again?

It's only been a week since I broke up with my boyfriend, but it feels ages, yet the pain fresh. How weird! I don't really know how I should be, how I should act. Sometimes I feel so lost, sometimes all I can do is just sit down and think about the times we spent together, and it makes me miss him so much. Deep down I know that is not the right thing to do, but that is the only thing that I seem to be so good in doing at the moment. Argh, what a mess!

*sobs*

emotionally insane

maybe i am, maybe i really am illogical and out of my mind. maybe i'm demanding, maybe i'm such a horrible person who is so dictative, maybe i am so emotional that i can't seperate what is urgent and not urgent. the list can just go on but i am JUST TOO emotional to write!

Your Honour...

I hope it never comes to that, but it might be possible. Our "gracious" landlady has refused to negociate even a bit, and has "suggested" that we talk to her lawyer. Well, the school is going to do that, if our lawyer tells us that we have a strong case (meeting scheduled for the 7th). For all ye law students out there, this is a chance to follow a potential court case on tenant law in Japan...

On the other hand, things have started to perk up, after I've hit rock bottom I can't go anymore lower than that. I've found a new place to move into, and will officially move on the 10th. My exams are almost done, only Hebrew to go! So happy that I'm done with my social survey pratical class, Arabic, Italian and French! Dear Lord, what was I thinking? And I most probably need to do German too next term... oh yes, I'm going home in two weeks' time, CNY here I come! Started job-hunting too, in and out of Japan. Got to be frank, if I can work in Europe, I might just do it since Japan is really not my favourite place to be at the moment. (Yes coming from me it must be quite shocking but people change, end of story.)

Well, that's the update for now. Not really up for elaborating. Things are going well, but I must say my mental and emotional health has taken quite a tumble that I've gone quite weepy lately. urgh... From handyman Jo to weepy Jo. What is this world coming to?!

Unexpected behaviour from a Japanese

Q: "What do you think of the Japanese people?"
A: "They are the kindest, politest, generous people I've ever known."

That was my answer each time someone asks me that, and it would have remained the same, if not for some troubles that have surfaced over the past 4 months. It all began in September, when heavy rain led to leakage in one corner of my roomie's bedroom. Quickly she contacted the real estate agent (in Japan you never have direct contact with the landlord), who promised to get the problem fixed asap. Due to the hot and wet weather, and to no sunlight into that corner, the walls and floor started to fall apart, with mould and mushrooms(yes you've read it right!) growing out of the wet wood!

Shocked at such turn of events, my roomie pestered the agent to contact the landlady over and over again, but to no avail, getting only the same replied from the landlady, who told us that she had already contacted the contractors and they will be coming. Sick and tired of the lack of activity, sincerity and everything else, we brought the case to the attention of our university, who acted as our guarantor when we signed the contract. The school quickly got into action, and in the space of less than a week, workers came to check out the situation. During that time, our dear landlady came knocking on our door, and I was the unlucky one who happened to be in at that time, yelled at me for being impatient (after 2 months that witch!), inconsiderate and for complaining so much!

The workers repaired? filled up? some holes, and things seemed to have been solved, altough the promise of cleaning and sanitarising my roomie's room has yet to be carried out (until today). Happy that we made progress, we left for Christmas break with a light heart. However, the weather god has refused to be kind to us, or perhaps, wanted us to know the truth. Coming back after a month, we found her room in a state worst than before!

That was the last straw and my roomie decided to move out (without caring whether the problem could be fixed, nor my feelings). We (she) handed in notice last Sat and this is where our real battle begins. Being so busy as we already are (it's the end of term), we will have to juggle school and apartment hunting, figure out how we're going to get the money to move, and start a whole negotiating process with the landlady to get our money back. Things are just going to get uglier and uglier...

On a different side, I found out that the landlady has refused the real estate agent to contact any contractors to fixed the problem (which would have solved the problem thoroughly back in September), for she has a contractor friend whom she contracts with. I don't really care who does it, as long as it is fixed in a week, but it is not possible for she is apparently not interested and doing so and tries to put us off by telling us that she's going to fix it... which was and is a big lie, for she only contacted the workers when the school got into the picture.

Such behaviour is unacceptable, regardless which country/nationality etc. Her actions has made us lost faith and trust in the Japanese people. We cannot help but question the thinking and the morality of her actions, which can only been seen as selfish and uncaring. Perhaps she felt that since we were foreigners, we will not be able to do much on our own. This is where is she is wrong. Precisely because we are foreigners, we are not afraid to voice out our opinions, our thoughts, and we are not submissive! Such behaviour is totally unforgivable and I hope that she will be well punished for what she did.

City of Lights to the Land of the Sun

In a swift of smooth velocity, I gained 8hrs and found warm bright sunlight when I opened my eyes.

Perhaps you're wandering what I'm talking about, perhaps you already know, if you've been keeping tabs on the ever so mobile me (I've not found any GPS transmitter on me yet but I'll keep an eye opened for it just in case...).

Travelling in Dec/Jan season is never a good time I fear. Must be the year end buzz, for those planes just never take off nor land on schedule no more. Tension is high with all the long lines at the check-in counters, passport control and security check. Many people had to repack their suitcases to the allowed weight limit. The girl at the counter made me removed 3kgs from my bag as well. Thank God I had an empty bag at hand. CDG must have really tightened up on their security measures as well. As I was waiting in line at passport control/security check, out came 3 policemen: one walking ahead, one leading a passenger with his hands cuffed behind towards the exit, and one pulling the suspect's check-in suitcase(It seems that all check-in bags go through security AFTER the check-in procedure, hence from the
tag attached one can tell immediately). I wonder what the man had in his bag that warranted his arrest, but it obviously didn't please airport security.

Everything went smooth flowing after security check, although the late departure didn't go too well with my pangs of hunger for lunch... lol... But soon we were on air, and then lunch! (^_^) It was a pleasant flight, with me attacking the food while being absorbed with The Da Vinci Code in French(I snatched my friend's copy) at the same time. I think I shall give Angels and Demons a try in Italian next...
4 hours later, we landed and applause broke out...!

Moscow International Airport is one word: tiny. The "world's best duty free shops" are found in little corners of the corridors between the gates. Duty free products are quoted in Euros, while anything else is all in Rubbles. I heard that Russian chocs are quite the thing to pick up from Russia, so I bagged two boxes.... FInally, the last leg of my journey is about to begin. Hoping for at least some movies to cure my boredom, to my dismay the inflight system was not working! If not for
the book and my Ipod, I would have just cried myself to sleep, but that wouldn't have worked for the kind granny like Russian lady (on her way to Sydney via Tokyo) would have tried her very best to comfort me in... only Russian. I wished hard during the 9hr long flight that my Russian friend Alyona was beside me to translate instead of me trying to communicate in sign language! What a sight we were, the 2 people (an American as well) sitting by her side.

We finally got into Narita around 11ish. Applause. The plane couldn't park for 15mins so we were nicely tucked away in a big fat bird. But everything cleared up and I finally got out of the airport around 12. My bags took forever to come out!! Oh, one big thing I've got to clarify, TOKYO is not NARITA, NARITA is not TOKYO. Narita Airport is in CHIBA, a different prefecture altogether, making Tokyo city at
least an hour away by the fastest train!

All say and done, I got myself in one piece back to my place around 2pm. Of course the whole procedure of unpacking, laundry, sorting out the pile of mail (one month's worth!!) etc and here I end up, writing such a long piece (the longest ever on my blog).

All's well ends well. Applause.

ps. Some of you might have gotten this on your emails.