ah, still no bankcard!

Though not exactly destitute, I approach that oblivion with every passing day that my stupid bloody bankcard does not show up. It's supposed to be posted to me within 10 working days of opening my account. Last week I got a call from my bank telling me I had not received my card. I know this. They also told me that if I don't receive it within 7 days, I will have to open up a new account and the whole process begins all over again. I can't understand it, I've had plenty of this delivered to me via snail mail since I've been here, and there's been no problems, now when it really counts (ie, payday coming up again) I can't catch a break. So I could be looking at the second month in a row with no pay. Shit.

But enough complaining. Geord, Pete and Vee, how was the housewarming? I bet it was the best yet, despite what i understand would have been a chilly night. Have you managed to get the braziers back from the shed at Dave's? I think they were still there when I left...

Heading out to Osaka tomorrow night for some excitement, the kind of excitement you're hard-pressed to find in dear old Nishi Akashi. I'll write more upon my return, if severe alcohol poisoning hasn't completely destroyed my ability to think, see and type (shaky hands will never do). Speaking of, went out for Rachel and Dan's goodbye drinks last night, fun, drunk (again). Must go, need breakfast now. Love me (command, not signoff).

Kiss my arse Donna Hay

Went into Motomachi yesterday, and spent a ridiculous amount of money on seemingly innocuous items that as it turns out are very much luxury foodstuffs in this neck of the woods. Including feta, olives, balsamic vinegar, dried apricots, pumkin seeds, etc etc. I now have ingrediants to make proper muslie, and, the best pasta dish in the entire known universe created solely by the hand and gumption of yours truly. For those vegetarians out there, just leave out the chicken.

Chicken breast
Olives (preferably kalamata)
Cherry or roma tomatoes (must be sweet and flavourful)
spring onions
garlic
salt
pepper
baby spinch or sliverbeet
feta
parmesan (real only please)
parsley
basil
olive oil

Marinate chicken (thinly sliced pieces) in pepper, salt, balsamic and olive oil. Pan fry until almost cooked through. Set aside. Finely chop silverbeet (or leave baby spinach leaves whole). Finely slice white section of spring onions, garlic. Pit olives and chop into chunks. Pan fry olives, spinach, garlic and onions until softened. Marinate tometoes (chopped into chunks) in more balsamic, olive oil, pepper, parsely, green part of spring onions finely sliced, basil and salt (liberal with marinade). Boil pasta, any kind, but preferably penne or spiralli. When pasta al dente, drain, add to spinach pan with chicken, tomato mix (including marinade). Take pan off heat. Crumble in feta, grate in parmesan. Serve with extra finely chopped parsley and basil.

Seriously good pasta, light, fresh, the perfect summer dish.

Try it and see for yourself ok? making it tonight for Rachel and Dan, who have been so nice to me since I arrived an ignorant "Gaijen". (Unsure of spelling).

Food has become a never-ending battle. Trying to find cheap ingrediants to atleast emmulate some of my dishes from home is a struggle, and although I give myself over whole heartedly to Sashimi and Sushi, I feel unable to temp my tastebuds with raw chicken livers, octopus (raw) and eel (ewe). The thing I crave more than anything is proper cheese. I can't believe it's been so long since I had decent cheese. lachy, if you ever come here, best bring ample supplies with you, you may not survive!

On the other hand, why eat when 750 ml bottles of Bombay Saphire are $12!! If limes weren't so bloody expensive, I'd be drinking mojitos day in and day out. Also vending machines sell beer and smokes.

A Little Bored...

Ok, so it's been a week or so since I last thought about this bloggy thing, which I take as a good sign; that I've got better things to do. For a while there my attention to my email and blogspot was bordering on maniacal. I have ceased to check my email every few hours, as have I ceased to be surprised when I have nothing to read. I've been here a month now, and I think that might be the threshold for anyone's feigned interest in my activities. I know that's how I'd be if the situation was reversed.

Anyway, so here I am, the first night I've had fuck-all to do, and I find myself once again, checking, re-checking my emails. This has much to do with the fact that I don't have a phone yet, and a little to do with the fact that one of the good friends I've made since I got here has gone on holidays for the week to Hiroshima. This is a luxury to which I am not yet entitled, being as I am a relative rookie at Nova.

Last Friday was my "monthiverssary" in Japan, celebrated in characteristic style of going out and getting a wee bit pissed. Read: Only a little, I have no money, besides which I had to work early. Last Tuesday I went into Shin Osaka for a night. You either leave at the untimely hour of 12:30 to catch the last train home, or you wait until 5:20 in the morning and catch the first local home, which takes 1.5 hours. Guess which one I took? So got home at about 7, then a day of respite, thank the good lord. Still, have been operating quite consistently on about 4 hours sleep a night for about 3 weeks now. Am going quietly, but convincingly mad with each passing day. On the upside, work provides ample opportunity for a quiet sleep, when you set the students a task of simply "conversing" with eachother. Of course the difficulty lies in trying to pretend you heard every word...

So that's it for now. Update on real life: Still no phone, complications abound ..., still no bankcard, for what reason I cannot fathom...all paerwork has been signed, sealed and delievered..., still no housemate. Moving in with Poon Yu proved way too hard, he had a time limit of 2 weeks, I need to give a months notice, etc etc. All in all, the places we checked out were not up to scratch, and fortunately for him, a room became available in a house not far from his current place. Still, the plan is to catch up as much as possible, teaching and learning new skills as we go.

God, yet another diatribe. I hope everyone is ok, I know I failed to address individual concerns once more (Heather nod), but you really have to let me know what they are! Congradulations to my darling Nadsie for undergoing the arduous task of quitting the cancer sticks.

I love you all, I want to hear from each and every one of you. It looks like I'll have some time on my hands this week, so if you can find a minute, write back and let me know how you are, I love reading even the most rudimentary responses. No news is bad news!

Love to all, Mez

a few days and many late nights later...

Well, it's been quite a week for me, had my first real Karaoke experience last Wednesday night at hilarious isikaye (I think that's right). Was very drunk, tuneless and completely uninspiring, so perfect. Had fabulous time at lovely English girl Kate's birthday. Felt very stinge at only having drawn her little picture of nearby bridge scene for present, embarrassingly handed over said piece, but quickly became hero of the night for being the only person to have actually gotten her anything at all. Spent too much money on cheap beer, but definitely worth it.

Poon Yu and I still looking for the ideal place to set up our fabulous new life of Kung Fu and Fusion cooking. He's an excellent cook, and a Kung Fu master, so I can't wait to learn everything I can, have already been introduced to a few ideas, and the skill is amazing. It is not about force, or reaction, but about using you entire body, concentrating you strength and thoughts on maybe one seemingly insignificant task, which imbues you with a ridiculous amount of power and strength. It's not about resisting with isolated parts of your body, but relaxing the whole. Can't wait to learn more!

Went out with Poon and some of his workmates the night before last and had a brilliant time. Met some wonderful people, including "flaming" Dan and his man Masato, an adorable Japanese girl Miki, and a funny man from Leeds, whose name escapes me. Once more Karaoke was on the agenda and this time, in a room full of Japanese mafia types (or so I was told by funny little Japanese guy who, according to Miki who was translating, wanted to be my boyfriend, whatever that means!). Anyway, compared to the woeful voices around me, I kicked a little arse and got a standing ovation, which for Karaoke is not a common sight. Anyway, had a great time and then almost missed my last train home again. So very tired. Work has been rather trying, just can't wait until the end of each day, thinking all I want to do is crawl into bed, but inevitably there's something way more exciting going on, so the whole process starts all over again.

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope everyone is happy and well. Geord, Pete and Vee, what's the new house like, please send me news, I hear it's an absolute winner. Heatherbell, hope everything's going well with you - don't leave me hanging. Nadsie Noo Noo, how's your job, demanding as usual? How's Sharpie, is he president of the chess club yet? Kels, I want piccies of the loverly little ones (and of course ma and pa). Tell me all about Sydney! Webby and Al, and photos of Kel's trip to Sydney would be sweet. Al, hope you're not working too hard (of course you are). That's it for now. God, my trainer (Tim) is right, I am too wordy.

Godammit

Okay, for those of you who are not aware, I hate hate hate sending off stuff that hasn't been edited properly for spelling mistakes, etc. Please ignore said mistakes in previous post because some little monkey was typing for me and it obviously didn't have the patience to make sure it was typing accurately. Time to get a new monkey. Next time my writing will be as close to flawless (atleast in the grammatical sense) as I can possibly make it.

This time it's actually me!

Hello there everyone. Please ignore previous posts, made by crazy woman obviously keenly intent on blowing her own trumpet. really though, want to give shout out to Heather for being so thoughtful and ever-so-slightly aware of my tendency to fear technology to the point of refusing to have anything to do with computers. As you can see, I am learning. The pace of my transformation from technologically inexperienced caterpillar to Expertly butterfly has been amde all the more rapid with certain recent triumphs. I have managed, entirely without Heather's help I might add, to tap into unsuspecting neighbour's broadband and can now type away at leisure all the live long day if I wish. Hopefully this will prove unnecessary as I find the means to acquire a phone and actually get some semblance of a life here.

This is not to say that I have been sitting alone in my apartment like a lump all day everyday. far from it. I go out as much as possible and have had a fantastic time meeting many (interesting sometimes, avoidable others) new people. Everyone at Nova is amiable, helpful and most enjoy the odd bevvie, which sits nicely with me as you can imagine.

I'll leave you for now, because I realise that while I have improved in leaps and bounds, my abilities do not yet extend to pretty pictures of surrounds. Firstly because I don't have a digital camera of phone yet, secondly because some nice person is going to have to show me precisely how to go about transferring the onto this my new blogspot (I can't quite believe this day has arrived). No-one wants to read a whole lot of boring, unillustrated text in one go, so this is me signing off for now. I promise to keep you updated on my comings and goings, maybe even a few amusing anecdotes, who knows. I'll leave you with this: Never have I been so self-conscious about the size of my nose. Apparently us caucasians have a far superior sense of smell because of out enormous honkers, or so I was told by a student the other day.

Love and well-wishes to all who've cared to read this through. You poor buggers.

This Post is not as good as it should have been!

Ok, just wrote a massively detailed letter/post explaining point by point my life in Japan so far, then this stupid bloody computer erased the whole damn thing. I couldn`t hate this thing more, really.

So to summarise (running out of money, need to write to Heather again, do not type fast enough):

Japan good, work boring but easy, sometimes good class makes day worthwhile, sometimes have to pinch arm to stay awake. Lots of out and drinking time. Meeting lovely drunks (co-workers). Eating great sushi. Not too expensive, depends what you buy. Transpot system soooo organised, very easy to get from A to B. Live in Nishi-Akashi, work 10 mins by train away in Kakogawa. Spending more money than I shouls. Have much to do, eg organise bank account, phone, commuter pass, etc etc.

This sucks, last email was funny and informative (I think).

But must go and eat, hungry. Love you all muchly. Sorry about sucky group email / post( the first one was great, I swear).
Love Mez
P.S Will try repeat performance soon, hopefully with desired result of funny, informative email/post.

Heather Sent Me an Email Today

Well, been in Japan for a little bit now, and nothing really exciting to add other than the fact that Heather sent me an email today. She said such funny stuff - I laughed so hard, that I made everyone stare at me even more than they already do. She is so tops.

Unfortunately it was only a few lines long, which was a slight bummer, but on the upside - it means that I have been able to memorise them. I'm thinking of using some of her material in my class tomorrow, but I'm not sure if there is a correct way to interpret some of the naughty language she uses. Oh well, I can always keep working on the current sentences we are learning:

'Heather is smart'
'Heather is fun'
'Heather is too far away'

and that sort of stuff.

Anyway. Must go. Have to compose my reply to Heather and I've only paid for 2 more hours in this Cafe. Best get cracking!

xx The Mezzanator

First Musings After My Arrival

Hey everyone

Well I arrived this afternoon in Akashi, safe and sound. The flight was fine, even got some sleep. My closest station is Nishi Akashi and it`s very small, easy to find your way around. Akashi is only 5 mins by train, much bigger and bustling, so I get the best of both worlds really, which is nice. My futon was delivered not long after I arrived, but I resisted the temptation to just crawl into bed and instead came on the train to Akashi so I could have some (albeit remote) contact with my lovely friends who all made my sendoff so special. Such good friends and family are the greatest blessing as well as a curse, because it hurts so much to leave them. I feel good, but I wish I could share this with you in person, we could laugh about how tall we feel (a first for me as you can well imagine), and how people stare quite unashamedly at you because you are so obviously foreign.

So now I think I`ll go for a wander, maybe pick up some sushi, and then it`s an early night for me. Looking forward to meeting my housemate tomorrow, hope she`s cool and all.

A couple of individual things:

Firstly Lizzie, seriously no dramas about missing the big goodbye, I have platy with me and he`ll be a constant reminder of all my lovely sisters. Really, don`t lose you shit over that one, it was great to see you.

Secondly, could dad, pipi and fred please send on their email addresses, for some reason I don`t have them.

Finally, Jacs, Richard might call you to pick up some cds he left at mine, they`re in my room on the bench in one case, can`t miss them (they`re the only ones left after Nadsie came and went!) If you don`t mind that is, I gave him your number.

Love you all lots, can`t wait to get exciting mail, I promise I`ll write as much as possible, and when I get a phone I`ll send on the number so that anyone who wants to call me... well I`d have no objections. Love and smooches, Mez.

Welcome to My Blog!!

Dear All,

I have started a blog, because my bestie friend Heather has one, and I try to model my life on Heather’s. She is seriously the BEST. If I was to give all my other friends a rating of 5/10, I would need to give Heather an 11/10. She is that great. When I think of her it makes me start to weep because not only does she have the heart of an angel but she is as beautiful as sunlight shining though a rainbow.

Anyway, Heather has a blog to tell you all about her travels abroad (away from Adelaide), so now I have one too. I wanted to call the blog ‘Mez loves Heather’ but that title was taken by someone else.

(Worry not - I am starting a campaign of bombarding that person with porno emails in the hope they will give renounce the title of what should rightfully be mine.)

I am in Japan in some city which I can't remember the name of right now and teaching people how to talk English good. I am very tall compared to everyone else. I giggle when I think about what Heather would look like if she was here, she is so tall and leggy, like Giselle.

Anyway, I must go, but I will endeavour to add photos and my musings as things go along in this year away from Heather… I mean, in this year in Japan

XXX Dusty