Hot, Hot, Hot!

Tuesday, 2nd June 2009 Education, Personal, Weather Comments [3]

I just had my last exam this morning. I think I did well overall this semester (expecting A/B grades), apart from the fact that I managed to completely forget to attend an oral presentation and now have to chase my doctor for PMS-related medical notes. According to the exam chair, PMS is a valid mitigating circumstance. Girls, remember that one for when something slips your mind at that time of the month!

I know, I know, I still haven’t written about Japan yet. And I’m not going to this post, either. Instead; I’d like to talk to you for a bit about England and how bloody fucking hot it has been the past few days. It’s absolutely gorgeous! Only a few whispy clouds in the distance and temperatures of up to 27 degrees celsius! I sat out on some grass by the Houses of Parliament after my exam, did the sudoku in the Metro and read some of a new book I started earlier; Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. (I thought it was going to be a little mundane, but it’s actually turned out to be quite the page turner - relatively morbid!)

I had to come home eventually, though, or I would have burnt to a crisp and become overwhelmed by classes of children taken out by their teachers for a lunch-time picnic. But now I feel like I’m wasting the good weather by sitting inside at my computer. I will definitely go out more now that my university work is over - whilst I try and look for a job, of course.

Slightly unrelated to anything mentioned so far; a new coming-of-age rite that my family has invented - the handing down of the Birthday List. Now that I am through with university my father is cutting all life support and has commanded me to send my own cards to the extended family and buy presents for my cousins, aunts and uncles out of my own pocket. No more signing ‘from Sarah, Simon, Katy and Matthew’. It’s actually quite a scary prospect.

Now what am I supposed to be doing with my time, since there is no more revision? Oh, that’s right! Playing computer games… tum te tum.

Slight Inactivity

Tuesday, 5th May 2009 Holidaying, Japan(ese), Personal Comments [4]

I’m not sure if Japan trip, university project and exams are an adequate enough excuse for not blogging the past few weeks. So, I’m sorry! First of all, I’d like to say a rather belated congratulations to Jemjabella on her future spawn. Good luck with that! Expect me to be crawling to you for advice within the next four years. ;)

So, my trip to Japan was quite strange. In all I had a fun time, but I’ve decided not to apply for the JET programme any more! As an upstanding British citizen, I found the Japanese out on the streets quite rude. Cycling on the pavements and not slowing down around pedestrians, instead resorting to frantically ringing your bell is simply not acceptable behaviour. Neither is ignoring the cycle lane on crossings and running straight into people coming from the other side. Seriously. Also, slurping your noodles is disgusting. I don’t think I would have survived.

There were a few things I did like. Cheap clothes, for instance. Though, logistically speaking, Japan is better positioned for cheap imports than the UK is. Ha ha! I appreciated the fact that there was a shop, Tutuanna, dedicated to socks and tights (and underwear). I’ve never come across anything like it in the UK. They had a huge selection in all different styles and colours. Though I was not pleased with one of the shopkeepers who abruptly yelled “NO!” at me before I had even finished asking “excuse me, but do you have these in white?”

As for Japanese food, we didn’t eat too much of it. There really is no such thing as ‘vegetarian’ in Japan. Most, if not all, of the dishes on every menu at every Japanese restaurant contains at least some fish. We opted for Italian most of the time but we did find a little vegetarian restaurant, Hale, in downtown Kyoto that served us a delicious 5 course meal that we shared. I tried a few regional specialties including sushi at Tsukiji fish market, yakitori, mitarashi dango, okonomiyaki, black boiled eggs and of course the famous Japanese breakfast. I can say without a doubt, however, that the Japanese do presentation extremely well, even if their cakes aren’t as sweet as ours.

Because I know you’re all dying to hear it; yes, I did use a squat toilet on multiple occasions, and they’re right when they say there’s not always toilet paper available. I did, however, also use some amazing bidet toilets with heated seats and built-in ass dryers. There are also vending machines around every street corner, and even up mountains - though the prices get higher the further you climb. Strangely, these vending machines only seemed to serve drinks (hot and cold) and the occasional ice cream. No food. :(

I will blog again in the not quite so near future with a full account of the entire trip, I promise. For now, enjoy the above tidbits, and the 2,132 photos I have uploaded to Flickr (sorry not all of them have descriptions).

Two Weeks in Japan

Monday, 6th April 2009 Holidaying, Japan(ese) Comments [2]

In 30 minutes time I’m setting off to the airport to catch a 7.40am flight to Japan where I’ll be staying until the 21st April. For a general itinerary you can check Our Japan Trip Preparations. I won’t have access to the internet or go out of my way to visit internet cafés, so if you need to contact me don’t expect a response until 21st April. Sorry!

I will however be updating my Twitter. Just follow Maccath. It is linked to my Facebook status, so you will be updated there if you are a Facebook friend.

I seem to have obtained a cold over the past few days; my throat is sore and I’m a little bunged up. It could just be allergic reaction, so here’s hoping it will clear up when I get out of this dog-infested house. Drinking Lemsip whilst I can - apparently decongestants aren’t welcome within Japan. I’m not sure if that just relates to the nasal sprays but I figure I shouldn’t risk it either way.

See you all in two weeks!

The End of an Era

Friday, 27th March 2009 Education, Japan(ese), Personal Comments [3]

Technically today is the last day of my last semester at university, ever. My exams are in a month and I still have a project to complete by the 27th April, but after that, that’s the end. I’ve never not been in school - what do I do next? I need a job. Where do I look? This is not an exciting adventure for me. I want to stay in school; I am comfortable there.

I have some plans for the near future. They are to move into a flat with Justin when our tenancies run out in September, and around the same time I’m going to be applying for the JET Programme. Unfortunately it’s really selective and I need something to do in the meantime. Especially since even if I am accepted the departure isn’t until the next year. I believe I’m a fairly strong candidate for it, though. Good English, an interest in Japan, Japanese language skills, two weeks previous experience working as a classroom assistant…

I’m going back to my hometown this weekend, anyhow. I’m not sure what I’m doing tonight, but Justin is coming over so we can catch a coach (shock horror, not a train!) to my parents tomorrow morning. Reason being that Justin is far too old for a young person’s railcard and without the discount it costs an atomic bomb. We’re going for a walk with Jen on Sunday, and I need to book a doctor’s appointment for Monday. Other than that, finalising Japan preparations with my mum. Exciting stuff!

Our Japan Trip Preparations

Thursday, 19th March 2009 Culture, Holidaying, Japan(ese) Comments [7]

I’m so excited about going to Japan soon! Officially eighteen days until we leave. I don’t think I posted about it here, yet, so a brief recap on my life before the blog. About a year ago I asked if my mum would come with me to Japan, and she agreed. It seems she’s only doing it ‘for the giggles’, a milder form of lulz. It’s costing us a small fortune (especially with the current exchange rate) but I’ve never been abroad for more than five days before, and I’ve never been outside of Europe. For me, this is a trip of a lifetime and very much a big deal.

The excitement didn’t really hit me until about a week ago after I finished booking all the accommodation and worked out what towns and cities we would be visiting. Officially, these are;

• Tokyo - the capital city, many city-like things to be done here. Including going to the fish market one morning, and visiting Akihabara and the shrines/parks about the place.
• Hakone - part of a national park and hot springs resort outside of Tokyo. Mt Fuji can be seen from Hakone on a good day (no clouds). This is where we will be officially bathing naked with the Japanese.
• Kyoto - the old capital, full of shrines and temples and home to Geisha. I expect there’ll be a fair amount to see here, though my top of the list place to see is Fushimi Inari Shrine.
• Osaka - Osaka-style okonomiyaki is on the menu here. Osaka is another big and modern city, so I’m not sure what we’ll exactly end up doing. I will consider trying to see some Kabuki theatre (not the whole thing, the plays last all day). Kobe may be a day trip.
• Hiroshima - Yes, that’s where the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb. No, the city isn’t in ruins, and everyone isn’t deformed. General museum and memorial visiting here, but for the first night we’re staying on…
• Miyajima Island - There is a ‘floating’ shrine here. It doesn’t really float, it’s just on stilts on the water so it appears to float at high tide. I thought the place looked cute and peaceful, so I wanted to stay here for the night.

I think my mum is pretty excited, too. I let her pick the place to stay in Hakone. We could’ve stayed in an English speaking establishment or a hotel, but she wanted to stay in the little Japanese speaking only inn. Much to my amazement she seems to want to immerse herself as much as possible, and doesn’t like the idea of not sleeping on futons on the tatami mat floor. This is someone who went to France and refused to speak a word of French until we got home where she said ‘merci’ to the waiter at The Little Chef (a British roadside diner chain)!

There are small faults in my plan, and this is mainly to do with the fact that my mum is a life-long vegetarian. Apart from those few incidents she eats gelatine filled marshmallows, and that time she ate bacon as a teenager. You know, the kind of person who doesn’t eat fish (no arguments, please - last time I checked, fish were living). The Japanese eat lots of fish, but not only that, they cook everything (noodles, rice, soup, etc.) in fish broth. Vegetarianism is a very western thing and I guess the Japanese never thought of cutting one of their staple foods from their diet, so you won’t find little ‘v’s on the menu next to items that don’t contain fish product. I think she will adopt a regime of pretending it’s not fish broth, and will pick any bits of meat out of her breakfast. Other than that, she’ll be living off miso soup, boiled rice, cucumber sushi rolls, omelette nigiri sushi, bean paste onigiri and vegetable ramen, etc. Hopefully I will be able to decipher the Japanese menu quick enough to decide what may and may not be good for her to eat. Part of me does wonder if she’ll cave in and just eat the fish for two weeks because of the ‘once in a lifetime’ factor. If I was a vegetarian, I would. But then I didn’t make a very good vegetarian. I dropped it all aged 11 for the sake of some fish fingers.

Other preparations besides booking accommodation that I’ve made are; calling my bank and phone provider, buying train pass exchange orders, sorting out plane tickets, ‘test packing’ my stuff to make sure I can carry it, cramming more Japanese (which I’ve been studying for over two years, by the way), polishing and fixing my six-year-old DMs, and getting fit so that I am in a state able to handle two weeks of constant walking.