yamaonna

i cant believe it…  they are really really gone.  I woke up one morning and I couldnt find them anywhere!!!

(im talking about my earplugs……)  its a slight problem…  I know I sometime move things around in my sleep, and I know earplugs just fall out sometimes, but I swear, i took both out and put them somewhere while I was sleeping..  grrrrr….

luckily mum is sending me some new ones, should arrive this week….  until then, tired shele….

dont you just hate it when it rains and you forgot your umbrella….  and are in just a skirt and sandels…..  grrrr.  there was no way I was walking home in the rain, so I bought another overpriced umbrella at the uni-suupa….  thats the third umbrella I’ve brought here…  man I could just kick myself sometimes…  never thought it would rain so much here.  and we conplain about the weather in brissy……

have completed all my homework today, so its going to be an easy evening.  will catch up on some email, but dont keep your fingers crossed – family comes first of course!

soups with noodles are doable at uni, and rice noodles at that, so i might try that for the next week.  need to work on my unhealthy snacking thou.  and should probably go for a walk, but, well, it rained today.

speaking of food, Im hungry…  might go eat dinner. 

a few other things to touch on, now that Im not so mad with myself….

above is true, but unexpected. Didnt think they would class as dominant styles.  neway

check out Laura’s photos – http://au.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/astra_moonstar/my_photos

http://au.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/coolstraight/my_photos

shes currently in Holland, but stopped off in Malaysia on the way.  Pretty neat!

Friday one of my japanese teachers took me to lunch, and then to an open garden with this 400 year old tree that was in bloom.  pretty amazing stuff.  And then we had afternoon tea at her apartment.  But the point of this is – she’s sooooo nice!!!  I feel very lucky to have so many ppl here to take care of me.  well, look out for me would be the better word….

what else…..  hmmmmm…  just got back from church.  The guy i help teach the high school class with invited me along to his church.  it was baptist I think.  a little unlike what Im used to, but good for me I suppose.  would rather go to a bilingual church, but thats not an option here.

on other musing.  I cant remember if i said here before, but when i got here i started a diet.  the ‘great australian diet’ to be precise…. but it didnt continue very long…..  and it wasnt my fault!!!  and before anyone says I dont need to diet, I could stand to lose a few kilos, and thats for medical reasons, so dont say anything to me!  but it didnt work out becuase my breakfast and dinner are provided for me here, and I dont really have access to a kitchen….  mind you, japanese food is still very healthy, so Ive lost a kilo between that and all the walking i’m doing.

but to the point.  the one thing i do have control over is lunch.  so my question here is, what is a healthy lunch?  according to the book Im reading, for lunch i should have something like soup, salad, salad sandwich, or vegi casserole…  okay, so, soup.  well, no kitchen so no can make.  cup of soups would be embarrising at uni.  suppose i could live off those cup noodles.. . but doesnt seem very healthy….  will look at options tomorrow….  salad, once again cant make…  i can buy them, but they are expensive, and crappy.  my budget is 500yen a day for food and drink at uni….  salad sando, well, cant make again, let alone, they dont even have rye bread in japan.  can buy sandies at uni, but the filling are ham and salad, or egg, or tuna.  guess its better than nothing.  vegi casserole, well, its abit out of the question i think.  so, heres the challange – soup, sandwich or salad everyday.  next challange, snacks….. 

man why do I put my self through this rubbish.

it raining now, that means it wont rain tomorrow – yay!

well, i feel slightly stupid.  my plans today were to get up, go to a movie, go to a muesum, and then church. 

i slept in.  grrrrr…  oh well, i suppose I’ll just do it next sunday instead.  I just hope the movie is still out, its been out here since january, so it is a risk.

keep your fingers crossed for me!

I’m going to study….  blah

well, yes, after all the build up Im finally going to tell you about sunday….  Im afraid its going to be a let down for some people…  had been meaning to write sooner, whilst I still had some excitement in me, but alas time got away…

so anyway, last sunday was the Aoba festival in Sendai.  It was the first time I’ve actually been to a big festival in japan (a little surprising) and I enjoyed myself emmensly!

I went into town a little early to take a look around.  At that time just the food stalls were operating, and people were getting ready for the parade (hence heaps of samarai marching around…  a little weird)  Since the parade started at 12 i decided to find somewhere to sit.

To my surprise, where I was sitting (which was near the final destination for the parade) they had entertainment on beforehand, so I got to see a display of edo-period firefighting skills, aka men hanging off ladders supported by a heap of other men…..

these guys were really quite brave, some of the stuff they did was really amazing.  (look mum, no hands!)

um, and then the parade began.  It started with a procession of important looking blokes in hakama and gi (you know, the old-style japanese clothes for men, kimono top and wide baggy pants).  I love hakama and gi, on a good looking guy they are quite sexy, and they even manage to make old, balding, fat guys look alright.

Following the peacocks (not real peacocks…. the important looking blokes i mean…) were the samarai, and a guy dressed up as Masamune Date –

this guy is sendai’s claim to fame, he made the town into his capital and essentially controled most of tohoku (north-easten japan), or so they would like you to think.  he is a pretty cool historical figure thou.

then there was the crazy monks, and the out of control shrine…

they kept running around like they were going to drop the thing, must have been hard, it looked heavy.

then the real fun began, with the floats and the suzume dancing.  The floats are all being pulled along by a heap of guys.  Each float was supported by a company.  JR’s looked horrid, cause it was so in your face that JR was the sponsor, the rest were sponsored in a more subtle way.  this one was my favourite –

not only is it just a float, but they also sing, dance and play traditional flutes and drums.  This was my favourite cause it was quite exciting.  the atomosphere was great!  they really got into there song, and the dancing was very energetic.

The dance is the suzume o-something….  basically the sparrow dance.  Its really cool cause they flash their fans about, and because they are different colors on each side, it really give the appearance of a sparrow flitting about.  and they do some really cool poses.  I  took heaps of video, so when i get back, ask to see it, its really cool!

and of couse I cant finished with out mentioning the stalls – its amazing what you can get on a stick in japan…  chicken, beef, rice balls, hot dogs, strawberrys and my personal favourite – bananas…..  my lunch consisted of okonomiyaki (on a stick) and a snow cone (some things are universal, that and fairy floss…)

and it was also good to see other traditional stalls for festivals – like the goldfish store, where you have to catch your own  (come to think of it, we have this at the ekka too dont we….)

all and all, a great day!

happy now folks?  just quickly before i go to dinner tonight, went to the sendai muesum today – real samarai suits are scairy….  all dark and forboding….. brrrrrrrr…..

I just saw something that really made me laugh, so I have to share it with you while its still fresh in my mind….

ok, this music group was playing on tv, and their music, well, it was sorta like linkin park, you know, a mix of rap/hip hop and melody, but it also had pop, rock and bad english thrown in as well.  but what really made me laugh was the silver suits and pelvic thrusting….  who do these ppl think they are???  i can tell you only in japan would a band like that do any good….

technical details – Ruk Tan singing She Said on some music show….  they really cant sing either…

its been a busy week, sorry, getting to the festival, probably tomorrow, okay?

my eyes hurt, i havent taken my bath yet.  i have a bunny running around on my desktop, ramdomly vomiting…

ive done my homework for next wednesday, but havent finished tomorrow.  its going to be a long night….  blah

I really want to tell you about sunday, cause it was really really cool, but it requires the use of visual aids, so you will probably have to wait until tonight..  at uni now, and if i cant use a flash drive here, theres no way in hell i can use an sd card…..  but neway, something to look forward to (^-^)

just killing time as usual.  my room is being used, so i cant study in it, and i was going to study in the internation culture library, but they have a class in there so i cant.  will probably go to the library instead.  if i can find somewhere to study…  grrrr…..  and i promised myself i wouldnt use the internet at uni today….  blah.

well, ciao for now.

(just had to get that rant off my head)

oh, and this.  like we didnt see this one comming….

you will get bugs.  and then you’ll die.   how appropriate

oh, knew i forgot something.  laura pointed out that some of my phtotos dont work, so you can find them here – http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/guardian_forever/album?.dir=d9af&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/guardian_forever/my_photos

im not going to be anymore helpful than that