Chim chiminey, Chim chiminey, Chim Chim Cher-ee~

25 02 2011

If I was really smart I would be able to start this blog with a rhyme to the title, but alas, I’m in no way good at rhyming (or English it seems).

Anyway.  A few weeks ago my mother and I went to Disneyland.  Now she doesn’t like fast rides at all, so we were mainly riding all the ‘children’s attractions’, which is fine with me because it was sort of a classic Disneyland visit.

I guess what started my Disney mania was a photo book my parents gave me as a child.  Mum and Dad had been to Disney in the US before I was born, and this book was from then, circa 1970’s I think.  And I loved that book.  It had photos of all the attractions, and in particular I loved looking at the photos of the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and parades.  So going to Disney and riding all the ‘classic’ attractions makes me feel like a kid again.

But I also just love going to Disneyland and soaking up the atmosphere.  World Bazaar (Main Street USA in the US) is so old-fashioned early 1900’s, which is a style I am just in love with.  It makes me feel like I’m in Mary Poppins (which is also my favourite live action Disney film).  And the details!  Disney spares no expense with details!  Nothing is too small, and that really makes you believe you are in a different world.  Ah…. Disney = love 🙂

But before I bore you with gushing over Disney, the point of this post is to share some attempts at arty photos.  Before Christmas Hanako Magazine released an issue about Theme Parks for grown-ups, and some of the shots they took in Disney were very cool.  Old school/retro/arty.  Totally right up my alley.  And the one that really stuck with me was a shot of the Dumbo ride. All it really showed was the rooftops, and so that was what inspired me at Disneyland when I went with Mum.

So, without further ado, some roofs for your pleasure…

And what’s Disneyland without Mickey?  As always, more photos on flickr!


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Summer in three parts

4 09 2010

September is here, and that means a few things, but mostly – it’s back to school.

This year’s summer vacation was Busy.  Hot.  Exhausting.  But good 😀

For most of my summer I’ve had guests visiting, because it was pretty much my last chance to have people stay before I leave Japan sometime next year.  From now on life in Japan for me will be focused on passing the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) level 2, and then selling my stuff before moving, and I just won’t be able to dedicate myself to visitors like I usually would.

For the first part of summer I had Angus visit, which I talked about in Blessed are the geek, D-days, and Gundam is Back.

On the day Angus left, I started working for a friend, covering his lessons while he was overseas.  It was really refreshing to teach students who wanted to study English, unlike teaching at a school were they are forced to learn.  It was only night lessons, so during the day I had time to chill out, watch tv, and sort out my house a bit before my next set of guests.

For the final part of the vacation I actually had my friend Michael come for a week to climb Mt Fuji, followed by my father visiting for 10 days just because.  By the end of August I had been expecting the weather to start cooling down, but this year has been most unusual with temperatures continuing to reach up to (and occasionally over) 37 C even into September!  It’s actually been the warmest August in Japan since 1946, so I had started to slow down a bit because of exhaustion.

Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya Crossing

Despite slowing down a little, I still did a lot of sighting seeing with Michael and Dad.  With Michael we went to Shibuya and Harajuku to see the cosplay kids hanging out there, and Asakusa and Odaiba to see a bit of Tokyo’s history and skyline.  With my Dad, his main requests were to go to Tokyo Tower and Odaiba, so we spent a couple of days doing that.  We also saw Inception, went to the National Nature and Science Museum in Ueno, and probably most exciting for me – went to Disneyland for my birthday!

Rainbow Bridge and Himiko Ferry

Rainbow Bridge and Himiko Ferry

So, overall, this vacation was busy, hot, exhausting, but fun!  (and I went to Disney 3 times! win!!)


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D-Days for yamaonna

3 08 2010

Okay, so I’m having a little trouble writing this post.  This is the 4th or 5th time I’ve started to write it, and it hasn’t turned out right yet.  So, I’m going to stop trying to use fancy words and just come out with it…

I stayed at the TOKYO DISNEYLAND HOTEL!!!!!  Wheeeeee!!!!! (cue orchestra and walking broomsticks….)

So, what’s the big deal about that?  Well, not only is it the chance to stay at a beautiful, glamorous, first class (in my opinion anyway) hotel….

But, it was totally themed for Disney!

Disney!

DISNEY!

From the lobby –

To the carpet –

The room –

And even the bathroom!

I was in heaven.

Wanna see how much more a hotel can be Disney-fied?  Check out my other photos on flickr!

(yes, I know…  I can be a little Disney crazy…  But I had been dreaming of staying in a Disney Hotel since I was about 10, so please give me a break)


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happy days~

30 09 2008

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I can’t believe how fast time flies.  I have heaps of things to tell you about,
even going all the way back to June, and I’m not exactly sure where to
begin.  So, I think I’ll just try to work
my way backwards.

So, this last weekend was Peter’s last weekend in
Japan.  He actually goes back to
Australia today, but I saw him on Sunday. 
We finally had the ‘dinner’ of spaghetti bolognaise that I had been
promising him for two years.

The weekend before that I went to Disneyland with Peter, his
work mate, Adrianne, and one of her friends from the US.  I have to say, I had one of my best days at Disney
with them.  Probably because everyone didn’t
really mind what we were going to do (and kinda left it up to me….).  Because I was shepherding the group I was
nicknamed ‘mum’….  Anyway, despite Disney
being quite busy (all the fast passes were gone by 1pm) we actually managed to
ride all the big rides, had a lovely dinner, and overall we weren’t too
rushed.  Disney at this time of the year
is a lot of fun because it’s all decked out for Halloween, and the Haunted
Mansion is done up using the characters from Nightmare Before Christmas.

The days before that, our school had its culture
festival.  That was in interesting
experience.  It was my first culture
festival, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  A lot of the classes put on small plays, and
others had workshop style setups.  My favorites
were one of my first year classes that did a Monkey Magic play, and one of my
third grade classes that did a ‘science’ workshop, where you made slime.  Horrid stuff, but fun.

Actually, all my weekends have been pretty enjoyable since
we came back to work after summer vacation. 
On the 14th I had a particularly great weekend, but of the
life of my I can’t remember why now.  It
was partly due to the fact that I went to an exhibition of the lay out sketches
for Studio Ghibli films. That what the photos are from.  Their latest film is Ponyo on a Cliff by the
Sea, and all the kids at the school are raving about it.  I must go and see it sometime.

So, next I’ll be telling you about the best summer vacation
ever.  But that will have to wait until
another day.


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celebrate good times!

16 09 2007

     they have a word for ppl like me in japanese;  Disneymania

Image046

yesterday I went with a student to Disneyland, and boy was it fun!  Admittedly it was soooo hot, and we didn’t get to ride any of the really big rides because it was sooooo busy, but it was a good time nonetheless.

The best thing – Pirates now includes animatronic Johnny Depp – which actually looks pretty damn real and moves very very authentically.  I think they’ve changed a few things about the ride and its a bit darker now, but also has a better storyline – Jack Sparrow looking to steal someones treasure.  *sigh*

Other highlights – my steak at dinner was very very good.  And the electrical light parade has two new floats – Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo.  Oh, and it was in full swing celebrating Halloween – which was really really enjoyable too.

Just a few new photos at flickr, so I wont link.

 


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of birthdays and friends

2 09 2007

well, its official, Im now a quarter of a century old.  (and just what have you done with your life??? hmmm?)

anyway, my birthday was pretty average, had to work, so nothing much i could really do, but I have dinner with one of the girls from work and saw transformers.  Which, to be honest, I thought was more funny than anything else.   v.v.cheesy.

yesterday I met with Christian, who I used to work with when I was here on my working holiday visa.  It was really cool, because its been a very very long time (4 years), and I was introduced to his wife and son.  And oh my is his son adorable!  I had a great time.

Was planning on going to disneyland today, but alas, I wasn’t able to get anyone to go with me, so Im not so sure now if I will go.  If I do it’ll just be for the evening…  hmmm, still very undecided.  you see I could also go to ikebukuro and buy a Wii……   hmmmmm….


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things that make me smile…

18 03 2007

 Kids can do the funniest things.  The other day in class we were reviewing the ‘Can you see the ___’ sentence pattern, and just as I said ‘Can you see the…’ one of the kids in class jumped up and shouted out ‘T’ and made the shape of ‘T’ with his body.  It was so funny.  But pretty good at the same time for him to do it unprompted.  So I said ‘Good job!’  which was kind of a mistake, because he then proceeded to make some other letters, like ‘I’ and then, the final touch ‘K’ which involved standing on one leg with his arms in the air.  By now the mothers in the class had all broken out into laughter.  But it really was the cutest thing!

In that class I have 3 boys and 1 girl.  I think 2 of the boys like the girl…  At the end of each class we hold hands in a circle and sing the ‘goodbye song’.  When we do that 1 of the boys runs to hold the girl’s hand, and I swear its the fastest he moves all class.  He’s a really smart boy too.  Has some attention issues, but when he talks english you can actually have a very simple conversation with him.  And considering he’s about 3 years old, its brilliant.

Another class of mine has made me so glad that I used to watch Dragonball Z, because they are at the age when they are obessed by it.  Last week they decided we all needed Dragonball Z names…..  I ended up being the tall bald fellow with the third eye….  great….  The 1 girl in that class went from being the monkey ‘Bubbles’ to ‘Chichi’ (Goku’s wife) to King Kai.  Only the last one was acceptable to her….  But then, she’s a bit of a tomboy.

I’ve ordered a futon for my parents when they come here.  It was supposed to be delivered on Friday, but that didn’t happen.  They tried to deliver it yesterday, but I went to Disney with Peter, his brother and cousin.  So this morning the company rang me….  I hope I understood correctly, but I think they will be delivering it tomorrow morning.  Sometimes my japanese amazes me.  And I don’t really have confidence taking on the phone, so I’m pretty pleased with how that conversation went. 

And, as I just mentioned, we went to Disneyland yesterday.  Twas a long day, but a good one.  I don’t think I’ll ever tire of that place.  When I get the photos from Pete I’ll post them to my flickr!


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no plans! huzzah

10 03 2007

 Well, God does provide!  I’ve been craving an easy relaxing weekend for a while now, and finally its happening.  Unfortunately its due to Peter and his bro and cuz getting colds, which really is quite unfortunate.  However, we are rescheduling Disney for next weekend.  So now I have nothing to do tomorrow.  Might call Xina I think.

At work we have some pretty big changes coming up.  4 of the teachers are leaving our school, either transferring or leaving the company totally.  And maybe another 1 (but Im really hoping that Kuniko isn’t going to be transferred!).  So we had their going away party last night.  It was *huge*!  70 people in total.  To tell the truth I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but in the end I had a pretty good time.  It helps that Sanae (our current head teacher) chose a pretty great table for me to sit at!

Unfortunately I totally forgot my camera.  grrrr.  ah well. 

Looking forward to – Sakura blooming in the next few weeks  


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Welcoming the Year of the Boar!

6 01 2007

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a great Christmas and looking forward to an even better
year in 2007!

Its hard to believe that another month has passed!  As always,
December seems to pass by so quickly.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the
best of months for me, with persisting colds and flu, but I seem to be
better now, so I’m looking forward to January!

Being sick however didn’t prevent me from getting out and doing things
🙂  December is the month for Christmas Illuminations in Japan, and
they can be quite pretty, if not as ‘christmassy’ as we are used to.
At the start of the month Peter and I went to Roppongi Hills to check
out their Illumination.  We also went up to the observation deck
there, said to be the tallest in Tokyo I think.  Tokyo is an amazing
city, it just goes on and on!

Work was pretty busy last month as well, but I’m really enjoying it.
This company allows the teachers to socialize with the Japanese staff
and students, so about mid month we had a large end of year party at a
Korean restaurant near work.  It was pretty enjoyable, and everyone
seems to be fun-loving.  With work I also had a training day last
month, and I got to catch up with all the people I did initial
training with.  They all seem to be doing well.  I’m actually on my
last day of holidays now, in total, for New Year we have had 8 days
off.  I wish it was a little longer, but the rest of this week at work
will be only be two days long, and with no regular lessons, so it will
be pretty easy.

Peter and I also went to Disneyland to see their Christmas lights and
parades.  As always, I love that place, but unfortunately my favourite
ride – Space Mountain – was closed for the day.  However, as a special
holiday ‘event’, the Haunted Mansion was themed with Nightmare Before
Christmas characters, so that was pretty special.

On the 23rd we had a public holiday for the Emperor’s Birthday.
Apparently you can see the Imperial Family on this day at the Palace,
so I went along for a look.  I didn’t see them myself (I probably
arrived too late in the day), but I did walk around the outside of the
palace (its a huge place, it took over an hour) and the east gardens.
It was very picturesque, however I think I’ll have to go back in
spring when the flowers are out.  I’ve attached some pictures for you
to look at.


For Christmas day we didn’t make any plans, but Christina pulled
through and we went to the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi for a buffet lunch.
 Believe me, the food was really really good!  And it was really great
to spend the day with friends, even if the lunch wasn’t so much of a
traditional Christmas spread.

Over the New Year, my friend Yui invited me to her house for a few
days.  It was really great time.  She lives near a place called
Hakone, which is famous for its hot springs and views of Mt Fuji.  And
on New Years day we took a bus tour to Tochigi Prefecture.  The bus
tour included a visit to a shrine, a flower park, a shopping outlet,
and a strawberry farm.  Now, I’m not a big fan of strawberries, but
they were really really sweet and tasty!  So those few days with Yui
were spent relaxing, enjoying hot springs and eating really good food
(her mum’s a great cook too!).


Well, that’s about all for December!  Hope you are all looking forward
to the new year as much as I am!  I would love to hear from you too!

Take care!



Michele

 


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