Tokyo...the return

It's been such a long time! Hello again.

At the last post I was stuck in a twisty house in Sheffield, being treated like a nusiance
and caring about a man I couldn't seem to reach. 50+ hour weeks in the A&E department for
barely above minimum wage and drowning a little more each day.

Christmas 2010 and my friend Lucy and her husband Tatsuya came to Donny. They had a Christmas party and Lucy threw me a lifeline.

I applied and didn't make it, but it gave me hope I wasn't as useless as being threatened each week at work and screamed at in the houseshare had caused me to believe.

Time passed; apparently I was 'pathetic' for complaining when my dinner was mysteriously thrown in the bin.

Jo and Imran at work kept me sane and kept reminding me I was a decent person in a sh*tty situation.

Barry took me to the pub to watch football after the screaming incident. Another lifeline.

And one day the offer appeared.

It seemed too good to be true, and now I'm here, parts of it were, but it's given me a chance to pay off the horrific debts, spend time with friends I care about and get teaching experience.

Barry was moving in with Kirsty, the rent was going up and it wouldn't be healthly to live at HH with no R. Why be reminded of the past everyday?

So in August, off I flew.

2010

And welcome to 2010.

A few things have happened this year. I'll scribble some down. I'll mainly be using this blog for writing pieces but it never hurts to write for any reason.

Living in a houseshare in Sheffield, it's really had it's ups and downs to the point I'm looking for a new place. When you ask someone a question, or try and make conversation and they roll their eyes at you, say 'what?' and generally act as though it's a chore to acknowledge you tends to erode my confidence to the point I'm dawdling on the journey home because I don't want to get back to more abrasiveness from him in the living room. If it was done to everyone, I'd understand, but it's just me and I'm so tired of it.

Happy New Year 2009!

January 01

New Years, shrines and Low riders

Happy New Year 2009!

Last night was lovely - first I went to Tatsuyas house for a bbq with homemade burgers then we watched his aikido demo and went to the shrine.

At midnight we rang the temple bell (I was number 64 out of 108) as its the Buddhist custom to strike it 108 times on New Year’s Eve to gt rid of the 108 mortal desires like greed and infidelity. One of the priests was taiko drumming and the other was chanting, it was amazing. We gave our number chips back to one of the priests and he gave us a little calligraphy calendar each and talked to me in perfect English! The kindness of strangers is always lovely, it restores your belief in people.

We walked back to Tatsuyas house and his parents gave us money in envelopes that we junkened for - 4 had 1000yen in (7 pounds) and one had 10000 (70 pounds) Lucy won the 10000yen one, which was lovely - I cant imagine many other parents giving presents to friends of their sons girlfriend, and by chance.

At 2am his Mum made us a special new years meal with different food itmes for health, luck and something else I`ll remember in a minute!. His dad gave me some plum liquor which was super-strong. More fool me for saying yes I`ll try that lol. Then his mum made us soup with mochi in - she`s so kind.

We got about two hours sleep then went to yamato station to catch the first train to enoshima beach to see the sunrise. I like enoshima, it has a laid-back surfer vibe and is probably the one place in japan I dont get stared at for being foreign. Well. that and roppongi, but roppongi is uber sleazy.

A few Chevy impala low riders went by at 6am making their suspension jump - both total posers but awesome. I want to drive one.

The beach was fricking feezing, we met up with yoshi and fumi and saw the sunrise

Beer and kanji

Note to self - do not try and read kanji whilst tipsy. It wont work. It took me a good ten minutes to retrieve my shoes from the right locker. Yes, its because Im a gaijin.

Busy busy

Getting ready for my family to stay and going places with my friends.
Went to the big buddha of Kamakura with Sally, it was impressive. Pretty fun to be able to climb inside it!
At the Hase Kannon temple there was a little pond full of tadpoles! So cute. There was also a funky cave with lots of tiny buddhas.
Misa and I hit Sensoji - chocolate covered bananas on a stick are genius! A lady asked if her kids could have their photo taken with me - really strange, she must`ve been from the countryside as Tokyoites see foreigners everyday. Theres a great noodle shop near starbucks that doesnt charge more for larger portions. And the large portions are Huuuuge! Nice to not get ripped off.
Ginza was amazing, so many beautiful things.

Price comparison

Japan, Create super drug store:

1.5L Bottle of Coke
x2 Instant Noodle bowls
Snickers bar
Earl Grey teabags
Can of Chu hi

= 1000 yen or 4.84 pounds

England
1.49p
0.75p x2
0.34p
1.24
1.65p

= 4.98 pounds

Pretty close!

Golden Week

Yay, first day of my holiday. Today is a national holiday, half Ebina post office was closed apart from a tiny window where I sent my postcards. I need to send a slighly belated birthday present but I`m wondering if it`s actually worth it - I was good friends with this person but I havent heard from them once since I`ve been in Japan.

Living abroad makes you realise who your true friends actually are.

Anyway, enough introspection. There`s a BBQ tomorrow, the Kamakura buddha the day after that and Studio Ghibli museum whenever I can get hold of a gold-dust like ticket : )