just another update

Ok, so this blog has not been updated for sometime. -_-” sigh, my bad. I have been very lazy. It is either there is so much things to do or there is nothing actually. Just no mood to write anything. There have been many ideas running on my mind and those things are not supposed to be written down anyway.

Last week was the first day of the work for the year 2008, it was the week that japanese classes started again. yeah, that made me exhausted. Last week  I nearly fall sick due to exhaustion and extreme cold. The weather has not been friendly and temperature keeps dropping. Hua… I have been living in summer all my life and now, winter! Well, despite all the whining, yes, the whining, everything is fine and great.

Work is ok, not busy neither free. As for japanese, hmm there has been improvement I think. One colleague told me that I spoke better that I was last month. Really?? Hehhehe, may be. Thanx to my japanese friend N.

Last week there was another party. Yeah, new year party. I think the people in my office really love party and have more than enough money I guess. The party was good . I don’t like myself to drink so much, but it is just a bit strange to order ocha, isn’t it? -_-”

On Saturday, I went to Ebisu with my friend, it was a nice place. There was beer museum there. It was interesting . I loved it. We went for window shopping in the vicinity. I loved ebisu. There was a cinema as well, but not for grade A movies. It is expensive to watch a movie in Japan, 1800 yen. Errr… Surprisingly, movie theaters are not plenty in Japan, unlike singapore. It is only found on several locations. A bit strange I think. But for the price of 1800 yen, it is understood that not many will watch.

At night, we had eating together again. This time was seafood time. The food was good . yeah, it will be much more expensive if we ate it outside. Hehehe.

On sunday, it was church as usual. Btw, I joined the cell group for the first time. Yeah, after many weeks. Hmm. It was in Japanese, so I was rather clueless. My japanese is yet adequate to handle group discussion. Wah. it was a hard time. Fortunately, there was translation, but it was still quite bad. I felt rather terrible. Again, a sign that I need to improve my language.

I met 2 people from my home country too, with whom I had coffee and dinner with. Well, it was great meeting them, but I found it a bit strange because we are so different. Yeah. I guess connection does not necessarily come from the same country or background.

Monday, which was yesterday was a holiday. I planned to go out and took photos of japanese girls in kimono, but I could not as I was not feeling well. Gggrrrrr… So, I missed the event, yeah Totally!

As for today, the day started as usual, . I guess I am waiting for saturday soon. yeah… going shopping.

a change

Things change. This year, 2008, I want it to be a fruitful year. yeah, I want to do something that is worth remembering in the future and something that will be a testimony of God’s grace.

Yesterday, I was greatly rebuked by the sermon in the church. Yeah, I have been negligence in life. Life here has been good and apparently, it is not easy to sit down and remember all his blessings. It is easier to just enjoy the life I have here. Besides, I have been reminded on how I live my life. Rather selfish. yeah, I have started to see things on my benefits and what I would get in the end. Sad right. Life is not about pleasing self, it is to glorify God, thus the purpose of life is that God may receive the highest honor. So, I really need to change my behaviour, more loving and not easily angered. -_-”

Yeah, I will change.

first day of work :D

Yeah, today is the start of the work for this year. Wow, the office was almost empty, apparently so many people were taking extended leave. The work, hmm quite relax . However, I was pretty tired today, despite the high energy because of the lack of sleep I had last nite.

As of last week, things were great. I went shopping at machida. Wow, the place is almost a replica of shinjuku, but smaller. So, the shops are errr expensive in general. At the end, I am not able to afford anything there as the cheapest boot cost 20000yen, arrrggghhh… I have finished my money on cosmetics!

I love machida though, it has many stores and this interesting store, tokyu hands. I love the idea of the store.

As for sunday, as usual, I went to church in the morning and thereafter a little shopping at gap. GAP is cheap here. Hmmm, I was actually spending an afternoon with a philipino friend who is also a good photographer. SO SO… he was taking many pictures in the scenery, so i can take many good photos. Heheh,, love the photos.

In the afternoon, I went to another church, it is where my new friends are. It is alway a happy time to meet up. I don’t understand why, somehow all of us just have the connection. Really… I am really glad. Anyway, I met this new japanese friend with whom I speak japanese with. Wah, I am so happy. not only because i can practice, but we can talk to each other pretty well. So, one more new friend. Great!

New year :)

Yeah, welcome to 2008. Well, as always, in no time it will be 2009 too. So, it is best that we maximised our time and every opportunity available and offered to us. Time never waits for us. It does whatsoever it will. Therefore, we need to be watchful and treasure everything we have.

Hmm this year, I have decided to have a make-over. Japan is the best place to learn about fashion and everything about presentation. Not only it is easily observed, but it is easily found, easily learnt as well. The girls in Japan, never leave their house without full make-up and full-dress and full accessories. When I first noticed it, I was surprised and feel inferior. I knew I could never do that, not only because it costs so much money as in a fortune, but it requires tremendous amount of time and requires a very high level of discipline. Yeah, it will be a hard-worked to be able to do that.

Well, after 3 months in Japan and much consideration, I realised 1 thing, it is NOW or NEVER. Yeah, if I want to know about fashion, which I have been ignorant all these years, this is the time to find out. There are many reasons for this: back home, the fashion is definitely not as great, less choice, less sophisticated and perhaps slightly cheaper. I have to say, everything here is damned expensive, but it comes with the quality. The product here is good. Here, I have the time to learn, I don’t have as much responsibility and here, I have a little bit of money. I have never done crazy shopping before, never! But now I will.

So, last year, exactly before 2007 ended, I bought a set of cosmetice, Kanebo. It cost me a fortune. It is so expensive, but I decided to buy it as the lady taught me how to do it, step by step. There are 30 steps altogether. Yeah, 30 steps for a complete make-up. The product is of high quality, I can feel the texture, it is soft and really really really good. I am really satisfied.

I did try it on 1 January. hahha. I felt good about it. Anyway, 1 Jan, I went to church for thanksgiving. 2007 has been a year of grace. Many things happened last year and even this year, I am still recuperating from everything that happened last year. God is good. I have received so much blessings and I wonder whether I could be a blessing for others. Will I? I wish I can, I will try.

My friend who travelled to aomori came to Tokyo. Errr, I did not understand why she spent so much to go aomori and went back after 2 days there.  It was good to have her around. So, since every shop is closed, we went to Asakusa. Wow, it was totally crowded, totally packed with people who came there for praying, seeking a blessing for the new year. As usual, there are booths selling all the possible charms and future predictions. I observed it all and I felt a bit sad. So, this is the meaning of life. It is merely to seek for blessing and mercy. I guess many christians are also like that. Living is about having a good life and providence. I really need to examine myself, what is my life for. Is this year merely to get more providence, all my needs provided and to have a good life? I believe life has a purpose, it is greater than having a great health, a great wealth and a great life. It is good if we think over this again.

Asakusa, hmm it is a good place to have Japanese snacks. I loved the yakisoba there. If you visited the place, do not forget the fried mee goreng there.

On 2nd January, we went to kamakura and oneshima. It is basically a temple area. At oneshima, we can have a clear view of mount Fuji. So, it was really great. My friend is happy. These place is mainly temple area. So, we basically visit some temples. However, Gera is kinda different, it has big Budha, so it is not the same as other shrines. It has budhism influence. As usual for Japan, every entry comes with a price, sometimes a very little thing will just cost a few hundred yen. Unfortuntely though, we could not cover all the area, as it is pretty large and the shrine was practically closed around 3-4pm due to huge human trafficked. At the place, we enjoyed the snacks again. YEah. it was great.

Ok, I think that’s all for the week summary and the 1-week holiday.

i love onsen :D

Yay, finally I went to the real onsen. Errrr. Well, it is indeed refreshing and it felt good, being able to relax and just enjoyed the hotness of the water with the little chitchat. Hahhaa.

I went to Hakone on 3 and 4th Jan, just a 2-day trip, but it was a good trip indeed. The trip itself was quite well-planned as we simply followed the suggested route mentioned in our pass. The route was really good. I guess this is Japan, she loved everything in order, thus the best-route is planned to ease the jam and human trafficked as Hakone is a popular place for a visit. It is a place we we can see mount Fuji clearly. Let me tell you, Japanese adores Mt. Fuji. It is a beautiful site, especially so in the spring and summer I guess. Winter time, the leaves have dropped off and there were flakes of ice only.

Hakone trip can be planned by simply buying hakone free pass from odakyu line. It is a private line which tourist center in located at Shinjuku. Well, because of this pass, I have covered shinjuku areas pretty well. It may be that I have covered 80-90% of Shinjuku last week. . The tourist service center is located at the Odakyu shopping mall at the west gate and the staff can speak several languages, so no worry. The pass itself is really good, for 5000 yen, it covers all the basic transportation at Hakone and covers all the necessary items when you are there. So, don’t hesitate to get the pass, it is value for money indeed.

I went with 2 friends, there are great ladies. I learnt much from them . Three of us come from different countries, so we can have good comparison for many things and could have interesting discussions. We stayed at the ryokan which had a price-hiked due to peak season. Anyway, the place was ok, just a bit run-down, because it is maintained/ perhaps owned by pensions, thus they don’t care so much about business. I loved the place because it has natural onsen .

Speaking about onsen, I was initially embarrassed as errrr we need to remove all the clothes as in all. Hua… I was reluctant at first but the desire for hot bath was far greater than my shyness. So, so, I just did it. There are a few girls there. I was like covering all my body with the big towel. But at the end, I just don’t care. It was indeed a great experience. I love the hot bath, Hua, I would like to own an onsen!

Oh ya, another interesting thing was tea ceremony. Well, I decided to join the tea ceremony and drink the tea. Hhehehhe. It was a good experience, but I think it would be better if I learnt more the reasons for the ceremony instead of just drinking it.