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It was a spontaneous idea which I had while eating breakfast! It was not an old idea - but the date was set spontaneously. Many times I looked up the route on google map so that I already knew the way to the ocean by heart.
Ok I started at around 7 in the morning, cycled to Tsuchiura first, then along the second-biggest lake in Japan called Kasumigaura Lake. I cycled this route many times just for leisure purposes. What came after the lake was completely unknown, except from knowing the vague direction from google map.
After cycling more than 23km (and not reaching even half of the way) I knew I have to look for a hotel to stay one night at the coast because the way was just too tiring.
After 5 hours of cycling,getting lost due to a stupid road diversion and taking 3 rests I reached the coast! I couldn't wait to go to the ocean! But first I needed to find something for staying over the night. However, I didn't know where to go cause the idea to stay for a night was spontaneous again.While cycling along the coast road which was separated by wood and lonely summer houses (it was not yet season)...
I got accostomed to this life here. It's really easy-going and I enjoy studying Japanese and meeting with my friends. It's kind of an isolation from the world outside Japan. News are really hard to get and if I didn't read "Spiegel online" or "FAZ", I wouldn' know anything about things going on on this planet. It's a weird feeling because life here merely consists of travelling, studying, doing sports, meeting friends and just enjoying the "here and now" situation.
Of course, sometimes, I miss university life at Manchester because it was more diverse and interesting. Everyday is always different unlike here where there is a strict daily routine. For some people it got so unbearable that they left Japan before finishing their stay ...
I have to quit now....my lab makes coffee and cak eparty..
At the beginning I walked around with a big towel wrapped round my body until I reached the point where it's not longer possible to wear it V.V'. I hurried into a random bath tube (there were several) and of course, I chose the cold water tube.Just my luck. Everyone was looking at me because after I had put my leg into the water I screamed "tsumetaiiii" (meaning cold). In the end we found the right tube and I enjoyed it a lot. There was also a whirl pool and an outside bath. It was soooo relaxing and so hot. After an hour we couldn't stay in 40°C hot water and we went out.
Before going to the spa I had guitar lessons. We went to a karaoke room to practice playing the guitar which was my first time. And now there's a guitar standing in my room..hehe it's an unusual sight. But it's fun and I want to know how to play! yaaaay
- Mood:
bouncy
In Germenay and England I'm just going to lead my normal lif style again but here in Japan I'm something special as I'm a foreigner and I have to admit that I'm enjoying this. It's weird.
- Mood:
distressed
well, loads of things happened and my way how i look at certain things changed. i got a more direct person, i tell people what i like and what i don't like. maybe because i'm on my own here and i know that no one is going to do something for me so i have to "fight" for it.
in the meantime when i needed time for myself i cycled around a lot. my daily cycling distance is at least 20 km. last week-end i also cycled with brando and his friend to mt tsukuba and we climbed the mountain by cable car. but next time we're going to hike up the mountain as we saw a hiking track which was parallell to the cable car track.
it's christmas soon but it doesn't feel like vorweihnachtszeit at all. granted, all the big department stores and even some smaller shops erected christmas decoration all over their place and christmas carols are being played everywhere. so how come that i don't feel like chirstmas is coming up...hmm maybe because they started doing these christmas things in early october and i got used to these decorations.
The only thing which is missing is the sea.....
Oh my student dormitories are ok. Beside the fact that I have to share my toilet with other girls and that I have to pay for showers. Honestly, 5min under the shower are 100yen which is approx. 80 cent. It`s not expenive but it`s a bit uncomfortable because I always have to have spare 100 yen coins to take a shower.
The other way to get clean is a public bath but it`s a bit strange to have a bath with several girls....don`t you think? o.O
During the orientation I met a Polish girl her dorm building is in fornt of mine. And the good thing is she likes to travel too and maybe we`re going to travel around in Japan...our destinations are Okinawa, Kyoto and even Australia since the flight price isn`t that high to get there XD
- Mood: bouncy
It`s common in Japan to make welcome parties when there is someone new in the company or other. At 9.30am Saya came with her car to pick me up and we drove with Hiro and another girl from my lab to meet the others from the lab. Then after we got together we went by car into the woods of Tsukuba. It was the first sunny day after several rainy days.
The BBQ place was shared by many other families we didn`t know. Japanese people don`t make their BBQ in a Grill (German word) but on the ground. Actually they make a fire and put a Gitter (German word) above the fire. On this Gitter meat, vegetables and soba noodles are placed.
I was actually the only girl drinking beer and after 2 cans of Japanese beer (which is really weak) I felt a bit tipsy.
It was really fun...and everyone is so nice XD I was really nervous about meeting everyone in my lab but after some beer I even spoke Japanese....
So we went to the Japanese restaurant and we ate Sukiyaki...It was really interesting because we had to fry our food ourself.
First a pan was put on a small gas stove which was put in the middle of our table then we got tsuyu sauce and 2 plates with raw meat and vegetables.The fried food is diped in raw egg. It was really good :) In the end you put soba noodles into pan and fry them in the soy sauce.
Afterwards we ate green tea ice cream which was the highlite of the evening because I`ve always wanted to try green tea ice cream. By the way green tea here in Japan tastes different then the one in Europe. It`s much more stronger and has a cloudier colour. I love this kind of green tea. Wow as a tea freak I`m in tea heaven!....
The next morning me, Beejal, Saya (my tutor) and Hiro went shopping. It`s a bless that Saya has a car because all the other interntional students have to go by bike. XD
I bought a bike! and a kettle. I`m so happy because of the bike but unfortunately I couldn`t use it till yesterday because I had a bad cold V.V
But before we went shopping we went to my lab to write down all the things Beej and I needed to buy. Everyone was sitting around us and reading curiously what we were writing down.
As I already mentioned I had a cold and thus I wrote Ginger Tea on my list and everyone was puzzeled by ginger tea... because they did not expect a foreigner to drink something else than black tea or coke. There was even more of a surprise when they saw that we wanted a rice cooker. Saya said that Japanese people think that European people don`t eat rice but potatoes. Well she`s right in a way....but we are different XD
- Mood: bouncy
Now I finally have the time to report about my stay here in JAPAN. I`m sitting at the University Computer Cluster PC because Ⅰ still have no internet connection in my room. I know there are some people waiting to use the computers but after a long time of no contact to any people I really have the urge to report about anything which happened to me since I arrived here on Wednesday.
Ok so here we go:
Wednesday afternoon (Japanese time):
I arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport. Before I could go to the Baggage claim I needed to go to the Fruit and vegetable Quarantine scetion because I had a small kaki in my backpack. I took it with me from home because I knew that noone there would ever eat it. Actually it didn`t go out well fｏｒ the kaki so I had to hand it in to this particular section of the airport. I manged toＳａｙ to the people there that at least they should
Because of that i missed the baggage claim and so I had to look formybaggage. By the time I found it I missed my friends from Manchester university and the bus. While ｉ was waiting for the next bus a small girl with her mother approached me and asked if her mother could take a photo of me. XD It was a bit weird but in a funny way.
After i arrived in tsukuba my tutor`s friend took me and Beejal (myfriend from Manchester, who lives in the same accommodation like me) out to a Japanese restaurant.
Well, while I was relaxing at the underwater massages (after swimming several laps, of course ;D) she came out of the staff room and waved at me to come to her. By the time I arrived at the pool rim, where she was standing, she asked me if the CD she gave me the other day was the one I wanted. Of course it was ^^# I think she just wanted to start a conversation...She then said that I'm really an assidious girl swimming so hard in the morning. I told her about my intentions to lose weight; we talked about it in short and then she said that I don't need to be embarrassed by my looks because I have a good body and she knows girls who have to same problem. We also talked about me going to Japan and I told her that I've been learning Chinese signs for 2 years (as you might know Chinese symbols are used in Japanese as well). In response she turned around, lifted her T-shirt to show me her tattoos on her back consisting of 3 Chinese signs and asked me if I could read them: Truth, Love and another one which is supposed to mean Hope (but I couldn't read it).
She had to clean the chairs and so had to go...It was fun to talk to her. She seems to be a nice person....and she's so hot ;D
In the evening I met up with Emu, Becky, the Hummelps and Sarah, a friend from school to watch "Clone Wars" in the cinema. Well, Clone Wars was kind of funny but after a short time watching it you easily realize that it was made for kids. Afterwards we had some cocktails mhhh..cocktails ;D I think this was the best part...
Next week I still have to see 3 movies: Batman, The Mummy and Zohan. It's going to be a bit busy but maybe we'll do it in time.
Well, I don't like showing everyone my personal precious parts while I'm in the sauna. Therefore I wore a tiny bikini top and a small towel around my hips to cover my private parts. Honestly, it decently covered the most provocative parts. And again there were people complaining about me wearing too much textiles! I mean what's the deal about this disgusting and pervy intolerance?I just don't like to stroll around naked where people (especially men), with who I would never want to talk to, can see me like that. I mean they should be lucky that I don't complain about their ugly and worn-out bodies. V.V I mean I even didn't swim in this bikini top. I brought it with me only for sauna reasons.
As a matter of fact, the pool attendent came into the sauna room where I was lying. Actually, there was no-one around so I honestly don't understand the fuss about it because there was no-one aroun who I could irritate with my non-nude existence. Well, she told me ( like last time) to remove my bikini top. After some time I gave in and said ok. But she insisted that I undress in front of her (while she's waiting). I was like woa please give me a break; I'm gonna do it when there's no living soul around. She closed the door to the room and asked if I'm shy ^^# because I don't want to do it in front of her. It was quiet embarassing because I was half-naked and my bikini straps went loose making everything dangerously "shifty". I replied "maybe". I really didn't know what to say because I wasn't expecting it. Then I admitted that I'm indeed shy. She asked me why and so on. Summing up: it was embarrasing because I was a bit overwhelmed by the situation *systembreakdown*. Well, it's her job. She's responsible that everyone abides to rules.
And now I'm listening to her CD and I am very happy. My new favourite song is a club remix of Melissa Etheridge "The way I do". And oh wonder she's a lesbian singer....In the song she sings about her lover who fell in love with a different woman....
Is it so hard to satisfy your senses
You found out to love me you have to climb some fences
Scratching and crawling along the floor to touch you
And just when it feels right you say you found someone else to hold you
Does she like I do
Tell me does she love you like the way I love you
Does she stimulate you attract and captivate you
Tell me does she miss you existing just to kiss you
Like the way I do
Tell me does she want you infatuate and haunt you
Does she know just how to shock and electrify and rock you
Does she inject you seduce you and affect you
Like the way I do
Can I survive all the implications
Even if I tried could you be less than an addiction
Dont you think I know theres so many others
Who would beg steal and lie fight kill and die
Just to hold you hold you like I do
Tell me does she love you like the way I love you
Does she stimulate you attract and captivate you
Tell me does she miss you existing just to kiss you
Like the way I do
Tell me does she want you infatuate and haunt you
Does she know just how to shock and electrify and rock you
Does she inject you seduce you and affect you
Like the way I do
Nobody loves you like the way I do
Nobody wants you like the way I do
Nobody needs you like the way I do
Nobody aches nobody aches just to hold you
Like the way I do
Tell me does she love you like the way I love you
Does she stimulate you attract and captivate you
Tell me does she miss you existing just to kiss you
Like the way I do
Tell me does she want you infatuate and haunt you
Does she know just how to shock and electrify and rock you
Does she inject you seduce you and affect you
Like the way I do
Maybe it's finally the awareness of the fact that soon I'm going to leave behind Emu and everything I'm familiar with for so long. It's the first time in my life that I'm going to be on my very own without anyone I know in a country so far away. And what's more without Emu. I'm a tough girl but wow this is really hard.
All the weeks until now I didn't think about my trip at all. I only started to learn more vocabularies than usual but I didn't dare to think why. I just avoided thinking about the near future. And now it gets harder to prevent it.
Of course, going to Japan for 1 year is not a bad thing but maybe I'm a bit overwhelmed by this whole matter. I mean I won't have the chance to hug Emu, play MTG with the hummelps and go out with Becky and co. to the Eisenlager ^^ fore 1 year.
But maybe I just started thinking about it because I didn't have anything special to do today.
During my trip to Greece with my parents I never had the chance to get into thinking. I was constantly busy and never alone. (I'm going to post the photos soon enough) Greece is a really wonderful country. I somehow miss the carefree atmosphere.
- Mood:
thoughtful
But as every Sunday I started the day with a nice swim at 7.30 am ;D It was a rainy day and therefore I couldn't go out for a jog at noon :(. However, I went with my dog to the park which was a wet but enjoyable trip ^^.
I'm going to Düsseldorf tomorrow to get my visa from the Japanese consulate which means that I have to get up early in the morning. Düsseldorf is a great city for Japan lovers. There are several Japanese book shops and Japanese restaurants. Honestly, I have to stay strong not to spend a fortune for books ^^. Last time I went there I came back with hands full of Kanji practice books and a Doraemon book for kids explaining all continents.
I can't wait to go there:D (not to all continents but to Düsseldorf ^^)
- Mood:
amused
Today there were 40 guests coming from a burial and I served them all by my-self and honestly everything went well. This is an exception because I tend to do stupid mistakes but I improved a lot since my first time in the restaurant. However, I realized that it's not the kind of work which suits me well. I'm best in scientific work at university.
I've got a part-time job at a domestic goods shop called KODi since last week. It's a really hard job because you have to carry heavy boxes through the whole shop etc. Moreover, the shop where I'm working in is 7 km from my flat. I can't afford a bus ticket so I have to cycle everytime I go to work making it 14km a day. Honestly I'm really happy with it :) because it's a good opportunity to stay fit. By the way I've lost weight - I'm so happy :D
- Mood: thoughtful
- Music:schiller - let me love you
They remind me of the time where I spent my summer holidays with my parents in France. We always had a portable radio on the table which played songs all day long. My mum loved to listen to nostalgie.fm a broadcasting service which aired French and foreign songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Whenever we crossed the border to France the search for nostalgie.fm began in our car radio.
Last year we couldn't find nostalgie.fm so we switched to an unknown broadcaster and there was one song which was aired several times a day. It was the French number one summer 2007 hit sung by Yannick Noah.
I tried to translate the lyrics to test if I still know some French. ^^#
On laisse nos chaussures au placard > Let our shoes in the cabinet
et on prend la guitare > and take the guitar
un cd de Marley > one Marley CD
on laisse les enfants aux parents > Let the kids stay with the parents
on prendra tout notre temps >and take all of our time
je te garde pour moi >I look after you.
de Paris ou d'ailleurs> to Paris or somewhere else
si tu me suis > if you follow me
on prendra le meilleur> we'll take the best
tout est permis> everything's permitted
et si ca nous va bien> and if it's alright to us
on ira encore plus loin> we'll go a bit farther
destination ailleurs> destination somewhere else
destination... ailleurs>destination... somewhere else
on peut fermer un peu la porte> we can close the door a bit
oublier un peu les autres> forget a bit about the others
la voiture et la ville> the car and the city
on pourait couper la télé> we can switch off the tv
nos deux portable et s'en aller> our mobile phones and leave
toi et moi pour une fois> you and me for one more time
de Paris ou d'ailleurs> to Paris or somewhere else
si tu me suis> if you follow me
on prendra le meilleur> we take the best
tout est permis> everything's permitted
et si ca nous va bien> and if it's alright to us
on ira encore plus loin> we could go a bit farther
destination ailleurs> destination somewhere else
destination... ailleurs>destination somewhere else
on peut faire une pause dans nos vie> we can take a break from our life
c'est peut etre pas mal aussi> this might be not that bad
de Paris ou d'ailleurs> to Paris or somewhere else
si tu me suis>if you follow me
on prendra le meilleur> we take the best
tout es permis>everything's permitted
et si ca nous va bien> and if it's alright to us
on ira encore plus loin> we could go a bit farther
destination
destination ailleurs> destination somewhere else
si tu veux bien> if you really want
un mois, un jour, une heure> one month, one day, one hour
on en sait rien
on en sait rien
suis moi> follow me
de Paris ou d'ailleursto Paris or somewhere else
si tu me suis>if you follow me
on prendra le meilleur> well take the best
tout est permis>everything's permitted
tout est permis>everything's permitted
destination ... ailleurs
Now listening to it makes me want to spend again my summer break in France. But this year we're going to Greece, not far away from Athens. It's an all in one good-bye, birthday and Cristmas present from my parents. After my brother returns from Atlanta we'll head to the airport. It's the first time in 10 years that we'll travel without our doggie but my brother will take care of him at home :D.
- Mood: amused
Things I'm going to miss:
-the cosy and quiet life together with Emu
-my mangas ^^
-the nature around our flat which is the first thing you see when you open your eyes in the morning
-watching squirrels out of our window
-the area which is great for cycling and jogging
-Ben Jerry's Ice Cream (there's no BJ-IC in Germany)
-Innocent Smooties (again not available in Germany)
-shopping at our Tesco super store
-Chicken KORMA. Hell yeah, I'm going to miss this delicious Indian meal. Why does no one sell Korma sauce in Germany??
-Jewish community which is so interesting to observe
What I'm looking forward to do at home:
- going swimming at last (there are no good swimming facilities in my area :( )
-meeting up with friends for a round (or more ;D) Magic the Gathering and trying out 4th Edition of DnD. I decided to do a Control Wizard as my character. This is so new to me because in my whole DnD career I tended to be mostly hack and slash characters.
-high quality tap water. Yes, tap water in Great Britain sucks. Honestly, they should look up the technique German sewage plants use to manage sewage water purification without making it taste of chlorine.
-my first part time job :D I still have to decide. Either I'm going to work in a bakery (my preference), a KFC restaurant or in German household shop (which could be a bit boring).
- Location:Prestwich
- Mood:
giddy - Music:Booty Luv- Be with you(Club Mix) ; Alex Grudino feat.Crystal Waters- Destination
In this video she looks so damn cute. This song is even better than "Will my Heart Survive" </lj-embed>
Isabel is a German artist and one-hit wonder but it's a great tune.A propos music. My lil' brother's American friend wanted a British house CD sooo much. I promised him that I'll see what I get. And here it is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B
- Mood:
restless
Moreover, Prestwich is such a great place to live.
Heaton Park, one of Europe's biggest municipal parks, is in my near vicinity. (By the way I put some pics which I took on my cycling tour through Heaton Park on http://discover-lifes-beauty.blogspot.co
Even now while writing this I can look out of my huge window and see green trees and grass with squirrels hopping around. This is bliss. :D
Just some minutes ago I came back from my cycling tour through the quiet and leafy streets of this town belonging to busy Manchester. Many wealthy Jewish families live here and the houses are gigantic. It's very impressive and a bit of an adventure because I've never seen so many rabbis and Jewish people in Germany before. Actually, I've never seen a rabbi in real-life before moving to Prestwich.
All of them seem nice and cultivated; I really don't understand why there are some people discriminating against them. And I don't mean German people.
However, due to Germany's history many Germans were taught since early childhood to be tolerant towards people with other ethnicities. In my school career topics like WWII and all the cruelties committed to innocent people by people, having their brain switched off while listening to Mr. madass's aggressive speeches, had been an issue in my history, religious education and German language classes more than a dozen times. Much to the grief of my classmates because they honestly can't identify with the things their ancestors did. I mean why should they? No one understands why their (great)grandparents committed such an inhuman crime under which Germany's new generation still has to suffer. I think not understanding the reason why and how something like this could happen in a developed country can be unbearable. Especially, when there are people all over the world still associating Germany with Nazis.
I really can't understand it. My parents are from Poland and therefore I've got a neutral position towards this case. Well neutral, despite knowing that my great-grandpa was killed by Germans and my grandma was close to be deportated to a fricking KZ. Fortunately, a neighbour said that he goes in place of her and that she has to hide in the corn fields what she did and survived (otherwise I wouldn't be here ^^).
Each year I visit my Polish relatives. And wow I've never experienced such a high extent of blind racism. They are discriminated against everyone who's not Polish. Even the younger generation is taught these narrow-minded views.And of course, Jewish people are the preferred target for these dull assumptions. My cousin who's 17 said that Muslims and Jews are the same, following this she asked me "Who's more worse Muslims or Jews?". Wow- I was so baffled. I didn't know what to say. But I guess my bewildered look must have told her that she said stupid things. And the bad thing is: this girl is not stupid, she attends Poland's number 1 high school. In conclusion, I observed that there are still prejudices against German people which distracts from the rising intolerance and racism in other countries like Poland .
Since the exam period has finished I have been chilling all the time. Well,mostly, last week I had a bad laryngitis. Instead of going to see the doctor I used a tea based on the principles of the Traditional Chinese Medicine. And actually, it worked because my voice recovered within 2 days. My swollen tonsils came back to normal 2-3hours after drinking this tea. I tried to buy more of this stuff and looked in each Chinese supermarket in the whole Manchester area and I can't believe it but it's sold out everywhere. Chinese people know what's good.
While I was ill I had much time to listen to the new album of Schiller. Schiller (band) is a German one-man band making good electronic chillout music. Schiller means so much to me because I've been listening to Schiller's songs since I was 14.The latest album is "Sehnsucht" (in English Longing). There are two songs which I like best among other good songs from the album.
Schiller feat. September - Breathe
Schiller- Let me love you
- Mood:
cheerful - Music:Schiller - Miles and Miles
The town where I'm going is Tsukuba, 45 minutes to Tokyo by express train. Tsukuba is a small university town (population 207,394) with 40% of Japan's researchers living and working there. Tsukuba is surrounded by nature and even a mountain (822m). You can imagine that I'm going to buy an old bike and cycle the whole area :D.
In Tsukuba I'm going to attend Tsukuba university classes and work in a lab at university.
I can't believe that I'm going there. 6 months ago I even didn't know about it, it all happened so fast. My feelings towards this: confusion, angst, overwhelm, nervousness and a high portion of curiosity...
Yesterday we finally finished watching "Heroes" season 2. It wasn't that bad considering the strike in Hollywood studios but it was just too short, many things were stuffed into too few episodes. By the way I hate Sylar, he makes me sick. He's kind of a loser and an emo. He wants to be special and murders people sounds like a fanatic. It also makes me sick when there are people like Dr. Suresh and this latina trusting him blindly. I mean hey he looks evil. I would never trust someone like that in real life....
- Mood:
busy
