School shenanigans

Closing ceremony at one of my schools. That yellow haired pretty lady in pink? Yup, that's me! Too bad I didn't get a better pic =(

Xmas party at another school. We sang Jinglebells and danced to African music!

Hakuba

Last week I went to Tsugaike with Fredrik for some snowboarding (first time this season, yeay). The slopes were crazy, so much powder, and this in the piste! Am going again for 3 days over New Years, can't wait!

Here are some pics Fredrik took:

MERRY XMAS!

Basketball and snow

Had basketball practice with the teachers at one of my schools after work today. We didn't run much, we basically just practiced shooting and dribbling and things like that, but MAN, I'm tired! Those basketballs are heavy! I think I need to start doing pushups or something, these spaghetti arms are no use when playing basketball, I understand that now!

Another thing, guess what? We have a little snow here now! Not much, but some! The snowboarding season is so close I can taste it. Just wish it was here already! =)

My crazy cousin...

...is planning to run the Sahara marathon in February.

Normally, I would be on his case about him having lost his mind etc (I mean, running? A marathon? In the Sahara desert?), but since he has a heart of gold he is doing it to raise money for the children of Tamale, Ghana (to try to improve their situation in life) and how can I object to that?

He has started a campaign and a blog (which can be found here: http://running4change.bloggsida.se/english ) and if any of you - like me - want to contribute, please do! =)

Elf...

...made me want to sing xmas songs and watch Talladega Nights, the Ballad of Ricky Bobby! =)

Nu är det jul, här i mitt hus, glöggen är kommen...

HOPP TRALLALLALLA!

Glöggen är god, doftar så gott, DOFTAR SÅ GOTT!

Glöggen är så röd och varm i koppen, glöggen är så röd och varm i koppen, trallallalla lallallallalla lallallallalla LALLALLA!

For those of you who have no idea what the melody is, I'm sorry! I just can't seem to stop singing ^^

Xmas shopping online

For the Gaston, of course. He'll be the coolest kid in kindergarten!

National Lampoon's Christmas Holiday...

...made me happy I don't have a huge family xmas to look forward to, miss my dysfunctional, scattered and wonderful family, wish I would get a big xmas bonus and wonder how much time it would really take to get all those lights up!

Trying to get into the xmas spirit!

Went to the hyaku-en-shop (where everything is about 10kr) and got a bunch of xmas decorations today. Figured I might feel all xmassy and cosy if I surround myself with xmas. Have also decided to watch one episode of "Sunes jul" a day, a bit of nostalgia might help!
In addition to that, I have invited my friends over for Lucia on the 13th, and might even try to make some saffron buns. Freddan has sent a box of glögg, I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will get here before Lucia. Nothing gets you into the xmas spirit as fast as glögg does!

"Jinglebells, bjällerklang!"

Sweet old man!

Yesterday I went to Minowa to celebrate a friend's birthday. We all went out for dinner (and then karaoke of course ;) ), and while we were sitting around the table talking and eating and all that, this older man comes up to the table and gives us 1000 yen. Just like that. Then he said we should have some more drinks on him, and then he left.
That has never happened to me before, and we were all a bit surprised hehe =)

November so far!

November has been pretty good so far. Last weekend I had a couchsurfer here for a few nights, which was awesome. Love meeting new people, and when they have lots of cool travel tales it's even better. Took him to a rum party in Minowa that a friend of mine organised. Turned out to be me and 6 guys. Interesting...=) Always fun when guys forget there is a girl in the room, and you can just sit and listen and be as quiet as possible so they don't remember you're there ;)
Started watching Californication, kinda like it so far. I really like Hank Moody =)

Had dinner with some workmates on Wednesday night, love going out to dinner in the middle of the week. =)

Was supposed to have a couchsurfer here this weekend too, and had a bunch of things planned, but alas, I have been confined to my apartment all weekend for fear of swineflu. Had to go to the doctor on Friday, but wasn't allowed on the premises, so had to get an examination and have my tests taken in an oooooold ambulance. That was actually pretty cool, although I couldn't fully appreciate it due to a splitting headache (which was finally gone this morning when I woke up, yay!).
The test came out negative, which I was really happy about, until the doctor told me it was most likely a false negative (apparently 30% of people who test negative actually do have the flu) as my bloodtest and symptoms were apparently very flu like. Wasn't too happy about that! So, have now been cooped up at home popping pills and watching sad movies during my few concious hours.

Won't be going to work tomorrow, so any good sad movie tips?

One thing that keeps happening a lot, and which I find adorable, is Japanese kids thinking how amazing it is that we use Japanese words in English. Words like T-shirt, pants, game, orange and bye-bye. They get all excited when they realize the words are the same, and feel quite proud that other people obviously like Japanese so much that we want to use their words. Of course, there are words in English that are originally Japanese (samurai, kamikaze, sushi etc), but for some reason the kids never get excited about them...I never have the heart to tell them who's borrowing from whom... =)

Kodomo Expo

Was asked by my boss a while back to help out at the Shimosuwa Kodomo (kids) Expo by creating a Swedish booth. I had no idea what to do though, but I got the advice to contact the Swedish embassy for help. They were really nice and sent me a bunch of brochures, a dalahäst, a Swedish outfit and organized for the tourism bureau to send me some posters. In addition to that, I had my brother send me a bunch of bags of salty licorice, and my friends and I painted this thing to stick your head through for a photo. Here are some pics from the event:

The licorice wasn't a hit, as expected, we got a lot of hilarious facial expressions when they realized it was salty =) I had a great time, and the party afterwards was great as well! ;)

Cowgirl!

Went horseback riding with my friend Sonoko today. Check it out! =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNpVfflfzaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCENb4Gv3M




We had so much fun!

Pretty, preciousssss!

Got myself a new board a few days ago, and I think I'm in love ^^ Just want the slopes to open NOW, can't wait! But, that means it will be cold so maybe I can wait after all...

Am trying to think of a name of the new board, it is very girly so I guess it needs a female name. Perhaps a cool anime character?

Had sushi at a kaiten sushi (sushi train) place after the board shopping, and they had sausage sushi! And hamburger sushi! How weird is that? Haha!

Birthday weekend!

We started off at a river in Kiso valley, built a camp fire, had a BBQ and swam in REALLY cold water!

Didn't see any fish, but the visibility of the water was amazing!

When we got back to Shimosuwa, we quickly changed into yukatas and went to watch the fireworks show by the lake. Amazing fireworks!

After the fireworks we went to a karaoke place and sang for hours.

Stayed at a friend's place, and she made us pancakes for brekkie. Yum!

Went to another nice river spot in Kiso valley, this time with cliffs to jump off. ^^

Hanging out in the sun.

Birthday jump (one of many) off the cliff. The guy next to me is Keiji, today is his birthday too! I also jumped off the 8-9 m cliff opposite the one we're jumping from in this photo. ^^

In the water safe and sound!

More cliff hanging. ;)

Birthday cake! (with a little veggie jelly for me)

Hamish & Andy

So, now that I am internet connected again, I've been able to watch Rove, kind of an Australian Leno/Letterman/Conan but better (it is an Australian show, after all) and I realized I had forgotten how much I like Hamish & Andy and their shenanigans!
Here's one clip (not new) of their original and hugely popular new sport Ghosting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peAtB_dFUh0&feature=related


Here is another clip; Hamish & Andy do Japan/The Future!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYSs00yC73s&feature=related


Check out some related links too if you are bored! ^^

Volleyball and camping?

For the past months or so I've been having volleyball practice every week with the teachers from one of my schools. I did not sign up for this, but found myself having been signed up by the team captain. He seemed very confident in my volleyball skills that he signed me up for the "Attack number 1" team, or, the A-team, or, the team that were playing to win (compared to "Receive number 1" who were only playing for fun). How was the poor team captain supposed to know that the last time I played volleyball was in a 9th grade P.E. class? I am not exaggerating when I call my skills non-existent...

Anyway...

Last weekend we had a "warm-up" tournament that did not go too well (we totally lost). The odds (and the expectations) were not great as we walked into the gym of the school hosting the "big" tournament earlier this morning. We were off to a good start though, we managed to win our first game! Encouraged by our victory, spirits were high as we began our second game, only to sink again as we lost the game.

When all teams in our group had played their 2 games it was clear however that we all had one win and one loss. This meant that the team with the most won points would advance to the final. I don't know if they calculated correctly, but we found ourselves on the floor, playing against the winners of group 2. It was a very close game, not aided by me getting nervous and missing 2 serves (oops). Despite this, we won the first set, and somehow, the second as well, making the "Attack number 1" team this years winners! We got a huge trophy and 2 bottles of sake, as well as numerous bows and high fives. I have to admit, it felt pretty good!

After the tournament, I hurried home, showered, had some lunch, then packed a bag with some clothes and jumped into my car to catch up with some friends who had gone camping about an hour away. Before I left Chino at about 16.00 I bought a sleeping bag, a bunch of beer cans, heaps of fruit and a few bags of cookies. I got back home about 22.00 after driving for hours trying to find the others...
I managed to catch up with my friend and Japanese teacher Kayo, who also was a bit lost, while searching for the right road, and together we spent about 2 hours looking for them before we gave up, went to dinner and after that drove back home...At least I'll be sleeping on my futon tonight instead of uneven ground in a tent, but I think that is the one good thing about missing out on the camping party...Damnit! ^^

My new yukata!

What do you think? =)

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Kevin Costner?? Why? WHY?? lol

Duck and cover!

Is it true that you are supposed to make your way to a doorway when there is an earthquake? That is what I did, after about 5 seconds of "What is going on?" and another 10 seconds of "WOW!". I sat in between my bedroom and living room, and tried to remember what else one is supposed to do.
It didn't seem like a scary big earthquake, so I felt pretty safe, but I thought "What do I know, I've never been in an earthquake before!", so I decided I'd better put some clothes on, just in case I had to go outside. Didn't want to scare my neighbours, I figured they would've been through enough having to run outside because of plate tectonics...
After I had managed to wiggle my way into a tshirt the world was still again, so I never had to run outside, but at least I was dressed enough to take the picture of me in the previous post.
I then remembered that you are supposed to turn off the gas when these things happen, but I figured that since I couldn't smell anything, and since the shaking had passed, I wouldn't have to do so. Not that I know how to do it anyway...

Does anybody know what else you are supposed to do? Might come in handy, the knowledge I mean...

Pics

My new gap:

Happy but sleepy after earthquake:

It is just after 5 in the morning, and I was just woken up. My pulse is still racing and my ceiling lights are still lightly swaying. I just experienced my first earthquake! Such a strange feeling to wake up to the floor shaking and windows rattling! I wonder if the shaking has made my windows fit better in their frames...Gotta check...

Wow, this is so strange, but they actually do! Amazing! There was always a gap between the window and the frame in my bedroom. I have been worrying about that gap, thinking to myself it is going to cause my apartment to get extremely cold the coming winter. Thoughts of gaffa tape and thick curtains have kept reoccurring. Now, the gap that was about 2 centimeters at the top of the frame (and none at the bottom) is down to maybe 2 millimeters!
Extraordinary! My first earthquake =)

The internet is dangerous!

It is!
I got connected Tuesday evening, and since then I have been very antisocial, only doing things that were already marked in my calendar. Also, I have already made a brief visit to amazon.co.jp and spent a big chunk of this month's pay check...

Although, to be fair, I tend to feel spending money on books is completely in order, and should be done a lot more often ;) At least I now have something to look forward to next week, a parcel with 10 (or something like that, I think it was more like 12-13) books in the mail! Aaah, can't wait!

Ponyo btw was absolutely wonderful, loved every minute of it, so cute! Have even seen it twice now =)

Yesterday I spent the evening learning 3 "dances" for the Chino festival taking place tomorrow. I am going with one of my 6th grade classes, I even have a t-shirt with the class number and school on it so that people will understand I belong in the festival parade and am not some random gaijin!

Last Saturday, I was just some random gaijin at the Chimosuwa festival. This did not prevent me (and my friend Nerida) from making a lot of friends in the parade after having been persuaded to join all these people pulling a boat from one shrine to another. It also did not prevent us from ending up in the local newspaper. In fact, I am pretty sure we only ended up in the local newspaper BECAUSE we were some random gaijin...

Will post some pictures from all my festival escapades, have already been to the one in Chimosuwa and one in Matsumoto, then there is the one here in Chino tomorrow, and 2 or 3 others before the end of my 2 week holiday! =)

Oh, btw, any movie tips?

Happy Erika

So, the Gaston is going to be a big brother! Kind of weird, he's too little! Hehe ;) But still, how awesome is that? I have already started thinking about which band shall adorn the new little brother/sister's baby clothes...The Gaston of course had the Ramones, should I stick with that theme, or perhaps try something new this time?

Snowboards

Been hunting for snowboard equipment on sale, but I think I have to give up...Finally found a place that a) had snowboards in stock and b) had them on sale (since it's last season stuff) but they didn't have any girl stuff!!! How annoying is that? Hehehe =) Guess I will have to buy things full price in a couple of months...Oh well =)

Other than that, things in Chino are good...Had my first Japanese lesson on Friday (yeay, finally) which was good. I managed to get a bit lost getting there and missed about half the hour, but still...It is now a weekly thing, so hopefully I'll improve =)

Got Ponyo yesterday, gonna watch it tonight! I've been wanting to see it for a while, but ever since we went to the Ghibli museum in Tokyo I've been really keen to see it! Hopefully it's good and really cute!
I have now seen the 4 other Miyazaki movies I bought at the museum, and I really liked them. Mononoke hime kind of surprised me though, I didn't expect all that blood and violence! Shocking!

=)

Back in Chino after spending way to much money in Tokyo....But I got a Nintendo DS Lite, a bunch of books (including the already mentioned Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), 4 Miyazaki movies (of which I have now seen 2), a bunch of toys (mostly for the Gaston but some for me too...) and a bunch of Roxy clothes, so I can't really feel bad about it and get byer's remorse, because seriously, I love it all! Guess how impressed the kids at my schools were when they saw the DS...? Hehehe

Will be ordering an internet installation tomorrow after doing a bit of research. People tell me I have to first pay the phone company for the installation and the usage of the line, and then also get an internet provider to actually provide the login and shit...Kind of like how the electricity thing works in Norway. What is wrong with people? Can't the phone company just provide everything? Wouldn't that make sense? Hopefully people are just trying to scare me and are lying to me and really it's nothing like that, but I don't know....
Can't wait to get connected though! Then I can finally chat to all you guys again! Yeay! Got an email from my mom earlier this week complaining I never send any emails (and I still haven't replied, oops), hopefully she won't have to send that kind of stuff once I'm back surfing day in and day out ;)

Julia, Elsa, Kjers: So how was the remaining time in Japan? Tell me tell me! =)

Tokyo again!

So, Kjers and I arrived in Tokyo yesterday morning, and spent most of the day spending money (well, I did anyway....).
We started off looking for manga translated to English but were scared off by the price, so we shopped a bunch of books instead. I found a Pride and Prejudice and zombies mix that I have been wanting to read for a while, cant wait to start reading that one!
We then went shopping some more, made a brief stop at a photo booth for some purikura (my first time, it was fun!) and then hurried back to the hostel to check in before meeting some friends of mine (from the last time I was here) for dinner and a lot of karaoke =) Really tired now, didnt get many hours of sleep last night...
Today we are meeting up with Satoko in Yoyogi-koen, should be fun, hope the rockabillies are there! Then we are going to the airport to meet up with Julia and Elsa, yeay!!
Now, time for food!

Kjers and Erika do Chino

So, Kjers arrived in Chino last Friday, picked her up after work at the train station. It's soooooo good to speak Swedish again after months and months of only English and attempts at Japanese.
Saturday (Midsummer!) we spent first at one of my schools playing sports (school festival thing) for 3 hours, and then we jumped in the car, drove back home as fast as we could, only to jump into another car waiting for us outside my building. In that car were Taya, Toshi and Nerida, and we all drove south (I think) to a cherry plantation for a 40 minute all you can eat-session. Needless to say, I won't be eating cherries again anytime soon, and I think Kjers is on the same page hehe.
On Sunday we went to my boss' house for a New Zealand traditional hangi (you dig a hole in the ground, heat up rocks, then bury whatever you want to cook). Lots of people came and it was a really nice time =)
Yesterday I had the day off because of the school festival thing, so we drove around checking out some shops, trying desperately but failing miserably to find manga in English. Even finding anime with English subtitles proved futile =( I bought Peacemaker in Japanese, always good to practice, but I think once we get to Tokyo on Saturday we will make another attempt at finding manga translated to English =)
Today, Kjers came to school with me and acted as my show and tell. The kids were all staring everywhere she went, so I guess she is now a celebrity at that school hehehe. Don't know how much fun she had though, poor girl hehehehe....
Will try to post some pics later!

Waiting

Aaaaaaaah, I can't believe so many of you guys are coming to visit! I'm really excited!
Kjers is arriving on Friday, and then it will only be a bit more than a week before the Bergen crew hits Tokyo! Yeay! The fact that I'm getting 2 days off work to hang out in Tokyo isn't bad either =)
Life is good!

1 weird fact...

Kids in Japan have school lunch in their classrooms. They go down to the kitchen, pick up the food and then take it back to the classroom to distribute it. While having lunch in the classroom is kind of weird in itself, the thing that really impresses me is that all the kids have to wear little lunch uniforms! Usually, they are white, with a white hat and a white facemask! (sometimes they get to wear colourful aprons, but mostly, they look like little chefs!)
The first time I saw the kids in their little chef outfits I nearly died, they were so cute!

To be continued...

New (and old) photos!

The pub pics are from back in Tokyo, I love the size difference beween the Norwegian guy and my "roommate" at the hostel hehehe...The other picture is of my roommate and the French guy!

Wasabi beer at the wasabi farm! It was good, too!!!! Slightly green though hehehe...

Hanami party!

Eurovision preparations!

So, I am in a little booth in the Inet cafe again, this time I have paid for 3 hours so that I can watch the 2 semifinals before watching the final tomorrow! I am really, really, really going to try to not read the newspaper before watching the final! Since I often even read the end of a book before finishing it it is going to be difficult not to check who won first...
So, which country do you think/want to win? I so far have absolutely no favourites, have only seen 6 songs so far...
I really didnt like the Swedish song at first, but it has grown on me, and now I kinda like it...I read that all the Scandinavian countries are in the final, how awesome is that? =) Go Scandinavia! ;)

quickie

Sorry for not updating for so long, I just dont get around to checking my email that often. =(
Hopefully Ill get my visa soon, and then I can get my registration card, and then after that I can get internet at home...phew! It will take a while yet =(
Not much going on though, anyway. I have all these things that I have noticed that are really weird to me here in Japan, every day there is something...But I will tell you all about it when I have time =)
Am studying kanji like crazy right now, and reading Japanese in general. I got a full set of the manga Hunter x Hunter from one of the teachers at one of my schools, and since Ive read it in English before it doesnt matter if I dont understand most of the stuff I read hehehe, I still understand whats happening =)
Any news from Norway/Sweden?

Big hugs!

Quick update!

As Im busy busy busy these days, I havent really been able to get to the inet cafe lately.
Lots of things have been going on, mostly work stuff, but Ive had time to do quite a bit of socializing as well.
2 Karaoke parties (I cant sing, but I do it anyway, and damn its fun!), 1 more Hanami party, one staff party and some hangover breakfasts with a big ALT gang =) (Assistant language teachers).

The job is awesome, Im having heaps of fun every day in school. Im working at 3 different schools, and they are all pretty close to where I live. I can ride my bike to one of them, but have to drive to the other 2, so I now have a car! A little Subaru Pleo (silver), and hopefully next winter Pleo and I will have lots of fun going to the ski slopes ;)

I dont think I will be checking my email for a while again, but you can email my mobile phn if you want. It has a weird random adress, but it works. =)

tea43f4c72367@softbank.ne.jp

Any more news from home?


Take care!

In Chino

So, I havent written anything lately, due to the fact that I have now moved and no longer have inet access. Am in an inet cafe at the moment, catching up on things!
Spent Saturday in Yoyogi park having an early hanami party, and the park was soooooo crowded! It was really nice though, met a lot of people and drank a lot of beer =) I was hanging out with the Norwegian guy and his friend, and later that night we went to Roppongi as one of his friends had a birthday party. Also randomly met this German guy in the park who ended up partying with us. Apparently he and the Norwegian guy had gone to uni together in the US but they didnt know eachother. Small world, huh?
I moved to Chino on Sunday, but still my apartment is totally empty...One of the girls in the office (a really nice Aussie girl named Taya) said she might know where to get a coffee table. A low one, so no chairs necessary =) Should be kinda cool, since the apartment is like I mentioned before in Japanese style =)
There are 3 elementary school english teachers in this town, me and 2 American guys. One of them, Connor, lives in the same house as I so at least I have somebody I know nearby! And he has a car, so I dont have to feel too isolated hehe...Hopefully I can get my car as soon as possible!

Please, leave me some comments with what is going on in Norway and Sweden, I wanna know!

Happy Erika

I got a job!
Went to 2 interviews, one on Wednesday and one yesterday, and got offered both positions. I could pick! So next week I'm moving to Chino in Nagano prefecture to work as an ALT (assistant language teacher).
Have already seen the apartment I get to live in for an extremely cheap rent, and it's quite nice, not too new but not too old, and in a Japanese kind of style with tatami-floors and built in closets. Will post pics =)
I'll also have to buy a car, very exciting! It will be my first car ever, I'm a bit excited =) I'll be living in an area with ski slopes nearby, so next winter I'll be able to chuck my board in my car and go snowboarding! Nice, huh? =)
And I'll have 2 rooms, so if anybody wants to visit, you'll get your own room =)

Guess who we found?

I forgot to mention that Spongebob and I ran into an old friend at the Anime Fair...At first he was huge, then he shrunk to a convenient size for me to put in my handbag, and now he is hanging out here at home with us, happy to be back! Spongebob and die maus got along fantastically right from the beginning, look how happy they are!
Missed you mausy, glad to have you back!
(though how the hell did you make it from Gothenburg to Tokyo????)

Tokyo Anime Fair

Spongebob and I went to Odaiba (an artificial island) and Tokyo Big Sight to visit the Tokyo Anime Fair today, an annual thing I think so we couldn't not go. Quite an interesting experience, got a lot of junk that they handed out, saw some "live" anime characters and saw bands performing various anime songs. I know I had fun! I think Spongebob appreciated the hommage to him as well!

Spongebob's adventures!

Spongebob has of course been traveling around Tokyo as well. Here are a few snapshots of him having a great time! Check out the gravity defying hair of the rockabilly dude behind him in one of the photos. Quite impressive!