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| The Loulogue |
| An initially blank book for the purpose of documenting the journey of a Dutchie soon to emigrate to Inuyama, Japan to teach English at AEON Corporation. Pictures, video, clippings, tokens, or tickets may be included as they are collected. The Loulogue may also contain details of bad experiences and past experiences, and may include notes written by acquaintances. |
| Language: English |
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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 119 |
| Visitors Out: 2695 |
| Total Visitors Out: 3863 |
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| And the updating has begun... |
| 2008-06-30 18:50:00 |
Finally! My new Osaka apartment finally has internet so I've started the massive task of updating my blog on the last month... Due to the month-long lack of internet my other internet activities haven't received their adequate amount of attention either, so I also have a ton of emails to work through, hundreds of blogposts by other bloggers to read, dozens of episodes of online shows to watch and a myriad of pictures left to upload onto my Flickr account. It's all going to take a while, but at least I’m getting started on it:Update July 1: Blowing glue bubbles, Visiting my mom at workUpdate July 2: Baking Dutch pancakes, Cooking mussels...
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| Stay tuned for more... |
| 2008-06-11 20:14:00 |
Arrived in Japan on June 6th, started training on June 7th and have been busy ever since. Unfortunately, my hotelroom doesn't have internet, so updating this blog hasn't really been an option. Please be patient and stay tuned for a mass load of updates on my trip home and my training in Osaka....
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| Being home is nice |
| 2008-06-02 04:53:00 |
Just a quick post to let you guys know, I'm really enjoying my relaxing stay at home:It's been a great week and now I'm off to Frankfurt, to see my last Bon Jovi concert this year. I'm really excited and hoping they will play 'Always' tomorrow night (we're sleeping in the car tonight). But even if they don't, I'm sure it'll be awesome!...
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| Home |
| 2008-05-27 07:53:00 |
Yesterday, my plane landed in Amsterdam about an hour before scheduled. My crazy stepdad picked me up from the airport and we were home in Veldhoven a couple of hours later. My mom had cooked us one of my favorite dinners and bought me some beautifully pink welcome roses:Before dinner I distributed the many gifts I brought from Japan to my parents and brother, and after we ate a lot of delicious food we played with Japanese glue by blowing them into plastic bubbles. I managed to stay up until 11 at night, and got up around 7:30 this morning. So far so good. For breakfast and lunch today, I consumed the 3 Dutch products I'd been missing the most in Japan: milk, cheese and dark brown bread:I still have a lot to blog about the last days in Japan and I'm sure I'll have more than enough to blog...
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| One year in Japan! |
| 2008-05-25 21:05:00 |
One year ago today I arrived at Chubu Airport near Nagoya to start my life here in Japan. A year later I’m at the airport again, this time Kansai Airport near Osaka. I’m flying home (again) because my training for the new job in Osaka doesn’t start until June 7th. So I get to see everyone again and Bon Jovi happens to be touring Europe right now, so I get to see them in action one more time (European style) this year! I’m very excited, but I’ll have to survive a 12 hour flight first…...
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| My last day at AEON Inuyama |
| 2008-05-23 21:00:00 |
I really had fun teaching at this school and my students are the most adorable people I’ve ever met. Naturally it’s quite sad to have to say goodbye to everybody, so I’ve been giving all my adult students little gifts. They weren’t much because I have a lot of students, but they all loved it. The little presents consisted of a Jip & Janneke (Dutch cartoon) magnet, a piece of speculaas (Dutch cookie) and a Pickwick teabag (my favorite Dutch tea). Of course, I’m not leaving the staff of the school empty-handed. I went to international supermarkets here in Inuyama and Nagoya and managed to collect a small batch of Dutch products. I got them Droste chocolates, peanut cookies, syrup waffles, Haagse Hopjes (coffee candy), Van Houten instant hot chocolate and a whole box of my favor...
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| My replacement |
| 2008-05-22 09:59:00 |
The new teacher arrived today, his name is Sean and he's from California:I spent the whole day showing him the ropes here at school, and in Inuyama, which was fun. His arrival did make me realize, for real, that I’m really leaving and that I won’t be here next week to teach my adorable students… sniff. I’m sure he’ll do fine and so far he really seems to like the school and the students. Tomorrow, he’s going to teach one lesson, so I’m curious how he’s going to do....
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| Bon Jovi hits Europe |
| 2008-05-21 20:26:00 |
Today the European leg of Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway Tour starts in Gelsenkirchen, Germany! If I was in Europe now, I know I would’ve gone there, as Minke and I have seen Bon Jovi perform there before... And Minke is actually going there today!It’s so strange to see Bon Jovi without Minke in Japan and it’s so strange that Minke is going to a concert in Europe without me, because we are each other’s Bon Jovi concert buddies. I really missed her during the Japan tour, a concert just isn’t the same with her jumping up and down next to me. But hey, we’re going to one concert together in less than 2 weeks in Frankfurt! Update (May 23): The band played Always live in Gelsenkirchen!! This is the song that instantly t...
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| Happy birthday Casper! |
| 2008-05-21 10:00:00 |
Today one of my little stepbrothers turns 11. Birthday">Happy birthday Casper! I hope you have a great day.I'm bringing your present with me next week, so see you soon!...
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| Happy birthday Gui! |
| 2008-05-20 10:00:00 |
Today, my crazy stepfather turns 43! I bought his birthday present more than 4 months ago in Tokyo and now it’s finally time to give it to him. Normally, I send birthday presents by airmail, but I’ll be home myself (by airplane) in 5 days… So no offense to our postman, but I’d rather present him with the gift myself. It’s just way more enjoyable when you get to see the reaction for yourself. Guido is a patient man, so I know he’ll survive a few more days without my present.Gui & Lou at Zabriskie Point in Death ValleyGui, I’ll be there soon to deliver your birthday hug, kisses and present! Have an awesome day today!...
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| Slow blogger... |
| 2008-05-14 19:48:00 |
Sorry, I'm a little behind with my blog posts from Golden Week. But I'm slowly getting there, check out the latest of Jeroen in Japan on May 4th, a small farewell party we had at Maiko's house on May 5th, and playing with pencils on May 8th....
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| Happy Anniversary & Happy Mother's Day! |
| 2008-05-10 10:01:00 |
One year ago today is when my lovely mother married her sweet and crazy boyfriend Guido. It was the most wonderful day, it was the day our two families joined together and Gui officially became my stepfather and I could feel comfortable leaving my mom with him while I moved halfway across the world. I was my mother’s witness (Dutch equivalent of maid of honor without the pink dress) and was in (happy) tears half of the day, but lucky for me Yasu was there to comfort me. I’m so happy they got married and I want to wish them a happy first anniversary! I love you guys.Lou, Gui, Moem & Gy on the wedding dayOf course it’s also Mother’s Day today. Even though I won’t be able to spoil my mother with breakfast in bed, gifts, attention and kisses...
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| Checking out a Japanese IKEA |
| 2008-05-02 09:59:00 |
We came back from our Golden Week road trip yesterday, but my Shinkansen back to Nagoya wasn’t scheduled until today, so we had some more time left to do something fun. IKEA has just opened a new store in Kobe (only the third store in Japan), and IKEA has always been my favorite furniture store, it’s colorful and cheap! I was happy to discover that this IKEA is selling the same products as they do at home (I actually found the entire set of bedroom furniture I selected 3 years ago on sale here too, and I still love it, I just wish I could have taken it to Japan with me.Yasu didn’t need anything, and I don’t want to increase my belongings just before I move house at the end of this month, so we weren’t going there to buy anything. Instead we thought...
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| 4 whole years... |
| 2008-04-29 10:01:00 |
Today is our 4th anniversary. It’s been 4 years since Yasu made it known to me that he likes me too by kissing me in the States. I didn’t prepare anything special like the video I made last year, because this time we actually get to spend our anniversary together! So I can show him how much I love him in more conventional ways, but I think he already knows.'You' being Yasu of course ;)These days we no longer live in different countries and soon we’ll even be living in the same area! So our super-long-distance-relationship, then regular-long-distance-relationship (Amagasaki-Inuyama) is finally becoming a normal-distance-relationship a.k.a. a relationship. So enough reason to celebrate today!...
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| Not my last Bon Jovi karaoke marathon |
| 2008-04-27 07:57:00 |
Today I attended what I thought was going to be my last Bon Jovi karaoke marathon. But not soon after we started singing I realized I could never give it up and decided I will travel all the way from Osaka to Komaki to be part of it again. Today we used the Joysound karaoke machine again, which means ‘only’ 66 different Bon Jovi songs, but four of them are live versions where the band actually appears on the big screen and you get to sing along with Jon. We sang all 66 from A to Z with a break somewhere in the middle to eat lunch/dinner. After that we sang all live versions again, or rather we all stared at the TV and just seriously enjoyed watching Bon Jovi perform four songs. After that we did something very unch...
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| Bye bye Mayuka |
| 2008-04-26 09:59:00 |
Our manager Mayuka has been transferred to a new school in Nagoya, where she will start in May. Today was the last time I got to work with her, because I don’t work on Sundays and Mondays and Tuesday is when AEON’s Golden Week holidays start, so the school will be closed for 8 days. So yeah, I’m happy to report that I don’t have to work for 10 consecutive days! Anyway, Mayuka didn’t want to have a farewell party because she’s too busy so we had the students write short messages to her: But of course this wasn’t enough for our students, I mean they are Japanese and the Japanese love to give presents, hence the students have been bringing her a mass of presents. Every night she had to carry a truckload of flowers and stuff with her on the train, then on her bicycle to her Japan...
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| How-to Onigiri |
| 2008-04-23 21:59:00 |
The first time I tried onigiri I totally screwed up opening the package and there was yakinori everywhere. So the second time I asked someone Japanese for help and discovered how easy it really is when you know how to do it. So in an effort to help people to not make a mess of their first onigiri, if they ever come to Japan, this is how it’s done:Step 1: Go to a konbini or supermarket and buy something called an onigiri. This actually translates to rice ball, but as you can see it’s not as much round as it is triangular. Step 2: Grab the piece of plastic that has the number 1 on it and start pulling.Step 3: Carefully pull it all the way around and off. Step 4: Grab the piece of plastic that has the number 2 on it and start pulling.Step 5: Carefully pull it all the way off. Step 6: Grab...
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| The perfect strap |
| 2008-04-15 09:59:00 |
In Japan cell phone straps are immensely popular. People love to dress up their keitais and their straps express their individuality (just a little bit in this collective culture). They sell straps everywhere and of course everyone has at least one hanging off their phone, but more often than not people have a whole (inconvenient) bunch. I’ve seen some awfully ugly straps and some really cute and beautiful ones, but so far I hadn’t found ‘my’ cell phone strap yet. I mean I’ve had one on my phone since I can remember, a Hello Kitty dressed up as a yellow monkey, but it wasn’t the perfect one, it was just ok. Ever since I got that one about 10 months ago, I’d been looking around for that perfect strap but to no avail. Until last month, when Kumiko and I were getting some coffee...
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| New visa application process |
| 2008-03-31 09:59:00 |
If you want to be able to work in another country than your own, you usually need some kind of working permit. I have a one-year working visa for Japan, but I’ve already been here for more than 10 months and soon I’ll be transferring to Osaka for one more year of work in Japan. So I need a renewal for my visa. First step was applying for a new visa at Nagoya’s immigration office. If you get off at the right train station near the immigration office, you’ll find various signs leading you to immigration in more than one language, just to make sure that us dumb foreigners don’t get lost. Actually, it’s a very easy trip, but you don’t know when you’re going there for the first time I guess.When I arrived at the office I was walked right into a hu...
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| The Hucklebuck |
| 2008-03-26 09:56:00 |
So I’m organizing the video files on my computer and I stumbled upon a video, which had me laughing out loud here all alone in my Japanese shoebox. It’s a video of my boyfriend, my brother, my stepsister and my mother dancing the Hucklebuck in our living room last Christmas vacation.We had just come back from Gy’s dance examination where they had picked up the steps to some line dance. Basically a line dance is when a group of cowboys dances to country and western music in one or more lines. Actually it’s a lot of fun and also very popular at dance schools. I remember doing many line dances at my old dance school and always enjoying them more than the actual ballroom dancing.Anyway, these four people were still doing the Hucklebuck steps when we got home, so Gy played the song on Y...
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| Bon Jovi karaoke marathon # 2 |
| 2008-03-23 09:59:00 |
Today it was time for Bon Jovi karaoke marathon number 2! Which means 9 hours of interrupted singing of Bon Jovi songs in a karaoke room at Shidax Komaki, with several other Bon Jovi freaks, for a very low price as it’s all free time karaoke! This time Kumiko and I were joined by Kyoko, who was also their for karaoke marathon number 1, and a new participant named Aki, unfortunately Yuko couldn’t make it this time.Aki, Kyoko, Lou and Kumiko's winkingLast time, we sang all 66 Bon Jovi songs (and 22 more) on the Joy Sound karaoke machine. This time our goal was all 126 songs (including Jon Bon Jovi’s solo work) on the UGA karaoke machine. UGA has many more Bon Jovi songs than Joy Sound but we prefer Joy Sound noneth...
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| Walking through Nagoya |
| 2008-03-12 08:04:00 |
On Sunday, Maiko and I decided to go for a walk through Nagoya. We started in Meieki (the area around Nagoya station) and walked through Fushimi to Sakae. If you take the subway you can get from any of these stations to the other within 5 minutes, but on foot it takes a lot longer, especially our way.The Midland Square building is celebrating it’s 1st anniversary and they invited a Tuna to play for their Japanese customers. A Tuna is a musical group made up of university students playing traditional Spanish music. It’s an old Spanish tradition and many universities in Spanish speaking countries have their own Tunas. They have interesting costumes and go out to play to earn some money as university students are notoriously broke all the time. Usually th...
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| Ramen for lunch |
| 2008-02-29 06:44:00 |
For months I’ve been curious about the little shacks across the street from our school. I know they sell ramen noodles and stuff like that, and especially in good weather it’s always crowded there and all the outside seats are filled with people eating lunch. But somehow I’ve never felt comfortable trying out some ramen from those shacks. But for some reason today Kristin and I felt brave enough to try some. We walked passed all the little wooden houses, and they all looked deserted (our lunch break started at 16:00) and kind of scary. We were already thinking about picking up some bentobox (lunch) at the konbini instead, because basically the sight of these establishments made us want to get out of there.Yet, we went inside because we’ve been wonde...
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| The MSN messenger architect |
| 2008-02-28 10:09:00 |
Every Thursday night I go online to speak to my sweet mother. She has her weekly day off on that day, so we can always talk to each other for a very long time about anything and everything we can think of. Occasionally other members of the family join in the conversation after they start coming home from work and school, but mostly it's just me and my mom.We've tried using the very popular Skype, but somehow it always has a problem in combination with my computer, so now we just use Messenger">MSN messenger, without webcams because that creates problems too. So these days we just use the phone option of MSN messenger and that works well.And today my mother discovered another useful function on messenger. She was trying to e...
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| Funny Japanese |
| 2008-02-27 11:24:00 |
Monday, I went shopping with Yasu and Hiromasa in Amagasaki. The guys bought clothes and more and assisted Yasu with his selections. As you probably know people in Japan like to take their shoes off before entering the home and many other places, and the weirdest place I recently had to do it was at the creepy doctor’s office. And Yasu had to do it before entering the dressing room at the clothes store Uniqlo, because the inside of the tiny enclosure is lined with carpet. Actually it’s not such a silly thing because you usually take your shoes off in a dressing room anyway, and the clean carpet makes throwing (discarded and selected) clothes on the floor after fitting them appropriate, as there is never enough room on the hooks anyway. Yasu certainly liked this option.Later i...
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| Tsukamoto |
| 2008-02-27 10:05:00 |
Tsukamoto, my new hometown is really near Amagasaki (only 3 minutes away by JR). And on our way to Osaka on Monday we quickly hopped off the train to give me a chance to check out the vibe at Tsukamoto station.Check out the sign, it’s right between Amagasaki and Osaka! Tsukamoto station looks a lot busier than the one in Inuyama, with a lot of restaurants (including hole-in-the-walls), shops, hotels, a nice karaoke place, and of course the ubiquitous konbinis and pachinko parlors.But the best discovery was the Cospa Comfortable Sports Space. The night before training by on my way to Amagasaki I’d already spotted a long line of brightly lit treadmills in a building near the tracks. Some research online taught me that it’s a huge gym with a lot of facilities including el...
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| Kurasushi-go-round |
| 2008-02-27 08:12:00 |
I don’t really like sushi, I think it’s the vinegar they put in the rice because I really love sashimi and I really love Japanese rice so the only thing left that could make the difference in the vinegar. Yet, I still agreed to have lunch at a sushi-go-round named Kurasushi, it’s a kaitenzushi you know a place where the sushi revolves through the restaurant on a conveyor belt to be picked off by hungry customers.At the beginning of lunchOctopus and salmon sushiYasu, Hiromasa and I had spent the morning shopping on a light fruit breakfast so when we arrived at Kurasushi we were all very hungry. It’s a nice place and I was happy to discover that they also had delicious udon on the menu, which was great but it hadn’t been necessary because I was very pleasan...
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| Shabu shabu at Mayumi & Minoru's new place |
| 2008-02-26 11:00:00 |
Last weekend, I finally took a Shinkansen to Osaka again, it was the first time this year. Yasu’s uncle Minoru and aunt Mayumi had a new house built last year and they moved in just before Christmas. This was my first opportunity to visit them in their new place, so that’s were we headed as soon as Yasu picked me up at Amagasaki station. Mayumi, Yasu, Minoru & Hiromasa (Yasu's brother)Their new house is really big for Japanese standards, and very luxurious. It’s three stories and looks quite modern. I really liked it! They have their own elevator, a big movie theater screen, electric cat doors, huge flat screen TV’s everywhere, indoor garage, a rock garden, a Spanish-looking patio with a beautiful view of the stars, double paned windows (which is very rare i...
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| They cleaned up the Nova mess |
| 2008-02-21 10:49:00 |
Last weekend, they finally started breaking down the Nova school, almost 4 months after the Inuyama branch was last open for classes. The staff just left after they were declared bankrupt and never returned to clean up inside or outside, understandably. Advertising sandwich boards had been in front of the station for a while, until someone dumped them in front of the vacated building. The huge Nova billboards, still visible in this picture below, are now huge white squares on top of an empty building.It looks a bit sad, but it's a bit exciting too, because this empty building has a lot of potential. I wonder what kind of business is going to be run from this building now. Let's hope for Starbucks' newest Japanese coffee store. And please be quick, because I'...
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| Visiting a Japanese doctor |
| 2008-02-19 06:30:00 |
It’s no secret I’ve got a debilitating fear of dentists, but I’ve never really feared doctors. At least not until I noticed I was running out of birth control pills and realized that the only way to get more was to pay a visit to a Japanese doctor. At home I would just call the doctor’s assistant and she’d write me a new prescription which she could even fax to my local pharmacy, where I could get it filled at my convenience. But how does one go about it here, in Japan? Yasu had no idea, so my best bet was just visiting a doctor showing her the box of my pills and hope she could prescribe me some Japanese medicine remotely similar to my Dutch one. But who knows what else they do in Japa...
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| They're coming to Japan! |
| 2008-02-14 11:15:00 |
I’ve lived in Japan for more than 8 months, and I’ve already signed up another year in Osaka so I’ll be here for a while. In those 8 months I’ve already been back home twice and just after I hit my 1-year-in-Japan mark, I head on home again for a third visit. But during this year’s Obon I’m staying put in Japan, because this time my mother, brother and stepfather will be coming to Japan to visit me!!! Of course as the family travel agent, I was the one doing the searching for good airline deals (it’s a pretty expensive venture when you’re traveling with 3 people). Once, I found a good deal I had problems actually booking it due to credit card limits and a slow computer. That was just a tat frustrating (ToT). But tonight I finally managed to ...
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| My Valentine sent me flowers |
| 2008-02-14 07:22:00 |
The Japanese love giving gifts and we our teacher’s room is often laden with chocolates and other edible sweets from our students. Now that it’s Valentine even more chocolates have been pouring in and one student even dropped off a box with specialized and yummy puddings. This morning just before my first lesson, a flower delivery person walks in and I remember thinking “Oh wow, a student has sent us flowers for Valentine, how sweet.” Except the flowers weren’t from a student, they were from my very own Valentine and they were meant just for me! That discovery startled me a bit, but it was a very pleasant surprise. I tried to be cool about it in front of the rest of the staff, but that was simply impossible, ...
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| Happy birthday Myra! |
| 2008-02-13 09:01:00 |
Today my stepsister Myra turns 13 years old. That’s right her birthday is on Valentine’s Day, so she’ll never be without attention, presents, postcards or kisses on this universal day of love, even when she has no boyfriend. So she picked a nice day to be born.I sent her a little present, a Hello Kitty pen, which obviously is very Japanese. I hope she’s still young enough to enjoy the cuteness of Kitty accessories, so she can actually use her new pen instead of hide it under her bed or something. Anyway, I hope she has a great day and I wish her an awesome birthday all the way from Japan!...
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| Congratulations Moem!!! |
| 2008-02-13 07:36:00 |
My mom has been working at a car glass company for quite a long time now, she used to be in a call center taking calls from customers. A while ago she changed positions within the company, and she got to deal with business clients and insurance companies instead of individual customers. Unfortunately, her new job and working environment didn't really suit her and she became very unhappy, work wise. And so the quest for a new job began. She has always wanted some kind of administrative job, she even went back to school in 2006 to get a special certificate to qualify her for such a job. But that kind of job apparently is very popular, so it hasn’t been easy for her. Even though any company would be really lucky to have her working for them...But today she emailed me to tell me she’s got ...
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| Bon Jovi party at the Hard Rock |
| 2008-02-11 07:52:00 |
Yesterday, I went to the Rock">Hard Rock Café with Kumiko to meet up with some of her other Bon Jovi friends to have a so-called Bon Jovi party, which basically means lunch, drinks (just hot tea in my case, I’ve gotten boring recently) and a lot of talking about Bon Jovi. We took a train to Nagoya station where we met up with Akemi, Kyoko and Yumi, all Bon Jovi fans which Kumiko met in January (like me). Akemi, Kyoko, Yumi, Kumiko & LouWe took a cab to the Hard Rock on account of the large amount of bags Yumi was carrying. The prospect of the taxi ride was very exciting to me as it was my first time in a Japanese cab, but obviously it was quite similar...
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| White, wet and cold |
| 2008-02-09 08:00:00 |
That’s right it finally snowed today! Actually I heard it snowed a little last week, but it happened when I was still asleep and by the time I got up it was all gone, so they could have been lying. Either way to me that doesn’t count. What came down today, does count!It started this morning when I went to work, it was snowing very lightly but it was really annoying because it kept getting in my eyes and it stung, so I had to bike to work with my eyes nearly closed, which is very safe of course. When I glanced outside after my first class, I saw the snow was getting more serious. It had changed from small and irritating to big and beautiful flakes. People started using umbrellas to protect themselves, which really doesn’t mean anything in Japan, as people use umbrellas in any kind of ...
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| Happy birthday Gy! |
| 2008-02-08 09:07:00 |
Birthday">Happy birthday to the sweetest brother in the world, my ‘little’ brother Gyano. He’s turning 17 today, that’s right he’s 10 years younger than me! I bought him some nice Japanese gifts, a Tonkatsu shirt from Harajuku and his favorite manga book in English and sent them home. I wish I could be there to celebrate his birthday with him but I’m sure my mother will do a great job handing him my gifts. Sad piggies staring at Tonkatsu (Japanese pork dish)One of the worst things of moving to Japan has been not being able to see my baby brother grow up from a teenager to a (soon-to-be) young man. I used to see him everyday and we shared a lot, even a bedroom, but now I only get to see him when I fly back home....
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| KLM is taking me home again! |
| 2008-02-08 07:47:00 |
My job here ends on May 24th, my new job in Osaka starts on June 7th… hence, I have two weeks of time to kill in between! What’s my favorite pastime when I have a more time off than a weekend? That’s right traveling home! So on Monday the 26th of May I’ll be boarding a KLM plane that flies me straight from Osaka to Amsterdam and KLM will fly me back to Osaka on June the 5th.I can’t wait to fly KLM again, we flew KLM on our way to the Netherlands last December and it was the best airline I’ve ever used. And the crew speaks Dutch, of course, as it is the Dutch airline! On our way back we flew AirFrance and it thoroughly sucked, especially compared to the excellent service and entertainment KLM provided. But this time, I’ve got 2 direct flights and they’re both on KLM! Yay!...
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| Just another Monday in Japan |
| 2008-02-06 12:22:00 |
Last Monday Yasu and I spent the day in Nagoya. I’m pretty familiar with the city by now, but of course there are still many places in that city that I have yet to discover. And as I’m moving away from this area in about 3 months, I’ve decided to do a fair amount of extra sightseeing. And poor Yasu will continue to get dragged along on my quest to see as many sights of Nagoya as I can.So this time we headed for Osu Kannon temple, which is a huge Buddhist temple located in a busy shopping area in Nagoya. Having just done all the typical temple stuff the day before at Narita-san in Inuyama, this particular temple visit wasn’t very stimulating. We looked around a bit, sniffed up some revolting incense smoke, took some pictures and then we felt it was time to move on.On our way to Osu ...
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| Bean throwing festival |
| 2008-02-03 02:44:00 |
At home we like to light lots of fireworks at the start of the new year to chase away the demons and evil for the year to come. Well, that’s where the tradition comes from, actually we do it because it’s colorful, noisy and fun. Well, in Japan they have a similar ritual on February 3rd, the day before the Lunar New Year: Setsubun. The Japanese like to throw soybeans out of their doors or even at each other, especially people wearing Oni (demon) masks. The mamemaki (bean scattering) is to drive away evil spirits from your house, and eating your age in soybeans is the way to get luck in instead. I didn’t really want to throw soy beans out of my apartment front door, basically because I didn’t really feel like cleaning up heaps of beans scattered about. Instead of doing the throwing, ...
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