I am sorry mostly to myself -__- but I no longer remember anything about these three days.. which is sad.. seems like I haven’t live that time if I do not remember. Which means I have to be more active so that I have smth to write about each day.. let it be some foolish stuff, but at least I will remember it later on and laugh at how silly I was.

UPD I was just looking through my photos and found this folder... but do not tell anyone...

sweet memoriesMy BD was comming up and i was thinking about which cake to buy, so i went to the backery and bought many kinds of cakes))) to sample the goods, so to say... I asked IM to ome over and we had tried all cakes... She was not all as excited about it as I was... Now I understand that she would rather enjoyed if I asked her to come and drink many types of sake, vodka, soju etc - alcohol is her weakness just as sweets are mine...

@музыка: Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?

I was late for Jap class cause I overslept and People in charge changed the room so it had taken me sometime to find new location.

further eventsClass was nice and I bougt one text book from my teacher for a lower price (even though I am not using it much now, it is still reat to have it). After class I was introduced to this lady –Tei-san, who is kimono teacher. Next week we had a chakai scheduled and when she learnt that I study kitsuke and sado she invited me over to her house to show me her kimonos. It was my first time coming into typical Japanese house. I tried several kimonos and had chosen the one to wear for chakai. I also had some lunch at her place together with her husband while watching female marathon on TV. The lady was nice and said that she will give me kitsuke lessons. She drove me all the way home, but I needed to go back to study center…



KY, IM and Manju picked me up at home and we went out for Karuizawa – very fancy city in Gunma prefecture. It is said that only wealthy people live there.
On our way we stoped by megane bashi (“glasses bridge”) to enjoy the view and then went to the karuizawa shopping district. Guys went on their own and IM and I wondered around by ourselves.

The place looked nice but very price even for Japan. We had some dinner at the local shop and some good icecream for a dessert and went back home.

@музыка: Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?

@музыка: Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

@музыка: Beyonce - Dance for you

@музыка: Beyonce - Move your body

On Xmas day I had to work. I had some IT security training with IM. I guess I can understand the idea of IT much better than her after all the training I went through at ING XD
The highlight of the day was the arrival of the postcard! it is on my desk at work)))

My sister send it to Headquaters (I guess she was not able to find my postal address in my email box (and nevertheless I do not like the idea of her going through my email box in general…))

@музыка: Rihanna - you da one

No matter how much I wanted to stay in my room for another day being lazy, I knew that I had to get out there because eno matter how much I enjoyed Tokyo life, I had to accept the idea that my life will be in Tm, and in order to make it more comfortable I went shopping for house stuff like buckets, towles, cups etc. and the rest of the day I spent cleaning , unpacking and getting my place in order.

So here is the short int to my apartment)my apartment)
First floor, total area –apx 24 m2, room – 7,9 m2. At first I thought that the room is gonna be really small, but it turned out to be surprising large and very nice. Once you enter the apartment there is a place to take your shoes of before going further and a small shoes cabin. Then I have fridge and microwave and then a tiny small kitchen with the sink. I also have washing machine (I am so happy about it!!!) bathroom with shower and bathtub and of cause toilet with the fancy washlet))) The room itself is also nice. I am sleeping on futon on top of the storage) to get to my bed I have to climb to steps (which are also storage space) then there is tv table, general table (which can be folded down), two chairs, wardrobe, window and airconditioner. The greatest part about my apartment is that utility bill is included in the rent!so no matter how much water/electricity or internet I use the rent is fixed))) It is really nice as I canw arm my room with aircon as much as I want without warring about electricity bill. I can also enjoy long warm showers and washing hands with hot water in bathroom instead of cold water from washlet. I can also wash clothes as often as I like and even wash a single pair of socks if I like (of cause I am not doing it, but still)))
I was told that the rent is 15 ooo JPY (apx $200), which is lower than stated in my contract so I wonder how much company will actually dedut form my salary XD Just for comparison. Guys in the dormitory in Tm pay 5000JPY per month, but they have to pay separately for utilities and internet, but they get a chance to eat breakfasts and dinners at the dormitory’s cafeteria for a ridiculously low price and they do not have to clean up common areas, only their own rooms. However the rooms in the dormitory are much smaller than my room here)
To have a further comparison I can tell you about dormitories in Yokohama. An intern there pays 53 000 JPY for rent without inet and utilities. A friend of mine told me that she pays additional 10 000 for electricity even though she is trying not to use aircon often and it is freezing cold in the room, especially in the morning (+8C), so she stays in the common areas or kitchen all the time, where it is warmer)

SO I guess I can be bored about living in Tm, but at least I can save up on living expenses or so is the plan)

@музыка: 2ne1 - Ugly

I've been told that I am too detailed about my life - do not worry, it won't last long... I was writing Januaries enties in the second half of February, when i no longer remembered all the details))) good for you and pity for me...

To say that I overslept is basically to say nothing. I got up around 2 pm. I had some hard time ditching Hiro, but I managed to do so and so I went straight to Ikebukuro as I had to meet the photographer that day before going back to Tm. There is nice shopping/entertainment center in Ikebukuro which is called – Sunshine citySunshine City.

I do not think that it was all that sunny and shiny. To me it was somewhat boring, maybe because I was all alone and had no company.

I had karepan (bun with curry paste in it) for lunch… not my favorite… at all XD I have no idea why people would put curry paste only (no meat or veggies) and enjoy eating it inside the bun.
In the eve I finally met with photographer. He tried to activate his old cell phone, but couldn’t do it so we just went for dinner in the restaurant. And then he waited till I get back on the bus and left.

On my way back to Tm I was watching scrubs)

@музыка: Pink - So what

Some days are really nice for keeping track of, as nothing much happened so there is nothing much for me to write about.

jishin desuThe first day of the NY in Japan was pretty much similar to the first day of NY in any other country – sleepy))) We woke pretty late and decided it was to late to go to Tokyo as Kashiwa is pretty far. Bf has prepared breakfast for us – besides usual stuff that help you with hangover (from Japanese point of view) we had the traditional NY mochi.

I have received traditional nengajou from him. I didn’t expected to receive one, but it was so nice of him to prepare on for me too) I think he is just to nice to be true XD

The only memoriable event about Jan 1 is that I have experienced my first earthquake in Japan) At first there was a notification on TV and then I felt that smth is wrong. House was slightly vibrating or shaking, but not too hard. This earthquake was level 4 in Chiba, but in other places much higher. I was excited about the earthquake as it was my first time, but Bee and her bf didn’t pay much attention to it.

Later on we had nabe (typical Japanese winter food) and watched “Avatar”.

Seems like Bee can not finish watching it at all (it was her 4th attempt and she ailed once again), But bf and I watched it till the end… in Japanese… with Japanese subtitles…. Interesting moment is that I watched Avatar exactly one year before, on Jan 1, 2011. That time I went to the cinema with my Ne-chan and hubby (long story, and hubby is she, my friend? Who is currently in Spain). I thought it was somewhat memorable to watch the same movie one year later in Japan. Actually the mere fact that movie was in Japanese has been confusing enough, but I also noticed that subtitles did not match the lines that were spoken. Eh? When I asked about it, Bee explained that it is natural as different translators do the lines and subtitles, which I still find weird XD I think that with Avatar it doesn’t matter what language is spoken, it is just an amazingly beautiful movie (not that I am really fond of it, but I must admit that the visuals are impressive!) We haven’t noticed that Jan 1 became Jan 2 and on that day we had to get up extra early as bf was taking Bee to Gifu prefecture to meet his parents and was gonna stay for two more days in Tokyo.

@музыка: Adelle - Rolling in the Deep

Early in the morning I left with Bee for the station. She had to work that day and couldn’t babysit me and the bf was ill and couldn't take her place, so I had a chance to wonder around Tokyo on my own. Bee has given me nice directions about subway and places to go. She has also given me public phone cards to use if I get in trouble. The original plan was that I go to Asakusa and Odaiba on my own and then we meet in Shibuya, form where we can go home together. Even though the plan was not realized at first everything went well)

Asakusa~Odaiba~ShibuyaI got to Asakusa station really fast and walked a bit around. I noticed the asahi building. I always wondered what the heck iti is on top of it and it turned out to be some decorations. I also found this monument – graduation project of students from university of arts. It seems that u can easily change the positioning of the animals, so I wonder if the open spot now belongs to the dragon)

The asakusa district itself is really busy and noisy. Here I managed to get into as many stores and tiny shops as I could, considering how many people were there.

I went to the temple. This time there was no water fountain, but the smoke. You are to purify yourself with smoke (especially hair) before stepping into shrine.

And once again the were many barrels of sake and wine XD

I think this shoe is most famous in the entire japan XD

I was also tempted to draw my fortune that time but i was waiting till NY for that! If only i knew... ah... never mind for now...

I think I wondered around enough so I went to the subway to continue my journey. In the subway I saw this interesting picture)

To get to Odaiba I’ve taken the famous monorail) over the rainbow bridge)

when we were doing the entire circle to get on the rainbow bridge there was this jet coaster feeling to it) And from the station there are these arcs that lead u to the seaside)

Odaiba is a definitely a couple spot! Beautiful scenery near the seaside attracts many young and old couples) There were also a couple of surfers. The wind was pretty strong so I think it was extra cold to get soaked in the water.

I wondered aimlessly around the place for some time , doing nothing, just enjoying the scenery. I also saw the statue of liberty... Another one... I see statue of liberty everywhere I go (but not the original one in NY City XD)

And then I went for some adventure s in Fuji TV building…

I went up to the sphere to enjoy the night view of Tokyo.

I guess I was even able to see Fuji-san) But I was also told to ask true Japanese person, because only they know whether it is fuji or not XD

I do not know why, but Japanese also like snoopy probably as much as hello kitty. I think it’s the only time when I can admit to liking dogs better than cats.

As it was getting dark and wind was getting stronger I decided to go for the final destination place on my list for today – Shibuya. Bee was supposed to meet me there, but she was still at her bounenkai party so I was left to myself to wonder around shibuya area.

I was really surprised about several things:
1st the famous crossroad is not that big in real life. I do not know why, but in all the movies and dramas it looks so grand and busy, but actually it is not… just a normal crossroad I guess

2 The famous shibuya 109 was being advertised by after school. And there were many huge posters of Korean bands and not that many Japanese.

3 there is nothing much to see in shibuya in general unless u are crazy about shopping. and it seems like u can even get large size in japanese stores, at least the advertisement says so...

I had to wait for Bee for another hour so I decided to go to inet café in th meantime. Well that was a bummer. As I had no alien id yet, the cafe refused to provide me with services. Even though I had my passport, visa, landing permit etc. no alien id – no party. I was not happy about it! So I ended up wondering some more in shibuya.

Afterwards I met Bee and we went home for a nice dinner that her bf had cooked for us, more drinking and soviet comedies) and as the NY was coming up we watched "Ирония судьбы или с легким паром")))

@музыка: Бумбокс - квіти в волоссі