Goodbyes and staying behind

27 July 2011 - It's almost been a year since I arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun as an ALT. It's been an exciting year with many new experiences and it's been fun. As we approach August (the month we welcome the newcomers), I've been busy with goodbye parties. While I'm sad to see some of my closest friends here go, I'm also happy to see how excited they are to  close their Japan chapter. And, this makes me wonder if my decision to stay on for another year is right.

Staying behind was not an easy decision to make. I have things back home left undone and another year in Japan seems to be a way to escape returning to my "real" life in Singapore. As my parents constantly remind me, I'm not getting any younger and my job hunt in 2012 might be tougher. Similarly, going home means I got to put up with questions about my plans to settle down and bear children. It's annoying how people just keep pushing you to get married because they believe that a woman's value diminishes as she enters the ripe old age of the three-Os.

*sign* I'm whining.... going to leave this post as this. Hope my whining mood passes soon. It's probably all the goodbyes that are making me so grumpy. I'm also a tat worried that I might not be as chummy with the newbies as I was with Katelynn and Alex. I'll be missing them...  *sob*

I guess now that I have decided to stay, I'll just have to work harder at making my second and last year in Japan an amazing one!

Japanese grapes & summer

10 July 2011 -- You know summer is here when the supermarket starts selling limited edition cold desserts and cold drinks are 30-40yen more expensive. The weather has been killing me the past 1 week. Coming from Singapore, I've been told repeatedly that the summer in Japan is mild compared to the weather conditions back home. However, what the Japanese fail to realise is that in Singapore, there are air-conditioned places everywhere. When the heat gets unbearable, one just simply need to step into the nearest shopping centre or bus terminal and you"ll be cooled down immediately. In Japan, the air-conditioned places are still warm and stuffy because the AC temperature tends to be fixed at around 26-25 degrees. Also, in the wake of the March disaster, most places are on an energy saving campaign and this means the number of AC places have diminished. It's so warm that I am perspiring from just sitting in my apartment and surfing the Internet. Having a fan aimed at me and blasting at top-speed doesn't seem to help. 

One of my favourite "cool style" desserts

A mix of red bean and green tea cream that taste like ice-cream when chilled

Cheap juicy grapes!

In an attempt to cool myself down, I have gobbled down 2 ice-creams and a whole box of yummy grapes since this morning. Japanese grapes here cost 395~495yen for a box and back in Singapore, I have to fork out about 1000~1200 yen for the same amount. The price difference is crazy and this also explains my recent grape gobbling craze. The box I just finished is my third this week :D.

Hot............ Going to try and hold out a little more before I turn on my AC. Hoping to hold out till August. Wish me luck!

ラベンダー (Lavender) Matsuri in Misato - July 2011

My tall friend & I

My first weekend in July was really busy but filled with tons of fun. On Saturday (2nd July), a bunch us gaijins went to the lavender matsuri (festival) in Misato. Once a year, the lavender fields are opened for three weeks and on this day, there was a meat event, as well as a "heaviest" rabbit competition. First, we had grilled meat for lunch and the meat was amazingly delicious and not at all expensive. Part of the fun was also due to the fact that we get to grill it on the spot and consume it there and then. After that, we got lavender ice-cream. I bought some lavender flavoured mochi too and those were yummy!

Oishii niku

 Aside from the lavender fields which were the main attraction, there was also a mini animal petting zoo for kids. You can choose to pet rabbits, goats and even calves. I got to hug a rabbit which was really sweet. Poor Jeff got scratched when he tried to hug one of them. Guess that little bunny wasn't in the best of moods.

We also got balloons!!! Just the gaijins! My Japanese friends weren't as excited as I was about the helium-filled balloons. I love balloons!!! We were lucky too :). The balloons were meant for the kids but I think we got away with it because of our gaijin status. *One of the perks of being a foreigner*  Look how gay we look with our ice-cream.

We love balloons!

The lavender fields weren't in full bloom yet. My kyoto-sensei explained that our winter was much longer than usual and as such the bloom has been delayed. It was still fun though and pretty. The weather was really nice but it would have been better if we had more breeze. After seeing the pretty purple flowers, we enjoyed cakes and coffee in the quint air-conditioned Gomashio-Kitchen. It felt wonderful to be able to escape from the harsh sun and just sit and chill. The whole outing ended before 1:30pm and I had the rest of the day to myself which was great. Think I should try and start my weekends earlier so that I can get the most out of them.

Sunday (3rd July) was interesting but not as fun. The day started off with a 2-hour drive to Morioka for my JLPT N5 test. This is the 3rd time I have signed up for it and the first time I'm attempting it. The last 2 times, I got lazy and didn't prepare for it. The test went well. It was't as difficult as I expected it to be and while I was uncertain about some questions, I should be able to clear it. Going to give myself a break and start preparing for the N4 test in December.