Miyajima!

In July Thomas and I decided that we needed to get out of Niihama for the weekend. So on a 3-day weekend we headed to Hiroshima and Miyajima. We had a lot of fun!

We took the express train from Niihama to Okayama and then the Shinkansen from Okayama to Hiroshima. It was the first time that Thomas was taking the Shinkansen so it was really exciting for him and I always enjoy a trip on the bullet train. When we walked into the train though, the ticket came out of my pocket and losing your train tickets in Japan is a pretty big deal. You have to keep all the tickets until you arrive to your destination and feed them to the machine so the door opens for you. So I spent half the trip from Okayama to Hiroshima walking up and down the train looking for my tickets. I got lucky and found them on the floor. I really got lucky because if I hadn’t found them chances are that I would have had to pay for the train again.

Our hostel was really close to the station so for the first night we checked in, went to get some yakisoba for dinner and had an early night sleep.

Thomas in Miyajima.

On our first full day we headed to Miyajima. Miyajima is one of my favourite places. The island is so beautiful and is always fun to see the people struggling with the deer who are not afraid of anything or anyone.  We walked around and took lots of pictures. The tide was high so it was the perfect day to take pictures. Since it was a long weekend the place was packed with tourists! We also went into the shrine and enjoyed walking through it. It was extremely hot though, so we stopped to have lunch and had Miyajima’s specialty: oysters.  Miyajima is also great for souvenir shopping. Miyajima has to my knowledge the best collection of kokeshi dolls. These are traditional wooden dolls. They are carved and have different kimono designs. Last time I was in Miyajima with my mom I bought one and now is in my room in Canada. This time, Thomas and I bought some to take home in our trip to Canada later on in the summer.  Miyajima also has one of my favourite Japanese sweets: momiji. These are deep-fried maple leaf shaped confectionary made of flour, rice powder, and buckwheat, filled with many different things. My favourites are the ones filled with chocolate, matcha and cream cheese. The best ones are the ones that get freshly made there and are filled with cream cheese. So naturally I had to have one. After doing some shopping, eating lots of yummy food and enjoying a lovely summer day we headed back to Hiroshima. It was such a hot day though so I fell asleep almost immediately after getting into the train. Upon getting back into the city, we freshened up and went out for dinner and had Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a cabbage pancake. I know it doesn’t sound appetizing but is so good! Hiroshima style okonomiyaki has udon or soba noodles at the bottom and the cabbage is mixed with corn, cheese and bacon pieces. It is huge, but I have been able to eat the whole thing on my own. We had a great dinner, and then headed to a local bar. After a couple of drinks we headed back to our hostel and had a good night sleep.

On the second day, we headed to the Hiroshima peace museum. Never a fun place to visit but is important to see it and to learn from

Umbrellas outside a shop in Miyajima

past mistakes. I have been there four times already and I always learn something new and come out with tears in my eyes. Unfortunately I don’t think the world has learned its lesson, or if it has they have forgotten it and the threat of a nuclear war is always present in our lives. Coming out I was a bit teary eyed, but there were some nice Japanese high school students doing a survey outside the museum, so I began to feel better.

After a little bit of cig city shopping and a nice lunch it was time to head back. The return home was not that fun. It was a long weekend and everyone was returning home and we didn’t have reserved seats in either the Shinkansen or the express train to Niihama that meant that we had to stand for most of the way. By the time we arrived home I was exhausted. Except for the train back home, the trip was amazing. It was exactly what we needed after having a coupe of very stressful weeks and we enjoyed our time together. It was a great way to spend our long weekend!

Greetings from Miyajima.

Fans outside a shop.

Rice fields filled with water in summertime.

Summer is a ton of fun though! Everyone comes out from hibernating during winter and there are a lot of BBQs, trips and events. This past June I went to the Yukata party and was able to wear a beautiful blue yukata and enjoyed a nice afternoon with some people who returned home later on in the summer. Thomas took part of one of his school’s softball team and hit a couple of home runners! We joined the team over for dinner at the end of the day and spent a fun night with some very nice Japanese folks.

Mingh and I at the Yukata Party

This past summer however, was also pretty rough for me. At the end of June I was stopped by the local police officer for a malfunction in my vehicle and upon looking at my driver’s license I noticed that it had expired. That landed me at the police station for 7.5 hrs and it became by far the worst time while I’ve been living in Japan. The following days were some of the most stressful days I have experienced, I think in my whole life. The expired license was an oversight in my part but being so far away from home and not being able to understand what the officer was telling me was the worst part. The whole event left me with no driving privileges and having to bike to all of my lessons at 35C weather, plus humidity. It was really NOT fun. At the same time I didn’t want to leave. So I did my best waiting for the 7 weeks until my trip to Canada where I would be at home with my mom, family and friends and would then be able to speak to them and get a better perspective over the whole situation.

I can say that 5 months later things look much better on my end. I quit my job due to many reasons, but the main one was because after the traffic violation incident I had had more than enough. I was able to find a job with a different company. I had an interview and the next day I landed the job. Everyone I work with has been very helpful and professional. The company has helped me out with all legal and personal matters and everything is much more clear. I am still waiting to be called in to court to pay my fine which I imagine will be hefty, but personally I am in a much healthier environment so I know everything will be solved in the best possible way.

Petronas Towers in KL

This year for Golden Week I went to Malaysia for 10 days. I wasn’t sure where to go and booked my flights quite late, but was glad to find a great country to go to for a low price. Perfect!

I went to Malaysia via Hong Kong, however I wasn’t there long enough to see much more than the buildings in Macau from the airport. I have to say though that Hong Kong looks pretty interesting and modern. Having many friends working/living there I should definitely take advantage and go visit them. Anyways I made it into Kuala Lumpur, jumped on a taxi and made it to my hostel in the middle of Downtown Kuala Lumpur.

The first night I just crashed but the next day I woke up bright and early and just began walking all over. I did a couple of walking tours by myself. I walked around Downtown, I visited a couple of mosques, got lost more than a couple of times, found my way again and continued on my way. I also went to the market and began to fill up my suitcase! I think I can say that I am not a big shopper. Most of the times that I have gone to the shopping mall in Niihama, I have walked empty handed. I’m a pretty picky shopper, but every time I go to Southeast Asia I can’t stop shopping. I love how colourful everything is, and I love the fabrics, designs, and choice of the clothing and accessories. So, needless to say on my way back to Japan my suitcase broke!

I was also very excited about this trip because I would be able to meet with a couple of friends from my time in Niseko, Hokkaido. I met with both Yui and Michelle. It was fantastic to see them both, even if it was a little odd to see them wearing flip flops and shorts instead of our eternal ski jackets and toque uniform that we donned for 4 months straight. Yui’s family actually lives in KL, so she was our tour guide of sorts. We had lunch together and then we headed to Michelle’s place of residence in KL, the Hilton Kuala Lumpur. I asked her how on earth could she be there, but she reminded me about a friend’s of hers who are good customers of the Hilton and do they offered her the stay. Even better? Michelle offered me to stay with her too, so this is how I spent 1 night at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur and if I may say so myself, it was incredible! We went swimming on the pool, had dinner at the executive lounge (it was actually something similar to ‘happy hour’ but there was so much food, we decided to make it dinner), and the best part was the super comfy bed. I have to say those hotels have some very comfy beds… wait no the best part was the free buffet style breakfast. They had everything: fruits, juices, toast, french toast, pancakes, syrups, baked goods, the works. I ate so much I thought I wouldn’t have any more food for the rest of the day.

A market in Downtown KL

Yet, we had to say a big Thank You to the family who let us stay there for the night, so we went to visit them at their condominium right besides the Twin Towers. Well, we were to meet them for lunch, but we couldn’t possibly eat anymore! Yet, for round two we had steak, mashed potatoes, friend potatoes, gravy, it was like a Christmas dinner, and I felt terrible because I just couldn’t possibly eat anymore. That day we also went to the club and went swimming and ended up spending the whole day in their company. They were incredibly generous with us but at the end of a very busy day, Michelle and I got back on the subway and headed towards our own hostels. So the rest of my adventure continued.

Sunset in Langkawi

After KL, I took a plane to the beautiful island of Langkawi. Langkawi means eagle in Malay language and there are hundreds of eagles living here. Langkawi also has beautiful beaches, awesome food and relax feeling. Every morning I would buy fresh fruit, water, and walk down to the beach with my book and iPod ready to enjoy the sun. I went swimming, I tanned and I went on 2 tours. The first one I went on a mangrove tour, with a bunch of cool people. We went to a couple of fish farms, planted our own mangroves, went into a bat cave and never saw an alligator, but had the best meal of the whole trip. Fried fish that was caught just a few minutes earlier, a lot of fruits and veggies and a ton of local cuisine. I had a lot of fun! The second tour was not really a tour. A guy from Korea wanted to go up the gondola on the other side of the island. So I hopped on the back of a motorcycle and went up with him. We made sure to go early but the line was so long by the time we got there, but the wait was totally worth it. We got the best view of the island from up there and it was exciting to walk on the suspended bridge. Maybe a little scary, since some of the gaps were a little big and I thought I was going to fall right through. The funny part was some of the children looking excited going up but then as soon as they stepped on the bridge would begin screaming from how scared they were. Well, I thought it was a little funny.

Well holidays always come to an end, and soon enough I was arriving back in Osaka. Unfortunately I arrived on the last day of the Golden Week holidays and the highway was packed, so it took me an extra 2 hours to get back to Niihama. Once I was home, though I was happy to be back and relaxed after a 10 days holidays. Malaysia was lovely, and I would certainly recommend it as a place to visit. The people are warm and accommodating,  the food is fantastic and the culture is fascinating. A mixture of hinduism and Islam together with a big Chinese presence it was definitely a great learning experience.

A mosque in KL

The infamous fish foot massage. Don't think I'll be doing that again...

Cherry Blossom

A few weeks after coming back to Ehime spring arrived. My favourite time of the year! Spring is just such a beautiful time of the year in Japan. Seeing cherry blossoms all over town just bring up your spirit. The weather also becomes warmer and you know that summer is around the corner (which is extremely hot) so one must get out there and enjoy the warm weather.

This year I went out as much as possible and took many, many pictures. However, no amount of pictures can do justice to how beautiful the cheery blossoms are. I also was thankful to have been able to see them once again as I thought that I would not see them again; at least not in Japan in a very long time.

This year was also a little different. Thomas and I began dating again around cherry blossom time and it was really nice to share this time together. It was his first time seeing cherry blossoms and it was quite entertaining to see him in complete awe every time we went to the park or just came across a lane with cherry blossoms all over. He couldn’t get over how many cherry blossom trees there are everywhere. I found it amusing because I had forgotten what is like to experience it all for the first time and it was nice to be reminded that we are indeed very fortunate to have the chance to have this experience.

Having lunch under the cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms only last approximately 2 weeks and shortly after the 2 weeks were over, they were gone. Another lesson: nothing lasts forever and you must live in the moment otherwise before you know it, it is all gone.

My friend Remi and I enjoying spring

Ok, so once I finished the ski season I went back to Ehime in early March. I was in Tokyo 48 hrs before the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. I was fortunately able to go back south just on time; had I been in Hokkaido when the earthquake struck I most likely would have flown back to Canada straight from Hokkaido. I arrived in Ehime and the day after arriving I was back in the teaching world. I had certainly forgotten some teaching techniques and getting re-adjusted took some time but before I knew it I was comfortable once again.

Welcome Back Lizzy!

I continued to teach for JADE from March until the end of September. This past week I have begun my training in a new company. I no longer teach children which is quite sad, as I do enjoy teaching the little ones. Yet for many other reasons this was the right decision to make.

The festival was great! They had huge snow sculptures about pretty much everything from miffy (quite a popular character in Japan), to Mr. Potato Head (quite popular with the foreign crowd), to Darth Vader (quite popular with the guys). My favourite sculpture was a big replica of the Lion King. The musical is playing in Sapporo at the moment, so it was a great bit of advertising. There were also heaps of things to eat and drink. We went with a Japanese friend of ours so she was able to explain to us what everything was and not being one to say no to food, I tried everything that was given to me. It was quite cold though and my toes were the first thing to go numb, so after some festival activity we headed to the underground shopping district. I’ve been to quite a few Japanese cities, but Sapporo is great for shopping, and after living in a ski resort for 3 months, we went a bit crazy with everything around us.

After walking around the festival, we went up Sapporo Tower and were able to get great shots of the activities down below. It was great fun to be up there with many of the Japanese and foreign tourists that were in town, but what is a trip to the big city without some good ol’ karaoke? Sure enough, we headed to a karaoke bar at midnight and stayed there until 5:30am. We could have saved our hotel money because we clearly didn’t really need it after all. The 2 days went by WAAYY too fast and before we knew it we were back to Niseko to enjoy the last 4 weeks of work.

As I sit here thinking about Hokkaido I feel that is SO far away and such a LONG time ago that I was there, but really it hasn’t been THAR long. Coming back to Japan after my trip to Australia was simply weird because I did not return back to Ehime, my apartment and my teaching job. This was really an adventure for me.

I always wanted to do a ski season somewhere in the world and I always thought that I would end up doing it in Canada. Yet, I had heard so many amazing things about the powder snow of Japan that I really wanted to go check it out myself. I also had a working visa ready to go and the opportunity to spend 4 months working at the Hilton Hotel in Niseko Village, Hokkaido. So I thought that it was to be now or never… so I went. At the time that I made the decision it was a no brainer, but by the time I left Ehime it was a decision that really tore me apart but the decision was made and off I went.

Not going to lie the first 2 weeks in Hokkaido for me were the worst I have experienced in a LONG time. I was just not prepared to deal with some of the things that I saw and experienced. I had lived for the last 16 months of my life, in my own apartment, had my own schedule and was free to do as I liked on my free time. Suddenly I was surrounded by people literally 24 hours a days, I went from living alone, to living with 3 other people (who I must say I absolutely love, and couldn’t have asked for better roommates!)  and my daily schedule except for my days off were pretty much planned for me and that included what and when I was to eat meals. It really was a lot for me to take in. Not to mention that when I first arrived there was ZERO snow. I kept wondering what on earth had I done to myself, but then…

IT SNOWED!! and the snow didn’t stop coming and I thought I lived in the most beautiful place in the world. Is true, Niseko has some of the best snow in the world and is all 100% powder. The lightest snow I have ever seen! At first I found it challenging and scary to snowboard with all that powder. I have never experienced being completely covered by snow when making a turn and as I quickly learned, you cannot be afraid of speed when dealing with powder, or you’ll never make it down, and you will be stuck in that same place until the snow melts in springtime. I would like to think that I became a much more confident rider in the time that I spent there. I know that I still have TONS to learn and improve but I was very happy with myself when I packed my snowboard at the end of the season.

Also, eventually with time everything became a routine and quite normal. I think I got lucky by working at ski valet too. While the uniform was the ugliest out of all the staff at the Hilton I think I worked in one of the most relaxed and fun departments in the hotel. While the job was a bit stressful every now and then, we always managed to make it work somehow. I also couldn’t have asked for a more fun, easy-going and all around awesome manager. Shirai-san was so incredibly kind and helpful to all of us while we were there, and thank goodness he speaks English! Also a big shout to all my lovely co-workers, we made it a great season and yes we of course might have had our disagreements every now and again, but we all managed to be respectful, fun and kind towards one another and they’re for sure the people that I miss the most.

Of course, the place and the experience would not have been as awesome as it was if it had not been for all the people that I met while I lived there from my co-workers at ski valet, ski instructors, the food and beverage staff and how can I forget the Niseko Village staff! I also met some of our guests and was able to come across interesting people, had great conversations and learned a bit more about the world from them. Even though I had 2 Japanese roommates and lived in a basically all Japanese staff dormitory I didn’t learn a lick of Japanese, once again proof of my complete inability to learn the language.

I know that a lot of things happened while I lived in Hokkaido, but at this point I can’t remember them all, so I will just sum up the highlights of the season:

- The biggest highlight of course was the snow! how will I ever be able to go back to icy Ontario skiing conditions?!?!

- Thomas went to visit me in Hokkaido for the Christmas holidays and I had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day with him in town. I was happy to show him what I was up to and we both enjoyed spending Christmas in a snow covered place… just like back at home in Canada.

-Partying in Hirafu with Tash (that ONE night). I went out with Tash only ONE night in the whole season, but that was enough to keep me at home for the next 3 months. I had way too much tequila, going up that hill in Hirafu was NOT fun and the hangover lasted for a good 5 days afterwards. Haha, good times!

- I turned 25 years old while in Hokkaido. I celebrated it with good friends, a full day on the sloped and a day off!! =)

-The MTV Week: Ok maybe the night out with Tash was not the last time I arrived home past 2am. MTV Australia was in the hotel for a week doing “Japan JAM” to be honest, to this day I’m still not sure what the point of that visit was, but there were free drinks for 3 days, what else can I say? One morning I woke up with a Hawaiian lei around my neck, and holding a flashing light on my left hand after sleeping for 3 hours and had to get up to go to work. It was awful, but totally worth it!

-Moe and Monica’s visit. My friend Moe and his girlfriend Monica went to visit me for a couple of days while the MTV crew were in town too. We were able to stay in the hotel for 2 nights and totally enjoy the MTV celebrations! The snow conditions at the time were not great, but I think both of them had a great time and I absolutely loved having visitors over.

-My last 2 night in Niseko. I stayed in the Hilton the last 2 nights that I was in Hokkaido, and on my very last night Noel and Holly came and kept me company. It was really nice of them to stay with me and the best sendoff I could have asked for.

Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Niseko and Hokkaido and after a beautiful snowy bus ride to Sapporo I was once again on a plane on my way to Tokyo and then…? That’s right I went back to Ehime, back to Niihama and back to teaching, but more on that later.

What can I say? Leaving a place behind, moving on to a new place and saying goodbye to some of the most awesome people I have come across is never an easy thing or pleasant thing to do. I knew that leaving would be hard but I didn’t know that it would be THAT hard.

My last few weeks teaching went really well. All my students were very appreciative of the work I had done in the 16 months that I taught them and I got some of the most beautiful goodbye presents from pretty much all of my classes. I had goodbye dinners with my adult classes and of course I shed more than a tear or two, and I definitely felt the pain of leaving them all, but knew that they had enjoyed their lessons and that meant the world to me.

My friends were incredible and I would like to take this time to say Thank You to ALL of you. In my last few weeks in Niihama I visited some places I had never seen before (the big tree), spend some lovely, fun dinners with some of my Niihama friends and everyone put up with my requests which included: purikura, karaoke and a sayonara get together at mines… you guys are awesome. A BIG thank you goes to Tricia too, who put together the picture frame for me and all of you rest assured that I read all of your notes on my plane ride to Australia. I actually felt terrible for the girl sitting next to me as I went from sobbing, to full out laughing while reading those notes.

Also a BIG thanks needs to go out to Thomas, who was most wonderful and patient with me during those last few weeks. I was an emotional wreck in the weeks leading to my departure, but he just somehow had enough patience to keep me as positive as I could and always kept reminding me that I had had a great year and that I just needed to keep thinking about the good times that I had. Saying goodbye to him was one of the most difficult things I had to do, but he knew that I wanted to do the season in Hokkaido and full out supported me, and when I doubted pretty pushed me to go do what I needed and wanted to do. Also I have never seen anybody clean a kitchen that fast!! It would have taken me forever to do all that cleaning, and I would not have been able to leave the apartment in the condition that it was left it it wasn’t for him. Thank You! xo

After leaving Niihama I headed for a 3 weeks holidays to see some of my girlfriends, spend time at the beach and just relax in sunny Australia.

Sydney has been a city that I had been wanting to visit for quite some time. I’m not quite sure why, I would hate to say because of ‘Finding Nemo’ but it probably is, so I was very excited when I arrived to Sydney. However I had the shock of my life soon after arriving when I came to the conclusion that Sydney has got to be one of the most expensive cities I have ever been to!

Yet, I knew that chances were that I wouldn’t be back for many years to come so I had to take advantage of my time there. On my first evening I met up with my friend Sarah, who I admire very much as a friend. We always have great conversations, she somehow has an incredible ability to be positive and to be aware that things will work out in theend, and most importantly (and I wish I had this quality) Sarah is amazing at keeping her stress to herself. So it was great to see her again. We walked around Sydney and went to have the most delicious Chinese dumplings in Chinatown.

The next couple of days are hard to remember but I went for a run along the beach every morning,  went swimming, laid down on the beach almost every day (life was rough) and just took advantage of the beach culture of Australia. I wish I could go to work and then go to the beach at the end of the day! Sarah and I also took a ferry ride to Manly Beach where we spent our lunch scaring the seagulls away from our fish and chips. Those things have no fear, one of them totally swooped and stole a chip from my hand and another almost landed on Sarah’s head, which made her shriek and I think that’s what scared the seagull away.

I also went on a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was really interesting and I was glad I was able to go because I got a glimpse of  the Australian Ballet Company practicing for their Christmas performance of The Nutcraker. I enjoy ballet very much, so I was in awe for the 3 minutes that I was there. Some fun facts about the Opera House: the tiles are actually not white but off-white because if they were white one would not be able to stare at the building during sunny days because of how bright it would be. The carpet on the stairs leading to the main hall are purple so when Luciano Pavarotti was there for a photo-shoot he refused to step on the stairs because purple is the colour of death in Italian society, so the photo-shoot had to change to a different location. He also charged the most expensive ticket for a performance in the history of the building. Coldplay recorded one of their albums there and the only time the tiles have been washed was when a Green Peace demonstrator wrote an anti-war slogan on the tiles.. he was of course, arrested soon after.

Another day I went to Taronga Zoo! I don’t particularly like zoos, but I have to say Taronga zoo is quite beautiful. To begin with all of the animals have been bred within the property of the zoo, so it made me feel slightly better to see the animals in closed spaces, although the tigers need WAY more space. Also the animals in there had to be some of the most clean and beautiful animals I have seen in a zoo. My sole reason of going though was so that I could touch a koala. Before going to Australia I thought Koalas were adorable, but now I might have changed my mind. To begin with they have some scary looking claws that look as though they could take your eyes out. Also they don’t do, or move for that matter, a heck of a lot. They pretty much just sat there, sleeping in  that uncomfortable position, on the same tree branch all day long (the reason is that eucalyptus makes them way too sleepy). Most disappointing was the fact that I simply couldn’t touch them. To take pictures with them was way too expensive and even then, you still can’t touch them, so I just took pictures of them instead. Even though they didn’t live up to my expectations koalas still have adorable faces and if it wasn’t for those terrifying looking claws I might have tried to steal one. My favourite animal was the Australian pelicans.. those guys were awesome! They have this HUGE neck and they wobble around and are pretty tall! I had never seen one before so I was a little freaked out when I first saw them, but they were by far one of the coolest animals I saw there. Overall, I was quite pleased with my visit to the zoo and I felt like a little kid all over again, which is a good feeling to have every now and then.

On my last evening I went to an Indonesian restaurant with Sarah and after many goodbyes and promises to see each other again in the near future, it was time for me to say also goodbye to Sydney before heading back to Brisbane for a few more days before heading back to Japan.

So after a tearful goodbye I left Niihama on November 8th, 2010 (wow, that was a long time ago) and headed to Australia where I met up with 3 of my dearest friends: Jen, Alexa and Sarah. I arrived to Brisbane and ran straight into my friend Jen’s arms. It had been a couple of years since we had last seen each other and it was wonderful to see her again! Alexa was also there waiting for me and we pretty much tried to catch-up on everything that went on in the last year or so in about 3 hours (though that was impossible). My days in Brisbane were lovely. It was the beginning of summer, so the weather while humid and sticky was quite lovely as Japan had begun to feel cold again. I stayed at Jen’s for about a week and we spent a lovely week walking around Brisbane and even took a 2 day camping trip to Moreton Bay where we had the time of our lives snorkeling (we saw a shark!), sandboarding and just lying on the beach… AMAZING! Jen and I also went to watch West Side Story the Musical. I have to say West Side Story is not one of my favourite movies BUT the play was awesome and we both came out singing and dancing to the songs. Afterwards I stayed with Alexa who happens to be one of the funniest persons I know, so never a dull moment with her around.  I met Alexa while living in Japan so it was good for me to be with someone who had already gone through the same emotional roller coaster that I was experiencing at the time and to see her so happy and content with what she was doing now. Overall Brisbane was great, relaxing place to be in after leaving Japan. It was nice to be with people that I love and to remember that there are many places and adventures waiting for me out there. Here are some of the pictures from my time in Brisbane. After Brisbane I went to see the beautiful Sarah in Sydney, but more about that later…