Laura No Iken

Homebirth with an independent midwife to become illegal?!

2009-07-17T11:45:00.006+10:00

Yes you read correctly. The Australian government is planning to take one huge step backwards and make homebirth with an independent midwife in attendance illegal from July 2010. What a country. Aint I proud to call it home. Remind me again why I worked so hard to get my husband's visa so we could move back to Australia....something about a better quality of life.....

This is unfuckingbelievable. Independent midwives like the midwife that attended the birth of my daughter cannot gain professional indemnity insurance (as they are too small a group to insure) and would therefore not be able to work in this capacity. It will be illegal for me to have a homebirth with a qualified independent midwife in attendance from July 2010. I will have lost my freedom of choice and many midwives will have lost their livelihood. Essentially it is discriminatory against both the Australian women who chose to birth at home with an independent midwife and the independent midwives who attend these births.

Want more info about this?

GUIDE TO THE EXPOSURE DRAFT OF THE HEALTH PRACTITIONER REGULATION NATIONAL LAW 2009

Save Birth Choices

Some commentary on this topic;

Important Message From Your Security Minister

Homebirth to become illegal in a year.

The banishment of autonomy, our stories and folklore

Songs;

Song to Nicola Roxon

My life, My Choice

Keep Homebirth with a Midwife Legal in Australia!

What YOU can do

Even if you don't homebirth but can see this as a blatant removal of rights, please have your say and let people know this is wrong. What can you do to help prevent this from happening?

Sign this online petition.
Read this page for ideas.
Write a submission to the Senate Committee by July 20 (2009) regarding the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related Bills. There is a pro-forma you can use here along with details of where to send it (e-mail).
Write a letter to your MP letting them know how you feel about this.
Visit your MP. Even more impact than just writing.
E-mail me to have your name added to a petition aiming to make sure that home birth remains a legal choice for Australian women.
Join the rally to save homebirth outside Parliament House on September 7th at 11am. My daughter and I will be there.
Tell everyone you know about this.
Let me know if you can think of anything else.

It starts here but who knows what is next. Maybe it'll be your right to own a car or have a blog?

Reversible pants

2009-02-15T16:21:00.003+11:00

For the first time since my daughter was born, I have used my sewing machine. The logistics of trying to sew with her at home was too much for me to figure out until now. I bought a pattern for reversible pants a few weeks ago and I took a look at it this morning. It looked pretty easy, so I thought i'd give it a go with some groovy material I had picked up on sale last week. Thanks to the pattern being very easy to follow, the pants were finished in a few hours.

I am so pleased with myself, not only for making the pants but for finally pushing all my excuses and worries aside and just giving it a go. Woohoo, i'm back baby.

Helping out with the bushfire victims

2009-02-13T10:59:00.003+11:00

As many Australians do, I feel so helpless with the bushfire tragedy in Australia. We can give cash but many people want to help out in a more practical way. I tried to give blood but they wouldn't take blood from a lactating woman.

At the same time people were suffering in these fires, a lot of wildlife was too. I heard from someone who works with injured wildlife in Victoria that they were looking for more knitted pouches to keep baby animals in. Often the mother koalas/wombats/possums are killed in fires but their tiny babies are saved from harm protected in their mother's pouch. Animal rescue members are trained to look in dead and inured animal's pouches for these young ones. They need a lot of one on one care and are kept in knitted pouches made to resemble the one they came from. So i'm giving it a go. If you read my previous post, you'd see what a slow knitter I am, but I just have to try. They also need flannelet inside pouches to line the woollen ones, so i'm going to try and make some of those too.

Pants finished!

2009-02-13T10:51:00.003+11:00

I finally finished those pants I was knitting for my daughter in an earlier post. I got them done just before midnight on Christmas eve. They took me about six months to finish! Here they are on my daughter taken while on holidays in Tasmania.

Lucky finger sack.

2008-11-28T13:56:00.001+11:00

Umm...ok..., originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

Whadda reckon this is for? Come on, guesses please.

Konichiwa!

2008-08-11T22:16:00.001+10:00

Konichiwa!, originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

I was used to seeing Engrish on shirts in Japan but here it is in reverse. Japanese on a shirt in Australia. Would you wear this? In which country? Would you buy it for your daughter?

Beginner knits

2008-07-15T12:19:00.003+10:00

I thought it was about time I learned to knit. So recently while visiting my Mum, she taught me the basics. I had a go at basic baby leg warmers and made two pairs.

Next I am onto a proper project following a pattern and am having a go at pants! Here's what i've done so far.

Making cloth nappies

2008-04-08T12:03:00.003+10:00

A few months before bub arrived, I started to get interested in cloth nappies. Not just those flat white squares of terry or flannelette but the fitted type. Man oh man, have you looked into cloth nappies?! There are like a million different types- AIOs (all in ones), pocket, fitted etc. I spent hours on the internet researching the different types and how to make them as I thought i'd give them a go. I ended up buying a handful of different types just to get my head around how they're made. The net has a few free patterns too, so I got to work trying to make a few. I didn't want to make too many before bub arrived though, as I couldn't test them out to see which ones worked or not.

This is the first one I made of hubby's old T-shirts and some flannel. I guess it's a fitted type. It doesn't have any waterproof layer, so it'd need a cover or just as a quick day time nappy.

It's too big for bub right now, so I haven't tested it out yet. Talking of waterproof layers too (which most cloth nappy websites call PUL), it cannot be found in fabric shops anywhere! Arrrgghhh! Most fabric shops hadn't even heard of it. Talking to some other people who use and make cloth nappies, it seems the best place to buy it (and other nappy making goods) is off the net, mostly imported from the states. I tell ya, this is a huge gap in the market and if I was business minded in any way i'd open a cloth nappy materials shop in Melbourne.

This next one is made from old cotton T-shirts and microfleece. It isn't waterproof as such but the microfleece stops most moisture coming through. I've used it a few times and it fits well and works a dream too. When I get some time, I want to make a few more of this type.

The next one is a pocket nappy. I made it with microfleece and a vinyl. I had in mind to stuff it with any booster of bamboo, hemp, cotton or flannel etc. I've only tried it once so far with a cotton booster and it leaked. So i'm not sure if it was the booster or the nappy design. I'll give it another go with a different material booster.

I had a heap of old cotton T-shirts and old flannette sheets, so I made a few boosters/soakers too. They work pretty well but I don't think they're as absorbent as bamboo or some other more 'fluffy' materials.

We made a little human!

2008-04-04T16:39:00.002+11:00

Two weeks ago at 1.45am on the 19th of March I gave birth to a perfect little girl at home. I'm in the process of writing her birth story and procsessing all that happened. Our lives have been turned upside down as having a little human rely on you for everything is pretty all consuming. Her Dad is totally in love with her and her Mum can't stop looking at her.

This is our first family pic, taken about five minutes after she was born.

Sewing for bub

2007-11-09T17:19:00.000+11:00

I've been going to sewing classes to learn how to sew. My Grandma left me her sewing machine and it had been sadly sitting all alone for months and months before I finally got good enough to try a few things. We also moved our furniture around, so I could easily use it. I was so excited I made some outfits for bub.

Since I started lessons i've also made a skirt for me (doesn't fit now), boxers for hubby (he didn't like them) and currently i'm making a maternity dress.

New Zealand

2007-11-09T11:58:00.000+11:00

Last month hubby and I went to New Zealand for a holiday. Last big break before bub comes. We had a great time. Kept busy most days as I wanted to see lots of places. We were basically based at Lake Taupo (central part of the North Island) but we did plenty of day trips to places like Rotorua, Napier, Hastings etc. Here are a few pics.

First the geothermal areas. They were insane! Smelly gases, bubbling mud and hot creeks and pools.

Steaming lake;

Mineral deposits looking like a geothermal waterfall;

Boiling hot pool;

Bubbling mud;

Leaves fallen into the mineral laden mud;

Gorgeous scenery everywhere. Here are some green rolling hills;

Breathtaking waterfall;

A creek in the trout fishing capital of the world;

Maori culture. When big burly Maori men are doing the haka right in front of you, whoa, you get goosebumps. Here is a group showcasing traditional Maori dance and music;

Plenty of yummy food too. Here is a visual instruction on how to eat a prawn. First start with a huge platter of freshly cooked prawns;

Next, play with your food and get to know it;

Then pull the shell off and eat the tasty meat. But don't forget to suck all it's brains out;

Finally, survey the damage and be satisfied;

Hubby decided he liked the sound of rolling down a hill in the center of a plastic ball;

We finished off with a couple of days in Auckland;

Woohoo, camera issues sorted

2007-11-03T10:38:00.000+11:00

OK, now I can actually access pics off my naughty camera, I have decided to bore you all with pics from the last couple of months.

I spent a week in Tasmania (an island off the south of the Australian mainland, which is a state in itself) in September. My parents have recently moved there and as i'd never been, I didn't need any excuse to go and see.

Tassie in pictures
Down by the water:

Salamanca markets. A popular weekend market in central Hobart. Saw some awesome cloth nappies and my Dad bought scrumpy! Nice fresh cheap vegies there too:

It was spring time, so gorgeous bulbs out everywhere. Some daffodils in a cemetery:

Wattles were flowering everywhere. I have never seen so many different types of wattle before. There were even wattle trees. As in huge massive tall trees with wattle blossoms all over. This isn't one of the big wattle trees, just a gorgeous specimen.

Pebbly beach:

Fresh Tassie seafood:

The coastline down to Port Arthur:

Ruins at Australia's most famous prison site at Port Arthur. An intriguing, eerie, sad place:

Looking out from within the ruins of the hospital. This place made me want to cry, all I could feel was despair:

Daffodils grew like wild flowers in Tassie. You'd be driving and see a whole paddock full of these happy yellow flowers:

An update

2007-09-20T14:11:00.000+10:00

Lately, I guess i've been keeping busy but not in a typically busy at work kinda way. I have decided that staying away from the work I was doing is the best idea for now as I found it pretty stressful. And as pregnancy is not really the best of times to go searching for a new job, i'm having my gestation period quietly at home.

It's given me the chance to catch up on hobbies i'd neglected for a while and start new ones. I'm doing a sewing course and am presently making baby clothes, which is really satisfying. I'm hoping once I get a bit more experienced, i'll be able to expand and make clothes for hubby and I and things for our house.

My camera/computer are being big poos lately too! My camera works fine but when I try to connect it to our computer to upload my pics, it won't read properly. I've searched online for answers and tried everything I can. The camera's batteries are fully charged. The cable seems fine, drivers seem fine. The computer accepts the camera but when it goes to get the photos, something obviously doesn't compute. I have a feeling our computer might be on it's last legs. It's slowing down a lot lately and just doing whatever the hell it likes. I've tried disk cleanup. So any ideas to fix these two problems?

As for the pregnancy, I am officially in second trimester about 14 weeks along (almost 15). According to all the info, my uterus is the size of a large grapefruit, my baby would be fully formed, it has eyebrows and is even peeing! Thanks goodness that bloody morning sickness started to ease about a fortnight ago and has almost disappeared. That was rough going for a while.

Little Mango-chan would look something like this;

I don't have an actual ultrasound picture to show as i've decided not to have ultrasounds. They haven't been proven to improve outcomes and in fact some studies have even shown some harmful effects. Here is one article by Sarah Buckley, outlining some cause for concern if you're interested. One thing from this article that should scare the shit outta anyone thinking of having an ultrasound,

''A UK survey showed that, for one in 200 babies aborted for major abnormalities, the diagnosis on post-mortem was less severe than predicted by ultrasound and the termination was probably unjustified''.

There is no reason for a healthy woman progressing with a healthy pregnancy to have an ultrasound, especially if she doesn't intend to abort at any abnormal findings.

Back again

2007-08-09T15:23:00.000+10:00

Once again i've been awol. But this time I have a good excuse. I have been feeling absolutely terrible. Imagine feeling like vomiting about 14 hours of the day?! That's been my life everyday for the last three weeks.

I'm pregnant! It is long awaited news for Yutaka and I and of course our families. My Mum is already madly crocheting a million booties and bonnets and things.

I am very excited to be a Mum and can't wait to make our family one person bigger. I remember when I was a teenager thinking about being a Mum... I started a list of names for my future kids when I was about 12! A few I have had to cross of though, as they have 'v' or 'l' or are unable to be pronounced properly in Japanese. Plenty of other names work in both languages though.

So here I start the pregnancy journals. Can't say how much i'll be writing or if i'll feel up to it very often.

I leave you with a pic I took last week. Love daffodils!

Random Facts

2007-07-03T15:44:00.000+10:00

Tigermama tagged me for a game of random facts.

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight random facts about me:

# I'm a closet hippie- well not entirely a closet hippie. But my 'mainstream' friends probably think i'm a dreddie away from being a full blown hippie and my more 'hippieish' friends probably think I am laughably mainstream.

# I often make up new words. Or morph Japanese and English words/phrases together. The other morning when I heard the garbage truck coming and realised I forgot to put the bin out, I yelled 'oh shit it's gomi no hi' (garbage day).

# I luuuuurrrrrvvvveeee wine. White or red.

# I've never been skiing and don't intend to. I'm not terribly co-ordinated and have failed miserably at sports like ice skating and surfing. So i'm just trying to avoid the embarrassment and bruising.

# I always thought my names (given and surname) were such common and boring names. Now I have a surname that most Aussies can't even pronounce and my kids will probably get teased for it.

# My brother is a priest and I was raised a Christian but my views/beliefs are probably not like those of your typical Christian. I tend to veer to the more liberal side and try to keep an open mind about most things.

# I have quite a few scars. I was a bit of a tomboy as a child. Scar next to eyebrow, on elbow, on cheek, on finger, on each knee (one with the holes from stitches still visable), various chicken pox scars on my stomach and back....

# I don't really act my age. If you walked into my apartment, you might think an old lady lives there. You can find me doing things like crosswords, crochet, collecting antiques and sorting out my recipe collection.

People I now tag. Have fun!

Cameron
Kath
MomKori
Dave's Armchair
Kuri & Ping
Kitten
India
Jessica

Blurry Buddha

2007-06-18T13:10:00.001+10:00

Buddha, originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

Recently i've really been enjoying taking photos. I have a small Ricoh digital camera with lots of different modes that i've been trying to figure out. I upload the best of my shots to Flickr.com (see the sidebar), which is a fantastic website if you take photos, check it out.

I took this shot recently and even though it's all blurry, I love how it turned out.

Whale Pirates

2007-05-20T21:05:00.000+10:00

Woohoo! I just love this. The Australian Labour Party has plans to intercept Japanese whaling ships. But as this action will be taking place in international waters, some have labelled it an 'act of piracy'. Yeah, I can just see Kevin Rudd (Labour leader) with some dreddies and eyeliner leading his party of politician pirates to intercept the harpoons and save the whales.

I admire the sentiment but I have some concerns that this will come to fruition. Is it just me or do politicians tend to not tell the truth? [insert rolling eyes emoticon here] All jesting aside, something more drastic has to be done about Japanese whaling in international waters. I guarantee the average Japanese person wouldn't even realise if whale meat stopped being available in Japan. From my experience, it's a rare person nowadays in Japan that eats whale meat and it takes some looking to even find it in the odd supermarket.

Story here: Rudd defends plan to intercept Japanese whalers

Alcoholism and homosexuality

2007-05-02T15:13:00.000+10:00

Ahh, that title gotcha huh?!

This train of thought was spurred from watching Oprah yesterday (i'm on a sabbatical, leave me alone). Oprah was interviewing the author Terry McMillan (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) about her ex-husband who told her after 6 years of marriage that he was gay (interview and pics). Terry was very hurt and angry over the incident and kept repeating, 'how could he not know he was gay, that's like saying you're an alcoholic without ever having a drink'.

Huh? Say what? Is it just me, or does that not fit?

Alcoholism or any addictive behaviour requires one to first do that behaviour, to then become addicted to it. While our sexuality is an ingrained part of us. Without getting into the nature/nuture debate, I think it is a fairly well accepted fact that one does not choose to be gay or lesbian or heterosexual or other. Hell who'd want to choose a life with so much bigotry aimed at you and your loved ones?

So now, I think I have explained how her above example does not make sense. But as to her actual meaning in that message- 'how could he not know?'. He claimed that he grew up in a conservative country (Jamaica) and that homosexuality was not talked about, was not understood and that he didn't even think about the possibility that he was gay (when he was younger). Well, Opera and his ex-wife ripped into this guy for that confession. Opera started spouting things like, 'I know soooo many gay people and they all say they knew they were gay at 7, or they knew since they were born'. So? Good for those people. Wonderful that a child was so in touch with their sexuality at such a young age. Great that they were given the freedom of thought to be about to entertain all these different thought processes.

But come on, give this guy a break. I think it is totally plausible that he might not have realised he was gay until later in life. He married when he was 21 for goodness sake. I've been 21 and I know how much turmoil can go on in the mind at that time. And just to highlight that I don't consider this guy to be completely off the hook cause he did cheat on his wife and I don't give the time of day to cheaters. Anyone who ever cheats on me better hold on to their privates.

I wish I knew a gay person well enough to discuss this with them and get their point of view. Anyone out there have more to add on this? Gay or not, all are welcome here, including alcoholics....damn, think that's me....

Reality shows- Big Brother

2007-05-02T14:09:00.000+10:00

I've been a bit of a fan of reality TV shows for a few years now. Before I left Australia to venture overseas, I watched Australia's first series of 'Big Brother'. I find reality shows and true stories in general more engaging than fiction. Anywho, being in Japan and away from reality shows (while they seemed to be at their peak of popularity in Australia) for a few years meant my appetite for reality shows was far from quenched. So here I am, back home and eager to get back into watching some reality shows again.

Pretty much the only reality TV show that has been on here the past few months has been 'The Biggest Loser'. I actually really enjoyed it and was surprised how emotionally attached I became to a few of the contestants. I even managed to get hubby interested in watching each week.

Then guess what starts up again only last week? Australia's sixth (!!) season of 'Big Brother', which effectively is only my second season. Now I don't know how the other four seasons went or what 'formula' worked for ratings for this show but I am seriously disappointed this season!

You want to know why? There are 14 people in the house and they all are PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. How utterly boring. They have chosen young, straight laced, thin, pretty, blond, white girls and young, straight laced, good looking, buff, white men. There are a couple of exceptions (a brunette girl who is still young thin and pretty though, a couple of guys from non-caucasian backgrounds and a less buff but amusing geek). Have a look Big Brother 07 Housemates.

Heellllloooo producers of 'Big Brother'. Variety is the spice of life. We want to see a mix of people in the house, not watch 'Barbie and Ken' plastic cut outs. And you know what really pissed me off? In the media lead up to this season of 'Big Brother' starting they had ads on TV saying, 'We promise this year's Big Brother will have people from all walks of life'. Yeah right, bull-shit!

From memory the first season of 'Big Brother' in Australia had a gay guy, a couple of larger women, a woman with dark skin, a dominatrix with an accent, a guy with a mohawk and generally a whole bunch of different looking, sounding and feeling people. And it was INTERESTING.

There is going to be an extra housemate come into the house sometime this week I think. They will have won a promotional competition and won't have been chosen by the producers, so let's keep everything crossed that it will be someone just a little....different.

'Big Brother', you better start pulling something better out to keep me interested this season.

Easter breakfast

2007-04-09T13:50:00.001+10:00

Easter breakfast, originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

As this was his first Easter in Australia, I decided to make an old favourite for hubby's breakfast. Dippy eggs with soldiers. Which is a soft boiled egg with hot buttered toast.

So that, along with some hot cross buns and a chocolate bunny from Mum (I mean the Easter bunny) and we had a yummy Easter Sunday brekky.

Happy Easter

2007-04-07T14:49:00.001+10:00

World swimming fight

2007-03-28T15:37:00.000+10:00

Does anyone else find it an invasion of privacy that the argument/fight between a Ukrainian coach and his daughter at the world swimming championships in Melbourne was televised?? Fair enough the police stepped in as he did physically abuse her (and she him). But did the whole ugly thing really need to be shown so publicly? The poor girl must be so embarrassed. I hope it didn't stop her from swimming her best.

Story and pics here.

No poo in class thank you

2007-03-21T16:57:00.000+11:00

What is it with men and their fascination with bodily functions and secretions? I hate to generalise but i'm talking about men in their early twenties acting like teenagers. I taught a class of young ESL students today and a group of four young men spent a good hour or more chatting away about their bodily functions!

Ah but they were speaking in English and therefore studying you say? Nope. Each time I set a pair/group discussion task, off they would go again talking about their poo in their own language.

Aaarrgghhh. How gross! They are adults! They have spent a whole heap of money to be here studying English! They are surrounded by students of other nationalities. Perfect opportunity to make new friends, learn a new lanaguage and expand your possibilities.

They choose poo. Good choice boys.

Picture perfect

2007-03-15T10:48:00.001+11:00

Creek in the Dandenongs, originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

How is this for a relaxing spot? Hubby and I went for a drive in the Dandenong Mountains last weekend. We stopped and had a picnic of roast beef sandwiches and tea just near here. Then we went for a walk next to this creek.

Just the medicine to get the city out of your hair!

What kind of primate are you?

2007-03-07T15:06:00.000+11:00

What kind of primate are you? A gibbon, an orangutan, a chimp or even a baboon?

I'm a gibbon; see here.

Thanks Mum

2007-03-04T14:51:00.000+11:00

This beautiful big bunch of flowers was sent from my Mum, Dad and a friend. My husband and I had a loss recently and Mum wanted to cheer us up.

Thanks Mum.

Valentines Day

2007-02-15T14:32:00.000+11:00

I made a chocolate cake. Thanks to CacaoWeb.net for the easy and yummy recipe.

Hubby gave me a beautiful red rose. I gave hubby a cute teddy bear. Sounds corny I know but he didn't have a teddy bear! No grown adult should be without their very own teddy bear.

Guess what hubby named it? Kuma. Which is 'bear' in Japanese. Not sure if i'll let him name any future kids....

Baking bug

2007-01-23T16:27:00.000+11:00

Sunday was rainy and nice and cool here, so I got the baking bug.

First it was difficult trying to decide what to cook (I had narrowed it down to something sweet as I had a craving for it- usually I prefer savoury).

Here are a couple of the numerous cookbooks I have inherited from two Grandmothers and my Mum.

I decided on a Rasberry Coconut Slice. I didn't realise until after I baked it that it was a recipe my Grandmother used to make. As soon as I had the first bite, the memories came back. I then found out it is my Dad's favourite slice. Too bad i'm almost two states away, sorry Dad.

Then I made some cranberry cupcakes.

Book Meme - or let's play tag

2007-01-23T15:54:00.000+11:00

Medea tagged me for this game and i'm glad she did, as it prompted me to come back to my blog. I've been flat out with work recently and let posting to my blog slide. But here I am to play this game.

Here are the rules!
1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following 3 sentences on your blog
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag two people to do the same

The thing was I wasn't sure what kind of book? Any book, even a text? The closest book to me was a grammar book of my husbands and very dry. So here are the details for it.

4 We haven't got lemon tea, but you could have mint one instead.
5 Those aren't your gloves. You must have picked up the wrong ones.
6 'What kind of cakes do you like best?' 'Ones with cream inside.'

Advanced Grammar in Use by Martin Hewings.

The next closest book book was this.

Now it is June, but the pair arrived in eastern Greenland from Scotland's Western Isles in late May, returning to their nest site of previous years. The ledge, as high as a 20-storey building, is safe from Arctic foxes, which would relish both eggs and adults. The female lined a hollow with lichen and down plucked from her breast, then laid four white eggs and covered them with more down.

The Wildlife Year by Reader's Digest.

I tag Meron-chan and India.

It's a New Year

2007-01-01T15:34:00.000+11:00

Hello 2007! We managed to do quite a bit in 2006. Yutaka's visa was approved. Yutaka quit his job in Japan. We planned our move from Japan back to Oz. Moved back with my folks for a few months. Yutaka got a job in Melbourne. So again we moved, interstate this time. Then I got a job here too.

Phew.

So now to 2007. Not too many plans yet. My brother is getting married in February. My best friend is coming to stay in April with her new bub (due any day). And we hope to have a new addition to our family some time this year too.

What are your plans for 2007?

Chat Room

2006-11-26T16:25:00.000+11:00

I've tried to get a little chat room up and running on this blog. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page, you should be able to see it. Please feel free to join and add comments/ask questions. I'd been trying to get a chat room working on another site I look after and thought i'd experiment here first.

Conflicting times

2006-11-09T14:08:00.000+11:00

I don't like making decisions at the best of times but recently i've been getting crapier at it. I'm trying to look for work in Melbourne and have applied for a few jobs so far. I have two types of work i'm after. One that I first studied at uni but have had absolutely no experience in and another that I've been doing since I left uni. It seems I'm only employable for the latter type of work. Problem is....I don't enjoy it. Sometimes I hate doing that work.

I am so conflicted right now in this topsy turvy time in our lives. Should I just suck it up, work a job I hate and help us out financially? Or should I pursue the type of work I'd prefer to do. This would mean either retraining, or doing volunteer work in the field. Neither of which would be helping us financially.

I'm so torn. I know we need the money and this is the best time in our lives for both of us to work with no other family commitments. But then I think of the daily grind of doing that job that I really dislike...and it makes me feel helpless.

Damn, I wish we were rich, so I could just pursue whatever the hell I wanted to.

Mad Melbournites

2006-10-10T15:57:00.000+10:00

We have moved once again. Yutaka got a job in Melbourne and now we're here. My first impression of Melbourne? The drivers here SUCK!

When I got here two weeks ago I the first thing I noticed was the excessive honking. I am used to the use of honking such as a short friendly one to say hi, or a long loud 'danger' type one but Melbourne people just sit on theirs. People honk needlessly, willy nilly all the time. Yutaka and I are forever trying to figure out who honked and why. Car horns have loss their shock value for most people here, no-one pays them any attention. Call me country but this sucks, it's just downright noisy.

Today I went grocery shopping and instead of going straight home I decided to drive around my suburb a little to try and get to know the area. I was driving down a road doing about 50km/h maybe in a 60km/h zone when I saw the (young male) driver of the car behind me moving his hands all around. I figured he thought I was going too slow, so I put my indicator on to take the next turn and get out of his way. As I turned and he sped past, what did he do? ......... He gave me the finger! At first I was just surprised but then I got soooooo angry!!!!! I may have been going a bit slow but I was not driving dangerously, nor did I deserve that.

So I turned back for home, trying to calm down. I had literally just made a right turn into my street when I heard a loud loooong honk by the car behind me. The middle aged male driver sped right up to my butt and proceeded to overtake me on the left! That's the kerbside in Australia. Then he sped past, up to the car in front of me and then overtook them too. This is on a 60km/h residential road!

Any more thoughts I had to continue exploring my neighbourhood by car today were totally out the window!! I wish so bad that I had gotten either of their numberplates. Now you may say, 'don't worry about them' or 'just drive slower to annoy them' but I can't handle it when people are angry around me, it rubs off on me too. These incidents today have actually made me feel less confident about driving around here. I am so mad with those two stupid men for making me feel like this.

I miss my country town.

Something in the water....

2006-09-02T19:12:00.000+10:00

Do you know how many pregnant ladies (plus a couple who have just given birth) I know right now? Here is a bit of a list:

-my NZ friend from Japan just had her second son (he's a little cutie, hi J and T!)
-my best friend (due in December)
-a good Japanese friend I used to teach (also due in December)
-my brother's best friend's wife (sounds like a tenuous connection but this guy was like a brother to me when we were growing up)
-a couple of friends online, from a Foreign Wives Club (hi Fukuchan and Queenbee) plus a couple from there who have given birth recently
-a couple of my husband's university friend's wives
-hubby's good friend's wife

Sheesh, I reckon 2006 will be a baby boomer year.

Blogging lull

2006-09-02T19:06:00.000+10:00

I haven't been blogging much lately. Could be the upheaval my life is going through. Could be lack of time to access the net and no broadband here at the folks place. Could be as I can't use my own PC with all my links. Could be i'm too busy writing job applications, working at the zoo and the international office and preparing for a TESOL conference this weekend. Or I could just be lazy.

A is the first letter

2006-08-11T14:56:00.000+10:00

I have been tagged by Jazz to come up with 10 words starting with the letter 'A' that are meaningful in some way to me. 'A'?! Jazz, did you give me the hardest letter or what. Although, having giving it a couple of weeks thought (been away from my blog that long) I actually came up with more than 10. But here are my top 10 words starting with 'A'.

animal - anyone who knows me will not be surprised that I put this word first. I have always been a sucker for animals. As a kid I grew up with dogs, cats, sheep, chicken, cows, ducks and various other assorted farm and native animals. At present I have a character of a cat Whisky, who makes me laugh so much.
air - we all need it. Having just moved from Osaka to rural Australia, it certainly is something you notice right away. There is nothing better than a walk along the beach of an afternoon. Which leads into my next word..
afternoon - my favourite time of day. Especially late afternoon/dusk. The kangaroos are out feeding, the kookaburras are laughing, people are coming home from work, dinner is being cooked and all is good in the world...
anglo - that is me. Boring pasty white little me. See this previous post for more of my thoughts on that Being White, the new uncool?
Australia - the country, the people, the lifestyle. I choose to live here.
alcohol - specifically wine, any colour. I love it, I drink it, I occasionally get a sore head but I drink it again. After recently visiting the Yarra and Barossa valleys, I am even more in love with it.
ABBA - I am not ashamed to admit that this group rocks. If I wanna fire up a party, or dance in my car seat, I reach for my Best of ABBA CD.
abbreviation - as an Aussie this becomes a natural thing to do. We don't tend to like words of more than two or three syllables. Afternoon becomes arvo, barbecue becomes barbie, kangaroo becomes roo....yada yada... One new one I heard yesterday on JJJ was 'the comm games' for the Commonwealth games. But it just didn't sound right somehow.
adventure - as a kid I loved adventure books where a group of children went on weird and wonderful journeys to faraway places and met many strange people along the way. As an adult, I feel i've been living this life for the past few years. I may get back to some sort of normality now i'm back in Oz though.
antithesis - for no particular reason except for the way it sounds when said out loud. Say it and you'll know why I love it.

Alrighty then, now my turn to tag peoples. Ummm....who reads this blog who might want to do it... ah, Meronchan with the letter 'J' and Jacqui with the letter 'C'.

Proud of Mum

2006-07-20T15:02:00.000+10:00

I have many reasons to be but this one is the latest.

Three days ago my Mum saw a car accident. A single vehicle drove off the road and hit a pole. Mum stopped and ran to the car, where a middle aged lady was unconscious and bleeding profusely from the neck. After adding pressure to the drivers neck wound, Mum tried to keep one hand giving pressure while trying to flag down passing motorists with the other. After about seven cars passed with NO-ONE stopping, Mum's adrenaline (and righteous anger) kicked in. Next Mum had to make sure the pressure bandage would hold and then Mum climbed back up the embankment and placed herself right smack in the middle of the road to stop the next car.

After the ambulance left and Mum gave a statement to the police she drove to work covered in blood!

Later in the day after talking to the police again, the police were joking with Mum that they could have sizzled bacon on her anger. Apparently the first time Mum talked to the police earlier in the day Mum was so fired up and angry that no-one had stopped to help.

Here is an interesting point to note: all those cars that passed this accident were in the wrong and if the police had found them, they would have been booked. So next time you see an accident, please stop and offer assistance.

How cool is my Mum!?

The family grows larger.

2006-06-19T10:47:00.000+10:00

The bestest news. My Brother is engaged!!!! Congratulations to Eron and Jane. I am so happy to finally get a sister. Jane is from Wales and so makes this family all the more multicultural.

This is the Welsh flag. How cool is this Dragon?! It's tongue is just down right scary.

Interesting Welsh fact:

The world's longest railroad station name is in Wales.
-Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.

http://wales.costasur.com/en/did-u-know.html

I'm ba-ack

2006-06-02T07:46:00.000+10:00

Sorry for my long absence. Our computer decided to chuck a fit just before we left Japan. So that with all the packing that needed to be done meant I couldn't update here for a while.

We're back in Australia now. I thought it might be interesting to write a list of things that I first found odd/weird/or just different when I first got back to Australia from Japan. These are my gross generalisations, so just take with a grain of salt.

-loud; everyone seemed to be talking so loudly

-service; not as focussed on the customer as in Japan. Here I have found cashiers chatting to each other rather than serving, one was asleep. On the flip side of this though, I had a lengthy conversation with a cashier at a supermarket yesterday about the price of bananas and zucchinis. Having a good ol' convo with a check out chick NEVER happened to me in Japan.

-the 'formula' doesn't exist in Australia; by this I mean, the set phrases that are used in Japan by people in the service industry. The 'irashaimase' when you enter a shop, and the 'arigatou gozaimasu' when you leave, the 'thanks for coming' and the 'how many people' when you enter a restaurant. In Australia each shop person says something different and I find myself having to concentrate on what they are saying, so I can give an appropriate response.

-fashion; basically doesn't exist in Australia

-fatness; shit! No wonder Japanese think westerners are fat, I have seen soooo many big fat people since I returned. One thing though, my arse is no longer the biggest in the room.

-multicultural; I love it!!!! It's so cool to see all these people from different cultural/racial backgrounds walking around without other people staring at them.

-the crap that Australians drink; at Sydney airport where we bought lunch, the drink fridge was just filled with softdrinks. Sprite, Coke etc. Water was available but was more expensive than the softdrinks. Bring back the Japanese conbini and green tea!!!!

-friendliness; walking down the street saying 'good morning' or 'lovely day' to people you pass (admittedly i'm in a small town right now)

-the perfect perfect air; I have been sucking it up like it's about to disapear. A world away from the air in Osaka.

One final thought before I head outside into the garden to enjoy my morning cup of tea with lovely matured cheese on a muffin is.... I AM NO LONGER A GAIJIN AND I LOVE IT!!!!

Sayonara Sale

2006-05-04T21:05:00.000+10:00

Well, it's nearly time to leave Japan. We went through our place and have a heap of household items and clothes to sell/giveaway. If you live in Japan please have a look. Or if you know someone who lives in Japan, please let them know. We would hate to just gomi (chuck) a lot of these things.

We can send COD in Japan for the clothes and smaller household items. Or pick up in Hirakata Osaka for the larger items.

Men's and women's shirts

skirts, pants, socks, sweaters, jackets, shoes. Washing machine, mixer

drawers etc. Please take a look.

Pictures of everything for sale

La Sure Am!

2006-04-28T00:51:00.000+10:00

Japlish Japlish everywhere in Japan. I thought I was immune to it and then I walked past La PIST. I guess it's not technically Jap'lish' as it appears to be French. So maybe Japrench or Japench? Is pist a word in French?

*giggle*

Adopt a virtual pet

2006-04-23T18:13:00.000+10:00

Kit Kat in a Can

2006-04-21T17:56:00.000+10:00

Too busy to pop into a conbini for your choc fix? No worries, grab a can of kit kat with your coffee at this vending machine.

What flavour Pocky are you?

2006-04-20T17:02:00.000+10:00

what flavor pocky are you?

[c] sugardew

I've never even seen milk pocky!! Now white chocolate pocky....that is gooood.

Japanese cinemas gets smelly

2006-04-16T20:48:00.000+10:00

Japanese cinemas gets smelly

It was only a matter of time.

New hair cut

2006-04-14T15:36:00.000+10:00

It is boy short with blonde, pink and purple bits.

According to Yutaka, I look like a 'British punk'. Why British, i'm not sure?

Limericks

2006-04-14T15:08:00.000+10:00

Inspired by Fluid Pudding and her 'Annual Trip to the OB/GYN', I pulled out a couple of limericks I wrote a few months ago.

The first is based on a true story:

There was a young girl in Japan
Who went to that land with a plan
She went there to teach
It wasn’t a peach
And she ended up finding a man

The second is fictional...oh, who am I kidding, I guess it's true too except my name didn't rhyme with Japan:

There was a plump lady named Fran
Who started to work in Japan
They all were surprised
At the size of her thighs
So she stuck to a sushi diet plan

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

2006-04-05T16:57:00.000+10:00

You Are a Jam Cookie

On the outside, you project a straight-laced, innocent vibe.

But on the inside, you're complex, exotic, and full of flavor.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Our Move

2006-04-05T16:05:00.000+10:00

A couple of people asked me in the comments, so I thought i'd post about it. Yutaka and I are moving to Australia at the end of May. We always had the plan to move to Australia and last year we applied for his spouse visa. It came through earlier than expected about a month ago.

So now comes the crazy moving, packing, planning, stressing time. One big bummer about an international marriage, you have to be apart from someone's family. So as you can imagine, my parents are happy we're moving close and Yutaka's are sad we're going.

It feels so right though and Yutaka and I are excited about starting this next phase of our lives.

Migraines

2006-04-03T16:29:00.000+10:00

I had a lousy weekend. Both days I woke up with a migraine and had to spend a lot of both days in bed. So I missed out on going to an antiques fair in Kyoto that i'd been dying to go to. I am soooo bummed!!! And today, just a lousy normal Monday, I wake up feeling great.

What causes migraines? Perhaps I am stressing about our imminent move and all the things we have to do before we go. Or perhaps because i've taken on a busy teaching schedule for last week and this week?

Accident at the local train station.

2006-03-28T16:59:00.000+11:00

I wrote the following passage the day this incident happened (March 19th) and posted it to an internet group that I’m a member of. Yesterday I had my camera with me at my local train station where it occurred and was able to take some pics to help tell this story. So today I decided to post this to my blog also.

Yutaka and I were heading into the city this morning. At our local train station the train pulls up and a family of a Grandma, Mother and little (2 or 3 year old) son rush up to the door. Yutaka and I were standing behind them a bit to the side and then right in front of my eyes, the Mother and Grandma step onto the train and the little boy steps into the gap between the train and the platform and falls straight down!

So the Mum starts going ballistic, I signal the train driver to stop (or not go) then get down on my knees to try and help the poor little thing. It was such a long way down and we couldn't reach him and then this big guy rushes up and just pulls him up in one swift movement.

All the little boy had was a bit of dirt on his face (not to mention he'll probably be scared of trains for life).

Man, it was soooo scary. I can't even imagine what the Mother felt. My heart was pumping for so long afterwards.

This station is currently under construction to make the platform stick out more towards the train, the old gap was stupidly wide. But this little boy fell at the new (narrower) section.

I feel all teary just thinking about it.

Extra story- I just remembered a few years ago at a train station at the end of the line, the doors open on one side, shut, then open on the other. I had got off the train and was walking along the platform when I saw the door shut...right on an old man! He was stuck and people were trying to pry open the door.

Now, i'm just scaring myself with these stories...

Short Memory

2006-03-23T16:26:00.000+11:00

This song by the Australian group Midnight Oil has always touched me. I was listening to it again today and felt the need to post the lyrics here.

Conquistador of Mexico, the Zulu and the Navaho
The Belgians in the Congo short memory
Plantation in Virginia, the Raj in British India
The deadline in South Africa short memory
The story of El Salvador, the silence of Hiroshima
Destruction of Cambodia short memory

Short memory, must have a, short memory

The sight of hotels by the nile, the designated hilton style
With running water specially bought short memory
A smallish man Afghanistan, a watch dog in a nervous land
They're only there to lend a hand short memory
Wake up in sweat at dead of night
And in the tents new rifles hey short memory

If you read the history books you'll see the same things happen again and again
Repeat repeat short memory they've all got it
When are we going to play it again
Got a short, got a short, got a short, got a short
They've got a short must have a short they've got a short aah
Short memory, they've got a.

Midnight Oil

Natto (fermented soy beans) and quail eggs....yum! NOT

2006-03-15T19:14:00.000+11:00

natto and quail eggs
Originally uploaded by eecue.

Have you ever seen a more disgusting looking food?

What 2007 Car Should You Drive?

2006-03-14T17:36:00.000+11:00

You Should Drive a Jaguar XK 4.2

You don't care how you get there as long as you get there with class.

And having a little power doesn't hurt either!

What 2007 Car Should You Drive?

What does it mean to be white?

2006-03-08T18:08:00.000+11:00

What does it mean to be white? From SCU News

"Unpacking white privilege is like asking a fish to notice water or birds to notice air," she said, quoting a favourite phrase.

I want people to explore their own attitudes and values by asking themselves how they perceive whiteness. For example, is white a race or is it a social construct?

If you were blind, you'd have no concept of the colour of a person, so would their skin colour affect how you related to them? Think about flesh-coloured underwear. Think about skin-coloured bandaids. They're always pink.

An interesting follow on from my post here:
Being White, the new uncool?

Pink Cyclamen

2006-03-08T15:02:00.000+11:00

Look what is flowering in my garden! I had never been able to get a second season out of a cyclamen before. I am so chuffed.

Personal DNA

2006-02-28T19:23:00.000+11:00

Well it's no secret that I like taking online personality tests. I like to see how the results compare from test to test and day to day. This test was actually interesting to complete and gives the outcome in written, graphical and pictorial form. You can also invite your friends to assess your personality.

Try it. Hold the cursor over each coloured bar below to see what it represents.

My results:

Benevolent Leader

My Personal DNA Report

He did good

2006-02-16T19:11:00.000+11:00

Worked on Valentine's Day. Was really tired. Got home. Went shopping. Planned dinner. Felt really sleepy. Nothing romantic had happened. Then the doorbell rang and an arrangement was delivered.

Made me cry. What a sweetie. Yutaka did good.

What Kind of Food Are You?

2006-02-09T16:04:00.000+11:00

You Are French Food

Snobby yet ubiquitous.

People act like they understand you more than they actually do.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Because I like cheese??!!

The Crush

2006-01-24T18:25:00.000+11:00

Having experienced the peak hour crush in Japan for the first time, I can honestly say that I do not want to come back in the next life as a sardine or a Japanese business person.

Whhooaahh craparoni, what an utterly traumatic and excruciating experience that was!!! Can you believe in five years of living in Japan on and off, yesterday was the first time I had ever taken a peak hour train in Japan.

I had two days of extra work starting at the unusually early time (for an English teacher in Japan) of 9am, so I had to leave my station at 8am. I noticed that the lines on the train platform were much longer than usual but as I was near the start of a line, I wasn't too worried about it. I got on the train which was already pretty much at capacity and managed to find a ring to hold onto. It was a sub express and I had five stops before I had to change to a local train. Well....each and every stop about two people got off and 50 more got on. We were pushed from in front, behind, beside and occasionally from underneath. An umbrella poked my thigh, an elbow nudged my shoulder, a briefcase dug into my back and a young lady being a head shorter than me, basically had her head under my chin. As the train pulled away from each station, the whole mass of humanity would tilt backwards with the force, supported only by those lucky (?) enough to have hold of something.

As I was being pushed from behind, I was forced to stand at a very unnatural angle and that along with holding my heavy bag was basically causing my leg muscles to shake. You know the way they do when you suddenly do some heavy exercise, like run up a hill full sprint? I wasn't sure if I could hold out for the five stations. I had a horrible thought, "what if I get train sick". I had nowhere to run, nowhere to throw up and definitely nowhere to hide.

At last we made it to the station where I had to change trains. I have no idea how I managed to get out. There must have been about 15 bodies between myself and the doorway to sweet sweet freedom. I think it was only for my oversized bag which I used to bulldoze a path through the pack (thank goodness for big heavy text books) and my very strong desire to not be touching 20 people at once with every appendage I own, not to mention all the other people's appendages touching me.

I crossed over to the local train which was full but at least everyone could have a handlehold. I stood and watched the young men especially employed by the train company and who only work there at peak hour, rush from door to door pushing everyone's bits and pieces that had been caught in the train doors back inside. The images of faces pressed up against the windows were no longer comedy but real and right there in front of me. I just shook my head and gave up a silent prayer that we're moving home soon.

I might think twice now before complaining about the late working hours of an English teacher in Japan. At least by starting later we get to avoid this daily distress.

I s'pose it could be worse.

In reality it was like this. Crowded Japanese Train

What's Your Japanese Subculture?

2006-01-20T19:29:00.000+11:00

You Are a Goth!

You're so gothically outrageous, and you aren't afraid to flaunt it.

Whether you dress up like Robert Smith or a tragic Little Bo Peep,

chances are that you'll be parading around with the rest of the goths at Yoyogi Park on Sunday.

Don't forget your white makeup and blue lipstick! Who knows?

You may just get picked up by one of the seedy photographers.

What's Your Japanese Subculture?

Who makes this crap? I am so not a Goth. Not that there's anything wrong with being a Goth but I don't own much black and white clothing and only have minimal body piercings. *sigh* At least I wasn't a giggly schoolgirl.

Sushi tray

2006-01-18T16:31:00.000+11:00

Sushi tray
Originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

How good does this look? This is one thing I really love about Japanese food, it's presentation is always carefully thought about and well laid out. The tamago sushi (egg- yellow with black stripe) was the best, closely followed by the salmon (orange).

This tray was delivered too- like a pizza. There are some things I will miss when we head home...

Local festival

2006-01-11T19:35:00.000+11:00

Local festival pics
Originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

Last night we went to a local festival at a shrine one train stop away. This festival was selling charms for good business in 2006. They had free sake, the cold clear kind and the hot milky coloured kind. I totally recommend the hot white sake, it is very delicious and really warms you up on a cold night. We also ate butter potatoes and frankfurts while watching the locals get drunk and start dancing around the fire.

Here are a few pics.

Australia has just experienced its hottest year on record.

2006-01-04T14:38:00.000+11:00

Action needed on climate change

This scares the poop outta me. Is each year just gunna get hotter and hotter until we are all roasted?

When will it become obvious to everyone that some attention to how we are influencing the environment is more important than carrying on with our comfortable lives? Our kids are not gunna applaud us for all our great 'developments' and super 'technology' when they're in danger every time they step foot outside.

Can anyone offer me an interesting reason as to why Australia did not sign the Kyoto Protocol? Something other than that big ol' bully President telling us we had to.

Snow time

2005-12-22T12:49:00.000+11:00

Blizzard
Originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

Well we have a blizzard here. The rest of Japan had been getting recored snowfalls for a week or so but none in Osaka....until today. It is amazing for this Aussie to watch. I even rang my parents back home to tell them, where it is 40 degrees. Ouch! Talk about extremes.

Have a look.

FWC Christmas Party 2005

2005-12-19T18:39:00.000+11:00

FWC Christmas Party 2005
Originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

On Saturday a group of foreign wives (and fiancees) met for a Christmas party at my place (aka the shoebox). It was a really fun night, some got pleasantly tipsy and all were stuffed with good food.

Here we are holding our secret santa gifts.

What does a drawing of a pig say about you and your personality?

2005-11-16T14:51:00.000+11:00

This is so cute, I gotta add it.

What it showed about my personality.

-you are a realist (yes)
-you are direct, enjoy playing devil's advocate and neither fear nor avoid discussions (yes)
-you are emotional and naive, you care little for details and are a risk-taker (first two yes, last two no)
-you are insecure or are living through a period of major change(last one definitely!!
-you are an OK listener (hmmm?)
-your sex life is WOW (hehehe....)

Have a go yourself. Draw a pig

Australian Politics Test

2005-10-18T18:30:00.000+10:00

This is an interesting test to show how you fit into the Australian Political system. Have a go, you might be surprised by your results.
Australian Politics Test

I tend to be centre left with no political party being very much aligned to my views. The closest were Family First and The Greens.
My Results

Being White, the new uncool?

2005-10-05T17:51:00.000+10:00

This has been an ongoing thought of mine for a while now. I was going to take the time over a few days to write it out and word it properly but i've been getting a bit impatient for other's thoughts. I obviously have too much time on my hands but so be it.

My thoughts on being 'white'.

It seems that being 'white' isn't very cool. I used to find myself jealous of people with varied cultural backgrounds, who celebrated interesting festivals and ate different foods. The girls of Indian decent I went to high school with always seemed exotic to me with their whole other world going on once they got home. They could
speak another language and smelled of spices and visited family in different countries in the school holidays.

Minorities around me always seemed so passionate about their culture and families and I often found myself so intrigued by their way of life. Maybe this was what first led me to leave Australia and date guys of other nationalities? I always wanted my kids to be able to speak another language. I always thought that i'd love to be different and have my Mum come from some exotic country (she's British and I always wished she was from a non-English speaking country, so I could have had the opportunity to be bilingual).

I find people from non-white backgrounds (this is probably not very politically correct) being proud of what their culture is and has done. African Americans have their great musical talents, Aboriginal Australians have their intimate knowledge of nature and fantastic arts and crafts, Japanese have their long long history and
traditions. And I find myself thinking, what can I as a white Australian be proud of?

Well, my ancestors built ships and found new lands- but then proceeded to kill the natives and stuff up the environment.

It just seems that being 'white' (and I guess i'm mainly talking about being white in Australia) is not something to be proud of. In some way I feel relieved that my kids can at least get some 'culture' and 'history' from their Japanese side.

OK, I think it's all out now. I know this is all over the place but that is the state of my mind at present.

Your thoughts?

Our first wedding anniversary

2005-09-20T15:26:00.000+10:00

Anniversary Flowers
Originally uploaded by BeingWanderLust.

Yutaka and I have just celebrated our first wedding anniversary. This past year has flown. Our next anniversary will be in Australia! Yay!!

My parents sent us this gorgeous big basket of flowers. Aren't we blessed?

Tokyo trip

2005-09-20T15:02:00.000+10:00

We just spent a weekend in Tokyo. I thought Tokyo was great, it felt much cleaner, safer and friendlier than Osaka. Maybe they're just more gaijin friendly? I went to the Edo Tokyo museum and would fully recommend it to anyone. Free guides are available in many languages (I got one lovely English speaking lady all to myself). You can ask stupid questions and get the inside knowledge that may be difficult just walking around by yourself. I have a distinct lack of knowledge about Japanese history, so I got a lot out of this museum. Here is a link with Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese Edo Tokyo Museum

Check out the huge bus and the really long cool escalator going up into the Edo Tokyo Museum.

www.flickr.com

What slanguage do you speak?

2005-09-05T18:19:00.000+10:00

Your Slanguage Profile

Aussie Slang: 100%

Victorian Slang: 50%

New England Slang: 25%

Prison Slang: 25%

Southern Slang: 25%

British Slang: 0%

Canadian Slang: 0%

What Slanguage Do You Speak?

Expat get together

2005-08-22T19:40:00.000+10:00

A few of us ex-pats (with Japanese husbands) had a bit of a get together last week in Nara. It was great! Good company, lots of chat, yummy food, noisy kids, beer, wine....ahhh.... I've met some awesome women in Japan. Another cool thing was the mix of nationalities, we had two Americans, one British, one New Zealander and an Aussie.

That's one thing I really love about travelling and meeting people, you can be in a group and realise you're the only one of your nationality there. And in some strange way it makes you want to be careful of how you portray your nationality. You become an ambassador of sorts. I think i've become more patriotic than ever by travelling and living overseas. And coming home.....wow do you appreciate the small things. Even the simple way a bus driver at Sydney airport greeted another driver, with a "g'day Rosso". Made the bus crack up laughing and made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Last Post

2005-08-10T17:06:00.000+10:00

Some of you may remember fondly my large cucumber post. Well, I had to delete it. It had stuffed up my whole page and I was too much of a technophobe to figure it out or too lazy. It's bloody hot here in Japan at the moment. It has sucked all my energy. When you wake up and see it is 30 degrees in your house, it aint a nice way to start the day. Bring on Autumn!

Our Honeymoon

2005-06-02T15:28:00.000+10:00

Well, a couple of weeks ago we had our honeymoon on Yakushima. A little world heritage island to the south of Japan. However, both Yutaka and I were a bit ill and so have decided to just call it a holiday and have another honeymoon some other time (yay). Some interesting links to Yakushima;

World Heritage Natural Property
Yakushima

Info from World Conservation Monitoring Centre

Here are some pics:

The world heritage forest.

A foot onsen (hot bath).

Magnificent coastline.

Having a lunch break after hiking up a mountain.

Breathtaking waterfall.

Turtle laying eggs.

Violent Smilies

2005-04-15T13:07:00.000+10:00

I just gotta dedicate a whole post to some of these great smilies I found. Made me laugh so much. You can find them here WebSmileys

OK, here we go... Should I place a warning? Nah, in your face!!

OK, just for balance and to prove I am not evil....

Enough.

Ohanami by night

2005-04-15T12:55:00.000+10:00

Last night we had a Cherry Blossum picnic with my Panasonic students near Osaka Castle. I just love this picture even though it isn't very clear. A branch of flowers in front of a tall office building with many lights on as workers are still at work at 10pm....

More pwetty flowers...

Us, the couple.

Which Rock Chick Are You?

2005-04-11T15:59:00.000+10:00

Gotta love procrastination.

Which Rock Chick Are You?

Rararara!!!!

Cherry Blossum Time

2005-04-11T15:31:00.000+10:00

One of the beautiful things about Japan- Cherry Blossums.

Japan Today - Quote Of The Day

2005-03-16T12:41:00.000+11:00

Japan Today - Quote Of The Day - If you walk into the Rakuten office around 3 a.m. in the morning, you'll probably see about 70 or 80% of the staff still working. - Japan's Leading International News Network
Hiroshi Mikitani, president of Internet shopping mall operator Rakuten, saying the diligence of his young staff (mostly in their 20s and 30s) is the reason for his company's success. (Kyodo)

What company president would be proud to say this? A Japanese company president of course. The staff mentioned here must have such a fun filled, joyous life.

Excuse me while I go and puke.....

In Memory of Jay

2005-03-14T16:28:00.000+11:00

Our beloved family dog died last Friday.

We had Jay for about eight years after we received him from the pound as an adult dog of three years. He was a breeding dog, passing his Weimaraner genes on until the day his breeding owner passed away and he was sent to the pound.

My parents used to own a female dog of this breed and they had been very fond of her. One day while out and about in our home town my Father saw a lady walking a weimaraner and asked her about the dog, where she had gotten her from etc. This lady informed my Father that a breeding couple had been sent to the pound after their owner died. This lady had taken the female but as far as she knew the male was still at the pound. So as soon as we could (maybe later that day or the next) my Father and I set off to the pound. We found 'Jay' and asked the staff about him. But those smart ladies at the pound knew a family looking for a dog a mile away and they promptly gave us his leash, bowl and the dog. And we'd only gone to the pound to look at him!

So being unprepared to take on a dog at such short notice, Dad and I had to stop at the shopping centre on the way home to buy food etc for Jay. We were also in Mum's *new* car and so had a bit of explaining to do to Mum when she came home that night.

And so Jay became a loving member of the family. A fierce watchdog by night (scaring off at least one would be burglar, who probably stained his pants by the panicked 'shit' Mum heard him say while frantically trying to climb back over the backyard fence). But a docile, friendly, give anyone a lick dog by day.

He was Dad's dog. He even did the security rounds with Dad for a year or so and loved even minute of that!

He used to come and help me get the chooks eggs, always running ahead but turning around to make sure I was coming. He loved people and people loved him!

Thanks 'Jay Jay' for the memories, we'll miss you boy.

Sick of teaching American English

2005-03-09T14:36:00.000+11:00

I am AUSTRALIAN hear me roar!!!! I am so sick of teaching American English. Yesterday when teaching kids new food words using flashcards, I got to the red sauce stuff you put on meat, potato chips etc..... Do we all know what i'm talking about?? TOMATO SAUCE!!!!! This card had of course, Ketchup written on the back. So I taught the kids both words.

Please take heed, a sweater is a JUMPER.

Fall is AUTUMN. When teaching a kinder class the seasons, I didn't even have the option to say Autumn, as only 'Fall' was written on their worksheet, as you can see here;

Oh and for the record, does anyone know what a castinet is?! Yet another new word I am supposed to teach, yet don't know.

Sick of smog

2005-03-09T14:26:00.000+11:00

I am so friggin sick of smog. This is the first time in my life to live in a city and i've been doing fairly well I reckon. But I have just had it with the smog!!! This is a pic from our study window....I zoomed in, so you can see more detail than if you just looked out.

I'm surprised my asthma hasn't been worse since we moved here. I miss the fresh air from back home and being able to see the distant hills.

Cooking

2005-02-15T15:58:00.000+11:00

For Australia Day on January 26th I made a traditional Pavlova. Yutaka wasn't sure what to make of it and thought the crispiness of the outside was weird. But I thought it was the best bloody pavlova I had ever made.

Then for Valentines Day yesterday I made a chocolate cake. I'm still getting used to this pokey little oven, so I overcooked it a bit but with all the chocolate in and on it, who cares.

Snow again

2005-02-15T15:50:00.000+11:00

Well we got snow again on February 2nd. I know i'm a bit late in posting this. In fact i'm a bit of a slack blogger hey...don't post for ages then post a few ideas at once. Oh well, shit happens. Back to snow, second time this winter. It felt wonderful, the snow making everything look pretty. It's funny how we've only got snow twice this winter but north Japan is buried in meters of it!

Japanese garden

2005-01-24T18:38:00.000+11:00

As much as I bitch constantly about this country (sorry Taka and Pook). There are lovely things about living in Japan. Yesterday Yutaka and I visited a cool nursery with an awesome Japanese garden section.

They had pots and pots of one of my favourite flowers- Tulips!!!

Have you ever seen blue orchids? They were worth going to this nursery if nothing else.

Engrish

2005-01-24T18:34:00.000+11:00

Seeing as I pass a million and one examples of Engrish/Japlish everyday, I thought i'd start a special section devoted to the butchering of my native language by the natives of this other country i'm living in.

Here is one I saw yesterday. Made me shudder at the thought of what they're putting in their loaves.

Weird Sushi

2005-01-24T18:28:00.000+11:00

I like sushi. I love sushi train restaurants- where the small plates of sushi roll along a little conveyor belt next to you and you choose whatever looks nice (edible).

Usually sushi consists of maguro(tuna), shake (salmon), unagi (eel), saba (mackeral), hamaguri (clam) yada yada. However at this restaurant I noticed very different types of sushi, such as BBQ pork, corn salad and meatballs!? I kid you not. Take a look

Snow!!

2005-01-03T17:35:00.000+11:00

Wow, it snowed here on New Years Eve!!! Not a totally unknown occurrence but not common either. It was very exciting!

As you can probably tell....smilies aint working for me the last couple of posts... Rest assured I will overcome this temporary lack of self-expression-stifledness. I just made that a word. ;-P

Well, that was Christmas

2004-12-27T17:31:00.000+11:00

My first Christmas as a married women is over. Wasn't that an adventure...

I got a digital camera from my hubby, so now i'm going mad with pictures. Good thing is I can add more pics to this blog.

Here is a pic for ya of the inlaws/brother in law and I about to dig in...

How about these goodies...

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

The well endowed gingerbreadman

2004-12-16T19:52:00.000+11:00

Seeing as i'm getting into the Christmas cooking spirit and making gingerbread 'people', I thought this cartoon was rather apt.

Christmas prep and being sick

2004-12-15T19:08:00.000+11:00

Well, I got my Christmas parcel for back home sent off. I hope it gets there by Christmas.

I am planning our Christmas party. I have decided on the finger food, alcoholic drinkies, mingling type party, which may prove a challenge as Japanese are used to the let's-sit-on-the-floor-and-crowd-around-a-little-table type thing, like this

I am sick today. Sympathy please. Isn't that smilie sooo gross....hehehe...

Christmas Party

2004-11-29T19:30:00.000+11:00

Well, I think I have finally managed to convince Yutaka that we should have a Christmas party.

I just love this time of year and enjoy getting together with friends. It kind of bugs me that Christmas is all decorations and crappy Christmas songs in supermarkets here, but then that's about it. Just another working day for everyone. BUT this year it's on a Saturday, so everyone is free and can come for lunch!!!!

I'm also planning on cooking a 'traditional' Christmas dinner for my new Japanese family. First Christmas as a 'wife'....yikes... Anyone have a good recipe for Christmas cake?

One thing they do well here at Christmas is, Christmas lights. They are huge, gorgeous and spectacular!!! This gives you a bit of an idea

Don't analyse your vomit.

2004-11-22T17:53:00.000+11:00

Nice title huh? Went to a wedding party yesterday and woke up with a cracker of a hangover this morning. Although on taking note of the contents of my vomit, it may have been more to do with the combination of foods....

How am I going to be able to eat Kaarage again?

Getting to know blogging and Christmas

2004-11-18T18:43:00.000+11:00

Well, from being a bit of a technophobe, I have managed to get a few more things working on this blog today. Pretty damn proud of myself.

Seems Christmas is in the air.... Christmas decorations up everywhere, Christmas music playing.... So today I got into the spirit of things and started making Christmas cards. Making I hear you say.....well, I haven't been very crafty in a while, so I decided it was high time to get the glue and scissors out.

Wedding

2004-11-16T16:38:00.000+11:00

My wedding was just over two months ago. My brother was photographer and I wanted to show off some of his great work.

First Post

2004-11-16T15:40:00.000+11:00

Being as this is my first go at blogging, be kind to me.
I thought it would be nice to set up this blog with my feelings, thoughts, pics and opinions. That's why I named it Laura no iken, or Laura's opinions.
Enjoy.