Proud of Mum

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.

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

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

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!

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

Kit Kat in a Can

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?

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

Japanese cinemas gets smelly

It was only a matter of time.

New hair cut

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

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?

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

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

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.

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

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

natto and quail eggs
Originally uploaded by eecue.

Have you ever seen a more disgusting looking food?

What 2007 Car Should You Drive?

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?

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

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.