MissSin

That was 2010, and this is 2011

2011-03-03T18:09:00.002+09:00

I kept meaning to update what was going on in the land of MissSin, but somehow I never got round to it. But now I am…

2010 was a good year & a sad year.
It was sad because I lost 2 influential people in my life; my grandmothers.
Molly I lost at the beginning of summer & then grandma in autumn. Both of them had ‘good innings’, but it doesn’t make it any easier to know they’re gone.
Still, neither of them would want me to sit here and write a maudlin blog, so I won’t.

2010 was a good year because I got my own life in Germany.
I found work, albeit part-time. It did, however, mean I had my own money and no longer was a full-time hausfrau. Erm, wait a minute, I STILL am a hausfrau AND working…something went wrong there….

I’ve also improved my German.
In 2010, I joined 2 German courses and am now capable of ordering in restaurants & basic conversations. I’m not as fluent as I would like to be because a) German is a bitch of a language to learn, b) I have to learn everything twice because my brain is frazzled (i.e. old) c) I’m lazy at home & K and I only use English (although we are slowly increasing the percentage of German we use) and d) German is a bitch to learn (oh…did I mention that already?)

2010 was also a year of travel; not as much as 2009 naturally, but in 2010 I started the year in Egypt and finished it in Thailand, with England, France & Italy in between.
I also managed to become an Advanced Open Water diver while in Thailand, so can now dive to depths of 30m. We did a four-day liveaboard (diving holiday on a boat, where you live, sleep & breathe diving) in the Andaman Sea off the west coast of Thailand. It really improved my confidence, and I now feel a lot better about diving. And, hopefully, this year K & I will go diving somewhere warm. We are considering going to the Red Sea, but need to keep an eye on the news in the region…not much fun diving when people are dying.

And I think that covers the rest of 2010.

2011, so far, has been a great year. I started it in Thailand, on Koh Chang, a small island off the west coast of Thailand (not to be confused with the other larger Koh Chang, which is the other side of Thailand, just to make things complicated). Or Koh Chang was incredibly undeveloped with only generators for electricity, which ran from sunset to about midnight. After that, you were reliant on torches. It was great! No cars, no noise, no bright lights. Heaven!

We came back to freezing Germany and at the end of January, I was offered a full-time job. From April, I will be an in-house trainer at the same company as K (although not in the same place) I will no longer be self-employed and will have all the perks that a full-time contract here entails (30 days paid holiday, sick pay and insurance) YAY! And the job itself will be interesting – I’ll be ‘embedded’ in a department at the company and be responsible for all their English needs, which will range from lessons, to proofreading to OJT. I think it will be challenging, but after a year of ‘cookie-cutter’ teaching, I am really looking forward to something more intellectually challenging.

In February, K turned 30, so we are now in the same decade (just for 3 years though, as he keeps reminding me). We also had a visit from my aunt & uncle, which was great. I really enjoy when visitors come, because we actually get up and do things & see places. This time we went to Tubingen, a medieval town an hour away from here. It was really pretty and I definitely need to go back there again when it’s warmer.
And now it’s March and K’s team (Schalke 04) is in the final of the German League Cup, so I have a headache after celebrating a tad too much for a Wednesday evening…

There, think I am up to date now…

Summer Holiday Part 2 - The English Live Up To Their Stereotype

2010-09-10T18:57:00.003+09:00

On our travels, we had a couple of moments where Kevin gleefully chuckled about English people living up to their (perhaps deserved) reputation of a nation of drunken fools.
I am very happy to report that none of my family members (except perhaps myself) fell into that group. And of course, not ALL English people in or out of England are Chavs, WAGs, drunks, hooligans. We did, however, have a few classic moments which i would like to share...

The first place was Croydon.
We went out to sample the night life there and visited a few pubs. More interesting than the pubs, however, was watching what the girls where wearing. At first, K was quite impressed when some young hotties dressed in (not very much) Lycra came (staggering) by. And then a few more hotties cam by in Lycra. And K decided that he liked Croydon. Then we realised that EVERYONE (female, that is. The men managed to show come kind of restraint when i came to Lycra) was wearing Lycra. Some people should NOT wear Lycra. Sadly no one had told these girls that they looked like tightly wrapped pre-packed sausages. With make up. And heels. This did put K off a bit & i think even he decided that Lycra isn't necessarily a good thing...

Later that evening, we were queuing up to get into a pub (later opening = bouncers & ID check on the door) As we were waiting there, a bouncer drags out a young skinny boy with blood all over him. And here is what went on next:
Bouncer: You're not coming back in; you're covered in blood.
Boy: But, mate...
Bouncer: No, you're covered in blood. You're NOT coming in.
Boy's testosterone kicks in
Boy: You F****R! LET ME IN!!!!
(Like the Bouncer will change his mind...)
Bouncer: (calmly) No, you're covered in blood.
Boy tries to hit bouncer without great success; Bouncer being twice the size & sober
Boy: COME ON THEN!
Boy's Girlfriend: HIT 'IM!!! GO ON!
Boy tried to hit Bouncer again. He missed.
Bouncer: You are NOT coming in. You've got blood all over you.
Boy's Girlfriend: It's only 'cos he found out I was unfaithful (!!!!!)
Boy tried to hit Bouncer again; Bouncer gets Boy in headlock and removes him from the premises. While this was going on, Unfaithful Girlfriend was yelling, "Hit 'im!" repeatedly at the top of her voice... Classy couple!

The second 'English' event was in Salisbury, next to our campsite, which was right next to Salisbury race track. There wasn't any horse racing going on, but on the Saturday, a family had rented out the club/bar there for a wedding party.
When we headed out in the morning, around 10am, the first guests were arriving. When we got back, at around 8pm, the party appeared to be in full swing. We retired to our tent for a few quiet beers & some poker.
Then around midnight, we heard raised voices and people screaming at each other. So, K & I, being the nosey people we are, headed up to the racetrack to have a look at what was going on. There, hiding behind a tree, we had a great few of a wedding gone completely & utterly bad. Bouncers were dragging people out of the pub & handing them to Police who were dragging them off the Police van. Men were punching men, women were punching women, everybody was cursing everybody else & it was just a complete free-for-all.
The classic moment, though, was when the police were dragging off one man, a woman ran up & cursed the police for taking her man. And even tried to hit the police man. Then, a third man came running up after the woman and shouted, 'Sharon! Don't forget you have babies at home!'
Oh dear oh dear...

Ah, England!

Summer Holiday Part 1 - What/Where We Did

2010-09-08T23:18:00.002+09:00

This year, K & I decided we would combine a family visit (mostly mine) with a camping trip. Originally, we had wonderful ideas of going to England, visiting my family and then heading off somewhere warmer (e.g. Southern France) for the camping part of the holiday.
Then reality hit: we had 2 and a half weeks. Also, Southern France & England are in completely opposite directions from Stuttgart.
So, we bravely (stupidly?) decided to camp in England.
Actually, it did turn out OK & the weather was relatively kind to us. For the first 4 or 5 days, the weather was basically crap - rain & most of it horizontal. However, this was the part of the trip was spent staying with family (in their homes) or in hotels.
The remaining week, the weather turned, and despite a couple of really windy days (when we feared that the tent would turn in paragliding equipment), it was clear and even sunny most of the time.

If you're interested, here's where we went & what we did:

1. Halifax, Yorkshire - first family visit, where we even managed to have a BBQ outside (little did we know that that would be the last time we saw the sun for 5 days...)
2. Manchester - Lunch time family visit; lovely to reconnect with family, but shocked/surprised at how grown up my cousins are...
3. Castle Donington (with only 1 'n'), Leicestershire - Went to see the biggest collection of Formula 1 cars in the world. I came to the conclusion that once you have seen one Mclaren, you have seen them all... Also met a bloke in a pub who invited to go and see motorbike racing on Bank holiday Monday (the following week) We said we'd think about it, but K & him exchanged numbers.
4. Croydon, South London - A visit to Grandma. Was great to see her, she's still as feisty as ever, just not as healthy. But considering she's 90 & been a smoker for 70 odd years, she's doing pretty well!
5. Salisbury, Wiltshire - Here we went to watch Gurston Down Hillclimb (for those who don't know a hill climb event involves driving up a hill as fast as possible. The fastest cars take about 30 seconds. Not exactly an endurance sport!) If you want to know more & see some photos, go here.
6. Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire - We decided to take Yonny (Donington dude) up on his offer & trekked all the way North to see motorbikes. Yonny, of Sondel Sport Racing, invited us in & we succeeded in watching a lot of different bikes racing round. Watching motorbikes in the flash is WAY more exciting than watching them on TV. But i have to admit that it scared the crap out of me. Much scarier than watching cars racing - decided that anyone who takes up motor bike racing has to have a streak of insanity or else have a death wish!
7. Lingfield, Surrey - We were on our way to the South coast, but it was getting late & decided to find the nearest camp site. At first, things seemed OK, but we quickly realised we were directly under the flight path from Gatwick airport. PLanes are not quiet. Neither was the guy with the chainsaw at 8am the next day. And neither was the mechanics' workshop directly the other side of the hedge. NOT a good night's sleep...
8. Alfriston, East Sussex - After I gently persuaded K that NO, I WAS NOT STAYING ANOTHER NIGHT IN LINGFIELD, we hit the road and headed south towards the sea. Got to Seaford & found a nice tourist information office, who gave us information about local campsites. We ended up choosing one in Alfriston (after visiting one in Seaford that looked like it was owned by a gnome worshipping religious cult). Alfriston was lovely - really Olde Englishe & very quaint & touristy. But the locals were friendly & the sun was shining & there were no aeroplanes!

And there ended our England trip. We left from Dover & took the ferry to Dunkirk/Dunkerque - or however spell it. And then headed off the East Belgium (in the German speaking bit. Did you even know there was a German speaking bit? I didn't until last year...) There was a spent a lovely weekend with K's family; 4 sets of uncle+aunts, plus cousins, mothers and a dog (and a huge amount of alcohol, which is just the kind of family weekend i am am used to!)

Oh, I forgot the beginning of our trip. I decided that an overnight ferry from Rotterdam, Holland to Hull, Yorkshire would be a more time effective & relaxing way of getting to the North of England. Well, it was for one of us. We had a cabin with bunks which was nice. However, if one person in a relationship is a snorer, bunk beds are the worst thing EVER. It is impossible to elbow a snorer whilst in bunk beds. Therefore, one person has a blissfully ignorant night's sleep, whilst the other is a tetchy sleepless wreck.
I won't mention names about who the snorer was, but I'll give you a hint: the snorer wasn't German.... ;)

Happy Times

2010-07-28T22:55:00.005+09:00

The last few weeks have been crazy with so much happening...

Some really sad things happened - most monumental of which was my grandmother dying. It was quick & sudden, which although a huge shock, would have been the way Molly would have wanted it.
In life, she was a huge character - both in a positive way & a negative way. I don't think anyone who met her wasn't affected by her in some way - whether that be in complete & utter shock at some of the things she dared say or do or her random kindess that went beyong the call of duty. But whatever anyone thought of her, somehow she knew she was doing the right thing, whether you agreed with her or not.
Anyway, the world will an empiter (and quieter) place without her.

Also, some really happy things happened.

At the beginning of July we had a family reunion in Italy. There were 14 of us in total. We had a lovely villa in Tuscany & it was really good to see everyone. It was the first time for us all to get together in one place for 20 years (our family is spread across the world; since i moved back to Europe, we're now spread across 2 continents instead of 3)
Tuscany is really gorgeous & I now get why people fall in love with it. It looks so 'Tuscan'! And top it all, we had lovely weather, good food, copious amounts of alcohol & lots of laughs. I think a good time was had by all.

Then I had my one-year anniversary in Germany (which I already wrote about.)

And then to finish my month off, I had a visit from the Davises. They stayed with K & me in Stuttgart for 5 days & we had a blast. We did more sightseeing in the last week, then i have done in the whole year i've been here! We did the zoo, the Black Forest, a medieval festival and a pub crawl of Stuttgart (Ok, so K & I have done that bit of sightseeing before!)
we managed to fit in a poker night, where M surprised us with his skill - he just needs to work on his poker face, as everytime he had an ace he started giggling...
It was really great to see them all again. And the best thing of all was that we just picked up where we left off. No awkwardness, no rough patches, just back like we were in Japan. Except that we weren't in Japan. We were in a whole different continent. Guess we'll have to meet in the U.S. next time.

How time flies!

2010-07-07T23:36:00.002+09:00

Today is my one year anniversary.

One year ago today, I arrived (a day later than planned) in Stuttgart to start my new life here.
It's been a tough year in many expected & unexpected ways, but I know i did the right thing. I feel more relaxed here and, in many ways, happier & less stressed.
The transition to a new country/language hasn't been as traumatic as I expected.
However the transition financially & emotionally has been harder than i expected. Weird - the things i thought be hard haven't & the things i assumed would be OK haven't been.
Germany is a great place to live - the people are nice, it's more laid back than i expected & the beer tastes good. Sometimes the people here in the south of Germany fulfill all the stereotypes of Germans (all work & no play; lack of humour & so on) but that's HERE. It's not true for the whole place (and K isn't from here, so he really doesn't fill any German stereotypes. Well, expect for the beer drinking part...)
German, the language, isn't easy by any means, but at least I don't have to learn a whole new system of writing/reading. And there are a lot of words that are similar. Grammar though is a lot harder - but i am very very slowly improving. I understand a lot more than a year ago, but i am still unable to have conversations. I can, however, read enough on a menu now & order what i want...

On a personal level, it's been tough. K & I have been having a lot of trouble settling back into couple life. The whole balance of 'us' changed by me moving here. So it's been a very bumpy ride. But, on a positive note, we're still together, still smiling & still working on us and making things work - some days being better than others.

People ask me if I miss Japan. In truth, i don't know how to answer that. I don't feel aching pangs for Japan. I have moments where I miss certain things - mostly food. More though, I miss my friends. But I know that even though they re not here, and I am not there, they are still my friends. So in a bizarre way i also don't miss them. Don't know if that makes any sense...

So, yeah, that's been my year.

Vuvuzela Madness

2010-06-14T21:29:00.002+09:00

I've had some complaints that I haven't updated here for a while.
No, I haven't - BECAUSE I HAVE A LIFE!! There's infinite amount of beer to drink, but a finite number of sunny days, so I need to maximise my outdoor time. And work (to pay for the outdoor time)

Seriously though, I have been busy and work doesn’t make for very exciting blogging. But to the curious among you, work is going well – am getting good feedback from my students. Life outside of work is also good – went to Berlin for a weekend, have enjoyed the sunshine, and will be going to Italy next month (woohoo!)

But now the World Cup has started, so everything else is on hold. For the next month, it is & will be just football. Being here for a world cup is interesting but VERY different. Up till now, I have watched World Cups only in England & Japan. In England, I was surrounded by my fellow dreaming masochists, so felt quite comfortable bemoaning the England team. I mean, that’s part of the national psyche; build up our hopes to irrational levels then have them completely annihilated. And THEN complain that our team is shit, always was and always will be. That’s what being an England fan is all about.

After that, I lived in Japan. A land of even bigger dreaming masochists. There, England fans can breathe a little sigh of relief, and feel a little (big?) sense of superiority – we have, after all, won the world cup (OK, yes, it was once, but it was once more than Japan)

And now I am in Germany. A land where people are realists and are not afraid of the truth. And where pretty much everyone has a memory of Germany winning a World Cup. And maybe even more than one. Perhaps they’ll remember THREE! They even have a little song celebrating their victories. The lyrics are imaginatively, “vierundfünfzig, vierundsiebzig, neunzig, zehn”, which translates as, “54, 74, 90, 10”. K likes singing that song. A lot.
So, it’s a great pleasure to be here when people keep telling me that England doesn’t stand a chance of winning, not reaching the semi-finals and perhaps not even the quarter finals. And then, to add insult to injury, numerous people have told me that England should have won it in 1966 either and that also should have been a German victory. Please don’t take our one star away! It’s pretty much the only thing England football fans have to brag about (even if we weren’t alive to witness it ourselves…)

Saying that, it’s not said in a nasty way. My friends are just being realists. The thing is, it’s easy to be a realist when you have witnessed your team win a World Cup. Being a masochistic dreamer sometimes isn’t as good as it’s cracked up to be….

Clear Skies

2010-04-19T23:38:00.002+09:00

I looked up at the sky yesterday and realised there were no vapour trails. Not one.
When was the last time you looked up at the sky & just saw blue space & fluffy white clouds? It was weird not seeing them.

And then today, i was working at the airport here. Both the arrivals board & departures board just had one word in the TIME column: CANCELLED

Yup, European airspace is closed. No flights out of/into Stuttgart till at least 8pm tonight. And the people in charge (whoever they, but i am sure they wear suits) are not even sure that the ban will be lifted then. But it is for safety reasons - no one (except alternative forms of transport, hotels & erm, maybe that's it)is really benefiting from it. But what can you do?

At least we have clear blue skies (with huge invisible clouds of toxic volcanic dust floating above)

In other news, I have started a German course. Twice a week for 3 months. Only downer is that it's Friday evening and Saturday morning as this was the only time i had available. We have a nice group of people from nearly every continent (haven't got Australasia covered) and everyone seems pretty mellow & willing to learn, which make life easier.
It's interesting being on the other side, as a language student instead of the teacher. Part of me is watching the teacher & wondering if I'd do things in the same way. Another part of me is thinking about all the things i tell my students & i should set a good example.
And then the main part of me is just getting confused with German grammar....

The Long Night

2010-03-24T22:38:00.003+09:00

Last Saturday was the 'Lange Nacht der Museen' here in Stuttgart. At this event, all museums, art galleries, and other cultural spaces were open from 9pm to 2am. You just needed to buy a 15€ ticket and you could go to as many (or as few) places as you liked AND the ticket price included free transportation too (special buses were put on connecting the event places).
Some of the places open were the City Art Gallery, the castle, the Porsche Museum and some local vineyards. But that is just a little taster; there were more than 90 places to choose from...

With this smorgasbord of places to choose from, we started of by visiting a WWII era bunker which had a photo exhibition entitled "Angels & Anarchy". The anarchy photos were all famous Stuttgartians (who i dodn't know) posed on/with/next to an anarcy logo. The angels were photo portraits of the local Hells Angels and in the bunker they'd also set up a biker bar for the event. Bit scary but interesting as the bunker isn't normally open to the public & i don't go to biker bars.

After that, we made a quick stop to a local art space and then took a massively crowded bus to the harbour. For those of you who don't know, Stuttgart isn't by the sea. It's really really far away from the sea, but it is on the Neckar river, which is a main transportation route. So there is a harbour on the river. From there, we took a 30 minute cruise up & down the river, looking at the scenic view of silos, warehouses and heaps of scrap metal.

After our harbour tour, we went to the Mercedes Benz museum. Wow! This museum is brand spanking new & a really impressive piece of architecture. It's really beautifully laid out & there was always something to look at. One of the funny things was that the local radio station was having a club night there (until 4am) as part of the Lange Nacht, so while we were wandering round, we were serenaded by the black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and other such music.

Apparently, the Lange Nacht is not special to Stuttgart and happens in cities all over Germany. It's an idea that I've never heard of, but is a fantastic idea. And judging by the number of people out & about, I wasn't the only person who thought so.
And later in the year, there's a similar event, where live music is played in various bars, clubs & spaces around town. I'm looking forward to that one too & hopefully the one in Mülheim too.

-----

Some Random Observations...

The Police do live up to their stereotypes - even in Germany
Was sitting in a cafe, when up pulled a police car. Out got the police man, and into the cafe he came. There, he proceeded to by some donuts/cake and then headed back out to his car & drove off.

Men aren't that different in Japan & Germany
I've had a few instructors here telling me how different it would be teaching German & Japanese students. So far, as i've mentioned before, there aren't too many major differences. And sometimes, there are some HUGE similarities.
For instance, in one of my basic classes this week, we were discussing housework & who does it. My students (1 woman and 5 men) were making sentences such as 'I do the vacuuming'; 'My wife does the laundry' and so on.
The end result was my female student saying, "I do everything. My boyfriend do nothing".
Then one of the male students topped that by saying, "My wife does everything. The best house machine is my wife".
Hmm....

März Madness

2010-03-15T22:41:00.002+09:00

Is it half way through March already? Nearly a third of the way through the year? DAMN!

Since I last wrote, I've got more classes & am teaching 5 days a week. Not all day teaching (i.e. 9-5), but at least one class a day, usually more. Still have some gaps to fit a couple more classes in, but my schedule is quite nice as it is (still have time to do all my hausfrau duties as well....)

So, what have i found out in my first month of working? Here's a little run down....

There are a lot of similarities to what i did in Japan and what do now in Germany:

The students all want to learn, they (mostly) need English for their jobs
Companies spend a LOT of money on English training
Low level students are still a bit giggly & nervous
High level students are demanding & ask tough questions (related to English)

This means that work isn't too challenging for me. I don't mean that in a negative way; I have 13 years experience teaching in the corporate field, I know what to do & I know I do it well. And now I will stop blowing my horn.....
But it does mean that when I have got used to things (i.e. travelling around town), I can focus on joining a German course. If work is easy for me to do well, then i can definitely afford some time on studying. Just want to get a couple of months under my belt first though.

On the other hand, there a few things that are really different here in Germany:

When I commute, I can sit down on the train. I can buy a coffee, eat breakfast, read the newspaper, prepare my lessons & not get elbowed, pushed or generally mauled. I spend approximately 40 to 60 minutes travelling to some of my classes (others are a 15 minute walk away), and i find it relaxing. I go through fields & hills (lot of tunnels in Stuttgart), I can people out enjoying the countryside. It's SO different from the infuriating sardine-like trains in Tokyo, where all I saw was concrete, more concrete and neon. I never thought I would enjoy commuting, but I had never commuted outside of Japan before...
This does mean, however, i have to be really careful with bus/train schedules. If I miss one, I could have to wait for up to an hour for the next one. I'm used to a train every 2 to 5 minutes, and buses every 15 minutes or so. I've been both spoiled & scarred by commuting in Tokyo...
In class, when I ask my (higher) level students for their opinions, they actually give them. And they are not afraid to disagree with each other. It's a refreshing change not to have to cajole an opinion out of them. On the other hand, it has really screwed up my time management as an activity that would have taken 10 minutes with a Japanese class, now takes twice as long with my German students...

And those are the main things I have noticed so far. I'm sure there will be more & i will be sure to keep you updated....

*****

And one completely unrelated observation: I love that Euros come from all over the place. Each country got to mint their own coins & could change the design a little (ie German 1€ have an eagley thing & the Spanish ones have King Juan Carlos on them). It means that in my wallet i can have coins that have travelled across countries. Don't know why, but i find that fascinating. It's probably actually verging on geeky, but hey, everybody needs a bit of geek in them...

Februar...

2010-02-23T21:22:00.002+09:00

Last month i wrote that one of my resolutions for 2010 was to find a job.
Guess what? I have! In fact, i've found three! I think i mentioned before that there was very little chance of me getting a full-time teaching position here in Germany, due to the fact that companies really don't want to be responsible for all the benefits (pension, health-care, whatever) This means that i have had to accept the fact that i am going to be a freelancer (ie working for at least 2 companies).
In January, I had interviews with 3 different coprorate training companies & all three accepted me. Woohoo! I've already started working with 2 of the companies & start with the third tomorrow. I am teaching business people of all levels & needs & so far, so good. Now is just a matter of building up a schedule & fitting as many classes together (but not so many that i begin to neglect my hausfrau duties....)
Otherwise, not much else has gone on. Both K & me had birthdays. As did my mum. And K's mum. And the biggest milestone of all was my grandma who reached the milestone of 90. NINETY! Can you believe that? And have you ever gone shopping for a 90th Birthday card? Surprisingly, there was a (limited) supply in the shops. They were, however, hideous. Apparently, anyone who has reached the age of ninety is supposed to like roses and soft pastel colours. And anyone who has met grandma, the woman who loves bright red & bought herself a frog green leather jacket, would know that pastel peach roses are *so* not her. Instead i bought a Happy 60th card & Happy 30th card and told her to choose which one(s) she felt was/were more appropriate!
=====
Last week's amusing teaching anecdote:
We were studying the difference between informal & formal requests and the students had to fill out a table of requests. Sometimes the formal version was missing, sometimes the informal...
Textbook:
FORMAL: May I have another glass of beer?
INFORMAL: ????
Students discussing the answer:
Student 1: Hmmm...
Student 2 (in a loud voice & empty beer mug gesture): Beer, please!
Teacher (me): Isn't that a little too direct?
Student 1: No, that works.

I couldn't really disagree with them, could i?

Life in Progress

2010-01-27T22:25:00.002+09:00

I don't really make resolutions, but i have 3 vague goals for 2010:
1. Get a job
2. Learn to drive
3. Learn German, enough at least to have a conversation

Number 1 is definitely in progress at the moment. The good news is that i've had three successful interviews & all three companies want to hire me. The bad news is that all three only hire freelance instructors (i'm looking to continue in the corporate Enlgish education field). This is probably because the benefits German companies have to pay their full-time employees are huge. Therefore, companies don't want to take on the responsibility of hiring their own trainers.
Also, i am starting back down the bottom of the teaching ladder. I'll be teaching seminar classes again, not in curriculum development or intensive training.
But on the more positive side, all three companies have mentioned other possibilities; for example teaching basic Japanese courses, running intensives, or becoming a cross cultural trainer. Also, as a freelance trainer, i can accept all three jobs & jigsaw them together.
So far, i have one confirmed class starting 10th February, but it looks like more will be coming soon.... I will finally be able to break free from the Hausfrau life!!

As for 2 & 3, not much progress has been made.
I am, however, in the process of changing my (unused) British driving license into a German one. No real need to do it (EU people can drive in EU countries), but i have no ID card for Germany, so i thought a driving licence issued here would be useful. Still, i need to learn to drive though....passed my test in 1997 & haven't driven since...
As for German, i have heard that there is the possibility of joining a government run intensive program (for free). Apparently, it's a nightmare to get through all the red tape (in German, which kind of defaeats the point - if you can do all the paperwork & bureaucracy in German, why do you need a German course?!) But a friend of mine knows a man who has successfully negotiatied the process, so i am going to pick his brain next week to find out if it is even an option for me.

And what else? The biggest & best news this year is that The German & I finally have our own place. And it came fully furnished, albeit in an old Italian lady kind of way (the former owner's choice of decor...) We even have a piano & the living room looks more like a salon for afternoon teas than somehwere to chill... It's in central Stuttgart, near a main road & tram but far enough away to be quiet. And we have a spare room, so guests are more than welcome. I will, hopefully, take some photos and upload them in the coming weeks.

And i had a birthday. My first German birthday & the birthday that officially marked me as closer to 40 than 30. Yup, i'm old(er). But i'm happy. 2010 is looking good!

2009: A Year to Remember

2010-01-04T18:49:00.002+09:00

2009 - wow! So many things happened in 2009 that it seems pretty impossible to actually remember everything that occurred.

It was a year of many things & with many faces:

A Year of Travel

I opened the year in Britain and closed it in Egypt.

In between i went to Germany, Japan, France, Belgium, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia & Singapore; three continents & multiple time zones. So many beautiful places, lovely people & great memories.

I also moved from Asia to Europe, only to travel back to Asia again for 3 months.

My carbon footprint must be huge...

A Year of Change

This year i made a monumental leap of faith - giving up pretty much everything I had for a man, The German. I moved half way round the world, giving up my job, my home & my comfortable life.

Do i regret moving? Not for a moment.

Has it been challenging? Yes, but perhaps that was what i needed. Life in Japan didn't really present many big challenges, or not as major as living here.

Do i miss Japan? Constantly. I miss beers on the train home with Ian; I miss girly Friday nights with Lala & Aya; I miss my Saturday night Fat Mam dates with J-dad; I miss walking into Blue Corn knowing that I'd know someone there to chat with; I miss speaking Japanese; I miss my J-friends. But most of all, I miss Michael & Shingo - my family in Japan, my anchors.

But there are new faces now. My German family. My new German friends. And the wonderful reconnection with a friend from high school in Japan (also British, also with a German partner and, funnily, also called Helen) And not to mention being able to go & see my parents for a weekend.

A Year of Challenge

The year opened with the tail-end of the TB saga; the last two months of my course of antibiotics. I am happy to report that everything is still A-OK; no TB & my liver is back to normal again.

Lesson Learnt: never underestimate the power of antibiotics

I also managed to fracture a bone in my face which, unsurprisingly, scared the crap out of me. More surprisingly though, was the fact that it was the first bone i have (knowingly) fractured.

Lesson Learnt: don't drink lots on an empty stomach whilst jet-lagged & then try & sit on a bar stool

I moved home from Japan to Germany. For 12 years, i had lived in the same flat & had managed to collect a hideous amount of stuff (aka crap). I had to reduce 12 years into 2 cubic metres. It was a challenge, especially negotiating it all & arranging everything all by myself. But i did it.

Lesson Learnt: start sorting & throwing things out at least 6 months before moving

I overcame my fear of water & got my Open Water Diver Licence. I failed the first time, but i didn't give up & tried again more slowly. I am still nervous of the ocean, but now it is a healthy respectful fear rather than a crippling 'i-will-not-go-in-the-water-if-i-can't-touch-the-bottom' type of fear.

Lesson Learnt: Overcoming fears IS possible & remember to trust people when they tell you that you are doing a good job. And do it in baby steps, not forcing yourself too hard.

That was 2009. A huge year. Of course a lot more happened; some i don't want to write about here. And some things that happened aren't really my story to share, but 2009 really was a huge eventful chaotic year.

Let's hope that 2010 is less eventful, calmer but just as challenging.

The Joys of Winter

2009-12-23T18:39:00.002+09:00

Unless you've been living under a rock or have cut yourself off from all forms of media, you have probably heard about the big freeze hitting northern Europe at the moment.

So, you have read about all the transport troubles & accidents that have occurred?

Let me tell you my story - a real-life tale of winter...

The story started with a car. Daddy Sin offered to sell me his old car for a really good price. I eagerly accepted the offer - MY FIRST CAR!

Only problems were that a) the car was in France and b) I can't drive (have a licence, but haven't driven since i passed my test 12 years ago...) There was K & his car, but we needed another driver & Joe, our flatmate, very kindly agreed to be the second driver.

Then we discussed the travel plans. We had two options; stay Saturday night chez Parental Sins or do a day-trip on Saturday (about an 8-hour return trip).

We decided to take the second option (which was to be probably the biggest mistake of the day)

Travel plans sorted, we could relax, driver - check, car - check, plan - check!

But then on Friday night it started to snow. And snow. And snow some more. It was the first day that snow had actually stuck in south Stuttgart. Went to bed nervous that we would be snowed in & unable to drive to France.

Saturday morning, i opened the curtains with trepidation. Luckily, there it hadn't snowed much more & there was only about 5cm on the ground & the main road had been cleared.

So, off to the car, K's aged VW Golf. This car has been dying a slow & painful death, but has been soldiering on. Saturday though was too cold & Golf decided that, no, he didn't want to start.

No amount of cajoling could persuade Golf to start - too cold, too tired & too snowy. Personally, I don't blame Golf for not wanting to start. At this point the temperature was -8C.

Luckily, we had the keys for another flatmate's car, so we decided to use that car instead.

And yes, Saab decided that, yes, he would go to France. And so off we set.

But it was cold. And despite being a Swedish car, Saab didn't like the icy spray off the road, which stuck to the windscreen, froze & left frozen sludge & impossible to see through. This meant stopping every few km to pour anti-freeze over it or, once the anti-freeze had run out, cleaning it manually. This resulted in our 4-hour journey taking just over 6 hours.

But we got there. And had a lovely dinner.

Pretty soon after dinner, we left in order to get back to Germany. Daddy Sin did suggest again that we stay the night in France, but we all had decided on our plan to return to Germany. Again, this was a decision that we would regret...

We left my parents place around 8:30, aiming to be back in Stuttgart around 1am.

we set off with no problems & the first couple of hours were uneventful & stress-free. By this time, the roads were pretty empty, so there wasn't any spray to stick to Saab's windscreen. Also, the temperature had dropped to below -10C, so everything was solid.

Motorway was empty, everything was great. Looked like we were going to have a smooth drive home. But NO! Nothing can be that simple.

Daddy Sin had warned us earlier that day that my new car, Renault, had summer diesel in it, which had froze earlier that day. However, he's left Renault running for a few hours to warm everything up & topped the tank up with winter diesel & it seemed to be OK. And yes, Renault WAS fine for the first 3 hours. But then, while Joe was driving, the engine just stopped. We pulled over to the hard shoulder & he tried to start Renault again. No. So Joe & K swapped cars, the logic being that as K is an engineer maybe he would have some magic trick to get the car working.

Meanwhile, Joe took Saab to the nearest exit to stop safely (also, at some point during the day, Saab's indicators decided not to work - not a great idea to be parked on the hard shoulder at night with no hazards)

K tried to get everything going, but to no avail. Renault completely refused to start. By this point the temperature was -18C.

So, we were stuck on the motorway, in the middle of nowhere in France with no power in freezing conditions. Not only that, when had swapped cars, he left his wallet & coat in Saab. Not fun.

Called my dad & he gave me the insurance phone number (thank god for insurance and especially AXA insurance). Called AXA and luckily they had someone who spoke English. He explained, that while they could support us, they couldn't organise a tow-truck on the motorway, as the police are in charge of that. But once we off the motorway, he explained i should call him back & then he could help me out.

So i had to call 112 (the continental Europe emergency number) Called there, where no one spoke English & explained what happened in my broken french. Got given a number for the local gendarmes (that's french for police, that is...) In a side point, found it a bit discomforting that the emergency services didn't speak any English. Luckily, as i discovered that night, my french isn't as bad as i thought it was, so i could explain what was happening. But imagine if you're some stuck tourist? You'd be completely screwed.

Called the local police, who again didn't speak English, and they gave me the number for the depannage (breakdown service in French. I think i doubled my french vocabulary this weekend!!)

And so, on phone call number 4, i was finally through to the Depannage. He asked all the usual questions; name, car model & registration, what happened, where are we, etc. The 'where are we' was a bit of a challenge though, it was dark, we were in the middle of nowhere. I could tell him we were on the A4 heading towards Strasbourg. But where on the A4? Absolutely NO idea.

Luckily though, motorways are prepared for this kind of thing. Have you ever noticed the km markers? In France, they're in the centre of the motorway (not at the side, as K discovered while he was running around in -18C trying to find it) They are every 200m, so the Deppanage can find the broken down car with relative ease. He said he would be there in about 45 minutes; an hour later he arrived. We had never been so happy to see those flashing orange lights.

At this point, Joe was still waiting for us. I explained to the Depannage dude that our friend was waiting & could we stop there. He, not being very impressed with working in minus temperatures on a Saturday night, said, no, he wasn't going that way. This was because Depannage trucks can use secret exits off the motorway. And he had to pick up another car (a french couple who also had frozen fuel)

Finally, we get to the garage, dump our car(s), then head over the Depannage office. There, i called AXA once again & explained what had happened. The nice AXA man told me that they would provide a hotel & taxi to it & even organise everything. About 30 minutes later, the taxi arrived and took us to a Novotel about 20 minuteas away. When we got to the hotel, it was after 2am, but the staff were there. And the girl working in the bar, explained that the bar was usually closed at that time, but she thought that we probably needed a drink, so had stayed open for us. So we had a couple of beers.

And then went up to our nice clean room, had a shower to warm up & then crashed.

Next day was Sunday. And lovely AXA had also organised breakfast for us. FREE! Woohoo!

After breakfast, I called AXA to see what was happening. They said i should call the garage, but I explained that my french wasn't good enough, so the nice AXA man called on my behalf.

A while later, he called back with the bad (but not completely unexpected) news - the garage is closed on Sundays. we would have to wait until Monday, at the earliest, for the car to be ready. Luckily, the insurance covered up to 2 nights at the hotel. So, there we were having a mini-Hotel California experience; K had no coat, so going outside was not an option. Besides that, we had very limited money - all we had was my Xmas present money from my dad!

Luckily, this money was enough for lunch, dinner & a couple of beers.

And so Monday morning rolled around.

Once again, I called AXA. They, once again, called the garage. And AXA called back to tell us to wait until the afternoon. After 1pm, i called AXA again. An hour later, they called back. The car was READY! And AXA would organise & cover the taxi back to the garage. they wouldn't, however, cover any repairing fees.

Headed over to the garage, and the garage lady confirmed that, yes, the diesel had jelified (hopefully that's a real word...) But we weren't the only ones - lots of cars had had the same problem on Saturday (which turned out to be the only night that was that cold!!!) And when i asked how much it was, she said it was free! I guess all they had to do was warm the car up - they didn't to do anything mechanical or replace any parts; just de-jelify the diesel.

And then we were on our way & i am very happy to report that the last 2 hours were completely uneventful.

In the end, our day-trip to France took 3 days, but we had a free weekend away in a nice hotel & what could have been a complete and utter nightmare actually ended up OK due to the nice helpful AXA people, the friendly Novotel staff & the garage people. And i would like to thank my parents for making me go to French school when i was 7 because if i had had no French it would have been so much worse and WAY more difficult.

And while all this was going on, Sister Sin was stuck in London waiting for the Eurostar service to restart. Hopefully she has got to France now...

The Great Adventure: Day 61 to the homecoming

2009-11-28T22:08:00.003+09:00

I have been a bit of a slacker & not updated what we were doing.
K & I are now back in Europe, but in different countries; he's off on a sailing weekend in Germany & i'm in France chez the Parental Sins (was in severe need of my winter clothes & they're all in boxes here - think i mentioned that before)

ANYWAY...

I think i left off in Ko Phi Phi (seems like a distance memory now that i am sitting here in a sweater with the heating on, looking out on a grey & drizzly day)

I wasn't keeping my journal towards the end of the trip, so things are a bit hazy. I will try my best to remember what we did...

Day 61: Tuesday 10th November
This was our last full day in Ko Phi Phi. K went diving, I had a Thai massage and in the evening we met up with K's dive instructor & co diver (Rob) and proceeded to have a stupid night. And yes, it did involve bucket cocktails...

Day 62: Wednesday 11th November
Luckily, I hadn't booked ourselves on the 9am ferry to Phuket; we were on the 2:30pm. This meant checking out of our bungalow, having breakfast, hanging out on the beach & then making our way to the ferry.
In Phuket, we were met (eventually) by the driver from Khao Lak Scuba Adventures who took us to Khao Lak - about 3 hours from Phuket port. Once there, we filled out loads of forms & waited around for a while & then boarded out liveaboard. For those of you who haven't heard of liveaboards, they are boats for divers where you live & breathe diving. We had booked ourselves on a 4 night/4 day trip to the Similan Islands; which included 15 dives for K & snorkelling for me.
At around 7pm, we boarded our boat (Manta Queen II) and headed out to the Similans (one of the world's best dive spots, apparently. Jacques Cousteau has been here, so it MUST be good!)

Day 63 - 66 (Thurs. 12th to Sun. 15th November)
This was our liveaboard time. Everyday involved diving, sleeping, eating & maybe a few beers in the evening. There were 19 customers onboard & 18 were divers. And there was me, the only snorkeller, but it actually turned out OK. The boat crew looked out for me & i had my own tuk tuk dinghy that picked me up when i'd had enough snorkelling. As a snorkeller though, i saw pretty much the same things every time as i was always at the same (surface) level. The divers, however, saw loads of amazing things as they could go anywhere up to 30m deep. K told me about eels, shark, octopuses (octopi? Never sure which is correct...), beautifully coloured coral and that's just a few of the things he saw. Me, i saw squirrel fish, box fish, parrot fish & Nemos (anenome clown fish) It was a really good experience - the staff on board were really nice & helpful and the other divers were all really nice people.
Once we got back on Sunday evening, we met up with 2 other couples who were also staying in Khao Lak and had dinner & drinks. It was a fun evening, but i had really bad land sickness. Never thought about it - but i had got so used to being on the boat that once i got off & i felt dizzy & nauseous for about 24 hours. Was a really bizarre feeling.

Day 67 - 71 (Mon. 16th to Friday 21st November)
Once we got our feet back on dry land & after 4 intense days of diving, K decided that he wanted to continue his diving education & enrolled in a rescue diver course. This involved him first doing an Emergency First Response (EFR) course for one day, then 2 days of rescue diving. Both course meant lots of role-playing & dealing with panicking/unconscious divers. I had a quick flick through his manual, and it seems that most problems occur because of diver carelessness or over confidence. Just goes goes to show that you should never EVER underestimate the power of the ocean.
And while K was doing his rescue course, what was i doing?
Believe it or not, i was attempting once more to get my Open Water Diving License. And guess what? This time i actually passed it! I AM A LICENSED DIVER!!!!! WOOHOO! It wasn't easy & it was a touch and go for a little while, but once i had got through the skills (ie taking and replacing my mask off underwater or practicing an emergency swimming ascent) and gone underwater in the ocean, i was a lot calmer & began to enjoy diving a lot more.

Day 72 (Saturday 21st November)
K & me went diving together! We had a day trip out to the Similan Islands, had two dives & had Irish Dave the Dive Master as our guide (in K's course, Dave was the panicking victim for the role plays - was really nice having a Dive Master that we both knew & knew us - me the nervous diver, K the eager rescue diver).
On the first dive, K was in full Rescue Diver mode & was constantly checking to see if i was OK. With both him & Dave checking, i felt really safe & relaxed a lot more. It was also relaxing knowing i didn't have to practice/pass any skills. I could just enjoy the view.
On the second dive, K was a lot more relaxed too, knowing that i was OK. And so we both had a great day. It was so cool that i could finally enjoy diving with K. I wish i had managed to get my licence earlier in our travels, but i don't think i would have been ready. I needed to do a lot more snorkelling & build my confidence in the water before i tackled diving again. And the liveaboard experience was the turning point for me, as i was snorkelling on my own in the ocean. I felt a lot more comfortable in/with the water & could quite easily jump off the boat into the sea. Bear in mind that at the beginning of the holiday, i could only swim in shallow water...so i have come a long way during our 2 months travelling!

Day 73 (Sunday 22nd November)
This was our last full day in Thailand. And in Asia. And on holiday.
We actually didn't do much either. Just relaxed & enjoyed our last day there. We would have gone diving again if we could, but because of pressure changes & other technical stuff, you can't fly 18-24+ hours after diving. We decided to stay safe & have a mellow day - and even packed our bags the night before.
That meant we could enjoy our last evening in Khao Lak...

Day 74 (Monday 23rd November)
We had booked a taxi for 5am. We woke up at 5:30am.
Luckily, the taxi driver was still waiting for us, so we threw ourselves together (thank goodness we'd packed our bags!!!) Drove to Phuket airport, flew to Bangkok. Had 4 hours in Bangkok, then flew to Dusseldorf & back to reality again.
Was a long day, but it was a relatively easy day. Bangkok airport is well designed and it's really easy to change from domestic to international flights; just have to go up a few escalators. The only downer were the 2 annoying kids sitting behind us. They were constantly kicking our seats, moaning, fighting & basically all round little brats. I finally complained (politely) to their mother when one of the kids ended up UNDER my seat and was grabbing my flip flops. They were a bit quieter after that, but it made the 12 hour flight seem a lot longer...

And that was our great adventure. It was a great trip; sometimes frustrating, sometimes really hard, but mostly fascinating, inspiring, relaxing, and fun. I am really glad we went & i really had a wonderful time & met really lovely people pretty much everywhere we went. And i think that will be my overwhelming memory from this trip - the people. However, considering the fact that K & I did pretty much no sightseeing (e.g. we visited absolutely no temples) and spent much of our time diving/snorkelling/relaxing, people are the only local culture that we encountered. Then again, people ARE the culture.

But, yes, it was a fantastic adventure. And i want to go again...

The Great Adventure: Day 50 to 60

2009-11-10T12:13:00.004+09:00

We're on the final stretch now - just 2 more weeks until we launch ourselves back into our 'normal' lives. Hard to even contemplate cold weather - the other day it was 28C here & both of us felt a bit chilly. Think German winter is going to be a nasty shock to the system...

Anyway - let me update you on our adventure:

Day 50 (Friday 30th October)
Still in Kuta, Bali
Had a slow day. Found a lovely Mexican called TJs. Great food, lovely decor & quiet despite being on Poppies I (one of the crazy noisy side streets of Kuta). In the evening, we had bangers & mash (there's only so much rice one can eat on holiday...) and then played pool.
We found a lovely little bar with no other customers & an empty pool table. The staff were at a loose end & racked the balls up for us every time AND gave us free garlic bread. Needless to say, we stayed there a lot longer than intended. Was defintiely a nice way to end out last night in Bali and the Southern hemisphere.

Day 51 (Saturday 31st October)
Headed out to Bali airport (aka Denpasar or Ngurah Rai airport, which makes things a bit confusing when you're looking for flights & each airline seems to use a different name)
We didn't have much Rupiah left, so had to resort to a cheap McDs lunch. And, yes, McDs is the same everywhere; cheap, cheerful & that's about it...
And on our way out of Indonesia, we had to pay $20 fee for something or other. Not really sure what, but it was another sneaky way of getting hard currency into the country...
Anyway, we got on our flight to Singapore - which left late but managed to arrive (nearly) on time. Note to everyone - if you use Air Asia, never EVER have a tight connection time. They seem to run late a lot of the time but are cheap & clean. Plus minus...
On arrival in Singapore, we took the train into town & went hunting for a guesthouse in Chinatown. Bad idea. Everywhere we went was full & there weren't many places to choose from. We ended up staying in a 'nice' hotel for the night after having a couple of (expensive) beers.

Day 52 (Sunday 1st November)
After checking out of our nice hotel, we took the train to Little India to try our luck in finding a place there. A lot better decision - Little India has a lot more choices. They are, however, expensive. EVERYTHING in Singapore is expensive. Well, except food maybe.
But we were expecting that, so it wasn't a nasty a shock as it could have been.
This day ended up turning into a sightseeing day. And we headed out to the west of Singapore to the "Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC)". That was one SCARY place. It was verging on propaganda-like; trying to instill in everyone how GREAT Singapore is and how Singaporeans are the best people on earth. And how important it is to be proud of coming from Singapore. While this may not necessarily be a bad thing, it was a bit creepy seeing this brain-washing on such a large scale.
To balance things out, we headed to the Singapore Army Museum next door (we got cheap tickets because we'd been to the SDC.
This was not quite as scary as the SDC, but did at times feel like an army recruiting centre ("Look how fun it is to be in the army! You too can jump out of helicopters and make great friends and wear shiny boots! And fire big rocket launchers!!") It was a a bit ironic though (for me) that the Singapore Army was only established in 1957 and has never been involved in any direct combat, but has, to be fair, taken part in a lot of earthquake rescue operations in South East Asia. It just seemed such a big space to dedicate to an Army that hasn't really done much. But maybe I'm just jaded...
In the evening, we headed out to the Night Safari. Yay! I LOVE the night safari. And i think K liked it too. And the bats are still just as cool.
And that was our first day in Singapore...

Day 53 (Monday 2nd November)
This day was a totally decadent day. We went over to Clarke Quay & firstly went book shopping at Kinokuniya. Then we found a Vietnamese coffee shop & stocked up on caffeine (never sure when you'll see a proper coffee machine in SE ASIA). After that, we went and had ramen. PROPER ramen. With gyoza. Yummy. And extremely filling. But oh so satisfying.
Afterwards, K & i managed to find ourselves a happy hour (happy hours seem to last at least 4 hours for some reason. So why don't they call them "Happy evening" or "Happy Monday" or "Let's see how drunk you can get on Monday night"?) at a Microbrewery place on the Quay and proceeded to get very happy...

Day 54 (Tuesday 3rd November)
K & I surprised ourselves by actually waking up at a reasonable hour, despite our happy adventure the previous evening. Kick started the day with a curry lunch (we were staying in Little India after all) and then headed off to Singapore Zoo. There, we spent around 3 hours wandering around, watching animals doing animal things (which for lions means sitting around looking bored and listless). Our favourite area was the walk-through rain forest. Here, mousedeer, lemurs, big birds, strange pigeony things and, best of all, the Malayan Flying Fox. All of these creatures (plus butterflies & other animals i missed) were wandering around freely. The lemurs were really tame and came up and walked by everyone without a care in the world. The Flying foxes were hanging right in front of us doing shocking things, ie peeing while hanging upside down and licking parts of their body in public (and enjoying it in a very obvious male way)which they really shouldn't. Needless to say, The German and i, being serious responsible adults, didn't find this amusing at all and didn't chuckle about it for the rest of they day. Oh no...
On our way back to our guest house, we stopped at a steak restaurant to eat huge chunks of meat with potatoes (again, you never know when you'll find a good steak in SE Asia...)

Being in Singapore this time was interesting. I had already visited Singapore 4 times, when the Parental Sins were living there. But it was interesting to see how my perspectives on Singapore had changed because or both where i was coming from & why i was going there.
When i visited there before, i was coming from Tokyo, was staying with my parents & there for 2 weeks. Yes, it was expensive. Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was city. But it was a breath of fresh air coming from Tokyo.
This time, i was coming from Indonesia & staying at a guesthouse. It was still expensive (even more so because i wasn't staying chez mum & dad) . It was still hot. It was still city. But after being on islands & relatively quiet places, it was a tad overwhelming. But i still like Singapore - it just isn't SE Asia. It's Europe in a hot place.

Day 55 (Wednesday 4th November)
Another travelling day.
Took the train out to the airport & then bus to the Budget Terminal at Changi. Was expecting a huge shed/hangar type place, but the budget terminal was actually really nice (and new). It was even nicer than Bali airport!
Got our flight out of Singapore to Krabi in Thailand (West coast). On arrival at Krabi airport, we booked a taxi into to town. Here the taxi driver took us directly to a travel agency so we could book a guesthouse. At first, i thought this was all a bit dodgy, as we hadn't asked t be taken to a travel agency. It turned out to be a great decision though. The agency found us a nice place in Krabi, booked our ferry tickets to Ko Phi Phi and reserved a guesthouse there too. And all within our budget requests (500 Baht/night). AND the taxi driver waited for us to have lunch then drove us to our Krabi guest house. All in all, great service.
Had a pleasant evening in Krabi & despite what the guidebooks say, Krabi is nice place. Not the most beautiful of towns, but there's stuff to do & the people are really friendly.

Day 56 (Thursday 5th November)
Had to get up early for our 10am boat to Phi Phi (early = anything before 11am). Was a smooth uneventful ferry ride - nice big boat & smooth waters. When we arrived on Phi Phi, there was a man waiting to take us to our guest house AND he had a trolley to put our bags in. Hurrah.
Once there, we had a siesta, looked into diving/snorkelling trips, had dinner and watched a lady-boy cabaret show at the local Irish pub. While watching the Ladyboy show, the only question on my mind was, "Where do they put their 'bits'?" This was swiftly followed by "Do they even have bits?"
Interesting evening.

Day 57 (Friday 6th November)
Didn't really do much. We did change guesthouses though. The first one, while clean & relatively big, didn't have any wind/breeze access; neither did it have a balcony. So we decided to up grade a tad & moved up the hill to the appropriately named Uphill Cottages.
The rest of the day was spent siesta-ing, eating & having a couple of quiet beers.

Day 58 (Saturday 7th November)
Had a REALLY early start: 7am wake up! Went on our half-day diving/snorkelling trip. For me, it wasn't great as the current was quite strong on the surface & i had trouble swimming in the right direction. But as i had a life jacket on, it wasn't too stressful. K, meanwhile, had a good time and saw a turtle and lots of sharks. Everyone, in fact, saw the sharks except me. I am not sure whether it was an eyesight thing (can't wear glasses AND a snorkel) or just plain ignorance. Luckily, K's dive master took lots of pictures with his underwater camera, so we bought a copy of the CD from him. So, yeah, i saw the sharks...
After having a siesta (we are really getting into the whole siesta thing. I think it should be introduced into the ordinary working day), K & I had dinner in town & then wandered over to Reggae Bar which is probably the most touristy bar on Phi Phi. Here there is a Muay Thai (aka Thai boxing) ring and tourists can beat the crap out of each other & get a free bucket cocktail. Thing is, Reggae Bar always has 2 for 1 bucket cocktail promotions, so you'd be getting in the ring for the equivalent of about 4 Euros (or less). Still, it was entertaining in a kind of 'car crash on the motorway' way.
Afterwards, we managed to find a quiet bar on the beach. This was no easy challenge, what with fire dancers, bucket promotions, lap dance competitions and limbo dancing.

Day 59 (Sunday 8th November)
Another restful day. Then again, Sunday IS the day of rest after all.
Somehow managed to catch some Ultimate Fighting on TV at lunch time. I have never seen anything like it. It's totally & utterly MAD. It was like bar brawling, except that these guys are getting paid for it & none of their mates stop the fight. It was nasty. And i thought K1 was scary. Oh, how wrong i was. UF is nasty.
In the evening (after our siesta, of course) we played Connect 4 for hours & i drank silly cocktails which managed to delete my memory & made me get aggressive while playing Connect 4. CONNECT 4! The most non-aggressive game ever. Ah, the wonders of alcohol.

Day 60 (Monday 9th November)
Once again, we had a really slow day. Went for a wander on the beach until it started raining (rainy season may be over here, but it rains for about half an hour everyday - not necessarily a bad thing).
Had coffees in the afternoon, and both K & I had caffeine highs, which actually weren't that fun. Impelled us to go back and lie down for our siesta...
The evening was a quiet one; alcohol-, caffeine-, pool-, bar- free. Believe it or not...

And now we're on day 61. K is off diving for most of the day & I'm updating the blog. Later, I'm going to try & book our tickets onwards, have a massage & exchange some books. And then have my siesta... Ah, life is hard!

The Great Adventure: Day 36 to 49

2009-10-30T14:50:00.002+09:00

Sorry about the big gap in updating you all on our travels - been getting lazy & too distanced from technology. Do you realise that i haven't watched TV for weeks & weeks? I haven't even listened to my ipod much. Most of the time i read, sleep, relax & not do much at all. But isn't that what holidays are for?

Anyway, here's what we've been doing for the last 2 weeks...

Day 36 (Friday 16th October)
K went off for a morning dive (i stayed in bed) and finally saw a big shark - about 2m long. He also saw a couple of turtles. He was well chuffed with that dive!
The rest of the day was spent sitting around reading & relaxing.

Day 37 (Saturday 17th October)
K had another dive & saw even more sharks - white-tip sharks; not dangerous even if they are 2m long (apparently - don't think i would be too relaxed if a 2m shark came anywhere near me...)
In the afternoon, we decided to rent bicycles & cycle round the island (Gili Trawangan). K predicted it would take us half an hour or so, seeing as the island isn't that big. 2 hours later, we managed to make it back to our bungalow. What we didn't figure was that the road round the island is only paved in certain bits. The rest is just sand. Soft loose sand. Have you ever tried cycling on that kind of service? And on an ordinary bicycle? It definitely wasn't fun & we nearly ended up with heatstroke. But we can say we did it!!

Day 38 (Sunday 18th October)
K had two dives, while i slept then had a massage - which was very welcome after the previous day's cycling activities.
In the evening, we headed to the Irish pub in the island to their DVD shacks/gazebos (whatever you call them). Here, you can watch any DVD (the pub has about 200 to choose from) for free as long as you order some drinks and/or food. Can't remember what we watched, but do know it involved guns & war (guess who chose that movie...)

Day 39 (Monday 19th October)
While K went out on a morning dive, i was in charge of getting money. Despite what the guidebooks say, Gili Trawangan now has an ATM. But it's a fussy old thing and only takes certain cards. And it didn't like K's (German) cash card. However, our flexible friend, Visa, was accepted. But, K didn't know that number. Luckily, his mum had sent him the pin number. So, i had to check K's email, find the number, remember it & get some cash. But i only had 2000 Rupiah (14 cents), which isn't very much money at all. Now, this might not seem like a problem - but i needed to pay the Internet cafe. I got into K's email, found the right email, got the pin # in 5 minutes. And guess how much that cost? Exactly 2000 Rupiah. Miracle.
Anyway, to cut a long ramble short, i got the money.
Rest of the day was spent sipping cocktails & chatting.

Day 40 (Tuesday 20th October)
A complete non-day. Really didn't do much at all.

Day 41 (wednesday 21st October)
Had a slow start to the day, but in the afternoon we went snorkelling again. And this time i didn't use a floaty (life jacket). I got a bit nervous, and held K's hand most of the time, but i actually went in the ocean and snorkelled, all in deep water with out freaking out. And, best of all, i saw a turtle. And a big eel & a lionfish (which are really weird looking things)

Day 42 (Thursday 22nd October)
Today was laundry day, so i lugged everything off to the nearest laundry service. Everywhere we've had laundry done, they do it by weight, but on Gili T, they itemise it. I wasn't prepared for that, but it wasn't really that challenging - just meant emptying out dirty clothes all over the floor & counting everything. Not the most fun task ever, but definitely necessary...
In the afternoon, K & i went snorkelling again & i didn't hold his hand much at all. Am definitely getting more confidence in the water - yay!
In the evening, we had a DVD dinner at the Irish pub & watched 'This is England'. I really recommend it to anyone who grew up in England in the 80s. It reminded me of home, but also reminded me why i don't live there anymore.

Day 43 (Friday 23rd October)
In honour of K's sister's birthday, K & me humiliated ourselves on the beach by making a Happy Birthday video with my camera. It really is embarrassing to sing into a camera, knowing that people around you are watching... The bugger was that the video was too big to attach to an email. So, Sarah, if you're reading, i still have the video in my camera, so I'll show to it you when we get back. And Happy (belated) Birthday!

Day 44 (Saturday 24th October)
As this was going to be our last day on Gili T, we booked tickets off the island to Amed (Bali). Also got some new reading material & paid all our outstanding bills (bungalow & diving - NOT bar tabs, OK?!)
Had another DVD dinner, and then headed off to Rudy's, the best bar on Gili T. We'd spent quite a few evenings there & the staff had come to know us & were really funny & friendly. They spent half their time flirting & the other half dancing behind the bar - but still somehow managed to serve drinks. While we were there, a waiter at our regular beach cafe, Madi, came to join us. He was a really lovely man, fiercely proud of both his home (Bali) and his religion (Hindu), but in an open way - he really wanted us to enjoy & understand both. Still, i didn't fully understand his story about how the gods chose Bali to be a holiday island - something to do with stars & aeroplanes...

Day 45 (Sunday 25th October)
Left Gili T on a speed boat (still not my favourite means of transport...) and on the way we stopped briefly at Gili Air. We got off the boat & wandered on the beach so we could say that we had visited another of the Gilis...
The crossing wasn't too bad, but it still scared the pants off me. I really don't like how speed boats thump across the water; i find it very nerve-wracking. However, about three-quarters into our journey, the boat crew started cheering & smiling & the captain slowed down - a shoal/troop/school/whatever of dolphins was playing around the boat. There were about 10 of them swimming around & splashing in & out of the water. It was wonderful to see. I don't know who was more excited the passengers or the crew!!
Once we arrived in Amed, one of the boat crew recommended a place to stay in Tulamben (our desired destination). And so we arrived at the Mata Hari resort in Tulamben, East Bali.
In the evening, we found a local bar with a pool table & played until there was a power cut all over Tulamben...

Day 46 (Monday 26th October)
Was a bit of a non-day as both of us were feeling crappy (Bali Belly), so just hung, slept & read a lot.

Day 47 (Tuesday 27th October)
Both of us were feeling pretty much back to normal, so K headed out to the USAT Liberty wreck (the main reason for coming to Tulamben).
In the afternoon, K went out on another dive, while i (once again) went out on a money mission. In Tulamben, there are no ATMs. Also, due to the unreliable electric & telephone connections, no where takes credit cards. Lonely Planet, however, omits this important information. So, for 100,000 Rupiah, the hotel provided a driver, Agus, to take me to the nearest town with an ATM, Amlapura, about 30 minutes away. We get there, and i try all the ATMs in town (all 3 of them) and NONE of them work - cash card OR Visa. Arghh!! I had visions of us washing dishes forever at the hotel...
But Agus knew another bigger town, Semarapura, with more ATMs. And finally we got one that worked. Then we had the long drive home - in all, it took 4 hours. Despite all that, it was a nice afternoon. Agus pointed out lots of things on the way (monkeys, pigs, weddings, chili plants, durian stands, amongst other stuff) and i saw beautiful rice paddies, a really odd huge statue of a bull which had a bucket under it's boy parts. Not really sure what that was about. Actually, i don't think i want to know what that was about!
Also saw some villagers cock fighting. Oh dear, that really came out wrong.
They had fighting cockerels & the cockerels were fighting. Only saw it quickly in passing, but was a bit shocked - but i guess it's part of the culture here.
The biggest thing though was seeing the difference in environment. In 1963, the area was devastated by the eruption of Mount Agung the highest mountain/volcano on Bali. This means that the area around Tulamben resembles a moonscape with a few random palm trees on it. But then you go over a mountain pass, enter the next valley & it's back to green lushness again. Really interesting to see the massive changes.

Day 48 (Wednesday 28th October)
In the afternoon, we went snorkelling together. The USAT Liberty wreck is kind of rare in that snorkellers can also see it as it's only 50m of the shore and, at it's shallowest, is only 5m below the surface. It was really cool to see and especially to see how the marine life have taken it & made it their own. On the minus side, it was hard getting in & out of the water as the beach was really rocky - doable, but a tad painful.

Day 49 (Thursday 29th October)
Booked a driver (turned out to be Agus again) to take us back to Kuta. Enjoyed the 3-hour drive there, through winding mountain roads & rice paddies (half of the journey I'd already done on my ATM mission...) Also 'enjoyed' the Pussy Cat Dolls album THREE TIMES! Agus only had one CD & he just played it over & over. I don't even know that people actually bought PCD CDs. Well, they do in Bali. Surprisingly though, it wasn't quite as bad as we had anticipated, still 3 times was enough.
In the afternoon, i booked flights out of Bali for 31st. AirAsia is GREAT! Their website is easy to use & everything is really hassle free. So, on Saturday we are heading to Singapore for 4 days. Yay!

And that brings us to today, Friday, which I'll update later. We have just over 3 weeks left on our travels & i am really NOT looking forward to heading back to Europe (no offence to anyone, i love being warm & hate European winters). And especially as all my winter clothes are in boxes in France & I'm going to be in Germany...

The Great Adventure: Day 28 to Day 35

2009-10-16T16:05:00.005+09:00

So here I am again, sat at the computer while the sun is shining outside. Do hope you all appreciate the effort I'm making...

So here's what we're been doing for the last week:

Day 28 - Thursday 8th October
This was the day that we left Tioman & headed to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as everyone calls it) The journey involved taking a speed boat to Mersing, on Penninsular Malaysia. there, we had to hang around for 3 hours until hour express bus to KL. Here was where i updated my blog last time.
Got on our (on-time) bus to KL, with a supposed journey time of 4 hours. It wasn't 4 hours - it was 6. Have now (finally) come to the realisation that whatever the predicted journey time is, add at least 2 hours and then you'll know the actual journey time. Luckily, we had lots of time & didn't have any connections to make. The bus ride itself was interesting - we travelled through miles and miles of palm tree plantations; i assume they are for palm oil. May sound strange but for me (& K) seeing palm trees neatly planted in long rows just seemed weird. Palm trees are supposed to be exotic & wild, not neatly arranged.
On arrival in KL, we followed one of our fellow bus passengers, Tammy, to a guest house that she'd been recommended in Chinatown. After that, the 3 of us went out for dinner in a nearby Chinese restaurant (what else do you eat in Chinatown, eh?) After that we went to a Beatles bar that played house music, then to a reggae bar playing pop. Go figure...

Day 29 - Friday 9th October)
K & i indulged ourselves in a full on Western day. We started off by taking the train to the Twin Towers (or Petronas Towers, once the tallest building in Asia). Here, we went to the medical centre as both K & I had insect bites that had got infected & knew that we needed antibiotics. Under an hour later, we had had our bites cleaned, received a week of antibiotics & antibiotic cream. (And now, a week later, both of us are healed up)
Then we treated ourselves to a nice lunch (K was craving steak & proper coffee; you can buy Nescafe EVERYWHERE here, but if you want a real coffee, it's a real challenge). And then it was off to Kinokuniya for some extreme book shopping. We spent ages there in the air-conditioned world, safely cocooned off from the real world.
Once back in our guest house, i booked our flights out of KL - Air Asia is great. The cheapest prices & a load of destinations available. And you can do everything on -line. Where did i book us to? Keep reading...
In the evening, we hit the night spots of KL. Not really sure where to go, we asked a taxi driver to take to a bar/drinking area. Think he took us to the posh area because everyone was posing & we felt a bit out place. Then again, maybe that's what everyone does in KL? Later on we found an Irish bar a bit out of town, which was a lot more our style.
And so another day ended.

Day 30 (Saturday 10th October)
Unsurprisingly, has a slow start to that day. We walked to Little India to have a curry lunch - again, what else would you eat there?!
This restaurant specialised in something a bit different - Southern Indian food. Or was it Northern? I can't remember which it was; all i know is that most Indian restaurants specialise in one type, and this one specialised in the other. And it did taste different. It still tasted like curry, but more earthy & it was good too.
The afternoon was a bit of right-off, both of us went back to sleep in readiness for the evening. In the evening, we (once again) satisfied out Western food cravings in a BIG way & went to TGI Fridays. Ever since K had their Jack Daniel's glazed beef ribs in Japan, he has been craving them again. So off we went. And i had a really good steak & mashed potatoes. Cravings satisfied, we found a cavern of a bar with live music, called Rum Jungle. Was a fun place & we discovered that the service improved wonderfully once we started tipping the staff. Our glasses were never empty & staff were always available for an order. Tipping isn't really done here, and similar to other (Asian?) countries, people don't really pay the staff much attention, let alone courtesy. So, by being nice & tipping, we ended up having an enjoyable evening.
But it wasn't over. I wanted to see the England vs Ukraine game (in hindsight, it wasn't a good decision) so we got a taxi to the Irish pub (again). On the way there, we had the wonderful & entertaining driver, a 3rd generation Indian Malaysian. He told us about his family & that he has 9 kids. Yup, NINE! He also told the funny story about how he and his wife had trouble getting pregnant for the first few years of their marriage. They went to the doctor & had lots of tests & stuff & finally she pregnant. Then again & again & again. Finally, taxi driver went back to the doctor (after baby number 4) and asked the doctor to stop them getting pregnant. The doctor said, "First, you ask me to help you get babies. And you get babies. But now, you ask me to STOP you getting babies?! I kill you!!!" The taxi driver driver went on to comment that " the factory is now closed". He was a really lovely man & seemed full of life & joy, despite working a hard job & hours.
After that, the England game was a disappointment. Luckily, I beat K at a few games of pool afterwards, so the evening wasn't a complete waste...

Day 31 (Sunday 11th October)
This day marked exactly one month of travelling. Seemed like ages ago since we left Germany & we certainly have entered a different world.
Today was another travelling day, luckily this day didn't involve buses but aeroplanes. First of all, we got ourselves to the airport, which was a bit of a challenge because, for some unknown reason, K's cash card wouldn't work in any ATMs. Meant we didn't have enough money to even GET to the airport. But we took the train one stop & found out that we could buy tickets for the airport express train with Visa card. Yeah for plastic Santa! Once we arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Aiport (KLIA), we had to take a shuttle bus to LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal - they really like their acronyms here). The bus driver was completely crazy - i think he was a wannabe NASCAR driver or something. Was very glad (& grateful) to reach LCCT in one piece.
Checked in, had lunch, then waited at the gate. And guess what? Our plane was delayed. Luckily, it was only delayed about 40 minutes, so nothing too horrible.
And then we boarded. LCCT is very Low Cost. They have no passengers bridges to board the plane - everyone has to walk outside to their plane & walk up the stairs. I think it would even be quite easy to walk to the wrong plane & end up somewhere you weren't planning to go because no one checked out ticket once we were on the plane. Luckily, we did get the right plane & two hours after taking off, we arrived in...

BALI!
We are finally in the Southern hemisphere; K's first trip, my 4th. Hello everyone down here - nice to be in your half of the world...
We decided to stay in Kuta - lots of choices to stay, eat, drink & relatively easy to get out of. On arrival into town, both K & I were a bit overwhelmed & immediately wanted to leave. It was just too much - noisy, crowded, busy. All the tourists there seemed drunk, all the locals were trying to sell you stuff - it was a bit too much. I wasn't expecting the chaos of Bangkok in a small place like Kuta. But that's what it felt like. Mad.
However, K & I soon realised that being in Kuta is a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" And once we found out where the Happy Hours were (i think it's possible to drink at a Happy Hour somewhere for 24 hours in Kuta), things rapidly improved. Kuta is not a place to relax & enjoy nature/beach. It's the Australians Ibiza or Mallorca. You need to let go of any pre-conceptions, morals, healthiness & just enjoy the craic.
And here's a question for any Australian out there - WHY? You have such a beautiful country, with beautiful weather so why would you choose to go Kuta?

Day 32 (Monday 12th October)
Today was a day of anniversaries, one sad & one happy.
Being in Kuta, it's hard to miss the memorial to the 2002 Bali bombings. It's right in the middle of the drinking area, near where the bombings occurred. 12th October is the anniversary of the bombings & there were tributes in town & family members came to the memorial. It's pretty sobering looking at the memorial, seeing all the names listed by country, with Australia having the majority. Having wondered around Kuta, it's hard to imagine how things must have been that night. Already Kuta is a crazy place, but trying to imagine how emergency services got anywhere near the scene is impossible.
On a happier note, today was our two-anniversary. Two years of Germany vs England. And still smiling - yeah for that!
The day itself was pretty uneventful, although there seemed to be extra police (with bug guns) wandering around. And each club/bar seemed to have at least one security guy with a big gun. And by big gun, i don't mean a pistol. These guys had semi-automatic machine guns (so K reliably informed me). K also noticed that every bar had a security check for all local males. They all got patted down, while the drunken foreigners could stagger in unchecked. Makes sense i guess (in hindsight)
K and i again sampled the delights of various happy hours and had a fun evening. At one point, a very very drunken Australian came over to our table with (for some unknown reason) a German style military tin hat on. He offered it to K to try on, which he did & then we had the following (bizarre) conversation:
Oz Guy: You look German
Me: He is German
OG: Yeah, I hate f**king Germans!
Me: No, he REALLY is German.
OG: Yeah, I hate f**king Germans.
Me: No, this guy here REALLY is German. From Germany.
Here, Oz Guy started processing what he was hearing, in a very slow way. You could virtually see the cogs rotating. Then, there was a look of realisation on his face; he high-fived Kevin, took his army hat & wandered off back to his mates (who he said were f**king Swedish)
Ah yes, the joys of drunkenness...

Day 33 (Tuesday 13th October)
Today was another slow one - that's what seems to happen after an evening of happy hours; surprise surprise!
But we did book our tickets out of Bali.
And in the evening, K & I satusfied our Japanese food cravings, by going to Fukutaro ("The Best Japanese food on Bali" apparently) K had ramen & gyoza; I had natto-maguro & sushi; we both had miso soup. And it was good! I forgot how much i love the sticky stinkiness that is natto.
We ended our evening by buying a couple of convenience store beers, heading back to our place & playing poker on the balcony.

Day 34 (Wednesday 14th October)
An early start as we had to get the boat out of Kuta. We decided to take the easiest option, which was also more expensive. But it was worth it. We got picked up at our place, driven to the port, had our bags put on & taken off the boat & at 7:30 in the morning, all that service was VERY welcome. Our boat ride was 2 hours over rough seas, as we had to cross the Lombok Strait (in between Bali & Lombok) Luckily, the weather was good, so the crew said that we had a relatively smooth crossing. Still, for me, it was a tad scary...
And now, here we are in the Gili Islands, on Gili Trawangan.
Here is really beautiful, a real tropical paradise. No cars, no motorbikes, nothing with any kind of engine (except the generators). The only forms of transport round the island are foot, bicycle or horse.
On our arrival here, I volunteered to go and find ourselves a place to stay. I wandered off in the direction (or so i thought) of where the majority of place to stay are. I managed to go in completely the wrong direction. Now, that's not too shocking, but if you look at the map of Gili Trawangan, you have, basically, two choices - clockwise or anti-clockwise. Somehow, i managed to get us a place at the North end of the island, instead of the South (where i had intended on going). Luckily, the island isn't very big - only 3k long and 2k wide, so it isn't too much of a hassle. Actually, where we are is a bit nicer because we away from the action & it's a lot less developed at 'our end' of the island. Also, we have an outside bathroom which i am enjoying a lot more than i expected. There's something really nice about taking a shower in the sunshine.

Day 35 (Thursday 15th October)
A nice slow day with lots of sleeping time.
K did manage to book some diving though. And we had a nice dinner overlooking the dark waters in between Trawangan & Meno.
What's really interesting here in the Gilis is that the landscape is completely different than in Bali. Apparently, the Gilis/Lombok is the edge of a different zoogeographical area, with a mix of Asia & Australasian wildlife, whereas Bali & eastwards is purely Asian wildlife. And it is very apparent - here the trees are more bush-like & the environment isn't as lush as we've been used to up till now. Still, it is really beautiful but in a different way. If you want to learn more search for "Wallace Line" on the internet; he's the guy that first identified this difference & put his name to it.

And that's where i am today, sitting in an internet cafe. But if i look to my right, i can see beautiful blue ocean with little boats bouncing around, with Gili Meno lurking in the background. And i do have to admit that i am enjoying my rare moment of air-con while i update you all...

The Great Adventure: Day 18 to Day 27

2009-10-08T12:17:00.002+09:00

Sorry about the delay in updating our adventures; internet connections off the mainland aren't that good & pretty expensive (12RM per hour, instead of 2RM)

Anyway, let me update you on what we've been doing since the last update...

Day 18 (Monday 28th September)
(Still on Perhentian Island)

Both K & I adapted to the island life style & spent much of the day reading or napping. Not the most exciting of experiences to share, but we ARE on holiday after all!
In the evening, K headed out for another night dive. He enjoyed this one much more and even saw a shark. Yup, a real shark (admittedly it was a small one & didn't look like a proper shark. For those interested, it was a Bamboo Shark)
And that was pretty much Day 18.

Day 19 (Tuesday 29th September)
K started of the day with a wreck dive, which he really enjoyed but came back wanting more, so signed up for another one the next day. The wreck site was a cargo ship that ran into the reef during monsoon season, not as exciting as a WWII wreck, but interesting all the same...
In the afternoon, K headed out for another dive; this one 'just' a reef dive, looking at various fishes & corals.
Meanwhile, i hung out at the shack, watched the afternoon squall from the comfort of the shelter of the balcony. Also watched mad little squirelly type things jumping madly around the trees. They look like squirrels, but have the colouring of chipmunks, with the white stripe down the side. There were also a lot of beautiful butterflies in loads of different colours. Lovely.
Also saw a big monitor lizard (about 1m long) hanging outside of the reception of the place we were staying. Not sure if it was checking in or out...

Day 20 (Wednesday 30th September)
K headed out for his second wreck dive and had a much better time.
In the afternoon, we had planned to gout snorkelling again, but a really big squall hit the island. There was thunder & lightning & everything. It was all tad scarier, but made all the more scarier by a tree falling over onto the bungalow next door. Scared the crap out of the two Swiss girls who were inside at the time. Luckily, neither of them were hurt but their toilet was destroyed.
Ah, the excitement never ends, eh?

Day 21 (Thursday 1st October)
We got up relatively early in order to catch one of the earlier speed boats out of the islands.
About 10 minutes into our journey, a Malaysian air force jet came flying over. Nothing too exciting about that, but then he (assume the pilot was a he because no woman would do the things he did...) proceeded to do a series of completely & utterly crazy manoeuvres. For example, two of the things he did were a full stall, then later simulated a strafing run at our boat. It was like having our own private air show. Have to admit it was pretty scary though.
And did the excitement end there? Oh no!
Maybe 10 minutes after our Top Gun experience, one of the boat engines packed in. This meant our boat was going REALLY slowly & i thought our 30 minute ride would turn into an epic journey. Luckily, a replacement boat came along & we all changed boats. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN!!!!!!! This did not amuse me in the slightest. Open water? Changing boats? Not my idea of fun at all. Luckily, it was a really calm day & wasn't that hard at all.
Finally arrived back in Kuala Besut about an hour after leaving. Not too bad.
Took the public bus back to Kota Bahru, which was nice. Took about 90 minutes (our taxi in the opposite direction took under one hour) but it was a nice slow ride which was infinitely pleasing after the morning's boat adventures...
On arrival in Kota Bahru, we decided to buy our bus tickets out again for the next day. I went to the ticket office - which was complete mayhem, with no clear queues or anything - perhaps i'm too British, i need order! We'd completely forgot what day it was & everyone was getting ready for the weekend & buses were selling out on Friday (the next day). Finally, i got myself to a sales clerk & requested 2 tickets to Mersing (S E Malaysia. He told me the price. I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH CASH ON ME!!!! I was really frustrated by this point, but asked the clerk if he would save the tickets for me & i have to admit i didn't expect much.
Anyway, K & me decided to stay at the same place in Kota Bahru - the Ideal Traveller's House. Once we'd unloaded, we ventured back to the bus station via a cash machine. Managed to talk with the same teller and guess what? He'd saved our tickets! What a lovely man! Really didn't expect him to do that, but he did! Yay!
Also made a quick trip to a pharmacy to stock up on medical supplies & the staff their were also really helpful. For me, Malaysia is a crazy & disorganised place (not as crazy as Thailand though), but the people are really helpful & nice which kind of balances things out.

Day 22 (Friday 2nd October)
Had to take a taxi to another bus station. Apparently Kota Bahru has 3 different bus stations. Why, i have NO idea, but it is a bit confusing.
Got there in time for our 8:30 bus. The bus wasn't quite as nice as our last long distance bus, but it was relatively comfortable - which was good, because today's bus ride would last 12 hours. Yippee!
Still, despite being 12 hours, it wasn't that bad. The drivers would stop every couple of hours or so for a pee break & we had a longer lunch break too. Only thing was that the drivers didn't tell us how long we had, so was always a bit pissed off when one of the travelling foreigners was still in the toilet when he wanted to leave.
At around 8:30pm, the bus stopped. Then the driver made an announcement & all the (Malaysian) passengers got off. Us foreigners were all sat there feeling a bit clueless, then the information filtered down that the bus was broken, something to do with electronics. SO, once again, K & I had to change modes of transport. This meant grabbing our rucksacks from the baggage hold whilst standing on a steep slippery grassy verge in the dark. I was not impressed. We got on the new bus, travelled about 10 more minutes and reached our final destination. I really don't know why the first bus driver couldn't have driven 10 more minutes & have avoided all the hassle of us unloading everything. Well, we had arrived safely & that was the most important thing.
Before crashing, we managed to book our boat tickets to Tioman Island the next morning. Decided not to get the early boat (7am) and stick with later one at 11am (a much more humane time).

Day 23 (Saturday 3rd October)
Got the ferry over to Salang on Tioman Island (SE Peninsular Malaysia). One of the reasons for going to Tioman was the slow pace of life & quietness. Actually, that was a lie. The main (but not only) reason is that for some unknown reason, Tioman is duty-free zone & beer & smokes are half price compared with the mainland. Woohoo - party time!
On arrival to the island, we enjoyed our first duty-free beers. 5RM. Nice.
Found a nice place to stay - Ella's Place. Was really nice & quiet there & with a sea view. Was really relaxing to be able to go to sleep to the sound of the ocean every night.
In the evening, we found the one and only bar in Salang, the 4 S Cafe. Salang was described as the "Party Beach" in Lonely Planet, but one bar? Is that what qualifies as a party beach? Admittedly, it was a fun place, with friendly locals & foreigners alike.

Day 24 (Sunday 4th October)
Had a typical 'island day' - read, slept, ate some food, went for a swim & then went to 4 S for cheap beers.

Day 25 (Sunday 5th October)
Another Island Day.
But in the evening, K booked himself on a diving trip & i found out that i could join him & go snorkelling.

Day 26 (Monday 6th October)
Went out for our dive/snorkel trip.
Was a half day thing from 11 to 3pm, with a lunch break & two dive sites.
The first dive site wasn't that good for snorkelling as the water was too deep. This meant that i couldn't really see much, just a few fish swimming by. Luckily the boat was 'parked' nearby, so i got back aboard & waited for K. K had a better time, being able to go deeper & see different things than me.
Then we headed off to a coral beach for lunch which was really nice. Think it was an uninhabited island, so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. Was really nice.
The second dive site was MUCH better. The water was a lot shallower, so there was so much for me to see; a rainbow of fish, coral & sponges. It was also possible to swim in between huge rocks & see different things on the other side. It was so cool!
After getting back, we had a siesta and then headed out for dinner. And then after dinner... you guessed it, 4 S again, where we mistakenly joined in with the drinking games going on...

Day 27 (Wednesday 7th October)
Had a very VERY slow start to the day. Drinking games seem fun at the time, but extremely stupid the day afterwards...
One of the problems of the small islands is that they have no ATMs. Not only that, they have no banks. We had stayed on Tioman a little bit longer than we had planned & therefore ran out of money (another way of looking at it is that we drank all the money away...) Anyway, we needed to find somewhere that would change money. We tried 3 places that were recommended by islanders. All three said, "Yes, we usually do currency exchange, but we don't have enough Ringgit today". Crap. Finally, we went to a little kiosk on the pier to inquire about bus/ferry/plane tickets. And asked her where we could change money. And miracle of miracles, Kiosk Lady could change money AND had enough Ringgit for us! YAY! Meant that we could have food and even a few sneaky beers...
While we wandering around looking for Money Exchangers, we found the famous river where the Monitor Lizards live. And yup, there they were. They were swimming lazily up & down and were very impressive, about 1.5m. And did i have my camera with me? Of course not...

And that leads me to today. Day 28 which is only half way through.
K & me are on our way to Kuala Lumpur & I have to end here as we have to catch our bus. Only a 4 hour bus ride today...hopefully!

The Great Adventure: Day 9 to Day 17

2009-09-27T20:17:00.003+09:00

So, it's been a while - but considering i am a) on holiday & b) in countries where the internet is not so readily available & expensive, think yourself lucky that i'm writing anything at all :)

Anyway, here's the diary of what we've been doing up till now...

Day 9 - Saturday 19th September
K took a day off between diving courses, so we rented a bike & toured the island of Koh Tao. That took us all of 3 hours (with drink breaks...) The roads on Koh Tao are really bad, so K gave up the idea of teaching me how to ride a motorbike. Instead i just held on really tight, hoping we wouldn't hit a dog, coconut or some random person riding on the wrong side of the road. No worries though - we ended our tour uninjured.

Day 10 - Sunday 20th September
K started his Advanced Open Water Diving course & started off with two dives: advanced buoyancy & navigation. Not really sure what advanced buoyancy is - something to do with floating properly, or not drowning. The navigation part involved compasses, and that's about all i know...
I just relaxed on the beach, wrote postcards & read. Nice.

Day 11 - Monday 21st September
K had a really early start & did his deep dive, which involved going down to 30m. He really enjoyed this dive; said it was amazing looking up & seeing another group of divers 10m above. Also did his multi-level dive which involves working out remaining air & bottom time & other technical things like that (which i don't fully understand but K the Engineer loved)
In the evening, K went out on his night dive, which was by far his favourite dive so far. He said it was like being in some spy movie or being an astronaut. While he was doing that, i read up on the symptoms of decompression sickness, just in case. No, nothing happened - K was perfectly fine & thoroughly enjoyed a stupid night out on the beach afterwards.
Yup, bucket cocktails. Woohoo!

Day 12 - Tuesday 22nd September
Had a mellow day. We decided where to go next & booked our tickets (keep reading, you'll find out where i am now..)
Then we just hung out on the beach most of the day.

Day 13 - Wednesday 23rd September
Bit of a long day, this one.
We'd booked ourselves on the night boat out of Koh Tao (9pm) but had to check out of Big Blue at 10. This meant a lot of hanging out time. Also meant no swim time, because we didn't have the use of a shower.
So, we ate, drank coffee, had a massage (damn good), played poker, played billiards & enjoyed an all day happy hour.
Headed down to the port at 7pm (when our taxi came - have NO idea why they book the taxi TWO HOURS before the ferry - to only takes 10 minutes to drive there, but hey)
But our bags onto the boat - a ramshackle wooden scary looking thing. This kind of freaked me out (those of you who know me, know that i have a severe aversion to water and boats, so seeing this thing was not good for me)
Anyway, the boat left on time, and was surprisingly OK. Felt a tad like a refugee ship as the deck (inside) was completely open with numbered floor spaces for everyone to sleep. Surprised myself by sleeping really well. We arrived 7 hours later in Suratthani (4:30am)

Day 14 - Thursday 24th September)
On arriving in Suratthani, a driver picked us up. There wasn't enough space for all the travellers AND their luggage, so he threw all the bags on the roof. There was no roof rack, so i spent the whole journey checking the road behind us making sure i bags hadn't fallen off...
He left us at a travel agent, and here we killed an hour waiting for our next bus. A mini-van came to pick us up & this one drove us to Hat Yai, a Thai "border town" which ius actually about an hour away from the border. Here, we were dumped at another travel agency to await our next mini-van.
30 minutes later, our van arrived and took us first to the border. Here, we had to get out of the van at the Thai border, walk through the passport control, get back on the bus, drive another kilometre, get off the bus AGAIN, walk through Malaysian immigration & get back in the van again.
BUT, it wasn't that simple, two vans drivers had decided that it was better for their drive that K & me change vans. So once again we changed vans. I have no idea why, but the drivers' negotiations took a lot of arm waving & sighs until they finally agreed.
4 hours later we arrived at that day's destination of Butterworth (North West Malaysia, just across from Penang) Here, we booked our bus tickets for the next leg of the journey (keep reading...)
Then we set off on a hotel/guest house hunt. First place we came across was truly horrible (for me). It reminded me of a modern day opium den & for some paranoid reason i was sure that if i stayed there, i'd either end up with fleas or being sold into white slavery. A tad of an over-reaction on my part, perhaps, but i refused to stay there. We ended up finding a slightly better place, with a less opium-den feel.
I really wasnb't impressed with Butterworth. All it has going for it is the bus station out of it & the bridge to Penang. It felt like Penang's poor downtrodden relative. It's hard to believe that only a bridge separates them. I will never EVER recommend visiting there. Don't even stay the night there - go across to Georgetown. Much nicer.

Day 15 - Friday 25th September
Headed back to the bus station for our 10am bus. Had breakfast in the food court nearby - and i have to say that the people there were really friendly. And the bus station people too. It's just the town that's depressing.
Got on the bus, and embarked on our (supposed) 5 hour bus ride. Was a really nice bus ride through the mountains & jungle. Beautiful scenery & a smoker friendly bus driver who stopped every 90 minutes or so for a smoke & a leg stretch.
Maybe that's why our 5 hour journey took 7 hours!
Anyway, we finally arrived in Kota Bahru (East Malaysia) in the early evening.
Found a nice guest house with both friendly guests (lots of Germans - they're EVERYWHERE!) and kind owners.
Now, you may be wondering why we went all the way over to the East of Malaysia from West Thailand, only to come back to West Malaysia. Well, apparently, South East Thailand is a bit dangerous with Muslim gangs running around causing chaos. I thought it would be safer to go the long way round & avoid the dodgy bit. In our guesthouse, we met a guy who'd come from Koh Tao the 'dangerous way'. It took him about 10 hours. It took us 2 days...

Day 16 - Saturday 26th September)
Another day of travel.
Took a taxi to Kuala Besut, the main port for our final destination - The Perhentian Islands. Taxi was a complete nutter, but he got us to the port in time for our 9:30 boat to the islands. Was pretty on the way though - lots of greenery & it seemed pretty prosperous round there.
Then it was boat time again (yippee!) This boat was a small speed boat. Oh My God. For me, it was like being on a roller coaster wtih no reassurance that it wouldn't crash. Kevin The Sailor, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed every scream & bounce & splash.
Finally, after what seemed like ages (was only 30 minutes!) we arrived.
Had a look at what was available & decided on Panorama Chalets - close to the beach & with their own diving school)
We're currently staying on the Small Island (called Kecil) & it's nice & quiet. It kind of feels/looks like the island from Lost. Except with chalets, dive schools & no monsters. No cars though. No bucket cocktails either. In fact, beer is pretty hard to come buy AND bloody expensive (10 ringgit for a small can; about 2 Euros)
Don't think we'll be staying here too long - especially as there are no ATMs here either...

Day 17 - Sunday 27th September (TODAY)
Today i tried snorkelling for the first time. I wanted to try for the first time with K, just in case i had a freak out in the water. But i didn't! I loved it too. Saw Nemos, Barracudas, Zebra fish, sea cucumbers, coral & loads of other fishes that i don't know. It was like swimming round in an aquarium. It was SO cool!
And so there we are, up to date again.
K is out on a night dive now, and the Singapore Grand Prix is about to start, so i'll sign off here.

Hope you're enjoying about our adventures as much as i am being on them.

The Great Adventure: Day 1 to Day 8

2009-09-18T18:15:00.003+09:00

Before we left, K was filling in the forms for our travel insurance. To do that, he needed to calculate how many days we would be away. It's 74. Yes: SEVENTY FOUR!! From 11th September to 23rd November. Cool.
Anyway, while we're away, i'm going to try and update my blog on a weekly basis so everyone knows where we are & what we're up to. I won't be uploading many photos, because the Internet connection is a bit slower here & I'm too impatient to wait...

I've been keeping a diary as we've been travelling around, so here's what we've been up to for the last week:

Day 1: Friday 11th September

Probably one of the safest days of the year to travel on nowadays, but still a tad unnerving to be sitting in Dusseldorf airport watching the 9/11 memorial service on TV.

We flew with Air Berlin direct to Bangkok; 7 and a half hours. For those who don't know, Air Berlin is one of Germany's budget airlines. And it is BUDGET. Before we got on the plane, K exchanged all his Euro for Baht, not realising that you have to pay for beer on board. Not only that, there is enough legroom for Hobbits, but not many other people. For all 192cm of The German, those 7 and a half hours were torture. Added to the the fact that our overhead lights weren't working & they only show movies on the big screen, it wasn't the most fun of plane rides. BUT saying that, the food & service were OK and they arrived pretty much on time.

Day 2: Saturday 12th September

Because of time differences, we arrived in Thailand a day later, at 9:30am. We got a taxi from the airport into town (Khao San Road). Then we wandered round & found a cheap guest house (500 Baht/night; about 10 Euro); had lunch - of course Thai; had a 5 hour afternoon nap; woke up and had dinner - Thai again; played some poker (K's favourite new pass time...) and then went back to the guest house and crashed.

Not the most exciting of days, but we were so tired from the flight that we needed an easy day.

Day 3: Sunday 13th September
We decided to go to the famous weekend market, both to see what it was like & buy a few holiday essentials (sun hats, walking shoes, mini-towels). K said we should go by Tuk Tuk, and after convincing the Tuk Tuk men that "No, we REALLY didn't want to go and see his friend's gem shop", off we went. This was my first Tuk Tuk ride. Wow. Those guys are a tad crazy, weaving in and out of buses/taxis/cars/other Tuk Tuks. Felt a little bit like i was in an action movie, but it was fun.
The weekend market was an overwhelming maze of stalls selling EVERYTHING. The customers were a mix of locals & tourists and i found it all a bit too much - too many people, too hot, too jet-lagged. But despite this, it was fascinating - impossible to see everything in one go though, i think.
After all that exercise, we needed a nap so Tuk Tuk-ed our way back to the guest house & crashed for a few hours. Woke up in time for dinner (ramen, Thai style - ie not very ramen like at all, but tasty all the same).
Once again played poker; I did say that it's K's new hobby...actually, i won't bother writing about our poker games for the rest of trip. Just assume that we played, and i probably lost. But i will say that playing poker is a wonderful way of meeting people. So far (until today, 19th September) we've played with an Israeli couple, an American guy & a Swiss guy. And have had curious bystanders come by & see what we're doing. And don't worry, K & I aren't going to come back with huge debts & Thai mafia hunting us - we have our own poker set & are playing with chips. No money involved!!

Day 4: Monday 14th September
We'd decided we didn't want to spend too much time in Bangkok & wanted to get out asap. Proper Bangkok site-seeing there can be left till the end of our trip.
We'd decided that we wanted to go down to south Thailand & hit the islands down there. After a little research, we decided that train would be the best way: more legroom for K, not much more expensive than the bus & only a tad slower. Still, it was 8 hours. Longer than Dusseldorf to Bangkok. We got the train down to Chumpon - left Bangkok at 1pm & arrived at 9pm. It was LONG, but on-time & air-conned.
Chumpon is not one of Thailand's most beautiful towns, it serves as the port for Koh Tao, Koh Phangan & Koh Samui & most tourists get out as soon as possible. Because of our late arrival, we had to stay the night there (there was the option of a night ferry, but after spending 8 hours on a train, we didn't really feel like 6 hours on a boat).
Found a place to stay - nice lady was standing outside the station offering cheap rooms, free taxis & ferry booking. Think we paid about 1400 B for everything. Had dinner in the small night market in Chumpon then crashed pretty early.

Day 5: Tuesday 15th September
Got up bright and early to get the 7am catamaran to Koh Tao. Arrived in Koh Tao's main port, Mae Hat, at 8:30, in time for a English Breakfast. I know i should be eating local food, but sometimes you really can't beat baked beans, bacon & fried eggs...
We wandered up the island to find a place to stay. We'd already decided that we wanted to try diving while we were in Koh Tao (apparently, it's one of the best & cheapest places in the world to learn & issues yearly the most diving licences worldwide) and found Big Blue, which i'd already read about in Lonely Planet. Talked to one of the guys there & i explained i was a bit nervous about diving & being in the ocean and he was really reassuring, so we decided to stay there. And because we signed up for diving courses (a 3 and a half day PADI open water course), we got free accommodation.
Our course started the same day, with our first theory session. Did you know that diving's safety record is one of the best of all active sports - in or out of the water?
Was really interesting & i was looking forward to learning/doing more....

Day 6 (Wednesday 16th September)
Had our second theory session in the morning. Again interesting stuff going over the basics & the pieces of equipment.
In the afternoon, we headed out for our first diving experience; a swim test, treading water test then onto basic diving manoeuvres - mostly oriented towards safely suing the equipment & dealing with problems. K, with his sailing experience, got through everything like a fish. Me, i managed the swim test & tread water for 10 minutes. But, when it got down to the actual diving part, i found i really couldn't do it. I just couldn't fully immerse myself in the water - even though it was only 160cm deep. I had a full on panic attack & had to be taken back to the boat. And there ended my diving experience. I was really disappointed, but i am really glad i tried. Now i know that diving definitely isn't for me. But i am planning to try some snorkelling while i'm here. K, on the other hand, fell in love with diving & enjoyed every moment in the water.

Day 7: Thursday 17th September
K was continuing on with the dive course & i was left to my own devices. we both decided this was actually good thing because we'd actually have something to talk about at the end of the day!! In the morning, K had another theory session & i stayed in bed. Erm, yeah, lots to talk about!!
In the afternoon, K went out on his first 2 dives. He came back totally in love with the whole experience & wanting to do more, so signed up to do the advanced open water diver's course from Sunday.
Meanwhile, i went for a Thai massage & foot scrub. The massage was great, although a bit scary when i heard my spine crack. Felt great afterwards. The foot scrub made my feet all smooth and shiny and got rid of all the crusty dry skin (the masseur"s comment about my feet was, "Too hard"). Think i fell asleep and snored through the foot scrub because when they had finished and woke me up, all the masseurs were smiling at me...

Day 8: Friday 18th September (TODAY)

This morning K went out on his final two dives to complete his Open Water Diver's Licence. At lunch time, he came back really excited about all the things he had seen; fish, coral, bubbles, meeting other divers underwater and so on. He said it was like flying underwater.

He & his classmate, Stefan from Switzerland, have both signed up to do the Advanced course together from Sunday.

Right now, K is completing his final exam & by the time i see him (in about 15 minutes) he"ll be a qualified diver! Cool! Meanwhile, i am updating my blog & picking up the laundry...not much different from Stuttgart, eh? Except here there is a beautiful view, great people, wonderful weather & no work.

Tomorrow, K is taking a break between diving courses, so tonight we're planning to sample the nightlife of Koh Tao. Tomorrow, we are planning to rent a bike & explore the island a bit. But that plan could change depending on how much fun we have tonight...

Not sure where we're going next, but i will keep you posted so watch this space!

All pictures are of Sairee Beach, Koh Tao, from the restaurant of Big Blue.

Germany & Other Places

2009-09-10T18:57:00.003+09:00

Things here in Deutschland are still good; i don't regret making the decision to move here at all.
I like European summer, being closer to my family, loads of vegetables in the supermarket, big green parks, beer gardens, German food and finally living with The German again.

BUT, it's not all hearts & bows.
I do have 'down days', actually it's more like 'dark moments'. The thing i am finding most challenging at the moment is my complete lack of German. While i have noticed that i am understanding more of what's going on around me, I am completely unable to communicate for any period of time. For me, it is frustrating, infuriating & really lonely at times. I know i am perhaps over-worrying (or imagining) things, but I sometimes feel judged ("Oh, yeah, another English person who can't speak German") and if i were given a Euro every time someone has said "You really need to learn German, Helen"...
I KNOW i need to learn German - i don't need to be reminded of that fact. It was something i realised pretty soon after moving here - to be able to function & live in Germany without having to have someone babysit you all the time, you need German here. I know that may sound pretty obvious, but in Tokyo, for example, it's possible to live a reasonable life without speaking/reading any Japanese. Here, I couldn't even fill out the forms to register as a citizen of Stuttgart.
I do realise that most people don't mean it in a horrible way at all, but for me it's something i have had so many times in the last 2 and a half months & it gets to a point (on some days) that i just want to stamp my feet & shout, " I speak Japanese & French; I'm NOT an ignorant Brit!! I DO speak other languages!!"
So, yeah, that has been hard for me. It's been especially hard in that my life is completely surrounded by Germans (well, um, yeah, this is Germany...) What i mean is that i have no friends who are also foreigners in Germany. While The German is understanding & does listen to me when i am over-tired & frustrated, i think there is a part of him that doesn't completely understand. For him, German is easy - which means our stress levels, at times, are at completely opposite ends of the scale. He's relaxed & enjoying the conversation. Meanwhile, i have a headache & frustration from trying to listen to a language i barely understand.
However, the one thing that keeps me sane is knowing that this situation, with time, will change. I am determined to master this bloody language even with all it's changing word endings, genders & difficult pronunciation.

And in totally different news, tomorrow The German and I fly out to Bangkok.
And from there, we are going to spend just over two months travelling (coming back to Germany on 23rd November). We haven't got any concrete plans - we're going to book cheap flights out of Bangkok once we get there. Top favourite places at the moment are Cambodia, Indonesia & The Phillippines (but we can't go there because i can't spell it...)
I'm excited because this will be my first backpacking experience (believe it or not) & first time to Thailand (and all the other countries mentioned; have only been to Singapore & Malaysia in S.E. Asia) Am also looking forward to the fruit. I LOVE the fruit available there & i'm going to eat fruit every single day. So there...
I'm also looking forward to extending my summer till november.
I'm also excited about seeing new places, people & cultures.
And I am looking forward to spending time with K, trying out all this new stuff (assuming we don't kill each other...2 months is a long time to spend travelling with someone...)
And, i have to confess, a little part of me is looking forward to escaping from German (not Germany, just German)...

I will try and update regularly as we are on our travels, but i may be too busy stuffing my face with fruit or enjoying the sunshine...

Culture shock or not?

2009-08-19T21:34:00.002+09:00

When i was working in Japan, one of the most common questions my students asked was, "What were your first impressions when you came to Japan?"
That was a really difficult question for me as
a) it was so long ago (1991) and,
b) for me, that time was more about adapting into a new all-girl Catholic school than adapting to a new culture.
I really don't remember having (m)any impressions about Japan/Tokyo, although i must have had had some.
So, that's one reason why i'm sharing my impressions on moving to Germany - to remember my first impressions this time around.

I've also read a lot about culture shock and its phases. Originally, i read about it so i could facilitate discussions in my classes for students being transferred overseas. In the last 6 months or so, i re-read it all in the hope that 'forewarned is forearmed'.
There are four basic stages of culture shock; names and the order vary according to different books, but they are, basically, the same thing.
1. Excitement
In this stage everything is wonderful & the new country is the best place EVER
2. Frustration
Everything becomes annoying & individuals become frustrated and/or in their inability to communicate/function in the new country
3. Anger/Depression
Everything seems hopeless & it seems impossible that the individual will ever truly settle in the new country
4. Acceptence
The person accepts that things will always be different, but is OK with that & feels at home in the new culture.

Has this knowledge helped me?
Honestly, no.
I've been completely blind-sided by something else completely. I never expected that i would be overwhelmed by the loss of my independence. At the moment, i am not working, i am completely financially dependent on K, i have none of my own friends here (but K's friends are all great people) and i spend most of my weekdays (in the day time) alone.
This IS a temporary situation (just to the end of this month) & i know that; but the knowledge doesn't help. It's hard to explain, but i feel stuck, lost & useless. Maybe this is tied into culture shock too, i really don't know.
All i know is that, believe it or not, i hate not working.
If K wasn't working either, then it would be a very different situation. But from 8am to 7 or 8pm everyday, i am here & he's at work. It's much harder than i thought it would be. It's not much fun going to the park or into town on your own. While i do enjoy time on my own, 12 hours a day, 5 days a week is a tad too much.

But saying all that, I do NOT regret moving here. I haven't regretted it once.
Of course, I miss my J-friends. But, surprisingly, i don't miss Japan. I thought i would, and i am sure this will change, but right now, i would rather be here in my lonely hausfrau life.

Refrections 3 & The Joys of German

2009-08-16T23:00:00.004+09:00

A week or so ago, I started (self) studying German. I was expecting it to be difficult. What i wasn't expecting was HOW bloody difficult it is. And it's difficult on different levels too, which i also didn't expect.
I had had numerous warnings from friends (both non-Germans & Germans) that the grammar is difficult. And it is. The problem for me is that the grammar is completely alien to me - it's so different to English in how it's formed. For example, there are verbs with prefixes (e.g. bekommen (to get) or ankommen (to arrive))
Seems simple enough, right.
But no, NOTHING in German is that simple.
Some prefixes are inseparable from the verb (e.g. Yuki bekommt eine Einladung (Yuki gets an invitation)) However, others ARE separable (e.g. Yuki kommt in Deutschland an (Yuki arrives in Germany))

I'm also having problems with the pronunciation. I cannot master st- or sp-; which look deceptively simple. In German, they are pronounced more like 'sht-' or 'shp-'. Z is pronounced like a Japanese 'tsu' and 'ch-' sounds like someone is clearing their throat. Individually, these sounds are not too bad, but when they are together, it's really hard. For example, no matter how hard i try, I cannot pronounce streicheln (to stroke). I just get a confused tongue & spit all over everyone.
Saying that, German pronunciation/spelling is very consistent - how it's spelt is how it's pronounced, with very few exceptions.

Those are just a couple of examples of how different/difficult German is - there are many more (and I'm only on lesson 7), but i will not bore you with the details. Don't think i'm going to be fluent anytime soon; definitely not in 30 days...

In other news, I am in the process of renewing my passport. Do you know how much a British passport costs nowadays? 154€ (= JPY20,000 or US$220)!!!!!

I also found out that if i were to get my passport renewed in Britain, the price would be GBP77.50 - about half price. Why the hell does it cost twice as much if i renew it in Germany? FYI, it costs around JPY20,000 to renew it in Japan, so at least they're consistently ripping off British people overseas. The mysteries of British bureaucracy, eh?

Still discovering a lot of interesting things about my new home...here are some of the latest.

Beer
OK, this isn't a new discovery. But i am in awe of the price of beer here. A crate (20x500ml bottles) from the local supermarket costs around 12€. TWELVE! That's about 1,600 JPY or $17! That's 60 cents a beer. About 80 yen per beer!
Not only that, all the bottles & the crate have a deposit too, so if you take back an empty crate, you get about 3€ back. So actually, the crate of beer only costs 9€! No wonder Germans drink a lot of beer. Or is it the opposite way round - it's cheap because Germans drink a lot of it? Whatever - beer is cheap & that makes me happy!

Recycling Machines
At the supermarket, there are two machines to get your deposit back. One is for soft plastic bottles & cans, the other for hard plastic & bottles. The first machine crushes the plastic bottles, with a satisfying crunch sound. The other just sends stuff to the warehouse at the back of the supermarkets. Both machines are fully automated & calculate the total, then print out a receipt which you can either cash in, or use to pay for the next crate of beer. Last week, we collected all the bottles & cans here, took them to the supermarket & got about 25€ back. And yes, we did buy a new crate...

Windows
I know this is going to sound really silly, but i am fascinated by the windows here. A lot of places have tilt-and-turn windows which i have never seen before. These are windows that can be opened in two ways; either opened like a normal window or tilted, with the top just open. Don't know if that makes sense - maybe it's easier to look at a photo. I have no idea how they work, but it's a really cool idea/design. Have no idea if they exist elsewhere - i've only seen them here.

And that is the latest news from Deutschland.
In short: In reward for mastering a nightmarish language, Germans get the privilege of cheap beer, cool windows and 50€ passports.

Refrections from a New Land - Part Two

2009-08-07T20:08:00.002+09:00

Spending more time here & getting to know a bit more about Germany & its culture is proving to be really interesting. Germany is a really intriguing country & there are so many unexpected things - some of them are cultural, some of them are my responses to this new world/life.

Here are a few things from the past week:

Numbers
You would think that numbers are numbers & there's not much to confuse anyone. But you'd be wrong. There are, firstly, a couple of differences in how numbers are handwritten. Ones always have a tag (1) and not written like a this - I. OK, not a problem. But the tag bit is really long & i keep getting my ones & sevens mixed up. Sevens, however, are always crossed to prevent confusion. I keep forgetting that though & get prices mixed up at the supermarket.
The second thing with how numbers are written is that commas & periods are used in the opposite way to English speaking countries. So one euro fifty cents is written as 1,50€, whereas one thousand five hundred is 1.500€. You wouldn't think that this would be too confusing & i guess it isn't, but, in my english eyes, it just looks weird.
The last thing with numbers is with the floors in buildings. The European way (including Britain), is Ground Floor, first floor, second floor, etc. In Japan, there is no ground floor - it's the first floor, which also the North American way (and somewhat more logical to me). I, despite growing up with the GF-1F-2F system, have fully adopted the 1F-2F way. So much so that when i was in the book store looking for German text books on the second floor, got really confused because i couldn't find them anywhere. But i was on the wrong second floor...

Nakedness
After 12pm in Germany, it's OK to show nudity on TV. Not full frontals (or 'hairy bits'), but after midnight, there are tits EVERYWHERE. Mostly, it's ads for phonesex, but EVERY CHANNEL has breasts. Of all sizes & ages. Must admit to be a shocked & still being a bit uncomfortable when i change the channel to see a huge pair of bouncing boobs. Not sure whether it's my inate British prudishness coming out, or my adopted Japanese prudishness; all i know is that i am not used to seeing so much nakedness.

Travelling Carpenters or Journeymen
I had never heard of these people before, but the other day K & I were at a local festival and there was a group of strangely dressed young men. I would describe their clothes as a cross between Hasidic Jew, Amish & 1970s folk band. Have a look here. K explained that these carpenters travel around the country, working on houses for food & board. There's even a law (welcome to Germany!!) that says that townhalls are legally obliged to give food & board to these journeymen. After looking around on the web, i found out some more about them - they are only found in France (aka 'compagnons') & Germany; i found this website to be really interesting. Had no idea that this type of thing still existed anywhere and i am impressed that a) young people are still taking up this old tradition and b) the government continues to support & protect it.

Summer
Know i mentioned this before, but i am really enjoying my first European summer for..erm..how long? Think the last time i was back for summer was in the early 1990s. And then it was a British 'summer'; aka rain interspersed with weak periods of pale sun. Even though this is supposedly the worst summer for 20 years (man in the pub told us, so it must be true), it's so much easier to enjoy it here than in Tokyo. Firstly, it's not as hot or humid. More importantly, everything is set up for summer. It's like the city has bloomed - beer gardens have opened, bars & restaurants have all set up tables outside on the street, people are in the park & everyone just seems a lot happier. There are also a lot of little festivals; couple of weeks ago there was an African festival in the square near where we live. Last Saturday was the CSD Parade & party. And on Thursday, on our way home, we happened upon another festival - Henkersfest, which K translated as 'Executioner Festival'; really don't know what that's about & K didn't know why it was called that either.

Basically, I am really glad i moved here in summer. Would have been really nasty to be greeted in my new life with a cold wet German winter.

And now I am going off to the park to study German for an hour or so. Ah, this is the life.

:: CSD in Stuttgart 2009 ::

2009-08-03T17:36:00.002+09:00

On Saturday, I went to my first Gay Parade. For some reason, I have never managed to go to one before; not because i haven't wanted to, but because there hasn't been one where i was. I think there is one in Tokyo - but it's not very well publicised.
Anyway, here in Germany the event is not known as Gay Pride; but Christopher Street Day, after the Stonewall riots in NY in 1969. The Stonewall Inn was on Christopher Street; hence the name. If you want to know more go here, Wikipedia explains it better than me.

Anyway, we had a lovely afternoon following the parade through town. Was a very smiley day, with lots of sparkly - that's what you're supposed to drink on CSD...

I've uploaded my photos, so have a look here.

Not really much else to report from Deutschland. I am now officially a resident of Stuttgart & am waiting for an appointment with the job centre. I'm registered as 'looking for work', so the job centre should be contacting me to see how things are going. Also, during the course of the interview, they can/will also decide whether German lessons will be beneficial for me. If so, i can get free lessons. FREE!! Can you believe that?
Was talking to a friend about that, and i explained that i couldn't believe that people can just turn up in Germany & get free lessons - wouldn't people just come for the free lessons & then just bugger off back to their home countries? Then the friend pointed out that German is only used in 3 countries in the world. It's not like English. I was just coming from a completely different perspective - free English education is pretty much unthinkable.
Always forget how lucky i am being a native English speaker. I think living in Germany would be really hard for a non-English & non-German speaking foreigner. As i mentioned before, there isn't much English support here. Also, TV is not bilingual (unlike Japan); here everything is dubbed into German. Except MTV, so i have been watching a load of crap on TV (which i actually don't mind, but i shouldn't really admit because i am about 20 years too old to be an MTV viewer).
The really bizarre thing is that i am actually using my French, which i defnitely didn't foresee. In the shops, a lot of things are produced for the (mainland) European market, which means that the packaging has German + French/Spanish/Turkish or some other European language. As you know, my German is pretty shoddy; whoever designed the GCSE language programmes needs to be force fed his/her textbooks; then again it was 20 years ago. On the other hand, my french - while not being by any means fluent - is WAY better than my German & i formally studied it for about the same length of time, but in France and high school (International Baccalaureate).
I digress.
To cut a long story short, i find myself reading the French on the packaging & understanding more than i expected. Japanese, however, hasn't come in that useful yet...

Refrections from a New Land - Part One

2009-07-30T20:13:00.003+09:00

I've been in Germany - in my new life - now for 3 weeks and have began to notice things more. I think the first few days/week was a combination of shock ("OH. MY. GOD. I'm in Germany!!!") and de-stressing, so i didn't really take in much.
But things have calmed down a lot now, and I've actually started thinking about things again & be more aware about me & my surroundings.

Here are a few things i've observed in the last week or so:

I'm more Japanese than British. People ask me about the differences between things here & in England and i can't answer. I have no idea how things are in England. I can compare with Japan - I know Japan. But England/Britain? For example, I don't know the current TV shows; I don't even know how many TV channels there are anymore. It's weird being British, but not really British.
Despite all the complaints we all make/made in Japan about the lack of English, Germany is the same (but different). In Japan, communication skills are severely lacking & you'd be hard pushed to find someone in offical-dom who actually speaks any English. Saying that, all the forms & official papers are (in the most part) bilingual. Germany is the complete opposite. The majority of people here have an amazing level of English, however all the official bits and pieces are in German only; which is very challenging when you have to fill out forms or find out where to go or what to ask for. Even the website for the city office is only in German. This has made grateful for the limited English in Japanese officialdom - something i never ever thought i would grateful for!
Everything starts later here. I guess in Japan (well, the kanto area, at least) most people are reliant upon public transport and/or live hours away. That means parties & the like usually start around 7pm and finish by 11 or 12. Here, nothing really gets started till around 10pm. And when i was in Britain, it wasn't any different because the pubs all closed at 11pm. Not sure how things are in other European countries. Not even sure about licensing laws here - everything seems to be open all the time...
I love Summer Time. I like the fact that it's still light at 9pm. I like that it doesn't get truly dark until around 10:30pm. And i like that there are lots of bars & cafes where you can sit outside in the evening. Always associated open air cafe culture with France & Italy, but it's also a big thing here in Stuttgart. Lovely.
The beer isn't served as cold as i expected. I'm used to drinking ice cold beer (as i said before, i am more japanese than british...), but here it's more 'cool' than 'cold'. K explained that it's so you can actually taste the beer & only shitty beer should be served ice cold. Not too sure about this - am too used to drinking it cold, but i am sure with some training, I'll be able to adapt...
The really fast autobahn isn't as fast as I'd been led to believe. Yes, it is true that the autobahn has no speed limit - but not for all of it. Some speed limits makes sense; ie near junctions or really windy (in both senses of the word) bits. However, there are others that don't. For example, there are speed limits because of the old road surface; which is OK in itself. However, a few kilometres down the road, there'll be another speed limit because of a NEW road surface. Go figure. AND there are a lot of road works. So, as an example, from K's hometown (Mülheim) to here (Stuttgart) is about 400km. Of that, i would guess around half (if that) has no speed limit. Kind of defeats the point of not having a speed limit when you have to drive at 60 to 100kph half the time.

And those are some of the things i've noticed. Bear in mind that these are the observations of a complete newbie & i may be completely wrong in my assumptions, but this whole living-in-Germany thing is a work in progress & there are going to be some mistakes along the way.

I have been uploading photos to Facebook, so go have a look there for Stuttgart piccies. If you're not on Facebook (or not my friend on FB) yet, here's the link for my photo album

::Melt!::

2009-07-21T21:43:00.002+09:00

Last weekend, I made the 5-hour trek across Germany to the Melt! festival.
I know, on the grand scale of things, that 5 hours isn't the furthest distance, but me it seemed FAR. But it was well worth the journey to (the former) East Germany.
Now, I'm not a festival pro at all; i've only been to Summer Sonic and I don't think the Yokohama Jug Band Festival counts... But Melt! was held in an extremely cool location (Ferropolis); an old open cast coal mine, with all the huge machines still standing there. What was even cooler was that they had HUGE disco balls hanging off them. It was extremely impressinve at night, with these massive machines towering over everything, with spotlights lighting them up. Very very cool.
On a scale of festivals, Melt! is one of the smaller european ones, with around 20,000 people. Still, that's enough to make a party, but not be too many people. It was a really good atmosphere, and despite the disappointing weather (rain, wind, thunder, lightning, with random periods of sunshine), the partying didn't really stop; although some acts early Saturday morning had to be cancelled because the ground got too wet/flooded.

So, my musical highlights (in alphabetical order) :
Bloc Party. Last time i saw them play was in 2005 when they came to Japan to promote their first album. Was really interesting to see how they've changed over time - a lot more interaction with the audience & a way longer set (well, guess they have 3 albums' worth now...)
Bodi Bill. K introduced me to this German band a while back, and i really like them. Don't know how to describe their music; they play around with genres a bit - start off with soft electronica then veer into techno. Great live performance too.
Bonaparte. It was 3am, and K & me wanted somehwere warm, so we stumbled into the tent, sat down & then Bonaparte erupted. Have no idea how they had so much energy at time in the morning, but wow. Definitely a band i want to find out more about.
Mediengruppe Telekommander. This was a band that K wanted to see but i didn't know. Again, i can't really explain what kind of music they played - sure K will correct me, but the closest i can describe it is as German Beastie Boys. Very very bouncy & K was bouncing for hours afterwards.
Wedding Present. K really dislikes this band, but he humoured me & came and watched them. 'How kind!', I hear you cry. Well, yeah, until he spent the rest of the time slagging them off. Very nearly killed him. Luckily, he saw i has murder in my eyes, and shut up until the gig ended. Was kind of sad though for me. I've liked the Weddoes since the early 90s and at that time they were headliners of festivals. At Melt!, they had a 7.30pm time slot for 30 minutes & there was a really small crowd.

And that's it. Wow. We didn't really see much, did we?
Other highlights included dancing outside at the Techno stage for most of Sarurday afternoon,
smiling a lot,
getting on a bus that didn't take us back to the camping ground but back to the techno stage,
meeting people from all over Europe (OK, well, Germans (of course), loads of Brits, a surprising number of Irish, lots of crazy Dutch people, some Spaniards & a Romanian),
falling asleep to the sound of rain,
waking up and realising we'd missed a huge storm & managed to stay dry,
meeting a group of English girls who were all called Helen,
K meeting a really odd German who was also called Kevin,
pea soup,
smiling even more,
beer,
and glitter balls.

The only real downer of the weekend was waiting in line for toilets. Why - wherever you go in the world with a crowd - are there NEVER enough girls' toilets?? Oh, and Metronomy cancelled.

So, a fabulous weekend was had by The German & me.

And, K - thank you! xx

The (Limbo) New Life

2009-07-15T23:46:00.006+09:00

I have been in Germany now for just over a week, and am feeling good.

But i have to admit to being in state of limbo. My life right now is really an "in between" life.
And no, I don't feel stuck between two countries or two lives, not at all. I am fully embracing this new life with both hands. I'm happy here; Europe in summer is a lovely place to be.

But things ARE in limbo.

The day i arrived, The German got confirmation that he would, indeed, be allowed to take 3 months off (September - November). So we ARE going travelling! Yippee!

However, this also means that there isn't much point job hunting. It's only 6 weeks away, and i couldn't really get a job & then quit. Saying that, I have successfully postponed a couple of job interviews until December.

It also means a postponement of us finding our own place - not much point paying rent on a place for 3 months when we're not even there. So we're living in a room in a shared flat. Luckily the flatmates are all lovely people (all university students and about 10 years younger than me!!)

Therefore, this means, i have 6 weeks of being the ultra hausfrau; cooking, washing & sporadic cleaning. Am really hoping that The German doesn't get too comfortable with this life though...

Don't know how long this joy of being a hausfrau will last, but for the moment, it's cool. It's just nice to be living a really slow life. No more rush hour trains, no more early mornings, no more officedom. And I have to admit that there is some satisfaction in taking care of my man, not very Women's Lib of me, but hey, it was my choice!

And for excitement, this weekend K & me and the flatmates are going to Melt! Festival. Believe it or not, this will be first proper festival experience (can't really count Summer Sonic, as I went home in the evenings....) Am *really* excited about that. The tickets were a present from K to welcome me to Germany & for me to allow him on a crazy boys' festival weekend next month. If this is what i get when he goes away, there's absolutely no worries - he can go away whenever he likes...just not too often.

Not much else on the horizon though. Going back to Mülheim (K's hometown) for a weekend or two. Also need to register with the local council. It's so lovely being an EU citizen - no paperwork or anything. Just need to register my address. That's all

Also need to renew my passport; it runs out in December, so won't be able to enter most countries while we're travelling. For some reason, there must be 6 months remaining on your passport before you enter most countries, even though they only give visas for upto 3 months. Means that your passport isn't really valid for 10 years, just 9 and a half. All a bit cheeky, methinks.

And, if possible, i want to join a German course. Definitely needs to get some language skills here.

So, that is the life i am leading. I will have 5 months off from reality. FIVE WHOLE MONTHS!

Am really looking forward to travelling with K. As yet, we haven't really done any concrete planning. However, Asia seems the top choice; name the Philippinnes swiftly followed by Indonesia & Cambodia. Am also hoping that we will be able to hit Australia too.

This is a good life so far. I have absolutely no regrets about making the choice to be here with the German.

A Modern Day Tanabata Story

2009-07-08T17:25:00.002+09:00

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Star Girl lived in a country far far away seperated from Star Boy by mountains, oceans & an annoying 7-hour time difference.

The distance proved too much for Star Girl & Star Boy, so Star Girl decided to travel across the skies to find Star Boy & live a new life with him.

On 6th July, Star Girl embarked on her journey; flying to Star Boy across the skies, travelling over mountains, continents & leaving behind a life. Star Girl was so happy to be on her way to Star Boy. The skies were clear and she was on her way. The universe was smiling.

But the universe wasn't smiling for very long.
Star Girl got to her transit point. The point in her own country (aka the dreaded Terminal 5) where she would change vessels and continue her journey.
And then skies opened. Thunder & Lightning & heavy clouds blocked her path to Star Boy.
Star Girl spent hours & hours & hours in the dreaded Terminal 5.
Emotional hours - was it just a delay? PLEASE let it be just a delay.
At first the news was hopeful - just a two hour delay until she could take to the skies again.
But then the news changed to bad. There would be no vessels for her to board that evening.
Star Girl would not be meeting Star Boy.

So, Star Girl got her bags, got befriended by some two girls who took pity on Star Girl's tears, and waited in line after line: the re-ticketing line, the hotel coupon line then the hotel shuttle bus line. 3 hours later, Star Girl was in a hotel; nearer to Star Boy, but feeling so far away.

Then 7th July - Tanabata Day - came.
Would the skies have cleared enough for Star Girl to reach her new home?
With antrepidation & nervousness, Star Girl went back to the dreaded Terminal 5. She checked in with her new friends - everything seemed OK. The skies seemed clear - no sunshine, but no thunder.
Star Girl boarded her new vessel to carry her to Star Boy & 90 minutes later, she was in the arms of Star Boy.
The universe had smiled upon Star Girl & Star Boy & finally let them be together.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the original Tanabata story, go here

The Worst is OVER!

2009-07-04T11:17:00.003+09:00

The last few days have been some of the most stressful days in my life.
But i survived. I had numerous mini-meltdowns, but i got through it all.
I successfully moved out of my place, got my stuff shipped, had all the furniture taken away & came out of it all feeling a huge sense of freedom.

I know i'd been stressed, but i didn't realise how much until everything was over & i arrived here in Kurihama chez Michael & Shingo. When i got here, i finally felt free. I don't have anything to worry about - just getting to the airport on Monday morning. That's it. No boxes. No cubic metres. No packing. No moving companies. It's all done!

Still, there's a huge sense of dis-belief. Am i really doing this? Am I really going to Germany? Am i really going to leave Japan? YES! I AM!
1 week ago, moving was something that made my stomach clench & my appetite die
6 months ago, it seemed like a insurmountable mountain.
2 years ago, me leaving Japan was something i could not imagine or foresee.

And look where i am now. Wow.

Amazing where life leads us.

The only downer - and it's a huge one - has been the goodbyes. Have not been enjoying them at all. Guess that's only natural. Kind of weird though because usually i'm the one who's staying & my friends are leaving. And you know what? Despite the goodbyes being bloody hard, i think being left is so much harder than leaving. Of course it's hard saying goodbye, and I've had a lot - and the hardest goodbyes are yet to come - but i'm so excited about moving forward. That's not to say i won't miss Japan. Of course i will. But i am really excited about my new European life.

But yes. Enough random thoughts.

This will be, most likely, my last post from Japan.

So, Japan, thank you for being one the most fascinating & frustrating friends - always around me. I grew up here, and became me here. Japan will always be with me.

My J-friends. My one regret is that Metropolis life is too crazy that i couldn't have spent more time with you all. You've all been important to me in many different ways. Some of you have been my sounding boards, some of you have been my shoulder to cry on, some of you have been my slice of home, some of you have opened my eyes to the world, some of you have been my drinking buddies. And some of you have been all of the above.
So, for that, thank you. I'll miss you all, but this is NOT the end. I'll definitely be back with The German for a visit at some point. And you'll always be welcome in Germany.

And failing that, you can always read about my new German adventures here.

Going to stop writing now, before i make myself cry....

Meltdown Madness

2009-06-30T10:43:00.002+09:00

I thought things were too good to be true - everything was going along smoothly.

I managed to organise a moving company to take my stuff to France, a company to move some stuff to my friends' and another company to take all the left overs away.
That's Wednesday (international moving), Thursday (domestic stuff), Friday (everything else)

Wednesday is tomorrow. I thought i would be ready for it.
Yesterday, i got home & had a complete meltdown. A combination of stress & extreme panic.
Those who know me really well know that i'm really not good in extreme situations. And this is extreme - i'm moving home & changing jobs. I'm also leaving the life i've known for 12 years (plus 6 more before that).
And the biggest thing is that i have SO MUCH STUFF. And everything costs SO MUCH MONEY.

I have been trying to whittle down my stuff & get it down to 2 cubic metres, but i don't really know how big that is. I will find out tomorrow though...
I have thrown away SO much stuff. I'm giving a way a lot too. But there seems to be SO MUCH left over. And it is completely overwhelming me; i have constant stomach cramps, i'm not sleeping properly, and i'm prone to bursting into random floods of tears.

The logical part of me is whispering in my ear, 'Just wait. 4 more days & it'll be all done'.
And i know that.
I'm also glad that my meltdown & panic is just the whole moving thing. I'm not suddenly having regrets and i'm REALLY looking forward to moving to Germany & starting my new life with The German. (Although, i have realised that once i'm in Germany, i won't be able to call him 'The German' because everyone will be German. Guess he'll be upgraded to 'My German'...)

ANYWAY - I know things will be OK. I just need to get through to Friday, then i can relax.
Just wanted to vent here; problem shared, a problem halved, and all that.

And on a final little note: thanks you everyone who made the trek out to Tsunashima for my sayonara party on 21st. Was really lovely to see you all & be surrounded by such happy faces. And i'm sorry if i passed out before you left & didn't say goodbye...the perils of Jaegermeister, eh? =)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

2009-06-23T14:46:00.004+09:00

The clock is really beginning to tick really loudly. NO! Not that clock – the countdown to Germany clock!

Had my 'official' goodbye party on Sunday. Was a lovely afternoon/evening.
Well, from the bits & pieces i remember, it was lovely.
If i feel asleep before you left, i am *so* sorry. Didn't mean for that to happen, but people kept dousing me with Jaegermeister. And i couldn't say no to that, could i?
Good news was that i didn't wake up with any broken bones...

Things are rapidly approaching. Two weeks today will mark the first day of German life. Or the first day of my new life. Whatever you want to call it.

And things look very exciting. Way beyond my imagination - in the last week there have been some VERY exciting developments. Things i really didn't anticipate. But WOW! Let me explain...

The opportunity has arisen for K to take a few months out from his company (Gotta love the economic meltdown...) So, after a flurry of phone calls & emails, we decided that this would be too good an opportunity to miss; i don't have a job yet, we don't have a flat yet, K won't have this chance again. Or, as K so delicately put it, "when i retire at 67, you'll be 74. And you'll be too old to travel".

To cut a long story short, K and me are going travelling.
Where? No idea. But we'll have few months & we can take our time.
Does anyone have any suggestions? So far our only suggestions have been golden sands, sunshine, palm trees & cheap beer....

Yup, the future is looking damn exciting.

Month of Lasts

2009-06-17T12:21:00.002+09:00

Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen; May 2009

The stress has suddenly sneaked up on me & smacked me round the head with a resounded, 'thunk'.
Knew it was too good to be true. Still, things could be WAY worse. There isn't too much to stress me out - main two things are time & money.
Luckily, Daddy Sin & The German have both been very supportive - Thank You! Both of you - even though i have completely sacrificed my feminist values by getting the men in my life to help me out.
Then again, i never had any feminist values to begin with...unless it got me a free beer :)

ANYWAY - before i degenerate into some stress induced rant...

Things ARE coming together.
Have my main sayonara party planned: Sunday 21st June @ Blue Corn

(where else? And if you're reading this & i haven't invited you, consider yourself invited; from 3pm)

Know my last day of work: Tuesday 30th June
Have fixed a date to move out of my flat: Friday 3rd July
Have planned my last weekend: Kurihama with M&S
Have fixed a date to leave: Monday 6th July
Have decided on a moving company: Nippon Express

And how am i feeling about it all? My overwhelming feeling is that of excitement. I am really looking forward to starting my new life.
The second feeling is 'I wish this would be over'. Moving is stressful and now i know why i haven't done it for 12 years. The funny thing is, it's not stressing me in the way expected. I was expecting to be stressed by the amount of crap i have managed to accumulate.
Actually what is stressing me more is all the logistics & bureaucracy of it all. It just all takes time & energy. And when you're working full-time AND doing it all on your own, it is hard.
BUT it is definitely do-able. And once i've done it, it'll be over.
And i'll be able to be proud of myself for doing it. So There.

The third feeling is the melancholic/nostalgic feelings. Japan has been part of my life for SO long now. More than half my life in fact; came here in August 1991 when i was 17. You do the maths.
Have been staving off the melancholy/nostaligia; but every so often it creeps up on me.
Keep having moments of 'Oh, this is probably my last _____'
So far my list of lasts includes:
Last ride on a shinkansen
Last view of Mount Fuji (see above)
Last Yukata
Last business trip & Izu
Last Mooney night @ Blue Corn
Last class in Japan
And the list keeps growing...

Funny thing is, i've missed some Lasts. Didn't realise they were my Lasts until later (eg the view of Fuji). So now everyday, I keep thinking 'This could be my last time' & enjoy & savour it even more because of that..

Tell you something though, beer tastes SO much better when you think it could be your last one.
Yeah, i know damn well it isn't, but HEY...got to take advantage of this moving thing...

June? ALREADY??????

2009-06-03T12:58:00.002+09:00

Time is whipping by at a crazy pace; but here i am plodding along at the same old speed & am not even that stressed out by everything.
Admittedly, i do have little freak outs - "F$$K! I'm leaving next month!" - but that's about as far as it goes. Not sure if i am going to have a delayed freak out, or it's going to jump up on me while i'm not looking, but at the moment I feel positive, calm & forward looking.

I think the main reason for feeling this way have been the events of the last week or so.
2 weeks ago, K's dad passed away. Not a complete surprise, but still painful & sad none the less.
For me, i wish i could have known Wolfgang more & really wish i had learnt some German so i could have spoken with him directly.
On the other hand, i am grateful that i did have the chance to meet him, drink beers with him & see him smile. He was a lovely man & will be greatly missed by lots of people.

K asked me to go over to Germany for the funeral, so i did. Wasn't the easiest of trips, but it showed me 2 things:
1. Moving to Germany is by FAR the best thing i can do with my life
2. Life is short & i really shouldn't get myself stressed out with the small stuff. Life is definitely for living.

So, yeah, packing? Moving? Learning German? Finding a job? Pah! That's nothing.
The most important thing is moving forward, enjoying life & making sure K & i smile everyday.

(am sure i am going to regret writing this post when i have my pre-move meltdown!!!!)

Weekly Round Up: Not So Golden Week

2009-05-08T14:57:00.003+09:00

Not been the most eventful of weeks & i have to admit to not doing much towards The Move.
Then again, i have still been throwing out stuff on a very regular basis & i can't focus all my time on The Move.

Golden Week wasn't very golden this year. First few days were nice, then it started p-ing it down. And it still hasn't stopped. 4 days of constant heavy rain. Fun - for ducks.
Been bloody miserable - apparently it is the edge of a typhoon hitting us, but whatever it is, it's bloody wet.
Was funny this morning though; i live near an elementary school & the kids walk by place. On most mornings it's quite annoying, because the local PTA stands along the street 'protecting' the kids from ??? (cars? foreigners? themselves? Not really sure why they're there...) Anyway, these PTA mothers insist on saying "OHAYO GOZAIMASU" ("Good Morning") to every single passing child. And all the mothers seem to have high pitched screamy annoying voices.
But that wasn't what i wanted to write about...

This morning was heavy thunder & lightning.
The sound/light effects were something like this:
FLASH!!!! (lightning)
BANG!!!! (thunder)
SCREAM!!! (kids)

And then i went to the hospital for my final face check. And i'm all clear. My eye works & my orbital bone are all ok. Doctor wished me on my way with the wise words, 'Don't fall over again'.
Thanks, Doc.

And things begin....

2009-05-01T14:21:00.006+09:00

A lot has happened during the past week. Not huge monumental things; wait actually YES, some big things have happened.

Let's start with the little things first:

My face is looking a lot better; still have 2 scars around my but they are rapidly fading. Sister Sin recommended something called Bio-Oil which a natural herbal remedy than you put on damaged skin to make it heal quicker. And she's going to get me a bottle (Thanks in advance, A). Have been using Vitamin E based skin care for the last month too to help aid the healing process.

Golden Week starts properly tomorrow (had Wednesday off, but that doesn't really count). Have lots of nice plans which include dinner, picnics, seaside, a hike, fresh air, sunshine & friends. Am really looking forward to it.

Job hunting has been a tad disappointing, but not totally unexpected. I have chosen a pretty bad time to move across the oceans (actually, i am not moving across any oceans - but 'moving across Siberia' doesn't sound as romantic...) But it hasn't been a complete disaster. Basically, it appears that there aren't many (any?) full-time teaching positions available at the moment in Stuttgart. However, there are lots of free-lance/part-time opportunities. Already have around 4 companies who have expressed an interest in meeting me once i have a German address.
And failing all that, I'll just become a hausfrau...

And now the big things:

Well, actually, it's one big thing.

I handed in my resignation at work; two more months & I am done!!

I decided that I couldn't go on like this with no definite dates; no definite plans; just uncertainty.

So, had a talk with K & The Parental Sins over the weekend & everyone agreed that making the cut was the best thing. And it was.
I feel *so* much better for having a clearer idea of when I am going.

Now I just have to get myself moved to Germany....hmmm....

But I have been making small inroads into the move:

Every rubbish day (3 days a week), I am chucking out at least one bag of crap from my place. So far, I managed to throw away approximately 24 bags of stuff...

I have researched moving companies. I have got it down to Yamato or Nippon express. Mainly because:

a) their depots are about 10 minutes walk from my place which may mean more flexibility in moving,

b) they have offices in Europe,

c) I've heard of them, and

d) they do door-to-door deliveries

I have decided to go for the door-to-door option, which is not the cheapest way, because no-one lives anywhere near the airports/ports. It would mean up to a 3 or 4 hour drive just to pick the stuff & having to deal with customs bureaucracy in a foreign language. No thank you. Am actually going to get things sent to my parents' place in France. "But aren't you moving to Germany?", I hear you cry. Yup, I am. But my parents live nearer to Stuttgart than K's parents, even though they're in a different country. Europe is a funny little place.....

Have also got some information on 'Take your stuff away' companies. These lovely companies, for a small fee, will come round and just take everything away. They will even buy some things from you. I really cannot be arsed with a Sayonara sale. Too much hassle & from all my friends' reports of their own sayonara sales, quite stressful. So, if you want any of my stuff, let me know & perhaps we can do a little deal.... Otherwise, the 'Take my stuff away' company is going to get the majority of it.

The next step is contacting these companies & getting them to come round & make some estimates. My mission for May is to get both Yamato & Nittsu people round to give me quotations; choose the better offer; get the boxes delivered and start packing.

Then June, I will start getting in touch with the 'Stuff' companies & see how much they will charge.

And hope by the third week of June, I will have dates for them both.

And in the first few days of July, I will be on a plane to K & my new life in Stuttgart.

At this precise moment in time, I am really happy, positive & excited.

I think I may end up a stressed and quivering in one of the packing boxes by this time next month though...

I will keep you posted.....

☆MUTSUGOTO☆

2009-04-22T15:00:00.002+09:00

I want me one of these...

♥

Eye Update

2009-04-17T12:43:00.003+09:00

Thank you everyone for your thoughts & words. Was nice to know people were out there.
Would have been nicer if people were actually here, but i guess that's the life i have chosen.

Anyway...this is what my face looks like now. A LOT better. Don't know what was up with the lighting when i took this photo, but my forehead isn't grey. Am glad that the cut under my eye has healed relatively nicely. And I'm going to have a cool boxing scar above my eye....makes me look 'ard!

Went to the hospital yesterday to check on the healing process. Doctor measured my eye, to make sure it isn't sunken or swollen (it doesn't seem to be) and asked me how I'm doing. Told him that I am basically OK, but I have a low level of constant pain, with occasional twangs of sharp pain. He checked that i has been taking my medicine (i had) & checked again. And then asked me again. Think he thinks I'm either a) stupid or b) a drug whore.

I know i am neither. I may have a low threshold for pain; then again i have fractured a bone IN MY HEAD!

Anyway, the doctor begrudgingly gave me a prescription for 5 doses of pain killers. My next visit is in 3 weeks. 21 days. I have 5 doses. FIVE. That's some big time rationing I'm going to have to do. He also explained that these pain killers are so strong that i have to take stomach medicine with them. But then i went to the pharmacy, and the pharmacist told me that i could take up to 4 doses a day. Can't be that bloody strong then. And that means i could take my whole supply in 30 hours. But I've got to make it last TWENTY ONE DAYS.

Hmm....did i mention that already? Maybe i am a drug crazed whore after all...

Otherwise, the doctor didn't really say much. Seems that a bone takes about 1 month to heal itself, so i have a while to go. Also i am still banned from blowing my nose. Never thought i would be jealous of people who can honk into their tissue, but i am now. Every time i hear the sound of snot being expelled, I have a pang of jealousy. How screwed is that?!
Also have to exercise my eyes. I'm having a bit of trouble looking up & focusing both eyes together.

So, i have a question for you:

As i mentioned before, i have a pretty much constant level of pain. It is bearable and i can function, but it's making me tired. The pain is feels like a mixture of sinus pain & eye strain, with random sharp twinges that REALLY hurt.
So, how can i reduce the pain without painkillers? I don't really feel the need to become addicted to pain killers, lose my job, home & boyfriend and then have to go into rehab for 6 months or live life on the streets...

Can anyone recommend techniques or herbal remedies? Any ideas would be much appreciated...thank you ;)

(Alcohol doesn't count as a herbal remedy)

Broken Face

2009-04-10T11:28:00.005+09:00

Just when you think things are back on track, something comes along & upsets your world in ways you had never imagined.
I've been having one of those weeks.

Went to Hanami on Sunday to see off Chris & Yuiko. Was a lovely afternoon/evening.
But then...
Somehow, with the combination of beer, sleeplessness (aka jet lag from hell) & a lack of appetite (aka jet lag from hell), i managed to fall & hit my face.
Not only do i not clearly remember how i did it, i don't remember where i did. I have, however, narrowed things down a bit:
1. I got home safely, took my shoes & earrings off and hung my keys up
2. There was no dirt in any of the cuts
3. I found blood drops on the toilet mat
4. I had no dirt or cuts anywhere else on my body - just a couple of bruises
So, this is what i think happened...
I came home OK. I went to the toilet, but felt really sleepy & just dropped there, hitting my face on the toilet. Crashed there for a bit, woke up & then crawled to bed.

(In a side note: when i am really really tired, i have a tendency to completely pass out. Personally, i don't notice because i'm out, but K has told me that i have fallen asleep mid-sentence & he can't wake me up. I've also been known to sleep through earthquakes, alarm clocks & loud music. Not sure whether i should be concerned about this....)

Woke up in the morning with a the face below:

Well, actually, it wasn't quite like that. This is after i went to the local doctor to check it out.
Didn't have any concussion symptoms, so wasn't too worried. Was more concerned about the nasty cuts & whether they would need stitches (they don't).
So all was OK. Just looked a mess, but i can handle that.

Then yesterday, things took a turn for the worse.
Have allergies at the moment, so have a really runny nose. Gava e my nose a good blow yesterday & felt something really weird. It felt like my face was inflating.
It was:

This REALLY scared the crap out of me. Can you imagine????
So, i immediately went back to the local doctor. He (and the nurses...yup, i am a freak) had a good look & referred me to the local hospital.
Spent hours & hours waiting there - but i will not go into that, or the complete tosser of a doctor who thought that because i couldn't speak japanese properly (bear in mind i was stressed, freaked out & he was using medical words which i don't normally use) he would would shout IN MY FACE. Grrr....

ANYWAY...
After lots of tests (CT & x-ray) and prodding, it was declared that i have a 'blowout fracture'. Did you even know what one is? Neither did i. But i do now.
Scary shit.
Went back to hosipital today to check whether my eye is OK. And it's good news there. Looks like my eye isn't damaged, so eveything should be able to heal naturally. Am going back to the hospital next week to see how it's healing up. Keep your fingers crossed....

In the mean time, i am under strict instructions not to blow my nose.
But i don't think i want to.

APRIL! Wow!

2009-04-08T13:10:00.002+09:00

Has it been a month already? Guess so.

And why haven’t I written? A combination of nothing & everything happening simultaneously. Know that doesn’t make much sense, but let me explain.

The nothingness is the regularity of working life; not necessarily a bad thing because it means stability & peace. And on that side of things, life has been pretty calm. Been working, living, seeing friends – the regular.

The everythingness has been on the relationship side of things. Long distance relationships are the creation of the devil. I can full on say that I HATE them and I hate being in one. I hate time differences; I hate the distance; I hate being able to only use words. ‘Hate’ seems such an inadequate word; detest, loathe or abhor might better express how I feel about long distance relationships.

In the last month or more, things haven’t been going well. The only problem was that neither of us knew what was wrong, or what was happening or why things weren’t working. It was like the distance of time & space had made a huge wall between us & I couldn’t penetrate it. The more distance I felt, the needier & more emotional I got. The needier & more emotional I got, the larger the distance.

In mid-March, I was beginning to feel like my world was collapsing around me. I know that sounds dramatic (bear in mind I was a bit of an emotional wreck at the time), but if K & me couldn’t make it, then I wouldn’t be moving to Germany. The future I had envisioned had started to crumble.

We tried talking, but nothing seemed to work. We couldn’t gulf the distance.

I didn’t make things any easier on myself by not talking to anyone about things. But who would I talk to? I didn’t want to inflict this on other people. Looking back, I should have reached out, because I really was starting to lose the plot. I wasn’t sleeping properly, I cried a lot, I lost confidence & I was starting to turn into a basket case. Complete over-reaction, and even while I was in that state, I was ashamed of myself.

So, I kept things to myself & tried to envelope myself in the nothingness.

Anyway, we decided that the only way to bridge this was to see each other.

So I went to Germany. I am so happy I did. K & I found each other again.

Also, I, bizarrely, found Germany. I mentioned a while back that I wasn’t particularly excited about Germany. But on this trip I got excited about Germany. I have no concrete reason why – maybe it was because spring had sprung & I have forgotten how joyful that it in Europe. Maybe it was just spending more time in Stuttgart with K. Have no idea, but I have come back to Japan feeling WAY more optimistic about the future.

Even more strangely, coming back to Japan this time, I wasn’t excited about being here. In fact I didn’t want to be here. And now too. I want to be in Germany. I am ready to move on.

OK – now must find myself a job…

Weekly Round Up - is it really March already?!

2009-03-02T12:46:00.003+09:00

Been a week since i finished my meds. I haven't noticed any physical changes, but mentally i feel a lot stronger & happier. It's weird (but i guess perfectly natural) but coming off the meds was alike a bog door closing on a particularly hard period. Kind of like the sun coming out after a long cloudy period.
I guess physically too things have changed, but it may take longer for these changes to become apparent. But, yeah, things are good.

Last Saturday, i attended a house-warming party at Sarah & Keisuke's place. Was a wonderful evening, with lots of lovely lovely people - most of whom were new to me. I don't think i have been at a party with so many British people. Well, i guess i have in Britain, but not here in Japan.
And, seeing as i spent Friday evening at Lala's and watched several episodes of Inspector Morse, it was a very English weekend...

In the last week or so, a lot of people have asked me about the move to Germany. The usual question is something along the lines of "Are you excited about moving to Germany?"
When you are asked the same question a lot of times, you start thinking more about it & of different ways to answer.
And as a result, i have thought a lot my answer & came the realisation that i am NOT looking forward to Germany. And i am not excited about Germany.
Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-Germany or Germans and I am very excited about moving.
But the truth is that i am excited about being with the German & starting a new life together with him.
Germany - the country - does not excite me. It happens to be the country where my man is from. Germany has never been somewhere that i thought about in concrete terms. And if i am honest, i don't have any feelings about Germany either way (positive or negative).
Some friends have said that i must be excited about being closer to my family. And while i love my family, i haven't lived in the same continent as them since i was 19; so have got used to being far away. For me, it'll be strange to be in the same continent.

Some things about Germany do fill me with apprehension though. The main thing is the language. Every German speaker i have met keeps reinforcing the fact that German is bloody difficult. So while the pronunciation is relatively easy, the grammar is a complete bitch. Also, i realised that in Japan i'm obviously a foreigner. Japanese people don't expect me to understand anything; so are pleasantly surprised when i do speak Japanese. In Germany, i will be an invisible foreigner and things will the opposite. I really don't know how i feel about that.
I just know that i have to learn German. I need to be able to function on my own & not have to rely on people around me to do that.
The one very small plus is that i have learned German before. I even have a GCSE in it (grade B, so i can't have been completely crap); on the other hand all i can remember is "ich habe vielefische" and "I have a have a lot of fish" isn't really going to get me very far....

Consumptive Diaries Part 30 - Nearly there...

2009-02-18T13:13:00.003+09:00

Had my final check at the hospital yesterday.

My LAST check.

EVER!

Have to be honest though, it was all a bit of an anti-climax. You'd think after over 6 months worth of visits, and officially completing the necessary course of medication, that I would get a certificate or something.

Just a little piece of paper to acknowledge that I actually managed to remember to take my medicine every day for four months. (And that’s not counting the 2 months before that when I was on the nasty antibiotic that didn’t work)

No. Nothing.

And the really weird thing is that I didn’t get tested to make sure I am actually clear of TB. I don’t really know why, but although people can get tested for TB, they can’t get tested to check that they successfully got rid of it. I did have an x-ray to check that there wasn’t anything in my lungs. There wasn’t – apparently my lungs are きれい

The doctor did, however, recommend I get a chest x-ray yearly for the next couple of years, just to make sure.

Not the most reassuring of endings.

But I am done with the hospital. No more watching weird people shuffling round the corridors. No more listening to people coughing up vast quantities of crap, while I am wondering what nasty disease they have. No more ‘ganbatte kudasai’. No more stressing out & wondering whether my liver has given up (on the topic of liver, it’s nearly back to normal – 30 today. The Doc assures me that it will go back to normal once I finish my meds). No more 70-minute treks to that nasty nasty prison. I am officially DONE!!!

Can’t believe that I have been visiting that medical dungeon for 10 months. And I’m done.

Hmmm…think I mentioned that.

Also asked the doctor about my skin; he said just hold out till the end of my meds. Suppose that means this hormonal cloud i'm under will also be a 'wait & see' thing; am still trying to remain positive & fight this damn thing.

And that’s the next door to close: medication. I officially finish my antibiotics next Tuesday. 24th February. Mark it in your diaries boys and girls. Well, maybe not, but be sure it’s marked in mine. And be sure that I am going to go out for a celebratory drink to christen my newly freed liver. Well, not ‘freed’, but perhaps a little more relaxed…

Dis...

2009-02-16T12:28:00.002+09:00

...connected
...figured
...enchanted
...oriented
...equilibrium
...couraged

Am going to have a little whinge today, so please bear with me...

A while ago, i wrote about my upset hormones/periods.
Would like to say that things have got better, and in some ways they have.
My body seems to have got more regular & the cramps aren't so bad.
I have been taking a well-woman supplement for the last two months, so maybe that's helping.

Am still have some horrible-ness though. My mood swings are really really terrible.
Right now, i'm in a really awful down-cycle. I keep tearing up at the tiniest thing & can't really handle talking to people without wanting to either a) kill them, b) hug them or c) cry on them. As a result, i am pulling back into my shell & avoiding people.
I'm also feeling really lonely, and don't know who/where to turn to.

Added to this, my skin is really screwed up. I have acne all over my forehead & it's spreading down my face. Not only that, it's itchy (yet another drug side-effect). As you may imagine, my already weakened self-esteem is not handling this very well. I am avoiding mirrors, feel ugly & don't really want to go out.

Add into all this a far-away boyfriend, an absence of close friends nearby, an empty valentine's weekend and you get a bit of a wreck.

The logical part of me is trying REALLY hard to rationalise everything; "It's just hormones, it's not real". But i really feel like i am 15 again. Know i'm being stupidly paranoid, but i have no frigging idea of how to get out of this.
Even as i am writing this now, i have tears in my eyes. How bloody pathetic is that?!

But, i need to stay positive. I have one more week of meds. I have my last hospital visit tomorrow. Hopefully my life (and hormones) will get back to normal.

The Long Goodbye begins...

2009-02-02T17:31:00.002+09:00

I know i have mentioned this before, but I am planning to leave Japan in May.
I'm going to follow The German round the world - kind of like an international stalker, except that he does actually want me there with him.

The exact date is not fixed, but i (we) needed to fix a general date/time so we/i can start planning the move. May seemed like a good choice; April is usually busy work-wise here (well, until the economy crashed....) and the weather's better in Germany. Nothing like moving to a new country to be greeted by rain & grey skies...

So, May it is.

Am not exactly sure how i feel about everything at the moment.
I feel WAY more optimistic about moving to Germany after spending time with K over the holidays. And i can honestly say that i am excited about moving & i am really looking forward to the next stage of my life. To put it very very simply, I want to be with the German.

However, the thought of saying goodbye to the people i care about here makes me very sad.
Leaving the country i have called home for half my life also makes me sad & a bit melancholy at times.
Negotiating my way round a new culture, new job, new city does send twinges of panic through me.
Also, the thought of learning a new language does stress me.

But the thing that gives me the biggest stomach twists is the thought of physically moving out of my flat.
I have lived there for 11 years; i am a hoarder; i am unbelievably untidy - Need i say more?
How on earth am i going to negotiate my way through the mountain of crap i have accumulated?
How will i decide what to take? What should i through away? Will i regret it once i HAVE thrown it away?
That is the thing that stresses me most. Not the goodbyes, new language, new culture or new life. Just the moving.

Consumptive Diaries Part 29 - Not Much Longer Now!!

2009-01-20T13:55:00.002+09:00

Went for my monthly hospital check - except that it's been nearly 2 months since my last visit.
Was a tad nervous about my liver results after the battering i gave it over the holidays, but my liver is a tough little bugger.
And the results are good. The numbers are tad up, but only 1 or 2 points. The doctor's not worried, so neither am i - especially considering i had food poisoning last week.
Word to the not-so-wise - NEVER EVER eat oysters. They are evil and a creation of the devil. Add a 'D' (for 'dangerous') to oyster, mix it up and what do you get? DESTROY!!!!!!!!! And that's what the little bugger did. Still haven't fully got my appetite back yet.

Anyway, let me get back to the exciting topic of TB, before i launch into a rant about various seafood that i have known, loved & spewed over.

My next hospital appointment will be 17th February. This will be my last.
The doctor gave me 35 days worth of meds (which takes me till 24th February). These will be my last.
The thought of this fills me with joy. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally here & it's shining very VERY brightly.

So, what shall i do to celebrate the killing of a disease? I think a ceremony or celebration of some kind is definitely in order. Any suggestions anyone?

15 Things I (Re)learnt on Holiday

2009-01-14T12:20:00.005+09:00

Being with The German is a whole lot better than being without him
I'm a woman not a girl (apparently)
My parents have a really really nice house & I want visit a lot more often
Würst isn't just sausage; it's also covers a wide variety of pâtés too
Salami, however, is not würst. Neither is ham
Germany has a shit load of different breads - and all the ones I tried are damn fine
Never EVER try to drive through London when there are 3 teams playing at home on the same day in the FA Cup
It is possible (in Europe) to go to 5 countries in one day BY CAR. FYI: the countries were Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany
I am really lucky to be surrounded by good families & friends
Never underestimate the power of Schnapps
There are lots of types of soda water in Germany – even with different levels of fizziness
England is crowded and turning into a big brother state
I still like British pubs (not really a surprise, that one...)
My family is cool
I am completely certain about moving to Germany

・・CORRECTION・・
Apparently, i am going to have to unlearn some of the things i learnt.
Despite me trying to find (successfully) the umlaut on an English OS - by no means one of the easiest tasks known to man, wurst doesn't have one. It's wurst, not würst.
AND salami IS a wurst.

Europe & Christmas

2008-12-28T18:57:00.002+09:00

Have been in Europe for about 10 days now & still have 2 more weeks. I LOVE long holidays!
I was trying to think back to my last 3-week holiday, and, you know, i don't think i have had one since i finished university. Yup, i have had 2 week holidays, but not a whole 3 weeks. And it's great. Think i am going to have nasty shock going back to work though....

So, what have i been doing?
Started off in Stuttgart - and had a very happy reunion with The German. It is *so* good to be back with him again, but i don't think that's a huge surprise to anyone. And i won't bore (shock?) you with all of that.

Instead here is a brief rundown of some of my 'firsts' on this trip:

visited my first german xmas market - complete with mulled wine (gluhwein)
ordered beer in german (woohoo! i'm multilingual now)
had beer in the infamous kaisereck (K's favourite bar)
met k's entire family - all lovely lovely people (i feel very lucky to have a boy with such good people around him)
had christmas on christmas eve (mainland european style)
met many many of k's friends (again, all good people, and all speaking amazing english - thank god!)
embarked on a semi-epic road trip with K. Yesterday we travelled across Germany, through Luxembourg and into France to my parents' place.
seen my parents' house with them living in it (last time i saw it, they were house hunting & thinking of buying it) Lovely lovely house - so much space!

And those are the firsts i can remember. However, due to large quantities of gluhwein, beer & sparkly, i think i may have deleted a few brain cells...

Hope everyone is having a great time wherever they are - And Happy Christmas!

Mid-Week Rant

2008-12-10T12:44:00.002+09:00

If you're not interested in reading a stream of consciousness selfish rant about things, then now would be a good time to go look at another website.

For those of you who are still reading, be warned. I'm grumpy for reasons that will soon be explained.

Now, as i have mentioned before, my TB meds are not screwing with my liver & my body is recovering. Also, after reading the loooooooooong list of side effects, i know that it's not messing with me in any other ways either.

However, there are a couple of HUGE minuses about taking this particular medication (Rifampin).

Firstly, you'd think that taking large amounts of antibiotics everyday would protect you from catching colds or otherwise getting sick.
Oh No. Nothing could be THAT simple. Apparently, my meds are anti-bacterial. Colds & flus and the like, are viral. Therefore, my antibiotics offer bugger all protection against anything else.
Not only that, my meds interfere with efficacy of a shit load of other medications - including a lot of pain killers & cold remedies.
So, not only can i catch a cold, i can't do anything about it. Am fighting a little one now - i refuse to let the bugger beat me... Just drinking buckets of green tea & trying to eat more fruit & veggies.

Secondly, my meds interfere with the efficacy of the pill.
I've been taking the pill for a few years now because don't want to spend 1 or 2 days every month curled up in a little ball of extreme agony.
When i started my TB meds, i stopped taking the pill. First month wasn't too bad at all & i was quietly optimistic that things wouldn't be too unbearable.
Ha!
A week and a half ago, i spent 4 hours throwing up & then 4 hours curled up in a ball of extreme pain.
Fun.
And there's more!!! My meds not only fuck with other meds, they screw with your menstrual cycle. And right now i am feeling severely PMSy; back ache, grumpiness, mood swings, nausea, hot flushes, food cravings - the whole whammy. It's been 11 days. Is my cycle going to be the shortest ever cycle known to woman? Can i at least get Guinness World Record for 'Woman with the Shortest Menstrual Cycle'?

And that is my rant.

If anyone has any suggestions about how to prevent colds or deal with them in a non-drug way, I'd be very grateful for any advice.
Also, any ways of regulating periods & PMS would also be much appreciated.
Please. Need all the help i can get.

9 days till Germany. Am getting so excited. Just wish everything could be in happier circumstances.

Consumptive Diaries - Part 28: No it's not over yet!

2008-12-02T12:39:00.004+09:00

Went to the hospital for my monthly check up & prescription refill today.
And the news is good! My liver function is slowly returning to normal - now a 35 (from a 37 last month). A healthy liver should be around 30, so i'm nearly there! Woohoo!

The doctor did, however, say something that made me think.
I've just been thinking in terms of numbers,("Shit - it's over 100!") with regards to my liver. Wasn't really thinking in any other terms. But the doctor's comment today was that there was still some remaining damage to my liver, but it had nearly gone.
I hadn't been thinking in terms of damage at at all. I was always thought the high numbers meant that i was at risk of damage - not that my liver was actually being damaged. Luckily, because my liver is nearly back to normal, the news didn't freak me out that much.
And the fact that the liver can repair/regenerate/whatever itself is also a reassuring thought.

In other news, i got back the results from my company health check.
It was interesting because it's like a report card & you get graded (A, B or C) for your various functions.
I got mostly As (a first in my life, believe me!!). I did however get a B and C.
Apparently, a B means to take care of this area, but not to worry too much. And a C means that you have to have a recheck at some point.
My B was for cholesterol. Apparently, i've got a little too much of the bad cholesterol. However, i've got a shed load of the good type & they kind of balance out, so there's no problems there.

And the C? One guess.
Yup. My liver. No surprises there.

So, yeah, I am healthy! Good blood, good stomach, good lung capacity, good eyes, good intestines, good heart and good poo.

(They test everything, you know...)

So, in honour of the good medical results this week, i'm posting a photo a rainbow i took last week.
Realised that i don't see too many rainbows in Japan. Don't know if it's me, but am sure i saw way more in England (probably because of the pissy & constantly changing weather). I miss rainbows - so i was really glad i could actually take a photo of one for once. Usually they end up as a smudge in the sky...

17 days till Germany!!

・・・Ups & Downs In Sinland・・・

2008-11-24T18:46:00.002+09:00

Been a lot going on in the last few weeks - so here's a round up of the good, the bad & the ugly:

K's dad was diagnosed with lung cancer; luckily is appears to be treatable, but that still means a course of chemo and radiation. Really feel bad for K's family - this year truly has been a shitty one health wise.

My grandma is bouncing in & out of hospital (she's out at the moment). She keeps having random black outs which have become more and more frequent. Hospital has checked out pretty much every part of her body which could potentially cause this, but have come up with nothing. It's really worrying for those close to her; who have to deal with it & pick her up. However, grandma is quite blase about the whole thing; 'Oh, I'm blacked out, so don't feel a thing!' Funny woman...

K reached the end of his 6-month TB treatment. He went to the hospital, and the doctor said he would have to have a further 3-months' worth of meds because he took so long to get a negative sputum test. So, that's not even over yet. But it does mean we'll both be ending our meds in February (if everything goes to plan...)

I'm still feeling OK (touch wood). Have another TB check up next week, so will see for sure then.
Had my first company health check a couple of weeks ago. That was definitely an experience. Had pretty much everything prodded and/or x-rayed. Even did the barium thing. I opted out of the chest x-ray, seeing as i have already had 4 or 5 this year, and think my lungs are doing pretty well. Haven't had the results yet, but as the nurses/doctors didn't let out any gasps of shock or surprise (or even awe, sadly), I don't think anything too awful will show up.

I have actually bought my ticket to Germany - flying into Frankfurt on 19th December & flying out on 11th January. Still trying to sort out the logistics of when, where & who - 2 families & three countries. Fun. Least they're all in the same continent & neighbouring countries.

Last Saturday, i went to the Dr Sketchy Exhibition Party, which turned out to be one of the best nights out i had had in ages. Lots & lots of fun & smiles & friendly faces. And lots of wows! Go here, here, here and here to see who wowed me. Came away inspired - now want to know where i can buy nipple tassels and fluffy underwear...

25 days till Germany...

★ limboland ★

2008-11-13T18:59:00.003+09:00

Long distance relationships are weird.
I have never been in one before, and i must say that they aren't the greatest way of having a relationship (unsurprisingly).

The German and i are managing to keep in touch pretty much everyday via email & phone, so i don't feel too far way from him.
Of course i miss him - especially as we were living together & now there's big empty German-shaped space in my flat. But i know I'm going to see him soon.

I do, however, feel in limbo. I have mentally made the commitment to move to Germany next year. I have been telling people that i 'plan' to move to Germany. But i haven't graduated to saying i 'will' yet. And that leaves me with a feeling of limbo-ness.
Physically I'm still here. Mentally I'm moving.

So why don't i just say it? Why don't i just shout out 'I'M MOVING TO GERMANY!!!!!'?
Good question...

But i have a few lame reasons why:
1. I don't know when i will move; i want to get my TB treatment over and done with first
2. I'm scared that if i tell everyone, then it won't happen (and end up looking like a fool)
3. It scares me shitless to move to country where a) i have never lived, and b) i don't speak the language
4. It scares me that i am about to make a huge leap of faith, and leave behind a country that has been my home for 17 years (yes, that is right...seventeen)

Hmmm....looking at my lame list, it appears i may be a tad scared about the move...

Well, let me put it here in a big shout:

I AM MOVING TO GERMANY NEXT YEAR.
I AM GOING TO MAKE A HUGE LEAP OF FAITH TO FOLLOW THE GERMAN HALF WAY ROUND THE WORLD.
AND I AM GOING TO MAKE DAMN SURE IT ALL WORKS OUT AND WE LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

so there.

(PS My TB meds are still working fine, in case you were wondering)

Consumptive Diaries Part 27: Even more cautiously optimistic

2008-11-05T15:01:00.002+09:00

Went to the hospital yesterday to see how my liver's doing on the new meds.

And it's getting better! Last month was 40 something. This month 30 something.
And usually, the liver gets worse at first while it adjusts itself to the new meds.
Still, I've only been on the meds for 2 weeks & have another 3 and half months to go, but i remain cautiously optimistic.

In other news...

The weekend didn't turn out as terrible as i had anticipated. spent it largely on my own, but watched lots of interesting TV (i now know more shark trivia than ever - for instance, did you know that jalapenos will not work as a shark deterrent?); started a new knitting project & made some good food for myself.

And started planning my Christmas & New year holiday planning. Am planning to go from 19th December to 11th January. And will spend all (or most of it) in the company of the German. AND we are going to go to three countries...Germany, France & England. Think a nice road trip is coming up...

Only 6 and a half weeks to go...

A F##Ked up Life

2008-10-31T13:57:00.002+09:00

It's half way through friday afternoon, and unlike normal people, i am starting to dread the upcoming 3-day weekend.
It feels like this big empty dark space is rapidly coming up to consume me.

No alcohol, no german, no energy: three interlinking, yet not really related factors.

I'm not fricking normal.

Consumptive Diaries Part 26: Orange

2008-10-29T18:26:00.002+09:00

Been taking the new meds for a week.
And i am still feeling cautiously optimistic; I'm not feeling too tired (unlike the complete lethargy i had with the last drugs); my appetite is remaining OK; and i don't have any of the other potentially damaging side effects (there are a shit load of them).

I do, however, have orange pee.
Now you wouldn't think this would be particularly disturbing, and to be honest it isn't really.
But i still have random moments of confusion & surprise. I hope I'm not the only one who looks in the toilet after doing my business, but seeing orange pee for the first time is a shock.
About half an hour after taking my meds in the morning, my pee is BRIGHT orange (think fake orange squash a la tango or fanta). Then as the day goes on it fades.
But i keep forgetting about it; and have little stress moments & think to myself, "Crap, I'm not getting enough water..."

So, that is my little dilemma: how do i know if i have had enough water during the day if my pee is always brightly coloured? My solution is just to drink as much water as i can...

(seven and a half more weeks till i see the german...and counting...)

Consumptive Diaries Part 25: Cautious Optimism

2008-10-21T12:42:00.002+09:00

Went to the hospital today, and it didn't have a truly awful experience (unlike my last 2 or 3 visits).
I actually feel cautiously optimistic after today's visit.

My liver has pretty much returned to normal. From a nasty score in the 200s last time, it's now in the mid-40s. He said it's still a tad high, but healthy enough to start TB meds again.
He also floated the option of not taking medication & just leaving it be. It's a low possibility that the latent TB will turn into active TB. Also, he told me that, in Britain, it's pretty normal TB to be left untreated. In Japan, however, the norm is to be treated for it. He asked me if i was planning to move back to Britain in the next year or so, because if so, I could skip treatment.
So, told him that i was planning to move to Germany in the next year. He said that he hadn't looked into TB treatment in Germany. But i was reassured by the fact that the doctor is making efforts to help me out & look at different options.

Anyway - as we both didn't know what Germany's attitude is about TB; and i don't want to run the risk of being thrown out of the country for being a dirty leprous TB sufferer, i have opted to try continuing treatment.
As the last drug (Isoniazid) wasn't agreeing with my liver, I'll be taking a different TB antibiotic (Rifampicin) for 4 months. This one also runs the risk of liver damage, but the really exciting thing is that certain bodily fluids (especially pee & tears) can turn bright orange....

Am not going to get to hopeful, because experience has proven that nothing goes the way you expect (especially with TB related stuff...) But i am allowing myself to be cautiously optimistic.

AND...the doctor said it would be OK to have a glass of beer everyday!! Woohoo! Party hearty Helen is back!

He's gone...

2008-10-20T09:43:00.001+09:00

Cried at home.
Cried on the way to the airport.
Cried at the airport.
Tried to convince myself that 8 weeks isn't that long; still cried anyway.

Love you, German. And miss you like hell.

Consumptive Diaries Part 24: Screaming Bureaucracy

2008-10-14T12:35:00.002+09:00

7:30pm; Friday night; at home

My phone rings & it's the space cadet lady from the Public Health Centre.
Now, i am glad about the financial support they are giving me towards my meds (25% of cost), but i wish they wouldn't feel obliged to make pointless phone calls to me.
This is a rough transcript of call:

Me: Hello?
S: Hello, this is Ms S from Nakahara Public Health Office. Is it OK to talk now?
Me: Yes.
S: We got a call from the hospital that you are off your medication.
Me: Yes, it was affecting my liver.
S: I see. Did you lose your appetite?
Me: Not really. I was just really really tired.
S: So, you lost your appetite?
Me: NO! I was just constantly tired. It was really hard to do everything i had to do, and i had no energy.
S: Oh. Could you take your medication everyday?
Me: Yes.
S: You didn't forget to take it?
Me: NO!
S: I see. When are you going back to the hospital?
Me: 21st October.
S: I see. And what medication will you be taking?
Me: I don't know; I haven't been to the hospital yet.
S: I see. Well, if your medication changes, you'll have to fill out the paperwork again.
Me: Again?!
S: Yes. Now, we're covering your medication, but only that medication. If your medication changes, we'll have to change the documentation.
Me: Oh...
S: The doctor should do all the paperwork & you just have to sign it. AND you don't even have to come to the Public Health Centre!
Me: Wow! How wonderful!
S: Do you have any other concerns?
Me: Yes. I am worried about the treatment. I am also concerned about how much of an effect this is having on my daily life. Also, i worried about the future; when will this end? I thought everything would be finished by the end of January, but now it looks like it'll go on for longer. And what happens if the next drug also hates my liver? What happens then?!
S: ... Oh. Well, talk to your doctor next time you meet him. And I will call again after your next visit. Thank you. Goodbye.
Me: ...

Am so fed up of people asking me how i feel & how are things because:
A) They don't really care about my response or
B) I end up spouting out a whole diatribe of frustration & stress, which makes my feel like a crazy woman.

Basically, i am tired, worried and really really want this all to be over. I am *so* done with TB.

And on a completely different note: 6 sleeps until The German leaves.

And in other news...

2008-10-03T12:46:00.002+09:00

Was walking to the office this morning (as you do), taking my usual underground route under Meiji Dori, when i noticed something different.
First there was a bunch of mannequins modelling autumnal fashions.
Then, lining the walls of the underpass, were lots and lots of photos. All portraits of random people - or so i thought.
A nice lady came up to me & gave me a free pamphlet; apparently this is all part of 'Shibuya 100-', which consists of MOVIEXPHOTOXFASHIONXEXHIBITION.
The portraits are by 20 photographers and are of people in & around Shibuya. Was really interesting as each photographer had his/her own theme. One that especially made me smile was the portraits of Metro staff; all in their various uniforms.
If you have a chance, go have a look see. It's free & on until Monday 13th October.
The website is all in Japanese, but the map shows you where things are. It is worth it; and, did i mention it before, FREE!!!

And in more positive news, The German and i are going to Okinawa on Monday.
One of the things that has been keeping me positive in the last week or so is this website here.
See that beach? Well, I'll be on it on Monday afternoon. 31C and sunny. And it looks like there aren't any typhoons on the way. Yippee!!

Consumptive Diaries Part 23: Dazed & Tired

2008-09-30T12:24:00.002+09:00

Went to the hospital this morning to see how my body has reacted to the combination of TB meds & liver pills.

And the news is not good.
From around 120 last time, my liver number has jumped to 228.
(The number is the ALP number - for some really exciting medical information about ALP tests, look here)

As a result, i am officially off TB medication. The doctor wants to see if my liver will go back to normal. So, I'll go back in 3 weeks, and then he'll discuss other ways (if any) of treating the TB bacteria.

And how do i feel about this?
Shocked - i really wasn't expecting my liver to get worse; especially as I've been trying to take better care of myself.
Scared - I don't know what's going to happen next; is my liver OK? Will there be another way of treating the TB or do i have to carry it around with me forever?
Disheartened - there doesn't seem to an end in sight for this saga; thought that the end of January would be the end of everything. F**K knows when it is going to end.
Angry - WHY ME?
Tired - I am so tired of all this.
Overwhelmed - All i want to do today is go home, curl up in a ball & pull the blankets over my head and cry.

Today is not a good day.

Consumptive Diaries Part 22: Teetotal Tedium

2008-09-23T11:25:00.002+09:00

I stopped drinking 11 days ago; since my scare at the hospital.
It's not been as difficult as i anticipated, but then again, i've been lying low - no bars or nights out.

I would love to say how much better i feel; how i feel more awake; how much more `wholesome' i feel.
But if i am to be completely honest, i don't feel any different. i'm still constantly tired & lacking energy. I still have a wall of extreme tiredness that i crash into at 11pm every night. I still need more sleep than usual - 7 hours isn't enough for me now.

I will (begrudgingly) admit that the lower back pain i had (which may or may not be related to my liver) has mostly gone. And i definitely don't miss being hungover.
But i miss having a nice glass of wine or a cold beer after a long day at work. Having a soda water or a fruit juice just isn't the same.

Ah, well, only four more months to go........

Consumptive Diaries Part 21: Hospital Date Day

2008-09-12T15:06:00.002+09:00

The German and me had our hospital date today - think i mentioned before that we both had appointments this morning.

I am not going to go into all the waiting & bureaucratic crap, because I've written endlessly about it; and nothing much changes. It's long, boring & annoying.

Instead, I have some good news and bad news:

The Good News:
K is finally free of TB. He has officially been declared a '0'.
4 months of hell, hospital & home arrest are over! Yippee!!

The Bad News:
My liver isn't very happy.
Last month my liver numbers were around 30. This month, 123.
If the number reaches 200, i will have to stop taking the TB medication and potential have liver damage.
Am not exactly sure what those numbers mean or are, but it scared the crap out of me.
So, i am now on liver medication as well as my TB meds.

Kiddies, TB sure isn't fun.

Naughty Nights & Smiles

2008-09-08T12:54:00.004+09:00

Last Friday, K and planned to have a 'date night' out in Tokyo. I chose Odaiba, because K has never been there and there's a shed load of stuff to do - movie, dinner, bar, beach, game centre, shopping...and so on.
While at work on Friday, i decided to make it a special night, and booked a room at the Nikko hotel in Odaiba. Not only that, i decided to get a room with a view (that's Rainbow Bridge):

Then we decided that a champagne breakfast was a good idea:

And it was. Only thing was that we were drunk by lunchtime; which made for an interesting trip to the Toyota mega web.

The German was in car heaven. And wandering round there with him was like taking a little boy round...'Helen, can i have a look at the Toyota again? Please?' We ended up going back to the car above 3 times...
The funniest thing was watching K look at the cars. Obviously (to me anyway) at some point in his life, K's mum had told him that to look at things he didn't need his hands; so every time K went for a close up look at the cars, he put his hands behind his back so he didn't touch the cars.
(see above photo...)
It was cute watching him & made me giggle most of the day...

But, it was a great day. I really recommend staying at a hotel in the town where you live.
K & i felt great after our special night at the Nikko. So much so that we hope to it again before he leaves...

Must Watch TV

2008-09-03T12:38:00.002+09:00

Am going to write a completely non-TB related entry today.
Am bored of TB; am bored of how it infests my daily life; just want everything to be over with.
And that's all for TB today...

As you may or may not know, i am a complete TV addict. And not ashamed by it. TV is my healthy form of escapism & i love watching police dramas (e.g. CSI, Without a Trace, Cold Case); trashy teen dramas (e.g. The OC, One Tree Hill); animal dramas (e.g. Monkey Business, NY animal protection squad).
And that's just for starters.

But that's not what i want to recommend.
For a while History Channel have been showing 'The World at War', a documentary about WWII.
Narrated by Laurence Olivier, it was originally broadcast in 1974 and was completely ground breaking for its time. For me, the most impressive thing is the people they interviewed - holocaust survivors, regular soldiers (from all armies); high ranking government officials, high ranking German military personnel and ordinary people in the street. It's sad to think that most of them are not around any more.

It's been really interesting watching it with K and talking about it. Both of us have grown up with it in our families. Both of us have had grandparents directly affected by it.
But our grandparents were on opposite sides. I've never really thought about how the Germans were affected by it and it's been really interesting & sometimes challenging listening to the 'other side'.

This week was an episode on Auschwitz. That was hard. And the footage? Heart-breaking.
I just cannot understand how anyone could have justified what happened or stand up and say that it didn't even happen.
I remember, about 20 years ago, visiting Auschwitz. Remember the silence. Remember people crying. Remember my grandmother crying. Remember her telling me about her uncles & aunts & cousins who were exterminated there.

We cannot forget.

Consumptive Diaries Part 20: The humdrum life

2008-08-28T12:23:00.002+09:00

Am not going to write much about TB today. It's all kind of in the background - no hospital visits till 12th September (when The German & I have our first hospital date).
Instead we have the mundanity of taking our medicine everyday.
Our regular daily conversation is this:
'Sweety, have you taken your medicine?'
'Yes. Have you taken yours?'
'Yes, took it this morning.'

For me, it's been kind of weird taking my daily medication when i don't actually feel ill. But i know those buggering bacteria are sitting there inside me, ready to pounce - which is a bit of scary. So, despite the side effects, i take my medicine everyday.

Otherwise, life is fine. Been surprisingly busy at work this month, but been finding it really rewarding. Spent a lot of my time teaching Japanese cabin attendant (CA) trainers how to train Chinese CAs. Meant that we touched upon a lot of things; training & feedback techniques, cross cultural differences in training styles and lots of role-playing. At the end of training, one of the CA trainers came up to me and said, 'Thank you - your advice was really valuable'.
Nearly brought a tear to my eye, it did...

And last weekend was an 'escape to Izu' weekend. Spent Friday & Saturday night with Cynthia & Osamu, who left on Sunday afternoon. And that was their big mistake of the weekend. It absolutely pissed it down & all the trains stopped. C&S got stranded in Izu-kogen (not even half way to Atami) and ended up staying there for the night.
Meantime, K & I and his friends Austin & Ayako, headed to Paradise Cafe & stumbled upon Ash & Tracey, who were enjoying a naughty weekend away. They invited us over to their hotel for dinner & drinks & we ended up staying there chatting to another German/British couple. Cool people. Thanks to Tracey & Ash for letting us gatecrash their weekend.

And then it was Monday.
The German & I headed to Shimoda station with our pre-reserved train tickets, only to find that all trains were still running late. At least an hour behind schedule!
So i suggested to K that we cash in our train tickets & rent a car instead and he liked the idea.
Good thing we did - looks like the trains were more than an hour late. So while all the masses, including C&S, were waiting around train stations, we had our first little road trip date. And it was fun. Went through the mountains, and although we didn't see Mount Fuji, we felt like we were driving through the clouds. Have to do that again.

And finally, for those of you who have been to Izu & stayed at Iriyama-so. Do you know how old Mama-san is?
She'll be 80 next month! Shocked me. Thought she was late 60s...see, Izu is good for you!

Consumptive Diaries Part 19: Weekly Round Up

2008-08-15T14:57:00.005+09:00

Just got back from the hospital for my monthly check-up.
Apparently, my liver function is down, but that's normal when you're taking a crap load of antibiotics.
Also found out that the 5% i have to pay covers way less than i first anticipated.
The 5% only covers directly TB related tests & medicine.
Antibiotics = OK
Drugs for side effects of antibiotics = OK
Blood tests to see if drugs aren't causing any serious damage = Not OK

Still, 70% is covered my regular insurance, so i just have to pay 30% for my blood test (around ￥2000) .

K also had his monthly check. His sputum is now 3, his lungs are fine & so is his liver (minor miracle there...) Still can't go back to work though. Also not allowed to take an aeroplane.
Also under official quarantine, with a public health centre lady visiting him every week.
If he were in Germany, he'd be back at work...the wonders of Japanese bureaucracy, eh?

But anyway, enough TB talk for the moment & onto something a bit more exciting.
Actually, i think it's pretty exciting. It may even be my 15 minutes of fame - though probably more like 1 minute. But anyway...

A while back (a year, perhaps?), Mooney asked me to help him with some English lyrics for a song he'd been asked to write for an upcoming movie. So, we met up at Pronto; he explained his song and the image it was supposed to project. And together we put the lyrics together.
This autumn the film will be released. And it isn't a little film either. It's a big Japanese film, with actors i have actually heard of in it!
The movie is called 夢のまにまに (Yume no mani mani) & the cast includes Rie Miyazawa, Masatoshi Nagase, and, Martine's favourite, Tadanobu Asano.
As i haven't seen the film yet, i can't really tell you much about it. But you can read a bit about it here.
But the REALLY cool thing is that Mooney has credited me for the lyrics on the song (Chimney Road). AND my name appears in the end credits! Isn't that cool, my little 1 minute of fame?

Consumptive Diaries Part 18: The week that was

2008-08-04T12:46:00.002+09:00

Last week was an eventful week. It was a complete roller coaster of a week; laughter, tears, extremes of everything...

Monday
I was sick. Had a mad weekend & came to the realisation that i'm too old to party for 3 straight days. And my body told me so very forcefully too (in a kind of projectile way)...

Tuesday
I went to hospital to get my TB meds. Thought it would take a while, because hospitals always do. But, FOUR HOURS??? And most of that was waiting in various lines: initial registration > doctor > blood test > x-ray > sputum test > doctor (again) > payment > pharmacy
But i got my meds. And am on the standard treatment for latent TB. But it is 6 months of antibiotics; which have side effects of liver damage, rashes and other delightful things. Have to take 6 pills a day: 3 antibiotic tablets and 3 pills for the side effects...
Back again in two weeks to make sure my liver's not screwed...

Wednesday
The Davises last night out in Japan. Went to see their room in the Landmark Tower. Wow. Cool view. And spent the rest of the evening trying to pretend it was just a normal evening out.
And it was a fun evening & i managed to not cry for the majority. Didn't handle saying goodbye very well though. And cried all the way home on the train.

Thursday
airport, i was working at Spent the day in a spaced out daze due to lack of sleep. Also exchanged mail with Sandi in her last few hours in Japan. It was a really weird day because while the Davises were at NaritaHaneda airport, and could see planes taking off all day; serving as a constant reminder that they were going. Found it very hard to concentrate...

Friday
Fireworks. Went up to K's place & watched the fireworks from there. Was a great view, seeing the fireworks from the top of the hill with the Landmark Tower beside them. was even weirder considering that just 2 days before i had been in the Landmark Tower looking at the view from the other direction. Would post some pictures, but they're still in my camera which is at home somewhere. Will post some later, i promise.

Saturday
Haircut. Was fed up with my annoyingly long hair. Chopped it off - now is just below my ears again. Again, i know this would be more effective with photos. And again, the camera is at home...

Sunday
Sleep & sofa & German. I so needed all three. Had had a tough week & just needed to de-stress and not do anything. We even ordered in pizza & beer because we were too lazy to walk to the conbini...

So that was my week. A little too much for one week, methinks. Or maybe i'm just not good at coping.

Consumptive Diaries Part 17: I HATE BUREAUCRATIC PROCESSES

2008-07-24T12:35:00.003+09:00

I went to the Public Health Centre as requested today.
Thought i'd get more answers & know more clearly what'll happen next, but i completely forgot that this is Bureacracyland and nothing can be that simple.

They told me that my test was positive (which they'd already told me on the phone)
And that i wasn't borderline positive - i am completely & utterly positive. Well, if i'm going to have it, i should have it properly, eh?
And then i had another x-ray to make sure that it hadn't suddenly turned active (it hasn't).
Then they told me that i would probably have to take antibiotics for 6 months (knew that already)
They then went onto the "you-have-to-take-you-medication-everyday-even-if-you-feel-fine-and-healthy" lecture, which was swiftly followed by the "just-because-you-do-not-have-active-TB-it-does-not-mean-that-you-won't-get-it" lecture.
Then she asked if i could visualise taking medication everyday for 6 months (yup, been taking the Pill for years)
Then she told me that the Public Health Centre doesn't actually take care of the medication side of things. I have to go to a doctor for that. Have decided to go to the same hospital as K was in because a) they speak some English and b) they're the best in japan.
So, will go there on Monday morning for another dose of random lectures about TB and taking medication.

And that's not all of the bureaucratic crap...

Once i go to the doctor, i have to get some pieces of paper which i take back to the Public Health Centre, so i can qualify for subsidized medicine. So, no, it's not free for me. You have to be really REALLY sick to get it free. If you just want to prevent yourself from getting really sick, you have to pay for the privilege.
To be fair, with the subsidies, i'll only have to pay 5%. Don't how much the drugs are though...

Will, once again, keep you posted.

Am a bit ranty today - am so tired of people giving me lectures about things i either know about or have already been lectured about.

Consumptive Diaries Part 16: The Results Are In...

2008-07-22T14:26:00.001+09:00

Know you've all been waiting for my test results...
Well, i got the phone call from th public health centre this morning & my fears have proved to be true; i am positive.
I have to go there on thursday to talk about doctors & medication, so will keep you posted on what happens.

Consumptive Diaries Part 15: Life plods on

2008-07-21T18:03:00.003+09:00

Despite everything that's been happening, life is still moving on.
I would like to have thought that things would be on pause, and wait for me for a while.
But no.
So, things are continuing on. I still have to go to work.
I still have to think about the future & where/when I'm going with the German.
I still have to say goodbye to friends.

I don't mean to say that i am unhappy with things how they are - i am not.
I am unbelievably happy that K is back. It's so much better seeing him at home everyday & not having to go to the f-ing hospital-prison. It's great that we can out together; hang out with friends; be silly again.
In that respect, life IS back to normal.

But i can't seem to stop thinking about the TB test results.
Everyday, i come home & look for the envelope with my results.
It still hasn't arrived yet.

I also keep thinking about the future. I'm scared about everything.
And this is the really fucked up thing about everything - on one side i am *so* bloody happy.
And then the other side i am completely scared shitless.
It's a really bizarre combination of emotions - two complete extremes. And they seem to be ruling my life - i feel like i am being slightly manic at times; up & down like a fricking yo yo.
Luckily, K has been a complete and utter star & is handling my rampant mood swings very well & with infinite patience.

Thank you, K. Love you, German♥

And yeah, 2 more weeks of Sandi. Actually it's less than two weeks - but i am trying to ignore the fact. Just want to enjoy as much Sandi-time as i can before she goes.
Love you too, Sandi♥

Consumptive Diaries Part 14: Testing, Testing, One, Two

2008-07-10T13:01:00.002+09:00

I guess you're all eagerly awaiting the results of my first TB test.

Well, to save you the worries, i will share the news:
My skin test was positive.

Now, this may not be a reason for concern, as the BCG test makes a positive result.
But so does TB.
So, I had a blood test today to find out for sure. From what I've read, though, the BCG test has efficacy for up to 20 years. I had mine when i was 9. Do the maths....

And the health centre people were preparing me for the worst. Maybe that's their way though - 'prepare for the worst, hope for the best'.
But i am nervous. Know taking antibiotics for 6 months is not the worst thing, but it's going to affect my life in some ways. Basically, i will not be able to to move out of Japan during that time. I am covered by insurance here, i pay taxes here; no other country will want to take on the financial burden of my medication.
Also, will have to restrain my life - no more big nights out.
Also, cannot take the pill - the antibiotics kill the efficacy.

Please PLEASE let me be negative...

Consumptive Diaries Part 13: HE'S OUT!!!!

2008-07-08T15:07:00.003+09:00

Yup, you read that right.

THE GERMAN IS OUT OF HOSPITAL!!!!

He's had to wade through lots of bureaucracy & promise faithfully to take his medicine and to not infect the masses - but he is OUT.
He's supposed to be in home quarantine at his place (which i mentioned before is completely impractical) so he'll be coming back to me. TODAY! So, when i get home tonight, he'll be there waiting for me. Words can't explain how happy & excited i am right now.
I feel like a kid before Xmas...wonder what my present will be? ;)

In other news...
Remember a while back that i was pissed off that the public health centre doesn't test for latent TB? (Read here to refresh your memory...)
Well, i got a call from the health centre last Thursday saying that they would like to give me a blood test to check for latent TB.
So i set up an appointment for Thursday this week.
Then they called on Friday, saying they needed to give a tuberculin skin test BEFORE they did the blood test & i needed to do that 2 days before. So i toddled off to the health centre this morning & got stabbed with a needle.

So, keep your fingers crossed everyone. This week or next week i will find out whether or not i have latent TB. If i do have it, i will embark on a 6-month course of antibiotics. If not, I'll have several beers & breathe a big sigh of relief....

Oh, yeah, i got back from Okinawa yesterday. Very much needed the escape, although it was interrupted by nigh on daily calls from the health centre....
Will write more about the trip when i have more time.

Consumptive Diaries Part 12: The German's Coming Home (maybe...)

2008-07-02T12:49:00.005+09:00

The German had the first of his next round of sputum tests yesterday.
He got a 6.
7 weeks in hospital, and he's moved from a 10 to a 6.
And he needs a 0 to get out.

But as i said yesterday, the doctor said that K could get out the week after next.
BUT he told K that what he actually meant was that K would be out in 3 weeks if he got 3s this week.
And, as i said, The German got a 6.
So, the doctor told K that it would be at least another month, probably 2, in hospital.

TWO MORE MONTHS??????

But the doctor asked K whether he would like to get out early (ie next week) and go into "home quarantine". Of course K jumped at the opportunity of getting out of the hell hole hospital.
So now the cogs of bureaucracy are rolling once more...
To get out of hospital, the public health centre has to agree to accept K in their midst & also takes on the responsibility of checking up on K.
It seems that the hospital won't really approve release unless the health centre accepts.

The hospital has talked to the health centre, and it seems that K would have to stay at his place, alone and not leave. And someone will have to bring him food & stuff, but not stay there.
Kind of like a plague victim. Maybe i can set up a table outside his door where i can leave things for him. Then i ring the doorbell and run off.

In reality, for a number of reasons it is totally impractical for K to stay at his place:
1. He has no furniture (except a bed)
2. He has no electric appliances (ie fridge, TV, washing machine)
3. His place in not conveniently located and therefore not easy to get to everyday.
4. The main reason he wants to leave hospital is because he's lonely & needs people around him

So, i called the public health centre directly & explained everything (I did it because the nice lady only speaks nihongo). she was very understanding & said she will talk to the hospital again and hopefully he will be out next week & come home to me.

I am, however, not getting excited.
I will get excited when The German is actually physically home with me.

Consumptive Diaries: Part 11 - Will This Ever End?

2008-07-01T12:44:00.003+09:00

Firstly, everyone who's emailed or commented here, thank you.
I haven't replied because i've just been too all over the place to put a logical sentence together.
(And i am a lazy cow....)

But thank you. I do appreciate them & i'm sorry for not replying personally.

So, we're into week 7 now. Sputum test week is upon us and the doctor is still saying that The German will be released in 3 weeks - or, as i like to call it as it sounds nearer, the-week-after-next. The doctor has also said that K will be released whatever the results are. However, when asked what exact day K will be let out, the doctor gets a little bit hazy & doesn't commit to any day.
So everyone, keep your fingers crossed, pray, do whatever you can to get the gods/fate on his side for once.

The last week has been really hard. Both The German and i seemed to have hit our stress lows. Luckily, we managed to stagger them a few days, so we didn't have meltdowns at the same time, but it's definitely not been a fun week.

I get to escape to Okinawa the day after tomorrow, but feel a bit guilty about leaving K behind in prison. But Mummy K is here at the moment, so i can leave with the knowledge that The German won't be on his own.

Talking of Mummy K, introduced her to Mummy & Daddy Sin at the weekend.
Everything went well, so well in fact that the 4 of us went out for dinner last night again.
Which made me think...i am pretty sure that Mummy K is the first parent of a boyfriend to meet my parents.
Guess that means K & me are serious (or i was a complete slut in a previous life and never dated anyone long enough to introduce to my parents.....)
I'll leave you to decide which one is nearest the truth...

Consumptive Diaries - Part 10: Just When You Think Things Can't Get Any Worse

2008-06-24T12:23:00.003+09:00

As you know, things in Sinland have been on the edge this week.

I've manage to control my uncontrollable tears, but am still having outbursts of (ir)rational rage. Severely had to rein myself in on the train this morning - wanted to start screaming at people to get their stinky sticky sweaty bodies away from mine. And if one more person elbows me in the back on the train, be warned...

But yeah, i thought things couldn't get any worse this week.

Well, never EVER think that. EVER!
The German talked to his boss about the time frame of moving back to Germany.
And the boss told K that he has to be back by the beginning of September.

SEP-FUCKING-TEMBER!!

That's only 2 months away. and with the whole TB thing, means that there's not much time for The German & i to spend together before he leaves.
And not only that, what are we going to do? What am I going to do?
So, we have to make all these life changing decisions in the f-ing hospital.
And it is definitely not conducive to deep discussions about our future.

And today, The German's mum arrives, or as my mum calls her, the mother-in-law. Planning to go out for dinner with her this evening. Am nervous.
But if she's anything like K or his lovely sister, then we'll be OK.

But to be honest, i really just want to run away from it all. I don't want to make any decisions. I don't want to have to decide anything. I want someone else to do it for me.
But i am not 12 anymore. I have to make my own choices. And what will they be? I have no fucking idea.

Consumptive Diaries Part 9: Studies in Stress

2008-06-23T12:34:00.003+09:00

Know i've written about this before, but i am stressed.
Actually, i think it should be written in capitals: STRESSED.
And in bold: STRESSED.
And maybe even italics: STRESSED

No, think the italics diminish the severity of it all.
I'm just STRESSED.

K has his third set of sputum tests last week, and the results came back as a 6 and a 9. His first ones were 10 & 10. He needs a 3 to get out. It's taken 5 weeks to get to 6 & 9.
FUCK - this will never end!!
On the positive side though, the doctors said they may, possibly, perhaps let him out in 4 weeks.
Nothing definite though.

Meanwhile, i am completely losing the plot.
I've casually been observing my varying states of stress and what's been happening to me (as you do)
My stress journey has gone through various stages; first was short term memory loss & extreme tiredness.
This morphed into anger & irritation.
Then i graduated onto an upset stomach.
Which then turned into extreme nightmares & physical aches.
And now, to top off the stress cake, i have myself having (ir)rational bursts of rage which subside into uncontrollable tears.

I think i hit a stress wall yesterday at full speed. Feel bruised & broken & scared.

I want The German to come home, but when he gets home we've got to start thinking about what happens next: move to Germany or stay here. And that whole discussion scares the crap out of me.
I'm still trying to fulfill all my work commitments satisfactorily.
My parents are here & i want to try & make time to see them, but also want to be with K.
K's mum is arriving next week, so feel i should make sure she gets oriented to Tokyo OK.
And i'm not even starting to think about Sandi leaving. Can't manage that right now.

I want to take some time out for me, but i just can't seem to fit it in anywhere.

But, next, the Parental Sins are taking me away to Okinawa. I get to stay in a really nice hotel, see beautiful beaches & ocean and escape everything here. Don't think i've ever needed it more.

And i know some of you may wonder, but K does know how i feel. That's one of the good things about us, the doors of communication have remained open. And i know when i get to the hospital tonight, he's going to welcome me, hold me & let me cry.

Consumptive Diaries Part 8: Ennui

2008-06-16T12:32:00.003+09:00

We're onto week 5 now. Another round of sputum tests coming up. Hopefully he won't be as toxic...

K is physically doing fine.
He's regaining some of the weight he lost because of the TB (about 4 kg) and the weight he lost because of pissy sized portions in hospital (1 kg). He's still skinny as hell & looks like a stereotypical TB patient (protruding ribs, etc), but as least he is not losing weight anymore.
He's also pretty much stopped coughing.
And the cavity in his lung is getting smaller - in fact nearly gone.
So that's all good.

And it's also the big problem.

Because he's feeling pretty healthy, he's become increasingly frustrated with the situation.
He's stuck on the 13th floor, no access to the outside - or even the 1st floor, gets no fresh air, cannot speak to anyone and has a large amount of energy that he can't get rid of.
This results in him having increasing moments of despair & it's really hard to see.
Makes me feel completely helpless & i have no idea what to do. All i want to do is kidnap & take him home.

In more positive news, K's sister is here for the moment. Means that K gets to see someone other than me; i get some time off hospital visiting and he gets a load of German stuff.
Also, Sandi came round with an X-box. (word to the wise: don't even bother playing racing games against someone who is a professional test driver, it's kind of humiliating...)
Thanks Sandi!

Got my parents arriving at the end of the week. Ironically, they arrive on an Air France flight the same day as K's sister leaves on one - so they're more than likely using the same plane...
Then K's mum arrives next week sometime.
Think they all will probably end up meeting each other. Not quite how i imagined it all panning out, but hey...

And in completely non-TB related news...
Was talking to Toru of PPP at the weekend. And he told me that Psysalia is scheduled to play at Summer Sonic. SUMMER SONIC!!!! That's so cool. One of the biggest music festivals in japan!
Pretty exciting, huh?!

Consumptive Diaries: Part 7 - Extreme Anality

2008-06-09T12:37:00.002+09:00

Well, we're into week 4 now. And it looks like there's at least 4 more weeks.
The German had his fortnightly sputum tests last week, and came up with a 7 & 10.
Seeing as the standard discharge score is 0, K looks to be staying there for a while. The doc did, however, tell K that he is a special case (ie foreign & can't speak Japanese & therefore lonely) so they'll let him out when he gets to 3.
But 7 & 10 definitely aren't 3.

Last week was a bad week for The German.
Firstly, he got the test scores back. He was hoping for lower - which would give him hope - the light at the end of the LONG DARK hospital tunnel. So the results did knock away a lot of positivity - for both him & me.
Then he got told off. Why? Well, apparently other inmates have complained that K hums while he brushes his teeth.
Not only that, the evil German also whistles while he's making coffee.
And that's not all, the naughty disrespectful German has the nerve to use deodorant - THAT SMELLS NICE!!!!!
What a selfish bastard, eh?
So the nurse told him off.

Yup, can show NO signs of ANY positivity in case you may piss off the other patients.

So, in order to improve the German's image, his band turned up at the hospital yesterday with a guitar, a bongo drum & K's bass. What to know how long they managed to play before they got told off? 10 minutes.
But it made K smile - the first real one i had seen all week.

:::WARNING - Extreme Rant Below:::

As for me, i am constantly tired. I am so tired that my short memory is completely screwed - i can't remember things i have done the day before. I am also struggling hard with resentment. i HATE this situation. I hate that i am in it. And i hate that nobody can help me. I hate going to the hospital every fucking day. I hate the hospital. And i hate that i have deal with all this crap and still have to do my job. I dream about having a whole day to myself where i don't have to leave home & can just sit on the sofa, drink beer, and watch crap TV.

And now I've got that out, I'll shut up.