A cool new toy I found

Whilst surfing through some of the blogs I read, I noticed that one girl had a cool slide show embedded in her post. I thought I would try it as I am always up for a new gadget. Here is my first 'slide'. It is the photos from my Kyoto folder over at Flickr. I won't use it for every post but I thought it was a cool toy to keep up my sleeve!

JET competition and exhibition

Each year, the Victoria / Tasmania chapter of JETAA (returned JET people) holds a photography competition. I submitted a few photos and had three selected for the exhibition. The winner of the competition will be announced on opening night so please cross fingers for me. The above are my three. What do you think?
Here is the advertisement for the competition. Come along and see all the fab photos if you have time. I am sure they will all be fantastic!

"I protect a carrot"

Listening to triple J today and the Kaiser Chief's came on with one of my favourite songs... "I predict a riot"...

The song finished and AJ (aged 4) continued singing...

"I protect a carrot, I protect a carrot"

Priceless!

Where has the sakura gone?

Golden glory, originally uploaded by Really Turning Japanese.

We have had lots of blossom over the past month and there is even some still around. I love it and have photographed a bit, but I miss the celebration that you get in Japan. I think we are a bit spoilt for nature. We miss stuff. I try to take it all in!!! Take wattle for example. It is so beautiful. The Japanese have even discovered it. You can walk into any hanaya (florist) in Japan and find wattle for sale. Some people even have it growing in their gardens.
I have decided to invent my own kind of hanami here in Australia. Flower viewing parties. Picnics. Any excuse to get together, have fun and admire the beauty around us!

A bit of fun with a scanner

Mum and Dad recently had a bit of fun scanning about a million old family photos. Anna's and mine were fading out of existence (something to do with the processing of film in the 70's). It was so much fun looking through them all. There were even lots that I had never seen. The selection above are of me at around age 2 and a half. I love the look of them in black and white, they were all in colour before scanning. Thanks Mum and Dad for the hours of work!!!

I am PUBLISHED!!!

I want to tell you an interesting little story. It goes something like this...

During my last few days in Japan, I got a comment on my flickr page referring to one of my photos. A guy explained that he belonged to a publishing company based in Melbourne and they wanted to use my photo. He left a link for me to contact him. I was interested but a little suspicious about the whole thing and, as I had only just arrived into Tokyo, I shelved the idea to the back of my mind.

Two days later, my friend Sean called me out of the blue to tell me to check my blog. The publishing guy had also left a comment there. Sean thought I would be interested in the whole thing and had taken a look into the company. He decided they were legit and told me to go for it! So, the plan was to make contact that night when I got back to my computer... 2 minutes later, my mobile rang. I answered it and it was the 'publishing guy'. He spoke to me for a while, explained how keen they were to use my photo and how they were in a hurry to get everything completed. I explained quite nicely that I was leaning toward saying yes but that I was on holiday, sight seeing AND far from my computer.

That night, I got onto the net, wrote a letter and sent off my photo. I didn't hear anything until last night. Sean called the company to see what had become of my beloved photo. Matt (I think that was his name) quickly explained that he had sent me several emails that had been returned. He also explained about the book and printing deadlines. The book is scheduled to be finished anyday and he sent through a digital image of the book cover.

So there you go. I am in print. Next stop... photography course and FAME!

PS. You can see, read about or buy the book at amazon. I guess the company had to submit a cover before publishing as you will see, it is different. Also, check out how expensive it is!!

The new digs...

The new digs..., originally uploaded by Really Turning Japanese.

My home...for now.

Oops, I was gone for a minute

Firstly, sorry for the long time between post but now that I am back to my regular life and schedule, I am busy, busy, busy.

Spent six days in Tokyo with Del. We walked and walked. Shopped a bit and even managed to visit the onsen theme park in Odaiba. That place was amazing. We even tried the pool with 'Doctor Fish'. That was fun and it really tickled. The teeny tiny fish from Turkey nibble away at the dead skin on your feet. It isn't as gross as it seems. Lots of fun...

I got back to Melbourne last Wednesday and started work last Monday. Soooooo much has changed in the two years that I have been gone. Lots of new faces; teachers and students. We even have new curriculum guidelines. Amongst that, throw in a whole lot of new jargon that I don't know and you get a very confused me! I will be fine though. My prep, grade one class (5 and 6 year olds) are lovely on the whole. Very devoted and cute but make me VERY tired.

So there you go. I will try to update as often as something interesting happens. I want my life here to be as much fun as it was in Japan. Lets face it, Melbourne might be normal for me but I know I am lucky to live in such a cool city. More from me soon...

See you on the otherside...

The day has arrived. Time to say goodbye. See you sometime, somewhere, someday...

Lots of love and great memories. Please keep intouch!

A good way to cheer up

My new friend!!, originally uploaded by Really Turning Japanese.

Thanks to everyone who gave me farewell money...

LOOK WHAT I BOUGHT!!!

Damn the tears!

So it is done. Goodbye to my original school. I love Yamato junior high!

There was a half hour ceremony just for me. I was holding it together quite well as it felt like my millionth goodbye. I knew some tears would squeeze out but when? It was right in the middle of the movie they made for me. Each club had made a farewell speech for me. Most of them were in English. Lots of We love you's... They set me off. A tear here, a tear there. Then I was asked to go up onto the stage. First the Principal spoke followed by one of the leaders of the school. The leader spoke in English (that also set me off). Then two of my favourite friendly girls brought me flowers and gifts. I also had to deliver a farewell speech. I did this in Japanese. That part was okay. The whole school then cheered for me and sang me the school song. Finally, I had the farewell music played just for me and I had to walk out of the gym all by myself. Then the tears fell - back in the staffroom. I am kind of okay now but sheesh... I am going to really miss this school!!!

Almost home time

David's view, originally uploaded by Really Turning Japanese.

Right, this has to be it for now. Got.. to... leave... the... computer...

Leaving Yamaguchi on the 25th and then flying out of Tokyo on the 1st. See everyone at home sometime after the 2nd. Get your hugs ready.

(oh, and Del, see you on the 26th - yippee)

Kat, pre umbrella kindness

Kat, pre umbrella kindness, originally uploaded by Really Turning Japanese.

See how much it is raining... Kat was actually so badly sunburnt in this photo that I think the rain was soothing.

Lost and found (or stolen and given)

I love long weekends and seemingly meaningless public holidays (today was Marine day - the ocean kind and not the American Military kind). Quite a lot of us had spent the weekend hanging out in Hagi. The weather for the most part was lovely and we have just enjoyed a great week of blue skies (hot though). Today it decided to rain!!!

I had decided to drive home through Tsuwano with Kat and Loz (another "one last time" moment). We were a happy, though tired, bunch during the drive over, but some of us began to wane as the rain began to fall (no names Loz)...

Our first stop was at a paper mill. Kat and I bought some lovely paper products and at this point, it began to rain really hard.

Next stop was the main shopping strip. Loz immediately bought an umbrella. She spent a whole 500 yen on it This is a lot for an umbrella. You can easily buy one for 100 yen. We continued shopping, me with my umbrella from home, Loz happily under her new pink umbrella and Kat with a towel over her head.

We stopped at a busy souvenir shop and left our umbrellas in the receptacle outside. We shopped and drank and chatted for about 40 minutes. The crowds shuffled in and out of the shop. Eventually we got up to go and brave the weather some more. At the door way, Loz let out a gasp of dismay... NO UMBRELLA. Someone had taken her brand new, baby pink, 500 yen umbrella. I think she almost began to cry but insted stormed back into the store. She returned a short while later, sporting a kiddy sized blue umbrella that had cost her a further 500 yen. She was fuming!!!

Off we went, me with my umbrella from home, Loz fuming under her new blue umbrella and Kat with a towel over her head.

Not long after, we were walking along the side of the main road when a car kind of swerved and pulled up right in front of me. I figured the driver was a foreigner who knew us or someone from our area. I bent down and stared at the stranger in the driver seat. She beckoned me over and rolled down the window. She cheerfully spoke to me and handed me an umbrella. She had noticed that Kat was umbrellaless and GAVE Kat her own. She drove off and left the three of us speechless. Suddenly, we erupted into laughter. Here was Loz on her second bought umbrella for the day and Kat gets given one by a stranger. It was really funny. You just never know what will happen in this place... I love it.

Look what I did...

Made this from a drawing I received today. Cool hey? Not sure what I will do with it yet. Business cards? Wish she/I was holding/using a camera!

S.U.M.M.E.R.

Ever wanted to know what summer is like in Australia (at least where I am from)? I think today is as close as you will get in Japan. Today in Hikari it is HOT! I really feel that the humidity leavel is much lower than usual and that means... BLUE SKIES! Of course everyone is stil boiling but it is quite different to a normal humid Japanese day. Oh how I love blue skies...

Now for some packing...

(note : it gets quite a bit hotter than this where I am from too!)

じしん EARTHQUAKE

I thought that I must be going out of my mind. Two nights ago, I was awoken by a small earthquake. I asked around yesterday and was greeted with shocked amazement. We all decided that I had dreamt an earthquake for the second time.
You will then understand that I was pleased to be informed today that I am in fact not out of my mind. There WAS an earthquake. Tiny, little level 1. I must be stressed and sleeping lightly to have felt it at 3am and woken up. Oh well, I feel a bit better knowing that it really happened!

You'd be surprised to find Marmite in Mongolia...

Mum and Dad are traveling through China, Mongolia and Russia on their 'once in a lifetime' trip. My sister, Anna, was surprised to hear that Dad had discovered Marmite all over Mongolia. Read about it here. I am sure you will get a laugh as we did... Love you Dad!

Why?

Why am I inside on a day like this? Blue skies and white fluffly clouds. It isn't too humid. Ahhhhh. The reason I am inside is to clean and pack. I cancelled an outing today to pack. I just have to do it. It has to be done. I have so many things on, in the coming 2.5 weeks that I can't afford to stop. Why am I even blogging? Okay... got to get back to it and just stare at the rare blue sky out my window!

Victoria got me into action...

Here is my last English board. I hope a few students write to me. I have several in mind that I am pretty sure will...