Crossed Fingers

Suzy suggested I enter a new, Japan based digital competition. Here are most of the images I have entered. Not sure what they will be looking for in a winning image but wish me well...
First prize is a million yen and an exhibition in Tokyo - yoohoo
Click on the image to see the photos more clearly!

What are you listening to right now?

I am listening to Monkey Magik. A group from Japan. Two Japanese guys and two Canadians. They are named after the cult 80's show, Monkey.
They sang the theme song for the remake of Monkey and became very popular. That particular song is good but so are all the rest.
I LOVE IT!!!

Pension Refund

Have any returned JETs received theirs yet?

Home sweet 'new' home...

As of the 17th of November, you will find me here. It is tiny but lovely!

Do You Need Your Own Space?

Kensington

Available: 17-Nov-2006

This funky renovated property is perfect for the singleton wanting their own pad. The property spans three levels and offers a modern fit-out and stylish renovation. Level one comprises entrance hall, generous bedroom with heating and floorboards, sparkling bathroom and laundry facilities under the stairs. Level two comprises the living zone featuring floorboards and electric heating with adjoining kitchen with stainless steel appliances including half drawer dishwasher. Up the stairs to level three offers a roof-top terrace.
(P.S. I didn't write that. That was the advertising spiel. Sounds cool, huh?)

Japan takes the cup!!!

Woohoo! Japanese horses ran first and second in the Melbourne Cup. It was neck and neck. The winner seriously only made it by about an inch!

Read about it here.

Steph, today is the day...

MELBOURNE CUP

Two of the faves. Tawqeet and Yeats. Tawqeet is from NZ and cost the owners a mere $1600 when they bought him. A really stunning horse. Yeats hails from Ireland. He is the competition. We'll see though. It could all be a big surprise!

My new camera (I mean phone)

Well it isn't all that new now but I did mean to 'blog' it... About two months ago I bought a new mobile phone. I went with the sony ericsson almost solely because of the high quality camera included. Let me know what you think...
Chestnut blooms in my Aunt's garden. Using macro on the phone...
A delicious coffee shot indoors with the flash turned off. Yum!!

A quick update

I am still here (if anyone is wondering). My life has been quite crazy... Just enough time to get on the net and glance at blog updates but no time to comment, let alone write my own.

So here is all the busy-ness in a nutshell.

Looking for acommodation. That is not fun. Places are grotty, over priced etc. You turn up for a viewing and no-one comes, or you turn up and there are a million people there. You lodge an application and hope for the best. As I said... not fun.

I have been running around trying to catch up with all those friends who are near and dear to me. I missed everyone so much when I was away and there are still several people who I am yet to see. Bad me...

School. So much to get my head around. I am still not fully back into it. Kids and work friends are good but my head (heart) just isn't in it yet. I keep thinking C.A.M.E.R.A.s...

I have also had lots of other things on my plate. I have two friend arriving from Japan for Christmas, Sarah (and maybe Kat) are arriving for their Melbourne adventure, I have had a funeral (I won't go into it but it was tragic and far too young - one of my ex students) and on a high note, this coming Sunday, I may get up in a hot air balloon.

So there you are. I am still here and love reading your comments. I hope there are some people out there still reading. I will try to get better... Post more photos...

See you soon

Clip clop, clip clop...

What a way to travel. Yesterday, I hitched a ride for the first time in my life... Well not exactly, but I was offered a ride by a stranger and I took it. So much fun!
I am living in Kensington right now and the very famous 'Flemington Race Track' is close by. That means there are lots of stables and horses in the area. I had walked to the closest tram stop to wait for my ride into the city. Along came two horse and carriages headed into town to work. I hoped that one of the drivers would offer me a lift. How cool to be up high and go into town in such a unique way. The second guy called out to ask if I was headed into the city. I said I was and he assured me that he was faster than the tram that was following. I hesitated a split second before climbing up with the driver. What fun...
I hope I can do it again. I guess I just have to be there at the right time. Try it sometime!

Oishikata (that was delicious)

Warung Agus ...

Ahhhh, what a wonderful meal. Last night we went off for our monthly get together. It is supposed to be book club and we are supposed to discuss a book each month. Half the group (including me) don't even read the book. Mostly, it is just a bunch of noisy girls laughing and talking about everything. We have so much fun together. I really missed that bunch whilst I was away.

Last night was Balinese food. I don't remember ever having eaten anything so delicious in Bali when I was there. The meal was fantastic. If you live in Melbourne, or if you drop by sometime, check it out.

PS... If you click on the link above, you can read more!

And the winner is...

Not of the whole competion but I am as happy as can be!

I won first and second prize in the culture category of the competition. There were three categories and an over all winner. I was actually more excited by the following facts...

There were over 340 photos submitted by 34 people.

They selected 34 images (three of mine).

Entries were from Tassie, Victoria and South Australia. All people were or are involved in the JET program that sends people to Japan to teach English.

First Prize

Second Prize

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!