19.10.2012 - almost a week of illness and nothing.

Tuesday:
- I got a package from my uncle in which he sent me lovely things, including Neem toothpaste which is the fancy Indian toothpaste I feel very strongly about using. And I ran out in the morning, about 4 hours before his package arrived. How fortuitous!
Also some photos of his adorable children, who are, well, adorable.
I miss them and him and emma and everyone.

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I've been sick again for the past few days, luckily not nearly as badly as before, but I've been all stuffed up and a bit sort of woozy and have had a headache/pressure in my sinuses etc for a few days.

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Wednesday -

My alarm didn't go off in the morning because the batteries died in the night, which means I didn't get to go to aikido which makes me sad. Luckily it failed to go off on a day when all I had was aikido, and not work.
I've since gotten new batteries and a second clock just in case.

the hell?

- I walked to pick up the package that my father sent me when I had tonsillitis. For some reason it never got delivered but according to the tracking number it was at the main Kita Shinjuku Office.
So I went there and picked it up, took me about an hour since the map they gave me sucks, like 98% of all maps here ever. I'm sorry Japan, but you need to get your map act together.
And then I decided to grab a taxi back and the guy misheard me or something and went way off in the wrong direction and it wasn't until I realised we'd passed my street that I corrected him but then it was complicated to get back and yada yada yada. I have the worst luck with taxis! He was nice and didn't charge me for the mistake though, what a peach.

Da's the best father ever, it made me feel so much better just seeing the package!
I got English breakfast tea, vegan chocolate chips (I am going to find a way to make cookies without an oven. Maybe using a broiler?) , various herbals medicines, a lovely letter, a thermometer with a koala on it, and a small plastic goat! last one may seem odd, but it may or may not have made me cry.
happy tears, happy tears.

- I went to work (fine, thank you) and then to the Vegan Meetup.
Pretty good! I talked to a few people, didn't make any bffs, but you can't win them all right?
Food was amazing as usual, they had vegan chocolate chip carrot cake for dessert that was stupendous. So.

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Thursday

- woke up and went to Osawa Senei's class, which was great. Practiced with this middd ages french guy, who I think I've practiced with before. He's ok, kind of pushes you down a fair bit, which isn't my style but whatever. Good class.

 - Skyped with Magnus briefly, and now I'm off to shower & eat some breakfast.

-  I also (finally!) bought No Doubt's new album, which is amazing.
Since they've been one of my two favourite bands since I was about 6, I was a bit nervous that I'd hate everything but I am so pleased! It's really good, some stuff is a real throwback, a la Tragic Kingdom. Brilliant!

this is my favourite song off the album, so Rock Steady!

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Friday

- went to aikido
- went to my japanese lesson, I felt really good about it today. I like days like that.
- came home and made pumpkin and pasta for dinner, whaddup cooking early?
- went to work
- sautéed mashed pumpkin with my pasta and it was awesome.

seriously my two of my favourite foods together.

28.08.2012

Went to class, Fujimaki Sensei was teaching.
Never heard of him? didn't think so.
But he's a 6th dan Shihan.
Just quietly teaching beginners class at Hombu.
He had a bit of a sense of humour, at least that's what I gathered from all the laughing after he spoke.
No idea what he was saying of course, probably something like "best of luck to those poor, sweaty westerners"

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Skyped with mum and da.

I miss Mouse, too.

Went to meet Paul and to meet Keiko, she's nice. I'll be meeting her at that cafe every Tuesday, the tea's really good too.
So there's a plus.

Came back, timed how long it takes me to walk to Shin-Okubo & Okubo stations so I can properly time my trains.

Now I'm just taking a moment to re-pack my gi  bag and go meet Paul again to go to the British School to practice for a bit, and learn how to get there.


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Went to Shibuya station, met Paul.
These are a few photos I snapped, just off the platform, while waiting for him. Since I was early, like always.

We walked to the British School, learned how to put down the mats.
Then we went over pretty much every detail of each class for about an hour.
Walked back to the station, he decided to take the bus but I just on my first [almost not quite] rush hour train. Pretty fucking packed.
Needless to say, I hated it.

Got off and on my way home I decided to stop and buy a present for my lovely aunt, Emma, who hand made me the most beautiful quilted jewelry case as a going away present. She's the bomb.
Anyway, was about to pay for it and I couldn't find my wallet in my bag, just about had a heart attack because I knew I'd put it in there because I can't leave my house without my Residence Card or I can be jailed. Which is something I'd like to avoid, for the rest of my life.
Walked home in a total panic, basically waiting to be stopped by a cop.

Got home, realised it was in my bag and had just sort of migrated underneath my gi, and saw a package from mum had arrived! I was thrilled of course, even if I did already know what was in it.

my face when I saw it.

you all remember that scene in Harry Potter (I can't remember which right now) where Mrs. Wealsey sends Harry a letter and it's just plastered in stamps because 'she wanted to make sure there were enough'?
Well I basically got that today.

Felt so inspired by my newfound joy I walked all the way back to the shop and bought the 'item' for Emma, then walked to Olympic for takeout. It was getting dark at this point, so it was also the first time I properly went anywhere after dark, big steps today for Signe in Tokyo.

So far one of my favourite thing's about Japan is the takeout. I mean, you go to a grocery store and get takeout for the equivalent of life, $7 and it's so good. And it's not just me that thinks that, a lot of Japanese people eat a lot from grocery stores, so the food is genuinely good. It's awesome.
As you can see below I put together a wonderful meal (still had to eat by myself, which is still depressing, but the food was good!) and I actually bought at least twice as much as I ate tonight.

inari, vegetable gyoza, fried rice, some sort of fried noodles with picked bean sprouts and not-pickled caabbage, and some picked ginger.
+ water, orange juice (pulp free, haven't seen able to find it with pulp yet.), and a soy sauce based dip for the gyoza.

Now I'm going to watch a movie or something to keep me awake for another 2 hours or so, so I don't wake up at 4.30 again like I did this morning.
Tomorrow I get to sleep all the way in to 6 because Paul asked me to come to the 8 AM class instead of my usual 7 so we can practice together. It's a sensei he really likes; we'll see how I feel tomorrow!

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have a pleasant day all of you!