Life at JF

Hi all, Carlos Santana here. First off, I’d like to inform you that I am wearing the hottest green nail polish ever, a greeny-gold (more green than gold) that we picked up in Singapore. Yesterday and today were pretty chill, after having event after event in a row we decided just to do nothing, which was incredibly enjoyable. We woke up late (myself later than Saros), hit the showers then hit the net to surf. Sarah went for a walk to take photos and I caught up on an particularly exciting chapter of Meifu’s Gate, chapter 13 I believe. Meifu’s Gate is almost as good as cheese pizza, only less fattening and with plot twists that an all-seeing Bhuddist Monk living on top of a mountain couldn’t forsee. Make what you will of that. Anyhow we just did nothing all day then headed into the kitchen to make Spaghetti. We didn’t want to attempt meat so we got a tomato and garlic sauce. We also made garlic toast, which was good, in a strange way- sort of half soft and half crunchy, patchy looking and a little too sweet to be entirely delicious, but for our cooking and being in Japan, it was wonderful.





















Then we played cards in the kitchen which grew to be an event- we taught others the memory game including Ayumi, SuperCoolRainbowHairMan (he has bleached blonde hair with wicked patches of blue, green, yellow pink and purple), and Fumio. Then another girl- YouthOrganisationMexico girl (who is actually Japanese) got me to help her with her English for a job application of some sort. It was just like being back at school. It was kind of good, but I kept getting distracted by the tv and the card game next to me.


























^^ Fumio and SuperCoolRainbowHairGuy^^




The TV in Japan has some fascinating shows- usually we have only the vaguest idea of what is actually going on but there seems to be this show where they just show the contestants really really weird stuff. For example, one of the videos they showed the contestants (who always gasp and look surprised/horrified/gleeful) was a man and a black Labrador competing to see who could lap up a bowl of water faster. It may not surprise you to know that the dog won. Another was a dish that was some kind of rice, a disgusting looking meat and/or mushroom sauce, then literally a tower of cabbage on top akin to Marge Simpson’s hair. Then there was the giant fish shaped pancake (probably had some sort of mystery contents like bean paste), the quite tall man doing the limbo under about a 10-20cm line and the super sweeper.




















These were the only ones I actually got a photo of in time. Then we continued playing cards- Nicolas showed us two card games, a complex one that went on for ages (SuperCoolRainbowHairMan, Sarah and Fumio did okay, I was out first and Nicolas second. I really, really sucked at it and Fumio eventually won). Then there was another game similar to snap, I thought I was heaps cool, but it turned out the only reason I won was because I had a key attached to the hair tie on my wrist. The key kept smacking the table and distracting Nicolas- when I took it off, I lost big time to everyone in sight. We played a while then retired and watched some Glee- it took a while to get to sleep because some jerkasses kept talking.





















We slept in pretty late as a result this morning- then got up and made some delicious vegemite sandwiches for breakfast. Now I have something VITALLY IMPORTANT to ask you all. How do you make your vegemite sandwich? Saros and I disagree. My way is to butter (margarine) one piece of bread and vegemite the other. Then stick them together, and cut into happy triangles. Sarah, the infidel, butters both pieces of bread, spreads vegemite OVER the butter (which works with varying degrees of success) and then eat the two slices separately. What say you- which way to you go?






















Anyhow we then went on a magical journey to Life, our supermarket, or hypermarche as the French say. Life is always fun and bewildering- lots of things to choose from, most things, we probably don’t like. I say probably, because half the time we’re not 100% sure what we’re actually buying. We got some sort of satay sauce today (hopefully), and are attempting chicken and veggies with noddles. Unsure of how this will work. We also got ice creams, which unlike my fears of accidentally buying beef flavoured ice cream, were actually chocolate and delicious. We also got what we think is a red been paste bun. We figured we might as well give in and try it. Saros has also been the voice of Anti-fun: “We can’t live on chips Carly, no we can’t have vegemite sandwiches every meal of every day, no Carly, you can’t fly…” and so on. For the record, I actually enjoy the vegemite sandwiches more than the chips.

























In the mean time, I’ve been being frustrated with the poor policy and replies of the Secular Party of Australia- I agree with every policy except their policy of banning religious dress in schools because putting it bluntly, it just won’t work. Unfortunately, the leader of the Secular Party is a shit minger with weak excuses and has very much disappointed me. I’m also devastated to realise we are missing the Palais’ first birthday! You can’t go back to those missed years- they grow up so fast… *sob*.




Aside from that, our Birthday greetings to LAURA COWLEY, whom we miss very much, and J HOOP’S cocktail partay tonight! If there was money on the bar, I’d be exceptionally sorry to miss it- if there wasn’t money on the bar, I’m stingy enough that I’d just miss the people! (C’mon, those drinks are hot but expensive!) Also shouts out to BEN WIGGINS and JHOOP again (on fire today J!) who commented, because we miss you, and love your comments. To my family, you are being shown up by my friends, and for your own honour, should hurry up and get an account to comment with! Still on the look out for presents (we’ve got some ideas and some cute bags to put the presents IN when we get them) so keep sucking up, xoxo Carly





P.S. Oh, also, there was an earth quake, but it was pretty small. We were half asleep and didn’t quite realise what was happening until it was over. Then we just went back to sleep.



P.P.S. Stuff up time! I had this great idea when we got our phone- you get to choose the last 4 digits of your phone number, and I remembered the IT crowd (0118 999 88888 9119 725…3) Only, I didn’t quite remember it right, and we accidentally picked 729…3. We realised immediately after, but our number had been finalised. We felt very much like giddy goats! “You? Why you are nothing but an old man in a tent, sitting in rags, playing hoopaloo with the wind!”

World World Buffet

Yew! Shouts out to KIM SIMPSON as the ONLY person to comment, you slackers! Well after a late night partying down at the beach, (we got side tracked awfully by facebook gossip and ended up going to bed at like 2am) we got up horrendously early (9am) to go and meet Chizuko, Miho's mum, who is super nice and helpful. We have to get her a present, no idea what though. We met Chizuko who introduced us to Yoshida, who was also very nice. She bought the three of us lunch at World World Buffet, a great combination of Italian, Japanese and French. Yes, I know you're wondering... THERE WAS CHEESE PIZZA! It was kind of similar to soft pita pizza (not crunchy) and while Sarah was not especially fond, I have quite a soft spot in my heart for it. I would have had more but I was trying not to look rude. I tried some other stuff, didn't like Italy's cheesy risotto but the Japanese noodles with yam and Okra were quite nice.


* Chizuko, Sarah, Yoshida and Carly in front of Louis Vuitton.





Yoshida suggested I practice my abysmal chopstick skills by picking up corn kernals- it was a long and comical process and I dropped many kernals into my lap. Yoshida, Chizuko and Sarah laughed many times at my expense. Then we had crepes for dessert- I had ice cream and strawberry Jam! Oh, and the drinks... we didn't realise there was coke until our second round of drinks- unfortunately Sarah had some kind of juice which she described as tasting "like arse" and my delicious liquid was apple juice with black vinnegar. It tasted like apple juice... and vinnegar. And you know, it tastes as you'd think it would- starts off a nice apple juice, ends with "Oh ugh, why, WHY oh sweet babies carrots WHY?". It was a relief when we discovered the coke, I can tell you.

*My strawberry and ice cream crepe.

Sarah loved her Carbonara and some spicey Japanese pork. We then ended up going to an electrical store and after much debate, buying a Japanese phone to cheaply message within Japan. All the phones here are super slim and flip, not like my little fat bastard whom I love with all my heart. The phones come in a crazy array of colours here- everything does. Laptops are sweet and very cheap- want to get one (Sony Vaio in "get in my pants" green- bout $1000) but trying to conserve money. They had solar recharging phones that were water proof AND ridiculously colourful! As in, you stick your phone out in your yard to recharge, if the picture was anything to go by.

Then we went back to Yoshida's house- she is offering for us to rent it. Awkwardly, we don't really want to because it isn't set up with everything that JF (where we are now) has, it's further away from everything and only one room is air conditioned... and the kitchen looks confusing. We haven't told her yet, especially after she bought us lunch! The house itself was very traditional, tatami mats (bamboo) on the floor, sliding Japanese screen doors. The toilet was one of the special feature ones where you can heat your seat, have a flushing sound, a jet of water to wash your ...err... posterior... and more! It's bad because Yoshida was so nice and helpful.... hmm, I guess I can still help with her English class.

* Yoshida's street

On our way back, we made our usual stop at Life convenience store and on our way home, saw our first kitten. There was a foreboding feeling in my heart as I warned Sarah it was probably carrying rabies and not to touch it. Sarah, showing astounding common sense, went straight for the cat. However, when it looked into the light Sarah yelped and ran away. In her words, its eye was "pwowgh". What that means, I don't know. The small, possibly stray cat, looking for some love, attempted to follow Sarah who yelped and ran away faster. I bet the cat felt really good about itself after that. I felt bad, however, not wanting rabies, continued to walk away. It was actually more of a kitten, which Sarah seems to think was kicked in the face. (By RABIES!).
Hopefully it finds a loving home. We did find out something way cool- we kept seeing what looked like spiral slippery dips outside of tall buildings- turns out THEY ARE! They're there in case of a fire, for quick escapes. Seriously though, that's awesome.

We then returned for a great dinner of peeled carrot (we got some weird looks), banana, yoghurt and vegemite sandwiches. We, being good citizens, deigned to share our Vegemite with our resident Asians who, like Nicolas the Frenchman, were quite repulsed with a wide array of horrified gasps. Apparently Toyo is going to bring us some Natto tomorrow in retaliation. We then watched some kick ass TV show where from what we can tell, 5 guys compete against 5 girls. They have to answer questions before the time runs out and they explode (not literally, there's a computer screen behind them), like each having to name a fruit. They get pretty funny when they can't think of an answer, and the contestant panel shakes like.... A BOMB HAS HIT THE SHELTER!

Then they have a bonus round which is like those theme park rides where you watch a screen showing a roller coaster and the thing you're in moves accordingly- we left just as the girls failed to make the right choice and their mine cart plunged into a firey chasm of doom.
Now we have Skype, but you can only talk to one person at once so all of you, go to someone's house for a Skype party! Or take a number. We charge $3.40 for the first hour of our time and $1 for every minute after that. Also, the lighting in our room makes us look like we have patches of grease on our foreheads, not so attractive. Also somewhat alarming, as it is a very bright white to see.

Make sure you leave us a comment, we ain' Skyping you unless you do! (And we may mail you out some natto and tell you it's a delicious cake of some sort.) Going to attempt Spaghetti tomorrow- this could end poorly and if it does, I'm having Vegemite sandwiches AGAIN. I love the Vegemite- I will do it on the train, I will do it in the rain! IN THE RAIN PEOPLE, NOW THAT'S LOW! (-Yeah, we finished off S2 of Better Off Ted and Veronica is to die for!)

Think that's all, my Spanish friends. Adios amigos, or as the Japanese say,
...I don't know what the Japanese say, but I'm working on it. No, I'm not, but I'm getting pretty good at pronouncing "Kire Uriwari", our station (T33) on the Tanimachi line. Saros mingers it up every single time she tries it, causing me to have my revenge for the chopsticks-corn lunch fun.
Right, getting back to the goodbyes... On behalf of S-Minger (Sarah) and I,

Carlos- OUT!
(You should now picture me pumping a fist into the air, and launching off like a rocket into space.)

Suma Beach Party in Kobe!

So today turned out to be pretty epic.

We met up with a group of people staying at JF House with us at 12pm for our beach adventure, which turned out to be a free beach party. On the way, we stopped at the supermarket for a six pack of cocktails in a can to take with us (All for $6! So Cheap!!) It took just over an hour to get to Kobe, using the subway and transferring over to the train to Kobe.

Needless to say, we still managed to get lost from the group at Osaka train station...which was like an ant nest with people running around everywhere. Luckily, Nicolas was with us and knew how to get to the train platform we needed where we found the rest of the group.

When we got to the beach, it was swarming with people, just like in the movies. We took some wicked photos, so once we actually get around to linking up the net...we will upload them.

To put it bluntly, their water is like murky algae-ridden shit brown. The kind of water you just try not to think about...like the Torrens...no one wants to swim in that! However, it was that hot, and there were so many people already in the water, you didn't really notice how bad it was...until you got out, and the algae clings to every hair of your body, making you resemble some kind of chewbacca wilderbeast!

Think you can just wash yourself off? You thought wrong! Unless you want to pay $5 for a shower! However, us being the stingy asses that we are bought a freezing bottle of water for $2 and managed to get most of the crap off while whinging everytime we poured the water on ourselves. So we only swam once, and EVERYONE in the water has blow up rings, as very few Japanese can actually swim, which is why we thought it was weird when people were looking at us just swimming out into the deep.

At around 4pm the bands started up on the two stages they had set up along the beach. One was reggae, and the other one was Dance and Hip-Hop. So as a group, we migrated to the Dance and Hip-Hop stage, which at first was playing some kind of American Hillbilly alternative rendition of Robbie Williams (yeh...it was pretty horrible), then later on the DJ's and MC's came on and played some pretty wicked music.

Before we knew it, the beach was packed and everyone was dancing along. The fact that they not only played Pitbull at least 4 times, but also Sexy Bitch and Tik Tok all in a row just made it even more awesome! The Lady Gaga Mash-up...maybe not so much, but I'm sure Carly begs to differ. Haha! We both agree though that Kings of Leon is still shit, even the dance remix of Use Somebody...apparently though, it's pretty popular in Japan, as with Gaga.

Anyway, it is now 1am, and we are falling asleep at the computer. Such an epic day and night, and tomorrow we are having lunch with Miho's Mum and her friend...apparently it's all you can eat...it's going to be interesting either way. So, this is us signing off for now...

PS Carly tried to get Nicolas, our French friend, to try Vegemite tonight, but alas, he was not sold! I guess it is just an acquired taste.

Night Minasan (Everyone)!