30th of April 2010

Today i wasn't feeling well... having the cold... runny nose and sneezing...

but at 9:30... a gift came from Kuwait from some sweet person. :) it had fruits and cheese and crackers.. all that was missing was the wine :P

I was really really in need for vitamin C... so now after this post i'll have orange, grapefruit, and kiwi's to feel get better...

Did some studying, then i got a haircut in the barbar next door... LOL its really funny talking to the barbar in Japanese, because, there was a lot lost in translation and wrong information given by me... but its easier to go along than correcting the conversation...

Lets see what the hell i said...

1. Kuwait, walking is banned because everyone drives
2. it never ever rains in Kuwait
3. the owner of the company i work for is Japanese thats why he sent me to learn Japanese
4. I work in newspaper publishing

came back to the dorm, had dinner and saw some friends at thecame back to the dorm, had dinner and saw some friends at the cafeteria.

Now i'll study a bit then have my vitamin C dose.

tomorrow i'll be off to Hokkaido, i'm so excited... i'll post yesterday's pictures from there.

29th April 2010

Today (Thursday) is off, so i left home at around 1 pm... i slept well as well.

Today is the opening of Krispy Cream Donuts... its amazing how many people were waiting in line... lol for almost 500 meters people were waiting... The waiting time was 1:30 h when i passed by it.

I went had Matcha Latte from Starbucks and headed to MUJI... i love this store... seriously... its fashion is very 'earthly' and always the colors used are 'earth tone' colors...

Then i went to find the Anime Area to buy things for my sister... i got lost but then i found myself in the heart of geek town.. every one looked like a nerd :( so i figured i'm in the right place... i did find anime and manga shops but not what my sister wanted :(

Then i went to see the new Panasonic Camera G2 at Yamada Denki... it was great! but i didn't buy it for the following reasons.

1. menu is only in Japanese
2.(main reason) i found out that more and more cameras now have built in GPS in them... so i figured i'll wait, i'm sure the next models will have that feature

I went to the cinema.. to book for a movie but it was crowded so i went to another cinema and booked the 7:30 pm show of Clash of the Titans. I got a members card from the cinema.

Everywhere i go, i get a memebers card... I am afraid if i sneezed in public someone will come up from behind me and say "do you want a member's card for that? for every 10 sneezes you get a napkin, 100 sneezes gives you a face mask"

Had a bagel.

then i went and bought football shoes... since after a week i'll be playing football every sunday... i'm excited :D

After the movie, which was terrible by the way, i went home and make me spaghetti and studied and called it a day.

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I'm looking for shoes... i have found some that i liked... please support me with your opinions...

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Updated with Pictures








Whenever i pass by this store, LUSH i get the urge to eat the soap.

There is this vacant shop in nice location... how about it? Sheesha Shop?


Muji

Namba parks.. Lovely...

My lunch...


MY FRIEND!!!
And his family



I can't resist the sweets any more!

Amazing camera...


What i bought...

The pepsi cup is NOT large... the popcorn cup is SMALL...

I love the arm rest space between chairs... very comfortable.

Dinner :D

28th april 2010

last night.. i also had a very good night's sleep... i don't know whats making me sleep well but i'm thankful about it.

i got my test results back :( i got 90% on the textbook test and 26/30 on the kanji.. its alright but i'm not too happy... the mistakes were a bit stupid... i could have done better... today was the second kanji test so lets see if i can do better.

tomorrow is a holiday, Golden Week, till next thursday. and i might go with friends to Hokkaido!!!! its an amazing island to the north. A lot of people would like to go there, since its far north and not as famous internationally as Tokyo and Osaka... i'm excited, but should i buy the G2 Panasonic Camera and take it with me or not?

Google Hokkaido, and see the beautiful scenery. actually.. here.. just click here... you lazy people! :P

i went for a jog today after school... then i ate a lot... bread and cheese, an apple... and some yogurt...

oh by the way... i finally showed a video clip of the sink to the property manager downstairs lol he was surprised and he came with me to the room after school at 6 pm and he didn't know what was going on, so i emailed him the videos and he spoke to the company... we'll see what happens...

but just to make matters worse looool now the bathroom floor's sink is also acting loony.

27th April 2010

I had the best sleep since i came to Osaka. I do not know if it was the 7km jog, or that my brain was over exhausted or what... but i slept like a baby... i even woke up at 9 am totally refreshed...

went to school.... then to the supermarket.. it was raining cats and dogs all day...

DID YOU KNOW: Where does this phrase come from? Raining Cats and Dogs?

in old days England... the streets were very narrow and sewage systems were terrible... so when it rains heavily, everyone goes to their homes and only stray cats and dogs are left outside... and unfortunately drown... the next day when people come out.. they see all these dead animals in the streets... so its as if, it rained cats and dogs last night...


:)

I love this mood.. its soooo i dont know.. romantic? gloomy?




I was trying to fit all this in my backpack but i failed... the row on top i carried in plastic bags...

I got alcohol-free beer... i'll try it and see how drunk it will get me :P

I got the green bread!! Yippeeee!

by the way... this cost 22 KD :(

26th April 2010

Today at school... i seriously don't know what happened, but i felt like... you know... when you fill a cup... and its just full, so the more you pour into it, it just flows out of the cup.. i was like that..

i couldn't write without making a mistake in every letter... every letter... and i couldn't focus... my brain was... just... not... functioning.

It was strange, even after school as i was walking back, i couldn't focus my eyes on anything, my sight goes blank after a second or two... i'm serious and not exaggerating. I focus on something then my mind just focuses out...

My explanation to this is, i think the weekend was too much for me... i mean... studying another language is already very exhausting, so usually i take the weekend to recuperate but this weekend i was working and actually my brain was working over time.

So i guess, because since thursday i was burning up brain cells for business thinking and language studying, and throughout the weekend and even this morning i was thinking about business and work and emailing work and studying... so i guess my fuses blew up lol

I decided to go for a run to reboot my brain... i dont know if worked but i did feel better... this time i jogged for 7.75 km which is my record so far.

So i came back... got my laundry, had dinner (macdonalds new sandwich, shrimp fillet) and then studied...

There was a movie i saw in Kuwait, its Japanese, called Departures, it is AMAZING... i can't not cry when i see it. And ever since i came to Japan, i don't know why, every two-three days this movie comes to my mind and the soundtrack of the movie plays in my mind...

the link to the song, listen to it, its amazing

So today just as i was finishing studying i turned on the tv and it was on tv, i saw the last half of it... in Japanese but because i knew what they were saying i got sucked in right away... and cried again :( lol

This movie is truly, without any doubt, is one of the best movies i've seen!

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The Laundry Story

ok so i came back yesterday sunday from Fukuoka, and i have put off doing the laundry since wednesday and i used up most of my clothes on the trip so i was planning to do laundry on Sunday...

We have in the dorm 10 Washing Machines and 5 dryers.

The washing machines were all being used (but the dryers were all empty) being sunday and everyone is doing their laundry... Fine... i waited till very late... even though i had a big headache and was sooo sooo sooooooo tired... i waited till 11 till i had a chance to use 2 washing machines, i was also cleaning my bed sheets (so i had all whites in one machine and colors in the other)

after 1 hour the washing was done... but NOW the dryers are all occupied... i said fine... the cycle of the dryer is 30 minutes, and sometimes people put two coins to make it 1 hour. I figured in an hour i'll be able to dry my clothes.

an hour came, still no dryers free... another 1 hour, i went down and the dryers stopped but the clothes are still inside, so i thought ok i'll come back in 30 minutes maybe the owners will have taken their clothes by then...

30 minutes pass.. nope, clothes there... 1 hour... still the same clothes... God damn it! I am soooo tired and these stupid idiots are too lazy to get their clothes out of the dryers...

so i put my wet clothes in a big plastic bag and took them to my room for the next day (today).

When i came back from school today i went to the laundry room and the dryers are off but there are clothes inside... THE SAME CLOTHES FROM YESTERDAY!!! What THE HELL!!! those lazy idiots have left their clothes in here for over 18 hours... what the hell is going on?

So i opened two dryers and took the clothes out and put them in some plastic baskets lying around. LOL

and then i went for the jog... after i came back i went to check on my clothes, and i entered the laundry room then saw a guy looking at one of my dryers and looking at his clothes in the basket and scratching his head... looking up into the machine and down into the basket... confused look... LOL so i pretended i was there for something else.... and left.. LOOOOOOOOOOL

i checked after 20 minutes... the coast was clear... so i got my stuff :D

This was actually yesterday's breakfast, in Fukuoka,,, soooo delicious (oishii)


Osaka City Hall, i was jogging to see this actually...





When you see this picture, please play this song here

25th of April 2010

I slept late last night, was writing the business report of the trip. Early morning I felt the bed shake, I think it was from the subway below, it wasn’t a strong shaking but still I felt some vibrations. I was soooo tired that I was like “oh no, not an earthquake… ah well… if it is, I’m not getting out of bed. Its not so strong anyway”.

Today was a long day. We went to 3 store visits and it was a bit tiring, I am very thankful for Mr. Ikebe from BEST DENKI Japan for taking care of us on a Sunday.

I feel a bit lonely, I got used to being alone after a week or so in Osaka but since I met people from Kuwait and was with them for 3 days. Now going back to Osaka and back to solitary life is a change for me.

I am happy that both Ikebe san and Kitagaki san say my Japanese improved.

Pictures are on facebook, friends.

I ate a lot during these last two days, and I eat lots of sweets and ice cream... not happy about that. :(

24th of April 2010

Many pictures today

Its been 3 weeks since i came to Japan.

Today was amazing. From a business point of view, it was nice and i learned a lot. Its always nice to exchange ideas and brainstorm with smart and experienced people.

On a personal level, the Best Denki people were so kind and hospitable.

On a touristic level, we went to a famous shrine, known to help people in studying, great!

Then the food... oh the food... you'll see the pictures below.

Seriously?

Lunch






The Shrine



This building on the left, with the purple flowers, see the last window to the left? Thats were we sat and enjoyed the Tea and Sweets on top.




Dinner



Whale Meat


This cattle-fish (its more of a squid like creature) was so fresh that the tentacles were wiggling about.