30th June 2010

this marks the end of a chapter... The Japan Chapter (April 3rd till June 29th)...

whether i'll continue writing or not, i'm not sure...

but i have returned safely to my home country... Kuwait... i left 60 Kgs... and now 54 kgs... so anyone who wants to lose weight, stay in Japan for three months...

29th June 2010

Let me just say... there are coincidences... and then there are COINCIDENCES... I cannot get into details but something very strange happened today...

Let me just say... a coincidence is something that happens and the chances of that happening would have been very scarce. Too minute... too minuscule for the human brain to fathom and would be treated as virtually impossible but possible... thats what we label as coincidence i think...

Of course... if something happened to you, the person, then that means there is also another side of the story, the domino affect of the actions that lead up to you being where you were when that coincidence occurred. Most people do not consciously think of these actions...

On rare occasions, i can catch myself consciously computing and thinking of these actions, the forks in the roads... the decisions to go RIGHT or LEFT for example... i would not know why in this situation, this routine brain process is brought to my consciousness but i know that NOW i am ACTIVELY CHOOSING THIS rather than THAT... for what reason? i do not know...

Today it happened more than once... and i was almost feeling myself being steered like a canoe down a river on a certain path... again, why i don't know...

Until it happened... then the curtains were removed, i knew why i was there on that spot at that certain moment... I do not know when the universe was created... and if the concept of TIME stands true... that moment back then, must be measured on a certain ruler or such... so... i knew why on that certain point of the ruler, i had to be where i was...

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Tomorrow is my last day (on the contract) in the dorm, so i better write this list, maybe the hotel doesn't have internet...

i was thinking... for over 2 weeks now... about making two lists... 1-what i'm looking forward to doing in Kuwait and 2- what i'll miss in Osaka

so here it is...

Kuwait - looking forward to:
1. hugging mom
2. hearing my dad's voice
3. hearing my small sister's laugh (or cry lol)
4. visiting grandma
5. seeing my friends
6. visiting my workmates
7. eating lots and lots of fruits :D
8. indian food, lebanese food, steaks! kuwaiti food, naif chicken, FALAFIL... you got the picture :P
9. playing football with my friends
10. swimming
11. sushi
12. working... i miss work and getting back in the game
13. fruits :P and more fruits
14. playing cards
15. my rooooooooooom... my beeeeeed... my toileeeeet

ok.. 11 was a joke, if you haven't guessed it by now


Osaka - What i'll miss:
(jesus... seriously... i'm getting misty eyes just thinking about this)
1. my friends... their faces.. their smiles...
2. my teacher's faces and voices
3. being closer to my friends from work (even though they are in different cities mostly)
4. walking... a lot of walking
5. Japanese apples
6. Japanese language... everywhere...
7. running
8. matcha tea latte from starbucks
9. my friends from football and football itself
10. the feeling that i'm living in Japan!
11. speaking in Japanese and the feeling of improvement everyday
12. the funny tv shows
13. the electronic stores

o'man... i'm going to miss my friends... especially since just recently after school finished, we've been going out a lot... (thank God for Facebook) :p

i can't believe that this chapter of my life is coming to a close... aaaaahhhh...



This is from a shop that is not in the main shopping area.. but closer to my dorm... it has many nice things like ancient dolls, etc..



I like the color.. this is REAL color.. unlike in Kuwait where they put paint in the water so that the flowers change color

maybe this is my last matcha tea frappacino

PS. check yesterday's post photos also

28th June 2010

again, i woke up without alarm today at 11:20 am... i guess its my internal clock... which is ok in Japan... but back in Kuwait that would translate to 5:20 am... lol i dont want to go to work on time :/ hehehe

Today must be "Take your pet for a walk day" lol and people ask me in what way Japan is weird!!!! loooooool see the photos (aaaaah man.. uploads not working.. i'll try again tomorrow) too bad....

I went and met my friends from school in Namba Parks... and we have lunch.. i also shared some sweets with them from Daimaru... very delicious...

Since now most stores have SALE. I visited two stores that i JUST RECENTLY bought from... 1 of them had a sale, and if i didn't buy it back then and waited for the sale, i would have saved around hmmm 25 KD :/ but i'm glad the other shop which i also spent a lot in, had no sale :D

after that, i met another group of classmates and we went to an indian restaurant...

:)

Lunch and dessert


I don't think the monkey's limbs are naturally yellow... i think he was painted :P which i wouldn't surprise me, this being in Japan.


I like this dog... he looks like a german shepard but his ears are way longer.




LOOOOOOOOL
because Midosuji the main street is Smoke Free, they put these smoking areas... i like the naming though.. Manners Station :)


ahhh.. today... lots of funny videos as well.

June 27 2010

Today i slept well... woke up refreshed... unaware that outside its is ridiculously humid and hot!

I went to meet Mr. S and had lunch together.

Came back home, and even though it was seriously humid and terrible outside, i had to go run, i've been feeling guilty for yesterday's big dinner.

Came back home... and decided to stay the day at home.

Today after lunch i passed through Hankyu department store, near the food section, and i saw a kiosk that sells donuts but upscale donuts (department store style) and ever since... the craving... aaaaaargh i want to try one... soooo badly... tomorrow maybe? Also i want to have Mister Donuts one more time before i leave...

Someone (who shall remain anonymous... the bodyguard) has been congratulating me for Japan's win... so to him i say

"thank you very much... we tried our best.. and Allah has blessed us... i am really happy WE'RE winning and doing well"

lol what the heck am i being congratulated for? :P am i Japanese? :P you know what...

MABROOK to you too Bodyguard, for Ghana's win... you guys played well :P lol





watch the videos... the last one is just... ruthlessly funny...

26th June 2010

12 weeks ago this day i arrived... with no money, no where to sleep, left out in the streets to wonder the nights... rummage for food from trash... and now look at me.. i came a long way... i have a room in a respectable dorm, i have a Japanese wife from a good family, who's father is a doctor... i have 3 children (which is 2 too many for Japanese)... i made it!!! (play the rocky song now please)
....

Woke up around 11 and quickly showered prayed and left to go to Ashiya, and meet Mr. T and his family. It was fun, i was treated to a Japanese traditional meal but in a modern atmosphere shop. Came back home and decided to stay in. I ate a lot at night :( mostly bread, but lots of it lol

i need to run, but tomorrow is rainy just like today... i'm contemplating running in the rain, which i dont mind, but i'm afraid for the ipod, even though its in a casing. If i don't take the ipod with me, how can i track the run on nikeplus.com ? :( heheh see my dilemma?

my laptop is dying on me... :( i can't wait to return to Kuwait and install windows 7

my bags are quite full.. i'm glad i sent one bag already to Kuwait... otherwise i would've been in big trouble come my departure day.

25th June 2010

Woke up early today as well... today was the graduation speech at school... so 9:30 i was there... whats nice is that i could understand almost 70% of what the president was saying...

yesterday they found a lost key and chain in one of the buses, i think #3, and they were asking everyone yesterday if anyone lost a key... they mentioned it today as well... also... lol they were mentioning that someone they found in bus #5 a pair of shoes LOOOOOOOL they were asking if anyone knows anything about it lol like it would be hard to spot someone walking back from the bus barefoot loool

after school i went with 4 classmates for coffee, then i finished my last... last... last... gifts shopping :)

i then got a call from another group of classmates... they are buying a discounted ticket for the trains but they need someone who has a 3 month visa on passport.. so i went back home and came back with my passport... also i changed into my football uniform so i can go right afterward to football...

i got lots of stares in the streets... an old man shook my hand lol, three ladies were saying Sugoi which means hmmm... difficult to translate.. maybe.. "cool" or "awesome" lol i knew i was going to get some looks.. but i didnt think it would be this much, i guess because of Japan's win last night... which was great! well played Nihon! really great.

ah.. yeah before i met them again with my passport i went and had a hair cut... cleaned up my image a bit

at football.... seriously... what a way to end the last day of football in Japan... the team i was in was great! we all played well... ok let me explain the system... basically we are 15 players... 3 teams of 5... and every 6 minutes one team takes a break for 6 minutes.. which ends up every team plays two games of 6 minutes, then rests for 6 minutes and then comes back on...
we played 11-12 games... we lost only once and drew once, and won the rest... i am probably top scorer through-out the day... scored a great hat trick in one game... really great feeling :)

what else? what else? hmmm thats it... came back home, did laundry... ate dinner... etc etc..

i will not do any studying till i come back to Kuwait... i think i want to relax a bit :)

oh and i got my certificate today as well... no score on it though... just that i completed 3 months.

24th of June

with lots of effort, i woke up at 7 am. quickly set my clothes ready and prayed... then my classmate and dorm mate knocked my door to make sure i'm up... I met him down and had my first breakfast since i came to Japan 3 months ago lol

i hurriedly came back to my room, showered and we both walked to school, reaching it around 8:20...

the field trip started shortly afterward and the details are in the captions of the pictures below.

i need to mention something.. that today God really, really loves us. (well, especially today anyway hehhee) up until yesterday, the weather forecast was supposed to be rainy+cloudy all day... and as you can see in the pictures, beautiful sun, and cool breeze... unbelievable, seriously, not a single cloud... a miracle, hallelujah! :P

Also, i sat next to the three Korean girls from my class, and i was with them throughout the trip, they are cool and i'm glad i got to know them more, since we never talked during class... they also say, i have the best laugh... lol... they say it's contagious and very cute :D

after coming back at around 7 pm... i went and did some shopping.. i'm very happy about what i bought... :D sometimes you buy something halfheartedly, and not too sure about it and you get "buyer's remorse" but today what i bought i really like :)

and got back home.. here i am :) and the upload is working... which is icing on the cake :D

by the way, yesterday's game, Germany in black uniforms... is it just me, or are the uniform's cool lookin'?

after this blog, i'm will start packing... i'll keep only the clothes that i'll use outside.. but atleast i'll know how much my bags weigh, etc. anyway i don't have anything else to buy...

also, i've added some pictures that were not taken today... as well... i've added links to some pictures taken a few days ago, but i put them in their proper dated Post.

PS. i am very happy... seriously... i am blessed and i hope everyone can feel the same feeling i'm feeling right now, do you feel me? (how many 'feel' did i use?) ;)

even one of the ladies that cook for the dorm told me, you look very happy... why? I said its because of school finishing... but thats not the whole truth... the truth is that it isn't a SINGLE reason... rather... its the accumulation of everything that happened to me in life that brought me to this moment... where i can genuinely smile... and thank God... for everything... what a blessing :) (i'm getting teary just writing this)

how do you repay God, the universe, the world, karma, whatever... for this feeling? how do you pass it forward? aaaaahhhh :)

I am very, very, grateful :)


This is on the ferry. We boarded the ferry in the buses, then we walked around on the ferry.


Amazing weather, isn't it?

That was an attempt at a funky picture

we took a lunch break here...

there were plenty of fish, jellyfish, and i believe the big fish is a puffer fish

we then went to Iwaji Earthquake Memorial, this is a size 7 earthquake on the rector scale

a sample of a house during the quake

here, we're going to a bridge over a whirlpool, though we didn't see any whirlpool, i guess the timing wasn't right, but it was beautiful nevertheless

the view from the bridge


did i ever tell you i'm afraid of heights?

this is on our final stop, souvenirs shopping, ok this is a beautiful picture... could be a wallpaper picture no?

lol no comment!

this is in Namba Parks.. i was walking through this shop and without consciously realizing it, i felt a good feeling when i past this t-shirt... something was familiar and making me feel good... i looked again... and i saw my beautiful country :) lol never mind the description.

***
ok now pictures from before

me reaching the GREEN LEVEL on my Nike-Plus running thing


lol don't stare at the woman... i was taking a picture of the dog... seriously!!! look at the way he's sitting loooooooool what the heck? and when the walking light turned green, she was pulling him up, he didn't want to move.. he stayed like that for a few seconds lol

this is strange, this black car... there is a huge fleet, every sunday, they put very patriotic music and notice speeches on those big microphones... very very very noisy... their message is to return Japan to how it was before WWII...

I dont know.. i just liked this picture, the meaning of it is... for the people waiting to enter the train (or is it for the people waiting inside the train? either way) its for the people on one side, to be careful from the barbarians on the other side! lol

A street in Shinsaibashi

This is funny.. it wasn't clear because he was walking fast on the opposite direction... but this guy lol had a Persian cat, shaved in a funny way, on his shoulders. LOL


see the tail LOL

***

Links (make sure to see them, they are cool as well)

1 - The card given to me from R (from Taiwan)
2- The card given to me from R (from Spain)
3- Supermarket shopping from 23rd June
4- Smoked Salmon sandwich from 20th post
5- The Milk dessert thing from my friend K. from 20th post
6- The train i took to the airport to meet my friends on 19th
7- My italian lunch on the 19th
8- Supermarket shopping from the 17th
9- Rainy picture from 15th

23rd of June

honest to goodness, today was an amazing day...

the atmosphere in class was great like yesterday but 10 times fold.

we got the exams' results back.

1. the kanji exam, i didn't do well but much better than last week and than what i expected.

2. the 4 hour exam, i got 89%

i then went to the teacher after class and i asked her what is my overall score for the entire course... i am basically an A student.. apart from the one B in Listening. She didn't hand me the paper but i saw it and there were like 5 A's and 1 B. I am very happy about that.

then the entire class went out to a Korean restaurant, i left early but it was fun and the more i get to know my classmates the more i feel i'm blessed being with them in the same class... i am sure these friendships will last a long time.

after that i went to the supermarket... the only unusual item i bought was Figs... but they are twice if not three times the size of Kuwaiti figs... i'll try them out tomorrow.

tomorrow i have to wake up at 7 am... and be at school at 8:25... we're going on the school trip so that should be exciting :)


this is from R. (from Taiwan), he's good no?

this is from R. (from Spain) he's an interior designer

22nd June 2010

regarding yesterday's video... why was it funny? i have no clue! lol... its not even japanese...

since it didn't rain today as well, i decided to go for a jog after school... i then went to starbucks to use the internet and upload the pictures but it turns out that the internet service is only available till 5 pm... crazy...

tomorrow is the last day for classes... weird feeling...

don't ask me how i was able to upload this picture... it just worked this one time.

21st June 2010

when everyone knows that there is only 2 classes left, the mood is different... more relaxed... more at ease... it was a good day at school...

came back home and went for a jog... not a long once, 7 k only.

did you watch the Portugal vs N.Korea game? woooow!!! lol these guys are on steroids i tell you...

i didn't go to the coffee shop today because i chose running instead, i knew tomorrow would be a rainy day, so i'll go to the cafe then.

you've got to watch this video!!!! its the funniest video you'll ever see! i'm still rolling on the floor laughing

20th June 2010

its funny how my body is now programmed to wake up at 11:30 am, give or take 1-2 minutes.
without fail, yesterday and today i woke up at 11:32 am, without alarm.

today just after waking up and praying, my uncle sms'ed me and we decided to meet someone in 40 minutes. I hurriedly showered and left to meet him and my aunt (his wife). It was a delight! absolutely a delightful time.

meeting members of your family makes you aware of where your genes came from.

I then went to find some things friends in Kuwait have asked me to buy for them. But i am sorry to say they don't have their sizes :P thats one downfall of being either too tall or too big for Japan :D

i went then and bought some clothes for petite me :P and headed to the supermarket and bought some smoked salmen, Philadelphia cream cheese, and bread.

At home, i made a sandwich and then a friend of mine in the dorm stopped by and gave me some sweet milk, he said his mother sent him a package and told him to share with his friends, i was very thankful, i'll try the milk now after this post.

i have pictures but i can't seem to be able to upload them. Worse case scenario, tomorrow after jogging i'll go to another starbucks and see if they have internet there.

I went today to both Yamada Denki and Yodobashi Camera to buy this new game for Nintendo DSi, but it was sold out at both places, even though it only came out yesterday. I guess people lined up for it. It teaches you have to paint... cool software, i wanted to buy it with Kanji learning software but i'll wait to get them together.

here's the link to the drawing program

looks cool doesn't it? there is even a video CM (commercial) with the character i like, the girl with the big eyebrows.

its available in amazon.com but i couldn't order it, i'll wait till the last day and then check with yamada denki again.

i'll go study now

the smoked salmon sandwich

it tastes exactly like 'mahalbiya'