International buffet

We have a little arrangement among ourselves. Each week, someone will take turn to make food from their countries. It used to be just among Bill, Frederik, Kyu, Sandra, Chou and me. But yesterday, since it was the last day of class, we invited the rest along too. And since it was such a big crowd, we made it into a picnic.... at the carpark outside my room where I have weekly picnics with Emmie and Sandra.

It was Pizzas from Czech Republic as presented by Sandra. Oh my gosh... it was sooooo delicious! It was really really good and it tasted not like any normal pizzas I have eaten before. For a start, she didn't use the normal pizza crust, she used the kind of crust used for pies. And well, all of us were licking our fingers with satisfication at the end of the meal. Of course, it is not completed with a dessert at the end! I just received some barley and green beans from my family yesterday, so decided to make some green bean-barley water. In this hot and humid weather, a cooling drink is welcome anytime uh...

Ok, I had some sparklers left from my last trip to Ise so I decided to bring it out to have some fun. And we did! dancing around with the sparklers. Only down point was that it created lots of smoke. But heck... we had such a good time. And we chatted the night away till about 12... wanted to go to the student bar but well... too tired to do so...

The 3rd last day of school...

As yesterday came and left, it marked the end of the third sem I am in Japan. Time flies is really such a wonderful way to describe how each begins and somehow end without your knowledge. Just another 5 more days, I would have been in Japan for 9 months.. wooh... 9 months... without my family, friends and the comfort of home... Thank God for His grace thus far. Praise Him for His bountiful blessings and favour upon me.

Ok this sem we have only Emmie who is going home.. And also our "form teacher" who is leaving to fufil her dreams of teaching in England. Matsumoto Sensei is really a good teacher. Really to our surprise. I recall my first impression of her being slightly shy and quiet. But she proved herself by the good examples she used and her confidence when explaining things. I don't quite remember anytime I don't enjoy her class. except of course when I myself was sleepy in the first place...

Anyway after her speech, she asked each of us to give a speech too. And 2 other senseis, Miki and Watanabe came to join us as well. The teachers all said that D class this sem gave a very united feeling. They always feel that our relationship is very good and we are all very positive and that we are their favourite class! (ah.... this sounds so primary school). But yeah I truly agree with that. This sem there are more gatherings, more parties and it's just not eating and having fun but we talk alot among ourselves too. About our dreams, our lives, our familes back at home... And of course, we are all looking forward to our trip to Mt Fuji and Fuji Highland together!

Ok so we had a mini party and photo taking session as usual!

By now we are all so into taking the "3 shots at one time" picture.... so here's out many poses!

Emmie showing off his pants!

Matsumoto sensei and our gift for her

Emmie's Little Party..

We had a mini gathering at a Izakaya yesterday for our dear dear baby Emmie... hem...

Izakaya anyway is a place Japanese hang out either after work or in their free time to drink or simply gather for a good time. We chose this particular Izakaya because the food was really good and ambience was fantastic. You could have your own little "room". It's like a cave which separates each group of guest from another.

Ok we ate a lot... the food was sooo good! We had sashimi, salad (the salad is one of their specialities), grilled-chicken stick, Tempura, Coroke( also another of their speciality), Omelette rice.... and much more... Wah.. (p.s; Carol must bring u there!)

Ok.. so it was another round of pictures and pictures... enjoy!

The 5 of us and our teachers!

Kuri-Bo... ( kurita sensei's nickname) and us...

The half-drunk Hiroe Sensei...

Delicious Sashimi!

Last but not least the very bo liao us... haaa Yeah we were so pleased with the timer..

Well... the 5 of us somehow became closer this sem. Maybe it is because were in the same class last sem... so such gatherings doing stupid things are just part and parcel of our lives here...

The very very very big house with many many dogs..

I was invited to a Japanese friend's house for BBQ today.

It's funny how I met him, Mr Yamagishi san. It happened when I was taking Carol (who came for a visit from Tokyo) to this park in the Eastern part of the town. Well, I was only in Okazaki for about 2 months then so wasn't too sure of the exact location of the park. So I went into a pet shop to ask for directions. The boss, Yamagishi, started chatting with me and asking me questions upon knowing I was a foreigner. He is a very kind and nice man in his late fifties. He even gave Carol and I 2 packs of animal feed each upon learning we are going to the park. Of course if you had read mine or Carol's earlier blogs, you will know how much trouble we ended up just to feed it to some ducks and swans....

Ok anyway, I brought another friend back to the shop about a month or 2 ago and met him again. This time he extended an invitation to us to have dinner with him and his wife. He then took us to this small but really delicious Taiwanese cuisine restaurant. It was pretty expensive but we ate to our fills... the food was simply so good... so hard to describe. Afterall I am not such a food critic nor gourmet like Carol.. haa

Today, we were supposed to have a BBQ at his house but due to the weather, he took us to Gamagori Laguna, a restaurant by the seaside to have dinner. Oh my god... it was sooo beautiful! The nightview was so magnificent. The sparkingly clear sea (ok couldn't see it at night so imagined it) But the soft lighting just gave the whole place such a romantic and peaceful feel.

Then he took us to a little river... which we saw something I had always wanted to but never had a chance to. I told him once I had never seen it in my life and he remembered it... I saw fireflies!! First time ever in my life. Or maybe I did but dun remember anymore... but it was so beautiful! To them flying about slowing and illuminating like little christmas lights... too bad they will only be around for a month or so...

Ok then finally we went back to his house to collect our bikes. he stays there with his son's family (wife and son). But the family stays on the upper levels of the house, having another life altogether of their own. my gosh... he has 5 cars!! He is super rich can... His house is soooo big... and then there is even a lift from his garage into his house... wooh... now i know.. a small pet shop can earn you big bucks! haaa... oh yah, i always get to see pups when i go to his shop. The last time Schnauzer pups.. this time, Schnauzer and Chihuahua pups... soooo cute! extremely small. about 2 weeks or so... anyway he has a 100 dogs as private collections. As many as 50 over in his house in think... Forgot to mention, he is so loving towards his wife. They are such a funny couple. He always tries to hold her hand but she is like so untypical Japanese women who always walk around so fast. He will fuss over her and she will joke that he is too naggy...

Wooh.. as usual ate so much.. must go exercise le...

Party and more parties!

Party! Party... party....party....

Constitutes 30% of my life here.. Anyway we just had a birthday bash and end of sememster party for the June babies in our class... Here's some pictures!

Preparation before the party.... Extreme right is Emmie, our class baby cutting some cucumbers for the first time in his life...



A break from all the cutting and frying!



The pride of the party! The finished product from the "yaki soba" team. Yes, we had the salad team, snacks team etc..



The first snapshot of the people preparing food....



Finally, the whole party in progress and everyone tucking in happily...

Cheers! To a good sem, the June babies and new friendships made

A final picture of everyone

Aftermath of the party. A nice relaxing night out in the back yard...

Thoughts:... Everyone agrees that it has been a absolutely fun sem despite the initial strange feelings of joining 2 different classes together. Somehow throught the constant teasing, regular dinner gatherings, our class became more cohesive. Yup, definitely we still miss those classmates not with with us this sem but still, glad that class D was formed! Next thing to look out for is our 12-man expedition team to Mt Fuji! Can't wait for it! Already booked a big chalet to accomodate everyone of us for the 3 days 2 nights trip!!

Interesting fact about sharks..

Was watching this programme on TV yesterday and discovered something interesting....

Do you know that a dry battery can save your life if a shark is nearby? Yes.. interestingly, sharks are "afraid" of batteries.

According to the explanation, sharks detect their preys, little fishes by the "electric waves" send out by them. And a dry C size (I think) sends out electric waves equivalent to that of 3000 fish. So when you hold on to a battery, Mr shark thinks that there are 3000 fish around so he is probably too afraid to attack.

The people in the show did an experiment. They lowered a dead 4 kg fish in the water to attract the shark to come. Each time they did it, the shark came real quick and bite the fish off without any hesistation. But then when they begin to drop a battery as well, the shark swam away quickly.

Interesting uh?... but p/s: the battery can only last you a minute worth of eletrical waves and a small one 20 secs. So don't try it!

Birthday Celebration

Jun 10th...

Miki Sensei's birthday!

The class decided to give her a little surprise class before the actual party next week to celebrate all the June babies' birthday.

First, we bought her a gorgeous and super delicious-looking ( delicious looking because we din get to eat it... ) chocolate cake. The during break, she went out for a while and all of us hid in the balcony outside our class. When she walked in, we burst in chorus of "Happy Birthday"!

Miki sensei is just so cute, she was so happy and surprised that she couldn't teach properly for the first 10 mins in class. She just kept smilling and kept saying she feels so embarassed and happy that she cannot continue in class anymore. Haaa...

The very happy Miki Sensei

Our proper class photo

Crazy bunch!