Never really thought of myself as a blogger before... but it seems to be the trend of late, so I thought I'd give it a go. Apologies in advance for the boring content you will endure as I capture my life in size 10 Arial font (for the most part, anyway).
So without further ado, Let's blogging!
Up until September 2004, my dad owned his own business. Second hand furniture and antiques. After 12 or so years, he had had enough and decided to shut up shop, but still kept the building and now rents it out.
This morning at 5 o'clock, he got a phone call to say that the old cordial factory - the building next to our property - was ablaze. It was gutted, and needs to be demolished. Seems there was no damage to the exterior of our building, but when they emailed me to tell me about it, they hadn't had a chance to check the inside for fire or water damage.On the other side of the burnt-out building is a service station - petrol and gas cylinders everywhere. Could have become quite a show if they caught on fire too. But they didn't - it was contained within the cordial factory.
Last Friday saw G and me having a joint birthday dinner with a small group of friends. Pizza was on the menu, with drinks and cake afterwards at Y's aparto. We also played Cranium, which the "happy couple" absolutely kicked arse in. Thank you dear ;-)
A few photos that capture the evening well follow.
Was in Tokyo yet again this past weekend. And was at Muji yet again this past weekend. But this time it was a Muji I had never been too. Y and I decided to check out the one in Yurakucho, and we were not disappointed. Muji house anyone? And after perusing the goods spread over three huge levels, what better way to unwind than at Muji Meal?
I think I'm going to have to open one of these in Sydney just so I don't go through withdrawl symptoms.
Spent New Year's Eve in Tokyo at Meiji-jingu. Freezing weather, thousands of people. We stood in line for the countdown, and then finally made it to the shrine to throw our money and pray at about 12:40am.
Apparently it's a bad year for me, but for the barry bargain price of 880yen, I bought a little material envelope that makes all my problems go away. Not bad huh?
Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel and crashed. My last New Year in Japan.
Went to Vietnam over winter vacation to catch up with a mate who moved there last April. Had a really good time - saw lots, chilled lots, shopped lots, ate lots. I will save you all the details and just give you the highlights of each day from my diary.
23rd: Flight was an hour late. Met I-sensei at Hanoi airport and his driver drove us home. 24th: Chilled in the morning, saw a dog's head on a table at a market, met up with other teachers from school, went out for dinner and went to the biggest church in Hanoi. 25th: Gave Christmas presents, had breakfast in the apartment restaurant with I-sensei and R-kun, went to disgusting restaurant (dirty), had a foot massage, dinner in the outdoor restaurant, drinks and chats with I-sensei on the roof. 26th: Met up with the other teachers, went to Bat Trung to look at pottery, went shopping, dinner, tried Vietnamese wine (gross), read a book to R-kun then slept. 27th: Went shopping with I-sensei again, argued with Vietnam post, went to the one pillar pagoda (small!), said goodbye to the driver, went to Bounenkai. 28th: Said goodbye to I-sensei and his family, met up with D and J, checked into our hotel, went to the turtle temple, more shopping, dinner, drinks on the hotel roof. 29th: Went to the wedding cake pagoda, an old lady showed us around, went to the big markets but didn't buy anything, dinner, water puppet theatre. 30th: D and J went on a 2 day trip, I slept in, watched TV, walked into town, went to the department store, walked back to the hotel, read my book in the lobby, went to the airport, flew back to Japan.
