Not a moment too soon,
Hey
Its lateish, but my flatmate is out, and the internet is uncharacteristically fast at the moment, so I am making the most of it. Tonight I have sent off a heap of emails to people, some in the hope that I will at least get some replys (as email traffic has started to decrease) and some mainly cos I should have sent them a while ago. I look forward to when I won't have access to this computer (and therefore the internet so readily) as it eats up so much time (especially on this computer because it is real slow - and I have got addicted to Solitare games because I play them while I wait for it...)
Anyway, good news. This weekend I managed to knock off two things on the "List" (of stuff to see) - The planetarium, and the Nagoya castle. Lucky, cos this blog was getting ridiculous. Anyway, I'll get to them soon.
I guess I will start with Saturday. Work as usual. Went home, via an American friends place for tea (he is from Kentucky). Rather delicious. He made me chicken and a small dish of macoroni cheese - but called it gratin? and his coleslaw wasn't as nice as NZ stuff. I was rather tired so I started reading my Japan book, in the hope that I will finish it soon. I think I fell asleep for a while. The downside is that I then wake up, and can't get back to sleep.
Anyway on Sunday I went to the International centre, and attended a Brazil day celebration. That was OK, but it was all in Japanese/Portugese, except for little bits when they considered the few english-speakers there (there was only me and 2 Indian guys that would require english). It ended with a bit of Brazilian snack food, which was a pleasant change - the Japanese don't seem to have "free food" as commonly as we do in NZ. I didn't have my Japanese lesson as my teacher had forgotten we had organised to have the lesson after the Brazil day thing. That was OK, as it meant I was definitly free to go to the planetarium. I was lucky as Sunday was the last day I could see the show on Mars. It was OK - it was in Japanese of course. But it was only 530yen so it was worth it. They showed some of the constellations too, which was cool. Sunday night consisted of calling the whanau, reading, falling asleep, getting up and cooking Spaghetti Bolganaise for tea. Nice.
Monday - today, I stayed in bed for a while, and when I got up I rang my Grandmother for her birthday, which she really appreciated. I managed to sort myself out by about 12/1pm and headed into Nagoya. I decided to visit the Vodafone shop and sort some things out about my phone, and then had a look at the shops I had previously ignored near the station. I went into one, which was a large electronics store - and I asked about a microwave. The assistant took about 10 minutes to inform me that it was for heating things up, but "no fire" (including trying to look up a translation website on the net). 
I then caught the train to the Nagoya castle. I got there about 3:45, and the entrance closes at 4:10, and you have to be out of the castle by 4:30, and out of the grounds by 5pm. Anyhow it was OK as that was enough time to get it all in, helped by the fact not everything was in english, so it made looking at things quick. I then went to Sakae - where I had been previously. I went up the TV tower again, this time to the viewing platform. Again I got in about half an hour before it shut. Anyway, it was quite good, and the best thing was, it only cost like 700yen (good compared to the Skytowers in Auckland and Sydney, which are like $18 each, 700yen is roughly $8NZD). I then went and checked out a bridge I saw from the top, that I previously hadn't noticed, and then went to the bus station/plaza/ interesting thing with a fountain on its roof that I have also previously mentioned, to take some photos. 
In the plaza there was an information centre with an english speaker. I decided to ask her where a Subway(TM) restaurant was (because it was either Sushi or McDonalds otherwise) which happened to be rather close. So I went there and had a shrimp and seafood(TM) foot-long. It was all good. And guilt-free, as well as being familiar yet sampling of the local food too. Anyhow I then went to this shopping centre that had a ferris wheel out the side of it, and went on the ferris wheel. That was good - again a cheap 500yen. From there I walked back to the main Nagoya station via a couple of Gaijin (foreigner's) bars for a lemonade and water respectively and to pick up the english magazine, and came home. And here I am. 
Just another thought from my last entry. I have become addicted to supermarket shopping. After work I go in and tend to buy things that have been marked down, such as peppers (the vegetable), fruit, cereal whatever, mainly because its cheap. They say you shouldn't shop when you are hungry - but that is near impossible here - I'm always hungry...
Its lateish, but my flatmate is out, and the internet is uncharacteristically fast at the moment, so I am making the most of it. Tonight I have sent off a heap of emails to people, some in the hope that I will at least get some replys (as email traffic has started to decrease) and some mainly cos I should have sent them a while ago. I look forward to when I won't have access to this computer (and therefore the internet so readily) as it eats up so much time (especially on this computer because it is real slow - and I have got addicted to Solitare games because I play them while I wait for it...)
Anyway, good news. This weekend I managed to knock off two things on the "List" (of stuff to see) - The planetarium, and the Nagoya castle. Lucky, cos this blog was getting ridiculous. Anyway, I'll get to them soon.
I guess I will start with Saturday. Work as usual. Went home, via an American friends place for tea (he is from Kentucky). Rather delicious. He made me chicken and a small dish of macoroni cheese - but called it gratin? and his coleslaw wasn't as nice as NZ stuff. I was rather tired so I started reading my Japan book, in the hope that I will finish it soon. I think I fell asleep for a while. The downside is that I then wake up, and can't get back to sleep.
Anyway on Sunday I went to the International centre, and attended a Brazil day celebration. That was OK, but it was all in Japanese/Portugese, except for little bits when they considered the few english-speakers there (there was only me and 2 Indian guys that would require english). It ended with a bit of Brazilian snack food, which was a pleasant change - the Japanese don't seem to have "free food" as commonly as we do in NZ. I didn't have my Japanese lesson as my teacher had forgotten we had organised to have the lesson after the Brazil day thing. That was OK, as it meant I was definitly free to go to the planetarium. I was lucky as Sunday was the last day I could see the show on Mars. It was OK - it was in Japanese of course. But it was only 530yen so it was worth it. They showed some of the constellations too, which was cool. Sunday night consisted of calling the whanau, reading, falling asleep, getting up and cooking Spaghetti Bolganaise for tea. Nice.
Monday - today, I stayed in bed for a while, and when I got up I rang my Grandmother for her birthday, which she really appreciated. I managed to sort myself out by about 12/1pm and headed into Nagoya. I decided to visit the Vodafone shop and sort some things out about my phone, and then had a look at the shops I had previously ignored near the station. I went into one, which was a large electronics store - and I asked about a microwave. The assistant took about 10 minutes to inform me that it was for heating things up, but "no fire" (including trying to look up a translation website on the net). 
I then caught the train to the Nagoya castle. I got there about 3:45, and the entrance closes at 4:10, and you have to be out of the castle by 4:30, and out of the grounds by 5pm. Anyhow it was OK as that was enough time to get it all in, helped by the fact not everything was in english, so it made looking at things quick. I then went to Sakae - where I had been previously. I went up the TV tower again, this time to the viewing platform. Again I got in about half an hour before it shut. Anyway, it was quite good, and the best thing was, it only cost like 700yen (good compared to the Skytowers in Auckland and Sydney, which are like $18 each, 700yen is roughly $8NZD). I then went and checked out a bridge I saw from the top, that I previously hadn't noticed, and then went to the bus station/plaza/ interesting thing with a fountain on its roof that I have also previously mentioned, to take some photos. 
In the plaza there was an information centre with an english speaker. I decided to ask her where a Subway(TM) restaurant was (because it was either Sushi or McDonalds otherwise) which happened to be rather close. So I went there and had a shrimp and seafood(TM) foot-long. It was all good. And guilt-free, as well as being familiar yet sampling of the local food too. Anyhow I then went to this shopping centre that had a ferris wheel out the side of it, and went on the ferris wheel. That was good - again a cheap 500yen. From there I walked back to the main Nagoya station via a couple of Gaijin (foreigner's) bars for a lemonade and water respectively and to pick up the english magazine, and came home. And here I am. 
Just another thought from my last entry. I have become addicted to supermarket shopping. After work I go in and tend to buy things that have been marked down, such as peppers (the vegetable), fruit, cereal whatever, mainly because its cheap. They say you shouldn't shop when you are hungry - but that is near impossible here - I'm always hungry...
posted by J T at
4:16 am
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