Big Cucumber & Flower in July

Every second week, I help gardening for my parents. I removed baby bamboos and transfer some flowers to bigger pots. You know now is very hot even in the morning. So I sweat like I got rain. At last I went to our little farm in the backyard and I picked some cucumber. Some were very big!! They are the same size as Australian one!! I love to pick vegs. :))

By the way I planted some flowers last week and they look very good.:)) This red-pink flower is similar to the one I had in Perth. very strong. Blooming for a long time. I like it.

The next picture is the flower arrangement my mother is doing every month. It's very beautiful but the life is very short in summer time. It lasted only one week. :((

The first week with my job

The first week has been done. :))
It's not too easy to learn very new things, but I am still enjoying working there. Just...I think it's very far from my house.

Anyway my previous house owner sent me my flower in Perth. I am glad it's growing very beautifully and getting bigger. I went to a flower shop today and I saw the similar flower to this, so I plan to buy it tomorrow.

I will have a long weekend this weekend as the company foundation day will be on Monday.
Jus I will relax by myself because I got migraine these days and not perfect today. :((
Probably I didn't work in office for a log time then I watched PC for a long time this week. That cause headache. I will be OK after the weekend.

Then we will have a cerebration party in the company on Tuesday. So it will be an easy day.:))

I got a job!

Finally I got a job and I will start from Monday 24th. :))
Actually I am still wondering what I want to do, but I should start something. My life is like that.
I was looking for a job have a good contract.. But it's hard to find this kind of job. Almost all are very short contract and they renew it by every 3 months.

I am interested this company. Probably I have many chances to use English and I will learn very new things. I want to try to have some new things, so probably it will be a good start for me. Actually many companies are looking for the person who can use English but most are just writing some in English. That is not interesting...But I have shortage experience to use excel and some other office tools...I realize I need some more skills...I try, I try..

I bought some summer clothes to wear in office. I don't need to wear formal suit but I only have jeans which will not be accepted. Many clothes are too cute for me. I was looking for simple clothes and I finally found some.

These days I cleaned some kitchen wears and clothes as my parents have too many stuffs. But they don't want to through things away... so it's hard to do that...Probably I need to find donation place.

Anyway I will enjoy some more free time before starting my job!

I found the favourite Zumba Class

I went to Zumba Class this morning. It was very good for me. I like the music which was used today and steps. Instructors can arrange very freely in Zumba. So the Zumba classes really depends on instructors. I joined some Zumba classes here in Japan and I realize many instructors innovate aerobics. So aerobics is very different from Zumba I think..Then I couldn't find the suitable class.

But today the class is what I am looking for. She use some salsa steps and the other steps are also very similar to the one I did in Perth. I was very satisfied. :))

I want to join this class every week, but it is in the morning on Thursday. So if I can join the class, it means I don't have a job...Oh no~, why doesn't she do the class in the evening?
Anyway I will go to the class until I find a job. :))

Flower in June

Flower is very beautiful here! Tree has a very green leaves and a lot of small flowers.
Plum trees have fruit. Now is the happy time to walk around. :))

Fitness

I joined fitness club near my house. Only 5500 yen/ month ($55/month) I can use it unlimitedly. They have some Zumba classes, so it is good for me too.

I joined some Zumba classes. But!!! All are very different from the one I took in Perth. The class in Perth was really fun and energetic. Also they didn't change steps and music around one month, so I could follow well and learn some more steps. Here... some classes are very similar to aerobics. That is not what I want to do. :(( But one class was similar to Zumba I know.
Anyway I really miss the Zumba in Perth!!

I try to exercise there 3 times a week. And I bought YOGA dvd to do stretch at home.
Exercise is really good to release my stress...always. :))

Dentist

I went to Dentist yesterday. Always I go to this dentist as he is very good skill and honest.
I greeted him as I came back to Japan permanently.
Me: " I am back. :)"
Dentist: " That's good! I want to fix all bad teeth as I wanted to do it but I couldn't because you stayed only for a short time before."
Me: ":o as you like."
So I need to see him regularly for 2 months.

Also I talked about the job hunting with him.
Dentist: " What do you want to do here?"
Me: " What do you thing I can do in Japan?"
Dentist:" You should use your skills. Well.. How about hunting fish in the lake or ocean?"
Me:" Do you mean I catch them for myself or for selling?"
Dentist: " Selling. But no oceans and lakes here."
Me: " Exactly!"
Dentist: " How about a nature guide"
Me: " Can I live on with it? I don't think there are enough tourists here."
Dentist:" Probably right. But bear in mind you will be happy when you do what you want. "
I know it! But I nearly forgot this simple idea when I was hunting jobs. Thank you, Dentist to remind me about this thing. :))

Teeth are very important and I couldn't trust Australian dentists. The way to fix teeth is very different between country I believe.

My New Car

I am sharing a car with my mother now. It is Toyota Aqua. Very good. Hybrid system is in the car, so it's very economical. :))
The engine is very quiet, so I sometimes wonder I started or not. Also I can start it by pushing button, not key. When I have the key around me, I don't need to use it and just I need to push the button or touch the door to open/close the door.
I feel this car is very easy and smooth after my old ford falcon wagon. :p

I went a biggest shopping centre in Gunma. There are ABC mart, Comme ce ISM, ユニクロ, 無印良品, etc.  Very good shopping centre and I could buy everything I wanted. :) Many things were attractive and it's hard to stop buying unnecessary things.

Todays dinner was SUSHI. Proper SUSHI. :)) 10 different kinds of sushi in a packet, then only 600 yen ($6).  very good taste and very good price!!

Flower this week

My mother is learning flower arrangement. The style this week is very nice, I like it. But the life of these flowers is a bit short. They are getting dry and finished in 5 days. :((

We have a plant and the flower blooms only for a day. Only a day! then it will be gone. very short life but very beautiful!

at the night

1st week in Japan

Finally I came back to Japan. My 1st meal was "rice ball" at the seven-eleven convenience store. :) Just rice and salmon egg but taste was really nice! 1 rice ball and a bottle of tea were only 5 dollars.
 It took 2 and a half hour to get my home town from Haneda by train. Not too bad.
I have missed Perth every time, but I am getting ready to live here.

I clean my room. There are a lot of stuffs because my parents keep all my clothes since I left here 20 years ago. I found old bank card and it has 30000yen ($300).Yeah! (^^)v
I ordered my mobile phone. Xpedia. It was cheapest at the moment.
I renewed my drivers license. My drivers' license was expired, so I had to go the main office to get drivers' license. I took photo, eye test, lecture and setting up password for 2 hours then I got it finally!!

The next day, today I started to drive! I am so happy to be able to go around by myself. I will introduce my new car later. :))
I went to the city health centre to do exercise and Zumba. 500yen($5) per 2 hours.
I did bike and Zumba. This Zumba is only for 20 min but the contents were good. The centre is very clean and a lot of machines. I was satisfied even only for 2 hours. Actually there are swimming pool but different cost. And we can not wear bikini in Swimming pool. WOW, that is unusual. bikini is not good for swim but usually it will not be banned.
Anyway I got information abut Zumba near my house. So I will try that later. :)

I realize I am looking for fitness before looking for job. :p I should look for job, yes I will!

Travelling Thailand - Diving in Koh Tao -

Actually diving in Koh Tao was not so great. I think too many people are diving there and temperature is too high. Many corals died before and now they are getting recovered.
Thermocline happened in all dive points, and the visibility at the deeper place was very bad.

Diving in Koh Tao is easy and we can dive 2 times in the morning and 2 times in the afternoon.
So we can arrange flexibly. But...I did 4 dives for 3 days...Usually people are diving only in the morning or afternoon. You know if you dive more, you have a chance to see more things..That's my idea. Also this is the area whale sharks come around. But not often though.

There are a lot of gobbies, trigger fish, anemone fish, butterfly fish and shrimps.very pretty.

I think here is the place to enjoy the beach life.

I love anemone fish. :))

Travelling Thailand - visiting my friend-

I visited one of my friend in Bangkok at the last day.

I joined a Zumba Class where she always joins.
Some songs the instructor has are same as ones I did in Perth. I enjoyed it very much.
We had some coffee&tee after Zumba and chat for a long time. :) It's fun to talk about some Zumba, Japan and funny things with them.

I haven't seen my friend for..10 years? I realized a long time was passed and I felt I came from somewhere very far away. Her 2 daughters are cute. Younger daughter was crying for a long time but the way to cry was cute for me. I want to see them again.

We went to the park there are some squirrels and they are so cute. When we gave some snacks, they came to very close to us and they held the snacks with both hands and ate upside down. The park has some training equipment too and many people were running and exercise there.

Finally we went to the Japanese restaurant "Aoi". Then I could ate Salmon egg!! very good taste. Actually there were a lot of Japanese people and shops around the area I was very surprised. Around Siam is very convenient and probably a lot of European live there as well. So probably a lot of things happens there. Many buildings are still being constructed.
Bangkok has been extended a lot!

Travelling Thailand - Bangkok -

I stayed in Koh Tao for 4 days and I moved to Bangkok and stayed for 3 days.

Bangkok was very hot! I did not do anything at the first day...
Second day, I tried to join the Zumba class but the instructor was in holiday..So I went to Siam.
Siam has a big shopping centre and the event of Korean singer was at the day. So there were a lot of people there. I just had coffee at TomTom and I explore the centre. The stuture of Mcdonald was Thai version and the sign of Toilet was cute. :p

I got the train and the train system was not so complicated. a kind of Zone system. My hotel was convenient place and just 30B ($1) to Siam for one way.

I tried another Zumba class at the night. I could walk to there and the name is rumpree dance school. Actually there are many kind of school in Bangkok. There are Kumon and Art school next to this dance school. The floor was small but good enough to do Zumba. The instructor was American woman and a bit different music she used, but it was fun. :))
Bangkok was hot, so I sweat before I did Zumba.:o

Small shops were lined on the street at night in Bangkok. very traditional and unique but I was scared to eat food there. Food looked nice but I could not stand smell.:( So usually I ate food at the hotel.

 

 

Travel to Thailand -Samui and Tao-

I visited Tao Island and it's my second time. Last time was 7 years ago and Samui airport was very small and counter and port were just a tent on the sand. BUT! No more. Samui became international airport and very modern air port now. The new port made us to get on the boat very easy. A lot of change! When we use the Samui Airport, we can get free wifi, free juice and coffee & tea and snacks at the airport. There are nice cozy sofas. That's very good airport.

I booked the accommodation in Tao Island but the air condition at my room was broken just on the day. So they upgrade my accommodation to the very nice air conditioned place. I was very lucky!

Tao was changed. Now it's hard to find the Thai food restaurant. Many western food and sport bar. Many Australian, NZ, European but not many asian people now. Most food and drinks were 100B. Massage for 1 hour is only 300B. Cheap!!
 Having dinner in front of beach was really nice.:))

But I was disappointed the place were developed too much. People in the Island were more friendly before and the roads were more clean before. Actually the ocean was not clear either.
When people come to Island more and more, it's good for economy but we have to be careful to maintain the environment.

Last Zumba Class in Perth

I went to Zumba many times for a last week I left Perth. But! there were many stormy days. :(( One day the area was black out and we could not use power for a while. The instructor used iphone to listen music and just she sung songs sometimes for 20 min. Probably it's really hard for the instructor but it's a kind of fun day.:))
Monday class was my favourite class and one of my friends finally joined the class with me. It was very fun. I went to Tuesday's class as well. Tuesday was the last day in Perth, then I cried sometimes. 10 years in Perth are long time and I really missed people there and I could not believe I could not see them next day ..as usual. The instructor gave me some souvenirs at the last class. I am so glad and I used them at the next class in Thailand. :))

Her Zumba classes were very fun! and their program ( music and steps etc.) was very good quality I realize. One day, I want to join her class again.

Last Dinner

I went out for dinner some friends before I left Perth. But one is very special for me.
The life in Perth was not so easy. Once the company I worked had closed down around that time I tried to get PR visa. PR visa cost me a lot and I could not get it. I was really hard to live on at that time and I had serious financial problem. Then I met one family who run the take away shop. They helped me very well. If I could not meet with them, probably I could not live on in Perth.
I argued with them sometimes but I was very happy with them and it's valuable experience for me.
I really appreciate them and now they are like my second family. :)

I had a dinner in North Fremantle. It's quiet and nice place. Unfortunately the day was vegetarian day for some of the members but I was not, so I enjoyed salmon. :)) The desserts with custard were nice too. Really nice dinner for me. Our Hong Kong works joined it too. They were really funny and very fun to see the other parts of character.

I miss them very much!!

Cute shops

I've never eaten there but I was always fun to see them.
1. Lolly shop- I believe a lot of people love to eat them.

2. Pie shop- There are so many pie shops in Perth. I love this sign but I've never had pies here. :p
A lot of bubble tea shops there!! but.. any difference between shops??

What's on in May in Perth

I went around Perth city in 2 weeks just before I left Perth.

There were events of International food festival in front of the train station in Perth only on Friday.
A lot of lots of people there. Many various food there too. It was fun to see the food I've never seen.

At that time I found the aboriginal art shop and some products are very nice. But art itself is very expensive. My flatmate got very nice aboriginal arts at Melbourne and they are really good and not so expensive..under $40. um..Probably the price in Perth is higher than any other place.


The streets in Perth city are decorated by seasonal flowers every time. The flower in May was Pacifica. It was very blight and nice around Café area. :))

Quality is variable

I went to Zumba.. the other association " Zumba Perth". Unfortunately it was not good. The place was Scaborough Leisure Centre. This place is really good! Open floor and good size to do exercise. But the instructor was not organized well and not passion so much. Students were only 4 people including me.She didn't do some step lesson so.. it's a bit hard to get into it. Anyway it's good experience to see the other class. something different. Her using music was mostly different from the other class. interested.
But... I will stay with Danza Loca. They are organized very well. The music pattern is same for a month then we can get steps very easily and we afford to arrange a bit at the end. Their chosen music is my favourite too.

Zumba is FUN!

NEXUS

I bought Nexus!! I was wondering which tablet I should buy. Then I decided!! I was thinking iPad mini for a long time. But ..Actually I am not apple user and see these prices...iPadmini is still expensive. Now Nexus 7" is AUD 265 for 32G and iPad mini is AUD 365 for 16G. I was thinking the point of Camera..but probably I just buy better camera or just use mobile. So I took Nexus for my tablet. 7" is not too small. Also I am easier to use it because I am using Google. Anyway I need to play around more.

By the way, 80% people are playing with phone in the train now. This scenery is very strange for me. Most of people are face down and looking at phones. Some people are just talking with phone..sometimes very loud! That is bad influence from tech!

The Voice TV show

My 3 days holidays begun today.:)) I really want to do some more things..But I really slept and watch TV and movies...and ZUMBA! Anyway that is my happiness. I try Zumba everyday these 3days.
I usually join Danza Loca. http://www.danzaloca.com/
But I try to join the other one too.Tomorrow I try Zumba Perth.http://zumbaperth.com.au/zumbaclasses.php

I am watching TV show " the Voice".
very great TV show. Probably The coaches are really good character in the show in this season. Their comments and actions are sometimes funny sometimes impressive.

What happened..

I felt everybody were frustrated these days. But many Australians and some Asians are short temper here. If they looked angry to me or someone, but actually they just lost their temper and they changed well in a minute. I can't deal with them well so much but I am getting used to accept these situation. but it's really hard to understand them for Japanese.

Anyway I went to Zumba tonight and I released my frustration.:))
This new routine is harder! really exhausted but I really felt better!
I want to go Zumba one more day in a week. Friday evening is the best for me but nobody run Zumba class on Friday evening.. Thinking thinking..Probably I try Monday eveing..then I will be very tired on Tuesday..or not.

Hard week..

It was hard week last week. I cleaned house, moved and settled the new house. Yesterday was my day off and I wanted to do more things..but just I was tired. So I have done a half.

I went to Zumba yesterday. The new routine started and very interested. :))
One song is the one Hiromi Go remade..what is the title of the song..He sung "A chi chi.." The new routine has more active and party songs this time!

I watched the movie Life of Pi.I heard some good reputation but English the main actor speak is very hard to hear and hard to understand. But pictures are good. But it is not as good as I thought.

I applied "the best job in the world". I had to submit a video as my resume. So I created it. It's only 30s video but I was playing computer to make video for a while and I needed to make video smaller and the temperature was getting hot and I could not concentrate so much in the afternoon. Anyway I've done it and I will see how it goes.

And now I am worried the north Korean things.. :(( 

I moved!

I moved out just after easter holiday.I cleaned house on Monday whole day. OMG. It took so long time to clean and never finished...I started 7am and finished 9pm. so tired.

Actually I told I would move out 2nd April to real estate, but they give me the letter which mentioned the due date would be 4th April.I simply thought they gave some more time to prepare to vacate..But it was not. I had a call from them at 2nd and they asked me what time I would return the key. I was confused and told them about the letter.Then they said just they mistook the date..they never said sorry and "whatever you said 2nd, then the due date is 2nd" that was the answer from them. Is it right? I said I couldn't make it and just returned the next day..The letter confused me..:((

When I left the house, I left many stuffs I would not use anymore on the verge. All had been taken in 2 days from someone. Amazing. :o

These days a plant growed so fast and was getting bigger. Probably watermelon. I was really sorry to pull it out.I had to...So I took some shots and pulled it out.


Anyway I moved to new place and here is also calm, nice, a bit larger.

Traffic in Perth

How many people immigrated here? How many people have cars?
Roads are packed every day! Car crash is happen every day! You know we don't need to pay Fwy and no obstacles are in Fwy...But Jam! every day Jam!
Now some more lanes are constructed but construction takes too long time and it cause traffic jam as well.
Last Thersday, it was heavy rain. But not too heavy with comparing with out country.But too much for Perth. Sooner, roads were flooded. Some car accidents were in Fwy. It was mess on roads.Will traffic get better or worse ...?

strange ornament in Stirling

 

It's FWY.Traffice Jam!!!

Jamie's Restaurant is coming in Perth!

Many constructions are happening in Perth.But there are not many shops which can servive here as rates are getting higher and higher. There was an international food supermarket next to Perth train station.But it has been gone in 6 months. Nandos and Sushi shop are still there.Now Jamie's restaurant is builted there. Jamis Oliver is very famous, so I hope it will last longer.:))
It doesn't open yet. I am looking forward to trying some dishes there.

Traffic in Perth

Traffic around perth is getting worse.Jam is occured everyday withough any resons.What's going on here? How many people lives in Perth? Gov. is trying to widen road and increase lanes.But too late! road works are very slow and it causes traffic jam too!!
Anyway I drived the canning hwy and just one car crash happend next to me, the right lane. OMG :o
Then I was moving on but.. the car infront of me stopped. The bigenner driver was in car and probably the car was broken down just at the signal.OMG
At last I parked the place and I reversed the car..suddenly one delivery truck passed just the back of my car.very fast!! Why he drove so fast at the carpark.

Here many drivers are very bad!! Today was not my day.:((

My lovely sofa

Today my lovely sofa will go to the other one's house.I loved this sofa. Not only me. My fat mates loved it. I saw they were sleeping on this sofa many times and they said it's very confortable.Yes! it is! But I need to move my stuffs as quick as possible because I need to move out here soon.
My lovely sofas are here.:))

I also donate some clothes to good summery.There was trouble there.. I didn't expected. The donation boxes for clothes are in a carpark and I went there..then I saw some police men.A girl and a boy got handcuff and police men wore gloves like the scene of drama.Probably I should not have come close to them but the donation boxes are just near that place.So I just dropped clothes and left there.What's going on!? It's first time I saw handcuffs.Anyway I hope it was not serious problem.

Labour Day

Today is Labour day, public holiday.People usually go to travelling on the long weekend or just stay home as not many shops will open in public holiday.So very quiet now.
My flat mates will move out today.Actually one already moved out.Then I need to move here in a month.I've lived here for 5 years!? I love this place but it's time to move.When I lived with these Australian boys, there were some troubles...I, asian, and Australians are different thought and they never listen to me.We argued sometimes, and then I was very tired about it ...But I missed them a little.I used to live alone in Japan but I've shared  a house since I cam to Australia.That why...I will live alone for a while..a bit too quiet.I feel I should do something to do!

I bought air tickets to Thai and Japan.Air asia and Tiger airway are very cheap! I never used them before.I don't know why but I hesitated to use the low cost airline.There are only 2 month left in Perth.I thought I shoud travel some other cities, but now I really want to stay in Perth,, at least Western Australia.It's kind of my home town now.

But I have to do some things, selling furniture...It makes me nervouse. Next 3 weeks will be very busy to clear my place..:((

The secrets we keep

It was very very hot last week. I could not sleep some times and I read the book at one night."The secrets we keep" This book is very easy to read and about humanity, heartwarming story and a little gossip exited me too.I love this book!

Anyway 2days last week are very horrible hot at day and night..I was sweating all day.

It's usually dry in summer in Perth.very hot in day time but cool in night time.This was good point here.But this year is different.There were a lot of humit days!

I bought one more book for the other unsleeping day.:p

Navy Pier Dive - No.1

There are many atractive dive sites in Western Australia.Huge wreck, Leafy Seadragon, Rottnest, etc. If I chosed one as the best dive site, I have no doubt to say "Navy Pier".
I worked there as a guid for 6 month.Visibility was sometimes around only 3-5m and then not really fun.But if visibility is OK more than 5m, it is incredible dive site!
It's protected from fishing and the strong current just hit this Jetty.That cause very unique aquatic life.We need to see the time when current stop.It happens 2 times in a day around 4 hourse totally.It's very small window but we can not miss time.

The pier is not so big and only 12m depth.But full of fish are there.Also QLD grouper, fat whitechip sharks, wobbigon sharks, frog fish  and Giant Treverlly...It is the best thing to hover at the middle of water and just watch fish passed.Even if I dive 1000 times there, probably I will never be bored.

All photo:Trip in 2012 , Best in Navy Pier

Exmouth

I went to Exmouth many times.Once by boat, and driving most time.But The way from Perth to Exmouth is 1600km and very long drive.So once I saw the senery to Exmouth, I prefer to fly back.
It's worth to drive there once as you can see a strange tree, wild animals and just strait road in the midle of nowhere and so on.There are also some famouse sites like pinnacle, kalbarri. monkey mia and coral bay.It's good idea to stop these spot on the way to Exmouth.

You can easily to see whale shark, Manta ray, Dugongs in the whale shark trip.There are a lot of possibility.Diving in Light house bay and Navy pier is fantastic.Navy pier is like a wild aquarium and you will never be bored to dive there.

Actually not good beaches for swiming are around the town but if you drive to national park, driving for an hour from town, there are many beautiful coral beaches.just a bit far from town.A lot of people love to camp there and light house.The view from light house is magnificent.You are better to get champagne and glasses to go there for sunset.

The town is very small.There are one supermarket, one bakery, 2 restaurant and 2 pubs.Nothing to do except going to Ocean but this is the best point of the town.

Grey Nurse Shark

There are a lot of shark attack around Perth but we can not see many sharks in diving.Only we can see some Port Jacson Shark and Wobbigon Shark occationally.But grey nurse shark will come aound one cave in Rottnest from March to June.Only one place, only these time.
When I worked in Exmouth, grey nurse shark came around Navy pier from June to September.Suddenly they came from somewhere only in these term.

Wild nature sometimes surprises me.
I think grey nurse shark like to come in the place having strong current and the time when water temprature dropped off.

When I saw them, I was very impressive.I've never seen sharks so closer and their tails are really beautiful! They will come to Rottnest soon.looking forward to...