The traditional Japanese carp with the Himeji Castle in the distance.
Himeji Castle against the red maple leaves of Autumn.
The Himeji Castle moat. Check out the reflection of the leaves in the water…beautiful!
21 November 2007
Himeji Castle in Autumn
On my way home from school the other day, I decided to organise myself and make sure that I didn’t miss out on taking any photos of the beautiful Autumn leaves surrounding the castle.
The traditional Japanese carp with the Himeji Castle in the distance.
Himeji Castle against the red maple leaves of Autumn.
The Himeji Castle moat. Check out the reflection of the leaves in the water…beautiful!
The traditional Japanese carp with the Himeji Castle in the distance.
Himeji Castle against the red maple leaves of Autumn.
The Himeji Castle moat. Check out the reflection of the leaves in the water…beautiful!
Himeji Gardens
It has taken us nearly the entire year to actually get our buts into gear and go to the Himeji Gardens.
Well it was an absolutely freezing cold day and I didn’t have nearly enough layers on, so I was on the edge of getting frost bite (not really, but it sounded good!). The garden itself was so beautiful nevertheless, due to the fact that Autumn leaves covered all the trees and the ground below. It was absolute magic!
Red berries.
Purple berries.
The four of us.
This is my favourite photo of the momiji leaves growing out of the tree trunk.
Himeji Castle with Autumn leaves surrounding it.
Well it was an absolutely freezing cold day and I didn’t have nearly enough layers on, so I was on the edge of getting frost bite (not really, but it sounded good!). The garden itself was so beautiful nevertheless, due to the fact that Autumn leaves covered all the trees and the ground below. It was absolute magic!
Red berries.
Purple berries.
The four of us.
This is my favourite photo of the momiji leaves growing out of the tree trunk.
Himeji Castle with Autumn leaves surrounding it.
Tina’s Hawaiian Birthday Party
Happy Birthday Tina!
It was Tina’s birthday on the weekend and for her birthday party, she decided to have a Hawaiian cocktail party.
Lauren was kind enough to organise for her mum to go Cheap and Chips and find grass skirts, lais and shell bras for the three of us. So we had our costume all set and they looked awesome!
The next best costume at the party was Greg’s costume. He was dressed in a wetsuit and snorkel and flippers and he even wore them all night! I was really impressed with his outfit!
We made so many nice cocktails including Pina Coladas, Midori Illusions, Bailey’s chocolate, Bounty and so many more! They all tasted so good and everyone enjoyed drinking the cocktails and making their own concoctions.
What is a party without the limbo? Well that’s what I thought anyway, so Steve Harvey and I decided to start it up using the broom. A few of us joined in and it was heaps of fun seeing who would win overall. It was a toss up between Katie and Adam, but they both did really well considering how low the bar actually got!
Makoto doing the limbo.
Me doing the limbo.
Lauren and I felt a little self conscious in our outfits at one stage because everyone else was all covered up and we had our bellies showing, so we decided to do a Steve Urkle and pull our skirts up to our shell bras for added effect. What do you think? Good look?
This is Greg, Steve N, Steve H, me, Tina, Lauren and Thomas.
Hiromi and Fumiyo (the two cutest and happiest Japanese girls I have ever met!)
At the end of the night, we all went out to the karaoke bar to practise our singing! Well it did absolutely nothing for my voice, but I did enjoy myself!
Thanks for organising a really cool cocktail party, Tini!
It was Tina’s birthday on the weekend and for her birthday party, she decided to have a Hawaiian cocktail party.
Lauren was kind enough to organise for her mum to go Cheap and Chips and find grass skirts, lais and shell bras for the three of us. So we had our costume all set and they looked awesome!
The next best costume at the party was Greg’s costume. He was dressed in a wetsuit and snorkel and flippers and he even wore them all night! I was really impressed with his outfit!
We made so many nice cocktails including Pina Coladas, Midori Illusions, Bailey’s chocolate, Bounty and so many more! They all tasted so good and everyone enjoyed drinking the cocktails and making their own concoctions.
What is a party without the limbo? Well that’s what I thought anyway, so Steve Harvey and I decided to start it up using the broom. A few of us joined in and it was heaps of fun seeing who would win overall. It was a toss up between Katie and Adam, but they both did really well considering how low the bar actually got!
Makoto doing the limbo.
Me doing the limbo.
Lauren and I felt a little self conscious in our outfits at one stage because everyone else was all covered up and we had our bellies showing, so we decided to do a Steve Urkle and pull our skirts up to our shell bras for added effect. What do you think? Good look?
This is Greg, Steve N, Steve H, me, Tina, Lauren and Thomas.
Hiromi and Fumiyo (the two cutest and happiest Japanese girls I have ever met!)
At the end of the night, we all went out to the karaoke bar to practise our singing! Well it did absolutely nothing for my voice, but I did enjoy myself!
Thanks for organising a really cool cocktail party, Tini!
Silly me take two
OK. So this was actually the night of Tina’s Hawaiian birthday party. We were all merry, drinking cocktails and feeing happy and relaxed. Then all of a sudden, the police knocked on the door. They were asking for me! I was really worried at this stage (well I wasn’t really because I had had a few drinks and wasn’t caring much about anything by then!) I went to converse with the police (mind you I was wearing a grass skirt, shell bra and lais and had a cocktail in my hand at the time. Can you imagine what this looked like? Respectable police dressed in their full uniform and me dressed as a Hawaiian hula girl?) Anyway, they had actually found my purse and came to the apartment building to give it back to me – money, cash card and everything was still inside! I couldn’t believe my luck! I was so happy I felt like giving the police officer a huge kiss and hug for finding my purse, but I actually was on my best behaviour and restrained myself at the time!
In the meantime, nosey Tina was in the background listening to everything and just like a proud parent, she wanted to take a photo of me with the police officers and my newly-found purse! It was so embarrassing because the police officer didn't want to have a bar of it. Well Tina just wouldn’t listen so she took the photo anyway, and this was what eventuated! It was pretty funny now, looking back, but I’m just glad that my purse found its way back to me again! ☺
In the meantime, nosey Tina was in the background listening to everything and just like a proud parent, she wanted to take a photo of me with the police officers and my newly-found purse! It was so embarrassing because the police officer didn't want to have a bar of it. Well Tina just wouldn’t listen so she took the photo anyway, and this was what eventuated! It was pretty funny now, looking back, but I’m just glad that my purse found its way back to me again! ☺
Silly me
I’m sure that many people can vouch for what I am about to say…I do the dumbest things sometimes! Well today was no exception! I went shopping with Tina and Lauren because Tina had a voucher to spend in one of the shopping complexes. So we had a fun day trying on clothes and eating lunch. I, for once in my life, didn’t buy anything, but enjoyed shopping with Tina and Lauren and seeing what clothes they were trying on. Anyway, towards the end of the day, Tina was a few yen short so she wanted me to lend her some change. I reached into my bag for my purse to find that it wasn’t there. I had no idea where I had put it because I hadn’t used it all day. I didn’t take it out of my bag all day.
We retraced our steps and asked all the shops we had been in if they had see my purse, but there was no such luck. It was gone.
I was really annoyed and upset because I had equivalent to $100 in my purse, plus my cash card and my foreign registration card. It was a real hassle not to have it. So I went to the police station to report my missing purse. It was a bit embarrassing going in there because as soon as I walked in the door, there were about seven police officers sitting behind a long desk (it was like I was being interviewed or something!) and they were all just silent and staring at me. Well I explained as best as I could (in really poor, broken Japanese) that I had lost my purse. I had to answer a few of their questions and then I left. I cancelled my cash card and went home.
When I got home, I still had NO idea how I had lost my purse.
…to be continued…
We retraced our steps and asked all the shops we had been in if they had see my purse, but there was no such luck. It was gone.
I was really annoyed and upset because I had equivalent to $100 in my purse, plus my cash card and my foreign registration card. It was a real hassle not to have it. So I went to the police station to report my missing purse. It was a bit embarrassing going in there because as soon as I walked in the door, there were about seven police officers sitting behind a long desk (it was like I was being interviewed or something!) and they were all just silent and staring at me. Well I explained as best as I could (in really poor, broken Japanese) that I had lost my purse. I had to answer a few of their questions and then I left. I cancelled my cash card and went home.
When I got home, I still had NO idea how I had lost my purse.
…to be continued…
Radio Stars
At the Nada Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fight Festival), we sat with a kind man who one of Tina’s collegues knows from work. We also met his wife that day and she happened to be a radio announcer for Genki FM (a local radio station in Himeji). She asked us if we would be free one Saturday morning to help her with her radio announcing. We agreed to this and set a date.
So this was where it all began…
Tina, Lauren and I went to the radio station’s headquarters and had no idea what to expect.
We thought we might have to answer some questions in Japanese about our life in Japan and we were getting worried that we might not understand what they were saying to us. Anyway, it turned out that they wanted us to be the voice over that introduces each show and encourages people to listen to the station. So every day, our voices will be played on the radio to introduce the morning show. We had to go into a little booth and put some headphones on and read the script that was in front of us. It was really funny because pretty much every time we said something, the guy that was recording us would start cracking up laughing, so then of course, we would start laughing too! He was trying get us to sound cooler, funnier, happier and friendlier. In the end, I felt like an absolute idiot, but it was fun!
So now, we am officially Genki FM’s voice-over for the morning show!
So this was where it all began…
Tina, Lauren and I went to the radio station’s headquarters and had no idea what to expect.
We thought we might have to answer some questions in Japanese about our life in Japan and we were getting worried that we might not understand what they were saying to us. Anyway, it turned out that they wanted us to be the voice over that introduces each show and encourages people to listen to the station. So every day, our voices will be played on the radio to introduce the morning show. We had to go into a little booth and put some headphones on and read the script that was in front of us. It was really funny because pretty much every time we said something, the guy that was recording us would start cracking up laughing, so then of course, we would start laughing too! He was trying get us to sound cooler, funnier, happier and friendlier. In the end, I felt like an absolute idiot, but it was fun!
So now, we am officially Genki FM’s voice-over for the morning show!
紅葉 （もみじ Momiji)
I love momiji! Momiji is the red maple leaves of Autumn. During our trip to Kyoto, we saw many red leaves on the trees. It was such a beautiful sight. Autumn is such a beautiful season in Japan because almost all the leaves turn red at the same time so the mountains look red from a distance.
We visited a few temples in Kyoto while we were there and enjoyed watching the maple leaves. This is a photo of me with the momiji behind me.
This photo is just near Kyomizu Temple and all the leaves were just starting to turn red.
Tina and Lauren in front of the momiji.
Me and Shinya in front of the momiji.
We visited a few temples in Kyoto while we were there and enjoyed watching the maple leaves. This is a photo of me with the momiji behind me.
This photo is just near Kyomizu Temple and all the leaves were just starting to turn red.
Tina and Lauren in front of the momiji.
Me and Shinya in front of the momiji.
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