1.      I love love love love ice-cream

2.      I love love love love tennis

3.      I love love love love spicy food. Even if it makes me cry, I will eat it to the very end

4.      I like red things

5.      Reading is an enjoyable pastime for me

6.      I don’t study but can still get good grades

7.      If I like a song, I will keep it on repeat for three days straight

8.      I do lots of ditzy things, like choke on a straw, yes! It can be done ok?

9.      I have not seen any diehard, rocky or top gun films

10.   I have not seen pulp fiction

11.   I don’t watch desperate housewives, grey`s anatomy, ncis, or csi

12.   I`ll start to tell a story but will forget where I was going with it five seconds later

13.   I find random things funny

14.   I speak without thinking most times

15.   I don’t pay attention when walking down the street

16.   I have gone to sleep at 4am or later in the last three days

17.   Time to clean room: 3 hours. Time for room to get messy again: 3 minutes

18.   I can`t stand having a messy bathroom

19.   I like taking midnight walks

20.   I prefer talking to my friends over anything else

21.   I love my mum and sister

22.   I have really idealistic romantic notions

23.   I am horrid at drawing

24.   I am horrid at playing any type of video games

25.   I don’t need alcohol to make me honest

26.   Zoolander is one of my favourite movies

27.   Im not as sociable as most people think I am

28.   I think most people have a very low opinion of me since I act so ditzy and don’t let the inner nerd through!!!!

29.   Apparently, I give good advice

30.   I have unlimited patience

31.   If you can get me angry, hell has frozen over

32.   I haven’t seriously dated before

33.   I cant make snap judgments but when I do make a decision, its irreversible

34.   I cant drive to save my life, which is very concerning to me

35.   I didn’t think the notebook or a walk to remember was that great

36.   I really like rice crackers

37.   I make things up while im cooking

38.   I rarely complain about anything

39.   Im used to doing things by myself

40.   I like taking time doing things

41.   If it’s a tradeoff between sleep and putting on makeup and doing my hair so I can look gorgeous for the rest of the day, I will always pick SLEEP

42.   I don’t like being late, but 90% of the time, I am

43.   I always pronounce studious wrong

44.   I mix worse and worst 99% of the time

45.   My personality is not cute

46.   I still act like a 4^th grader when I have a guy that I like

47.   I like classical music

48.   My sister makes fun of my writing style

49.   My handwriting is virtually unreadable to anyone else except me and sometimes I cant read it either

50.   I am easily persuaded

after almost 2 months in Japan, what have I learnt?
things about myself, things about japan, things that i was suppose to learn at school and apply in a meaningful way?
Here are my top ten discoveries

1. anything can be sold in japan, as long as you give it a cute enough mascot and a snazzy slogan. apollo chocolate anyone?

2.Japan must have one day of rain a week, if not there must be the threat of thunder, in a lucky week you will get rain and thunder on the same day

3.convenience stores are the devil in disguise

4.commercials where the groom runs off with another man is perfectly acceptable to be broadcasted nationally.

5.when you speak english and the person doesnt understand they will mostly say `plesae, just a moment`and then proceed to search through a dictionary.

6.there is no educational tv except where you get taught english by `blonde sensei`

7.a girl who can ride a bike in nine inch heels is a girl to be admired and feared.

8.a guy will carry your handbag but not your hand in public, therefore, please be considerate and choose your handbag thoughtfully before going out so that your man can be branded in a stylish fashion.

9.japanese georgraphy is whacked and so are their train and bus systems. how can everything come on time?!

10.A guy can still put on chapstick and still be manly, oh japan.

hello minna!

how are you all? im so very sorry for not writing sooner and updating you all, but right now, I will update you shimasu with all the happenings with annie`s life in japan! yay^^

well, lets see, first of all, im sick. it started during the end of golden week ( can you belive that japanese university have not even been in session for one month and students have already gotten a week off school, crazy japan, crazy) and i thought i would be okay, but thats optimism for you.  in the last 24 hours, ive had 3 blood noses and gone to sleep at five a.m in the morning. Im FINALLY getting better, but every few hours, i just want to go to sleep and cuddle my very,very small cat toy, that i have named ki (short for kitty) that my sister made for me.

But its hasnt been all that bad, I went to see Spiderman 3 in Roppongi Hills, which is one of the most expensive areas to live in besdies Ginza (yes, the place that has rows and rows of brand names only, names that Australians have never even heard of) tickets go for about 1500 yen, which is about 15 bux aussie, and considering that is the student price, all the movies you see, better be damn worth it. spiderman 3 was much more violent than I expected but it was entertaining at least. Japanese cinemas arent that squishy but hte seats arent as comfy as the aussie ones. With the expensive price and all, im surprised that piracy hasnt caught on in japan as it has with the rest of the world. ah, that also reminds me, at the beginning of the ads, you always get that message that says please turn off your phone and blah blah. Japan has one that says `NO KICKING` seriously, no joke, no kicking, who kicks in a cinema anyway?!

so. one of things that ive come up against is how everyone thinks im japanese. far enough, i look asian and as most asian look similar, we can, in most cases, be mistaken for other asian nations. But, if im not japanese, then im korean, or if im not that, then im a japanese person who has gone abroad and returned to japan with super english skills. the narrowness of the japanese mind truly astounds me. Ive been asked twice now about where i have learnt my english. when i said that i was born and bred in australia, she asked if either of my parents were japanese......what the....

In the dorm, I am the only aussie/ameican-asian. there is a girl from china and a girl from burma, but they dont speak fluent english. being a foreigner in japan is a bit like being a novelty, when you are PHYSICALLY foreign, that is, with the white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, people will stare and point and come up to you and try to speak english. you will be given extra attention and be forgiven for most cultural mistakes. people will hear you speak one japanese phrase (arigatou gozaimasu) and compliment that you have amazing japanese, or when they see you use chopsticks will shower you with amazement at why your chopstick skills are so good, as it happened to one friend.

scene-

guy: why are you so good at using chopsticks?

friend: because i have to eat everyday? (duh)

end scene-

when your a foreigner who just looks like another japanese person, hmm.....im not really sure where that leaves you. one friend said it was good, because japanese people dont look at you as if you are a performing monkey, but as one of them, so they:re more natural around you and when guys are interested in you, its for you, not because they wanted to get it on with a foreign girl. as some of you know, i have been losing weight, but its not because of concious dieting, its just me reacting to new surroundings and eating less and doing loads upon loads of walking. As one friend suggested, I am not conforming to the japanese pressure of being skinny, my body isnt made to be that tiny (some girls are like 43kgs! what the.... and you think they have boobs, hah! its all padding i tell you, japanese underwear is padded to the max!) but you may be surprised to see a slimmer annie the next time we meet in person!!!!  (I`m just warning you now, he he)

im not really sure where this post was heading and there is lots more to say, since i havent updated in a while. like the kattun concert, my visit to shibuya and shinjuku, the hostguys, the possibility of a japanese boyfriend, stay tuned, more is coming soon!!!

love you and miss you lots mates,

annie