Hello, I'm off to blog on Yahoo 360 now. This blog won't allow me to put any more photos, and I can't be bothered deleting my 100s of photos one by one to make space for new photos. So, please click here for my new blog.

http://360.yahoo.com/victan45

Love,
Victoria

As you can see, I have a new countdown device on my blog. Michael and I have recently found out that we are not leaving on July 25th like we originally thought, our contracts actually end on AUGUST 1st! So we have to stay one extra week in Japan. Not so incredibly bad, considering we already stayed 2 years longer than I would've liked...but that means we only have 6 days back in NZ to prepare for the wedding. Stress.

On Saturday, we went to the travel agency to find out about flights back home, we wanted a flight on the 2nd of August, but they had flights on every single other day, but not on the 2nd of August! How ridiculous. I nearly cried right there. So, we had to settle for flying out on the 3rd of August, and arriving in Christchurch on 4th August. Sooo late. But I talked to my Mum and Dad and they think we will be crazily busy during that week, but we will be able to get everything done. The dressmaker has been spoken to, and she said that my evening dress and winter coat can be done in a week, but I just may have to make trips to her house twice a day.

Mum thinks that I should ask if we can leave on 1st August, after all, it's only one day out of the contract, but she doesn't know how scared these people are to break a little rules. I talked to some friends yesterday who are leaving early, and they had real trouble getting permission to leave early, and they had paid leave days owing to them! Michael and I don't have any paid leave days left, and taking 'unpaid leave' is just not done here. So stupid, seeing as it'll be the blimmin school holidays anyway. Formality is so bloody important here, to the point of ridiculous.

I am so annoyed, but I will not talk about it again, as I can feel my blood pressure freaking out.

Michael and I cleaned out one of our cupboards last night. It was a large cupboard for "miscellanious" things... 3 years of throwing "miscellanious" in there made it a mission to clear out! We threw out 2 large bags of rubbishy stuff, and made a pile for stuff we want to bring back to NZ and stuff we will leave for the next person. Amazing the piles of paper and junk that can accumulate over 3 years.

We made a promise to file all our papers neatly and not keep junk in our next house...because, despite what you think, that thing you kept never comes in useful one day.

I spent the weekend doing nothing much but reading books in the sun, curled up with my stray cats. It was so relaxing. Michael thinks it's gross that I hug those cats...but they're so cuddly and they look clean...and they really de-stress me. They're really not so much 'stray', um, more like 'neighbourhood' cats, who belong to everyone.

Oh, and apparently some people in NZ have received our wedding invitations already, that's great!

And one of Michael's close family friends has offered to sing something at our ceremony! Apparently she has a wonderful voice. I'll just trust him on that one! haha. But that's great because I didn't want to have to twist someone's arm to fill in that "space for a song/poem/short speech" in the ceremony. As we are not having a Christian ceremony, there won't be the obligatory Hymns to be sung by the guests, so I was wondering what we would do to fill a little time instead. Now that's sorted!

Called my Mum to say "Happy Mother's Day" appparently my brother is making dinner for her... It'll be Omelettes for dinner, as it's the only thing he knows how to cook! How sweet of him!

Chomo died on Wednesday. He was 18 years old. By cat years, I think that exceeds 100 years. He lived a relaxed and pampered life. Exactly as any cat's should be. He ate fresh crab meat every day and he loved gourmet cheese and oddly, pumpkin. He slept in his human's bed every night. He had these amazing huuuge eyes, green and luminous usually, but they changed color in different lights. In the end, he got so old that he wasn't able to move or eat or drink, and he died peacefully.

Chomo belonged to my tea ceremony teacher, (who has adopted me as a daughter while I'm in Japan). She has a son and a husband, but they are hardly ever home, so Chomo was her constant companion and gave her so much joy. I think she may get a small dog in a couple of months, and that's good news, as it's sad to think of her all alone in her new house (busy woman as she is, it is nice to have someone to greet you happily when you come home, eh?).

Every thursday, I go over for dinner. My teacher would feed Chomo scraps of fish and cheese from the table while we were eating. He was very polite. He wouldn't jump on the table. But he would put a paw up to pat her when he wanted some food. Two weeks ago, when I was over for dinner, he fell down the stairs because his legs wouldn't work. That's when I realised exactly how old this cat was getting.

When I went to her house last night, I saw a wee shrine had been put up in the entrance-way for Chomo, with a photo of him and some flowers. It was so cute, and sad. But as my tea ceremony teacher didn't want to talk about him that night, I tried my best to talk about happy and funny things to keep her mind off crying. Even so, I noticed she had to rush off to the 'kitchen' a few times more often than usual.

I think I understand the Bridezilla better now...

I mean, I've been trying to organize wedding invitations for over a month now, and I'm so sick of talking about paper and designs!!! Any more emails regarding the technical difficulties, and my head will burst with fustration!

Never organize your wedding from overseas.

Also the hair ornament that I ordered 2 MONTHS AGO hasn't arrived. And I keep emailing the lady, but she doesn't get back to me! That was a lot of money I spent on an invisible hair ornament!

I won't even get started on Europe and money dilemmas.

Okaaay, let me think positively.
My Dad and Michael are being really really supportive. Dad is helping me out lots with the invitations, which would be really expensive if I got a professional to help me out. And Michael is helping out willingly with everything he can. They are so sweet and patient, I am a very lucky girl. No worries. There is still a couple of months to get everything sorted. I think I'm not stressed out about the timing, I think it's just fustration, because it's something that I've been planning for so long, that when it comes to actually getting things done, I want them done efficiently and straight away, but real life just doesn't work like that.

Gee I have found it hard to write anything interesting lately. Hmm I guess I haven't been doing much...

It's just been "Golden Week" here in Japan. It's the time where there are so many public holidays in a row that we just about get a week off work. Everyone looks forward to it, and Kyoto gets so crowded with Japanese tourists, wanting to check out their 'cultural capital'. I went shopping yesterday, and the department store was a mosh-pit!

By the way, for my friends in NZ who don't know yet, Michael and I have decided (for sure this time!) that we will come back to Christchurch for a couple of years after Japan. I will (probably) study veterinary nursing (I just can't see myself teaching English for the rest of my life) and Michael wants to find a job in a library (and then get a Masters in Library work).

Why have we decided not to keep travelling??

Because I have been feeling quite emotionally unstable, and Michael thinks it's best if I can spend some time around supportive friends and family again. This travelling around and teaching is not so good, as I take time to make close connections with people, and by the time I do, they move back to their home country or to another teaching job in a different country. And the 'friends' we have right now, are not really my friends... they're more Michael's friends...they talk about computer games and anime and zombies...they don't see the point in makeup or fashion or dancing, or a bit of girlie gossip. It was the other way around last year, I was going out with 'the girls' lots... but they left Japan. Also, I just don't mesh so well with asian culture (funny cos I am asian...) who can be a little behind when it comes to how they view women (especially young women in the workforce) and all that... no offense, just my opinion.

So anyway, been quite 'down' lately. Probably why I haven't been writing much in the blog too - found it hard to write anything that didn't sound whiney! But I am determined to start thinking more positively, and enjoy my last 2 months in Japan. And I feel very peaceful about our decision to go back to Christchurch for a little while at least. Will probably end up in Melbourne though...my friend Danielle says it's a great place to live. And Michael checked out the pay rates in Aussie compared with NZ, wow, big difference. No wonder the brain drain out of NZ eh.

The man next to me is driving me crazy. He seems to want people to hear what he's eating for lunch. And he has a problem with breathing at the same time as eating, so here I am trying to eat my lunch, and right next to me is this snorting, grunting, munching pig!!!!! Feel like throwing up. Hmm thinking positively, he might help my diet...

I was just reading bbc news online and found an article on a graffiti artist that has recently become very popular. Mainly because his art is cynical about society and the fact that no-one knows who he really is. Anyway, I found a few pieces of his art that I'd like to share...

Well I baked those cookies yesterday with my ESS club students. I had enough stuff for 7 students (as I was expecting) but 11 showed up! Plus 3 teachers!!

So, not enough cookies left for the staff room (again!). Ah well.

As I was saying yesterday, I went to get some boxes from the post office, to start packing some stuff to send back to NZ. Well, it was the worst day to be carrying huge cardboard boxes home! We had some torrential rain as I was walking to the bus stop, and I carrying an umbrella, a school-bag, and the boxes. Then, I had to go to the supermarket to buy some dinner-groceries, lugging these huge wet boxes with me.

Oh I should have just left them at school that day, but I was determined to get those boxes home so I could feel like I was making a progress towards packing and leaving!