Hey there!

I haven't been able to update in a while.
Jeez, I've been so insanely busy! Not in a bad way, but still!
Sooooooooooo many things happened. It will take ages to update, so today's just a very short review.

I can't even remember the last time I was home where I really spent the whole day in my apartment without going anywhere.

Some time in February I went to the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri. Then I was busy with selling things here on LJ. In March I went to enjoy plum blossoms and was still busy with selling stuff, planning my next few vacations etc.
And since then things got really crazy!


Spring Vacation 2014:



I had 9 days off around the end of March / early April and some of you might remember that I said I didn't plan anything and that I had no idea where to go.
The first day of my vacation was rainy anyways, so I decided to stay at home. I ended up meeting asahifirsa who happened to be in Japan and nearby at that time.
I came back in the evening, decided to go somewhere after all. Finished booking hotels, packed, crawled to bed and after only 3 or so hours of sleep I was off to Shizuoka.

( more photos under the cut )


And once GW is over there are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo many things to do!
I procrastinated everything until after GW!! I need to restart my sales entries here on LJ and continue selling stuff, I need to prepare to move, I need to work on my blog, reply to e-mails and requests and and and .... phew!!!


Sorry for the very short update.

Hope everyone is doing well!
How was your spring vacation?

I'm so annoyed!!!

I don't know what exactly is going on or how it happened, but it's annoying and it also starts to hurt!!

I'm talking about my teeth.
First of all, one of my teeth in the lower jaw moved quite a bit since I moved to Japan, so it looks like there's a tooth gap now.
This is a beauty problem. It never caused any problems and I didn't even notice it until I went back to Germany 2.5 years ago and my friends and family noticed at once! That "tooth gap" wasn't there before. At least not the last time they had seen me.

No big deal.

However, recently I assume some more teeth in my lower jaw have moved gradually. At least some teeth have moved over the time, but I think it's the front teeth of my lower jaw.
But it wasn't until a few days ago that I actually FELT something has changed. While they still look pretty normal in the mirror, they don't feel normal anymore.
I really can't describe it well, but when I close my mouth / my jaw, then at least one of the upper front teeth and one of the lower ones are rubbing against each other every single time.
One of them is "in the way", because it moved so far that it's "in the way" now.

I'm self-conscious all the time, because it's annoying as hell and all the rubbing has made my teeth more sensitive.



The solution might be a dental brace for my lower jaw.
( Read more... )


JESUS, gimme a break please!
Why does that have to happen now? Can it not wait a few more years? T___T ....

Hey!~

So, it's set. I've booked a flight to Germany for this winter vacation. I'll stay there for 2 weeks.
I haven't been home for Christmas for about 7 years or so now. Will be weird, I guess.
But it's a necessary step in order to find out what I really want.


The thing is that it's not as simple as: Stay in Japan or not?!
The real problem is that I have no idea what I want on almost each and every level in my life.

• I don't know where I want to live in the future.


• I don't know what kind of job I want to do.


• I don't know if I want to have children or not.

I just have no idea what I want for my future - other than being happy and healthy.

I think it's an identity crisis or whatever you want to call it. I don't think it's a midlife crisis, because I don't think it has to do with my age - other than the "baby question" where my biological clock is ticking louder and louder.

I still have no idea how to get out of this crisis.


( What I studied in university and why that won't help me now. )

I know that nobody here can help me, but I fear I can't help myself either.
It's just a very frustrating situation. Not a new situation at all, but it's getting worse and worse the longer it takes for me to figure things out.


I'm all for living in the moment and not thinking too much about the future. After all we never know if that future is coming or not.
But I also think it's wrong to keep living the exact same way that I've been the past few years - without thinking about the future at all ...

Hi!

Just a quick update today.
First of all I simply want to say I'm really thankful and also surprised how many people still seem to read my LJ.
After all I don't update that often anymore, so I REALLY appreciate that you guys still read it and that you even care and comment!
I can't even express how thankful I am for that! :3

Now some random things:

I just stumbled upon this blog entry a while ago and thought this is exactly about me: Why Fear of Discomfort Might be Ruining Your Life
Of course, it fits for many people, but it fits PERFECTLY for my current situation.
(Not sure if I should call it a "current situation" as it has been going on for a few years now ... *sigh*)
Anyways, it's an interesting read!





A photo of today's thunderstorm.
It's soooo hot this summer! Much hotter than usually. Even hotter than the claimed "hottest summer 2010"! It's crazy! And it's only getting worse from now on!
They already confirmed that it's the hottest summer in a VERY LONG TIME, even hotter than in 2010.

Today's thunderstorm was a few hours long and intense with lots of lightning and frightening loud thunder. It was extreme!
Also, we had a few tornado warnings here in Kansai recently. The last one was yesterday, but as far as I know no tornado came.

Rainy season was pretty short compared to usually.
That might be the reason why the frogs this year aren't so bad. It's absolutely NOTHING compared to last year! And it's not because I got used to the noise!
Others confirmed that it's much more quiet this year (maybe less frogs)!?!


( find out where I'm going for summer vacation )


I'm off to drop into my bed now.
Can't believe that I spent a few days and the whole day today on planning (and I'm still not finished!!).
My eyes hurt!

Hopefully I can relax a little tomorrow and then FINALLY write a post for my blog again. That one is slowly dying without me taking care of it.

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all doing fine.
Just a quick update. If you follow me on any social network platform you probably already know about this, but I was awakened at 5:30am this morning when everything suddenly started to shake, my smartphone's alarm went off and outside there was also a loud alarm.
I jumped out of bed immediately, but had no idea what I should do!!!
I saw the big shelf next to my bed shaking like crazy and things kept felling down from it. All that shaking plus the two loud alarms just made me really anxious.



I quickly walked under my far too thin door frame.

I can't remember how long the quake actually continued, but when it finally stopped I crawled in front of my laptop to check what was going on.
I wanted to know how strong the quake was, where the epicenter was and if there's a tsunami warning.
As I don't have a TV or radio at home that was my only option.

Once I saw where the epicenter was, I was really shocked. It was almost the same as back in 1995 for the Great Hanshin Earthquake where parts of Kobe were destroyed and over 6000 people died!!!!

The earthquake was a lower magnitude 6, the one that killed many people almost 20 years ago was a bit over 7!!!!!!! (T____T)

( Read more... )


Here are some articles about today's earthquake in case you want to know more:

• Strong earthquake hurts 23


• 24 injured after M6.3 quake hits western Japan

Experts say there will be a big earthquake by 2014 in Japan and that Mt. Fuji will erupt soon.
North Korea is also getting on our nerves.
It's just not very nice recently, is it?

Hope everyone else is safe!

Hey!

So, my short spring vacation of 6 days started as of today.
And I'm quite sure I don't have to explain this to you, but usually I'm out of here ASAP!

So far I left with pretty much the first / earliest train on my first day off on EVERY SINGLE VACATION I can think of in the past 5+ years here in Japan!
Sometimes I even extended my vacation so that I came back on the day where I had to be back at work (in the afternoon).

I always tried to use every single second, every single day - to the fullest!

There are / were several reasons for that:

1. I knew that I'm not going to stay in Japan forever, so I wanted to see as much as possible in my limited time.



2. In my first 4 years in Japan I only had 3 weeks of vacation per year (1 week in April, 1 in August, 1 in December / Jan), so my travel time was very limited. On top of that I lived so isolated that day trips were almost impossible. Thus I was always very happy to get OUT OF THERE as soon as I could. That's one reason why I eventually decided to move.



3. I just came to love traveling in Japan. When I first came here that was not my priority .... it just happened! ;)

But this time it's different. It's already my first day of vacation today and as you can see I'm home!
(Well, it was supposed to rain today anyways. In fact it's only cloudy and very windy, but whatever...)

You might have noticed that I was traveling a LOT this past year. It was really crazy! First of all I had much more vacation than before - almost 3 more weeks per year! And then I also have public holidays off, so that I sometimes am blessed with a 3-days' weekend - giving me a great chance to do some minor trips - and I did! A lot!
Because of moving to Kansai, I'm now very central and day trips (even to Kyoto, Osaka or Nara) are not a problem! And I've done a few of those day trips already.


On top of that I got sick before ALL of my previous vacations last year (I'm sure some of you remember). And I was also extremely unlucky with the weather every freaking single time!
Last April I was hit by a typhoon, in May again - followed by horrible weather for many days. And the top of it all was my vacation in Okinawa this winter! TWO WEEKS OF BAD WEATHER!!!!
I was really frustrated.
Of course I still enjoyed traveling, but now that I have achieved one of my goals (visiting all 47 prefectures), maybe it's time to calm down a bit.



This photo is from last week when I met amvn in Himeji, but that's a story for another time! ;)


I've not started planning my short vacation until a few days ago. ( Read more... )


Sorry, I guess I just had to get this off of my soul! :/ ....

Hi!

I think some of you have already guessed it, but it doesn't look like I'll leave Japan in just a few months (February / March) as planned.
Well, of course it also depends on whether I'll get my visa renewed or not, but if I do, I guess I'm here for another year or so.

It's really hard to describe.
My life since I moved in March has gotten extremely busy. It's not bad, because I travel so much, it's almost insane!
Just looking at the list of places I've been to in the past year makes me realize just how busy I must have been!

( Read more... )




It's like ... the longer I stay here in Japan, the less I feel comfortable with going back to Germany.
I just can't see myself leading a happy life in Germany. Of course, I could be totally wrong ... and of course, I miss my home country and I wish I could go back and spend a few months there!
There are many things that are better in Germany and that will become more and more important the older I get (like the social support system, the health system etc.).

On the other hand, I wouldn't be able to keep my current lifestyle at all! I would have to live with the bare minimum of money.
That is because in Germany you'll only get back about half of your salary after taxes. HALF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I doubt I could live comfortably like that.

( Read more... )



It's like .... sense is missing in what I'm doing right now.
I enjoy my trips ... I enjoy posting about them ... I enjoy sorting my photos .... but doing JUST THAT doesn't seem to fulfill me (yes, it keeps me busy and I enjoy doing it, but that's just not the same, right?). On the other hand I don't have the time to put anything new into my life.



And in reality .. ( Read more... )

Bye~chuu~

Hi everyone!

You've probably seen this entry coming, huh?
And yes, we've had posts like that a few times already a la "once every year"?!

It is a difficult topic.
And the more time passes, the more difficult it actually becomes.
You'd think that it gets easier, that I would come up with some awesome ideas or future plans, right?
WROOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!!

I still have no freaking idea what to do once I leave Japan.

1. Leaving Japan:

I mean, that's for sure. I already wanted to leave 2 years ago after 3 years of being in Japan, but couldn't bring myself to.
And then, last year, I thought I maybe should try and move to a different city to see how life would be there and hopefully get some new inspiration, ideas and whatnot.
It's been quite obvious for a while now that I need to leave Japan.

I'm done. I can feel it. I can't really describe it well.
At least I need a "Japan hiatus".



( About feeling lonley, going back to Germany and possible alternatives and more... )



5. And what do you want to do back home?

I will never be able to answer you this question. I think it would be perfect if I could do some freelancing stuff that lets me live on the countryside (I'd die in a big city for sure!) and gives me enough money to live comfortably. I have no idea what this freelance work could be. And my father keeps asking me if I already found a "real job". I would have to listen to that every single day once back home ... probably until he kicks me out ^-^; ... Recently so many people told me that my graphic design skills are so awesome. Yet, I've never learned anything about it. I just started out years ago playing around with icons and Photoshop and stuff ..... I love doing that. I love pretty things and I love creating graphics and designs. I was wondering if "graphic designer" would be an option. But then again .. I'm over 30 and would have to start from zero ... and I also want to keep using my knowledge about Japan and Japanese somehow.

I guess my dream would be to find a job that lets me live in a small apartment in the countryside with 2 cats (or so), enough money to live comfortably, not too much stress, enough free time and a job that lets me put my experience of living abroad in Japan to use somehow.

There are so many inspiring people, too!
Jenya, Jamie, Ashley, Koichi, Ciaela and so many more!
I know that I need to find my own way .... but I have no idea where I wanna go ... and I'm also not sure if I'll ever make it.
For example, despite having no time I applied for Tofugu's internship this year. I also made it into the second round, but that was that.
I guess my writing skills are just not good enough.
Yes, people do send me e-mails asking for collaboration or online newspapers ask me to write for them (of course without getting any money from them) ... and I once even earned a bit of money with some advertisement, but that's going nowhere I think.
My talent is that I have no specific talent at all that I could utilize, but that I can do a little in many different fields .... unfortunately that doesn't seem to be very useful.



THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FREAKING DIFFICULT.


( Read more... )

P.S.: Ok, now I'm going back into "lazy mode" and watch some Asian movies and stuff ... not like I have a million other things to do ... *ignore*

Thanks for reading!!

Hello everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope you're all fine!!
Thank you so much for all your nice comments and tweets.

Unfortunately I'm still without internet, almost 1 month after moving!! I never expected it to take THAT long, but it's reality.
To be honest I don't miss the internet so much, but in less than a week I'm going on a short 5-days spring vacation trip and without internet it was almost impossible to plan it out or book hotels!
It won't be a great vacation, but I try to make the best out of it.
Oh, and I'm expecting to get internet in the 2nd week of April - at least I hope so!!

I thought it was time to write an update in case people were worried about me.

Luckily things didn't get any worse since my last entry.
( Read more... )

I try to focus on the good things. With the new job I have more holidays!
Just a while ago I had a 3 days "weekend" and took the chance to go to Kobe!!
Kobe is so close now! I literally can leave my apartment and exactly one hour later am already at Sannomiya Station! (^_____^)v

I stayed in a hotel for 2 nights there (although it wasn't necessary as Kobe is really super close). The reason I stayed there was for the internet. I stayed up at night to at least partly plan my spring vacation.
As I've been to Kobe and surroundings many times before already, there wasn't that much for me to do other than shopping. Sightseeingwise I've seen and done almost everything already.

Here are some photos nevertheless:

( quite a few photos ...!~ )



At Kobe Harbor with the Kobe Tower in the background. I just love it there, it's really beautiful in its own way. I've been there a couple of times now, but mostly at nighttime so far.

( Read more... )



Plum blossoms are already out. Let's see how late the cherry blossoms will be this year!
I hope I won't miss them again! (x__X'') ... ^-^;

( The coolest Starbucks ever and more!~ )


I also went to a Takarazuka show!
I'm not sure if you're familiar with it at all. I was aware of it but never really looked into it at all.
The reasons why I watched it was:
a) one of the people I know in Kobe is a huge fan and could easily get me a ticket for the day
b) It was on my way back from a sightseeing spot anyways
c) It's part of Japanese culture and I wanted to at least check it out once!!

I have to admit that it's not really MY world, but the costumes, songs and dances were awesome!!
Living so close to Takarazuka City and knowing somebody who's totally into it might actually get me to go again, though! :)

( some photos )


Although I live in a super small city (even smaller than before) I'm so close to bigger cities, it's really NICE!!!

I need to figure out VERY SOON where to go for Golden Week (it will be the first time in FIVE YEARS that I'll have those days off actually).
I'm thinking of going to Tohoku (Fukushima, Aomori etc.).
In summer I have 2 weeks, so I'm thinking of doing 1 week of Okinawa and 1 of Hokkaido.
If I really manage to do that, then by that time I will have been to almost everywhere in Japan!! O_O
That's one of my ultimate goals anyways! :D
Of course there are still smaller towns and stuff left, but I will have done all the areas, almost all prefectures and all major tourist spots!!

For Kansai area I can just do day trips on weekends (not so many things left here anyways, seen almost everything already XD).


Ok, that was a rather long entry, but I think you can clearly see that I'm (almost) back to my normal self now that things are slowly improving!
Expect more once I have a proper internet connection!

Hope to read you again soon! :3333
Thanks for staying tuned! :)

Hello everybody!

How have you been??
First of all: HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!
I hope the year of the dragon will be an awesome one!

I came back from my 11 days winter vacation trip on Sunday and have been busy ever since then which is why I couldn't post earlier.

I guess it's time for a brief update, huh?
Ok, here we go. I have a new job and due to that I'll have to move in 6 weeks!
That is not much time! I'm so busy getting things done, getting packed, sending things, trying to figure out what I have to do etc.
Although it's gonna be my 5th(!! omg!) year in Japan, it's my first time MOVING in Japan!!

If anybody has any experience with moving in Japan, I'd really appreciate some advice.
Currently I'm trying to figure out what the best option to send my stuff is. Kuroneko looks promising.
I also need to get rid of quite a lot of stuff at Hard Off and House Off or whatever they're called.

Shifting money to another bank account that will work outside of my current prefecture.
Doing some last-minute traveling within my prefecture (you know the "oh, I live here I can always go, so I never went there yet" thingie, right? -___-;; ...)

As you can imagine all that leaves me even busier than I usually already am!

I will update you with more details some other time.
I think it's enough if I say that I'll move to Kansai in 6 weeks.


Because I'm so busy, I won't have time to post much in the next few weeks or months. I might even be without internet for a month or two once March comes!

That's why I wanted to give you at least a short review of my awesome winter vacation now!
I hope you'll enjoy it!~



Aoshima in Miyazaki.

( Read more... )

MUCH MORE over at ZOOMING JAPAN!
(sorry I can't post things twice all the time ...)

Thanks for staying with me!~