I haven’t really posted recently – from time to time I can think of topics I’d like to blog about but then by the time I actually sit in front of my computer I can’t really remember what I wanted to discuss.

Today, I went skiing again with the usual group. It was actually the first blue-sky skiing trip this season! It was so hot that I actually had to remove a layer before my first run. The flip-side to the sunny, wind-free weather was that the slopes got incredibly icy in the afternoon and also the risk of goggle-tan-lines.

Anyway, near the end I discovered the waves on one of the slopes – a series of consecutive bumps for jumping I guess – they were sooo much fun! I mean, just hitting air on the slopes is exhilarating! But then again, the rest of the course was icy and irregularly bumpy making it difficult to relax and enjoy the incredible weather and scenery.

So yeah, that was my day today.

I also been thinking I really miss my days of travelling. I think I really could do with one of those trips away from it all; I wonder where my next destination could be~

I could lead this entry on to the usual topics of work stress, my career prospects, my stagnant social life, my long term future, my life, my happiness….. but I think I’m all over the place recently. A lot of things need sorting out; I really don’t want to end up in a rut having settled for the status quo.

Some things just don’t feel right at the moment.

It’s not the first Christmas that I’ll be spending in Japan, but it will be the first Christmas that I’ll be working. Over the past few years, I’ve had to revise for exams, do project work, etc. Anyway, writing an update as I haven’t written one for a few days… I’m finding it difficult to figure out what to say.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been quite hectic. My mum came in to town for the week, which meant spending time with her – and also my grandparents. I had 3 dinners last week – one at MidTown, one at ShinMaru and one at Maru. Japanese, Brazilian and French cuisine. I feel so fortunate to be able to dine like that with family.

Along side that there was the end of year party with my work mates. Although the turn out wasn’t exceptional, I had a great time! I also felt so “shiawase” (roughly translates as happy/fortunate/lucky) that my friends “secretly” wrote me a birthday card and also actually secretly organised a birthday cake for me.

[ OMG, I love the Coca Cola Christmas adverts - not just the creativity, but the bg music and the long line of red trucks. Just saw the ad on TV. ]

I also had a named birthday cake at dinner with my grandparents and mum. Both cakes had my name written in chocolate with a birthday message. Incredibly moving.

I know this past weekend is all the Christmas celebrations for this year. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, the fact that I won’t be sitting at home with my parents opening presents this year. Nor the fact that I won’t be having lunch with my nan on my birthday.

In the past week I also went to Yokohama stadium to watch the semi finals of the Club World Cup. I saw the final on Sunday but I’m glad I went to the semis as that match was a lot better! I’m so glad I got to see all the MU legends – Scholes, Giggs, Neville all played a part, with Ronaldo, Nani, Rooney and the new generation all there too. It was a bit strange being surrounded by a stadium full of fans supporting both teams – MU because of Ronaldo/Rooney, Gamba because they’re Japanese.

Anyway, my mind is a bit of a mess today. It’s actually a national holiday today – the Emperor’s Birthday. I want to comment about that but maybe next time.

It’s going to a rough few days, but once the New Year roles up, things should hopefully pick up a bit. It needs to.

So we have another 3 day weekend in the wonderful land of the rising but not so warm sun. It’s now Monday afternoon and for the first time in a while I’ve felt like I’ve made good use of the weekend. I spent Saturday playing tennis for the second time since moving here, but we can discuss that later.

First, I want to talk about the holiday feeling.

The Holiday Feeling

I spent today and yesterday at my grandparents place out in the sticks. On the train there I still felt that my whole life changing move to Tokyo has yet to blast into life; it still felt like a temporary move and that there was this end date in the not so distant future, when I’d “wake up”. I have no idea when that moment of realisation will hit and I guess I’m never believed I would stay long term, but it was still a strange feeling to experience.

The Other Holiday Feeling

I also had the other holiday feeling this weekend – you know, the one to do with the festive season? Being born so close to a major holiday has always given me mixed feelings about Christmas. I don’t dislike it but I can’t say I go hyper when the bells start jingling. I’m finding it even difficult to comprehend this year as in Japan it is a totally overly commercialised season starting from the day after Halloween up to Christmas day. However, Christmas day is a normal working day making it the most anti-climactic holiday in the year.

I guess there’s also this confusion about how to spend the holiday this year. In any other country it would be a family day but in Japan, New Year’s has been set aside for that purpose making Christmas day pretty much a “couples day”. Ah well… I’m just bitter that my birthday is no longer a recognised national holiday :p

The Alternative Holiday

So the alternative holiday. It looks like this year I’ll be spending the festive season in Japan as travelling abroad is far too expensive! I’ll probably do some sort of domestic trip but popping outside of Japan will most likely be saved til early next year. Cheaper, plus something to look forward to beyond the festivities!

Tennis

So, Tennis. The second tennis session since the resurrection (of my tennis playing), we played a solid 3 hours. It actually did not feel that long. Maybe playing for a shorter time adds to the pressure of making the most of it, plus restricts the time for warming up and thus doesn’t feel so satisfactory.

During the session we played a round robin set each – there were 3 of us. Thankfully I managed to win a match 6-4. However, despite my so called tennis lesson years back in my younger days, my backhand and serving was and still remains beyond amateur. You might think that the game was one by a single break of serve…. you’d be wrong. The game was one by a single holding of serve (I think). Either way, it was a dire performance and the comparison of my technique to John McEnroe was somewhat bizarre and unmerited. The only similarity between myself and the legendary McEnroe is that I was holding a tennis racket and that I shouted profanities a lot.

Yesterday I played tennis for the first time in nearly a decade; I honestly can’t remember the last time I played but I’m sure it’s over 6 years ago so that rounds up to a decade! Anyway, the theme of the day was travel as I had to wake up super-early, 6am, to get to my friend’s place.

The Long and Winding Road

So, it was probably my first time experiencing the winding expressways of Tokyo properly; I think the only other times were in the Limousine Bus or possibly asleep in the back of the car. We talked about how London really cannot compare with Tokyo roads – there’s really no cross-city highway or complex raised junctions of spaghetti roads… hmm, that English didn’t make sense!

Anyway, the experience gave me a reason to sort out my driving licence – not to get stuck in traffic, but just to drive around, see the city and the area around Tokyo on the weekends. Obviously, I won’t be buying a car anytime soon but renting should be pretty simple… but first, the long road to actually getting the licence!

Tennis

So, tennis. I suck at it now… well, I sucked at it before, but I really want to get back to a decent level again. I’m writing off my serve but backhand etc, def needs more work! My right shoulder slightly aches today – I do enjoy that feeling of having done exercise though.

Rails

Anyway, I went to see my grandparents in the evening, which meant another long trip, this time in to the countryside. I ended up staying the night and here we sit on Sunday evening…. I don’t know where the afternoon went.

Air

I’m off back to London next weekend so I need to get some plans sorted. First thing is to find out when people are free. Actually, the first thing is to find out if people want anything from Japan. I did go slightly overboard this morning with the omiyage shopping though. I have to pack my suitcase to see how much more stuff I can take. I’m taking a big suitcase there but only a little one back meaning omiyage will make a big part of my luggage!

p.s. the map shows my journey over the last two days back and forth across Tokyo. The line to the south should stretch to my grandparents place. The central line-break is roughly where my house is.

Having just watched the closing ceremony of the olympic games I feel slightly let down. I was just not as blown away by the whole thing as the opening ceremony and it felt slightly less well rehearsed. Also, I feel live music never works in such a large stadium, with problems of acoustics and coordination with the sound system. It just felt really echoy and stuttery.

I was also disappointed by the idiocy of Boris Johnson with his stupid mock saluting instead of limiting himself to a standard wave. He also decided to stick his hands in his suit pockets which made him look like a prat. Following the handover the London PR show was slightly better, although we coulda not done with Beckham or Leonna. The whole singing in the rain-esque thing was ok and the red bus was a good representation of London but I feel it didn’t quite sell the city!

The camera work was all over the place too. I don’t know whether each broadcasting association has control over which camera to use but it jumped around far too much. The opening ceremony had much better shots of the whole of the Bird’s Nest floor but this time it kept cutting to the outside view and strange close ups with “artistic” views. I couldn’t quite get the feel of the whole show.

Anyway, with all the asian artists ranging from Jackie Chan, Rain, Andy Lau, why were there no Japanese singers? The Koreans, Mongolians, Chinese, Hong Kong, all seemed to have representatives… at least include the likes of BoA who can speak Japanese! …. then again, the genetic make up of the entire Japanese population in terms of looks loses out to the tall, slightly built koreans and the mainland asians. Oh well, we couldn’t even beat them in the medals table *sigh* What’s becoming of this great land of the rising sun? is it setting?