Life takes a funny turn sometimes

  In school, my weakest subjects (besides PE) was, which may be surprising to those of you who didn’t know me as a kid, language. In other words Swedish, English and Spanish. I could get a good grade but never reach that top one. The reason? My writing. To be honest, my spelling sucked. But even if this was the case, I later in university ironically enough, decided to major in Japanese. Ever since I was a teenager I had a passion for Japan. My Japanese studies brought me to Japan, much to my moms dislike I might add, here my English were considered really good for the first time in my life. For the first time, I got compliments on my English and this just made my day. You might wonder why I decided to share this now? I will tell you the reason. Today I signed a contract for a new part-time job as an English writer for a website related to Haneda-airport here in Japan. Me, working with something related to English writing? This is something I never thought I could do. Neither did most of my junior high school teacher, I’m sure.  It made me think how life can take a funny turn sometimes. How knew my love for Japan would end up giving a part-time job as a writer for an official webpage. This may seem small for people gifted in the writing department, but for me who was anything but. This really is a big thing.

I know that this blog has been dead for a while, I’m sorry for that! I hope more thing like this will happen so I write here more often. Or just feel like I have the energy to get into blogging again.
We are already in spring, soon summer and I’m now a second-year student at my school, a sempai as its called in Japanese. It sure keeps me busy with studies, my internship, part-time jobs and job hunting. The last part is the most stressful.

I hope you guys are having a great time and enjoying your everyday life’s wherever that may be!
Until next time

PS: I’m so so so happy to congratulate my friend A on the birth of her wonderful daughter. Can’t believe we are at the age to be mothers. I’m sure you will be a great one A! Love you.

~Living the dream~

Trouble before Christmas

Recently I find myself not having any luck at all with my flights back to Sweden.

This spring I had a delay so I had to wait at the airport for 6-7 extra hours. You think, Can get worse than this right? Well it can and it did this time.

My flight to Beijing was only about 15 min late but even so it together with a very strict and complicated system at the airport made me miss my connecting flight to Amsterdam that was suppose to depart at 00:30. My new flight was 11:50 in the morning... So 11 hour wait in the middle of the night, no WiFi to get in contact with my parents, almost no money and can’t speak the language of the personal + a missing checked in luggage... I was defiantly at my stress limit. Not to say that I with this new flight would arrive 22:20 in the evening of the 23rd in Gothenburg and the original plan was 9:30 in the morning.. sucked big time.  

Around 2:30-3:00 after spending hours trying to get my baggage back with no luck, I manage to get to a hotel. Feared for my life a little when I was chased into a car by the airport personal and they just drove of with me saying “ Hotel, near, sleep”.. yes terrifying. But I did end up at a nice hotel that I had to pay a big sum just to get a room to sleep in for 3-4 hours. Thatnk’s to the hotel wi-if I manage to send a e-mail to my mom. She called me back so I could inform her of all thing that had gone wrong. Apparently they can call me but the apps don’t work in the “out” direction even with WiFi. No FB or anything. That’s China for you. Felt very very secluded and “shut in” to me.    

Can’t wait to leave Beijing. Defiantly had enough of this!

I hope this is the only negative post I will make in a while and even if the start was hard the rest of my almost two  weeks in Sweden will be as amaznign as I hoped it to be! 

Many hugs!

～Living the dream～ (maybe not everyday)

Christmas times

Long time no see!

So, already the Christmas season again! Or to be more exact, Christmas is just around the corner! This year I’m spending Christmas and New Years at home in Sweden! It’s going to be great! Eating moms homemade food, spending time with family and friends it just the best! I Love christmas not only because it’s a beautiful holiday but aslo becasue it gives you to time off to spend with your loved ones. What can beat that!

I’m leaving for Sweden on Friday the 22nd and going back to Japan on the 3rd. Today I finally got the last presents so that’s done! I have to start packing tonight since I will be crazy busy this last week in Japan. Work, school, meeting friends and boyfriend. Just lots to do!

About work, I quit Forever21 in October and just one week ago I got a new part time job att HM. I’m still in the middel of training so much to remember but also fun and feels like a great place to work at! This Wednesday I will have the ”cashier training ” the only thing I didn’t get to do at forever21 so that is the part that’s making me the most nervous. Not only to learn how to use the registers and all the things I have to do (and in the right order) but I also have to use very polite Japanese that I usually don’t use... I’m bound to make mistakes but that’s okay. I will try my best to not get too stressed out...

Last week in school and its going good. Passed my first accounting test so now I have a level 3 certificate of accounting! Better than nothing. I also took the japanese N1 (hardest) test but it was pretty hard so don’t think I passed that one. But just to try again in June next year! I also just have about 3 more month before I become a second year student. Can’t believe how fast times goes by. I also have to start job hunting in February. That’s very soon.  Will start with the preparations as soon as I get back to Japan!

That’s all for the updates this time, now I need to study a bit before getting my Christmas nails done!
Hope your having a great December!

Hugs!
またね！
〜Living the dream〜

Hard times

Hi!

I can't  belive it's already August. What happend to 2017? Is just goes by so fast. 2017 for me stared good but from April to June it was a hard time for me. It's better now but not all good.

I see myself as being quit lucky in life, not really had any extreme sad or painful times, just the normal kind of hard thing most people go though. Nothing special. But this April to June definitely was one of the hardes periods of my life so far. 




Moving to Yokohama I saw as a new chance and thought it could only get better. Why wouldn't it, right? New school, new place, new city. Well I'm not saying it's all bad but it definitely not all good either. My school is a good school with good teachers and I enjoy the subjects we study and my classmates are nice. But I for the first time in my life, I can't seem to find a "group" in the class where I feel like I belong. It's harder than I thought and definitely lonely. My new place is also very nice and in a pretty good location but now I share an apartment with only one other guy and we don't see each other that much so I pretty much feel like I live alone. Then to add to it all, pretty much all of my best girlfriends have left Japan now. So how was the new start? In one word, lonely. I never really felt lonely like this before in my life so it is hard. But I'm getting thought it and do see it as a challenge I just have to take on. 




Then the most hard thing of all happend. My grandfather passed away. Fairly sudden as well. His health had not been good for many years but at the end of Mars they discovered he had lung cancer and that it had gone too far to do anything. The doctors said he had about half a year to a year. Hearing this from my mom, I decided that I wanted to come home now during summer to see him at least once and talk. But just two weeks after that first phone call the second came and yes, my grandfather had died in his sleep. My grandparents on my moms side is the only relatives exempt my close family that I did meet regularly ever since I was born. Me and my brother always did spend most of the summer at theirs house in the countryside and it was one of my best summer memories as a child. It really really hurt that I was so far away and didn't get to see him one last time and say thanks for all the things he taught me and the great memories of my childhood. He was the one that taught me and my brother how to swim, to dive and to ride a bike. It was amazing. So being in Japan at that moment did suck. It was the worst emotional pain I've felt. 




He passed away just two days before my birthday was well, so it was not the happiest of birthdays. In the end of April I went back to Sweden for the funeral. It was a short and an emotional trip. I'm happy I got to see and be with my family even if it was only for a very short time. 




Then it was back to Japan and the loniness was more real than every. But I do have very good friends here, and my boyfriends is also here. So with their support it is definitely getting better and better. Now I feel like I have processed most of the loss of my grandfather but it's not over. I guess it never is completely. But it is okay, I'm okay!

Hope you guys also get trough what ever hard time you may encounter. I know we can do it.

Many hugs!


〜Living the dream〜

Summer vacation

Hi guys!

Yet again it took me so long to update the blog! Sorry for that.

I'm on my way back from Kochi at the moment. Writing this on the airplane to be exact! So nice with "in air" wifi! Two weeks ago, the day I arriverat in Kochi, me and Y also had our 1 year anniversary so the perfect day to arrive in Kochi.

We went on a small trip together to a very small secluded island! We did snorkeling and sea kayak. Snorkling was a first for me and since I'm scared of the ocean it definitely was a challenge but it was more fun than I first thought it would be. The trip to the Uguru island was an amazing adventure I will not soon forget.

We also went to a firework festival and saw some Yosakoi dance preformances. The traditional Yosakoi dance originated from Kochi so it's a very big part of Kochi tradtions. Sadly I did go back before the biggest Yosakoi festival which is next week. To bad I didn't  get to see that one but at lest I went to the smaller one. It was a really fun evening.

Since it's  super hot in Kochi (and japan in general) we spent a lot of days just cooling down by the river. The rivers in kochi are so beautiful! The water is also not cold at all if you compare to Sweden!

I of course enjoyed a lot of the tasty local food but this time me and Yoshi did cook a lot at home as well.
Some days we just spent chilling at the apartment. Watching the anime One piece or a movie we rented.

Feels a bit sad to have to say goodbye today but my brother will come to Japan to visit me for two weeks from tomorrow so that will be so much fun! I will definitely make sure to enjoy this summer and hang out with all the important people in my life!

Hope you guys also have a good summer and make som good memories.

〜Living the dream〜

It's alive again!

So, here I was a sunny Friday afternoon with some free time on my hands and it felt like I had forgotten something for a long time. Then it hit me, damn I'm suppose to be writing a blog! This realization made me log in and to my fear discover that the last post was in October...

I very sorry for this everyone. Yes, I'm sure thousand are reading this regularly.

Now, it being mars 2017 and all, I though I should give you a short recap of what has happend here in my life in Tokyo since then. I will soon also have a "New start" in April that I also will explain about in the end of this post.

The biggest things that happend in the end of 2016 was me getting my letter of accepts for my new vocational school which is school called a senmongakko (専門学校) here in Japan. I will study Japanese and different business related subjects that are suppose to help me find full time employment here in Japan. The program is for 2 years. My school is called Yokohama Design Collage so I'm aslo hoping to be able to take some courses in deign and fashion.

The second thing that happend was me taking the Japanese language proficiency test in December and in the end of February got the notification that said I pass the exam. So finally I have the N2 diploma! The joy at the moment is hard to describe.

The third big thing is fining a part-time job here. I'm actaully doing two. One is the typical teaching englihs but the second one is as a sales assistant at Forever 21 in Shinjuku. This job is defiantly challenging but also a lot of fun. As they say, you can't improve unless you challenge yourself.

Considering all this, I must say that the end of 2016 and star of 2017 was great for me. Makes one worry if something bad is waiting around the corner.. but I belive in focusing on the next step and deal with life and its hurdles as it goes on.

Everyday life is passing by with school, work and having fun on the weekends with friends. We did two small trips. One to Hakone and one to Kawaguchiko which is two beautiful towns relativity close to Tokyo. The are also a lot of causal parties at the share house which always makes being home a lot of fun as well.

What about the new start thing then? Aren't life good as it is? I would say, yes it is. But the laguage school I'm going to at the moment but will graduate from next friday is not very stimulating. I'm getting tired on every day studying the same things and tha thing being only Japanese. I love japanese but it's getting a bit.. tiresome. I want to learn something els, something new.

As the name of my new school implies, it's in Yokohama which means that at the end of this month I will move to Yokohama. New school and new house. I hate saying good bye to good friends ones again but the end of one thing in the begging on something els as it is said. I just have to deal with the good bye and keep on moving forward. I'm also thing about star a new hobby once in Yokohama and finelly getting a gym memebership. I really want to get in better shape again. Miss my running with J in sweden. The best!

In about an hour Me, Danni and Matt will go out for some drinks and food. I should highly be getting ready. This will be the end of this post

Stay well, and stay positive.

〜Living the dream〜

Off we go to Kochi!

Hi guys!

My autumn break was sure filled with a lot of travel! Last Thursday I repacked my bags and headed put to Haneda airport to catch a fligh to Kochi! 

Kochi is a prefecture on the Touhoku island that is just outside of the Osaka area in Japan. The more souther parts of Japan. I went there to visit Yoshi since he now from one week back is studying at kochi university again. He has about 3 semesters left so from now on we have to do ours best with long distance! But at least we live in the same country. Better than nothing!

I also have a lot of friends studying and living in Kochi and also head stories about the place for such a long time that it was a place I really wanted to visit. and I'm so happy I did.

There is three things that are amazing with Kochi and that really made me like the place! 

The first one is nature. So much breath taking nature that surrounds you in Kochi! Such a beautiful place to live in. There is a lot of mountains and rivers so if you are like me and prefer that kind of nature you definitely should visit Kochi a least once in you're in Japan. Went I took the bus form the airport to kochi center I was amazed about just how much and beauty nature there was! Think I have got used to the city scenery since moving to Tokoy so I forgot just how nice nature actually can be. I really makes you relax!

The second one is food and drinks! The quality and taste of the local food in kochi is out of this world! So much better than the things I have had in Tokoy. We usually ate at small local izakayas and I ate the famous okatsunotataki fish and had yuzu drinks. Kochi is famous for local yuzu alcohol and a kind of fish called okatsu that you according to Yoshi that is the most tasty when  from Kochi. So no complains about the food! I also prefer the atmosfrear in a small izakaya than the bigger ones in Tokyo. That you can just take you bike to the izakaya, go in and know the name of the owner and workers, say hi and just enjoy good food and drinks with friends, that is one of the things I like the most! The relaxed and friendly feeling!  

The last night we also visited Hiromeichiaba which is like a big indoor food court where you can enjoy a lot of different famous food all in one place! Basically you go around and buy the food and drinks you want and then sit down at a table in the middle of the hall and chat and have fun. It seemed to be popular with people in all ages, young students, workers, families and older people as well! I absolutely loved  the atomosfear at that place! It sure is a most if you ever visit kochi. 

The third and last thing is to enjoy outdoor activities! we decide to  have a outdoor day at the river with swimming and relaxing and also go to go on a 2 hour long kajak tour down one of the more famous rivers! I have never done that before so it really was a great experience! A bit scary in the beginning but after I got used to it it was just an amazing two hours of nature and adventrure! Hope I can do more of it in the future! Of course Yoshi being Yoshi be managed to fall over once during the tour! I couldn't stop laughing!

So my time in Kochi was in one word, AMAZING. I will definitely come back soon again! Hopefully in December over Christmas! Maybe even earlier if I have the money, need to get a part time job!

I will soon be landin in Tokyo and time to get back to my busy reality and work hard both in school and to find work so I can start to save money!

Hope you guys are doing well as well, 

Until next time! Hugs! 

Seoul trip part 2: Being homeless and visiting a palace!

Hi!

Let just continue the story!

After Hongdae we found ourselfs to be homeless for almost a whole day. We where planing on going to a place called Jeonju but since we where sick we didn't and there was no rooms left at the hostel we stayed at. I also tried to book a new one the night before and I got a mail saying we got it. But the next morning I woke up to a email saying they were already fully books so it was a mistake in the system that we got a room... So there we where, eating our brunch without knowing where to sleep at night! Haha, it was not as stressful as I thought it would be. It was more of a fun experience for me since I'm a planing freak.. It was nice to have no control and just go with it for a change! Lucky Jiyong helpt us to go find a place with lots of motels so we just went there and asked around for a room for the night and got one! Sadly Matt had to sleep on the floor since we only could get a room with one double bed. But he got a thin mattress so it was pretty okay for him anyway! 

The remaining days in Seoul we went to namesan tower (Seoul tower) to enjoys the nice view over Seol. We also stumbled appon a performance of tradition dances and martial arts! Really funny thing to see! 

One evening we also went to gyeonbokgung palace and got dressed up in the tradtional outfit called Hanbok, I have really wanted to try that out for so long so it really was the highlight of the trip for me! We rented the dresses and went at night to see the palace, we also saw a light show inside the palace, it was magic! Just walking around there with so many people dressed up in tradtional clothing sure made it feel like we traveled back in time! So amazing. We also got to enter the palace for free because we had the traditional clothing on so that was also a puls! 

That's a good summary of the trip to Korea I think! Sorry for the very very late update, but been busy with.. Life I guess! 

Hugs! 

〜living the dream〜

Shopping in Hongdae

Hi!

Let's do some updating about what happened in Seoul!

The first evening we just checked in to our hostel which was located on the popular shopping street Hongdae, it's a shopping street a bit like Harajuku but at night it turns into a night club street like Shibuya. I really liked this place! Fun things do both during day and night! 

After a small ordering mistake during the first dinner we ended up with our own mini-bar! we thought it was a glas of the alcohol but turns out we order bottles.. Which explains why the old lady at the restaurant looked at us weirdly when we just keep on ordering! Haha well, we did drink it all so had a really fun night! 

Later we found a cool "western styled bar" where I got the most fancy drink I have had! It also tasted really good so no complaints here! 

A very fun nigh indeed! 

The next day I unfortunately woke up to a pretty bad cold. My throat hurt so much and I felt really weak. Danni was also pretty sick. We did go for brunch and some shopping in Hongdae anyway and also visited a "trick-eye" Museeum! 

It was fun but me and Danni were pretty sick so we went back to the hostel to rest for 2 hours before going out for dinner with Jiyong, our Korean friend how lived with us in japan before he went back a month ago. 

The dinner was nice and while Danni when back to rest even more me, Matt and Jiyong checked out Hongdae at night and visited this "party park" just outside of jiyongs university in Hongdae!  We didn't feel like partying so we just watched the people there begin "the sober people at the party". We also got to see a drunk boxing match as well, so random but fun!

So that was our first two days, more update coming soon! 

Hugs!

〜Living the dream〜

Seoul here we come!

Hi guys!

Have had lots of stuff going on recently so not much time to update. Sorry for that!

The 2 week autumn break has just begun and that means I will be traveling a lot. First trip is to Korea, Seoul and later Kochi 

In Korea we also plan on visiting a place called Jeonju that about 3 hours by bus from Seoul! Since I already been to Seoul once before I'm really looking forward to visit Jeonju. It is a smaller tradtional town where you can stay over at a place called "honko" that is like a small traditional house. I'm sure it wil bel great! 

Today we made out way to Narita airport and I'm writing this as we are on the plane. It only takes round 2 hours and 40 min so not that long of a flight. I'm going with two of my housemates, Matt and Danni so I'm so excited for this trip! This time around I also know a lot more about Korea and have so much stuff I want to do, eat and buy! 

The plan for today is to just get to our hostel and then go out for good food and drinks! Just relax and enjoy our arrival to Korea! Tomorrow we will set off to Jeonju in the afternoon and stay there for two nights until Sunday and then go back so Seoul. In Jeonju we will visit a lot of tradtional temples and famous spots for sightseeing, experience some of the more tradtional and old culture of Korea. Later back in Seoul it will be time for some shopping and exciting city life! I'm sure this trip will be a blast! 

Have a feeling my wallet won't be to happy as I plan on stocking up on a lot of Korean skin products and make-up! 

I will try by best to update the blog during my trip with lots of photo! Time to try to rest a bit on the plane before landing! 

Hugs! 

〜Living the dream〜

Weekend trip to Izu, Shizuoka

Hello again! 

How was your weekend? Mine was great! Yoshi surprised me with a weekend trip to Izu, a smaller village in the Shizuoka prefecture, next to Tokyo. Takes about 3 hours with trains to get there. I was so happy and the trip turned out great! 

Izu is a really nice town with a lot of amazing nature and scenery! It was breath taking! 

The hostel was really cozy and had a bit of an American feel to it. We and a nice room and dinner and breakfast buffet was included! Such a nice service! we also had "all we can drink" to the dinner so that was really funny, got more that a drink or two in the end! In the evening it was a nice barbecue after listing to a live mucus preformace! It was 3 older Japanese men sing Beatles songs! It was soooo much fun and they where really talented and funny people! They also stayed the night at the hostel so we could talk to them during the bbq and they keep on singing and during difference mashups of Beatles songs and forums Japanese songs, I had the time of my life, great music, great food and great people! What more can you ask for! 

The next morning we had a nice breakfast and then one of the owner of the place gave us a ride don't to a hiking path there the ocean. So nice of him to drive us there when all we did was aske for directions and advices on where do go. I love that part of Japanese hospitality! 

The hiking was amazing and the ocean beautiful! I really like Izu, Hope I can live in this kind of place in the future! 

Here are some more photos from the trip! 

Living the dream     

Going to the hair salon in Japan

Hi guys! 

Maybe you already have seen this on my Instagram but just the other day I went to a hair salon called Nalu76 locate in Omtesando, a place near Harajuku here in Tokyo. This place is very popular amongs many famous rapper you tubers like Sharla in Japan, Kimdao and Rinrindoll and more! I really liked how the hair style and color turned out for all of them so I decided to go there myself to try it out! 

The prices is a little bit expensive but still manageable. I must say I liked the atmosphere at the place. It was just a 5 min walk from omotesando station and it easy to find! They also have a cafe at the second floor so you can order a coffe or latte which they will bring up to you then you do your hair! So that's a really nice service! The rest of the service was also great! Nice getting, always makes sure you felt relaxed and comfortable! Thing that were different from Sweden is that they will stored my bag for me, gave me a blanked to I won't be cold, head and neck massage, I don't complain! They also had English speaking staff that help the you to explain to the stylist what you wanted to do! So to sum it up I really like this hair salon. The funny part is that my hair did actually not turn out as I originally wanted. I wanted to take the yellow tones away and just make my hair more blond. But I got this darker grayish haricot or instead! At first I was shocked so didn't really like it but after some ours it started to grow on me and right now I think it's kind of cool and ft in with autumn. But as I said to my stylis that it was not the color I wanted she offers to redo it, but she said I should wait 1-2 week as we used a toner so the color shoul go away a bit and become brighter! So I will wait and see what happens! Maybe I will redo it or maybe I won't. Depending on the lighting my color do look a lot different but here is some photos for you guys! What do you think? Keep it or change it? 

But overall I like the place and do recommend it! Especially if you can't speak Japanese and want to do a more luxcoiru change of color on you hair! 

I also cut and did poin straitening on my fringe and so far the straitening seems to be working. The cut was also really good! Having a nicely trimmed fringe make the whow look so much better! So very pleased with that! 

Let's wait and see what happens with the hair color which the net weeks! 

Until next time!

〜Living the dream〜

Summer festival, owl cafe and more!

Hi!

Wednesday evening and soon one more week of school is done! I like how the weeks seems to go by so fast here. But I'm doing a lot of stuff so I guess that's why!

On Sunday I went to yet another hanabi and summer festival. It was amazing as always! This time was special because I went to the yearly hanabi get-together for a friends work. So it was my friend, his co-workers and his boss! They where allowed to invite friends so that's why I could come. Actually I'm also interested in having a part-time job at this company so I saw it as a good chance to make some connections and it worked! I will have my interview tomorrow and hopefully I will get the job! I will tell you more about the job and how the job application process works here in Japan after everything is done!

At the hanabi I got the chance to wear a yukata again. The boss had friends that worked with yukata and kimono dressing so they helped us. We had the best view spot ever at the roof top of the building where the boss's friend lived! We ate good food had a drink or two and watched the beautiful hanabi. An amazing evening!

Monday turned out to be a different day as well! A big typhoon passed through  Tokyo which meant school was closed! For me that was great news beacuse I was so tired after the busy weekend! So it was a chill day inside that turned into a pizza party in the evening! Such a nice way to start the week! I do feel sorry for all the people that still had to go to work on that day! All the train where so late or didn't run at all!

Tuesday me and friends from the dorm went to an owl cafe! Basically we paid some money to spend one hour in a room with so so so many owls that we could pet! The staff also helped us to hold them, it was such a  weird but fun experience! The owls were so cute! Only the big ones were a bit scary! But I had a great time making a lot of good memories!

Today Y had a surgery so that made me worry a bit but everything went just fine so he is recovering now so hopefully we can meet this Saturday anyway! After school we went for sushi and I tried a new one that was called "roast beef sushi with garlic sauce" so tasty! But not sure I would call it sushi..

I also finished writing my resume! Took soon much more time than I thought I would! But hopefully this will help me make a good impression on tomorrows interview! Wish me luck!

Until next time! 

Hugs!
〜Living the dream〜