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〜