vill inte.. vill inte.. vill inte..

Jag känner verkligen sån extrem olust inför att gå till jobbet i morgon. Jag har fått ett antal mail under helgen och vet att det bara ligger ännu mer jobb och väntar på mig i morgon. Det är verkligen inte kul längre. Det är bara för mycket jobb hela tiden och det bara fortsätter att öka. Min lägenhet ser ut som ett bombnedslag med ouppackade väskor och oöppnad post.. men jag bara orkar inte ta tag i det. Det där dammlagret som täcker precis exakt allt borde man ju också sopa bort, men jag har ingen lust. Jag tar det sen.. nån annan vecka.. När jag slutat sura för att jag är tillbaka hemma i tråkvardagen igen..

home sweet home...

Nä, nu får det vara nog med engelska på den är bloggen.. Om någon tycker det är trist får de väl klaga och så får vi se vad som händer.

Känns konstigt att vara hemma.. Ska man bara trilla in i den vanliga tråkiga vardagen nu? Jag var helt gråtfärdig i taxin på väg från hotellet igår för att jag inte ville åka hem. Märkligt hur snabbt man anpassar sig till en ny vardag. Helt plötsligt var det yoghurten från am/pm som var min standardfrukost och inte gröten eller en ostmacka. Kom dessutom på mig själv med att springa och tänka säga sumimasen (=ursäkta) till alla jag sprang in i eller trängde mig förbi i mataffären igår. Känns konstigt att se så mycket vitingar dessutom. På nåt sätt har jag nästan blivit så van vid att alla är japaner att jag nästan börjat tro att jag är en själv. =)

Jag blev upplockad utanför stationen igår av mamma och Daniel och fick både en hög med post, mammas bullar och en bukett med rosor. Hemma på köksbordet stod det en bukett liljekonvaljer och ett brev från min blomvakt samt ett brev från en kompis som lånat min lägenhet några dagar. Trevligt att bli välkomnad hemma och känna att man varit lite saknad.

Nu är naglarna ommålade och i eftermiddag bär det av hem-hem för att busa lite med brorsbarnen. Tänkte stanna över natten och fira morsdag i morgon, sen på måndag är det tillbaka till vanliga skrivbordet igen.

i'm back...

i'm home...
i'm tired...
i'm dizzy...
i'm saying sumimasen to everyone...
i'm excessivly polite...
i'm gonna sleeeeeeeep....

The end is near...

So this is it.. It’s amazing how fast two months passes by, and on Monday I will be sitting as usual on my regular chair at my normal desk at the Malmö office. Sleeping in my regular bed, buying the standard milk. Understanding what people say. I could never imagine that it would go by so fast. I feel that I have seen a lot, but still I don’t feel even close to content. It feels like there is some much more to see and experience here.

Well.. even though I don’t want to go home yet, knowing that I have to and that I have that dreadful flight tomorrow makes me wish I was home already. Now the bags are almost fully packed and I will without a doubt exceed the weight limit on the plane. I sent almost 5kg with mail, but still...

Now it’s getting quite late and since I have to get up at 6 tomorrow to get on the Friendly Airport Limousine (do they actually have an Unfriendly Airport Limousine as well?) I guess it’s time to go to bed.

See you back in Skåneland.

today's big question...

how do you know when it's time to quit your job?!

this is not fun anymore....

sorry I'm late..

I got a text message tonight reminding me of my dentist appointment today the 26th at 8.30. My what?! Apparently they have made me a reservation automagically and since I've been here I haven't received any mail.

I think that my excuse was probably the best they've ever heard. Calling at 7.30 saying:
I'm sorry.. I won't be able to make my 8.30 appointment.. I'm in Tokyo.

cheesu!!

I’m really looking forward to coming home and start pursuing my new hobby. It’s gonna be so much fun to buy a really good camera and learn how to take great pictures. However, it’s quite confusing when everyone keep saying different things.. How on earth am I supposed to know what to do then?! I think I’m just gonna go with my gut feeling. I’ll probably end up with a Canon EOS 450D.

time is running out..

I’m having a really hard time to focus on work today. It’s already four o’clock and it feels like I haven’t done anything. It feels so strange that I’m going home soon. The classic last-time-I- thoughts have started to appear. This was my last weekend. Today I had my last ton katsu. We’ve started to plan the last dinner on Thursday. I see the “Days left in Tokyo” decreasing rapidly.. it feels like a week ago that it said “60”. Now I’m running around like a maniac to buy the things I won’t be able to buy at home or do the things I can only do here. Before I know it I will be sitting at a chair in my mother’s kitchen eating cinnamon buns and drinking milk on mother’s day.

pouring rain...

I have never in my life experienced such downfalls as here!! Not even in UK and still they’re famous for their rain. It’s like someone up there is bombarding you with water balloons. The water drops are humongous! Add to that some thunder and lightening and you have the Sunday night weather in Tokyo. I just ran out to Lawson, which is a convenient store about 20m away, and I’m completely soaked! My hair is dripping as if I just got out of the shower.. Insane!! If this is what the rainy season is like I guess I should be glad I'm going home soon..

sweet sunday..

If I ever fail or lose my current employment I could always start up a beauty salon! ;-)



This whole day feels like an extra day of free time since I all day yesterday kept thinking it was Sunday already. So, today me and my colleagues started the day unusually early with a brunch at ANA Intercontinental, a fancy hotel close to where I live and work. It sure is a real treat to dig into all the tables full of scrambled eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit, yogurt, bacon, croissants, you name it. I will probably not get hungry until late afternoon. Which is a good thing! Because today we’re going to Edo-Tokyo Museum. From the home page it looks like a really interesting exhibition and I will try to get a few minutes of rest before heading off.

Feeling pretty!!

For a vain person like me Tokyo is definitively the place to be. The amount of things you can buy to look good is impressive! Today I have spent several thousand yens on nail stuff and this is the result. =)

Välkommen till Dalarna!!

To try to increase my homesickness a bit further me and Helena went to Dalarna tonight. A small restaurant with lots of Swedish artefacts and Helena was without question handed the menu in Swedish. Must be the blond hair... We had a five course meal with all (more or less) Swedish dishes. We started with some salmon and harring, an avocado mousse with scrimps, some salad (which probably was more Japanese/German style than Swedish..), and of course meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries, and finally a cheese cake. This all went down with some sparkling elderberry soda. Once again I have eaten way to much and will soon fall into a deep food coma..

the things I miss most about home..

Since it’s now only a week and half a day until I’ll be going home (!), and I’m having too much of a good time here to really want to go home (yet at least...) I’m trying to think of the things I miss most about home to trigger some home sickness. Not necessarily in any particular order:

• My niece and nephew (yes, I do think I miss them a little bit more than the rest.. they kind of grow on you.. =) )
• My family and friends
• My electrical tooth brush!!
• My soft and bouncy bed
• The choir
• Having more than a handful of clothes to choose from
• My mother’s cinnamon buns
• Eating lots of fruit on a daily basis
• The gym (oh gosh... I must have gone mad..)
• Being able to cook
• 40h work weeks
• Understanding what people say

Hmm.. I think that’s all I can think of for now.. maybe the list will grow in a while..

Cash is king!

I got a very pleasant payslip yesterday! I’m getting my usual salary, half the allowance for being in Tokyo plus last year’s bonus. Awesome!! I’m planning to spend most of it very wisely – on myself!!

My first plan is to buy a really nice system camera. I have been thinking about getting one for so long so now it’s finally time. However, I have no idea what to get! My plan is to buy a camera with two lenses and a case. Any recommendations? Please help me! =)

Of course I’m also planning to do a lot of shopping. After being here like 2 days my shopping desire started to build up. Imagine how it is now after about 2 months!! Everyone here looks so nice, and I’m starting to feel like a bum wearing the same 5 shirts over and over again... I will probably have worn them down completely after this trip..

humidity is rising...

It's really getting warm here now.. Just walked the 10 minutes from home to work wearing a blouse and skirt with bare arms and legs and my laptop in the backpack.. and I'm completely soaked... phew...

Guess who?!

It kind of shows when the cleaning lady has paid me a visit... =)

Vote now!

I have now fulfilled my duties as a Swedish citizen and voted for the European parliament. Good for me!!

aaaaargh!!!!!

It's astonishing how some people can start to get on your nerve so much that you can barely stand the sight of them.. let alone work with them....

Shuzenji weekend

Today I and my colleagues got back from our weekend in Shuzenji. Helena, my guide in the Nippon jungle, had looked up a hotel and a route for us. We travelled by subway, train, shinkansen, train again and taxi before we got there. We left the bags at the hotel since we were a bit early for checking in and walked around the village looking at some old tombs and temples. We walked by a small shop with old pachinko games and cork shooting and the guys wanted to try the shooting. The both won a couple of more or less hideous porcelain creatures. Shortly after we had lunch at a small soba place, and one of the animals found a new home among the spices at the table. The little lady working in the restaurant stared at the animal without saying a word and we were all quite curious what would happen with the poor thing when we had left.

When we had checked in at the hotel and taken a short nap (we must be getting old...) we started our onsen bathing. It’s really great to get in to the hot pool area and just relax. Although it tends to get a bit too hot in a while. The temperature varies a bit from pool to pool, but I think it was just above 40 degrees. This place had 3 different pool areas for women. One that was actually a cave drilled out of the mountain with the previous owners favourite drill. There was also a “normal” indoor pool and, my favourite, the outdoor pool.

At dinner time we all entered the restaurant, still in our yukatas, and were served an enormous meal. The plates just kept coming. Since I still was feeling quite sick, strange Japanese food wasn’t really what I felt up for, so I was basically just picking in the food. But everything looked really nice and beautiful. They sure know how to make a dish look appetizing. After dinner we ended up in the common room playing some ping-pong and, of course, singing some karaoke. I think the guy standing in the bar had the time of his life. Not quite sure though if he was laughing with us or at us... =)

This morning we all dragged ourselves out of bed at eight to get some breakfast. We choose continental style, and it was actually quite alright. Apparently you can’t really count on getting a nice breakfast around here. After breakfast we jumped into the onsen and got scrubbed up again and shortly thereafter it was time to check out and go home. When leaving the hotel it felt like the entire staff was standing outside waiting for the taxi with us, bowing deeply and waving when the taxi took off.

I've put up a lot of pictures from Shuzenji and also some from Oedo onsen.

sleepless...

I'm guessing it was a stupid thing to do to sleep 3 hours this afternoon....

Onsen trip coming up

After a long week of never ending excruciating headache, stomachache, neck ache.. you name it.. I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I and some guys from work are going to Shuzenji to get cleaned up. We are going to an onsen. This Tuesday, me and Helena went to an onsen a bit closer by, oedo onsen in Odaiba (pictures will come later). But this time we’re doing the real thing. We’re gonna get on shinkansen and go down to the half island Izu. There we will spend the night at Yutorian Shuzenji Hotel and probably just walk around in our yukatas the whole weekend. Really relaxing! I’m hoping to return full of energy and ready for a new week.

sick?!

The last couple of days I've had an insane migraine like headache.. Today, however, I have reached new levels of pain! I have been eating Treo like candy but nothing seems to help.. Today I left work to sleep for an hour or two.. but I could barely sleep. Had to much pain and was freezing a bit... and then I woke up with even more pain feeling stiff in the neck and sore in the skin..

I don't want to be sick.. not here... When you're sick you should be at your mummys place.. being force-fed chocolate and ice-cream.. =(

A perfect day!!

Today I and a couple of guys from work had an awesome day at the beach. We left home at 9.30 although really tired after a quite late (early?) Friday night. We started off a hamburger breakfast at Ebisu station before taking the train to Kamakura, where we rented bikes and took off to the beach. For the first time in my life I voluntarily used SPF30, and I can guarantee it shows which spots I failed to spray.

After a couple of hours of slacking in the sun and laughing at some Russian youngsters we got on our bikes again and left for Miami beach of the east. There we saw extremely many surfers just lying around bobbing up and down in the water. Most of them probably just to be able to say that they are surfers. And we saw so many kite surfers and wind surfers as well, but they seemed a bit more active in trying to pursue their sport. Carl and Johan seemed quite up for going for a ride themselves.

Finally we ended up at an Italian restaurant overlooking the sea, having a five course meal and sharing a couple of bottles of nice, cold, white wine. Simply a perfect meal and the service was as usual impeccable.

We jumped on our bikes again and took off in the sunset aiming for Kamakura train station to go back to Roppongi.

Well back at the hotel I poured a bath and folded myself three times to fit in my tiny bathtub to relax a bit before going to dinner. Now I have actually eaten chicken sashimi, which is raw chicken. So if I’ll never show up back home you know why... Actually, it was surprisingly good! Much nicer than the horse sashimi I tried a couple of weeks ago.

Now I’m heading for bed. It has truly been a perfect day!! Even my nail polish was matching my bikini. =)

best service ever..

I'm so amazed by the people in this country!! They are so service minded. I just went out to a restaurant to get some take away. As soon as I entered the place a guy, let's call him nr 1, came up to me with a menu. I ordered and sat down to wait. After half a minute another guy, nr 2, comes up with a glass of water and asks if I would like something to drink while I wait. I very politely say no thanks, and he starts talking a bit. Then he goes back to work again and short thereafter nr 1 comes back with a blanket so I won't get cold since all the doors and windows are open. 2 minutes after, guy nr 2 comes back to ask if I would like some more water. I say that I'm ok, and then he asks if I would like a magazine or something so I won't get bored.

I think I will feel very mistreated and neglected when I come back to Sweden....

Feeling blue..

What's up with those days when you're just feeling sad without any particular reason? When you don't really feel like talking to anyone or doing anything.. just lie in bed and watch bad movies all day.. I think I need some me-time tonight.. Just reading a book.. ironing some shirts.. painting my nails.. whatever. Just me, myself and I.

Cravings...

I WANT CHOCOLATE!!! NOW!!! I have indulged myself in excessive overeating since I got here and I'm afraid I will look more like a hippo than myself when I return.. I have been doing some running and swimming, but not at all close to as much as I would need to.. I've also been so tired lately so I have barely managed to get out of bed in the morning.. let alone get out of bed AND go for a run..

But I think I need some chocolate now.. last one.. promise.... or maybe not promise.. but.. you know.... bah..

Golden week!!

Golden week has arrived!! One of the biggest (the biggest?) Japanese holidays. 3 work-free days in one week. The amount of cars in the morning traffic has noticeably decreased. But sitting here at the customers office there are still 15-20 people who are working... They really know how to appreciate their work!!

Elvis is alive!!!!

Today I have met Elvis!! He is alive, and he is Japanese!!

I took the subway to Harajuku and went for a stroll in Yoyogi park. I ended up at a temple, and yet again i saw a traditional Japanese wedding. It struck me that no one smiled, not even the bride and groom, and that most of the guests were wearing black. Talk about the closest mourners...

After walking around for a while and with the help of a phone call to my personal guide I finally found Elvis. Or rather the Elvises. They were dancing around to some rock ‘n’ roll music putting on a great show for the spectators. It’s pretty cool that Tokyo can be extremely crowded at some places, but you never feel as crammed as you would in Sweden. People really do show more respect than they would elsewhere.

I had been recommended a perfect souvenir store in Omotesando, so I paid them a visit. They had so many gorgeous things and it sure is a shame that it’s so expensive to bring it home. But of course I couldn’t help myself so I bought a couple of things to remember this trip by.

Temple day...

Yesterday I and my personal guide Helena took the train to Kamakura. This is an old city that once was the capital of Japan. There are many old temples in Kamakura and we managed to visit four of them.

First we went to the biggest one of them. We were just about to enter it when we saw a bridal couple. They all wore amazing clothes and were lined up for some pictures. When we stood there watching four young Japanese students approached us and asked if they could be our guides around the temple. They were studying English and wanted to practice. Really ambitious, I must say. Of course we said yes, and they showed us around explaining what everything is and the traditions. After that Helena and I went on our own to see the other temples. It was great to see such different kinds of temples. Everything from really grand and crowded to small and peaceful. I've put up a whole bunch of pictures of these amazing temples.

After the temples we went to Yokohama and took a walk around the harbour. Such a huge difference between the peaceful temples in Kamakura to the skyscrapers in Yokohama. I got to do some shopping and we had some fika at Staba. When we returned to Roppongi after a long day of walking we met up with the rest of the guys to go to the yakitori place. Finally we ended up at a club called Bauhaus, and yes.. they did steal the logo, where a really awesome Japanese band were playing covers.