Elle's Adventures

If you haven't heard of the k-pop star Psy, you must really be living under a rock! His song Gangnam Style has been taking youtube (and the world) by storm since it's release in July this year. To be honest I was a little late catching onto this crazy myself. I first heard the song about two weeks ago and didn't really understand what everyone was raving about. For some reason I heard it again today, and I'm hooked! Take a listen, it will make you smile! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 I listened to an interview with Psy and Ryan Seacrest, and Psy seems to be a really sweet, down to earth guy. Plus his English is really beautiful. He's already made about four albums if my wikipedia memory serves me correctly :p but I can't seem to find any music other than Gangnam Style! I'd really like to hear the rest of this album and the others. In the past he was quite controversial in Korea. I hope to post some photos of my recent trip to Takaya...

Today is my second day back at school, and man is it draining! It is still as hot as anything here, and standing in the classroom is hell. They have fans going, but they do nothing but push the stinking, thick air all around. Sweat is constantly dripping down my back (that is not an exaggeration), so I always make sure I'm wearing something dark so it doesn't show up so much. But yes, I have a problem! And it is to do with my brain. You see, during the holidays I had a few things to do on my wishlist. The ones crossed out are what I achieved. 1. Draw 2. Paint 3. Play The Sims 3 4. Watch awesome movies 5. Climb Mount Fuji 6. Meet up with Suzuka and Manami 7. Go to Nagano City 8. Meet up with Mai 9. Study for the D ecember JLPT N2 (the second highest level of Japanese Proficiency Test, for those of you who are not in the 'know'). Half crossed out because I still have a lot to learn. While it looks like a pretty good effort, the majority of what I actually di...

I just found a wonderful reason to definitely return home when this contract ends at the end of January. One of my all-time favourite bands are coming to Australia for Soundwave! The band I want to see most is A Perfect Circle. The singer of that band is also the singer of Tool, who I saw last year (best thing I have ever seen!). I'm also pretty keen on seeing Linkin Park and Blink 182. It's funny, because I've been listening a lot to Blink lately, like when I was in High School. The Offspring are okay, I hate Paramore. Their songs are catchy, but to me they just seem like teenage girl music; for those who aren't into pop and are just getting into heavier stuff. Dede likes them, but oh well. Garbage are alright too but I don't know a lot of their songs. Sum41 are awful, although I must admit I did (still do?) own one of their albums. Oh yeah, and Metallica? No thanks! Actually thinking about, Linkin Park would be awesome. I should listen...

See that beautiful mountain? It is Japan's most famous mountain, and the biggest at 3776 meters. It is an active volcano, but the last time it erupted as 1708. It is one of the three Holy Mountains of Japan, and can be seen in countless art pieces from history. Mount Fuji, of course... The crazy thing is, I am going to be on the peak of this mountain in five days time. And I am very, very scared. We are going to start climbing around 7:00pm on Saturday night, to arrive on the summit at about 1:00am Sunday morning. Then we wait for the sun to rise. Oh, I just checked the weather and there is going to be a little bit of rain. Goody. I bet that means it will be cloudy and we won't be able to see anything as well. Why am I scared? Well, I've never been one for exercise. And the outdoors are pretty and all but I don't like tramping around for hours. Especially on an incline! And although I don't like to admit it, I am pretty lazy. I told Dede yesterday that he s...

Yes, at the moment it is a three-day holiday here in sweaty Japan.  Today Dede and I took off to Nagoya for some Chinese and shopping. He ended up buying yet another lens for his camera, and well, I just got a meal. I'm pretty sure we spent over two hours at the camera store so I didn't get to look at very much :( Other than that there hasn't been any else new! So take a look at some photos from the past month or so. I had been craving some sweet wine, which is surprisingly hard to find here. So I ordered some Brown Brothers Zibibbo online! It's from a Japanese store, so I figure I could find it instore...somewhere. But no such luck yet ;) I may live in what's technically called a 'city', but there are still little rice-paddies surrounding my house. It's wonderful! I love watching the older people planting and tending to their rice (as I haven't seen any young people at it yet!) Quite a while ago I got a coupon from McDo...