Hi there! You've found my blog page!
Here you can peruse through my online journal & personal musings on anything exciting, interesting or just plain amusing that happens to pop up when I am around in Osaka, Japan.
Hope you enjoy & feel free to drop me a comment!
A b o u t . t h e . A u t h o r : There's lots of stuff that I like, and some stuff that I don't. I hope you don't expect me to list all of them here - because I won't - and the process all seems a bit boring anyways, right? So.. to save both you & I some embarassment, the important stuff is: I really love music, my Strat, t-shirts, books and a good drinking session with good friends. One thing that I dislike is cucumbers. Interesting, no? ;)
patrick.
M a i d o , m i n n a s a n !
Hay!! U found the secret section :) Um, here you will find some random stuff I'll come up with putting here every so often.
Secret #2:
Here are some pics of Kali's Bday BBQ she had a while back!! CLICK HERE, you can see all the hungry people who were constantly hanging around cooking food area, ie. us!.. haha. The bday girl is the one in the pink top, flanked by Anna to her left and yours truly in the sunnies. I know it's hard to tell in photos, but if you CLICK HERE, you can see that the day was in fact quite windy! The dude in the middle is frantically trying to light his cigarette, while I look on with a rather non-plussed expression and with Anna frantically waving her hand at the camera so fast that it's a blur! Haha. Everyone wave HI Anna! :D
   ROAR!! Behold!
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Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Cricket basics 101 with Pat Sensei
Gday all you pedigree chums out there!
Hisashiburi!! (Long time no see!!) Sorry that I've been in the dark for what two months now... it's been a long and painful summer weather wise, with temperatures not deviating within 9 degrees of each other, and with daily maximums of 34 and minumums of 28 it ain't pretty let me tell you, he he.. but there's still one more month to come. AARGH the humidity will be the end of me!!
Lately my big lovely Japanese Cuisine Recipe book has been seeing some nice usage, and after a vigorous and telling 3 months of studying and poring through the pages I can successfully prepare and cook...
Katsu don and miso soup.
Now though the average Japanese chef may not consider these dishes as the most challenging of dishes, I like to pride myself that my katsu-dons and miso soup aren't the worst I've tasted.
For some strange reason lately I've been missing watching the cricket over here. Maybe it's because of the lack of expansive areas of grass around Osaka, or maybe more likely the weather is hot and I'm used to having the cricket on the tele in the background. Eitherway, I tried to remedy my longing by attempting to explain the rules of cricket to my voice students yesterday. It took me roughly 10minutes to force them to use the term "batsmen" instead of "batter", and "keeper" instead of "catcher". Meh. Also, I don't know about you guys, but cricket had always seemed like a dead simple sport. Person bowls the ball, another one hits it, couple of guys run after it while the guys who hit the ball run up and down a small strip that has wooden sticks in the ground on either end. Pretty much it right? Dude.... DUDE....
"How do you score points?"
"Well, they're not actually points, they're runs you see. So when the batsmen hit the ball they run."
"Ohhh. Like baseball?"
"..... nnnnNNot like baseball... they run up the pitch and if they make it they score a run."
"Why are there two batters?"
"Weell, first, they're batsmen, and because one of them hits it so the other one can also run... erm.. i think."
"How long is this pitch?"
"Ehmmm... er.. about this long?"
"Ooooh. But what if one guy is slow and cannot run fast?"
"Well.. they're never really that slow. Normal people can run OK"
"Where are the hitting persons?"
"Here.. and here." me pointing to dodgy diagram of cricket field on whiteboard
"Who is that?" student indicating a circle where the wicket keeper is
"He's the keeper. He catches the balls."
"So like baseball."
"... nnnnNNnot like baseball..."
And so on and so forth for another 40 minutes, by which at the end I finally believed Raphael's line to Casey Jones in the park in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 when he said "Cricket?! Nobody plays cricket!!" Aaah bless his little smooth green half-shell.
Guys! I got a digital camera! Pics up shortly!! Hurrah!
Later! Take care!
Pat.
Posted at 03:53 pm by iekoh-au
Thursday, May 27, 2004
The art of tatami bug killing
Hullo peoples! Irrashaimasseeeeehhhhhhh!!!
How's everything been ey? Lately there's been many a "sayonara party" for guys and girls leaving Osaka for their home country.. including Luke-san, who returned to Melbourne last week. That leaves my apartment with only myself and Dougal-san, Kiwi from down under. So this new cat who will soon be sharing our humble abode is Mr. Kipkem Henry. An unusual name do you think? Methinks also! Haha. But fret not because so like all other Japanese quirks most likely they messed up his name order and wrote his surname prior to his christian name. Ahhh.. these wacky people. However, Dougs and myself have decided that he will be referred to as "Kip" from the moment he sets foot into the place. Onya Kip.
Why no photos of Japan up yet? Good question :D.. I have entirely no idea but a USB cable should be one of the easiest things to find yet I have failed to purchase one on any of my many outings to DenDen Town, or electronics town, in downtown Namba. HOWEVER... yes I am at the moment saving up every single yen for a nice shiny new digital camera... aahhhh droool. But let me say this.. not having easy access to the internet totally SUX0RZ.
Hard.
WOW.. now here's something quite egg-citing that took place yesterday. As you may or may not know, my bedroom is a tatami-mat style room. Tatami-mats have a tendency to breed little dust mites known as dani. So if you neglect to air out and beat your futon at least once every week these little critters fest underneath your futon in many numbers and they even bite you occasionally, leaving your arms, legs, buttocks or any other exposured body part of choice with little itchy bumps a la mozzie bites. These bites, like the lack of net access, sux0rz. They are fully weak sauce and I wouldn't recommend the experience to anyone, especially not YOU. o_O
Heheh.
Anyway so we got this can that was kinda like a flea-bomb but cunningly formulated to slay dani bugs, cleared out all the tatami-rooms of furniture and everything else, closed all doors and windows and let the bomb off. Ye-ah. w00t. It was awesome, especially because of the fact that dani bugs are too small to be visible by the naked eye so I couldn't get the satisfaction of even looking at these bastards die. Ha ha. Oh well.. there was a thorough vaccuuming session afterwards that Dougal and I executed with a maniacal grin plastered on our faces throughout the while.
Well.. take care you crazy cats and I'll rock it out back here a bit soon, ey?
Pat.
Posted at 06:15 pm by iekoh-au
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Hullo everyone!
Phew.. it's been a while ey? All the cherry blossoms have fallen off the trees in Osaka and they have moved further up north of Japan, and so the sakura trees have all become green now! But it was meccha meccha beautiful while it lasted, so I'm glad I arrived in time to see the best of it.
I have been settling into work quite nicely now.. and the good thing is that most of the time is actually very enjoyable. My particular branch is one of the quieter ones.. so the pace is quite relaxed. Some of the things that students say is just pure hilario, and so that's great. However, one thing I promised to myself very early on is to put a stop to Japanese people from saying "My hobbies are..." whenever they introduce themselves in class. It sets my nerves on the edge everytime. Grrrr... But the most omoshiroi thing is that they often have the funniest hobbies.. for egg-xample:
"Hi! I'm Pat."
"Hello, my name is Sachiko."
"Hello Sachiko."
"Hello. Nice to meet you. Eeeeeh-toh. I live in Kishiwada City. I am an office worker. My hobbies are sleeping and watching TV."
*HA! What weak sauce hobbies.* I think to myself.
And then I explain to them:
"Cmon, everyone watches TV and everyone sleeps.. so it's really not an actual hobby, you know.. I mean, do you do embroidery or croquet or something? THAT'S what you would call a hobby."
To which the response is always a painful puzzled look accompanied with a scratching of the head and the inevitable..
" Eeeeh-toooooh.."
HAHAH.. it's great :D
Posted at 06:02 pm by iekoh-au
Friday, April 02, 2004
Cherry Blossom Party People
Hi Everyone!
How's everyone in melbourne?? Daijobu? iidesu-yo!
OK firstly I need to tell you all that my address is slightly wrong, just a minor slip-up on Nova's behalf (ha ha I am certain it will not be the last heheh)
My CORRECT address is actually
#1422 Sharumu Sakai
2-1-7 Ohamakitamachi
Sakai-Shi
Osaka-Fu
590-0974
Japan
So really they got the street number of my apartment building wrong.. meh.
I ALSO HAVE A MOBILE NOW!!! YE-AH! Let me tell you that mobile phones in this country are truly wonderous things. Every single person in Japan has a mobile, whether you are a 6 year old primary school kid or a 70 year old granny. Amazing. And they have nifty functions like digital cameras built-in, mp3 players, web access and email access... the list goes on.. and it's all standard.
My particular model can also take movies, use as a remote control for the household TV and DVD player or even a Karaoke remote if you have one.. and I can watch TV from it too. Too bad it doesn't use SIM cards so most likely I won't be able to use it back home. Hahah.. but I'll try convert it or something I guess.. :D
OK.. the GOOD thing is that I can email from my mobile to any of you guys and attach movies or pics I've taken.. and really it only costs me 8yen... prettttty yasui if you ask me!
Unfortunately this local internet cafe doesn't have a USB cable for me to hook up to my phone.. so I can't download any pics yet, but I promise they'll be some coming up soon alright?
But the even BETTER news is that you guys can email my phone whenever you like! AND FOR FREE!! but note that you can't click REPLY to an email I've sent from my phone because it won't work.. just compose a new mail with the right address...
..which is:
phatkau@k.vodafone.ne.jp
Incidentally, you can even call me up if you like! :D
mob: +81-80-3780-2782
but obviously the rates would be quite exhorbitant.. and international calling is actually quite cheap for me! So just prank me and I'll return your call if I know you well enough muahahha.
Yesterday I finished my last day of training! Monday I had orientation which was really quite a waste of time and then from Tuesday onwards there was 3 days training which was held in Tennoji-Eki.. about 20 minutes from my place. I did training with these two other English lads, Frazer from Coventry and Simon from Liverpool. Good lads.. and we managed to down a couple of pints after each day at the local which was great.
Today is my day off, but I start work tomorrow at my branch in Kishiwada. Apparently it's a fairly small branch and I've met a couple of guys who work there and they're real cool.
OK so what's been happening this last week so far??... ee-to...
People are really friendly here.. and very very polite. I quickly learnt that a nice quick bow and a "sumimasen" whenever you are in someone's way is the common practice.. things like running into a lift that is quite full.. or when brushing past someone in the grocery store. Really it's not compulsory but it seems to make society flow normally.
Not many people wear sunnies.. in fact no one does even if the weather is quite sunny. The reason for this is because dark sunglasses are mainly worn by the yakuza and so if you wear them, (and especially if you are wearing a suit as well) then people will either think you are gansta yo! or a bit of a try hard. This is remedied by a few fashion conscious but non-criminally inclined teenagers to don the tinted sunnies.. mmm.. trendy. Of course this only applies to the Japanese.. so if you're white or of any non-asian background then you're O.K. Lucky for me that I get mistaken as being nihon-jin everywhere I go. HA! I like to terrorise old grannies on the side streets and skimp them for money when I wear my sunnies. HA HA. No I'm joking.
Living is really not that expensive here.. you just need to know where to shop or buy groceries. Dotted around everywhere are all these 100yen shops.. where bascially everything sold in the store is... 100yen. Actually 105yen because there is a 5% tax on sales and goods that's often not included on the written price. But these shops are great because they stock everything from essential household goods to food and stationary and so on. There's a couple of 99yen stores around too.. but I haven't been to one yet. I can't imagine it being much different but HAY 1yen can probably go far you know. Well no 1yen is quite useless and you really want to get rid of them as often as you can otherwise it just ends up being shrapnel in your wallet.
Cherry blossoms are about to bloom or already are blooming in Osaka this time of the year.. and next week a couple of friends Noriko-chan and Akina-chan are taking me to a public park where EVERYONE goes and gets drunk and sings karaoke underneath cherry blossom trees. And when I say they get drunk and sing karaoke I mean they get SMASHED and they bring ELECTRIC GENERATORS and set up huge mama tents and SING KARAOKE. People really don't do things by halves here haha.
The public transport system is damn efficient as well. Granted it can get confusing as hell with no less than 15 different train lines all crisscrossing each other but once you get the hang of it it's no problem. And people LOVE to sleep haaha.. far out everyone just conks out once they sit down on the train seats. It's as if they're using every minute that they're either not eating, walking or working as a rare oppurtunity to catch some shut eye. But punctuality is taken very very seriously. It's funny because during orientation we were shown a comparison chart between the average number of sick days taken by employees in Japan and those in other countries including Americans, Canadians, British and Aussies. Lo and behold Japan is pushing 2% while Aussies lead the way at 15%!! HAHAHAH nice one guys!
Hrmmm well I'm afraid I have to cut a bit short now because I need to go to the bank and set up my account... but in a couple of days I'll get some pics up and running here ey?
OK later.
Pat.
Posted at 12:55 pm by iekoh-au
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Maido!@Ohayo-gozaimasu!
Well well.. here I am! I arrived into Osaka 3 days ago on a chilly tuesday morning. :D .. so at 7am and having to wait 2 hours for our english speaking representative to arrive and to take us all to where we'll be staying. The Osaka airport was really cool.. and then I got instructions to how to catch the train from the airport station to my station.. Sakai-eki
It's only about 30min ride from Kansai International Airport.. so I was pretty lucky I guess!... I met some of the other dudes coming from melbourne and they had to make a 3 or 4 hour trip with 6 legs in total... something like train.. then walk to station.. then connecting train.. then another walk.. then bus.. etc.. hahah lucky me i only live 8 minutes walk from the station! w00t!
There's so much stuff I want to write down.. aaargh! can't fully remember them all.... let's seee.....
Oh I live on the 14th floor of this big apartment building.. and I have two roomates.. Dougal is a Kiwi who I met when I got to the apartment in the later morning.. turned out he was about to leave for Hong Kong for 5 days with his girlfriend.. but it was a warm welcome and he took me out to a little place around the corner for my first meal ever in Japan... RAMEN!!!
AWESOME!! and only 500yen...! yes.. Ramen is fantasgreat.. and so is so much other food!!
I will become fat very soon methinks.
My other flatmate is a fellow Melbourne boy, Luke.. and hefs from Cheltenham!!! wheee yep yep it's great and everything...!
It's probably worthy to note that so on this first day of my arrival to Japan... Luke and his mates took me out drinking.. and Karaoke... and so ... i got drunk... HAHAHHAHA
I wondered if this was a divine sign of a pattern to come.. and sure enough.. two nights later.. DRINKING ahahha
Beer is very very cheap here... and it's all great.. especially around my area.. the Sakai district, there are heaps and heaps of little isakaya's... little japanese pub style restaurants with cheap food and cheaper beer... but this cheap food is delicious.. far out DELICIOUS.. hahah and so one can very happily live off just going to an isakaya everynight for a quick bit and everything.
Umm.. too much more to say but i can't really think now hahah.. right now I'm waiting for a shoe repairer guy in the shopping centre near to this internet cafe to put some rubber soles onto my work shoes.. because on Monday I start orientation for the job and then for 3 days after that I'll be training, which apparently is quite full on... we'll see if I survive hahah :)
I don't have a landline in my apartment unfortunately... which means I really do have net access only if I go to an internet cafe.. but they are pretty cheaps... so no problem there.. but everyone mobile phones here.. and they have internet access with cameras as well.. and here's the good news.. : You can send emails and jpegs from the mobile to ANY email address and it only costs 8yen.. that's about a cent?? which is great because I can send you guys emails and pics anytime of the days and you guys can email me back at no cost.. how grape is that?? It's the best man I'm telling you...
Monday I'll be getting a mobile so it's all good ey?? FUN AND EMAILS BABY!
OK! Have to go pick up my shoes.. they'll be ready now I think.. Sorry about this prompt entry.. I haven't proofread any of it and it make just make out like me babbling on an on and I know I've left out sooo much stuff but I promise the next entry will be great right?? OK!
Ja matte!
Miss all you guys in melbourne! :(.. :D but will talk soon!
Pat.
Posted at 01:17 pm by iekoh-au
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Today I will leave for Osaka! Who knows what amazing adventures and fantastic futures it will bring? I, for one, certainly don't! Nevertheless, the journey begins!
Here's hoping.. See you all in Osaka!
Pat. (melbourne)
Posted at 09:53 pm by iekoh-au
Monday, March 22, 2004
These last weeks in Melbourne have been some of the most best I've had in a long long time.. and I honestly don't think they could ever be topped :) It really shows that it's the regular everyday stuff that we do are the things we miss and enjoy the most, even though they may not seem special or stand out in any particular way. But when you look back on them.. they are the only times where you can truly just be yourself and have fun.. and it's just so cool cos you're having a great time just being with your closest friends, whether it be playing pool, cooking kim-chi soup and pizza, bumming on the sofa watching Korean DVDs and TV, having beers at Cookie, going for a drive, (these aren't in any particular order btw), netting it out at 1am in the morning, watching Vandreads win the semi-final, having congee at Rock Kung, or washing up Val's dishes.
So now it's less than two days to step onto the plane huh? It's finally hitting home.. happy and sad times, but never bad. :D
Alrighty, this is my last entry whilst in Melbourne, so I'll see you guys in Osaka yar?
Take care of yourselves everyone!
Byebye
Pat.
Posted at 01:31 am by iekoh-au
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Car locked out? $2.00 Fish and Chips is the answer!
Karaoke on Friday was EGG-celent!
Thanks to everyone who came.. and hope everyone had a great time! Hopefully I'll be able to get a couple of pics of the night up here soon for all to see :D Aurik and Mario's rendition of Senorita was one of the many highlights of the night.. and I even managed to teach some guys some drinking games!! Kali seemed to be the one losing a lot of the time though, so either she was thirsty or she's too honest for all the bluffing ;)
Most people ended up singing a tune or two on the stage, and I had heaps fun singing classic Boyz II Men songs from my good old high school days with fellow Melb High dudes Aurik and Shan. Aaahh, the reminiscing..
Oh, and to everyone who was introduced to my friend "Rick".. he's actually "Aurik". Apparently it's a hard name to remember, so normally it's "Eric". First time I heard him use "Rick" though.. haha. Onya Rick. And nice haircut too..
A funny incident of the night prevailed after we finally left CC's Karaoke Lounge in the frosty early hours of the morn and Chin realised that his car had been locked inside the car-park. So six of us were left standing around debating the best course of action. The final solution? $2.00 fish & chips at Crown, baby. Ye-eah!
It was great seeing so many guys there that night.. and even though I'll catch up with most of you soon before I leave.. I'll miss these fun times had :(...
Well less then a week to go and I haven't even started packing yet.. haha. Procrastination is the best. Especially when the procrastination is largely in the form of partying. m/ Rawk on.
Tomorrow I will post some more updates on last Friday night, and perhaps a picture or two! Yo.
Until then,
Pat.
Posted at 01:49 am by iekoh-au
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Here's some useful and eggciting news..
Today I found out where I'll be staying! YEA-AH! I got so excited I did two consecutive triple somersaults from my chair.
My address in Osaka is:
#1422 Sharumu Sakai
2-2-21 Ohamakitamachi
Sakai-Shi
Osaka-Fu
590-0974
Hurrah! Send me a postcard sometime OK?
Pat.
Posted at 11:39 pm by iekoh-au
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Hullo there!
It's been a bit.. but now that I have done and received everything need in preparation for Osaka, it's time to party! Rock on. Sorted.
Yes last week I received both my plane tickets for Osaka AND my Japanese working holiday visa AND sorted out travel insurance AS WELL!! I actually feel organised for once! Now it's almost time to think about packing ey?
But first with the important stuff: This coming Friday night (being the 12th of this month) there will be a little get together karaoke/drinking night at CC's Karaoke Lounge in Lt. Bourke St. (near MOOKS store) @ around 10.00pm. It's really just an excuse to sing badly, play drinking games and get completely trashed.. soooo what better way to spend your friday night?! I honestly can't think of any, SO COME ALL YE.
Where alcohol flows, pure joy and hilarity is destined to follow. Muahaha.
OK THAT"S IT! Ciao for now.
Pat.
Posted at 07:06 pm by iekoh-au
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