Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

My cousin and I decided to make cupcakes today. It didn't have a very strong strawberry taste, but it tasted good anyway.^^

The Sydney Harbour Bridge turns 75

There were huge celebrations for the Bridge's 75th anniversary on Sunday. The bridge was closed to vehicles for the event and over 215000 people walked across it spread across the 6 lanes.

My sister was part of the organizing committee and she got us passes to the opening ceremony. It was still dark when we left the house at a quarter past 6 in the morning. We caught the train from Wahroonga arriving at North Sydney around 7am where we picked up our free fluoro yellow-green hats and where breakfast was provided also free of charge. There was hot tea and coffee, orange juice, water and mini muffins. There were even wait staffs who meandered through the crowd offering muffins on silver platters. I must say, I wasn't expecting such good service.^^

At around 8am we were all rounded up for the start of the walk to the Bridge. The Opening took place at the northern end with the Governor of NSW Marie Bashir, Premier of NSW Morris Iemma, Lord Mayor of Sydney and the Mayor of North Sydney making up the official party. The national anthem was sung by Jessica Mauboy from Australian Idol and the Sydney Harbour Bridge Choir who were dressed in the theme colours of the Bridge's 75th anniversary event. Very bright and colourful.

During the ribbon cutting and the start of the bridge crossing, a recording of the Our Bridge Overture, composed especially for the occasion by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin and performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, reverberated from the towering stacks of massive speakers. Everyone around me were snapping photos and having a good time. I loved it: the soundscape, the atmosphere, the wind chimes marking the end of the bridge walk. It was amazing. Well organised too. Good job peoples! (^o^)//
There was plenty of entertainment at Darling Harbour, the Rocks, Circular Quay...We turned off at Sydney Observatory for their Open Day event, rested a while on Observatory Hill, then head toward The Rocks for lunch. The restaurants and cafes were packed so we bought some quiche take-away, picked out a spot on the grass area west of the Quay and ate there. We were very lucky with the weather. It was overcast, with misty rain on and off, all day. Nevertheless, I still got slightly sunburned. Good thing I put sunscreen on my face in the morning.

Late afternoon we caught the train back to the northern side of the harbour and walked to Bradfield Park where the vintage car show was held. We got there just as the car owners were getting ready to leave, but I still had enough time to take some photos.
After an early dinner at a nearby Thai diner, we took a quick nap before setting off for the 7:30 walk Dad had originally registered us for. The evening hats were bright orange with a small LED light on the front. It was great looking back and seeing the thousands of little lights approaching. The evening bridge walk had more of a party atmosphere, perhaps because there were more teenager and young adults in that session. There were also numerous keen cameramen snapping shots of the Bridge which was bathed in blue, orange, pink, yellow and white lighting. I too took lots of photos throughout the day. It was interesting seeing the Bridge from a different angle. From the middle of the road where cars, buses and trucks are usually doing 70km/h. Driving across at that speed, you're on the other side within a couple of minutes. No time to admire the engineering marvel. Apparently, the life span of the bridge is 300 years.
I still remember the days when it cost only 50 cents to cross the Bridge. (For those of you who don't know, the toll has since risen to $3. And the Sydney Harbour Tunnel has provided an alternative route across the harbour since its completion in 1992, also costing $3. Unlike Japan and perhaps other places, you only need to pay going from North to South. The return trip is toll-free.)
More photos here

今日は金曜日

今日、Sばあちゃんは電話かけてきました。
「今日、何曜日？」と。
それだけ。
面白い！何かかわいい。＾＾

ママがバイトしてたこの数日間、私はおままごとをしていました。夕飯はほとんど両親と一番下の弟と私だけで食べました。水曜日、お好み焼きとそばサラダを作りました。サラダのドレッシングを失敗してしまって、味が薄すぎました。パパが特にそばサラダを気に入れ、次の日、残り物をお弁当として会社まで持っていって、うれしかったです。＾＾
昨日のメニューはグリル野菜のパスタ、グリーンサラダとコールスロー。今日のメインはなすとトマトのピリ辛スパゲティで、また失敗してしまったんです。だけど、みんな全部食べてくれました。家族皆、好き嫌いをする人じゃなくて良かったと思っています。

I was in a cleaning mood today. After breakfast with Ma, she went to work and I spent the afternoon tidying up the chaos that was me and my sister's room, and more importantly, reclaimed my bed. The room is no where near "clean" but it'll do for now. At least there is space to walk without one being afraid of stepping on something or knocking something over.

２３C は寒い？

みんなTシャツ１枚着てるのに、私は長袖１枚とフード付きのジャケット１枚を着てました。大丈夫かな？
昨日、朝１１時まで寝坊しました。なのに、午後本を読んでいる間にまた寝てしまいました。この数日間何時間寝たのかな？＾＾；
疲れのせいか何かわからないのですが、この頃、全然やる気がないです…今日も一日家にいます。散歩でも行こうかな。早くモチベーションを見つけないと！
And I have to find that blue pension book!!

Home Sweet Home

The past 2 weeks have been kinda stressful despite not doing all that much. Although I was staying with Japanese friends and spoke it daily, I was having increasing difficulty recalling vocabulary. I feel that my Japanese ability has completely and utterly crashed. Perhaps my brain is overworked.

It feels good to be home after weeks of floating about. Dad has bought a new PC and set up a home network so my sister's and my room is no longer used as a computer room. Yay! However, my sister has been using my bed as storage and says that she hasn't had time to clear it up. I have thus been sent to sleep in Grandma's room until the coming weekend when Grandma comes for a visit. Let's hope my dear sister gets her act together by the end of the week...

If you are in Japan and have plans for international travel by air, please be aware that there are new regulations in place regarding liquids in your carry-on baggage. I didn't find out until after I had checked-in my luggage and was handed a 15x15cm zip lock bag in which I was to put any liquid-, gel- or cream-based products I had in my carry-on baggage. As a general rule, if the container doesn't fit in the resealable bag it should be put in your checked-in luggage. No drinks allowed either!

New photo albums added

Takamatsu
Okayama
Tokyo
Disneyland

Apologies for my laziness with updating...

I've been busy job hunting (though I haven't much to show for it...>.<') and catching up with ex-colleagues and friends. Also, I've been moving around staying with friends since I arrived in Japan 3 weeks ago. I didn't want to be anti-social and sit in front of the computer all day. At this point, I'd like to take the opportunity to say a big THANK YOU!! to L who let me crash at her place for 2 whole weeks, to D for her hospitality and for giving up her days off to take me around Okayama, and to the Kato's and Doi's for taking me in as a member of their family. It's been great having some home-made meals after 6 months of cafeteria food in BJ and eating out practically every meal during my time in HK.

Today, I went to Disneyland with Miki & her adorable soon-to-be-2-year-old son. We walked there from their home. Yes, they live that close. If you look out the window at around 9 in the evenings, you can enjoy the Disneyland fireworks display. Maybe that's why so many young families with young children live in this area.^^

Despite it being mid-week, Disneyland was packed! There were crowds of elementary school kids wearing their little cloth caps, junior high school students in their 'sailor' uniforms (reminded me of those school excursions to Australia's Wonderland...) and rowdy, soon-to-graduate senior high school students. I also heard quite a few people speaking Cantonese around me...a tour group maybe?

Argh, I'm tired. Better go to bed. Got an interview tomorrow...wish me luck!^^