Oh! where have those holidays gone . . .

お正月　ー　御節料理
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Consisting of lazing and cooking, walks in the mountains, crazy shopping expeditions to find myself sinking further into Japanese fashion trends . . it was a much needed break . . sadly all of the partying and lack of school related study (note that everyday was like study because you are constantly using Japanese, watching and having Japanese stuff . . . living it pretty much!) yet somehow I don't get marks for that and thus the past few days have found me wide awake all through the night hours and feel ill from the fatigue-induced reflux - CHARMING!
Need to tidy up packages for sending but thankfully there is only one more day of school for the week and then it's SWOT-VAC . . hmm . . I have't heard that word in a long time . . wonder if there is a Japanese equivalent . . It's been years since I took proper examination hall style exams in Adelaide.

I am releaved to have handed up my literature essay and I did my final presentation for Japanese today . . I gave up on Nausicaa and was much better served by writing about ご近所物語 (gokinjomonogatari - 'stories of the honourable neighbourhood'!). It's a manga designed for young girls . . pretty typical 少女（shoujo - that which is designed for and supposedly emulates, but probably propagates, that stereotypcial image of cutesy, naive little girls）stuff but it's got some substance and what's more it have furigana (readings of kanji in superscript) which makes life sooo much easier and means you can actually enjoy reading the darn thing rather than feeling it's a chore!
YAY! So that's done and the teacher said I had obviously done a lot of preparation and wasn't too annoyed that I rocked up late after lunch because I was still printing it out.
Now only good luck is going to get me through the exams . . there's just too much to know!

So this photo is me and Maki when we eventually woke up on the 1st of January . . check out that 御節料理 (osechi ryouri) special New Years food and we were all plied with alcohol from from breakfast onwards . . Oh so much Ume-shu must come back to Adelaide with me!
You can't see it so well in this picture but just you wait to you see a close up . . delectable! Epicureans eat your heart out!!

THANKS to Aliese for the package that I got yesterday - I have given up hope on its ever coming . . and I must say that the mice were very much the worse for wear!!
(Sarah, I really like your version of So Far Away! It helped me write my presentation but there is probably a limit to home much I should listen to it . . it's sad)

Also to Midge from whom I received yet another unexpected package containing a book and one of those USB portable harddrive thingos . . strangely enough the night before when unable to sleep and pondering the non-functionality of the internet service here I was thinking wouldn't it be great if I had one of those little thingos! BINGO! Though it struck me as ironic that I should be in land of techonomology and be having stuff of that nature sent to me.

Oh, yes, and though the cold gets too much for me I must say that I went for a lovely walk this afternoon . . I was feeling pretty yucky from lack of sleep and food but I determined myself to walk to the expressway tunnel while the weather was vaguely fine (ie not blowing a howling gale or snowing) and though I missed two subsequent buses as a result it was one of the most worthwhile things I have done lately - I miss walking all over the place but being stuck at school during the day leaves on the cold cold nights for strolls and it's just not terribly tempting. I felt much revived for the exercise but must not let it go to my head because have a number of things that must be attended tonight! Well, should get on with it then . . . then a trip to Fresta for provisions.