Time Flies...

In my first year of my Masters degree in Japanese Interpreting and Translation back in 2001, I became an aunt for the very first time. At the time, despite the full schedule of lectures and live interpreting forums each week, I was working 2 part-time jobs to make ends meet and living in a townhouse close to the Univeristy of Queensland. I was also finishing off my second BA degree at Griffith Uni at the same time, doing the last 4 credits one a semester to be eligible to graduate both at the same time, and trying to find the time in between study to work enough to pay the bills was tough. Especially after spending 3 years in Japan prior to that and earning a reasonable wage and living a life of freedom, doing everything I wanted to, partying with friends and doing a fair bit of international travel when I could.
So, in my second year of the Masters, when my first neice turned 1 year old I decided to make a trust fund for her and pay in $365 (one dollar for each day of her life) for the first 5 years until she turned 5 years old. She was the first grandchild for both sides of the family, and I knew that not only was she too young to remember not getting a toy from her aunt, but she would be pampered with every gift imaginable. So, I decided to set aside the $365 dollars each year.
Then when she was a little over 2, her little sister came along and I decided to do the same for her. Next week, Little C turns 5 years old, and it will be the last trust fund payment I make. It is kind of sad how quickly time flies and how fast they grow up. But now that I look at the balance in their accounts, I am so glad that I decided to do it. Each of them have over $2200 dollars so far (including interest) and although I havent tried to simulate how much it will be in the end, I am guessing that they will both be over the moon to receive their stash of cash when they each turn 18. I wish I had an aunt that did the same for me when I was young. But I guess if I did, I would have sailed through uni with not a care in the world, and probably wouldnt have come up with the idea for my neices in the first place.

Finding My Mojo (Slowly...)

Well, it has been a very long time in between posts, and I am slowly finding my blogging mojo again. I thought I would start by posting about a few things that happened in January.

On January 24th, I headed to Kyoto for one of my best friend's weddings. Atsuko and I joined the agency where we work only 3 weeks apart back in January 2003, and since then she has been a great friend. We have been through a lot together over the years, and so I was so honored and excited to be invited to her wedding and witness her marriage to Tomo.

She was an absolutely stunning bride, and the wedding ceremony and reception was one of the most moving, and enjoyable weddings I have ever been to.

Here are a few pics of Ats and Tomo.




I stayed the night at a small inner-city hotel after the wedding, and on the Sunday morning, I decided to do a little bit of sightseeing before going home, and went to Kyoto station early after checking out of the hotel. I put my baggage in a coin locker, and was in the toilet, standing in front of the mirror washing my hands when I heard someone say "Nooh, is that you?" and you wouldnt believe it but two of my friends from Hiroshima, Bun-chan and Yuri were standing there in the same bathroom at kyoto station!!! I havent seen them both in 9 years since I left hiroshima. I used to teach them both english conversation every week for about 2 years and still mail occationally with Bun-chan and hear Yuri's news. Yuri moved to kyoto recently after marrying a kyoto guy, and bun-chan was visiting her for the weekend. They were going to the bathroom before hopping on a city sight seeing bus tour for the day. So, totally spur of the moment, I decided to tag along and the three of us had a amazing day seeing the sights of kyoto together and just catching up! I was like we had only spoken yesterday, we had such a lovely day. Yuri is 5 months pregnant with her first baby. It is a boy and due in June. Bun-chan is still looking for the right guy. We had such a wow of a time. And I left them at 5pm when the tour ended and caught the shinkansen bullet train back to Tokyo.

Here are my two little buddies! Arent they so cute!?


I was so elated after an absolutely fabulous weekend, despite being tired, I had trouble getting to sleep that night. It was one amazing weekend!