Japan through my eyes

I finally got a copy of Cosmic Encounter, thanks to H for bringing it back from America.  I had heard a lot of amazing reviews about this game, so had a lot of high expectations. Once I opened the box, I was in awe of the amazing components.  The alien space ships were great, everything was beautifully packaged.   The board pieces were so beautiful.  Bringing the game out on game night was so easy. We played one round Cosmic Encounter first, and it only took a few rounds to get into the game.  We didn't use any flares just as the instructions recommended for new players.  It was a lot of fun.  I was a Parasite!!! and it took me half the game to work out that I was the weird snail thing, on top of the Pacifist's head.  It was quite hilarious.  The parasite is awesome the cool looking alien on the cover of the box.  What a coincidence.  There was a lot of ganging up on the player who seemed to be winning, and it was great....

Panic!  Panic!  There's a Virus on my shelf in the form of a board game, and it's called Pandemic, and it's infected my brain with it's board gamey addictiveness.  Yes there is a game called Cranium, and one called Pandemic... I've started up my old hobby from Oz, rock climbing, and board games have taken up the other part of my brain.  Exercise for my brain and body.  Perfect!  Now to find people to play with... .1 minute later ... yah I found a handful :) plus 40 more. Last year (in Japan), I really didn't do much socialwise.  I came home and lesson planned, and on the weekend more planning, and cleaning house and the like.  But this year I've decided I need to make time to do things I enjoy, get out, make new friends, less facebooking, join the living, and start doing things that I would in Australia.  I guess I was treating Japan like limbo/still like I was a temporary visitor.  But I've lived here long enough.  I should rea...

About a month ago, my friends and I played a game called Bang! and it was a blast!  Hilarious, and lots of fun.  It reminded me of the Werewolf game, so I started to do some browsing about what other fun games were around. Then I stumbled upon  The Dice Tower 's podcast and The Dice Tower on Youtube .  It really opened my world up to Euro games, which are amazing!!!!!! Wow, I really have missed out on playing these cool board games that Tom Vassal reviews.  Remember the old monopoly? throw that away.  Remember how fun Risk was?  I do. I already have a few card games with me in Japan, which I bought for teaching at Eikaiwa.  - Clue, the card game - The worst case senario card game -  Pictureka card game Monopoly, the card game - and good ol Trumps, also in the non card game category, I brought over - Pictionary - Cranium - Operation I used Operation a few times, and monopoly the card game, but the others just sat in my collection...

It was bitter sweet leaving Australia again, not sure what would be awaiting me back in Japan. I got to the airport at 3:30am and we waited outside til the airport opened at 4.  The flight times were changed so we all got food vouchers, and I used it to get a meat pie.  YUM!  sometimes I crave Aussie food. There were a lot of Japanese HS students, and the reps from Kanto's University women's lacross team.  The plane was pretty full, but I had a spare seat next to me, I was able to stretch out a bit.  The movies I watched were; Narnia - The Dawn Trader, HereAfter. I was quite surprised, Qantas was quite good this time.  The food was great, one air hostess was great, he was so friendly and cracked a lot of jokes.   Because of all the Japan Fukushima issues, our plane was diverted to Hong Kong, where some people got off, and the crew changed.  All my language studies paid off.  I was able to listen and understand 4 different language...

My friends and family have been taking me out to eat every day since I've been home.  It's a lot of eating. Yum. Here are some photos.

So many things are going on in the world today.  It's sad, and heartbreaking.   But here's something we can do to help the environment.  This is an initiative from my hometown Sydney, Australia that is now spanning the globe.  Please join in if you can, and for 1 hour, switch off your lights, or reduce your electricity.  Let's pray for all those in Japan and show our support. "At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour. With Earth Hour almost upon us, our thoughts are with the people of Japan during this incredibly challenging and sad time for their country. 日本の皆さん、勇気を持って頑張って下さい"

Edited to provide more information:   This was right after the March 11th Earthquake in 2011.  A lot of people had similar experiences. I managed to catch the bus half way home.  When I got to the station there were thousands of people at the station.  All the nearby buildings were all evacuated.  Everyone was on the street.  Having no money & no idea of the extent of the damage etc, I decided to try find an ATM.  I walked from station to station trying to find a working one.  Still not knowing what had really happened I went to the ENT clinic.  They also didn't know the extent of what had happened, as they were still operating.  At that point I really wished I knew more Japanese so I could ask.  Still having no idea, I thought the trains should be up and running again, but it was starting to get dark.  It was freezing.  My phone was running out of battery, I was stuck and didn't know how to get home.  All I c...