My Stay in Okinawa Just Got A Lot Sweeter..

So because Sam is in town!! She flew in from Mie last Saturday and it was so comforting to see her, camera-in-hand, waiting for me at the monorail station when I went to pick her up at the airport. her being in okinawa means a lot to me, cos now i have the temporary right to spout singlish freely (much to the stares of the people around us) and play tourist for a bit after the madness of the semester.
more than the surreality of having sam with me in okinawa, touching base with an old friend away from home did me a lot of good. just when things were beginning to look and feel uncertain, and i was starting to entertain doubts about the way i am living my life here in okinawa, my friends helped to convince me otherwise.
all it took was one friday afternoon. one friendly (and timely) call from singapore. a hearty okonomiyaki dinner and coffee with close friends. news about other singaporeans living up north.
life isnt all that bad. and i have the power to make it better.

My Rickety Old Apartment

After leaving our apartment vacant since March, we hastily began the move to Ginowan last week just as classes in school were beginning to wind down a little. The apartment sits right behind the Ginowan police station and in the late afternoons I can sometimes see buffed young police trainees strutting along the balconies of their dormitory. *hoot hoot*

free eye candy aside, the apartment is extremely old and very very dirty. dusty ceilings, lights circa 1970 that dont work, peeling and yellowed tokyo disneyland stickers on the shoe cabinet, musty smelling bathroom. the perks? it's pretty large (3DK) and the rent is 6000 yen per month (courtesy of the Okinawa prefectural police). plus the neighbourhood's quiet and there's a cheap grocer and supermarket just behind my unit. and we're a 20 minute walk away from the beach!spent much of last week cleaning and moving some of the smaller things in..the toilet and bath were so crusty with mould that my entire bottle of カビハイター ("mould fighter") went to naught.

we were however lucky to get some hand-me-downs from ken's senior at work so we wont have to buy a fridge or television. i also managed to salvage a very retro looking sofa, rocking chair and bead curtain. all we need is a gas stove, air con and washing machine, and ginowan will come roaring to life! the landlord installed a new kitchen unit and cabinets earlier this year together with new wooden flooring and fresh tatami so i guess things arent that bad.

am planning to devote my summer to decorating the apartment, but in the meantime, check out the Before pictures:

Another Pretty Piece of Cow

Following an extremely sad episode when I found out that I had missed a sale on the pink Marc Jacobs wallet I had been eyeing for the longest time (DFS Okinawa was having a 50 percent sale and I didn't even know *SOB*), my love for leather has been transposed to this!

the bag's from this hongkong brand called rabeanco and i vaguely remember seeing an outlet somewhere in singapore. the name's not exactly well-known, but it'll still cost close to 20,000yen to own. hmm..have to work out the sums on my trifle stipend and think about this one.

thought for the day: to buy or not to buy?

Back In Business (hopefully)!

It's been nearly four months and I haven't written a thing in my blog.

life has been crazy busy and i havent gotten round to doing half the things i told myself i would do. spring has come and gone, the semester's almost over and the hot and sweltering summer is here again. i need a new bikini (chubby back fats are to blame), i need to stop living out of my suitcase, i need a car and i need to start on my thesis research.

those insignificant concerns aside, i've been thinking about life after my master's programme quite a bit since coming to okinawa. i dont think it's likely that i will continue with my doctorate here; come next year and i'll have to start looking for a job like the rest of the undergraduates. til then i had better figure out what i want to do.

that aside, i am liking this estelle girl: