Niu's Kitchen

Yan can cook, so can i!!

I cooked dinner for the past 2 nights, and they turned out pretty.. good.. i'm serious!!

Eggplant MapoTofu BeanShoots

Cabbage CurryChicken GrilledSalmon

We are going to Tokyo tomorow, will be there for 3 days.. catch you all when i get back!!

Day 6 Alien Registration

For all foreigners entering Japan, you must register yourself as an 'Alien' within 90 Days of entry. With Ken on holidays, it was much easier to go with him. My Japanese is pathetically pathetic at the moment! although I aim to improve ASAP. (if im not lazy)

There were heaps of people at the municiple office, as you need to register for all sorts of things here.. ie. moving in and out of the city, going overseas, aliens.. yaddiyadda..

While waiting for our number to be called, we went out to a random ramen (noodle) shop to have brunch. Even the street side store's food was good!! I reckon its as good as the ramen we get at Kenzan.


We found some useful information back at the office, health guides, city guides... and i stumbled upon this interesting guide on restaurants around Toyota-Chi. =)

So are you Chinese? Korean? Curry? hehe...

Day 5 - Chilling....

Finally, this is the first day after my arrival in Japan i get to have some time off..

To give you a little description of where I am, i'm in a city called 'TOYOTA-CHI". Yes, toyota as in the Toyota car toyota. With its 41k people, its not a small city at all. Approximately 70% of the people living here work for Toyota, and the rest of the people i guess work for the people who work for toyota? Toyota is about 1 hour train ride from Nagoya (4th largest city in Japan).

I have only really been discovering the areas around where i live. Which is right next to the train station, and the train tracks.. and the train that passes every 20min. I dont notice it anymore.. actually to come think of it, i've never really noticed the noice at all...

There a two big shopping complexes next to the train station. I've only been to the basement (food leve) and the starbucks on 1st floor. I am yet to discover the rest of the building. Porbably after i work so i dont go crazy with the shopping. =)

We went to the japanese version of Bunnings warehouse to get a few more clothes racks and some other crap..
Lunch was at a Okonomiyaki Restaurant. Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake). You actually have the raw things, and its cooked on a hot plate infront of you. Shall let the pictures do the talking.

Restaurant Entrance

Spring Onion(left) Seafood Delux(right)

Christine Trying to flip some pancakes.

Master Ken showing me how its really done =)

Two very satisfied custmers

Photos - From Day 2 and 3 ....

(chimaki) - Another sweet mochi for Boys Day..

Special Japanese Mochi ( kashiwa-mochi ) for 'Boys Day' - YUM!!!

LOTS OF SASHIMI!!!

LOTS of SUSHI!!!

One of the cakes stores at the basement of the department stores

Day 4 Obu Interview

Day 4 was spent on another interview..

To get to the interview place, i changed 3 different trains and took me one whole hour..

The lady in charge picked me up from the station.

I spent the morning mingling with 2/3 year olds, as they will be my clients if i were successful.
As you all probably know, i'm not exactly static with kids.. but it will be good if i get this job as it's a job with normal working hours and i will have sat n sunday free.. unlike some others where i have to work till 10 and have satday not free...

will hear back from them after Golden Week holidays. (Golden week is a whole week of holidays for the Japanese people from 29th April till the 3rd May)

I headed back home and managed to buy my own lunch! (photo above)

On another note, i got some information from the previous interview on how to be professional as a female in Japan:
1. Japanese expect professional women to wear make-up
2. Long hair should be tied up neatly. A black, brown or metallic, professional-looking hair-clip is best
3. Be careful of the fit of the blouse. It shouldnt be see-through or too revealing.
4. Trousers are permitted, but skirts are considered more professional. It is advisable to wear a skirt to trainings and meetings. The skirt should be about knee0length. No flowing or wrap dresses.
5. Spiked shoes, think heels, sandals, sling-backs and open toed shoes are unprofessional.
6. Skin toned tights even with trouser suits. No bare feet. No black nylongs. No socks.

---hmm.... interesting indeed....

Day 3 Nagoya Interview

The interview in Nagoya was scheduled at 12.

In order not to be late, i was told to be in Nagoya city by 11. =) haha. I left the house at 9:30 and got to Nagoya just before 11.

I headed straight to the basement of Takashimaya to grab a bite..

I was told that japanese people have alot of rules.. you cant walk and eat.. you cant walk and drink... so i had to look for a table to sit with my food.. i searched up and down in and out..and coudlnt find anything!! there was 40min till my interview, so i took up the courage to ask..

my goodness.. the lady had NO idea what i wanted... she showed me a eat in place .... so i gave up. i ended up sitting bside the escalator with all the old ladies and gobbling down my food..

before i headed out to the interview office.. i had to .. go to the little ladies..

the signs were clear enough for me to find my way there..
bt it was a different story all together inside..
everything .. EVERTHING was electronic..

1. the seat is warm!!
2. there r 4 different buttons bside the seat from 'fake flushing sound'. 'butt spray'. to 2 other ones that i couldnt figure out..

in the end, i couldnt even find the flush button!! sorry to the lady coming in after me.. =.="

the washing basin had sensor tape, sensor foam dispenser and hand dryer all in one.. why dont we have these???!!

the interview went well, results will be out this friday.. so wish me luck!!

DAY 2 NAGOYA / OBU

The whole night i couldnt sleep.. i think its the new environment.. even though i was super tired i managed to wake up at 9:30 ..

the plan for today was to take me to my interview destinations for Monday and Tuesday...

but before that, it was BREAKFAST!!!

For those of you guys who have been to Japan, you probably know that the bottom/basement levels of all department stores are filled with FOOD!! just stores and stores of food.. from sweet to savory.. anything you want! Was i excited or what!! my heart was racing.. and the only problem i had was chosing one to eat.. i gave in to sushi.. and my gosh.. the supermarket sushi beats KENZAN anytime!!

The train ride to Obu was 1 hour, with 3 transits. My chinese helped me with recognizing the station names. (lucky!)

Nagoya was also 1 hour away...

after we found the location of the interview office we headed to the biggest department store in Japan .. 'TAKASHIMAYA'... as usual the basement was filled with food.. even more than the one in Toyota-City.. i felt like a kid in her favourite toy store.. i wanted to eat everything!! sushi, cakes, jelly, mochi and many more i dont even know the name of but looked soo good!!

i will show u guys the pictures once i figure out how to post pictures up...

interesting note: japanese people like to sleep on trains.. if they're not doing that.. they're playing with their phone or reading or DS...

Day 1 MELOURNE -> HONG KONG -> NAGOYA

With a 'few' last minute packing, playing the wii, doing mum's nails, playing the wii, keeping nick company, playing the wii... i finally got to bed at 1 in the morning..

then without much sleep, i was woken up by the alarm at 4 to head off to the airport...

check-in was done online the day before so i didnt even have to queue to check in my lugguage. without much effort, somehow i managed to check-in my 27kg suitcase, 7kg above the limit (i thought i had triple checked the day before and i'm certain it was only 20Kgs!!).

the 9 hour flight from MEL to HK was LONG... it was a packed plane so i didnt get a window seat. My butt was hurting, and the plane was rocking up and down, left and right... the breakfast i enjoyed didnt stay down for very long..

i PUKED..
and puked..
and puked... until i reached Hong Kong..

The transit in HK was only about 1 hour. My initial plan was to quickly get off the plane and head to the SHOPS!! As the plane landed 15min late.. and the process for the transit took another 30.. my shopping plans went down the drain!! So i didnt get my mascara, facial wash, handbags... =P

the next 4 hours to Nagoya was pretty much just..
THROWING up..
THROWING UP MORE..
and MORE THROWING up..

my stomach was twisting until there was no more stomach juice to squeeze out..

FINALLY i arrive in Nagoya 13 hours later..
Was i glad to get off the plane!!!