bunny

i went to peter's yard today, and ordered a cappuccino like always.

when it was brought to me, i was pleasantly surprised to see a bunny on my coffee. im glad that i sat in today, coz if i had taken it away, i would not have been able to see this :)

see, slow life does bring happiness!

cameron & clegg

election is a big party. now that the festival is over, the hard part is just starting. can the tory-lib dem coalition pull Britain out of its recession??? certainly, a new wind will be blowing in no.10 downing st, but for better or for worse? we have yet to find out.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

OMG OMG OMG!!! my friend kimkim sent me this link and it is absolutely AMAZING!!!!

i knew about this video, coz it was on the news a while back, but i never saw it in full.

this is f***ing amazing. i dont usually use the f word, lol, but it is totally appropriate to use here.

LOVE IT!!!! go creative artists!!!!

jessie's birthday :)

It was Jessica's 26th birthday yesterday.

so we surprised her with cupcakes!!!!

it was yuuuuuuummmmmmmy :D :D :D

ZUMBA!!!

OMG!!! it was SUPER fun!!!!!

every monday at 6pm @Bongo club on hollyrood rd :)

Edinburgh with Hannah!

Hannah came from london to visit me in edi:)

we've been to edinburgh together last summer for a few days for the festival already, so this time it was more about relaxin&talkin :D

We did a cafe crawl to some of my favorite coffee places.

First, I took her to spoons above black medicine coffee&co.

I had delicious vegitable antipasti & pitta for lunch.

Then, I took her to Peter's Yard and had yummy coffee and rhubarb tart. Peter's Yard is just by the meadows and they have the best swedish pastries and coffee. i love love.

Then we did a walk through the meadows...

We also went to Deli's cafe, an indian cafe with the BEST chai tea ever. Then we went home and i made us thai curry, and we watched Almost famous my favorite movie of all times :)

The next day, we went to cramond island, just 30 min away from the centre by bus 41. It's an island that u can walk to, if u go there during low tide :) we checked the tidal time table, and went there at the peak of low tide!

It was beautiful!!!!

After we came back to edinburgh, we had lunch at elephant&bagels, and then we went up Arthur's seat :) we went up the full 250m! yay! lol to think that addis is 10 times higher than arthur's seat is pretty incredible!

As always, i had the best best time with Hannah!!!!

im gonna visit her for her birthday this month in london :)

cant wait to see her again!!!!!

Beltane

On the 30th of April, we went to Beltane, the festival of fire, coming of summer, and most importantly, NUDITY!!!! lol

it was quite something.

the red ppl were half naked, dancing, and chanting.

i didnt really understand it, but the performance was really exciting. there were tons of ppl there, although it cost £8.50 to get in.

what i found a bit disappointing was the lack of interaction between the performers and the audience.

it would have been a more exciting event, if the dynamic of the event wasn't performers/audience, but if there were more integration between the two.

all in all, it was an event worth going to!!!

it looks like there's one for each season, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhuinn so it would be interesting to see the other ones too!

pizza time!

　

　

roald is such a great cook!!!!

photos

i made a photo blog!

winking koala bear.

omg!!! i brought 'コアラのマーチ(koala-no-maachi)' (koala's march)

to my friends today. it's a sweet snack from japan and its very nice :)

as i was telling them, that if u find a koala bear that's winking, it's good luck, my friend jessica took one, and said,

'does it look like this?'

It's WINKING!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOW!!!!!

sunny days in edinburgh

there have been really nice days in edinburgh recently :D

although i had to do my essays, i got to enjoy it too.

well, not this week, but the weeks before that. hehehe

and i will enjoy it for another month!!!! yaaaaay spring!!!!

this is when i went to the botanical gardens with ryan two weeks ago. it was like summer that day!!!! very very nice :D

this was when i went to see kick-ass with jessica! good movie. not appropriate for easter sunday, but still very very funny.

this is from today :) small picnic in the meadows!!!!

more of that to come!!!! yay!!!!

I'm done baby!!!!!!

oh baby baaaby oh baby baaaaby!!!! hehehehehe

i am doooooooooone with my three essays :D :D :D

6000 words each. wrote it in one week baby!!! oh yah!

not that that's anything to be proud of. LOL

and i wasn't even that stressed!

in my defence, i was very distracted from finding out about my new posting, AND i did all my research before writing. so there. LOL

all that matters is that i am done!

now i will start preparing myself for Addis!!!

im less overwhelmed by it and im more & more excited :D

thanks to ryan who psyched me up!!!! yay!!!! go Addis!!!!

things i have to do:

book ticket,

buy new phone,

research for my dissertation,

make bank account,

call landlord,

go to london,

buy work clothes,

go to highlands,

hang out with friends,

learn amharic,

try to remember how to work,

make contact lenses,

go to farmers market,

okay, thats too many things.

ill just sleep for now think about it tomoro.

essays again

why oh why must i always procrastinate?

i made three blogs...

one in japanese: アムセッグナッロ

one for photos&music: it's sunny everyday.

& one for ethiopia: sunny in ethiopia

Overwhelmed

I am completely and utterly overwhelmed at the moment.

A few days ago, I found out my next posting.

As much as it is very very exciting to work again, and the new place is a very exotic new colourful place that I would really really love to explore, I am more overwhelmed than excited.

I just need to breathe, do some thinking, do LOTS of research, organize, and make the most out of it!

i know i can enjoy it. but for now, i just would like to be nervous and scared.

Easter Italy

When I saw 'Roman Holiday' in my English class in high school, I was determined to go to Italy and eat their gelati someday.

After living in Europe for close to two years now, I have finally realized this dream!!!

Well, not in Rome, but in Milano, Bologna, Firenze and Venezia!!!!

Every place was amazing.

Milano is not much of a tourist place, but it was really fun because we rented a bicycle for euro2.50 a day!!! it's an initiative taken by the city i think, and u get to take a bike for a whole day, if u put it back in the numerous biking station set up everywhere in the city within two hours. Ur supposed to be able to register at the ATMs, (not the cash machine, but a information desk) but we couldn't for some reason so we went to a internet cafe and registered online. It took us a while to figure it all out, but it was totally worth it!!!! we had a blast!!!

The Duomo was beautiful, and the gelatis were amazing. a siesta in the park of the palace was frosting on top of the cake ;)

We rented a car after two nights in Milan, and drove down to Firenze. On our way, we stopped in Bologna.

Bologna was more beautiful than we expected. There was a big book fair going on in a old church-or-palace-like-building, and the town was very vibrant. I loved the statute in the fountain with water coming out of her boobies. hahaha great humour the italians have. or are they serious about their boobies???

Firenze was absolutely stunning. the city was just so so so beautiful, and just walking among the old buildings and many many museums, walking along the river was just so relaxing and amazing. It became one of my favorite cities, despite all the people.

I had to see David by Michaelangelo and the Uffizi gallery. We booked a day before to go to the Uffizi because it was fully booked on our first day there. I think it's best to book before hand, if u don't want to be in a long que for hours. The gallery which had David wasn't as crowded, and we saw the impressive statue. The thing is though, we had been seeing so many copies of David already, in the Square with all the statues and in the Michaelangelo square up on the hills, the real thing wasn't as impressive any more.

The Uffizi is a must see. beautiful paintings in a beautiful building. superb.

Last but not least, we went to Venezia. Oh my buddah, it was like heaven on earth!!!! Atlantis must have looked like that. We were so so excited on the ferry to the island, we took so many pictures!!!! oh and their gelatis, OMB!!!

After we explored Venezia, we went to the smaller islands, Burano, Torcello and Murano. Murano is famous for their Murano glass. I bought a few for myself, and for my friends.

Burano was very pretty. It was more colourful and simple than Venice, and the canals more compact. I loved it.

Northern italy in 7 days was wonderful, thanks to my muy mola espanol amigos sara, chema, paco y vanessa. I laugh a lot regularly, but i don't think i laughed so much so hard everyday like that since a long time ago. Muchas gracias my friends. This was one memorable trip that i will always always remember.

Italy!!!

im going to italy with sara, chema, paco y vanessa!!!! yaaaaaay!!!

im so so so excited :) :) :)

Milan, Florence y Venice... my dream trip!!!!

Gachapin

This is Gachapin. He's THE green monster of japan. He is amazing.

Portobello

Portobello. 1hr by foot from edi. 40min by bus.

nice cold beach. a bit deserted in the winter, lots of people walking their dogs.

Linlithgow

I like the name. Linlithgow.

just 20 min away from edinburgh by rail.

Berwick-upon-tweed

I will go back there in the summer.

45 min away from edinburgh by rail. between edi and newcastle.

Belfast ale

city hall (the shuttle bus from belfast city airport drops you off right near the square where the hall is located. 3pounds return. less than 30min.)

st george's market. AMAZING. similar to borough market in terms of quality of food. a must go. just a 10min walk from city hall.

the 6oz steak burger that i had at the market. yum. met a nice irish couple while eating this.

political murals. this was the one painted on the protestant side of town. this particular one was painted over after the 'troubles' had ceased. but there's still tension. there is still a gate and a wall that is built between the protestant and catholic districts. went on the 'black cab tour'. our guide Billy was great, took us around the whole city in 2 hrs. 30pounds for 2 people, very informative, efficient, sometimes hard to understand the accent, but wouldn't have been able to go around the city like that without his guide.
the graffiti on the peace wall. Billy had a pen ready for us, and I wrote 平和.

belfast-in-a-day. an hour away from edi by plane.

very cheap and very doable.

today, berwick-upon-tweed.

Happy Graduation!!!

Graaaaduation time come on!!!

yaaaaaaay!!!

Happy New Year!!! It's 2010!!!

Woo Hooooo!!!! It's 2010!!! yah baby!!! LOL

My new year resolution is, do not leave things to the last minute. Procrastination should not be what I do best.

Remember future me, that I started the year 2010 by writing essays!!!

楽あれば苦あり。苦あれば楽あり。

No pain, no gain. No cross, no crown.

3 essays due on the 6th of January. 3 more to go.