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16-9-2003 : I’m back! O.O

*cough* Uhm yea… I took more than a month of ‘vacation’ from blog-writing. Don’y worry, I’m still ‘in business’. A lot has happened since 28-7…

Lessee, first; lets start on school. You might remember I was gonna study TMA (Trade Management focused on Asia ; see ‘about me’ for more details) in Amsterdam . My study has started now, it begun the 27^th of August with an introduction camp in Belgium ; we went there by bus and we had to ‘gather’ in Amsterdam . The camp was 3 days. There were my Japanese teacher and my Sports teacher as ‘supervisors’ and some 2^nd year students. Not everyone of our group came, but we did have a really good time. We stayed at the facility with people from 2 other groups, In total there were about 30 people; which was little. We learned to know everyone and stuff and did lotsa sports and stuff. Like archery (Lelie and I already knew how to do that, and we got to improve our skills ^^v), abseiling from a 40 meter high cliff (I’d say about 13 stories high) and ‘cave exploring’ (got really dirty of that ><) We got back Friday night and Lelie and I had the luck we could ride home from Amsterdam with someone I know.

My group is very nice, and it has mainly Asian people in it. Japanese class is only followed by 10 people and it’s great fun! Our teacher is a Dutch woman who has lived in Japan for 5 years. She studied Japanese and is also a 2^nd Dan in Karate! I’m still glad I do this study together with Lelie…

When we got home from camp, Sunday the 31^st was a ninja trainings day. I had to go to Lelie again on Saturday and also dropped of her door-panel (the one I painted for her). I slept over at Lelies place, and Sunday we were brought to the dojo (We tagged Bernard along, too). It turned out Graham-sama has passed his ‘sensei’-exam. Well, we all expected he would pass so it wasn’t really a surprise; but it makes me admire him even more, and I’m very happy for him ^^

Anyway we got to train outside again; but it had rained and we weren’t able to train on the grass so we trained on a parking lot; which was kinda painful with rolling. Of course we also were trained by ‘evil senpai P’ x x; On the other side I did got to see everyone again and I had lots of fun.

School started the Monday after; we’ve been going to school for almost 3 weeks already now. The best part about this school is that theres 2 bookstores that sell manga nearby! I already bought: ‘Planet Ladder’, ‘GTO’, ‘Ragnarok’, ‘Samurai Deeper Kyo’ part 2, 3 volumes of ‘Vagabond’ and vol. 1 of ‘Blade of the immortal ’. Lelie bought A LOT more; I can’t believe the amount of manga she always buys! It always makes me laugh ^^ After buying manga we tend to eat ‘Australian ice cream’, yup; they sell that too nearby =P (Does it taste different you ask? It might… I just like the fact it’s Australian @_@)

Back to the topic ‘school’, where I started off originally: Japanese class is fun; the other classes are kinda boring. With sports we do get to do all kinds of ‘outdoor’-sports and stuff, though (sailing, bowling even frisbee-ing O.O). On Wednesday after school, I immediately have to go with Lelie because ninja is Wednesday evening, and Wednesday is our longest day of school. I eat at Lelies and then we go to the dojo (we can’t make it to jissenjutsu in time T.T), but I don’t mind; ninja is still great! We now get warming-ups from Graham. It seems ‘P’ was promoted to ‘office ninja’ o.o; (at least that means none of his evil warming-ups for us! ^^v) Lelies brother also took up ninja again; it almost looks like ninjutsu is a family martial art for Lelie ^^

My life got a lot busier… I still need to find time in between of the Japanese classes, the manga buying and school to paint panels because that is my job besides babysitting now (got fired at the restaurant, thank goodness!)

I’ll try to update more often from now on – Ja ne, mina-san! ^^

28-07-2003 : Happy b-day to me! O.O

Yesterday was my 18^th birthday and like I said; I went to training like every other Sunday. I already got a gift from my family; a kotatsu (a Japanese-style low table). But Lelie also bought me presents, and she gave them to me before the training. I got a wooden fan, a ‘dragon ball’ manga (volume 29) and an anime DVD (Lupin III). Lelie really bought a lot, but they’re great gifts anyway ^^;;;

Bernard gave me a set of tiny katanas; they’re letter openers! ^^; He also gave me a real sai at the end of the training. I couldn’t believe he just gave it to me! Lelie will also get one. You see, Bernard has 4 sais ; 2 make a set, but he also has 2 that he can’t find a second one of. So he will give them to Lelie and me ^^;;;

This is what a sai looks like. It’s kinda heavy too… Upcoming Saturday Lelie, Bernard and I will go to a weapon store. You can order swords there. I don’t know if I will buy one, but I think I can’t help myself ^^;

Oh, I have to work Tuesday (and probably also the other weekdays) because one of my colleagues is on vacation x.x;;; Well, at least I’ll earn some money, and it’s only for a week or so… Hope I’ll survive…

24-07-2003 : What I’ve been up to…

Well… it’s been awhile since I typed in this blog. And I think this won’t be a long entry, because not much happens during my vacation. Anyway, see the little Shinsengumi guy running above this entry? Just had to have it on my site! Shiro also put it on his blog (his new layout looks so cool! @.@) I’ve been talking about the Shinsengumi and Rurouni Kenshin a lot with him lately…

I also ordered Saitou and Okita action figures in Shinsengumi outfits, and a Rurouni Kenshin DVD; I’m waiting for all of that to arrive. Waiting is so hard ;_;

What else to tell? Well; my door is finally done! You don’t wanna know how much time I spent painting those Sakura leaves x.x;;; But I like the end-result. My door is hanging again now and I have a lot of space in my room again; not for long I’m afraid… Lelies door is next; it will get Sagara Souzou on it.

My birthday is coming up! Yup, it’s the 27^th of July and I’ll turn 18; it’s on a Sunday, but I’ll just go training like on any other Sunday. Besides, Lelie and Bernard (whom I train with on these Sundays) bought me gifts. Bernards b-day was a week before mine; we gave him something too. The training is fun; not as ‘stressed’ as the last exam day or regular training. My warming up is an 11 km bike ride to Alphen a/d Rijn (the city where Lelie and Bernard live, and where the regular training also is). I go to Lelies place and together we walk to the training spot; it’s outside, by the lake. We do some stretching exercises while talking, and then we decide for ourselves what we want to do. Usually we review some basic techniques, and then Bernard shows us some new things ^^;;; (we’re gonna be ahead of the rest of the group!) We usually end with ‘randori’ (free fight).

Well; that’s what I’ve been up to so far… I’ll keep you informed…