IMPOTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi!

I've decided to move my blog over to a different place.
I just got a little sick of this interface.
So from now on you can find my blog at

https://ulriketravels.wordpress.com/

See you there!!

♥

Ulrike

My new address!

Oh, hey there!

I realize I totally forgot to write about the address of the new appartment in my last post so...

If you'd like to know our address, please message me and I'll be glad to give it to you!

Aaand I will be showing the appartment probably near the end of the month! It is actually beginning to look like an actual lived in homey home! I'm so happy! We're just waiting on a couple last pieces to arrive. 

Anyways, until then! 

♥

Ulrike

About visas and marriage and houses and GETTING SETTLED

Hello hello hello!

It's been a while but I've finally had the time to sit down for a proper update!

So I arrived in Japan a little over a month ago and wow, saying that really makes me realize how time has flown. It has been a crazy busy time since I've had to get married, get a job, get an appartment and most importantly get my spousal visa. I've succeeded in some, still working on some.

Number one: I got married! With the wedding celebrations of August behind us, me and Kazuki finally got the necessary paperwork done to officially get married. I suppose that makes the date of the official marriage the 9th of September, however, the both of us count the party on the 13th of August as the true date. We also got to keep our own names so I won't be called Yamamoto any time soon but who knows what will happen when we move back to Belgium?

The procedure for the international marriage was long and complicated but it was nothing compared to the ordeal I went through (and am still going through) to get my spousal visa. I've been working to get my visa non-stop since I arrived and have yet to succeed. First of all, it was unbelievably tricky to find any helpful information online about how to get a spousal visa. This really baffled me. We called many places and kept getting redirected to different places that would, in their turn, direct us back to where we started at. At some points the information I was given even got me worried I might not be able to get the visa at all! Needless to say, it's been quite stressful.
In the end it was when I went to the Osaka liaison office to pick up an appostille for our marriage document that I was properly told where to go.

So where am I now in the whole process? I have succesfully applied for my visa and am waiting to get it approved in hopefully the next couple of weeks. FINGERS CROSSED IT HAPPENS QUICKLY!! (seriously, pray for me)

One thing that me and Kazuki managed to do really quickly was get an appartment. I'd only been in the country a few days when the place was decided. It's a bright and homey little place in the country side, close to both his parents' house and the train station. We had to wait until the 22nd of September until we could move in so that meant I spent my first few weeks in Kazuki's parents' home, which was also really nice. I'm really happy I got to spend more time with his family. I spent a lot of time with his mother and brother mostly, going furniture shopping, making food, playing Pokémon Go together,... it was really nice. Right now I'm writing to you from our own appartment. I really love this place and I can't wait to properly show you it. We're still waiting on the last pieces of furniture to arrive but once we're all propperly installed in our new home, I will definitely film a tour of the whole place! For now, I have these photos of what it looked like when it was still empty.

Last but not least, got a job! Well, I'm not officially working yet, since no one can legally hire me until I get my visa, however, I am working as a volunteer (for 600 yen per hour) until that is fixed. I've been training to be a teacher at an English school for children ranging from about 2 to 13 year old. Even though I've taught children English before, it still feels quite new to me. There is so much to remember, so many new things,... and it is honestly still a bit intimidating. Seeing the children happy is so rewarding though. I think that, once I get used to the curriculum and the way things work around there, I will start to really love it a lot!

In other more personal news, I'm doing good. I've had my moments of feeling homesick at times where I was stressing out about the visa, my job, the appartment,... you know, times when I wish I had someone to tell me what to do or how to do it. I think that's normal when you're starting your own life (especially if it's so far away from your family). But I think everything is starting to fall into place now and most of the hard parts are over.

I've had a lot of fun meeting up with old friends too!

Kazuki has been great too of course. He actually quit his stressful office job and just got hired as an English teacher in a different school, which makes me so, so happy. He can finally do something he enjoys doing and have more free time. He's taking great care of me too. Last week I had a headache so he made me udon even though he'd had a whole day of work too.

So if you're wondering how the both of us are doing together, great! I'm so glad to be able to spend more time with him at last! Goodbye long-distance relationship!


So that's where I'm going to leave it at for now. I'm going to a farewell party for one of my Korean friends who used to live with me in the same dorm and is now returning to Korea for his army duty.

Even though I know army duty still exists in some countries and I've seen a few friends go through it before, there's still always a strange feeling about it, as if it's something other worldly or something.

Anyways,

Until net time (where I show you the entire appartment!!)

Bye! ♥

The trip I'd been waiting for: Koyasan

Ever since I visited Japan with my family in 2009, I've been wanting to go back to one place, Koyasan.

Koyasan is a little town in the mountains of the Wakayama prefecture. It's about two hours away from where I live. It is the birthplace of Shingon Buddhism so there are many temples, but the thing I was most eager to revisit was the beautiful graveyard. In my opinion, it is the most beautiful place on earth. It looks so myserious and the nature, covering the old tombstones is so breathtaking, I can't even describe it. I don't know what took me so long to get there, but I finally went again a few weeks before leaving Japan. 

I was planning on going by myself, mainly because it's a place that's really close to my heart and I figured it would be a nice place for me to go and think a little bit. But when I told one of my closest friends this, he said he really wanted to go as well and he didn't want to go in group either. So in the end, the two of us went together and I'm so happy we did. It was a wonderful day.

We visited many temples and pagoda such as the Konpon Daitō (根本大塔) and the Kongōbu-ji (金剛峯寺). I really liked seeing these, as I hadn't went to see them the last time I was in Koyasan.

As I said before, I was most excited about revisiting the graveyard I adore so much. The graveyard (the biggest in the world) surrounds the mausoleum of Kūkai (空海), also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師), the founder of the true word Buddhism school. I remember, during the night tour of the graveyard I experienced all those years ago, being really impressed by Kūkai's story, and even now, seeing the mysterious gates to the place where, legend says, he is still meditating, was amazing to me. The place feels so sacred there, that I couldn't bring myself to take any photographs, but picture it like this: you are looking at a rich, green, overgrown forest. A little path leads into it, the greenery blocking you from what's behind. Incense burns and next to you a man sings strings of prayers.

We wandered around the cemetary for a long time. I was so happy! If you've seen some of Hayao Miyazaki's movies like My Neighbour Totoro or Princess Mononoke, that's what being in this graveyard feels like. It feels like magic.

I'm so happy I got to go to Koyasan again and I highly reccomend people to go see it if they can! I believe it is the prettiest place in Japan.

K, that is all!

XXX

Tenjin Matsuri!

A few days ago I went to a festival in Osaka with some friends. It's called Tenjin matsuri. I'm not exactly sure what the meaning of the festival is, but I felt like matsuri (Japanese festival) is something I should experience now that I'm still in Japan.

People come dressed in yukata, which is always really fun to see. There's a lot of yummy food you can get from the little stands in the streets. As far as activities go, there was a sort of parade in which people danced and carried things through the streets (I'm so uneducated I'm so sorry haha) and at the end of the day there's a big firework!

yukata!

kakikoori (shaved ice)

ocotpus in one hand, sausage in the other

I had fun at the festival but I do realise these kind of events are not for me. There are just too many people! I had to squeeze myself through the crowd to head back to the trainstation earlier and I almost had a panic attack from the amount of people around me. I could barely move. So, no, I won't be going to many matsuri's in the future haha!

But it was a good day hanging out with friends nevertheless.

Good night! ♥

My last work day

I had my last day at the kindergarten I work at few days ago.

I have enjoyed working in this place so, so much! I'd been really nervous when I first started because I had no idea whether I was competent to teach English to a bunch of 3-6 year old Japanese kids. Luckily my work partner, Sofia, was amazing. She actually knew what she was doing and thanks to her, I learned how to teach and be confident about it.

I worked alone for a while after Sofia left in Februari and got a new partner a few months after that. This time, I was the one in control and I'm honestly so proud of how far I've come.

The people at the school were always so kind to me and I've grown to love the children a lot. I admit I had to hold back a little tear when I had to say my final goodbyes.

The children gave me little books with pictures and thank you messages, as well as a card. I feel so blessed!

my present to them

I've grown to love these people and I've promised that when I come back to Japan, I'm coming to see al of them!

this was at a work party about a month ago.

I'm gonna go to bed now.

Good night!

Farewell of the dorm

It's that time again when people start leaving the dorm and this time I'm one of them.

We had our farewell party at the dorm last week, as well as the last all you can drink party of the dorm. It's been emotional times. But I'm also filled with gratitude!

The farewell party started with a barbecue in the little garden at the back of the building. There was udon and curry and veggies and rice and I ate a lot. I really appreciate how many vegetarian things there were! The focus of the BBQ was the people though. Basically it turned into a picture taking event. I was a little sad that a few of my closest friends couldn't make it to the party, but I had tons of fun nonetheless!

 

After that we settled down in the common room to watch the farewell video. Now, me and Koni were crying before the video even started, but it only got worse with the video, haha! It was such a beautiful video! It had pictures of random times in the dorm and our dorm events, as well as silly and heartfelt messages from everyone. I laughed and cried and laughed again and again. It was beautiful!

After that video, there was another suprise video because a lot of the resident assistants (the Japanese students who live in the dorm, help us out and organise all these fun things) are leaving as well. So we watched another video from the RA's and that was great too.

Lastly we all received a DVD with the video on, with a card in it that everyone then could write messages in. It was an emotional but great day.

The all you can drink that followed a few days after was awesome as well. We drank for two hours and went to karaoke.

I'm so glad I got to live in such a happy place where everyone welcomes you with open arms regardless of who you are or where you come from. I feel like this living situation allowed me to make friends with people who I wouldn't easily get close to if it were my live in Belgium, and I'm so grateful for that. It's a situation that forces a person to become more open and accepting and I love that.

The many people I made friends with, and especially those who I've grown really close to, I concider as more than friends. They feel like a true family to me. Whether this is because of the fact that we live together in the same house or the fact that we're all away from our own family and we need to fill up that space, I don't know. Probably a mixture of both. But that doesn't make it any less real. I love these people to death and I will never forget that.

I'm going to miss the people in this dorm so much. But I shouldn't think about it negatively. I've gained so much in living here and meeting these kind, generous, loving people and the fact that we all live in different places only means that I have more reason to travel the world. That's a very happy thing. I am a very lucky person. All I need to do is make the money to travel hahaha!

I've decided though that that is what I want to do. I want to travel a lot. I want to work, I want to work hard, I want to learn to take care of myself and then I want to travel.

Secondly I've realized how much I love my home and my family. I realized how lucky I am in having such a good place to come home to. So I want to spend time with family as much as I can.

I don't know where this post has gone. What was the point of this post again? I don't even know.

Oh well. I'm gonna leave it at that! I'm taking one of my best friends to the airport in a few hours. It's gonna be another emotional day.

Much love ♥