January 2000 -2

Jan 12

 

I have been enjoying the swimming pool at the hotel since yesterday. Mum was in a bad mood. She kept saying the she is in pain and she cannot handle it. I feel sorry and worried about her. We played table tennis and pool with Pete. I tried working out at a gym. Really liked it. Felt like I lost weight right after a workout!

 

Jan 13-14

 

We went shopping on both days. I bought a Backstreet Boys audio cassette. And a bunch of bracelets. One for myself and the rest for my friends. Mum is telling me to keep them all. I love being at a shopping centre. I feel free somehow. On the 14th we went to a zoo. It was fun but I did not like the koala photo I got. Mum kept reminding me for some time afterwards that I should not have grinned with my teeth sticking out. I already didn't like it and it really bothered me...

 

Jan 15

 

Today I spent a lot of time swimming both at the pool and the ocean. The waves were big and it was very warm. Dad and Pete helped me to collect a lot of pretty rocks. Mum likes it here, although she keeps remembering how stupid she was (to do the surgery). Like she has nothing better to do! I have been getting along with Pete for the last couple of days. He has been actually funny.

 

Jan 17

 

We went to a park. The nature is stunning! But the day was not good overall and I was moody. I am really irritated with mum! She would not let me use the camera and would not take any photos herself! I missed 3 or 4 amazing shots because of it! Especially one!! A kangaroo was standing up looking at me and I am standing with my hands on my hips staring back at it. It was amazing but mum, for whatever reason, decided to get ready for half an hour and call Pete in! Why?? Because of that I ended up with no photo at all (kangaroo did not stay in that position for long, obviously). Oh, and when you take a photo, according to mum, you always have to prepare for it, like fix your hair!

 

At night, there was a Japanese movie on TV. It was so weird! Wish I could have shown it to Yuki! There was a weather lady who would show her undies as she reports the weather and everyone loves it. It was very weird but kind of funny. Now they are showing a scene where a lady is asleep and a guy is sniffing her bum and says: "Wow it smells so good" and she responds: "Masao-san, is it your new hobby?" And her voice is so weird. This movie is definitely made for pervs.

 

Jan 18

 

I had a dream. A boy from school ripped up my papers and rolled up my journal into a ball. I bit his fist for it and he became scared of me after that!

 

We drove to a river in the mountains. There were Aboriginal people there. One of them spoke to us but we could not understand him. I think I like Aboriginal people. They really stand out. The river was cold. And it was filled with fish!! It swam really fast. No matter how hard I tried, I could not even touch one. It was very beautiful.

 

Mum got herself an opal. I heard that sometimes opals are found in rocks that lie around the shoreline. So I picked some extra rocks when we went to the beach later hoping to find a potential.

 

Jan 21

 

We went to the Great Barrier Reef today. A bus picked us up in the morning. Then we were on a motor boat for ages. When we got to the island, dad took me scuba diving. The tank was very heavy, I even fell over. The water was crystal clear but I did not like diving much. The instructor lady kept pulling my hand while I wanted to swim on my own. The coral was stunning and there were so many fish!! I have only seen fish like that in aquarium parks before. And there were lots of birds. I picked a bunch of dry corals to take with me but a guy on the boat said that it is illegal and we would have to pay a large fine. So I threw them in the water but kept the smallest ones without being noticed. I ended up feeling bad about it all night and threw them back into the ocean the next day.

Jan 23

 

Today was the last day of the trip. We went shopping and I got a couple of CDs - S club 7 and a Tarzan soundtrack. Yay! Looking forward to listening to them. I wanted to buy some gifts for my friends and mum suddenly remembered that she loved saving money and got angry with me. It's not fair! She got so much stuff for herself! I pestered her until she bought those gifts. I could not sleep at night. Don't want to go back to Japan!

 

Jan 24

 

This is the day we are flying back. At the airport shop I saw a necklace just like the one I saw one lady wear before and fell in love with and dad agreed to get it for me. There were a lot of Japanese people at the airport. It almost made me feel sick. Just looking at them. I prefer Australia so much better! Mum bought herself an emerald ring. I added it up! She has bought around 5 expensive pieces of jewelery for herself over the holidays! Including this ring for 30.000 yen and that opal the other day for 70.000 and then a garnet.

 

While we are flying over tens of little islands I will describe the place that we stayed at and how I remembered Australia. We stayed at the edge of the city of Cairns. It seemed to be surrounded by mountains and the ocean. The hotel must have been the best in the area. It is called Courtyard. Our room was on the top floor, number 440. The second floor had lobby and the first floor housed the restaurant, bar and the gym. We had breakfast at that restaurant every morning ( I was in love with crispy bacon - never had it before!). We went to the bar to play pool. The best thing about the hotel was the massive swimming pool. They had a spa there too. Everyone loved that place.

 

I really liked Australia. Maybe we would get to go next winter again. I liked the nature. Felt similar to Russia in some way. Just one thing I did not like. There were so many Japanese! And a lot of Japanese things too. It actually seemed that the Australians think very highly of the Japanese. It didn't feel fair. I went to Australia to take a break from Japan and it is almost Japan here too!

 

Jan 25

 

I did not feel very welcomed at school. Everyone did say hi but I spent the day alone. Lucky my mood was still good after the holidays. My teachers were happy with how I did my homework. Especially my Japanese teacher.

 

That evening when we were home and mum was waiting for dad to come back home from work, the door rang. She went to open the door the way she was - in pantyhose with no skirt on. And it was our male neighbor! He had to look away to speak to her.