The End of an Era

In summer 1999, Mr Boring and I were bought three books by our Grandparents. I can remember fighting over who got to read them first. Over that summer, I think I must have read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone four or five times over the course of the six week holidays that year. 

 It's fair to say that I was hooked. An instant Fan For Life. I wasn't one of those people who pre-ordered their copy of the new book, neither did I queue outside WH Smiths for 24 hours in order to get a copy. But I did enjoy reading the stories. Over and over again. I was enough of a fan to want a Gryffindor scarf, but not enough to pay £40 or whatever it would have cost to buy an official one. So, I got on the phone to my Official Scarf Maker (Granny), who, after searching high and low for wool in the perfect shades, sent me this:

During the winters of Years 9 and 10, I wore it religiously. I still love it today and wish I could find a coat to do it justice. I will never get rid of it. EVER.

The films are, in my opinion, a mixed bag. The first three were quite good (taking into account how young the actors were). Number four was good. Five was BORING (and Emma Watson started getting full of herself). The sixth was a marked improvement on five, and I was quite relieved. Personally I think it would have been better to have the same director all the way through (and John Williams doing the music all the way through because he is unequivocally, a God) but what do I know?

When I first heard that The Deathly Hallows was going to be split into two films, I was a bit unsure what to think. Luckily, it seems to have worked quite well. I saw the final episode last night. It was GOOOOOD! Obviously there was lots of plot missing, but that was to be expected from a series of books containing so much detail. It was the best one yet (luckily) and was a good way to end things. I won't say much because I don't want to ruin it for people who haven't seen it yet, but the action was good, everything was resolved nicely and it was great to see lots of the old favourites. Madam Pomfrey, Professor Trelawney, Slughorn, McGonagall, Seamus and of course, Neville were all there. There's no way the films could have done the books justice, but they had a pretty good stab at it I'd say.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some (re)reading to do! 

What do you do with a B.A in... ANYTHING?!

Though I have never seen it, I have been in love with Avenue Q for about a year. I don't know the story, but the soundtrack gets played on my iPod, ooooooh, about twice a week I'd say. The songs are very witty and well written. I have recently been struck by how relevant the opening number (see below) is to my life.

So I don't have a B.A in English. I have a B.A (Hons) in French and German Studies. A 2:1 from what is widely regarded as quite a good university (Warwick), which I feel is roughly equivalent. I feel like every single word in this song is true. "Four years of college and plenty of knowledge have earned me this useless degree." I don't think I could write more accurate lyrics. I have got a piece of paper telling me I am officially Quite Good at German and French. I have gained many "transferable skills" and have the added bonus of experience of living abroad. I graduated almost exactly a year ago:

Granted, I never had any intention of getting a Proper Job straight after finishing university. I chose to spend almost a year living and working in Vienna. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret it, but the question that begs to be asked is this: where do I go from here?
It is becoming increasingly apparent that without further training or extra skills, a B.A is, more or less useless. Another song that I can relate to is this one. It would be humorous, if it weren't so depressingly apt.

As it stands, I am just one of thousands of unemployed graduates. Is a degree worth anything? It doesn't seem to be at the moment. I think this is particularly so for holders of a B.A rather than a BSc. Arts degrees seem to be more general, and less specifically applicable to a certain job. If you have a BSc in Computer Engineering, it kind of implies that you know what field of work you'd like to go into. Though come to think of it, that doesn't necessarily work because there are more and more graduates every year, and less and less graduate-level jobs. Are you seeing the problem here?
I like to think that my friends are a fairly educated bunch of people. In fact, all of them either have a degree or are very close to getting one. Look at these statistics (painstakingly compiled this afternoon):
T- Geography graduate. Learning Support Assistant in a secondary school (my old one, actually). Did not require a degree for the job he is doing.
J- French and German Studies graduate. Learning Support Assistant in a secondary school. Did not require a degree for the job he is doing.
R- Criminology graduate. Youth Worker. Did not require a degree to gain a place on his apprenticeship. Now doing very well and about to start a post-grad Youth Work course.
M- Music Technology graduate. Unemployed.
K- French and German Studies graduate. Holiday camp manager. Did not require a degree for the job she is doing.
R- Civil Engineering graduate. Customer Assistant in Matalan. Did not require a degree for the job he is doing.
N- French with International Studies graduate. PR representative. Did not require a degree for the job he is doing.
S- French with German Studies graduate. Recruitment Consultant. Did need a degree for the job.
C- German and Linguistics graduate. Qualified Primary Teacher. Unemployed.
R- French with German Studies graduate. Customer Assistant in Michel Perry (fancy Paris shoe shop). Did not require a degree for the job she is doing. Did need fluent French though.
And lastly, Me- German and French Studies graduate. Unemployed.
That's 10 people. One of them needed a degree to get her job. I should also add that the job required A DEGREE, rather than one in a specific subject.
It is worrying. More people than ever are going to university. More people than ever are having trouble finding a job at the appropriate level. I have no doubt that I will find a job before too long. What I doubt is that it will reflect my qualifications. And I am far from the only person in this situation. This would be a bad situation to be in, even without taking the massive debt incurred into consideration. So, I think it is fairly safe to say that there has never been a worse time to graduate, and that things are, by and large, looking pretty bleak.

Why Fashion is Boring

"Trendy Wendy" is a phrase that has always amused me. Over the course of my life I have known two Wendys. "Trendy" is about the last word I would use to describe either of them. Trends are something I have been thinking about quite a lot recently. I think this has been prompted by my attempts to clear out my wardrobe. As I am not a fashion expert, I have no idea of the correct terminology, but it has recently struck me that the fashion cycle really is quite boring. I understand that it is, by definition, cyclical. But does it really have to be the same year in, year out? It's a wonder anyone ever buys new clothes, you might as well keep things from the previous year and still be bang on trend! To my eyes, the eyes of someone who does not have a lot of money to burn and is thus limited to the lower end of the British high street, the fashion year goes something like this:
Spring- Nautical. You know the score- red, white and blue. Maybe a touch of gold.
Summer- Gypsy skirts and Gladiator sandals. Occasionally 50s style A-line skirts, and dresses (which are ALWAYS too short)
Autum- Military. It's all about khaki, medals and too many buttons. The other option is Chunky Knits (are no magazine writers capable of using another phrase?!)
Winter- Victorianna/Rock. Basically black, with too many sequins over the festive season.
In fairness, there have been a couple of new additions in recent years. Who could live without neon denim, patterned leggings and peeptoe boots? Come to think of it, these are not so much new, merely things that have been out of the system for a few years. I had some lilac jeans when I was about 10!
I like clothes. And shoes. And bags. I like them all a lot, and I love shopping. Yet I still wouldn't describe myself as "fashionable". I am certainly not "trendy", I do not care enough to keep my finger on the fashion pulse. I am too poor to be truly "stylish" (because everyone knows that to be stylish requires a lot of money.) So I suppose until I become a high-flying Career Girl and/or marry an investment banker I am stuck with my mish mash of random clothes (it would be over-generous to call it eclectic, because there is no conscious effort behind it!) and half-baked ideas of wearing carefully put together outfits, rather than the first thing that comes to hand!

Day Fourteen- Tokyo- Ryogoku/Asakusa/Shiba Park/Shinjuku

*sob sob* This was the last day of our trip. To comiserate, we treated ourselves to a special breakfast. Any guesses what was inside it?

I bet you thought I was going to say red bean paste. Well, you would be wrong. It actually contained tinned fruit salad.You couldn't make it up! We decided to go to Ryogoku on a Sumo hunt. I was rather upset to find that there was pretty much no sign of there ever being anything exciting there because there was no competition on. There weren't even any flags! There was some nice street art though.

There was time for one last vending machine purchase.

After that we went back to Asakusa. Yes, again. You may be asking yourselves why. I would like to point out that I had nothing to do with it. When we went a few days previously, specifically to buy souvenirs, Boyo neglected to buy any. Yes, really. Luckily there were some sights, so it was not too inconvenient.

One of the last things left on my To Do List was sweet potato ice cream. Purely by coincidence, I found some. It was, of course, berry derishus.

This was by far the hottest day. I think it was probably about 35 degrees. We went to the Tokyo Tower. Not to go up it as I have heard that it is a bit of a waste of time for the price. We did have a good old look at the souvenir shops and had a spot of lunch. It was decidedly average, plus the whole place was swarming with annoying children.

The only thing left to see was the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately we were defeated by the heat and instead of walking round the park we sat in an air conditioned room drinking Coke Zero.
By the evening we had packed (there was A LOT of stress trying to decide what to do with my huge piece of beautiful hand made paper) and recovered enough for a big finale.
While it was a huge tragedy that Mr Boring was not there to entertain us, we did meet some of his friends. We arranged to meet Akane (Japanese), Veri (German) and Dan-san (English) at Shinjuku at 7.30 for an evening of fun and frolics. It wasn't until we got there that we realised how ridiculous it was that we were meeting a Japanese girl we'd never met before at the busiest station IN THE WORLD at rush hour. *facepalm*.
The first thing we did when we eventually found each other was Purikura. Google it, it is the best souvenir of Japan.

And as the sun set on the Land of the Rising Sun (yes, I have been waiting to use that horrendously cheesy phrase), we headed for the ultimate Japanese experience- Kareoke!!!

It was hilarious.

We had so much fun, it was a real shame to leave when the session was up. We sang a variety of songs, some more successful than others. Were Mr Boring there, this would have been the dream:

But of course it couldn't happen without him.

And that was it. I have nothing more to say on our big adventure. Everything went to Japlan. Now where am I going to go next???

Day Thirteen- Tokyo- Harajuku/Shinjuku

Sadly, our JR Pass was only valid for 7 days, so we had to head back to Tokyo. While I love Tokyo, this made me very sad because it meant that it was nearly time to go back to the UK. Something that did NOT make me said was staying in a Ninja hostel:

The light switch was a throwing star!

In the time we had spent away from Tokyo, the heat and humidity had risen by ridiculous proportions. Troopers that we are, we carried on regardless. Sadly our tight schedule did not permit us a visit to this wonderful looking cafe:

 We did, however, have time to go back to Harajuku for a bit more shopping and people watching. It looks about a gazillion times better in the sun.

 As you may or may not know, Boyo loves Disney t shirts. It took a while to convince him that buying these matching ones would not have been a good idea. I do like Minnie's shoe/boots though!

Before looking at the next photo, please make sure you are not holding anything hot and/or spillable, you are hot having a drink, and preferably make sure that you are sitting down. I am 99% certain it will make you guffaw (as it does with me every time I see it. Still.)

I believe this to be the Japanese version of the classic "Little Red Riding Hood". I wonder which is more interesting.
There are several signs that I saw which made me wonder (and worry slightly) about the relationships people have with their pets in Japan. This was one of the less disconcerting!

After an afternoon of shopping (and not eating Okonomiyaki) we went to Shinjuku in order to go up the Metropolitan Government Building again to see what the view was like at night. While it was fairly impressive, despite the power saving measures, the view from the windows is not what sticks in my mind. I was more mesmerised by the view from the toilet.

The lights were pretty and still fairly numerous despite most things being turned off.

Oh, I know I have already brought this advert to your attention, but I could not resist posting another picture of one of my favourite Japanese men EVER:

Day Twelve- Nara/Osaka

I am not an animal fan. Not because I'm scared of them or anything silly like that- I just don't like them much. When we arrived in Nara and saw this sign, I liked the idea of being surrounded by deer even less.

 But then I saw this one and thought that any deer cultured enough to have learnt to do the Capriole at the Spanish Riding School surely couldn't be that bad.

 Deer are the Big Thing in Nara. They are very respected as they are the messengers of the Gods. What better way to show your respect than to make it into a delightful monkey/deer hybrid phone charm?

 Todai-ji is also in Nara Park. This is a Buddhist temple.

The Gread Buddha of Todai-ji is the biggest in Japan. I think it looks a bit smaller than the one at Kamakura, probably because it's inside and surrounded by other things.

 If you rub a body part on this beshowercapped Buddha and then rub the corresponding part of your own body, it is said to cure any ailment you may have there. Boyo tried it for his aching feet but I am not sure how well it worked.

 It was lovely to look around the temple, though I have to admit that I was rather disappointed not to be able to use my loud speaker.

 Behind the Daibutsu, just next to the souvenir shop, is a pillar. At the bottom of the pillar is a hole which is allegedly the same size as the Buddha's nostril. Rumour has it that if you can fit through the hole, you will achieve enlightenment. I declined, as I am enlightened enough for the time being, but Boyo could not resist scrabbling around on the floor.

 You will all be pleased to know that he reached an enlightened state (feet first). Does that mean he should have some kind of holy title now? Is he officially a Buddha?

 I am not sure what this poster is for, but I am not sure how well received a product advertised by disabled children being bullied by a deer would be in the UK!

 There are deer literally everywhere. Even on the manhole covers. In case you thing this photo looks a bit weird, it is because I took it upside down because I did not notice that there was a deer on it.

 It was a Very Hot Day when we went to Nara. To cool us down we bought some shaved ice from a lovely old Japanese couple. I had remon and Boyo went for strawberry. Neither tasted anything like, but I did enjoy the excessive E numbers which are so hard to get hold of these days in the UK.

 After a long uphill struggle, we reached the Kasuga shrine. It was so worth it for the 3000 stone lanterns. I think my preferred time to go would be evening or night, but it was still nice in the midday sun.

 We went back to Osaka, withdrew some more money (well, Boyo did) and hit the shops in Amerika Mura (America Town).Oh, what lovely pants they had.

 It was the most American place I have ever been. Presumably this will be surpassed when I actually go to America.

 While most of the things in the shops did not meet with my level of sophistication, the combination of neon and Disney characters was right up Boyo's street. *SADLY* (make of that what you will) the prices did not quite meet with his skinflint needs. Quelle dommage.

 By and large, Japanese style is very good. I found myself wishing I was a Japanese girl on pretty much an hourly basis. Sometimes though, things are just plain wrong:

 We tried octopus balls. I was expecting to be disgusted and horrified. It was not to be- they just tasted of brown sauce and mayonnaise. I think octopus (along with Okonomiyaki) is the speciality of Osaka, the kitchen of Japan.

 Dotonbori is a long road with about a zillion restaurants. They are all really cool looking. I could have eaten A LOT there, but we decided to just have one tea (no need to be greedy). No prizes for guessing what it was.

 At night everything lights up and looks even BETTER.

I am not sure why, but this running man is famous. I was so pleased to see crazy lights somewhere in Japan. While I understand why they're doing it, I was a bit gutted that Tokyo wasn't all lit up. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to go again!

Day Eleven- Osaka

Boyo is such an impressive hunk of man, one strap is not enough to hold him up on public transport. He needs the support of two. Even if it puts other people at a disadvantage, he needs to hold two.

Osaka style Okonomiyaki is really good. Better when a professional puts the mayonnaise on though. I bet you are intrigued to find out the difference between Osaka style and Hiroshima style. Well, wonder no more- in Osaka they mix everything in together whereas in Hiroshima it is cooked in layers.

Getting to the hostel was an absolute disaster. For a start our directions didn't say which station to go to. Once we eventually worked it out (with the help of several members of staff in the tourist information office), these were the directions we had to contend with:
Go under ground and go to exit 12. From Exit 12 walk towards Mizuho Bank and a convenient store called AMPM or Apolo building or Lucius building (Do not turn at the corner of Lucius building). It's a big street that's running east to west and then take the west way. (It's down hill)
Go straight and then you'll pass a big hospital called “Ichi Ritsu Fuzoko Hopital" (A big building with bus stop in front and Karaoke across the street).
Then turn left to the narrow street (down hill) when you see a new apartment on the left (1 street before the traffic light before high way).
Keep walking the street until you see a preschool on the right at the 3rd corner from the big street. (You will see public bath on the right on the way)
Then turn right at the corner of the preschool and make a left at the first very small street (in front of the gate of the preschool).
Then you will see the guest house on the right.
How we actually got there, I will never know. We should have taken that as a sign of how bad the place was going to be. To get to our room, we had to walk through another bedroom. There was no lock on the door. It was literally like someone was letting people stay in their house; a house which is crammed full of junk (think me asking people to pay to stay in my bedroom!) We couldn't check in until the evening which was fair enough, but we had to leave our cases on top of a pile of shoes. The girl who worked there was so rubbish it was hilarious. We asked for a map of Osaka. She said "oh sure... here's one. Sorry, it's in Korean though"!!! We politely declined and set off in search of someone a bit more helpful.
First stop on our whirlwind tour of Osaka was the castle.

It looks really good from the outside and the view from the top is great, but unless you are interested in Really Old Japanes Things, the museum is a bit boring, There are only so many letters signed by some famous Japanese man a girl can feign interest in!

Between the castle and the train station is a big park. I can't remember what it's called but it's basically the Osaka equivalent of Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Walking through, I felt very old. There was a Battle of the Bands type thing...

...loads of boys with skipping ropes (it was a lot more impressive than it sounds, they were really good!)...

... and millions of posing teenagers...

Of all the cities we visited, I would say that Osaka was the most difficult to navigate. I don't know why it was so difficult but it caused Serious Stress. Eventually we found the Umeda Sky Building. It was worth the search.

The observations deck is on the 73rd floor. It's around the circular hole at the top of the buiding. The two things you can see going across it are escalators. The view was GOOOOOOOD.

Apart from Tokyo, Osaka was one of the most modern and developed cities we went to. While it was nice to see the countryside, I think I preferred the cities.
The Japanese do not show emotion. At all. I think we saw one hug the whole time we were there. So, instead of actually telling people you like them, why not pay A LOT to padlock "your love" to the top of the building?

Of all the things I was expecting to see in Japan, Hundertwasser was not one of them! I can't seem to get away from him!

Some say the Tempozan Ferris Wheel is the largest in the world. Some say it's one of the biggest. All we know is, it's pretty massive.

It was really cool. The views of the lights were ace but sadly there are no pictures because it was very difficult to capture the lights.
It goes without saying, but Japan is a bit weird. They all seem very serious almost all the time, nobody talks on public transport and I would say that they are a very self-conscious nation. Which is why their obsession with cute things doesn't seem to make much sense! Every poster has some kind of cartoon drawing, more often than not featuring an animal, no matter what it is telling you. This one is to say that pregnant women or mothers have the priority (I think)

And these monkeys were about general behaviour on the trains. I think the moral of this one is "Don't be a Spiv"

And this one... errrrrr... be careful where you throw your banana skins?