The Highlight of my Day, Nay Week!

Tuesday 1 April, 2014 

¥5.00           Breakfast (Corner Shop)
¥22.00         Cappuccino
¥200.00       Tutoring
¥12.00         Dinner
¥10.00         Casa Miel (Pu'er Tea)
¥2.00           Pineapple

Total: ¥251.00 ($45.00)

Weekly Total: ¥783.45 ($140.60)

Total Spend: ¥18638.15 ($3517.10 AUD)

- - -

Wow I just realised how fitting half of the contents are for April Fool's Day. It seems almost too good to be a coincidence.

So today I had a pretty typical day but the definite highlight was receiving this care package from my beautiful cousins Normasaurus , Normanasaurus, Charles & Mei. Thank you guys so much! 

Right after Wushu class I found this taped to my door. I had heard of the "Guest Notice" and I was super excited to receive my first one!

I rushed down to reception, signed my name and picked up this big parcel. I was incredibly excited to open it, but following my usual tendencies I tried to cut it neatly first to save the wrapping. After a bit of cutting I realised the wrapping was too plastered with words and stamps and sheets to really reuse for anything at all. So I just tore in!

Second layer... double wrapping? I like the dinosaur stickers. Definitely appreciating the attention to detail!

A butterfly for me.. I have a feeling my little cousin Mei did this? 

I opened it all quite slowly to savour every little detail. I like that they sent All the Stuff in a battered cardboard ginger beer box! I won't lie, I was a bit excited to see the words ginger beer. 

My cousin's beautiful handwriting, carrying with it the kind of backhanded compliment that only a family member can deliver with such poise.

Box opening.. so much stuff!! Ahh!!! Wrapped things!!! Much excitement! 

I wondered what they meant by 'taxed'...

Lotion? Cream? How thoughtful!

This was heavy and it was from Norman. I had no idea what to expect... I was imagining some object, like a statue or something.

My first thought was soap! 

I put the wrapped things aside and decided to look at the other things first. The writing was a bit smudged.. what is num um ums? Is it not noms? I was a bit confused. 

Miso Soup!! Now I can be lazy and not go out of my dorm to get food!!

Caramello Koalas.. I loved that it was sticky taped and that they took some chocolates from the packet first. How very fitting.. I think this explains my relationship with my cousins quite well!

Same with these Eucalyptus Drops!

Tim Tam box opened. Not sure if it was the customs officers or my cousins. Just did a quick count and there are still 9 in there, so I'm thinking customs wanted to take a sneak peek. 

Anzac biscuits! I think I'll eat these on Anzac Day. Maybe I'll tie one of the cookies to a string and try make a friend.

What is this amazingness! I can't believe I'm missing out on these in Australia at the moment! (Definitely not sharing these.. pretty sure the 5 packs aren't marketed as share packs) 
wtf as if 1 serving is 1 biscuit. Who stops after 1 biscuit!!

I'm actually very excited about ALL the Tim Tams. (They are prized over here..) I've been missing Tim Tams and Australian Milk together, you know how you drink it through the biscuit like a straw? Wow I'm craving that now. I think I'll have it for breakfast tomorrow.

Since I have 5 in each pack I need ideas on how to eat each one in 5 different ways...
I really should share but I'm quite shellfish.

Actually I should probably have this for breakfast instead of the Tim Tams. Ohh mann I should not be writing this blog at midnight because I'm getting a serious case of the munchies.

Muahahaha I am incredibly keen to share this sucker. Actually I love vegemite with butter/avocado on toast.. but avocados are super rare and I need to taste-test the breads here to make sure they're not the asian super-sweet type. I need that vitality!!

<This was the lotion/cream that I thought I was getting.. N.B. The attached message was "Charles this you need to do your personal hygiene regime with this."  Thanks Charles!! Will definitely be incorporating it into my bedtime routine. >

Second mystery gift: decided to open Mei's one because I thought surely this would be safe and innocuous. (She is still a child after all!) I was glad that 2/3 of the products weren't taxed already. This forced sharing routine is actually quite nice. I feel like I should share the chocolate with Friends because it does say 'Friends' on the packaging... Anyway thank you Mei!! 

Opened Norman's gift second last because I never know what to expect from that guy and I wasn't going to leave my last impression of this box on him. (I've been trolled enough to have learnt my lesson...)
The weird, heavy shaped object ended up being soy sauce!! I was so happy because I thought it was because he remembered that when I was abroad in Nepal, all I craved was for white rice and soy sauce. (I did wonder whether I told him that story ever..) Then I thought it was very thoughtful that he would send a trusted brand of soy sauce to me, because I do worry a bit about how much fake food I'm putting into my body here. At least this is authentic! Anyway I found out not long after that it was a very troll move. Sending Soy Sauce. To China. Main motivation. Sigh. So much hope. Should've seen it coming.

Actually it's very useful because now I can live off a white rice with soy sauce diet!! I didn't get to eat it for dinner today, but next time, next time!! ALL THE WHITE RICE!!! ALL THE SOY SAUCE!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Lastly I opened Norma's mystery gift, and received my favouritest chocolate in the whole wide world (so thoughtful, thank you Norma!) and SPAM! Because I made a comment that she spammed my facebook a lot with all her likes, and then it sort of became a running joke after I posted an image of spam on her wall. I am very excited about this can of spam! 

So many things! I am truly spoilt to have such amazing, generous and thoughtful family members. Thank you guys so much! It truly made my day. It would've been quite a silly sight if anyone would have seen me. I was just sitting on the floor after I had unwrapped everything, surrounded by brown paper and food products scattered all over the floor. I had spam in one hand and soy sauce in the other, and I was just feeling so happy and overwhelmed with love for my cousirinos! Definitely made me miss home and all our family gatherings where much stupidity occurs. This mystery box with all its goodies and ridiculousness definitely encapsulates our relationship! Thank you guys so much! The whole experience has definitely made my day  week year top 5 moments in life!