Reunion!

I had a reunion on July 14th.
There were lots of my old friends and we all went to same junior high school!
(Some of them and I went to same elementary school.)
I was so excited to see them because I haven't seen them for a long time :)

We had the reunion at a restaurant which is close to our school.
It started at 7:00 pm but I had to go to a different party first.

When I went to the restaurant, all of my friends made lots of noise!!
It was really easy to find them there.

We kept eating and drinking!! We all were in high spirit!!

and.......

I WAS DRUNK!!

We all had really good time :)
I forgot to charge a battery of my camera so I couldn't take lots of picture... :(

Hee, me, Tsube, Kon-chan.

I went to same elementary school

and juniour school with Hee.

Tsube and Kon-chan
Tsube pretended to kiss Kon-chan.

When I showed my friends this picture,

they thought Tsube is a girl!!

Me and Che-kun

I pretended to kiss her but she tried to run away!!

The beautiful island Miyajima

We went to the beautiful island Miyajima on May 2nd.
It was the last day to spend time in Hiroshima.
We had to leave there and go to Kyoto.


When we went to Miyajima, we saw a guy who is from America in a train.
His name is Ryan and he also wanted to go to Miyajima.
So we went there togeter.


We had to cross the sea by ferry. It was awesome!
When we found the HUGE torii, we all were so excited and took a lot of picutres!
It was beautiful.


We finally arrived at Miyajima and there are lots of building which is so beautiful.

We wanted to go to close to torii and Anna and Tammy, Julie rolled up their pants and went to close to torii.
I wanted to do but my pants were too skinny to roll up...
Julie carried me on her back then!! She is so kind!!

Anna and Julie, me.

Julie carried me on her back!

There are LOTS of deers!

And they ate my map!!

It is my favorite picture!

They are so cute, aren't they?

We were going to the top of the island!

We saw a cool guy Pete and his wife.

He is really really funny and his wife is so cute.

Pete wrote "I'm Pete from Austria. Kiss" on the back of my hand.

We took a picture with Pete's wife.

Think about PEACE!

We went to Peace Park and Peace Memorial Museum,
Atomic Bomb Dome on May 1st.
I have been there on school trip when I was 14 years old.
I was sure I would feel differently.
And I was also sure my Canadian friends (Anna, Tammy, Julie)
and I would feel differently because A-bomb was dropped in "JAPAN".

I felt like this before.
I watched a movie "Letters from Iwo jima" with my ex-boyfriend
who is from America. This movie is about World War ll.
I was thinking about our grand parents when we watched this movie.
My grand parents and his grand parents must have been enemies.
And they should have killed each other.
After 62 years, their grand children (my ex-boyfriend and me) were dating.
When I was a little girl, my grand mom kept talking about World War ll.
She didn't hate America, she just talked about her experience to me a lot.
I felt something weird when we watched this movie with my ex-boyfriend.
I cannot exprain well but if I have watched this movie with "JAPANESE" friend,
I would not feel like that.
It was importand to watch this movie with my ex-boyfriend who is from
the country which used to be our enemy.

Anna, Maki, Julie

At Peace Memorial Museum

These pictures are from Peace Memorial Museum.

A lot of people lost their family.

Before


Now (The name is A-bomb Dome.)

A-bomb broke everithing...

A-bomb killed lots of people...

Deformed glass bottle.

A-bomb Dome in the night.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

Himeji castle

I went to Himeji castle with Anna and Julie, Tammy on April 30th!
I was so excited to go on a trip with them :)

We left Osaka in the morning and went to Himeji by a train.

Anna and me at a station!

Julie touched the bullet train.

We took this train!!

We arrived at Himeji and went to the Himeji castle.
It was first time to ge there.
I really like Japanese culture and old building like this castle!!
So I was really really excited to go into the castle.

It was so beautiful and HUGE!!

I have Himeji castle!!

We were clibming the wall!!

Cherry blossom was dead!

Culture difference

I went to an airport to pick a my friend Julie up with Anna and Tammy on April 29th.
When I waited for her, I saw a little boy who speaks English.
His name is Silas who is 4 years old.
(He wears yellow shirt in this picture.)
He was waiting for his dad with a Japanese girl.

When I spoke to him, he asked me my name.
He said "Nice to meet you!" and he tried to shake hands.
And he also said "I only speak English, can you speak English?"
He is really cute, isn't he?
In Japan, 4 years old kids don't introduce themselves well and they don't ask if I speak Japanese.

It seems I saw different cultures.
I think Silas knows people speak a lot of kinds language.
Maybe people speak to him in many language in his country.
It is really rare people speak to kids in different languages in Japan.
Maybe Japanese kids doesn't know there are a lot of kinds of language in the world.

Welcome to Japan, Tammy!

We had a welcome party for Tammy!
We went to our favorite restaurant Dream Heart.

Eat, drink, eat, drink, eat, drink....

Tiffany, Maki, Lincoln, Mark, Tammy

(Anna was taking this picture.)

It was first time to see Tammy.

She is really nice and friendly!!

We will go on a trip with Anna and Julie!!

Julie will come to Japan tomorrow :)

I can't wait to see her :D

SAKURA

"Sakura" means cherry blossoms in Japanese.

We love sakura very much.
In spring, we can get a lot of things which is made from sakura.

Sakura tea, sakura ice cream, sakura chocolate, sakura rice, sakura sweets,
sakura potato chips, sakura jelly, sakura wine, sakura jam....and more.

I wanna introduce some of them.

Sakura ice cream

Sakura jam

Sakura KitKat

Sakura tea

Sakura bread

Sakura cake

Do you wanna try them?

The Doll's Festival

I'm sure that this post will be the most difficult one that ever I wrote.

We have The Doll's Festival for little girls on March 3rd in Japan.

The family who has a little girl decorates these dolls to hope she will grow up well.

We call this all dolls "Hina ningyo".

The festival originated more than 1,000 years ago.

A long time ago, Japanese people purify to use a doll on March 3rd.

In their purification, they leave to have their sin to the doll,

and they rub the doll against their skin, they blow their breath to the doll.

After all, they float the doll in a river.

(The doll is different from Hina ningyo.)

There were two kinds of dolls in Japan.

The first one was used to purify.

The second one was used to play dolls.

Hina ningyo came when the first one and the second one were mixed.

A long time a go, it was very difficult that all kids grew up well.

There were a lot of very bad illness.

So all familys used the Hina ningyo as a wish.

But it looked different from Hina ningyo we can buy today.

In the Edo era, its appearance was changed.

The dolls looked like the people who lived in the court lived in Heian era.

I got a package from America!

I got a mail from my friend Damien and his little sister Kiz.

I was soooooo excited to open it.

Damien knows I like a toy. So he sent me two dolls of PUFFY.

They are really cool! Thanks, Damien :)

And I got A LOT OF American candy!!
I have never seen candy like that!
American candy look like toys :) They look very fun and cute.

And I got a special necklace and a letter from Kiz.
I didn't know she knows me but it was really really really good surprise.
The necklace was made by Kiz and I LOVE IT!!
She sells necklaces and something eles.
Can you believe that she is only 14 years old?
She is a little bussiness woman :) Cute!

I sent a mail for Damien before.
But it was for Damien, not for Kiz.
(Because I didn't know her when I sent it.)
I decided to send a mail for her as "THANK YOU".
I bought a lot of Japanese candy, and......secret :D

I hope she likes them :)

Valentine's Day with Maki

Anna took this video on Valentine's Day.
And Brian edit it for me :)

Guess what ! ! ! !

I got a passport today!

I'm so excited because I got a passport today!

It means "I can go anywhere!" WOOOOOW!!
Am I crazy? Who cares?
It is a first passport for me! Can you believe I can go anywhere?
I cannot wait to go to America!

She is a cute dog with a boy's name :)

My friend Yuma came home to see his family and friends from Tokyo.
He saw me to give me a lot of pictures.

This is the most favorite picture which he gave me.

He took this picture about a year ago.
This is Yuma's dog who is called Edy.
You think this dog is a boy, right?
NO! She is a GIRL!
I don't know why she has a boy's name...
I asked Yuma about her name before.
But he didn't know why she has a boy's name too.

Hey friends! I wanna know popular names with dogs in your country.
What do you think? What is your doggie's name?

The day before the beginning of spring.

Today is the day before the beginning of spring.
We have a traditional event today.
We scattered the parched soy beans to drive out bad luck.

When I was a little, my teachers appeared in the likeness of a damon/ogre in a preschool.
And we(students and some teachers) aimed the parched soy beans at the teachers as we said "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!"
It means that we hope good luck come on in, bad luck and damon/ogre go away.
Some teachers with damon/ogre uniforme was very scary and ugly.
They scared us very much!

Damon/ogre scare people.

You can get the parched soy beans and a damon/ogre mask at a store.

Stolen my car!

My car was stole by Anna!
She drove my car to go to a book store with me.
110! (It is the phone number of the police station.)

I visited her to give the cosmetic which she wants after work.
And she asked me "What are you doing tonight?"
I said "I am going to the book store which you really like."
She wanted to come with me.

When I was waiting for her, Brian called me.
And I was waiting for her as I talked to Brian.
She said to me something.
But I could not listen well because I was talking to Brian.
It seemed that she wanted to get my keys.
I thought "She will open my car for me. She is kind!"
(I had talked to Brian.)
Somehow, she walked to the driver's seat and got on.
I thought she got on the driver's seat as a joke.
She made my car start.
You know...she drove my car without Japanese driver's license.
I shouted for help because I was scared.

In Canada, you drive on RIGHT side.
In Japan, we drive on LEFT side.
In Canada, you sit LEFT side.
In Japan, we sit RIGHT side.
AND the streets are very narrow in Japan.

I said to her "I believe you." but she said "Don't believe me." with a smile.
I'm sure it is the most scary occurrence in 2007.
She made my life shorter, hehehe :)

Spirited Away

I watched "Spirited Away" on TV today.

Liz had talked to me about this movie before.
(Liz is a big fan of Studio Gibuli.)
But I had never watched it.

I was watching as I ate a snack.
I couldn't keep eating when I watched it.
Because It drew me from start to finish!

This story is too difficult to explain.
Because it is composed of Japanese ideas.

You can get some information here.(Click here!)

Spirited Away (Japanese version)

Spirited Away (English version)

Learning new words

I have been sick for two weeks...

I think I had a really bad stomach virus.
And some of my friends too.
Does this virus spread in Japan? ...I don't know.
I went to the hospital to have an injection. It helped me :)

I have not had a fever and stomachache since I had an injection.
But I still have a cough. That's all! I will be super soon :)

By the way, I have watched some movies and read some books lately because I could not go out.
"50 first dates" is the most favorite movie which I have watched lately.
Have you ever watched it? It is love story in Hawaii.
I have never been to Hawaii.
But the images and the music in this movie made me feel Hawaii :)

I got some new words from my friends!

1, Guess what
-I got this word from Damien.
After that, I said to Steve and Tiffany "I got a new word!"
They said "What?" I said "Guess what!"
They said "What??" I said "Guess what!"
They said "What???" We repeated 2 times. It was funny :)

2, hypothetical
-I got this word from Damien.
After that, I said to Steve and Tiffany, Anna "I got new word!
But I forgot about it... H,Y,......C,A,L" They thought about
this word. It was like a quiz. Tiffany got an answer!

3, G'day mate!
-I got this word from Steve.
He taught me about difference of British and American, Canadian,
Australian accents.
It seems that when I speak British English, I have to stand with
a straight back. And act politely with a stick :) hehehe.
It seems that Australian English is very casual.

I learned English from conversation with my friend and songs in English.
So maybe I learned BAD words sometimes.
When I cannot find the words in my dictionary, I ask my friends about them.
And it seems that I make them annoy with the questions.
Sorry, Steve and Tiffany, Anna!

Welcome and farewell party

We had a welcome and farewell party.

It is really good to have new coworker.
But it is really sad to lose coworker.

A girl came to our store to work together.
It was first time to see her.
She looks a very nice girl.
She is a year older than me.
I hope we will be good friends.

We had a good coworker who was transferred.
We were very sad because he is liked by everyone.
I cannot believe he will leave our store.

I hope we all can meet up some time!

Think about foreign food

I went to Hard Rock Cafe with Brian.
It was third times to go there.

We ate Mexican food and salad.
I had never eaten Mexican food before I saw Brian.

He showed me a lot of things.
Mostly foreign food.
I know about Chinese and Korean food a little bit.
But he showed me American food, Mexican food,
Thai food, Italian food, Balinese food, Indian food...etc.
They are very interesting for me.

And it changed my mind.
I thought the best food is Japanese food.
So I had never tried to eat foreign food which I had never eaten.
I was silly.

Brian took salad for me.

And he made cute face

Hair : lettuce

Eyebrow : shrimp

Glasses : onion

Eye : olive

Ear : bread

Mouth : tomato