Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

Mm...boring life

Well, I haven't been posting, because life has been a unending stream of cigarettes and magazines...oh wait, that was Simon and Garfunkel. Ahem, my life has been teaching, rain, and pizzamons. :) Nothing particularly interesting.

Aimee and I went Christmas shopping on Friday, which was groovy. :) I'd post the fun things that I got, but that wouldn't be sporting, would it? Suffice it to say, I think people will be happy. Just need to figure out the post office now, hmm? One thing I can say I did buy was a little plushie Jack Skellington keychain. I had intended it to be used AS a keychain, but as soon as Thomas saw it, he decided that if I had a cute Jack plushie, so should he.

Just in time for Halloween! I think it's super cute, so Thomas just might get to keep chibi Jack all for himself.

A useless quiz early in the morning...

1. How old are you? 24...dang I'm old...

2. What color pants are you wearing right now? Gray and pink plaid

3. What are you listening to right now? Aimee brushing her teeth

4. Missing? My family and friends back in the States

5. What was the last thing you ate? Yaki soba last night

6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Cerulean or another shade of blue, seems to be the consensus...except Megan, who says I would be copper

7. Last person you talked to on the phone? Clare Knight, my boss

8. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Eyes

9. Do you like the person who sent you this? Heh, actually, I stole it from Dana. Who I like, very much. *nods*

10. How are you today? Mm...a bit tired, but glad it's my last day of work this week.

11. Favorite drink? Logonberry and orange Fanta

12. Favorite alcoholic drink? Amaretto Sour

13. Favorite sport? Hockey!! Good old Canadian ice hockey!

14. Hair color? Dark brown

15. Eye color? Reddish brown

16. Do you wear contacts? Sometimes

17. Siblings? Beckity and Booger

18. Favorite month? October

19. Favorite foods? Yaki soba and spaghetti parmesan

20. Last movie you watched? Chicago

21. Favorite day of the year? Halloween!

22. Are you too shy to ask someone out? You betcha!

23. Hugs or kisses? Mm...depends...

24.Winter or Summer? Summer

25. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate

26. Do you want your friends to write back? If they'd like...

::eliminated these two. who is most/least likely to respond are stupid questions...::

29. What are your living arrangements? An apartment in Nagoya near the train station

30. What books are you reading? "The Amulet of Samarkand"

32. What are you doing tonight? Getting home from work and sitting!

34. Favorite car? Union Jack mini Cooper

35. Favorite flower? Roses and lilacs

36. How many keys on your key ring? Um...four? Five?

38. Favorite day of the week? Friday!

39. Red or white wine? Red

40. What did you do for your last birthday? Mm..had a My Little Pony party

41. Do you carry a donor card? Nope

42. What are your lifetime goals? To become a published writer who is eventually taught in a university classroom

43. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? Good Lord...I don't want to go to work...

Well, this isn't a good update or anything. I've been very bad about writing. But I wanted to post this. :)

1. Think of a word you would use to describe me.
2. Go to Google Image Search and search for that word.
3. Select the picture you see as most fitting, and post it as a reply.
4. Post this meme in your journal.

I got this from blastmilk. Please do it! It'll be fun!

Other than that, life isnt' very exciting. I'm getting along well with the people I work with, which is cool. I have my three week observation tomorrow, which I'm terrified of. That's about the extent of my news for now. :) Talk to you anon!

Well...another typhoon comes and goes. I wasn't impressed with this one either. There were very high winds and lots of rain, and my umbrella spent more time inside out than actually doing any good. :) Work was a little dull, since a lot of students cancelled. One of the teachers, Leon, ended up only teaching 2 classes!

I had a royal pain in my American butt today. Stupid student...I don't want to go into it again, but let's just say that he completely destroyed my sense of self-worth for the day, and I almost cried. Ah well! I also learned that there's a big bookstore with a substantial English section on the 10th floor of Nagoya Station, so that's a good thing, hmm? :) Needless to say, though, I'm very glad that it's finally my weekend.

I don't have much to write about...oh! Except my new favorite food. Pizzamon! It's sort of like a small, round, doughy calzone with pizza stuff inside. Very warm adn very very soft. Very tasty! Next time I get one, I'll take a pic. Everyone should know what a pizzamon looks like. There are also other little dough balls with stuff inside, including the Currymon (which, as the title would suggest) is filled with curry. I need to try them too!

My exciting day!

Well, today was Aimee and my common day off to make up for our training on Friday. We had a list of places to hit, mostly in Sakae. However, today was some sort of festival day in Nagoya...we think maybe some sort of autumn festival? Not sure. Aimee thought maybe it could have been the doll festival...anyway, the streets were all closed off and there were crowds and it was simply crazy trying to get around. We did get to see a bunch of parades. And, no, there are no pictures. :) I didn't have my camera with me (thinking it was just a day of errands) and Aimee had somehow forgotten the memory card for her camera. The parades were interesting. Kids on high unicycles, tall red-faced papier-mache puppets, huge Finding Nemo figures, a cage filled with men playing flutes with a conductor monkey on it...

We went to Tokyu Hands first, to find a tiny paintbrush for Aimee. Unfortunately,it was still out of stock. Next, on to Volks to see the pictures of the new dolls. They're much prettier in the new pictures. There were also several doll blessing ceremonies going on today, and we were invited to watch them! These ceremonies are for the FCS dolls; the first doll was an SD13 girl, all done up in goth makeup with black wings and a white curly wig and very gothy lolita dress. The girl whose doll she was had dressed up too. It was a short ceremony, all in Japanese (of course), but they turn off all the lights and put on special music and light candles. Then the head guy at the store puts on a velvet cape and reads the little ceremony, naming the doll. This doll's name was Yuri Transylvania. :) Heheheheh. I can't wait to do FCS now! I want my new little Thomas! I have to make sure I have off from work on that day! *hugs doll-to-be*

Then off to Ozone! Which is where Aimee works. She always told me that it was a little place, but it's way bigger than Hara! The grocery store there is very cool. It seems more like a Western supermarket, with excellent yaki soba. :) Then we went to the next floor, where there was a sort of "Beds, Baths, and Beyond." We needed blankets and storage units. We found blankets, for 1900 yen. A little pricey, but those are honestly the only blankets we've found. And we'll need them this winter! I also got a 10 piece tupperware set for food storage for 399 yen, which is needed. We finally found cheap shelves, yay! But there were a bit heavy...so Aimee may try to get them tomorrow, or...well, or we'll see. :)

All in all, a successful day. I so do NOT want to go to work tomorrow. Oh, and by special request, here is my work schedule!

Sunday (Sakae) 10-5:40
Monday (Hara) 1:20-9
Tuesday (Hara) 1:20-9
Wednesday (Hara) 1:20-9
Thursday OFF
Friday OFF
Saturday (Hara) 10:50-6:30

There you have it! And as per another request, please remember when posting a comment to me to include an e-mail address, otherwise the blog won't allow your post to go through (it's a protection against spambots). Thank you! And I am happy to announce that I now have a set of headphones and mic. So, if you have similar equipment and Yahoo Messenger, please, talk to me! :)

Before I forget...

Well, today is my day off, and shall be full of cleaning and organizing. And enjoying not being at work. :) After walking Aimee to the train station, I went and paid the bills (which you do at convenience stores, go figure), then headed up to Feel Markets and the other shops up there.

First stop, Book Off. I'm still on the hunt to find Gackt's cd "Mars" for cheaper than 2000 yen. No luck. *sigh* Then I went to the 100 yen shop, where I may go back to with Aimee on Sunday. They have great lunchbox sets for, obviously, 100 yen, which is a good price. I want the one in French. :) I also got a little box to keep all our little Rement things in. Rement are the little plastic foods you can get for dolls. They come in lots of sets, my favorite being the Dreamy American Life one, and you never know which set you'll get. This week I lucked out; I got the Halloween set AND the baking set. Super cute!

Then off to the little onigiri place, which has the best and cheapest yaki soba. I am now eating it as I write, though it's gotten cold. *sigh* Still delicious though! And the old woman who works there thinks I'm really cute for some reason. All sorts of smiling and bowing. Then on to the supermarket, where I just picked up a few things for dinner for the next few days. I looked at the fish, but I don't know if I'm quite ready to make those decisions on my own yet. ;)

On the walk home, I noticed the oddest label on a cardboard box in a garage. It was a printed on label...it's actually the reason I'm posting. :) It read "Oval Curious Blowmaker." This box was surrounded by other boxes of car parts. Am I missing something huge here?

I also got my package from Daddo today! Huzzah! Thanks for the candy! I can't believe I'm missing Halloween, but this will definitely help. Thanks, Daddy! *kisses your cheek*

Some piccies...finally!

Well, I don't have that much to post about today. Life's been busy, but with work, mostly. Today was my one week evaluation (a little late). I got a good review! Apparently, I also got a good review from my trainer, so that was sort of a nice surprise. I'd really like to know what exactly he said though....ah well! I have another evaluation in two weeks...blah.

Yesterday was a holiday in Japan, though even most Japanese people didn't know what the holiday was. It was Sports and Health day, heh. Apparently, the government here is worried about people's health, so they actually made a national holiday about it. What did people do? Play sports? No, they went shopping and came to Nova. What's up with that??? Go play sports people!

Aaaaaanyway, yesterday was Aimee's birthday. Happy Birthday, Aimee! Heh, I made a fancy dinner for her. I even got beef...and cooked it! You should all be impressed with me.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. Tomorrow is my equivalent of Friday, since I have Thursday off. But, before I leave you for the evening, here are some pictures.

They're not the promised pictures of my itty bitty apartment; I need to be here in good light to take them. But here, for your enjoyment, are pictures of....

The view of Nagoya from my balcony.

Where I work in Hara.

A hallway in Gifu station featuring the Grandfather Tree and Baby Bush characters of the World Expo coming up next year in Aichi (the province we live in).

And finally, the oddest thing I've seen. Yes, this is an advert for a show featuring the Trinity Irish Dancers...in Gifu.

Day of triumph!

Well, looks like we're in for another typhoon. I woke up to rain...and it's still raining. Even harder than this morning, really. We slept in a little late, but were ready to head out on errands shortly around 11:30. First off we went to the ward office to pick up our alien registration cards. This went smoothly, quickly, non-hasseledly. Then we realized that the post office we needed to go to to get our UFJ bank cards was not the one actually near us, like three minutes away, but the one up by the ward office. The sighing commenced. Sure, today it was fine, but that means everytime I get a package, I have to hike up there...during business hours. *huff* Oh well! I can always use the exercise, and it's not that long a walk. Anyway, we picked up our cards without incident as well. *cheers*

After that, all the work was done! It was time for fun! Still in the rain, but whatever. We headed back towards Nagoya Station to go to the Geestore, a cosplay, anime, Azone place. I got Apollo a tennis outfit, that I must say he looks squeeful in. I love looking around that store, at all the costumes and wigs. Any character you could possibly want to be, from Chobits or Gundam or Eva or Sailor Moon, the pieces are there, including licensed school patches and fictional government organization pins. Super cool. I also got a free little booklet about the third HP movie in Japanese.

After that we headed over to the train station to get the subway to Sakae. We needed lunch, so we finally braved one of the bakeries in the station. Aimee got a piece of pizza that barely resembled pizza. It had corn and onions and sauce and a little cheese...and a mustard mayo sort of mix. :) I got a roll that looked like it was cooked around a piece of breaded chicken. Wrongo! It was indeed a roll, but the breaded thing was actually a little patty of mashed potatoes and veggies. It was sort of like having a shepherd's pie sandwich, without the meat. For dessert we shared a melon bun. All together, the price was about 350 yen, which isn't bad at all.

In Sakae (in the rain), we headed up to our favorite place...Volks! We spent so long in there, mostly just looking around again and again and again. I did get a Pinky, though. Man, they're cute in person! You can change all their hair and faces and clothes and...oh! Sugoi! Aimee got one too and we changed them all around so she has one that looks like her and I have one that looks like me. We also talked (as well as we could) to the girl working the counter in the dollfie part of Volks. She is so sweet! She showed us the whole thing of the SD Bible, explaining about the headquarters in Kyoto and the FCS system. We talked about which dolls we wanted and had, and that for Christmas we were going to do the MSD FCS. She was really excited. She even showed us a head that she had painted the faceup on. It was really nice! She was so blushing and proud when we told her it was beautiful. Aimee also asked about the new standard dolls that'll be released soon. They said there will be pictures next week! *dies* Definitely going to have to check that out! But, anyway, the people at Volks are so sweet and friendly. I looove going there!

Oh...and Boog? There was a neato gashapon machine outside Volks. I figured I'd try my luck...

And look who I got on the first try! Heheheh....can you wait for Christmas? ;)

Day off!

Well, today was a day off, ah...first day of my weekend. I don't really have much to write about, but let's see.

First off, I used a Japanese washer and dryer for the first time today...and...triumphed! No explosions, no flying suds, just clean clothes. I dried my undies in the dryer, since I have heard stories of women's underwear being nabbed off the line by pervy guys. (Apparently a bunch of Japanese guys have a thing for women's underwear.). So, my trousers and t-shirts are all hung out on the line, but the undies are safely indoors. :)

Second interesting thing of note today: I bought a nice pair of chopsticks. I got them at Tokyu Hands, which is a department store in Nagoya Station. They're awesome! They're a sort of blackish-bluish with flecks of holographic foil. I also got a case for them, which is pretty simple, really.

I'm rather fond of them. :) They haven't been used yet, but since I should start makign dinner, maybe they'll get some use tonight. I'll let ya know!

Shakin' it up!

W00+, home from work! Finally...I generally don't get home until 10. Today we finally found somewhere that takes American ATM cards, so our financial concerns are alleviated. :) Oddly enough, it wasn't a bank ATM, or one in a convenience store, or even one at Nagoya Station. It was actually at the post office down the street. ^.^* The post office is a huge affair; it's the entire first floor of an entire block of buildings. I'm rather afraid of the post office, really. It's so huge and imposing! And like everything else in Japan that's at all official, the place is simply overrun with forms. I've heard from coworkers that it isn't bad sending stuff off, but I'm still rather daunted. But...their ATM's are great! They speak English, and have English on the screens, at the push of a button.

In other news, today I felt my first earthquake. To be honest, I didn't know what it was, as it happened at 8:30 am, and I was really only half awake. But I was laying on my stomach and all of a sudden I felt like I was shaking. My first thought, actually, was that I was coming down with something. It lasted about thirty seconds, long enough for me to wonder what the heck was going on. But I didn't know what it was until I was at work, and my coworkers mentioned it. I felt like such a dork! Heh, but at least I felt it. Aimee slept right through it. ;)

Back!

Ah...internet, sweet internet! There was some sort of mixup with us not having signed a contract for it or something stupid...anyway, we got it fixed this morning, along with figuring out where to put out the trash, making the VCR work, finding out that we can pay the rent with a credit card, and...heh, I think that's it.

Work has been alright, much better than training. I feel so much more relaxed when I'm in the classroom. I hate the rush in between classes though; ten minutes simply isn't enough time to write out all the comments, refile the files, pull the new ones, prepare them, and find a lesson. God save you if you have to use the bathroom! :) But where the facility in Hara is very nice and modern, and it's right next to the river. I was so mad this morning that I dind't have my camera. A crane landed in the water. It was so pretty, with the water and the grass, the grey sky and the pure white bird.

I'm also getting better at riding the subway. Since Hara is a bit out of the way, the subway isn't as crowded, but it's definitely full. No one's pinched my butt yet or anything though. :) It isn't Tokyo. About the most interesting things I did today...hmm

1. I drank Natchan, which was a fruit punch that was vaguely alcoholic tasting.
2. I saw a young skinny guy on the subway wearing a brown shirt with yellow lettering reading "BUXOM." Research, dude, research. :P