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

Treats pour moi!

Well...the week has gone by uneventfully, really. Not much to report. Danielle went home on Wednesday, and thankfully had a safe flight. Heh, on which she reports they served yaki soba for breakfast. Not exactly corn flakes, but whatever flies your plane, right? :)

Back to work today, blah. Actually, Saturday, so I guess I'm already two days closer to the weekend, yay! Tomorrow is my AT's last day, which I'm rather sad about. Lesley's a great person, and always very in tune with her teachers. She lives at Freebell, where I do, so I hope to still see her sometimes. She's actually moving back to Canada in April, I think. It seems like everyone is leaving in April. Matt's back from Nagano, but he's leaving in two weeks. Which is crazy...I've been here four months already. What the heck!

I have two things to show today. First one is my new favorite food. I don't know what the thing is actually called, heheh. But it's basically an alcohol-soaked strawberry sitting on a thin disk of short cake, surrounded by a ball of thick white cream. Then over all of this is a thin sheet of sweet, strawberry-flavored rice...um...dough? It's sticky, and so soft. I love it so much! The pictures look a little gross, because I forgot, again, to take a picture before I had eaten some. But this way you can see the inside, I guess.

You can just see the ichigo peeking out. (Ichigo is Japanese for strawberry.) They're so tasty...mm... I'm a little bit addicted. Dango...mm...

My other item is something I've been pining over for a while at the Gothic Lolita shop. And it was on super sale, yay! Behold, my adorable kitty-eared stripey sweater.

It's so cute! It's one of the ones that has that more open weave to it. I was drooling over shoes today...pink ones with a scalloped decoration at the sides and ankle straps...so cute! But I will be patient...I must wait. *sigh* Heheh...besides...there are things on hold for me at Volks...mwahahaha...

Castle day!

Thanks for everyone's good wishes and prayers. I feel much much better today, though I'm terrified of eating now. I had some chicken and veggies that Aimee made for dinner, and I'm still doing okay. *knocks on wood* We'll work on from there. I'm actually feeling a little hungry right now, yay! And I may have some juice. Blood orange juice...mm....

Anyway, today we played tourist with Danielle and went to Nagoya Castle. The castle was actually much closer than we thought it was, only about ten minutes away by subway. It was 500 yen to get in, and now that we've gone once we can't wait to go back in other seasons to see how it looks. It's more of a castle complex, walled in, with towers and gardens and then the huge donjon in the center. It dates from the early 1600's and was actually destroyed in in WWII in 1945, and was rebuilt in the mid-50's. We only had an hour before it closed, but here are some pics. The main attraction of the castle are the two huge dolphins, syachi, made of gold that are on the roof of the castle. These golden ferocious, meat-eating, apparently gendered fish creatures are have become the symbol of Nagoya and are on everything, including special Nagoya Hello Kitty merchandise (Mom and Dad, your pen/keychain have Kitty dressed up as the dolphin). Anyway, some pics.

First you have some towers, for the first and second pics. Then you have big ol' Nagoya Castle itself. Finally, my camera's zoom outdid itself, and you have the two dolphins on the roof. Heh, and don't ask me which one's the boy and which one's the girl.

Also, I saw this the other day and didn't have my camera. Here ya go. Enjoy, Boog!

Back to work tomorrow, blah. But at least my stomach's a little happier, if a little emptier. My jeans are loose! *cheers* See, there is a silver lining to everything, even food poisoning, hehehehe.

Oh, and here's something for Becky. It's not a lion...but make of it what you will.

*wants to die*

Well...the raw fish didn't do it, the bizarre bread products filled with bean didn't do it...

But the potato salad did me in.

Let's just say that I embaressingly passed out on the train home, then got to lay on the floor at home for a few hours before throwing up. I feel a bit better now, and am drinking Gatorade in the hopes that I can at least make my electrolytes happy.

If you have good thoughts, send them this way. Blah...*feels sick*

'Bout the phone...

Okies, so the cell phone is all sorts of groovy. Go Daddo, who figured out how to call it from the States. The country code it 011 and then you neglect the first 0, and go right to the first 9.

Heh, and I'm not putting my whole number in here. ;) I'm sure you know why. Call me!

Visitor from the outside world...oooooo...

Yay! Danielle is here and visiting! Poor thing; she's so jet lagged. And I totally understand...I mean, hey, I was totally there. We picked her up at the airport yesterday, which was a bit of an adventure, but surprisingly easy overall. Unfortunately, she forgot her purse on the bus, so the first order of business today was finding that.

Whew...bit of trouble there. We were sent all over Nagoya Station and finally we had to take a bus to the main bus office...and there it was. Everything inside it. Yay! And then they gave us a free ride back to the station. So major kudos go to Emi. *bows* Thanks so much for all your help. You rock!

Then, after a quick lunch at Epi-Ciel, we headed out to Sakae. Today was payday, so it could be a spending day, yay. Heheheh...I finally got my pink Gameboy Advance SP. Super super cute! I brought a game from home, and then picked up a 300 yen copy of Kirby's Dreamland. Heheheheh. Don't need to read Japanese for that. Now I am extremely desirous of the GBA "Kingdom Hearts." Anyway, here it is. The cool thing about the GBA is that it plays Japanese and American games, unlike the unmodded PS2 and Gamecube and all that.

At Volks, we talked to Mayumi. Danielle's contemplating getting an MSD. *cheers* Anyway, Mayumi has actually been studying English so that she can talk to us. So cute! You have no idea how cute it was when she told us, "Let's get together." We almost melted. She's so awesome! I picked up a new wig and pair of eyes for Thomas. Hehehe....I want to make him devil horns to wear with it. I have also decided that I seriously need to make him some sort of black shirt. He has no shirts! And that makes me feel guilty.

I'm rather in love with this look for him...and he's supposed to be a redhead! Ah!!

Lastly...we finally broke down, went to Vodafone, and got cell phones. These are the bottom of the line models, but they come with standard camera, which includes a macro setting, video camera option, fm radio, text messaging, voice mail, blah blah blah. Mine is a dark gold tone and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to decorate it. Hmm....anyway, I'll be sending out my phone number shortly. And you guys calling me doesn't use up my minutes...but you will be paying for calling a cell phone and for international, so it will be expensive. The camera is a slide phone, rather than a flip phone. Pretty interesting, really.

So, all in all, not a bad day. :) A little stressing at times, but not bad. I'm bummed about having to work tomorrow, blah. Ah well! Weekends are always too short. But cheers for my super electronics day! Don't you wish you were me? ;)

Gah! *hides in doorway*

Well...tonight we had a big earthquake! Aimee and I were just trucking in the living room. I was sitting on the and Aimee was sitting on the floor, basking in the glow of our electric heater. Suddenly, the whole place started to shake. Instant adrenaline rush! Earthquake! It took a minute for it to register, and let me tell you, it's pretty creepy to just feel everything trembling. We could hear all the doors in the place rattling, and then we dashed for a doorway, which is the safest place in your house during the earthquake. We stood there for a bit even after it was done, unable to tell if it was still going on or if our legs were just shaking too badly. Nothing broke, and we weren't hurt...but it was pretty scary!

Aimee found this on Japan Today online.

"Sunday, January 9, 2005 at 19:38 JST
TOKYO — A magnitude 4.4 earthquake jolted central Japan on Sunday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the 6:59 p.m. quake. The agency did not issue a tsunami warning.

The quake measured 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Kani, Ginan, Kasamatsu and Yanaizu in Gifu Prefecture and Nishi Ward in Nagoya, Inuyama, Komaki, Iwakura and Oguchi in Aichi Prefecture. (Kyodo News)"

For later reference...yeah, I pretty much live in the Nishi ward of Nagoya. :) *shiver* Just a little on the scary side.

Yay!

You are VINCENT. Remember to clean the cobwebs off
your coffin once in a while- first impressions
are lasting!


What Final Fantasy VII character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Mm...Vincent Valentine. *licks* I can't wait to see the movie!

It came! It came, just the same!

My big Christmas package came yesterday! Huzzah! Right in time for Little Christmas. Thanks, Melchior, Balthazar, and...*sighs* and the other one of the Magi that I'm forgetting! We got up late, and Aimee was working on finishing up Thomas while I...I talked to Becky online and did dishes and stuff. The doorbell rings and I went to the door, figuring it was the other package my family sent out last week. Instead, I sign for the HUGE package. Woot for me!

Aimee and I had to go out shopping first, so we waited to open the box until we got home. First we had dinner. Bentos from JR Takashimaya. Here was my Epiphany bento.

It was very tasty, especially as I had it with Winter Apple Fanta. Yum!

Then, Thomas was deemed finished and I put his eyes in and his clothes on and his wig on...and voila! Gothboi Angsty Thomas Chatterton!

Excellentness number 2! I know, I know, everyone is going to say he looks girly, but he's a goth boy, so the eyeliner and stuff. And he's from the 1700's, so the long hair in a little ponytail. I love how he looks, personally. And he's such a brat already!

Then it was presents time! I love everything, thanks so much! Here's my haul. Heh, most of the yummies will be gone by this time next week. I love my NMBC book...Jack's so adorable in the original! And we watched X2 last night...and pony stuff, and dollie mittens, and candy canes! Oh, the list is endless! Unfortunately, my dolls took over most of my things already.

As you can see, they've made themselves rather at home with my things. :) Thank you so so much, darling family. And thank you so much, Aimee's family. I love my scarf! It matches my coat really wonderfully. My dolls have appropriated it as well, at the moment, though, and are cuddled up with it.

Overall, it was a lovely Little Christmas for me. Happy! Now...if only I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow...:)

Happy New Year!

First off, I hope everyone has a happy, healthy New Year, full of wishes, dreams, triumphs, laughter, and blessings. Welcome 2005! Farewell 2004; don't let the door hit you on the way out. I was thinking about the past year...it was a rough one. I lost people whom I loved very very dearly--Grandpa, Uncle Ray, Aunt Bert, Dr. Cooper. There were horrible tragedies, in our country, in Spain, in Iraq, and most recently in Southeast Asia. My heart goes out to all of those in the coastal regions whose new year began in tears. This year was also one of good, though. I fought for and obtained my master's degree. I had the courage to go to Japan. We landed on Mars (pretty awesome, that), I read James Joyce's 'Ulysses.' LOTR: Return of the King came out! :) I learned how lucky I am to have a family that loves me, even though I'm far away, and friends who support me through all sorts of rough times. But I'm ready for 2005! Welcome, oh chickenly chicken of the new year!

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of cars below driving on a wet road. Great, I thought, rain. Aimee was still sleeping, so I went out into the living room quietly and pulled open the curtains. This was what I saw!

Yes, that's right! It snowed. I couldn't believe it...I just take it with me wherever I go. It didn't last very long; by late afternoon there was sun and even the slush on the sidewalks had evaporated.

It was a pretty slow day, really. Aimee worked on her doll, I sewed some things and cleaned, did laundry. We watched a bunch of animated movies. I think my collection of Disney movies in Japan is bigger than the one I had at home in the States. Dinner was our favorite, grilled cheese and Campbell's tomato soup. I never would have imagined that I would pay so much for canned soup and just shrug about it. I'm an addict, practically! :) At 11, we put on the tv to watch some of the odd variety show that ended at quarter of midnight, with the entire cast singing "Auld Lang Syne" in Japanese. The next fifteen minutes was footage of many different shrines all over Japan, showing the ringing of the bells, 108 times. Some of the shrines were gorgeous! Kyoto was especially lovely, as was one shrine in the west coast. I'm not sure what city it was in, but it seemed that the shrine was all built in little caves along the mountainside. The snow covered trees, the quiet chanting...pretty cool. The new year came in pretty quietly. Aimee and I toasted with chanmery, children's non-alcholic champagne. Heh, I got it for Christmas.

It tasted vaguely like bubble gum. Carbonated bubble gum. :)

Today was also quiet. I vaccuumed and cleaned up some more, Aimee worked on her doll. Aimee made yaki soba for dinner, yay! Very tasty! I especially love it with mushrooms, sprouts, and onions. I'm contemplating some ice cream right now...hmm....

Oh, and since Aimee has finished working on Rory doll, it's Thomas doll's turn. So, I took him apart, got his eyes out (they were held in with hot glue, annoyingly), and got his face paint off. He looks so sad now, just pieces in a bucket.

Hopefully, Aimee can start on him tomorrow. I miss seeing him sitting by the Christmas tree!

Anyway, that's all for now. Tomorrow is mochi trying day, wow! And I'll try to post my New Year's resolutions, maybe...heheheh....Happy New Year!