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

Photomeme!

Stolen from Aimee, who stole it from Joann, etc, etc...:)

Ever wanted to see something about my life? I have a digital camera, so REQUEST A PICTURE. You can request anything you want--a picture of something in my house, in my life, at my school, in my neighborhood, ANYTHING. I will either post a picture that I already have, or I will take a new one.

Restrictions: Nothing rated higher than PG, please.

Pictures! Finally!

Well, it took me forever, and the Week from Hell came to an astounding ending when I 1)caught a cold and 2)found out that my six month observation/evaluation was on Wednesday...FIVE MINUTES BEFORE I HAD IT!!!

But now it is the weekend, and next week will start anew. Aimee and I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned today. The apartment is so clean; it actually calms me. I'm a little neurotic (a little!!! just 'cause my food can't touch on the plate...ahem), and when things are neater it makes me feel better. We went grocery shopping and stuff, and the sun was out...beautiful. Of course, it's now raining and chillier, but there was sun out, dangit!

And while there was sun, I took the opportunity to get some pictures of stuff that I've been promising.

First off, I've gotten a few lovely presents. One of Aimee's students who is also a good friend of hers is moving away. I met her once when we went to Volks together,and she's so sweet. A few weeks ago, Aimee went to her going away party and got a lovely Japanese barrette. The woman is so sweet that she gave one to Aimee to take home for me.

Also, there's a lady who always comes in for lessons on Saturday, and I teach her five-year-old daughter in my kinder class. Her daughter, Miyuu, is a sweetheart, really smart and cute. Anyway, after class two weeks ago, the lady pokes her head in the door of the teacher's room and whispers, "Mandy!" I went to the door, and mother and daughter gave me a present. She explained that they had gone to Tokyo Disneyland and they got me a little Toy Story box filled with candy! I almost cried. So sweet!

Okies, everything else is stuff I've gotten myself, hehehehe. First of all, I got a few more of those little Pokemon gashapon machine gashapon, heheheh. You can stack them together just like real gashapon machines! The machines, as noted before, really work; if you turn the little crank, pokeballs come out of the slot. And they are PERFECT size for Pinkies!

And last but not least, a few weeks ago I finally broke down and bought the MSD sized yukata for my dolls. Lis has claimed it, and it matches his coloring and personality so well that now I don't know if I can picture him in anything else. Isn't he adorable??

The last one is mostly so you can see his adorable little pointed face and lovely face markings.

Anyway, that's plenty of piccies for you people. :) So leave me some comments already. I've had a rough week; love me. :) I love you guys!

Rough week...

Mm...well, my week can't get much worse, but I don't want to go into it. Let's just say that an admin jerk at work made a huge deal about the highlighting in my hair which is apparently against company policy (though I've had the EXACT SAME HAIR SINCE I GOT HERE) and I had to dye part of my hair tonight...and let's remember that it was, ya know, brown highlights in darker brown...anyway. I've been on the verge of tears periodically over the last few days and I just want the weekend to be here.

I keep meaning to take pics of stuff, but I just haven't had the ambition to. I'm really down lately, really lethargic. I need something good to happen to just sort of prop me back up. I promise that I will take pics. I have a bunch of cute things to show off.

So, while you wait, here's a stupid little thingie I found. Enjoy.

Take the quiz: "What does your birth month reveal about you?"

August
Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless.Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride of oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends .

Howl!!

Well, not much to update with. Life has been work, training, all that jazz. The weather has been a terrible tease over the last week; Thursday was beautiful and balmy, Friday nice though there were periods of rain. And then...Saturday, back to the sort of weather we were having January. One of my students told me that it actually snowed yesterday. Blah...where are my cherry blossoms? Darn you, oh late blooming sakura! Darn you!

Ahem.

Anyway.

Other than that, not much going on. It's strange at work because so many people are leaving to go home, having served out their year. The really bizarre thing to me is that I probably will never see them again. People can pass in and out of our lives so quickly. I learned odd, interesting, and disturbing things from them. :) I miss Matt at my school, and I know that when Leon goes at the end of the month, I'll seriously miss him and his odd Kiwi humor. I am now a senior teacher at my branch, having been here two weeks shy of six months. Six months...isn't that bizarre?

Anyway, one thing I have done is finally finished Diana Wynne Jones' "Howl's Moving Castle." What a delightful book! I love Howl so much. He's such a fop and an angstmuffin (which immediately wins my heart). And Sophie is a delightful character. I love the way her faerie tale land upbringing is always prompting her to blame her misfortunes on being the eldest. I think from now on when something goes wrong for me while I'm here, I'm immediately going to pipe up with "Well, that's what comes of being the eldest and seeking my fortune!" How nice to see the eldest FINALLY succeed and be a clever and lovely heroine. Rock on!

As you may know, this book is now a Japanese movie, an animation that goes by the name of "Hauru no Ugako Shiro" by famed director Hayao Miyazaki. Most recently of "Spirited Away" fame. I love his work, and am desperate to see this movie, even though I know I won't understand a word of it. It's coming out in the States in June, but I want to see it here. Movie theatres here are so expensive (it can cost 30 dollars to see a movie), but Howl's worth it to me. I mean...look at this face!!

And look how cool his castle is!
Just so you know, I have my own personal fire demon out back constructing one for me. I'm sick of this subway mode of transport thing.

For more info, here is the director's English fansite and here is the official Japanese movie site. Enjoy!

Yay! Girls' day!

Yes, today is Hina Matsuri, the Festival of Dolls. It's Girls' Day in Japan, which isn't a national holiday or anything, though. Basically, mothers set up hina dolls, which can be a simple prince and princess on a stand, up to a seven step stair-like set up of beautiful porcelain dolls with real hair and glass hair, fifteen figures of the royal court. We saw one such set at JR Takashimaya last week. It was amazing. The royal couple, the three maids, the five musicians, and then the old retainers, along with the painted lanterns, flowers, diamond mochi, treasure chests, and sedan chairs. Simply amazing. I mean, this set was probably six or seven feet tall. The tiny price tag, nestled in among the sakura and expensive cloth read "1050000" yen. Yes, that's about ten thousand dollars. I can't even imagine...I wanted to be there when someone bought that set, just to see someone plunk down that sort of dough.

Anyway, Girls' Day isn't a huge celebration. I did get some little dolls of my own, only the prince and princess. I think they're adorable, though.

I'm terrible at photographing them, sorry. They really are adorable in person. Anyway, Girls' Day ends rather quickly as superstition mandates that mothers must put away the dolls very early on March 4, otherwise the daughters will get married late. Obviously most women no longer believe this...but there's still that nagging bit that makes sure the dolls are safely stowed come noon on the fourth. :)