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

A picture, at least

I don't have much time to post, and life hasn't been particularly exciting, heh. I'm heading off on vacation starting on Thursday. I can't wait! It feels like it's taking forever for vacation to finally get here, you know? But soon...soon. I'm almost eager to start the work week, because I know that it will bring me closer to vacation. Weird, isn't it?

I passed CAT training for work, which means I can level check people and stuff. Not that exciting, but woot for qualifications. Makes me indispensible. :)

I didn't do anything picture worthy this weekend, but I do have a beautiful picture just from my apartment. After the rains, the sunsets are particularly beautiful here. Here you go. :)

Cheap, busy day

Heh, as you know, Aimee and I are trying to keep costs down for the next few weeks so we can binge in Kyoto on our vacation. Hehehe. So, today's plan was mellow. Cleaning (didn't happen), Noritake Park (for pictures and exploration), and finally grocery shopping (an evil necessity).

So...yeah, the cleaning never happened, so let's just move on. :)

Noritake Park is a memorial to the old Noritake china factory that stood on the spot at the beginning of the 1900's through the 1960's. It's rather small, as my image of parks go; basically, there are the big smoke stacks that came from the underground kilns, the ruins of said kiln, some gently rolling...grass, and then a big aboveground kiln. We didn't go into the museums, and we avoided the cafe (it looked expensive. Everyone was eating off of 100 dollar hand-painted plates...), but we did go into the shop. Some of the beautiful china was pretty cheap. Mom, would you like a gold-edged teacup? Heheh...Aimee and I were tempted by the rectangular plates and shallow dipping cups. We're addicted to gyoza, and those are totally necessary for properly eating those yummy Chinese potstickers. Anyway, here are some pics of the Park.

Grocery shopping was not that exciting...except for the fact that we got stuff to actually pack little bentos this week and I got sweet beans again. *does the sweet bean dance* We also picked up food for dinner, some extremely tender meat, and gyoza. That's when I mourned our lack of rectangular plate and shallow dipping cup. Anyway, Aimee cooked the meat, and I cooked the gyoza. So, for your viewing pleasure, dinner a la us. Yakiniku and gyoza (sans special dishware...*sighs*)

Heh, tomorrow will be low cost as well. Stay tuned! Oh...and to really get those gastric juices flowing...I had a watermelon popsicle for dessert. Yum!

Rain and stress

Well, it's the weekend again, yay! This weekend and next, though, I'm going to be very good about not spending any extraneous money at all. Vacation starts on June 2nd, and that's before out next payday. So I must be very very good. *nods to self* So, Aimee and I are trying to think of cheap/free things to keep us busy over the weekend, like going to parks and cleaning our apartment. Heh. It's worth it to have money to spend on whatever we want in Kyoto.

Work has been a bit stressing. We have a new Japanese manager and she just criticizes everything, even things she knows nothing about. One of our newer teachers is getting all these complaints and stuff...I don't know how that's going to go. All I know is it's making me feel stressed and paranoid. I was having lunch at the same time as the AT today, and she opened up and told me about this stuff, so I decided to be honest with her and tell her that it wasn't just this one girl feeling stressed. Everyone is stressed out and dreads coming in, the AT included. It's ridiculous. We're a good school. We're tiny, and have tons of students, adults and kids. We do many demo lessons, get lots of new students...so why are we so stressed? Why are we getting scolded? I think part of it is the new manager, a big part of it. She really oversteps her bounds. Ah well. Only four months and one week. And two of those I won't be working! *cheers*

Sorry for the rant. Tomorrow, hopefully I'll have something to post. Maybe not enlightening, but at least amusing. Like dessert beans. Mm...dessert beans...

Get Well Soon!

In Japan, it is a tradition to make origami cranes to give to people who aren't well. I told one of our Japanese staff members about my Daddy, and when I came back to the staff room there were two little yellow cranes sitting on my purse. Miyuki explained the tradition for me, and said they were for my Dad. It will take a bit to mail them, but here's a picture for you for now, Daddy. I love you! Get well soon!

...

I think it mostly speaks for itself. Don't these companies hire...I dunno, translators?

Just a moment...

The weather's icky and rainy today, and a little bit chilly. Guess it's all about mood and atmosphere. If you have a moment, please say a prayer for my Daddy. I love you, Dad!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, this won't be long, since my life has been hardly exciting. Basically, Golden Week is over, without must effort. :) Golden Week is a time in Japan when there are a bunch of holidays close together. So most companies give their employees the whole week off. Travelling is obviously insane this time of year, but for we Nova teachers it was business as usual (albeit we did have to work earlier in the day).

I've been so remiss about posting and taking pictures, but there just hasn't been anything exciting going on. My vacation has been approved (now I just have to wait until the first week of June), I get CAT training on the 25th, pay day is Friday...um, not much else going on.

But the most important thing today...Happy Mother's Day, Mom! You're my support and I miss making you laugh in the grocery store. Your pressie is on the way, though I'm just late as usual. Hehehe. Actually, if you want to check on it yourself, the EMS number is EI195874429JP and as I just checked it, it is now at JFK Airport. Heh, well, it's in a box of other things, but your pressie is in there as well. :)

Also, Happy Mother's Day to Oma and Gramma. I love you both so so much! And I can't wait to see you when I get home. Thank you for always believing in all my weird ideas. And don't worry...you have pressies in the box as well, hehehe...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Birthday, Becky!

Best intentions...*sigh* Sorry this is late, kiddo! Happy 22nd birthday! I hope you had a great day, and I wish I was there to give you a big hug. Enjoy this year, and may all sorts of wishes come true!

Oh, and here's a pic of Harlequinn with Sammy. I was all about thinking about you on your birthday! Love you!