I haven't fangirled in a loooooooooooooooooooooong time!
It also feels like forever that I last posted any screencaps - may it be jdrama or anime.
Naruto has been quite boring lately, but since Sasuke is finally back on screen it has become soooooooooooo awesome!
And I as Sasuke fan was especially happy, of course ❤
(On the other hand Bleach is still very boring ............................... too many fillers and stuff *yawns*)

This is a tribute to the 2 brothers: Sasuke and Itachi who finally meet again and have their final battle.
For those of you who haven't seen Naruto Shippuden episodes 135--138 or haven't read the corresponding manga chapters yet, this entry will contain HUGE SPOILERS, so please DO NOT CLICK ON THE LJ CUT IF YOU DON'T WANNA GET SPOILED!!!

I won't comment much, I want the screenshots to speak for themselves. For those of you who click on the link, you know what's going on there anyway :)

But first of all:



NARUTO warns his viewers about INFLUENZA??????? XDDDDD



When I saw that I couldn't stop laughing! That's Japan!! Go, Japan! XDDDD



Let's start with a flashback ..... (chibi Sasuke is sooo cute (*_*) ...)

( The secret of the Uchiha clan )



No, I don't want SasukexItachi doujinshi now. No, no, no, no!!! o┤*´Д｀*├o

P.S.: If you want to use any of my screenshots, please go ahead. If you put them on a website or convert them into icons, please don't forget to credit, thanks ❤

Hello,

Thank you very much for all of your lovely comments to my last entry.
I'll try to keep my English LJ alive somehow, but can't promise anything. Probably I'll still be posting rarely.
Today is my first DAY OFF in .... years!!! At least that is how it feels!
And was I able to relax?
At first, not really.
When I came back home yesterday night after work, my internet suddenly didn't work anymore! Of course I was worried, because I needed internet in order to finish planning my trip and print out all necessary documents and stuff.
Plus why is my internet working when I don't have any time and am at work 24/7 anyway, but decides to disappear as soon as I have a day off???? (-_____-)
I decided to stay calm and go to bed, hoping that the internet would be back in the morning.
But ... of course it wasn't. So I spent half the day making phone calls in Japanese to my internet company and the landlord. It took forever, but as you can see it's working again!
A cable was plugged out over there, so they had to plug it in on their side. *shakes head* MY NERVES!!!!!!!(-.-)

At least I managed to do almost all of the housework (laundry, dishes etc.) while I was internet-less (^-^)>
After that I used the chance to get all documents I need for my trip before my internet decides to go on vacation without me again.
And the rest of the day I decided to RELAX !!!! I finally was able to modify photos and stuff and upload a bunch of them (^-^)v
As a result here is the first entry out of a few (hopefully) <333
(I still don't really feel relaxed, guess that's impossible after only half a day...)



Late, but as you know I had to work on Christmas (which is on the 24th in Germany btw.).
I hope you all had a great Christmas!!!
I didn't really have any Christmas ... yet again! It's kind of sad :(

( Presents and yummie food (*-*)v )




Talking about food! I wanted to post this for a while now. I stumbled upon this a while ago.
It really looks cute and yummie, what do you think? Hehe~

( Tweets = Japanese + study + time ?! )

Random students' talk at work:
Students: Sensei, sensei, today is Aiba's birthday!! (not talking to me, but a coworker)
Sensei: I know. Happy Birthday, Aiba-kun!! *claps*
Students: Sensei, do you like Aiba-kun?
Sensei: Yes, he's my favorite!
Student A: Uso! He's my favorite, too!!
Sensei: Guess who's her favorite in Arashi? *points at me*
Student B: I know!!! Ikuta Toma!!!
Me: That's right! Hehe .... ((apart from the fact that he's not a member of Arashi XDDDD))
Sensei: Wow, they are well-informed about your likings.
Me: Well, last time in class we were bored so we talked about Johnnys and ... uhm .. yeah XD
Somehow the conversation sounded even funnier in Japanese XD


And that's it for this entry.
Again, thanks so much for your warming and nice comments last time. Sorry, that I couldn't find the time to answer to them yet.

(´∀｀*)ﾉｼ　ﾊﾞｲﾊﾞｲ

It's raining, it's cold.

I'm so busy lately. I told you this would happen. I've been working every day since ... I don't know when. Even Sundays. I'm tired and exhausted. I wish I had some time for myself. It doesn't feels like Christmas at all (yet again). With 2 teachers leaving at the end of this month, another teacher being fired and yet another one in the hospital things are EXTREMELY busy! The few hours I'm home I have to do things I couldn't do on Sunday or days off as I have no days off lately (laundry, dishes etc.). And January will be just as horrible. We're supposed to look for a new teacher again, but this time we really don't have any free time at work, so nobody can do it. It's a vicious circle. Dear Santa, please give me more time!!!! And also time that I actually can enjoy! Thank you. *sigh*

I'll try to post one more time before I FINALLY can leave for my short winter vacation, but with things as they are right now, I never know when I'll be able to post again.
Also, it seems that lately people aren't really interested in my rare entries so much anymore. I might neglect my English LJ eventually and only post in my Japanese one.
Or neglect both if I continue to be "time-less".



I hope at least you guys will have Happy Holidays and a nice CHRISTMAS!

Hello and welcome to my SALES ENTRY!♪

　((8-(*'-'*)ノWelcome!ヽ(*'-'*)-8))　

I live in Japan and thus buy fandom stuff often. After reading / enjoying it I often have to get rid of it again. Although I don't really want to sell so much stuff, there's just not enough space and ... honestly I don't have the time to look at most things twice.
Anyway, that's the reason why this sales entry will be updated from time to time, so please keep an eye or two on it XD
Short Note: I decided to close the old SALES ENTRY after over one year, because it had almost 2000 comments and it was too confusing for everybody in the end. Comments are not possible anymore, but I didn't lock it either, if somebody still needs it for reference.

Last Update: 14.December.2009

• reduced prices on almost all items


• added 2 new Japanese shoujo manga


• campaign start: buy 5 items, get the cheapest one for free

CAMPAIGN: BUY 5 ITEMS AND GET THE CHEAPEST ONE FOR FREE!!



Before we start a few notes, so PLEASE READ before you go on!


( Please read! 読んでください♪ Bitte lesen! )

FEEDBACK ENTRY

• Read feedback from users that already bought something.


• Leave a comment or take part in the poll to give me feedback.


100% positive feedback from over 80 buyers so far!

( Doujinshi, Anthologies, Manga (Japanese), Artbooks and Photobooks, Magazines, Johnny goodies, BL Game related things, figures, Pinky Street, merchandising, stationary, Japanese study material, postcards, plushies )

Thank you very much for your attention (^-^)/

Hello~

Just had 2 days off which is why I'm quite relaxed today. But knowing that this was the last time this year (!) due to the accident of my coworker is kind of sad (;o;) .....
From now on until the end of the year will be super busy, the busiest time of the year *sigh*
I won't even have 2 days off in a row anymore, not possible! (-__-'') .... on the other hand this year is almost over, so ガンバリマス！Fight!!(ｏ^-^)尸~''☆ミ☆ミ



Photo from yesterday morning.

I used my days off to FINALLY!!!!111111!!!! plan my long awaited winter vacation!!!
My last vacation IN Japan was in spring! In summer I went to Germany as you all know.
I still need to work out the details but it looks like I'll be going to Beppu, then Fukuoka to spend New Year's Eve with one of my coworkers (+ her family) and then I'm off to Kobe / Nara (*___*)v
If I have enough time and the weather is not too bad/cold I also plan to do 1 or 2 day trips to Hikone, Nagahama and Iga Ueno in order to visit as many castles as possible! (*__*)v

If anybody has recommendations for hotels/ryokans in Beppu, then I'd really appreciate it!! I couldn't find anything good yet. I'll only be there for 1,5 days and 2 nights anyway.

( Random, funny facts XD )

Jesus, soon it's Christmas time and this year will be over!
I can't believe that I'll have my 2nd Japan anniversary soon as well.
Time flies! It has been flying since years now, but lately it's getting REALLY scary!!! I guess it's faster the older you get, but it's scary and I don't really like it.



I feel I never have enough time for things and stuff anyway :( And now another year will be over soon (;o;)
Anyway, gotta prepare a Christmas package for my family and letters for my friends as I haven't sent anything last year to my friends (because I thought I would be back home by now XD)

( Read more... )


And that's it! Wow, quite a short entry today.
Thanks for reading (^-^)/

バイ☆⌒ヽ(*'、^*)chu

Hello~

I still think that 24hrs are not enough per day (probably even 48hrs wouldn't be), but I have some time to post right now, so here we go!
I have 2 days off right now (yeah, those weeks again) and yesterday I managed to do quite a lot, although I couldn't finish everything yet again.
I did all of my laundry, studied, saved quite a lot of my data (am still doing so, burning 24252629348203948 photos and stuff takes a ... while). I also updated my sales entry (*___*) .... took me 6hrs (x___X) SIX HOURS!!!! Ahem.
And after that it was midnight and I noticed I still had to wash my dishes .... which I actually really DID!! While watching the uber-boring Bleach filler epis (ep 227+) *yawn*

Today nothing much is going on either. I'm trying to finish some LJ and lang-8 entries, finish the rest of my laundry, keep track of my sales entry and HOPEFULLY will be able to study a little bit as well.
That reminds me of a short conversation between me and my coworker(s)

Coworker A (Jap.): What are you going to do on your days off? Me: You know WHAT!! So why're you asking anyway? Coworker A (Jap.): Because I just wanna hear it! I think it's great! Me: I'll study, of course. As always. Coworker B (American): Yeah, we all know you don't have a life!

I know they just were joking around, but I think many people think like THAT!!
( Read more... )



Yesterday, late afternoon. View from my balcony. It was grey the whole day, but finally it got quite nice :) (Just still very cold.)

As you all know I might stay a 3rd year in Japan. My 2nd anniversary is soon (°_°'')>
( Read more... )

But one REAL problem is: PENSION!
It's getting tough now that I stay a third year. If I've had been enrolled into Japanese pension from the beginning, then those years would "count" for German pension once I'm back.
I am not enrolled, though. I was told there's no need when I came without knowing better. If I enroll now, I would have to pay 2 years backwards without having the advantage of those 2 years counting for my homecountry!!! Pretty bad deal, huh?
So, right now that doesn't seem to be a good option.
I was thinking about looking into private pension back in Germany. Maybe there's a way I can pay into that while still living in Japan.
Anybody knows any details? (-___-') For Americans it seems to be completely different which is why they told me in the beginning that I wouldn't need pension at all C= (-。- ) フゥー

( Winter vacation???!!!! ... and no Christmas AGAIN this year? ;o; .... )


That's it!
Now it's study time!!! ....φ(・ω・｀ )ｶｷｶｷ

*.♪。★*・゜・Bye!(ノ*'-')ノBye!・*.♪。・゜・。.☆.*

Hello,

Oh, you can't remember who I am? And yes, I'm still alive (-___-'')
For some reason my day doesn't seem to have 24hrs. I never have enough time for ANYTHING!!!
Actually it's almost midnight and I should go to bed soon, but I HAVE TO WRITE an entry NOW otherwise I'll never write it .... I guess (^-^)>

The latest "news":

Germany's most famous goalkeeper commits suicide:
He suffered from depressions and stuff and now everybody in Germany seems to talk about this mental disease.

20th anniversary: East and West Germany and the fall of the wall XD
Even here in Japan it was all over on TV! It was kind of funny when I sat in the waiting room of my hospital and suddenly saw Angela Merkel speaking GERMAN on Japanese TV! XDDDD

Japan is a scary place:
The young man who obviously killed the young British English teacher 2 (?) years ago has finally been caught. Scary what he did to her. Scary that the police couldn't catch him until NOW!
When I was out shopping the other day I saw a really cute kid with a teddybear cap and while smiling I stared at him and his mother(?) from behind. Suddenly the mother started kicking the kid and screamed at him. I'm not sure what the kid did, but WTF there's no reason to KICK a kid or be violent to a kid, right?
A few minutes later I was in a bookstore browsing through some magazines when I noticed a really strange smell. An old woman, obviously completely drunk was browsing through magazines as well.
And here Japanese people think their country is so much better and safer than other places. I doubt it, really.

Swine flu spreading like WOAH here in Japan especially among young kids / teenagers:
Probably still the biggest topic - not only here in Japan.
And it's really extreme. The last two weeks we've had almost NO students at all! I had quite a few classes with only ONE student ... or two. That was last week's average (-_-')
Either they're sick, someone in their family is or their class OR school is closed due to the flu which means they're also not allowed to come to our school then. Scary!!!
Very empty classrooms, at times more teachers than students in a class and the students who come wear masks and cough, sneeze etc.

( Read more... )


Food:



My typical rice (mixed with raw egg (*_*) .. well, actually not raw, but onsen tamago) and "tofu burgers". Unfortunately not selfmade, but they sold them at my local supermarket and they were fresh and still warm and tasted AWESOME!!
I hope they'll sell it again soon, because I'm sure I'm tooooooo stupid to make them by myself (never have cooked anything with tofu although I LOVE tofu ....)
Btw. anybody knows any EASY and yummie tofu recipes??? (*_*)> .....

( Read more... )



Japanese:

Lately I haven't really made any progress that would be worth mentioning here. As always I could write a long rant about many things regarding my studies and about how I never have enough time and stuff, but .... let's skip that for today.
I was ranting a lot about my HORRIBLE handwriting skills over at Twitter and people asked me to show some photos and stuff.
I really don't wanna do it because it's soooooooooooo~ embarrassing!!! (/・ω・＼) ハズカシイ

( 見ないで！！！！ )



Teddybear day ❤

( Read more... )

Oh, well .... to be fair, you guys should get a chance to get fat as well, so here you are: + + +
バイ☆⌒ヽ(*'、^*)chu

Hello,

just a short update. I've caught a cold a while ago and especially today it's really bad.
I went to see a doc on Wednesday. It's not the flu and I only have a very slight fever, but I feel like crap, even with strong medicine.
Luckily it's a week where I have Thursday, Friday and Sunday off.
Problem is that I have to work tomorrow as we have a Halloween special. I was looking forward to it soooo much, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to teach at all tomorrow.
I feel very dizzy and can barely walk, so how am I supposed to scream and jump around tomorrow? -__-
But as you know I don't get paid sick leave and I HAVE to go tomorrow *sigh* ..... I really don't know how to manage tomorrow, though!
Even typing this is kind of exhausting and I can barely do it.

( Read more... )


♪♪ <- XDDDD

( Read more... )


Oh and in other news, I finally started using Twitter. I've had an account for quite a while, but never used it.

If you're interested in my little rants in between LJ posts, feel free to add me :)
I often also post Japanese words, sentences etc. I discover while studying XD


I still couldn't plan anything for my winter vacation. There's always something keeping me from doing it.
Now it's because I'm sick and can't really concentrate properly (x_X)/

I think that's all for now :/
I really hope I can manage to survive tomorrow somehow ;o;


Bai~chuu　ヾ(=・ω・=)o☆バイバイ☆ヾ(=・ω・=)o

I think I just killed (part of) my laptop

I spilled a little bit of tea ;______________; ..... actually that's the first time something like that EVER happened and I always thought how stupid people must be for that to happen .... I'M STUPID!!!!!!!!
Actually it wasn't much and only a little bit was all over my keyboard. I dried it right away and continued working with my laptop.

After a while my external drive and my mouse which are both connected via USB started to act weird. I was in panic, because I thought my precious external drive was dead.
I restarted my laptop and saw that ALL usb things don't work anymore!! Even things that weren't even close to the tea at all!!!

The laptop itself still seems to work, although the power button which usually is blue was pinkish/orange for a while, but now it works fine.
But it seems I can't use my mouse or my external drive, my printer, my ipod etc. anymore as it seems to have killed my usb sticks.

I've yet to wait if there's more broken or if my external drive is dead or not (gonna confirm that at work today ;o; ......)

I don't wanna buy a new laptop!!! ;_________________; I don't wanna spend so much money!! ;o;

.... although this laptop is quite old already! Pretty much 4 years now.
I can't bring it anywhere because it's a German version of a Toshiba computer and I heard they wouldn't be able to help me with that.



AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


EDIT: after my third restart it seems to work again .... for now that is (o___o'') .... as I'm pretty sure that not all the fluid is gone yet I have to wait and see what happens the next few days, I guess. *trembles*
MY NERVES!!!! (;_;)

Wow .......... it really has been quite a while, huh?

Sorry about that, but like I said I was very busy and then I didn't really feel like writing anything. I still don't really feel like typing right now, .... for no special reason!!
Anyway I'll try (^-^)>

Quite a lot of pleasant and not so pleasant things happened at work. There will be some huge changes it seems.
I don't wanna talk about that today, though, and will write about it some other time instead :)

Last week we had the "tea party" I was talking about in one of my previous entries.
In short: 1 "native" English teacher + 1 Japanese teacher + #xxx mothers of students + a lot of cake, tea, cookies etc.
It was the first time we did that. It was in the morning before working time (~ 2pm), so it was a little bit tiresome to work from 11am-10pm 2 days in a row. I was the only one who (had to) join(ed) both days!!!
On the other hand it was a really nice experience. It was free for the mothers. They were invited to come and talk to us teachers and ask any questions they might have or even just have a random conversation with us. We didn't know how that would end, but in the end it was really nice ^-^



( rant ..... meeeh~ )

In other news I have to start planning my long awaited winter vacation !!!! Yay!!! (^______^)v
I haven't been travelling in Japan since APRIL!!! (O_________O)> ..... It's about time, huh????
As much as I'd love to go to Tokyo again, this time I wanna spent my winter at a warmer place! I yet need to decide where to go, though.
SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!!!
One of my coworkers is sooooo sweet!! When she heard that I'm gonna spent "omisoka" (31st) and "shougatsu") (1st) alone she invited me to join her and her family!! I'm very tempted to accept her kind offer :)
Although that means I'll lose a few days of my winter vacation which is probably from December 29th to January 6th, I think it might be nice and interesting ^-^
Her family lives in Fukuoka, so wherever I go it'll be from Fukuoka to ...?
Actually I only have 2 things on my list right now: Okinawa and Kyuushuu!
I've already been to a few cities in Kyuushuu, though: Kokura, Kagoshima, Nagasaki and Kumamoto.
Anything you could recommend that might also be INTERESTING IN WINTER??????? And for only 5-6 days????? Is it stupid to go to Okinawa in winter??? AAAHHHH!!! *headdesk*


And because I haven't done it in a while some snack photos ^-^

( ヾ(@⌒￢⌒@)ノ ウマヒィ  )



Today's outfit. It actually helped as it didn't rain today XD .... if I knew that I could have done my laundry (　´_ゝ｀) .......
That umbrella was quite expensive (x_X) ....

Okay, that's all folks!

Jesus, this week was so busy and what do I do when I finally have a weekend???

Yeah, ... I spent BOTH DAYS (!) cleaning my whole apartment!
And I mean WHOLE!! Every tiny edge! Everything! I think my apartment might have never been SO clean! It's still not 100% clean, guess that's not possible (especially because I always have the feeling that I suck at cleaning ... like using the wrong cleaning utensils and stuff).
I also moved everything that was movable. I didn't find anything suspicious at all, just a lot of dust (especially under the bed when I moved it. It's one of those types where you can't clean under it unless you move it completely and as it's really heavy I've never done it and judging from all the dirt underneath I'm pretty sure the teacher who lived there before me didn't either (x_________X) ......

On Friday I went out before work in order to buy all sorts of cleaning utensils, airtight containers for my food and more roach traps.
I've spread all the traps now and so far I haven't caught anything which is a good sign, I guess?!
On Thursday after a night without sleep at all (partly because of the typhoon, party because of fear of more roaches) I talked to my Japanese coworkers.
They couldn't really understand why I was freaking out so much, because for them seeing roaches from time to time is just natural. They told me it just happens and that it doesn't mean that there are more.
It might really only have come through my balcony door.
Furthermore they told me that they keep their food waste INSIDE not outside. I wonder if I should do that as well, but I thought that keeping garbage inside would attract even more insects. Hmmmmmm.



In Japan everything is cute! Even cockroach traps XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD ............ (((((￢_￢)



I bought quite a lot of stuff in the 100-yen shop. This pink tray was one of the things. I also have a little bit more space than before.
In order to clean out the cupboards and shelfs I had to remove everything first and after putting it back I suddenly had more space XD .... YAY!!!

( Read more... )


And that's it for today!!!
Bye~bu! <3

It's past midnight now.
I'm so exhausted and yet I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep.

Apart from all the crap that's going on at work right now .... plus all the busy times ... there's a typhoon coming now!
I barely managed to ride my bike home.

I had my balcony door open because I didn't know there would be a typhoon.
I was worried the whole time.

When I finally came home and turned on the light.....


... I saw a cockroach quickly disappearing behind some boxes.

WTF????!!!!



It's the first roach I've ever seen in my life.
They are quite rare in Germany.
And it wasn't too long ago that THAT HAPPENED!!!

After coming home from work at around 22:15pm, it took me until 22:45pm until I finally managed to "get" it.
I had no idea they were so fast!!

( Read more... )

WHAT SHALL I DOOOOO??????????????????????????????????????? HELP!!!!


I still had roach traps luckily. I never used them, because I thought they might just attract them (if you don't have them).
But now I've spread them throughout my room. I hope they're not dangerous for me, but I think they have to eat it in order to be killed, so as long as I don't eat the traps I should be safe??!!

That's what I'm using right now. Do you have any better ideas?

I also tried to kill the monster with an insect spray, but it didn't work!! Only on me, I don't feel well now, but luckily I only used a little bit and turned on the air conditioner afterwards.

What about their eggs? Is there any way to find them???


So, I know quite a lot of you who live in Japan already had problems with those little monsters here. Any tips?
Anybody else who can help me??????

I'm trying to reasearch in the internet as well, but seriously I am sooooooo tired, I really should go to bed and try to sleep for now.


Seriously what's going on lately?? Gimme a break!!!!

Hello again,

for some reason I really felt the urge to do another JLPT mock test, this time for 2級 (second highest level).
I'm pretty sure almost everybody is familiar with the JLPT, but just in case: here's more info and here's the official site.

( Read more... )

Last year I tried a mock test for level 3, passing with almost 90% - showing that the level was already "too" easy for me.
I never thought I would be able to "pass" level 2 not even a year later (actually I took last year's test on the same day as the real test took place XDDD .... (((((￢_￢) )

My results this time: (using the JLPT level 2 of 2006)

Kanji / Vocabulary: 91%
Listening: 78%
Grammar/Reading: 58%
Total: 76,25% (60% needed to pass)

( Read more... )


Oh, last but not least. I changed a tiny little thing in my layout today.
<~~~~ You might already have seen it. There's a poupéegirl greeting you now. The cool thing about it is, it changes clothes / appearance every time I change it on the real website as well (*___*)

You know .....



... the zoom function is evil (￢_￢)
(and I would never wear such strong make-up but for the poupeegirl it's fun XDDD and okay! XD)

(<~ Can somebody please hit me and tell me to fuck off, stop playing with little childish girlie sparkling things and go back to my Japanese studies instead???!!!)


Uh, ... but it's almost midnight, so I'm gonna watch the latest episode of Orthros no Inu and then go reading a Japanese novel in my bed.

(つ∀-)ｵﾔｽﾐ♪

Hello

This week was luckily a week with only 4 working days for me, meaning that I had days off yesterday and today (which is actually quite funny, because this week was "Silver Week", so most people had their days off from Saturday to Wednesday while my days off were Thursday and Friday).
Anyway .... as I don't know what to write about at all this time, I decided to post a rather random entry with recommendations .... I'm not even sure if it's something I recommend, though.
Maybe I should just say I'm introducing stuff to you and you can decide what to do with it or think about it, deal? XD [/baka]

First I want to introduce "Poupéegirl (プーぺガール)":



( Introduction to the Poupéeworld (I wonder what would happen if there was something like that for Pinky Street OMG!!!) （；^ω^） )
If you decide to join now, please let me know before you do so, because if you do it via me I'll get a little something for each user XDDDD Not that I care much, though ;P


Other than that I spent my 2 days off (yesterday and today) with mainly studying Japanese (as always).
I rarely write about how I study here, because I think it's not really interesting at all.
I'm gonna share a little bit of what I'm currently doing today, though. I hope it's not too boring :)

I've already studied so much and used many different methods, focussing on different aspects of the Japanese language, so I'm not gonna list up all that, but focus on what I'm currently doing.

What I've always been doing is "sentences". Some of you might have heard of that method. Again, I don't wanna go into details.
In short: It's a method where you read sentences in Japanese and that way you'll finally be able to read and understand real Japanese. Before I started doing sentences I learned all Jouyou kanji, though (= writing + on-yomi). With the sentences I learned compounds, vocab and kun-yomi in context. You can find sentences EVERYWHERE! You can use textbooks, dramas, video games, Japanese novels etc. Just make sure it's natural (aka real) Japanese written/said/made by Japanese native speakers.

Lately I've been switching to a "Japanese only" mode which means I don't use any English/German/language1 translation anymore for the sentences.
I just pick up the words I want to learn and look their definition up in J-J dictionaries:



( Read more... )




I cooked again tonight. Most of it were leftovers from the last time I cooked.
I think it was too much! First of all the roasted potatoes + bacon + onions would have been enough, I guess, but I wanted to have fresh vegetables in there as well.
I love carrots and broccoli :3 .... I think I should have cooked both of them longer, they were still so hard, but I was impatient and hungry and so ....　ε=(。・д・。)フー
It was good and tasty nevertheless. Not as good as last time's dinner, though.
I suck at cooking. I really do! So I shouldn't cook without a recipe when I can't even cook properly with one (^^')> ...... oh well~

If anybody knows a site in English (or German) with easy and healthy cooking recipes, please share them with us here! (*__*)v
Everything including broccoli, carrots, potatoes and vegetables in general is appreciated (*_*)
nighstar, maikeru_desu and a little bit amvn as well: You can all feel guilty as it's because of you guys that I feel like cooking lately (and I don't have time, Jesus!!) So please take responsibility and provide me with some good recipes and stuff!! Will ya? (*・人・*) オ・ネ・ガ・イ♪

( What??? Alien invasion? AGAIN???!!!!　(゜ロ゜;)エェッ!? )


GAH!!! Busy, busy!!!~
See you again desuぅぅ～ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ

Hello everybody,

First of all thank you very much for your comments to my last entry
I've been so freaking busy this whole week. I guess I'm still not used to work that lasts from Mo-Fr without a break C= (-。- ) フゥー
I know I shouldn't complain, that's your normal work schedule plus it's only every other week anyway, but I feel that I don't really have enough time for ANYTHING!
Yesterday I finally managed to finish another step in my Japanese studies, doing almost (see later) nothing but studying.
Today I won't have so much time to study as I have to clean my apartment, wash my laundry, answer e-mails, write entries etc.
It's amazing how fast time runs and you never have enough, huh? (And here it's September again! )
I was invited for lunch today by one of my Japanese coworkers, but I had to turn her down as I was way too busy. Such a shame :/

My usual day looks roughly like this: (~ means until in this case)

• ~8:00am: getting up (I usually set my alarm clock around 7.50am, but in the end I can't get out of my bed before 8am, sometimes I even sleep until 9am *sigh*)


• ~10:00/10:30am: after finally getting up I get ready for the day (brushing my teeth etc.), prepare my breakfast, eat my breakfast while browsing the internet (lj, news, japanese sites, e-mail etc.)


• ~12:30pm: what happens now depends on what I need to do (laundry, shopping, cleaning, run errands of some other kind etc. and/OR study Japanese)


• ~13.30pm: prepare and eat lunch while usually watching something on my laptop


• ~14pm: getting ready for work which starts at 2pm


• ~22:00pm: I come home from work, but I often can't leave at 22:00 and have to stay a little bit longer


• ~0:30/1:00am: I browse the internet one more time (sometimes I have to wash my dishes at night, so I watch something on my laptop while doing so) / I watch a drama/anime and around 0:00am I go to bed to read some Japanese material (just started another novel last night)

( Rant about not having enough time, work, translating and students who're being bullied )



Friday night I wanted to go to bed early so that I could get up early on Saturday to study, but then I got caught by the last few episodes of "Smile". I never write about the jdramas I watch anymore, huh?
Smile was horrible to watch and I almost wanted to stop watching it at some point, because it was so hard to watch and bear it. At least "1 litre of tears" warns you with its title, but you don't expect THAT from a drama with the title "Smile", right?
I'm not going to give you any major spoilers, so don't worry. I think the drama has at least ONE good thing, though. It's very self-critical about the Japanese society in general, but prejudices (against foreigners) in particular. I also hate the fact that Japan still has the death penalty!! I'm completely against it! And I heard prisoners often won't know their execution date until the morning of the actual day!!! (SPOILER FOR SMILE LAST EPISODE: and it was the same in Smile .... SPOILER END)

What about your country? Do you have death penalty and what do you think about it?
Jesus, I really should update my "watched jdramas" page (x_X) ....... *headdesk*



Regarding my last entry: I was not very lucky!
It seems it was on TV after all! On Thursday one of my Jr. high students told me. She didn't say much about it, just that she saw me, so I'm not sure if it was horrible or not. Good thing I didn't see it.
Ever since then I haven't heard anything about it anymore, so I just hope that the people who saw it will forget about it soon again.

Regarding the curtains I bought a while ago, I managed to send them back successfully.
Now it's time to look for another set of curtains. They should be thin and white or lightpink(?) to match the curtains I already have. The most important thing is that they are almost transparent so that I still can see what's going on outside.
Something like this, just cheaper. I'll let you know once I've decided what to buy in the end :D I hope this time I get the right ones ┐(-。ー;)┌ヤレヤレ

( I cooked!! Yah, for REAL!!!! You don't believe me? ;__; ... )



( Japanese green tea ← question! )


Jesus, what a long entry. Sorry! And so random, too!

Pikachu? Raichu? No, it's a bye☆⌒ヽ(*'、^*)chu　(((((￢_￢) ....... ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣◇￣)┘

Hello,

quick update because something really weird and embarrassing happened just now!
I went to the shopping arcade to get some food (was looking for dark bread, brown rice, fresh cheese and some other healthy things) when a local TV team stopped me and asked me a few questions.
I've seen people with microphones and cameras quite often in that shopping arcade. I guess they often do public-opinion polls about various things.

And WHY, oh WHY out of ALL possible poll subjects does it have to be POLITICS?? WHY?????

So, they asked me about Hatoyama, of course. I hope everybody knows what I'm talking about??

I told them so much garbage! And this time not because of a lack of language but because of a lack of political knowledge (-____-'')
I just brabbeld about that it's a huge change, that I was surprised and that I think that it's a good thing. I was almost as surprised when Germany got a woman to be Prime Minister and after Obama as well.
When they asked me about more details ... like what I expect now and stuff ... I really talked rubbish -___-;



I hope it's bad enough so that they just throw my interview away and that they won't show it on local TV!!!
I don't wanna imagine my students or their parents seeing me talking that rubbish ;o; .....

GAH!!!!!

After the interview I got some nice ideas what I could have told them.



Well, now it's too late.

Gotta go to work now.
Bye~bu (^-^;)/~

Hello,

just a random and quick update today.
It has been a busy week and next week will be even busier , so there's not much time for LJ as I still have a life, too ヽ(°▽、°)ﾉｴﾍﾍﾍﾍ ...... (((((￢_￢)

Today was the first day that it actually cooled down quite a bit! It's still summer here in Japan and until yesterday we had temperatures like 30° or something .... today for the first time I could open my window and a fresh cool breeze was enough to keep my room cool enough :) I didn't have to use the air conditioner at all (○゜ε^○)v ィェィ♪
On the other hand I used the rainy day today to catch up with my Japanese studies which have suffered quite a lot lately. After studying kanji and vocab ONLY! for over a year now, I'm finally into grammar ONLY! And .... it's really making me feel dizzy at times.
Of course studying grammar is not always fun (and I enjoyed kanji more!), but there's so much BASIC stuff I didn't know yet (although most of the stuff I figured out before ever learning it - that's the advantage of actually living in the country of your target language).
Anyway ... if my writing is a little bit crappy today, please forgive me ... my brain needs a break now ;)

( Swine flu, tuberculosis epidemic and Japanese people freaking out )

Why I originally wanted to write an entry today is because of an interesting post I read over at gaijinpot: Weight gain automatic in Japan, loss automatic in Europe

Her article really catched my attention because as most of you know I'm in a similar situation. Well, I "only" gained like 3kg, but still!
I think not everything she's writing is accurate, but there are some really interesting points I've never thought about so far!!!
I hope you're gonna read her first post, because I'm not going to repeat everything in here.

It's true that there's sugar in almost everything. I remember writing about it when I first came here ... that everything tastes way too sweet!
Now .. after over 1,5 years I don't recognize it anymore .. which is not good, I think.
It's true that all the packed lunches and stuff you can buy at combinis have lots of shit and chemicals in them. Eating that every day is definitely not healthy.
On the other hand I understand why people still do it. It's cheap, doesn't taste too bad and it's FAST!!! Most teenagers, university students and singles either are too lazy or just have no time to cook and cooking for only one person is always a little bit difficult anyway.

Now ... why is everybody saying that the Japanese food is so damn healthy then? The healthiest food in the world?
Well, that might be true if we have a look at the TRADITIONAL Japanese cuisine! Fish, sashimi, rice, seaweed, tofu, soybeans (nattou), green tea etc.

If you cook every day using those ingredients, then yes, I think you live a healthy life, but most people don't, I think. Me neither.
I just don't have time and I'm not a fan of cooking (too lazy). Nevertheless I try to eat healthy.
I think my breakfast is healthy enough (cereals imported from Switzerland / Germany with no sugar - Japanese cereals are too sweet and god knows what kind of crap they put in there) with milk (or soy milk) or yoghurt and fruit (bananas, kiwi, apples, and whatever else is available at the moment).
During lunch time I'm usually still home, so I cook rice and eat it with nattou and tamago onsen / namatamago (生卵 = raw egg) or I just make spaghetti using mostly imported sauces (Italy).
For dinner (as I'm at work then and can't leave the school) I usually buy packed lunch from the supermarket (I THINK that's healthier than combini food).
Combini food is good for 2-4 days, so they DEFINITELY put crap in it. In supermarkets (I think) they prepare the food freshly in the morning and you have to eat it within the day: I try to buy different things depending on what I had for lunch (so I can avoid having rice, fish, meat etc. tiwce a day). I'm not sure if that's healthy, though.
If I can get German whole grain bread online somewhere (but expensive! ;o;) I think I can make my dinner at home and take it with me to work (-> German whole grain bread, Italian olive magarine, some kind of ham, cucumber and carrots raw <- me loves) ... I think that would be quite healthy as well.
I still haven't found any bread I can consider as "healthy" here in Japan:



Genmaicha bread (玄米食パン) is what I recently discovered. It's way darker than normal white bread and tastes quite good and not sweet at all. It seems there's no sugar in it (or they just don't put it on the ingredients list - maybe in Japan they don't have to list everything?!), but I still have to investigate XD if it's really healthy or not.
Oh, and on the right side, new ~> Azuki Maccha (have yet to try it though :3)


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Bye~bu　(´∀｀*)ﾉｼ　ﾊﾞｲﾊﾞｲ