月別アーカイブ: 2009年4月

my 4th blog of this month ~

Yes, this is my 4th blog of this month ~ for the sake my lovely ¥2000 while I have no income for the whole year, hahaha, FIGHTING ~ !!!!

Let’s talk about my very FIRST blessing here living in 中村橋, I am not trying to advertise here, haha, and I mean, seriously, every day, I can ride on the NEWEST subway, it really feels good, believe it or not. WHY? because it is darn fast, clean, and comfortable, … if you are on the right train, mostly I meant “急行”, WOW. What a joyride ~~~.

And this station is very funny, every few minutes, it comes a train that goes to different places, you think u can go there, wait for the train, and just pop in and sit still till the end? don’t even think about it! I might sound like being sarcastic but I am not. It takes some small practice to realize HOW LONG it really actually takes for you to go to 新宿三丁目 and 渋谷。

So far I have been very pleased. It is interesting~, because it is the same thing over and over again. I am always late, there is not 2 continuous day that I ride the same train. Hahahahahahaha. My mom would LOVE to hear this. They live in such a strict world that “LATE” is never acceptable, while me … no matter working or studying, always there are places and situations that allows me to do such a わがまま thing …

The very next sweet thing is the “2-minute” walk to the station, I mean, geez, how can you beat that? And little Seiyu right in front of it … ^ ^.

Life is a strange thing. I was extremely unsatisfied with Houston because of the things that happened there, because it was in the middle of nowhere, got fed up and left, while everything else was not even ready. Telling you I have no regrets, that would be lying. If I would have been a little 我慢したなら, and leave maybe last year’s December instead of early April, I might … be in a little better financial situation? well, at least I would not have to pay 2 expensive places at the same time …? Well, if one really has to dwell on this, I should have left that crazy place 2-3 years ago and everything would be perfect, 只可以奉獻一句，做人可能有時要比狠心更狠心。… blah blah, trash talking! What I am trying to say is, I left there and not miss one thing, and now I am missing some of the people there … I can feel how they feel being there, the ups and downs, probably mostly the downs, hahaha.

But I also know, if I went back, I would miss the ppl and stuff in Japan. So easy to go back to the US, however, it is hard to ever come back Japan once I leave. Why God has to make this world so big …?

Living in Ueno

Ueno is a very convenient place to live. There are variety of restaurants and cafe for breakfast/lunch/dinner and if you would like to go for a stroll there’s Ueno Park near by all the restaurants and train station. You can check your email at internet cafes that are conveniently located near the station or check out some museums scattered all around Ueno Park. You can also do your shopping at Marui department store, Ameyoko Archade or Atre in the station. You can conclude your day with several top charts at a karaoke bar near the station.

bank account

Wow, today I was SOOOOO tired … late for school again of course~. More students came to our class this morning and they seem pretty decent, ok nice~. One of them was just sitting in the classroom to have a “trial” lesson, so do not know if he would come back to our class or not. Hope he would, cause he seem pretty nice.

Anyhow, I was all exhausted because yesterday night I spent HOURS calculating the expenses in Japan, from Feb-Mar. It was quite, to put it bluntly, bloody. And can be sort of complicated cause there are some expenses that have receipts and some do not, some were paid by credit card and some do not … what a mess.

To calculate exactly how much I spent on Misc, Food, … is quite impossible. But I do have the estimated amount, wow … -_-
Anyway, back to the main topic, today, with my extremely exhausted mind, I went to open my FIRST bank account in JAPAN. It was somewhat exciting due to the fact that my Japanese is just “TOO great”.

I finally have the urge to get this going despite the trouble that probably an outsider cannot (or do not want to) comprehend is because Oakhouse is having this “Premier Membership” thing going on, and I am doing all this to save a few. -_- My money is “scarce”, so hope it will all be transferred safely and so I can continue my safe living in Japan.

Despite my extremely poor Japanese skills, (esp. my grammar, wow, it is hard to find anyone that can beat me on this) the account seemed to be opened safely. And to my surprises, I seemed to understand a little more than I expected. Everything that the kind bank lady said made so much sense. It was a very nice experience. Just love how polite and sincere she is, and her patience.

I seriously feel very good to have done this by myself. Even though it is such a tiny thing, the satisfaction is high. It was EXCITING. Because it is a completely different language, a language that I have never thought, in my wildest dream, that I can study till now. The whole thing is a little late, but I guess LATE is better than NEVER. Thank You LORD.

Hanami

Pink, white and green trees are all over Ueno Park this week, so GORGEOUS!!! Small, white petals of sakura surrounds me like confettis as in a wedding or white snow in winter in Canada while a gentle breeze sweeps them from under my feet with each step. Sakura trees leave me speechless as I admire their refelction in the pond around sunset while lanterns start to light up the evening to illuminate these beautiful trees. A dream about a park couldn’t be more beautiful than this and the best part is that it’s not a dream.

Keroro ~

My first movie in Japan — Keroro ~.

Haha. Never thought it would be like this. That is the power of POSTER. I saw Keroro’s movie poster just about everywhere. And the place that they put which really got my attention is at the very station that I get in and out every day — 中村橋. Crying out loud I have never even seen Keroro’s animation or manga once! HAHAHA.

Saturday night I went to see my friends at Coffee House and I showed them the Keroro’s flash, which I had downloaded from Keroro’s website, on my cell. I also showed them the Keroro pamphlet which describes how to get Keroro’s goods from riding trains (of Seibu Ikebukuro) and stopping by at different stations to get stamped (Just another reason why I love Japan, isn’t that cute? Making the kids ride the train, hahaha!!)

I pointed to one of the goods on the pamphlet and asked one of my Japanese friends how to get it (since my Japanese not good), and she looked at me with a gentle smile and a polite disbelief look and asked, in English, “YOU WANT THIS???!!!”

HAHAHAHA!!!! Funny!

Ok, maybe not funny to you. ^^

Cherry Blossom finally~!

OK, I woke up sooooo late today cause these days it just has been CRAZY! ぜんぜん自分の時間がないんです！It has been going on for just WAY too long. Before, it was because I barely had my space at home so I had to go out all the time, right? Now, after like months, I finally have space of my own. I feel soooo blessed, I really do. I cannot believe the comfort of it again. In US, it is so easy for me to have this “comfort”, because over there the space is vast, and it has always been my comfort zone. But in Japan, I really never even dreamed of being very comfortable here. It feels like such a luxury for a foreigner that has no income. Haha.

And today, except I had gone to Shibuya to do some volunteer work, I got to see 夜桜 with my lovely friend! She is awesome. I like her soooo much >.<! SOOOOOOO pretty those sakura, even at night. Wow~. I was so mad at myself not having enough energy to go see the “cherry blossom” that Oakhouse was holding at 1pm, gosh I don’t even remember that station’s name … however, the night time one can definitely compensate the loss to a certain extent~. ^^

Yoga

Since I’ve moved to Tokyo, it has been a constant struggle on a daily basis with the crowd, air pollution, rats, homeless in Ueno park, and high costs of living. To reduce some of these negative aspects of living in Tokyo and to bring a little sunshine into my soul I got more into doing yoga. Instead of once a week now I go to yoga studio at least twice a week and try to refresh as much as possible. Yoga has brought so much relaxation and flexibility into my life. It’s not easy living in a big city like Tokyo so I figured why not shoot two birds with one stone and get healthy and relaxed at the same time by doing yoga. There’s a Lava Hot Yoga studio near Akihabara station and if anyone is looking for a way to relax in Tokyo please give it a try, you might surpise yourself.

Flea Market in Ueno Park

One of the advantages of living near the Ueno Park is that during the warmer months there’s a flea market in Ueno Park where you can pick up some traditional japanese goods. As I was walking home after work last week, I bought a beautiful bamboo flower holder for only 500yen while it would’ve cost me much more if I had bought it brand new at a ikebana shop. Even if you don’t wana buy anything, it’s still nice to check out some new things in Ueno park.