Feb 26, 2011

Long Time!

Hi,There!
I haven't written a new entry for a while... Sorry!
Next week I have exams. It's the last exam week of this school year.
Well,I'll try to do my best.

Lately,of course I've been studying for the exams. On the other hand I also have been keeping studying Spanish everyday even it's very little. I've been trying to memorize at least 5 words each day. My friend sent me the mix CD of her favorite Mexican band called Maná.Listening to their music helps me with Spanish pronunciation a lot. 
I sometimes talk to my grandpa in Spanish. Since he's over 80 years old,he's very forgetful though he still can speak a little Spanish. That was surprising for me.
I've been studying English and Spanish so far. I have many languages I want to study besides them. French,Portuguese,Swahili,Traditional-Chinese etc...
I think I'll study one of them after my English and Spanish will get better :)

Anyway,I'll do my best on my exams!
Wish you have a nice weekend!

Feb 15, 2011

Snowy Day

Hi,There :)
It started snowing since last night. In the morning,the ground was covered with snow. Unfortunately I didn't take the picture of it though it was pretty nice view to see :)
It's not so cold in Yokohama therefore snow isn't like powder here. It's just like shaved ice. I slipped on the road! My pants was drenched and I knocked my hips. I still have a little backache...(=_=;;;)
Although I still love snow so much :)


Yesterday and today,I received many postcards and other things.
The postcards shaped a clay figure is the postcard I sent to myself from Ueno. I always send a postcards to my home when I go traveling. I started to do it ever since one of my penpal told me this idea. It's so much fun and good to make memories.
The yellow package is the book,"Time Traveler's Wife". My English friend sent me this book to me! Its story sounds interesting. After I finish reading another book which I'm reading,I'm gonna start reading this. I can't wait :)


Well,I gotta stop writing because I have a small report I have to write by tomorrow.
Wish you have a nice day :)

This Weekend



Hi there! It's snowing in Yokohama again! How is the weather in your country?


On 12th,Sat,I went to Ueno,Tokyo(東京,上野) with the international trainees and some students in my school,FINALLY!
I had been looking forward to it for pretty a long time. It was a big chance to talk with foreign people and use English and Spanish =)


We decided to meet in front of the famous statue of Takamori Saigo(西郷 隆盛) in Ueno Park.
As soon as we met,my teacher let us introduced ourselves each other. To tell you the truth,I was a little bit nervous and worried if I could communicate with them well at that time. After the introduction,we took a photo together.
The trainees are from Ecuador,Cambodia,Thailand,and China. Other people in this photo are, two are my friends,one is the staff of the training center,and the rest is me.


We went to an Italian restaurant to have lunch at first. On our way to the restaurant,I've just raised my courage and talked to the trainee from Ecuador.
"Mucho gusto!(Nice to meet you) ah...well...¡Estoy estudiando español!(I'm studying Spanish)"
I think I spoke broken Spanish actually. But I was so happy that I could greet him in a little Spanish :) Since he can speak English and a little Japanese,we talked in English,a little Japanese and Spanish.


We ate lunch and went to Ameya-Yokocho(アメヤ横丁),called Ame-Yoko(アメ横) for short.
There are many shops in Ame-Yoko. But we only just went through it,because we were caught up in talking.lol


In Tokyo National Museum,we saw a lot of invaluable exhibits.



I looked around the museum with all of them though I spent most of the time with the trainee from Cambodia. She is a curator of the museum in Cambodia. I found that she was a friend of another trainee from Cambodia who stayed with my family last year.
(The trainee from Ecuador was also a friend of another Ecuadorian trainee who stayed with my family last year)
She told me how the earthenwares made in Japan are great. Since I used to focus on the Japanese history of Azuchi-Momoyama(安土桃山時代) Era to Meiji Era,(明治時代)(about 1570~1912) I didn't know much about the primitive age. I had a difficulty in understanding what she said because of my poor English skill,but her explanation was very interesting.
I thought I should study about history again. I really need to know more and MORE about Japan.

Well,I have too many things I want to write :P All I can say is this cultural exchange event was absolute worthwhile experience.
All of the trainees were very kind and lots of fun to talk. Only one day isn't enough. The sad thing is we may will meet at their farewell party next. It's too early to say Good-Bye.

I wish I could speak English better. Then we could talk and understand each other more. How can I practice communication in English...?? If you have any good ideas,please let me know!
Anyway,I had very nice time!
I want to thank all of trainees,the staff,and my friends. I'm hoping to get a such chance again.

Wish you have a nice week :)

Feb 12, 2011

It snowed!! :)

Today,Feb.11th was the National Day of Japan.(建国記念の日)
I'm very confident that to know more about my own country is one of the most important things. Sadly,many Japanese people seem like that they aren't really interested in our country. Well,I hope more and more Japanese people will feel we are Japanese ourselves,strongly. Loving our mother country is a natural thing,isn't it?


Anyway,I was surprised and pleased when I opened shutters. It was snowing in Yokohama!!
(This is the picture of our garden)
Whenever it snows I remember the snowy days when I was an elementary school student.
I used to have a snowball fight and did sledding with my friends. I wonder what my friends are doing right now. I'd like to have an alumni meeting someday. 
I was very happy,but it seemed my mom was a little bit gloomed by snow. She was born in Iwate-Prefecture(岩手県),where it snows a lot in winter. So she is kind of tired of snow. Although she doesn't like snow,she tried my dog,Maro to go walking. Maro was willing to do at first,but as soon as he got out our home,he wanted to be back. My mom gave up walking him.lol
I have one thing that I'm worrying. In snowy days,trains and buses in Kanto-Area(関東) don't work very well. They stop pretty often. Since I'm going to Tokyo and have small cultural exchange event with the international trainees and some of students of my school tomorrow,I'm worrying if the trains and buses will run as usual.


I wrote that I asked my grandpa to teach me calligraphy before. Today,I practiced it a little.
He advised the most important thing to improve the skills of calligraphy is just to write again and again. I decided to write the lyric of the Song of Yokohama-City to practice.
I love this song ever since I've learned and listened to it at my elementary school at first. This song was made in 1909 and its lyric was written by a Japanese famous novelist:Ogai Mori(森鷗外).
The lyric is written in old-Japanese with traditional-Chinese characters. But,no,that's why I love this song. It's a little hard to understand. Instead of it,I can feel the mood of Meiji Era(明治時代) :)
My skill of calligraphy is quite poor >< I'll keep practicing little by little as my grandpa advised. It would be really cool if I was good at calligraphy! 
Oh,if you are interested in how the Song of Yokohama is like,you can listen to it on YouTube.
Here is the clip.


I gotta go to bed. I hope the traffic will work tomorrow!!
Wish you have a nice weekend :)



Feb 6, 2011

Yay it's a weekend!

Hi,there!
It has been cold in Japan. The news says that in the north part of Japan,it has been snowing a lot. In Yokohama,it doesn't snow so much,it does about 3~5 times a year or so.
Some of my relatives are living in the southwest part of Japan,called "Kyushu(九州)". The volcano in Kyushu has been erupting lately. Although they don't live really near the volcano,I'm worrying about it.
Also I was awaked by an earthquake this morning. Since many earthquakes happen in Japan every year,I'm not really afraid of them. But I think we should prepare against the big disaster.

Let me write about the postcard I received yesterday and today.

My Taiwanese snail mail penpal sent me the lovely postcard of sheep from New Zealand :) She is in NZ now. I loved it so much,I love this kind of animals. They seem like that they are easygoing about everything.haha
She has a very neat handwriting. That's so cool =) Recently I feel that my handwriting is getting messier. I asked my grandpa to teach me calligraphy.(He has been practicing it ever since he was child) I hope my handwriting will get better.
Other postcards are from Belgium,Taiwan,Poland,and China(through Postcrossing).

Today I went to a book/stationery store with my mom. When I was studying Spanish in my room,my mom called me and asked if I would like to go there.
I love to go to the store. It has a lot of books and stationery. I looked around the store,and bought some postcards,clips,and a marker pen.
I wish I could stay there longer. I can spend a lot of time at such store :P

Next Saturday,I'm going to meet the international trainees. This week I have to study more about English and practice English conversation. My family(especially mom) and friend asked me to become their translator. I'm wondering if I will be able to carry out this job,but that's my pleasure because I love communicating in English. 
I'll believe myself!!! p(^_^)q   I'm looking forward to the day we meet :D

Wish you have a nice weekend! 

Feb 2, 2011

Spanish,and My Promise to Fulfill

Hi,there!

Lately I feel that time passes really quickly. I still can't manage to make more free time.
Anyway,since it's time to go to bed,I will blog about today's postcards.

Today I received the postcard of Michael Jackson from German Postcrosser. It's sooo cool!
I can't explain how much I love MJ. Speaking about my favorite songs by MJ,hmm I can't choose lol   

These days I've been addicted to "Todo mi amor eres tú" This is Spanish version of "I just can't stop loving you".
This song is one of the reasons why I started studying Spanish. When I listened to this song for the first time,I found that Spanish pronunciation is much easier than English for Japanese. Then,I became interested in learning Spanish.
After that,the international trainee from Ecuador stayed with my family. She was very kind person and she taught us some Spanish expressions. On the day of trainees' farewell party,I promised her that I will master Spanish and communicate in it someday. 
This promise always cheers me up when I almost give up studying Spanish. That's why I can continue studying :) I will fulfill my promise someday. I don't know when,but I will. 

Oh,no,I gotta write about today's postcards :P
Today I put postcards I received on my wall.

It was very hard to choose postcards to put,because I have too many good postcards. So I put the postcards which are out of size of my postcard-holder.
I'm going to send 4 postcards tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to have enough time to write not only postcards,but also letters.

So I gotta go to bed!
Have a nice day :)