A Sunday Spent Inside

今日の日本語の言葉: ohanashi (お話) - story

This word was brought to you by what I did today, unsurprisingly.

I woke up today, wanting to go somewhere and do something. It's a Sunday after all, and I had no plans, but I wanted plans. No use wasting a Sunday in Japan, right? I wanted to go to Shinjuku Gyoen, actually, which is this amazing park with multiple gardens all with different themes. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Tokyo, and it's only about an hour away by train.

However, it then started to rain, which put a wrench in my plans. I didn't want to go there on a rainy day, and it was raining for a while. Heck, it's still raining now, and it started at around 10:00. I didn't want to have pictures with an overcast sky. So many another day, when I've planned better and actually have friends to go with.

Anyways, I then decided to stay home, and maybe spend some time just hanging around, observing and participating in the daily life of the Kiuchi family on weekends. In the morning, Ryosuke left for some school thing he was doing, leaving Ayuka and Yoshiko-san at home with me. The picture you see below is the first floor, which I don't think many of you have witnessed yet. It's very beautiful.

Then Masahiro-san came back from dropped Ryosuke off. I've been sitting on this chair the whole time, writing chapter 25 of my fic, which is the last chapter (epilogue notwithstanding). But from my chair, I get the perfect vantage point for what people are doing within the house, such as the picture below of Ayuka and Masahiro-san playing a board game that I learned is sort of like the Game of Life, except more for children, and less complicated. It doesn't involve getting married and having children and stuff. It's more of an adventure. How about we liken it to Candy Land instead?

Then for lunch we had soba. I had been writing for about an hour and a half now, on a brand spanking new chapter too, so I still had a ways to go. Writing the last chapter for something is always the toughest, because everyone's counting on you to give them a satisfying ending. That's a whole lot of pressure.

But lunch was great, and delicious as always. Afterward, Ayuka involved me in a bunch of her antics, so I took a slight break from writing to play with her. She cleaned the house with me—she loves to clean—and then was a cat scratching at my legs for a while. When she got bored, she cooked me "food," which turned out to be cute blocks that form sushi shapes. In America, we have trucks and Barbies, in Japan, we have sushi. I love it! <3

I also watched Dumbo with Ayuka as I later continued to write (for a period which I didn't know was going to be five hours straight of writing). I had forgotten just how trippy the movie gets. It's sort of like watching interpretive Beatles music videos. It's so odd, and the dancing elephants freaked Ayuka out to no end. Poor her. I was freaked out too. o.o

When Ryosuke got home, I was still writing. My mind was working furiously, and I was totally on a roll. My fingers, however, were having problems. If any of you have ever typed for that long of a time, you might know what I'm talking about. I start making more mistakes though I type faster, and then I have to go back and fix them. And my fingers even work ahead of my writer's brain sometimes, and they twitch, not having anything to type down as I think about what to say next. It's tough.

Ryosuke played more of the game with Ayuka, which was a very heartwarming sight until they started fighting over pieces, and someone ends up crying, like siblings always manage to do somehow if they're close enough in age. Still, somehow that's heartwarming too (did that sound cruel?). 

I helped make dinner tonight, which was a combination of many, many things. Being in Japan is great because of my vow to try any and all foods that come my way (I'm so glad that chocolate covered (insert insect here) hasn't come my way... yet). Which means that for the first time I can remember, I tried turnips. I've always avoided them because I thought they'd be crunchy, but they're actually quite soft. And they were delicious in the turnip miso, along with being pan fried.

We also had burgers, which were mostly vegetables with a bit of meat to hold the thing together. We had potatoes, rice, salad, and wonderful tiny rolls of pizza dough. I really want to make pizza sometime, along with apple pie, and Yoshiko-san and I agreed that we should definitely do it in the near future! I'm in Nagasaki next weekend, but maybe the weekend after that.

I also had an orange to round off my meal. I've had so many oranges, actually, that I wonder if my skin can turn orange like with carrots. Joking. It can't... can it? Anyways, below is a picture of the box of oranges, which was full to the brim when they first got it. It's been only a week, and we've put quite a dent in the thing. Now you see just how many oranges I have been consuming. Now I see how many I've been consuming too. Holy cow.

Decorations in the hallway at the front door. The left side covers Christmas
and the right side covers Halloween, it seems.

Ayuka likes to count her oranges as she eats them.
Is it to check that her brother hasn't taken any, or something?

After dinner, I wrote more, and I finally put up chapter 25 of my fic. It's like a milestone feeling. It's like completing your first marathon, no matter how short it was, or how slow you ran. You still did it, and you kept going, and now... you're done. There's something nice about it, but there's also something... empty about it too. You train so hard for the damn thing, and now it's done. But, I guess like many marathoners, you then just start training for the next one. So I guess I'll start writing another fic.

I also spent some time after dinner reading a story to Ryosuke. I want to help him with his English, and so I try talking to him in English and helping him with his English homework. We read some story about a tree stump and how it can be useful to many creatures, and isn't owned by any one entity. There were words like "titmouse" and "feelers" (referencing antennae), which I thought was ridiculously difficult for his age and level of English. Like, damn. What kind of English teacher has them read that? He's still trying to pronounce words like "were" (after I read, he then reads the story back to me, asking me about words he doesn't know as I correct his pronunciation). Overall, it's a very good time, and I like doing it a lot. Helps me with my Japanese too as I try to help him understand the story's meaning by describing it in Japanese.

Before I go for the night, I want to leave you with this hilarious image that Facebook has so kindly sent my way. The Perks of Being an English Major:

Well, that's all, folks! I would write more, but I'm tired, and my fingers are doing that cramping thing. I can't wear them out too much, now, can I?

All the best!

マギー

CIEE Gathering/Celebration!

今日の日本語の言葉: seiza (正座) - sitting straight (though it actually means a specific way of kneeling, like during a Japanese tea ceremony and stuff)

This word was brought to you by why my legs are still aching right now.

This morning, I woke up bright and early and watched some Doctor Who with Lissa. I'm glad that we're doing this on weekends regularly now, so that I know that every weekend, I at least have some plans, you know? Plus, we don't have much of a chance to talk otherwise, so this little chance is very nice. 

In addition to the Skyping and Doctor Who watching with Lissa, I also talked to Anna a little bit, which I look forward to every morning that she's due to be around. You have no idea how good it feels to start the day off with a nice talk with one of your friends (and of course, a lot of writing).

I've never fully explained to you guys why I like writing Alexei and Mikhail so much, have I? Well, they're both highly intelligent characters; Alexei is the chief inspector of his department, which deals in grand scale, high end thefts, and Mikhail is a master thief. Think Sherlock and Moriarty. They're both incredibly intelligent, and they play so many mind games with each other. Each conversation between the two has about five different layers of meaning, which makes it such a challenge to write for them, because they're so damn smart and quick witted that they outwit the both of us sometimes. So it's such a challenge writing for them that I look forward to it every single time. 

For breakfast, I had bread, cucumbers, jam, and ham. I don't understand how the Japanese seem to really like mayo on their cucumbers, especially Japanese mayo, which tastes very different from American mayo. They also put mayo on broccoli and other vegetables, which bemuses me so. @_@

I then spent the time taking a very nice and relaxing shower, writing more of my fic, watching anime with Yoshiko-san, who was very interested in seeing what this "Kyou Kara Maou" thing that I really love was. The language in the anime (and the manga) is so difficult though, even for Yoshiko-san, because not only is it extra... keigo (honorified), because the main character is a king, but it's also set in olden times, which makes the language honorified and archaic. So I know way much more vocab for words like serf, and treasure room, and magical sword of the king, rather than useful words like blanket. Well, at least I know I can probably survive if I get sent back in time to feudal Japan somehow, eh?

Anyways, at 12:45, we left for Jimbocho, which is where the event was being held. We took the train, which turned out to be horrendous because between the two of us, I knew the train system better than she did (she always drives)—and you know what that means. We overshot and were late, but it was a nice adventure, and it gave me a nice chance to talk to her more. She's a very interesting person.

Got a picture from Yoshiko-san of Ayuka's outfit yesterday. <3  

When we reached the event, below is a picture of what I saw. Many things strewn across many tables, with tons of people milling about doing different things. And you know me; the first thing I went for was the yukata room. I think yukatas and kimonos are the most beautiful pieces of clothing ever invented—for women. Men's fashion I think is tied between a full on tux, a suit, and a yukata.

When I was done putting on the yukata and taking those pictures, I sat down to start making myself some zouri, which are those classic slippers (which usually are seen to be made out of straw of some sort). Ian and Julien were already well underway, and I really wanted to finish before I had to take off the yukata, so I could have the whole ensemble. But those things take about an hour and a half to make, so I knew I'd be sitting there for a while. Had to work fast!

Starting on my zouri! So much harder than it looks. 

As you can see from the picture below, it was some nice bonding time between Yoshiko-san and me—not that we haven't had plenty of that already. But making these things gives you lots of time to talk, since it's just sitting there and doing stuff with your hands.

However, I decided that I was not going to mess up my yukata, and I was going to sit seiza style. I've done it before, and it's hurt like hell before, but I hoped that over time, I coud get more used to it and that eventually, I'd be able to sit seiza style without pain. Yoshiko san can do it perfectly fine, and actually prefers to sit that way (how the hell...?).

Now try it yourself. Find some solid ground, like wood or something, and kneel seiza style. That is, legs are tucked together under you, and they're touching each other all the way back to your toes. Your heels and toes are touching too. Then just sit back, back straight, with your hands on your lap. Look forward and put your shoulders back. Now try doing that for two hours.

I ended up sitting seiza for most of it though. We'll say everything but the last fifteen minutes was seiza. At that point, I really couldn't handle it anymore, and was satisfied enough that I lasted that long, and thus could sit "Thai" style, which is sitting straight with both your legs tucked closely to one side (NB: this style only applies to Thai girls, not guys). It's vaguely uncomfortable too, but I've gotten used to it from living in Thailand.

Below is an image of the finished product, which I'm very happy about. They're ultra comfortable, and I need non-winter house slippers anyway. These will do great! They're machine washable too, which makes them easy to clean. They're really fun (though tough) to make. I wonder if I should make another pair sometime, just to see if I can do it on my own.

The finished product! So proud! 

After the event, I went home with Yoshiko-san. We both were starving, and when we got home, we rushed straight to making dinner, which was gyoza! It was supposed to be burgers, but since the kids had gone to Maku Donarudo (Mc Donald's) for lunch and ate burgers, we didn't want them to have burgers two meals in a row. I'm not complaining! Burgers are great, but gyozas are so much better. :3

I also brought home tons of snacks from the event, including this cute little yogurt thing, with the little paddle and all. It's really small, and so damn adorable (you can use my wallet for a size reference; the cap is just a tad bit larger than a quarter). I haven't actually tried any of the snacks yet (there was a lot of dinner), but I might do so tomorrow, and I'll let you know how it is!

This reminds me, though. I did try Hokkaido butter candy earlier today, which sounded gross, but had gotten me curious. It... doesn't taste like butter, at least. It just doesn't taste like anything else I want to eat too. If any of you have ever had milk candy, it tastes like that, but... after it's left out for years. I love milk candy, but I don't like Hokkaido butter candy. Zannen desu ne?

じゃ、眠いですからまた明日! I'm tired, so I'll see you guys tomorrow!
マギー (Maggie)

Two Dinners in One Day!

今日の日本語の言葉: don (丼) - rice bowl

This word has been brought to you by dinner number one today, and by what I also did part of a presentation on at CIEE today.

Today started at 5:30, instead of the usual 5:00. I had posted chapter 24 of my fic last night, and this morning was greeted by many emails about it. It's always a wonderful thing to hear from your readers first thing in the morning. It makes the rest of the day impossible to be bad.

Breakfast was some bread and yakisoba, which is an odd combination, I know, but it was actually pretty delicious. I had more of that odd peanut butter stuff on my bread, which I've sort of gotten addicted to in recent times. It's really good. I really will try to smuggle some back to the states (it really feels weird to be thinking about smuggling something sold at 7/11 back to the U.S.).

Ayuka went to school today dressed for Halloween. She was shy, and so I couldn't grab a picture of the front of her outfit, but below is a picture from the back. She's got this adorable black shirt with a smiling pumpkin at the front, and this orange tutu to match. And when she bounces and flounces around, frills go everywhere. :3

I left home at 9:30 this morning in order to get to CIEE HQ in Yotsuya for a meeting before school. On the train, I saw these three women who were so beautifully dressed in kimonos. I don't know why they were there, or to where they were going, but it was such a nice sight. Kimonos are so damn beautiful, and these ladies carried themselves with such grace and poise that it was like watching art.

At CIEE HQ, we had a meeting about our trip next weekend to Nagasaki. I'm so very excited for it, and I'm going to be missing school on Monday for it too. I've been looking into Nagasaki, both because I was assigned to research its food and because it's just so cool. There are so many museums, and ruins. There's an abandoned island, which, if you were to ever go into the houses there and stuff, still have old calendars and T.V.s and stuff inside. A bit eerie, but still very cool.

My presentation, as I mentioned before, was on food. Nagasaki food is very interesting, and they're most famous for castella, actually, which is a Portuguese thing. It's like a sponge cake, except more moise and sweeter. Over time, Nagasaki castella has developed its own unique taste removed from all other types. Nagasaki is also famous for chanpon, which is a Chinese noodle dish. The noodles are made from various ingredients, especially the same stuff that goes into making a wonton wrapper, which is why chanpon tastes so unique. I'm definitely going to be trying both while I'm there. :3
There's also this interesting dish called taichazuke which is a red sea-bream don (now you know what this word means), over which green tea is then poured. Apparently, it's very delicious, though I've yet to try it. Maybe I'll get a chance to try this too!

Below is a picture of my bento, which I had for lunch at CIEE HQ. Those little pandas peeking out always make me squeal in cuteness. Like, oh my god. That's also leftover yakisoba fro breakfast. There's also a little bit more pumpkin peeking out in the back, along with half a sliced banana and half an orange for fruit. I'd say it was a pretty rounded meal.

After CIEE, we headed directly to school, with five minutes to spare. Julien was eating on the go, and Ian and I ate at CIEE, while Julien was having a private meeting. I didn't think that we'd make it to school on time, and the guys thought that we'd make it there with plenty of time. The reality turned out to be in the middle. I suck at judging time, but so do they, just on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Today, we learned about asking what people ate last night, or what they drank last night, or what they read last night. And then if they read nothing, we also learned how to say that. It's all grammar I already know, and vocabulary I already know, so guess what I did? I spent my time writing and drawing! I felt compelled to draw Alexei and Mikhail again today, just because this morning, as I was writing with Anna, they somehow ended up pointing guns at each other, which is just too good not to draw. Of course, I suck at proportions, so their legs are too short and their bodies too small for their heads, but I was too lazy to fix it. At least I knew what was wrong, right? Plus, drawing Mikhail's (left) gun hand was tough as hell. That angle is not natural.

After school, I went to talk to my teachers about switching out of J1B to a J2 class, just because it seemed so easy, and I didn't want to be bored. My teachers told me that with grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension, I was definitely ready for J2. The problem was that I don't know J1's kanji. Darn that kanji. I could try to study 120 kanji, both how to write and how to read, and the other contexts they're commonly found in—all this weekend, or I could just stick with J1B. I don't know. My teachers gave me this weekend to think, and I think that since I'm so far into my class (it's been three weeks, I think), I've made some very nice friends and shared some good times. Learning 120 kanji is a challenge to do in one weekend, but I think it's possible. I just don't know if I'm ready to leave J1B, or even think about doing so, you know? The other class has had just the same amount of time to get closer to each other too. Maybe I won't take that test and draw more in class? An existence of drawing and writing isn't that bad. It just sort of makes me feel that I'm not learning as much Japanese as I should be.

Anyways, after I talked to my teachers, I went to have dinner with Saya-san. We went to Yoshinoya, which is that place I went to with Julien a bit back. I had some pork dish, which was delicious, and Saya-san had gyuudon, which is a beef rice bowl. It was delicious, and all for less that $5. So good!

After Yoshinoya, Saya-san and I made our way towards Book-Off, the same one that I was in before last Saturday. This time, we were specifically hunting for the BL section, which we found. Below is a picture of it (it's the right side shelf), and there are all these women standing there reading it, young and old. Totally unashamed. I love it! I would do that too if I could actually read this stuff. We'll get there some day, and then I'll be back.

Tohoshinki section! <3 (a.k.a. DBSK)

Book-Off has this many Yu-Gi-Oh cards? o.o 

After Book-Off, I went home to find myself faced with another dinner. I hadn't expected to eat dinner out, after all. I didn't have much of a stomach for it, but since Yoshiko-san had prepared all this food for me, I felt like I had to eat it (plus, there was tuna (maguro) sashimi, which I definitely could never resist). There was also this cucumber with kamaboko (fish cake) around it, and a thin oozing of... cheese... in the middle. It was weird for me too. There were bean sprouts, more fish, miso soup, rice, and a vegetable I've forgotten the name of. It was actually pretty delicious though—as is everything usually is in this house. I just didn't expect something that looked so weird (and that I've tasted and disliked before) to taste so good the second time around.

After dinner, I Skyped Anna and introduced her to Yoshiko-san and Masahiro-san, who both thought that she was adorable. So far, they've met dad, Aaron, and Anna. I'd still like them to meet as many people as they can, because they're always so interested in my friends and family. So the more the merrier, guys!

See you tomorrow,
Maggie

Curry, Curry, Curry...

今日の日本語の言葉: kanji (感じ) - feeling; emotion; impression

This word was brought to you by the fact that we're going to start learning kanji soon! Woohoo! Of course, by "kanji" I mean those darn Chinese characters, but I wanted you guys to know that "kanji" has another definition too, just in case you ever encounter it. ;)

Today I woke up early as usual, had a nice session of writing for my next chapter, and then promptly started RPing with Anna after breakfast (which was leftover curry and rice from yesterday). My chapter got deleted by the FanFiction site yesterday, and it was running high at 5,000 words of awesomeness. So I had to rewrite the whole thing this morning, and it currently stands at 8,000 words. I've started writing on the train on my iPhone. :3

For lunch, I packed a bento, but, again, I ended up eating that at home, wanting to stay home longer to talk to people, do homework, Skype Anna, and relax. By bento consisted of rice, left over houresou, chicken, furikake, and pumpkin. I have never been a fan of pumpkin, but somehow the way Yoshiko-san cooks it makes it so damn delicious! I have no idea how, but I must learn.

When I got to Akihabara station, I dropped into Vie de France because I had time, and I needed change for dinner (all I had were bills, and we would have to pay for our own meals; there was no way I was going to find a meal that perfectly fit 1,000 yen, and I didn't want to anyways, because that was expensive). Thus, I got a katsu sandwich, which was delicious.

If you've paid attention so far, you would know that I had curry last night, and then curry this morning. And then now, at around lunch time, I'm having katsu. That comes in later tonight, when I go to dinner, because little did I know, I'd be going to a katsu curry place. So much curry!

When I got to school, I went by the vending machine and bought a random drink. I wanted to avoid fizzy things and coffee, but other than that, I've been thinking that I should start picking a random drink whenever I want to get something, and seeing what cool new drinks I can discover. Today's lucky pick was this thing by Bikkle. It tastes like that Korean and Japanese after-meal drink. It's usually for kids, and it comes in a little bottle shaped like my Bikkle one. I don't know what it's called, but it's pretty delicious. This one wasn't that good, though, compared to the other ones I've had.

During class, we had to stop during second period to do our earthquake and fire training, which Ian, Julien and I already did with CIEE. I was very happy because I could understand all the instructions they were giving in Japanese (I find that the best aspect of my Japanese is listening comprehension, and the worse part of it is reading, because of my lack of kanji knowledge). It made me a little bit proud of myself. :3

For practice, some of us fire-extinguished a tree that was definitely not on fire to begin with. Keep in mind that this is a public park, with children playing, and their parens lounging, and office workers hanging around outside eating their lunch. And this is what graced their lunch time today: a bunch of loud obnoxious students who spoke a variety of languages, all not knowing the Japanese definition of "quiet." *sigh*

It was great fun, though, in the end. It was nice to have a break to walk around, since that woke me up a bit (class is... boring, remember?). I also made plans with my classmate, Saya, to go to Book-Off again tomorrow. It'll be exciting!

As we were walking back, I spied this guy, who is one of the students, but he's in like, Japanese 4 or something. He was sitting near me when we took the placement exam, and he was speeding through it like hell. However, what struck me from that day I met him at the placement exam until now was how much he resembles a real life Ivan Braginski. Yes, he's Russian, and he speaks with this brusque way that is soft, but also somewhat sinister. And when he smiles, it scares the crap out of me. That's how I imagine Ivan would be. He's got a pretty heavy accent too, and likes to walk around in suits with a cane. I know it sounds terrible to compare someone in real life to Ivan, but it's true! He gives me Ivan vibes.

For those of you who don't know who Ivan Braginski, this is him:

That's his murder face.

He's Russia from Axis Powers Hetalia, which is an anime/manga personifying various nations in the world as they go through WW1 and WW2. It's ridiculous, crazy, hilarious, and probably can be considered somewhat racist as well, though not in any offensive stereotypes. It's definitely worth watching, and you actually can learn quite a bit of accurate history from it. It also references tons of things before WW1, way back to when Roma-jii-chan was still alive (that's Rome, in the time of like, Caesar). It's a great, very entertaining show.

Anyways, my Russian classmate is even dressed in the same color as Ivan is usually depicted in. And with his scary expressions and loud unnerving laughter, I can't help but see Ivan every time I see him. As I said, forgive me if it sounds terrible to compare him to Hetalia's Russia, but if you could see him, you would realize that it's so plausible.

After school, I had dinner with Julien and Emin, who is half Swedish, half Tunisian. That is such a badass combination, I have to say. It's so... unheard of too. Do you guys know of anyone with that mix? 

We had curry at a curry shop near our school (there are around five of them, at least, and we picked one at random). It was delicious, and I asked for my curry to be extra spicy, but it turned out to taste like a sprinkle of black pepper or something. Not inspiring, I have to say. But that isn't to say that it wasn't damn delicious. That katsu is so crispy... Yum! 

And you would think that after all of this, I'd be tired of curry, but no. I could still have more for breakfast tomorrow, though we don't have any anymore. Japanese curry is just so good, and the katsu is even better. I will never get tired of katsu. Ever. I swear upon it. I'll give you $20 if you catch me at a time when I don't want katsu.

I got home at 6:45, which surprised me, because I usually get home at 6:30 when I don't have dinner at school with friends. So we either had dinner really fast, or the trains were running especially quickly. I don't know which it was, but it was definitely nice to come home just in time to bid Yoshiko-san good-bye before she went off to choir rehearsal.

And now I'm here, writing this blog and getting distracted by what I keep thinking are mosquito sounds, though I hope that I'm wrong. I hear it, and then it goes away, and then I hear it again. Damn. That one mosquito really took a bite out of my sanity.

Below is a picture of my new textbook set. There's the fundamental grammar book, which is a bit too fundamental for me, at the moment, and then the worksheet collection that goes with it, which I've already finished all the way through out of boredom in class. In addition to writing in class, I've also taken to doing the work earlier, and also reading manga with a dictionary by my side. Manga is so much more difficult than I thought it would be. Even Yoshiko-san sometimes has to read a speech bubble a couple times over before she understands, because it's so different than real life Japanese.

That's all for today, folks! Tomorrow I have to go into CIEE at 10:30 for a meeting (which is at Yotsuya) and then head to school. Our meeting is about our... *drumroll*... trip to Nagasaki next weekend! Woohoo! I'm so excited! We had to do some independent research about various topics on Nagasaki, and what I researched was food. Yummm. :3

Mata ashita!
Maggie