My first day at Japan Intercultural Academy of Municipalities

I woke up 5:30am this morning, get ready to catch a train. I took super express train from Hakata to Kyoto, change local train to get to this Japan Intercultural Academy of Municipalities. This JIAM placed near the lake called Biwa-ko, which is known as the largest lake in Japan. And it’s really close to Kyoto. Kyoto is a famous for the beautiful colored leaves. Crowded with tourists Kyoto teems with permanent residents and tourists. It is a beautiful place.

I feel like I am back in College. It is fun. 16 people are in my seminar, and I am going to take classes for another 4 days. It’s going to be hard one, but people are so fun and nice to be around. We had welcome kind of party tonight, and went for a drink after the party. We now decided to go to Kyoto (about 20 minutes by train) tomorrow night for eat. ^-^ I get to meet people from all over Japan, and get to see around this area. (my room→）

I am living here and bushing my skill to become a coordinator. However, I feel like my feeling and my heart are not here. I feel like my feelings are left in the air… strange? I feel something so far away… Selfish me…

Anyway, I have to take a shower now. This facility has time limits.

Wish me luck…

Oh, this is where I am now…
http://www.jiam.jp/english/index.htmlI feel like I am back in College. It is fun. 16 people are in my seminar, and I am going to take classes for another 4 days. It’s going to be hard one, but people are so fun and nice to be around. We had welcome kind of party tonight, and went for a drink after the party. We now decided to go to Kyoto (about 20 minutes by train) tomorrow night for eat. ^-^ I get to meet people from all over Japan, and get to see around this area.

I am living here and bushing my skill to become a coordinator. However, I feel like my feeling and my heart are not here. I feel like my feelings are left in the air… strange? I feel something so far away… Selfish me…

Anyway, I have to take a shower now. This facility has time limits.

Wish me luck… I　am missing something.... i miss ... I miss... NO, I shouldn't be missing anything, because I have all the things already... but why I have this 'missing ' feeling? I know it does not make any sence, but... humm... anyway

Oh, this is where I am now…
http://www.jiam.jp/english/index.html

going on-the-job training

I will be out of town untill Dec 1st. I will be on the job training at Shiga pref. It is near Kyoto. I will be lock into training institute for 5 days. I am going to have closely-packed series of lectures about multiple cultures harmonious coexistence. 多文化共生. I think it is really the culture for US and other countires, but not in Japan. Maybe in Tokyo or in the big city but not local area.
well, i need to get up 5 am to catch a train, so I will go to bed now.

good night.

talk to you later!! (^o^)/

I was drunk last night.

I was drunk. I felt good. I wish I had someone who could keep me accompany. Anyway. I was watching a cooking TV the other day. It was a featured in a TV program about beer in Belgium. The show was how the beer was made in Belgium, and how people enjoy the beer. The beer looked really nice and good. They show us flavored beer. Have you heard flavored beer? They let beer spontaneously fermented about 2 years; they add all kind of fruit (cherries and berries) into the beer. So they have fruit flavored, but still taste like beer.

After I watched TV show, I really want to try some of this flavored beer. So I searched around Internet, and I found one store specialized in Belgium beer. So I made an order for 3 bottle of Belgium beer. The store has all kinds of Belgium beer, but I picked 3 kinds to start with. These 3 bottles of beer was on TV.

I tried Kriek Boon last night. 5% alcohol. They add more than 200g cherries-in-a litters after 2 years of spontaneously fermented lambic beer. It has a slightly sour taste, but fruity flavored lambic beer. I would say sparkling red wine, but it has beer bitter taste as well, and it was really nice. I could not drink a whole bottle of beer, but I drunk last night. More I drink the taste gets better and fruity and good. So, I drunk a whole bottle of beer... I am not an alcohol drinker. I have a low tolerance for alcohol. I never drink a lot of alcohol with my friends and co-workers, because I get really sleepy and I get animated. I am a happy drinker. So I drink in my house or room. I passed out really quick after I drink one bottle of beer last night. Hehe.

I wish I could share this bottle of drink with you. I will try other 2 beers later.. Maybe with my cooking…(Look at me! my face are pink!)

My bedtime buddies

What make you to put you to a good sleep? Blissful slumber, deep comfortable sleep, or things that make you really want to go to bed because of it.

Have a bit Yoga exorcise or stretch before you go to bed? Sleep alongside of your partner or children? Hot milk before you go to bed? Get a good relax massage from your partner? Have a little good night kiss? Holding his/her hand when you go to sleep? Have a little bed time talk, or cuddle with your loved one? Yeah, all the stuff I have listed here was my favorite. But things come to a point where I could not have these things…. So, I found another one to make my bedtime fun. TaLaaaa. Look how cute they are. From the top, I bought it in Seattle when I visit last time. It’s Orca. Second one is a pig. My mother bought it for me. The bottom one is a dog. He is my pillow now. They make my bed time fun and... Oh, you just need to touch my pig. He, she is sooooo soft...　When I go to bed and just hug her… make me feel so nice, and Ahhhhh, just put me into a good sleep.

I wish you could feel this cuty... or hug me with it... ^-^

More story to tell you

Guess what happen at work today? Our main computer has died. All of sudden, computer power went off, and it won’t back up since…. We only have one e-mail address (sounds ridiculous, I know, I think so too, but as I working at the small office, people think we do not need individual e-mail account. Also, cost a lot to get an e-mail address. ($25 per address)), and now, we cannot check our e-mail. We have tried everything to recover our computer, but he is dead now. Hummm… to be continue…

One more story to tell you today. One of our co-worker went to Shanghai and Hong Kong to go to a concert for her favorite Asian singer. (She was actually on Hong Kong entertainment news paper ^^) And she brought us back a lot of Asian snacks. Bee Cheng Hiang… Have you hard of this snack? This is a beef tender grilled with honey sugar flavor, and its sooooo good. This was my first time to have this snack. I only got 2 packs (2 peaces of) of Bee Cheng Hiang, and now I can’t eat the last one. I can not buy this in Japan, but I been looking and surfing around the internet to find where I can have one of these... I will tell you when I find it. And if you have chance to visit Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, you HAVE TO try one of these... soooo gooooood.

ahh, I have to get back to work now... heeeheee...

Kuokala lokki

I did no update my blog yesterday. hehe I was watching movie last night. It called Kamome Shokudou (Kuokala lokki ). It’s a Japanese movie. But story were held in Finland. Makes me want to go to Finland... hehe. I only watched a half way through of the movie, but its fun to watch. It’s not romance or action movie. It’s really mellow out movie. (Mellow out? Do you know what I mean?) I am going to watch the rest tonight.

November 23rd is Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan. Hehe. I will have a day off tomorrow. ^^ And I have fun even to attend. Our international trainee from China will provide us to make Jiaozi (Chinese Dumpling) tomorrow. Needless to say, I am a person who avid home cook and obsess about cooking, I am so excited about it very much. It is the easiest way to learn how to cook with someone who cooks. Just watch and learn and you can taste ride away. Experiential learning is the fastest way to learn for me. About 15 people will get together at community center tomorrow morning. I get to eat the REAL Jiaozi tomorrow!! Yeah! Look forward for the pictures! (That is my Jiaozi →）
(To add another story... I made Jiaozi about 2 weeks ago. You will see it on my other blog http://whatwouldulike2eat.blogspot.com/ Please check it up. Just to compare with my old style Jiaozi and new Jiaozi... heeee yahhh!

what it feels like to be ...

I have got tons of apples from my friend. My friend lives up in north where as known as apple-producing area. The apple from that area is really good. Sweet and juicy. However, the put grease or wax to make the apple shine and look nice. It’s just so slimy and greasy. So, I need to wash them with natural soap to get rid of grease and wax. When I was washing an apple the other day, I felt that I was like a raccoon. Have you see how they wash their food before they eat? It so cute and they wash their food really well. I felt that I was like them. Wash my apple in the sink. Felt kind of funny myself. He he.

To be continued…

Tea time

Tea make me relax. I drink Tea all the time at work, home and even I go for a drive, I bring tea with me.

Coffee is good too. Since I visited Seattle last month, I stayed at one little nice antique hotel in downtown Seattle. They serve really nice break fast and coffee. That was my first time to drink a coffee that way. European way??↑　It taste so much better than making coffee with drip-style coffee maker. I just fell in love with making coffee with this fantastic coffee maker. As soon as I got back from US, I went to the store, and bought one for my good coffee. Since then, I love my coffee time in early quiet morning.

Now, in a cold night, it is really nice to make Royal milk tea (that’s how we call rich milk tea in Japan) OH, its soooooo gooooood. I wish I could make some for you… you will love me if you drink this ^^. Please enjoy just looking at this picture…

See my tea collection. Japanese tea, Chinese tea, English tea, coffee, coco, seaweed tea (seaweed tea?! hehe, its goood. It is good with plum pickle) and Korean sweet citron tea.



Good night.

Redecorate a room

About 2 weeks ago, I decided to change my room from summer version to winter version.
I moved around my sofa, table, and TV. I also lay a carpet in a living room.
And its looks GREAT!! I love it. I just love my new room.
(←I enjoy coffee and tea here. Its so nice to wake up early in the morning, and have a quiet time is my favorate)

(this is my kitchen. Where the all delicouse dishes are serve→）

I also clean up my book shelf. I Through out old magazine and books. Now I have more space to fill out with my new books. hehehe
I like read some books, but right now I do not have time to sit and read a book.
(This is not a excuse... I really do not have time...) But I will try to make some time to read some book that I bought... I bought but its sitting in my book shelf for a long time. (Poor books...) I also like to read short column in a magazine. I really enjoy reading magazine article.

I have a lot of cooking books.. I have to do something about it too...

Anyway, now my apartment is clean, neat and nice. I need to put my effort to keep this clean room. hehe...

ciao

Tom, Ryou, Miemie and Honey

I will introduce you my dogs. They live in my grandma and mother’s place. I love going home and just to play with them. They give me joy and make me smile. White big one is mixed and his name is Tom. Other 3 is corgi and named Ryou, Miemie, and Honey. Ryou and Miemie are mother and daughter. Honey is half-sister of Miemie.



Ryou came to my grandma’s house as her birth day gift from my uncle. She loves my grand ma very much. She gets jealous very easily when my grandma starts to play with Miemie and Honey. My grandma talks to them, like ‘good morning’, ‘What are you doing’ etc… when my grand ma is talking to honey, Ryou gets jealous. She came into between grandma and Honey, and sits in front of my grandma and do not let Honey into between them.

Miemie was born in May 2006, and Honey was born in a week later. Miemie has little walking problem. Her hind legs would not function properly. She has no problem walking around and moves around in a garden, but she has trouble with obstruction. He has difficult climb up the stare too. Miemie has problem because her mother and father have a good pedigree. She needs to go to hospital once a month and need to take a blood test.

Honey also came from a good line, but she is little bit different than other corgi. She does not look like one. ^^ She is more looks like long-haired Chihuahua. She came from my uncle’s ranch, and my uncle did not register for her pedigree. ^^ poor dog… She is small one but she always jumping and running around. And she always misses people. She loves to sit in one’s lap. So cute.

Tom is the oldest dog in our family. He… She … He took neuter service while ago. I know it sounds horrible, but he was WILD! I mean not to the other female gods. He was like mighty carnivore. But after he took service… he is now a gentle man. He love play with Miemie and Honey, and sometime he worry about Miemie and help her climb stares…

Dog has dog’s society, and you will see a drama of how they live, support, and care. As we watch them how to live and how to act, it’s really interesting. I wish I could understand what they are talking about, and how they communicate. They help each other out, but sometime, they fight too. ^^ They are more like a member of our family. They understand our words, emotion, and action very well.

So, do you have pets?

Hello, Nice to meet you

Hi.
I am Japanese. Female.
I was born in 1976.
I lived in Fukuoka city until 3 years old.
I moved to a different city and start to live with my grand parents.
My father died when I was 7 years old.
(←me and my grand pa)

I went to public junior high school in Kumamoto city, and start to live in dormitory.
I join a truck team and I was always in a top 3 runners in whole junior high in Kumamoto city. I was pretty first runner ^^
I also join track team in high school.

I went to study abroad in 1993 to Denver, Colorado.
I went to Cherry Creek High School from 1993 to 1995.
I had so many 'first time' while I lived there...
Spend my life in Colorado was spectacular. I really thank for my mother who pushed my back to go to abroad.
Of course, It was not easy at the first time. I had difficult time because of my English.
The grade of my first semester was B-s and Cs.
But I did ok in my second semester.
I had really really difficult time with my host family too.
At the very end, I had to move and change my host family, because my first host mother stop make me a food. There was no place for me at the dinner table; there was no lunch for me… I had hard time. But looking back in nowadays, maybe I did something wrong to my host mother. I wish I could go up to her and talk about it, and I want to say I was sorry if I did something wrong to her. hummm...
But I met great friends in CCHS.
They are my life time friends. They have been supported me with all their heart to keep me move on.
I just can’t thank them enough for all the things they have done to me.
They are my saviors. I also had bittersweet memories and embarrassing stories too. But I will talk about it later. ^^
Graduated from CCHS in 95, and went back to my high school in Japan.
Graduated from Japanese high school in 96.
I have two high school diplomas. ^^ cool huh?


I tried to go back to Univ in US, but my whole family asked me not to... ;_;
so, I went to International College in Miyazaki.
Graduated in 2000.
I got a job at Art Gallery in Fukuoka city.
Start to live on my own. Yeah party!!
I went to clubbing and drinking with my good girl friend from college. (She is still my girl friend)
I changed my job at the end of 2000, and got a job at Internet Company.
I was in charge of design and create web pages.

I was engaged once in 2001. But did not work out after all.
He was really sweet and he had really different characteristics than other Japanese.
We went out about 6 years.
It was really hard breakup, and I lost 22 pounds.

I luckily engaged again with my old friend, and got married in May 2003.
No more party.
Moved my husband’s hometown. Had difficult time at the binging of my marriage. (I still have hehe) Girls get married and go to somebody else's home. So your family name will change into your hasband's family name.
Try to do my best for my family and try to stay healthy all the time. I take good care of my family and try to get alone well with my in-law family. I think I am doing alright.
A New Year is a big event in Japan, and so as for our family. Also, a season of new year, all the family get together at the head of our family; that means our grand parents-in-law. My husband has a big family. When we get together at new year, it would be like 40 people in the house, drinking, eating and celebrating new year. (they just love drinking and eating... and its really nice.) ONLY men are enjoy drinking and eating... and maybe elder women too. Young women like me... especial I am a new person in their family. So... they watch you... they watch my behavir, the way I act, and the way I talk. They just keep looking at you the whole time.
I didn’t like it, but I took it as a challenge. Now I am doing alright. I am going to have my 4th new year in my new family.

Start working in fall of 2004 at International relations office. I was hire as part-time worker.
I supplement the family income by working part-time ^-^
In spring of 2006, I was hire as permanent employee.

I will update more later on. ^-^
Life is full of ups and downs.
I am in a down side, but if you are at the bottom, all you need is to climb back up.
I am a challenger, and hard worker.. ( I think)
I try to look forward all the time, and tend to think positivie.
'You cannot change your past, but future is still in your hand'

But all I can do is to pray. pray for me to do the right things in my life,
and pray for my families' and friends' the best.

Love you all.