{Recap} ~ The year 2007

[chochajin]

Like every year I will blabber a bit about this whole year. Usually I do this on the 30th, but I don´t have time then, so I´m going to do it now (^-^')

Anyway let´s start (not very interesting, so feel free to ignore )

Year 2007

This year was quite interesting. A lot of first-times for me this year. NOOO! Not what you think now, perverts!! ;P
I graduated from university for the first time .. okay, okay, joking XD
This was the first time I traveled far away and OUT of Europe. It was my first time in a plane. It was my first time in Japan ^____^ Well, if that isn´t something, then I don´t know. This alone was enough to make 2007 a great year.
I often say that 2007 was/is the Japan year in so many ways. SO many people I know or got to know went to Japan this year, it´S CRAZY!!!
More first-times: I ate a lot of stuff (in Japan, but also here in Germany) I´ve never eaten before, I´ve started to make bentos (Japanese lunchboxes) and fell totally in love with Japanese food.
I also fell for only ONE idol for the first time in my life (Ikuta Toma) (*___*) ... usually I´m never only going after ONE guy/character ... so this was really a surprise (*___*) LOVE YOU TOMA! XDD
For the first time I did karaoke and that in JAPAN! Yay ^-^;
For the first time I drank Calpis and fell in love with it XD
I bought doujinshis for the first time in my life (^^''')
I never had so many mosquito bites in my life as in this year during my stay in Japan (T____T) *ouch*
I got to know TONS of new + interesting people (lj + rl)

This year was also special because of my diploma thesis. Basically you sit in your room and work all of the time and that for more than half a year. Your social life = zero, but it was quite an experience nevertheless.
A loong "journey" has ended. I finally finished my education after almost 27years (okay, okay 21 years ^^) - feels great! Hopefully no more exams any time soon! YAY (^3^)

I spent a great time with Yumi-chan here in Germany and was a bit sad when she left in February. I was very happy to meet her and her family again in Japan in September.
I also met some of my female Japanese e-mail pals in Japan - we had a great time.

I think those were my highlights *nods*

The weather was also very strange this year here in Germany and I´m pretty sure it´ll get even stranger next year *sigh*
.... not to mention the horrible worm attack



Right now

Right now I´m very busy, which sucks, because isn´t this time of the year supposed to be quite ... calm and relaxing?! (T__T)
Well, it can´t be helped. I´m busy with my part-time jobs and will (hopefully?!) be even more busy the next 2 months.
My brain is absorbing any information it can find about living and working in Japan right now and WOAH! There´s so much info ... my brain´s not ready for that yet XD
There are also so many options that I´m not sure what exactly I wanna do (and what I actually CAN do).
Well it´s 99,9% certain that I will go to Japan with the working holiday visa (prolly end of March 2008), but HOW is not sure yet.
I mean I´m trying to find work while I`m still here in Germany which is not impossible, but needs a lot of searching and applying and ... TIME (T___T) .....
If I really can find a full-time job BEFORE I go, there´s a chance that the company will pay for my flight and get me an appartment, so that would be a great plus.
Not so good is that I´m not sure if I really wanna do that. Usually you sign up for 1 year then and IF .. I say IF I really don´t like it then I still have to stay and work 1 year in Japan whereas I´m much more free if I just go without already having work and just try out different part-time jobs.

The standard job for foreigners is of course: (assistant) language teacher (almost only English).
And it´s really funny ... most companies and schools ONLY look for NATIVE-SPEAKERS! Some don´t even care if you have any qualifications, teaching experience or a degree! The only condition is that you´re A NATIVE-SPEAKER!!! *lolz* .... that´s really ridiculous.
I mean I´m almost fluent, right? And I don´t have an accent, because we´re taught "standard" English here in Germany - of course there are tons of things a native-speaker can do better than me .. and I´m also aware of the fact that I do pronounce some words wrong ... but still ... NO QUALIFICATIONS AT ALL??? What kind of school is that?
Just one example @ gaijinpot.

Well, I keep looking for jobs (I already have saved like 234234234234 links that´ll help me XD) and keep you guys up to date, so stay tuned XDDDD
And please don´t be mad at me when I´m not around too much and I don´t comment to your entries - I´ll try my best though! (;o;)



Year 2008 (?)

This year will definitely be a busy one and one with a LOT of changes so or so. It doesn´t matter if I go to Japan or not, I just graduated from university, so it´s only natural that a lot of changes will happen now.
I´m a bit anxious about what will happen, but am looking forward to it at the same time - I guess this is normal.
I wonder if 2008 will become my personal Japan year - wish me luck ;P
Apart from that I´m not really expecting anything special from 2008.
My hopes are that I´m able to stay and work in Japan, that I´ll like it, that I can eat the yummiest food in the whole wide world again and that I can see the sakura in full bloom (*____*)V


I guess that´s all I have to say right now XD



What about you guys? And how will you spend New Year´s Eve this year? Do you do anything special in your country on that day? Any rituals, any special food? (yes, yes food question again XD I´m horrible, nee? ;P)

Oh, and before I forget (I do this every year):

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Top Commenters on chochajin's LiveJournal
(Self and anonymous comments excluded from rankings)

1	hesaki	504
2	mahochan1	225
3	chatiel	189
4	bf_nightingale	163
5	anime_junkie18	146
6	linaaa	138
7	karro	120
8	andou_	96
9	amvn	86
10	supajo	85

11	pearlsphere	75
12	mamoritai	71
13	meister_quitte	70
14	_usotsuki_	61
15	kare_chan	59
16	moon_bunny735	59
17	ladyofspira	55
18	gabenut	52
19	quinnsan	49
20	sev0109	45
21	yaoi_hoshi	44
22	princessxia	41
23	mhizxkyloz	38
24	chibi_bijutsu	37
25	azurewolf7	34
26	apsharha	34
27	x_houko_x	33
28	dr_crgirl	32
29	loonalovegood	32
30	musumeyz	31
31	kittywitch	31
32	miyu01	30
33	__manga__	30
34	fey_ish	30
35	saa_ri	30
36	evilblueberry	29
37	chocomemi	29
38	tiptoe39	29
39	shikach0u	28
40	brandedwhite	27
41	twistedhalo04	27
42	nekoyousei	26
43	shrew_ish	25
44	eitoku	25
45	_harajuku_	25
46	lina_ishida	25
47	keikazama	24
48	mesmerisz	23
49	crypticbluerose	23
50	himehikari	23
51	shunluv	23
52	pocket	23
53	x3__daisy	23
54	aoi_aka	23
55	yajirobesama	22
56	kami_angel	22
57	anime_heart	21
58	acelines	21
59	leviosa8	21
60	x_reggg	20
61	magnoleo	20
62	hitorikiri	20
63	sukiko_kun	20
64	melkarie	20
65	nis_chan	19
66	cdramagurl	19
67	kittyfo	19
68	mseerie	19
69	lydzi_de_galles	19
70	neo_valkyrie	19
71	mishi_chan	19
72	sapphi	19
73	100oni	19
74	koyachii	18
75	pharrezychica	18
76	schizomode	18
77	lan_ayath	18
78	lilkyonkyon	18
79	nirmanakaya	17
80	savannah_wingo	17
81	cherubicdesu	17
82	xia_hime	17
83	amari_sakura	17
84	miss_dian	16
85	fallinstar	16
86	lostxxheaven	16
87	redjunko	16
88	raventrigon	16
89	kimiwapet2150	15
90	ringononohara	15
91	saracakes	15
92	nishitamachi	15
93	aoimidori	15
94	yaji	15
95	joxem	14
96	amaya_in_love	14
97	shinigami_93	14
98	mimihyuuga	14
99	vivisectionlj	14
100	garowyn	14

Total Commenters: 3760 (3660 not shown)
Total Comments: 17381
Report generated 27.12.2007 17:32:17 by scrapdog's LJ Comment Stats Wizard 1.7

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*lol* There´s not really much change compared to last year! XDDDD at least not in the top positions.
hesaki congrats again! XDDD
(Well, okay I have to admit that we had an entry here only for the 2 of us where we discussed everything about our Japan journey before we went, so ... no wonder she´s top commenter ;P)
Congrats to #2 mahochan1 as well (^3^) I hope you´re fine although you´re so busy right now!
Yay! I knew chatiel was a stalker!! ;P
#4 goes to bf_nightingale who´s always helped me out a lot (*__*) Thanks hun (Perhaps we can meet this year in Japan, so or so! ^-^V)
Haha! ^^ #5 is still anime_junkie18, now known as lostxxheaven. You haven´t been around much lately, miss you!
#6 goes to another beloved stalker: linaaa! Congrats and love you too, hun!
The prolly weirdest person ;P ever (apart from Daruma in Akiba@Deep XD) holds place #7! オイてば！もっとガンバって下さいね！ああ、そうだ→　(○^∇^)_旦~~♪ お茶どうぞ~
WOAH! Place 8 for somone who hasn´t been on my f-list for sooo long (compared to the others). Congrats to you andou_chan! (^-^) Let´s blabber even more (about food XD) in the future!
#9 is my bento loving friend amvn! YAAY!! Congrats, honey!! (^3^) I always enjoy your comments + entries a lot!
Last, but not least #10: supajo! SUPAJOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO darling! ;o; Your not around so much lately, are you??!!! I miss you, but I enjoy your photos a lot! ^^

....... actually I wanted to stop here, but I decided to say something to the next five "places" as well (^^*)

#11: pearlsphere: Ohhhhhh, I enjoy fangirling with you sooo much, I hope we can continue this even more from now on! (*___*)V
*ignores #12* mamoritai - Near lovers should not be listed in such a ranking to begin with!!!!! *lol* XD ... apart from the fact (that I totally can´t understand) that you love Near you´re really fun to chat and blabber with! (^3^) And I love your graphic skills!
meister_quitte managed to score quite high as well - #13. You were somehow away for quite a while from lj weren´t you? But I´m glad that you love Japan just as much as I do and if you ever decide to come with me on that working holiday trip, feel free to do so!! ^^
#14 is _usotsuki_: Another relatively new friend who managed to score that high nevertheless. We just fangirl too much I guess? I totally LOVE your photographing skills ;o; .. GIVE THEM TO ME!
So, but now the final one! ^-^; .... The lucky(?!) #15 goes to kare_chan. You weren´t around too much lately as well, but I guess that´s because of Christmas and holidays? I hope you can use that time to read tons of books ^-^/ Hope to hear from you soon again!

... YEAH! That´s all. WHAT? Hey, you don´t expect me to write something about ALL 100 persons, do you?

[random thought] Kyousuke (Hungry Heart) has to be Ichigo´s (Bleach) twin brother *nods nods* [/random thought]
Hmmm, guess I overload my brain with more Japan related info now *runs away*