Hello.

It's past midnight and I should probably go to bed rather than write this entry now, but whatever.
I'm still really worried and think way too much - despite being ridiculously busy.
Why is it that December is always the most stressful and busiest month ever since I came to Japan?

I've been packing up quite some things today and sorted out what I want to keep (and send back home) and what I want to get rid of (and sale).
This might seem quite sudden, but if you think about it, I have less than 3 months if I really do it!
And sending home things + selling stuff I don't need is not wrong no matter what I decide to do in the end.



As I'll be moving soon I need money like WOAH and I also need to get rid of all these things (although it breaks my heart having to sell them for so cheap), so definitely have a look at all of it and buy something if you like it!!!
You'll help me a lot and yourself, too! I doubt you'll find things for so cheap any time soon!!!




Back to the actual topic.
I had a really long talk with one of my coworkers after work this week.
( Pros and Cons of staying / leaving ... )

Writing applications from tomorrow on.
Time's working against me already.
And if I finish my job, I'll also lose my apartment as it belongs to the company.
Worst case scenario I'll be without a job and a place to stay. Uh ...

On top of that I'm so stressed.
Selling things, writing applications, busiest time at work, planning my winter vacation, blogging ETC. ... just TOO MUCH!!!!


Qué sera ... or so -_-;

First of all I want to thank YOU all for your encouraging and helpful comments!!
I never thought so many people would react to it as they feel the same as me!!! It seems to be quite a common problem of "our" generation (hope most of you don't kill me now: 30yrs old hag don't throw us all in one pot!! Ahem~)
I was really touched by reading all of your comments. Really, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

This means a lot to me!!
I hope I can give just a little bit of that back to you, but how?
Also, I'm sorry that the next Japan travel entry has to wait a bit due to my ranting. It's on its way, I promise!!

So, like I mentioned in my previous entry I came up with at least "something" I could do.
It's not like I found THE solution. Not at all. However, "Barbara Sher" suggests that you get active in order to move forward. It's the only way to eventually find what makes you truly happy, the only way to find your wishes!

The strange thing is that this is not something that will make you all go WOW! AWESOME IDEA! Never thought you'd come up with something like that!
Actually the contrary might be the case, I'm pretty sure.
When I created my "paradise fantasy job scenario" I wasn't that serious .. I couldn't as I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but what I created looked kind of like this (no drawings as I can't draw ;o; ...):
( Read more... )


What??? You wanna blog for money or what??!!
Mmmh, yeah kind of...
I still have a full-time job and almost 1 year left befoe I go back home and then I'll be without any income for a while (probably).
I'm well aware of the chances, but if I could only make a bit of a pocket money to support myself a bit when I'm back in Germany and get to know a few people through that, new doors might open for me, right??


It won't be easy, though.
As much as I'm into it and as much as I've already planned out in my mind, there are TWO things that say loud: NO NO NO!!!

#1: I has no time!
I know that everybody has 24h. I wonder how some people are able to get done so much while I (and many others) can't. It's strange.
An interesting fact that seems to be true for a lot of people is that the more free time you have, the less you actually get done! If your free time is limited, you'll do more! I experienced that myself.
Also, "Barbara Sher" writes about this phenomenon, too.
I wonder why it is like that, though!?!
I want to do my workouts several times a week, study Japanese, work on my blog, randomly browse the internet, learn more about fitness and healthy food, plan out my future, watch things on my laptop etc.
In addition to all the things that I don't want to do, but have to (shopping, cleaning, housework in general etc.) there's just no way I can handle all of this!

#2: Didn't you say you wanted to cut your internet time down??!!!!
Yepp. One reason was that I wanted to have more time to myself where I can focus on my inner voice and figure out what I want to do. Another reason is simply that I turned into a zombie (see previous entry). (I need a zombie graphic! XD)


So why the hell would you want to start (another) blog then
I have no idea. ( ... )


So, that's pretty much it.
What do you think? I'm open for hard criticism, so go all out!! That's what I appreciate the most.

P.S.: According to Barbara Sher I might be a "scanner". People who are interested in many different things often can't decide on ONE job, one ONE thing they like doing. They end up trying many different things, but never staying with one.
They like reading about something new they're interested in and once they feel they know enough / have read enough, they move on to the next one. This is not entirely true for me, but true enough.
Some of those "scanner" people end up being journalists or something like that. I'm still in the middle of reading that chapter in the book actually, but I thought it might be interested to some of you out there, too, as you are possibly "scanners" as well?
"Scanners" also have a hard time nowadays, because "experts" is what companies want, not people who know a little bit about quite a few topics.

Hello everybody or rather Good night?!

I just came back from work and it's getting close to midnight while I'm typing this. I'm tired, but I really want to write this off of my soul.
Some of you already seemed to have grasped it from a few comments I made here and there in some of my entries.

I finally decided to leave Japan.
No, this has nothing to do with the earthquake and we're not talking about the very near future anyways.
People who have been reading my LJ for the past few years know that I had an entry like this at least once a year anyways, lamenting about not knowing whether I should / want to stay in Japan longer or not.

( Read more... )

"If we are too good at avoiding, we will never be able to start to live!"

"A life you don't live is hell!"



I don't wanna look back and keep ranting and lamenting about it. What done is done, but I wanna change it.
I just have no idea how.
I'm gradually working on it right now, but I feel I've met a dead end here in Japan, too, so it's time to move on.

It's so difficult to find out what you really want, but I'm sure it's possible!
I won't give up!!!!!

I am scared of going back to Germany and not finding a job at all, wasting all my savings from Japan - or even worse: work in a job I hate!

On the other hand I feel lonely here in Japan.
I'm sick of the staring and being the outsider all of the time.
Of course it has a lot to do with living in the countryside where no foreigner I know ever stayed long - unless they're married and settled here (but then they have family and are not lonely anyways).
Even I who usually can handle being all by herself (and actually enjoys it) has reached her limit.
I don't know how much different it would be if I relocate to a bigger city in Japan, but I'm not sure if that's something I want to try.

Even back in Germany most of my friends are gone by now. After over 4 years (once I come back!) we've grown apart a lot. Most of them don't even answer via e-mail anymore. It's getting less and less every year/month.
At least I still have my family back there. In Germany it will be definitely easier to get to know people and connect with others. Or Europe/Western countries in general.


( Read more... )

To make a looooong entry short:
I HIT A DEAD END IN MY LIFE (ALREADY QUITE A WHILE AGO WITHOUT NOTICING?!) AND I NEED TO CHANGE SEVERAL THINGS IN MY LIFE NOW IN ORDER TO MOVE ON!!

That being said, after going through so many exercises I think I found at least SOMETHING I wanna try. Not sure if that's the write thing to do, but "Barbara Sher" says that only those who get active and try will eventually get closer to their wishes ...
I'll let you know in detail what it is in a separate entry soon!

Thanks a lot for caring and reading!!
P.S.: And yeah, I know I'm pathetic, but at least I try :/

Hello everyone!~

This time I need your help/advice again. My head is spinning like crazy after reasearching the internetz for the last 2 days.
I think I've mentioned this before but I wanna do something to get fit (not fitter, but fit at all) again.
I don't really wanna lose weight, but I wouldn't mind losing 3kg or so, of course. Not more because I'm quite slim anyways and too skinny is not good either

There are several problems, though.

1) Motivation.
The thing is that I feel healthy and like I said I'm also quite content with my weight.
I mainly need to improve my fitness in general and wanna get a nicer shaped body.
( Read more... )


(-_-) SO WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US????

Well, so .... what I came up with by myself so far is that ( ... )



This is a little somthing I bought recently.
It's called "calorie scan", but ( .... )



Completely random in-between photo: Hello Kitty grape gum (found @ Lawson) - normally not such a Kitty fan, but that was just too cute!

Thanks for reading and I really hope I have some people on my f-llist who exercise and can help me out a bit here!!
Remember, I don't wanna exercise insanely and a lot, but just improve my general fitness - thus it should be a doable schedule and something that's also a bit fun - otherwise I'll drop it soon again.
I'm somebody who tends to put her efforts too much into something (lil perfectionist here) and forgets everything else around her. Sometimes it works (e.g. Japanese studies), but it's not really a good thing I think.
Thus I wanna try doing a bit of everything instead (exercise, cooking, studying and photography) and see how that goes. For somebody with my character that will be tough!!!

P.S.: Am off to watch "Hotaru no Hikaru" now (will finish season 1 today). I haven't had time to watch it any earlier, but I always wanted to watch it as people kept telling me how awesome it is and it IS!!!!
Hotaru = me (apart from the beer, I guess XD)

That's all for today.

Hello everybody!

As you know things have calmed down, especially down here where not much was going on anyways. I'm not gonna write anything about the situation as you can read all about it EVERYWHERE anyways.
It seems that A LOT of people have left Japan, though. Far more than I thought! I was browsing through random LJs yesterday night and the majority has left! It's a little bit sad, but of course I accept their decision and can understand why they would leave as well.
I've seen a LOT of people complaining about having to cancel their trip to Japan that they planned for this year. DON'T!!!! There's absolutely no reason for that! Of course, please stay away from Fukushima or generally Tohoku!
Furthermore Japan =/= Tokyo! If you planned a trip to Tokyo, fine, go there, but if you feel uncomfortable, then also consider coming further down to the west! There are so many awesome places here in Japan (if you need inspiration browse through my travel index) and they're so far away from the affected area as well as less prone to earthquakes! You'd definitely help Japan's economy, too!
I suppose quite a lot of tourists are scared now and let's not talk about all the countries out there who've stopped getting imported products from Japan!

Alright, let's not talk about this anymore!
On a happy note, spring vacation is around the corner! Only a few more days, yay!!!~ And of course I'll stay in Japan ^___^ I already planned my trip before the earthquake and there will be no changes!
I'm a little bit afraid that the cherry blossoms won't be on time this year, though! They're definitely slower than the last few years!
They were in full bloom on March 30th 2009 and March 27th(!) 2010.
It's March 27th and they've not even started to bloom yet!!! ( Read more... )

Luckily all of these items are not that expensive and small enough to take back home, so it's defnitely not a waste of money! I used to be quite sporty when I was young. I did many years of Karate until I was 13 or 14, then I did less, but still at least once or twice a week something until I turned 18/19. Ever since then it's been pretty much nothing ..... I was in super shape and also had a flexible body, I was almost able to do a split, I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooo far from it right now. I'm a little bit worried about doing stretching, though. I've read quite a few websites about it and some say you harm your body more with it than it would actually help. I'm a bit afraid that I might make things worse, so if you have any good tips for me or also good instruction videos, websites, books or whatsoever, please let me know!!! For now I don't want to do anything too complicated. I don't have a specific goal other than getting fitter again, so that I won't get short of breath easily and have a more flexible body in general :3

( Cute suitcase and yummie drinks!~ )


That's all for now.
There'll be another entry before I leave for spring vacation.
Read you again then!

Hello everybody!

First of all, I want to thank everybody who sent comments, messages, e-mails etc.! I'm so happy so many people are worried about us people here in Japan!
I really appreciate it! Thanks so, so much!
I'm so busy at the moment, and also extremely exhausted, that at the moment I can't reply to all your nice comments, msgs etc., please understand!
Actually I wanted to write another update 2 nights ago already, but I just didn't have time to do so.

There's so much going on and so much I want to write about, but again I don't have that much time and I don't know how to express what's going on!

Still, things are completely normal and safe where I live. Not a single one of the earthquakes or aftershocks have reached Western Japan yet.
Although tsunami warnings were for whole Japan, no real damage anywhere but close to the epicenter.
Meanwhile everybody knows that the real problem is not the earthquake or the tsunami, but the atomic power plants that are still not under control and the radiation leak that already has been confirmed many days ago.
As most of you probably follow the news anyways, I won't repeat what happened in the last few days.

I think a lot of the foreign media (esp. Europe and America) are totally exaggerating, though!
The reasons for this are clear:

1. They want people to stay in front of the TV, watch their programs, listen to the radio, buy more newspapers etc. If it sounds like the biggest disaster in a long time, people will care and stay tuned!


2. Partly they also wanna get people to donate money to Japan and you reach more people if you exaggerate like this! "Poor Japan will be doomed!" "A second Chernobyl" etc.


3. I think that it also might be partly a political reason as this is a good option to finally get other power plants out of the way in other countries "thanks to" what happened in Japan. If they exaggerate with wild worst case scenarios, people will freak out and ask to shut down more and more power plants.

That said, it's not like I'm saying it's completely safe and not dangerous. ( Read more... )

As I already mentioned, life goes on as normal here! You don't notice anything bad has happened at all, although the weather is extremely strange, gray, foggy ever since ... scary!
Here some random photos from yesterday:



Funny sign in the toilet.

( +4 )


Random: People keep saying in Western countries that "13" is an unlucky number. In Japan it's "4" and "9".
Some people start thinking now, that "11" must be the real unlucky number! September 11th! March 11th 2011! I don't wanna imagine what might happen on "Pocky Day" (11.11.2011)

Anyways, thanks so much to everybody who's worried. I'm still here, I'm still somewhat okay, just extremely tired as my day consists of getting up early and preparing to leave Japan if necessary, checking the news, working over 8h/day, preparing my trip to Osaka, calling my family every night etc. .... not enough sleep and no time at all in this chaos.
I'll try to keep you up to date, though!
If you don't hear anything in the next few days, then only because I went to Osaka!!

Thanks so much friends!!!!
If you're worried, you always can read on my Twitter what's going on

Hello!

First of all, thanks to everybody who was worried and sent nice comments!
My area has been completely safe, just like mentioned yesterday.
However, what I was worried about the most was the atomic power plants in Fukushima and my worst nightmares have come true now!
Also there are contradictory informations there has been a meltdown in at least one of the atomic power plants!
They're already handing out iodine pills to the peope in the affected area to prevent thyrod cancer and stuff. This just shows that they can't control the situation anymore in the atomic power plant and they just try to do what they can now to save as many people as possible.
Of course they won't say on TV how severe it really is! That a huge amount of radioactivity has been leaking and depening on the wind it will spread far, far away. Nobody in Japan is safe anymore and even people in China and Russia have to be afraid of the radioactivity now!!!
I think it's much much worse than they admit on TV. Of course it is! They can't afford a panic of 33-something million people in Tokyo! Tokyo is too big to be evacuated anyways!!! So that's the only thing they can do!

Ever since I came back from work I tried to finish things that still need to be done, but I just can't focus. My attention is all on the news in the internet, TV and radio. I check Twitter, LJ etc. every few seconds. I just can't calm down.

This seems to be big. Dangerous. Disastrous.

Maybe I'm panicking too much, but I'm sure it's extremely dangerous!
I have ABSOLUTELY no clue what I should do.
Most airports are open right now, and especially in my area there haven't been any damages at all, so all traffic is running normally anyways. Now is still a good time to leave. Once it will be clear that it's extremely dangerous, the airports will be flooded, I guess.
Maybe they won't let us leave at that point?! ......
I would have to do some paperwork before I could leave, though, ... at least get my "re-entry permit" before I leave or I would lose my visa.
On the other hand, if it's really as dangerous as I think, it would be too late to leave at any time later than RIGHT NOW because the radioactivity will spread quickly.
Everybody is comparing it to Tschernobyl already where it spreaded far more than 3000km in less than 2 days or so .....
I would have to leave my work suddenly and I'm not ready to give everything up!
I would have to leave everything behind, also my money for now!

No clue what I should do!!
I haven't heard back from most of you guys who also live in Japan, most of you are much closer to Fukushima than me!
What are your plans? Anybody considering going home????!!! I need somebody to talk to as I go crazy here.

It's around midnight and I can't seem to find any sleep tonight.

Why does all this have to happen?? I feel so sick and just want to throw up and/or cry!
I'm so exhausted (from work and worrying) that I can't concentrate right now (and think clearly) .....

Hope everybody is okay and not as panicked as I am .....
I'm terrified!

Much love friends!

Hello everybody!

As most of you might already know several strong earthquakes hit Northeastern Japan today, especially Miyagi (Sendai) and Fukushima, but the quake was also quite strong in Tokyo which is about 400km away from there!
As I'm over 1500km away from Tohoku area, I didn't feel ANYTHING AT ALL!!! It was a lovely day with awesome weather. Quite peaceful. I didn't know what was going on until people on Twitter sent me messages asking if I was ok.
I then figured that something must have happened in Japan and checked the news when I saw the horrible pictures on TV everywhere!
Houses, cars, ships washed away by tsunami waves as if they were toys. Fires everywhere!
At the present time 5 atomic power plants were shut down.
There's a fire in one atomic power plant in Fukushima and they've called out atomic emergency! Radioactive leaking hasn't been confirmed yet, but it's definitely EXTREMELY dangerous!

It's said to be the strongest earthquake in 140 years with a magnitude of 8.8!
Even the infamous earthquake in Kobe (1995) had "only" a magnitude of 6.8!!!!!

I've turned on the TV ever since then and the pictures are terrifying! The number of dead or missing people is rapidly increasing!
Luckily I was able to confirm that my friends in and around Tokyo are all safe, still waiting for respond of some, though. Most of them don't have electricity or gas, though!
8 prefectures seem to be without electricity right now!

This is just too much!

Although everything is perfectly fine here, people say that this might be a "century earthquake" and that the 8.8 earthquake might have been only a pre-quake!!!!! There are definitely several aftershocks to be expected and as far as the news go, they are right now going on in several parts of Japan. The aftershocks could go on for weeks or really start in a few weeks from now. Nobody really knows what will happen and if the worst is already over!!! And that's what worries me the most right now! I'm going to Osaka next week and then in 2,5 weeks I'm off for spring vacation. Not close to the current epicenter, but still, nobody knows what will happen from now on!!!

It's so horrible what has happened and I hope that everybody will be safe!!! My thoughts are especially with the people in Miyagi and Fukushima Prefecture and all strongly affected areas as well as with all those people who are stuck in Tokyo right now and probably will have to spend the night in a train station or so :(

As much as I sometimes hate to live so far away from Tokyo and live in "no man's land" I really am happy about it right now as this area is one of the safest when it comes to earthquakes or tsunamis!!!

I hope everybody else is safe as well????!!!! ;_________________; It's so big that it's not only Japan, but also Hawaii, Taiwan and parts of America. The whole Pacific Ocean side has to be careful! Stay safe!!!

To everybody who sent me messages, thanks so much for worrying! For now I'm safe!

P.S.: As I posted on Twitter yesterday I had an extremely strong headache yesterday. Maybe one of the strongest ever! Usually I get headaches when there's extreme weather changes, but maybe this was a pre-quake-natural-disaster headache? :( No wonder it was so intense :/

It seems it was raining almost everywhere in Japan today?! I couldn't do my laundry because it was only nice when I had to work, but kept raining or snowing on my days off recently. (-_-)
I wanted to go out for a walk again, but if the weather is THAT bad, I rather stay inside

Just some random updates.
I finally finished planning my spring vacation (which is in about 3 weeks from now! wow! )
This time I'll visit Takamatsu/Marugame/Kotohira (Kagawa), Kurashiki/Takahashi/Tsuyama (Okayama), Tottori Pref. and Matsue (Shimane). As you can see it's not as crazy as my winter vacation.
I've been in Okayama in spring 2 years ago, but not in the areas I'll visit this time! Everywhere else I haven't been before!!
I still want to visit some more parts of Kyushu (Kirishima, Miyazaki, Yakushima) so badly, but I can never seem to find the right timing!! Winter and summer don't seem to be the best time to go. I think between spring and summer or summer and autumn would be best, but as I have never more than 2 consecutive days off, it's almost impossible!
Wakayama and Fukui Prefecture still have to wait as well as almost everything beyond Tokyo (Tohoku / Hokkaido). Still so much to do and to see!!!
I want to slap myself for not knowing about the JR-West Railpass last year or 2 years ago. Would have saved me a lot of money! This time it's probably not worth the money. The Seishun ticket will probably not pay off either, but I have to calculate again to be sure

It's scary after my knees, my face is next!!! It's like the second I turned 30 my body decided to start falling apart! ..... Now, I don't only have to go visit a orthopedist, but also a dermatologist! *sigh* I'm not exactly sure what's wrong, I have some pimples on my cheeks/nose/chin, but my cheeks also seem to be red and strange. I have to admit that I had a bit of stress in the last few weeks and I also have my period right now, but it's the first time that I have problems like this. I researched and found something called "Acne Tarda" - which seems to be a form of acne that starts at the age of 30-40! HOMG!! I hope it's not that! I already have no confidence at all anymore anyways, this would kill the tiny rest completely, I guess. *mumbles* guess that's what Japan turns you into .... a tiny grey shy mouse with no confidence ... I mean I can't even remember when I last had a boyfriend (<- liar!) and here in Japan all Western men are only interested in Asian women and all Japanese guys DO stare (but just like all Japanese kids, old people, women) - they are not really interested or too afraid of Western women ... [/self-pity] Right now I'm trying to not stress out about it because I'm sure that would make it only worse! I don't think it's any of the cosmetic products that I use because I haven't changed those, I haven't eaten anything strange, I haven't used any new towels or anything .... must be my hormones, I guess.

( Tripod and Nintendo Wii??!! )

Believe it or not, that's it for today. No photos, but a lot of ranting.
Thanks for reading and if you have any suggestions or recommendation on any of these random topics, I would be VERY grateful!!!

Just a quick update as I don't have much time. It seems like winter is over here in Japan! Yesterday as well as today was REALLY nice weather with sunshine and warm temperatures (around 12-16°C!!!!). Spring's around the corner it seems. Even a "couch potato" like me couldn't sit still anymore and I went out for a walk yesterday - as I don't have a dog, I took my camera for a walk! XD (I'm especially enjoying this as I just heard that it snowed again back home and they have still minus degrees! Hihi XD)

( photos + )



Believe it or not the first cherry blossoms are slowly starting to bloom, though it's plum blossom season at the moment!

( more photos ++ )



And here a picture of my immediate neighborhood! Both photos are edited, I liked both, so I couldn't decide which one to post - in the end I posted both XD


I'm not in a good mood right now. There are many reasons.
Too many things happening - most of them are not THAT big of a deal, but all together is just too much right now.
Too many things that need to be done, need to be considered - it's giving me headaches :/
Trying to sign up for upcoming community center courses, but the only ones I'm interested in AND can go to timewise are all booked out already (although application time started YESTERDAY!), so now I'm on the waiting list.
Just was informed that I'll be all alone back home, because they decided not to be at home when I finally come back to Germany .... although they knew all along WHEN I would come home. My father doesn't care at all. He doesn't know much about my life here anyways. I wonder how you guys out there living in Japan handle that. How often do you actually talk to members of your family or friends back home? Well, I could go more into depth, so that you understand the whole thing better, but I don't wanna do it in a public entry, to be honest.
However, it eats me up quite a bit atm.
Then, I also need to plan spring vacation like RIGHT NOW! Many other things need to be done as well. Need to keep looking for job opportunities, need to restart my Japanese studies, need to improve my photography skills, need to do some kind of sport now that it's finally warm enough, need to turn into superwoman it seems :( :(

And worst of it all: My knees!!!
( Read more... )

Alright, that's all for now.
Byebuu~

Hello!

I think it's been quite a while since I last posted a somewhat "personal" or not "travel" related entry. I'm sick of writing it and you are probably sick of reading it, but I've been quite busy.
Busy, why busy?! Actually I've got generelly less to do than before, so why the hell am I so busy? Good question, that's what *I* want to know as well! (o_o') ....
There's not really anything new I could tell you about.
JLPT N2 test results are supposed to be released in about a week or so. I'm getting a bit nervous, although I'm pretty sure I failed. The truth is that I haven't studied any Japanese ever since the test in December!
Well, December is the busiest month at work plus I had to plan my winter trip, then I went off to my winter trip and January was just generally busy. There you go!
( Read more... )

I also want to improve my nonexistent photography skills!
First of all I need to get some proper equipment. I only have 2 lenses and my DSLR so far! I wanna buy a proper tripod next, but there's also filters and other stuff I probably should buy.
Any recommendations?!


I need your opinion today about two things! Don't worry about being rude or anything, please post away what you think about it, k?

1) I'm thinking about creating a website. Of course I don't really have the time to do it, but like I mentioned before when doing stuff like the "castle list" and such, I always get angry at the character limit that LJ forces on us :( Not amused!
If I had my own website I wouldn't have to worry about things like that. On the other hand, my activities online mainly are BLOGGING .... so I'm not sure if a website would make any sense.
And if I really would create a website, then where? Any good hoster?
Any ideas, suggestions etc.?!?

2) Now, please be really harsh on my because this might be a really stupid and arrogant idea, but even before my winter vacation and especially during my winter vacation I was thinking about .... selling some of my best photos?!
I mean, not like a professional, maybe just here on LJ or another platform and of course ... they'd be really cheap! ( blah, blaaah~ )

Random moments:



Found in my local supermarket => was curious => bought it => tried it => liked it!
Inside: crunchy whatever / outside: strawberry flavored chocolate = love!

( more random photos )


I guess that's all for today. Nothing too interesting but I really hope you'll help me out with 1) and 2) somehow *puppy eyes*

Thanks a lot!

Bye~buu!~

Hello everybody!~
Christmas is around the corner. Amazing how time flies!
People who follow this journal for quite some time might know that I had to work on Christmas the last few years, so no Christmas for me at all. Furthermore December is one of the busiest months at work as well.
Last year was especially horrible! (2009/12/23 //// 2008/12/26)

This year feels more like Christmas. I'm not exactly sure why.

( Read more... )



( I wish I had some Christmas songs!! ;o; )

A little bit early maybe, but:



Speaking of Christmas, I suppose most of you know how Japanese celebrate Christmas? How do you celebrate Christmas in your country? ^-^
( Read more... )

Alright, that's all for now.
The med I'm taking right now makes me REALLY sleepy and I have difficulties staying awake. Well, it's already late anyways, so I guess that's okay.
I still have quite a few working days ahead of me, but nevertheless I wish everybody AWESOME HOLIDAYS!!!!!!

HELLO!!!!!!

Yes, I'm still alive and I'm finally back!!! Sorry for the long hiatus, but as most of you know I had lots of things to do these past few weeks.
NOW I'm finally FREEEEEE!!!! :D
Time to be happy right? NO!!!!!!

People who follow my Twitter probably already know this, but today the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) was held all over the world (and in some places it's not yet time - stupid time difference XD)
I've never taken the test before. Basically because the lower levels (previously 4kyuu, 3kyuu now N5, N4, N3) don't get you anywhere, but the higher levels (previously 2kyuu, 1kyuu now N2, N1) are considered as "business level Japanese" and can open you doors jobwise and stuff.
They changed the whole testing system for the first time this year, so all old study material and all knowledge from old tests won't help as much anymore.
Although I already passed the second highest level in mock tests over a year ago, I still haven't taken it until today.
Why? Because it's expensive and so I wanted to make sure that I would be able to pass it.

I missed the application deadline for the July test (also something new, only in Japan you can take the test twice a year now - previously you only could take it in December) and that's why I took it today instead.
I've already started preparing for N1 (the highest level and my ultimate goal) anyways.

I took this test because I was pretty sure that I could pass it.
Why I was sure? Well, I took tons of mock tests that introduced the new testing style and typical questions and all. (I also took the real N2 from July!)
My overall average was 81%.
For N2 there are 3 sections: (my average mock test percentage)
Vocabulary/Kanji (~82%)
Reading (~66%)
Listening (~92%)

( Some photos from this morning~ )



Can you believe it's already December when you see these photos?? ^^;

( So, was it worth all the money, the long journey, the years of sacrificing my free time in order to study??? ............ NOOOOO!!!!! ;o; .. )

Everybody, please let me hear about your JLPT experience? Not only today's but in general!
How many people were there? Did you have any rule breakers?
Congratulations to all of you who passed 2kyuu or 1kyuu. You are awesome! (If we use the old grading system then I would have passed, too, though ;o; ....?!)

The funniest thing ever was that quite a lot of the people taking N2 in my room didn't seem to understand what the examiner said to them XD
Also, I was pretty much the only one who could speak fluently with one of the bus drivers.
Well, but who cares. I suck when it's actually really important. I deserve to have failed the test - that's how much I suck, I guess :(

It was a life experience today. Definitely. Not a good one, though. But, yeah.

That's enough for today.
I should feel crappy but I feel refreshed at the moment. Probably because all the pressure is gone now :) And I'm finally free to do other things again. Feeling like an idiot to have sacrificed so much of my free time on Japanese studies in the last few years, though.

I went to Miyajima when the autumn colors were most beautiful a few weeks ago. Please look forward to some awesome photos which will be up soon.
Also, I still need to post the surprise I keep talking about so often XD
But, it's a busy week, so we'll see.

P.S.: Oh and I don't wanna hear any "OH, I'm sure you passed blah" comforting sentences, k? I tell you I really, really completely failed the reading so unless they change their grading system I have no chance :(
P.P.S.: Actually I wanted to treat myself and finally watch the new Harry Potter in cinema, but now I'm not sure if I really deserve this :/ ....

Beloved bed here I come

Hey there!
I'm extremely busy this month as you all know.



So this will be a quite random and short entry.
I took photos of what I ate last month (of course not every day) to give you an idea about my unbalanced diet XD


( Not so yummie food?!? ahead!~ )



( Read more... )


And now two things that piss me off:

• #1: What the fuck is suddenly wrong with the userpics here on LJ??? I only have these stupid numbers, I can't recognize which icon I'm gonna use. THIS SUCKS!!!! Do I have to type new keywords for all my icons now?? WHYYYY???!!!! Big fail! Or am I the only one having these problems?? :(


• #2: The sale of my stuff is pissing me off. It's always been busy and I shouldn't have restarted it during such busy times, BUT this time it's like 90% of all people who "want" to buy something from me seem to make fun of me. Asking one thousand questions, asking for so many different options and in the end, they're not buying anything. Most of them are just saying that they don't have any money. Well, if you don't have any money what the fuck are you doing in a sales entry anyways??? STOP STEALING MY PRECIOUS TIME WILL YA???? I don't care if they read it, what they do is just ridiculous. I mean I can understand that there are some circumstances that might prevent you from buying something that you want sometimes, and that's not a big deal, but 90% of all possible buyers??? ARE YOU KIDDING MEEE???!!!! *sigh* :/ This sucks.

( busy~ )

Anyways, that's all.
Gotta go back to my studies (or rather to bed soon).
Byeboo　ヽ(〃^・^〃)ノ チュッ♪

Good evening!~ (or whatever time it is where you live)

I feel kind of good today. You might remember one of my last entries where I ranted about feeling down and not knowing what's wrong with me.
I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do from here on. Nothing is set yet at all.
Thinking too much about my future, especially jobwise, makes my head spin around. Thinking too much is not good either, I guess.

( Read more... )

Anyways, back to the main topic.
While thinking about too many things lately, I realized that I can't really figure out anymore what I came here for. Or rather, what the things are I still want to do (because I think things changed since I first came here, my interests and priorities DEFINITELY changes since back then!!!!)
When you first come to Japan, you're so hyper and excited about everything and you do all the things you always wanted to do, but after some time things calm down and I think .... you partly forget WHY you came here and even stop doing the things you came here for originally. I'm no exception. I recently read through old entries. I posted so often and took photos of each and every tiny things. And the things I was crazy about back then, aren't really things I'm interested in (that much) anymore now!
I did quite a lot of things since coming here. Hey, I even climbed Mt. Fuji!!!! ;P
But I still feel like I'm missing out on many things and sometims it's difficult to find "the way back". I don't wanna have any regrets. I don't want to forget anything and then realize back home I didn't do this and that and now have no chance to do it or whatever.

That's why I thought it might be interesting to ask YOU what the things are you would like to do/see/experience if you came to Japan!!!!
Anything is fine, no matter how unimportant or ridiculous you think it might be!!! :D I'd really appreciate it!! :333

( more blahs!~ )


Something completely else that I thought might be interesting for some of you who think about coming to Japan (and working as a teacher)

It seems that some female ALT teachers have problems with students harassing them (sexual harassment). It's not the first time I read about this.
Here's one forum thread on gaijinpot to give you an idea about it. ALTs are "Assistant Language Teachers" and work mainly in public schools (elementary, jr. high or high schools).
Thus, they have huge classes with all sorts of students. Of course, there are also those students who couldn't care less about studying. And as you know bullying in Japanese schools is quite harsh, too.
There seem to be a lot of problems in Japanese schools (not limited to Japanese (public) schools, of course!).

In my kind of job (eikaiwa - conversation school), it's different, though.
At least I've never heard that anybody had problems with sexual harassment (at least not from students XD).
In my school, I can't imagine it at all! Luckily!!~
But that's the big difference between a normal school where just everybody HAS to go and conversation schools where you can CHOOSE whether to go or not. They even pay money to come and study, so the majority of the students is somewhat willing to study. Classes are very small and the majority of the students comes from richer families (it doesn't mean that their manners are better, but I think you get what I'm trying to say).



( Warning: not worksafe pic ahead!~ )



I'm totally in love with that dress. I love everything about it, especially the colors (although they don't match my Poupée's dark tan XD) .... I wish I had a dress like that in real life, although I think it wouldn't suit me, but who cares?! XD


I'm currently watching ......... (no, no jdramas!!) LOST!! - the last season!
It's so exciting and confusing, I can't stop watching and I'm pretty sure once I'm done I have to go back and rewatch everything from the start (season 1). Wow!!! I won't really have time for that, but who cares? XD
That's all. Over and out.

Hello there!~

I think the "meme creation" purpose somehow got lost in the length of one of my last entries (o_o'') .... so I'm trying it one more time today XD

If you know of any other 30 days memes - other than the ones I already posted, feel free to comment here and let me know about them.
I don't really intend to use the memes as they are now, but grab the best out of it, modify them, add my own ideas and what's most important add WHAT YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT!
So this will be an interactive entry where we all can create one or two memes together :D Of course, you can grab the meme and do it yourself once it's finished! :3

I've already grabbed the things that I'd love to do, now go ahead and tell me what I could add, please (^-^)/
The things I chose so far can also be modified, so don't be afraid to suggest whatever! I don't bite
Note: I'd rather have something where I can write about more than 1 or 2 sentences, because I don't think it's worth an entry otherwise, so maybe some things have to be paraphrased!!
I'll edit this entry accordingly so that you can see the progress we make!! ^-^


Japan specific: Things I want to do (modification possible - go ahead):

Day xx - How did you get interested in Japan / Japanese in the first place and how did it develop from there?
Day xx - Describe your neighborhood in Japan.
Day xx - Which, if any, Japanese mannerisms or expressions have you adopted?
Day xx - Something about Japan that sets it apart from anywhere else.
Day xx - Describe life as a "gaijin" (foreigner) in Japan (ups and downs)
Day xx - What is the hardest thing about living in Japan versus your home country?
Day xx - Your favorite Japanese saying or kotowaza (proverb).
Day xx - What is something you have/do in Japan that you wish you had/could do in your home country?
Day xx - What's the thing you [will] miss most about Japan when you leave?
Day xx - Did Japan meet your expectations, both good and bad? What has been the most surprising thing about Japan for you, or the thing you least expected?
Day xx - What are things that you still want to do / experience in Japan?
Day xx - What do you like/not like about the Japanese language?
Day xx - Your Japanese studies - in great detail
Day xx - Have you learned something about yourself since you're in Japan? - by modueca
Day xx - Are there things you don't miss about your home country? - by modueca


( meme craziness!~ )



It's finally autumn here in Japan and I love the cute autumn fashion they have on Poupée this year (*__*)b
But today I'm a cowgirl XD

P.S.: I can't say it often enough because people always join Poupée because they heard about it in my journal and then add me there: IF YOU WANT TO JOIN POUPÉE TELL ME BEFORE JOINING!!! XD
Because if you do, I can send you an invitation and we both get presents/ribbons from it!! :3

On another short side note:
Ever since I got my new laptop and with it Windows 7, I've been having really STRANGE internet connection issues. I've been writing about it on Twitter again and again and I already tried so much to fix it, but I just have NO CLUE what's going on!!!
I first noticed it when Youtube suddenly didn't let me upload stuff anymore and one of my programs who needs to be synced with an online server also said it doesn't have a connection anymore.

Of course, my first thought was it's the internet connection itself, but I just plugged in my old (Windows XP) laptop and it worked just fine!
I changed the settings of my internet connection turned off antivir programs and the Windows firewall. No change.
Now, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it let's me have outgoing connections to these hosts (Youtube, Lang-8, etc.) sometimes it doesn't! I don't even restart the computer in the meantime or anything. I thought maybe it has to do with the daytime or whatever. On the other hand there are hosts/servers where I can ALWAYS upload without any problems (Mediafire, Imagehack etc.). I was wondeirng what was different about them then ....
Today I tried - just for fun - to use a program called Hotspot Shield (maybe some of you know it) - it gives you a US IP (some countries have restrictions, so they need to get an IP from another country) and BOOM suddenly everthing worked again!!! Even my downloads are faster now!!!! Then why does everything work fast and smooth on my old laptop with my Japanese IP??? And the annoying thing about Hotshield is that there are ads popping up everywhere (x____x)
See???!!! Verrrry strange, right? (x___X)

Next travel entry is coming up very soon, so stay tuned

Hello!~

I'm crawling out of what I call my "study bubble". Although I don't really want to. I really have to force me to have some breaks! (Have a break, have a kit-kat XD - just that I don't have any weird-flavored kit-kats at home right now ... I think I'm blabbering strange stuff, just ignore! XD)
I shouldn't use the break to update my LJ, but to do some sport and/or go outside, BUT .... I need to and want to keep you guys updated and I really NEED YOU today (you'll see what I mean later on).
Anyways my studies are progressing smoothly (^-^')b

First of all, I want to thank everybody who took part in the poll about my journal.
Over 100 awesome people took part in it!!! Thank you soooo~ much!!! It was really interesting for me :D
I won't close it, but I'm pretty sure that the overall results won't change anymore. They're pretty clear:

Why do you read my journal? What are you interested in? (Note: you can pick more than one)



( Read more... )

The poll gave me a general overview, now I want to hear from you guys more details! Please don't hold back. Just write away what EXACTLY you'd be interested in!!! Anything is fine, of course :)
To help you guys out a bit, I copied a few 30 days memes that are going around right now. One of them is a Japan meme that hinoai created together with her f-list. If you know about any other memes, feel free to post them here or use some of the questions here as proposal :D
Using these memes as a basis, I thought I could create something similar with YOUR help so that in the end we have something that you'd love to read about (and I'd love to write about).
I might have to split it up because some things I might not be able to post in a public entry, so I have to divide the too private topics/questions from the more general ones.
Anyways, just post away, k?~ (You can pick questions that you'd like me to answer out of the following memes or just create your own questions - also you can describe them in detail~)

Here are the different memes:

( Meme terror~ )



That's pretty much my life lately and I enjoy studying again!
I can't understand what I did the last few months. I wasted too much time with ... WHAT???!!!!
Well, there were work issues, right, then I was sick for a long time, then the laptop issues etc. .... there WERE reasons, but still :/
Breaks like that really kill my progress!! I could take N1 by now if I didn't take any breaks!!! But then again, you just need breaks at times anyways - and sometimes breaks are a good thing!

( Read more... )

Not so good news are that something is wrong with me lately and I have no idea WHAT!!!
It's difficult to actually write about it because I'm not sure if I can describe it so that you can understand it (I'm not sure if I even understand it myself ... *sigh*).
Today I'm perfectly fine for some reason ..... which means that it's probably not the best idea to write about it NOW because it will be even more difficult to describe the situation.

I wouldn't really say that I'm depressed or emo, but something is going on and it's just sooooooo not like me!!!!
I'm never depressed or emo!! NEVER!!!!
Lately I've been feeling kind of unhappy or rather dissatisfied. I'm not sure if those are the correct words, but maybe you get it.
I keep asking myself WHY and how to get OUT of it. I can't figure it out.

( Longer rant, but ... uhm ... yah~ )

And for your amusement (I already posted it a while ago on Twitter):
English Teachers - Season 1 - Episode 1: "First Days suck"



(*click to watch the episode)
Yeah, that's my job! XD
No, .. not really. And it's again the perspective of a man :(


( Read more... )

Alright, that's all for today. Quite a long entry. Sorry about that. Thanks for sticking around and reading my journal!! You're awesome!! :3

P.S.: I still haven't finished answering to your comments in the "poll entry". I also won't answer to screened comments, hope you understand :D It's too much of a hassle to screen them again and I'm not sure how safe it is after commenting to them etc. ....

Hello everybody!

I'm sorry that I'm not around much lately. Like I already mentioned in one of my previous entries, I'm busy. I'm fully back into study-mode and I think I even update my Japanese blog(s) more often :(
I hope you understand! Next week will also be extremely busy at work, so I don't know yet when I'll be able to post the next travel entry!

This is just a quick update to show you that I'm still alive and to inform you that I'm busy, so don't expect me to read all your entries / comments IMMEDIATELY
Thanks for understanding.

Random Fact#1:



I finally have a "pseudo"-coffee machine! XD
I got really good coffee as a present, but as I have no coffee machine I had to buy one of those drip-thingies and coffee filter. Works just fine!!
I'm not much of a coffee drinker anymore (although I've started to drink more again recently), so I don't really need a coffee machine anyways.


( More random facts!~ )


( jdramas I'm currently watching (feat. Unubore, NatsuNiji, Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo, Hammer Session, JOKER, Beautiful Life..... )



Request/Questions:
To help my studies a bit, I'm looking for Japanese online radios. I mean ACTUAL radio stations that you also could get via a normal radio not those pseudo English anime-related online channels, but where they actually speak Japanese, have news in Japanese etc.!
I don't have a radio here, so I can't access any local radio channels. I already googled the websites of my local radio stations, but it seems they don't offer any online channel at all! :(
If you know anything, please let me know!! (*_*) (P.S.: http://radiko.jp/ does NOT work in my area!! :( ...)
Also, I'm looking for interesting Japanese websites or blogs that I could read on a daily basis or at least weekly!!! If you know any, please let me know!! You all know in what I'm interested, I guess, but anything that has to do with Japan, Germany, language studying, cats, cute things, Johnnys, travelling, photos, .... would be awesome!!! SHARE AWAY!!!~

Poll:
Last, but not least I decided to make a short poll. As my time is limited I can't write about everything I want to.
I figured I could ask you guys what you'd rather read about here. Maybe that helps me figure out what to write about, too XD

[Poll #1620386]



But after all that talk about me and my journal, I actually want to know:
Who are YOU??
1200+ crazy people have added my journal. I'm not sure if all of them actually really read my journal, but I only know a handful of those people!
I want to use today's entry to get to know you guys better! Even if we have been friends for a long time and even if I comment on your entries often, I'm sure there are still things I don't know about you.
So, this is for ALL OF YOU!! If you feel like sharing anything about you, please feel free to do so! :)
If you know that we don't know each other well, please introduce yourself!! Let me know WHO you are!!! Anything is fine really. You can also tell me what your journal is about if you want to.
Of course, you don't have to do this. That's totally up to you guys!! ;)
All comments will be screened today. I'll unscreen them if there's no personal introduction at all. If you tell me something about yourself, please write at the end of your comment if I can unscreen your comment or not :3
Thanks so much!!!

P.S.: If I'm not updating for quite a while and you're wondering what's going on, you can always check out my Twitter!!! :D

Hello.

Actually I wanted to write about my new laptop which I use right now to write this entry, but again something happened that kept me from doing so today *sigh*
Luckily I'm really calm by now and can write about it in a non-"HOMG"!!!!! style.

Things seemed to slowly get better after I had so much bad luck (please refer to the last 1341256 entries about my whining).
I watched "Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo" epi 2 when suddenly I saw this:

( This time I'm nice and use a cut to not shock you right away! )


As for the doctor story of my last entry.
First of all thanks a lot for your comments! I'm going to answer soon!! :)
I told my coworkers about it. Right now there's only one other foreigner at my workplace and he's never sick, so there are no foreigners I could ask about a doc they'd recommend....
My Japanese coworkers told me, though, that they don't like the docs in the hospital I went to anyways and suggested to try another hospital and they also offered to go with me and explain the doctor about my symptoms and everything.
Right now I feel better (apart from the lack of sleep), so I don't know yet if I'll got next week or not.

I also finally finished preparing for my summer vacation trip which will start in pretty much 1 week. Can't believe it! I hope I'll be fit enough for that!!!


AND NOW PLEASE send some POSITIVE vibes to me!!!
Honestly I can't stand more shit than that!!!!! Just too much crap at once lately, don't you think???

Love ya all!!! (^-^)/