Kategorie: Japan

Day 228 in Japan: なんセンチ-Bento + JLPT musing

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Since yesterday my bike is broken again so today we had to walk to school, which isn’t bad when it rains anyway, because on the bike it’s almost impossible to hold an umbrella and you get soaking wet. Wednesday is one of the longest days in the week with lessons till 15:30 and I was a little bit tired, but if anything cheers me up it’s my wonderful classmates and a bento in honor of yesterday’s なんセンチ-fail with blushing onigiris xD

Almost all my elective classes are designed to train me for the JLPT N2. Although I have the feeling my Japanese skills are improving rapidly I seem to be unable to answer the questions, be it listening or reading comprehension. It’s frustrating and when I’m tired , which means even more emotional than usual (hear, hear xD), I have the feeling I just wanna walk out of the classroom and cry. I’m glad the JLPT is no requirement for my university degree.
I wonder how it is possible I have come to a point where I can watch TV, read manga and do great on school tests, but I feel like an analphabet when you hand me a N2 question >< For example there’s P. who is amazing when it comes to this stuff *bows* People like him make me want to study more and become better :3 I guess that’s one of the strong points of a place like Yamasa. You get better at Japanese, your classmates motivate you to study even more and someone like me is above all able to get back on track with life.

Alles Liebe,



Day 227 in Japan: Nansenchi and homework at the pond

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Welcome to another day in my lovely life. Above you can see a picture that shows my daily study place at school. Love the colors of the pencase, the diamond eraser (すてきな消しゴムですね) and my kireizukin seikatsu pen <3
Tuesday is one of the more lazy and boring days of the week, but it’s the little things that make me shine…like the feeling that someone thinks of me early in the morning, H.-chan who spent lunch break with us or the feeling of friendship that accompanies me all day long thanks to some wonderful people all over the planet.

Epic fail of today was a naive question of mine that turned into something unintended: After school I met with A. and S. outside at the smokers corner (and I swear never before have so many people been smoking at once ><) and T.-kun was there, standing on a small step and compared our height. Without any bad intentions I asked him…and I have to point out that I’ve been asked this by Japanese people in the same way…“何センチ?“ which means „How many centimeters?“
Do I have to say more? I blushed and would have preferred to be somewhere else while everybody else roared with laughter >< P. even added a „さすがElisa“ (=typical or indeed) D:
Mah, I guess it’s important to be able to laugh at yourself XP

A. and I decided to do our homework at  a nearby pond because it’s nice to be outside…and we had heard that a lot of Yamasa students go jogging there :3 It’s a lovely place with lots of ducks, grannies with dogs…but no students xD Apparently there are several ponds near student village and we had chosen the wrong one. Epic fail of the day No. 2!

Ha, so here we finally are, enjoying the sunlight and doing our homework on the warm stonesteps at the right place!

The best fries on earth for dinner: First Kitchen’s B.B.Q. potatoes <3

Ha, you know you want them, too!

It’s after midnight and time for bed. *blushes and runs off*

Alles Liebe,



Day 226 in Japan: Udonya

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Monday and start of a new week with 27°C *weee* Finally a day warm enough to wear flip flops and my new long skirt :3 I had to bike to school alone as A. is still sick in bed and one of my wheels made strange movements while I cycled but I arrived safely at school and class was fun as usual. I was accused of having a dirty mind, found out that Asian people don’t seem to know what the Kama Sutra is (for a version with more pictures use the Hungarian wikipedia, please ;P…I did some research *cough* and holy moly, there’s a whole chapter only on biting and scratching) and was lmao of when M. replied to the question if anyone of us has got children yet „いるかどうか、わかりません“ (which means something like I don’t know if I have any children but it’s possible) xD

I was out for lunch with some classmates at the Udonya that is more or less just around the corner but so far I hadn’t been there. My ramen (wait, I ordered soba but got ramen?) was yummy and only 320 Yen, I’ll be sure to go there again soon. Whenever I see S.-kun, who was with me at lunch, I have to think of Tim Mälzer…actually he looks like an Asian version of him. And with H.-chan (the cute guy with the freckles who is simply adorable when you poke him ;P) being another German in my class I had someone who agreed *lol*

After school P. offered to help me with my bike which makes him my hero for the third time within a couple of days <3 You see, I’m treated like a princess and have a really good time. I spent parts of the afternoon sitting outside in the sun and the rest of it talking to one of my best friends (who is unfortunately back in Canada…but yay for modern communication and internet).
I know I use this word inflationary at the moment…but I’m happy. ^^

Alles Liebe,



weekly retrospect 02

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In my universe I’m the sun

Somehow you can’t call this a ‚weekly‘ retrospect, but…well, let’s ignore that. I’m here to give a short update, because most people might wonder what I do all the time because I stopped blogging back in October January (I have difficulties uploading pictures and can’t send emails with attachments…it’s annoying ><*).

At the moment I live the perfect life…I’m still in Okazaki and spring has come to this part of Japan with a lot of cherry blossoms, green and all kinds of other beautiful flowers. I managed to get into C class this semester (with A being the highest level) and have a great class. Actually my class is so great that I’m looking forward to going to school everyday, just to meet them and have fun during class. Besides that we meet several times after school and go to the movies, eat together or make trips. When I’m not out with them I’m of course with my girls, just hanging out or biking around Okazaki to buy cute stuff or cheap manga. I see temples and shrines, kawaii stationary…okay, everything in Japan is kawaii, a lot of craziness…I spend time in stylish cafés, eat my food using chopsticks and speak Japanese. If I’m in the mood on the weekend I just stay at home and spend the entire day on my futon writing letters to my family.

You could say I’m happy :3

Activities or What’s going on in Okazaki?

Highlight of this week was without doubt this weekend. Friday after school I went to Mr. Donut to eat cookie crullers with my classmates, in the evening we watched Iron Man. On Saturday the same group of people and even some more went to Nishio together to see the tea fields (do I have to mention we got lost xD), eat BIG Brazilian pizza and spend the rest of the evening at a pond, looking at the stars and talking about a lot of dirty interesting stuff xD
Today I spent some quality time with my Japanese friend Y. at an adorable café near Minami Koen and managed to send home some printed matter packages with A. and S.

And now I sit here, listening to my iPod in front of the open window, look forward to tomorrow (26°C) and send some short messages to the ones I love and miss before I go to bed. Have I mentioned I’m happy? :3

Alles Liebe,



Day 100 in Japan: New term & Disney mobile

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Yesterday was my 100th day in Japan and start of the Yamasa winter term. Compared to the first day of the last semester everything was totally different. I was the new one, not able to say a simple sentence…vocabulary quiz? – What’s that?
I felt lost and lonely, at least a bit.

Yesterday I came to school and checked the lists for my name: Again F class (but one level up) and again Asada-sensei as home room teacher – nice. Together with Seki-san, Bera-san and Goiki-san – perfect. New classmates…one of them Olaf (I know from our trip to a Japanese garden in November and he lives close-by in one of the „villas“) – what a pleasent suprise. All in all I started with a good mood and very realxed into the new term.
Sure, some of the old classmates aren’t in the same class, again…but you see them in school or meet them at the supermarkt and smile at each other or shout a „ohaiyou gozaimasu“ from afar…I feel at home!

So waht to do, if you feel at home…and Sarah finally turned 20 and is now an adult over here? Go shopping, of course – and a very special shopping trip it was. Look what I’ve got here :3

Hm, what could it be? A very nice bag, indeed. But what about all that Mickey Mouse decoration???

Have a peek inside: A Minnie Mouse file folder (filled with disney stickers), a piece of paper and a mysterious black box.

What a nice box xD

And so the secret isn’t a secret anymore. It’s my new Disney mobile cell phone *evil laughter*

Let’s be honest. – some of you would kill for only the bag or the box!

As you can see it’s a golden DM004SH, which means it’s a Sharp.

And here it is :3

there a different options for the external display, but I prefer a simple clock. When I receive for example a message by Anna it starts to blink in red and green and shows Anna’s name on the display.

Here’s the camera with 3.2 MP (enough for me, as I’ve got my normal beloved digital camera)

And of course a little Mickey head on the battery cover.

Let’s come to the main menu. To be honest I don’t know so far what is possible, I’ve only tried some of the features. I can only tell you that Mickey comes walking onto the screen and does a lot of different things all the time xD

Everything’s in Disney design.

My favourite feature so far is the TV. You just press a button (accidentally like I did yesterday) and you have 10 channels to choose from. The first thing I ever watched on my cell was „Alf“ in Japanese *hahaha*

Here you can see one of those ridiculous and kitschy samurai daily soaps *lol* I love to say this: Yes, Japan is everything you imagine it to be!

Another cool feature is the don’t peek-functionality. I can choose from different patterns, colors and animations. Everybody who trys to take a look at the display from a weird angle only sees…rainbow colored diamonds…

…or purple mickey heads :3

Yeah, I love my new cell phone (keitai denwa or short keitai) and being here in Japan. Who wants to come, too?

Alles Liebe,



weekly retrospect 01

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Actually over a week of the new year has passed and I feel like I want to keep track of things again more frequently.

In my universe I’m the sun

I started into the new year without any resolutions…hm, that’s kind of not true, but I didn’t write them down. Like last year. And we all know 2009 was a very good year for me. For the first few months lots of stress and depression BUT in the end all the problems were solved :3
I keep getting stronger and that feels very good, refreshing, energizing. Not every day is pure sunshine, but in certain situations I realize I’ve already changed a lot – in a good way, at least for me, myself and I. And that’s what I’m focused on the most. It might sound arrogant or self-centered, but those past few years I only cared for others and their problems, while I got more and more exhausted. Now it’s my turn to care for myself.

Believe it or not, I have lost 5 kg of weight. While it seemed impossible to even slim down just a little bit in Germany it’s not impossible at all here in Japan. Due to a lot of food I don’t like, lots of healthy food I do like, biking around the city and – let’s even call it discipline – it just happened ^^

The worst thing for the last weeks has been the fact I’m not able to sleep at night, but fall asleep around 4 to 6 a.m. That really sucks! I hope to come back to a better rythm with the start of the new semester tomorrow.

Activities or What’s going on in Okazaki?

I’ve done and seen a million things since I last posted…to just name a few: I went shopping in Nagoya, had the best time of my life in Tokyo, enjoyed a Japanese New Year’s Eve with my friends, saw the kinkakuji in Kyoto and got some really nice water blisters while walking trough Kobe. Of course all of this deserves at least one blog entry each, so no spoilers now!

Entertain me

I started watching Gossip Girl and have to admit I enjoy it more than I had expected. I’m halfway through with season one and can only recommend it to all the girls (and guys who read inTouch in secret ;p) that love gossip and drama like I do.
I ended up watching Avatar in Nagoya IMAX in 3D – and loved it. The story is nothing new, but a classic. Sam Worthington is ranking high on my current adorable guys-list (actually place 3, I would say xD) and in 3D or not, the complete movie is eye-candy!

Music-wise Michael Bublé is my No.1 this week with his awesome song „Cry Me A River„, closely followed by Ne-Yo with „Closer“ and „Miss Independent„.

I finished reading New Moon after weeks and can only say it was kind of totally boring for me. Can’t tell why. Perhaps I already knew Edward would love Bella forever or perhaps because of his absence. Anyway I’m going to order the third book. If only to be able to say „Of course I’ve read all of the Twilight-Saga“ or to give the series another try (in other words to get my daily dosis of Edward and Jacob, but psst!), who knows.
I started to read the last German novel lying around here, which is Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. I got sucked into the damp atmosphere pretty fast and see good chances to finish this one fast.
For future entertainment I ordered the first two books of Sarah Graves Home Repair is Homicide-series basically because the story takes place in Eastport, Maine. But more about that later :3

My way to the Pulitzer or What’s going on in Eastport?

Some of you know me long enough to know my biggest dream since I can read and write has been to become a writer. I’m far away from publishing a book but I give all I got to entertain you with some more or less good fanfiction. About five years ago, when I was still working as a programmer, I started to write the so called Cinderella-story. I published the first pages online ages ago but eventually removed them. The story slumbered on my harddrive and in my head for quite some time, and suddenly – when I actually decided to start another one – it came back to my mind and since then I’m back to writing and with the support of Anna it grew from a fragment with 24 pages to the first part of a novel-like tale with 137 pages.

To be honest most of the time all my thoughts are there, in Eastport, Maine, where the story takes place. I chose that little city by letting my finger circle above a map of Maine and then – picked it…just like that. I never thought it would grow on me that much! I read about it, stare at pictures, exploit wikipedia, take virtual walks with google earth… Damn, I would like to see it in reality once in my life. It’s just the perfect place on earth for the story I write. Or to live *sigh*

So be prepared for a lot more talk about Eastport and the drama that takes place there :3

OpenOffice suggestions whenever I write the word „Cinderella“? – „Barbarella“ and „Mozzarella“ xDD

Alles Liebe,