May 24-30, 2010
You may remember from last week's entry that I was proud of myself for managing to order my Hanko all on my own, well I topped it on Monday morning. After I picked up my Hanko, and the really pretty case they gave me as a gift, I set up a bank account on my own, entirely in Japanese. Shhesh. It was a little trying at times, but thanks to my trusty dictionary that lives happily in my purse, I made it. The banker even told me that she was impressed :) The hardest part of it all involved writing my address in Kanji (the Japanese characters). Our address is quite long, and the characters are rather difficult, but I did it. After you fill in the address form they insert it into a computer that reads the Kanji and produces a digital format. It recognized all but one of my 32 characters! Once I came home from the bank with all of my info I was able to sign my contract for work! I did it with a giant smile on my face and sense of true satisfaction. I am very excited to start working, but can certainly wait until after the MCAT is done!
This is my Hanko, which serves as my legal signature:
It's so cool to have a stamp for my name! I love that it's in Japanese too! It reads from top to bottom. The case they gave me is very fancy and it was a really nice gesture.
On Tuesday I went to Taiko for the last time until after the MCAT. I really truly enjoy practice, I can only imagine how much fun the festival is going to be. I promise to keep you posted!!
Check out this weird new Pepsi available in Japan! Have you seen it in America? It tastes kind of like a blend of Ginger-Ale and Cola! It's interesting.
The weather has been so gross recently. We haven't seen the sun (with the exception of Sunday) in what feels like months. It's been raining since Sunday night. And before that it rained for 3-4 days. So Wednesday after a long day of gloomy studying, we had movie night at home. We rented movies and had a double feature with The Insider and The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. I wish we had watched them in reverse order because The Boy In The Striped Pajamas made me very sad, and it made it very difficult to sleep. If you are going to watch it, I would recommend not doing so alone and definitely not right before bed.
We had a very delicious dinner to accompany our night in, Spicy Tortilla Soup with chips and home-grown fresh cilantro! The soup came from a care-package from the Tempe Art Festival and tasted just like home!
Fresh Cilantro :) MMMMM home!
On Thursday night we had tutoring with Toshiya as usual, but like Taiko, we're taking a hiatus until after the MCAT. I really enjoy learning Japanese and I'm looking forward to really working on it again, after the MCAT. I feel like that's my life motto currently, and it's my response to just about every question, other than "when do you want dinner". I'm looking forward to a breath of fresh air, and running around Disneyland Tokyo!
On Friday we went out for dinner in Hirosaki, also for the last time until after the MCAT. (see what I mean!) We went to CoCo's Curry House for some absolutely delicious curry. On our way we stopped off at Toshiyas to give him something we forgot last night, and we took him Banana Bread, which he had never had. We told him that before we had an oven I cooked it in a rice cooker and he thought it was hilarious. He really loved the bread, even though it was slightly burned :/ but who doesn't love banana bread. He also taught me a very useful trick that I am surprised I didn't know earlier in life! We sat down for a cup of coffee with him and when he picked up his handle-less cup he burned his fingers, he proclaimed "AH-CHA" and grabbed his earlobe. I was a little confused, but he and Eric explained that grabbing your earlobe when you burn your fingers rapidly cools them off, and it really works. Who knew?! Clearly not me!
Saturday and Sunday all I did was ... study, study, study. My wonderful loving and extremely supportive husband cleaned the house and cooked me meals so I could really and truly focus. On Sunday I did escape the house for about an hour. We went out for a walk and got some ice cream in town. While we were ordering our milkshakes Eric noticed the new flavor being advertised, drum-roll please........... pureed squid ice cream. Three words come to mind, No Thank You!! I stuck safely to strawberry and Eric had traditional vanilla. We enjoyed our little shakes while we walked along the pier. I finally got to check out a squid fishing boat up-close!
I really would love to go out with the fishermen one night and see what it's like. Maybe someday.
Look at our neighbors garden! He must have 100 plants, and so many little banzai trees!
I love watching it all grow!
I will try to post something in the blog again for each week until the MCAT, (June 17th in Japan, which is the 16th in the States) but I can't promise any recounting of superb adventures with fantastic pictures. But, have no fear! Come June 18th, there will be plenty to share :)
This is my Hanko, which serves as my legal signature:
It's so cool to have a stamp for my name! I love that it's in Japanese too! It reads from top to bottom. The case they gave me is very fancy and it was a really nice gesture.On Tuesday I went to Taiko for the last time until after the MCAT. I really truly enjoy practice, I can only imagine how much fun the festival is going to be. I promise to keep you posted!!
Check out this weird new Pepsi available in Japan! Have you seen it in America? It tastes kind of like a blend of Ginger-Ale and Cola! It's interesting.
The weather has been so gross recently. We haven't seen the sun (with the exception of Sunday) in what feels like months. It's been raining since Sunday night. And before that it rained for 3-4 days. So Wednesday after a long day of gloomy studying, we had movie night at home. We rented movies and had a double feature with The Insider and The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. I wish we had watched them in reverse order because The Boy In The Striped Pajamas made me very sad, and it made it very difficult to sleep. If you are going to watch it, I would recommend not doing so alone and definitely not right before bed.
We had a very delicious dinner to accompany our night in, Spicy Tortilla Soup with chips and home-grown fresh cilantro! The soup came from a care-package from the Tempe Art Festival and tasted just like home!
Fresh Cilantro :) MMMMM home!On Friday we went out for dinner in Hirosaki, also for the last time until after the MCAT. (see what I mean!) We went to CoCo's Curry House for some absolutely delicious curry. On our way we stopped off at Toshiyas to give him something we forgot last night, and we took him Banana Bread, which he had never had. We told him that before we had an oven I cooked it in a rice cooker and he thought it was hilarious. He really loved the bread, even though it was slightly burned :/ but who doesn't love banana bread. He also taught me a very useful trick that I am surprised I didn't know earlier in life! We sat down for a cup of coffee with him and when he picked up his handle-less cup he burned his fingers, he proclaimed "AH-CHA" and grabbed his earlobe. I was a little confused, but he and Eric explained that grabbing your earlobe when you burn your fingers rapidly cools them off, and it really works. Who knew?! Clearly not me!
Saturday and Sunday all I did was ... study, study, study. My wonderful loving and extremely supportive husband cleaned the house and cooked me meals so I could really and truly focus. On Sunday I did escape the house for about an hour. We went out for a walk and got some ice cream in town. While we were ordering our milkshakes Eric noticed the new flavor being advertised, drum-roll please........... pureed squid ice cream. Three words come to mind, No Thank You!! I stuck safely to strawberry and Eric had traditional vanilla. We enjoyed our little shakes while we walked along the pier. I finally got to check out a squid fishing boat up-close!
I really would love to go out with the fishermen one night and see what it's like. Maybe someday.
I finally understand why my massive box of Crayola from my childhood had so many green choices in it! I always thought they needed more brown choices... but now I get it. 
With Greenery like this, and clear blue skies, a morning run is quite fantastic.
With Greenery like this, and clear blue skies, a morning run is quite fantastic.
Look at our neighbors garden! He must have 100 plants, and so many little banzai trees!
I love watching it all grow!I will try to post something in the blog again for each week until the MCAT, (June 17th in Japan, which is the 16th in the States) but I can't promise any recounting of superb adventures with fantastic pictures. But, have no fear! Come June 18th, there will be plenty to share :)
No comments:
Post a Comment