Bored @ work 仕事がつまらない

What I do during lunch time and after work are more interesting :) again at this time of the year, I'll ask if it is time for me to exit. But I'm still clueless what I want to do.

昼ご飯の時と仕事のあとにはおもしろい。なにが欲しいますか。することを考えている。

ぶたにくそば

昨日の晩ご飯はSが作った。ちょっとあまいが、美味しい。

Rain, lunch and Japanese 雨.昼ご飯.日本語

It was raining heavily when I left office for the lunch venue. I needed to take a break from work and most importantly meet my dear friend. Somehow, I only managed to save the photo of the soups but not of the yummy bacon mushroom omelette focaccia sandwich and the chicken salad.

We were seated near a group of Japanese ladies and my friend asked if I understood what they were saying. I heard 先生 (teacher) and おもしろい (interesting) among the many things they said. My command of Japanese language is lousy, so even if I were to listen attentively, I won't be able to catch more words. Besides, I also didn't want to neglect my friend. Haha.

Earlier this afternoon, a Japanese man called my office phone from Tokyo and spoke in English, in response to an email I sent him. I addressed him as "Iizuka-san". He sounded a little surprised/pleased and commented that I know how to use the Japanese way of saying "Mr Iizuka". I should really start revising soon before I forget all the fundamentals.

GOSICK ゴシック

SP has recommended this anime "GOSICK ゴシック" but I have yet to watch it. The drawings are lovely and the storyline is interesting too. I will have to find time to fit this in :)

Le Couple (ル・クプル)'s ひだまりの詩

I used to listen to this song and sing along with it without knowing its meaning. With my lousy Japanese, I still could not understand its meaning and googled for the lyrics meaning and found this link with the following translation:

How long has it been since I last saw you?
This morning, the letter I sent to you was sent back
Like the newly awakened leaves waving by my window
Only now I've realized that the long winter is past

No matter what I say, it's just no use
You loved me, and embraced me completely
You were like the warmth in my life

In our last photograph together, the flowers are ablaze
And yet I can't keep my promise to send it to you
Even if now I were to receive
Both your kindness and your stubborness

Even if I were to grow to like other people
I'll never forget all you left for me
So that I could love again
Even if I never see you again in this world, I'll go on living
You loved me, and embraced me completely
With all your heart
You were like the warmth in my life
You loved me, and embraced me completely
That was the warmth in my life

Revising Japanese

I haven't been revising my Japanese regularly after I stopped my lessons. I'm terribly rusty and it took me a while to compose the earlier entry with the help of a dictionary. I'm quite sure that there are errors in my grammar and vocabulary but I hope it's a start for me to get acquainted with Japanese language again.

雨の音楽

今日の朝で、3時はんごろ雷雨があった。私はねなった。Bobはにゃーにゃー。雨の音楽を聞いて、そろそろねた。

ともだち friends

It's nice to catch up with the girls over lunch last Saturday. We have known one another from our volunteer work and have kept in touch even after we left the committee 3-4 years ago. Facebook, blogs, twitter and emails are also useful ways to know what are going on in their lives.

I'm also glad to have found the good friends from my secondary school, university and work. We are busy with work and other commitments, but we try to meet or occasionally SMS to check on one another. Sharing similar interests and/or values has helped us to bond and over the years, we still cherish the friendship.

野良猫のふくしのボランティアの仕事のとき、友達ができました。 先週の土曜日にこの友達と昼ご飯を食べました。会ってうれしい。

学校と仕事で、いいともだちもできました。忙しいですが、ときどき会ったり,SMSをしたりします。このともだがあってうれしいです。

Angel and the rug

Angel likes to wrap himself with the rug or hide under it :)

エンゼルは敷物に隠すのが好きます。

Resting @ home, the best medicine

After all the feasting over the long weekend coupled with insufficient sleep and water, I am down with sore throat and runny nose. Yesterday evening, I went to see the TCM doc, hoping that his medicine will cure me soon. This morning, I woke up with a heavy head and no appetite, so I decided to take urgent leave and rest at home. I just had mom's yummy porridge with century egg after helping her with the bean sprouts. I shall take it easy today.

うちで休むことがいい薬です。

Green and blue 青色

Bob's eyes, his cup and the wall have the similar lovely colour :)

ボブの目とカップと壁はきれいな色があります。

きれいな空 beautiful sky

雨が降りました。今空がきれいです。
It's lovely to see the light blue sky with cotton candy clouds after the rain.

茶そば chasoba

昨日車を運転方のレッスンの前に, 昼ご飯を作りました。材料は茶そばと卵と野菜と納豆でした。美味しいでした。

I quickly whipped up my favorite soba with an egg, coriander and mushroom before my driving lesson yesterday afternoon. It was yummy and I think nutritious too :)

日本語のべんきょう

べんきょうした日本語を思い出すために、ときどき日本語でブログにかきます。れんしゅうしないで、日本語のつかいかたとボキャブラリー をだんだんぼうしつます。ひまなとき、日本語でかきし、アニメやドラマ をみし、したいです。がんばって！

Nodame Cantabile

A friend told me about this drama, so I goggled and found out that it was based on a manga and there is also an anime. I prefer to watch anime. Maybe it's cuter. Perhaps I will try catching it since I am taking a break from my Jap lessons. I find my foundation is weak and I should try to revise on my own before taking the course again. My family doesn't think I will go back again. They may be right based on my track record. We'll see.

Anyway, I like the sound track from the anime. It makes me feel happy just by listening to it :)

I pass JLPT 4N

I received the result slip on Thurs evening. I didn't have high hopes of passing as I didn't think I did well in the listening component. It was a nice surprise when I saw "Passed" on the slip :)

I was contemplating whether to continue with my Jap lessons as I don't have the discipline in revising and only spend my Sat morning to do my homework. It seems a pity to give up though and I have given up learning other things before.

I shall continue with learning Jap and see if I will work harder and improve :)

I had a set lunch of hamburger and toufu @ $10 @ a Jap restaurant in Cuppage Plaza with a friend. I wanted to give myself a treat for passing the test :)

Anime: Ouran High School Host Club

I just finished watching the last 2 epi of the 26-episode anime. It took me a few months to watch it as there are always other things to do. I declare it the best anime I have watched so far. Funny, heartwarming and beautiful drawings and interesting storyline. I even cried a little during the last episode and was smiling when it ended happily. Maybe I should look for the manga to read as I read from some reviews that the characters were fleshed out better in the manga.

The 2 reviews below kind of summarise how I feel about the anime:
http://www.nihonreview.com/anime/ouran-high-school-host-club/
http://www.sleepisfortheweak.org/reviews/ouran

Japanese Film Festival 2010

Cute poster for this year's Jap Film Festival. I read the synopsis and watched the trailer for one of the films, Air Doll (R21). Interesting. Mime-Mime and ASYL seem worth watching too. I must check their schedule when it's out.

JLPT4

I have given myself a challenge end of the year by registering for JLPT4 earlier this evening. I have tried to finish the assignments/homework every 2 weeks but have been either busy or lazy in revising. I'm terrible at comprehending the listening segment of the homework as most of the time I can't catch what the persons are saying in Japanese and have to rewind a few/several times to get the gist of it. I must really find a way to retain what I have studied and hopefully learning Japanese is not something that I will give up halfway :)

Learning Japanese language again

After more than 8 years, I'm picking up Japanese language again. This time, I'm learning with a good friend, Flying Raisin and hopefully we can motivate each other to be able to use the language when we next visit Japan, to read Japanese craft magazine. I can also read the labels of Japanese cat food and treats. Hee.

Yesterday was our first lesson. With fellow classmates of all ages, we learnt how to introduce ourselves, some Hiragana characters, numbers 0, 1 to 10, greetings, etc. It's really fun and nice to be in an environment where everyone is keen to learn and Sato-San was enthusiastic too to teach us. The Ikoma School's staff are also friendly. One of them even called me this morning to remind me to attend the lesson and asked whether I was sure I want to start from basic all over again since I had learnt Japanese for almost a year. I told her that it was a long time ago and I haven't been practising at all.

Hopefully this 3rd time, I will persevere and achieve my objectives :)