The Rose Garden of Reitaku University

While the reason that we saw the rose garden was because of Reitaku's Anniversary fair, it was a pleasant surprise to see that nestled in the near center of Reitaku was a wonderful garden...

Tis the season to be blooming I guess.

Really....Really?!

The last month has been a time of lots of sickness and not so fun times for my friends.  This particular lesson goes out to my German friend Elise, who has been sick for two or so weeks...

Life Lesson 11 - Japan Style

 Before Stating Something, Check the bottle.

So the background for this life lesson involves the aforementioned sick friend, Elise.  She was taking some medicine for her sickness and then out of the blue states:  "This medicine tastes like crap..."

She's great like that.

Anyways, she shows Sarah and I the bottle, and it only takes us a second to read what it says and burst out laughing.  Here it is, for your viewing enjoyment:

For anyone with not so decent eyes, the medicine does state "ASS"

So, now we know what people are talking about when stating that something "Tastes like ASS."  They are talking about this medicine.

Thank you Elise.  This moment is a beautiful moment of my life.

Ciao for Nao~ 

The Best Things are Always Free

Life Lesson 7, Japan Style

So this life lesson is a little bit on being frugal.

Here's the background.  We were at the international party, hosted by Rifa, where we presented the Souran Dance and at the end, got free food.  Always a nice deal.  But the real deal is what we managed to do during the course of the party.

As international students, we were actually allowed to wander and mingle and eat food like all of the other guests.  As hosts of the party, we were also allowed free food afterwards.  In between this, something called "Shuu Cream" came out. 

 

These are little packages with a pastry filled with Ice Cream...  The special little thing wasn't the shuu cream though, it was what was on the package.  There were 1 point stickers on every package (What had to be near 300 packages of shuu cream, each with a sticker)  See where I'm getting here?

The people at the party weren't particularly interested in the stickers, you see.  And after waiting a while, Sarah and I realized, they wouldn't care if we pulled off the stickers on the packages.

So we did.

Here's where the lesson of being frugal comes into play.  I wouldn't say that you should take something  immediately, as soon as you see it.  But when you've assessed that they don't care, then go for it.  If you don't, the stuff will be wasted.

What we got out of this.  Sarah and I, together, ended up with 110 stickers, which we promptly brought into Lawson's (the almighty convenience store) and found exactly what it was they were offering for collecting the stickers.

I guess I should say, take what opportunity gives you.  Is an appropriate lesson for this post....

They were offering BOWLS.  We essentially got a bunch of free bowls to accompany the free food and fun night at the party.

How great is that?

Ikebukuro, Hakuouki fun~

Do it while you can!  It's only till the end of May!

Tasty looking Hijikata, as usual~

Reasons why my friend Sarah is a fatass

Life Lesson, No 6 - 

Is this really a lesson?

Let's make it one:  How not to be a Fatass.

This is done with permission from Sarah.  In fact it was encouraged by her.  Here we go.

Some background.  Last night was the Rifa International Welcoming party for the ryuugakuseitachi.  The day before that was my birthday.  I got some good pictures of Sarah eating food, and then we started talking about Sarah being a fatass.  She started going through a list of why she was a fatass, and we came up with five reasons.  So we ran through a list of five reasons why Sarah is a fatass.

We all live in the dorm by the way.

1. Sarah keeps a nice box of snacks behind her chair in her room for when she's on the computer and doesn't feel like getting up to search for food.  She doesn't even get out of her chair.
   
2. She weighs herself multiple times to make sure the machine isn't trolling her and that her weight is accurate.
   
   
3. She wants other people's food even when she still has her own.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. She fights other people for said food.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. A first year Japanese college student told her she should join dance to shed a few pounds.
   
   
   

These are not actually serious by the way.  She doesn't actually eat THAT much.  And she's probably not as bad a she says she is with the snacks either.  Though the first year did actually say that, look at her.  If she lost any more weight she would vanish!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the Friday lesson of the week this time.  As for the lesson.

The key is, do the opposite of what is listed here.  (Except for joining dance.....that's something you should do)

Ciao for Nao~

Life Lessons, No. 3

Life Lessons - Japan Style

Life Lesson 3 - Dorm Life is more fun when you talk to people

This picture was taken a few days ago.  We decided to have a fun dorm time after our cleaning (every thursday).

We talked from 10PM till 1 in the morning, and we all had school the next day.

One thing that I must say is: get to know your dorm mates.  It is much more enjoyable when they all want to at least greet you.  You'll probably make friends!

~Ja for now

Miscellaneous Saturday

The first Miscellaneous Saturday of hopefully many.

For today's item:

This was found in Osaka, Japan.　　Ah, fun times....

I wonder if the Japanese realize just what is being said here....

Japanese Graduations are Boring

And I am not over-exaggerating.

Nara

Deer, Deer, Everywhere!

So...Technically, this trip took place right after Osaka...(January 5th?) but I got lazy and didn't feel like posting it up, so here it is now....

The trip to deer central Nara, Japan.

Nara actually didn't seem to be all that large... I'm pretty sure it was just the area that we were in that was so small though.

Tokyo Disney Sea

Going to fun places~!

Or just one fun place.

A heads up to anyone wanting to go to Disney Sea.  It's really hard to find anyone who speaks English.  The furthest you can get is an English Guidebook.....unless you're lucky and find someone.

The entrance of Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea.  This is the "Resort Line" which is basically a train that connects the two.  Unfortunately, you can only choose to go to one with a single ticket.  To go to both, you would have to pay for both.

 

Word of the post-
乗り物 (norimono) - Ride, as in amusement park ride

遊園地  (Yuenchi) - Amusement Park

雪だ! 雪! きゃあああああ～！

First Snow in Japan!

Omg, it's snowing!  This really isn't much of a post since it's really spur of the moment, but I really wanted to commemorate my first time seeing snow in Japan.  It's not even supposed to snow here!

As a matter of fact, where I live in America, it doesn't snow either!  I have to go all the way to Lake Tahoe to experience snow like I got here!  *high pitched screech*  I'm so happy~!!!

So, to commemorate this day, I've decided to post our night time activities of what we did in the snow.

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Word of the post-

雪　(yuki) - snow!  I think the reason should be really flipping obvious!

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Osaka

~Exploring Osaka~

During our Winter Break, Elise and I decided to do a bit of traveling.  We decided to spend three days in Osaka.  We decided to go for three days and two nights.

Happy New Year

Happy New Years!

From Japan

Fire, fire!  Hahahahahahaha!  (They're all drunk)

In Japan, New Years is considered a more important day than Christmas.  It's pretty strange to do more for New Years than for Christmas, trust me.  Especially if you grew up in a western society.

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Word of the Post:

忘 年会 (Bounenkai) - New years is important in Japan for a reason.  To end a year means to forget the mistakes and the sad times of the year and to start over.  For that reason, Japanese often have a party called the "bounenkai".  It means a party to forget.

新年会 (Shinnenkai) - On the other hand, the Japanese also party at the start of the year.  This is to celebrate the beginning of the year and to hope for a good one.

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Christmas Parties and Dinners

Christmas and New Years in Japan Part 2:  The Rifa Party, and Christmas.

Since the last post was so flipping long, I decided to make a new post for this party.  I'll also try to add in the little Christmas party that took place on Christmas day.

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Japanese Word of the Post:

踊り (odori) - Dance.

Short and simple, I know... but because the Rifa party was all a stage based celebration, and one of the most memorable parts was when one group busted out in dance moves, it makes it a logical choice...

鈴 (suzu) - Bell

I only chose to put this in because during our Christmas Bingo during the Rifa party, we were told to put any words we think of on our sheet as our bingo board.  I put bell, but they said it had to specifically be "suzu".

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THE RIFA PARTY

Christmas in the Dorms

And they made me the tree...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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Word of the Post:
良いお年を (Yoi otoshi wo)- Have a good year~!
あけましておめでとうございます!　(akemashite omedetou gozaimasu)－ Happy New Year!

They are both said during the time of the New Years holiday.  The difference? The first is said before New Years, the second is said After the day.  So before we went on break, everyone I saw greeted me with a "良いお年を！"
Afterwords, ”あけましておめでとう～！”

The more you know. Hehe.

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Christmas is Coming

Christmas is fast approaching huh...  It doesn't feel like anywhere close to Christmas.  Maybe its because I didn't celebrate turkey day with family this year.

Have a Christmas Cake.  <3
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Japanese Word of the Post:
Maneku - to beckon or invite.  The cat who has it's paw up is often called a maneki neko because it "beckons" customers into a shop, which is why the cat is often set out in front of stores.

Now that that little tidbit is done, on with the meat of this post.

Reitaku University

As I promised, I'm here to bring a small tour of my current (for 1 year) campus.  This is the not very attractive back entrance of Reitaku University.  The actual entrance is much nicer, just to tell you, this is the way I usually come and go from though and I figured it would be best to show you what I see.


 

That wonderful building looming in the distance is my dorm room...  I'm somewhere on the far left, behind the gate.

Japanese Dorm Rooms, and the View

So, I just received my memory card reader and am really, really happy.  Of course, I'm happy about all the other stuff that came in that wonderful wonderful box, but having a memory card reader really makes my day.

So for today's post, I've decided to give a bit of a layout on just what my campus of Reitaku University looks like.

Starting from my room...

What is Wrong With the Sweets Here?

Wow, haven't updated in almost 3 weeks??  Where does the time go.

Anyways, this will probably be a fast post.  I have a test tomorrow and am really just procrastinating by being on here.  (Already did all my laundry and made food...)

Anyways, on to the post.

Japanese words of the week:

Moufu (mow-foo)　もうふ - blanket, plain and simple.  Ah, the comfort of many a children all around the world.  It ain't surprising that I'm in love with my nice, fluffy warm blanket.....

Fukuro (foo-koo-ro) ふくろ　- bag.  Not to be confused with kaban, or bag/purse, this word means the bag that things like groceries and other such shopping items get placed into upon purchasing.  Japanese are very careful with giving out their fukuro, you usually only get one or two for a crap load of groceries.  If you have a eco-bag, many times they knock off a few cents from your total.

Also, there's a store called Big-Ａ．　　Ｔｈｉｓ　ｐｌａｃｅ　ｄｏｅｓｎ’ｔ　ｇｉｖｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｂａｇｓ　ａｔ　ａｌｌ，　ｓｏ　ｉｆ　ｙｏｕ　ｐｕｒｃｈａｓｅ　 ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ，　ｍａｋｅ　ｓｕｒｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｂｒｉｎｇ　ａｎ　ｅｃｏ－ｂａｇ　ｏｒ　ａｔ　ｌｅａｓｔ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｃａｒｒｙ 　ｙｏｕｒ　ｓｔｕｆｆ　ｗｉｔｈ．

Why isn't this sweet?? ----->

I want my sweets dengit!  And I don't mean the chocolate milk!

Instruments and Aquariums

THE AQUARIUM
and other junk

Word of the Post:

WAKAME - This is the type of seaweed that is used in Miso soup, not nori as I had always believed.  I’ve been using nori in my miso for a while because it’s pretty cheap, but my soup always turned out way saltier than it should be. That’s because nori is salted and dried to add more flavor and make it more edible by itself.  So now you know, if you wanna make a nice bowl of miso, grab the wakame.

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It’s been around two weeks since the last time I posted up on this blog……………….

Already?!

Oh well, even if it’s not being read, I wanna write it for my memories in the future, so here I go.