Grattis! おめでとう！

Midnight Karaoke ミッドナイト・カラオケ

To avoid eating too much ( I sometimes can't stop eating),

We went out for karaoke.

食べすぎを回避すべく(私、時々食べるのやめられんのだわ)

カラオケに行きました〜

First, we ate a little bit(?) at a Chinese restaurant.

まずは中華料理屋で腹ごしらえ

This is how I eat the salad with too much dressing.

これが私のドレッシングの多いサラダの食べ方じゃ

I soak the salad in vinegar and wash off the dressing.

サラダを酢に漬けてドレッシングを洗い落とす

We were at the karaoke from 8pm to 3am.

I wanted to stay there will 8am,

which we payed for free-time karaoke plan.

However, we were politely asked to leave because all the room got full.

The karaoke shop wanted to give an opportunity to others as well

so that they can get more money, of course.

夜8時から午前3時までカラオケにおった

朝8時までのフリータイムで入ったから

私は朝の8時までおりたかったけど

満室になったんで立ち退きを言い渡されました

他の人にも歌わせたほうが儲かるもんね

How can we go home in the middle of night?

Even though we live in the capital,

it doesn't mean the trains are in service 24 hours.

So, we took a taxi.

しかしどうやって真夜中に家帰るんや？

首都に済んどると言えども

電車は24時間やっとらんぞよ

ゆえにタクシーで帰りました

I had a great night.

ええ夜でした

美しき桜 Our campus

Because Father doesn't learn... 父よ、読んでる？

家族が再び携帯をいっきに変えると言う
以前auからsoftbankに変わったときもいきなりだったし
私はいつもいいなり
だってこだわりないもーん
電話ができれば携帯電話は価値あるんです
My family is now discussing of changing the telephone company all at once.
It was so sudden, too, when we shifted  to "softbank"from "au" last time.
I always follow their decision.
Because I don't care.
Cell phones are wonderful enough as long as I can make a call.

今回はsoftbankからdocomoに変えるとか言う
なぜ？
softbankには学割がない、家族割がない
24時間無料じゃないetc言う父
ホームページを見てみましょう
This time, Father is telling me that we shift to "docomo" from "softbank".
He says there is no sutdents' discount, no family discount,
nor no 24 hours free call  service with "softbank".
Is that so?
Let's take a look at the homepage.

というわけで約5分でこのパワポ作りました
For my dearest family, I made this PPT.
It took less than 5 minutes including finding appropriate photos on the internet.
A piece of cake:)

The Last Shift

Today is my last day as a member of the university IT support staff and also my last day as a university student.

I have three hours left on my shift and then it will be over - nine and a half years of university education. Doing something for almost ten years should mean that I'm an expert at it now but I guess I put in too little effort for that. Expert before 40 is my new goal!

On Monday at 10 a.m I start my new job as a systems developer. My employer is Feat Limited ( http://www.feat-ltd.jp/ ) where I will be employee numero uno. Up until Feat has had no employees and the good workers of its mother corporation Silk Laboratory ( www.silk.co.jp ) have done all the work. If I do a good job maybe Feat will have more employees in the future.

Last September when I got my offer I was told that my primary responsibilities would be to edit the dictionary of the speech translation application Naritra ( http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/whats_new/111226_naritra.html ) but in the fast changing world of software, who knows what I really end up doing. Right now I'm just praying that I'll get some period of acclimatization before I'm expected to show results (the company (Silk that is) is too small to have the several months of in house training common at other Japanese IT firms. On the other hand, I was told I will probably be shipped of to NICT ( http://nict.go.jp/en/index.html ) for some period of time to learn about the science behind Naritra. That's an exceedingly exciting prospect (albeit probably also humiliating because of my poor math knowledge).

My tasks today are much better adapted to my level of skill and knowledge - answering questions about printing stuff, replenishing printer paper, cleaning up som directories on a server, cleaning up some real world trashcans. But, mostly reading. Front line IT-support at a pretty well run institution during spring break this is heaven.

Oh, now it's time to count the number of students using the facilities. Off to work!

Because I can't bite 噛めんから

I chopped plums and made paste.
These plums contains alcohol.
They were soaked in Ume-Shu for long.
(Ume:plum, Shu:alcohol)
梅を刻んでペースと作りました
この梅、アルコール含んでます
長いこと梅酒に漬け込まれてたんで

Maybe because there is a certain number of people like me who say
"I wanna eat only plums. But I don't like sweet alcohol.",
it was started to sell only plums in a package.
多分、私のように「梅だけ食いてえ。でも甘い酒は嫌いじゃ！」
と言う人たちが結構いたんでしょう
それで梅酒の梅だけパッケージにして売り始めたのでは？

Anyway, the plums I bought this time was too hard for my weak bracy teeth.
I've been loving to eat them, but it hurts a lot.
So, this is the solution♡
とにかく、今の矯正中の弱い歯では今回かった梅はかめません
ずーっと食べたいと思っておるのにに痛い(;_;)
で、これが解決策♡

my hard home work 大変な作業

I'm a bit tired of translating the articles on this blog.
But I won't give up.

I have hundreds more articles on my another blog.
They are all in only Japanese.

And I don't trust Google Translate translates what I meant.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
ちょっとこのブログの翻訳に疲れてきた
でも諦めんで〜

mixiにはまだまだ日記がある
そして全部日本語だけで書いとる

グーグル翻訳は絶対信用できんし

What makes the difference between Japanese and non-JApanese. 日本人性とは

Our campus has become very active as another spring came.

Freshmen come to register and students try to recruit them to their club activities.
春が来て大学も活気づいてきました
新入生は入学手続きへ、在校生は新入生のリクルートへ

Of course, I've grown up enough.
I'm not asked by the clubs which want freshmen

but I'm often asked by members of a certain clubs

which want international students.
もちろん私は新入生には見えんでしょう
新入生勧誘にはひっかかりません
がしかし「留学生ですか」って
ちかづいて来てくれる部の人がおる

I am not an international student.

But somehow, they think I am.
わたくし、留学生ではありません

Is it what I wear that makes me look like one?
もしやこの格好がそんなふうに見えるのか？

However, my aim here is to out do one of our professors who always wears weird clothes. 

It is absolutely not to look like an international student.

しかしながら、私の目的はいつも奇抜な服をお召しになってる

うちの大学の先生に対抗することであります

Thank my small wrist! 私の小さな腕に感謝しろ！

We made another bracelets.
We payed 3000 yen for 3 bracelets in Ueno shopping mall.
And made 4 bracelets from them.
ブレスレット作った
上野で3000円で3つのブレスレット買うた
そんで4つ作った

Oh, wait...!
To be honest, we used Axel's bracelet from last year, too.
So... okay, if I'm not stupid, it still means we payed 1000 yen for each.
おっと、待てよ
正直なところAが去年買うたブレスレットも使ったわ
ってことは、私が馬鹿やなければ、結局1こ1000円ってことか

But we have some beads left.
Probably... 2 or 3?
でもまだビーズのこってるもんね
2、3こだげど・・・

Anyway, we have our original bracelets.
That's the point:)
ま、とにかく、オリジナルのブレスレット
それが大事

At last, matched again!

Towards the end of last summer we took a trip far to the north east (or East-north as we like to call it in Japanese) to visit Matsushima in Miyagi prefecture.

Matsushima is an excellent destination for touristing. They have been perfecting their skills of welcoming, entertaining, and parting you with your money for at least 400 years.

The view from the shore out over the archipelago is one of Japan's Seven Views and has been the subject of haikus since the Middle Ages.

Anyway, tourists are drawn to temples and Matsushima has them in ample supply. In one of these, the burial place of at least some members of the powerful Date family, we pounced on the opportunity to make matching bracelets.
We used turquoise, yellow, red, and white to make sort of a combination of the Swedish and Japanese flags. We also included a black stone (a plastic stone, like the rest) because we're cool.
Oh, they were wonderful bracelets. Colourful and, due to the principles of construction, imbued with potent superstition.

Alas, are matching wrists were not meant to be. Before long Y'e bracelet was lost to her. A stupid oaf was at fault. A pox upon the oaf!
So, for many months I was alone in having a cheerful wrist. But today! Today we went to closest north-eastern destination available, Ueno in Tokyo, and among the many trinkets and knickknacks in the shopping strip called American Side Street, Y spied cheap bracelets of turquoise (coloured?) stone that she immediately knew were perfect raw material for new matching bracelets.

To make bracelets like these you need a longish, thin, strong, elastic cord, and some spherules with holes through them.
We bought plenty of the latter, but for the former we had only the cords from the bracelets we slaughtered. This still work out fine for Y who has appropriately slender wrists (although I managed to cause all the stones to slip of the cord a couple of times), less fine for me.
It took until the sixth or seventh try before I managed to close the bracelet using only my hands, my feet, a pair of pliers, a pincette, super glue, and Y's hands. Kind of makes me wish my home was equipped with some kind of vice. Or that we had bought cords of proper length.
I ruined Y's half-dried nail polish in the process too.

Anyway, now we have, at last, matching bracelets again. The Sweden-Japan theme is not very obvious anymore, but in its stead we a little bit of well earned plastic bling. I hope it visible in the photo.

Apart from stones Ueno offered the National Science Museum and a dingy eatery called Torahachi. Both of them terrific places that calls for another visit. At the latest I want to go to the science museum because then they'll have two new short films screening in the spherical movie theater. I can hardly wait.

100 yen lantern 100円のライト

I hated the light we had.
This is my room.
Warm and cozy now.

前のライトめっちゃややったんで100均で買いました
私の部屋
あったかみあっていい感じ〜

Soy Cheese Cake 豆乳チーズケーキ

Warm water 60g

Soy milk 300ml

Gelatin 6g

Sugar 90g

Lemon extract 15g
Cream 200g

1. Blend warm water and gelatin
2. Add sugar into 1 and melt the sugar
3. Cool 2
4. Add lemon extract and cream when 3 starts getting a little solid
5. Put 4 at a cool place

I used only 30 g of sugar but it was too sweet for me as I estimated.

So, I put chili pepper on the top.

お湯 60g
豆乳 300ml
ゼラチン 6g
砂糖90g
レモン汁 15g
生クリーム200g

1.お湯とゼラチンを混ぜる
2.1に砂糖を加えて砂糖を溶かす
3.2を冷やす
4.3にレモン汁と生クリームを加える
5.4を冷やす

甘いの好きじゃないから砂糖30gにしたけどやっぱ甘かった
ゆえに七味をかけてみました
Yum!

Active Sunday アクティヴ・さんで〜

We started this new day, cleaning up our rooms and sorting out our stuff for a flea market.
We'll got a little space at the flea market event at the park next month.
あたーらしいあっさがきたっ♪
部屋の掃除とフリーマーケットに向けた作業で
今日も一日始めます
来月フリマするよ〜

For lunch, we had rice paper rolls.

お昼は生春巻き

Putting quinoa  in the rolls was a good idea.

キヌアを入れるのはいいアイデアやった

Later, my best friend Y came.

We had "fika".

As I thought, she picked "Magic Desert"(tea).

This tea smells brilliant.

Then, we went to our friend's birthday party in Kichijoji.

It was at "Wine & Tapas Chill", our favorite restaurant.
そのあと、親友Yが遊びに来た
フィーカ(スウェーデン語で「お茶する」的な)しました
お茶、めっちゃええにおい
それから友だちの誕生日会のため吉祥寺へ
お気に入りのレストランWine & Tapas Chill

http://cree-co.com/

I felt different last night.

I'm not good talking with someone I just met on that day.

And a group conversation, talking with many people at the table either.

However, it was different last night.

今晩はいつもと何か違う気分

私は通常、その日に会った人と話すのは苦手

そしてグループでの会話も苦手

でも今日はできた

I enjoyed a lot.

I am very sure that the medicines are working

and influencing me strongly.

楽しかった〜

こりゃ絶対、心療内科の薬の力にちがいない

Origami Flower 折り紙のブーケ

I made a birthday present for my friend.
友だちのお誕生日プレゼント

We are invited to her birthday party dinner tonight.

I used clay to stick these flowers.

今晩お誕生会行くよ〜

花を立たせるために粘土使た

With the rest of clay, I made these.

I really want those flowers for our house, too.

And sorry for giving someone the planter you gave us.

We thought it's good to share a wonderful art of Sweden.

We now have many of them at home thanks to you.

残った粘土でこれらを作りました

このはなのオブジェ、自分のうちにほしい

そして、すみません

Aの両親がうちらにくれた入れ物をあげちゃうことにして

でもうちらの家にはいろいろスウェーデンのもの歩けん

他の人にちょっとシェアするのもいいと思ってさ

よし、こんな感じの花たくさん自分ちにも作るぞ

Svenska invasion スウェーデン語侵入

I found these portable ash cases at a 100 yen shop.

100円ショップで見つけた携帯灰皿

We like the pink one best.

God gag!
ピンクのやつがベスト
God gagだって
おそらくGod dag (こんにちは)のことでしょう

Still miss ya, Sverige. まだまだ忘れられんスウェーデン

Vegetable soup made of Italian herb seasoning mix and vege-bouillon from Sweden.
Tea called "Magic Desert" bought in Växjö.
イタリアンハーブミックスとスウェーデンで買うた野菜ブイヨンのスープ
Aの故郷で買った「マジックデザート」というお茶

I had no idea know what to cook for dinner.
But my hands knew what I wanted.
今晩は何作ればいいか全くアイデア浮かばんかったけど
身体が買ってにこれ作ってた

It's fabulous to speak Japanese fluently. 日本語上手なんはステキ

In Japan, it is fabulous that a foreigner are fluent in Japanese.
Yesterday, A, Y and I had a dinner at the restaurant
and they gave us this plate.
日本では外国人が上手に日本語話すことは素敵らしい
昨日AとYと私でレストランで食べた
そしてこれもらいました

It says " you are good at Japanese. Fabulous♡"
Apparently, people haven't thought it could be an insult.
「日本語上手ですね　ステキ♡」
これがけなし言葉になるってことは考えたことないみたいね

Do I get a comment like this in Sweden or the U.S.?
We can see how odd people think it is
to meet someone with blond hair and blue eyes
that speaks to you in fluent Japanese in this country.
Sad...
スウェーデンやアメリカでも移民はこういうこと言われるんやろか
金髪で青めがいきなり上手に日本語話すことが
この国ではおそろしくビックリな出来事であることが
わかる証拠を見てしまいました

What we did today 今日やったこと

I was supposed to have one of my part-time job from 12.
A was working at school from the morning.
So, we meet for lunch.
今日は12時から学内バイトがあるはずやった。
Aは朝から学校で働きよった。
そういうわけで一緒に学校でお昼食べた。

When I get to my work place,
I just found out that no one was there.
バイト先に行ったら
なんと誰もおらん。

Which means...
I have a day off!?
ということは・・・
お休み！？

Actually, the answer is NO.
なわけないじゃ〜ん

Even though I didn't have that part-time job,
I had much work to do with another part-time job.
Before starting that job, I happened to meet Y, my best friend.
We talked our vacation.
Some catch up.
We invited her to our dinner at a restaurant
after my appoint mental the medical clinic.
たとえ1つのバイトが無くなったからって休みって訳にはならん。
他のバイトのほうでも作業頼まれとったから。
もう一つのほうのバイト作業始める前に親友Yに出くわした。
近況報告会開催。
ほんで今晩一緒に塚田農場で食べようということに。

Here she is!
She is also a hard worker.
We had much to talk.
はい、Yさんでーす！
彼女もよく働くんだねー、これが。
めっちゃしゃべくりまくった。

I wanted to order another cocktail,
but thanks to A, I succeeded to control myself tonight.
最後の一杯、カクテル頼みたかったけど
Aのおかげで飲み過ぎずに帰宅することができました。
セルフコントローー――――――――――――ル！

When we got home, I got a phone call from my drunk father.
It seems he, too, needs someone to help him out.
家に帰ったら残念ながら酔っぱらった父からの電話。
うーん、誰か寄り添ってくれる人を必要としているようです。

WHAT WE GOT IN DUBAI ドバイ土産

Tuesday highlights 火曜日のハイライト

Since I can't sleep despite it's almost 5 am, I will write our today's activities.
(The doctor says I need to have some activity during the day to be able to sleep...)
もう朝の5時だというのに眠れんので「本日の活動」を書きまーす。
(夜眠れるように日中「活動」しろって医者は言うたけど・・・)

On the way to the station, wow, beautiful... um...
cherry blossoms or a plum tree.
白糸台までの道になんとも美しい
う〜む。。。桜か桃(笑)

So beautiful.

well, I wish this tree wasn't in a parking lot.

めっちゃきれい。

ま、生えてるのが駐車場じゃなければね。

A had an appointment at a mental clinic in Higashi-Nakano.

I waited for him at "NAKANO BROADWAY".

(By the way, I always think of "Gossip Girl" when I call him with his initial...)

Aは東中野の心療内科でアポがあったんで

私は中野ブロードウェイで待機。

(ところで、相方をイニシャルで呼ぶたび『ゴシップガール』思い出すわ)

It says "Broadway" but no plays or cinemas.

There are many small old shops.

It was a little early for looking around.

Most of the shops opens at 12 and the building was like a haunted mansion when I got there.

「ブルードウェイ」というけど劇場やないです。

昔ながらの店がぎっしり詰まってます。

ほとんどの店が12時開店やったんで買い物にはまだ早い時間。

ひとのけの無いブルードウェイはお化け屋敷的。

So I made my way to a shopping street beside the Broadway

and bought these pants!

しゃあないんでブロードウェイに沿った商店街を散策。

そしてこのジーンズ買いました！

I've wanted jeans with flower pattern for long.

こういう花柄のジーンズずっと欲しかったん。

And finally, I found my size with a reasonable price.

My nails were done later.

I bought nail polishes at 100 yen shop and put them on during karaoke.

A told you about karaoke so I skip that part.

そしてついに見つけた☆

サイズぴったりでなかなか安いやつ。

爪はもうちょっとあとにやった。

100円ショップでマニキュア買うてカラオケ中に塗った。

カラオケについてはAが前のブログで書いたからスキップ。

I had an appointment at my father's friend's dental clinic.

They found a huge bad tooth:(

So I was sitting there for almost 2 hours including the replacement of my braces.

私は私で今日、父の友人の歯医者さんとこでアポあり。

そして大きな虫歯が発見されました。

ゆえに矯正の付け替えも含めて2時間は座っとったな。

Near the clinic, there is a Mochi shop which seems pretty old.

I've thought of going in, but I was not brave enough.

People must buy something if they enter such a small store.

That's probably a good manner I was told.

And it also looked like a chain store but we found out it was not.

But today, we got KUSAMOCHI~

歯医者さんの近くには結構古そうな餅屋がある。

いっつも入ろうと思うけどなかなか勇気が出せず。

そういう老舗的な店に入ったらなんか買わないかん気がする。

ま、それが常識と教育されたんやと思う。

老舗そうなわりに並んどるもんからチェーン店ぽいけん

それもあって入らんかったけど、なか入ってみるとちごとった。

草餅ゲット〜

These were soooooo god!

No sweet stuffing in.

Not mixed with sugar either.

Wonderful!

These are Kusa-mochi.

Grass Mochi is a direct translation.

(Mochi isn't translated but you know what it is, I guess.)

めっちゃうまい！

あんこが入っとらんし

砂糖入っとらん

すばらしい！

On the way home after karaoke, we dropped by a bakery we often buy good bread.

I collected 600 points!

(1 point = 1 yen.)

So we bought a little luxury this time.

カラオケからの帰り、いっつも寄るバン屋さんに寄った。

そこでいつもおいしいパン購入しとります。

600ポイント貯まっとった！

(１ポイント＝1円)

そこで今回はちょっと贅沢なもん買うてみました。

A maccha pie.

2 different kinds of creamy fillings in the pie or puff.

抹茶パイ。

2種類の違う抹茶クリーム入り。

A's one big bite.

Aの大きなひとくち。

We enjoyed very much today.

We're active, following the doctor's advice.

Well, I don't know why I still can't get sleepy.

めっちゃ楽しい一日でした。

お医者さんの助言に従い活動的やった私たち。

なんで寝れんのや？

To celebrate the first visitor from Sweden スウェーデンからの初ブログ読者を讃えて

välkommen

いらっしゃ〜い

Singing Contest

We rode over to the next prefecture to get free dental care for Y.
Except for dentists obligated to treat Y for free, our destination also featured a cheap karaoke place so we sang for a couple of hours.

Karaoke boxes are definitely among the things I'll miss most when we leave Japan. Going singing works as an icebreaker for getting to know new people, as a filler when you have some free time, as a main event, and as a sort of night cap; the last thing you do before you head home.

Since there were only the two of us in the karaoke box today we could experiment without disturbing anyone. Today we experimented with the scoring function of the karaoke machine. The setup was simple enough, stay in tune and on the beat or else you can't sing the song until finnish.

It was a humbling experience. Songs that I sing everytime got cut short after just a minute. Y on the other hand completed everything that didn't require her to sing falsetto. Awesome sense of beat.
Now I have to reconsider my self image as  quite musical person. Do I have a nice groove that machines unfortunately can't appreciate? Or am I just off beat all the time...

Pancake Art