Shopping day.
Today was a shopping day with my mom. We went to Sannomiya, the center of Kobe, to purchase essential New Year items.

I made nikujaga, literally meaning "beef and potato." It's one of my favorite Japanese home dishes that I missed in Illinois.
I should've cooked it there even though I was busy...

Some wonder if I write the same thing in both journals.
An answer: Yes and No.
I usually write more in the English journal just because it has more readers and write identically in both journals when those thoughts/incidents have something in common for English and Japanese readers.

I want mini Craig David who would sing songs for me. No No No! Don't be fooled by the cloning technology, Yoko! Cloning is ethically so wrong, and it would be creepy to see two human beings with the same figure.

I went to renew my passport.
Then I couldn't avoid walking in Starbucks nearby the passport center, as some of you who actually know me can understand. :P
Cappuccino was good, but I question the size of cup and the price! Is it because the store is in the heart of Kobe? or just because I don't know prices at Starbucks? Anyway, they have to serve with a bigger cup for $3.20-Tall coffee!
This is not a matter of my Americanized perception.

I love Kobe and Japan in many ways, for example,
1) I see more wheelchair-accessible establishments than last year.
2) there is so much more yummy food. (but I miss coffee with cream and sugar from Dunkin Donuts[<-cannot spell -_-;;] and french fries in the U.S.)
3) flight attendants, store clerks and govermental office staff are very polite.

However,
1) prices are generally expensive for the served amount. (I am not always concerned about food, though.)
2) young people wear the same type of clothes. (on the way home from the airport I was surprise to see so many people in the same age looked so alike.)

Update of my life...
On the Christmas day, I woke up at 2pm ish.... and stayed at home all day...
In Kobe, Italian Christmas illumination Luminarie was held in downtown, so I was going to go, but didn't feel like going out any more when a friend of mine called me at 9pm ish.
After coming back here, I kinda wanted to spend some time alone after all the hectic time in Illinois.
Maybe I should call some friends today.

I hung out with Misa today, the 26th. Though I was hoping to see after-Christmas sales in downtown Kobe, there wasn't any. *sigh*
Misa was still fine and fun. :)

For dinner I had Sukiyaki with (really) yummmmmmmmy beef.

Yeay!!! I'm back in Kobe!!!
I spent the whole day on traveling. Dome, his roommate and Emerald were in the same flight from O'Hare to Narita.
In the plane, I watched three movies, listened to music and ate half of food served. The food wasn't so bad.
While I was away, my home got cable internet, so it's so nice to be able to use the Internet around the clock. :)
Fu~ it was a loooong trip. I'm going to take a rest now.

To my surprise, it took me only 1 hour to pack this year.
When packing clothes and stuff, I found so much crap in drawers and even in suitcases...
It's weird. There is still some space in my suitcase... Am I forgetting anything???
Well, as long as I have my passport and air tickets, I can go back.

I went to see The Lord of The Rings ~Two Towers~.
Though I saw the first one last year, I still didn't understand the story...
I won't understand what's happening unless I read books, but the movie doesn't make me want to read books...
Also the movie was soooo long that I ran to the bathroom as soon as it was over.

I am flying home! Have a wonderful Christmas!!!

I'm done with school!!!
To celebrate the end of the semester, I went to drink at Murphy's. :)
It's so relaxing not to have anything to worry about.

Ever since I heard that Tokyo people don't consider Kansai-ben good, I have been trying not to use pure Kansai-ben in front of Tokyo people.
Someone said Kansai-ben sounds silly. I am so offended by this comment. Even though I try to speak standard kind, Kansai-ben intonation always comes along! I feel I am rejected...

I wanted to make use of these past two days, but the two days melted away before I realized...
I still haven't come up with what I am going to talk about for a speech as a part of the Chinese final...
yada yada yada--------. The thing is, I have such a limited vocab and shouldn't use many new words for classmates, so it's hard to choose a topic.

The 3rd final, Syntax, is done!!! I woke up at 4:30am and studied for the exam...
Then, I worked for 5 hrs right after the exam and played one bowling game with some of J-Net-related friends before dinner. At night I had a nice study time with Cecille at Espresso Urbana.
Yeah, it's been a loooong day. Anyway, it was so joyful to say good-bye to the instructor Karlos!!!

I'm done with Statistics final!!! Yeay!!!
It was the first exam that took me 3 hrs... Three hours of calculation and struggle with runny nose was tough.
*sigh*
After the exam, I stopped by IUB and bought 4 books which cost me about $40, but still I got $15+ in total as part of 30% off book sale. :D

To whom may concern,

Do Tokyo people or people who speak Tokyo-dialect (the so-called standard Japanese) dislike Kansai-ben people???

Kat and Kendall, if you go to Kobe, you get to know BOTH Standard and Kansai Japanese!!!
In TV news, newspaper or whatever formal, so-called standard Japanese is used, but people actually speak Kansai-ben, so it's worthwhile to stay in Kansai!!!
Also, the majority of popular comedians are from Kansai, so Kansai-ben has been accepted natinwide lately.
Besides, Kansai people are more friendly. :D

I am done with Abnormal Psychology. ;D

There was something wrong with this blog server, so I couldn't updated this yesterday. I forgot what I wanted to write.
I'm getting over cold.

Craig David is so sexy.


The worst weekend before finals ever... I have a cold, so it's been so tiring to cram for finals...
Tylenol Extra Strength is temporarily relieving a fever and headache.

I hung out with friends again despite that I was so determined to study tonight...
We played pool. :D
Now Craig David is healing my tired mind.

Does my Japanese scare off Tokyo people?
Shiho and Ai pointed out that I might have overwhelmed Japanese exchange student esp from Tokyo area
while I talked to them during experiments.
Straightforward nature of English has been added on my Kansai-ben Japanese which was already powerful and straight.
ummm... should I change the way I speak Japanese???

I bought Slicker Than Your Average, the second album of Craig David. :D He is awesome!!!

The longer I stay in the U.S., the more contact info of friends in Japan I lose track of... >_

I got back my car. Happy~.

If you want something from Japan, feel free to let me know.

Took a nap after dinner and did some reviews on abnormal psych and chinese.

Finally! I am done with conducting experiments!!! It took me a while to find 40 native speakers of Japanese as subjects in this community. I always felt guilty of messing up their hair with conductive gels and making them wash their hair at the end, though they were paid for participation.
No more pressure to collect data and run experiments on Sat and Sun!

I appreciate the University installed a semi-traffic signal on Springfield Ave. between the Beckman area and the Grainger Library during the Thanks break. It was sort of dangerous to cross the road before, and I thought I would be hit to death some day.

I sympathize the resigning Treasurer of Illinois Student Government.
ISG officials are so self-centered! She made the right decision not to give away students' money for their own expensive dinner.
I can't believe they tried to spend my contribution on their meal that is not relavant at all to benefit students of the University.
As the Treasurer of J-Net, I am glad our officers don't demand me paying for their meals from the organization's money.

I love lyrics Ken Hirai and Miwa Yoshida write. A piece of ecxerpt of Ken's lyrics is on today's Kote kote Nikki.

~Some random thought~

If you have been to Japan, China or Korea, have you noticed that people ask where you are going as a greeting when they pass by? I assume that English-speaking people get annoyed by the question because it's individual's business. Since I grew up in culture where people frequently ask where I am going instead of saying "hi", I never mind being asked and simply answer "just over there" which is the most common answer to the question. On the other hand, I actually feel awkward when people ask me how I am and what's up with my life, esp, when I feel sick or things are going badly around me. Well, it's English way of greeting, so I don't mind answering them, but still I feel dishonesty when I have to say that I am fine despite that I am sick.

hehe, hope it helps communication between you and asian people (if you have wondered why they want to know where you go.)
anyway, still ask me "how are you?" as usual. I am almost always fine, so don't get suspicious of my true feeling when I say good or fine. :D

Wow... I didn't update my life on the web almost a week... Yeah, I had so many tasks to finish and even pulled an all nighter once, which rarely happens to me.

This week passed so fast.
Anyway, it was Friday, so I went to JCT, had dinner with friends and played bowling. ;D
At bowling, I scored more than 100 for the first time. Friday night is always fun.

Yeay! I'm so happy that everyone came back!!!

Wow it's already December.
I am going to post the second public journal in Japanese, so hope you enjoy it as well.