New Year's Eve

Less than 1 hours left to 2006. How are you doing, everyone? All of my family came together to my grandparents house, and we had a Sushi Party. There are Sashimi of Tuna, Salmon, scallops, and other stuffs.
How is New Year's Eve spent?
Every year my family had Sushi Party, then watching the TV Singing Contest "Red and White Singing Contest" which is annual NHK sponsored year-end men versus women singing contest.

This picture is crabs which we bought for the New Year's Eve Party. These were boiled. We enjoyed them very much.












Last year I was in Australia, and I had a very different New Year's Eve with my host family. It was really fun and nice experience for me. We went to the Water Ski Club to enjoy the Count Down Live. We were drinking and dancing all night. It was really really fun.

Wishing you all the best for 2006, and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Party

How was your Christmas?
Every year our family come together to have a Christmas Party. The main event is preparing the TURKEY. We were all looking forward to having it.
I've never helped my mother and aunt to cook the turkey before because of my job. Since I had a time, I helped them to cook the turkey this year.
It was fun but hard and tough work....
Anyways, don't you think it looks yummy?











After dinner, we had cakes. There were a strawberry shortcake and a chocolate cake. Those were also really good taste. We enjoyed the Christmas Party very much.

My family

Today my father's side of the family gathered to commemorate my father's parents (my grandparents) death. My grandmother passed away two years ago, and my grandfather passed away 2 months later after her death.
My family were not so close to them, because my father's side of the family live far from us, and didn't have chance to gather. However, we had some commemorate events since my grandparents' death, so we became closer. I met two ladies at my grandmother's funeral two years ago, since then we were keeping in touch. To my delight, they supported me during my internship in Australia last year. I think I am very lucky person to have such a nice ladies. Thank you so much.

Relaxing Day

One of my favorite things is that having a long hot bath.
My frined and I went to the Onsen facility to relax. There are so many types of Onsen, massages, and wining & dining.
After checking in, we selected the Yukata which is Japanese traditional clothes and we have to wear inside the facility, then went into the locker room to change our clothes.
This Onsen facility's theme is the life of Edo period, so all the decorations are really Japanese traditional style.
We went to:
*Foot bath (An open-air foot bath where both males and females can enjoy together with our Yukata on.)
*Bedrock bath (lie-down on the rock for 25 minutes with our Yukata on, so our body become warm from inside)
*Grand indoor bath & Open-air bath (inside & outside)
*Rubbing massage (Korean style massage)

We have been there about 4 hours to finisht all the above things.
Then we had a dinner. we drank a beer, it was really really good taste. Because we were very thirsty, I think.
After dinner, we went to the relaxation room to rest for a while.

We stayed at this Onsen facility for 8 hours, but we could have wonderful and relaxing time there.

When you have a chance to come to Tokyo, I recommend to go there.

Winter has come.....

It was really cold not only today but also these days. When winter comes, our cats (especially Coo) like to sit and sleep with us. Because it is the first winter in his life. This morning, I woke up because I felt something was on myself. I found that chiro was sleeping besides me, and Coo was sleeping at the foot of my bed. They were very heavy when both of them were sleeping with me though, it was very warm. So I didn't want to get up....

It is over midnight...

It is over midnight already... I have to go to bed. But I'm still wondering what I should write about for today's blog.... Humm
I was very busy for doing my friends' greeting cards. Because I could meet many nice friends in Australia, and we still have been keeping in touch. Isn't it very nice thing, is it?
Now I will be busy again to prepare sending new year greeting cards to my friends. I will try to post them until December 25th so they'll arrive on January 1st.
Ok. Time to go to bed..... Good night.

A week later

I still have been spending busy days since a week ago. How are you, everyone? It is getting really cold in here recently. This morning was about 2 degrees, and about only 10 degrees at noon...
I was in Australia a year ago, and I remember that it was summer in December! It was very hot there, and I felt something strange because I had never had experienced before. Now I am missing the Summer Christmas!! :)

I gave it up.....

It is over midnight now.... I have been very busy today, and I have no idea what I should write.... Hmm.... My brain is sleeping...
See you tomorrow. Good night. Have a nice dream.

Chiro is sleeping....

Chiro is sleeping on the chest of drawers. There is a air conditioner near that, so it is the most warm place in my room when I use the air conditioner. He looks happy, doesn't he?

Happy Day!

I'm so happy! I've lost about 3 kilos in 3 months. It's great!
And one of our business acquaintance noticed that I've lost weight. Yesterday my friend noticed, too.
Recently I can wear some skirts which I couldn't wear them last year. So I'm really happy because my patience is rewarded! Keep it up!!

Meeting with my friends

I met my friends for lunch at Akihabara today. It's been for a while since we met together.
We went to the eel restaurant to eat "Hitsumabushi". "Hitsumabushi" is a local dishes in Nagoya. I want to explain and tried to write in English.... But sorry it is difficult to write it.. I'll try it later.

Anyways, it was very yummy, I really like it.
Then my friends and I went to Ginza to look around, but we didn't see a lot because it was very cold outside. We went to the cafe and chat for about 2 hours....
I was tired a little bit, but I had a good time with them.

The first step

I got a haircut today. I went to the beauty salon where I use every time and asked the beautician to dye my hair dark brown. Dyeing my hair is the 2nd time in my life, so I was worrying a little bit. When my hair was set at the end, I was really happy. I think it gave me a new look. I really like my hair colour. I feel like dressing up and going out.

Watched the movie in English.

The movie, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", was shown on TV tonight. I have already read this book, and seen this movie before, and I know the story. So I tried to watch that in English (no subtitles). It was hard sometimes to understand the scripts, but I could understand half of that. I think it could be a good practice for listening English to watch the same movie repeatedly.
I have one thing to do..... I bought the volume 5, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" this year, but I haven't finished yet.... I've heard that Japanese version will be published next May, so I will finish reading the English version until then.

The longest one in my diary

Two days ago, I went to the employment agency I registered to talk about my future carrer. The lady who has been taking care of me for about two years gave some advice for me. It was good that I could talk with her, because I had been wondering and thinking about my future career recently.
She said that I need to improve my English skills to get high salary. So one of my decisions is that I am going to take an examination of TOEIC test on next January to check my English level.
From this month, I start taking a correspondence course about how to write business letters and e-mails in English.

Anyways, I'll do my best!!