Lunch with Yuki

Hello, everyone~!

This time, I would like to talk about my summer vacation. On Aug 12th, I finally could meet Yuki (from AGU2006) in Harajuku to have lunch together! Though we've talked about having lunch or dinner together sometime soon, each of us had been busy taking exams and doing what we needed to do such as part-time jobs and practicing an instrument. (Yuki belongs to Aoyama Gakuin's orchestra, remember?)

We got together in Harajuku. Do you remember the post I talked about this place just a little while ago? As I mentioned, it's famous for fashion and the birth place of youth culture. And the picture on the right side is the entrance of Takeshita street. (You can see the name board of Yoshinoya on your right. It's a restaurant that serves beef bowls, and they have restaurants in the US! ) It's a must-visit place when you visit Harajuku. You can visit clothing stores, accessory shops, fast food restaurants, and so on. As you can see by looking at the photograph, many people were there because it was midst of summer vacation! People from all parts of Tokyo and throughout the world came here. Yuki and I hasn't been here for ages, so we felt really old. Hahaha.

After going through the street, we found the restaurant called "SHANTI". What they serve is soup curry. Soup curry was born in Sapporo, Northern part in Japan, and it's influenced by cuisines of South Asia and South-east Asia. I tried it when I visited Sapporo and I told Yuki that I really liked it. After that, she told me that she knew the restaurant where we could enjoy soup curry in Tokyo! We did enjoy eating soup curry so much that I completely forgot to take a picture of it! :( If you want to know more about soup curry, please google it!) And we talked about what each of us has been up to lately, the boy bands that I've been into, and girl talk! We realized that we kept talking for about 3 hours! Wooow. I felt fast, though. It's always fun to talk with girl friends, especially about guys! Hehehe.

Also... we enjoyed the dessert as well! When you go out for lunch or dinner, don't you feel like eating something sweet after having lunch or dinner? (If you are a girl, you might be able to understand what I mean! I really hope so. I think that's why we have a saying "There is room for dessert".) So, we started walking to look for something sweet and yummy. After looking through several shops, we decided to have Harajuku roll crape. As you can see from the picture, it's not an ordinary crape that you think of. It's covered with crispy and thin pancake. Inside of it, fruits and cream were covered with thin pancake. So, you don't have to worry about spilling out while eating. Mine was chocolate and bananas! Hmmm.... yum-yum!

Oh my gosh... have I gone too far?

That's all for today!

The Chat with AGU2008

Hello, everyone~! ^^

On Aug 13th, I enjoyed chatting with the members of AGU2008 at Tapped In! As I expected, the chat room was really crowded. But I'm really glad to be able to talk to you guys! (virtually, though.) Thank you so much for letting me join the chat! I hope I'll see you guys in Japan. :)

Some of you thought you did well on the chat and others thought you could have done it better, but don't worry! It's natural that you would feel overwhelmed or you think that it's hard to follow the conversation. It depends on how well you can type or how much you get used to chatting on the Internet. If you think that it's a bit hard, I'm sure you'll gradually improve. :) Chatting at Tapped In and Doing IM(instant messaging) with mentors have helped me improve and sustain my skills of writing in English and typing! Additionally, you will be able to keep in touch with the people in Maryland by doing them! So, let's keep trying. :)

As many of AGU 2008ers mentioned that the program is about to end, I'm feeling sad as well... We do know that things always have an end and nothing lasts forever, but reading posts that you guys don't want to go back to Japan reminds me of the feeling I had when I was there in 2006. Hmmm.... honestly it still makes me a bit sad.

Anyway, I hope all of you keep having fun until the program finishes completely! (Actually, the end of the program is the beginning. That's what I talked about when I was at the airport, waiting for boarding.)

That's all for today! See you!

Welcome Back!

Hello, everyone~!

As I've said on the previous post, I'm going to talk about what I've done lately. I've done several things, so I don't know where to begin.... But the first thing that came to my mind was about the reunion of AGU '06 & '07 in Tokyo!

As some of you know already, Laura has come to Japan as a member of the JET program. Before she went to the place she would work, she stayed in Tokyo to receive a training for several days. So, Ai arranged the reunion at Shinjuku on August 5th! (Thanks a lot! :) )

Though I was the only one from AGU 2006, I was glad to meet Laura and the members from AGU 2007! We enjoyed eating and talking each other about what each of us has been up to. Laura showed me the handouts of the training and I was surprised to know that there literally was a lot to remember!

After that, we headed out to a "must-visit" place for us. Yes, Karaoke! As always, we were fascinated by Laura's voice and we all enjoyed singing! ^^

I enjoyed being there so much that I forgot to take pictures! (Sorry about that!) But, Ai took pictures! So, please visit Ai's blog if you're interested.

Okay, that's all for today!

AGU2008 has started!

Hello, everyone~!
It's been a little while since I've updated this blog several weeks ago.... how have you been?

I've done several things since the vacation began, so I'll talk about them one by one soon! But before doing so, I'm happy that AGU 2008 has started finally and to be able to see the members update blogs! ^^

Though I won't be able to join physically, leaving comments on the blogs makes me feel as if I were a part of them. (I almost forgot to tell you about myself when I left comments, I'm sorry!)

Also, reading what you guys did during the trip really reminds me of the wonderful time that I had two years ago. I'm still surprised to know that two years have passed since I visited the UM, but I do remember it as though it were yesterday! (Speaking of AGU2006, I talked with Ji Won several days ago. ^^)

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the trip as much as possible and learn something from this experience that you've had in a different culture. And if I could say a thing or two, it would be... please sleep well every day! I'm sure you've got a lot to get through in terms of classes and activities, right? When I was there, I got tired almost each day because of the classes and activities and it made me go to bed early! (I did enjoy going out for Karaoke sometimes, though.) Looking back, the tight schedule worked really fine for me to sleep well at night! Hahaha.

Lastly, I'm looking forward to talking to you in Tapped In! ^^

I'm now 22 years old!

Hello, everyone~!
As I came back here again from yesterday to update this blog, I realize gradually that it's really nice for me to be here as a blogger because I've enjoyed doing so. It helps me maintain my writing skill in English, of course!

Anyway...Today is my birthday! As the title of today's post says, I'm now 22 years old. I'm glad that my friends celebrate my birthday and I'm really happy about that, but when it comes to the fact that I turned 22 years old, I just feel nothing! I even started to wonder if it's important to see myself by counting the years I've lived. Hmmmm.... what do you think?

Moreover, I just can't wait to see AGU 2008 begin! After I visited Maryland as a participant of AGU 2006, I do think back of what I had at the time every time this season comes! I really do. (Such as... Karaoke nights, how some of us became shopholics, and how I enjoyed making waffles every morning and eating it! Hahaha.) As I said on the yesterday's post, the memory remains the same like it happens just yesterday! So, I really hope that this year's participants will also enjoy the program as much as I did! (Before that, should I hope that they will have a good flight and get over jet lag? Right?)

That's all for today!

Lastly, though it has nothing to do with what I've said above, I put the picture I took the other day. I took this picture when I went shopping to Harajuku after my part-time job. The place I work is located in Shibuya and it just takes 10-15 minutes to go to Harajuku. Some of you might be familiar with Harajuku already, because I think it's famous for young people throughout the world. (Especially in the US??) It definitely is the city for fashionistas or shopholics, and that's what it's famous for. When I felt tired a bit after shopping and looked up to the sky, I found this beautiful sunset! I hope you enjoy! :)

See you soon~

It's been a while...

Hello, everyone~!
I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while. As you might guess already, there was one thing that I should worry about before the summer vacation began. Yes, EXAMS! It's finished finally. So, I'm now ready for the vacation. Yaaaaay! On the other hand, I just can't believe that this vacation will be my last summer vacation during my school days.

Also... I turned over a calender today and realized that August would begin.

Hmmmm...... it means.....

I will be 22 years old on August 2nd.....!!!!!

Ahhhhh! Time flies! My body clock feels like I'm still 18 or so, but it's undeniable. But I guess it's not that bad to get older.(Too early to understand?)

Also...

Members of AGU 2008 depart finally!

I still feel that the time we had happened just yesterday, and thinking of what I did two years ago makes me want to listen to the songs I'd enjoyed listening to at the time. It really makes me feel closer to the days I enjoyed with AGU 2006 members! Though I won't participate the program as a participants, I will do my best as a blogger in Japan! Hahaha. :)

These are the songs I'd enjoyed listening to at the time.
Do you remember?


"Gallery" by Mario Vazquez


"Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol


"Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera


"Tell Me Baby" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

It shows that I watched the morning shows on MTV almost everyday in the hotel room! That was how I woke up at the time. (And making waffles! Hahaha.)

There's more!

Laura will be arriving soon!

I just can't wait to see her again!!! She will stay in Tokyo before she goes to the place she will work. Have a nice flight, Laura! ^^

That's all for now. I actually have a lot to talk about, so I will do it little by little. Please look forward to it!

See you soon~

Should I Buy....or Not?

Hello, everyone~!

Today, I'll be talking about a thing that I've been thinking about lately.

It's about.... whether or not I should buy iPhone, which arrives in Japan soon.

I downloaded a keynote address by Steve Jobs, a CEO of Apple, from iTunes when I heard that he finally announced the debut of iPhone. At the time, I almost fell in love with functions it got and imagined what it would be like to have mine.

After waiting for almost one year, it'll come out finally in Japan! But I didn't get excited very much somehow when the news about iPhone's debut in Japan was released. It's just because I've never been able to be so passionate about iPhone or it's just too late. In addtion to that, I've heard about negative things about iPhone. I do understand nothing is perfect in this world, but hearing the things like that let me down and I just can't make a decision!

My father said he would definitely change his cell phone to iPhone when it comes out, because a deal its company offers is cheeper than now and having iPhone mesmerizes him.

What about myself? Hmmm.... I think I can stick to Docomo. (Docomo is a big telecom company in Japan) But once I take a glimpse of iPhone, I cannot but keep looking at it!

It's important to be cool when you buy something, but usability is also crutial at the same time. Don't you think? So, if you have your own iPhone or friends who have iPhone, would you please tell me your opinion?