I got a job!

Friday, 26 Oct 07, 7.50am at home

Hello my dear diary,
It's been almost 10 days since the last time I wrote my diary. It's because I lost the most precious thing I've ever received, I've been not in the mood of blogging and chatting. I don't want to say it here because I don't want to be down again after my hard efforts to make myself happy. Now, I guess I still have to go on with my life. Good and bad things happen in life. It's just part of life. But, I still keep praying for 'that thing' to happen. God can make the impossible thing becomes possible. Let me keep this faith in my heart till He makes the day. This is the deepest regret that ever happened in my life!

As I said, good and bad things happen in life. I got a good news too! Thanks God, He gives me light in the middle of my darkness. I got a job! After couple of interviews, yesterday, the company just welcomed me aboard. It's such an amazing blessing, I never expected to be able to work fulltime in Japan this fast!

This is the story: Exactly 2 weeks ago, on one fine Saturday afternoon, I received news from my good friend that he/she got a decent job. I was happy for him/her, really, I swear to God! But, in my deepest heart, I looked myself on the mirror "What am I doing now?" and I was so sad, I cried. I was fine after my hubby tried his best to give hopes to me. On that night, it was the first time my hubby and I went to a Christian fellowship in one of our Indonesian friends' house here. We met many good friends, we introduced ourselves, our background, our job, etc. It happened so fast, cut the story short, one of our friends told my hubby that his friend's company needs an employee in which the job requirements were matched to what I was specialised in. We agreed to meet his friend the next week after that fellowship.

The story behind the scene: exactly 2 weeks ago, on one fine Saturday morning, someone told my friend that he needed to expand his business so he wanted more people to join. On the night, my friend met me on the fellowship. He still remembered on what his friend told him in the morning, he told my hubby about this job vacancy!

When we see the time frame, it looks like everything has already been prepared. Before I was sad in the afternoon, He already prepared it for me since morning! That's what I believe. I will start working this afternoon.

*Are you happy?* Yes, I'm happy.
*Why don't you look happy?* I'll not be perfectly happy till my prayer on 'that thing' comes true..

-Abbie-

Nihon no Taipu (Typing in Japanese)

Wednesday, 17 Oct 07, 8.15am at home

Hello again, diary,
Yesterday, my Japanese class was in computer lab. My Japanese sensei (teacher) taught me how to type Japanese in the computer. It was so much fun! She asked us to write a nikki (diary) just to practice typing. It should not be a problem, I used to write my little diary here almost every day.

This is what I wrote on the computer.

私の名前は フェにタ です。
テンプル大学の学生です。

火曜日、 2007年10月16
私は今のクラスで日本語の勉強します。先生はどのように教えてくれているコンピュータ上の日本のタイプです。今..

Meaning:
My name is Fenita.
A student of Temple University.

Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Now I'm studying Japanese in class. My teacher is teaching me how to type on the computer in Japanese. Now..

You know, this is the template that I usually use when writing my little diary. I just started writing the date, the month, the year, and few sentences of introduction about what I was doing, I had not touched the topic of what I did before coming to class, too late, suddenly my sensei asked me questions. I was not ready at all to answer these! Even, I had not finished writing the introduction part..
Sensei: Fenita-san, doko-ni kimashita? (Fenita, where did you come from?)
Me: Oh uh oh uchi ni kimashita (oh uh oh from home)
Sensei: Ropponggi ni? Ginza ni? Ikebukuro ni? (from Roponggi? from Ginza? from Ikebukuro?) << She still couldn't believe I came from home
Me: Uchi ni! (from home)
Sensei: Ohh.. uchi ni?? Kyoo wa uchi de nani o shimashita? (Ohh.. from home?? Today what did you do at home?) << What's wrong with my uchi?
Me: uh hmm ermm uhh souji o shimashita, ryouri o shimashita (uh hmm ermm uhh cleaned, cooked) << D*mn! Sensitive question! What a housewife could do??!!
Sensei: So desuka? Nani o tsukurimashitaka? (Really? What did you cook?) << Omo, not too detail please..
Me: Bifu kare desu (Beef Curry) << this is true!
Sensei: Ryouri o shimashita, nani o shimashitaka? (After cooking, what did you do?) << Do you really want to know this far??
Me: Tabemashita!! (I ate!!) << Actually, I was watching DVD after cooking but I was afraid she would ask the movie title, the story, the actors, uhh.. better not!
Sensei: Nani o nomimashitaka? (What did you drink) << omo omo omo, please please stop it!
Me: ermm.. Ocha o nomimashita (ermm.. Green tea) << I was about to say wine
Sensei: Dare to shokuji o shimashitaka? Haha. You don't have to tell me the truth. (Whom did you have meal with? Haha. You don't have to tell me the truth.) << What's with 'Haha'? She knew that I was having meal alone??
Me: [Smile] No No, Tomodachi to! (No No, with friends) << That smile and that 'No No' meant that I was not lying.
Sensei: So desuka. Sugoi desune. (Really? That's great)
Me: Hai! (Yes!) << Yes, I was lying. I ate alone.

After she finished asking me questions about my diary, she was asking my other classmates who all could answer it with long long long sentences. They had finished writing their diary, so they were all prepared! Did I look stupid? One good lesson for me, do not write too long introduction when writing a diary!

-Abbie-

Hello, L Lee...

Wednesday, 17 Oct 07, 7.46am at home

Good morning, my diary.
Today is a such good morning, I have a good mood today, because yesterday night I received a good news! Do you remember that I told you about my dream? A dream about my sister's second pregnancy.. It happened! Thanks God! Yeehaaa.. I'll be getting a nephew soon!! Well, it's too soon to know whether it's a girl/boy, but I really hope it will be a boy because she has a baby girl already now. Congratss sis.. I'm really really really happy for you.. ^_^

This blog entry is dedicated to my future nephew 'L Lee'. I just want to let him know that I'm looking forward to see you soon... on this world! I knew I love you before I met you.. *nyanyi* Muuuuaaaaaackkkkkk...!!!

-Happy Abbie-

p.s Sis, you have not changed the baby's name, rite? Tell me if you do, and let me know once you know it's a girl/boy.. I'll need to update this post.. ^_^

Happy Idul Fitri

Monday, 15 Oct 07,10.33am at home

Diary, is it now Ramadhan?
When is it? Today? Yesterday? Tomorrow?
I can't feel anything here, there's no ketupat, there's no sholat id. Should I cook ketupat today? How to make the sauce? Is ketupat made from rice? or lontong? Is lontong made from rice? or ketupat? Ah, I don't want to cook ketupat now, maybe next year. Anyway, Happy Idul Fitri, Mohon Maaph Laer dan Batin.. to you all.. and to my little diary too! ^_^

-Abbie-

p.s I need to go on diet NOW!! I feel my body is 'squarer' now, like ermm...ketupat. I hate it! I'm buying Twist & Shape Stepper again this week :D

Trip to Odaiba

Monday, 15 Oct 07, 8.44am at home

Dear my little diary,
It's been exactly 1 year since my first time writing my first blog entry. Back then, I was still in Singapore, single, and I just started my job at my second company in Singapore. Now, everything has changed. I'm no longer in Singapore, I'm no longer single, and I'm no longer working. If we think about it, in just one year, many things can change, many things can happen. Situation may change, our mind may change, in just a very short time. Sometimes, what we've planned may be changed, what we've expected may not come true. The world does change, people do change, and we do change. So, there's no use talking about future now, just live our lives well, enjoy it, and we'll know what to do when the time has come, agree??

Anyway, last Saturday we went to a fellowship in one Indonesian's home here. We met lots of good friends there. I'm happy to get new friends now, I really hope that I can settle down somewhere, perhaps Japan is fine. Tokyo is nice, I love Tokyo so much except the fact that I can't speak the language and I can't earn money here. Actually I don't like moving around, I don't like changing places, I hate house shifting. The process of adaptation to a new environment, new language, and new friends; and the process of leaving my comfortable environment, known language, and my good friends; ohh I'm just not adventureous enough to go thru all of these process once in every few years. I lost contact with my good friends whenever I move country, hiks.. Is it because I'm not good enough in maintain the relationship with them? Or it happens naturally just like that? Well, I suddenly remembered what my mum told me; when she gets older, she more realises that she needs more and more friends to accompany her since her kids are all grown up and kids will leave the family soon. Now I can feel what my mum feels, is it because I'm getting older now and scared that my kids will leave me here all alone? *but, you even have not had kid now*

What am I mumbling now? When I opened this blog this morning, initially I wanted to post my photos when we visited our friends' home in Odaiba after church yesterday night. It's a very very nice place.. There's a Rainbow Bridge that looks exactly like Golden Gate in San Fransisco, there's a liberty statue (ini pinjeman, pernah dibalikin pas kontrak abis, sekarang udah dibeli katanya) that looks exactly like the one in New York, and there's a Tokyo Tower (can you see the orange tall tower in between the brige from the pic?) that looks exactly like Eiffel Tower in France. It's very nice, rite? We don't need to go to 3 places to see all of these, just go to Odaiba will do.

Odaiba is an island. It's not a real island but it's a human-made island. Amazing, rite? Maybe I'm a bit 'kampungan' but I never knew that island can be made! There's a beach komplit with its beach sand too! It's all also human-made, the sand was imported from other island in Japan. They put a sign as an acknowledgement of an island where the sand was imported from. Odaiba island is made from a big collection of rubbish for many years. It's good that they really make use of every little piece of thing even if it's an unused rubbish. Can we move to this island one day? I like this place soo muchhh (jangan mikirin tentang sampahnya).

Oh, one good news! My mum asked me to find a place where she bought a blanket in December last year. She said that I have to find it before she comes here in December this year! I kept searching the place all over the possible tourist shopping destinations, like Ginza and Shinjuku, but couldn't find it! Amazingly, I found it last nite!! It's actually in Odaiba wahahahahaha.. leganyaaa..

Now my head is a bit dizzy, the last 2 nights were cold and I was out against the winds. My body stamina is like emak2 now, easy to get dizzy and sick. Haiz..

-Abbie-

Learning Japanese Characters

Friday, 12 Oct 07, 8.33am at home

Morning morning morning diary..

I found out something interesting about learning chinese characters or, Japanese call it Kanji. As you can see from the pictures, seems that every word has story behind it. Perhaps this is how the ancient chinese created their own language. When I think of it, I imagine a group of pithecanthropus erectus gather in a big cave with some candles in it, they are discussing symbols that they all can understand. Once finished, the leader will draw the symbols on a stone while others copying it on their own stone-notebook. If I imagine how these symbols were created, it's a very touching story, isn't it? But when I imagine how I did so badly in my Kanji Quiz yesterday, "uhuk..!". Maybe at that time, they drew direct symbols, they drew eye exactly like eye, they drew river exactly like river, they drew door exactly like door. But now, they have simplified the characters, I know it's to make us easier to write but the symbols are no longer too clear to guess. *So you prefer to go back to the stone-era?*

Japanese language is even more difficult! How can one chinese character have different sound depending on the context? One simple example: this word 人 (means: person) can sound as 'hito', 'nin', or 'jin'. And there are 2 other types of Japanese characters. They just mix these 3 types of characters in sentences. Now it's our job to remember (or to guess) which words use Kanji, which words use Hiragana, and which words use Katakana. They now adopt more and more words from English, these are written in Katakana. You know, for a beginner like me, I have a hard time reading the characters. Once I manage to read it, I have another hard time to guess whether it's originally a Japanese word or adopted from English. Some words are very hard to guess, like:
- Duraibu = Drive
- Sutato = Start
- Tosuto = Toast
- Saisu = Size
- Taipu = Type
- Doburu Rumu = Double Room
After I spell it, then I can roughly guess. Now what I can do is to wait for them to adopt all words from English then Ai kan supiku Jepenisu furuenri, retsu jasu hopu, tuenti yurusu Ai wiru waitu (I can speak Japanese fluently, let's just hope, twenty years I will wait).

-Abbie-

Cooking

Wednesday, 10 Oct 07, 9.37am at home

Hellow diary,
It's been 3 months after my wedding. To be exact, it's been 3 months and 3 days! As I told you before, I had a pressure wanting to be a good housewife who can cook as well as do house chores, at the beginning of my marriage life. For me, the hardest part is to be able to cook a decent meal, at least. I did research a lot on the Internet and TV, copied some recipes, and asked helps from my sis and cousin.. I want my cooking skills to be improved! I want to be like my mum, who's able to tell what the ingredients are by just tasting it once, and the next morning she'll be able to make the meal by herself. Amazing, rite? I want to have a sensitive tounge and nose, skillful hands, and 'keibuan' heart. Well, people do change. I never imagined that I would love to learn cooking by 26 years old. I like eating, but I never liked cooking and I thought I would never like cooking forever and ever.

But, recently, my mind has changed. I still don't really like cooking but I like the feeling after I've finished cooking! *You're happy coz you've done your job of the day? Or you're happy coz it's time to eat?* O My God, you're absolutely rite, these 2 reasons are rite! But, more importantly, I'm happy if I've succeeded producing something, especially if I manage to make something nice and delicious. It's such a pleasant feeling! The process is also not bad, I can take my time practising and designing my food when my hubby isn't around. It'll be perfect if the person who eats my food likes it! Here, the one and the only person who eats my food and has chance to like it, is my husband. Indirectly, I feel so happy, if by any chance, he likes my food. I'm still learning now, hopefully I'll be improved by the time goes by :D

Now I understand the feeling of persons who cook, they must have their own passion on something to be able to cook well. A chef has passion on food, a mother has passion on her husband and kids, and a maid has passion on....money? We should give them big applause, cooking isn't easy. Just one tip, enjoy it when you cook, so cooking is not that bad. Anyway, here I posted some karya of mine *ihik.. malu*

-Abbie-

How to Make Japanese Dumpling

Tuesday, 9 Oct 07, 5.25pm at home

Hi diary,
Just want to share with you how to make Japanese style dumpling (my style). Hihihi... Fyi, that is my hand.

I know the wantons are a little bit burnt. Well, I'm still learning how to cook. Anyway, after you steam it for a while, try to eat it as soon as you can while it's still hot!

Happy trying..

-Abbie-

Our Trip to Okutama Town

Tuesday, 9 Oct 07, 7.52am at home

Hellow diary,
These last few days I've been busy. This is why I seldom write diary now. I told you that we planned to go for a family trip last weekend, rite? Yes, we went there, We went to Okutama Town! We departed from home at 8.30am. We managed to find Okutama Town, after 2.5 hours journey by train from my home. This picture on the left was taken when I first arrived at Okutama Station. When we first arrived, we were blurrr..didn't know where to go. We saw a tourist information office but did not help at all! The broucher and the map were all in Japanese, the person also spoke Japanese. It's ok, we decided to 'explore' the town ourself! Our main objective going to Okutama town was to find fishing spot and do BBQ. Our journey started from here..

Firstly, we walked around the station area. According to the map that I downloaded from the Internet, there should be a fishing spot just opposite the train station. We heard sound of water but there was fish smell. But, we found wooden stairs going down to somewhere.. somewhere darker and colder.. it's not a horror story, ok? It was going down to the water. The air was so fresh! The water was so clean too! But the fish was not there. We happily took pictures there, spent long time there, and forgot our main 'mission'. Well, I don't know how about my hubby, at least for me, I forgot completely about the mission. Here are the pictures..




















Then, we were so hungry.. We couldn't find any restaurant around that area. But, we found buses! Aha! I guessed we should ride on bus to explore more about this town. After we asked around with my limited Japanese, we found a Japanese who could speak English. That old man wanted to go to Okutama Lake, we were going there too! Thanks God we found him. He told us how to catch bus, how to pay the bus fare, and where to stop! It's very good lesson for me to realise that it's very important to know where to stop in a deserted place! We arrived at the Okutama lake. They call it a lake but actually it's a human-made lake. Anyway, it's still very nice!

We had lunch there and walked around the lake to take pictures. And, I just remembered about our important mission. It's not that I remembered actually, my hubby reminded me after clock was showing at 2pm. Omo omo omo! And we realised that the bus only came once in a hour or 2 hours. I asked the information center there about the fishing spot and which bus we should take. The bus would only come 75 minutes later. Another omo omo omo! They gave me a map. We saw the map to find a 'fish icon' on the map. Usually they label fishing spot with fish icon. Fish fish fish, where are you? Yes, we found one! But, it's very strage that the fish icon was not on the location where the information center showed me! Instead, it was around where we stood at that moment, it was just behind the mountain. Well, not exactly around where we were standing, I mean we did not need to take bus, we could just walk! We still had to wait for 75 minutes for the bus to come anyway, so we tried our luck to walk around.. to behind the mountain.











Believe me, it was initially so fun! The mountain air was so fresh.. the weather was so nice, the temperature was around 15C. I found one interesting thing, you can see from the picture. Dunno how to call that thing, it's a like stove but doesn't look like a stove, it's for cooking water. Anyway, we walked along a river and went up and up and up to a mountain.. and the road was smaller and smaller and smaller. There were more trees, more and more trees.. it was getting darker, and there were only 2 of us there! After walking about 30minutes and we still couldn't find the fish on the place where the map showed, I was so afraid. The road was so small, I was so scared of falling down. So I asked Ron to go back and wait for the bus. Mission half failed!

The bus finally came. Before I got onto the bus, I asked the bus driver to make sure if the bus was going to the correct destination.
Me: Kono basu wa Minedani e ikimasuka? (Is this bus going to Minedani?)
Driver: Hai, Minedani-bashi e ikimasu. (Yes, going to Minedani-bashi.)
Me: Minedani e ikimasuka? (going to Minedani?)
Driver: brapbrapbrapbrap Minedani-bashi brapbrapbrap (not clear what he said)
Me: Yes, this bus. Let's go honey (I told Ron with big smile on my face)

On the bus, Ron told me that he heard 'Minedani-bashi', not 'Minedani'. I thought, 'Minedani-bashi' and 'Minedani-ikimasu' sounded similar, rite? He must heard wrongly. We also would pass Minedani-bashi before reaching Minedani, by the way. So, wouldn't be a big problem, rite?? Then, after passing Minedani, the bus stopped. The bus driver screamed at me that we already arrived!
Driver: brapbrabrap Minedani-bashi brapbrap (...Minedani-bashi...)
Me: Watashi wa Minedani e ikimasu (I'm going to Minedani)
Driver: brabrapbrap Minedani-bashi, doko brap brap? (....Minedani-bashi, where...?)
Me: Minedani-bashi dewa arimasen. Minedani desu. (not Minedani-bashi. It's Minedani) << I purposely added 'desu' at the end of the sentence to inform him that Minedani full stop, there was no bashi.
Driver: brapbrap orimasu brap aruite brap brap hashi brap kirei.. (....get down from the bus..walk...bridge...nice..) << He opened the bus door and asked me to go down.

And we got off from the bus. The bus left. Yes, we saw a very big red pretty bridge. So what? We wanted to go to Minedani, not Minedani-bashi. We wanted to find fish, not a bridge. Initially, we wanted to hop on the next bus. Why didn't the driver let us go to Minedani? Why did he insist us to go down and see the red brige? We checked the schedule, and that was the last bus of the day! It was around 4pm. Then, we checked our map to see how far Minedani is from Minedani-bashi. I saw the figure, it was around 3km. And I told Ron "It was only 2km, let's walk!". I did not want to make him sad, it was all my fault. Why couldn't I just stay on the bus, by any mean, like pingsan kek, asma kek? Then, we decided to walk. By bus, we supposed to reach in 10 minutes, by walk we should be reaching in 30 minutes? 45 minutes? After 15 minutes walk, we saw the bus and the bus driver whom I was arguing with, going down from Minedani. Hiks.. I was so embarassed, I covered my face with my hand and my hair. But, Ron was starring at him! The bus driver should be thinking 'What these 2 guys up to? Walking to deserted mountain while there was no longer bus going down?" Oh yea, fyi, that bus was also the last bus! Even if we managed to reach Minedani, we also had to walk back to Minedani-bashi to get a bus to take us to the train station. So, total would be 6km walk. Wow, what a great exercise!

On the way up to the mountain, Ron saw some people fishing along the river, he saw some fish kecipak kecipung.. but it was down there. Even we didn't know how they managed to go down there. You see from the picture how Ron desperately wanted to see fish. Oh, I'm so sorry honey.. The other picture was to show you how far and quiet the road was. After walking for about 30 minutes, we realised that we had just walked half way. We gave up! It was getting darker. Even we reach there, we also still need to walk down, in the dark! So, we decided to go back to the red bridge. So tired.. so hungry.. so cold.. we were so happy when we finally saw the red brige again! We reached home around 9pm.
On that day, I remembered what I've written on my previous blog that I wanted to realise my hubby's dream a bit, I thought at least I would see a fish, one ekor would do. But, I never imagined that I failed to realise his dream. Not even a bit, but, not at all! I know he was disappointed, do you know that I was more disappointed than him? I'm very disappointed with myself. My clumsy soul always comes out not at the right time, arghh... Yes, we had lots of fun there, but mission was not accomplished! Mission was totally failed! I'm sorry, honey.. Do you still give me chance to arrange our next family trip?

-Sad Abbie-

I need a Map please.....!!

Friday, 5 Sep 07, 1.09pm at home

Benci.. benci.. benci..!!!!
You know that I lost my Tokyo City map, rite? Now I want to buy a new map for tomorrow's family trip, I'm good enough to have willingness to buy it again, ain't I? Kinokuniya bookstore is the only bookshop I know of that's selling English version of books, including maps. Honestly, I only know one Kinokuniya store that's located in Shinjuku, but I don't want to go there, it's too far from my home! So, I searched for Kinokuniya's stores at other locations and I found a long list of locations including those near my home. It's good! But, the problem is, I don't know how to get there!! I searched the Internet again for map of the locations, it's either in Japanese or none in English. I hate it! I always have difficulty searching things from the Internet in Japan.

So now, what I suppose to do? I need to buy a map from a bookstore, finding a bookstore needs a map. Bookstore needs a map or a map needs a bookstore?? Arghhh... It's something like chicken and egg, which one comes first? I don't care whether chicken or egg comes first! I just need a map! No, I need to find a bookstore! No, I need a map first to find a bookstore! But, I don't have a map with me now, so I need a bookstore first!! No, I need a map first!!! Arghhhh...

-'NdongkoL' Abbie-

Planning for Next Trip!

Tuesday, 2 Oct 07, 8.11am at home

Hi my diary,
Outside temperature is now around 21C. Brrr.. honestly, I don't really like winter, I don't really like summer either. I like spring or autumn when the temperature is just nice for our human body with just wearing one thin jacket. I hate cold weather especially after bathing and when I get up from my warm bed in the morning. In other word, my favorite room's temperature is 25C. Well, now I have to experience winter again..in Tokyo..which is colder than the winter that I experienced in Australia. For me, winter is nice, snow is nice, but just to look at.. I don't like the feeling of cold, the feeling when my body shakes, the feeling when my teeth bump each other, the feeling when my lips turn blue, the feeling when I have to hide my hands in between my legs or inside the pockets, etc. One thing that I like about winter is, when I HAVE TO drink a cup of hot chocolate to warm my body up and to give me more energy to keep walking. Actually I don't really need a hot choco, hot coffee will be fine too, but I prefer choco.. Cokorate o onegaishimasu (Give me a choco please), I should remember this sentence well. Oh, one more good thing about winter is, I can wear nice jacket and hide my fat tummy behind it. Oh yea, winter also looks good at night in Christmas and New Year when the lights are... *Nice introduction Abbie! Enough about winter, next topic please*

Hmm, about my life? My life is so so. My Japanese lesson is getting more difficult now, one of my teachers likes to explain things in Japanese so I have to guess what she's trying to say. Hopefully my guess is right. Now I can feel that I'm so much more confident than last time. I'm not saying that my Japanese is so much better, I'm just feeling more confident now. You know, like a soldier who brings a weapon on his leg wherever he goes, and like a girl who brings a powder pack in her handbag wherever she goes. Yea, it's like me who brings my electronic dictionary in my handbag wherever I go. *Lohh??*

Oh yea, my husband and I are planning to go for a family trip again this weekend! Yipeee.. 'Family' in the family trip is actually just me and him. I just want to make it clear that it's not a honeymoon trip but a family trip. Next Monday will be a public holiday again in Japan, so it's long weekend again!! Anyway, we're planning to go to a lake (around 2 hours drive from Tokyo) where we can do fishing, BBQ, onsen (hot spring), and stay overnite at ryoukan (Japanese house) maybe. We won't join a tour like our last trip to Mt Fuji. It's not that I've become 'Ratu Jalanan' now like what my cousin said, but because I can't find any tour group going there. It's ok, we can have a relax trip this time.. trip without bus, trip without Mister tour guide..

Fyi, my husband likes fishing. I know it's hard to find a young generation who likes fishing in this 22nd century. Maybe his soul is still from old generation? Recently, because of cold weather, he always says that he's dreaming of fishing, in this kind of weather, near the lake, at the back of a wooden villa where we're going to stay, under a big tree, with a big picnic basket and BBQ equipments, and not to forget, there's ME beside him! Omo, it's such a simple dream but hard to bring into a realisation. Where to find such an exact setting? Perhaps, one day we can build our own house near a lake.. yea, one day! For now, let's just hope that our next trip will at least realise his dream a bit. No, let's first hope that we will find the place, I'm just afraid that the clumsy soul inside me will come out on that crucial time..

See you again, diary

-Abbie-

Little Changes..

Friday, 28 Sep 07, 1.15pm at home

Dear Diary,

First Change
Today I've done a little step in my life. I started writing articles, published them online, and earn some money. The money is not huge but I feel appreciated when people read my articles and when I see the ranking of my articles moving up. Hopefully I can continue writing..

Second Change
Yesterday I told my Japanese course coordinator that I wanted to jump to the higher level. It's not that I'm too smart or what, it's just that they're too slow *What's the difference??*. Yesterday I was still confused if I was able to follow Level 2 course because I was not confident that my Japanese was on that level yet. Also, I've already missed 5 meetings since Level 2 Class started few days earlier than Level 1 Class. Luckily, the course coordinator was very nice, she allowed me to attend the Level 2 Class last nite for trial and let my teacher & myself decided if I could follow the lesson. Yes, I can follow Lesson 2 class! I'm so happy that I found the right level for me now. Not really the right level, my class now gives me some pressures to catch up what I've missed. I'll study this weekend (kalo gak lupa)!

By the way, my class now only has around 8 persons, 6 of them are Westerners and males, the other 1 is an Indian female. My class is only on every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Well, actually my friends at Level 1 Class are more fun but it's ok.. We can still be friends although we're not in the same class anymore, rite? But, would they think that I'm 'kemayu' girl who likes jumping a lot?

Others
Today is my shopping day!! Today is the 28th of the month, the last weekend of this month, and I just realised that I under-spent the money for this month. So should I spend it more today till the last coin?? Hahaha.. let's see what I need to buy now, No, let's check my list on what I want to buy.. Hopefully Ron won't read this part, he'll be triple shocked. Ho Ho Ho! Calm down, drink water first, and Actived, and sleep please.. and you'll feel refreshed in the morning like nothing has happened.

Oh yea, till now I still have not bought my glasses.. it's because I still have not found a suitable one for my face. Haiz.. So now sometimes I put tissue at the connecting point to make the cangkolan straighter, and I wear contacts when I go out coz I don't want people to get curious of the tissue that's hanging on my glasses.

Ok, need to do some house works before going.
Bye diary..

-Abbie-

11.11 o'clock

Thursday, 27 Sep 07, 3.49pm at home

Konniciwa, watashi no nikki.. (Good afternoon, my diary..)

Recently I found out something interesting from my Korean movie. It's said that "When you look at the clock and it's showing exactly at 11.11, that means someone is thinking of you". Well, I don't know how true that is, I prefer not to believe but to hope that it's true. In Korean, it's pronounced as "yil yil yil yil". Not too nice to hear, and not too easy to spell since you have to move your lower jaw to the front for 4x and touch your tounge to your upper front teeth for 4x too. For me, 11 looks like shadows of 2 persons standing. Perhaps 'thinking' in this case can be interpreted as "thinking of a time when I'm standing beside you". How about the other 11? Another 2 persons standing and watching us?? Mum and Dad? Spy? Mister Detectives? Anyway, this morning I saw my clock and it was exactly at 11.11am! Who was thinking of me?? (Or, who was watching me??)

The tips if you want someone's thinking of you:
1. Buy a digital clock so it can show 11.11.
2. Set your alarm clock at 11.10, at least you'll have 1 minute to run to your clock and see your clock turning to 11.11 and *ceprett* take picture.
3. Take off the battery of your clock when it's showing 11.11 and don't put the battery back................ forever!
4. Call someone, he/she must be wondering what's up, and just say 'nothing' then hang up the phone. Yes, he/she must be thinking of you after that.
5. Tell someone you care about this 11.11 story. Believe me, whenever he/she looks at the clock at 11.11, he/she will think of you. (So now, all my readers will think of me together serentak at 11.11 hahahaha! *curanggg!*)

-Abbie-

My 1st Japanese Class

Wednesday, 26 Sep 07, 8.50am at home

Hellow again, my little diary..
When I woke up this morning, I still felt so tired and sleepy although I had an enough and sound sleep last nite. Until now I'm still so tired and sleepy, I can hardly open my eyes. *How are you still able to type with your eyes closed?* Typing uses hands, not eyes, rite? Seems like my fingers have their own eyes, they know where to press letter A, B, C, etc. For me, I used both hands to type, however, the most active fingers are only my middle fingers. I guess this is why my middle fingers are longer than my other fingers. It's the same concept as the giraffe' neck's story that I told you, isn't it?

Yesterday I managed to do all the tasks that I mentioned yesterday although there were some little problems. Well, not exactly little, I lost my Tokyo City Map and left my mobile at home! It was such a big problem for me. I needed to go to Ward Office to collect my alien card and to my school that I didn't know whereabout. I couldn't make calls to ask for help, so I used my instinct to find the places. I thought it should be easy like how Ron and I managed to find the fish market by just 'mengendus-endus' the fish' smell on an empty air and following a person who was wearing boots (Fish market people usually wear boots, rite?). On my case, I had no clue what smell I should look for. Smell of aliens? Smell of books? Cut the story short, after going around and around and around I managed to find the places. Lucky that I brought spare sandals, I knew that my feet would pain in my new shoes. I should bring extra sandals wherever I go from now on, it's as necessary as bringing umbrella in my handbag. My handbag now is always full with my necessities, it's almost like a picnic basket without the 'taplak merah kotak-kotak'.

My Japanese class? It was great! There were 13 persons in a class, only 3 were Asian (including me), the rest was Westerners. They were all very friendly. One thing, I hope that my Japanese won't sound like English. Well, it's because my Mandarin once sounded like Hindi since my Mandarin class was mostly attended by Indians. It's true that we easily follow the environment. Anyway, honestly, I've learnt the basics of Japanese in Indo so it was not difficult for me to catch the lesson. However, I still found the class interesting because we were not only taught about the language, but also about Japanese culture and customs, by the local speaker.

-For example, we say 'Ohayo' only in the morning when we wake up and it should be said before 10am. How if I wake up at 11am? Should I say 'Ohayo' or 'Konniciwa'?
-Example no 2, we say 'Ohayo Gozaimasu' to the boss/professor. Then the boss/professor will reply 'Ohayo'. A question, how if the boss/professor say first to the subordinate/student? Should they say 'Ohayo' or 'Ohayo Gozaimasu'? The answer is: boss/professor/whoever with higher level hardly greet first. That's Japanese culture.
-Example no 3, we always say 'Itadakimasu' (meaning: I'll eat this food) before eating with both hands are put together like praying. Does it mean 'I'll eat this food, this food is mine, don't ever take this food from my plate'?? And we say 'Gochisousama deshita' (meaning: Thank's for the meal, your food is nice) after we finish eating (I really see people saying 'Gochisousama deshita' loudly to the shop owner while leaving the restaurant without any expression, although they eat alone! I think it's kind of a habit rather than a real appraisal).
-Example no 4, 'Sayonara' and 'Shitsureishimasu' mean bye2 with different level of politeness depending on whom we are talking to. Omo omo omo.. everytime we should remember the casual word and the polite word. It's really like Javanese where we have Ngoko, Kromo, Kromo Inggil, they are used depending on the situation. Japanese and Javanese really have many similarities!

Ja mata, diary (meaning: see you, diary)

-Abbie-

p.s I'll write some words in Japanese from now to practice my Jap. Who knows I'll write blog in Jap one day?? Or write novel in Jap?? *Hey, there was no news about your novel now, how is it?* I'm still stucked in deciding the names of the players. Haiz..!

Today is 25 Sep!

Tuesday, 25 Sep 07, 7.36am at home

Good morning diary,
I am having my breakfast now; butter-sugar-choco-bread-toasted and a cup of hot green tea. Today is such nice and cold day. I like the weather so much, nice for sleeping or just for staying home and do nothing. But, today I have things to do:
1. Collect my new Alien Card (because of my new address, I had to re-apply the card)
2. Open a bank account (I have to wait for for my alien card in order to open an account)
3. Book hotels and air tickets to Sapporo (my family has just confirmed the itinery)
4. Start my Japanese Class!!

Yeehaa.. finally the day has come! I'm going to school again today. My school is Temple University, they offer an intensive Japanese course. Oh fyi, my class will be held on Monday to Thursday at 6.20pm-9.20pm. *Why does the class start at 6.20pm instead of 6.30pm?* Maybe because they want to end the class at 9.20pm, so it's exactly 3 hours class. *Why does the class end at 9.20pm instead of 9.30pm?* If it ends at 9.30pm, that means the duration of the class is 3 hours 10 mins. I told you, they want to make it exactly 3 hours! Or maybe because it takes exactly 10 mins walk from school to the nearest train station? Or they want to test how big our 'desire' is to study Japanese? Dunno la, don't ask me..

From now, like what my hubby said, I'll be a part-time housewife and a part-time student. My first half is still a housewife, my other half is a student. It's something like 'ayam berkepala babi'. A chicken who eats a lot like a pig. Yea, it's me!

My husband has just returned from Singapore on Sunday afternoon. It's good that yesterday was public holiday so he could rest at home the whole day yesterday. Good news is: We've got our International Driving Permit! Ron applied it in Singapore by using our Singapore driving licenses. You must be curious why I applied that IDP while I'm not driving here, I don't even have a car here. You must be more curious why I have Singapore driving license while I was not driving in Singapore, I didn't even have a car too! *Are you such a weird person who likes to make collection of driving license from all countries?* Well, I like cars. I like driving. *So?* I feel secured if I have driving license, that means I can drive anytime if some unexpected things happen, for example; if I win a car from lottery, if I have to drive an ambulance in the case of emergency, if I have to escape from somewhere when there's only a car there, if I happen to be trapped in a situation like Sandra Bullock in 'Speed' when I have to drive a bus emergency, etc. Anything may happen, rite? It's something like 'Sedia payung sebelum hujan'. Ok ok, honestly, I applied for IDP because we are planning to rent a car in our holiday to Sapporo this December. One of the requirements to rent a car is owning an IDP. I know I won't drive, nobody trusts my driving skill. I can't do parallel parking. I can't do rear parking. In Japan, we can only park a car by rear parking. This is very obvious that I can't drive car in Japan, No, to be more accurate, I can drive but I can't stop the car!

Hey diary, I just created another blog! A blog that tells about my journey to find the place where my rib belongs, and more like a photo album for my wedding. Yea, I want to continue my dream to create a wedding website that has been 'tersendat' for quite a while. Thanks to Ms Elica who has given me this inspiration and who has motivated me to complete this project well *walahh walahh*. I realised that creating a website is complicated and costly. You know, I'm not very determined when I do things. Creating a blog is much easier since there's already a web template I can choose, and it's free! So, I chose creating a blog. I'll keep writing it with other stories although the place where my rib belongs has been found now. :)

-Abbie-