かえる・ちゃん と あかちゃん

こんばんは！

おととい,　この　ストラップ　を　かいました！　かわいい　でしょう？　かえる・ちゃん　です　よ！　（＾－＾）
いもうと　の　あかちゃん　は　かわいすぎる　です　よ！　この　あかちゃん　が　みたら　とても　うれしく　なります！　だいすき　です！　（everytime i see him my hear skips a beat ^^ i love just laying down beside him when hes sleeping and staring at him for long periods of time hehe)

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V

These are the highest heels i have EVER bought! I hope i don't fall flat on my face when i wear them ('^_^) eeh

みんな　は　どう　です　か？　エード　を　たのしんで　ください！

じゃ　また　ね！

New addition to the family

Konbanwa!

I didn't write about this earlier coz i didnt have pix to go with it but i do have some now. My sis A gave birth to a baby boy on the evening of Tuesday, 22nd of September! He has already been named Ali (which is the name of his father's father). We are all extremely happy and we love him to bits. Thank god he and his mum we'll be staying at our house for about 3 weeks before going back home. He came from the hospital yesterday and we've been taking turns holding him, and sometimes even fighting over whose turn it is. Its so amazing to have a little baby in our house coz the last time we had one was when my 13 year old sis was a baby. Being woken up this morning by his crying was the best! hehe ^^ its just so nice to see him and hold him and we can't beleive hes our sister's baby..

Our little Ali is a little jaundiced so we had to make him sunbathe today lol poor baby we made him lay in the sun half naked..

I hope we will live long enough to see him have his own babies, waaa what a thought.. I pray to god to protect him and keep him healthy and let him live a good life.

I couldn't take very good pix but i will in the coming days..



PS my Nana was supposed to arrive on the 2nd, and my sis have her baby on the 3rd of october, but she had it almost a week and a half early so Nana missed out. Shes still coming on the 2nd though, to see her first great grandson :)

wa (は) and ga (が)

Konbanwa!

I think i finally understand the differnece between wa and ga and when to use them. I just never got the differnece and thought they were interchangeable, until i watched this vid and read this.
Now that i understand it, ive got to practice using it.. the hard part lol.. so i think im gonna write some sentences with wa and ga and discuss them with Yoriko-sensei when we have our next lesson.. Fefechan, i don't know if you OK with wa and ga but check the link out, its discusses all the uses of both in a simple way..

Ja mata!

ressun no fukushuu ・レッス の ふうしゅう

Konbanwa! I just rememerbered to post this lol

So its a revision of Wednesday's lesson.
We started with the paragraph i had written. I wrote about Ramadan, how we dont eat and drink, how the easiest tasks become hard because we are tired, and how many people become irritated easily. I tried to use grammar from the last lesson, esp. -ku naru.

My mistakes;

• "tabemono wo tabenakute nomimono wo nomimasen", yoriko-sensei said that although tabenakute is correct its better to use tabenaide, and after nomimono i should've used "mo" not "wo".
• "onaka ga suita kara yasahii (task) ga muzukashiku narimasu", it should have been "onaka ga suite iru no de kantan na koto ga muzukashiku narimasu".
• I wont tell you what i wrote when i meant to say, kind people become unkind lol but the translation turned out to mean, kind people become evil lol. the correct is "takusan no hito ga iraira shimasu" A lot of people get irritated.
• I didnt know how to write celebration so i just wrote party which worked fine, but i learnt that celebration is "o-iwai".

The grammar i learnt was;
-nagara which i already knew but we reviewed it and i found out that it can be used for things that happen within the same period of time but not right now. for example, we use nagara to say, i listen to music while i study/ benkyou shinagara ongaku wo kikimasu. The new one i learnt is, i work part time while i study at university/ arubaito wo shinagara daigaku de benkyou shimasu.

-tari which we had touched on before but went through extensively on Wednesday. You make this form by attaching "ri" to the end of the informal past (tabeta--->tabetari/ oyoida--->oyoidari). Its used when your talking about actions but not mentioning all, when there are others. For example, when mentioning hobbies, naturally you wouldnt mention every single one, so using -tari shows that there are more. The second usage i didnt really understand fully but the paper says--> it indicated that two conditions or actions are interhcnagbly repeated. For example, it rains off and on/ ame ga futtari yandari shite imasu. OR i go back and forth from Oosaka to toukyou by plane/hikouki de toukyou to oosaka wo ittari kitari shimasu.

-"de". I learnt some other uses of "de". I usually use it for stating where something happens (resutoran de tabemashita) or by what means (pen de kaku/densha de iku). I learnt that its used after the quantity for example, zenbu(all)/sanmai (three sheets) de 2000 en desu. However it can't be used if the quantity is only one, if its one you omit it, ichimai 10 en desu. Its also used to limit something (number of people, time period), for example sannin de ikimashita OR (sale) wa ashita de owarimasu. The third usage is when de comes after a noun, to indicate that the noun is the reason the verb happened. For example, kaze de tenisu ga dekimasen (because of (the) cold, he couldnt go to tennis). The last use if when talking about ingredients or how something is made up of differnt things, de is used. For example, kudamono de jyuusu wo tskuru koto ga dekimasu. It doesnt have to be ingredients for food, for example, i made this doll from paper (kami de kono ningyou tsukurimashita). Oh and also using de for "sekai de ichiban (adjective)" kind of thing.

After grammar we did some reasing comprehension. There were little paragraphs with mostly grammar from last class that i had to read and see if i understood them, which i did. I'll write one of them for you fefechan to see if you get it k?

おいしい　さかなりょうり　を　たべたり、　たのしい　ダンス　を　おどったり　しません　か。　を　した　こと　が　あります　か。　ダイビング　ふじかいがん　の　うみ　は　せかい　で　いちばｎ　きれいでｓｙ。　めずらしい　さかな　が　たくさん　います。

kaigan=beach/seaside
fujiaigan= fuji seaside

I also learnt the kanji for 1-10. plus a couple of cultural things and slang :D like aruki tabako, and using zenzen with positives, and using -kata to mean how to ..., e.g. tsukaikata/how to use, kakikata/how to write, tsukurikata/how to make...etc

I guess thats enough, my fingers hurt..

Next class i hope to learn more, coz its ramadan the classes are going slowly but after ramadan i hope we pick up the pace a bit and i may ask for extra lessons instead of just one a week maybe two or something, we'll see how that goes..

Oyasumi~

Being sick & katakana!

I think, i think, i've finally conquered katakana! I'm going to give it a few days and see if im as confident lol demo シ,　ツ,　ソ,　ン, are still a bit hard to remember.. fefechan, if you ever want mnemonics for katakana go to the japanese wikibooks, there are loads of good ones, but most of them are mine lol each letter had like one mnemonic only so i added my own as i learnt them, and i must say i think mine make more sense lol ok ok i wont say more..

At 9 AM i was fine, by 10 AM i was as sick as a dog! I've got a cold, spent all day sneezing, blowing my nose, and having the hardest time swallowing since my throat felt like it was on fire, i guess coz i couldn't drink.. as soon as i broke my fast i started taking one medicine after the other, plus lots of hot liquids, and now my mum is gonna get me some more medicine.. I really want to get better by tomorrow or i might not go to work, i felt soo sick at work i really couldn't concentrate..

I was just telling fefechan, my bro just called me to ask if im still sick and if i want him to take me to the clinic lol thats a first, i dont know if its coz he just came back from traveling or what lol but its nice anyways..

I sent an email to one of the HR people today to ask about taking those 2 weeks off in January, i hope she answers tomorrow..

Mari-san, i hope you will continue to read my blog while you're in Japan, atleast we can keep in touch that way.. we miss you already!

bomb sites and graduations!

My room looks like a bomb site! I don't know why the maid didn't clean it, i dont like to sit in a messy room and now i have to tidy it up before i can relax! WTH!

Our visit today was really fun, we had a great time. We even talked to my mum's friend's daughters, they're in England, but we turned the webcam on and talked to them, it was really nice..

Now i feel energized and ready for the week ahead, except i havent finished shopping! argh!

I forgot to mention that Yamashita Tomohisa finally graduated from university on the 19th! Omedetou yamashita-kun!

People have been telling me ive lost weight, which i have but only a few kilos and i dont think it shows, so whenever someone says it im like not really sure whether they're telling the truth or just tryin to be nice lol doesn't matter either way, unless i lose a considerable amount of weight im not gonna be happy.. oh well..

My brothers been away with about 12 of his friend, they went for el3mra. Lucky buggers, i wanna go!

bai bai
PS i'll write about my lesson tomorrow, its too late to be talkin about grammar :D

update

My last update was last Saturday! i didnt think it was that long..

I wrote about marie-san in my last post, at the moment she is in japan with her kids staying at her family's house while her husband is studying in another prefecture. I hope when i go in Jan she will still be in tokyo so we can meet up a lot, but even if she goes to live with her husband by then, i will definitely go down there and see her. But if shes in Tokyo it would be much more fun coz we can go to so many different places..

I just remembered that i didnt write about my last japanese class so i will in another post later on today, if i get the chance. We are going out shopping in a couple of hours, we still havent finished shopping for eid.. and then we're going to my mum's oldest best-est friend ever's house to break our fast there.. I can't beleive we are 3 weeks into Ramadan! Almost a week to go, and a couple days! Its gone by so fast this year..

Yesterday my sis M and her kids and my adopted baby and her mum came over, we had a good time but they both left a little early. by 9 oclock they were gone, maybe even 8:30.. oh well at least we got to see them..

Whenever my sisters and i go in Monsoon we always love the kids' clothes they have, but unfortunately we dont have any kids around us so yesterday i saw this little cute dress that i fell in love with so i got it for my adopted baby with accessories and shoes, it felt so good to fnally buy one of those cute dresses lol anyways, i put them on her when she came and she looked adorable! Can't wait to see her in them!

I'm thinkin of getting the Macbook Air.. i dont want to move from windows to a mac coz i wont know how to use it at first, but macs are just so cool so i decided to get it and just learn how to use it..

While we were shopping yesterday all i could think about was Japan, looking at all the coats and winter clothes.. i can't wait to go really.. but i still havent figured out whats happening with work.. i gotta ask if i can take 2 weeks unpaid, i wonder what they'll say.. if they say no i will just have to quit, theres just no other way really.. ah well, we'll see what happens..

I watched a movie called "an american crime" yesterday which is supposed to be, not only "based on a true story" but almost everything in it is the truth, it was sad to think its true and someone could do such a thing, slow moving movie but i liked it. I also watched "the ruins" the other day which is a horror movie but wasnt really scary and i hated the ending, but atleast i watched something, havent been watching much recently..

I guess thats enough of me babbling away.. take care everyone!
bai bai

PS momonga ga hoshii!

Food

こんばんは！

ひさしぶり　です　ね～
みんな　げんき？

木ようび　に　マリさん　と　アイシャさん　きました。
OK switching to english coz i dont know how to say brought. Anyways, mari-san brought some sushi with her, crab and unagi. oishikatta desu yo! demo i dont think i like unagi very much, crab is better.


On to another topic, i made ceasar salad with chicken. it was awesome and everyone finished it all..
I went to the mall today to buy clothes and stuff, and i bought this cute mug and yet another DIET book..I also bought my first ever webcam..
Thats it for today, im listening to miyavi.. gotta go.. baibai

なにも

こんばんは！

さいきん　MIYAVI　と　Gackt に　はまっています！その　ふたり　の　うた　が　だいすき　です　よ！
あした　にほんご　の　レッスン　が　ある　ので　きょう　かんじ　を　べんきょう　しました。　たのしみに　まっています。しけん　が　ある　ので　がんばります　よ！

じゃ　また　ね！（＾＿＾）ｙ

PS　as soon as i saw "umai" i remembered the "umai/oichi" scene with pi and tegoshi in the neverending wonderful story DVD lol

Japanese lesson review

Konbanwa!
OK so fefechan asked me to write about my lesson again, i hope you find it helpful.

So, i had to write another paragraph in japanese for Wednesday's class, i wrote about my day, what i do when i get home. It was pretty lame but i can't write any complex sentences so thats what i wrote.

My first mistake was using "ni" after my workplace. I wrote "XXX ni hattaraiteimasu" when it should have been "XXX de hattaraiteimasu". I got this wrong coz i was in a hurry writing, but i know the rule anyways.

The second was writing "uchi ni wa", i wanted to say that "at home...", it should have been "uchi de wa".

My third was "intaanetto wo saafu shite" which i actually got from online, but yoriko-sensei said it should be "intaanetto saafu wo shite".

My fourth was when i tried to say "when my dad gets home", i wont tell you what i wrote lol but it should have been "otousan ga kaetara..". So i guess the rule is to use informal past + ra to say "when (the verb) happens", "when i eat", "when she goes"..etc

My fifth (wow lots of mistakes) was using "ni" after gurai. You don't need anything after gurai.

Another sentence i couldnt formulate was "we discussed many things/topics". Yoriko-sensei said "iroiro no hanashi wo shimasu" is OK.

I also wanted to say "most of the time" but didnt know how so i just used itsumo (always), to make it almost always or most of the time, you can add "hotondo" before itsumo. So like, "kono resutoran de hotondo itsumo sushi wo tabemasu".

After correcting my paragraph i had my test, which included saying english sentences in japanese, which was mainly for counters and wasnt hard. Heres a couple for you fefechan, you better answer it ;) How do you say "i drank 2 cups of tea yesterday" and " its now 10 to 7 pm" and "its 9:20:35 (9 oclock:20 mins: 35 seconds) now".

Then there was an excercise about the differnce between soshite/sorekara and gurai/goro. Then a question about particles. Heres another one for you fefechan,
Oosaka eki ( ) basu ( )notte kyouto ( ) basu ( ) orite kudasai. (put the particles in the parentheses)

Then it was translation. Then she taught me about yo and ne which i thought i knew, but what was new was, if the speaker is telling someone new information that the listner does not know about then you can use "yo". For example, your asking me about the food at a resturant you havent gone to yet, i say "oishii desu yo". "ne" as you already know is used for agreement when both speaker and listener know about the topic, so if you ask me about the food in a resturant we have both been to, "oishii desu ne" is used instead of "yo" as you are already familiar with the food there. Apparently "yo" kinda makes the sentence less direct, i thought it made it stronger but Yoriko-sensei said if you just say "oishii desu" its OK but sounds a bit direct like your answer is definitely right kinda thing, if you get what i mean.

Then we studied about changing i-adjectives and na-adjectives when a verb comes after. For example, when a NOUN comes after an i-adjective, it doesnt change. "kore wa oishii tabemono desu". But when a VERB comes after it, you take the i and add ku ( i kinda knew that but not too good), so like, "ano ko wa okiku narimashita". With na-adjectives, the na becomes ni, for example, "shizuka ni benkyou shimashou" or " kirei ni souji shite kudasai".

Then i learnt some Kanji, the days of the week (without the youbi part coz its complicated kanji) and the word month, and year, and hour and minute.

Here they are in typing first;
月(gatsu/month, tsuki/moon)
日(nichi/day, hi(bi))
火(as in tsuesday, hi (fire)
水(sui as in wednesday, mizu/water)
金(kin/gold/fri(day),kane/money)
土(dou as in saturday, tsuchi/mud)
木(moku as in thursday, ki/tree)
時(ji as in the hour (4-ji) or toki)
寺(tera/shrine, part of "ji")
分(fun/minutes)
年(nen/year)　

Its pretty easy to mess up the kanji just by writing it in the wrong order so Yoriko-sensei insisted that i did every stroke in the right order.

I think thats it for Wednesday's lesson. Next week im learning more grammar and kanji, and i have an exam and homework again. I was really disappointed in myself in reading/speaking, at home im sure i pronounce everything right but when im nervous in class i seem to have such bad pronunciation.. i gotta try to calm down a bit so i dont mess up.. Ok then, ja mata!

PS marie-san, if you notice anything wrong please let me know.