GOING!

My boss agreed.. THANK GOD! I'm so happy!

Anyways, another good thing happened.. they've given us a holiday from the 2nd which is tomorrow until the 14th! yay! 2 whole weeks! im travelling tomorrow at 3 AM.. My family anf my uncle and his family are going to Syria where he has a villa that we'll stay at.. we used to go when we were kids but we havent been in like 9 years or something. the best thing is,we're going by car! its going to be super fun.. except 2 of my cousins dont want to go by car so they're coming by airplane later.. I wont have internet there so i'll update once im back..

I still havent packed >_<>

Going.. or not?

I have bad news.. i didnt want to write about it till im completely sure of whats going to happen but since ive been getting a lot of questions, i think i need to explain whats happening.

I had decided to hand in my one month notice on Tuesday. Then Bash called telling me to come down to her, it was urgent. I went down panicking wondering what the heck happened. I went to her and she was like, come with me, and took me to one of her collegues' office. By this time i had no clue what was going on. Anyways, to make a long story short, this guy told me that he'd heard i was going to resign and stuff. Bash told me not to tell anyone what he said coz its still confidential but anyways, he convinced me to stay for a bit longer and not resign, and he made me feel how utterly stupid it would be to throw my career down the drain for 2 wonderful but short-lived weeks in Japan. He said to wait for a bit and that changes will be happening within a short time and then to think about Japan. Lets just say i realized that although i only worked coz i wanted to go to Japan, and even though i can find a better job even if my CV sucks coz it mentions me quitting within less than 6 months of working, that it would be stupid. I don't know how he managed to convince me but im glad he did. So i said i'll think about it, but to tell you the truth, the moment he opened his mouth i knew i was convinced.

So ive decided to stay.. i will ask my boss for leave on those 2 weeks, if she accepts, i'll be ecstatic, if she doesnt, i'll have to endure it and stay. Although it would be hard to go to Japan any othe time coz my bro is at uni so he cant go with me, but i think in the long run, i'll be doing the right thing. I hope i am. My family thinks its the right thing to do too so we'll see.

I tried to talk to my boss on Wednesday and Thursday but she was too busy. I just sent her an email telling her i need to discuss something with her on Sunday so hopefully by Sunday i'll know whats going to happen. I really hope she says i can go.. If she says no i'll be sooo disappointed, especially since that means not seeing marie or fefechan in japan.. that would absolutely suck so im not even gonna think about it.. Everyone, please wish me luck! I need her to say yes..

random stuff

Even my sensei knows about NEWS lol shes tryin to keep me focused by includin them in the lesson :D

Konbanwa!

Today in my japanese class i told my sensei "ive been a bad student" coz i hadnt studied.Somehow it sounded so wrong and kinky lol

My sensei and i will be coming back from Japan on the same flight, how cool is that! by sheer coiencidence.. sugoi ne..

Been listening to MOLA since i turned my laptop on, its got a nice beat to it.. not to mention you get to hear yamapi sing all alone...

I was watching a movie, the mist, im halfway though and now the next part won't load, bummer, i was really into it..

I missed my two little girls today, usually in my break from work i go over to my mum's friend A's house, coz its like 5 mins away, and we're practically family lol and A is still at work so i go and sit with little M whose 3 (i think) and AA whose 4 (again,, i think) and they chat with me and teach me cool baby stuff like dipping crisps in coke before eating them and stuff lol i have a blast actually.. i didnt go over today so i miss them now..

I wish i could get the energy + time to update my ipod and put new stuff, i havent added anything since going to srilanka/malaysia.. Its just so time consuming, having to find the songs in the right format or convrting them, all the hassle..

I wonder if we're still gonna stalk yamapi, fefechan? still up to it.. hhh

I want to go to the mall and find fefechan there by chance again :D we have to go shopping for Japan together..

ichigatsu no juuichinichi ni nihon e ikimasu!

konnichiwa!

suiyoubi ni oniichan ga koukuuken wo kaimashita! ichigatsu no juuichinichi ni nihon e ikimasu! tanoshimi ni matteimasu!


raishuu hoteru no ruumu wo yoyaku shimasu! nihon ni iku to marie-san ni au no koto ga dekimasu kara totemo ureshii desu!

Marie-san please correct it^^ i know theres some thing wrong but don't know how to say it any better.

getsuyoubi ni nihongo no ressun ga arimasu kara ima benkyou shiteimasu..Jaa mata!

bits and peices

I havent updated in a looong time. So i'll just summarize anything thats happened in the past 3 weeks?

My aunt died and we were all shocked, shes not old.. ive never met anyone who didnt like her, shes was such a good and kind person, i really loved her, so did everyone else. When we were kids and mum and dad had to travel, they would leave us all summer at her house coz we used to get along with her kids so well.. However, she was a vey good muslim mashallah so that put our minds a bit at ease. Seeing her daughters was hard, they're all younger than me, 20, 18, 16, and younger with the youngest boy 3 years old. During the funeral he walked infront of all the ladies saying, mummy where are you.. and everyone started crying.. anyways allah yer7amha o y'3amed roo7ha eljanna, o y9aber halha..

Other than that, i cant really remember what happened..

Yesterday i booked our flight to Japan, the 11th of Jan to the 26th of Jan. My bro is going to pay for them today.. and now im looking for hotels, although i think we might stay the prince park tower tokyo again, can't find anything that looks better..

Fefechan might be going to Japan on the 23rd too, so we might be able to meet one day, that would be cool.. i wanna have fun..

Work is tiring and i can't wait to stop, demo the woman in HR wants to meet me, i guess to convince me to stay, but she never has the time and she wont answer my questions by email :S i'll just hand in my letter then if she doesnt meet me till the end of novemeber..

The officeboy here is really bothering me, hes so clingy, and i think coz i actually am polite to him he thinks im his friend and hes always asking me stuff and wanting me to help him and stuff.. its getting so annoying and uncomfortable, i dont even ask for tea now coz that means he'll have to come and talk to me.. im gonna start being firm and straight forward, hes really taking it too far.. and everything he tells me hes like, please dont tell anyone or i will get in trouble.. i need water, but im not even going to ask for it..damn..

ive been having lunch alone every single day this week in the car in the mall carpark! how pathetic lol but nevermind, atleast the car doesnt judge me or hurt my feeling lol

Better go..

>_<

Not a single post in October got any comments >_< (except yesterdays coz bash had to defend herself lol)

Books and anime

Ive been into reading lately, the past 2 weeks ive been ignoring my laptop as much as I can and reading. I read a book called “three cups of tea” about a guy called Greg Mortenson whose been building schools in Pakistan for mnay years. Its an interesting book, reading about the bond between him and the Pakistani people and his reflections on the people and islam.. The book wasn’t one of the best ive read but I couldn’t put it down once I started reading, it was inspiring to say the least. I’m now reading another book called “Enemy Combatant” which I start reading very reluctantly. I knew if I started reading it I’ll be ignoring my laptop again, but I started reading it yesterday. Its about an innocent briton’s experience being held captive in Gunatanamo Bay and being released years later with no apoplogy or even an explanation for why he was held and tortured for years. It seems ok so far, I’ll see how it turns out.

When I haven’t been reading, ive been watching an anime Bash recommended called “bokura ga ita”. Its ok but not as good as “lovely complex”.

This weekend im gonna watch the first episode of Ryo’s new drama and hopefully complete watching Code Blue (arigatou fefechan). I’m also supposed to be meeting Reemy-chan and Ghada for lunch but I haven’t heard from Reemy-chan.. On Friday we have people coming over >_<>

I just had a break from work so decided to post. I’m so hungry, should be going with Bash to the mall for lunch in a bit.. New York Fries is the best! I love their fries with all that cheese and sour cream, so fattening and bad for you, but its so yummy!

Ok back to work now..later!

PS everyone on the floor seems to have Facebook open, even the auditor ^^

Bash says,,

Bash is gonna kill me for wrintin this lol but who cares,,

She says im aggressive in writing, in emails to her or even my blog, shes entitled to her own opinion :D and I don’t mind being called aggressive, I actually think its just that im assertive, which is definitely a good thing in my dictionary, I hate being all wishy washy if you know what that means lol

BUT

How can someone be aggressive in writing? Like in my blog, what would be called aggressive? LOL maybe she means when I give my opinions about things straight up with no courtesies and nice talk, could that be it? I really just don’t get how you can be aggressive when you’re not addressing a certain person.. hmmm she gave me something to think about, what could it be.. but she doesn’t realize I took this as a compliment lol..

Enough now, back to work..

sakana...pan?

i had an epiphany while having dinner.. actually, thats not true, ive thought of this before but...
Why is it that we think tuna fish sandwiches are normal and ok to eat but if someone offered us any kind of other fish mashed up with mayonnaise and/or ketchup we'd probably think its disgusting and throw it in their faces? I'm not really a big fan of tuna sandwiches, but i do have them every now and then and i think their pretty normal. yet if a chinese or japanese or african person gave you something even milder than that, you'd probably think it was weird and disgusting. I guess its just what your used to and what you grow up around that you consider normal, and everything else is just not normal..
Ok enough about that,,

Yoriko sensei and i had an interesting conversation the other day about accents, japanese accents. I was reading and she noticed something and made me say a couple of words, like hashi for example, I can't even remember how i said but apparently i say it like people from tokyo do and she says it like people from osaka and around there say it.. its hard to explain but one is like HAshi and the other is like haSHI lol you have to hear me say it to see the difference.. oh well..

Ok now im just practicing the 2 new grammar rules i learn last week, since i have a class again tomorrow..

1) nihon de wa iroiro na nihon ryouri wo tabetemitai to omoimasu!
2) buta wo tabete wa ikemasen!

Ok random sentences but nevermind..

I met a new girl today at work. Guess what? shes into dramas, the Japanese language, and Japan! ^_^ sugoku ureshikatta!

shukudai ga aru no de ashita kakimasu yo! Ja mata!

Tidbits

gomen ne.. ive been neglecting my blog.. ive just been to tired after work to even think about writing a post.. but i'd like to get back into the swing of things again.. i'll just write short snippets about a couple of things..

My sis & Ali : just realized i never mentioned that they went back home, in DXB. That was 2 weeks ago, i miss Ali so much, so we're going to dxb tomorrow to visit. although it wont be enough..

Macbook Air: proving to be harder than i thought but thats only coz i wont sit down and read the tutorials. I really dont know how to use it.. so out of laziness i open my other laptop and use them side by side. demo i really need to read how to do some basic stuff that i dont know how to do on a mac.

Japanese classes: im gonna stop writing the reviews coz its just getting to the point where im learning too much and its too tiring to write about and explain. fefechan, hope you dont mind.. i dont think uve been readin the others anyways lol so you wont mind. The classes are going pretty good and ive been learning some grammar on my own, i just need to practice.. 

Work: im still not 100% sure this is how its gonna go but im 99% sure lol.. i like my job now, its just too much work with the other A/P person on leave for so long, its just taken its toll on me and made me hate having to work so hard.. and the number of annual leave days allowed leaves much to be desired.. SO im looking for other jobs, better ones with more holiday (thats my main criteria) and ive actually found one but still looking.. i PLAN to give in my 1 month's notice at the end of november, that way i'll stop working by the end of december.. take time off to go to japan, come back and start applying for jobs.. i think if i dont find a job (highly unlikely it seems) then i will be perfectly happy just staying at home and startin my own business or somethin.. So thats the plan, we'll see how it goes..

Japan: i think we'll be booking our flights once im sure about what im doing, so in a week or two.. plan to have a blast this time, and if my sis goes it will be great.. also hoping mari-san will still be in tokyo by then..

Mari-san, im thinkin this time we could get suica or pasmo cards instead of JR coz i dont think we really got its value out of it last time. what do you think?

Nana: my granma left on monday. missing her already.

Piper: after havin him for 4 or maybe 5 years, we had to give him away. my mum was getting sick because of him, constatly cough, really bad coughs, so hes gone :( i didnt really spend much time with him but i miss his presense.

What else to talk about? not much else i guess.. i'll update again soon..

Ja mata!

kinou no class

こんばんは！

I had a japanese class yesterday, so im gonna post about it while its still fresh in my brain :D

The paragraph i wrote for the class was about Japan, what i did last year and stuff like that. Yoriko-sensei said it was the best ive written so far ^^ i didnt have any mistakes although i thought i would. Except she gave me some better alternatives to one sentence i wrote which is "sono shashin (i talked about some photos before) wo miru to "nihon ni ikitai" to omoimasu". Yoriko-sensei suggested, 'nihon ni ikitaku narimasu', as it might sound better, although she said my senetence was perfectly fine.

On to kanji, i didnt learn any new kanji since last class, only learnt to recognize them, they were 豚buta, 酒sake, 牛gyuu, 肉niku, 卵tamago, 円yen, and 魚sakana. 

Grammar! i learnt how to use "no desu"/"n desu". Apparently its used for asking or stating a condition. e.g. if someone seems sick you can use it when asking, and they can use it when stating how they are feeling. example,

Person A: どうしたんですか。

Person B:  は　が　いたいんです。

It is also used when asking for more detail, or stating something in more detail. Example,

Person A:  にちようび　に　いっしょに　つり　に　いきません　か。

Person B:  どこ　へ　いくんです　か。

Person A:  ふじさん　の　ちかく　の　みずうみ　です。

Another usage which yoriko-sensei taught me before is using it when making a request,invitation or asking for information. Examples,

１）すみません、つかいかた　が　わからないんです。おしえて　ください。

２）あした、ともだち　と　かいもの　い　いくんですが、いっしょに　いきませんか。

I'm tired im gonna finish this tomorrow lol 

じゃあ、また　あした！

MacBook Air

I finally got a new laptop!

Although i still think the MacAir is not practical, not having a CD/DVD player, i'd already fallen in love, so i just bought it.. and bought a separate CD/DVD player. I must say i was super impressed by the packaging, it seemed like they had payed attention to every little thing while designing the packaging and everything.. I'm also super impressed by the mac, it starts almost instantly, i press the button and the screen appears within 5 seconds or something, compared to my other laptop >_< theres just no comparison..

I got a purple cover, i sooo wanted a green one but they didn't have any for the MacAir just for the other macs.. i might have to get one online, the purple is OK but i just love green ..

Its thinner than my mobile!I LOVE the illumintaing keyboard, so cool & practical at night, i never used to turn off the light when im on the laptop coz i needed to see the keys, but now..

Its too thin to have normal USB ports so they're hidden and come out when you need them..

Thats all for now, i have another update coming in a bit.. hopefully..
bai bai!

everything from eid to now

Ali sleeping unaware of his ediya (eid money) from his lovely aunt :P
(i know ali should be written in katakana but i like hiragana, what can i do!)

Baby clothes are kawaisugiru!

My nan in her (80s dress lol) with Ali, shes had that dress since before i was born, and she still wears it! >_<

I've been procrastinating and kept putting this off but i better update i guess coz im getting way behind..

Minna genki? I hope so..

I've been really distracted with having little Ali in the house plus his great grandmother.. i love spending time with Ali even if hes sleeping i just like to be next to him or hold him hehe.. and my granma's been keeping me busy telling me stories, about her life, movies shes seen, my cousins, basically EVERYTHING! the thing is, i dearly love her and want to listen to her stories, but she talks for soo many hours without feeling and sometimes its a story she already told me but i have to pretend like i havnt heard it before.. So i havnt even been turning my laptop on.. just sitting with her till im tired and then go to bed REALLY early..

Work is getting exhausting! Without my collegue whose on leave now, its really too much, and im not sure anymore if i can manage it on my own.. at work sometimes i just feel like breaking down and crying.. this week ive been going to work EXTRA early and leaving later than i usually do, but still here sooo much to do.. when i noticed yesterday that i was the only one left on the whole floor i almost cried from frustration! I really want her to come back, my colleges.. She did the job on her own before but thats because it was less work, this summer, the ministry of education with all its 3 zones have become under the place where i work, so its almost a 200% increase in the workload.. i think even on us two it would be a bit of a tight fit, but just one is definitely not working.. im afraid im getting behind, and i can't help it, coz all my work depends on others, getting signatures, getting budgets set, getting delivery notes and confirmations, and such which if other poeple dont do quickly then everything starts piling on.. oh well, i hope it gets better.. you to fefechan, i hope it gets better, i know your struggling more than me but i hope you figure out what you want to do about it..

My older step-sister might come to Japan with me and brother! we're not sure yet, waiting for her husband, he said hes thinking about it, but i hope she does come, it would be so much more fun!

Oh forgot to write about eid. Well it wasnt our typical eid since my sis and her baby were in the hospital a day before and on the first day of eid, he was jaundiced so he had to stay under the light.. so we only went to my step sister's house and then my uncles house (some of my aunts went there so we saw them), but other than that we didnt go to my other aunts or Al Ain which we usually do.. Dressing up for eid was fun though..

My japanese classes have now moved to Monday since my sensei has piano lessons every other day of the week.. but shes going to Japan soon for holiday.. anyways, im goin to post the lesson for you fefechan if i get a chance today..

Other than that, theres not much to say.. i have homework to do, and then im gonna glue myself to youtube.. so bai bai

PS Reemy-chan, i miss you soooo much, if you're still reading my blog, please leave a comment.. we really should meet soon..

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)

｜
｜
｜
｜
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.

Bored at work

Sitting at work with practically nothing to do, on Wednesday me & my collegue in the Accounts Payable section worked hard and finished everything thats pending. So on Thursday we were free almost all day.. I had a japanese exam with yoriko-sensei that day so i sat & tried to study (ended up studying the lesson that are NOT included by mistake). Today too were almost free, i handle the petty cash & receiving invoices so a couple of people have come to me but other than that, its pretty quite here. My direct mentor/senpai didnt come to work today so i dont have to look like im working.. so im pretty bored.. i think im going to study some japanese..

Tomorrow's ramadan i guess, so im going out for lunch with Bash & 2 other girls. Cami, you must've heard of ramadan but maybe you dont know what it is. Anyways, its a month where we have to fast in the day (from sunrise to sunset), we dont eat or drink anything, and after sunset we can eat. Its to teach us humilty and so we know what the poor people who dont have food feel like. Its a really great month and at the end of it we have Eid which is kinda like christmas to us. We all celebrate & get money from our paernts lol and stuff.. People kinda abuse ramadan, they use it as a month to OVEREAT and OVERSLEEP in the day and STAY UP TOO LATE at night.. anyways its a really nice time of the year when we get to do more good thinks and think about other people.

The end of this month, Septmeber, is going to be so busy with my sis hopefully giving birth, and my grandma coming over for that, plus all the eid celebrations..

Anyways im probably going to blog later.. bai bai

Last week's japanese lesson

I forgot that i wanted to post about my japanese class. On Thursday i had my second lesson with Yoriko-sensei. She had given me homework to write about anything and i wrote about what i had done on the weekend. She corrected it for me. I'll just write her corrections, fefechan, seeing my mistakes might be useful to you ne..

1. I had written in the whole paragraph, mina-san instead of minna, i thought that was the polite way to say everyone, but she told me it is only said like that in speech, if you are talking to or about everyone you can say mina-san but when you write you should use minna.
2. I had written "mina-san ga oishii hirugohan wo tabemashita". She said i must use "de" instead of "ga" if im included in the poeple who ate. So its like "i ate with everyone", if you use ga, it seems like you are not included.
3. i wrote "kodomotachi ga zenbu suki deshita", she said that implies that ONLY the kids liked the food, i should use "mo" so it means the kids like it also.
4. She said you cant use "sorekara" at the end of a paragraph, i had it at the beginning of the last sentence. She said it implies there more sentences coming after this one. "Soshite" would have been more appropriate but sorekara can be used in other sentences at the beginning.

Then she gave me a test which i got all right, thank god. I was so nervous writing that my handwriting was soooo bad, i dont know how she read all my crooked hiragana. The exam was easy actually so next class shes getting questions from the JLPT exams. She then taught me about counters and two kanji, entrance and exit (iriguchi and deguchi), and we had an extended discussion on kanji.

She also gave me this envelope which she uses with her piano students (she gives private piano lessons), she said they use it in japan. I'm posting a pic, its to put the "ressun dai" lesson fee in, and it has the months and stuff.. Its a good idea, i thought.

So next Wednesday i have a kanji test, as well as grammar and the different counters used for different things. GANBARIMASU! i really want to improve..

nothing new

Thought i'd better update, this has been a total flop as a weekend. Ended up doing nothing argh!
and still no sign of my salary.. but nevermind..

One good thing that happened is that my bro got me a new phone, a flip phone! Ive always wanted one but he always said they're no good and stuff, then he called me up yesterday saying hes at the phone shop and which phone did i want, i said i dont want one, but in the end i just said a flip phone, so he got me the latest Sony Ericsson flip phone, and im ecstatic.. i dont know why ive always loved flip phones, except that most japanese people have them lol



So im sooo bored right now, i got out my stash of magazines that i used to always get in england, they're 6 years old now lol but i decided to look through them.. got bored of that, decided to put on a mask (then went a scared our poor maid, its bright green), i guess i better go wash it off now..

Hoping i can find something to do before i go mad! fefechan, recommed an anime will you, you dont want me to go mad do you?

Anyways, bbye for now

at work

I’m at work but trying to get out of it so I decided to update. I keep forgetting to bring my cam with me to show you around my workplace. My place is pretty boring, everyone has little personal stuff they’ve collected over time but my desk is pretty empty. Except for an abundance of papers and paperclips.. I need to personalize it.. the only thing that says anything about me is the paper on the wall that ive taped next to the extension list, which is a list of Japanese verbs in all forms. I glance at it every now and then and learn a new verb or two.

I just came from my lunch break, my mum was in town so she bought McDonalds and we both went over to my baby’s house and had lunch with her and her mum. We had a nice chat, all her other kids weren’t there so it was nice and quite. Then I sped over here, and then I was in the left coming up (to the 11th floor) and the lift stopped on the 4th (where Bash is) and the 4th floor officeboy got in, and I thought it was my floor so I got out and the guy kept telling me that Bash is not there, and I didn’t know why he was saying that lol coz I was listening to A on the phone, went in and started walking, and realized what the guy was going on about, so I laughed at myself and went up, as soon as I got out of the lift he was there fraternizing with our officeboy and he saw me and laughed lol.. oh well..

I found an old CD in one of my drawers at home yesterday and it said eigo + nihongo so I took it to see what it was. Turned it on in the morning on the way over, its full of arashi songs.. its seriously old, I haven’t listened to any arashi songs in at least a year and a half..

The invoices are calling.. better get workin.. bai bai

fun day

Konbanwa!

Just checked the last post before i started to write this and noticed that this post is going to be very similar. We had marie and my baby's family over again today too. Marie is going to Japan on the 16th of September as her husband's going to do his masters there, so were going to try to see her more before she goes.

On Thursday i went for my first japanese class with Yoriko-san. Shes a really nice friend of marie's and is going to start tutoring me. We kind of just hung out so she could see what my level was.. Which meant that she wanted me to actually speak (well DUH!).. i never speak japanese around marie, too embarrassed.. but i managed to speak with Yoriko-san, somehow we ended up discussing my favourite haiyuu (celebrity? actor?) and japanese doramas, in Japanese.. It went pretty well. I have another class on Monday, she will be giving me a written and oral exam XD that should be fun lol.. and she gave me homework, to write a paragraph about anything i want. I better write it today but i really dont know what to write about.. its going to be hard.. Anyways, im hoping i will really improve a bit before January..

I'm sad about marie leaving :( but hopefully i'll get to visit her in January.. her daughter was killing us all with her cuteness today (mashallah) kawaisugi..

This week should be fun.. my collegue who works in the Accounts Payable with me is coming bavck from holiday tomorrow, so i'll hopefully have less work! yay! plus, i'll finally get paid, its the last week of the month, so maybe this week or on the weekend maybe.. hopefully before next sunday so i can get to spend some of it.. lol..

Miss you fefechan, hope you enjoyed your holiday.. atleast one of your dreams came true, you go to see Giggs playing! hope one of my dreams would come true..

Off to do my homework! bai bai

...

Konnichiwa! minna genki?

My baby and her family as well as marie (can i drop the -san ;) ) and her two little angels came over for lunch. We had a good time and got to see pix of Japan. Now i just feel like i want to go right now.. can't wait to go.. marie told me that her friend might be interested in teaching me japanese, so i hope i can arrange for something. i want to learn as much as i can before i go back..

Arigatou for the gifts marie, i really liked them ^__^ and come visit us soon. your baby is sooo unbelievably cute (mashallah).. oh and little prince charming had a fun time with two little girls chasing after him and wanting him to play with them lol hes quite popular with the girls isnt he..

Fefechan, i know your probably not reading this, but i really hope your trip gets better.. im sorry its not that good..

im enjoying whats left of my weekend, and dreading tomorrow.. work..argh!

bai bai for now

Chippokena yuuki.. a little bit of courage..

This past week has really been rough, although i tried to be strong it really was too much.. after days of crying myself to sleep and being mad at everyone, i talked to my mum and dad. They can't fix anything, and im not sure they want to, but at least i got it out in the open and if they see me all sad and depressed they know why i am, that i have a right to be! My dad hugged me and patted my head as i cried next to him on the sofa.. that must be a first since 8 years or something.. he would do more of that, but i know i make it hard since i get embarrassed so easily..

I've been on a diet for a week now, ive lost 3 kilos already. I want to keep going.. i really need to lose weight coz i really hate myself like this. no matter how many people tell me im not fat, i'll still think i am.. my goal weight is way too low so i may never reach it.. but we'll see..

I realized something, after i come from my break at work (from 1-2), i just can't bring myself to do ANY work.. i organize papers and stuff instead of working.. i just can't! maybe its better if i don't take a break.. Today i couldn't do anything but i didnt want anyone to know im not working so i kept stapling all the paper that i had for recycling lol pretending to be working by making some noise..

I didn't get to exercise today coz i had to sit with dad & everyone, i feel really guilty, ive come to look forward to it.. it really does make you feel refreshed and all hyper!

You know all i said about my first salary.. they didnt put anything into my account :[ maybe they'll add the days from july to this month's salary.. they better do! i didnt work my *** off for nothing.. half a month left.. aaah zannen desu ne..

Fefechan, you know when pi's been talking about wanting to learn english and be better at it and whatnot, doesnt that make you feel like you want to get better at japanese..? it motivates me.. too bad i dont have the time at the mo.. i took one of my japanese books and left it at work incase i have any free time.. my senpai saw it and told me, "your really serious about learning japanese arent you?" like hell i am! i just need a teacher.. marie-san's coming over on friday if she can, i'll ask her if she knows anyone who'd be willing to teach me.. i'll pay them millions, just teach me!

Oh, i almost forgot, chippokena yuuki is one of FUNKY MONKEY BABYS' songs, its a nice song but the lyrics are really good too.. about being stronger and stuff.. anyways, akiramenai! akirametakunai! i want to be stronger..

Oyasumi

JERO & lazing around

konnichiwa minna! Genki? natsuyasumi wa dou? tanoshii?

You all know JERO yeah? i mean if your into Japan and stuff you probably do. If you dont know him hes an african american guy (1/4 japanese) whose just debuted a few months ago.. the interesting thing about him is that hes an enka singer. I thought that would be totally weird so never checked him out but i came upon one of his videos on youtube and really liked the song.. hes really good.. its called umiyuki (ocean snow?), check it out..

Other than that, i really don't have much to say.. my dads been away for a while.. hes coming back today.. and im just lazing around coz I CAN lol the weekend is such a respite.. On Sunday the our department's head is coming back.. so i guess we'll have extra work.. but never mind.. we will manage..

Oh and fefechans been exercising everyday (i think) which is making me feel guilty.. so ive just dragged the elliptical trainer into my bedroom and going to try to start exercising after work..if ive got enough energy left in me by then..

bai bai

PS im not posting any pix coz someone borrowed my cam, so when its back i should be posting pix n stuff..

isogashisugi!

konbanwa! minna genki?

kyou mo isogashisugi datta! Is it ever going to calm down? yappari shigoto wa taihen da! demo itsumo ganbaru yo! ^___^

yesterday and today have been really crappy days so im glad its been really busy at work even though i get home so exhausted!

Today they let me print cheques for the first time, i got to print all the cheques that are above 1 million.. so yeah, i guess they're starting to trust me with these kinds of things..

Fefechan, im sure you know where Pi has been lately? are you jealous? your favourite place.. aaah umi ga ikitai n da! hontou ni ikitaaaaaaaaai!

If any of you guys know how to get music off the net, help me please. I'm looking for songs by LUV AND SOUL. I heard 2 songs and im addicted, but i can't find others..

I'm finally going to get my ATM card tomorrow so i can go spend my hard earned money! YAY! no seriousely, ive had a savings account since like forever, so my bro was the one who opened it for me coz i was too young and when i went to the bank to get a card they told me the account is in my name but hes the only one who can apply for a card and stuff.. so that sucked! i told him to go apply for a card and next weekend we will go to the bank and change it over to me (so he can't steal my money ;) JK).

So its been more than a week since i got my salary and i still havent seen a dime! I've already planned what im doing with every single fils (thats the equivalant of a cent, Cami), but im not spending any on me.. just the things i need like for my mobile and petrol and stuff.. the rest is going to 100 other things/places.. i'm actually feeling sorry for myself already lol but my conscious wont let me use it on myself.. anyways..

The office boy is trained now, everyday at 2 oclock he brings me my ice cold pocari sweat.. yumm.. so refreshing.. but poeple are always commenting on it.. i guess the name doesn't help its reputation now does it? oh well.. i really miss calpis.. i drank it so many times a day in Japan and got used to it, im craving it now.. but a trip to Abela's seems too much.. its SO out of my way.. i guess i'll go this weekend..

I feel like watching anime! wow, did i really say (type) that! ive never liked anime and apart from Ghibli movies i havnt seen much.. but somehow, i now feel like watching something.. i'll go look for something..

Mata ne!

Performing CPR

My blog is on the brink of death, and ive been standing by watching. But today i found myself thinking of resurrecting it, so here i am performing CPR (aka writing up a new post).

So here it goes, the last couple of days as you already know, i started my new and FIRST job (emphasis on FIRST). I'm not used to waking up at 6:15 everyday, driving to work, working 8 hours straight, then driving back home. When i get home im exhausted and all i can think about is going to bed. Thats where the "first" comes in, im sure im going to get used to it, but it is my first time so i don't really have any experience to base that belief on ;) Hopefully, in a weeks time or so, i WILL be able to stay awake past 10 PM lol yeah seriousely, ive been sleeping so early. I'm also hoping that once i adjust to this rythme i will get my life back.

I'm at work right now, first one on the floor, noone else is here.. so i decided to write before work starts.. I've been put in charge of the Petty Cash and some other cash too, at the moment i have about 50,000 DHS in my drawer here.. (for Cami's sake im providing the equivlant in dollars US$ 14,000), that might not be too much for any other more-seasoned employee but to entrust ME, the NEW employee whose not even a week old is pretty stupid of them, i think..

Thursday is going to be a national holiday so we get a 3 day weekend =) awesome! So tomorrow's the last day of the week.. my mums taking us all, including my older step sister M, out to dinner tomorrow at some new place.. should be fun, i like hanging out with M..

Fefechan, i have something from malaysia for you that i really NEED to give you.. but how can i give it to you..?

I really need to start learning japanese again.. but im gonna start looking for someone who can teach me..

I guess i better go and start looking at all the pending invoices :/ just what you need in the morning..

Marie-san, we NEED to meet! LOL i miss you and your kids..

bai bai

PS im relearning (for the 100th time) katakana in my breaks at work.. why can i never rememeber them.. and why did hiragana just get drilled into my head and i can read them off the top of my head.. but katakana.. argh!

One year anniversary and my birthday

Konbanwa!

The day before yesterday was my birthday =) i turned 22, so old ne! what can i do.. its no use dwelling over it.. and yesterday the 18th (actually earlier today, its half past midnight now) was my blog's 1 year anniversary.. i started the blog to keep track of what ive been up to, and it has worked.. although i don't record everything.. i can look back and see what happened since last July.. i think the 2 major things that happened in the past year were, me going to Japan for the first time and graduating from university. Other than that i guess its been an extremely busy year but not very interesting ne.. the 21 year old me got to visit 4 countries in that year.. lets see how many countries the 22 year old me can visit..? although other than Japan, theres not many countries i'd like to visit.. anyways, i'll continue with my blog for as long as i can (ganbarimasu!).. hopefully it will pass its 2nd anniversary.. To all of you who have ever read my blog, hontouni arigatou gozaimashita.. and throughout the next year of my life, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

So what do i want for my next birthday.. i want to be able to speak and write japanese pretty well, to meet a japanese celebrity (lol in my dreams), to visit Japan again, to start my own business (im serious, dont laugh), to do my best at my job, to become a better person, to hold on to my friends, and to be happier..

So what have i been doing in the days since i came back.. well, ive been catching up on yamapi,koyama, and shige's nikkis, blogs i visit, and doramas.. went to give blood yesterday, visited with some people.. oh and got a birthday/graduation gift from bash (arigatou ^^ ).. Today my sisters and i went over to my cousins' house and 2 other cousins came over, we had fun fooling around and just chatting.. we didnt do anything special but it was fun.. totemo tanoshikatta!

I'd like to meet marie-san before i start work (on the 22nd), fefechan too but that might be hard.. maybe we can meet on sunday marie-san? i will text you (at a reasonable time) since i dont think you will appreciate a message at this time lol i'd love to see you and your little angels..

Bai Bai (i have to finish Code Blue ep 2 so i can catch some ZZZs)
PS i learnt a new word, watagashi, it means candyfloss =)

Home Sweet Home

Ohayou! Good morning!

We're back home! im glad to be back.. so happy that i got up at 5:30 today! when we got home last night i went to sleep straight away even though it was 10:30 here, but it would've been 2:30 or so in malaysia so i was tired!

I don't feel like blogging right now but i just wanted to say what i thought of my holiday.

Sri Lanka: i'd love to go back, great for relaxing and just wonderful sceneries (except we should've brought sunblock and mosquito spray with us but we forgot). Got bitten by mosquitos but it wasnt that bad, everything else made up for it.. i got so much darker from swimming everyday for so many hours and for spending a lot of time on that lounger under the coconut trees.. Saw lots of animals, elephants, monkeys (in our garden), an iguana (in our garden too), crabs, fish, cows, dogs, everything! I managed to avoid turtles although the cook kept insisting that we go to the turtle sanctuary.. we never did.. i rode bikes in the countryside, stopping by little shops to get a cool drink and meeting friendly people.. i'd give sri lanka an 8.5/10 :)

Malaysia: i don't think i'd like to go back.. since we had done all the nature stuff in sri lanka, all we wanted to do was shopping.. and thats exactely what we did.. we went shopping everyday, and went to theme parks twice (one shut down all the rides coz of rain, the other was way too hot to play on anything or even walk around).. i'd say malaysia didnt feel like anything special.. even shopping, they have almost the same shops we have here, or the differnt ones are tacky shops that we didnt want to shop from.. i dont think the shopping was worth it.. i enjoyed it but i wont go back, i'd rather go to another country.. the food was the best thing in malaysia.. and im not talking about malaysian food, what i mean is the variety of food they have in malls.. i mainly ate japanese food but i did try malaysian too.. malaysia would be a 5/10 on my scale. maybe if we'd done more than just shopping we would've liked it but we didn't..

We didnt go to thailand since my brothers and sisters were fed up and just wanted to come back home, its a shame, i would've liked to go but i was tired or travelling too..

Overall, ive learnt a lesson.. traveling with the whole family is damn hard! my time with my bro in japan doesn't seem so bad now.. we had fun times but we (me and Sh and H) ended up fighting a lot.. and unfortunately we were always put in the same room so that didn't help either..

Anyways, hopefully next time i get on a plane will be to go to Japan..

Pix from Sri Lanka

Yes you read that right, lol.. i said malaysia and thailand but somehow we ended up spending 10 days in sri lanka.. my dad said it looked nice and we could rent a villa with a lake or beach view and just relax before heading to malaysia.. we enjoyed it so much that we exteneded our stay and stayed 10 days and even my uncle and his family joined us there.. We just arrived in malaysia yesterday.. so anyways, here are pics from Sri Lanka, im sure going to miss it.. i really enjoyed it there.. hoping to go back next summer..

View from the tuk-tuk which we used everday, the best thing ever for zooming along the beach-side road, and they are really nice and clean.. and airy! lol
The train tracks next to the villa we stayed in..

We went on an elephant safari.. saw 5 elephants only! and the car journey took 8 hours in total!!

The "fort". I can't remember why this fort is important but its very famous and has houses and shops inside.. but lol the pic is not even of the fort, its just from the fort, just noticed that..

Our pontoon, and the view from the villa..

Part of the villa, its made up of two seperate buildings..

The swimming pool.. responsible for me being 5 shades darker and the awful sunburn i got!

The only thing good about leaving sri lanka is not having to worry about mosquito bites.. we got bitten often coz we never found mosquito repellent spray there.. we should've bought it in the UAE.

Anyways, i'll say more about it and post more pix when im back or maybe later..hope everyones doing ok..tc

I AM ALIVE!

Long overdue post, i know.. ive been EXTREMELY busy, can't emphasize that enough! Take today for example, got up before 8, went to dxb, back by 5, got dressed coz we had visitors coming over, they left at 10, now i need to start packing coz tomorrow im just as busy!

So whats been going on, for one, i got a job offer! and i accepted it and will be starting work on the 22 of July! at the same place i did my internship.. so yeah thats good, im glad they offered me a job..

Secondly, we're leaving on Thursday night to go to Malaysia and Thailand for holiday, we'll probably be back by the 18th of July.. I don't know if i'll get to update from there, ofcourse i'll have internet but i don't know if i'll have the time or energy so yeah..

A few days ago i got a message on my phone saying something like 'my mummy is going to work and my sisters are in XX city and im home along, please come visit me'. It was supposedly from my chicken-poxy adopted baby! since shes almost over the chicken pox, i decide to go babysit. It was just me and her playing for 2 straight hours! the best thing ever! kids under 2 years older are so much fun!

I still havnt watched Last Friends' final which has been out for a week now! I can't find it streaming anywhere (except crappy parts on youtube) .. and torrents just don't work for me.. i found a megaupload link and downloaded half but it took a whole day and the second half just doesnt seem to download.. veoh is blocked! and the veohtv thingy has ceased to work! and they've taken LF down from crunchyroll.. and im so pissed off.. i really want to see it :S i think im just going to watch th youtube ones.. god help me!

Anyways, hope everyone has a great summer.. (Cami, hope your enjoying London) and i'll see everyone when i get back..

PS thanks fefechan for all the tips ;)

Outing with the girls

I met up with fefechan & her sis, and some of our friends from uni at the mall today. We hung out and had some coffee first and then we went to the cinema. The girls then stayed on for lunch and stuff but i had to leave coz my mum had to take my sis somewhere. totemo tanoshikatta! It was nice coz it was a really comfortable atmosphere when were were at the cafe.. during the movie, i spent half the time wondering if i was annoying fefechan as i ate my popcorn (i tried not to eat it too loudly lol but who knows) and the other half fighting sleep.. i couldn't sleep much yesterday so i was ready to doze off during the movie.. although it was loud and noisy, my eyes kept closing, thats how tired i was.. but the movie was ok, the first was better i think, but this wasn't bad, we watched Narnia 2..

By 5:30 i couldn't stay awake any longer so i had a nap for an hour (but it felt like HOURS).. im still tired now but i dont think i'll be able to sleep quickly tonight coz of my nap..

Tomorrow i have a doctors appointment in the morning and then we're going to the salon.. hair, nails, and all that stuff we girls love to do lol.. i'm gonna take the ipod coz we always end up spending hours there.. i usually try reading their magazines but most of the times they're a bit more R-rated than i like.. honestly..

My sis H has her friend over, shes sleeping over again.. i wish my friends would sleep over, no way in hell huh! lol..

I heard some good news from my cousin but its supposed to be a secret so i can't say what.. but im really happy..

I havnt seen Bash in a decade! =S she didn't even come to the Japanese festival even though she wanted to before, but she said she wasn't up for it.. i understand but i just havnt seen her in such a long time.. you didnt come and congratulate me on graduating! (come we'll make you your favorite fajitas) are you trying to avoid me Bash? I know your reading this!! lol

I miss you marie-san! we need to meet up as soon as your back.. can't wait to see A-chan and A-chan lol

My older bro was just asking about our plans for the summer, if we're traveling.. coz apparently hes going to London.. and i realized that apart from going to Japan with me, my bro has never traveled with us during summer.. maybe when we were little but since high school he hasn't.. always traveling on his own, with friends and stuff..

im bored.. gonna go watch yet another ep of criminal minds.. im getting better at profiling, be careful what you do around me people ;) and if you've never watched the show, then you should.. at least one episode, you wont regret it..

OK then, peace out

Natsu Matsuri

So yesterday i went with my little sis to the Japanese festival, and we met fefechan and her sis, cousin(not really sure lol?) and sis in law, there. The kids did some kind of performance, it was ok.. we met our sensei there and saw his wife and kids too.. and he even bought us some takoyaki to try.. it was softer and squijier (lol u know what i mean) than i thought it would be.. but it tasted awright.. overall the festival was fun but somehow different than last year.. Here are some pix, bad ones sorry but my sis took them coz i was too shy to..

kids selling some biscuit-thingy at a stand, they were screaming their heads off just so people would buy from them..
Old games section..mukashi no asobi taiken lol thats what it says on the board, i know mukashi and asobi but no clue what taiken means..
This scary guy you see everywhere, who the heck is he anyways?!
Takoyaki, looks yummy doesnt it?!
kakigouri, shaved ice with flavoured syrup, this is the blue hawaii one, it was sweet but no other taste, last year i had the pineapple one which was so good i had another one..

Anpan (bread with a sweet bean paste), i bought about 5 to take home with me but now i realize it was a mistake.. its too sweets and fills you up rather quickly.. i had one yesterday and one today.. and still have 3 left..

Well, thats it for now.. bai bai

PS i got up with a mysterious rash on my left hand today, why just one hand? what did i touch with only one hand? i can't think of anything? and what is this reaction from? ive never had any allergic reaction or anything before.. i hope its gone by tomorrow.. its nothing big but it scared me..