http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/rss yumi's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Sat May 18 12:12:29 UTC 2013 Sat May 18 12:12:29 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8
I finally finished my last piece for the Mexico convention before leaving here. I'm so glad that I could make it. Tomorrow I will leave here at 9:00 am and fly to Mexico. I will meet my Thai friend at the Atlanta airport and we go there together.

It's my first time to go to Mexico and I'm so excited now. I will post some journal entries from Mexico soon!

Posted at Fri May 17 22:34:43 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/329812854617000420864105972602277332645 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/329812854617000420864105972602277332645 yumi Fri May 17 22:34:43 UTC 2013
Hi there. It's been a while since I posted my last journal entry here. I had been teaching for these days and busy for preparing for my class. That's why I couldn't post anything for two days.

I have several American students in the Southern part of America, but it's my first time to teach my techniques in painting on porcelain in the Northern part of America. I got 15 American students. It was a bit big number for me because in South my class max is 10 people. I haven't taught in Japan, and I started teaching in America in my second language since last year. Teaching in English is very fun, and I get a kick out of it. 15 American painters painted several pieces of jewelry, and they loved it. In my class, I taught how to paint stones, diamond, gold and silver chains and some crystals. Students can make their own designs and don't need to copy their teacher's work. I think it was their first time to take such the type of class. Many students asked me when I would come back there next time. I hope I can teach them again when I come back here next time. I have several ideas and after I return to Japan, I start painting my ideas on porcelain.

Posted at Thu May 16 00:04:59 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/84754946947954141142644425285786639972 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/84754946947954141142644425285786639972 yumi Thu May 16 00:04:59 UTC 2013
I'm very scared to gain weight here in America. Compared to Japanese women, American women don't cook so much. I've been eating lunch almost every day outside. When I stop by some fast restaurants, I tend to order some salad, and eat them with some salt and pepper with a little bit dressing. That's because American salad has bacon or fried chicken. Once we add weight, we have to exercise very hard to loose even only one kg. I don't like exercising, and if I can avoid it, I want to do it.

When the weather is good, I've been taking her dog for a walk for an hour. However, recently the weather here is very cold. Yesterday we had snow. For a couple of days, I haven't walked.

I know why there are so many overweight people in America. That's because they don't walk, and it's easy for them to take fast food everywhere. When we are young, we don't need to concern about our diet, but after getting older, our metabolism system is getting worse. After people get fat, it's difficult for them to move. I think there are a lot of bad cycles for overweight people in America.

Posted at Mon May 13 14:51:00 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/179413064279325347730157640009659686500 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/179413064279325347730157640009659686500 yumi Mon May 13 14:51:00 UTC 2013
Happy Mother's Day! I received a very nice email from my daughter in Japan. I know that she doesn't like me going to America several times a year. Even so, she encouraged me via the email. When I read it, I suddenly missed her and it brought tears. When I return to Japan, I want to hug her!

Posted at Sun May 12 13:47:51 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/183237334001443874621359767784887289509 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/183237334001443874621359767784887289509 yumi Sun May 12 13:47:51 UTC 2013
When I arrived in Michigan a couple of weeks ago, the weather was very cold, and I saw snow was sometimes falling. Although I worried about the cold weather, it was getting warmer. For two weeks, we have really comfortable weather, and I'm enjoying Spring here.

Today the weather came back to Winter again. The temperature of the outside is only 6 degree Celsius. I need a cup of hot coco. I really miss the niece weather, and I hope tomorrow will become warmer again.

Posted at Sat May 11 00:07:47 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/276210340097050180505599461011487694436 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/276210340097050180505599461011487694436 yumi Sat May 11 00:07:47 UTC 2013
I found this book at a garage sale of my friend's neighborhood. It's one of my favorites to find cheap books at garage sales in America. I like reading children books in English, and I bought it only for 25 cents. I really think I did a good shopping.

The book was good for reading. The main character is a low teenager and an orphan. Her life before meeting her current foster mother was really miserable, and she escaped from her foster houses a lot. Only her sweet memory was to meet her twin sister whom she separated after her mother and grandmother were killed by a car accident. One day she found over 800 dollars and she planned an adventure to find her sister.

I love the ending part of the story. She found her sister after she met a lot of troubles. However, her sister was really mean to her, and she didn't have the same sweet memory that the main character has. The book has been teaching us that we can't handle most of things what we want in our life. She explored to find true love, but she already had it. It was her foster mother!

Posted at Fri May 10 00:36:20 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/215518040531546729501828558664194039396 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/215518040531546729501828558664194039396 yumi Fri May 10 00:36:20 UTC 2013
Today my friend and I visited to her sister in Detroit. After we ate a big piece of Vietnamese sandwich, we stopped by a Japanese market. It was my first time to visit a Japanese market in America although I've gone several Asian markets. I like going to Asian markets because I can find some funny Japanese products from China, and it always makes me laugh. However, I can't stand the awful smell.

When I entered the Japanese market, I was a bit surprised because the shop smelled sushi. The shop has been serving sushi, and we can eat inside. There were full of real Japanese products, and I couldn't see any fake one. I bought several Japanese treats and two different flavored miso soup. Even thought the market is Japanese, I couldn't see any Japanese people there. It made me a blit disappointed.

Posted at Wed May 08 23:14:03 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/331486134392360569144258549536111855269 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/331486134392360569144258549536111855269 yumi Wed May 08 23:14:03 UTC 2013
I stopped by a second hand book store with my friend. At the children book section, I found a book series called "Left Behind". It has 21 books, and I thought it must be interesting for reading. I bought all of the books.

After I got home, I searched about the book series. I found it has 40 books, and all of books in the series have gotten at least 4,5 starts on reviews of Amazon.com. Since I wanted to read the whole series, I tried to buy other books that I haven't had yet at Japan Amazon.com. I realized that some books are extremely expensive and have been selling for 80 dollars or 200 dollars. Can you imagine that only one child book has been selling for 200 dollars? I thought I found a very precious book series that it was difficult for Japanese people to get.

I went to an America amazon and ordered left series as many as I can order. I still can't find 7 books. I hope I can buy the whole series at other second hand book stores in somewhere in America or online. I can't wait to start reading the book series!

Posted at Tue May 07 21:57:51 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/55593999847772120405419064985071361636 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/55593999847772120405419064985071361636 yumi Tue May 07 21:57:51 UTC 2013
I just got home from a funeral. It was my first funeral in America and actually I don't know the person who died. She is a mom of my friend's son's wife, and according to my friend, she had been suffering for a long time.

Before going there, I was very nervous because I would stand out. I don't like standing out, and everybody starts at me. In addition, I don't know most of the people in the funeral. However, my friend told me that it was a good chance for me to learn a part of American culture. A couple of days ago my friend and I went shopping and I bought a black cardigan for the funeral. Since I brought a short length one-piece, a black pair of shoes, a black parse and a pair of pearl neckless and earrings for the Mexico convention, I wore them today.

Funerals are always full of sad, and several tears dropped from my eyes even though I don't know the dead person. When I saw a corps in the coffin, I was a little bit shocked. She died a week ago and I wondered how people keep the corps for a week. My friend told me that they blood out from the corps and gain some medical things for her. She was wearing a very pretty dress and cosmetics. She seemed to be very peaceful.

In Japan we have a funeral at least in 5 days and it's really rare for us to have a funeral after a week. We put a lot of dried ice and cottons to corpses. Although families see the corpses, if people don't have blood relationships to the dead person, most of the case, they don't see the body.

In this funeral all her daughters and some of her grandchildren had several speeches, but in Japan most of the case only one person like her husband or her first child has a speech. Even though there are several differences, most of things that people did were same.

After the funeral, we ate lunch, and people talked about the dead person. That was also same as Japan.
I just couldn't do something relates to christianity like saying amen or crossing myself like people did. It made me awkward. I didn't do them, but I prayed for her in my way.

Posted at Mon May 06 20:38:01 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/287676097481326395690642265781006108325 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/287676097481326395690642265781006108325 yumi Mon May 06 20:38:01 UTC 2013

Yesterday I visited a house of one of my friend's husband's students. My friend's husband is a doctor and a professor of the Michigan State University. His students are medical students and from India. They will graduate this summer and starts their new life in New York. Before leaving, they invited their professor and us.

I hadn't spoken Indian people in English. A wife of the couple (I mean the students) is raised in Texas, and her English didn't have a deep accent, but the husband had an Indian accent. It was sometimes difficult for me to understand what he said. Even so, I understood some parts of conversations and I really enjoyed chatting with them. We talked about our culture, food, traditional costumes and many things while eating the wife's home made Indian food. Since I'm not used to the spicy food, my mouth burned. To make my mouth cool down, they suggested to eat some yogurt that had some veggies. They also served us some summer drink. It was red, and the taste was good too. They also served several different sweets. They are also very good and all foods and conversations made me very happy.


Posted at Sun May 05 15:28:27 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/147310702083502381227175102543269856933 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/147310702083502381227175102543269856933 yumi Sun May 05 15:28:27 UTC 2013
I baked two tortes with my American friend a couple of days ago and today. While baking the tortes, I learned a lot of cooking terms that I didn't know in English.

I think it's one of the best ways for English learners because through experiences we can learn the phrases. That means we can learn how to use the phrases at the same time. It's easy for us to memorize them because we experienced. I think this is exact the same way that babies learn their first language.

Watching YouTube is OK. Going to a conversational school is fine, but if we can do something with a fiend whose first language is English, it's much better for us to learn. If we can watch movies or TV shows with our friend from countries where people speak English as their first language, it will be more effective for us to improve our English because they can explain the parts what we don't understand, relating history, background, culture or whatever.

So, I really appreciate to my American friends who do something with me! Thank you so much my dear friends!!!

Posted at Sat May 04 19:48:55 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/222961594217804439822920835434846999522 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/222961594217804439822920835434846999522 yumi Sat May 04 19:48:55 UTC 2013
Today I received a very pretty blank vase that I ordered a couple of days ago. I bought a really neat shaped vase for the Mexico convention, but I dropped it in accidentally. The vase got some clacks and I have to repaint on an other vase. When I looked at the clacks, I was really shocked. That's because I ordered the vase from the U.S. and it was very expensive.

My friend encouraged me and she told me that I can order some Limoges white boxes together; I can save a lot of shipping costs. The new vase is as cool as the vase that I broke and the Limoges boxes that I ordered are also very pretty. I'm totally happy now!

Posted at Sat May 04 01:21:39 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/330078255330802724127398824205154754148 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/330078255330802724127398824205154754148 yumi Sat May 04 01:21:39 UTC 2013
I've been always sleepy since I came here. I think I've been very tired and that's why. I think English makes me very tired. I have to think everything and speak it all the time because none of my friends can spake in Japanese.

I've been walking my friend's new dog and every time I walk with her, someone speaks to me in English because her dog is really pretty. I'm not used to speaking with strangers in English and it's sometimes a bit difficult for me to understand. I think these small things relates to culture, language or habits makes me feel tired.

I want to be used to the situation and want to handle my second language much better. I really want to do it.

Posted at Fri May 03 14:12:38 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/173412313899133386743790425250896414373 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/173412313899133386743790425250896414373 yumi Fri May 03 14:12:38 UTC 2013
I bought a Dr. Seuss's book when I went shopping with my friend. Although I've heard several stories about Dr. Suess, I've never read his book yet. When I saw his book at a shop, I thought it was a good chance for me to learn about a part of American culture. I bought "The Cat In the Hat". I want to give this book to my daughter after reading. I think it's good for her first book in English. 

Posted at Thu May 02 03:47:55 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/24940956369429546972653555052143466191 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/24940956369429546972653555052143466191 yumi Thu May 02 03:47:55 UTC 2013

I talked to one of my American friends about my next trip in America with my cell phone. She lives in Iowa and has invited me to visit her. She and I are planning on camping around Yellow Stone with her husband. She told me that we would go to Salt Lake city in Utah and Montana. I've never been these places before and I'm so excited my next trip in America.

America is such a big country and I really appreciate to all my American friends who let me stay at their houses. My next trip will be the longest one and I will stay in America for two and a half months. I can go a lot of places with several my friends. Even though I'm in America and enjoying my current trip, I can't stop thinking about my next trip!

Posted at Wed May 01 03:38:32 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/202732179855796189547386122910622827843 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/202732179855796189547386122910622827843 yumi Wed May 01 03:38:32 UTC 2013
Yesterday a friend of mine took me to her friend's house that was built in the middle of the 18th century. She told me that the house was just amazing because it has a ball room, 7 bed rooms and my favorite type of the Victorian house. I was so excited to see the house and meet her friends who are the owners of the house.

My friend was right and the house was just awesome. The owners of the house have been collecting a lot of antiques and the house just looked like a museum. I took a lot of pictures of the inside and their antique collections. One of the owners explained about the history of the house and their collections and it was very interesting for me. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories because I can learn something from them. Since I took a bunch of pictures of the house, I want to write about it on my blog after I return to Japan.

Posted at Tue Apr 30 02:18:02 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/62817348521520155830911089270805343530 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/62817348521520155830911089270805343530 yumi Tue Apr 30 02:18:02 UTC 2013
Hi friends! I came back here again.

It was a little bit difficult to get the Internet connection at the facility of the Michigan school. Even though I got the connection, it was really slow. Now, I'm in a friend of mine's house and can write a journal entry again.

Yesterday the school was over. Today I helped my friend who is a owner of the porcelain school. We are really tired. While I was in the school, I wanted to focus on painting and didn't post anything, but I want to become a diligent English learner again tomorrow!

Posted at Mon Apr 29 03:17:29 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/110503578281222496667407451748242687653 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/110503578281222496667407451748242687653 yumi Mon Apr 29 03:17:29 UTC 2013
I've been reading books in English to try to improve my reading skills. After reading, I've been writing reviews on a website to keep my motivation for reading in English.

A week ago, I received a message from an American author via the site. She wrote that she read one of my reviews that I wrote about "Love Story" two years ago. She was inspired by my review and wanted me to write her new book's review. I was very surprised because I never expected such the thing would happen to me. In addition, my review was not such the good that she mentioned. I felt embarrassed, but I thought it was a good chance because it was my first time a real author contacted me.

After I let her know my email address, I received her brand new ebook from her. I haven't started reading her book yet, but I put her book on my to-read list. I want to read her book as soon as possible. If you are interested in her book, you can get her book here:http://www.amazon.com/A-Happy-Accident-ebook/dp/B00AHER9I0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365815512&sr=1-1&keywords=Evan+Tyle



Posted at Mon Apr 22 04:20:07 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/311268504265599219206476332643694154946 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/311268504265599219206476332643694154946 yumi Mon Apr 22 04:20:07 UTC 2013
I flied to America yesterday and arrived here safely. Before going back to here, I'd been very tired because I moved to a new town a week ago. I had to settle up and clean up our new house the whole time. I also had to paint for the convention in Mexico and the school in Michigan. I'd been feeling a lot of stree and started thinking everything negatevely.

After I arrived here and met my American friends, all of them changed my mood. They told me that even though I think about our messy house in Japann, I can't do anything from here. Then, I realized that thinking about the things was to waste time and I should quit it. I want to enjoy my second studying abroad this year! I am finally in a happy mood! Thank you so much, my dear friends!!

Posted at Sun Apr 21 03:46:49 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/33146506872754331721145472044734482085 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/33146506872754331721145472044734482085 yumi Sun Apr 21 03:46:49 UTC 2013
I flied to America yesterday and arrived here safely. Before going back to here, I'd been very tired because I moved to a new town a week ago. I had to settle up and clean up our new house the whole time. I also had to paint for the convention in Mexico and the school in Michigan. I'd been feeling a lot of stree and started thinking everything negatevely.

After I arrived here and met my American friends, all of them changed my mood. They told me that even though I think about our messy house in Japann, I can't do anything from here. Then, I realized that thinking about the things was to waste time and I should quit it. I want to enjoy my second studying abroad this year! I finally in a happy mood! Thank you so much, my dear friends!!

Posted at Sun Apr 21 03:46:10 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/2322391728922344430002779378021959333 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/2322391728922344430002779378021959333 yumi Sun Apr 21 03:46:10 UTC 2013
Our moving became almost climax. Today seven moving people came over to help me to pack. I'm packing the whole day and still packing. Tomorrow we will leave here and head to a new town. This is the last post from my current city!

Posted at Thu Apr 11 13:43:51 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/287266007118487706864636669043426330277 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/287266007118487706864636669043426330277 yumi Thu Apr 11 13:43:51 UTC 2013
I'm a little bit worried about a missile from North Korea. According to some news, tonight they will launch it head to Japan. Every day some news relate to North Korea is getting serious. I've been alone at home to pack, and if it would happen, I would be panicked. I can't stop thinking of the worst case. I really hope it's never ever happen.

If it happened, I couldn't go back to America. I have to cancel my studying abroad. I can't go to Mexico either. I definitely have to be stuck in Japan. I really hate wars because they don't product anything at all. I really hope they change their mind and stop it.

Posted at Wed Apr 10 11:13:30 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/229470510221048951694727812519899930212 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/229470510221048951694727812519899930212 yumi Wed Apr 10 11:13:30 UTC 2013
Today when my British friend emailed me to give him my new address because he wanted to mail a gift for my birthday, I realized that a couple of days from now would be my birthday.
Recently I've been very busy for moving, and I completely forgot when was my birthday.

On my birthday several moving people will come to my house to help me packing. I don't think I can celebrate my birthday. In addition, at the time I will be alone. Next day my hubby will come home to help packing. At the time I want to celebrate it with him.

Posted at Tue Apr 09 13:44:07 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/187025899068984189101794725013505050277 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/187025899068984189101794725013505050277 yumi Tue Apr 09 13:44:07 UTC 2013
My Hand Knitted Bag

I knitted this bag for my daughter, but she didn't like it. So, I gave it to my mom. Since she loves everything that I create, she really likes it.

Knitting is really good for me because I feel relaxed and calm. Every single day before starting painting, I've been knitting. It works out for my creativity very well. Since knitting wool yarn in summer is too hot, I want to learn how to crochet and do tatting lace.

Posted at Mon Apr 08 12:39:20 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/114016515863380488904593635733530451556 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/114016515863380488904593635733530451556 yumi Mon Apr 08 12:39:20 UTC 2013
Today I received a request from an American china painter who lives in Japan. She told me that she will leave Japan at the end of July in 2014 and asked me if every weekend I could go to Tokyo where she lives and teach kutani to her. She told me that I can stay at her house.

I do want to do it because she lived in an American military base in Japan and the place is very mysterious for us. I've never seen what the American military base in Japan looks like and I'm very curious about it. If she allows me, I want to take some pictures of the place and want to post them on my blog. She is very interested in our dying art, kutani and has been collecting Japanese antiques like my other friend, Paula. She has been teaching English to Japanese students as well.

Since I will study abroad in America again after moving, I can't teach her until June. I'm really excited to start teaching her. I want her to become an American kutani painter! She is the first one and I really think it's really cool!!!! I'm so happy one of my dreams comes true! Thank God!!

Posted at Sun Apr 07 12:47:22 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/98948452315649580709897348846163986085 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/98948452315649580709897348846163986085 yumi Sun Apr 07 12:47:22 UTC 2013
Today my hubby and daughter left our house and headed to Osaka. My husband started working for a new office and my daughter starts her school soon. We live separately until moving to a new house for a week.
I left home alone because I have to take care of our dog. It's my first time to live alone for a week.

I went shopping and bought several craft books. I stopped by a sweet shop and bought a whole cake. I ate a piece of the cake as dinner. My plan is to eat the cake as breakfast and lunch tomorrow. I want to stay up late tonight to enjoy being alone. I'm listening to music very loudly but nobody complains about it. Maybe being alone isn't so bad if it has time limit. I want to enjoy unusual things that I can't do with my family for a week!

Posted at Sat Apr 06 12:32:21 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/9166308491003229161684142010984433317 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/9166308491003229161684142010984433317 yumi Sat Apr 06 12:32:21 UTC 2013
A couple of weeks ago I went out to eat some puffer fish with my family in Obama city, Fukui. It was my husband’s idea because we would have to move out and enjoy some seafood here where we current live. He reserved a nice restaurant where we can stay for us. Puffer fish is my favorite, and I really enjoyed it!

We eat raw fish and seafood with some soy sauce and wasabi (わさび、green horseradish paste). I love the combination, and I eat stake with soy sauce and wasabi! That’s also my favorite!! Every time I go to study abroad in the U.S of America, I always bring a small bottle of say sauce and put it on anything I want. I can’t survive without any soy sauce!!!!

Nabe is a Japanese style of hot pot dish. We put some veggies and seafood, in this case we put some puffer fish in a pot. After they are boiled, we eat them with some ponzu sauce (ポン酢、ぽんず, ponzu）. The flavor of ponzu is mix of citrus, vinegar and soy sauce. The nabe is for the Winter season and it keeps us warm.

I know for Western people, it’s disgusting! We Japanese people eat everything of seafood even some soft roe!!!!! I love some soup of some soft roe.



Posted at Fri Apr 05 12:17:08 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/250399825851696867849793284916676003493 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/250399825851696867849793284916676003493 yumi Fri Apr 05 12:17:08 UTC 2013
Today I went out to enjoy viewing cherry blossoms twice with my daughter. They are fully in bloom now and we enjoyed the day view and the night view.
Since I took a lot of pictures of the blooms, I will post them on my blog soon! Please stay tunned to my blog.

http://yumiyumayume.wordpress.com/

I also updated my art blog. Visit my art blog and if you have extra time, please leave a comment!

http://sommerstein0411.wordpress.com/

Posted at Thu Apr 04 12:59:43 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/177102995741974924233343606821932211812 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/177102995741974924233343606821932211812 yumi Thu Apr 04 12:59:43 UTC 2013
Today I went to my travel agency and book my flight tickets to study abroad in America.

I will leave Japan on the 20th of April and fly to Michigan. I will take a portrait class from my Vietnamese America teacher there. I will do a demo at the school. After school, I will teach my techniques to American painters.

On the 18th of May, I go to Mexico from Michigan. I also will do a demo and a work shop there. I go there with my Thai friend. He and I will meet at the Atlanta airport and fly to Mexico together.

After the convention, I fly back to Atlanta and will take a class from an ex KPM painter with my Michigan friend. I will stay at the painter's house with my friend and learn the KPM techniques.

My next studying abroad is the longest and I'm very excited! I hope I can learn, experience, paint and enjoy a lot!

Posted at Wed Apr 03 13:28:55 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/147104058706861294658862380704576020068 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/147104058706861294658862380704576020068 yumi Wed Apr 03 13:28:55 UTC 2013
Today I went to a convenience store to buy something. When I paid, I did something strange. A cashier said to me that total was 1475 yen. When I heard it, somehow my brain started thinking the number in English. I'm not good at catching numbers in English and it's the hardest part for me to understand English immediately. I'm always nervous to buy something in America because of the reason.

I paid for 1582 yen and expected the cashier paid me back for 5 yen. I don't know why I did it, and he gave me back for 7 yen in a really strange look. Then I realized that I did a strange thing and I felt embarrassed.

For me catching numbers, especially number 7 and 9 in English is very difficult in English conversations. I know I'm in Japan, but my brain sometimes thinks something in English even though I hear something in Japanese. This is really weird, but I can't control it.

Posted at Tue Apr 02 11:41:47 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/102035393857453797823890791194640227940 http://lang-8.com/19337/journals/102035393857453797823890791194640227940 yumi Tue Apr 02 11:41:47 UTC 2013