'White Day' in Japan!

It's "White Day" today in Japan.

In Japan, on February 14th, Valentine's Day, females give chocolates to males.
The type of chocolate that are given can be divided into several types:
(I'm recalling this from memory, so there may be some discrepancy...)
homemade choco for people that are truly special to you
tomo choco for friends
and
giri choco for people you are obligated to be nice to

March 14th, on the other hand, is known as White Day.
Simply put, this is the day when males reciprocate and give females (who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day) sweets or pastries in return.



So, this morning I suddenly remembered that today was White Day and half-jokingly sent a message to a handful of guys I know asking for White Day chocolate.

I didn't expect anyone to actually oblige.

Less than an hour ago, I was surprised by the persistent ringing of my doorbell.
Guess who it was?
Ryoutaro came to give me a box of pastries from both him and Youichi

What a pleasant surprise!
Thanks again you guys!
That definitely made my day! :P

Additional reading: Wiki

February 11: Shiori and Youichi's wedding

Although I'm a bit late in posting, this is one entry I do not want to leave out from my blog.
This is the first time I attended a friend's wedding (actually, we only went to the afterparty, but anyway...)
What makes it extra special is that I'm in another country and I know both the bride and the groom :)

Below are pictures from the "feather shower" and the bouquet throwing after the wedding banquet

Here's the bride in her pretty pink flowing wedding dress :D

Group shot! (Ryoutaro is drunk here)

The bride threw three bouquets and here are the three people who caught them

Here's the sign that announces that Shiori and Youichi's wedding was in session and that guests can leave their belongings here (or something... sorry, my Japanese isn't that good yet :P)

The adorable couple :D

Shiori's siblings: (L-R) Rino, Kazu, and Nana (this is the first time I met her in person because she's living somewhere near Tokyo with her husband)

Shiori's mom and dad all glammed up

me on the quasi red carpet

The sign announces that Shiori and Youichi's wedding banquet is in session and offers candy (in the basket) to those who see the sign (basically)



More about the afterparty in the next post!

Birthday presents!

I had a really great time yesterday!
This has to be the most memorable birthday I've ever had cause I don't usually celebrate my birthday in the past and I don't really have this many people to celebrate it with!

Thanks to every single person who contributed to making this day special!


Here are the presents I received:

A monkey plush toy with stretchable arms from Marie
(The reason why she got me this is because we have this joke about her clapping her hands like a chimpanzee whenever she laughs at a joke :P)

A "Kago Jen" strap from Trisha
(This is so cool... I love this so much :D)

A kewpie cellphone strap from Toshio
(I'm still thinking of whether or not to attach this to my phone cause it's kinda big :P
Okay... I'll just do it)

Got a deck of karuta cards from Zhao
(As he said, if it's from him, it's gotta be educational :P)

Got a box of eraseable color pens and a notebook from Donican
(She said she got me a notebook because she and Tienchi doodled on my old notebook :P)

A pair of earrings from Tomomi
(I only have one ear pierced so I'm now thinking of having my other ear pierced for this :))

A pink heart-shaped throw pillow from Tienchi
(very Tienchi, eh?)

Two boxes of Kraft Mac n Cheese from Shinobu
(Kind of a long story but the short version is that Shinobu was addicted to this stuff during his stay in Canada)


Thanks a lot for the presents!

Thanks also for the birthday messages:
Robert and Grace, Mama, Dada, Jay, Atsi Christine, Jeric, Florian, Candice, Denmark, Faiz, Souzen, Mike, Hiroki, and Sayaka :)

January highlights: January 10 - Speech contest and Faiz's birthday bash

I woke up this day to a message telling me that it is snowing right that very moment. It was all that I needed to get me out of bed.

The picture above shows the small farm I always pass through covered in snow.

Here's me and Gan Lin (from China) getting ready for our turn at the podium for the speech contest.

Thanks Trisha, Mike, Faiz, Zhao, and Tienchi for coming to support me!

After the speech contest we went to a pasta restaurant at Amu to celebrate Faiz's birthday, which was actually the day after. He ran a marathon on his birthday so we moved the birthday lunch a day earlier.

(I got some of these pictures from Trisha's blog, so thanks Trisha!)

We had a blast talking and eating. Donican at one point forgot which language she should speak in, and we were asking for pizza (it was all you can eat) so frequently from the wait staff that they were dumping heaps into our plates just to keep up quiet in the end.

LOL... it was a lot of fun. :)

January highlights

January has been really busy, what with the semester coming to an end and many of my friends either graduating or finishing up their stay in Kagoshima. It's been one event after another, leaving little room to think and making it seem like the month just zapped by in a second.

In the following posts, I will revisit these gatherings and look back at the great time that we shared. Sad as parting is, I'm really glad I got to know everyone and had such a grand time with all of you!

Japanese speech contest

I'm joining my first ever speech contest in Japan
Wish me luck!

皆さんこんにちは、鹿児島国際大学国際文化大学院生の交換留学生ジェニー。アン。ルーと申します。
今日のテーマは"アイデンティティー"です。
Hello, everyone. I am Jenny Ang Lu and I am an exchange student to the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies at the International University of Kagoshima.
My topic for today is "Identity."

私の祖父母は中国からフィリピンに移民しました。
私はそこのバギオという都市で生まれ、
１６年間ずっとそこで暮らしました。
１６歳の時台湾に行き、日本に来るまでずっとそこにいました。
ですから、フィリピン語、英語、中国語、そして、日本語を話すことが出来ます。
My grandparents immigrated to the Philippines from China
I was born in a city called Baguio in the Philippines.
I lived there until I moved to Taiwan when I was 16. I've been living in Taiwan right until I came to Japan.
This is why I can speak Filipino, English, Chinese and Japanese.

私が出会った方々によく聞かれるのは、
あなたの出身は台湾ですか、それともフィリピンですか？
では、あなたは何人ですか？
あなたの母国語は何ですか？
このような質問でした。
I'm often asked such questions as:
So, are you from Taiwan or from the Philippines?
Then, what's your nationality?
What is your mother tongue?

今日はこの質問にちゃんと答えます！
Let me answer these questions today.

まず、
私の祖先は中国人ですが、私は中国人ではありません。
中国に行った事もありませんし、漢方も苦手です。
また、中国の四字熟語や、中国の歴史、地理などもあまり分かりません。
First of all, even though my ancestors were from China, I am not Chinese.
I've never been to China and I can't stand Chinese medicine.
What's more, I'm not very good with Chinese set phrases nor am I familiar with Chinese history, geography and such.

さらに、
フィリピン出身ですが、私はフィリピン人ではありません。
見た目も、皮膚の色もフィリピン人とは違います。
また、敬語の"ポ"もあまり使いませんし、時間もあまりルーズではありません。
Also, even though I was raised in the Philippines, I am not Filipino.
I don't look Filipino, and my skin color is also different.
What's more I don't use the polite affix "po" so much, nor am I habitually late for appointments or events.

また、
十年くらい台湾に住んでいましたが、私は台湾人ではありません。
台湾に親戚は誰もいません。
また、漢方料理は苦手ですし、バイクももっていません。
And though I'd lived in Taiwan for around a decade, I am not Taiwanese.
I don't have any relatives there.
Moreover, I don't enjoy Chinese medicine in my food and I don't own a motorbike.

ところで、私と同じような考えを持っている人がいるでしょうか？
住んでいた場所や出会った文化は自分のアイデンティティーに大変影響をあたえていると思います。
However, I wonder if everyone thinks the same way that I do.
I believe that the places one lived in and the cultures one is exposed to greatly influences a person's identity.

私の祖先は中国人です。
私の家では、まだ中国の風俗や習慣が残っています。
私は中国人です。
My ancestors were from China.
And my family continues to uphold customs and virtues that originate from China.
I am Chinese.

私のミドルネームは母親の旧姓です。
手で食事をすることが好きですし、ビネガーをかけたグリーンマンゴーやブラックコーヒーに入れたパンをおいしいと感じます。
私はフィリピン人です。
My middle name is my mother's maiden name.
I enjoy eating with my hands, and I think raw (green) mango with vinegar and bread dipped in coffee is delicious.
I am Filipino.

台北の道に関しては台湾に住んでいる人々よりも詳しく知っています。
中国語も母国語のように話せるようになりましたし、周りの人も私が台湾人ではないことをよく忘れています。
私は台湾人です。
I know the streets of Taipei better than many Taiwanese.
I'm proficient in Chinese to the point that people think it's my mother tongue and people around me forget that I'm not Taiwanese.
I am Taiwanese.

それから、
アメリカに行った事はないですが、聞く、話す、読む、書くのほとんどは英語を使っているので、一番得意な言語は英語です。その文化の影響か、だんだんとアメリカ人になっていく気がします。やりたい事があれば、一人でもやりますし、十八歳から一人暮らしを始め、生活費や、日々の生活も自立してやってきました。

Additionally, although I've never been to the States, I do most of my listening, speaking, reading and writing in English. This is why English is my dominant language. Because of this cultural influence, I have gradually turned into an American. When I set my mind on doing something, I do it even if no one's doing it with me. I also started living on my own at 18, took care of my own expenses and day to day living, and became financially independent since then.

日本に来てからもう三ヶ月が経ちました。
"お疲れ様です"のような挨拶を使う事に違和感を感じなくなってきました。
おじぎをすることもだんだんと慣れてきて、ラーメンを食べるときもすするようになりました。
私は少しずつ日本人になってきています。

I've been in Japan for three months now.
I'm using such set phrases as "Otsukaresama desu" more and more.
I'm getting used to bowing to people and I'm starting to make slurping sounds when I eat ramen.
I'm slowly becoming Japanese.

みなさん、
私は国際人のジェニー。アン。ルーと申します。
今日のスピーチを聞いてくださってありがとうございました。
これからもよろしくお願いします。
I'm Jenny Ang Lu. I am an international citizen.
Thank you everyone for listening to my speech today.

Have a nice day.

Happy New Year!

So we made plans to go to a beach to catch the first rays of the year
but we didn't make the train LOL
so we made the most of the situation and decided to go somewhere near (hint: university campus :D)

The first sign of the sun appeared at about 6:40 am local time

Here's Zhao and Faiz
... it was raining, by the way
...friggin cold...

The clouds made us really worried that we might missed the first sunrise of the year...

But look! There it is!
It's not much but it IS the first sunrise of the year :P

And... I finally saw some snow!!!
It just snowed for a few minutes and it melted as soon as it hit the ground but I'm still happy! :D

It was kinda hard getting it on film, though...

Happy New Year everyone!
Make a new year's resolution!
(I'll try to stick to mine :P)

Christmas party at Shiori's: Part 2 (the cake)

This blog chronicles our individual shots with the cake that Shiori, Kazu and Rino made from scratch :D
We were all so impressed!

Here's Faiz stuffing himself

me :P

Lookit at the strawberry Santa :D
Cute, isn't it?

Yum!

Trisha about to devour Santa!

Tienchi is "allergic" to strawberries :D

Mafia Mike...

Evil-eye Zhao

Donican!

Christmas party at Shiori's: Part 1 (random photos)

We were playing a game where we were supposed to guess the name of the celebrity assigned to us (written on a sheet taped to our ears)

So we went to Shiori's for an early Christmas party (December 23) and had a grand time with great food and good company!

Here's who came (from left): Yoichi (Shiori's husband), Shiori, Ai (Shiori's friend), Kazu (Shiori's brother), Rino (Shiori's sister), Yuna (Ai's daughter), Mike, Zhao (sadly covered by the wine... sorry about that), Faiz, Donican, Tienchi, me and Trisha

Look at all the food!
Shiori, Kazu and Rino spent part of the morning and all of the afternoon preparing all these from scratch. Thanks, Shiori!!!

So we were playing a game and I was trying to explain Tweety without being too obvious
...so I drew this, LOL
I thought it was pretty good :P

Here's Shiori trying her best to come up with a name (Tweety) during our game :D