In my universe I’m the sun

In Japan I started to love Sundays. It was my day of the week with tea, ham & eggs, some letter writing and crocheting. Now that I’m back home and don’t lead a single life anymore (♥) things have changed a bit of course ^^ Now my shiny Sunday’s start with sleeping in and a good breakfast in bed (no moaning about crumbs in the bed, please ;P). Actually I wonder if there’s anything better than to start your day with a yummy breakfast in bed.

And yes, we do this every week. It has already turned into a kind of habit, I guess. There…look, in the right corner of the next picture, it’s the ripple blanket I’m working on. But more about it in another post. (Ch. just saw the “we” and had to smile, because he’s got a place in my little, magical world now: on- and offline ^^)
My quite and relaxing weekend with good food, crochet and my Xbox was important contrastive program after an eventful week with A.’s visit, meetings with some of my friends, a birthday and work – all of this in combination with a slight cold. You can see it’s getting stressful again, so I have to find ways to compensate.

Studies

I’m at a point with my Japanese studies where I don’t spend hours over grammar and Kanji books but can enjoy what I like most about mastering a foreign language – read novels in the original tongue. Well, actually the book I’ve started to read is a non-fiction book called 「自分」を変える100の質問 which means 100 questions that will change “your self” (buy at amazon.jp). I look up every word I don’t know and create vocabulary lists. It’s a nice way to study and memorize new words. The plan is to read one chapter = one of the 100 questions every day.

Entertain me

Finally I bought an Xbox 360, the new slim model and I simply love it ♥ It’s connected to my old TV so far which means I can only play games that support 50Hz ( I’m so lucky I can play Final Fantasy XIII) but even with an old television it’s pure eye candy. If anyone wants to add me as a friend on Xbox live: my username is as usual schildmaid.

This weeks Oricon single charts are even better than usual. I listen to SMAP’s No. 1 hit This Is Love over and over again and can’t get enough of the catchy tune that reminds me of Michael Jackson’s Black Or White. Besides that you can find Plan B – Prayin’, Fettes Brot – Jein and Tocotronic – Im Zweifel für den Zweifel on my playlist.

This week’s Top 10 in Japan

1. This Is Love – SMAP (♥)
2. NO, Thank You! – HO-KAGO TEA TIME (♥)
3. Utauyo!! MIRACLE – HO-KAGO TEA TIME
4. Kimi Ga Iru – Ikimonogakari (♥)
5. if – Kana Nishino (♥)
6. Kimi Shika – No Sleeves
7. Pool Side Daisakusen – IDOLING!!!
8. Ato Hitotsu – FUNKY MONKEY BABYS (♥)
9. One in a million – Tomohisa Yamashita
10. Ai No Uta – Shinsengumi Rian

Those songs marked with a heart got a five stars rating on my ipod, so this weeks charts are worth it ^^

1. Wo ist dein Handy? – Schreibtisch
2. Dein Partner? – überwältigend ♥
3. Deine Haare? – wandlungsfähig
4. Deine Mama? – Freundin
5. Dein Papa? – barfuß
6. Lieblingsgegenstand? – Plüschkuh
7. Dein Traum von letzter Nacht? – GNTM
8. Lieblingsgetränk? – Eistee
9. Traumauto? – Ibiza
10. Der Raum, in dem du dich befindest? – Wohnzimmer
11. Dein Ex? – b.
12. Deine Angst? – allgegenwärtig
13. Was möchtest du in 10 Jahren sein? – glücklich
14. Mit wem verbrachtest du den gestrigen Abend? – Freunde
15. Was bist du nicht? – zuverlässig ><
16. Das letzte, was du getan hast? – telefoniert
17. Was trägst du? – Sonnenschein
18. Lieblingsbuch? – mehrere
19. Das letzte, was du gegessen hast? – Nachos
20. Dein Leben? – Seifenoper
21. Deine Stimmung? – überglücklich
22. Deine Freunde? – lebenswichtig
23. Woran denkst du gerade? – ♥
24. Was machst du gerade? – Bloggen
25. Dein Sommer? – Sommermärchen
26. Was läuft in deinem TV? – VOX (’Das perfekte Dinner’)
27. Wann das letzte Mal gelacht? – eben
28. Das letzte Mal geweint? – Gedächtnislücke
29. Schule? – YAMASA
30. Was hörst du gerade? – Rasenmäher ><
31. Liebste Wochenendbeschäftigung? – leben
32. Traumjob? – Autorin
33. Dein Computer? – essentiell
34. Außerhalb deines Fensters? – Rasenmäher ><
35. Bier? – Biermuskel
36. Mexikanisches Essen? – Bohnen
37. Winter? – Schlittschuhlaufen
38. Religion? – spirituell
39. Urlaub? – immer
40. Auf deinem Bett? – Deckenberg
41. Liebe? – gefunden!

Saturday another big dream for me came true – a trip to the Grand Shrine of Ise, Japan’s most sacred place. According to Japanese mythology the sun goddess Amaterasu gave the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan – sword, mirror and jewel – to Ninigi-no-Mikoto and while the sword and jewel are located at the Atsuta shrine in Nagoya and the Imperial Palace in Tokyo the mirror is kept at Ise.

What is simply called a shrine is in reality a complex of several bigger and smaller shrines located at two sites – the outer (geku 外宮) and inner (naiku 内宮) shrine. We took the train from Nagoya and when you arrive at Ise you just have to walk for about 500m to arrive at the outer shrine. The weather was perfect and I was lucky to go there with a person like A. who shares my enthusiasm for Japan’s sacred places and understands if I spend minutes staring at the buildings or talking to the enormous trees.

Although it said in the travel guide that if one’s in a hurry it’s better to skip the outer and go straight to the inner shrine I can’t agree. The atmosphere there with all the green and huge, old trees was amazing.

Actually it’s forbidden to enter the area directly around the shrine buildings themselves but at least the tourists/pilgrims are allowed to peek over a fence to get a glimpse of the thatched roofs with the golden embellishments.

Yes, the trees were HUGE, and yes, I do talk to them. Only this time I wasn’t the only one We saw Japanese everywhere hugging trees, touching trees, pressing their ears to the ancient stems (okay, I did that too but couldn’t hear anything…so we have the theory that one day somebody started, other saw and imitated that person and so on…like when you stare up at the sky and suddenly others stop to do the same thing xP)

The bridge above, made out of one gigantic stone, is supposed to look like a turtle ^^

I bought the most beautiful protective charms I had seen so far – shaped like the legendary magatama – for my parents and one for myself. And of course I prayed bowing twice, clapping twice, bowing one more time and thanked for the wonderful time I have at the moment ^^

From the outer we headed to the inner shrine with a bus in which a lovely recorded voice told me to “press the butter” if I wanted to get off   The naiku is surrounded by hills and thousands of trees…oh, and tourists.

At the inner shrine I bought some more protective charms, talked to even more trees and was able to recharge my batteries.

Mah, I’m running out of things to tell inbetween the pictures

After all the spiritual input we came back down to earth to enjoy a little strolling around the nearby quarter that is designed to look like back from the Edo period. It was packed with tourists but the atmosphere was good nonetheless.

Fresh green tea anyone?

One shop was entirely for manaki neko - fortune cats.

As if spiritual fulfillment wasn’t enough for one day we headed to a small town called Futami to see the meoto iwa – the wedded rocks. To our suprise there was a big aquarium at the bus stop with sea lions outside.

We arrived before twilight and spent some time at the beach picking seashells and enjoying a salty breeze.

Hm, who’s that? xP

I wonder if I had ever seen so many shrines on one day. Each and every one of them is beautiful in its own way and I never seem to get tired of them. ^^

I especially like the different temizuya where you wash your hands and normally mouth for purification.

Finally, here they are – the wedded rocks that symbolize the deities Izanami and Izanagi. To be honest they were a lot smaller than expected…but who cares? They look great on pictures.

I love the next picture ♥

Another temizuya with a lot of frogs. ^^

At every shrine it’s possible to buy ema – small wooden plaques on which you can write your prayers and wishes. The one on the left without the tiger is A.’s ^^

Ah, the suspicious person again!

All in all I had a fantastic day and can only recommend a trip to Ise if you’re at least in some way interested in shinto, Japanese culture or sprituality.

I guess with this picture everything is said ^^ “May Peace Prevail On Earth” irrespective of origin or believe!

Sometimes you wake up and feel good. Not that I had this experience too often over the last couple of years being exhausted by university and everything, but recently those kind of days have increased ^^ And Friday was one of those days.

I managed to get out of bed earlier than usual which left me enought ime to take a refreshing shower and enjoy the morning sunshine in front of the open window. For a change all three of us girls were online and hat a little chat before school and I even squeezed in short chit-chats with D. and my Dad *shiny* That in combination with some nice tea and a yummy breakfast PLUS the simple fact I’m in Japan…the perfect life.

Around two months ago I waited desperately for a little bit of green…now take a look at those pictures and see what you can find in the middle of Okazaki now: Green, green rice fields! And when I say in the middle of the city I literally mean it. That’s not countryside (okay, Okazaki itself is inaka but still…370.000 residents, hello!?) but in a residential area.

I love the way the blue sky and the houses are reflected by the water. Can you see why Japan makes me happy and gives me this peace of mind?

Today it’s Tuesday, maybe my least favourite day of the week this semester. This morning I decided to be grumpy which is amusing because I know it was only a decision and feels much better than being in a bad mood for a real reason. The original plan was to wear shabby clothes and laze around at school. But somehow I ended up wearing a blazer and experimenting with make-up, in other words added eyeshadow and eyeliner to my daily mascara and found myself in the center of attention at lunch break…it’s amazing, whenever I do something that is totally normal if other people do it (like the use of make-up) I get an overwhelming amount of feedback, in this case compliments which made me feel good (そんなことないよ) but also uneasy. My entire life people gave me the feeling I’m different >< Nevertheless thanks for the nice words everyone ♥

Also my sudden attack of happiness didn’t remain unrecognized. So two people asked me today (regardless of each other) if I’ve got a boyfriend or like W.-chan preferred to phrase it ‘Are you in love with somebody, or what?’ XD
Isn’t it startling that everyone assumes happiness has to be connected with a partner? Nobody seems to have the idea it is because I’m over my heartbreak, because I’ve started to open my eyes for other things than only one person. That I lead a life worth living with the support of my family, friends and classmates (not to forget book-off and chocolate).

Wait, there’s this little voice inside me screaming ‘But you do have a little crush!‘…ah, come on, shut up. Who hasn’t?

The whole week was something I might not get too often in my life – happiness from the moment on I woke up in the morning! Nobody would believe how many thoughts and emotions I carry around with me every day. As long as I’m occupied with activities involving other people I’m distracted. But whenever I’m alone, which means basically in the evenings and on Sundays, I tend to fall into a hole that gives me sleepless nights and restless afternoons that I spend pacing up and down my room.

I didn’t have this problem before I came to Japan, but here my thoughts never seem to stop and there are many thoughts I’d rather not have. Thoughts many other yamasa students might share with me…about the future. Or better said this big unknown thing that awaits me in less than five weeks. In my case I’m supposed to finish university. That means go back into a life I didn’t like before (though I have to admit it’s the way I chose). But will my life ever be the same again? I suppose not. I’ve changed, so have my circumstances.

Being here has altered my views on love, friendship and values in life. I learned to avoid mistakes I would have made in the past and made many new mistakes. I got aware of things I don’t want in my life, rediscovered old dreams that were burried under a thick crust of doubt and despair but didn’t gain any deeper insights into what I want to do with my future concerning work or the place where I want to live. It’s not Japan, I guess. But is it Germany anymore?
How will it be without the constant ‘meeting new people’ and getting to know all the cultural differences, that are so interesting to study. How will it be to be back in a country where everybody speaks my language, where I’m not the foreigner anymore?

I know all I can do is live my life and don’t be afraid of the future. There’s no sense in agonizing while my happiest time takes place right now! And happy I am!!! But if only those thoughts could stop for a while ><

From my point of view Friday was another chapter in my (almost) perfect life recently. Are my classmates involved? You bet they are! School was fun, maybe a little bit too much because my teachers start to be annoyed by my good mood which is equivalent to I can’t stop laughing during class. But hey, who could when after you’ve learned the Japanese word for ‘incest’ your neighbour shows you his dictionary where it says in English ‘a warm family reunion’.

After school I set off to Aeon Mall with G. and. J. to buy a present for G.’s friend. I was to shops I’d never been to before and took pictures of some adorable baby stuff like the strawberry hat and the animal rompers above ^^ My Japanese is far from being fluent but it’s really nice that we’ve all come to a point where we’re able to talk about almost everything. When I had arrived here I was always afraid to meet with people with whom my only common language is Japanese, that’s not the case anymore

Later in the afternoon the three of us and P. and S.-kun met at the Student Village to cook and it was a lot of fun. Although I can’t imagine to live in the Student Village I have to admit it’s a fun place to hang out, because there’s always somebody and you know I love to be in the middle of events (or should I say attention? *muahaha*).
G. and J. made Chinese pizza for us. The ingredients for the dough are almost the same as for normal pizza only that we didn’t use yeast and the pizza isn’t baked in the oven but made with a lot of oil in a pan. Very yummy.

The initiation for our little meeting was an yoghurt-ice cream recipe our teacher had pinned to the wall in the classroom. P. offered to make it for us so we ended up having a cooking-party All we needed for the ice cream was yoghurt and meringue, though it’s not easy to beat the egg whites without a mixer ><

S.-kun made tasty Asian food and A. joined us with selfmade brownies and apple pie ._.

Next time it’s my turn to cook, I’d say ^^

After dinner we were more or less unable to move and I wonder how we made it to S.-kun’s apartment, especially so fast because we tried to avoid the ice cream from melting away completely H.-chan was the last to join us there and we watched Inglourious Basterds.

Ah, I’m sourrounded by so many wonderful people <3

Wah, who’s that? Could be me, huh? And I look tired but happy

In the end we realized we had made plenty of ice cream like in ice cream for around 20 to 24 people instead of ice cream for 6 servings lmao A good reason to meet the next day too and watch another movie.

Today it was so warm I dared to wear my new white, cute as a button skirt With the original plan to study only six months here I’d be back home by now – in other words I don’t have any clothes for spring or summer with me. A good reason to regluraly go to uniqlo to look for some nice shirts and skirts. Apparel was also the topic of last weeks elective class for daily life vocab. To review the words we played a popular game called Fruits Basket today.

You have one guess who was the onigiri I had to say sentences like “everybody who wears a Poloshirt”…then the affected players had to stand up and change places while I had to try and take one of their seats first to be displaced as the onigiri. This was quite some action, I tell you. H.  ended up on somebody’s lap while I body checked another player to get a seat
Epic Fail of that day: After the sentence “everybody who wears underpants” all the other players were really fast and had already changed seats, so I was lazy and remained on my chair. Ten pairs of eyes stared at my with a “you don’t wear panties?”-look ><*

Today’s picture shows another creepy snack I saw today at the supermarket. Peanuts and fish…yummy ;P

Since yesterday my bike is broken again so today we had to walk to school, which isn’t bad when it rains anyway, because on the bike it’s almost impossible to hold an umbrella and you get soaking wet. Wednesday is one of the longest days in the week with lessons till 15:30 and I was a little bit tired, but if anything cheers me up it’s my wonderful classmates and a bento in honor of yesterday’s 何センチ-fail with blushing onigiris

Almost all my elective classes are designed to train me for the JLPT N2. Although I have the feeling my Japanese skills are improving rapidly I seem to be unable to answer the questions, be it listening or reading comprehension. It’s frustrating and when I’m tired , which means even more emotional than usual (hear, hear ), I have the feeling I just wanna walk out of the classroom and cry. I’m glad the JLPT is no requirement for my university degree.
I wonder how it is possible I have come to a point where I can watch TV, read manga and do great on school tests, but I feel like an analphabet when you hand me a N2 question >< For example there’s P. who is amazing when it comes to this stuff *bows* People like him make me want to study more and become better I guess that’s one of the strong points of a place like Yamasa. You get better at Japanese, your classmates motivate you to study even more and someone like me is above all able to get back on track with life.