Have a nice weekend!

Hey, are you having a nice weekend?? Mine started yesterday evening, we had a class meeting in a cocktail bar, and it was so much fun! My Japanese teacher is the best :-) (@ theotherview If you're reading this entry, many greetings from him!) I had to leave at midnight, and since the music was so loud inside, my voice was so hoarse :-)) Before going to the bar, Lara and me went to (in our opinion) best sushi bar in Düsseldorf for having dinner. It costs a whole fortune, but is definitely the best you can get here. I've tried so many sushi bars until now and have been to Japan so often, that I can say and distinguish good from bad sushi XD Have some pictures and get hungry! (I do!)

The salmon menu was mine!

Futomaki - it was a challenge eating them without producing a mess, cause they are really huge, you can't just put it into your mouth at once XDDD

Argh, I want to eat there again, maybe next week?? I got my first salary though, but I should save it for Japan ;) My money I am hardworking for... XD

The new layout is in process, but it can still take a while! I also can't wait to say good bye to this ugly standard layout, sorry blogspot, hahahaha!

Another cool blogger is holding an awesome giveaway, make sure you enter!!  Jessi's Giveaway!!!!

Short update

Hello everyone, how are you today? I've been on a short hiatus lately, because my sis dropped some water over my keyboard, I couldn't type anything and I had to dig up my old one somewhere deep down in the cellar, that took some time, and now I finally found some time to upddate! XD


My first day at the restaurant went quite well, though I still have so much to learn. But the head waitress (she is the wife of the restaurant manager btw) said I'm going to make it step by step! I even received my very first tip :-) I think it's going to become a fun time, and it's a chance to improve my Japanese skills. On Saturday my other part time job ended, and I've already found a new one! I'm hopping from part-time to part-time hardworking! But my motivation is great, since I earn all this money for my WH year in Japan. I always say every Euro brings me one step further, hahaha!


I'm thinking about changing my layout, and already asked my brother for help, since he's an expert on this field, and I don't understand anything about CSS code or templates :-)) So look forward to a nice new layout soon! If anybody has any advice or suggestions for me, please feel free to tell me! 


Sorry for this short update, but lately nothing is happening and my part time jobs are keeping me busy! I'll try to update more interesting stuff soon.


Btw, the awesome Sara Mari is holding a great new giveaway at her blog Moments Like Diamonds! Be sure to enter, since she is one of my favourite bloggers and best net friends ever :-)

EDIT: Nic Nic is having an awesome giveaway, where 6 winners will be chosen for a lot of cute make-up products from Japan!!!! Make sure you enter to not miss this great chance!!!

Award and short update

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments on my last post! I actually didn't make the cake, I just had the foto! I wshed I had more time recently to bake but universtiy and my part time jobs are so time consuming :-)) My other job ends on this Saturday, and I have already found anouther one, I'm going to be a waitress in a newly opened japanese Soba-Restaurant! I had my interview two days ago with the Soba-chef and the managing director, and it was held completely in Japanese!! I also brought my CV in Jpanese and we talked like about 20 minutes, and both of them were so friendly! Hope this job will be fun, too! I've never been a waitress before, so I hope tomorrow everything will work out! :-))

I was awarded again by Jessi for a funny question ans answers game, have fun reading!

1. Where is your mobile phone??

On my desk, lying between thousands of other things :-))

2. Your hair: 

Is black, straight and way tooooo long atm. I'm missing my short hair I had in Japan, but am too lazy to get to hair dresser... XDDD

3. Your Mum: 

Is at the doctor's right now.

4. Your father: 

Don't know what he's doing now, I haven't had any contact with him since my parents' seperation more than 10 years ago.

5. Your favourite food: 

There's too much I like, but atm it's japanese-style :-))

6. What did you dream about last night: 

Can't remember anything, usually I don't remember at all!

7.Your favourite drink: 

Japanese green tea, fennel tea, apple juice and water

8. Your aim: 

I want to do a year of Working Holiday in Japan in November and have a good time over there

9. In what room are you now?

In my very own room ;)

10. Your hobbies: 

Knitting, shopping, travelling, baking, blogging

11. You fear: 

All kinds of insects specially spiders and cockroaches, after having a traumatic encounter with them in Japan...

12. Where do you wanna be in 6 years?

In 6 years,meaning in 2016 where I will be 29??? You've got to be kidding?? I don't even want to think about that now XDD I can hardly plan my week, and am not so much into what can be in the future ;) Guess I'm rather the live for the moment type of girl :-)

13.Where did you sleep last night?

In my bed, where else?? :-)

14. Something that you are not: 

Bad tempered and moody, I'm always smiling and in a good mood! :-))

15. Muffins: 

I like them! But only those which don't have any fruits in!

16. To do lists: 

I make them, but only before travels and for grocery shopping!

17. Where did you grow up?

In a 40,000 people village called Gifhorn in Lower Saxony, North Germany.

18. What did you do the last hour?

Watching TV with my sis

19. What do you wear? 

A print shirt bought in Osaka, a black vest and cuddly cloth trousers :-))

20. Your TV: 

I don't have an own, for watching TV I am always in the living room

21. Your pets: 

I don't have pets now. As a child I had two budgies, a zebra finch and a ginuea pig!

22. Your friends: 

Are the best ones you can have! Also the friends I've met through blogging are great!!

23. Your life:

Is quite cool and fun most of the time! I try to make the best out of it :-)

24. Your mood:

Is good atm and most of the time. 

25. Do you miss anybody?

Of course, I always miss others. Atm I miss Ai and Steffi the most.

26. Vehicles: 

I have a bicycle, no driver's license and no car :-)

27. Something you would never wear:

Green and orange clothing and piercings

28. Your favourite store: 

In Japan- Honey's and GF-21, I hardly shop in Germany anymore :-) 

29. Your favourite colour: 

Pink, white and grey

30. When did you laugh the last time? 

A few minutes ago, talking to my sis

31. When did you cry the last time?

In Japan, Tokyo, after having met the roaches...

32. Your best friend:

I have many good friends, and don't want to name a specific person

33. A place you go to often: 

The shopping center around the corner, though I usually don't shop

 

34. Facebook: 

I have an account, but don't use it so often actually, just for staying in contact with friends

35. Favourite eating spot: 

I don't have one, I can eat everywhere! :-))

Happy Birthday! :-)

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Bommie!! Congratulations for having become 17 (??) years old!!! My gosh you are so young!! :-)) Here is a birthday cake for you!!

Working Holiday in Japan

Hello, it's been a while again for me to update! So, last week I had my first working day, and it went quite well! My working hours are from 7:30 am to 11:30 am, and my second job starts at 4 pm to 10 pm. I was really exhausted, but also felt good, to earn my own money for my year of Working Holiday. Speaking of that, it is finally decided!!! My friend Lara and me decided to experience the adventure of Working Hoilday in Japan together, starting this November for a whole year. We are really excited, for her it will the first time ever being in Japan, for me the 4th time. I have never been away from home for as long as 6 weeks (my last trip to Japan), and now it's gonna become a whole year! There will be bunches of organisation work in front of us, but is so nice to talk about it and plan everything together. I'm sure there will be some difficulies, too, but I'll do my best and make sure we have the time of our life over there. Of course I will also blog from Japan, be sure about that! And think about the giveaways I could do with all the cute stuff available only in Japan :-))) I hope you will stay loyal followers on my blog, as soon as I'm over there, I promise it will become more interesting! More about plans in the next posts :-))

Another topic: I was tagged by Vanessa for the Stylish Blogger Award! Yes, again another award! The idea is to share 5 random facts about yourself (I have to watch out, not to take the same again as in other awards :-)

I love knitting so much! Currently I am working on a similar cardigan

 I love Kinder Schokolade! The best German chocolate ever! Have a try!

I was a Sailor Moon addict as a child and still am! :-))

One of my most favourite bands: The Brilliant Green!!!

Last but not least: I love blogging! And without you, my dear followers, it wouldn't be half as much fun!

Bonus Pic: Today, my dear friend Ai sent me these lovely presents!!!! I love cute stationary!! Thank you Ai, I love you so much!!!!!!

Giveaway Winners!!

So, today my first giveaway ended! I want to thank everyone who participated, I hope you are all excited as I am right now, typing these lines to you. The winners have been drawn, and I ensure you that the drawing was absolutely random and fair. I never expected it to become that big, honestly I wanted it to be a little game for my first 25 followers only! Now, that there are over 100 entries, 6 winners seem a bit less. I wished you all could win. XDD

Now to the lucky winners!! The first three entries would win handmade automatically. Congratulations to:

   

Rena from Rainbow Briteness   

Sonia from Last Minute Madness    

StrawB3rr3 from Pre-Concience

And two other randomly drawn winners will win handmade items, too! Congrats to:

Illness_Illusion from Away with the Fairies

Joanne from joanne.j@hotmail.com

The big winner of the giveaway is:

Riechan  from Riechanster

Congratulations!!!!!! You won the loot!

I will mail you because of the shipping addresses. For the handmade item winners: it may take a while for me to send your items, since I have only finished 3 pieces yet. But I am working on that asap, so expect it within the next two weeks! Also important: I will give you 3 days from now on to mail me to confirm you want the items and of course your shipping address, if you don't I will choose other random winners! (Sounds hard, but I want to avoid waiting for response too long:-)

For all of you who didn't win, there will be other giveaways soon. I hope you will participate again. Please go on supporting me and my blog, you guys are awesome!

"The Brilliant Green"

The post about the visit to Konpira-san has to wait a little bit, today I want to intoduce you to one of my favourite japanese bands called "The Brilliant Green". Actually, I got the name of my blog "Rainy Days Never Stays" from one of their songs I love so much. Lately I have started to listen to their songs again and realized how much I missed them.

The Brilliant Green formed in 1997 and consist of three members: Kawase Tomoko (vocals), Matsui Ryo (electric/lead guitar) and Okuda Shunsaku (bass). Tomoko is also known as a solo artist called Tommy Heavenly6 or Tommy February.



"Rainy Days Never Stays" music video from 2002

I wish I had her hair :-)

Isn't she lovely?? She is holding Gundam 00's mascot (since they made the series opening theme), called Haro!

I really recommend their songs!

If you have time, listen to them on youtube! :-))

That's it for today, good night!
(I'll have my first working day on Saturday! Had the introduction on Wednesday XDD Anyway, I am so excited.)

EDIT: Join Amonousagi's awesome giveaway:  You can win 10 lovely rings!

Chousa Matsuri in Kotohira

Thanks everybody for your kind comments on my last post! It is not that I am smart, hell no, I think that I just have a talent in learning languages (and for that I've always been a looser in mathemetics XD). So for those who wanted to know, here I officially announce it! I speak 5 languages which are: German and Vietnamese (both are my mother toungues, cause my mum was smart enough to raise me bilingual :), then of course English (the first language I ever learned at school and I love it), Japanese (I think I am quite fluent) and basic French (I had it 4 years in school, but since Japanese is my major now, I forgot most of my French which is a waste...)

Okay, I said that I would write about the Chousa Matsuri in Kotohira this time, so here you go! Ai told me that every district in Kotohira town has it's own Matsuri (Festival), and we were able to participate in the matsuri of Enai district, where Ai lives. Her father lend us the traditional jackets and off we were. I missed to ask her why it was celebrated, but I can guess it is because of religious reasons. It was October, 1 and it was sooo unbelievabely hot (about 30 degrees), Sarah even got sunburned. Anyways, let the fotos speak!

Ahem, don't mind my silly face XDDD

Half from the backside...

I forgot the name of this thing, how embarrasing for a student of Japanese culture... there are children inside drumming while the adults pull the thing (it is standing on wheels). We were pulling too! But it was too exhauting after 20 minutes in the heat, so we gave up and just followed it! XDD

We were strolling through the whole district of Enai with that thing :-) Good thing that there were strong men with us XDDD

Sarah and me. My height is a catastophe! :-)) But since I 'm Asian, it should be okay ^o^

Ai and Sarah

We loved the little boy in his festival clothing <33

Ai and me: almost leaving! Bye, bye!

Thanks to Ai we could make this experience of participating in this wonderful event. Normally, no foreigners or tourists are allowed, I think, so we kind of got a special permisson XD

Next post: Visit to Konpira-san (a famous shrine) in Kotohira.

Sunshine Award and Q&A Game

It is very rarely for me to post two times a day, but I was tagged by Naka for the Sunsine Award and for a funny Q&A game. Before I forget posting about it I had better do it asap. Have fun reading!

Share 7 interesting facts about yourself

1. I speak 5 languages (well, one of those only with basic knowledge)

2. I love to eat at night, especially sweets

3. I enjoy knitting and crochet more than videogames (actually, I am not into videogames at all, except for Pokemon on my DS :-)

4. I really hate insects, if they come near me I begin to cry or faint, I swear! 

5. I love baking! (It seems I'm gonna end up as a good wife)

6. I love shopping but rarely buy anything XDD Watching makes also happy :-)

7. I am only listening to Japanese music. It is not that I hate Western music, but somehow I lost my interest!

Questions and Aswers

1. A vampire or a wizard (and why)

Urgh, vampires... I can't see any blood. Of course a wizard. Then I could do magic, that't much more cooler.

2. If you could change one thing about you, what would it be?

My height. I am only 154 cm, and would love to be 160-165 cm tall XDDD

3.Would you rather live like a rock star or president (fun or power)

Of course like a rock star/fun! What would life be without fun? I have fun almost every day, haha! 

4. What's your favourite cartoon character?

Lockon Stratos from Gundam 00. I'd love to have a bf like him :-)

5. What is your (most) guilty pleasure?

Guys who can play the guitar...

6. If you were a song, what would it be?

Ohh, there are many, but probably "Trust You" by Itou Yuna

7. What is your biggest dream?

Right now? A year of Working Holiday in Japan whch will hopefully become true soon :-)  

8. Do you prefer to be the one to ask questions or the one who answers them?

Asking is sometimes more easy than answering.

9. What is your biggest turn on and turn off?

Turn on: Politeness, Turn off: Smokers  

I tag:

Kate from Ribbonlicious

Rick from Waiting for Wisdom  

Rena from Rainbow Briteness 

Riechan from Riechanster

Sophia Alexandra from No No Deja Vu 

Keiko from Chocomintbubblegum

Next post: Chousa Matsuri in Kotohira, Shikoku!

Finally an update: Our first day in Shikoku

I'm sorry for my late update this time! A lot of happend, and I was so busy! I'll try to update more often from now on (I always say so all the time XDD)

I found some part time jobs now! All in all there are 3, but one of those is only for 3 weeks, and then I will only have two. I'll work part time in an accessory section of a department store starting this week, as an inventory part time (only for 3 weeks) and as a home tutor. Hopefully I can earn some money and save it to get a Working Holiday Visa for Japan :-)

And again a big Thank You to all the participants of the giveaway! I never dreamed of such a great number! In just a week's time I will announce the lucky winners, I guess I am more excited than you are, hahaha! I wish you all could win!

Thank you, too for your kind word to my last post, I am sure Ai would be happy to hear all about it. I sent her the link to the post, hopefully it will cheer her up! As I already mentioned her in my last post, I thought maybe you are interested in my time with her in Shikoku, Japan? Then I will write about it now and in my next posts.

I got to know Ai from the Glory Bee penpal page in 2007. She wrote an email to me, saying that she'd like to exchange letters with me. So we started to do so. In  October 2008 I finally met her, she invited me to her house in Kotohira, Shikoku. I was travelling with a friend, and we visited her for one week. We took the Shinkansen from Osaka to Okayama, then change trains and finally arrived in Kotohira, where she picked us up by car. Have some fotos!

On our way to Okayama

Inside the train...there was no one except us travelling on this route XDD

Passing the Setonaikai Bridge which links Shikoku with the main island Honshu. We were told it is 20 kilometres long!

Ai and her fat cat Mii-chan. Aren't they lovely?? <33 I hope she won't kill me for posting this XD

Mii-chan sleeping on MY futon XDD

Well, I hope this was interesting for you! Next time I will write about the Chousa Matsuri Festival in Kotohira, which we were able to participate, thanks to Ai's help! Look forward to that!