Christmas Eve
Merry Christmas, my family, friends, and all those who are reading my blog! Christmas is here. It is a special time of the year!!
Last Christmas, I did have a fun time with my host family in America. We enjoyed decorating a house and a huge Christmas tree with lots of beautiful ornaments, opening many presents, listening to Christmas songs and so on. (You’ll see some of the pictures in my photo album. See “Seattle 2, America, Fall-Winter 2004”) Oh, my host grandmother started playing Christmas songs from the very next day of Thanksgiving! And my host mother surprised me through Christmas season. Hum…I should say she was good at making me happy! One day, I found some pretty Christmas ornaments and candles in my room and bathroom after I went back home, which my host mother decorated. On Christmas day, I found a big stocking hanging on a fireplace. My name was written on it, and it was full of gifts! It was from my host mother. (or it could be from Santa Claus!) All those were my beautiful memories.
Now I am listening to Christmas songs. Tomorrow, I will go snowboarding with my friends. How do you spend your Christmas this year?
I hope all of you have the lovely Christmas holidays!
Internship-Just or Real-
My supervisor said to me, “Remember to keep trying to be a real bilingual.”
I have translated training materials though the internship and realized how difficult it is. I can understand what it is about by reading English materials, but once I start to translate sentences into Japanese (sometimes from Japanese to English), I often struggle to do that. I mean, it is hard to choose the best word to convey the message. I need to have knowledge of trainings and translate materials according to trainers’ intention.
Japanese begin using English words in a daily conversation, and that also makes me confused. Like I often think, “Can I leave the English word as it is, or should I use Japanese? Which word makes readers understand it better???” For the reason, I sometimes look up the word in a dictionary to choose a proper one even if I know the Japanese meanings of an English word.
To me, my supervisor is a great translator. She always checks my translation and edits it. Her translation is much more natural than mine, and I am impressed with it every time.
What she said was she has worked with both Japanese and American and known what words business people like. She added that anyone could translate but there would be a big difference between just translators and real translators.
I think it is worthwhile thinking what she said. In what way should I deliver words? What kind of background can I contribute? I want to be a real bilingual, not just.
They left for home.
We met again in Tokyo and spent much time together. I had a very very wonderful time with them.
My German host parents have been here. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them, so I took a week off from an internship and a part time job. We went sightseeing in Tokyo, Nikko and Kamakura. It’s been my great pleasure to show them around those places.
The weather was so nice while they were here. They might have brought sunshine! Especially when we went to Kamakura, we had a gorgeous day. There were still red and yellow leaves in Kamakura, and they shone by means of reflected light from the sun and made a beautiful contrast with 
a blue sky. It was perfect, and I loved it.
It was lovely to see them holding hands, taking good care of one another and enjoying themselves. To me, they are a great couple.
They left for home today. I hope they will have a safe flight.
Till next time we see, take care!
Turned in!
Today was the day to turn in my graduation thesis. I wrote 89 papers total. It should be enough! (30 papers min.) Yes, I did it!
I’ve been working on it so hard and anxious about completing the thesis by the due date. I felt so relieved when I finished it as if I was in heaven!
Our professor congratulated each of us on the project by shaking hands tightly. I felt so good at the time.
Now I can finally focus on studying for a test which is coming in Jan. But I was relaxed and did not anything after coming back home. It’s sometimes good to have the time, you know? Phew~~
Sightseeing in Tokyo
My German host parents came to Japan! I was so relieved that my host mother looked ok. While my host father had a business meeting today, my host mother, my friend Tomoko and I went sightseeing in Tokyo.
First, we visited Tsukiji Central Wholesale Market, which is best known as one of the world's largest fish markets. We tasted some seafood, vegetables and fruit. They were really fresh! As I expected, there were full of people and sellers and buyers were hurrying around. Yes, it is a fun place to go.
After having a lunch in Tsukiji, we visited Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu). The place was quiet and had lots of trees. That allowed me to get away from a busy life in Tokyo and kept me calm down. We also prayed at the shrine. Nobody knows what we prayed. It could be about ourselves, our families, friends, lives or future…
Then, we walked from Harajuku toward Shibuya. Harajuku is a shopping district for teenagers. There are various small stores on the Takeshita Street and always full of young people. Compared to the street, the Omotesando, which is sometimes refered to as Tokyo's Champs-Elysees, is more sophisticated. There are lots of designer brand stores and people look classy. You’ll have a sense of luxury just by walking there.
Tomorrow, host mother will join a sightseeing tour in the morning, and host father will join her after having another meeting. Hope it will have a great day for them!
P.S. My host parents gave me a loaf of German dark bread and German wine as gifts. I love both so much! How lovely they are. Thanks a lot!!
Year-end Party
Yesterday, we, the class of 2006 were also invited to the Year-end Party of the company where we are going to work. It was incredibly more gorgeous than I had expected. I mean, decorations, food, lottery (The first prize was a trip to Las Vegas!) live music by professional band, well-practiced dance performances by new employees… It was such a large scale party(There are about 800 people.), so I kept saying “amazing” and “Oh my god”.
New employees plan and prepare everything for the party every year. That means next is our turn. It will be a big project for us, and I am excited already. 
The party is held for not only employees, but also their family. It may be because it is the foreign-owned company and has foreign culture. Japanese companies hardly ever hold that kind of events. Family event…it was what I liked the most at the party.
Green Light!
I have been really concerned about my German host mother since she developed pneumonia. But her doctor finally gave her the green light to come to Japan.
It was great news for me, though it was not a final decision. I understand she is not 100% ok. I want my German host parents to enjoy themselves while they are here, but I also want her to take good care of herself.
Tomorrow, they will come to Japan and call me when they arrive at a hotel. I will know the final decision…At least, my German host father is coming to attend a business meeting at the Japan-based company where he works. I will hear only his voice or voice of both of them over the phone. Who knows? I just hope she will get better.
I will bring my cell phone with me wherever I go. Have a safe flight.
Internship-Say Something Positive to Yourself-
When I was organizing books in our library, one book written by George R Walther, “What You Say Is What You Get”, captured my interest.
What you say is what you get…That was exactly what I thought today.
Since one of our computers stopped receiving internet signals, a trainer and I were fixing it. We got a new device that should be replaced and followed the manual to activate it. However, it did not work well whatever we did. So, we tried to figure out what was wrong on the computer by comparing another computer. When we made a phone call to the computer product company, we found it might work if we downloaded upgraded software from their website. But we could not visit the website from any of our computers at that moment.
In that situation, it is easy for anyone to get frustrated. However, the trainer never looked frustrated. He did not say “It’s annoying”, but “It’s interesting.” So, I did not get frustrated either. I even enjoyed solving the problem like a puzzle.
Your attitude is up to you, but I think it is difficult to maintain a positive attitude when there are negative people around us. Negativity spreads easily.
Words shape our behaviors. I just believe it would actually happen if I say something good to myself. I am not always positive and sometimes get down of course, but I am trying to be positive. For you and for myself.
