。 。 。

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Beaded Flower Ring / 
ビーズ はな リング

I see many cute fashion rings in stores, but they’re always metal! Meaning that, most of the time, I can’t wear them. I’m allergic to metal containing nickel, and get skin irritation if I wear metallic jewelry with it. Unfortunately, most fashion jewlery does have nickel in them.
Pretty, but forever out of my reach... T ^ T

The only metals I can wear are either real gold/silver, (I’m expensive... lol), or sterling.

That’s why I like beaded crystal jewelry. Crystal beads are shiny and  nickel-free ~

Occasionally, I  like to make my own beaded jewelry. I learned how to string a beaded flower ring recently. The instructions I used are from here



デパートに とても かわいいが ファッション リングを みます。 でも、 リングは いつも きんぞくで です。 わたしは ニッケルと 金属 アレルギーを もちます。 だから、 ファッション リングを あまり きません。

クリスタル ビーズの リングが すき です。 ため、 ニッケルが ありません。

ときどき、 ビーズの リングを つくります。 さいきん、 どのように ビーズ はな リングを つくること べんきょうしました。 てじゅんは ここに ある



Taa daa!

The white flower ring uses Swarovski crystals for the flower, so it’s SUPER SHINY!! ^___^

しろいの リングは スワロフスキー クリスタルで つくりました。
スーパー シャイニー だよ!


I made some slight adjustments to the original intructions, but it’s practically the same. Here’s a step-by-step of what I did:

てじゅんに いくつかの わずか ちょうせいを しました。 しかし ほぼ オリジナルと おなじ です。


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Bok Kai Temple Visit / 北溪廟

Around Chinese New Year, my family (including my extended family on my mom’s side) go to a temple in Marysville, called Bok Kai Temple. It is a locally constructed temple dedicated to good fortune and health.

Here are some pictures I took on our last visit to the temple two weeks ago.



どようび、 2011ねん さんがつ じゅうきゅうにち


としに いちど、 かぞくと いっしょに メアリーズビルに おてらを
いきます。 おてらは 「北溪廟」と いいます。 たいてい きゅうしょうがつの じきに いきます。

さいごの ほうもんは にしゅう まえ でした。
いくつかの しゃしんを とりました。

(Note. Very picture heavy)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

How to Help Japan

Articles:
Yahoo! News

Timeout Japan
(especially useful for those inside Japan, also provides resources for those outside)

How to Help Japan’s Pets
(don’t forget that animals need help too!)


Other links/resources:
American Red Cross

Lady Gaga Relief Wristband

Person Finder (消息情報): 2011 日本地震
(Since many are still unable to contact family members, Google has released a person finder)

Earthquake (continued)

The situation in Japan remains unsettled after the catastrophic 8.9 earthquake it has suffered last Friday.

After the tsunami, search and rescue workers are working desperately.


The nuclear threat caused by the explosion of 3 of 5 reactors is still unclear, but is being carefully controlled. A 3rd plant reactor has exploded early Tuesday, increasing the levels of radiation leakage. Although government officials say that the levels of radiation are still low enough to not cause harm to human health, residents located within 30km of the Fukushima Daiichi area are asked to stay indoors and to keep their doors & windows closed.


As people are panicked, grocery stores are running bare. Many are stocking up for emergency supply. Even in non-affected areas, the shelves of grocery stores are empty. Currently, Japan has limited access to energy, water, and food.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

2011 Sendai Earthquake /
東北地方太平洋沖地震

2011ねん さんがつ じゅうににち


きのう、とうほこう ちほうに 8.9じしんが ありました。

わたしは にっぽんではない でも Youtubeで ビデオを みました。

ほんとうに こわいですよ!

わたしは あんぜんな ちりてき エリアに すんで います。 けっして その ような ことを けいけんしませんでした。

みなさんは だいじょうぶ ですか? きぼう みなが あんぜんです。


- かほう

Edit 03/14:
How you can help, inside and outside of Japan
(Provided by Time Out Tokyo)



Yesterday, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Touhou region in Japan.

Lucky for me, I am not in Japan but I saw some videos on Youtube. It’s really quite scary! The videos of the flooding is very disconcerting. Cars and boats get jumpled in the massive waves caused by the tsunami.

I live in a relatively safe geographical area, so I have never in my life experienced anything like that.

It’s nice to see the relief of the people after the quake.

I truly hope everyone is safe and well.

For those unaffected, life moves on. But for those who were victims of the earthquake, my thoughts and condolences go to you.


- Kahou

Video:

After the earthquake in Shinjuku District, Tokyo, Japan

Friday, March 11, 2011

How to gain Audience

きんよび、 2011ねん さんがつ じゅういちにち


こんばんは。

こんしゅうピコさんについてのブログポストはななページビューがありました。

すべてはグーグルイメージからきました。 Interesting 「(゚ぺ )

ピコさんはとてもポピュラーですね。 ^ー^


- かほう

p.s. あ、 きようはピコさんのたんじょうびです。 おめでとうピコさん。



Hello,

This week, the blog post about Pico had 7 pageviews.
They all came from Google Images... Interesting. 「(゚ぺ )

Pico is very popular, huh?


- Kahou

p.s. Today is Pico’s birthday. Happy birthday, Pico. Hope you are well.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Play With Numbers / じかん の ナンバーズ

Dealing with numbers is very confusing in Japanese.

Last week, we covered straight hours of time in my Japanese class. This week, we learned minutes.

Although I’m pretty familiar with Japanese numbers in plain format, numbers of time are very difficult. (T ^ T)

For instance, 4 in Japanese is よん (yon).

To say 4 o’ clock, is よじ (yo-ji).
The ’n’ is lost.

However for 4 or 40 minutes, it’s:
よんふん/よんぷん (yon-fun/yon-pun) &
よんじゅっぷん/よんじっぷん (yon-jyuppun/yon-jippun).
The ’n’ stays.

Almost all of the numbers have variation between hour and minutes... along with that, the minute marker changes between ふん (fun) and ぷん (pun) depending on the number.

Example:
1 minute   いっぷん
2 minutes にふん


Aaaaaahhhhh!!!


Why does Japanese have so many variations? Although I’m sure non-native English speakers can say the same about English.

Sing, sang, sung. Have you read? Will you read?

If you have 2 moose, why don’t you have 2 goose?
Or, if you have 3 geese, why don’t you have 3 meese? And if cheese becomes cheeses, why not geeses? 

Ah,sorry. Going off on a tangent here. Haha.

Time is already so difficult. How will it be when I learn counters?

I want to practice writing the times more, so the rest of this post will just be a list.

Off to practice!


- Kahou

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Time & Dates /
じかん と ひずけ

Short post today.

Since I’ve started to learn time and days now, I think I should try to format my blog posts with written dates (at least in the Japanese portion) to try to get in some more pratice. Miku clock can help me with time! lol

That’s all for now.


- Kahou



かようび、 2011ねん さんがつ はちにち


きょう は みじかい の ポスト です。

じかん と ひずけ を べんきょうしはじめた。 だから、ニュー ブログ ポスト フォーマット を します。 いま、 もっと れんしゅう の ひずけ を かきます。

ミク クロック は れんしゅう じかん に やくだちます。 かな? ( >▽<)

これ が きょう の すべてです。


- かほう

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Katakana Kraziness / 
カタカナ の トラブル

Hello.

Last week, I started to study Katakana. Some of the characters are very similar to its Hiragana version, which makes it very easy. Example is ’ka’, written in か (hiragana) and カ (katakana). Looks very similar in both written forms. It’s not a problem in determining the sound of the Katakana that way.

However, there are also some not-so-easy-to-decipher ones... Some Katakana look very similar to each other. I particularly, have a problem with ’so’ and ’n’.
’so’: ソ
’n’ : ン
What’s with that!? They look pratically identical! Can you tell the difference?

The only slight difference I see is that the dash on ン (n) is directed more towards the center of the stroke, and ソ (so) is facing downwards. It’s very hard for me to determine which is which when I try to read words in Katakana.

Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!

I must practice some more.

See you again,


- Kahou



おはよう。

せんしゅう カタカナ を べんきょう はじめたした。 いくつか の カタカナ と ひらがな は にて います。 「か」 と 「カ」 は ほぼ おなじ に みえます。 ひじょう に かんたん です。

しかし。。。 いくつか の カタカナ も たがい に ひじょう に るいじ に している。

わたし は 「ソ」 と 「ン」 の むずかしさ を もって います。
’so’: ソ
’n’ : ン
なんで ひじょう に にて いる か?! ほぼ ふたご です! いどう は なん です か?

あああああああ!!!!

たすけて ください。  ( TT ^ TT )

もっと べんきょう を します。

じゃあまた、 ね。


ーかほう

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Meet Piko / 
こちらはピコさんです

Generally, I don’t like Asian female pop singers very much... Particulary their high voices.(ie. Perfume, Morning Musume, Vocaloids) But maybe it’s not their voices and just the synthesizing?

Sometimes, high-pitched voices are cute, but after a while, it starts to get pretty annoying. My ears begin to bleed. (TT A TT)

I prefer softer and deeper vocals. Maybe that’s why I tend to like bands with male singers? Although, I’m also superficial enough to like a singer just by looks. ><;

The type of female voice I like leans toward the deep and sultry kind. Examples are Anna Tsuchiya and Chitose Hajime. However, I pretty much just prefer vocals that sound ’normal’... basically, the artist doesn’t sound like an anime character throughout.

I’m happy when I do discover a new female singer whose voice I like. When I first heard the ending song to ”Letter Bee: Reverse”, these were my thoughts:

”Ah, this is the type of female voice I like. This singer, she sounds very nice.”

Recently, I found the PV to the ending song, ”勿忘草.”

A second into the video, reaction:

”Wait. Male singer. Female voice.”

SHOCK. O_O;