Everything was DONE☆★

Yaaaaaaaay!!!! Finally our midterm was finished :D It was really hard time, but I made it! I don't know the result yet, but I'm just so happy that everything was finished. I use this weekend for just only myself, not for homework! So, I downloaded a lot of movies that I liked to watch before! I don't like love story movies so much and I can't watch horror movies because I'm sure I'm gonna have a dream about it and I can't go to the washroom by myself..haha I love ACTION movies instead!!! What I downloaded are .... Die Hard 1,2,3 ・ Terminator 1,2 ・ Indiana Jones 1,2,3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 1,2,3!!! I just finished downloading them!!! Good timing :D I think I'm gonna watch some of it after I write this. My friends... I'm pretty sure that they are watching Slam Dunk that I've kept giving. If you have any movies that you recommend me, feel free to tell me using comment box!!! But...I told you...no love story and horror...hahah ;)

Another small happy thing that I had today was....at Starbucks!!! They finally start to serve "Guatemala Casi Cielo" as COD (Coffee Of the Day)!!! If you are partners at Oasis 21, I'm sure they know what I wanna say! Yep! This one of my favorite coffee beans at Starbucks :D Of course my most favorite one is "Cafe Estima Blend", but second is this coffee beans, "Guatemala Casi Cielo" :) "Casi Cielo" means "almost heaven" in ... Spanish I guess! (the knowledge of working at Starbucks..haha) It's funny because I don't like coffee from Guatemala so much, but I do love this Casi Cielo!!! Because of the location that Casi Cielo can be grown, it tastes really rich and elegant! Also it's really good to drink with sweets! When I was working at Starbucks in Japan, I always talked with customers like "Do you drink coffee with sweets? If so, I highly recommend you "Guatemala Casi Cielo" because it's also called "the king of sweets"" Ahhh my brain is thinking about working at starbucks!!! One reason why I like this coffee is that it's good with milk :) The same reason why I love "Cafe Estima Blend". I don't like putting cold milk into coffee because it makes sour which I really don't like. So, I always order "Cafe Misto", which is half black coffee and half steamed milk!!! Whenever COD is "Guatemala Casi Cielo" or "Cafe Estima Blend", I always order Cafe Misto even though it's really hot outside!!! haha I was so happy to see black board at Starbucks saying "Today's COD....."Casi Cielo" and be able to drink Cafe Misto of it :) If I say more, I'd prefer to order 3/4 is coffee instead of half! hehe
Wow, I talked a lot about one coffee beans!!! If it's about Starbucks, I can talk about it for a looooong time!!! haha I really wanna get working permit from school and work at Starbucks on 6th street!!!

Oh! Another happy thing is my Japanese friend just arrived here a couple days ago!!! He is a garden designer and came here to spread out Japanese garden in Vancouver!!! Here, Japanese garden is rated highly and people just love our garden style! I love it too :) It's so cool to spread our (Japanese) culture to the world I think!!! He was so nervous before he came here, so I hope I can help him a lot just like my friends did to me when I first came here. Maybe I can show him around downtown first on this weekend ;) Do you like Japanese garden, everyone? I think it's cool and beautiful! I don't know if it's only Japanese or not, but we feel calm while we are looking at garden.

OK!!! My movie time is coming!!! I already took a shower (too bad I can't take a hot and nice BATH..haha), so all I have to do from now is watching movies and going to bed!!! haha Niiiiiice☆ Have a good night everyone :) Thanks for always reading my blog!!!

Cleaning!!!

I was in a kinda bad mood last night and I couldn't sleep, so I watched slam dunk again because I thought I didn't have to think about anything if I was watching something. It worked. I could stop thinking about bad and weird stuff. When I went to bed was 4:30 in this morning. I could sleep very well though because I could forget about what made me feel in a bad mood. I woke up at noon and I played with my host sisters for a while. It always helps me feel better. After that, I cleaned my really hard. I just finished it actually. Oh, god!!! I can't believe how clean my room is! I concentrated on cleaning my room for 3 hours, which is a lot like "大掃除/osouji". It wasn't normal cleaning, really. Now, sunshine comes into my room and looks really pretty. I changed my bed sheets too and new one is blue! It's of course really nice :D Now I feel so good with blue sky and my clean, pretty room :) Ok, I'm gonna tell you happy stuff that happened last week.
First, sky was clear when we had Astronomy class, finally!!! I told you before that it had been cloudy or foggy here. My teacher was so happy that we spent much time on watching stars with awesome telescopes and binocular!!! We could see Venus and Saturn too and it was just really wonderful! I was surprised how bright Venus is :D I've been studying Astronomy for 2 months, so it's getting really easier to find constellations! Since I was little, I've been good at winter constellations, but now I can even say these constellations in English! Now I'm thinking about buying binocular, but....if I try to buy good one, I have to spend around $300-400.... hmmm
Anyway, I was so happy last Monday and Wednesday to see stars in a class!
Second, I was a babysitter for my host sisters around 5 hours yesterday. It was really fun actually! And, what my host mom's friend told me about me taking care of kids made me decide that I'm gonna do babysitter for a part-time job. I posted "Babysitter Available" on the website with my friend's help. I got offer on March 1st, which is gonna be my first day to be babysitter as a part-time! It's funny that I already learned how to change a diaper!! haha I can practice a lot with my host sister, Gabriella! Hope I can do well with this job! I remember my first dream that I had was becoming a teacher at kindergarten school :D It's gonna be fun!
And I might start working at Rikka, Japanese restaurant near my school, once a week or so. With me luck, everyone :D
Ok, last thing is that my brother passed university entrance examination!!! Who-hoooo :D He is gonna study social-welfare management! Nihon Fukushi University which my brother is gonna go has really good programs of social-welfare!!! Goooood job, my bro!!! I'm proud of you!!! Because that school is far from my house in Japan, he is gonna start to live by himself which I envy.. haha Now, I can't tell my parents that I wanna live by myself because they have to afford my brother living by himself too. So, hopefully I can earn money by myself to help them ;) Still....I wanna live by myself though..hehe
Oh!!! One more thing! My mom is gonna come to Vancouver to see me during my spring vacation for 2 weeks!!! Yaaaaay :) We booked condo located in downtown!!! When we came to Vancouver together 3 years ago, I coudn't really show her around Vancouver because I just went to Vancouver for 3 weeks for the first time before. But, now I'm getting to know this place quiet well, so I can make a plan for her :D Because we stay at condo, I can eat my mom's meal too!!! hehe Luckily, that condo is near T&T (Chinese supermarket which has a lot of Japanese stuff)!!! Can't wait!

Ok!!! I think I have to deal with my homework first and study for midterm coming next week!!!
You can do it, Aoi!!!! haha
Have a good weekend everyone!!!

Aoi + Blue Sky + Sunday

Recently I always waited for sunny days to take pictures for my blog, but it's been always foggy or cloudy or kinda partly sunny... I missed my favorite blue sky. BUT BUT BUT!!!!! When I woke up and looked at outside in this morning, I felt SO good because it was really pretty outside! It's been a long time to have such a nice weather since, hmmmm, last October? I was so happy and actually I jumped a lot on my bed like a kid. haha I really wanted to go out today and did something, but I realized I had to fix my essay outline and essay draft 1 due to tomorrow..... DAMN!!!!! I...worked so hard from 9:30 in this morning...

1st step ☆ read both articles to compare

2nd step ☆ read carefully to get main points

3rd step ☆ fiiiiiiiiix

Around 1:30, I finished all I had to do!!! Gooooood job, Aoi :D As soon as I finished my homework, I changed my clothes and got out my house! I really didn't know where I was gonna go, but I just thought I needed to get out my house and have my own time. I've been here for almost half a year, but I never took pictures around my area. I just realized it. So...here you go!


①My house! haha I realized it's.....quite big house. haha It's cute yellow house! I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is a witch doll in the window on 3rd floor! Can you see her? She lives there, next my room. My host sister, Anna, always tells me she's finding someone to drink their blood...scaryyyy!!! Seems like she is protecting our house though!!!

Family Member : Andy, Ippo, Anna, Gabriella, Laula, Geena, Dans and Aoi-chan

②BLENZ COFFEE on 6th street!!! It's a coffee store and was born here in Canada! They serve cheap and good coffee! I think "latte" here is better than starbucks... Sorry my starbucks! My favorite drink in winter was "milk chocolate hot chocolate". My host mom recomended me and it was really good! It was from real chocolate, not powder, so I can taste chocolate!!! I gotta take my friends who really LOVE sweet drinks...haha

③Moody Park on 8th street! There are 2 parks near my house, Queen's Park and Moody Park. Today was Sunday so there were many kids there.. I truly wanted to play with them...haha
There were kids, running people, walking people, people with their dogs. Everyone seemed happy with this weather!!! Gabby and Roo, do you wanna play with me?? Go get the frisbee!!!

④My school, Douglas College! I remember when I first visited here in the spring in 2007 with my mom. At that time I knew I was gonna come to this school, but I had no idea how my school life was gonna be. I go to this school everyday now, though! Cool ne :D 2 years from now, I promise I'm gonna study hard, dad and mom!!!
Because I chose this school, I could meet my awesome friends, Lily, KyugMi and Hugh! Thank you guys for always having a great school life with me!!!

⑤Japanese restaurant near my school, Rikka!!!OMG, we feel like we are at home when we eat lunch or dinner at Rikka! The owner is Korean-Japanese and he can speak both languages. His wife is Korean. Because my friends and I always go there, we are now like familly! He always gives us free kimchi too! haha Just it's really good atmosphere!!! He's been asking me to work there actually and I'm thinking about it! It's good place and they are nice people! And I wanna wear Rikka's T-shirt!!! haha


⑥Last one is New Westminster skytrain station!!

Skytrain, bus and sea bus are main transportation in Vancouver and it's really convenient!!! There are three zones in skytrain system and new Westminster is 2 zone. One month pass for 2 zone costs around $100, but because I go to Douglas College which is public school, I can get 2 zone pass for $73! It's really nice and my mom was so happy when she knew it! haha Also, if I have my school ID, I can go any zone with this 1 zone pass. Thank you Douglas :)


I kept thinking where I was gonna go while I was taking these pictures. And then suddenly English Bay came to my mind! It was a good idea actually since I knew there wasn't fireworks there this year. It's really REALLY sad news because firworks at English Bay is one of my favorite time in summer....oh well. If I wanna go to English Bay, I need to go to downtown first, so I took a skytrain for 30 minutes or so. I kept looking at outside and I really thought we were surrounded by mountains. It's really pretty view! Some were covered with snow. I tried to take pictures of it, but because shytrain moved, all pictures were blurry.... sad.. Because of Sunday, there were many people in downtown, and I didn't feel like taking pictures.. Downtown is not so fun, every country is same I think. I walked a lot!!! I got off at Barrard station and walked untill Davie street. Davie street is also called "gay street" and I saw gay couple for the first time in a long time. When I came over there for the first time 3 years ago, I was just shocked to see them.. haha I could tell which guy was kinda woman because they wore really tight T-shirt and acted like women. hahaha Now it's normal stuff for me. End of Davie street with Denman street, we can see English Bay.

Beach with Mountain!!!

!!! great great GREAT !!!

hmmmm, good smell...HOT DOGS!!!

cute old couple!

After I enjoyed English Bay, I felt so hungry because I hadn't eaten anything since I woke up. So, I went to my favorite Korean restaurant that my friends and I always go. My late lunch (at 3:30) was "Tofu Chige"!!! It was so good!!!!! Food there is always nice :) But, it was a lot for me and I couldn't eat all... There were 2 couples there too. Girlfriends were Japanese and boyfriends were Korean. Each couple tried to teach both languages and it was kinda fun to listen to.

YUM!!! Tofu Chige :D

Today was such a nice day for me! I realized a lot that blue sky had a lot of power for me! Just walking around beach might seem boring to other people, but I always enjoy my own time. I think I really need it sometime to think about my life. Having fun with my friends is of course really good too!!! If I don't have it, just I feel lonely and feel home sick easily.
Tomorrow in Astronomy class, we are gonna build telescope by ourselves, and seems like it's gonna be pretty day again tomorrow! Hope we can see stars with telescope :)
I'm gonna get some sleep! Have a good night everyone! Hope you enjoy my blog!!!

SLAAAAAAM DUNK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a LOOOONG time to watch "SLAM DUNK"! Do you know it everyone? It's Japanese manga/animation, published in 1990, about basketball :D Because of this manga/anime, Japanese people really started to like basketball. If you love basketball, you gotta read/watch it! Almost all of Japanese people know this manga/anime I guess! Anyway it's SOOOO funny!!!!
I downloaded all 101 episodes the other day and finally I finished watching it today. More than anything, I couldn't stop laughing while I was watching. I LOVE anime much better than dramas. Especially Japanese anime in the 1990s are good! One of the reasons is....I was born in 1987 and I just loved these anime that I've watched. Recent ones are, hmmmmm, so so.
Ok, I'll show you main 5 characters in SLAM DUNK!

This red hair boy is the main character called "Sakuragi Hanamichi". He always says he is genius, "tensai" in Japanese. He started to play basketball just because he is in love with a girl, Haruko, who loves basketball, at first, but he himself is getting into basketball! He always thinks about what he should do to make everyone think he is cool, but every time it becomes to a failure.... He also has a strooooong sense of rivalry with Rukawa Kaede who playes basketball very well even though Hanamichi is a beginner for basketball. It's funny to see Hanamichi and Rukawa's fights! hehe
He is gonna change his hair style in the middle becuase of something, but I think he is nice with that hair! I love to see someone who plays sports like Sakuragi Hanamichi :D :D :D

This is Rukawa Kaede!!! I really like him because his play is just really COOOOL!!! hahaha He always says "doahou", fool in English, when Sakuragi Hanamichi does something really stupid! I told you Rukawa and Hanamichi are always fighting! hehe Rukawa loves sleeping! If someone let him awake, he always says "nanjitomo konooreno suimiwo jyamasuru yatuha yurusan". Hmmmm, if I translate in English, it's maybe.. "whoever you are, if you disturb my sleeping, its by no means forgivable". He is a freshman in high school, but he can beat all competitors! Again, he is really cool :) Hmmm, what else I can write about him....? Ok, next!

He is Mitsui Hisashi. He was MVP player in high school, but because of something, he became bad boy to revenge to basketball club. I'm not gonna tell you everything because I want you to watch this anime!!! haha Mitsui, called Michi, is really good at 3 point shot, a long shot. He always clenches his fist when he notices his shot will be in the ring! COOOOOL :D hahaha I like his voice too! I don't know why but it's a lot like sports player! His posture when he shoot a ball is very very NICE. He also really respects his coach, Anzai sensei", but Sakuragi Hanamichi is always rude in front of Anzai sensei, so he wants to stop him.. hahaha
He is also very competitive! But I think person who plays sports need this personality :) It makes them play harder!!!!

Miyagi Ryota, Ryooo-chin! I like boy whose name is Ryota! And I like to call him "Ryo-chin". hehe So, maybe he is my favorite character in all 5. Sadly, he likes Ayako, who is a manager in basketball club, though.... :( haha Every time Ryo-chin and Ayako talk, Ryo-chin calls her "Aya-chan", hmmm, just I can't express that voice into the word, so you guys gotta watch it! :D He is not tall, but he has speed and always gives everyone a nice pass!!!! Again, COOOOOL!!!!!! hahaha He's sometimes like a kid, sometimes like Sakuragi Hanamichi, but I love that !!!! Cute! but when he plays basketball, he's cool :D Perfect!!! hahaha

HAHAHAHA!!! He's a captain, Akagi Takenori. His nickname is "Gori", from Gorilla. He purely loves basketball and he practices basic stuff without missing a single day. Every time Sakuragi Hanamichi does stupid stuff, he strikes Hanamichi's head with his fist!!! You can see this scene many many many times!!! haha He is a good leader too! If he is in a team, everyone thinks they can win! His special skills are "haetataki" which cut the another team's ball in the air with his hand, just like people hit the fly, and "gorilla dunk", it's easy to explain: gorilla does slam dunk shot, that's why "gorilla dunk". hahaha He practices hard everyday, but also he is smart in the school.... nice☆

There are more characters in SLAM DUNK, but I'll finish it here :D Here are more pictures of SLAM DUNK!!! Enjoy :D

Their high school, Shonan!!!

Gori strikes Hanamichi's head with his fist!! ! A key chain.....I might get it next time I go back to Japan..hehe

D4 Party!!!!!

☆Drinking Party☆

Finally, study break comes :D Total 5 days off from school....nice☆
My friends and I really REALLY looked forward to this time! Yep! D4 party!!!!! haha I went to my friend's house and stay over there! Dinner was "Party Sushi" that we ordered from our favorite Japanese restaurant, Rikka!!! The sheff there was really nice and he always gives us free kimchi!!!
This "Party Sushi" has, hmmmmm, 78 pieces. Our dinner time was 9:30 p.m. because we waited for my friends who had work. We were starving and started to eat it like monsters... haha Sashimi in Vancouver is really nice compared to other cities cuz we are close to the ocean! Of course, not as good as Japan's though! My favorite, salmon, here is sooooo good :D Hugh made Korean pancake, Gigimi, and it was GREAT.....except the shape. hahaha

But.... even though we were hungry, eating 78 piecies of sushi and 2 gigimis were a lot for us. We stopped using chopsticks leaving one piece....BIG norimaki. We really like Rikka and the sheff is always nice to us, so we decided to eat this last piece. Our solution was... loser of rock-paper-scissors had to eat it. I have to tell you...we were SO full and we couldn't even drink water at that time. The lucky person who had to eat last piece of norimaki was..............................................


Poor Hugh.....but thanks for eating it! haha

We played Poker, Black Jack, Quater, and MARIO KART!!!! In the all games, loser had to take a shot of "tequilla" or "wisky"!!! Who-hoooooo :D Sounds fun, doesn't it? hehe While we were playing, we just couldn't stop laughing!!! It was SO much fun! especially Mario Kart! I'm glad I brought my laptop to play it :) We had only 2 controllers, so we made groups and we had battle!
Everytime we played, we screamed so much! and we sometimes spoke our language by accident like "oh!" or "no way~~~!". haha Lily spoke too much though, but I learned one vocablary of Chinese, "San tan!"!!!
We played and played, and took a shot a LOT! We finished almost all of the wisky and half of tequilla! When we got sleep was.....at 6 a.m.....in the morning! haha Because of SOMEONE, I had to sleep on the ground with small blanket. haha I woke up because I was cold actually at 1 p.m. We made ramen and microwave takoyaki :) Ramen with kimchi is ALWAYS good!!!!! In this morning though, everyone looked tired. haha But we went back to play cards and Mario Kart again after we ate lunch!



I had SO much fun today with my friends! It's always fun to hang out with them! I can't wait to play Mario Kart with 4 people mode!!! haha and I'll bring my cards to school everyday especially Tuesday and Thursday to play poker!!!

Sunset☆

Around 5:25 p.m.

Pretty♪♪

It's been cloudy or foggy in Vancouver, but today was really warm and pretty day! Feels like it's been a long time to see the sun! haha I need sun and blue sky because my power comes from them. I was studying and just realized the beautiful sunset seen from my window! Take a look :D It's pink and orange sky! Pretty, Pretty♪♪♪ Sunset here is really different than the one I can see in Japan! I hope I can see the stars tonight at Astronomy class! If so, I can see Venus and Saturn.....and my favorite, constellations in winter!!! It's really fun to learn them in English! Last Monday we went to the BCIT(British Columbia Institute Technology) to go its planetarium!!! When I was little, I often went there, so I was so happy!!! I invited my friends (because it's free) and sang like "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are!" on the school bus with candy and chocolates that teacher prepared for us! It was funny :) I've been studying Astronomy for a month, but I could understand what the presenter said at the planetarium!!! Midterm is coming soon, so I have to study hard!!!
Anyway, do you like my pictures of sunset? It's pretty, isn't it? Hope you all like it!!!
I gotta go to Astronomy class! I LOVE this course!!!!!

Good night, Sun!