Fun times @ 酔っ払いは地球を救うvol. 8 ヾ(・∀・)ﾉ♪

Recently I have been meeting lots of people and it is definitely because of these events I’m going to. It all started with going to the bar on Friday’s near my apartment because it’s reggae night. Then meeting and talking with some of the locals then getting invited to parties. Pretty much that’s how I’ve met so many people now. Also gives me a reason to write more on this blog. The more I go out the more interesting my life seems to be for me.

Sunday was an outdoor reggae dance event. 

I had lots of fun. I wasn’t even planning on going to this but when I woke up I read my twitter feed and saw that a girl I met a week ago invited me to go with her. She lives very close to me with her husband so it was very convenient for them to pick me up in their car. Along with picking me up there was another girl they waited for that is even closer to me. Such a small world. I love how there are many Japanese people who love reggae and it’s culture.

Everyone having a good time

Had fun trying to understand what they were saying

The funniest part of the day was when I met a small group of people who wanted to take pictures with me. I felt like a celebrity but to be honest there is nothing about me other than being foreign for them to take pictures of me. It’s nice and all but I’d rather be someone that actually does something for them to take pictures of me. Well I did tell my friends I want to be an MC for their reggae events. Just doing shoutouts and talking. Keeping the party entertained. To be honest I’m really nervous in trying but I think it’s something new I want and should try. My New Year’s resolution list is to find a new talent. We’ll see if this is it.

I’m a ワンピースReggae lovin’ girl

Recently I realized that since I’ve been going out a lot more with my Japanese (reggae lovin’) friends I need more going out clothes. Last year I hated to try and shop for clothes since I felt none of the clothes being sold were my style. Now I think that has changed. Although still very expensive to shop I go once in awhile and really look for something that matches me. Below is a ワンピース(once piece outfit/dress) I bought in Umeda’s HEP5 entertainment building (aka shops, movies, restaurants, ect).

I wore it for a reggae event last Saturday. Although not as many people came as I thought would come I still had a great time. Met some really interesting people who enjoyed talking to me it seemed.

In Itami

まりっぺい！She was really nervous before starting

My fellow dread headed Jpn brethren

the baby of the crew

The three people above are the people I’ve recently been hanging out with a lot. Wish I could understand everything they say and make jokes with them as easily as it is with my friends back in the States. In due time though. I hope they are still in my life when that time comes.

By the way, I love reggae but I don’t know names of artists like these three do. I grew up listening to a lot of the oldies from family get-togethers but never really got caught up into knowing the history. I’ve learned some of that now actually. Thanks to those three.

 (*ノﾟДﾟ)八(*ﾟДﾟ*)八(ﾟДﾟ*)ﾉｨｪｰｨ！

1 year and………..counting

Basically I suck at updating. Lol months later I remember that I never updated. In short, I’m enjoying my life here in Osaka and would like to stay even longer. I extended my contract for another year but not totally sure I will again. Love my students but not a big fan of my schedule. I want my Saturdays back. If I don’t extend again that means I have to find another job in Osaka. It’ll probably be another English teaching job. Until I feel comfortable with my Japanese I will keep doing English teaching jobs.

I have been going out more with my friends (Japanese) and meeting lots of new people that speak very little English so I am hoping my speaking will get better quicker. I’m a bit tired of how slow I’m moving with the language. I’m understanding more at a good pace but my speaking feels stagnant. It’s not completely stagnant but because of my 8 hour English only job it’s stifling my progress. That also is another reason why I would like to find a different English teaching job where speaking Japanese isn’t a crime. I understand immersion is important and I appreciate it when my recent private Japanese teacher explains things to me in Japanese but there are times a little bit of my language helps. Especially since there is limited time in each lesson.

Well for now I am going to continue to hang out with my very cool Japanese friends often (lol) in hopes I can speak easier. It’s only natural that it will but I’m hoping to feel the difference sooner.

One Year in Japan…coming soon!

Yes I will write a post about how I’ve been feeling about being in Japan so far. I know my posts are very scarce but I do believe a one year sum up is needed. See ya

Visiting Home Winter 2011: New York

So I landed in NY on December 23rd in the morning and as soon as I landed I basically went out to hang out with friends till 4 in the morning. Next day I passed out from jet lag. Funny how that creeps up on you. I’m happy to say I love that I am here to see all my peoples but strangely enough I am actually missing some things in Japan. It’s kind of hard for me to miss things now-a-days. I think I am jaded from life in general that me ‘missing’ (yearning for) something or someone means that, that specific thing or person is deeply deeeeeeply engrained in my heart and made a scar or something. I’m not sure.

Despite not making many plans to do things and when to meet people I have done pretty much everything I wanted to do. Basically just hang out with old friends (meet some online friends for the first or second time) and eat the foods I thought I missed. I say thought because I realized they give me stomach aches! Can’t have that. One thing I realized is that the food in the US is no good for my stomach. Probably if I cooked my own food it would be fine but all these restaurants seem to make my stomach feel a little icky at times. Which leads to the point of me missing Japan a bit. Also I miss hearing the language as often. I’m not fluent yet so when I don’t hear it I feel that my progress is going down.

Other than that I am still glad that I decided to come for the holidays. Many days has passed that I think it’ll be too much to write about each day but I decided to write about yesterday (Tuesday December 28th).

Met up with a cool guy friend who I met only once in NY but kept contact with via the interwebs. Had breakfast and went shopping for some souvinears for a friend. This guy friend is hilarious and talks waaaay too much but actually wasn’t a bad thing. More entertaining than anything. Had many laughs.

Then went to my old job and saw who was still around and who had left. They were trying to get me to work. Funny since that will never happen. I hated that job. The people I worked with were cool to some degree. As in, they are cool when I’m not working with them lol.

After that I saw one of my besties and she had me walking in the cold. It was so windy and during our walk to her mother’s job I swear I almost died 5 times. As we all know NYC is crowded and it’s hard to walk in. For some reason people with baby strollers were trying to cross my path as I tried to hurriedly follow my friend and they almost ran me over. So after the third stroller that almost tripped me I ended up fearing strollers for the rest of the night. I would see one in the corner of my eye and say “omg omg omg omg”. That cracked my friend up.

Overall I enjoyed that day and sad that I don’t have as much time to see everyone again before I return back to Japan. I love them all and also glad that there is the internet to keep contact better. Although not everyone is good at keeping in touch with that also. To each their own.

Hoping for a great New Years Eve. Will post again later! (Can’t promise you when though lol)

My Japanese/English Name: Both the Same

My real name is Ayana and that’s the truth.

Why am I telling you this. Well because it’s a common question I get in Japan.

日本人：”Is your real name Ayana?”

私：”Yep!”

日本人：”Is your parent (or a family member) Japanese?”

私：”Yeaaah…..lol….no”

Depending on the situation I jokingly say yes for like 5 seconds or so then tell them no.

I like to laugh, okay.

Anyway, as a child I felt my name was very unique and rare. I grew up in the suburbs where there were only 5.5 black students (lol) in a elementary/middle/high school of over 1000 kids. Later I did find out my name isn’t that rare outside of the ‘burbs. What I really didn’t realize until later in life is that it’s not only an African name that my parents picked out from a book. No my parents are not from any country in Africa. My dad is from Grenada and my mom’s mom is from Barbados. I did some research online and found out it’s also a Japanese name. It’s actually many countries names.

Meanings:
African (Somali): ‘beautiful flower’

Muslim: ‘lucky’, ‘good day’

Native American: another form of Aiyana meaning ‘forever flowering’, ‘eternal bloom’

Hindi: another form of Ayanna meaning ‘innocent’

Basically, there are many meanings and forms of spelling. I like one ‘n’ because that is my name. The trouble I get in the States is people pronounce my name like ‘I-yawn-a’ instead of ‘I-yeah-na’. I got over it but I really dislike it being misspelled. I don’t encounter that in Japan.

When looking up my name in Japanese I can’t search for it in ‘romaji’. In Japanese it’s

Hirigana: あやな

Katakana: アヤナ

I chose my own kanji: 彩菜

彩：coloring, paint, makeup
菜：greens, vegetable

It was the closest to my English meaning. So basically it’s ‘colorful plant’ when I tell others. I love how close the meaning is and the actually characters are pretty. I can write it my own and IF (big IF) I ever got married to a Japanese guy I can have a full fledge Kanji name and fool people. Especially when I get good in Japanese I can call and make a doctors appointment then when I finally arrive they’ll be shocked. That is a silly thought but funny nonetheless.

Well, I think I amused myself enough about my name.

Me in Nanzen-ji in Kyoto

Short Update – 9 Months and Counting

Going to keep this short and sweet.

It’s been over 9 months since I’ve been in Osaka and I signed for another year
working in my job now. I will teach English for one more year then after I must
find something else to do. I like my job but I dislike the schedule. I am a social
being and all the events I want to do clashes with my work schedule. I plan to
go to a language school in Osaka and try to apply for graduate school or something.
Haven’t really decided on the deets of that. Either way I am enjoying my life in
Osaka. I have my rough days which is normal for me no matter where I live.
Still working on my Japanese. Going to take the JLPT test and see if I can pass
the N4 level.

Going back home to visit in the December holidays. If you ask me if I miss my
friends and family I would hesitate to answer. The word ‘miss’ is not the word I’d
use. I love my family and friends very much and I am very happy to be seeing them
soon. But with the word ‘miss’ some times I interpret as me yearning to be around
these people to the point I can’t function properly where I am now. That is not the
case. Either way I can say I have missed their hugs. I don’t get many hugs nowadays.

Autumn in Kyoto

Ready Set Read!…in Your 2nd Language

There is a month long contest that I partake through twitter.  An amazing tweeter @Lordsilent (twitter name but click for blog site) moderates this contest for other Japanese language learners.  Recently, not only Japanese learners can join the contest but any second language learners.  It’s a pretty cool concept actually.  Tadoku (the name of the game) basically is EXTENSIVE READING.  Not COMPREHENSIVE but EXTENSIVE.  With extensive reading you are “learning from context and getting used to the language by massive exposure instead of understanding things point by point.”  I don’t really want to explain the whole concept/contest.  Just click that long link and read all about it.

On the other hand I just bought two new books for the contest.  Luckily for me I live in Japan and have a vast variety of kids books (my level of reading) I can choose from.  Everyday I complain (in my head) how much Japanese I don’t know so I continue to jam audio in my head (Japanese music or drill exercises from convo book).  I honestly am still frustrated with my brain.  I still don’t remember the things I want to remember but I’m still jamming that Japanese audio in my head.  As my understanding increases eventually my speaking will improve but for now my brain still wants to translate English to Japanese and that’s the problem.

Learning a second language is the hardest thing I think I have ever chose to pursue.  It is also the longest because usually when things are too hard for me I eventually lose interest and give up.  It is a little different with language so I will continue this forever-long journey.  It’s been more than 18months now since I started and I’m still at it.  頑張ります！

Last contest I didn’t do so well because it was the first month for me being in Japan.  I was pretty busy with training and getting used to the busy schedule.  This time around (July 1st contest) I will beat my old rank.  リベンジする！

It’s been awhile….again

Yes, I know it’s been awhile since I wrote last….again.  I’m going to try to just write short and sweet entries instead of long ones.  That’s what was scaring me away from writing.

Anyway, I’m still busy with work but finally my social life is picking up more.  Social life is important to me because I can’t stand just working all the time.  There were two weekends I did nothing but stay in my apartment and that was when I realized I can’t do that too often.  I might feel depressed and hate Japan and as of now I don’t hate Japan.  I don’t want to hate Japan.

Last Sunday I went to a BBQ and made some new friends even though I kind of didn’t want to befriend anyone on facebook.  I have this idea that people just want to add each other then never talk again.  They just stalk my statuses and pictures.  That’s what most people do anyway right?  Anyway the few people I added seem promising so we’ll see.

Next week I got invited to a dancing event.  I’m not totally sure if its a class or an actually event but either way I want to get away from the bar scene.  I hate the smell of smoke on my clothes plus I should do more wholesome things.

Well I’m going to end the post here because I said I was going to make short posts.  Enjoy the picture below.  It’s me in Wakayama.

…because I was too busy, having fun ^_^

This always happens….I start a blog because I am bored and then end up not writing too much later because life picks up and I get busy…enjoying life to write about it.  Anyway after about a month or so living in Japan my life is finally more fun.  Yes the first month was super busy with training and I had no time for REAL fun let a lone writing in a blog.  Nothing was too interesting to write for me.

Now a lot of time has passed and I’m getting used to my life here.  I am adjusting way faster than when I moved to Brooklyn.  Although I am from New York living in the city is totally different from the suburbs.  Anyway that was a different time and plus I didn’t really have a job just coming out of college.  So of course it would be harder to adjust.  NY is just too expensive to live in let alone have no job and live there.

—

I’ll talk a little bit about my trips to Kobe, Kyoto and Nara.  I live in Osaka and where I live exactly is right next to the Hankyu train line.  Because of that traveling to these 3 nearby cities is really easy.  Well Kobe and Kyoto were the easiest because I stay on one line.  Even after one transfer I still use the Hankyu train.  Nara on the other hand I have to use Hankyu, then transfer on the JR loop line, then get on another line to get there.  All in all it wasn’t too bad.  We got a little lost along the way but with my friend’s handy dandy iphone we always find our way.

All three cities are extremely beautiful and I am definitely going back to see more.  One day for each city isn’t enough to see it all especially Kyoto.  Below I’ll just show some pictures:

Kobe Harbor

in Kyoto

Feed the deer in Nara

I can’t say I have a favorite because each city has it’s own atmosphere.  Kobe definitely reminded me of being in the US because of its western buildings and it smelled so clean.  Even at the harbor the sea smelled nice.  When I go to Namba it usually smells like sewer and Kyoto in some parts smelled like it too but that doesn’t really make or break me liking the place or not.  Kyoto was just pretty and after long upward walks to shrines and temples I also went to the shopping street.  Got me a new watch which was very reasonable in such a touristy spot.  Finally Nara was amazing because of the deer.  It’s known for it’s deer and that’s why I wanted to go.  My friend actually got bumped in the butt by a deer who wanted her food in her bag.  It was hilarious.

All in all my feet hurt because one day after the other we went to a different city.  Kobe is 40min away from me, Kyoto is 1hour, and Nara is 1.5 hours, all by train (with transfers and all).

Japan, you are amazing with your transportation.  ^_^ 幸せだよ。