My CIR interview is gonna be on January 14, 2004!! It's gonna be conducted in both Japanese and English. There's also an essay writing part in Japanese. Yikes!!

While browsing thru Launch Music on Yahoo, "Jin - Learn Chinese" caught my eye in the top 100 so I checked out the lyrics and the video...they're chouberi dang funny!! =)

The secret of happiness is learning how to pass through life's storms with a peaceful heart, its aura enclosing you in a cloak of light.

I just had a bounenkai (year end party) with my English conversation class. The place was really nice. We got the whole lodge house to ourselves and had a nice big course dinner. The food was ok, but we had a very good time. Anyway, Setsuko, who's my oldest student (68 years old?) told me she lives very close to Hasuda JHS, which is the school I'm going to go to next. She said I could visit her after school and have dinner with her sometime. She is just soooo nice and fun to talk to. Though she is 68, on the outside she looks 58. She's the kind of lady where you can tell she was stunningly beautiful when she was young. Her husband died years ago. I remember one time I began a lesson with this question "If you can go back in time to see something, when would it be?". Popular answers were "When my first child was born" or "My wedding day"...etc. Setsuko's answer was "I want to go back to the days when my husband is still alive, I miss him very much." *sigh* *tears*

Went to see the East Asian Football Championship with Eugene in Yokohama yesterday. (tickets courtesy of Eugene - it's my birthday gift =D) HK vs. China for 3rd place and Korea vs. Japan for the Cup. We arrived there at around 3:30, and we moved from the un-assigned seats to the HK supporters' seats to the Korean supporters' seats. (Eugene is half-Korean, half-American but he doesn't look ANYTHING like an asian) Anyway, it was sooo much fun with the red devils (Korean national team supporters). Eugene lend me a small Korean flag and I put it on my head like little red riding hood and he drew the Korean national symbols on my face just like the ones on his. I blend in so well that Eugene said I looked like a Korean girl who had influenced her American boyfriend to become Korean. Which is completely false...either way. It was also funny how he had to translate everything the red devils leader said back to me...yet I'm the one who is Korean-like.
During the Korean national anthem we had the huge flag over us. I've always seen it done on TV, but never thought that I could be a part of it. The Korean cheer was a lot of fun, the chants are still ringing in my head right now.

Anyway, it was Korea 0 and Japan 0. No overtime, no sudden death, no penalty kicks. However, because Korea scored the most goals overall, they were the champion. 3rd was China (the score was 3:0). Funny...China was the only team who had scored the whole night.

The train back home was super crowded. Around 62000 people attended the games. Both Kotsukue Station and Shin-Yokohama Station was jam packed. It was a 2 hrs ride home but miraculously we both got a seat. We talked about the major league baseball and with Eugene sensei's help, I finally got all 30 major league baseball team names down by heart. I am planning to have a MLB lesson in elementary school. Actually, I kinda did today during my private class with this 10 year old boy who is also a huge baseball fan. I think I can even double it as a geography lesson as well =)

Went to Ebisu, Tokyo to see Christmas lights with Keisuke yesterday. It was our second date. It was fun but man..this guy..there's something VERY ominous about him...i don't know..maybe i'm the one who's weird...

other than this strange vibe he's giving me, he's actually not bad at all.. I mean, he's a 6 foot 1 mechanical engineer working in a very respectable car company. He's also a sportive guy who started skiing when he was 3 and surfs/mountain bikes regularly. Most important of all, he has high family values.

This is also the first time I ever dated a guy who's willing to hold my hand AND my handbag (he offered to hold it)...maybe it's a Japanese thing. With him being super tall, I look like a little kid beside him.

Anyway, my weirdness radar seldom goes wrong....

or else I'd have to delete this blog later....ha!

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update: this guy IS f*cked up. I'm not going to see him anymore. Not deleting this blog because it'll serve as a reminder to me that no matter how good it is on the outside, f*cked up is f*cked up....really..NEVER EVER judge a book by its cover.

Last saturday I had my birthday party at Arabian Rock in Omiya. It is a theme restaurant where all the staff dress like Aladdin and Jasmine. A pretty cool place. I wanted to reserve the pyramid but it couldn't take in a large group of people...oh well. They had a little birthday special for me which was nice. Good friends + Good food + Good drinks = a successful party. However I threw up in the ladiesroom later....not that I was drunk..but because I drank a lot of yogurt sour, orange cassis and beer together....which caused some major chemical reactions in my stomach...aiya...I felt really good but hungry afterwards (cuz I threw up all that I ate) so I had to order food at the karaoke place.

Their conspiracy in making me drunk failed afterall. haha!

My digital piano arrived thursday!! There was some delivery problems at the beginning but thanks to Bryan's brilliant telephone skills, problems solved and my piano was delivered safely.

I looove this piano to death. The touch feels just like a real piano, and because it is digital, I can do recordings, splits, mixes..etc etc. I was sad leaving it behind when I left for work yesterday morning. I'm thinking of naming my piano now (Mark named his notebook Elizabeth...and I find it amusing whenever he goes "come on now, don't freeze on me Elizabeth")

Saw the movie SOLARIS with Ian and Bryan at my apartment yesterday. Kai had to study, so she couldn't come. Anyway, the movie was B-O-R-I-N-G. I'd hate myself if I went to see it at a movie theatre.

As for today, I stayed at home cleaning my apartment. Later Kai came over and we watched some TV shows my mom sent to me from home. It was very nostalgic to see the commercials from Vancouver. Then my mom called me and see how I am doing. So this is what homesick feels like? naruhodo.