My mother’s co-worker/friend, bought our family a Wii for Christmas. It is really fun, and it seems like it can bring families and friends closer together. I think it is really good for our society because it contains games that help keep people healthy and have fun at the same time. It costs a lot of money, but I think it’s worth it. Sometimes when you are concentrating on the game, you forget its not real. I hope someday everyone will be able to obtain the Wii and enjoy it.

After my Japanese lesson yesterday, I met one of sensei’s friends (I think), Miyu (right?). Since I had some time before my work started, I stayed and talked with her for a while. It seems that we have a lot of similar interests. She told me she loves cooking and camping, which are two of my favorite things to do. We also talked a little about the use of local produce and the general “slow food” concept. She suggested that I should try to open a restaurant in Kochi specializing in premium sake and other alcohol (since it’s Kochi) complimented with food created from local farms. We talked a little about Hawai’i too, and I told her about my favorite island, Kaua’i. She is a healer, and said there is a lot of mana flowing through the islands, so I told her about some of the more spiritual spots on Kaua’i. I think I could have talked with her for hours, but I had to go to work. Maybe next time she comes back to Hawai’i.

We had an interesting garage sale this past Saturday. There were the professionals that were slinking around 1 hour before we opened the garage. They like to arrive early in hopes to get the best items. Little did they know that the SUPER professionals had arrived the night before and were poking around and skimming the cream off the top. We had a lot of furniture donated to us to sell from friends and relatives to help us raise more money for a missions trip to Thailand. We sold almost every piece of furniture. The last two pieces were in poor condition so we set them by the side of the road. Sure enough someone came by and picked up the furniture that we had set out for the trash man to pick up. There are all kinds of people who visit garage sales. You have those who are looking for treasure. There was one man who had a jewelers eye piece and was analyzing all of the jewelry to see if we were selling anything of value (we were not). There are college students who just want some pots and pans to cook with. There are people who are struggling to make ends meet. There was a man that was interested in all types of the electronics (he was looking at it all for a long time). I think some people were looking for great deals so they could re-sell them on ebay or craigslist. At the end of the day there were the people who wanted everything for .25 cents. They must have figured that since it was close to the end of the garage sale that we would just want to get rid of it. The next day in the Sunday Island Life section of the Honolulu Advertiser there was a great comic strip on the 2nd page that showed a garage sale, and I could relate to it a LOT.

夏休み中の子供達も、カヌーの練習をしていました。

練習を終えて、舟を運び上げてます。

おやっ、足元に注目！
皆さん、ゴムゾウリでカヌーをこぎましたか？

１時すぎ夫と海にいきました。いつものところ。私が大好きなところ・・・

ここに着くといつもすぐカメさんに会いにいきます。写真では収めきれない、手を伸ばせば届く程のカメさんが今日もいるいる。

久しぶりに水中で写真も撮りました。

ずっとこの海をまもりたいな。そう思う私ができることは、カメさん達に限らず生物に触れないこと。海の中、帰り際のゴミ拾い。。くらいですけど。

今日もありがとう。

Today is my final day of vacation! Starting tomorrow, I will be an employee at First Hawaiian Bank!
I’m very excited about this job…I hope to answer all of the expectations that have been set for me by my employers.
I bought my bus pass today and researched which routes will lead me to work on time. My hours are from 8-4pm, but as an analyst, I’m sure I will be much later than that. Probably 7-4:30/5pm is what is expected.

Today, I went to the gym (as expected), did some chores and then studied my Japanese at Starbucks. There, I met a person who invests in stocks during the day (A Day-Trader). Many people ask friends/family for advice about the economy and stock market. The truth is, it is very difficult to predict the stock market and so, patience is obviously necessary. Especially with today’s economy. I am rambling, I will stop now and get back to cooking. Tonite, I’m making katsui-curry rice.

では、また明日ね。


最後の日

今日は休暇、最後の日です。いよいよ始まります！　明日からファーストハワイアンバンクの銀行員です。楽しみです。銀行の期待に対して全力で答えていきたいと思います。今日、私はバスの定期を買いました。そして、どの路線を使えば定刻に着けるか調べました。勤務時間は、一応、午前八時から午後四時までですが、アナリストの場合には、もう少し長くなると思います。多分、午前七時から午後五時くらいだと思います。

今日もやはり、いつものようにジムへ行きました。その後、少し雑用をすまし、スターバックスで日本語の勉強をしました。そこで株をしている人に出会いました。彼はデイトレーダーでした。多くの友人が、経済や株式市場について助言を求めてきます。真実を言えば、株価を予測することはそんなに簡単なことではありません。ですから忍耐こそが必要です。特に今日の経済、明日を読むことの難しさです。例えば、石油の価格は少しずつ上がっていきます、そして、それにつれて物価も上昇するわけです。悪循環です。
しばらく町をブラブラした後、家に帰って料理をします。今夜は、カツカレーです。

では、また明日、お目にかかりましょう。

でなければ良いが. . . . 。

先週金曜日(27日)、今季2度目の大嵐がオマハの北半分から東南方面を直撃しました。

幸い、私の住む南中央区域は今回は大被害なしでしたが、第一回目は西南区域でしたから、残る南中央区域は3回目に？　といささか四面楚歌の気持ちです。

大嵐の去った後には倒れた木がいたるところに散らばっています。近くの公園の広い駐車場はこれらの木々の集積所になっているらしく、市のトラックがひっきりなしに木を運んできます。

深夜勤明けて仕度してお出かけ。
同期とご飯食べて、晩御飯の打ち合わせしてスーパーへ。
ケーキ屋さんでバースデーケーキを。
同期ン家で急いでご飯の支度。

奮闘しました。メインは、ハンバーグ。それも…　直径20cm、厚さ3.5cmの特大ハンバーグ!ひっくり返すの超大変だった。他にも特大オムライスも作ったり。おもしろかった。

ということで、晩ご飯囲んで、同期会　かつ　プリセプター会　かつ　同期の誕生日会　をしてきました。結構、力作で、おいしかった！

グチ吐いたり、真剣に指導内容立案したり…話し込むこと4時間。日付が変わっている。にしても、みんなしっかりしてんなぁ〜。すごい。私ももうちょい視野広げんとな。同期の3人は仕事後で疲れてるのにお疲れ様。内2人明日も日勤なのに、ふぁいちょ。私も覚醒時間30時間以上経過して…何かもう眠いんか話したいんかよぉ分からんなった。「頑張った。」と最後は5人で自己満足。そして、個人的にも最近のたまってイライラしてたもん吐き出せてスッキリしました。おやすみ〜。

　６月３０日の誕生花

【花言葉】誕生花アクリル画イラスト

This past weekend there was the Flavors of Honolulu event. My restaurant had a booth set up, and I ended up working the Saturday shift. We had to get there early to help prep the food, so I started work at 9 in the morning (the other restaurants didn’t come until 11ish). At 12, the gates opened and we were busy for the rest of the day. The other restaurants traded food with us, so we were able to sample many different kinds of food for free! I really enjoyed the food from Koi and the Hilton Hawaiian Village restaurants. The event finished at 10, and by the time we finished cleaning it was close to 11! It was a 14 hour workday for me, but I had so much fun I hardly noticed!