Russian Roulette

My family went to my relatives' and held a New Year's party from this morning. We had osechi, traditional Japanese food prepared in advance for consumption during the first three days of the New Year and containing various specified ingredients, and a one-pot meal of crab. There were a lot of crabs, claws and prawns. They were so good. After having a one-pot meal, we made rice gruel in the pot and ate. It had flavor of crabs and vegetables so was very delicious, and it warmed up our bodies. My grandmother cooked stewed pieces of pig entrails, so we had them with a spirit distilled from sweet potatoes. I trying to dilute it with black tea, it was better than I thought.

After meal we played a variety of games. We played darts, cards and Russian roulette of monaka, bean-jam-filled wafers, for stakes. The contents of monakas were sweet bean paste, wasabi, miso, mustard, small sardines, mayonnaise, strawberry jam, blueberry jam, condensed milk and a pickled ume. That's to say there was only one possible winner in them! I got the one…with miso. Eek!!!!! Er…but…it was not bad very much. I liked it because it was just like a bun with a miso-jam filling.

After playing games, each had a piece of orange cake I bought the cake shop where I work. Everyone said it tasted good.

We had a happy time also today.

[235 words]

Countdown

It was New Year's Eve on December 31. I bought the gifts for the New Year, an hors d'oeuvre, and various other things at Tsuruya Store with my mother.

We went to the cake shop where I work to buy an orange cake, chocolate cake and a roll of ground rice. We're going to take them to my grandparents' on the next day.

My family had a year-end dinner while watching the Red and White singing contest. We enjoyed strawberry unfiltered sake. Oops, before this I ought not to forget to drink Ukon-no-Chikara! The sake smelled wonderful, sweet and was so delicious. We ate the hors d'oeuvre and a one-pot meal.

I had a date with my boyfriend from at 11:30 p.m. on the day. We sang at a karaoke bar for 2 hours. We performed duets such as songs of RADWIMPS, BUMP OF CHICKEN, Ketsumeishi, and a variety of singers. Corn soup was good. Finally the countdown had begun. 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
Smack! [Laugh]

We made the practice of visiting a Kengun shrine at the beginning of the New Year from at 1:30 a.m.. We threw 60 yen each into an offertory box. Do you think why we did 60 yen?

We bought good-luck charms and exchanged them. I gave him blue one.

When he pulled out omikuji it had modest luck, and mine had good luck to come. We bought 2 apple candies and 2 fish-shaped pancake filled with a sweet white paste made from white beans on the way back from the shrine. They were so good.

I hope this year is going to be wonderful.

[271 words]

After A Storm…

My consecutive part-time job from December 20 to 24 had finished at last. These days were just like a storm. During Christmas seasons it's still too busy at my work place; a cake shop.

I worked for 3.5 hours on 20th. I did for 8 hours on 21st. I did for 4.5 hours on 22 nd. I did for 14 hours on 23rd. I did for 12.5 hours on 24th.

Look! It was a storm, wasn't you?

I dashed about and sold and sold a lot of cakes as much as I could say "dondake---!!"

Anyway I was full of energy. I'll keep going to the end the next Christmas, too.

[111 words]

BR 2-12: Vanishing Cream

I read the book titled Vanishing Cream. The children made a little theater. The title of the play was Wizard Blot. A wizard and a frog appeared on the stage. I had a feeling that I have read the story on a certain book. I have put on a play titled Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I played a cat in it. I put on a gorgeous orange dress and danced on the stage. It was when I was a kindergarten pupil. Those were lovely times.

The children went to the Wizard Blot’s house in this book. His house was so dirty, and he ordered the children to tidy up the room. If they did not do, he was going to turn them into frogs. It so scared to me. They washed dishes, vacuumed a room, iron clothes, dusted shelves and polished the floor. When they waxed the floor, they touched the vanishing cream, and their bodies were vanished. It made me feel funny. A thief came to the house and was surprised at that the clothes were walking. They repulsed the thief and saved the computer disks. I was glad to see that.

I thought this story was not possible. Did the bodies vanish? How could it be? Oops, I had a distorted view of them, he-he. I also want to use such a cream once. If my body were vanished, what will I do? It seems very interesting.

[239 words]

BR 2-11: The Christmas Disco

I read the book titled The Christmas Disco. Two teachers decorated a tree. It was the Christmas tree. We also decorated one during this Christmas season. My mother decorated it. It had colorful balls such as pink, green, gold, white, blue and red. It also had pinecones. They are artificial but so pretty. It had no star on the top and had big golden bell with red ribbons instead. I felt an atmosphere of Christmas so much. There were a lot of another Christmas ornaments in my house. For example red and white poinsettias, pinecones in a woven basket, small woody Christmas tree, an earthenware Santa Claus, a Christmas wreath on the door and jellylike plates shaped Santa Claus on the refrigerator. Christmas was over, but they are still setting, he-he.

The people went to the Christmas disco at certain home. There were a lot of Christmas presents, dishes and the music was being played there. The children danced to music. They looked so fun. In my case, I was not at home on the Christmas day. I went out with my boyfriend on the day. I had dinner in a ramen shop at DIAMOND CITY CLAIR. We ordered pig bones ramens. They were so delicious. I was gave a pair rings as a Christmas present by him. They were made of stainless steel, so I thought he hopes our rustproof relationship, he-he. I gave him a muffler colored green, which was his favorite. Both were happy.

In the book they use so much electrical power that the power supply was cut off. It made me feel fun. They borrowed a lot of torches from a variety of houses and use them for lights instead of light bulbs. They looked so happy then. It seemed that they spent a wonderful Christmas day.

[302 words]

Essay: Computers Are Gods!

I like to use computers very much. I can sit down in front of computers for a long time at home or at school. We can communicate with other people on the computers all the time. We can talk each other online. I not often use the function of chatting. I often use the function of blogging instead. I update my blog in English almost every day. I also have my blog in Japanese on a site, which is not google. I like to blog personality and to seek for blogs, which are friends’ of mine. With the function of blogging we can have connection with other people.

We can communicate with a lot of people on the computers, but the relationships there are so thin. Personal relations on the computers cannot be prevented from being had on the surface, maybe. For we can not see each faces and hear each voices. When we talk in person, we can find each expression. But when we talk on the telephone, we can not know each real feeling, looks and so on. Because of this we had better meet and talk face to face certainly.

Computer has a lot of functions. For example mailing, Word, Excel and so on. When we have to make contact with other people, we can use the function of mailing. We can communicate with people rapidly with it. When we have to make documents as our assignment or other notices, we can use the function of Word. We can type quickly with it. When we want to make some lists or some graphs, we can use the function of Excel. We can make them perfectly with it.

We can get much information on the Internet. When we want to know something, we may search for with the Internet. On the Internet there is so much information. We also need to choose some right information or right news. Moreover we can do shopping on the websites. We have gotten to be able to do shopping unless we do not go out from our homes. Things are really convenient these days.

We can play some educational games on the computers. There are a variety of games. Most notable among an educational game is Power Words. We were assigned its completion as our homework in reading class. We can learn English word and can improve our vocabularies with the game. It’s also convenient for use.

Because of computers we can do almost everything. Computers need to be take good care of by us. But it is not good not to be able to live without any computers. We can learn a lot of things with computers, but we have to consider the computers as little helpers of us. We must not depend on them. We should live while we devote ourselves to grow in knowledge which we need on our lives.

[481 words]

Matching Things

I went to Diamond City Clair with a friend of mine yesterday. After school we went home by bicycle, and I put my bicycle at her house. Then we went to Clair by bus.

The Christmas illuminations were so beautiful at Clair. We ate nikumaki at Nikumaki-Honpo. She ate it for the first time, so she was so impressed it. I had never eaten normal nikumaki, so we ate it. Both normal and cheese nikumaki are good. We went to a shoe store and bought brown boots. We bought matching boots. Colors of hers are camel brown. We went to clothing store and bought one-piece dresses. They were also matching clothes. I bought color tights whose colors were dark purple, dark green and dark gray. I bought a pair of pierced earrings at BRAND OFF. Its brand was Christian Dior. I liked it very much. We bought mufflers as Christmas presents for our boyfriends. They were still matching mufflers, he-he. We ate 31 ice cream before going out form Clair. It was cool but delicious. We had a very good time there.

[182 words]

BR 2-10: Gran

I read the book titled Gran. Gran was the name of children’s grandmother in the book. She looked 70 or more years old. However she was so tough and strong. She drove her old car. I have my driving license, and I sometimes drive my parents’ car. I can drive the car now, but will I be able to do after fifty years? I may be unable to drive. Gran still had strong legs, which made me surprised.

The children liked her so much. I also like my grandmother. I go to her house when I have time. She has a regular health problem, but she greets me with a smile, which makes me happy. Playing inside with children, Gran broke the flower vase. Playing outside, she broke the window. She is a real scatterbrain, but she is pretty and cute.

She too the children to the place just like a recreation park. There was a jumping castle, which was a playground equipment made of balloon. I would often play in the place like that when I was a child. The jumping castle was for only children, but Gran played there, too. Knitting needles which she had fell and pierced in the castle. The needle let the air out of the castle. An employee got angry with her, and they had to go home soon. She was really depressed at the failure of her behavior, but I thought the children looked fun, so it was good letting it alone.

[249 words]

BR 2-09: The New Baby

I read the book titled The New Baby. Jo was expecting a baby. She was big with child. It looked so heavy. Everyone was excited about a new baby. If I were she, my family, friends of mine, my husband, my relatives and else would be pleased probably. However if I was expecting a baby now, everybody might get angry with me, he-he. I go to the university now, so I must just study. After graduating, I want to get married and to be expecting a baby. But before that, I should find employment hard.

If people who are close to me were expecting babies, I wonder what I will think and will do. I’ll buy something for babies such as socks, wool mittens, knitted hats, clothes and toys. If I were them, of course I will do like this. It may be that I knit a pair of socks, a pair of mittens, a hat and so on.

The children made a book about babies. It said what babies did and what they like. They cry a lot, sleep, make noise, feed and play. They like teddy, rattle, Rusk, a nice cozy cot and bath. The children made a big chart. It was a list of everyone’s hope of the new baby’s sex, weight and name. The new baby was girl, so her mother chose the name Vicky of all names. The name was Chip’s idea. Both mother and child were doing well. It made me so glad. It’s hard to take care of babies, but I still want babies. I’m looking forward to my babies in my future.

[270 words]

BR 2-08: Village in the Snow

I read the book titled Village in the Snow. Mrs. May read a story about a village in the mountains to children. The book was profusely illustrated. White snow was very beautiful in it. When I was a high school student we went on a school excursion to Gifu, Kyoto and Osaka. We set off on a skiing trip for a couple of days in Gifu. There were a lot of skiing instructors there. We divided into small groups and were showed how to ski by them. I still remember the person whose name was Hidehito Shimomi. He was so nice guy, so all of our group members liked him. We cried he was cool and good each and every mouth. He showed us how to ski kindly. We took pictures with him during an intermission. We enjoyed so much then. The time when we had to say goodbye each other finally came. Some members said goodbye between sobs. I was surprised to see they were crying at that time. Even I did not cry then. I said goodbye with a smile. It was good memory at this juncture.

In the book the children had a snowball fight. I have done it before, so it looked so interesting. The snowballs were cool, but moving activity, we got warm gradually. I want to do the fight again in the much snow. According to the weather forecast it will snow this weekend. It seems to be cold, but I am looking forward to these days a little. For the snow is very beautiful to me.

[263 words]

Nikumaki

I went downtown with a friend of mine after school yesterday. For I wanted to buy an ornament for my hair in a coming-of-age ceremony next year. I have grown up to be a woman this year. I still can not believe I have done so. We went to PARCO, Daiei and Tsuruya. We looked for the ornament for my hair which we would like here and there. I wondered which to choose for a long time. Finally I chose one after I had have a lot of my pictures taken by the friend. It had yellow and red artificial flowers, lace colored red and some pearls. It was so cute and liked it so much.

After shopping we went to Nikumaki-Honpo. They served nikumaki which is rice wrapped with seasoned pork and a lettuce. It still tastes wonderful! We like it very much. I took out three for my family.

My family said they were really good. I was glad to see them.

[164 words]

BR 2-07: The Dragon Tree

I read the book titled The Dragon Tree. Children read the book which was the same title as the book I read. The book was about a dragon, so one of the children could not read it because he did not like the dragon. It made me feel cute. He asked his older brother to read the book for him, and he accepted it. He liked dragons. The older sister was listening to music then, and some of the CDs dispersed on the floor. I worried that they will be scratched.

Magic key took the children to a wood. It was dark, and the atmosphere made me feel sick. I am unbelievably hopeless when it comes to knowing directions, so if I were them, I will be frightened and cry there. A dog they had was really scared and ran out of the wood. The place where he entered was, believe or not, the dragon tree! The dog was caught by dragon. It was going to cook using the dog. The dish it would make was dog stew. How frightening it was! All three of the children pulled together and rescued their dog from the dragon. I was glad to see that the dog was saved his life.

By the way the dragon lived in the big tree, but the entrance was too small for the dragon. I wondered how the dragon went in and out and what it was doing always. How it caught the dog? Any way I felt easy to know that the dog was safe.

[259 words]

Thanks For Illuminations

I met my boyfriend yesterday. We went to Sushi-ichiba to have dinner. I ate scallops, cuttlefish, Indian corn rolls shaped a warship, raw prawns, Sakhalin surf clams and mollusks grown by the cement-block method. He ate bluefins, boiled prawns, salmons, the tasty flesh from around the base of the dorsal and ventral fins of a flounder or flatfish, thinly sliced rib meats, a piece of chocolate cake and so on. The price was so cheap, and the taste was good, so we were really satisfied.

We went to Saisyunkan-HILLTOP to see illuminations. The name of the event was Thanks Illuminations. It cost each car 500 yen. The profits from the event will go to an NPO corporation. The Christmas lights gave the area a fantasia effect. There was 2008 message. It said that Thanks 2008. There was the world of the fairy tale. The castle and carriages gave us a splendid welcome. The leading man and lady of the tale were us. There was a Japanese cherry. It did not wait for that spring would come and was in full bloom. There was arch of lights. It was the arch with a length of 40 meters and 70 thousand colored bulbs. It was fantastic very much. There was a wisteria trellis. There were colorful hats, and they were bustling. A pretty snowman waited us. There was the Milky Way. It was conspicuous for shining. There was a mermaid. We felt that we were exactly like mermaids with company such as dolphins. There were parent and child of whales. They were dynamic. There was a bell of gratitude. It was a mystical world where angels, swans and Pegasus were playing. There was a Christmas open ground, where reindeers and snowmen mustered. There was a pond of a new moon. A pretty angels, moon and stars were reflected in the lake. Then we stopped at the area for the taking of souvenir photographs. We took a lot of pictures there. I was really happy to go there with him. I wanted to be with him eternal.

[344 words]

Essay: Let's Try Raw Horsemeat!

I’ll introduce about raw horsemeat. Generally foreigners do not eat raw meat; or perhaps they should say that they have no wish to eat it. However we Japanese take pleasure in eating it, and raw horsemeat is a local special dish in Kumamoto.

First raw horsemeat is an unusual dish. Because it is raw meat, and it is strange for foreigners see that Japanese eat meats before cooking through. As it is raw, mouth sensation is good, and it is so delicious.

Secondly there are a lot of good restaurants for raw horsemeat. They serve marbled horsemeat. It is tender, sweet and it has no vices. It is sent straight from where it was gotten.

Thirdly raw horsemeat becomes spicy, too because of some spices. When you flavor it with spice, the taste will be better. You can choose spices in such as finely sliced long onions, ginger, garlic and daikon and chili grated. When you wind perilla around raw horsemeat, it will be free from affectation of raw meat.

As a conclusion Japanese especially people in Kumamoto enjoy eating raw horsemeat. Some foreigners dislike to eat raw meat, but others may like to eat them. When foreigners come to Kumamoto, I really want them to eat raw horsemeat in good restaurants. They will find some good qualities and get a new general idea in Kumamoto.

[226 words]

BR 2-06: Mum to the Rescue

I read the book titled Mum to the Rescue. A family went to a car boot sale. I have never been to such a place, so I wanted to do that. They bought a dinghy. It was just like a lifeboat. I thought it looked be useful to save lives. What was surprising is that the dinghy was broken. It was an inferior good, but the sale was a car boot sale, so I thought that it was what could not be helped.

They put everything in the dinghy, and it looked heavy so much. They went on a picnic by the dinghy, and it looked so fun to me. They found a good place for the picnic, and they put the rug down, where they ate some foods. They ate meal looking comfortable, so I wanted to do so, too. It looked really comfortable to eat foods at the water’s edge, and it seemed that the air was bracing very much. I wanted to go on a picnic with my family, friends of mine or my boyfriend. I have gone to see the cherry blossoms with my family at a park before. We had a very good time there, so I want to do in the next spring, too.

In the book mother put the dinghy in the river and paddled to the boat in dangerous. She looked so brave person to me. The lady whose boat was in danger was glad to have her boat helped by mother. To show her gratitude for being helped by mother, she lent the family her boat. They had a holiday on the boat, which looked so happy. I thought helping people was really important for us, and I will help people when I find people who were in trouble hereafter.

[299 words]

BR 2-05: Scarecrows

I read the book titled Scarecrows. The house had a little garden. I also have a little one. There are some flowers such as azaleas, pansies, begonias and tulips. During this season tulips do not bloom, but in springs they are in beautiful bloom. My mother takes care of them usually, but I sometimes help her to do so. Biff and Chip planted seeds and put in plants. I thought what kind of seeds were. I wonder they were vegetables or fruits. If they have been seeds of flowers, what were kind of flowers?

Since the birds liked the garden ate the seeds, children decided to make a scarecrow. That was very good idea, and I wanted to do so together. I have never seen scarecrows are been making, so I wanted to know how to make one. Children and their mother made it together, so I thought they were happy parent and children. My family is also like this. I often help her to cook dinners. She looks very glad to be helped to do by me. I am also glad to see her, so I want to help her more.

In this book the scarecrow started to move suddenly, which made me so surprised. More he began to talk to the children. It was shock to me. However he was pretty, so I recognized this fact. It was like magic! There were girl scarecrows at a dance party. I have never seen any girl scarecrows, so I did a new discovery then.

[254 words]

BR 2-04: A New Classroom

I read the book titled A New Classroom. When I was a junior high school student, construction work was carried out. There were a lot of fences on a building. The building was being new, but it was so noisy. The students said such things then. I was so glad to see that the new building was completed perfectly. We could study in the new classroom. In this book a lorry, a digger and a crane came to the school, but in my case something did not come to our school very much. It was just noisy, he-he. As it was a troublesome under construction, the joyfulness was really big to me after the construction. Because of this, I could understand the children’s feelings. The children were thinking why a variety of cars came to the school, what they were going to do and what they would construct. I did the same things at that time.

In this book building which was like a new classroom was put up, but something was wrong certainly. I did not notice at the beginning, but the more progress they made, I noticed more. The classroom was upside down! How could it be? I was bursting for incredible thing. If I were the teachers, I will get angry with people who constructed the classroom. Any way it was unbelievable.

[225 words]

BR 2-03: Camping Adventure

I read the book titled Camping Adventure. A family went camping, and there were four people in their family. There are four people in my family, too. They went to a farm, but if we were them, we will go to a camping ground. The family put up a new tent. I have put it up before, when as a class, we went camping last summer. It so difficult for us to put up tents, but we could do without any problems.

There were a lot of cows in the farm, and they were cows in milk. I often drink some glasses of milk in the mornings, so I appreciated these cows so much when I read the book. I like cool milk, but I do not like hot milk because hot milk gives out a bad smell to me. I feel sick as soon as I give a sniff to it, so I endure when I use hot milk in cooking.

Mrs. Jones was expecting a baby, so I was really envious of her. I want a baby very much and want to marry soon. I wonder when I will get marry and who I will do with. I am looking forward to the day when I will do so.

In the book there was a storm in camping. I thought why they went camping on such a day. Please check the weather forecast! There was insufficient attention in the parents. I was sorry to their children. Since the wind blew the tent down, they went to the farmhouse. They ware making a nuisance of themselves to everybody!

The baby was born safely. He was a boy and so cute. I got wanted baby more.

[286 words]

Cinnamon Melts

I and my mother waited for my brother at McDonald while he was receiving treatment by an osteopath.

Then we ate cinnamon melts. I had been looking forward to eating it for a long time. It was so sweet, so we ordered French fries.

[44 words]

Chocolate Muffin

A friend of mine Chisato brought chocolate muffins to KGU on December 17.

I ate them in the second period. They were so delicious. Chocolate chips were sweet and were used for accents. I liked them very much. Also she showed me how to bake them. It sounded to be easy to bake them according to her, so I want to bake one someday.

[64 words]