There's a way.

December is coming soon! Have you already finished writing your Christmas cards? I have a penpal in Scotland, and she often sends me nice letters. We have lots in common, so we've been writing each other for years. The other day, I sent my children's photos. I'd like her to enjoy my cards as well.

In our time, emal seem to take over for snail-mail, but I love writing a letter and waiting for ones from friends. It takes time to write a letter, especially by hand, and that's why I always appreciate it. I'm grateful what my friends have done for me, and I'd like to do the same thing in return, thinking about them.

I attended an English workshop today, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As usual, I prepared a topic from an English paper; however, I didn't prepare my lesson at all. Actually, I didn't read the article beforehand! The reason was quite simple. I had a lot of other things to do.

I've been taking an English writing class once a week since the end of this September. Our teacher never forgets to give us big homework after each lesson, and what I have now is to write a book review in English. To write a book review in English! This is obviously beyond my English skills.

Other than this English class, I've attended a Chinese class on Wednesdays' afternoon. The teacher is very friendly and she speaks fluent Japanese. I'm quite comfortable with her, but she also gives her students a lot of tests and assignments. What's more, aside from me, everyone in her class has been learning Chinese for more than a few years! I didn't know it until I joined the class.

There is one more thing. I'm going to have an English workshop at my place tomorrow. My friends are visiting me and we are studying English together. I am supposed to memorize some lines from our textbook but I haven't even opened the book yet!

Some people say that we shouldn't say "I'm busy," because it sounds like just an excuse. However, I'd like to say so right now. I'm pretty busy and I'm quite happy with it.

Her name is Bonnie Kathleen Wright, who has been playing a role of Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter series. She is cute, isn't she? In the first film, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," Bonnie was a little girl who couldn't draw our attention very much. However, time has passed and she has become as beautiful a girl as Emma Watson (the actress who plays the role of Hermione).
In my book, Ginny is the most attractive girl among all characters. Ginny is not only attractive but also gutsy. I love a girl with gumption.

This afternoon, my children and I whipped up our snacks, which are called Ikinari-dango and originates from Kumamoto, my hometown. It looks like manju (buns filled with bean jam or something sweet). Ikinari-dango is filled with bean jam and sliced sweet potato. Ikinari means "all of a sudden" in Japanese, so I guess someone named like this because we don't need much time to cook it.








We made 15 dango, but all of them were gone within 10 minutes!
I'm so glad to know you all are happy with our homemade snacks, but did you save room for dinner???

As you can see, there is a label saying 「こどもののみもの」 on the bottle. 「こどもののみもの」 means "a drink for children," and it surely implies that this is kind of alcohol. Don't worry, of course, it's not. However, when you pour the drink out of the bottle into a glass, it absolutely looks like a glass of beer.
We ate out at a Chinese restaurant and we found this drink there.
There was another phrase on the label :"Children also want to drink a toast!" It made us laugh.

I gifted my husband with a tie as a present for our wedding anniversary. "It's about time I bought new one," he said. I was very pleased to hear him say it. It has been 11 years since we tied the knot. In another 11 years. I suppose our children will have started their own lives and flied the nest. I'd like to cherish each moment that I can have now...

Time has passed so quickly. It has been 11 years since we got married. Oh, yes, today is our 11th wedding anniversary. When I first met with my husband, I was 19 and he was 18. I must admit that we are very different in every way, and the difference has caused quarrels between us. I used to be worried about it, but now I don't care. Actually, trivial arguments are often seen in any marriage life.
I'd like to thank him for his devotion to us. My children and I have prepared some presents for him, and we also have a plan to hold a kind of surprise party tonight.

How long do you sleep regularly? If you don't have enough time in bed, you might be more careful about your health. Here is an article from "The Japan Times."

Those who slept less than seven hours nightly had a 47 percent higher risk of cancer than those who got more sleep among the physically active women, the researchers reported at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

I'm not sure why it mentions only women, but lack of sleep may cause any problems. Luckily, I have a good 8 hours sleep with my children almost every day. I've changed my "night-owl" life these days. I go to bed around at 9:30, and wake up at 5. How about you?

As you can see, we had Tempura for dinner yesterday. Well, this site seems to be like a recipe book. I wouldn't say this is a recipe site, though. That's because I haven't showed you the details how to cook them! In fact, introducing how to cook, especially in English, is still cumbersme for me, sorry for inconvenience...
Like keeping a diary, writing about what we have for dinner is very interesting. As a homemaker, keeping track of menu for each day is quite useful as well. If you are a guest, you'll be served Tempura in decorum way; however, as you can see in this photo, I am reluctant to use extra dishes that I have to wash after dinner. Yes, this is a way of typical homemakers (like me).

This is what I cooked yesterday, which is called "Kaku-ni." I suppose we can think of this as one of a Japanese dish. If you want to remove excess oil from the pork, I recommend boiling the meat with tea for 20 minutes before cooking. It surely works to tender the meat and rid its s mell. The dish is then seasoned with soy sauce and sugar. I seemed to have added a bit too much sugar, but my husband said he loved it.

This is what I made for today's dinner. Chikuzen-ni is one of typical Japanese dishes, I think, but somehow this dish has several names depending on living area. For exampla, in Fukuoka, people call it "Game-ni."

13歳のハローワーク (2003/12/02) 村上 龍 商品詳細を見る

I joined an English lesson for free conversation in the morning, and I enjoyed speaking English with other participants as usual. During the time, I introduced one book entitled 「１３歳のハローワーク」, which might be translated "Job-placements for 13-year-old" in English, sold well here in Japan several years ago. This book is aimed at children at the age of around 13 to help them find their future jobs. The author, Ryu Murakami, shows the details of many professions in this book, such as how to get particular licenses or which college to choose to take a degree for a certain job.

I can't remember exactly why I introduced this book during the lesson, but I remember talking about my daughter, who hasn't had any longing jobs yet. When I ask her about her dreams, she always replies that she hasn't come up with any ideas. Don't get me wrong, though. I don't mean to meddle. She has her own life. I perfectly understand that I should'nt stand in her way.

Having said that, I feel awkward to hear my daughter saying "I'm not interested in my future jobs." When I was a child, I really wanted to be a teacher. As I had already determined to go to a college until the age of 7, I never hesitated to choose which high school to take. My daughter is 10 years old, and the age is old enough to think about the future. Having no dreams, is it possible for us to choose the path to go through?

Oh, you don't bother to say "She is still young!" to me. I've never pushed her, of course. However, sometimes I can't understand why she isn't so interested in her future life.
"I'd like to be a singer."
"I'd like to have a cake shop."
"I want to be an actor and marry wealth!."
Whatever is welcomed, don't you think? Children live at present and in future. They are wonderful because they can desire whatever they want. It doesn't matter to make their dreams come true. The thing is, dreaming in itself is important. Every time I hear my daughter's answer, I'm wondering whether our current society fails to let children have their own dreams...

I've been taking an English writing class for 2 months. This is my first time to attend a kind of real English class with a native teacher, so I thoroughly enjoy myself.

Yesterday, my teacher, who comes from the U.S, told us about one of his wonderful students. Actually, she passed away because of a cancer. He said, "She was my best student in my life."

It may sound odd, but I feel jealousy... I'm one of his students, and I've been taking his class. Of course, I understand I'm not good enough to be mentioned that way, but I'm one of an eager learners. What's the difference between her and me?

Come to think of it, I used to have the same feeling when I was a child. Hearing my teacher praising one of my friends, I felt uncomfortable and I made up my mind to study harder.

Am I envious? Am I thinking too much?
For one thing, this kind of jealousy always makes me have ambitions.

There was a bazaar at my children's school today. This is one of annual events which is held to gather people and money. Some people say fundraising is a must for any PTA's activities at school; however, I'm a bit skeptical about the notion.

Visitng a bazaar is fun. Children look very happy, and guardians can get to know each other through preparing for bazaars. I admit it; of course, but holding a bazaar sometimes can be someone's annoyance. Some kids need to be without their mothers until the end of the bazaar, because their mothers are quite busy for preparing. They can't enjoy a bazaar with their mothers, because their mothers have to fundraise.

I used to be a member of a school committee; I had to be at school almost every day, and my children needed to wait for me until I could take a rest.
"Why can't you stay with us?" my daughter asked. I couldn't say anything but "Because I have a job."

I think that's why many mothers are reluctant to take a responsibility for their school's activity. Mothers like to enjoy a bazaar with our children, not to take part in fundraiser.
Having said that, it wouldn't be good for us to avoid joining our school's activities as a member of PTA. What shall we do...?

I love spending time at Starbucks. I love studying English there over some nice coffee. People around me seem to enjoy their own time in their own way like I do; however, there is one thing I can't understand.
Many people bring some books from an adjoining bookshop after having their coffee. Actually, we are allowed to do this. We can drink a cup of coffee, reading books we are interested in. Although I know I can do, I can't do. Why? That's because I don't feel comfortable to read unpaid books over coffee. The unpaid books has not been mine yet. What if I spill my coffee over the books? What if I get them dirty? How many people will buy the books after reading them for a change? My mother used to say that we shouldn't read books while having foods and drinks. Not to mention, we used to be very careful about books which we borrowed from libraries. Before making payment, reading books over coffee is out of the question.

There was an annual cultural festival in my local community last weekend. My children took part in it with their friends of our neighborhood. Having practiced to dance around for two weeks, they were confident to get on the stage. They wore happi coat and performed down to a T. Getting down the stage, they showed us happy smiles.

FYI, by the way, "happi" is a name of clothes for festival, which we often wear on. This looks like kimono (yukata). I'm sure you can see people wearing this when you join one of Japanese festival called "natu-matsuri" or something.

As my 7-year-old son likes fish, I often prepare a fish dinner. Deep-fried tofu is a useful and tasty ingredient. I fried it with some vegetables, and my daughter loved it.
I'd say this is a typical Japanese dinner menu. Are you interested in this?