ChanomiTalk

7月4日の米国独立記念日が近づくと
あちこちのショッピングセンターの駐車場は仮設遊園地に変身します。

裏庭にすむリスちゃん、軽業なら負けてはいませんと、電線の上をするすると渡って行きます。

After 5 long years, I have finally graduated from college. The weekend of graduation was extremely crazy as there was so much celebration going on. On Friday, I had my last two finals and was so relieved to be finally done. I sold back all of my books and rid myself of everything that I didn’t need for school anymore. In the evening my parents wanted to take me out to dinner so we went to an Izakaya style restaurant in Kapahulu. The food extremely good and it reminded me a lot of Japan. We ate a lot of oishii food and drank Japanese beer and it really made my night. After we went to sing karaoke. My brother and his girlfriend joined us which made it more fun. It was just great to be able to hang out with my family since we don’t get to do it that much. Then on Saturday, I had my graduation ceremony. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. The ceremony was held at the Stan Sheriff and when we walked in, the place was packed. I felt like a rock star as hundreds of people were cheering for us. The ceremony itself was long but we had the honor of having Barrack Obama’s sister speak at the graduation. After the ceremony, I went to the softball field to meet my family where I was then draped with leis. In Hawaii, it is traditional to be leid at any big event in your life. This was the first time I had ever experienced anything like that and it is something that I will always remember. Later that night, I went for a night on the town. My business club threw a huge party at the Hyatt hotel and I stayed till about 3 in the morning. IT was awesome. I had a lot of drinks got to hang out with all of my friends. I ended up getting home at like 5. It was definitely a night to remember and a perfect ending to my graduation.

We just got back from a trip to New York.  Mike’s cousin got married, so we went up to attend the wedding and visit his family.  We’re all doing great. Kazuo’s walking around and got to eat a bunch of naughty food on the trip, so he loved it.  Mike and I liked the weather in New York since it was usually a lot cooler, but agreed that we prefer Hawaii because New York has scary, bitey bugs.

It’s more fun to shop at Marukai now that I’ve come to learn more Japanese. When I look at the labels and Instructions on how to cook, I can understand what they’re saying. In the past, I’d pick up a package of ramen and tried to read the instructions. Most times I’d just look at the pictures and hope that that was all and that the food would come out OK. Now I find that there is a lot more things you can do to make it better.

I also like reading the ingredients so I can get my favorite flavors like katsuo or chiso. Shopping is much easier now! I don’t have to stop an older Japanese Lady and ask her what this product is or how to prepare it. Trying to find a salesperson is even harder. Thank goodness I’m learning Japanese and Kanji as well as Katakana.