Mushi Pan

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Mushi Pan with Sausage and Cheese

My Mushi Pan with Sausage and Cheese!

I found this lovely little recipe for mushi pan.  Mushi pan or Steamed bread, is sort of like a cupcake, but not at all.  It is light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness but can  be savory, as I tried today.  Sausage, cheese with some chili powder for a little zing, and wha-la, mushi pan! =)

There are so many different recipes for mushi pan, but this one looked amazing.  Matcha Mushi Pan.  I am a little obsessed over matcha or Japanese green tea power.  Though, I can never seem to find matcha, thus I will have to order online.

One step closer on my quest to immerse myself  in the Japanese culture and language from home!

L

Kawaii Donuts!

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Kawaii Donuts!

I can not take credit for these super kawaii donuts!  Thanks Robyn Lee for the pic and post!    This is only more inspiration for learning Japanese.  I figure, I should do more posts with japanese items and my language to keep it lively and interesting!  I hope to find more fun cute items and progress my Japanese language skills!

 

Sick or 病気です

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Love translations.  

For the past 3 days I have been utterly sick.   Thursday was the worst.  The culprit?  Streptococcus. 

This has put a real damper in the studying of Japanese.  I have to admit though,  I have been a bad student.  I have not practiced my Hiragana enough and am finding I am starting to forget. Yikes! 

I hope you, who ever you are, is studying and doing what you are supposed to!   I have cleared a spot for myself away from all the other crazy in my house where I can be away from it all (besides this computer) and write.  I do find this helps, unless I sneak out for a peak!

I have worked on a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, sa, shi, su, se, and so.

When I study I try to immerse myself in more Hiragana.  This seems to aide my progress for I am able to remember wo, na, ma, and a bunch of other Hiragana.   A site that I found for this immersion is actually a game called kana invaders.  I’m a sucker for games especially kinda fun games that make me learn and remember!

Try it out!  If you find any other beneficial sites let me know in the comments section!

L

 

BANG!

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Hello everyone!

I did not fall off the face of the earth, just busy, busy, busy!  I have been working on my hiragana, not as diligently as I should... (remember that thing that was holding me back?)  Well I figured if I wasn’t going to practice a lot then I should at least play a little game called BANG!

What is BANG! you ask?  It is a great game to remember items (glorified flash cards) that you can play with other people. It was introduced to me a while ago by a friend.  Here is a great (and kawaii) page explaining bang.  Over the past couple of days I made my cards, put them into a cup (no containers on hand) and played.  I modified the game and instead of putting BANG! on cards to indicate my cards had to go back, I put kanji.  Boy, oh boy, do I know mountain, mouth, and fish!  My husband, whom was ever so pleased to play, even learned a few hiragana, katakana and kanji.  Since I was starting to get some of the hiragana I figured I could put the katakana on the back to really drive home:   ア = あ .

Now all I need is to find some way to be able to type the hiragana and katakana on my english keyboard.  It gets really frustrating when I constantly have to find the hiragana and katakana online.

I also joined busuu (Free!) to learn more Japanese!  So far I am really liking the website.  They have some interesting lessons and even have a chat feature to help you learn the language!  I have not tried the chat with a native Japanese speaker yet, I do not feel experienced enough (and don’t have a keyboard that can type Japanese!)  Although some people have chatted with me.  Only one person so far who wanted “special” time, pervert. (or Henti in Japanese)

Hah, well thanks for reading!

Oh!  A special thanks to Mike for the link to his blog which has some hiragana and katakana practice!

L

Hiragana

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So I must start with some questions first:

  • What did I  learn?
  • How did I feel about what I learned (was it frustrating? Easy? etc) so you can figure out what causes you trouble and focus on fixing that.
  • What I need to work on.
  • What I want to learn next.
  • (Thanks textfugu for the thoughts!)

The first thing to learn is hiragana.  I started Hiragana a couple of weeks ago (okay really a couple of months ago and then kicked myself in the butt to learn more since I forgot a lot.)  I am learning how to write to hiragana, as well as know what it means.

I have started with あ い う え お using this great site, japanese-lesson.com  It has a bunch of interactive things to start with.  I also stumbled upon this site called Nifty Kids while paroozing pintrest, (love) which has practice sheets on how to write hiragana.  The sheets are designed for kids, but I figure, I am on par with a kindergartener so.. I can do their work!(Did I mention it is cuter? (kawaii!)

So I learned: Hiragana a-o

I felt: happy!

I must work on: writing them more to learn them quickly and not forget!

I want to learn: The k and s series.

Hopefully the practice will pay off!

L

Hello world!

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Welcome!  This a blog for me, my me with tidbits here and there and possibly a link or two (or perhaps 3?  depends on the day and my lazyiness level!)   I am traveling on a new journey of self satisfaction and to check off one of many items on the “bucket list.”

I am not old,  just turned the ripe age of 24 and figure, I’m not a time traveler, might want to get started now, so here it is….

 

THE GRAND ADVENTURE TO…   Learning Japanese!

The self taught methodology.

I am a noob, beginner, the lowest on low of totem poles.  This “blog” is to serve as memory, inspiration, and self help when I get the “I don’t wanna”  attitude.  I know you have been there, don’t lie to yourself.

So, dear future self.  You can do it! I believe in you.  It will get hard.  Don’t quit. remember your goals…  

Which brings me to my next step, my goal.   I read somewhere (http://www.textfugu.com/) that in order to keep yourself motivated you need to, one… well do the task, but two, to write down your goals somewhere to keep track of why you are doing it, not just for the shiny “I did it” medal or the “I think it would be cool!” mantra, but the real, nitty gritty truth of it, and what is holding you back, so without further ado, here goes:

My goal (or reason) I want to learn japanese:

  • It’s cool.  (But, seriosuly) I want to learn japanese for I find the culture to be interesting and common to my beliefs that I grew up with. (Not the religious type, but the; be nice to others, don’t yell at people over your cellphone, and my personal favorite the blast your music so loud out of your ear buds that, seriously, the deaf person next to you can hear it…. ) I mean come on how can these people not hear their music?
  • Not only is the culture interesting but I have always wanted to be bi lingual, which I currently and unfortunitly am not.
  • I want to work and teach in Japan.  Teaching is something I know how to do, and for most foreigners the entry job.
  • This is my inspiration. My goal, my do it, do it now kick in the pants.

The second part of this is:  What are the excuses of why you can not learn a language?

  • My biggest excuse is money. I would love to go to a language school in japan, or subscribe to some of those japanese sites but I don’t feel right spending a lot of money on language when I could use it to pay the mortage, internet bill, water bill, etc… you get the point.
  • My second biggest excuse. “I don’t have the time.”  I fear I will be too busy, but if I want to do it I will make the time for it.  Better to do at least 10 minutes then none at all!

So here is my first beginning baby steps, off I go to start my new journey!