Mag-Ingles ay 'Di Biro

Last night I dug into the dusty grave of my documents folder and here is what I found. An entry that should have been posted 2000 years ago but wasn't posted due to unknown reasons.

I think there was a time when I posted an entry asking the whole wide universe to pray for me so that I can get the scores that I need in a certain exam that I was to take. I took the IELTS exam. Why IELTS and not JLPT? Wahleylung. I just want to waste money. juk! Personal reasons :) I applied for the exam last February (this year) online and got the April 2 schedule for listening, reading and writing part. The schedule for the speaking part of the exam as well as the test venue will be given 2-3 weeks before April 2 via snail mail. I asked some of my friends who already took the exam for some tips and where to find good reviewers. Since I already spent too much (too much = 24,+++ JPY yes ansakit sa bulsa) for the exam fee I just relied on sample exams and free reviewers online. purita much kasi. I have more than a month to review. Carry :)

Fast forward. March came and I haven't started reviewing. Galing noh? Then the March 11 earthquake happened. Lalong hindi ako nakapagreview (makapagdahilan). I thought the exam will be cancelled. Para akong batang nagdadasal na sana walang pasok bukas. When I checked the website of STEPS (Society for Testing English Proficiency), the official partner of IELTS in Japan - I think, only the March 12 and 19 schedules were cancelled. April 2 was spared. Oh great. On the last week of March I received the mail regarding the location of the exam as well as the schedule of my speaking test. Tuloy na tuloy na itwu. I used the remaining week before the exam to review. Bahala na si batman.

April 2. I reached the venue, which was Toyo University, 1 hr before the exam. It was my first time to enter a building of a Japanese University. There were lifts and escalators inside. I mean school with escalators? Ako na galing bundok. During my time, the engineering building in Bulacan State University was the highest with 6 floors but it doesn't have any lift or whatsoever. Anyway I was a little bit shocked when I heard the lady on the first floor speaking in Japanese giving instructions on the whereabouts of the examination rooms. Like huh? Am I in the wrong place? They're suppose to be speaking in English because it is an IELTS exam. Dabah?

Since I arrived early I stayed in the cafeteria first. 95 percent of the examinees were Japanese. But of course nasaang bansa ba ako? :) I was hoping I can talk to someone in English while waiting for the eaxamination to start then be friends with her/him/them, etc. When I take an exam I usually do not review hours before it start. Dapat relax mode lang. My hopes were gone when I saw that most of the examinees were still studying. So I just sat and pretend I can read the writings in the bottle of my mineral water while waiting for the staff to call us.

The exam started and instructions were given first. Also we were told of what to do in case an earthquake happens. Dumagdag pa sa nerbiyos. The proctor was a tall Caucasian male and has a british accent. I get kilig everytime I hear someone speaking in british accent. Landi ko lang. Honestly speaking I think the test wasn't really that hard (if you're just after an OK-ish score). Especially for us Filipinos who have studied the English language since we started going to school. Pero ginahol ako sa listening and writing part. Lalo na sa writing kasi umihi pako tapos yung kasabay ko tumae pa yata kaya antagal namin nakabalik. Jusme.

I took the speaking part of the exam on the next day on the same university but on a different building. We were called by batch of ten and we're asked to line in a corregidor. On the other side of the line were the examiners. Para kaming mga batang kalye na binebenta sa mga pedopilyang porenjer. Sa aming sampu na kumukuha ng exam ako pa yung pinakamaliit. Nagmukha akong midget habang kasabay kong naglakakad papuntang testing room yung kakausap sakin. Ayos lang naman yung mga questions. Pero sa hindi ko malaman na kadahilanan e may mga parte na na-engot ako. Lalo nung kailangan kong dumakdak ng mga 1-2minutes. Hindi ko alam kung ano pumasok sa kukote ko at 30sec lang ako nagsalita. Ako na nagmadali at nagmagaling!

And the result....

Gusto kong iuntog ang ulo ko sa pader ng 1 million times. Napakasakit Kuya Eddie... Ako na tanga sa Writing. AKO NAAAAA! (TTT_TTT)

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

The most overdue post evarrrr :( Sobrang busy kasi sa paggawa ng wala :) Anyway better late than super laterrrrr....


During my natsuyasumi/summer vacation (I know anong petsa na?!?!) Basuraman and I were looking for some nearby parks or museums where we can bike to. Read: tipid mode. Basuraman found the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, which is a 30-minute bike ride from our house and is situated inside the Koganei Park. It was my first time to visit an Open Air Museum. I had the chance to see one last year when we went to Hakone but it was raining so we had to cancel it. Anyhoo...

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum (江戸東京たてもの園 Edo Tōkyō Tatemono En, lit. "Edo Tokyo Buildings Garden") in Koganei Park, Tokyo, Japan, is a museum of historic Japanese buildings.

The park includes many buildings from the ordinary middle class Japanese experience to the homes of wealthy and powerful individuals such as former Prime Minister Takahashi Korekiyo, out in the open in a park.

The museum enables visitors to enter and explore a wide variety of buildings of different styles, periods, and purposes, from upper-class homes to pre-war shops, public baths (sentō), and Western-style buildings of the Meiji period, which would normally be inaccessible to tourists or other casual visitors, or which cannot be found in Tokyo. (Source here).

Photos courtesy of Basuraman ^_^

The entrance to the museum

We reached the place at around 4 in the afternoon because of my katamaran este I thought the temperature would be cool at that time. Summer here is really H-O-T. At noontime it's like the SUN is just 3 steps away from you. You wouldn't want to go outside. Instant cremation itwu. Exaggeration at its best haha ^o^ We were kinda surprised that there weren't so many people considering it's a holiday. I guess the museum lacks some promotion.


Inside the museum restored buildings dating from the Edo Period to the early Showa Period can be found.

One of the shrines

traditional residential entrance/gate of rich Japanese families

Kunwari I was doing bar hopping  ^_^

Farm House

Rice Granary

Western style house

We were able to enter some of the buildings/shops and houses. Loved it. Though inside some of the houses there's this cryptic feeling that anytime some Japanese ghost will appear and grab me. Also there were areas in some houses where I had this difficulty in breathing as if the air is so thick. Meganon. Kunwari nasa isang horror tv series lang :P

The foot bath area of the bath house was open to the public for free. Unfortunately the bath house was near to closing when we arrived at the place.

Inside the bath house

Coffee or tea?

We found this old grocery store displaying merchandises being sold during that time. I wonder what's the taste of canned whale meat. Hmmm....

According to Mr. Wikipedia Spirited Away Director Hayao Miyazaki visited the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Museum for inspirations on the film.

A Calligraphy Shop. At first I thought it was Ollivander's Wand Shop ^_^

The several drawers on the left of the picture above resembles the  containers of the herbs in the boiler room operated by the six-armed man Kamaji.

The train! Sakay na ^_^ Bawal 1-2-3 

Mr. Hayao Miyazaki and No Face. Picture from Google.com

Our visit to the museum was fun and interesting at the same time since we don't get to see open-air museums that often. Ijou desu ^_^

Odaiba Gundam Project 2011

It's back! And we didn't let this opportunity pass ^_^

Parts of the life size RX-78-2 Gundam from the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam anime series is displayed at Symbol Promenade Park from August 13-21. The park is located at Tokyo's artificial island Odaiba. It was Basuraman's first time to see the life size Gundam Mobile Suit. Though in disassembled parts we were able to see its details up close.

Every day the designs of the admission tickets change. The fee is 500 yen for adults and free for preschoolers. Basuraman and I went there last August 17 and this is what we got.

Shoulder

Tiptoe, Heel

Chest, Abdomen, Front Skirt

Head

The eyes can be illuminated by pedaling on the bicycle located near the head. I just let the other visitors do the pedaling. Ako na tamad :P I wanted to take home the parts. Kahit yung ulo lang :)

Gusto ng iuwi ni Basuraman yung ulo :)

Beam Saber

Sponsor

We got the chance to have a picture with the right hand with me sitting on top of it. Cool right?!?! ^_^

A portion of the proceeds will go to charities for victims of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster.

Official website >>>> Odaiba Gundam Project 2011

Buttered Garlic Shrimp

Last week (Thursday night) I cooked buttered garlic shrimp for my beloved husband Basuraman even though I know that there is a big possibility that his allergy will be triggered. I can't/don't really cook but ever since I became an OFW I was forced to do so. Ayokong mamatay sa gutom hehe. I've been always referring to panlasangpinoy.com's recipes everytime I wanted to cook Filipino foods. So here's my version of Buttered Garlic Shrimp. A little bit different from panlasang pinoy's version. I didn't use lemon soda and parsley because I forgot to buy them. I just used what's available in the cabinet/fridge and added a twist in my reference recipe ^_^ (Sorry for the crappy photos of the procedure. I just used my camfon.)

For the Ingredients I used:

9pcs shrimps
1/2 cup butter
1 head garlic
tomato catsup
pepper and sugar
1 pc chili

Procedure:

1. Melt the butter in a pan.

2. Add the garlic. Be sure that the butter has melted and is hot enough to cook the garlic.

3. Put in the shrimp and let it cook. (I dunno why the picture is rotated differently compared to the original file.  The important thing is you can see the shrimps.)

4. Place a drizzle of catsup. I put a teaspoon of sugar in it for the sweet taste. Add pepper and chili.

The finished product ^_^ It's very easy to cook and won't take much of your time since shrimps cook easily.

I used Basurman's cam for this one ^_^

Hey I can cook ^_^  Bon Apetite!

P.S. Basuraman is fine. He immediately took his antihistamine medicine after having dinner because his fingertips were starting to be itchy.

Basuraman and the Lost Rainbow Bridge

The Rainbow Bridge (レインボーブリッジ Reinbō burijji) is a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and the Odaiba waterfront development in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

Construction started in 1987 and was completed in 1993. The bridge is 798 metres (2,618 ft) long with a main span of 580 metres (1,903 ft). Officially called the "Shuto Expressway No. 11 Daiba Route - Port of Tokyo Connector Bridge," the name "'Rainbow Bridge" was decided by the public. It is colloquially known as "RB."

The towers supporting the bridge are white in color, designed to harmonize with the skyline of central Tokyo seen from Odaiba. There are lamps placed on the wires supporting the bridge, which are illuminated into three different colors, red, white and green every night using solar energy obtained during the day. (Source HERE)

Rainbow Bridge (Tokyo) image from Google

Since Basuraman is into photography I took him to Odaiba  last month so that he can get a glimpse of the Rainbow Bridge. We left our place in the afternoon hoping that we can catch the sunset by the time we arrive in Odaiba. Unfortunately the sky was cloudy that day and Mr. Sun was missing in action. So while waiting for night to come we roamed around the area and Basuraman did his thing.

Liberty Island New York ...... Japan! ^_^

Fuji TV Headquarters with the giant ANGKLAs ^_^

Ang lalake sa breakwater

Night came and the "rainbow" didn't show up. We waited until 8pm so that Basuraman can take a picture of the bridge at night. Unfortunately the lamps didn't light-up. (Sino'ng may balat sa pwet?) We assumed that it was part of Japan's power saving campaign. After the 3/11 earthquake the government has been asking its people to save electricity to avoid shortage of power since one of its sources of electricity was greatly damaged during the earthquake.

Rainbow bridge 7.19.11

Kung alam lang nila na pupunta kami e di pinailaw yan ng bonggang- bonnga ^_^

There were these lanterns on the beach which we thought of "pa-consuelo" since Basuraman wasn't able to see the best of the rainbow bridge.

We had our dinner inside AquaCity and ate the most delicious kare/curry at this curry shop which i don't know the name. I don't know know how to read the kanji but I kept the receipt in case we find another branch of the store somewhere out there :) Sometimes we are tempted to go to Odaiba just to eat kare :) Mas mahal pa ang pamasahe sa pagkain :P


Before going home we passed by this shop inside Aquacity. We were looking for some Naruto stuff but most of the merchandises were One Piece. 

We got home late and we were very tired. Ang hirap ng tumatanda. Lakad-lakad lang pagod na kagad. Basuraman was a little bit disappointed but he had fun since he was able to take some good pics. At shempre kasama niya kasi ako ^_^

To kill a mockingUh-Owd

200 years ago I posted something about me doing some gardening(i know ang OA) again. This time it was a total failure. Something messed up with my Komatsuna.

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The culprit... Boo!

Maybe I'll start planting again next year. Nitatamad na kasi ako. I wanted to plant bitter gourd and tomatoes but I think it's already too late.

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Abangan: Basuraman and the Lost Rainbow Bridge in Odaiba....


pag sinipag ako :)


Pahabol:

I find this vendo cup in our office inspiring and uplifitng ^_^ ayos sa alright di ba? ganbare nippon!