The Best Thing That Happened To Me

The best thing that happened to me during my time in Portland so far is having my best friend from Japan. From August 22nd to 27th, my best friend, Yuki was here to visit me. She is a same university student in Japan. We always hanged out, and we went through something good and bad together. Before I came here, she held a big farewell party for me with a bunch of my friends. She is one that I don't want to lose in my life. I really missed her that time because I didn't have many friends here and I was struggling to learn English. So when I heard that she was going to visit me, I was extremely happy. 

After she arrived at Portland, I felt a different way about Portland. Everything seemed to be exciting with her. We went to downtown, China town, Water Front Park and Hawthorne Street. What we did there was nothing special, such as having lunch/dinner, shopping and sightseeing. We enjoyed here as if we were in Tokyo where we used to hang out. However we did some usual things, I felt that Portland is the most interesting and exciting place in the world.

I realized that it depended on who to spend a time with, not where to spend a time whether it was going to be the best thing or not and also that someone could be the best or at least a good friend wherever you spend a time with he/she. Sometimes “where” doesn’t really matter for me but “who” does. After my best friend went back to Japan, I have tried to do something new with my new friends in Portland and to enjoy it here, because Portland is where I live now; I don’t have to feel lonely anymore because there are a lot of friend and a lot of places to go with them.

I want to enjoy the rest of my life in Portland!

Crazy Thanksgiving Holiday

I want to tell you about super crazy Thanksgiving holiday!

It started from the Wednesday night to the Friday morning. My boyfriend's family and I celebrated Thanksgiving on wednesday night because, in this year, a lot of stores divided big sales into 3 days. After we finished wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that my boyfriend's mother made, we went to K mart. There were already 10 people in the line in front of it at 10 pm, and we also began to wait for the sale. Eventually, we had been waiting till 6 am on the next day. I was freezing cold while I was waiting even though I wore a lot of clothing and I was in a sleeping bag. Especially, my feet was almost dead; I couldn't feel anything with my feet. I asked the first one in that line since when he had been waiting there, and he said that since 1 pm on the wednesday. That means he was waiting for 17 hours! Can you believe that? At that time, I realized how crazy the big sales during Thanksgiving holiday were; This holiday made people crazy. Anyway, after I helped my boyfriend buy a big TV, I got sick and gave up being in line, but my boyfriend continued being in the line again right after he bought a big TV for another TV. Finally, he got 3 TVs and totally, he was waiting for 22 hours to buy what he wanted. For me, I couldn't get what I wanted. It was totally bust! lol

Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday? I'd like to know your story.

Movie Recommendation 2 "The Notebook"

I want recommend you the movie, The Notebook. This is really beautiful, sad and touching love story. This story is how Noah and Sara fall in love and old Noah read this story to old Allie who has Alzheimer's desease to make her remember her memory with him. Here is a trailer.

If you want to watch this movie, you must have tissue beside you because you'll cry so hard, seriously!

The Portland Trail Blazers

On Friday, Mathilde, Erin, my boyfriend and I went to Rose Garden Arena to watch a NBA game Portland Trail Blazers v.s. Huston Rockets. The game was a really good game because we had overtime and finally we won by 2 points; the score was 117-119. You can see the details of the game here.

It was my first time to watch Blazers game in Portland so I was so excited and nervous that I became hoarse. I'm a big fan of NBA, because I was raised by a big fan of NBA, my father. And, actually, I was a basketball player in middle school. My father and I used to watch NBA games on TV often when I was a middle school student and discuss about each of games. It was a good time with my father. Till I watched my first NBA game in San Francisco 2 years ago, watching a NBA game in the U.S. was on my bucket list. But now, I added one on my bucket list that is to invite my father to watch a NBA game in America. Someday in my future, I wish I can take him to a NBA game in America.

Chicken Skewers Party

On friday, Kanako, Minami, Erin and I had Chicken skewers party as known as Yakitori party at Kanako's house. Yakitori means chicken skewers in japanese. It is one of famous japanese bar foods.
First of all, Kanako's house was so pretty. There were big windows, a large kitchen and a clean bathroom, and also there are a lot of cute stuff such as small light, candles, furniture and so on. I was impressed.

We made chicken skewers, bacon skewers, mushroom skewers and onion skewers. Kanako brought a small BBQ stuff for Yakitori from Japan, and that was amazing! The chicken skewers that we made were quite like served by a restaurant. Kanako also had made sangria before we came over. Her homemade sangria was fruity, sweet and awesome! And also, she had a lot of seasonings. Especially, truffle salt was really delicious. We had it with olive oil on salad, and it smelled and tasted great.
After dinner, we enjoyed talking and drinking together. This party was a good start of this long weekend! If I have another chance, I want to do it again. Thank you my friends!

Movie Recommendation 1 "Ted"

 I watched a movie, Ted. It became one of my favorite movies so I want to recommend you to watch it.
This is a story about John who hadn't had any friends till he got a teddy bear as a Christmas present named Ted. After he got Ted, he wished that Ted will be his real friend like he would be able to speak and move. His dream came true. The teddy bear suddenly could act like a human. 27 years later, they were still best friends for each other. But the only thing that changed was that the guy got a girlfriend. Her name is Lori. Lori didn't want Ted to bother their relationship, but actually, Ted bothered them. One day, Ted got in trouble that someone who wanted the human-like teddy bear so bad kidnapped him. And after all, the kidnapping guy killed him. John and Lori tried to fix his separated body but it didn't work. Then, they realized that Ted is John's best friend no matter how he is annoying. After that, Lori made a wish that Ted would be alive again. Her wish came true. They live together happily ever after.
At first, I felt this movie was just comedy, but it was not just comedy. It also taught me how important my best friends are and that I should not compere my boyfriend and my best friends; both of them are really significant.
I do recommend you to watch this movie!! (You can also laugh and learn a lot of slang! lol)

About My Holiday

Look at the picture on the right. What do you think is happening on it? This picture is about Black Friday. I’m looking forward to Black Friday this year! Do you know what Black Friday is? It is at the next friday after November 24th. The reason why they say it Black is many retail stores' profits are going to be in the black. EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE CHEAP; this is my kind of holiday. 

"Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. "

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

I’m already thinking about what I’m going to buy such as clothing, shoes, bags and cosmetics. Especially, I want new headphones or earphones so bad. One of my friends said that Beats by Dr. Dre is awesome. According to my friend, the sounds are clear and the beats are heavy as if you are surrounded by a lot of expensive speakers.

"Beats By Dr. Dre provides a premium sound experience with its line of high-quality headphones, Beats Audio HD-sound systems and MOG digital music service." 

Official Cite for Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones: http://www.beatsbydre.com/

A lot of musicians or famous celebrities use it. For Example, Gwen Stefani who is  one of famous singer uses it, too. (the picture on your left)

I guess I will go to a store and wait there from early morning with my friend wearing a lot of clothing or having blankets. It is my mission in Portland! (Because of no sales tax in Oregon.)