Spending time freely

Freeeeeee!!

Yesterday, I decided to spend the day freely without making schedule.

From morning, my mom went to the stadium as a staff for volleyball league.
When I got up, I found the memo on table.
...... List of house work for today....
I c....
Cooking for lunch and dinner, laundry, etc

Done some laundry and dad came back to home.
He needed to get something from mom's car.
Then, I drove him as a driving practice to the stadium.
Back to home, and prep lunch.
Fuuuuu.

Sister asked me to go shopping. Then, we went to shopping centre.
Driving practice again!
Back to home, prep dinner. We had Japanese style hot pot and mom came back.
Fuuuuu.

After all, my free day became house work day
My house work includes lots of work, such as laundry twice, making lunch and dinner sometimes (have to prep lots cuz my family eats lots), driving to the station to send off somebody, and so on.
My mom always do that. Really really thanks for so much work...
When I am at home, I should do as much as I can.
That's what I felt from today.

Oh. my little work for today.
When I went to shopping, i found some kit.
At night, making making.
It is decoration of cell phone.

Before
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After
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Decorated with White and black rose.

There is one morebanana dieterhere.
(In Japan, Banana diet is popular. For breakfast, eat 1 or 2 banana with water)
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Banana , banana...

Kite day trip and Pilates exam

fu----. finally done.
Yesterday, I done with Pilates instructor exam.

Before exam day, I went to kite surfing to Shizuoka Pref.
it was 4 hrs drive in one way.

There,, we got 40knots wind.(it is categorized as small typhoon.)
And crazy high wave about 2-3meter wave.
20080224 007
Looks not high but in real it was like monster.

I usually fly 9 m kite but, it seems like impossible to use it cuz of too strong wind.
I used 3m kite.(It is trainer kite.)
When I flew kite, I was dragged for a while...
There was trail of slug behind me.
Amazing wind power...

In the end, I couldn't do kite at all and enjoyed with wind and sands.
Relaxed at hot spring close by and back to home.

I enjoyed fully and ready for Pilates exam...

Went to Pilates Studio in Osaka.
My stomach was getting hurt with anxiety...
Studying studying studying....

At exam room, it was only me who took exam.
For 2 hrs, I used up full time and done!!!
Hopefully I passed.
But for now, just what I can do now is waiting for result....

I had instructor training in this Feb and had exam in Canada in August.
I passed practical exam but failed to written exam.
Restarted studying and finally done for it!!

Hope I can make new career with Pilates for next year.

Anyway, relax...

Art.....

Repeating Pilates study and Driving practice.

I practiced parking at nature park yesterday.
It was really beautiful sunny day!

miki yama

my driving partner. BB(TOYOTA)
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Now, I can do parking on the right side.
Go for left side! Have to practice more for that!

I had lunch buffet with mom at fresh veg restaurant.
Back to home and study study..

At night time, I was tested by sister for her homework.
The theme is 'innocent'
I don't get it from the theme.
No idea about this art, but just only thing I can say is soooo itchy....
The hairy things and looong eye-lush make me soooo itchy.. lol

hitomi art

Tmrw, I will go to kitesurfing cuz it is good wind forecast.
Hope I can get ride even haven't done kitesurfing for a while.....

Hope ur happiness

My friend's wedding☆

On last Sun, I had friend's wedding in Osaka.
I got so much happiness from them.

In the mor, my sister helped make up and setting up hair(she is in school to learn make up and hair.) Ready to go!!

set up

Meet up with junior high v-ball member in Kobe and head to Osaka.

It was really traditional Japanese style wedding.
It started with "Zinzen shiki(人前式)"
This style is the one that their wedding is accepted as marriage in front of family, relatives, friends regardless religion.
There is not particular rule or ceremony. It is free style and original of the bridal couple.

Everyone sign up in front of others and the couple vow ceremony.

ceremony.jpg

After that, we had wedding reception.
It was freestyle without planning greeting or other things.
Then, we enjoyed freely.
It was great Japanese food. we had around 10 dishes in total.

My table set up.....
meal

Open the small dishes..
open meal
So delicate taste and decoration!

Everyone had fun to talk each other and the bridal couple went around every table.
They had one cup of sake with everyone.
It means over 50 shots of sake....(in ttl 59 ppl)
Of course, it was good enough to make them drunken.

It was the first time to get together with junior high v-ball member after we graduated.
sakura volley
(6member +Dad of bride(coach of rival school))
Special precious member...
We made through intense volleyball practice together.

Recently, they started making up team again with another school member which was coached by bride's dad.
We were the top 1st 2nd team in Kobe at that time.
But now,,,, when they played in the tournament,,,, the result wasn't good..
revenge for next game!
I hope I can play with them too!

Also from high school v-ball member came out!
We haven't meet up so long. It was so happy to meet up with them and catch up each other's life!

Anyway, hope ur happiness!!! Thanks for great wedding!

Yesterday, I started to study for Pilates written exam coming Sat.
I will make it for this time!!
okies, study time!

Prep and shopping for friend's wedding

Yesterday,,,
I went to shopping with my mom to find dress for my friend's wedding.
Finally, i got the one which I liked it!

This time, wedding style is japanese style which we will have meal sitting. (not the table)
Then, we wonder what we should wear. if it is table style, we can wear regular dress without considering.
but for sitting style, we better have long dress or something..
Many of my friends will wear black long dress which is easy to wear and choose.

Then, I decided that to get dark red medium dress and black shawl with far.
Thanks for parents !
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Couldn't find the shoes.... then, it is tmrw's (today)mission.

After back to Japan, yesterday was the first day. then, so much jet lag...
After had dinner, I slept in at the table and kept sleeping on the mattress until mid night... moved to bed and when I noticed, it was morning..

Today, I went to find shoes.
I got one ! after that, I had driving practice with mom about 1 hour.
I got the driver license when I was the first grade of univ. but after that, i haven't had chance to drive that much.
I wanna be real driver!!!

At the last, "Cat hanger"
Before i slept in the last night, my dod teased my lovely cat"cherry".

She won't notice anything when she is sleeping...

cherry hanger

Tmrw is wedding!! from now, i will do nail and prep for tmrw^^

Back to japan .... thx for everybody in Canada

I came back to japan last night...
It was loooong flight including transfer in Tokyo.
I had to fly from Vancouver to Tokyo and transfer and from Tokyo to Osaka.
in total, about 17 hrs travel time after left house in Vancouver.

First, thx for everybody who spent time with me.
I have so much fun and special time always when i back to Vancouver.
It always makes me feel to come back there again.
Yeah, i will.
*****************************************************************
Thanks for Hayato CA. Always, happy to work with you guys and so much fun to spend time together.
Without cheerfulness and support of u guys, I can't came through.
I am impressed ur work to the students all the time. miss u guys...
See u soon!!!


Thanks for my canadian mom and grand mom.
When I go back to Canada, I always visit Comox(Courtneay) in middle of Vancouver island where I spent the first month in Canada in 2004 Aug.
It is my hometown in Canada and i love family there.
Always, I learn lots of things from mom and ppl there.
I will keep in mind their warm heart always.
I will be back there again!!

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my host mom

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my grand mom

For my v-ball friends,
I can't live in Vancouver without playing v-ball with u guys.
So much fun to play with u guys and hang out.
I will appear suddenly again to the game! Beat me up!

****************************************************************
Now, back to japanese life.
After got to home, I was super exhausted and sleepy cuz couldn't sleep on the airplane.
Talked to family and gave souvenirs. Bit sad about my lovely dog was scared of me. who is this stranger?? even 1month away from home....

In mid night, i was awake every 1 hours after 3 and finally got up at 7 am.
uuuu.... perfect jet lag.

In the mor, my dog "ViVI' came to me finally^^
soooo lovely.....
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Today, I will spend day to unpack and look for wedding dress for my friend's weekend on this Sun.
She is a friend whom I knew from kindergarden.
We played v-ball in the junior high and high school, too.
My v-ball life and youth life won't be there without her.

I hope I can get good dress for it!

For tour coming tmrw

The first day at SFU.
we had meeting with CAs and prep at the dormitory.

It was raining as expected.
SFU (Simon Fraser University) is in the top of hill.
That's why we have more rainy days than downhill.

Our concern for this dormitory is that it hasn't used for a long time.

Here it is..

We checked the shower.

Brown water came out.....
When I looked at the color of water, my stomach hurt....lol
We kept running water for about 2 or 3 hrs.
It became better. hope tmrw will be fine....

We had some dormitory problem, but except that, the meeting went well!

I finished packing. Just what i need to do is sleep!!
I will do my best for students as they fully enjoy this tour!

My role for this tour is being bridge between students and CA, and do my best as students enjoy tour happily and safely, also as staffs can work happily!

Okies now time to go to bed. Good night!

Before tour.....

heavily raining...
we are having lots of rainy days in this week..

Can't help... then, just only 1 more day for prep!
Today, I went to the last shopping for tour and making documents.
I got to the point where I can finish up tmrw!

Recent my life is,,, work, training, studying for Pilates written exam.
My home owner went back to Japan then I was living my self about 2 weeks.
It is quite lonely but it was good time to reflect on my self.

After came back to Vancouver, various things became clear. Also reflecting current situation of tourism industry and current my situation, I was thinking what I can do next.

So far, I had pushed my self in tourism and I had various experience in this industry.
First, I really really thank for opportunities which I got so far.

I love this job, tour conductor, tour guide.
I can communicate with ppl directly and I can feel what they feel.
Sometime they appreciate my (our) job.
Even ppl complain sometimes, it is amazingly great to feel something directly from tourists.

It is possible I will get tour job sometimes like now. But for a while, i won't have this job.
then, I will do my best for coming students and enjoy!

After back to Japan (after tour), I wanna make the way to new lifework.
I have no idea where I will have base for that, but little by little, I would make career for it.

I have been into sports as a hobby.
I would like to get involved in sports and health not only as a hobby but also as a job in a long run.

It would take time. Just I will cherish every moments I will have and good chance to take time to study, prep and relax now!

That's what i got to the idea now.

First, I will have Pilates written exam in end of Nov. Doing various things in Dec.
From end of Dec, I will go on to the trip!

It is the first trip to Okinawa which is South part of Japan. It is like Hawaii!!
Warm and beautiful.
I will enjoy scuba diving, kite surfing and ocean life!
After that, somewhere Asia, maybe Philippines!

Just wrote down to organize my brain..

okies. go for one more day !

Unpredictable....

half of prep days have done!
2 more days for prep.

Today, I was making things needed for the dormitory, documents for staffs, etc...
During making them, I brought back the past tour.
This time, we can use one whole dormitory which is not used for regular univ. students.

We haven't used here after last year Nov. program.
This place is a bit tricky...
It is not used that much then, there are some problem sometimes, such as water leaking, bathroom trouble and so on.
In past program, I had experience that I couldn't sleep whole night cuz of water leaking from the ceiling.

Especially I worry this season.

2 years ago we had so much rain about a week, and we lost the access to the pure water.
couldn't brush the teeth, no cooking... Every stores run out the water..

Last year, we had the storm. Then, when we went to the site, it was closed cuz of damage by the storm.
It was okies as we took ppl to other site and they enjoyed it, though...!

Anyway, bit scared of this season.

Getting ready and ready!! but can't handle natural disaster><
Just hope we won't get it!!

Negative ions

Now , my prep day for the tour has just begun!
Went to office and as soon as get there, we went out for inspection.
All day we went around Vancouver, North-, Fort Langley etc.

This time, my role is the Japanese coordinator who will manage the tour mainly in Japanese for students.
We have one English coordinator and the night time assistant, and 6 cultural assistants(CAs) who will communicate with students all the time through the tour.

About 70 students come from Japan and we will stay at SFU from this Sun for 5 nights.

Today was pretty nice weather without raining, i hope it would be like this during tour, too.
But hard to expect it , i know...

I was really healed by some area today with beautiful nature.
I love North Vancouver where I lived for a month in Aug.
We went to Lynn Valley, Cleveland Dam, Capilano salmon hatchery, etc.
Such a beautiful nature with nice air!

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Salmon hatchery

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Dam.. super dynamic!

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Lynn Valley

And, such a beautiful autumn leaves ☆

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can't miss beautiful nature here!
It was busy day going around many places, meeting in the car.
But, more than that, it was great inspection day healed by negative ions from river and beautiful nature air.


Last day of holiday....
from tmrw, 11 days work ---
I will have 4 days office work 7 days tour including one inspection day.

Then, today i had relaxing day.
Went to 4th street which is my favorite to look around.
Just a small thing but hard to find it.
I looked around at D/T but couldn't find it.
But finally, got it!!

Awesome 4th street!!
Also, got diary for 2009.
It was good prep day for coming new life!
haha--- just i was satisfied myself.

Okies, from tmrw, let's do my best for coming tour !

QOL -Quality of LIfe-

QOL(Quality of Life)

`Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people.`

It consists of two components: physical and psychological. The physical aspect includes things such as health, diet, and protection against pain and disease. The psychological aspect includes stress, worry, pleasure and other positive or negative emotional states. It is virtually impossible to predict the quality of life of a specific individual, since the combination of attributes that leads one individual to be content is rarely the same for another individual.

This sounds complicated, but here, I would like to introduce about my self having happy life as I want.

That is my motto.

Cherishing my motto, I would introduce my private life, job, hobby and so on.
Then,I hope everybody will have happy life around myself.

Welcome to QOL Kyoko Style☆

The cow that's first up, gets the first of the dew.

I had volleyball tournament on Sun.
I haven't expected i will have chance to play.
But luckily got offer^^

We were supposed to meet up at Starbucks at 8:10.
I got up at 7 and headed to shop at 8.
No one comes... passed 8:10. 8:20...
Then, I texted to team mate to ask.
reply" oh. did u put 1 hour back the clock ?"

oops. I have totally forgotten about winter time.

I enjoyed extra hour at coffee shop reading newspaper.
I was bit surprised that many ppl come out in this early time.(for me...)
Ppl drop by in running, walking, taking the dog for walk, and so on.
Reading book or newspaper...
I really felt that ppl use time well from morning.
They get something for sure.
It would be refreshment, news, healthy body. etc...
Morning time is really precious, i felt!

Finally I met my teammate on time^^
It was R4 tournament.
Haven't played v-ball for a long time, then first, my codition wasn't good.
But, as play more, getting better and it was so fun even we lost... !

All the time when I play v-ball here, I feel that this environment is awesome.
Even weeday, they have league. On weekends, they have tournament like this.

In Japan, I can't believe ppl can have game on weekday cuz usually work work work until late on weekday.
I played once with my junior high school v-ball member when i back to Japan in Sep.
They can have practice only once or twice in a month.
It's really hard to find time to get together.
Especially some are already having kids, family, others are working.

Here is great place to keep balance between work and private life.
That's what i love here.



Happy Halloween

First my English Blog!
I made Japanese version, but i felt like making English version too.
As much as i can, i will update my daily life and other topics.

I just came back to Canada end of Oct.
Currently i am having job as a tour guide between Canada and Japan.
I came back here with about 140 students and showed them around Vancouver and Whistler.
They happily back to Japan without any problem.
I am glad tour went well!

After tour done, I spent my free time resting well, exercising, studying for Pilates instructor exam, shopping and so on.

On weekend, I enjoyed lots^^
Halloween party with X host sister and her bf.
every year, i am always impressed by creative costume.
Everyone was so awesome.
Especially, Marge! u are the best!

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I made black cat costume for this year.

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When i noticed, I had drunken sooo much .
Thanks a lot for taking care of me, M&M!!! > < but it was awesome fun night with your surprise!

Of course, next day, I couldn't move around.... serious hangover....
I hope Japan will take this event more !