friends

アメリカに来てからよく思うのが、あたしって本当に友達に恵まれてると思う。本当に。男女国籍問わず親友って呼べる人がたくさんいる。これって本当に幸せなんだなって思う。マジでこれまで何人の友達に助けられたか分からないし、困ってたり、悩んでたりするとすぐ助けてくれる友達がいる。言葉はもちろん違うし、生まれ育った環境も国も違うのにこういう風に友達になれてすっごい幸せ全世界に何十億人っていう人がいるのにその中の人から出会えたわけでその確立って本当にすごいと思う。今のあたしの友達は出会うべきして出会ったんだなってつくづく思う。神様ありがとうございます 。

I just love my friends so much. I really think that I have such amazing friends both Japanese and Americans.Especially, the people I've met in America. I have best friends who are guys, girls, Americans and Japanese. I guess it is a blessing. I don't know how many of them have saved and helped me, and whenever i am in difficult situations, they always encourage me and help me get out of the situations.We speak different languages. We have different backgrounds. There is nothing that breaks our friendships.There are billions and billions of people in the world, and it is just awesome that my friends are chosen to be a part of my life. I can't ask any better friends and I just thank God that He chose them and put them in my life. I am happy and blessed.

Now I have two degrees...then what?

I finally graduated from OC a few weeks ago. Before graduation, I literary had a dead month which means I always had something turn in such as papers, projects and vice versa. On the graduation day, I didn't feel like I was graduating because I was so tired from all the finals and of course, sleepy. Plus, I was a candinate at that time and i was pretty worried about my literature classes which almost killed me. Now I passed all my classes and I am officially a graduate. For a long time, i had no idea what i was going to do after graduation. I didn't know if I should get a job or go to a grad school. I talked about it a lot with my friends and my family. About 3 months ago, i decided to go to a grad school to continue my education. It is a great advantage for me to have a master in the field even though i will be school for 9 years in total by the time i finish my master. I applied for the grad school before the spring break, and I finally got accepted this Monday. It feels so good that i have a clear vision for my future. I sitll have a lot of paper works to get done before the classes start, but now, i am going back home for summer in a few days and i am excited to see my family (well, they came over for my graduation) and all my friends in Japan. Of course, i am so pumped about eating good Japanese food.

Things to do in Japan:
1. finish reading four books that i had to stop for school
2. eat a lot of fish
3. hang out with my friends as much as I can
4. get some documents from a grad school
5. go to the beach
6. just relax
7. e-mail to friends with new info
8. have a Mexican fiesta with friends
9. have some fireworks at the beach
10. try to speak Japanese and try not to forget English

Be Yourself

I have been reading a couple of books since the break started. I already finished one Japanese book, "Why the vegetarian in America fat?". It was a very interesting book to read. It explains why the American vegetarians are fat, why the rate of divorce is getting higher and higher even though most of people are Christians, why Americans like to start wars, why Americans tend to compare themselves with others and so on. I have been living in America for almost 3 years and I have found things that I didn't even notice.
I have been reading two English books: "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers and "New Day New You" by Joyce Meyer. One of my friends recommended me to read "Redeeming Love" and i got this book about a week ago and I love this book! I just finished first 140 pages and I am very excited and looking forward to reading more.
"New Day New You" provides a page a day. I was reading a page the other day and i found it very interesting.
"God has made every one of us unique. He personally made you and gave you gifts, talents, and abilities. Just think about it: Nobody else in the world is exactly like you. That means what is best for someone else may not be best for you. So when you are tempted to say to God, 'I wish I looked like somebody else,' or 'I wish I could do this or that like them,' don't say it. Be satisfied with whom God made you to be. Remember that He made you exactly the way He wants you to be. If you try to be like someone else, you will miss the beautiful life God has planned specially for you."
I used to compare myself to others: "I wish I were taller", "I wish I were smarter" and so on. I think a lot of people tend to compare both mentally and physically. After I finished reading this, I started thinking that we shouldn't compare ourselves because God made us differently and uniquely. This is our gifts from God, I believe.