I still can't believe it....

Really. I just can't. We got tickets for the Music Bank Kpop Festival in Paris in February! I'll see 2pm, SHINee, Beast and so on live on stage. Oh yeah :)

My friends and me are planing to stay in Paris a little longer to do some sightseeing and visit Disneyland.Luckily the semester at our Uni ends on the 2nd of February, and we can enjoy a little vacation right after we've finished our exams. I just can't wait!!

But right now, the semester has just started. After that disastrous last semester, I didn't choose a lot of classes and so my stresslevel is not that high yet. Let's see how everything is going in about a month. 

I've been meeting up with friends a lot in the past week... and I could show you some really funny (and embarrassing) photos. But I'm not doing it.

Hope I'll be back with a proper post soon :) 

Actually this post should be special because it's post number 300 on this blog, but since I'm a lazy b*tch and Uni starts tomorrow I'll make it really random instead.

Hello there, it's been some days since my last post. And to be honest, I should not be blogging right now but reviewing Japanese like a maniac. But I'm too lazy, and even if I started now, I don't really think it'd make a difference. So... yes :D

I'm back to Hamburg since last Tuesday, and I spent the last days catching up with my friends from University.  I really missed those adorable dorks.

Yesterday we watched the 6 hour "Pride and Prejudice" BBC Series. I hadn't seen it before and I LOVED it. Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is just....the he always stares at Lizzy..and... I shouldn't even start about that :D




Hm...so what else is there to talk about. I finally watched Ponyo this morning. At the beginning I was really creeped out by Ponyo but ..yeah it was cute. (Of course it's cute, it's Ghibli xD)

I have something to confess. I bought the Garnier BB Cream. I've wanted to BB Cream for quite some time now, because many of my Asia-loving friends told me that it's awesome and kind of made me believe it would cause a Sailor Moon-like transformation xD. I'm not going to do review here, because I would be stupid with no BB-experience to refer to.  It smells kind of nice, the texture is okay, too.... haha omg I'd make a horrible Beauty-Blogger :D However, I didn't think there was THAT much of a difference. My skin is not that bad to beginn with and the cream made it look nicer, but it still didn't look as flawless as Jaejoong's (or any other  K-Popstar). Why Jaejoong? Because the BB Cream scene with Jaejoon in Protect the Boss was kind of burned into my brain. "I only wear BB Cream on special occasions". Anybody seen it? x)

In February there's going to be a Music Bank K-Pop Festival in Paris (2pm, SHINee, Beast and more are coming...ftw). I'm sooooo going to try to get tickets! I could live with not getting tickets for SM Town live in Paris, but 2pm brings this event to a whole different level. I really hope I can go u.u

Reunion, a traumatizing movie and that awkward moment when one of your favourite songs makes you laugh

Yesterday I met my beloved roommates from Tokyo, Alex and Mio, in Frankfurt. We drank bubbletea, talked about good old times (crazy nights out, the dorkiness in our apartment etc..) and had Tsukemen in an nice Japanese restaurant for dinner.

Tsukemen is a Japanese noodledish. The broth is served seperatly and you dip the noodles into it. This picture was taken by Aimi

It was extremely delicious and I had an awesome time like always! Thank you girls!


On friday I watched the Greek movie "Dogtooth" with a friend. The description sounded kind of interesting and a little freaky.... but the movie turned out to be much more shocking than we expected. I've seen a lot of strange movies, because strange movies come in a package with love for Asian cinema...but this surpassed everything I've seen so far. The idea of the movie is awesome. Three siblings are brought up by their parents being isolated from the outside world. They use the most ridiculous tricks to keep the truth from their children and protect the facade they've built over the years. As a result, the three kids (or better: young adults), two girls and a boy, have developed a lot of abnormal behaviour patterns. I'm not saying it'a bad movie, but it's really shocking, full of perversion and some scences might be hard to handle for some people. I don't really recommend to watch this movie...but some of you will probably think about it now. Actually, when people tell me how shocking they found a movie, I'm kind of tempted to watch it. When a friend of mine told me about the shocking scences in Lars von Triers "Antichrist", I really wanted to watch it...and I did xD

Random change of topic: The Japanese version of SHINee's Lucifer was released recently. I was really crazy about the Korean version in 2010. Before I wasn't really thaaaat much of a SHINee Fan, but after the Lucifer Album I went asdfhsakjdfue for them.
So far all of the Japanese PVs SHINee released were remakes of their successful Korean songs. I liked the Japanese versions so far, and was even content with the new one of my beloved song "Juliette". The MVs were really well done, too... but there's one thing I just can't stand about them: Taemin gets like double as much screen time as the other members. It's not that I dislike him... but I think it's a little exaggerated, sorry. The other members are equally talented, but have been kind of pushed in the background. Even some lines Jong or Onew (the members with the best vocals) sang before were transferred to him. That's just wrong somehow.... Besides I cracked up 10 seconds or so after I started watching the  Lucifer pv, because somehow the Japanese lyrics sounded really strange to me at first. Don't know why. After replaying the vid a few times I'm okay with them x)


At the end of this post I want something that eat your kimchi's Martina wrote in their latest post (If you don't know eat your kimchi you should check out their blog and videos!). She's saying what I've been trying to say about Kpop and other music many times before, but in contrast to me she doesn't fail at it:

"We’ve taken a lot of flack from people who live in Korea and HATE kpop. They feel like they can only support everything which is Indie, and any support of a mainstream band is some kind of devil worship. We firmly disagree with this perspective and the snobby attitude towards kpop and anything mainstream. We, too, listen to many crazy Indie bands that are loved by a small groups of elite fans (do we announce that fact as if it’s some proud badge to be worn? No) but we also really love and respect kpop.

How can we come to grips with these two extreme positions regarding music and culture? To us, it’s the talent and passion of the members of the band that matter. Not everyone in the world can play an instrument, or sing, or dance, or write music. If you grow up playing the guitar and you form a rock band in your garage and fail for 10 years and make it in the 11th, we’re happy for you, but does that mean a kpop idol who trained to sing and dance for 10 years is any different? Yes, they have a label supporting them with money to get their names out there, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that kpop idols ARE talented. Opera singers don’t write their own music and are usually discovered only after appearing in many musicals backed by companies, but does that mean they’re not talented because they weren’t found singing Opera in a tiny university bar? Absolutely not. The same goes for many talented singers throughout the decades (even Elvis Presley).

The point of this long rant is that even though we can acknowledge that BEG and other kpop groups have big wig companies backing them, I’m tired of people immediately writing off kpop (and pop in general) because of that fact. I think the deepest irony in this whole situation is the very musician wants to be in the position of popularity that kpop bands have, but once they reach it (by their own means or via a record label) many fans will desert them, saying that they “sold out”. What you want to say is, “I’m jealous my special band no one knew is now know by many people. I’m sad they’re making money and supporting themselves.”

So true! 

A nice place for growing up + recent gets

Yesterday my best friend from Japan left and of course... I cried at the Airport. I'm so baaad with Goodbyes, even though I should be kind of used to them by now.
However, we had a lot of fun in those five days.  Even though we hadn't seen each other in 1 1/2 years...things between us haven't changed. We went sightseeing in the region around my hometown and it opened my eyes a bit. This area is more beautiful than I could see, or more than I wanted to see and coming back here in my holidays always puts my soul at ease (sounds cheesy... I know xD). Or as my friend said: "This seems like a really good place for growing up, but you can definitly not stay here". My friend took around 500 photos (of basically everything...and she paparazzied me all the time xD) but she isn't really in for sharing pictures on the internet, so I wan't upload any!

Instead I got inspired to do my first "recent gets"-post by hyacinth dream :) I always enjoy this kind of posts from the people I follow on blogger, but I never did one myself, so here we gooooo! (sorry for the blurry pictures.... it's getting obvious that my digicam is almost 5 years old and has traveled all around the world)

 

I got another Kapibara-san plushy <3...

.....and funky flavoured  Kit Kat from my friend as a gift

I asked her to get me some books to study for the JLPT. I'll finally take level N4 in December. Some say it's to easyto even take it, but I want to take it easy this semester, so I'm following a teachers recommendation and start with N4.

super cute strawberry cookies. my friend bought those for my parents. Why are Japanese things always so cute?!?! I can't even... xD

I think it's the first time I buy clothes for fall on time... usually I start buying t-shirts in September, but this time I actually bought cardigans. sorry for the horrible picture. I got the striped one in Vancouver (it's cashmere baby) and the leo-print one at "Review" (I think it's the flashiest item I own xD).

art post cards by a canadian first nation artist I got in tofino and stationary stuff I got a super cute store on Granville Island (Vancouver)

close up because it's just tooo beautiful

Wah I miss my friend so much already. It was such a good thing to see her again. I hope I can visit her in Japan soon. She taught me to sing the Japanese Sailor Moon Opening song (xD) and it's stuck in my head now xD Aaaaand.... this girl has such a power to motivate me! Even though the last semester was horrible and I'll take it easy this semester, I'm finally looking forward to the things that are coming instead of being afraid and stressed. Ganbareee JLPT, ganbareeee Nihongo, ganbareeeee Muk, ganbareeee weight loss, ganbareeee writing, ganbareeeeee and so on.... (romance?! xD)

Going to meet Alex and Mio in Frankfurt on Sunday...can't wait <3

"What are you looking at?...

 ...oh...it's just a bear. I thought it was something exciting"

or: I'm back from Canada! 

sunset in Tofino

I didn't think it would be possible to see so many places in just 13 days. We landed in Calgary and then drove to Vancouver in a motorhome, visiting Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Clearwater (and the Clearwater Hospital), Whistler and Vancouver Island (Tofino and Victoria) on our way . Since I travelled with my whole family and we had just 13 day´s, it was a little stressful but still great. Super friendly people, awesome landscape and lots of wild animals. Living in Germany, I'm not used to see all kinds of animals running around everywhere (okay not everywhere, but almost everywhere). On the second day I was amazed by seeing a single squirrel. In the following days I saw many elks (once mother and child walking on the street as if they were organic cars xD), squirrels, seals, squirrels, a bear (having fun on a minigolf course), squirrels and a skunk (almost xD). Unfortunatly I didn't see a whale :( AND: The weather was awesome. I even got a bit of a tan. Yes. Me. A tan. In Canada. In September.

beautiful Lake Louise

The flight back was the worst of my life. I was exhausted, felt dizzy and sick and my back, ears and legs hurt a lot. *whine whine* At least they had screens at every seat. When the plane had finally landed in Frankfurt I jubilantly wobbeled my way out of it. 

me at a glacier, looking as retarded as always

In the next days there be some more posts about my trip to Canada! And of course some pictures! And I'll change the header. And my profile picture.
but for now I have to watch drama and enjoy the pleasures of the internet xD

Just three more days until my best friend from Japan is visiting. Yay!

pomelo goes Canada

un... okay... that doesn't rhyme as well as pomelo goes Tokyo... not to say it doesn't rhyme at all.

I'm leaving to Canada on Sunday and until then I have to work my ass off for my part-time job. they don't have enough people right now, so I have to do more work. I just finished work for today, and feel like a jellyfish. The next days will be very busy with packing, organizing the next semester and work, so I probably won't post until I come back.
Maybe if I have a bit of time in Canada I'll maybe post a few fotos.... not xD.  I'm not sure how often I'll be able to access the internet and to be honest I want to enjoy my vacation properly and stay away from the screen for a bit. I'll even turn off my beloved smartphone.

I'll be back on the 18th, with a post and probably with a ton of pictures!

And before I forget it: 632... thanks for your sms today it gave me such a good laugh. Charlie and Pablo forever. You're awesome! (I hope you read this)

"What a man"

Heute war ih mit Lauri, Meike und meiner Schwester in Mannheim bei der Kinotour zu Matthias Schweighöfers Regiedebut "What a man" (eigentlich war der Freund meiner Schwester auch dabei...aber ihn hat der ganze Trubel herzlich wenig interessiert xD).

Lauri, Meike und ich sind schon seit Jahren verschworene Matthias-Fangirl-Schwestern...und so konnten wir es uns nicht verkneifen zumindest ein bisschen nervös zu werden und zu quietschen (merke: quietschen, nicht kreischen).
Wir konnten sogar Fotos mit den Schauspielern ergatten :)

Lena, Lauri und ich mit Matthias Schweighöfer

und nochmal mit Elyas M'Barek :)

Ich war vorher noch nie bei sowas. Ich hatte eigentlich (wenn man von gewissen Ostasiatischen Sternchen absieht xD) nie soooo das Bedürfnis Promis nahe zu kommen, Fotos mit ihnen zu machen, oder Autogramme abzustauben. Aber irgendwie war ich heute dann doch ein bisschen aufgeregt und wuselig :) aber immerhin wars Matthias Schweighöfer, mein favourite german actor ^^

Also zum Film: Ich muss sagen, ich wurde gut unterhalten, der Film war charmant und witzig. Ich weiß, dass manche Kritiker nicht super begeistert waren aber dazu muss ich ganz ehrlich sagen: Leute, der Film ist genau, was er sein soll. Eine luftig leichte Sommer RomCom. Ich bin ehrlich gesagt, nachdem ich in den Trailer gesehn hatte, nicht mit der Erwartung ins Kino gegangen, dass "what a man" das Filme Machen neu erfindet und mein Leben verändert. Aber wer das tut, ist selbst schuld. Und das gilt nicht nur für diesen Film, sondern für viele Filme. Aber manche Leute sind ja sogar genervt, wenn in Westernfilme Westernelemente auftauchen. Oder überrascht, dass "Groupies bleiben nicht zum Frühstück" eine kitschige Teeniekomodie ist. Seid mal realistisch jetzt.

Reunion

Last Thursday I met three friends from my time in Japan again. I was so excited on wednesday evening that I couldn't fall asleep at all. I almost couldn't get there on time because a lot of  trains are cancelled at the moment because of strikes. But I gave the lady at the information a very scary look and she changed my booking to a TGV so I arrived just a few minutes late.:D When I finally met Mio, Alex and Pantay at the station I was so happy I had to grin for at least 30 minutes non-stop

Especially to Alex and Mio who were my roommates I'm extremly attached. We have so many stupid insider jokes it's unbelievable :D Of course we had fights, too (I think it's natural when three girls who are so different live in a flat together)...but mostly it's been fun times with those two dorks  in our little apartment in Shinjuku <3
Apart from that they had a really good influence on me. It's partly thanks to them that my self-confidence got so much better in Japan. I learned from them that sometimes it's just better not to give a f***. About some people and about what they say.  That some people'es opinions should just be irrelevant to me.
Haha I don't think they really follow my blog but... Mio, Alex: Thanks for making me feel like a cool kid. ;D
(maybe I should mention that it was Alex who introduced me to Kpop...I'm not sure if I should thank or curse you for that.... it gave me such a brain damage :D) 


We met at the main station in Frankfurt, did a bit of window shopping and then had bubble tea with some of Alex' friends. I never drank bubble tea before and I looooooved it :)

Pantay and Mio :) such a sweet couple

Later we had dinner at a really nice Ramen Restaurant called Yumeya where we went togethere before. It was really delicious <3

Alex and me

 

 

nom nom Ramen <3

Thoughts on 2010

It's 00:28 right now. Today is the last year of 2010. I'm tired. And when I'm tired, I'm really emotional.

In 2010 I've lived in 4 different cities: Tokyo, Offenburg, Hamburg and my home town. A record I'll most probably will never be able to break.
Not that I want to. I

Ever since I've returned to Germany there hasn't been a day that I didn't miss Japan. And I realize that I start to forget some of our inside jokes. That I can't remember all shops in our Street in Shinjuku. It's like I'm starting to forget parts of one of the most precious memories in my life.

In 2010 I had to leave people and things behind that I never wanted to abandon. Friends. The Feeling of being treasured and accepted. A place that made me feel free.

I'd probably still be all stupid emo kid if Hamburg wasn't so... subarashii :D Great people, great place. My second Tokyo. Just 600km away from home.

Hope 2011 will be as interesting as 2010. Without moving around so much xD

My New Year's resolution? The same as always: Losing weight and being a better person. (never works though xD)

I'll soon make a decision about the future of this blog. I love blogging so much and I invested so much time in this blog.
But... if something you do is obviously a failure... shouldn't you accept that and stop it?

Völlig sinnlose und unzusammenhängende Handybilder der letzten 1 1/2 - 2 Monate

Ja, ich lebe.

Ich weiß ich hab lang nicht gebloggt, aber ich denke ich habe mich in vorhergehenden Posts schon genug über den Stress an der Uni ausgelassen und bin somit entschuldigt :D

So. Weil ich zu faul bin zusammenzufassen was in der letzten Zeit passiert ist: seltsame Fotos in schlecht Quali (wer liebt sowas nicht?! ^^)

Discokugelherde! An der Decke des "Hörsaals" auf Sankt Pauli ^^

angestrackte Japos auf einer Rolltreppe

Japos auf Vivis Couch

Süßestes Notizheft alle Zeiten! Big Bang!

und nochmal von der anderen Seite Vivi und Latané in der Mensa. Warum so unglücklich?

Landeskundekritzeleien!

Papierschiffchen in einem Meer aus Mensasalatsoße!

schneeiger Weg zur Uni :)

Weihnachtsmarkt auf dem Rathausplatz!


Hauptbahnhof Hamburg :)

Extrem cooler Drach von Katty (mal wieder in Landeskunde)


Skript und Davinas Hand ^^

"Manche nennen es Gott. Wir nennen es Sankt Pauli."


verschmähte Liebe an der Bushaltestell. Traurig.


Hello Kitty Store :)


Halloweenabend. Die Telefonzelle wollte wohl jemanden nichts süßes geben und hat deswegen saures gekriegt.


Daifuku FTW!


Mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit das süßeste Tattoo aller Zeiten.


Demo gegen Studiengebühren und Kürzungspolitik des Senats. Kein Wunder, dass ichs ein bisschen kalt fand. Abends erfuhr ich, dass an dem Tag viele Schulen wegen Kälte geschlossen blieben. xD

Was war nochmal mein Hauptfach?

Oh man. Da hatte ich im September endlich mal wieder angefangen regelmäßig zu bloggen und Anfang Oktober geht schon wieder alles den Bach runter. Allerdings hab ich ausnahmsweise mal eine richtig plausbile Begründung dafür: UNI. TÖTET. MEINE. FREIZEIT. Ehrlich. Okay eigentlich bin ich selber Schuld mit meiner Fächerwahl. Denn Japanologie als Nebenfach zu wählen ist ungefähr so, als hätte man ein zweites Hauptfach. Und ja, ich habe genauso viele Stunden für mein Nebenfach wie für mein Hauptfach. Ich bin die meisten Zeit entweder in der Uni oder am vor- oder nachbereiten. Es ist echt ganz schön stressig. Trotzdem macht mir studieren bis jetzt echt Spaß. Auch wenn ich manchmal kurz vorm Nervenzusammenbruch steh, die Leute sind toll und bis auf ein Modul sind die Sachen auch echt interessant.

Ich weiß ich antworte immer sehr kurz angebunden auf Mails und Facebooknachrichten. Sorry dafür! Ich lad jetzt einfach mal ein paar unzusammenhängende Bilder hoch!

Hamburg, I love you

Aus dem Müll gerettete Kuscheltiere. Ich frag mich, wer die süße Idee hatte sie zu sammeln.
Immerhin waren sie mal für jemanden WERTvoll

Ein riesiger Gummifrosch. Mehr gibt es dazu nicht zu sagen. Oder vielleicht doch: warum sieht meine Hand so alt aus?

Down Under mit den Japanologen







Das Wetter hier in Hamburg ist die letzten Wochen einfach grausam. Die Straße in der ich wohne ist vermatscht und der Hof des Studentenwohnheims versinkt im Matsch.



Wir sind Helden Konzert mit Elisa, Hanna und Peter amd 3.11 in der großen Freiheit 36. Es war einfach geil super Stimmung, super Band, super Lieder. Nur "Nur ein Wort" hat leider gefehlt.


Am Freitag war ich nach der Uni noch mit den Japanologen unterwegs. Erst haben mich Katty, Davina und Gizzy beim Friseur moralisch unterstützt und dann haben wir noch ein paar Leute von Gruppe B aufgegabelt und waren Purikuras machen und anschließend Sushi essen :)
lecker Sushi

Davina findets gut

Felix auch


Gizzy und Kari auch ^^