An electronic Dictionary

My favorite electronic dictionary was poorly broken:'(



The problem is that I cannot buy it here in UK but I need it. Even though the joint part was broken, there is no problem on software so I keep using it however it is not comfortable to carry something half broken. Finally I decided to ask my father to send a new electronic dictionary for me. My friend told me that she was required to pay tax to receive a delivered electronic dictionary even though she bought it and use it for herself. The reasons were it was a new product and sent by her brother so it was regarded as a gift and charged tax. To avoid this situation, I asked my father to rip off all packages and price tags before sending and wrote my name as a sender. I've been crossing my fingers to be able to get it without problem. Today, the package was delivered without tax claim letter. Yes, we made it!

Harrods

My friend asked me “Is the memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al-Fayed, located in the Harrods still there after the owner of the department store had changed?” To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know there is the memorial however I had a chance to go to London on Monday so I dropped by. There is still there:



I also wanted to get the collaboration item “Hello Kitty and Harrods”. I checked it on web site and liked it however the actual item seemed very cheap. Well it costs around 8pounds so it’s not expensive but I can find better quality purse at 100 yen shop in Japan. Anyway I can’t come to London often so I decided to buy it. On the next day I was a bit hesitated to use it because it’s for kids and people may think I’m childish. However the clerk at the shop saw my purse and said, “I like your purse.” Now I enjoy using my new purse.

Hiking

Although it was not warm enough for an ideal hiking day, I enjoyed walking around a lake in a park.

Shopping at Market

Recently I enjoy shopping at Market. The main reason is that I can buy fresh foods. Once I buy fish at fish market, I can’t return to buy them at supermarket any more. In addition, I can buy vegetables from Asian countries which I can’t find at supermarket. Yesterday I went to Market and checked eggs before buying. Sometimes eggs are cracked in a carton box so I always open it and check them. During my careful checking, a man in the shop talked to me, "All packages have 6 eggs each, you can't find seven or eight, love." I laughed and bought one package and then he pointed the other package and said, "If you chose this one, this package has eight eggs in."

Happy New Year!

I'm back in Manchester from my holidays in Paris.

Merry Christmas!

Annual Concert

I have been a member of The University of Manchester Chorus for two and a half years and there was an annual concert on 5th December.
I joined the chorus with my husband so I was not alone. However, when we practice, we sit apart from one another and I take a seat in the middle of strangers. Naturally we say greetings before rehearsals start and during the rehearsals we basically are not allowed to chat so it took a long time to find a friend at the chorus. One year after joining the chorus, I now find a good friend and one of the good points about taking time to form a relationship is that, once we are friends, the relationship lasts longer. Both the Japanese and the British live in islands so I find some similarities in our personalities. People are polite and shy in general although it depends on the individual personality. Some people change their personalities after drinking too much. I feel comfortable talking with British friends.
Still there are some differences. In Japan, we normally line up on stage according to the height. It is practical and everybody needs to see the conductor on the concert day. However, here in the UK, people stand wherever they like. Even in Japan, I’m short so in the UK, I’m very short and I need to find a good place to stand on stage. Where you stand is fixed “first come first served” so I need to go to rehearsal one hour early for getting a good place to stand. It is different from how we do things in Japan but it is acceptable. Nobody cares whether I am short or tall. This could be said to be a kind of freedom!
On the day of the concert, a girl next to me asked “You’re not British, are you? ” I have been asked many different kinds of questions since I came to the UK. However, this is the weirdest question. At first I didn’t get her point so I did not answer her. She said, “I mean I’m also not British. I’m from Costa Rica.” It is very difficult for me to tell someone’s nationality if they speak very good English. Because I am not a native English speaker, I just speak English if it is necessary. However, this girl kept saying whatever she was thinking. Maybe this is one of the reasons she can speak English very well.