Continuing on from Part 1 of my Day 2 blog post, we headed to Huashan Creative Park after our nap time (the 1-2 hour nap time I mentioned in Part 1. lol!). This time, we were fully prepared attire-wise (no more thick shirts!!). The art center wasn’t that far from our place, so we ended up just walking there.
I think because we visited an art center (I ended up taking pictures of EVERYTHING hahaha!) on this day, I ended up having to divide our Day 2 into two parts! Not to mention, we had lunch in such a unique restaurant, that I just had to take as much pictures as I could to preserve the memory (and share the experience!).
Anyway, for Day 2, we started out our day by visiting the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. For a bit of a backgrounder, the memorial hall was put up in memory of Chiang Kai-Shek, who was the former President of the Republic of China. The monument is surrounded by parks and plazas, and to the north and south of the monument are the National Theater, and the National Concert Hall.
I’d have to say that, out of all my travels, my trip to Taipei has been the most gastronomical of all. About 80% of our trip comprised of visits to famous night markets, restaurants, etc., and that all just literally translates into food, food, and even more food!
Aside from famous night markets, Taiwan also has so much more to offer. We also got the chance to visit some prominent landmarks like the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, the famous Taipei 101, and much more.
Hi, everyone! Continuing on from my Nihongo Introduction Post, I’ll discuss with you the basics of hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
For those of you who have no idea what these words mean, basically, these are the three classifications of the characters by which the Japanese alphabet is divided into.
Normally, people start out by learning hiragana and katakana, as these are much simpler than kanji. This is because, with hiragana and katana, you are simply learning how to spell words with a phonetic alphabet (of relating to speech sounds). Thus, hiragana and katakana are your sound/syllable alphabet characters.
However, when it comes to kanji, you cannot simply rely on the syllabic characters to spell out a word. Kanji characters vary in meaning and strongly depend on the context by which the characters are used, which characters are placed beside each other, and much more.
For those who don’t know, I am actually extremely biased towards Asian makeup brands. I’ve had my fair chances of hoarding them during my trips to Korea, and Tokyo during the past few years, and up until now, I still can’t stop this tendency of buying Asian-brand makeup out of impulse!
The first thing that really gets to me is how they come up with such cute brand collaborations, leading to even cuter packaging! Second, is probably my trust on the quality of the brand, since I’ve had my fair share of Asian makeup hauls in the past. Through that, I was able to find out which products seem to work better for me from certain brands. For example, I prefer the eyeliners from Dolly Wink, concealers from Holika Holika, and then the cream blush tints from Canmake. Though, those are just a few examples of the many good makeup brands out there.
Were you able to read the characters right on top of this? (If you were, let me know in the comments section down below!) I feel like there are tons of weeabs like me (lolol) people out there who would really like to learn Nihongo (the Japanese language), but just have no idea where to start.
I’ve decided to write this blog entry, since I rarely do get to find any blog posts online about being able to learn Nihongo in the Philippines. Although I’m not exactly “sensei-worthy” about Nihongo, nor am I any N-level/JLPT certified student, I still want to share my own experiences on the formal learning process, as well as actual classroom set-ups that I found very helpful in getting a good foundation on Nihongo.
Also, I realized that this topic is actually very extensive. I don’t want you guys to get overwhelmed about all the topics involving studying Nihongo, so I’ll be breaking this down into several blog posts–starting with this introductory one. For this post, I’d like to focus first on just my general learning experience.
Last days in my Japan trips always leave me feeling a bit down, but at the same time, extremely pumped up to maximize my remaining days in the country. At this time, I felt like I already had a good fill of what Nagoya had to offer, and hoped that I could come back again one day to experience whatever I may have missed out on.
I tend to forget how different it feels like to step into a place of historical significance. Though, heritage and conservation wasn’t exactly my specialty back in architecture college days (I took Environmental Management Planning as an elective), that does not go to say that I have no interest in history and culture! (In fact, I am deeply interested in it, with my love for art museums and such! hehe :p)
On a slightly rainy day, we were finally being able to visit Nagoya Castle. Once arriving, after stepping past the gate, I felt my imagination stretch a little bit and began to picture what life must have been like many years ago. I was very impressed with how they were able to preserve and maintain the place, since I noticed how the pathways were spotlessly clean and the built structures were still in very good condition.
I’ve always wondered what winter felt like in other countries. I remember the last “winter” (actually closing to spring already, so it didn’t really count?) I was last able to experience was back at Los Angeles, USA. I was still in the second grade of primary school. We were able to catch up with the last few hints of snow up towards the mountain area. It felt like such a surreal moment as a child to actually be able to experience those generic fantasies of being to build your own snowman, having snowball fights, making snow angels on the ground, and the like. Although being able to feel the snow was an enjoyable experience on its own, the main difference was that the cold in the atmosphere was not the same as that of an actual real winter. Thus, leading to this thirst to experience it one day.
こんにちは！ 👋 This coming April 30, 2016, @kawaii_ph will be having their very first Kawaii Market–a market purely for original arts and crafts! (Support local!)
I’ll be selling my original artworks, limited edition signed art prints, some nifty mystic/dreamy/magical watercolor stickers + etc. for the very first time!
Entrance is only 50 PHP! Hope you guys can come to support! 💗💖