Important Japanese Phrases

In Japan, politeness is the most important quality a person can have about them. Between bowing, insanely long phrases, and even more bowing, it all can be very confusing. Whether you're trying to learn the language, plan on visiting Japan, or for whatever reason- here are some important phrases/tips.

お～－"o" A lot of times, words will have this character in front of it to show politeness/formality. Like お茶、(ocha) which is tea.

いただきますー "itadakimasu" (ee-tah-dah-key-mah-sue). This is a very basic phrase used before you eat. It literally translates to "thank you for the food," but everyone at the table says it, almost in a way where it's kind of like a prayer... only you're not specifically thanking a god. You're just showing thanks that you have something to eat.

失礼しますー "shitsureishimasu" (shet-su-rlay-she-mah-sue). This phrase  basically means goodbye in Japanese. It's similar to さようなら (sayounara), but is MUCH more polite. When encountering someone who is not a close friend, it's better that you use 失礼します。Not only is it polite, but it's impressive to natives when an outsider uses it instead of the phrase everyone already knows, sayonara.

行ってまいりますー "ittemairimasu" (ee-te-my-lri-mah-sue). This phrase is used when you are leaving your home. It's similar to when you're leaving, and you yell into your house "I'm leaving now." before you actually go. Pretty simple.

いってらしゃいー "itterashai" (ee-te-lra-shy). This is the response to 行ってまいります. It's an acknowledgement to the person who is leaving the house. You're basically saying "Okay, be safe," in a sense.

ただいまー "tadaima" (tah-dah-ee-mah). This phrase is used when you return home.

おかえりなさいー okaerinasai (oh-kah-eh-lri-nah-seye). This is said in response to tadaima. "Welcome home!"

ありがとうございますー "arigatou gozaimasu" (ah-lri-gah-toe go-za-ee-mah-sue). With this one, you should be at least familiar with the first word. "domo arigato Mr. Roboto" right? Then you're probably questioning the gozaimasu part. Gozaimasu is tagged on at the end of some phrases/words to make them more polite. Similar to お。If you want to be REALLY formal, add domo to the beginning of it. That's saying "Thank you very much"

Tri-Kappa Art Show

Wow! It's been quite a while since I've made a post here. I blame my school work completely for that.

They day after prom, we decided to head out to the Creative Art's Center, since I entered 2 pictures of my baby cousins, Edith and Wyatt (read more about them on my cousin Diane's blog.) Anyone who knows me- knows that I absolutely LOVE art, especially photography! As soon as I heard about the art show, I had to submit my own photos. When I originally entered the two pieces, I figured that it was just a regular art show to display different artsy pieces. I was quite wrong with that assumption, as one of my friends congratulated me on my way inside.

A picture of Wyatt sleeping (that I creatively named "Silent Night") got 1st place in the photography category! Then a picture of Edith's little hand compared to my finger ("Little Finger") got third! I've never won a prize for my photography before, so this was really cool! I couldn't stop smiling afterwords!

Here are the pictures of my photography, plus some other artwork that I thought was cool!

Little Wyatt 

The ribbon on this is actually wrong. It was a 3rd place winner, not an honorable mention.

Pokeball

Sasuke from Naruto

This was REALLY cool. A little Marionette.  

Legend of Zelda shield

Minecraft!

Squirtle

This was painted at my school, during one of my painting classes. My friend, Christian, painted a picture of one of our other friends, Stevie. It was really cool!

Prom 2013!

This past Saturday was my school's Prom. It was such a blast! I honestly thought it wouldn't be as good as it was.

First, Abby came over. She is my "stylist", going to beauty school to perfect her hair, make up, and nail art skills. She never ceases to amaze me! My nails looked perfect (even though the Rhine stones fell out) and my make up was flawless! We spent roughly 3 hours on it all, which really isn't too bad for most girls.

After Brandon arrived, we headed out to Biaggi's with my two friends, Josh and Brianna. The food was DELICIOUS. I got Fettuccine Alfredo. Yum yum yum yum yum!

Brianna, myself, Brandon, and Josh

Josh and Brandon

I had low expectations, mainly due to the fact that all I heard was rumors about prom just being "ghetto" music and inappropriate dancing. Those rumors, really, weren't that true. Of course, there were a few girls dancing promiscuously, but they were more of towards the "pit" (excuse my "Warped Tour" terms. The "pit" is the little area closest to the stage), and a bit away from where my friends and I danced. The DJ was even good about not playing too many trashy songs, too.

My favorite part about the dancing was when they played the song "At Last" by Etta James (a beautiful classsic- of course, Brandon and I dubbed it as "our song" as a couple). I went up to the DJ booth about half-way through prom, requesting that song. I wrote it down on the paper, then went back to my friends to continue having fun. As it started getting closer to the end, I told Brandon to go up there to request it, since they tended to play songs if a lot of people went up to them. He came back a few minutes later, said that they wouldn't play it because it's "too old".

Guess what the next song was?

Yeah. Long story short, I'm dating a punk.

The Juniors, of course, had to stay after to help clean up. Since most of my things were in Josh's car (we carpooled), Brandon and I ended up riding with him to take us to my place, so we could quickly change for after prom. We were part of the few that ACTUALLY stayed to clean up, so our adviser said that we had until 1:30 to be back, or they'd call our parents. So we rushed to changed, wait for Josh to pick us up, then grab a quick grub to eat and some energy drinks at a near-by gas station. At about 1:15 I get a call from my mom, saying that we were supposed to be at after prom, and that she was called by another parent. Very frustrating! So we rushed back, and explained to the chaperons what the adviser should've told them.

Besides that, after prom was so much fun! It was basically a big party. Ping-pong tables, twister, a Velcro wall, a bungee wall, dodge ball, and this foam-knight outfit where you had to try to knock the person's head off. They also had delicious snow cones and a fun photo booth!

Photo booth

Josh on the Velcro wall

Brianna

Brandon

Josh, Brianna, and Brandon

Brianna, me, Brandon

Brandon...

Nathan (one of my friends) in a "knight" suit

PHOTOBOMB (blue on my mouth from snow cone)

Me

Horse

So, about a month ago, my best friend, Kayla, and myself decided to participate in our school's talents show.

The last day to sign up, on a spur of the moment, we ended up signing up. We really didn't know what we were gonna do at first, all we knew is that we wanted it to be funny. Our original idea was to do interpretive dancing in a comical way, but we decided that wasn't quite original and a little over done. Looking for ideas, Kayla ended up finding a dancing zebra gif (link); and I was inspired. With the meme of horse head masks going around- I decided that would be the best choice. We decided to be in a 2 person horse costume, and come up with choreography to ridiculous songs.

Sewing it was an absolute PAIN. This was the first time I've ever really used my sewing machine, so the costume part looked horrible. We also had issues getting the horse head mask. The first one we ordered was out of stock, from China, and $25 (luckily, I got a refund.) We were scared that we wouldn't have it in time for the show! To our advantage, the show got delayed due to a snow cancellation.. With the new head ordered, from Utah, and only $18, we were ready. We even had the dance done!(we had a lot of fun with that, taking funny pictures.)

During the show, no one (except those in it) knew who we were. Our act was simply called "Horse" and we were anonymous.

Of course, we didn't place. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd was given to REAL talent. Making everyone laugh was worth it all!

Video! filmed by Abby. I was the head and Kayla was the butt

Bonus pictures we took while practicing:

HorseKayla under a sink

...

Chestand horse Emily

Horse meat

Roy MUSTANG. 

Sick horse

...

Nay

...

Selfie

Heaven with her cute dress and Lareesa photobombing

Kameron posing with his glasses

Plot twist: Horse rides human

Kayla...

Kameron again