Went to an Airport to See My Husband Off

     My parents-in-law and I went to an airport to see my husband off. We said good bye to him, and he finally left from Japan tonight.

      I will stay at my parents' home until October 11, and I will take Chappy for walk everyday from tomorrow. As soon as she found me, she became very excited. She probably thought that the dog walker finally came back! Because she is always calm when she sees strangers, I think she remembers me even though it has been nine months since I took her for a walk. :)

Meeting with My Sister and Her Children

     My husband and I had lunch with my sister and her children. It has been nine months since we met them last time. My sister treated us Kaisen don, and it tasted great! Then, we went to my sister's house and delivered many goods which she had requested me to purchase in the U.S. to her. She liked all of them, especially flat shoes. She told me that those were more comfortable and stylish than she had expected. After saying goodbye to them, my husband and I went to shopping mall because he is going to leave from Japan tomorrow night. Then, we went to a post office, so I finally sent all the products, which I sold at auction, to my customers. I was relieved to finish one of my tasks.

Wedding Party in Japan

     My husband and I attended my brother-in-law's wedding party. He got married to his wife who is from Okinawa. Her parents greeted us and gave some Okinawa gifts. We didn't expect that. We took many pictures and videos during the wedding party. My brother-in-law was always smiling at the party and looked very happy. The food was perfect, and the stage was memorable experience. We really enjoyed the wedding party.

     After coming to back my parents-in-law's home, I served cappuccino for them because I wanted to make my current favorite coffee for them. My mother-in-law showed her interest because she had never seen making espresso with Italian espresso maker. My father-in-law was surprised that the coffee was very tasty and liked it. He made Japanese curry for us. While we are staying in Japan, he always makes Japanese curry for us once. :) We watched pictures and videos of the wedding party and enjoyed the party once again. I told my parents-in-law that I passed NCLEX, and my father-in-law was impressed with my accomplishment. He told me that he was happy to hear that and cried. My parents-in-law always treat me as if I were their true daughter, and I am always happy to spend time with them. I felt like we are a true family.

Arrived in Japan

      We arrived at Fukuoka airport around 6 p.m. and headed toward a hotel by a taxi. I was surprised that the hotel was very beautiful and the porter was very professional and dedicated. Japan doesn't have custom of tipping, but they work very hard and in service-minded manner. After checking in at the hotel, which many our relatives were also staying at that night, we had dinner with my parents-in-law and other our relatives. It had been 9 months since we met last time, and we talked a lot. After that, we headed toward outside to send two packages which were sold in my auction. We were able to send those at convenience stores. However, I need to send 12 more packages in the near future.

Our Starbucks You Are Here Collections

     My husband and I flew to Honolulu airport as a transit point on the way to Japan. We had two-hour layover at the airport. We were looking forward to get Starbucks You Are Hear Collection Mugs in Hawaii, and we finally got two local mugs! As we expected, these were two dollars more expensive than regular price because these were sold at an airport, but we were happy to get these. Because we got married in Hawaii 9 years ago, Hawaii is special place for us. :)

The Day Before Flying to Japan

     My husband and I are going to fly to Japan tomorrow, so we have to arrive at LAX early tomorrow morning.
     Therefore, we are busy preparing for it. I want to take many stuffs to Japan and need to make sure not to forget to pack them into my suitcases. Because I am going to attend a wedding reception party the day after arriving in Japan, I painted my nails and whitened my teeth with Rembrandt 2 HR Kit today. It didn't dramatically whiten my teeth, but it's okay to me.
     I need to continue packing ...

How I Studied for NCLEX-RN

      Even though I have eight-year experiences as a nurse in Japan, NCLEX-RN was not easy for me at all. I needed to make great efforts to study for it until I passed the exam. I'm going to share with you what I studied for NCLEX.

      When I started learning English in the U.S. four years ago, I couldn't speak, read, and write in English at all. Even though I loved working as a nurse in Japan, I gave up becoming a nurse in the U.S. because of my poor English. However, after I started going to English school, I started thinking that I wanted to be a nurse again. At that time, my goal was not realistic in everyone's eyes considering my English level because I was always a student who had the bottom grade at English school. That's why the first thing I did was improving my English skill. I seriously studied English for a year at English school. Then, I transferred to a local college to continue to study English. Then, six month later, I started studying for nursing by myself aside from English study.

     In August 2010, I purchased NCLEX-RN Incredibly Easy 5th edition because it seemed easy. However, it was very difficult for me at that time indeed because there were many difficult vocabularies. It took me an hour to study one page! Soon after, I changed the way I studied. I decided to study for Medical Terminology first. I purchased Quick & Easy Medical Terminology. This book taught simplified medical language. I learned suffixes, combining form, and prefixes of medical language. I also studied and practiced with a CD-ROM many times. It took me nine months to finish this 380-page textbook. Now, I am glad to have studied this textbook first because the medical languages I learned logically are unforgettable and helped with my nursing study greatly.

Quick & Easy Medical Terminology

        After studying Medical Terminology, I started studying NCLEX-RN Incredibly Easy again. This textbook has over 6500 questions, and I did all the questions five times. I also studied what I didn't know before thoroughly and wrote them down on my notes. Because I was taking ESL classes and needed a great effort for my numerous assignments, I often didn't have time to study this textbook. I didn't study for six months or so. That's why it took me over a year and a half to fish doing everything five times.

NCLEX-RN Incredibly Easy 5th edition

     After I stopped taking ESL classes four months ago, I was able to solely focus on my nursing study. I purchased NCLEX-RN 10,000 - Powered by PrepU, which is online study program. It provides adaptive style quizzes. Actually, it was much harder than I expected. Many contents of the quizzes were not what I had studied before. I did over 6,000 questions for two months until my first NCLEX. After failing the exam, I thought that it is not important to do a lot of questions for me. I concluded that the reason why I failed in my first attempt was my lack of English vocabularies and Pharmacology which was my weakness. That's why I only did about 1,000 questions for next two months until second NCLEX.

NCLEX-RN 10,000 - Powered by PrepU

     After my first NCLEX, I purchased this Sanders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination. This textbook is very well organized for NCLEX study. I went through the entire textbook which has 1,140 pages in two months. I also did an 100-question exam once a week with accompanying CD-ROM to know how much I improved. I also listened to Audio Review for Pharmacology, Acid Base Balance, and Fluid and Electrolyte many times. This audio program made me familiar with these contents. Obviously, this textbook is the best I've ever used!

Sanders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination

     For studying Pharmacology, I purchased Mosby's Pharmacology Memory NoteCards. This is good for visual learners like me since it has many colorful cartoon pictures. However, this is not enough to study for Pharmacology. There are countless numbers of medications available, and it is impossible to know all of them. However, I tried to memorize as many medications as I could. What I did was that I did Pharmacology quizzes with accompanying CD-ROM of Sanders every day and wrote down what I needed to memorize on my flash cards, and I reviewed my flash cards every day. In addition, I tried to memorize suffixes with using my flash cards. I ended up gaining confidence on Pharmacology.

Mosby's Pharmacology Memory NoteCards

     After my first NCLEX, the things I worked hard the most was memorizing vocabularies. Because I am not American, I had a lack of English vocabularies. While studying for nursing, I always wrote down vocabularies I didn't know if I found ones. Then, I reviewed my flash cards every day. I probably memorized over 2,500 vocabularies.

     As the number of my flash cards increased, I needed to spend many hours for reviewing them. However, I preferred reviewing them than doing online quizzes, which is NCLEX-RN 10,000 - Powered by PrepU. Because I was able to focus on studying my weaknesses which were vocabularies and Pharmacology, these were not my weaknesses in the end. On my second NCLEX, I only saw a few vocabulary I didn't know, and I did only a few question related to Pharmacology because NCLEX is adaptive exam and I think my performance of Pharmacology was well on the exam.

     For the past four months, I only studied for NCLEX. I studied for it for 6 to 9 hours every day for first two months, but after that I did it for 2 to 4 hours a day. For the final week, I did it for an hour or so a day because I was very nervous for the exam and was not able to concentrate for my study. That's why I just reviewed my flash cards on my last week.

     NCLEX is not easy at all. However, if you study consistently, I'm sure that you will pass some day. The key is not giving up. If you know what your weak contents are, then focus on studying them. They will end up being familiar with you, and you will overcome your difficulties.

The Day of My NCLEX

     I took NCLEX for my second time. After coming back home, I checked my result which is unofficial though. Apparently, I passed the exam!  Last night, I was able to sleep well, and I woke up early this morning and had enough breakfast and a cup of coffee. That's why my condition was pretty good unlike my previous exam. I was able to concentrate during the exam. I am glad that I passed the exam prior to traveling to Japan this month. :)
     I'll write about my experience of the NCLEX next time.

Forever 21 Haul

     Last night, I went to Forever 21 to purchase hair accessories, but there were no hair accessories as opposed to my expectations. However, I ended up purchasing this stripe sweater for $15.80. I thought that this oversized sweater would be perfect with skinny jeans and long boots.

     I love rough-knit sweater so much, and I felt that it's autumn again. Specifically, I will enjoy cozy knit fashions this season. :)

Finding Easy Updo

      I was looking for the easiest way to make a hair style for a wedding reception party. Today, I watched many Youtube videos and tried many different ways. I finally found the easiest hair style. This looks complicated but actually very easy. :)

I Would Like to Master How to Make Cappuccino

     I am going to make cappuccino for my sister while I am in Japan. My sister drinks a cup of coffee every day, and she told me that she loves to drink cappuccino at her local restaurant. I told her that it is not difficult for me to make cappuccino at home, and I promised her that I would make one for her. Then, I purchased an Ikea milk frother for around $3. I tried to make cappuccino a few days ago, but I was not satisfied with my cappuccino somehow. I can make cappuccino, but I think that I need to practice more for it. I realized that I don't usually make cappuccino, and I used to drink one which my husband made at home, so I am still not good at making it. Haha. I want to make a creamier one.

    Today, I searched how to make perfect cappuccino, and I found the Youtube video.

     I learned that in order to froth milk perfectly, I needed to stir milk until large bubbles disappear. I also want to try latte art. I am not sure if I can succeed it though.

     When I master to make cappuccino and latte art, I will share with you in the future.

      My entries related to coffee can be seen here.
http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/search/label/coffee

Learning Vocabularies Is Essential for Me

     I have three days until my second NCLEX. I have been studying for it with my best since last exam and my confidence has grown little by little. For the last two months, I studied for NCLEX seriously, especially vocabularies and pharmacology. I think that I learned about 2,500 new vocabularies. I had already memorized most medical vocabularies before, but when I took the NCLEX for my first attempt, I realized that I still didn't know many advanced vocabularies, which are not medically related. That's why I started studying them. Many of my ESL teachers have often told students that it is a not huge problem if you don't know some vocabularies while reading an article. They suggested us to guess the meaning of the vocabularies through the context of the sentences prior and following it. However, I realized that NCLEX is not a reading exam, and it is not possible to guess the meaning from short sentences. I should know an every single vocabulary on the exam because the meaning of each vocabulary is the key for answers. If I don't know a few vocabularies on the exam, I might choose wrong answers. If I were American, I wouldn't have to work so hard for vocabularies though.
     Even though my confidence has grown gradually, I am not sure if I can pass the exam three days later. However, I won't give it up until passing it because I was determined to study for it when I started learning English four years ago. If I fail the next exam, I will just need to try it once again. I believe that I will pass the exam some day.

My Auction Ended

     My auction completely finished this morning. I have sold my stuffs to 14 people for about two weeks. I didn't expect that I would be finally able to sell so many products in such a short period of time. I finished preparing all sold products for shipping. What I need to do next is to take these to Japan. These are pretty heavy though. Haha.

I Got Tired of Studying

      I have been seriously studying for NCLEX for 4 months now, and I became sick and tired of it today because I have studied the same things over and over again. After studying it for a while today, I decided that I wouldn't study for the rest of the day. I might need to rest for a while. I will do what I want to do today. Haha! My test is next Monday, so I can still study for it tomorrow! I'll clean up my home from now on.

Souvenir Idea for My Families - Starbucks You Are Here Collection Mugs

     I was thinking about what is the best souvenir for my parents-in-law, and I came up with an idea that Starbucks You Are Here Collection mugs would be perfect because the mugs are only released locally. I thought that whenever they use the mugs, they would remember us and imagine where we are living. A You Are Here Collection mug is $10.95 at my local Starbucks, but the mug is selling at $20 to $35 on U.S. amazon and $50 to $65 in Japan! I told my sister that I bought Starbucks mugs for my parents-in-law, and she requested me to buy one for her if I still have space in my carry-on bag. I didn't expect that she would request me again. Therefore, I decided to share the mugs with her and you through my blog.

     This is a Starbucks Orange County mug. I guess the picture is Newport Beach because there are beach houses and palm trees.

Orange County

     In Orange County, there are many piers.

Orange County

     Many people also play golf here although I have never done so. Haha.

Orange County

     This mug is a Starbucks California mug.

California

     I think that this picture is Down Town LA.

California

     I think that this picture might be Yosemite National Park.

California

     By seeing this entry, she will choose which one she wants to get. I also updated a Youtube video for her.