Mel Aki

The story will tug at your heart strings. A sweet old lady, who is becoming too frail to continue making her handcrafted jewelry, is retiring. Her inventory is being sold off at her closing sale, with up to 80% off.Mrs. Duncan, who has been in business since 1996, looks like she could be your grandma or great auntie, but there’s a catch. Jewelry maker, Sheryl Duncan, doesn’t exist.I fell for it. I should have known it was a scam, but the beautiful rings in the ad intrigued me. What caught my eye...

Japan is known for its creativity and there’s no shortage of creativity when it comes to food. In Japan you can combine dinner and dessert, drink your fish, and eat precious metals. Here are 10 of the most unusual foods and drinks found only in Japan.

When people mention love bombing, it’s always in the context of narcissistic, abusive romantic relationships, but no one ever seems to notice that mothers oftentimes love bomb their own children.Love bombing is a form of psychological and emotional abuse and is defined as “a manipulative tactic where someone uses excessive attention, affection, or compliments to gain control over another person.”In romantic relationships, love bombing includes giving a partner excessive flattery, praise, and att...

Knowing Japanese songs won’t only keep you in the loop with celebrity gossip and references in Japanese media.They can also help you increase your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation.In this post, you’ll learn 11 Japanese songs to get you started in your learning journey.

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Good for: Beginner learnersMastering Japanese starts with the basics: hiragana and...

Recently, I moved from Brooklyn, New York to Greeley, Colorado. How did this self-proclaimed “Girl of the City” get here? I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and when I was five, I told my mom that I was moving to New York City one day. By a fluke, I finally got my chance to move there when a coworker, who was moving to Brooklyn, said she needed a roommate. I planned on living there forever.
In New York, one of the first questions asked when you meet someone is, “What borough are you from?” I quickly...

By: derbeth – CC BY 2.0
Between middle school and college, I studied Spanish, French, Japanese, and American Sign Language. Over the years, I learned a few words in Korean, Turkish, Hebrew, Portuguese, and other languages from my friends and coworkers, so working at Berlitz Language School in Rockefeller Center in New York was a dream come true.
Every day, I met people from all over the world and I got to practice the languages that I had little opportunity to practice when I lived in Clevelan...