ahoy hoy! what have we here? riri's burogu (blog) is BACK IN BIZZNAZZ! release the hounds! --i mean...confetti!
my darlings, it has been over a month since my last update, and i should apologize! i've been traversing the globe, whizzing back and forth between nihon and amerika. and what a lovely time it was...i spent time with family, showed mattsy all around california, ate pizza and hamburglars more times than i could count, and was surrounded with english---glorious, glorious english!
however, i've been back in j-land for a few weeks now, so i suppose i should tell you about its happenings. here goes! a calendarific bird's-eye view of ma life.
jan 8: arrive in tokyo, hungry&cold&tired. singapore airlines has lost my baggage, whoopsies. (they were kind enough to deliver it to my door a few days later, which was great since i didn't have to lug it myself!)
jan 9: fly back to miyazaki. burst into my dusty little apartment, which had been neglected for two weeks. it did and did not feel like home.
jan 10: back 2 skool. no classes, which meant i was plopped at my desk with eff-all to do. began looking at jobs, and subscribed to several websites that send me career email updates. soul crushing.
jan 14: miyakonojo world festa, aka a smattering of ALTs' respective countries' booths, some fabulous performances, and lots of "internationalization," a word which, for me, lost all meaning a long time ago.
after, jordy and a kagoshima/los angeles ALT named justin and i went to get miyakonojo's famous tomato ramen. i would marry tomato ramen if i could, it is culinary perfection. also, like a total fruit, justin was going to study at the liberry that affo, but we completely wrecked his plans (purposefully).
that night, we and many others hit up "old earth," a hotspot for foreign faces (aka a bar). it was nomihoudai, but usually with "all you can drink," there's a catch. for example, at some places, beer is not included. however, for this nomihoudai, all the available alcohol was simply on a table outside (it was so cold that the drinks were nicly cooled). i had two asahi beers. buck wild.
jan 17: went for a run. the usual...flocks of junior high kids biking home, gawping at me. usually when i say "konnichiwa" they all politely respond, then once they've biked a safe distance, i hear a lone, warbling, "haaaddddooooo," and lots of giggling.
jan 19: i write an email containing the words "all i want is to crawl back into bed like a worm." pretty much sums it up. the cold is demotivating, to say the least! ...but i perked back up when my english teachers invited me to their fukuoka trip in late february. we're gonna see cirque du soleil! and we're staying in the hilton?! LOL these ain't like the teachers from murica, i know that much.
came home and ate a loose percy pig that i had found among my pillows.
jan 20: ramen dinner at tatsuya's shop with trots. blissssss. both of us are always bursting with the oily broth after, but it's too good!
jan 21: reserved flights to korea with my one and only matthew! march 31-april 7! bi bim bap me. oh yes, also went shopping with tracey to help pick out her zombie costume for this week's zombie prom. ultimate success! now we just have to figure out how to make fake blood...
jan 23: played badminton at the gym with a group of japanese people + tracey. fun! it was all very organized and polite, and of course i was terrible. HA, and i got a stray birdie right to the eyeball! after i let out a strangled scream of pain/shock, i gingerly opened my bungled eye to see tracey on the ground, laughing at me till she cried. bloppa. (australian word we made up(?) meaning "idiot")
and today: i showed my kiddos "the fresh prince of bel-air" theme song. beforehand, i explained the title, prompting a girl to shriek, "MASHUU?" LOL, he wishes he was the fresh prince! anyway, the kids were clearly bamboozled by the video, and gave me a roomful of blank stares, standard.
and i signed my contract papers. i'm going home in july.
not thinking about it,
riri
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
school trip
well, the kiddles got back from their respective trips--to hokkaido, singapore, and australia--which means that i have the pleasure (not being sarcastic) of reading their travel essays. the gems:
I want to marry foreigner.
It was tire for me to eat the chinese food. It is not taste. This is not food! And juice is bat smell.
(bad smell)
Jingisukan is too smelly a ship of meat fo me to ate.
(Genghis Khan sheep meat (lamb) was too smelly for me to eat.)
Jingisukan is sheep meat. It is stink for me to eat. Also Hokkaido is famous for potato. However I didn't feel potato delicious. Potato is normal. I want to go there someday.
Singapole people are not friendly. I was very sad. I felt different Japan. I want to go to Singapole again.
And the winner...
I can't eat food.
Not good. Really not good.
I have never eat it.
Looks is grotesk.
I scream "Oh, my got!" all food.
Japanese food good teast.
I'm happy come from Japan.
Because of reasons lost -4 kilogram ♥
Thanks you Singapore!!
cracking up,
riri sensei
p.s. - four days till my foreign buttcheeks are jiggling in the US of A. prepare yourselves!!
I want to marry foreigner.
It was tire for me to eat the chinese food. It is not taste. This is not food! And juice is bat smell.
(bad smell)
Jingisukan is too smelly a ship of meat fo me to ate.
(Genghis Khan sheep meat (lamb) was too smelly for me to eat.)
Jingisukan is sheep meat. It is stink for me to eat. Also Hokkaido is famous for potato. However I didn't feel potato delicious. Potato is normal. I want to go there someday.
Singapole people are not friendly. I was very sad. I felt different Japan. I want to go to Singapole again.
And the winner...
I can't eat food.
Not good. Really not good.
I have never eat it.
Looks is grotesk.
I scream "Oh, my got!" all food.
Japanese food good teast.
I'm happy come from Japan.
Because of reasons lost -4 kilogram ♥
Thanks you Singapore!!
cracking up,
riri sensei
p.s. - four days till my foreign buttcheeks are jiggling in the US of A. prepare yourselves!!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
batshiz crazy
fancy seeing you here! after a rather lackadaisical recess on my part...sorry! i've been busy these past few weeks, and haven't blobbed appropriately. but seeing as i'm sitting at my desk at work, with no classes and nothing to do, now is the perfect time to dish.
i honestly don't know where to start! i had entirely skipped posting about my trip to fukuoka, so i'd best tell ya'll about it (and put up some pics!)
mori-sensei, a history teacher at my school, had invited me to come to fukuoka with him and a few other teachers to see kabuki. and since i could bring friends, naturally i invited tracey and keith. so on the morning of november 12, the three of us waited outside my apartment as shudo-sensei, the biology teacher, cruised up in his pimped out mini-van. we picked up mori sensei and yanagisawa sensei, too (an english teacher), and headed west for fook!
stopped for lunch at a hilarious ramen place, in which each person sat in their own wooden cubicle to slurp their ramen in solitude. the ramen was so spicy i was afraid my hanamizu (lit: nose water, aka snot) would plop into my broth. snifffff
we got into fukuoka in the early affo, and after hitting up a famous shrine (name forgotten, obviously), headed straight to kabuki. but first we snapped a few shashin:
there was a monkey.
chrysanthemumz + me
after kabook, we were ravenous, so we smooshed into a street food tent to eat some grilled meats, fish, and veg. i unknowingly ate cow tongue. ew. we then moved to another place, drank, ate oysters (i fought to keep it down) and delicious gyoza (dumplings), then i broke off from the group and went to bed. i was tired!
next day featured much shopping and faffing. then we came home, the end.
short summariessss! get ready, i'm about to kick it up a notch.
november 17: special bento lunch day for the lady teachers. for some reason, japanese fancy bento isn't really my jam. some of it was okay, but there was an entire boiled shrimp (head, eyes, all) that i clumsily covered with a lettuce leaf so i wouldn't have to eat it. i also tried a very bitter/spicy black jellied square that was quickly followed by a swig of green tea. i hid the rest with some seaweed.
after lunch, it was teacher sports day. i challenged my principal to badminton, not knowing that he's an excellent player. i'm pretty good myself, though i can't serve underhand. he decided to teach me (mistake).
after i failed a few times, he told me to hit shikkari (firmly), so i steadied myself and prepared to hit as hard as i could. i swung--and WHOOOOOSH, then--WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP--my racket flew out of my hand and across the gym, causing screams of terror. then my supervisor laughed so hard she almost peed her pants.
nov 18: karaoke with tracey, keith, and a few others. some japanese songs were featured--we're learning!!
nov 20: i took a walk in the local rice paddies, when i spotted a large hawk swooping around. then i realized it was chasing a small finchy bird. i watched in semi-horror as they flew in front of me, and the hawk CAUGHT the wee bird in its talons with a POOSH! and zoomed away.
nov 24: thanksgiving. tried to skype with my family silently at work, which largely failed since i was sniggering into my hands and couldn't talk. felt quite homesick!
nov 26: pizza lunch with carmen and carl, then to jusco (biggest dept store in nobeoka) for christmas shopping. some of my students saw me, ran up to me to shout HADDO RIRI, then stood awkwardly as they couldn't think of anything else to say. i turned red and could only laugh!
nov 28: i see there is a mini-concert at lunch featuring a "kurappingu ansamburu" (japanese english for what i thought was "crapping ensemble." i kept staring at it in disbelief until i realized it was a clapping ensemble.)
nov 29: english camp meeting in miyazaki city. on the very crowded, old train on the way back. typical afternoon weekday trains are stuffed with people, mostly high school students on their commute home. most of them sleep with their heads hanging down, or would-be-discreetly stare at foreigners and whisper to their friends, haha.
i also kept catching this mean old lady's eye, and thought to myself, "why is she glaring at me?" then, when the seat next to her freed up, she beckoned me over to take it. she then spoke to me for a few minutes, asking where i was from, etc,and was sweet as could be. just goes to show...that i'm a judgy wudgy fool.
had to go to tracey's after to pick up some junk, and as we were walking up her stairwell, she let out a gasp and began scurrying backwards. "what's wrong?!" i asked in a panic.
"BATS, BATS!"
...bats. in the stairwell. we were freaked! and as i walked back to my place, my heart ached in sympathy for tracey. "so awful," i thought, plodding up to my place.
and then i saw it. above my door. BAT BALL!!!! i was sure it would fly into my apartment once i opened the door, so i noisily shuffled my bags at it. it didn't move. i finally mustered up all my courage and slipped into my apartment, trembling! BAT BALL stayed for another day or so, then was gone.
nov 30: my celine dion debut at school. i was roped into performing at a lunchtime concert in seiun's music room, and here's a wee clip of my singing. it really wasn't my best. i got quite nervous and sang kinda poorly, but oh well. the boys in the front row kept whispering "kawaaaiiii" to each other, so it wasn't a total loss. HA! watch the vid below to see the carnnnnaaaage! jokes.
after, i was munching an apple at my desk, when my office friend imamura-san came in. upon seeing me crunch, she stopped in her tracks, and with a contented-with-life-all-is-right-in-the-world smile, she happily sighed, "aaaaa...american."
and a few minutes later, jessica-alba sensei (the one who thinks i look like jessica alba and has a mad crush on me) ambled over to congratulate me on my performance. he spluttered, "YOU...ARE-U...SEIUN...JULIETTO!"
dec 2: my supervisor, who is in charge of the brass band, invited me to come to their performance at a nursery school down the street from me. it was also the first night of "illumination," aka christmas lights!! i bundled myself up and braved the freezing rain (for a two-minute walk).
first, the preschoolers sang christmas songs (in english!), and it was so cute i might have teared up a little. DONT JUDGE ME. then the band played some songs, we were served cups of hot purple bean and mochi soup (om nom nom), and i felt full of kurisumasu spirit!
dec 3: drove with tracey down to nichinan, where kiwi tiff lives. spent a lovely evening with other JETs in her apartment, drinking beer and talking to tiff's new zealander friends on skype.
dec 5: visited one of my fellow english teachers in the hospital. he's been having liver problems, so he's on bed rest. it was my first time being inside a japanese hospital bedroom, and it really shocked me. it was a shared room for two people--two beds, two wardrobes, two tvs. that's all--low ceilings, white walls, and standing room only. i don't know the last time a room depressed me, but this room took the sad cake.
dec 6: mawmmy's birthday. happy birthdaaaay! also, i had a fun lesson with the second years (they were my students last year, but now i never teach them), telling them about my travels this past year. obviously, mattsy was heavily featured in the presentation. during Q&A, students wanted to know all about him. including, "will...you...wedding?" i sort of fudged an answer and blushed.
then a very boisterous boy raised his hand and asked, "by the way...how about marry with me?" i joked, "maybe!" and everyone went buck wild.
dec 7: christmas lesson with the first years. as we were playing a game, one of the loud boys wasn't getting called on, even though he kept jumping out of his seat and shouting, "HAI HAI!" every question.
finally, my fellow teacher called on him just as he was springing out of his seat. the boy wildly flailed his arms and legs as he jumped, toppling over his entire desk as he fell on top of it, and his seat flew to the side. the class exploded in screams and laughs, and i positively cried as he scrambled to pick his desk back up, bowing over and over and shrieking, "SUMIMASEN, SUMIMASEN!!!" (SORRY SORRY!) it was the funniest thing i have ever seen in the classroom!
i'm still snickering thinking about it! ...and on that note, perhaps i should leave you for today. long post! i'll try to post again this week about english camp, but no promises..you know how i be!
bat girl,
riri
i honestly don't know where to start! i had entirely skipped posting about my trip to fukuoka, so i'd best tell ya'll about it (and put up some pics!)
mori-sensei, a history teacher at my school, had invited me to come to fukuoka with him and a few other teachers to see kabuki. and since i could bring friends, naturally i invited tracey and keith. so on the morning of november 12, the three of us waited outside my apartment as shudo-sensei, the biology teacher, cruised up in his pimped out mini-van. we picked up mori sensei and yanagisawa sensei, too (an english teacher), and headed west for fook!
stopped for lunch at a hilarious ramen place, in which each person sat in their own wooden cubicle to slurp their ramen in solitude. the ramen was so spicy i was afraid my hanamizu (lit: nose water, aka snot) would plop into my broth. snifffff
we got into fukuoka in the early affo, and after hitting up a famous shrine (name forgotten, obviously), headed straight to kabuki. but first we snapped a few shashin:
mount aso; grandma statue
sweet potato snackin' in the car
there was a monkey.
chrysanthemumz + me
shrinin'
anywho, kabuki was in a large theater bursting with people. there were three different plays, each about an hour long. it was really fascinating to watch. kabuki casts are all-male, and the portrayals of the women were--interesting, to say the least. they screeched and whined a lot. but the costumes and staging were quite beautiful, and we luckily had english summaries of the plots, so we could understand what was going on. i surprised myself by how much i liked it--we had heard that it would be rather erudite and boring!after kabook, we were ravenous, so we smooshed into a street food tent to eat some grilled meats, fish, and veg. i unknowingly ate cow tongue. ew. we then moved to another place, drank, ate oysters (i fought to keep it down) and delicious gyoza (dumplings), then i broke off from the group and went to bed. i was tired!
next day featured much shopping and faffing. then we came home, the end.
short summariessss! get ready, i'm about to kick it up a notch.
november 17: special bento lunch day for the lady teachers. for some reason, japanese fancy bento isn't really my jam. some of it was okay, but there was an entire boiled shrimp (head, eyes, all) that i clumsily covered with a lettuce leaf so i wouldn't have to eat it. i also tried a very bitter/spicy black jellied square that was quickly followed by a swig of green tea. i hid the rest with some seaweed.
after lunch, it was teacher sports day. i challenged my principal to badminton, not knowing that he's an excellent player. i'm pretty good myself, though i can't serve underhand. he decided to teach me (mistake).
after i failed a few times, he told me to hit shikkari (firmly), so i steadied myself and prepared to hit as hard as i could. i swung--and WHOOOOOSH, then--WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP--my racket flew out of my hand and across the gym, causing screams of terror. then my supervisor laughed so hard she almost peed her pants.
nov 18: karaoke with tracey, keith, and a few others. some japanese songs were featured--we're learning!!
nov 20: i took a walk in the local rice paddies, when i spotted a large hawk swooping around. then i realized it was chasing a small finchy bird. i watched in semi-horror as they flew in front of me, and the hawk CAUGHT the wee bird in its talons with a POOSH! and zoomed away.
nov 24: thanksgiving. tried to skype with my family silently at work, which largely failed since i was sniggering into my hands and couldn't talk. felt quite homesick!
nov 26: pizza lunch with carmen and carl, then to jusco (biggest dept store in nobeoka) for christmas shopping. some of my students saw me, ran up to me to shout HADDO RIRI, then stood awkwardly as they couldn't think of anything else to say. i turned red and could only laugh!
nov 28: i see there is a mini-concert at lunch featuring a "kurappingu ansamburu" (japanese english for what i thought was "crapping ensemble." i kept staring at it in disbelief until i realized it was a clapping ensemble.)
nov 29: english camp meeting in miyazaki city. on the very crowded, old train on the way back. typical afternoon weekday trains are stuffed with people, mostly high school students on their commute home. most of them sleep with their heads hanging down, or would-be-discreetly stare at foreigners and whisper to their friends, haha.
i also kept catching this mean old lady's eye, and thought to myself, "why is she glaring at me?" then, when the seat next to her freed up, she beckoned me over to take it. she then spoke to me for a few minutes, asking where i was from, etc,and was sweet as could be. just goes to show...that i'm a judgy wudgy fool.
had to go to tracey's after to pick up some junk, and as we were walking up her stairwell, she let out a gasp and began scurrying backwards. "what's wrong?!" i asked in a panic.
"BATS, BATS!"
...bats. in the stairwell. we were freaked! and as i walked back to my place, my heart ached in sympathy for tracey. "so awful," i thought, plodding up to my place.
and then i saw it. above my door. BAT BALL!!!! i was sure it would fly into my apartment once i opened the door, so i noisily shuffled my bags at it. it didn't move. i finally mustered up all my courage and slipped into my apartment, trembling! BAT BALL stayed for another day or so, then was gone.
nov 30: my celine dion debut at school. i was roped into performing at a lunchtime concert in seiun's music room, and here's a wee clip of my singing. it really wasn't my best. i got quite nervous and sang kinda poorly, but oh well. the boys in the front row kept whispering "kawaaaiiii" to each other, so it wasn't a total loss. HA! watch the vid below to see the carnnnnaaaage! jokes.
after, i was munching an apple at my desk, when my office friend imamura-san came in. upon seeing me crunch, she stopped in her tracks, and with a contented-with-life-all-is-right-in-the-world smile, she happily sighed, "aaaaa...american."
and a few minutes later, jessica-alba sensei (the one who thinks i look like jessica alba and has a mad crush on me) ambled over to congratulate me on my performance. he spluttered, "YOU...ARE-U...SEIUN...JULIETTO!"
dec 2: my supervisor, who is in charge of the brass band, invited me to come to their performance at a nursery school down the street from me. it was also the first night of "illumination," aka christmas lights!! i bundled myself up and braved the freezing rain (for a two-minute walk).
first, the preschoolers sang christmas songs (in english!), and it was so cute i might have teared up a little. DONT JUDGE ME. then the band played some songs, we were served cups of hot purple bean and mochi soup (om nom nom), and i felt full of kurisumasu spirit!
dec 3: drove with tracey down to nichinan, where kiwi tiff lives. spent a lovely evening with other JETs in her apartment, drinking beer and talking to tiff's new zealander friends on skype.
dec 5: visited one of my fellow english teachers in the hospital. he's been having liver problems, so he's on bed rest. it was my first time being inside a japanese hospital bedroom, and it really shocked me. it was a shared room for two people--two beds, two wardrobes, two tvs. that's all--low ceilings, white walls, and standing room only. i don't know the last time a room depressed me, but this room took the sad cake.
dec 6: mawmmy's birthday. happy birthdaaaay! also, i had a fun lesson with the second years (they were my students last year, but now i never teach them), telling them about my travels this past year. obviously, mattsy was heavily featured in the presentation. during Q&A, students wanted to know all about him. including, "will...you...wedding?" i sort of fudged an answer and blushed.
then a very boisterous boy raised his hand and asked, "by the way...how about marry with me?" i joked, "maybe!" and everyone went buck wild.
dec 7: christmas lesson with the first years. as we were playing a game, one of the loud boys wasn't getting called on, even though he kept jumping out of his seat and shouting, "HAI HAI!" every question.
finally, my fellow teacher called on him just as he was springing out of his seat. the boy wildly flailed his arms and legs as he jumped, toppling over his entire desk as he fell on top of it, and his seat flew to the side. the class exploded in screams and laughs, and i positively cried as he scrambled to pick his desk back up, bowing over and over and shrieking, "SUMIMASEN, SUMIMASEN!!!" (SORRY SORRY!) it was the funniest thing i have ever seen in the classroom!
i'm still snickering thinking about it! ...and on that note, perhaps i should leave you for today. long post! i'll try to post again this week about english camp, but no promises..you know how i be!
bat girl,
riri
Sunday, November 27, 2011
warp(ed) speed
chiwas (japanese ghetto slang, rollllllin),
i had absolutely zero to do at work today besides finish my christmas lesson presentation, which could have taken 40 minutes but was stretched into 7 hours. surprisingly, my workday went by fast! who knew?
japan has warped me. and my sense of time. and fashion.
now i'm wearing thick woolly socks to school, since the weather has taken a turn for the frigid. i have to squash my piglets into my $5 uniqlo ballet flats, which bulge over with the corpulence of my fat, socked feet.
luckily, as my friend kiwi tiff so eloquently put in her blog, "in japan, feet don't count." as in, you could be wearing your finest black business suit, but if you're in the school gym, you're wearing white, marshmallowy running shoes down below. rules are rules, poeple! can't have sleek business shoes scuffing up the floor!
so that's good. my feet still look like chubby idiots, though.
tomorrow i have a business trip to miyazaki city for a pre-english camp meeting. i'm excited because this means i will spend approximately 4 hours of my day on a train, listening to sweet jams. plus i get to skive school from 10:30 onwards. yay!
aaand in other news, tracey's picking me up in a few minutes to hit up the supermarket. RICEBAWLS GALOAR
finally: big shout-out to my aunt laura and uncle jj for the sweet thanksgiving card and letter, which i got today. made my day!! thanks for always thinking of me!
with that, i'm off to shop!
with my heater spluttering in the background,
riri
i had absolutely zero to do at work today besides finish my christmas lesson presentation, which could have taken 40 minutes but was stretched into 7 hours. surprisingly, my workday went by fast! who knew?
japan has warped me. and my sense of time. and fashion.
now i'm wearing thick woolly socks to school, since the weather has taken a turn for the frigid. i have to squash my piglets into my $5 uniqlo ballet flats, which bulge over with the corpulence of my fat, socked feet.
luckily, as my friend kiwi tiff so eloquently put in her blog, "in japan, feet don't count." as in, you could be wearing your finest black business suit, but if you're in the school gym, you're wearing white, marshmallowy running shoes down below. rules are rules, poeple! can't have sleek business shoes scuffing up the floor!
so that's good. my feet still look like chubby idiots, though.
tomorrow i have a business trip to miyazaki city for a pre-english camp meeting. i'm excited because this means i will spend approximately 4 hours of my day on a train, listening to sweet jams. plus i get to skive school from 10:30 onwards. yay!
aaand in other news, tracey's picking me up in a few minutes to hit up the supermarket. RICEBAWLS GALOAR
finally: big shout-out to my aunt laura and uncle jj for the sweet thanksgiving card and letter, which i got today. made my day!! thanks for always thinking of me!
with that, i'm off to shop!
with my heater spluttering in the background,
riri
Thursday, November 17, 2011
lethargy
herrrrro. i am currently sitting at work, though i am so sleepy that there is virtually 0% chance of me getting anything done until i percolate maself. what better way than to relive the tantalizingly exciting details of my life?
if i had to summarize my life here in a stream of nonsensical words, here's how it would go:
rain. bean cakes. muffled laughter. forgotten hand towels. wet hands. awkwardness. contentedness. boredom. hysteria. mint tea. damp laundry. fruit flies. goosebumps. sweat. miscommunication. embarrassment. fried pork. bills. toothless old women. gawping children. fatigue. running. poor sleep. nytimes.com. christmas music.
on which should i elaborate?
i choose...toothless old women.
i love my neighborhood, because i see the same people all the time, and they all make a point of being friendly to me. in the mornings, there's a group of middle-aged/older adults who gather around the trashbag pile to chat, and their faces light up as we exchange "good morning"s.
on the way home, there are a handful of very, very elderly old ladies who totter around on their afternoon walks and cackle to each other. when they see me coming, they stop talking and smilingly watch me approach. i bow and say "konnichiwa," and they say "welcome home". they have also been known to make comments about how tall i am (they are all bent double, a tell-tale sign of working in rice fields for years), or about the weather. i love it.
and one more elaboration: christmas music. i downloaded a great album called "the best christmas album of all time" (too true), with all the classics. and yes, i've started listening to it. seeing as there's no thanksgiving here, i might as well try to get into the holiday spirit early! DON'T JUDGE ME.
well, i do feel plenty perky now. thanks for the pick-me-up, silent readers! until we meet again, my fine-feathered friends..
37 days till christmas,
ririan
if i had to summarize my life here in a stream of nonsensical words, here's how it would go:
rain. bean cakes. muffled laughter. forgotten hand towels. wet hands. awkwardness. contentedness. boredom. hysteria. mint tea. damp laundry. fruit flies. goosebumps. sweat. miscommunication. embarrassment. fried pork. bills. toothless old women. gawping children. fatigue. running. poor sleep. nytimes.com. christmas music.
on which should i elaborate?
i choose...toothless old women.
i love my neighborhood, because i see the same people all the time, and they all make a point of being friendly to me. in the mornings, there's a group of middle-aged/older adults who gather around the trashbag pile to chat, and their faces light up as we exchange "good morning"s.
on the way home, there are a handful of very, very elderly old ladies who totter around on their afternoon walks and cackle to each other. when they see me coming, they stop talking and smilingly watch me approach. i bow and say "konnichiwa," and they say "welcome home". they have also been known to make comments about how tall i am (they are all bent double, a tell-tale sign of working in rice fields for years), or about the weather. i love it.
and one more elaboration: christmas music. i downloaded a great album called "the best christmas album of all time" (too true), with all the classics. and yes, i've started listening to it. seeing as there's no thanksgiving here, i might as well try to get into the holiday spirit early! DON'T JUDGE ME.
well, i do feel plenty perky now. thanks for the pick-me-up, silent readers! until we meet again, my fine-feathered friends..
37 days till christmas,
ririan
Monday, November 14, 2011
daily dose of LOL
konnichiwa, long time no see! nothing too much has been hip-happening over here, other than a freshly minted batcheroo of hilarious essays.
topic: write about a good friend
grade: second year students (16 years old)
bahaha,
riri gorira
topic: write about a good friend
grade: second year students (16 years old)
My friend is Kazuya. I thought something good happened him. I asked him, “Have you had a girlfriend?” He was bashful. I was sure he had one. I hope he has happy life.
My best friend is Yuta. He always eating banana. He says me, “Banana is the best food.” When Yuta’s birthday, I think he get banana. He feels very happy. Why he like banana? Because he look like gorira (gorilla). But I like Yuta.
He is Shimnosake. I call him shinchan. He is loved by everyone. I can always cheer him. I hope he is 5 years old forever.
bahaha,
riri gorira
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
crampin ma style: the last of the 'fast
we meet again! i wanna hurry up and tell you about the rest of my trip (seeing as it happened, well, a month ago). get ready for an action-packed summary that lacks details, yippee!
wednesday morning matt's mum kindly drove us into town. she dropped off mattsy, who was getting his locks shorn, and then took me to get a manicure (heaven). the manicurist girlio and i chatted as she worked, and upon discovering i'm from the LA area, she whispered, "ooo, that's class!" if she only knew.
after carefully getting into the car, heather and i headed over to matt's grandparents' house, where we chatted and had tea and homemade lemon cake. so civilized! so dignified! SO. IRISH.
but matt and i had to hit the road before too long, since we were booked in for lunch at stormont, where he works a few days a week. to simplify things, it's the northern irish parliament building (i hope that's not too grossly inaccurate). matthew works for judith cochrane, a member of the assembly. judith very kindly took me, matt, and two of his sweet co-workers to lunch at the fancy-pants restaurant in stormont.
i tried wheaten bread for the first time (with real irish butter, of course), and it was so good i was tempted to forgo an entree and just stuff myself with bread! flipping miss decent bread, so much.
after lunch, which was lovely, we had a little meander..
mattseh in his element
...and then we were meant to walk home. too bad it was raining dog's dirt.
but i still got this sweet touristy pic!
i am at a total loss for what we did wednesday night! i think we just had a mellow family dinner? BECAUSE, the next day was the almighty wedding!
went with heather and auntie joyce to get our hur did. the lady did an amazing job on mine, i really loved it, though it was work-intensive (teasing, curling, slow-drying, teasing, smoothing, pinning, etc). and joyce treated me, out of control. too much!!
we bustled back to the house, where everyone gathered up their things, and i put on ma face.
it was a bit of a drive to the larchfield estate, which was nestled into the countryside. squished in the backseat with matt and euan, i tried not to move my head, lest i muss my hair. this amused the boys greatly. also, matt cracked a joke about how euan's cologne smelled like "the time my goldfish died," and i had a wicked case of the giggles that lasted about 15 agonizingly embarrassing minutes. thanks, matt.
matt's brother gareth and (now wife) nicole had very generously booked rooms at the inn adjoining the wedding location. so we got settled in and unpacked, and once 3pm rolled around, were ushered into our seats in the gorgeous, richly cozy wedding hall.
somehow, i ended up sitting between heather (mother of the groom) and matt's grandpa...in the second row, behind the groomsmen. i have no idea how i ended up in such a seat! i felt honored, and also like there had been a terrible mistake. LOL, jokes!
the wedding itself was truly beautiful. the minister, who is close with the mckibbins, gave what i thought was one of the best sermons on love i've ever heard. now i can't recall any of it. WAIT, it's coming back...he talked about the three types of love: eros, philia, and agape, and described the characteristics of each one, how all three are vital to marriage. i was basically blubbering in my seat, gangsta.
reception summarized: i met a ton of people, ate a delicious dinner, cried more during heartfelt speeches, laughed at lots of inappropriate jokes, etc. but what would an ulster wedding be without the "evenin' do," aka AFTTTAA PAWWWTY. apparently it's customary for a bunch of people who weren't invited to the wedding to come drink and dance after the dinner is over. so, as 9pm rolled around, the place was hoppin'.
i didn't want to be a drunken mess, so i didn't drink very much, but rather danced with some of the children (and matt, the biggest kid of all). hilariously, once the conga line started, the step-father of the bride rather wildly shouted, "I WANT THE AMERICAN!" grabbed me around the waist, and forced me to join the tenuous line of intoxicated adults. i loved it!
other highlights: meeting a man from the countryside who rambled on and on, and me not understanding a single word he said, freezing my bum off when standing by the door, matt's brother-in-law asking if i was going to finish my champagne, then polishing it off, sticky toffee pudding dessert, and pictures!
not matching at all, aye but sure.
i poured myself into bed that night. the party didn't end till 1am, aka the whole shebang was 10 hours long. i didn't even have the heart, or strength, to take out my updo, so i slept on it.
the next morning, the innkeepers made us a full ulster fry, and once again i was in heaven. but i didn't have much time to digest, because before long i was saying goodbyes to some of matt's relatives, and once again we were on the road!
matt was taking me to some surprise location...i had no idea where we were going. finally, all was revealed: we were going to downpatrick, aka ST. PATRICK'S HOOD. first stop, cathedral and grave!
creepy cemetery
st. paddy's grave, such a cool surprise!
we moseyed around the cathedral, but i didn't say my usual new-cathedral prayer cause it wasn't catholic. LOL, jokes! hope wee pat understands!
car. drove to a beautiful, empty beach that was supposed to cost moolah. but we got in fo free cause we slick (also cause no one was in the ticket booth).
one of those figures in the distance is a horse!
car. headed to newcastle, a funland destination for the northern irish youth. lots of arcades, kid-friendly gambling, etc. we gambled away two pounds, oops, then walked down to the beach...where i yet again demanded a photo sesh.
by then, it was lunchtime, and i wanted a sammy. so as we headed to our next destination, we stopped in a "spar" convenience store. matt was taking FOREEVERRR deciding, but i didn't care that much. then, to my total surprise, our friend claire waltzed in!! she had taught in japan last year. matt had set the whole thing up! i was overjoyed to see claire, and unbeknownst to me, we were in her hometown!
the three of us went to an expansive park to catch up and eat some grub. then we had a little meander..
and went along this river. that thing on the right is a huge drain to prevent flooding when it rains too hard!
only of course, there was yet another surprise to be had. matt had booked the quintessential irish countryside cottage for us to stay in! it had a piano. A PIANO! and a fireplace! i was simply in awe. haha, also, the staff apparently thought we were newlyweds, because an envelope with inn info was addressed to "mr. and mrs. mckibbin," BAHAHA
LOOK! SO COUNTRYSIDE CHIC!
more good food to be had, as well! that night, we went to a local pub to get a feed. i got vegetarian lasagna, which obvio was great, and we split some sort of cheezy potato appetizer. stuffed, we came back to our cottage, where two chocolates and whiskey nightcaps were set out for us, haha! gotta love the irish! watched some BBC and attempted to light a fire, fail. such a great place though!
next morning, the place had a very fancy breakfast, which was only slightly awkward because all the guests eat at the same huge table. we discreetly laughed at some german golfers, munched some muesli and fruit, slurped up coffee, and high-tailed it back to belfast.
...and along the way, saw this stunning rainbow! it was a full arc, it went all the way across! where da gold at? i was so happy to see a real irish rainbow!
got back into b'fast. by the way, it was saturday. aka LAST DAY. i wanted to scoop up some more mural pics, so we ventured once again into the 'hood so i could get ma fix. mattsy gave me the grand tour...these are just a few select shots.
also bought a few souvenirs for the japanese peepsies (utter faux paus to come back from a trip empty-handed), and made a pitstop...
..at mattsy's favorite place. did somebody saaaaay mcdonald's?
i unfortunately had to pack once we got back to the mckibbin abode. but for dinner, mattsy and i got an indian feast, and watched the x factor. also went round to his sister lisa's house to say bye to her family, and then soon after had to be dropped off in the city centre to catch the 1am bus to dublin.
ahhhh too many painful memories! i really didn't want to leave gorgeous ireland, and i especially didn't want to leave the mckibbins, who were so unbelievably kind and generous to me. so i'll skip all the goodbye deets. suffice to say i made it back to japan in one piece. one very tired and rather sad piece!
but now, we gooood. the trip was everything i had hoped for and more, and in approximately 50 days' time, give or take, my family gets to unleash on matthew! pray for him.
acutely missing the emerald isle,
wee lilleh
wednesday morning matt's mum kindly drove us into town. she dropped off mattsy, who was getting his locks shorn, and then took me to get a manicure (heaven). the manicurist girlio and i chatted as she worked, and upon discovering i'm from the LA area, she whispered, "ooo, that's class!" if she only knew.
after carefully getting into the car, heather and i headed over to matt's grandparents' house, where we chatted and had tea and homemade lemon cake. so civilized! so dignified! SO. IRISH.
but matt and i had to hit the road before too long, since we were booked in for lunch at stormont, where he works a few days a week. to simplify things, it's the northern irish parliament building (i hope that's not too grossly inaccurate). matthew works for judith cochrane, a member of the assembly. judith very kindly took me, matt, and two of his sweet co-workers to lunch at the fancy-pants restaurant in stormont.
i tried wheaten bread for the first time (with real irish butter, of course), and it was so good i was tempted to forgo an entree and just stuff myself with bread! flipping miss decent bread, so much.
after lunch, which was lovely, we had a little meander..
mattseh in his element...and then we were meant to walk home. too bad it was raining dog's dirt.
but i still got this sweet touristy pic!
i am at a total loss for what we did wednesday night! i think we just had a mellow family dinner? BECAUSE, the next day was the almighty wedding!
went with heather and auntie joyce to get our hur did. the lady did an amazing job on mine, i really loved it, though it was work-intensive (teasing, curling, slow-drying, teasing, smoothing, pinning, etc). and joyce treated me, out of control. too much!!
we bustled back to the house, where everyone gathered up their things, and i put on ma face.
it was a bit of a drive to the larchfield estate, which was nestled into the countryside. squished in the backseat with matt and euan, i tried not to move my head, lest i muss my hair. this amused the boys greatly. also, matt cracked a joke about how euan's cologne smelled like "the time my goldfish died," and i had a wicked case of the giggles that lasted about 15 agonizingly embarrassing minutes. thanks, matt.
matt's brother gareth and (now wife) nicole had very generously booked rooms at the inn adjoining the wedding location. so we got settled in and unpacked, and once 3pm rolled around, were ushered into our seats in the gorgeous, richly cozy wedding hall.
somehow, i ended up sitting between heather (mother of the groom) and matt's grandpa...in the second row, behind the groomsmen. i have no idea how i ended up in such a seat! i felt honored, and also like there had been a terrible mistake. LOL, jokes!
the wedding itself was truly beautiful. the minister, who is close with the mckibbins, gave what i thought was one of the best sermons on love i've ever heard. now i can't recall any of it. WAIT, it's coming back...he talked about the three types of love: eros, philia, and agape, and described the characteristics of each one, how all three are vital to marriage. i was basically blubbering in my seat, gangsta.
reception summarized: i met a ton of people, ate a delicious dinner, cried more during heartfelt speeches, laughed at lots of inappropriate jokes, etc. but what would an ulster wedding be without the "evenin' do," aka AFTTTAA PAWWWTY. apparently it's customary for a bunch of people who weren't invited to the wedding to come drink and dance after the dinner is over. so, as 9pm rolled around, the place was hoppin'.
i didn't want to be a drunken mess, so i didn't drink very much, but rather danced with some of the children (and matt, the biggest kid of all). hilariously, once the conga line started, the step-father of the bride rather wildly shouted, "I WANT THE AMERICAN!" grabbed me around the waist, and forced me to join the tenuous line of intoxicated adults. i loved it!
other highlights: meeting a man from the countryside who rambled on and on, and me not understanding a single word he said, freezing my bum off when standing by the door, matt's brother-in-law asking if i was going to finish my champagne, then polishing it off, sticky toffee pudding dessert, and pictures!
not matching at all, aye but sure.the next morning, the innkeepers made us a full ulster fry, and once again i was in heaven. but i didn't have much time to digest, because before long i was saying goodbyes to some of matt's relatives, and once again we were on the road!
matt was taking me to some surprise location...i had no idea where we were going. finally, all was revealed: we were going to downpatrick, aka ST. PATRICK'S HOOD. first stop, cathedral and grave!
creepy cemetery
st. paddy's grave, such a cool surprise!we moseyed around the cathedral, but i didn't say my usual new-cathedral prayer cause it wasn't catholic. LOL, jokes! hope wee pat understands!
car. drove to a beautiful, empty beach that was supposed to cost moolah. but we got in fo free cause we slick (also cause no one was in the ticket booth).
one of those figures in the distance is a horse!car. headed to newcastle, a funland destination for the northern irish youth. lots of arcades, kid-friendly gambling, etc. we gambled away two pounds, oops, then walked down to the beach...where i yet again demanded a photo sesh.
by then, it was lunchtime, and i wanted a sammy. so as we headed to our next destination, we stopped in a "spar" convenience store. matt was taking FOREEVERRR deciding, but i didn't care that much. then, to my total surprise, our friend claire waltzed in!! she had taught in japan last year. matt had set the whole thing up! i was overjoyed to see claire, and unbeknownst to me, we were in her hometown!
the three of us went to an expansive park to catch up and eat some grub. then we had a little meander..
and went along this river. that thing on the right is a huge drain to prevent flooding when it rains too hard!only of course, there was yet another surprise to be had. matt had booked the quintessential irish countryside cottage for us to stay in! it had a piano. A PIANO! and a fireplace! i was simply in awe. haha, also, the staff apparently thought we were newlyweds, because an envelope with inn info was addressed to "mr. and mrs. mckibbin," BAHAHA
LOOK! SO COUNTRYSIDE CHIC!more good food to be had, as well! that night, we went to a local pub to get a feed. i got vegetarian lasagna, which obvio was great, and we split some sort of cheezy potato appetizer. stuffed, we came back to our cottage, where two chocolates and whiskey nightcaps were set out for us, haha! gotta love the irish! watched some BBC and attempted to light a fire, fail. such a great place though!
next morning, the place had a very fancy breakfast, which was only slightly awkward because all the guests eat at the same huge table. we discreetly laughed at some german golfers, munched some muesli and fruit, slurped up coffee, and high-tailed it back to belfast.
...and along the way, saw this stunning rainbow! it was a full arc, it went all the way across! where da gold at? i was so happy to see a real irish rainbow!got back into b'fast. by the way, it was saturday. aka LAST DAY. i wanted to scoop up some more mural pics, so we ventured once again into the 'hood so i could get ma fix. mattsy gave me the grand tour...these are just a few select shots.
also bought a few souvenirs for the japanese peepsies (utter faux paus to come back from a trip empty-handed), and made a pitstop...
..at mattsy's favorite place. did somebody saaaaay mcdonald's?ahhhh too many painful memories! i really didn't want to leave gorgeous ireland, and i especially didn't want to leave the mckibbins, who were so unbelievably kind and generous to me. so i'll skip all the goodbye deets. suffice to say i made it back to japan in one piece. one very tired and rather sad piece!
but now, we gooood. the trip was everything i had hoped for and more, and in approximately 50 days' time, give or take, my family gets to unleash on matthew! pray for him.
acutely missing the emerald isle,
wee lilleh
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