among other reasons, soon to come:
japanese mama ryoko, while digging her fingernails into fish gills, ripping off the heads, and gutting the suckers: "easy, ne? try. TRY!"
me: "iie. kowai!" (no. scary!)
ryoko-san, matter-of-factly: "you will never marry."
with no marital prospects,
lilly
Monday, October 18, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
small pleasures
there are many insignificant things that occur in my day to day life that give me unwarranted amounts of joy. you know how in amelie, each character gets a sequence in which the narrator describes the quirky little happenings that give him or her pleasure? like the sound of the cat's milk bowl clinking on tile, cracking the top of creme brulee with a spoon, or dipping one's hand into a bag of seeds? i've developed a lot more of my own since coming to japan! my secret indulgences:
1. watching tanaka-sensei, the music teacher, change the schedule on the chalkboard in the teacher's office every day. first, she very deliberately erases the board. the japanese erasers are delightful all on their own. each is like a little board with a fluffy black pillow affixed to it. so anyways, she erases the board, then cleans the eraser in the chalk-sucking machine, which always reminds me of the friday afternoons in elementary school when i would clap the erasers or run them over the machine in the janitor's closet, happy to be out of class.she then erases the board again, and cleans the eraser again, slowly. it's like watching some sort of mysterious chalkboard ritual! the board is pristinely blank once she begins to write the kanji. i love watching her write the kanji. she always writes it perfectly.
2. the teachers' meetings. i really savor the opportunity to just sit there, not having to pay attention to anything, but just looking around at everyone and daydreaming.
3. the wooden bathroom slippers. so as not to contaminate other floors, bathrooms are equipped with special slippers you change into once you step over what i can only determine is the "cleanliness threshold." the slippers in the seiun bathroom are clunky, 2-inch-high wooden affairs that clack on the floor. i like the funny noise they make, how pointlessly tall they are, and how silly i look while wearing them.
4. how everyone gives and receives everything (papers, gifts, pens, etc) with two hands. i do it, too. it just feels very unnatural and very satisfying, all at once.
6. the feel of tatami under my feet. it's very soft, and i like it's slightly sweet smell. with every step, you can feel it give a little bit, which pleases me for no reason whatsoever.
7. express trains. i like local trains, too, but express trains are, dare it say it? luxurious. when i get to sit by myself at a window for a train ride, listening to music and watching japan roll on by, i just feel...complete. like i have everything i could ever want!
and maybe i do.
except a pony. and a promising career! jokes!
pleasantly,
lilly
Thursday, October 14, 2010
apologies! and a video.
peeps, i'm really sorry that i've been posting so sporadically! this week has been particularly barren blog-wise because i have had a veritable mountain of work to do.
hopefully, tomorrow afternoon i'll get a second to breathe and type, and will update you. right now i have to finish the work i couldn't bring myself to do at school today (i stayed for nine hours, then said "eff it, i'll do it at home." mistake.
on a happier note, i stayed at school today while everyone else left to see a play, because i had so much work to do. the kare pan (curry pan. aka curry bread) lady saw me sweeping the entire, deserted teachers' office during cleaning time, and said hello. a few minutes later, she returned with an "apricot biscotti" for me. apparently i looked pathetic enough to warrant a free snack! score!
the apricot biscotti wasn't biscotti, though. it was really flaky, crunchy white bread toast that had a thick, delectable layer of rock candy crust on top. it tasted like very sweet, buttery, crisped up toast, and it was soooo good. however, i never did find the apricot--fruit nor flavor. oh, well!
to tide you over, here's a dumb video i created yesterday afternoon! enjoy, lovenuts! and with that, i'm off to bed.
sleepy and snacked,
lilly
hopefully, tomorrow afternoon i'll get a second to breathe and type, and will update you. right now i have to finish the work i couldn't bring myself to do at school today (i stayed for nine hours, then said "eff it, i'll do it at home." mistake.
on a happier note, i stayed at school today while everyone else left to see a play, because i had so much work to do. the kare pan (curry pan. aka curry bread) lady saw me sweeping the entire, deserted teachers' office during cleaning time, and said hello. a few minutes later, she returned with an "apricot biscotti" for me. apparently i looked pathetic enough to warrant a free snack! score!
the apricot biscotti wasn't biscotti, though. it was really flaky, crunchy white bread toast that had a thick, delectable layer of rock candy crust on top. it tasted like very sweet, buttery, crisped up toast, and it was soooo good. however, i never did find the apricot--fruit nor flavor. oh, well!
to tide you over, here's a dumb video i created yesterday afternoon! enjoy, lovenuts! and with that, i'm off to bed.
sleepy and snacked,
lilly
Monday, October 11, 2010
money in the bank
the dollar is at a 15-year low against the yen. america, i'm sorry, but i'm lovin' it.
happily humming "falling slowly,"
a slightly richer lilly
happily humming "falling slowly,"
a slightly richer lilly
Thursday, October 7, 2010
on mild humiliation, and getting lost in rice paddies
"heddo! how are you? i'm fine, sank you, and you?" -the constant chirpings of my beloved students
sincerest apologies for letting a week go by without any blobbin'! shall i divulge the sordid secrets of my life? better batten down the hatches, 'cause a storm's a' comin'!
there were way too many apostrophes in that paragraph, so i guess i'll get on with it. last weekend, after a seemingly endless week, i went down to saito/miyazaki city/miyakonojo for some jetling festivities! saturday featured a day at the seductively large aeon mall, complete with makudonurado lunch (mcdonald's!). i finally got to try some japanese mcdonald's, and no joke, it tasted exactly like home (or how i remembered home, anyways. i hadn't had a mickey d's cheeseburger in about seven years). mashiu also let me have a bite of his "tamago" cheeseburger, which had egg and peppery sauce. surprisingly, it was amazing!
the day also featured much shopping, but little purchasing. i just bought a lovely indian fabric to decorate my bedroom wall, as well as a jar of nutella. for some odd reason, many japanese stores do not have "small" sizes, only mediums and larges. is it because smalls sell out? or is it because japanese women never wear form-fitting clothes? the world may never know. or, more accurately, i guess i'll never know.
after stopping by a secondhand store for some "funky" attire (we were going to a funk-themed party), and me picking up outrageously ugly, girly pink heels for 500 yen, we headed into miyakonojo.
the weather was ghastly. rain pounded down in relentless sheets, while deafeningly thunder and bolts of lightening accentuated our impending peril. jokes! but really, it was one of the worst rainstorms i've ever been in (i do realize i'm a weather pansy, though). luckily, it was short-lived, as are most bouts of rain in japan. we made it out to the other side, and enjoyed a night of all-you-can-eat meat and fruit grilling, as well as a few bars.
a group of us ended up at this little underground bar with a fantastic dj. he was playing a bunch of 70s funk, a few oldies, some newies, and all goodies. we busted in there and proceeded to dance like fools, even though it clearly wasn't a dancing establishment. however, before long, we had made a bunch of new japanese dancing buddies, and even the bartender came out to shake her thang. it was perfect. hilariously, i noticed that a few of the japanese girls were watching me dance, and copying what i was doing. it made me crack up, especially since i'm a crap dancer!
which brings me to another point: the japanese fascination with westerners sometimes amuses and flatters me, sometimes frustrates me, and almost always embarrasses me. with my students, i mostly am amused (except when i know they're looking at inappropriate areas of me. then i just feel super uncomfortable, haha!). today, i went into a class that i rarely visit (maybe once a week). one of the tall, "cool" guys (none of my students look cool to me. they all look like children) was entering the room from the outside balcony, where apparently he and other had taken a little break. as they shuffled in, a few of the boys called out, "haddo," but this kid just stopped in his tracks with a lovesick expression frozen on his face. we're talking puppy-dog eyes, gaping mouth, quivering chin, the whole bit. his friends began shrieking with laughter, punching him, while i blushed and smiled abashedly. he sat down looking shaken! ohhhh, the embarrassment of it all!
and actually, a funny incident happened yesterday, as well. i decided to go on a little stroll, and ventured through the rice paddies near my apartment. i also managed to get to the river i run by, though on the other side. on my way home, i passed by a random baseball field where some highschoolish boys were practicing. upon seeing me, they all crowded towards the bottom of the raised path i was walking on, and bowed while yelling "konnichiwa!"
i would never want to be celebrity, that's for damn sure. the attention is unwwanted!
but on a more mellow note, i took lots of photos while on my jaunt. and besides culminating a 45-minute-oh-no-i'm-lost-in-the-rice-paddies-and-its-getting-really-dark-what-am-i-gonna-do episode, the walk was really rejuvenating! please enjoy my not very artsy, uninspired photos!
rice.
more rice.
perhaps what japan looked like before the advent of color photography?
the trees are so dense, it's like they suck the sunlight out of the air!
wishing i had a better camera (and artistic eye),
lilly
sincerest apologies for letting a week go by without any blobbin'! shall i divulge the sordid secrets of my life? better batten down the hatches, 'cause a storm's a' comin'!
there were way too many apostrophes in that paragraph, so i guess i'll get on with it. last weekend, after a seemingly endless week, i went down to saito/miyazaki city/miyakonojo for some jetling festivities! saturday featured a day at the seductively large aeon mall, complete with makudonurado lunch (mcdonald's!). i finally got to try some japanese mcdonald's, and no joke, it tasted exactly like home (or how i remembered home, anyways. i hadn't had a mickey d's cheeseburger in about seven years). mashiu also let me have a bite of his "tamago" cheeseburger, which had egg and peppery sauce. surprisingly, it was amazing!
the day also featured much shopping, but little purchasing. i just bought a lovely indian fabric to decorate my bedroom wall, as well as a jar of nutella. for some odd reason, many japanese stores do not have "small" sizes, only mediums and larges. is it because smalls sell out? or is it because japanese women never wear form-fitting clothes? the world may never know. or, more accurately, i guess i'll never know.
after stopping by a secondhand store for some "funky" attire (we were going to a funk-themed party), and me picking up outrageously ugly, girly pink heels for 500 yen, we headed into miyakonojo.
the weather was ghastly. rain pounded down in relentless sheets, while deafeningly thunder and bolts of lightening accentuated our impending peril. jokes! but really, it was one of the worst rainstorms i've ever been in (i do realize i'm a weather pansy, though). luckily, it was short-lived, as are most bouts of rain in japan. we made it out to the other side, and enjoyed a night of all-you-can-eat meat and fruit grilling, as well as a few bars.
a group of us ended up at this little underground bar with a fantastic dj. he was playing a bunch of 70s funk, a few oldies, some newies, and all goodies. we busted in there and proceeded to dance like fools, even though it clearly wasn't a dancing establishment. however, before long, we had made a bunch of new japanese dancing buddies, and even the bartender came out to shake her thang. it was perfect. hilariously, i noticed that a few of the japanese girls were watching me dance, and copying what i was doing. it made me crack up, especially since i'm a crap dancer!
which brings me to another point: the japanese fascination with westerners sometimes amuses and flatters me, sometimes frustrates me, and almost always embarrasses me. with my students, i mostly am amused (except when i know they're looking at inappropriate areas of me. then i just feel super uncomfortable, haha!). today, i went into a class that i rarely visit (maybe once a week). one of the tall, "cool" guys (none of my students look cool to me. they all look like children) was entering the room from the outside balcony, where apparently he and other had taken a little break. as they shuffled in, a few of the boys called out, "haddo," but this kid just stopped in his tracks with a lovesick expression frozen on his face. we're talking puppy-dog eyes, gaping mouth, quivering chin, the whole bit. his friends began shrieking with laughter, punching him, while i blushed and smiled abashedly. he sat down looking shaken! ohhhh, the embarrassment of it all!
and actually, a funny incident happened yesterday, as well. i decided to go on a little stroll, and ventured through the rice paddies near my apartment. i also managed to get to the river i run by, though on the other side. on my way home, i passed by a random baseball field where some highschoolish boys were practicing. upon seeing me, they all crowded towards the bottom of the raised path i was walking on, and bowed while yelling "konnichiwa!"
i would never want to be celebrity, that's for damn sure. the attention is unwwanted!
but on a more mellow note, i took lots of photos while on my jaunt. and besides culminating a 45-minute-oh-no-i'm-lost-in-the-rice-paddies-and-its-getting-really-dark-what-am-i-gonna-do episode, the walk was really rejuvenating! please enjoy my not very artsy, uninspired photos!
rice.
more rice.
perhaps what japan looked like before the advent of color photography?
the trees are so dense, it's like they suck the sunlight out of the air!
wishing i had a better camera (and artistic eye),lilly
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
hip-hopapotamus
last night, i had the supreme pleasure of going with tracey to a hip-hop/jazz dance class in a local studio. i had high hopes that it would be a guffaw-suppressing experience, and it did not fall short! we showed up a little before the class started, and smiled vaguely at the japanese girls we'd be joining. though they varied a bit in age (the youngest was maybe 9, the older girls in their early 20s), they all wore very baggy hip-hop clothes (some of which, awesomely, had incorrect engrish on it. ex: "your heart want love me to").
our teacher, the first genuinely feisty japanese girl we've encountered so far, was a very genki and spritely 28-year-old named yuka. she was wearing a very full face of makeup, fake eyelashes included, and she seemed very excited that we were taking her class. tracey and i headed towards the back of the room so that we could be slightly less conspicuous (didn't work), and exchanged grins as we began the warm-ups.
the class was pretty much identical to all of the jazz/hip-hop classes i had taken back home. we warmed up to music for the first 40 minutes or so, with yuka cheerfully barking instructions in janglish/dance lingo: PIDEE-AY (plié)! STU-RAY-CHU (stretch)! ROAD AAAAAP (roll up)! WAN, TOO, TREE, FO, FYE, SEECKS, SEBEN, EIGHT!
after sufficiently stretching our gai-jin muscles, we shuffled into our kicks and lined up in the back of the room. speaking of kicks: i felt slightly ashamed of my beat-up chucks. everyone else (including tracey!) had spanking-new, brightly colored, marshmallowy hiphop sneaks. ima have to go get me some air force ones!
anyways, we lined up, and began practicing chaînés (basically, quick three-point turns), hip-hop style. all i can say is, thank goodness i took dance classes when i was younger, or else i would've fallen on my face. luckily, i already knew how to do the ballet/jazz verison of chaînés, so learning the hip-hop stompy version wasn't too bad. highlight: watching tracey accidentally mess up her chaînés, then extend her arms like a ballerina and take a bow in front of the whole class while making a face like a constipated turtle. i love you, boo.
after mastering our turns (not really), we learned a little routine for about fifteen minutes, then busted outta there like gangsters. it was a really fun class, and yuka was charmingly gregarious, so we've decided to make it a regular thang. too bad the classes are so expensive--1200 yen a pop! mawm, dad: thank you for paying for my lessons all those years. it sucks now that i hafta pay!
and in other news, work is very good--apart from tiredness. yesterday, not only did i fall asleep at my desk for a few moments, but i also fell asleep in the bathroom...while peeing. every morning, i drink an entire pot of coffee (japanese pot...so it's only about three mugs' worth), but i still sometimes can't manage to keep my eyes open. could someone ship me some crack, please?
joyously, though, yesterday i also got to read more hilarious essays. they make me LOL to the max. the most pristine examples:
my favorite title: "Even if I Was Eaten by Shakes" (sharks)
my favorite reason for wanting to study abroad in murica: "America is the liberty country. Secondly, I love McDonald's hamburger. I want to eat foreign hamburger and I want to work at McDonald's shop in America some day." (live the dream, kiddo!)
my favorite life dream: "I want to build chocolate house. If I try to make chocolate house in japan, this will melt because Japan hot, and there will be earthquakes, so I can't make in Japan. But Belgium has snappy climate, so chocolate don't melt. This is childish dream, but imagine you are living chocolate house, imagine people make happy by your chocolate."
i, too, want to build chocolate house. more than anything!
dreaming fondly of chocolate house,
lilly
our teacher, the first genuinely feisty japanese girl we've encountered so far, was a very genki and spritely 28-year-old named yuka. she was wearing a very full face of makeup, fake eyelashes included, and she seemed very excited that we were taking her class. tracey and i headed towards the back of the room so that we could be slightly less conspicuous (didn't work), and exchanged grins as we began the warm-ups.
the class was pretty much identical to all of the jazz/hip-hop classes i had taken back home. we warmed up to music for the first 40 minutes or so, with yuka cheerfully barking instructions in janglish/dance lingo: PIDEE-AY (plié)! STU-RAY-CHU (stretch)! ROAD AAAAAP (roll up)! WAN, TOO, TREE, FO, FYE, SEECKS, SEBEN, EIGHT!
after sufficiently stretching our gai-jin muscles, we shuffled into our kicks and lined up in the back of the room. speaking of kicks: i felt slightly ashamed of my beat-up chucks. everyone else (including tracey!) had spanking-new, brightly colored, marshmallowy hiphop sneaks. ima have to go get me some air force ones!
anyways, we lined up, and began practicing chaînés (basically, quick three-point turns), hip-hop style. all i can say is, thank goodness i took dance classes when i was younger, or else i would've fallen on my face. luckily, i already knew how to do the ballet/jazz verison of chaînés, so learning the hip-hop stompy version wasn't too bad. highlight: watching tracey accidentally mess up her chaînés, then extend her arms like a ballerina and take a bow in front of the whole class while making a face like a constipated turtle. i love you, boo.
after mastering our turns (not really), we learned a little routine for about fifteen minutes, then busted outta there like gangsters. it was a really fun class, and yuka was charmingly gregarious, so we've decided to make it a regular thang. too bad the classes are so expensive--1200 yen a pop! mawm, dad: thank you for paying for my lessons all those years. it sucks now that i hafta pay!
and in other news, work is very good--apart from tiredness. yesterday, not only did i fall asleep at my desk for a few moments, but i also fell asleep in the bathroom...while peeing. every morning, i drink an entire pot of coffee (japanese pot...so it's only about three mugs' worth), but i still sometimes can't manage to keep my eyes open. could someone ship me some crack, please?
joyously, though, yesterday i also got to read more hilarious essays. they make me LOL to the max. the most pristine examples:
my favorite title: "Even if I Was Eaten by Shakes" (sharks)
my favorite reason for wanting to study abroad in murica: "America is the liberty country. Secondly, I love McDonald's hamburger. I want to eat foreign hamburger and I want to work at McDonald's shop in America some day." (live the dream, kiddo!)
my favorite life dream: "I want to build chocolate house. If I try to make chocolate house in japan, this will melt because Japan hot, and there will be earthquakes, so I can't make in Japan. But Belgium has snappy climate, so chocolate don't melt. This is childish dream, but imagine you are living chocolate house, imagine people make happy by your chocolate."
i, too, want to build chocolate house. more than anything!
dreaming fondly of chocolate house,
lilly
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