old school japan

this past weekend, i went to yanagawa in southern fukuoka. you can ride down a canal which was honestly pretty shit. BUT i did snap this photo which made me feel all artsy.

also went to a city called hakozaki to eat at a tororo place (grated mountain yam- white, gooey texture) i've been meaning to check out for a while. so good! there are a bunch of cool cafes/restaurants in the area. also got a photo of this advert. love the glasses this dude be rockin!

i love my english club!

so i gave my english club students my texting address and they have been sending me texts. one of my students texted me the other day and was like "it's your birthday tomorrow, isn't you?" SO CUTE. then she tells me to come to her classroom during lunch and gives me this handmade card as well as a bathset for my bday!! wtf?? LOVE HER!

also i have a feeling that 23 is going to be a FANTASTICAL year! plus, year of the rabbit- how can it NOT be lucky?

bday shenanigans: sleepovers, baking, kotatsu, coworker okonomiyaki bonding, korean food, kpop jam session, yakiniku tabehoudai, karaoke, cake, YAY! best birthday week ever!

fashionable buddhas and changing colors

a photographic series documenting my afternoon post- mid year seminar. (nanzoin near sasaguri).

trains & signs, cont + crunky

there is an assortment of "Crunky" chocolates but this new product takes the cake in terms of naming!

i pass by signs similar to these (with the person bowing) all the time- for construction/if Starbucks is full and has no more seating/etcetc. kawaii!

and of course, newly found train etiquette campaign signs! oh those PIERCING EYES. and ridiculously huge backpack!

winter break 2010 plans

also known as: "tasia's solo southeast asian adventure in which she attempts to 'find herself' and experience new things and gain new perspectives on life/the world and appreciate people in life and step out of comfort zones and try to just 'go with the flow' and eat loads of delicious food and also try not to die" trip 2010.

more info to come.

i'm also try to let the people in my life know that i appreciate them. over the past year, i've become a bit jaded and judgmental and self-absorbed and have had an "i'm so much better and cooler than you" mentality which is NOT okay. i've under-appreciated and not prioritized certain people and that needs to change. there are so many absolutely amazing people in my life and i think they deserve to be reminded that they are important to me and that i appreciate their existences and everything they are (okay, maybe not EVERYthing, but...technicalities :).) you should try it out- spreading happiness and warm, fuzzy feelings around the world!

and, on an appreciating people note, the other week I baked lemon bars (which I have mastered! I am a lemon bar making beast!) for my coworkers. In return, the part-time English teacher (who retired but then came back to work because he loves kids and teaching...in addition to dancing, gardening, and traveling!) presented me with this tea cup which he bought on a trip to an area in Oita Prefecture that is famous for pottery.

isn't it gorgey? and the tea-fetish continues.

thoughts

why do some people just not communicate when something is bothering them?

the particular situation i'm thinking of: a friend just emailed me saying that her relationship with our mutual friend hasn't been the same in the past month. He (mutual friend) has seemed unhappy/annoyed with her personality/has changed. Maybe it's just that by spending time away from each other and hanging out with other people, you start to pick up those new friends' mannerisms/humor and you change a bit. Or maybe you attempt to fit in with this new group by changing yourself in small ways which don't mesh with old friends anymore. Or you just feel like you're better than the other person/don't need him or her in your life as much as you did before. I don't know. I just think that if something is wrong or has changed, it should be talked about. Or if something annoys you, you should bring it up regardless of whether that may make things a bit awkward. Because I think communicating despite potential awkwardness and caring enough about saving the relationship/friendship to address the source of conflict/change is so important. I suppose by not doing this, you're also communicating a message: that you don't prioritize the relationship enough to attempt to make things better.

A question posed to me (in which i know my hypothetical answer but am still unclear on what I'd realistically do): If you were falling out of love with your partner, would you tell the person to try to work it out? Or would you wait until you knew for sure you didn't love this person anymore and then cut it off?

In theory/ideally, I'd bring it up with the person. But realistically, I think I wouldn't want to worry my partner and be sure that I wasn't just going through a phase. And THEN maybe talk about it and try to work things out? But would I even want to at that point because I'd be sure that I didn't love this person anymore?

Man! People are so complex and have different expectations/ways of communicating...I'm just left silenced and confused and neck-deep in my introspection of it all.

melty kiss

i seriously love candy/chocolate names here. this one is called "melty kiss" & only comes out in the winter when it's cold enough for the chocolate not to melt in the box.

trains

i love this one. that is to say, it is amazing.

so there is a campaign on the trains here to encourage people to be courteous to others while riding public transportation. the accompanying engrish and drawings are amazing.
*the side panel with the train + ! says something like "if you care, manners will change". ^_^

hikosan, tagawa

yesterday was a national holiday (culture day) so i went hiking in the inaka/yankee-central. the leaves are starting to change color （紅葉）! My friend also had an Italian couch surfer named Marco who came on the hike-- he's been traveling around the world from Italy on his motorcycle for the past 5 months- working in one country for a month, saving money to ship his bike overseas, learning English (he was conversationally fluent which is impressive seeing as he couldn't really speak when he started his adventure), making his way through s.e. asia and australia, etcetc. and the accent! these types of people inspire me to throw caution to the wind and do things that force me out of my comfort zone/just live life! it's so easy to become jaded and pessimistic but meeting these types of people give me a renewed sense of hope and optimism- like wow. there ARE good/cool/friendly/amazing people in this world!

vending machine (自動販売機, literally "self moving selling machine") near Hikosan

halloween shenanigans

2ne1- Fire

per usual, i failed to take photos of my halloween shenanigans. i did, however, discover my new favorite club in fukuoka ie Boobus in Yukuhashi, Fukuoka. How can you NOT love it with a name like that? As soon as they played this (ie my favorite k-pop song and the theme tune to many a hitori de dance party in my apt), I knew it was love. ♥