cockles the ♥

I have seriously never heard this phrase ever in my life. Apparently a cockle is a type of mollusc and this antiquated phrase expresses contentment derived from (in this case) these matcha cookies. ??? o_O

sports fest: le photos

they wrestle each other up there.

tug o' war: note the ropes for girls and huge ass/heavy wooden logs for boys.

street art: vinchen

provocative; political. street art with a message. yes. (more HERE)

boys practicing outside for various sporty events. topless. hello. jk. foreal though- some have concave chests they're so skinny! manorexia? (*photo from my school's website)

So not only was school canceled yesterday (only for students, sadly) due to the typhoon which is bringing Fukuoka loads of rain/wind but ALL CLASSES have been CANCELED until after our sports festival on Saturday. Reasoning: to make up for the lost practice time due to our recent shit weather. wtf? sports>education Japan? i never would have thought.

bereft

my life is currently bereft of noteworthy occurrences. here's something pretty to look at instead of being bored by my ramblings...

Liu Wen (Perfume Opium by Yves Saint Laurent advert)

sports festival

we are now in the midst of sports festival practice. (will try to take photos since i can't seem to find the ones i took last year). it's crazy though! for 2 weeks, students have half days of classes. the second half of which is dedicated to being tortured outside in the hot hot sun. homeroom classes from each grade level are divided to comprise 3 teams or "color blocks" (red, blue, yellow for my school). then they practice things like marching, cheering (girls), ooendo (traditional dance by the boys), panel flipping (so that the 300ish students in each block create large pictures or kanji characters with their individual colored panels), tug of war, human pyramid building (boys), getting on top of other students' shoulders to fight/wrestle another teams' member who is also sitting on someone's shoulders (boys), etcetc. this would not be allowed in the u.s.

things organized neatly

this site (thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com) is seriously feeding my ocd tendencies. love!

also, how amazing is this? Dalton Ghetti actually carves intricate designs into pencil lead. wtf. check out more HERE. seriously though. what the shit?