Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Fall, Fashion, and False Alarms

Okayyy, I know, I know. False promises, deceptive comments, etc etc. I KNOW I said that I would post more often...it's just...I have...for the first time ever...nothing to sayyyyy!

I gotta admit, life's been a little boring. Now that I'm starting to fall into a schedule, there isn't really anything to report.

Autumn finally hit us about a week ago, and about three days ago the nights started to get real cold (but the days were like typical autumn days, a sweater will do, you know). BIG, BIG NEWS: My host mother traded out my summer comforter for my fall/winter comforter, and it is SO BIG AND FLUFFY YOU WOULD NOT EVEN BELIEVE. I love it. I wake up looking forward to go back to sleep. If man and object could marry, I would marry that comforter. And we would sleep together ALL THE TIME.

In other news, I said the same thing about this sweet potato pretzel stick about an hour ago. It was literally the most delicious thing I had ever tasted in my life. It's beniino flavor. So I got that going for me. Which is great. Marrying inanimate objects.

I also learned a new word today, called burikko. It's a word for a woman who tries to act more feminine than she is, or pretends to get scared over things that aren't really scary, or act like a child (in Japan, it's easy to act feminine. There are certain words you can use, certain things you can add to the end of a sentence, or certain poses that you can do, like the picture below). It's an old word (the article was written like 20 years ago I think), but I like it for some reason. I think there are actually a lot of Japanese women that act like burikko.


Upper left: Burikko pose


I mean, okay, this is coming from a girl who would rather wear sneakers than heels and sweatshirts instead of dresses, because COMFORT IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE, but when I first came to Japan I thought, "Oh, Japanese girls are really cute! And Japanese boys are really handsome!" but that thought was followed closely by, "Ohhhh, it's because they try too hard."

False eyelashes, dyed hair, expensive labels, high heels, leggings in summer; all those REALLY girly things that are cute were actually kind of annoying at first. Granted, girls in America do it too, but in Japan EVERYONE does it. Guys, girls, older or younger. Everyone wants to be fashionable. I want to go to school in my thick sweatshirt instead of my cuter, less warm one, and guess which sweater I pick?

Exposed arms?!

Exposed ankles?! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!?

I pick the light one. I'm being conditioned to think cuter. To think being cute is more important than comfort. Waaaaat? The sad thing is, it's working. In the morning, I no longer think, "Alright, what haven't I worn this week yet?/How many days is too many days for jeans?" and now I think, "How can I look cute today?/Change up my style?"

It's a little discomforting. Like my whole mindset is being changed. I guess this is what it means to be submerged into a difficult culture and different pattern of thinking?

I started reading Sherlock Holmes, which is exciting. In fact, after I'm done with this blog post, I'll read some Holmes and then get to bed early. I've been real tired as of late.

I continue to jog. There was a time that I thought there was something wrong with my knee because of jogging (about two weeks after I started), because it was really stiff in the morning but then felt better after about a minute. Thankfully that passed, I think it has to do with the way I sleep (like a fetus, but with the bottom leg straightened and the top leg bent up REAL high. So comfy) but I haven't been in pain or anything so I think we're good to go.

Oh, yeah. Every morning I see this cross-walker (note: not a mix between a cross-dressing street-walker), you know, a man with a flag who helps children cross roads? I swear it's not as creepy as it sounds, it's his legitimate job.

Anyway because I live next to an elementary school, he's there every morning, and every morning he says good morning all nice and such. Good times, we have. Gooood times.

This morning I thought I experienced my first earthquake (I started to tip to the side, couldn't walk straight), but it just turned out to be me getting dizzy for some random reason. Yeah I'm not sure what that was about. Also I was listening to music and I took out my ear phones to listen for rumbling, because in the movies earthquakes rumble.

Hint: In real life, earthquakes don't rumble. The only rumbling sounds come from buildings falling, etc. That is not a good rumble, my friend.

See, I had absolutely nothing to talk about. This reminds me of how I get before dates. Or any one-on-one interaction with a semi-new person, actually. My worst fear is that we'll have nothing to talk about.

Turns out I always have something to talk about. Weird.




1 comment:

  1. mommala reads your blogs always! and finds them fascinating!

    ReplyDelete