Case of the Mondays

I love everything about this.

Pretty sure every AET in Japan agrees with this one.

I love this one so much.

It's funny because it's true

LOL.

Apparently I'll  be the one with diabetes

Annndd I'm 24 and laughing at poop jokes.

Yess.

Perfection.

And in honor of my backpacking- traveling- kick@$$ summer...

 
So I'm starting a series. Mondays blow. Every Monday I'm going to try and compile hilarious things I find (mainly on Pintrest/Facebook). That way, even though it's Monday (Monday, Monday, gotta get to work on Monday... Ugh, I hate myself a little for parodying Rebecca Black) at least you'll have something to smile about!

Have a fantastic week everyone :)

Tiramisu

We met in the fall of 2008. It had been just about a year since my semester abroad in Rome, Italy. Yet, still I clung to certain things- a love for all things Italian, a certain level of pretentiousness with red wines, and an all-consuming love for tiramisu.

Then, on our second date (dessert and tea at Cioccolat- my idea, shocker) John confessed that he has never had tiramisu. Well that just wasn’t ok. That night, John’s life was changed forever. He had finally tasted tiramisu.

It became our thing. We had to have tiramisu if they offered it on the menu. I bought tiramisu from different stores so we could taste and compare them. I surprised him with dessert wine and tiramisu one spring evening, I texted pictures of scrumptious tiramisus I saw in Vegas. It was all very one sided, so I should of seen it coming when he broke the news to me two years later.

 “Umm Jaquielyn? I… don’t really like tiramisu that much. I mean, it’s ok. I don’t hate it, but it’s just ok”.

Well then, why don't you just shove a dull pencil in my chest while you're at it.

Tiramisu cookies? I need to make these

But as always, I felt my life being reenacted by a much more dramatic (but entertaining) couple.

So tiramisu isn’t our thing (and yeah yeah Barney and Marshall aren't a couple). And apparently I’ve been slightly delusional over the past couple years (again, shocker). But as silver linings go, that just means more tiramisu for me :). Here’s to being open and honest… even after three years.

Summer plans... eeeeek

Four weeks. In Southeast Asia. As my middle schoolers would say… Waaaaaaaaawww. It’s insane really, how this came about, but I’m so glad it did.

In three weeks, I will be hoping in a plane bound for Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. 

 I’ll be traveling with a new friend (again, thanks to the rockin’ party we threw). This will be her fourth time to Thailand, so I feel pretty comfortable traveling with her. Besides that, she is the planning, prepared, budgeting, researching machine that would put my own mother to shame. 

            After a few days in Kuala Lumpar, we’ll be hoping back on an airplane headed to Surat Thani so we can celebrate the Full Moon Party on Ko Pa-ngan. THIS is Koh Phangan (yeah, there are a couple ways to spell it- I’m trying a few out)

After that (plus probably a couple recovery days), we will be headed to Phuket (not gonna lie, instantly thought of the Bachelorette when these plans came into place. AND THEN GOT SUPER EXCITED), weather pending, of course. Hopefully we make it to Lang Kawi where I can die happy. This place looks amazing and I HAVE to post some photos to make you all jealous…

 I don’t know, looks like perfection to me.

Anyways, after that, we’ll be heading back through Malaysia and down to Singapore. Spend a couple days in Sinagpore, back to Kuala Lumpar AND BAM!! Back to Japan. Just typing it, I felt the time slip through my fingers. In some ways, four weeks is a loonnnnggg time, but I know I’m going to blink and it will all be gone.

My roommates have been half supportive, half cautions, and I think a dash of jealous (I mean, I would be jealous of me too). They keep telling me not to die, not to get rabies, not to get roofied. You know, all the usual protective boy stuff. It really almost feels like my father is here, except he might hide my passport or something to keep me from going. It’s funny because when we started planning our summer breaks, Robert said “Meh. Traveling is stressful. I want to relax.” While he’s right, traveling is  stressful, there is nothing quite like experiencing another country. I’ve been lucky enough to see a bit of Europe and I guess I got bit by the travel bug. Even though it’s been about four years since my time abroad, I am so so sooo excited to be traveling through Southeast Asia.

The stories, the pictures and the experience is worth wayyyy more than the comforts of the United States (to me). The way I see it, I’m going to be living in the United States for the rest of my LIFE. I can tough out my yearning for In-n-Out for a couple more months to see more of the world.

Well, that’s assuming I come back (kidding, Dad. Just kidding).

To new adventures and experiencing the world… 

Ank.uh.leez

I call the shelter to check up on her.

She's NOT even MY cat, I'm seriously just turning into a crazy cat lady. But really, to see if she's still alive (because seriously, we almost had to put her down one too many times) or if anyone has adopted her yet.

I still (and carry it around in my wallet. In Japan. Because who knows when someone will stop me in the street and ask for it?!?) have her chip number and client number written on a post-it. Pretty sure I just awarded +3 crazy points to myself  for that one. So I would call. I would read off the chip number, the client number... and they would ask for her name.

"Ankles."
"Ankles?"
"Yeah, like the body part."
"Uhhh ok.... [slight pause, computer tapping, dogs howling in the background]. Oh yeah, I see her file here. Ank-uh-leez..."

 Ughhhh. That's not her name. My heart would usually be pounding, palms sweaty, and I would be overwhelmed with the fact that yes, she is still alive (Before these phone calls, I always convince myself that they put her down. That way, it would hurt less if that's what the verdict was. Another crazy point?).

But really guys? Ankles. It's not that hard. I promise promise I spelled it right on the form.

The caption literally reads "ANKELES"

The picture above was taken directly from the Animal Outreach website, where she's currently at. 

I don't know why I wasted a whole blog post on cat that isn't even mine, isn't even on the same country or continent as me. But I'm getting better at blogging more, yeah?

Taiko drums: Guitar Hero for the challenged

Emma took the first plunge

We've eyed them in the arcade next to our place. We watched with dropped jaws as middle school students mastered the video game that mimics Guitar Hero... but for Japanese people. Soo instead of strumming a guitar, you pound on a Taiko drum with smiley faces. A red smiley face to hit the middle of the drum and yellow to hit the sides.

It honestly didn't look that hard.

Our first go

Half an hour and 500 Yen later... I was proved terribly wrong. I had red welts from gripping the taiko-drum-sticks so hard. We may or may not have rocked out on the drums to the only Japanese band we know... AKB48

A crowd gathered to watch the gaijins humiliate themselves. It. was. AWESOME

Weird thing about these arcades is that we were one of the youngest people there... On a Friday night, we ran into lots of men. MEN. In business suits and everything. Japan is so strange.

Then John couldn't resist. The video showed a T-Rex getting knocked out, and John found a machine to feed 200 Yen to. 100 Yen for each punch he got to throw. During his play at "Sonic Blast Hero", a homeless man came by and cheered him on. Again! Again! Hit, hit, hit!! YAHTAH!! He screamed. Emma and I smiled... and backed away.

Taiko drums were awesome. The claw machines were not- we were jipped a rotating fan (guess who wanted to play that game). Whoever comes out to visit us in Japan will most definitely be playing it.

Our first solo outing!

The time we threw a crazy party turned out to be pretty effective in most aspects. I met my travel partner (Malaysia in less than a month, holy crap!!!), and made friends who are not only ENGLISH SPEAKERS (that's pretty much my only requirement at this point), but also super awesome. One such friend turned 30 not too long ago (or, as my Mom would say "celebrating his 29th birth-iversary").

We traveled to Tokyo by ourselves (uhhh yes, big deal). We were without Robert (our ever so reliable tour guide) headed somewhere we have never been to or heard of.

We got there a wee bit late, but hey! We got there! Just in time to see a Japanese hipster band. They were ridiculous. And fantastic. Couldn't understand any of the words, but I do speak the language of awesomeness, and these guys were rockin' it. 

Yep, the hipster movement has made it here to Japan

Loved this dive bar

Tried to see intrasect, missed it by a hair (or an hour)

The necessary Donner kabobs in Harajuku

Happy birthday Martin! Here's a book of poop??!?

Somewhere in Tokyo! I'm a tourist!!

Successs!! It was raining, but we were sweating? Welcome to Japan.

Soul- not the city in Korea

We share everything- a messy nature, snacks people give us at school, the hatred for teenage girls' incessantly loud chatter, and viruses. So when John caught a cold/fever/flu that kept him home from work 1.5 days, I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be the one needing an ice pillow and yuzu tea.

I managed to float through my week with a raspy voice and half-engaged attitude. But Friday was awful. I was at an elementary school, which meant I was the Head Teacher for my lessons. The good news? I'm done teaching by lunch time. The bad news? My stupid contract requires me to STAY at school (even though I'm done working and technically not being paid for that time) for another 4.5 hours. Reeediciulous, right??

And for the cherry ontop of the day from hell, I was at the school with my archnemesis. As I fanned myself/coughed up a lung/sneezed all at the same time, she turned to me and said "Daijoubu desuka?" (Are you ok?). I fought the urge to scream "NO, I'M NOT OK" and crumple to a miserable ball on the floor. Instead, I pasted that smile on my face and silently nodded. I honestly don't know where I get it from- that urge to say that everything is fine when it really isn't. The girl part of me, the athlete part of me, the Japanese part of me?

Anyways, lunch comes and goes and I do everything short of falling asleep on my desk. The Japanese have some sort of silent work rule- unless you are physically dying and need the hospital, you WILL work. Work until you die or until work kills you, whichever comes first.

And then a miracle happened. My archnemesis grew a soul. The room blinked with bright white circles, and I was grated freedom. I bowed graciously to everyone in the room and for the first time... harbored more than feelings of distain for my archnemesis. Maybe she does have a soul...

AND now some pictures that make me laugh... which leads to coughing. But these were worth it.

My new justification

Seriously

PS. I started THREE sentances with the word "And". Pretty sure that's a huge foo-pah in English literature circles. Not like I minored in English or anything.

Also. Today is the last day in June (or first day in July, depending on where you are in the world)... and I've written a total of 5 posts. That's it?!? Remember when I said I was going to blog EVERY DAY? HA! Well, I promise internets- I'm going to be better for you. Except for the four weeks I'm in Malaysia/Thailand/Singapore. All bets are off then, I'll be trying to survive kthx.