All You Need is Love (and an iPod to remind you of it!)
Luckily, last weekend was a long weekend. I think that I was definitely in need of it because of how tiring the weekend before was. I felt like I was so overworked (compared to how I usually work – a definite overstatement compared to how I worked in Gainesville). In any case, on Thursday evening we were invited to a taco dinner at Laura’s house that was extremely well received. She has become an expert with the seven-layer dip. This was to be the precursor to our weekend of cherry tomato tossing, meticulous gift wrapping, and downloading.
Friday was to be the beginning of our long weekend. We were planning on traveling up the Pacific coast of Kyushu all the way up to Beppu (a city in North Kyushu known for its hot springs). However, we woke up so tired and late on Friday that we ended up just staying home and catching up on stuff. Later that night, we ended up meeting lots of ALTs in Tomo-chan’s in Osaki for some laughs, great food and drinks. We met Laura’s predecessor, Dave, who was in town and Nick from Shibushi who we had never met before and who we joked didn’t really exist. After some time at Tomo-chan’s, we went to a really nice karaoke place where I have had the best French fries of my life. I am thinking of returning back and just ordering the fries, but I am not really sure if you can do this without going into a karaoke booth. Besides the occasional cherry tomato thrown by Laura, it was your normal 2-hour all you can drink karaoke session. At the end of the night, we crashed back at Laura’s.
Saturday, we woke up and had a slow morning at Laura’s. Once everyone left, it took Cristina a while to find her clothes (It’s not what you are thinking, she changed and decided to put them in a closet no one ever looks in.). Once she put on her clothes (she was wearing some of Laura’s pajamas before that), we went to Kanoya for the perfect hangover remedy – McDonald’s. Then, we roamed Kanoya. We went to an electronic store to get a computer part that I thought would help, but didn’t (so we are returning it tomorrow). We also went to Daiwa (a cross between a pseudo- large department store/pseudo-small mall) where I got a gift for my grandmother for her birthday and Cristina got her office some chocolates for her office mates. Well, buying the gift for my grandmother was some kind of adventure. One of the things is an ornament to which I asked them to take off the metal wire at the end of the string to keep it from being scratched. They reacted with a puzzled look and just stared at me. I started to gesture and they just stared at each other and then looked back at me. After quite a bit of staring, one said that if they take off the wire, how am I going to hang it. So, I gave up and told them to leave it on. Then, they asked me if I wanted it gift wrapped. Since I saw the person before me get hers gift wrapped, I asked for mine gift wrapped just so Cristina could see this. It was hilarious. I felt like if I was in the scene in Love Actually where Mr. Bean is gift wrapping the cheating husband’s gift for his secretary when he does it ever so meticulously and slow. First, they took the three small items I bought and placed them in a clear bag. They rearranged it a couple of times. Mind you, the bag is lying flat and the items will surely shift once the bag is lifted. Then, they ever so slightly fan-fold the top of the bag. Then, they take two matching ribbons to tie a bow around the top. Here comes my favorite part…. Then, the woman has to find the curling scissors, which are different from the cutting scissors (they look exactly the same). She begins to curl the ribbons. Then she stops and tries to control how the curls fall on the package and tries to make the curls fall within each other (the most anal retentive thing I have ever seen a person do). Then they place the package, in a paper gift bag. They seal the bag. They put a sticker and ribbons on the bag. Then they take out a plastic shopping bag. Reinforce the bottom of the plastic shopping bag with tape (mind you, what I bout my grandmother weighs absolutely nothing). Then, they place the wrapped gift inside the plastic shopping bag and tape the top of the shopping bag shut. All that was missing was some lavender and a couple cinnamon sticks. Cristina broke into a fit of laughter at the very end as the woman was getting ready to hand me the bag. The three gifts total barely added up to $10.
Sunday, we spent in hibernation. Cristina felt sick so we just lounged about. I got her some Gatorade from the one store that carries it here in Japan (or the only one that I have found anyway).
Today is Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day to all, especially those who I know are not as lucky as I am. Today, when I got to the office, I was expecting chocolates from all the women (because that is what Valentine’s Day is in Japan). Then, on White Day, March 14th, the men are supposed to give the women chocolates (good marketing since they don’t have a St. Patrick’s Day). However, my office is not like Cristina’s, so the only chocolates I got were from my Kacho as standard omiyage from his trip this past weekend to Singapore. I will tell you what I did get today – an iPOD. I have been downloading and organizing my music nonstop for the past week. I have about 1,000 sings already. I am dying to go home and set it all up. Maybe by tomorrow, I can tell you how that is going. Love you all. Happy Valentine’s once more.
Friday was to be the beginning of our long weekend. We were planning on traveling up the Pacific coast of Kyushu all the way up to Beppu (a city in North Kyushu known for its hot springs). However, we woke up so tired and late on Friday that we ended up just staying home and catching up on stuff. Later that night, we ended up meeting lots of ALTs in Tomo-chan’s in Osaki for some laughs, great food and drinks. We met Laura’s predecessor, Dave, who was in town and Nick from Shibushi who we had never met before and who we joked didn’t really exist. After some time at Tomo-chan’s, we went to a really nice karaoke place where I have had the best French fries of my life. I am thinking of returning back and just ordering the fries, but I am not really sure if you can do this without going into a karaoke booth. Besides the occasional cherry tomato thrown by Laura, it was your normal 2-hour all you can drink karaoke session. At the end of the night, we crashed back at Laura’s.
Saturday, we woke up and had a slow morning at Laura’s. Once everyone left, it took Cristina a while to find her clothes (It’s not what you are thinking, she changed and decided to put them in a closet no one ever looks in.). Once she put on her clothes (she was wearing some of Laura’s pajamas before that), we went to Kanoya for the perfect hangover remedy – McDonald’s. Then, we roamed Kanoya. We went to an electronic store to get a computer part that I thought would help, but didn’t (so we are returning it tomorrow). We also went to Daiwa (a cross between a pseudo- large department store/pseudo-small mall) where I got a gift for my grandmother for her birthday and Cristina got her office some chocolates for her office mates. Well, buying the gift for my grandmother was some kind of adventure. One of the things is an ornament to which I asked them to take off the metal wire at the end of the string to keep it from being scratched. They reacted with a puzzled look and just stared at me. I started to gesture and they just stared at each other and then looked back at me. After quite a bit of staring, one said that if they take off the wire, how am I going to hang it. So, I gave up and told them to leave it on. Then, they asked me if I wanted it gift wrapped. Since I saw the person before me get hers gift wrapped, I asked for mine gift wrapped just so Cristina could see this. It was hilarious. I felt like if I was in the scene in Love Actually where Mr. Bean is gift wrapping the cheating husband’s gift for his secretary when he does it ever so meticulously and slow. First, they took the three small items I bought and placed them in a clear bag. They rearranged it a couple of times. Mind you, the bag is lying flat and the items will surely shift once the bag is lifted. Then, they ever so slightly fan-fold the top of the bag. Then, they take two matching ribbons to tie a bow around the top. Here comes my favorite part…. Then, the woman has to find the curling scissors, which are different from the cutting scissors (they look exactly the same). She begins to curl the ribbons. Then she stops and tries to control how the curls fall on the package and tries to make the curls fall within each other (the most anal retentive thing I have ever seen a person do). Then they place the package, in a paper gift bag. They seal the bag. They put a sticker and ribbons on the bag. Then they take out a plastic shopping bag. Reinforce the bottom of the plastic shopping bag with tape (mind you, what I bout my grandmother weighs absolutely nothing). Then, they place the wrapped gift inside the plastic shopping bag and tape the top of the shopping bag shut. All that was missing was some lavender and a couple cinnamon sticks. Cristina broke into a fit of laughter at the very end as the woman was getting ready to hand me the bag. The three gifts total barely added up to $10.
Sunday, we spent in hibernation. Cristina felt sick so we just lounged about. I got her some Gatorade from the one store that carries it here in Japan (or the only one that I have found anyway).
Today is Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day to all, especially those who I know are not as lucky as I am. Today, when I got to the office, I was expecting chocolates from all the women (because that is what Valentine’s Day is in Japan). Then, on White Day, March 14th, the men are supposed to give the women chocolates (good marketing since they don’t have a St. Patrick’s Day). However, my office is not like Cristina’s, so the only chocolates I got were from my Kacho as standard omiyage from his trip this past weekend to Singapore. I will tell you what I did get today – an iPOD. I have been downloading and organizing my music nonstop for the past week. I have about 1,000 sings already. I am dying to go home and set it all up. Maybe by tomorrow, I can tell you how that is going. Love you all. Happy Valentine’s once more.
posted by Jesse Montano at
9:35 AM
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