10 Things That Have Made Me Giddily Happy Recently: 2012!

It’s been entirely too long since I’ve blogged, so I am going to make this update quick and full of photos. In keeping with tradition, this will be another installment of Things That Have Made Me Giddily Happy Recently!

(In somewhat-chronological order) 

1. Visiting Idaho 

Being home for Christmas and New Year’s means so much to me, and I am incredibly grateful that I could go. I felt especially blessed this year to spend time with my great grandma (pictured in the center) before she passed away. I love you, Grandma!

2.  Visiting Seattle

No trip back is complete without a trip to Seattle. I feel so vibrantly happy and alive when I am back with my friends dancing, eating, singing, playing, adventuring. I love it!

3. Javier

 My sweet man was supposed to permanently leave the island in January, but he was back within the month because of some work issues. He is disappointed to delay his career change, but I am super happy to have a little more time to spend together! :)

   

4. Cooking with Sarra!

Sarra and I have started weekly cooking adventures where we try to make some new delicious (usually Japanese) dish. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week, because I love spending time with Sarra and, let’s not kid, I love food. 

5. Sakura

Cherry blossom season has already come and gone here on the island. I attended two hanami festivals and an illumination in February, and it was a great way to usher in the spring.

6. Sunflowers

On the topic of flowers, there is also an annual sunflower festival in Kitanakagusuku. It was beautiful to see all those sunflowers stretching out around me. If only the sun had been shining at the same time. :) 

7. My Alarm Clock

This little bird has made my balcony its morning perch, and I often wake up to his trilling song. I love it so much that I went and bought bird seed to encourage him to stick around more. It seems to be working! 

 8. International Food Club!

Another food post, I know, but it fuels life and friendships so how can it not make me giddily happy?!  For Chinese New Year, some friends and I put together a fun potluck at my apartment. We all tried our hands at Chinese food, to varying levels of success, and it was so fun and delicious that we decided to make it a monthly event. 

Our second meeting was Thai food and the food people brought was even more delicious than the Chinese food. I made pad thai, and was pretty pleased with the outcome, despite the absence of tamarind paste.

 I also thoroughly enjoyed decorating my apartment for the occasion, and used the excuse to buy a bunch of thai style décor that I’ve had my eye on for awhile. :D 

9. Student Skits

Lady Gaga?

 I always reserve the last few weeks of Oral Communication class for skit. It’s probably my favorite thing to teach because I get to enjoy my students’ creativity, encourage them to be expressive, and shock them with my dramatic outbursts. ;)

10. Western World!!

 Sarra, our friend, Logan, and I learned of this magical place over a year ago but we didn’t make it all the way to Okinawa City to check it out until February. Now, we can’t stay away!! Sarra and I are absolutely obsessed with line dancing and two-steppin’, the atmosphere is really friendly and fun, and we can sing along to almost all the songs (I had no idea I knew so much country). We love it so much that we went twice last weekend and are already itching to get back this Friday!

So there you have it! A short, and hopefully not boring, update of my little life here in Okinawa. I hope to be consistent with blogging again, but my technology curse always seems to rise up and present some obstacle. I am finding new and creative ways around it, though, so keep your eyes open for future updates. :)

Thanks for reading!

  

Open Letters: Japan

I've barely written anything about my life in Japan. Before I came, I was so excited about all the new experiences I would be able to write about, but that hasn't really been the case. I feel like my time here is rushing by and all of these fresh experiences are becoming mundane details of daily life. I want to hang on to the novelty! Or at least have some way of remembering it. :) Since I can't seem to articulate in normal blog fashion, I am going to adopt the "open letter" method, instead. I don't know where this originated, but I'd like to thank Michelle for introducing it to me and this blog for reminding me.

Dear Mister Landlord Man,
You.are.awesome. If I could speak more Japanese, I would tell you that you are the best landlord a 20-something-and-alone-in-a-foreign-country-for-the-first-time girl could ask for. What kind of landlord collects the power and water bills and makes one easy bill for me? And who in the world would round the bill /down/ $5 to $10?!? That's just madness, Mister Landlord Man. Please can I pay you the full bill, especially when I am two days late? No? Okay, well if you insist...
-Your Thankful Gaijin Tenant

Dear Rain,
I don't know what to say to you. I knew you would be here, and I thought I had gotten to know you pretty well in Seattle, but boy was I wrong. How is there so much of you?! Where do you come from?? Try to take a rest now and then so I can do laundry, okay? If you do that, I think we can get along pretty well. I do have some pretty rocking rain boots, after all, and you give me a great excuse to curl up with a book.
Keep up the good work, just control yourself a bit, alright?
-Pink Rainbooted Lady

p.s. If you break one more umbrella, I'm gonna come after you. Consider yourself warned.

Dear Dinner,
Thank you for making living alone a little less lonely. I know you are only a turtle, but your presence is comforting somehow. When I walk in the door and you start swimming around frantically, pressing your nose against the glass, I like to pretend you are excited to see me and not just looking for your... well... dinner. Sorry I haven't bought you a waterfilter yet. There are too many options and they are all confusing. This weekend. I promise.
-The Lady with the Food.

p.s. I am going to change your water tonight. I swear.

Dear Salsa Dancing,
Why can't I enjoy one night of you without being creeped out by weirdos? I am starting to really appreciate your sexy style, but can't I keep some boundaries without having to stiff arm every guy on the dance floor? What I am really saying is, why can't you be more like swing dancing? I miss being able to trust the people I dance with... can't you attract more people like that? You should really re-think your PR people. Just sayin'.
-The Dancer Wanna-Be

Dear Cafe KaGeFu,
You are exactly what I needed. Thank you, thank you, thank you for existing. You are convenient, cozy, cost-effective, and many other positive c-words that I am too coffee-deprived to think of, and if were with you right now, that wouldn't be the case. Thank you for providing me with delicious caffeine-fixes, ambient music, and delicious food. If it weren't for you, I would still be studying Japanese at the Thai restaurant down the street. That's just weird. And wrong.
Also, you should give your waitress a raise. She is incredibly sweet, speaks perfect English, and is sympathetic toward my meager attempts at Japanese. Kazuno-san makes coming to you completely worth it, even if you weren't already everything I need in a local hang-out.
I look forward to seeing you every week, if not more often.
-Hot Cafe Latte, Single Sugar, Extra Foam



Dear Hamabe no Chiya,
Don't be jealous. You are still the most beautiful cafe I have ever met, but your prices are set for tourists, not a local English teacher. I am not ready for your level of financial commitment, I just want a place to be not-at-home with a cup of joe. I promise I will still visit monthly, if my budget allows, and definitely when I have guests.
Can we still be friends?
-me

Dear Apartment,
I love you.
But do you have to be so BIG? I mean, it is nice to have space and all, but how can I possibly keep you clean?! Take that into consideration. Maybe you can develop some sort of self-cleaning function. That'd be great. Thanks.
-Your Cleaning Slave, ReBekha



Dear Japanese,
Must you be so SCARY?? I have one of your alphabets down, but I can't even be happy about that because your all, "Oh whoop-dee-doo! You can read Hiragana? BABIES can do that! I have two more alphabets, and one is so fricking complicated that some native speakers can't even conquer it. Try learning those before you get all stinking cocky, you meager-minded fool!"
It's not very nice, Japanese. Not nice at all.
~ レベッカ

Dear eMobile Internet,
You are so flipping cool. Everyone should be jealous of your awesomeness. Bow down, wireless connections. Bow low.
I never thought I would just be able to plug in a little USB stick and have fast, flawless, wireless internet everywhere I go. Is there no limit to your service area?? If there is, I haven't found it.
I will sing your praises to the masses, eMobile Internet, for you are truly great.
-Your Biggest Fan



Dear Megavideo,
I have not watched 72 minutes!! You lie! You LIE!!
-Glee, Chuck, Grey's, 30 Rock, House, & The Office Watcher

Dear Japanese Girls, Ladies, Women,
How are you always so sweet and adorable?? Teach me your ways.
Sincerely,
~The Awkward American

Dear Seattle (and surrounding areas),
Why are you so great? You make this whole "being away" thing a lot more difficult. I wish you would give up some of those awesome people you are hogging... there are enough to go around, you know.

-A Former Resident

Dear Family,
I miss you most.
Love, love, love,
-Bekha

Beach Streak and Beast Smoke

1.Mibaru Beach

2. "Ghost Beach" (Our nickname for the beach because it is supposedly haunted. I don't know the actual name.)

3. Hiyakuna Beach

4. Gushichan Beach

5. Naminoue Beach (Not the prettiest view in the world...)

6. Hiyakuna Beach (again)

For six straight days, I have gone for a walk on the beach,

and it has made a huge impact on my attitude.

Even though I live in paradise, it is easy to get caught up in the daily blah-blah,

but a trip to the beach can completely refresh my perspective and

remind me just how lucky I am to be here.

Yesterday I sadly broke my 6 day streak.

Or, more accurately, the weather broke it.

Up until Sunday the weather was absolutely perfect: sunshine, blue skies, warmth. It was so warm, in fact, that I got a sunburn on Saturday, but Sunday it started to get gloomy and yesterday it was so wet and cold and windy that I couldn't bear the thought of going anywhere but home. The weather is no better today. Worse, in fact.

I need my sunshine and my paradise back!

In Other News:

My car died. Again. Gah! Driving a car here has been the most

stressful, expensive experience of my life.

My poor Beast.

Last night I was driving my friend to her surprise birthday party. When I stopped at a red light, I noticed white smoke billowing from beneath my hood. I pulled the Beast over and my temperature gauge was through the roof. Luckily, another friend was nearby and was able to pick us up.

On the way home, I decided to try and get it back to my house. I made it about a km from home when the smoke and the heat started up again. Fortunately, I was just a block from my car garage so I parked my beast-baby on their door step and left the key in the ashtray.

My supervisor said she would call this morning and tell them why.

Erg.

Now I really need a walk on the beach!

Subtropical Christmas Part 2: Food!

(If you are receiving this in email form and don't want to receive it anymore, please let me know. I promise not to be offended. :))

This next installment of the Christmas Party story is about the food. We had SO much food! We were eating leftovers for DAYS! I still have some stuffing left!!

I can't type much because of a small fingertip injury, so I will let the pictures do most of the talking.

Truffle pasta by Max.

Amazing cake by MaryAnne.

Japanese Christmas cake from one of my coworkers. They love to eat cake on Christmas. :)

Cocoa with marshmallows and candy canes! Aren't these jars sweet?

Green salad by An Yang.

Cheese platter by Max.

Cookies by Julie (who also made yams, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and more!

Gingerbread house! (Group effort. Mostly An Yang's creation. :D)

And the turkey!! Now this one I have to talk about a bit more. This was my first attempt at making a turkey (which I bought frozen from Costco), and I was so happy with the turnout! Sarra coached me through the preparation process where we removed all the nasty insides and then coated the thing in butter and fresh thyme and rosemary. Then we baked him (we named him Takumi the Turkey) until he was crispy, juicy, tender, and incredible. We had to borrow a confection oven from Julie, and it worked out perfectly.

I can't believe my turkey turned out so well! I already told my mom that I would make the turkey at home from now on. ;)