My Dad's Potatoes

It was a while since I had really good Greek food. When Deena told me that there was a Greek restaurant aptly named Santorini in Itaewon, I was totally game and ready to pig out ever since I landed. But we waited till after the DMZ.

Itaewon is the forienger's district in Seoul, kind of like Roppongi in Tokyo. But Itaewon as mega dirty and I told Deena that compared to Roppongi (I have seen pictures and heard stories, but of course this is a empty opinion since I won't be there till June) this place was worse in terms of the "creepy gaijin/ickiness" factor, and she said that some of her coworkers that just went to Tokyo said the same thing. Guess my opinion wasn't that off. Again, will confirm in June.

Deena has been to Santorini before, and I was eagerly awaiting the yumminess that was Greek food. Oh, taramasalata. After many hills and stairs (Itaewon is actually above Seoul, yikes) we finally reached our destination. When I walked in, I felt like I was in Taverna Kyklades, one of the best Greek restaurants in Astoria. Of all the Greek restaurants in New York City, 80-90% of them are in Astoria. Oh, HEAVEN!

The decor was perfect. Deena said that unlike some other foriegn restuarants that take the foriegn food and "Korean-ize" it and then make it worse, this place was practically untouched. I totally agreed. The menu was not only in Korean and English, but also in Greek. I think the owner must be Greek - how else would it be as good as a place in Astoria? Never asked though.

Have to say it was a wee bit expensive - then again, even when I go to the restaurants back home, I never order the feta cheese or spreads appetizers because it's such a rip off even there. Since we arrived during lunch time, we got the lunch specials - SOUVLAKI! And even better, the potatoes that they had were like the ones that my dad makes. You heat up a pot of olive oil, put the potatoes cut into french-fry size and make them like french fries; when done sprinkle parmesan and basil on top. Yum, yum. I love my dad's potatoes, though these weren't cut french-fry style but rather in small round slices. Still delicious and you can tell that they used olive oil - french fries cooked in olive oil tend to be a wee bit soggier than those in regular cooking oil, but the flavor is great. You just have to be a bit more careful and not keep the french fries in the pot too long.

Since the lunch was pretty cheap, Deena and I split a platter of spreads with warm pieces of bread, from left to right: Tzatziki (cucumber/yogurt), Taramasalata (caviar), Eggplant Spread and Skordalia (garlic):

And to top it off, I had a FRAPPE as a dessert. It was about 6 bucks, but it was big, light and sweet just how I like it and best of all, the straw was sticking straight up in the center of the foamy part of the frappe. That's how you know whether or not a frappe is well made. Totally worth it, as I forgot to bring Nescafe and a frappe shaker back to Japan with me.

"In Front of Them All"

Our civilian tour guide told us that he was not so sure whether or not we would make it back to Seoul alive.

Welcome to the DMZ: one of the most trigger-itchy places on the earth. Trigger-itchy because there aren't any gunshots flying around, but I'll bet that Lil' Kim is hankering for a reason to attack Seoul. Why else were there 4 tunnels discovered by the South Koreans, dug by the North Koreans and covered in black paint to look like a coal mine?

I'll get to the tunnel in a minute.

Everyone in the bus chuckled, as we went through our two military checkpoints, but I couldn't help but be a wee bit wary; if one thinks about it, this will probably be the closest ever (God-willing as the saying goes) that I will be in a "war zone." There was only an armistice signed at the end of the Korean War so technically, SK and NK are still at war and the DMZ was created as a buffer. Doesn't mean that "incidents" don't occur. The last one was in 1984, when a Capt. Boniface (the man that Camp Boniface, the American base just outside the DMZ and the point where we had United States MPs join us with the stern "Do NOT point, gesture, talk, ANYTHING to the North Koreans.") wanted to cut down a large yew tree that was blocking Guard Station 4 on the American/SK side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and the "Bridge of No Return." They were accompanied both by SK and NK military peeps, but in the middle of the tree cutting, the NK army lashed out with an axe attack, killing Boniface and another American high-ranking officer. There is a memorial where the tree once stood, with a circular stone base of about 3 feet in diameter, indicating how large the tree was.

Now to the Bridge of No Return. In the 1970s, SK and NK exhanged POWs at this bridge. The POWs had the option of defecting and staying in the country that they were a POW in, or going back home. However, once you step onto that bridge, you can't go back. Hence the name.

Allow me to backtrack a bit. During the many "briefings" that we tourists (of all the places to make a tourist attraction, really!) one of the things I liked was the slogan that the Americans use in the DMZ/Camp Boniface/Joint Security Area (JSA)-Pan Mun Jom (too many names, IMO) was that they are "In Front of Them All" - "them" being the North Koreans and the very high possibilty of enemy attack right under their nose.

I emphasize - right under their bloody noses. The MDL which divides the 4km wide DMZ runs right through the JSA, cutting buildings literally in half. At one point NK soldiers would literally just come up to the border and look right into the face of an SK soldier. These guys (SK soldiers) are INTIMIDATING from here to kingdom come. They stand in the UN building that is used for "talks" between NK and SK and outside on the SK side of the MDL - in order to be considered for a post in the DMZ, they have to have at least 1st-degree black belt tae kwon do. When I stood back in the single file line to go back into the main building on the SK side, I turned around to get one more look at the room. This guy turned his head in my direction, slowly, and so smoothly it was robot-like I think I muttered an "eep!" and turned back around quickly.

An interesting thing about the UN building that we were in was that it straddled the MDL. So when I crossed to the other side of the building, I was technically in North Korea. Hello, Kim Jung-Il. One interesting factoid that I learned: some of the roadsigns in NK that indicate how many kilometers to your destination don't inidcate how many kilometers to the DMZ (and effectively, the end of NK) - they indicate how many kilometers to Seoul. Creepy stuff.

After the 1 hour tour in the JSA, lunch and another briefing, we headed to the "3rd Tunnel." In the 1970s, SK discovered that NK was building tunnels to prepare for an invasion of Seoul and SK, like I said. Now, we can walk 73m below ground and go into the tunnel for ourselves. As with most places on the DMZ tour, we couldn't take pictures; the MPs and our civilian guide told us when and when not to. We had to wear hardhats in the tunnel - it sort of reminded me of the Caves of Diro near Sparta, where I with my mom and sister rode a boat propelled only by a stick a la Venetian gondolier, with the boatman pushing off the walls or the ceilings. Good thing I did wear a helmet - the ceiling was low, and I am tall so my head actually got knocked about and very far back a few times. It didn't hurt, it was rather the shock of it.

So at the end of the day, and with my trip to the War Museum the day before, I was quite Korean War-ed out, and filled with enough military shorthand and acronyms to maybe give Cat a run for her money - a quick summary of the trip:

"When I went to the DMZ, I visited the JSA and crossed the MDL in a UN building under the eye of a ROK soldier and an MP."

How Can I Sing, "It's A Small World, After All" in Korean?

Deena and I came to the conclusion that Everland is the Korean version of Disneyland. Note that we say DisneyLAND, not DisneyWORLD. Disney World is much bigger (and better in my opinion, though I have not been to Disneyland yet since I am an East Coaster) than Disneyland. Everland is miniscule compared to Disney World, even though it is comprised of more sections than the one we went to.

Every time I think of anything related to Disney, the tune "It's A Small World, After All" and the corresponding ride from the Magic Kingdom pops into my head. I mentioned that I have an uncle that works for Disney and thus get in for free, so you can imagine that I have been on the ride at least 5 times and no more than 10. It sort of sticks - those little animatronic kids are cute, and they don't run "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" because it cost too much to maintain. Said uncle is working on getting me a ticket to Tokyo Disney; to my surprise, TD isn't actually owned by Disney in the States outright - they just licensed the name so the rule might be a bit different. No matter - if I don't get the ticket, I am still going.

Everland has its own share of cute, fuzzy characters, the most memorable being this really fat, round sheep that I got in a cell-phone charm version. I was going to keep it for myself, but figured my sister would appreciate it more - and she did, by the squeals of delight heard over Skype as I showed her via my webcam. Not like they walk around and give autographs to the little kids. According to Deena, Everland is very popular with the kids around the area - her kindergarten charges always talk about it and have season passes. With the different parks that are open different times of the year (including a waterpark) and the fact that its about $100 for a yearly pass it's not that expensive and a good way to keep the kids occupied, especially when school is out.

Which does not mean that Everland is for people under the age of 13. When Deena and I were waiting on line for this ride that not only rocks back and forth, but spins 360 degrees at the same time, there were plently of high school and college age kids around. There are rollercoasters a la Six Flags (none of which are like Kinga Ka, which I refuse to ride on, and Mel has been on twice in a row) but Deena and I were a bit wary of Korean rollercoasters. So after the first ride, we then proceeded to the one next door, an American rodeo theme ride (as we were in the "American" part of Everland, while the European part looks like a cartoon-y Switzerland) and proceeded to get extreme headaches, and my stomach lurched to somewhere in my esophagus and stayed there for the rest of the day.

So we decided to pursue tamer attractions, and went on a "safari" (which was kinda cool since the lions were like right up in front of the safari bus we were on in the enclosure) and looked at all the zoo animals. There was a parade (what theme park DOESN'T have one?) but the interesting thing was that all of the people in the parade were foriegners, and they all had blond wigs.

After the (sort of lame) parade, Deena and I went on the carousel. I like carousels - regardless of which carousel I am on and where I am, I am reminded of the $1.50 carousel in Central Park, near the 65th street entrance. Which reminds me - next time I am in NYC, I am due in for a ride on the carousel, since I did not get to ice skate at Wollman Rink (even though the last time I skated I was 5, at the Queens rink in Flushing-Meadows Park) this past Christmas.

The Men With the Spinning Horsetail Hats

Today, I went with Deena and a few of her friends from work to the Korean Folk Village. As with most of the attractions outside Seoul, Deena lives close by as she is in Yongin City, but in order to get to the places by public transportation, we have to go into Seoul to get to the place. It's the ultimate double-back and a bit annoying.

The Korean Folk Village was designed to look well, just like a village in Korea back in the day. It was complete with dirt roads, thatch-roof huts, pigs, pheasants and people making traditional Korean crafts.

However, this is the 21st century and while striing for some historical accuracy, places such as the Korean folk Village have their novelties as well so that everyone can be entertained. Even the bratty, snot-nosed kids that were painted on the banners on the bridge leading up to the kiddie part of Korean Folk Village, which was designed with Playland-like attractions, such as a mini Ferris Wheel, bumper cars and a carousel. We had to pay extra to go on the rides, and since I only budgeted for the basic pass, I didn't go on the rides.

We had lunch at an open-air food court where you first bought meal tickets, then went to the particular booth that made the specific food that you ordered. I ordered a leek pancake, which was leeks in this sort of batter and made into a pancake. One thing I noticed is that Koreans like to cook with ALOT of oil it seems. The woman jsut kept on pounding the cooking oil into the pancake mound and spreading it out, whereas I know that I could have made the same pancake with a helluva lot less cooking oil. It tasted rather greasy, but it was very good.

After lunch, we all headed over to the performance area and saw traditional Korean farmer's dance, seesaw jumping (where girls stood on a seesaw and using each other's weight, propelled themselves into the air) a tightrope walker and horse performances. It felt like a circus at times, but the tricks were very well done. My favorite part was when, in the farmers dance, men wearing horsetail hats spun the rod that connected the tail and the hat and sent the tail swirling, while at the same time propelling themselves about the performance ring like gymnasts.

A Museum Without Walls, But Alot of Repeat Exhibitions

On Sunday, Deena, Geraldine and I went to Gyeongju, a city designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since it was the capital of the Korean Silla Dynasty. It is 4 hours outside Seoul, near Busan and the Korean version of Kyoto.

On the bus ride, I got a decent look at the Korean countryside - it's more flat than Japan, but still rather mountainous. When the three of us got there, we hightailed it to the Tourist Information Center, got some information and walked around. We first got on the local bus to Bulgaska, a Buddhist temple with various levels, and VERY STEEP STAIRS. I am terrified of stairs. Extremely terrified. So terrified, that I made Deena hold my hand while I went down the first few steps, then I held on to each step behind me while I went down. I even considered going down on my butt. Of course, while Deena and I went down and passed some Koreans going up, we got the obligatory, "Hello, where are you from?" questions.

Unfortunately, we just missed the shuttle bus to some grotto that was an hour's walk, or another hour's wait for the next shuttle. So we decided to skip the grotto and head onto the National Museum and Anapji Pond, a palace site. The museum was very well done and nicely curated, with detailed English explanations - I compared it to my experience at the Kyoto National Museum a week before.

After the museum we walked. Alot. Again. My poor knees and shoulders. It was all good - but the one thing with Gyeong-ju was that yes, its very vast and very open, very different from Seoul, but we covered most of the basics and the major stuff within three hours. Which included tomb mounds of dead kings, one of which we could go inside and was quite creepy if you think of it as "Hmm...we are in a dead person's coffin." Also the oldest observatory "in the Orient" as per the little guidebook that I got at the TIC which was like a mound of stones in the shape of a flat-topped sake bottle no more than three meters high. So since we were done, we went back to the bus station and got our bus tickets changed. Good thing too - with the traffic because of Lunar New Year, it took us over 6 hours to get back to Seoul.

Before we went onto the subway, I had to go to the bathroom. While walking in the bus terminal, this little Korean man took one looked at me, yelled at me in Korean, then walked off. It was rather disconcerting.

This is NOT Seoul. This is Flushing.

Queens is one of the most diverse counties in the United States. Once, in the NYTimes, there was an article about it, with the dozens of flags representing the myraids of nationalities in the shape of the borough.

Astoria - Greece
Woodside - Ireland
Jackson Heights/East Elmhurst - Colombia, Ecuador, India

etc. etc. You get my point.

Of course, the above said places are obvious in their ethnicities, but no place is Queens is more obvious in its nationality than Flushing. That place is Korean, right down to the local McDonald's that serves rice in addition to French Fries.

This past Thursday, I didn't fly to Seoul. I went back to Flushing, and it only took me two hours.

Of course, I went to Seoul. What I am saying is that Seoul is eerily like Flushing, from the office buildings covered in signs from top to bottom to the trash in the street because there are simply just too many people.

The kimchi is a wee bit too spicy for me - I prefer the Japanese version. I left my apartment at 12:35pm and went to the airport via the MK Sky Gate Shuttle anf didn;t get to Deena's apartment unti about 10:30pm because of traffic. That is a bit pathetic, considerting that the flight was only 1 and a half hours out of that 10 hour haul. This is what you get when you live really far from the airports. The bus was quite comfy though and really cheap - 11,000 won which is about $11.

We met up with her friend Geraldine and then went to get dinner at this Korean place and had chicken ghalbi. So I have eaten actual Korean food by now, but I am totally unfamiliar with it so I am a bit wary. To top it off, Deena actually lives near a restaurant that specializes in DOG meat. Oh, gross and poor dogs.

On my first full day, we went to Insadong, the old neighborhood in Seoul and walked around. Before we went to a palace (I forgot the name but it was really long and ends in "-dong") we had lunch at a McDonald's. In Korea, they actually charge you more if you take the food out, use plastic bags at the supermarket and take out coffee and other drinks at places like Starbucks, because they actually use real cups in the places. At McDonald's we had plastic cups that have their own special garbage can. There are so many Western chains here it's ridiculous; according to Deena, there are probably more Starbucks in Seoul than in NYC. I just checked on the Starbucks site: 200 about give or take in NYC proper and 135 in Seoul. Pretty close if you ask me. There are only about no more than 10 Starbucks in Kyoto. Crazy.

Before the tour of the palace, Deena and I walked about. I borrowed her Converses becasue I wanted to wear sneakers and I didn't bring my Asics because of fear that my suitcase would go over the 20kilo weight limit. I ended up with a huge blister on my right pinky toe and very achy legs and feet becasue the tour of the palace was a 2.5km hike. And it was not flat.

By the end of the day we got so exhausted we decided to head on back to Suji where Deena lives, an hour outside Seoul. Not even halfway through, the bus stopped and the driver ordered us all to get off. Turns out there was some sort of emergency and the driver called another bus on the route to pick us up. The bus was so crowded, we ended up standing for another hour and a half in the traffic. I was so exhausted, I was ready to drop. There is a;ways traffic going into Suji. Luckily, there was a Korean man who spoke English and explained the situation to us since we were totally clueless.

To be honest, I was ready to go into a panic; going to Korea was my first time travelling or living in a country where I knew not one shred of the language, not even how to say hello. I can say hello in Chinese, for crying out loud. Add to the fact that the streets in Seoul are even crazier than Japan's and it makes for one rather nervous traveller. People have come up to me to just say hello - they don't do that in Japan and it sort of caught me off guard. Plus, I think I stick out even more in Seoul than in Kyoto; one can chalk it up to that there are alot of tourists in Kyoto, but there are also ALOT of foriegn students, since Kyoto is like Philly - it has the highest concentration of students per square kilometer. And to top it all off, I was homesick.

For Japan.

That totally took me off guard. I got this nagging feeling during my first day in Seoul, and was totally shocked. Whou would have thought? My previous experience living abroad sort of ended in a bit of a disaster, so I wasn't really expecting much in terms of "missing the place" for Japan. But wow - I am homesick for my teeny little apartment, my bike, riding on Kyoto streets along the river and everything else in Japan. And that is just after living here for five months. I can only imagine what the feeling will be like in 13 months from now.

Oh. Holy. Crap. I ONLY have thirteen months left.

A Heart of Jam

Happy Valentines Day!

Chen came by since I had invited her over for brunch and I made pancakes. We both realized that it was Valentine's Day; since we had not chocolate, just syrup, butter, and strawberry jam, we improvised:



And just like chocolate, the pancake was very yummy.

Valentine's Day is done a bit differently in Japan. For starters, it's not really a couple's holiday in the sense that both partners take part in buying gifts for one another, going out to dinner etc. etc. There are actual, prescribed rules for Japan Valentine's Day:



1) If you are single and female you give chocolate that is not too expensive (i.e. Kit-Kat, Snickers, M&M's, 100yen chocolate from QQ Shop) to give to your guy friends, and other men in your life. This can range from your father, your boss or your advisor.
2) If you are single, female and you like a particular guy then you give him a little special chocolate in addition to the Kit-Kats that everyone gets - or is it just that special guy? I am thinking the latter, bit fuzzy here.
3) If you are female and in a relationship, then you give the one you love VERY expensive, VERY special chocolate.

Said chocolate is the type that you get at department stores, in the special events floor. Alisa had gone to one of the department stores in Osaka and gorged on the free samples. On her advice (and good one at that!) I went to the JR Isetan after the kimono taiken and got my chocolate fix. There were hundreds of women going crazy for little bitty pieces of overpriced chocolate from around the world, apparently.

But on February 14, it's all the women that go gaga and shop for all the chocolate that is to be found in Japan. What do the guys do?

Here we enter the world of "Funky Holidays That Only The Japanese Could Make Up." It totally trumps the American greeting card industry and their penchant for designating my birthday as "Happy Peanut Day" or something of the sort.

Enter White Day, Marc h 14. Exactly one month later, all the guys who got chocolate are required to reciprocate back to the ladies. As to how mandatory this is, I don't know. If the guy who got chocolate from a girl who like him and wants to tell her the same thing, then chocolate of the same grade is given back. How sweet - they then become sweeties over sweets.

Kimono, Kimono...HEIMONA!

There is a scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (you know you want to lay on the jokes, I know) where Toula Portakalos is reminiscing on her childhood:

Elementary School: the horror of Greek school (trust me and every Greek kid in Astoria, it's pretty bad) and "O Nikos ehei ena katsiki."

Junior High School: Her father daring her friends to give him "Any word and I can tell you that it comes from Greek."

Well, one of her friends took the dare and said, "What about 'kimono'?"

He pauses. "Ah I know! "HEIMONA" What do you wear in the winter? A rrrrrrrrrrrobe."

Winter being "heimona" and the robe a kimono.

Today, I went to a Kimono Taiken at Kyoto Station sponsored by the Kyoto International Prefectural Center. I had been originally denied to attend it because you had to apply for it. But I had a call back and due to a cancellation I was able to attend.

My kimono was a deep teal blue with a gold obi, both in a cherry blossom pattern. The zori were a bit uncomfortable and after putting on the kimono - I got to tie the obi by myself! - and began to walk around, I realized that I needed to slow the pace down.

All of us assembled on the grand staircase of Kyoto Station - quite a scene, 30 gaijin in kimono posing for pictures. A lot of people just stopped in their tracks and stared. Alot of the people wanted to take pcitures with me - those that were also wearing the kimono as well. Overall, it was a very nice experience - my obi wasn't heavy at all (obviously it wasn't the one for maiko!) although it did get a bit hot around the middle with the sashes, the folded kimono and the obi wrapping around you an all.

While we were playing the card games (remember the karuta from a previous post) a man was walking around and taking pictures of us. Turns out he was from the Kyoto Shinbun and proceeded to interview several of us, myself included. The Japanese version of the article is below, and this is the picture in the paper (I am on the far left):

色鮮やかな着物に笑み
下京　留学生ら着付け体験

外国人を対象にした着物の着付け体験教室が１１日、京都市下京区の府国際センターで開かれ、府内在住の留学生や外国人ら約３０人が日本の和装文化に親しんだ。
　同センターの企画に、京都和装産業振興財団が協力して開催した。新装きもの学院（下京区）の谷正美院長ら講師５人が、洋服と異なり、身長を問わず合わせられる着物の魅力や、若者の和装離や浴衣ブームなど和装をとりまく現状を説明。米国や中国、フランス、ウクライナなど各国出身の若者が、講師に手取り足取り指導を受け、着付けに取り組んだ。
　参加者は、すその長さの調整やえり合わせなどに戸惑いながらも、色鮮やかな着物に身を包むと、笑みがこぼれた。着物姿で京都駅ビルの大階段で記念撮影したり、かるた大会を楽しみ、日本文化を満喫した。
　ニュージーランド出身の英語教師ダン・ハリスさん(25)は「初めてだったが面白かった。とても着やすいし、快適」と喜んでいた。

Now, I want to wear a kimono for hanami - cherry blosson season. Chen says they are a bit expensive, but there are used kimono shops everywhere, its Kyoto after all!

One Fine Day

Saturday was such I nice day and for once, I did not have anything planned. No "To Do Lists" no laundry, no cleaning of apartment (postponed to the day before I leave for Korea) no grocery shopping.

Nothing, nothing.

I was faced with the prospect of a somewhat quiet day in my apartment playing Final Fantasy on my DS or piddling away on the internet, when I remembered that there was a special exhibition of the Imperial Palace screens at the Kyoto National Musuem. It ends on the 18th and since I will be in Korea then, Saturday was a very good day to go, indeed. I woke up in the morning and it was sunny and clear.

I rode my bike down to Shichi-jo and was very proud of myself, as I wasn't huffing, puffing or sweating like a pig when I finally arrived. Even though it was the 2nd Saturday of the month where the museum was free (2nd and 4th Saturdays), I paid 800yen (student discount) so that I could attend the special exhibition.


The special exhibition hall was extremely crowded and quiet at the same time. There wasn't much in English - just the title of the screen and who made it - so after a quick glance at the placard and then a look at the screens I moved on. There were audio guides but they were in Japanese as well.

I went to the main collections hall and was politely reminded that there was no photography, even when I was just outside the galleries. Pfft. Oh well. The museum overall was no Met but it was enjoyable. I thought it was going to be alot bigger, but I covered it all in about 2 hours.

After the museum, I began to make my trek back uptown but made an impromptu stop at Yasaka Jinja. The day was really nice so I figured it was a good time to check the shrine out. I stopped at a stall and got some takoyaki and was treated to a pleasant scene: a traditional Japanese wedding complete with the bride in head-to-toe white kimono with a demure and yet melancholic look at the same time.

I then headed up to San-jo where I went to Ogawa Coffee and had a cappucino and a green tea roll cake. I worked on reading "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in Japanese while at the cafe. I stayed there for about an hour and then had a realization: Book-Off, the discount bookstore that also has a branch in NYC was right across the river from Ogawa and on my way home. I had been meaning to get "Memoirs of a Geisha" in Japanese so I went to check out and see if they had it. After a little difficulty, I got both parts of the book (in Japan, books are small so they break larger books into little pieces) and even picked up "The Joy Luck Club" for 105yen.

Woman In Black

Every hear of the infamous "Black American Express" card? You know, the one that supposedly comes in its own chaffeured (sp?) limousine and in a black box and is only for the people that spend on their original Amex's over $250,000 a year?

You do get your own personal concierge with direct email and phone in addition to other perks that I have no use of. I just look foward to the day when I can go to J.Crew and maybe buy a sweater without having to wait for a sale. However, I know that even if that day comes, I will still wait for the sale.

I wonder, how someone in Japan could get such a card especially when alot of the retailers don't accept credit cards and when they do, it's not usually American Express. Then again, those kinds of people shop at Gucci, Apple Store, Prada, Louis Vuitton (biggest market for the company outside of France is Japan), Hermes, etc. etc. without batting an eye.

The Black one has always remained elusive. That is, until yesterday:

I met up with Mayuko at the Apple Store in Osaka's Shinsaibashi area and proceeded to decide upon the orange iPod shuffle (more burnt orange than citrusy orange) after multiple incidents with triggering the alarm on those things. We then ate ramen (YUMMY, kimchi!) and walked around the arcades. Shinsaibashi is my new favorite shopping area and probably one of the very few places that I like in Osaka.

We ended up at Zara - I always knew that they had sales going on and I just wanted to see what they had on offer since that was one of the very few stores in Japan (the second being the Gap and the third maybe Uniqlo) that would have stuff in my size. Lo and behold, they list the American sizes in addition to the Japanese. I found the perfect spring coat that fulfilled my "Audrey Hepburn" requirements: short, interesting buttons and 3/4 sleeves. I will wait on it though and see what there is to offer in Korea.

I did find a pair of capri leggings on sale - I needed a new pair - and this long, light airy scarf that feels like a cotton-silk blend. Original price: 6200 yen. I paid: 945 yen. Awesome. I am starting to like Zara very much - it has changed alot from when I first stepped into one of the many Zara's in Athens back in 2002.

While I was looking for a register, I saw something in the little tray that they use here to put the money:

the black American Express. The Centurion American Express. In retrospect, I wonder if its the titanium version, since they only introduced those last year.

The amount shown charged on the cash register?

61,000yen. That is about 600 dollars.

The person who owned the card and charged all that money?

A middle-aged woman dressed all in black. complete with the Chanel earrings, fake Hermes Kelly bag, real Louis Vuitton wallet, hot-pink pimped out cellphone, fake hair scrunchie, and the hideous Japanese manicure (where they glue on rhinestones in addition to the glitter nailpolish). Even Mayuko remarked that she was too old to be pulling stuff off like that, and shopping at Zara to boot.

Then again, Japan is the home of Princess Tenko, nee TMariko Itakura - the illusionist whose passport Kim Jong-Il once siezed during a visit to Korth Korea because he obsesses over her - who is obligated to "look like 24 forever," as per her contract with Mattel (yeah the same ones who own Barbie). She started performing in 1977 as a teenager, and was born in 1959. It's now 2007. Do the math and you see another example of Japan's youth obsessed culture.

京都で試みる新しい事

　　　２００６年１０月初めて日本へ来たので、少し心配だった。日本について読んだが、でも何も生活について知らなかった。確かに知っていた事は研究と日本語だけである。しかし、日本に行くのは勉強に加えて、また新しい事を試みるチャンスであった。
　　 研究興味に加えて、日本の邦楽にも興味がある。２００４年にロンドンに留学した時、琴の音楽を初めて聞いた。日本へ来る前に、琴の演奏のし方を学びたいと決定した。友達のおかげで、琴を教える人を見つけられた。平和的なので、琴の音楽が好き。なかなか眠れない時、iPodで琴の音楽を聞く。それから、音楽を聞くと、心の緊張がほぐれる。実際は、文部省のインタビューの前に、琴の音楽を聞いて、安心した。
　　　レッスンは楽しいけど、右手より左手の方をよく使うので時々難しい。右手だけで琴を演奏することができる。練習すればするほど、右手を使うことができる。私は挑戦が好きで、琴を演奏するのは、まさしく挑戦である。４月に立命館大学に入学すると、邦楽部に入るつもりであった。
　　　食べ物は費用にかかわらず国の文化の１つの重要な部分である。だから、機会があれば、私は新しい食べ物を食べる。日本に住んでいる最初の５か月、多くの新しい食べ物を食べたが、一番覚えているのは「納豆」と「河豚」と言う食べ物である。
三条で「かいてん寿司」というレストランで納豆を食べた。それはおにぎりにあった。いつもカメラを持って来るので、納豆おにぎりを食べる前に、写真を取った。アメリカに住んでいる友達と家族に毎週Eメールで写真を出すから、その面白い食べ物を見せたかった。つまり、多くの写真を取る。
　最初は、味が別に悪くないと思った。でも、驚いたことに、食べながら、味がとても悪くなった！しかし、おにぎりは全部食べた。おかしな顔をしたので、ともだちがみんなわっと笑い出した。やっぱり嫌いなので、決して納豆のような食べ物をもう食べないわけです。
　　　納豆に比べて、河豚を食べる経験が楽しかった。１１月に大阪で「まゆこ」という同じ大学を卒業したの友達に会った。まゆこちゃんは大阪で生まれたから大阪で多くの有名なレストランを知っている。JR大阪駅で会った時、私に「晩ご飯に何を食べたい？河豚を聞いたことがあるの？」と言った。河豚について読んだことがあるが、まだ食べたことがない。ちょっと心配でも、まゆこちゃんに「うん、面白そう！」と言った。
　　　５時間ぐらい大阪の回りを歩いた後、まゆこちゃんのマンションに着いた。とても疲れた！そこで、まゆこちゃんのお母さんに会って、少し休んだ。６時ぐらいに、河豚のレストランに一緒に行った。レストランは簡単な飾りつけであった。でも、すごかった。そのレストランは本当に日本的なレストランである。まゆこちゃんの家族は２５年ぐらいそのレストランに行っていった。2階の個室でゆかに座った。ゆかに座ることは楽しいことは楽しいですが、難しい。ことレッスンもゆかにすわるのに、いつも困っている。まだゆかに座ることに慣れない。しかし、必ずしもゆかに座らないというわけではない。
　　　もちろん、多くの河豚写真を取った。河豚がおいしいそうであった。そして、河豚のさしみやなべがあった。河豚を食べるのは初めてなので、何から食べるか知らなかった。まゆこちゃんは私を手伝ってくれた。最初は、ちょっとこわかった。彼女は食べ方を説明して、お母さんも色々な河豚の形を説明した。説明の後、あまりこわくなくなって、河豚を全部食べた。そして、特別な酒を飲んでみた。確か酒と河豚を一緒に作ったと思う。河豚を食べる経験が楽しくて、よかった。その経験を忘れたくない。
　　　日本の休日と祭りは、私にまた新しい事を試みる機会を与えた。例えば、節分に、平安神宮でまめもつかんだし、吉田神社で手相を見てもらった。初めての手相を見てもらった。手のひらはコンピュータに読まれて、プリントに「少し運動をしなければならない」と書いてある。それから、占い師によって、９３歳まで生きて、母方の祖母に守られる。びっくりした！
　　　もちろん、もっとたくさん話すことがある。これまでの経験を思い出させる多くの写真がある。例えば、カラオケや、一人で和食を作るの事である。その経験がニューヨークで出きないので、特別になった。新しい事を試みることは楽しみである。

Sing, Sing!

So I finally sucked it up and overcame my "I hate karaoke" mantra.

Ingram texted me the other day asking if I wanted to go to karaoke on Monday (today). Since that was the day of my last test, relatively cheap and I wanted a way to unwind from all the exam broo-ha-ha, I figured why not. Suck it up and sing.

The playlist, as far as I can remember:

"Bye, Bye Bye"
"Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"
"As Long as You Love Me"
"Twist & Shout"
"House of Velocity"
"Man! I Feel Like a Woman"
"Addicted"
"We Will Rock You"
"Spice Up Your Life"
"Please Mr. Postman"
"Material Girl"
"Barbie Girl"
"Around the World"

The first song that I sang was "Spice Up Your Life" by the Spice Girls (might as well sing the stupidest sngs out there) but it's a hard song to do karaoke to, so I got a little dicsouraged. Then I saw ATC's "Around the World," and started to get into it. Everyone really got into "Addicted" by Simple Plan, but we (the Americans/Canadian amongst us) were aghast at the spelling mistake in the lyrics:

"I'm a d*ck, I'm addicted to you"

That was HILARIOUS - we lost our momento after the second time that popped up. Oh, Engrish. Gotta love it. Next time I go to karaoke I am going to make sure that song is up - not only so that I can sing along to it, because it's a really good song to karaoke to - but to take a picture of that particular line and post it on this site that calls for "Engrish" submissions. Hehe.

I had to leave early, but literally, people can stay there for HOURS. There is a one drink minimum but they also have food and dessert as well. The room that we were in was really cool - at first it seems like a normal room with wallpapered walls, but when the lights dimmed and the blacklights turned on:


Glow in the dark sea theme! I felt like I was in an aquarium.

Too Many Titles, Too Much Harry Potter

Ok, so Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter is doing the "full monty" in the West End. And "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" (cue the eery Halloween "OoOoO" music) is coming out July 21. Just like I did last time, I am going to stand on line at midnight and attend a Harry Potter party provided I am back home. I went to one for the 6th book and got the illustrator of the covers to autograph my sister's nice versions of 4,5 and 6. She has two sets: one that is literally in pieces (at least 4 and 5) to read and another set off first editions, hardcover (three of which are now autographed) for no one else to touch and is in separate plastic bags.

However, I am more concerned with what the heck the name of the 5th book in the series was - I totally forgot. Since Deena was on Skype, I began the following conversation after about 10 minutes of silence, since we (at least me, dunno about her) prefer to have Skype on since it's one less person that we have to type im's to. They can get messy, especially when you are talking to 6 people at the same time. Here is a reiteration of our Skype conversation (since it wasn't iChat it's not verbatim but you get the gist):

M: Oh, drat what's the name of the 5th book?
D: Umm..."Order of the Phoenix"
M: No, that's not it - that's the 6th book! Do you realize how pathetic we are, knowing that we are both talking about Harry Potter without having to say "Harry Potter?"
D: It is the "Order of the Phoenix."
M: Wait so what was the 4th book then?
D: The Goblet of Fire.
M: Oh drat...I'm confused, which movie is coming out next summer then - I thought it was the 6th book?
D: No...it's Order of the Phoenix that is coming out. Half-Blood Prince is number 6.
M: (head in hands) Ugh, I feel so stupid...

Got Demons? Use Mame.

This past weekend was Setsubun. According to Wikipedia, Setsubun is described as follows:

"In Japan, Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of each season. The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春), celebrated yearly on February 3. In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be thought of (and indeed was previously thought of) as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. "

You can't get any more succinct than that.

Setsubun on a popular level is also a chance for really really big street festivals. Since I live near Yoshida Jinja, I got to see all the hoopla up close and not have to worry about rushing to find a bathroom. ;-) According to my teachers, Yoshida is the most famous shrine for Setsubun, and has special omikuji (fortune papers) inside little daruma dolls that are only at Yoshida. I got myself one and it said "Daikichi" - which is the best of luck! I also got a normal paper omikuji which said "kichi" (average) so I guess it all balances out and looks like I will have a decent year.

But the street fairs were a ton of fun. I ate myself silly! I had okonomiyaki, yakisoba, choco-banana, choco-ichigo, kobe-beef-on-a-stick, takoyaki, 2 crepes and a doughy fish with bacon and egg. Yum yum! Stall food is soo good but rather expensive.

On the first day of Setsubun, Colleen and I were at Yoshida in the evening for Tsuinashiki, a special procession done by people dressed in Oni (demon) costumes and Shinto priests - there is one big Oni and a bunch of smaller ones, and then the big Oni drives out the smaller Oni. This was more of a prelude to what was going to happen the next day which was the real Setsubun. Everyone that I knew was at the Friday night events - it was so crowded that at one point I ended up in front of a group of kindergarteners. One took a look at me and said pretty loudly: "Ah! Gaijin da!" (Ah! It's a forienger!) There were not alot of foreign faces - I practically knew most of them since they were all students at Kyodai - but I thought it was kind of intersting how my sheer presence can make a little kid exclaim rather loudly (it was quite noisy at Yoshida).

So the next day (Saturday) Colleen and I trekked on our bikes to Heian Jingu for the mame-throwing. Traditionally, you are supposed to throw mame whilst yelling "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons out! Blessing in!). I found out on the net that this was going to happen at Heian Jingu at 3:00pm. Even though I did research on Heian Jingu and saw some photos, I was totally unprepared for the sheer ostentatiousness of the place. The torii was huge - and I think even though its on a smaller scale than the Daidairi, it sure as hell sticks out alot more than your typical Shinto shrine.


Colleen and I are walking around, trying to figure out what was going to happen and why the people were just standing on two sides of the courtyard. We soon got our answer: Heian Jingu did its own version of driving out the demons. After the demons were driven out of the compound, the barricades holding the crowd back were let away and total chaos ensued. For all the reputation of Japanese being orderly, they sure as hell went nuts for a bunch of soybeans in packets! Colleen and I then went closer to the crowd (after they ran to the main stage) to just take pictures of the chaos. Turns out, a packet of mame bounced off an obaa-san's head and dropped at my feet. In a split-second, I shot down and grabbed it! total impulse but I figured hey why not, I am in the midst of the corwd and being shoved I might as well get some mame. I shared the packet with Colleen, even though that for good luck I am supposed to eat one mame bean for each year that I am, plus one for good luck - 23.

Some of the people that were throwing out the mame packets were boring old officials and old ladies with poorly died hair in kimono. However, three of them were real maiko. Turns out, at the larger shrines across Japan, celebrities and famous sumo wrestlers and other personalities go to the shrines and toss mame packets to the crowd. So in kyoto, the local celebreties are the maiko and geiko.

After the crazy Japanese run, Colleen and I then went to Mibu-Dera to see a play about Setsubun and met up with her friend Charlie. Even though it was Kyogen, the play was rather boring. After, I rode my bike back to my apartment and met up with Mayuko who was back in Japan. We are going to meet up in Osaka at the Apple store this Thursday to get my iPod shuffle (in orange! My iPod died twice on me yesterday). Ate some more, walked around Yoshida some more and then went back home because my body was so tired from the long bike ride.

Before I left, I had my palm read by computer - it was in English. In addition to the printout that I got, a man read my palm and Mayuko translated for me. He said:

1) That I will live till 93 and be healthy;
2) I have "so much good luck" because my maternal grandmother (who is alive still) is protecting me;
3) And that I had better marry the guy that I am with since he is a very good match with me.