It's that time again...

 

Holla! Time to list the things I love this week! The past few days have been particularly harrowing chapters in the life and times of Bridget Beaver.

The day before yesterday I accidentaly locked my phone... and I needed the PUK code to unlock it. So I wasn't able to use my cell phone and I had to get to a SoftBank store ASAP. Thankfully, I know enough Japanese to be able to say "I accidentally locked my cell phone, and I need a PUK code." I knew that bachelor's degree would be good for something!

TODAY, I was quite innocently riding my bike to school this morning at around 8:00 AM, when a mini white car full of some college aged looking kids (guys and maybe girls in the back seat?) pulled off to the side of the busy main thoroughfare and shouted at me "YOU'RE CUTE." Meanwhile, I'm just trying to be a normal human being, biking to work. Should I take this as a compliment? Was it thier idea of some kind of sick joke? I had no choice but to think the latter. The only thing running through my mind was.. they could hop out of that mini car and kidnap me. This could be really bad. So I said the first thing that popped into my head: 何でやねん！失礼だよ！They looked kind of shocked... and then continued on thier way.
I wasn't prepared for having a fundamental attribution error that early in the morning, but it's over now. If it happens again I'll take down thier license plate number. I might even tell the police. I mean, who stops alongside a busy road to yell "YOU'RE CUTE" at 8 o'clock in the morning??! It's just plain odd, if you ask me. Who DOES that?! The part that bothered me the most was the fact that it was so close to my apartment. I really hope they didn't see where I live. I try to keep that kind of stuff on the QT, just for safety reasons.
They were probably on drugs. Or perhaps they had gone mad with the swine flu.

Then I had a full day of classes at school, since I had to re-schedule the classes that both sections of 4th grade missed due to the all-school 'treasure hunt' activity that took up two periods yesterday.
So... they combined both sections of third grade into one class, gave me a free period during second period, and then I had classes for the rest of the day. I kind of wanted to chew my own leg off by the end of the day. The kids looked like they were about to do the same.
What I learned from this:
If you can help it, don't ever schedule a language class late in the afternoon. The kids are beat from recess and from all the other periods in the day and want to go home. They don't feel like singing songs or repeating words they can't understand.

Anyway. Let's make this day better by thinking about things I love:

★ She's not in Japan, but who cares?! My BFF Kika!

★ At McDonald's in Japan, a smile doesn't cost you a yen! Nice!

 
★ Going shopping in 原宿. I knew about it long before Gwen Stefani did. I don't care if you don't believe me. I knew all about it and its amazing wealth of unique and conspicuous shopping. Even though Gwen popularized it, some people think she's a sell-out, but she's still cool in my book. And so is Harajuku.

★ My awesome 明治神宮前 cell phone strap. Yes I totally posed off of my nametwin, and I hope she doesn't mind that I have the same one as her. I saw hers and I totally fell in love with it.

★ Watching Spongebob Squarepants in Japanese rocks my socks and is far too cool for any school. It brings to mind THIS inside joke: "Geography Lesson! This one is Patrick, and this one is Spongebob!" or.. even WUMBO.. WumBOLOGY... it's first GRADE, Spongebob (I could go on all night with this stuff..)

★ NYLON Japan and the free stuff that comes with each issue!! NYLON is probably my all-time favorite fashion magazine. The fact that there is a Japanese version AND that they come with goodies attached makes it even better.

★ An after school snack of panju and milk tea to go with a good magazine! As for the milk tea, I have had a fondness for it ever since my days at Kansai Gaidai. I picked up the panju at a little cart next to a shrine on my way home from school. I've gone past about a dozen times marvelling at the amazing smell as I ride past on my bicycle, but this time I absolutely had to stop and get some. They are simply amazing. The man and the woman a selling them make them in a griddle that looks like it's for takoyaki. They were still warm when I got them home, too. So... amazing.

  That's all for this week. What do you love?!