Sunday, September 16, 2007

Lost Crusades & Lost Popcorn

This week (9.11.07 to 9.15.07)

Since this week has been super busy, it’s been hard to find time to post. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this past week.

On Monday night Lauren and I went to Peacock to do our weekly shopping. She had a hankerin’ for some pork and I decided to pick out some salmon. I’m not joking either because I literally picked out my own piece of fresh salmon. It was just sitting in a box full of ice in the middle of the meat section. They even have little baggies for your fishy steak. I should also mention that you can get a piece of dry ice to take with you on your long walk home; it helps the fish stay cold. I can just imagine Wegman’s handing out chucks of dry ice. I don’t think it would work so well. Lauren also bought this seasoning that you put on your rice. I felt so awesome pouring Pokemon seasoning on my rice. Wait until the kids at school see my Pokemon seasoning!

Tuesday was the day before Christmas. We went to Leah’s old apartment to pick out some extra items for our apartment. Since we only had two plates, we thought it might be a good idea to grab some of the extra dishes; especially if we have guests!

On Wednesday, Lauren and I went to Inspiri, which is located on the outskirts of Tokyo Disney. There is a shopping center there and several popular American restaurants including Planet Hollywood and The Rainforest Café. We decided to go to the latter restaurant for lunch. We also went to the Disney store and check out some of the little shops. I gave in and purchased a really awesome scarf.

My mushroom spaghetti wasn't all that great but the real waffle fries made up for it. I couldn't help but think of Sarah Jane while using the packets of ketchup.

"Christmas" actually occurred on Thursday when Hiroko showed up with our goodies from Leah’s apartment. We got rid of some things that we didn’t need or were broken and accepted the new items with open and loving arms. Our apartment is looking better and better as the days go by. Merry Christmas! Hiroko surprised me with a kids game to help me learn my Japanese characters. The character is An-Pan Man (Bread with Anko or Red Bean inside). Both Lauren and I couldn’t stop laughing as we played with it.

On Friday, Lauren and I became official official aliens as we were presented with our Gaijin Cards. Basically, we have to bring this id card with us wherever we go. We also got our post office savings account cards, which are sort of like limited ATM cards.

It was only until we wanted popcorn on Saturday night (We watched Indian Jones and the Last Crusade while doing work.) that Lauren and I realized we had thrown out 26 packages of popcorn on Thursday along with our broken cabinet. Duh!

2 comments:

WillOfKonoha said...

Hey Sheila,

Is Gaijin a proper term or a slang term?
I was wondering because in Cantonese, everyone calls foreigners gialo....its a slang term cause it literally means ghost people. Does gaijin have any alternative meaning?

Jack

SheilaBeila said...

Jack, in reference to your question. I looked it up on Wikipedia and from what I gathered "gaijin" is a shorted version of another word that means foreigner. So it must be similar to the Cantonese word you mentioned. I was talking to my apartment mate Lauren and she said that the Japanese mentality towards foreigners has softened over the years. When she first came to Japan a few years ago (6 maybe?) it had a more negative connotation then it does today. My boss uses the word, so I don't think she means it in a bad way and I haven't heard anyone on the street point to me and say "Gaijin!". It's amazing how our language can change so much! I hope this answer satisfies you! Keep in touch! <3 sheilabeila