Crazy weekend #3 - Art (i)Bento
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2008
1
69
110
Trip End
Aug 06, 2009
Sendai,
Tohoku,
Japan
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday
Bad - Still depressed over staff change. 6th graders becoming self-conscious. Boring textbook.
So-so - Only 2 classes. Sandy playground.
Good - Warm weather good for recess. Having a 5th grader try to teach me a game. Jump rope with 4th grade girls. Talking about Duel Jewel with the teachers after they saw my wallpaper and having the new teacher next to me say that they are all ikemen (I agree! ^^).
Saturday
Bad - Broken zipper on my backpack so now I can only zip it up one way. Being KY (more on this later), which led to me getting scolded by an old man and embarrassing myself at a band in-store event. Technical difficulties at my belly dance workshop. Realizing that I suck at being a presenter/teacher.
So-so - Venturing into Girl's Garden (what I like to call "Gal Land", more on that later) in Forus. Shakashaka chicken from McDonald's, which is a piece of fried chicken in a bag that you add spices too and shake up so that it comes out seasoned; we need this in the U.S.
Good - Spent an unheard of $4.50 at h.NAOTO. :o Free Alice Nine poster with my CD. Belly dance workshop got lots of viewers/participants and great reviewers. Actually talking to people, and getting some interested in belly dance even if they think it's hard (my theory is that it's especially difficult for Asians because we don't know how to relax our bodies). Seeing some kids looking at my artwork. Henna and Scotland workshops. New wallet that is durable yet not painful to put in my pocket.
Sunday
Bad - Annoying election campaigns over the loudspeaker at 8 AM (I hate politics -_-#). Missing the bus to Sendai and thus missing out on cosplay. Getting lost because I didn't pay attention to where I was going. Art Show over. T_T
So-so - Spent 1.5 hours at the train station in Toyosato but avoided paying $30 for a taxi to the bus stop in Sanuma.
Good - More good reviews on my workshop and my art. ^_^ Walking instead of taking the subway and stumbling across a crazy performance by Pia-no-jaC (www.pia-no-jac.net/). Meeting Pia-no-jaC, who are really nice, and let me take a picture with them. Friendliest Starbucks staff ever (at AER).
KY is a slang term for kuki ga yomenai, which means "can't read the atmosphere". It's obliviousness combined with a bit of randomness and lack of tact. A KY person will say something completely off-topic or inappropriate in a conversation. He/she may also behave a certain way that is out of place or even rude. Japanese culture forces one to always detect the vibe of a room or gauge the listener's response so in a way, it's really bad to be KY (which sucks considering everything here has subtext). However, I've also seen it used playfully, like when the members of a music group tease a certain member for being KY (Junno of KAT-TUN has fully embraced this, to the chagrin of the others). I'm often in my own world and I don't pay attention to my surroundings, which lead to KY moments. To make it worse, I don't exercise common sense because if I had, I wouldn't have bumped into the old man and gotten scolded for not letting him off the elevator first, and I would have figured out that you needed a ticket to go to a band's in-store event. What really sucks is that my KY-ness is sort of a defensive measure against my hypersensitivity, but then I end up taking things personally anyway after I've realized that I am KY. Maybe I should just be KY and carefree all the time, like Junno.
Now about Gal Land. Girl's Garden is the floor on Forus dedicated to gal/gyaru fashion. It's basically the opposite of punk, goth, and Lolita. Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed by the neon colors, kirakira and pikapika, and hip-hop music. I suppose some people feel the same way when they hit up the punk, goth, and Lolita stores. Just to be clear, I have nothing against the gal lifestyle, but it's not for me.
Before I go, I want to thank everyone who came out to see my belly dance workshop and/or my art. Also otsukaresama deshita to all the Art Show volunteers!
Glossary
Ikemen - hot guy
Gal (or gyaru, in Japanese) - a fashion trend that I will eventually elaborate on along with Lolita. In the meantime, look it up.
Kirakira - onomatopoeia for glitter. Pikapika - onomatopoeia for sparkling. (Yes these are sound effects; you see it in manga and anime a lot.)
Otsukaresama deshita - Thank you for your hard work.
