tag:www.srah.net,2010:/mt421//feed/japan 2010-09-06T19:14:58Z Movable Type 4.21-en 36 1 36 tag:www.srah.net,2008:/weblog//1.4897 2008-09-24T23:51:12Z 2008-12-03T15:02:03Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Today's China update: I saw my first squat toilet in China! Fortunately, I checked the next stall over and that had the other kind of toilet, so I was spared from having to use it. Bringing tissues and hand sanitizer was handy, though, as there was no TP or soap.I've refined my answer to "is there anything you don't eat" to "anything with the eyes still on it" and "anything that's still alive". Still haven't been confronted with these yet, but that's because I tell people up front. The little kid next to me at lunch was eating a crispy... tag:www.srah.net,2008:/weblog//1.4858 2008-07-02T02:45:18Z 2008-09-29T22:58:49Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog J'ai commencé un article en arabe aujourd'hui, mais l'arabe me fait mal à la tête et je suis trop fatiguée pour y continuer. Demain l'arabe, alors! Comme je suis fatiguée, je ne vais même pas vous dire quelque chose d'originale - je vous lis deux extraits du Petit Prince. Et en plus ce sont des extraits que j'ai déjà écrit sur ce blog. La paresse! Les articles de mardi:Canucks unite (anglais/français canadien)whubistuble whubile yubou wubork (ubbidubbi)Merde. (français) Segunda dia de Semana de Lenguages (espagnol)Beichten von einer Ausländerin (allemand)Language week Tuesday - German (allemand)body language (espagnol)01/Jul/2 008: Ein Bisschen Islay Auf... tag:www.srah.net,2008:/weblog//1.4824 2008-04-09T00:22:38Z 2008-07-07T20:32:11Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Sunday, March 23 Looking back at the pictures, I can believe we packed so much stuff into one day! It seems like this had to have been spread over several days! Cari and I got up bright and early Sunday morning to go to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. We thought we were going to be the only people out being touristy on Easter Sunday but there turned out to be a sizable tour group. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, I think, just because it was something I knew nothing about before going... tag:www.srah.net,2007:/weblog//1.4730 2007-11-17T21:14:22Z 2008-02-15T17:42:39Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog One really exciting thing about the writers' strike is that I will be freed from my enslavement to the TV. Once they run out of new episodes, I won't have to worry about what to watch and what to tape and what to watch or not watch online. I started to think, at first, that this would be a really exciting time for me, so that instead of this¹:   Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 8 Shouty Man Shouting Into a Megaphone Shoutily (ABC) The Barney and Marshall Show, Also With Other Characters (CBS) A Very Special "Social... tag:www.srah.net,2007:/weblog//1.4597 2007-06-30T13:02:24Z 2008-06-24T16:19:30Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Language Week 2007 is at an end! Thanks to all of you for taking the challenge and blogging in another language! I hope you got something out of the experience. Please take a moment to look at each other's Language Week posts. We have a lot of languages in our midst! tiff (French)Elisabeth (French - and a few others)christina (German)Kinuk (Polish, French, German, Japanese)Dixie (German)Ms. M (Italian)Hilda (Spanish)ola (Polish)swissmiss (German)Anne (French, Hungarian, Polish)Elemmaciltur (German)Twango (Italian)BoonzaierBabe (Afrikaans)Betsy (German, French, Dutch)Chillmost (German)moe (Spanish)heather (Spanish, Polish)Stephen (French)bentleywg (Spanish)Ceridwyn2 (Spanish)A (French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Italian, Arabic) If I've left anyone (or any language!)... tag:www.srah.net,2007:/weblog//1.4583 2007-06-14T03:30:00Z 2007-09-12T00:11:59Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I was surprised, as we started our descent into Houston, to see lots and lots of forests of green trees. Everything I know about Texas I learned from the movies, so I expected it to be all brown and sandy with little scrubby bushes, rather than huge forests of green trees. I expected it to be more like the Australian Outback, which I am also very familiar with from my vast experience of... watching The Thorn Birds miniseries once. Also, I didn't see Rock Hudson or James Dean or even Sal Mineo. All of my lifetime experience with Texas (2.5... tag:www.srah.net,2006:/weblog//1.4388 2006-09-14T16:43:35Z 2008-02-14T14:58:35Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog The latest news from my Arabic class is that I got my HIGHEST STEPCOUNT DAY EVER yesterday. Wait, no, that's not related. But I did. The latest news from my Arabic class is that I have a crush on the "calligraphy professor" who lives in our textbook's accompanying DVDs. He's a scholarly, bespectacled type, who knows how to wield a pen. Ah, how I love a man with stylish writing implements! Yes, I am insane. As we learn to connect more letters, I am learning more and more words that can be made out of those letters. So now I... tag:www.srah.net,2005:/weblog//1.4002 2005-08-08T11:49:12Z 2006-11-04T18:38:11Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I've seen this meme around a few places, but now I've been directly tagged. What I was doing ten years ago Hmmm. Summer of 1995. I would have been 14, nearly 15, and would have been going into 10th grade in a few weeks' time. This was a particularly unmemorable year for me, unfortunately. I can't remember doing anything remotely interesting in 10th grade! And summers were even worse! What I was doing five years ago I was about to turn 20, so I would have been preparing to leave for Grenoble. I may have been applying for my visa,... tag:www.srah.net,2005:/weblog//1.3784 2005-03-15T16:28:00Z 2006-11-04T18:38:11Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I'm not a regular reader of Lasadh, but I liked the questions...... tag:www.srah.net,2004:/weblog//1.3329 2004-06-25T08:05:43Z 2007-10-26T14:27:56Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Now that I'm sober, I can tell you about last night's meal in more detail, without the danger that reviewing it bloggily would cause me to review it vomitally. Becky and I went to the nice restaurant in town, sort of on a whim, after discussing how much we both like food. Becky told me that although she'd never been there, she'd heard that they don't like Americans, so we had to be on our best behavior and I had to do all of the talking because we'd have to speak French. We went in and asked for a table... tag:www.srah.net,2004:/weblog//1.3254 2004-05-06T16:59:06Z 2007-10-26T14:27:56Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog On the way to work this morning, I picked myself up some sushi for lunch. The sushi place where I went serves eleven-piece sushi boxes. Why eleven? Not ten, not quite a dozen. Is eleven a lucky number in Japan? It's made even weirder by the fact that most of their sushi boxes are labeled as 1/2 and 1/2... or, you know, 5 avocado and 6 crab. In a restaurant, I always feel compelled to eat with chopsticks and make a mess of myself. Luckily no one is in my little desk-pool at work today, so I am able to... tag:www.srah.net,2004:/weblog//1.3175 2004-03-28T14:32:47Z 2008-02-14T15:11:22Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog My free associations are in the continuation. Now go play along in your own blog!... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2889 2003-11-26T19:36:41Z 2007-10-26T14:27:56Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog David and I went to Sushi.Come for lunch today. I had never been there before and had actually only been to a Japanese restaurant once in my life. I had California rolls, which were garnished with fish eggs. When is it caviar and when is it just fish eggs? I don't care. I love the little buggers. I imagine that most people just swallow them down, but I love to bite each little one and feel the tiny crunches between my teeth. I truly am the Queen of the Chewers, which explains why I only ate about four of my... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2861 2003-11-17T20:06:55Z 2006-11-04T18:38:17Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Why does Lebanon sound so fascinating and alluring and exotic and romantic and Beirut just sound scary? Someone just came in asking about study abroad opportunities in Lebanon. I want to go to Lebanon. I want to go to Iceland. I want to go to Cambodia. I want to go to South Africa. I want to go to Ireland. I want to go to Peru. I want to go to Bulgaria. I want to go to Japan. Why am I here? Why am I not trotting the globe?... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2804 2003-10-27T20:28:33Z 2007-10-26T14:31:34Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I work in the Overseas Opportunities Office. I am the peer advisor responsible for teaching abroad information. One of the largest teaching abroad opportunities is the Japanese Exchange & Teaching program, a teaching assistantship sponsored by the Japanese government. The Japanese Exchange & Teaching program is abbreviated "JET". Every time I hear the word "JET", I think "I thought the major was a lady suffragette." Seriously. Every time. Make it stop.... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2789 2003-10-24T18:27:03Z 2008-01-26T22:03:19Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Warning: this post should not be read by... anyone.... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2755 2003-10-09T17:19:19Z 2007-10-26T14:26:58Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog While we were studying last night, Mr B------- kept plying me with enormous glasses of water. When I remarked upon this, he said that he was trying to flush the evils out of me. The evils being washed out of me seem to be taking the form of insane Japanese-themed dreams, which is quite understandable, considering I a) just watched Lost in Translation b) spent the whole weekend watching this stupid video over and over again and c) watched Spirited Away last night (we certainly are a serious study group). So last night, the evils left my body/mind in the... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2743 2003-10-06T11:59:27Z 2007-10-26T17:15:09Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Lost in Translation was really good. Roommate only thought it was "okay", but I quite enjoyed it. It didn't really have a plot, but some movies are about plot and others are about character study, experiences and the development of a relationship. Bill Murray was great. I want to go to Japan.... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2536 2003-08-08T13:30:19Z 2008-01-12T17:14:32Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog My kinda Friday Five! 1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country? My last trip out of the state was our trip to Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Before that, it was France, and before that, a very short trip to Belgium. 2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling? It once took me 29 hours to get from Grenoble to Aberdeen. I participated in an English quiz night. I met John Hannah... 3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2489 2003-07-22T11:47:38Z 2008-01-12T17:12:14Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog 1) DVD or VHS? DVD! My family watches everything with subtitles on, because we never understand anything anyone says. We are movie-readers. I like to watch things in Spanish with French subtitles or in Japanese with German subtitles or in Swedish with Pig Latin subtitles. My family prefers English All Around. I like DVDs for the extras, too. 2) Best Literary/Movie Villan: Voldemort (Harry Potter) or Sauron (LoTR)? Awww, they're two different species. I suppose I prefer Voldemort because I know more about him and who he is and why he went bad. I'm sure if I read some of... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2371 2003-06-13T14:15:13Z 2008-01-12T17:14:36Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog 1. What's one thing you've always wanted to do, but never have? Learned about seventeen different languages, including Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Bulgarian, Japanese, Swedish, and Italian. It takes a lot of time and effort to learn languages, and I find it difficult to teach myself, so I'd have to sign up for classes. Which is something I haven't done so far. I'd also like to write a book or two. 2. When someone asks your opinion about a new haircut/outfit/etc, are you always honest? Of course not. That would be rude. Sometimes I say "I think I liked it better... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2338 2003-06-06T15:54:59Z 2007-05-18T02:05:34Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I thought this wasn't working, but no such luck. You will be attacked, once again, with the beauty of random poetry. srah blah blahs: Search this Japanese cat of weather makes you find ourselves doing pilgrimages from many movies about how good Sure that which were wondering, as the dickens, but I am blah blahs: 8 ] [months of opticians, so that I suck at CSS. While at it, will never had any expensive repair, he was great, interest, young Frenchman who would pull out the other senses, I want them out I speak Spanish as a Suspicious Outsider, I... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.2323 2003-06-02T18:36:15Z 2005-09-08T19:24:44Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Renata's brother finds the greatest crap online and sends it to her and the dear is nice enough to forward it on to me so that I can bring it to you. And you will certainly want to thank him when you, too, visit this badly-translated Japanese cat clothing site.... tag:www.srah.net,2003:/weblog//1.1780 2003-02-13T08:42:44Z 2005-09-08T19:24:32Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I've never done this meme before, but the questions appealed to me. 1. What is the one country on the planet that you would like to visit but have never been to? One? Only one? I defy you, 3x Thursday Creator! Iceland, Peru, Cambodia, Egypt, Mexico, Bulgaria, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Kenya, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Costa Rica, French Guyana, Morocco, Vietnam... may I continue? 2. If you had to pick another country to be born and raised in besides your native one what one would it be? Luxembourg, Canada, or Belgium. I would like to have been raised in a multilingual... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.1190 2002-08-13T23:03:54Z 2006-11-04T21:42:51Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Do you speak more than one language? Actually, I suppose this could affect anyone. This morning, I listened to music in Bulgarian, Japanese and Flemish. I found myself picking up familiar sounds and making French, Spanish, or English words out of them so that I could try to understand the song. What's up with that? Sometimes it would be nice to be able to éteindre parts of your brain. Like, for example, the part that just now could not come up with the English phrase "turn off".... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.1112 2002-06-27T17:23:12Z 2008-01-27T04:48:09Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Just before lunchtime, we had a small tremor that shook some of the furniture. Later in the day there was a rather bigger one and I, stupid Michigander that I am, thought everyone was going to the door to see if the garden wall was going to fall down. I know I'd heard something about standing in doorways during earthquakes, but I hadn't considered the possibility of the ceiling collapsing, so I thought an interior doorway would do just as well. Anyway, the tremors didn't get any worse, the garden wall didn't fall down, and everyone was fine. At lunchtime,... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.1037 2002-05-28T14:07:08Z 2005-09-08T19:24:16Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog "So if I win, I can touch Yuu?" Once again, I find myself getting addicted to Japanese cartoons. Alex has borrowed a whole new set of Marmalade Boy tapes and we're watching our way through them. We're on episode #20, which made me realize, last night, that I've spent about 10 hours of my life so far watching Marmalade Boy. Eek. Alex also bought me, for our eight-monthiversary, a little stuffed Totoro and two volumes of Maison Ikkoku, a graphic novel about an apartment building full of funny characters.... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.1035 2002-05-26T02:26:29Z 2008-08-10T15:36:04Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog 1) What's in your room? Waaaay too much junk. Instead of cleaning up, I just dumped it all in here and haven't put anything away in quite a while. I can't find anything. It's a black hole. The dog refuses to enter. 2) Do you have fame? No. Except online, where I have many faithful readers, both here and at the JH site. Mwah. 3) Are you on a road to nowhere? Nope. I hope not. But there seem to be many happy options open to me. 4) Ooh, are you a little runaway? No. More of a homebody. Maybe... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.892 2002-04-13T17:00:59Z 2006-01-11T18:55:42Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog I love The Onion I like it when The Onion tackles big issues like cultural understanding. Here is an article from this week's issue: Japanese Exchange Student Taken To Japanese Restaurant. I actually find it rather sweet because the family is making an effort to reach out to the kid, in their own misguided way. And here is one of my favorite articles from a past issue: I Bet I Can Speak Spanish. ĦEllaquanto paganyo balagoonda!... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.680 2002-03-06T17:24:57Z 2008-01-12T16:39:42Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Alex has dragged me into the big dorky world of anime, Japanese animation. I am now addicted to this Japanese animated series called "Marmalade Boy", which is all about high school students falling in love with each other and yelling a lot. Shame on me. I want moooooooooooore.... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.598 2002-02-18T18:19:15Z 2006-01-11T18:55:42Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Is it wrong to dislike people on the behalf of your friends? I don't know if it's wrong so much as it's pointless. I seem to be building a collection of people to dislike, although they haven't done anything to me personally. Sneering at them when I see them isn't really going to do anything because they won't realize how they've offended me and will just think that I'm an unpleasant person. Take, for example, Bob's little blue-haired friend who talks through class and whines and complains. If I sneer at her, she's not going to connect me back to... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.583 2002-02-15T02:20:07Z 2007-02-02T00:44:23Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog [via Marge's Room]... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.481 2002-01-27T17:37:13Z 2005-09-08T19:24:02Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog In March, the JASWM is showing Nijushi no hitomi, a very hard-to-find film about life in Japan around the time of WWII. I want to go. And now I want to learn Japanese. And eat noodles.... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.480 2002-01-27T17:22:17Z 2008-01-12T16:40:04Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Last night we (several members of ISU and the Wenzels) went to the Japan America Society of Western Michigan's New Year's rentai (networking) and film. What a great experience. First we filled up on Japanese food like rice, noodles, fried vegetables, shrimp and vegetables, and sushi. There was a lot of food and it was all excellent. We all at least tried to eat with chopsticks. Then we went into the auditorium and saw a Japanese juggling group. Normally, if I hear the word juggling I start to squirm and look longingly towards the exit. Not such a big fan... tag:www.srah.net,2002:/weblog//1.464 2002-01-25T05:18:24Z 2008-02-17T20:55:46Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog 1. What cologne or perfume do you wear? Sometimes I wear Arielle, by Fragonard, which Alfie brought me back from France. 2. What cologne or perfume do you like best on the opposite sex? I like nice deodorant smells. I think I like Polo Sport but I'm not sure. I don't, as a rule, go around sniffing people and ask what they're wearing. Boyfriend wears Paco Rabanne and he smells good. 3. What one smell can you not stomach? Vomit. I suspect that's true of most people. If you are a vomit-sniffer, then you scare me and now I am... tag:www.srah.net,2001:/weblog//1.72 2001-11-07T17:26:03Z 2006-01-11T19:51:57Z srah http://www.srah.net/weblog Finally finished my paper at 3am. Yuck! I don't think it was very good, but I hope it made some sort of sense and perhaps vaguely resembled what Dr Wyss wanted from it. Crashed on the couch while it was printing and had a dream where Roommate and Rob were going to the Cake concert together, except it was Rob who was my roommate. There was a lot of other extremely strange stuff going on, but I lost it all in the process of waking up. I feel so free now that those papers are done. Mwah ha. That would...