beauty and the bear puncher

7/6

Today consisted mostly of working on my midterm: three 3-paged single spaced essays. If this was a normal class where the prof wanted you to double space everything that would be 18pages! Super depressing to write that much over summer (or ever). There was one fun break. My host mom took me to the local celebration of the Tanabata festival. There were a lot of stalls lining this one street. They had a bunch of food, games, and things to buy. Many of the kids/teens were dressed in yukata. I wanted to try everything but we were going to a yakiniku restaurant afterwards so I only had bubble tea, takoyaki (octopus balls), yakitori (chicken on a stick), and mizu candy. I also tried my hand at catching goldfish. You use a little scoop shaped like a ping pong paddle but with paper in the middle to scoop the fish into a bowl. I tried twice but wasn't able to do it before my paper dissolved. The man at the stand even showed me the trick to it but I just wasn't able to master it. I think the guy felt bad for me, so he scooped up a whole bunch and gave them to me. It was very sweet of him and made me very happy but I gave them to a little boy because we didn't have any way to take care of them.

festival pictures:

Hey look! A festival!

Can Cynthia catch fish?

This picture says "yes, I can".
Who cares how I got them?

delicious yakiniku. It's so much fun to cook food right in front of you. Yes, that is a bib I'm wearing, but don't worry everyone else was too, I promise.



7/9

Hana Yori Dango Final was full of win! One phrase: bear punching o.O Nope, I'm not going to explain that other that is is exactly what it sounds like. Lauren, Laura, and I went and saw it together and we enjoyed the super discounted tickets for Ladies Day (only 1000yen or about $10). The movie was a great conclusion to a great series and it had everything you could ask for: humor, romance, drama, bear punching, Matsumoto Jun without a shirt...

Some interesting things to note about movies in Japan. One, the Japanese people hardly ever laugh. Both of the movies I've seen here were with a couple of other American girls and both times we would burst out into laughter when we deemed appropriate only to find we were the only people in the audience making any noise. Now some of this is obviously due to cultural differences, but honestly who doesn't laugh when a skinny Asian girl punches a bear in the face-even in she is in the middle of a dramatic monologue of self-revelation? Also, it's really fun making Japanese people uncomfortable by laughing at American stereotypes that appear in their movies (and everywhere else too). For example, did you know that if you cause any problems in America you will get shot? And, just by eating American food you will get fat....oh wait that one's kinda true. It's also fun to go to movies that are in Japanese with no subtitles and know enough Japanese to follow along. That also got us funny looks from Japanese people. They never assume gaijin know Japanese.

BTW, for you Japanese speaking people reading this, the best term ever has been coined: "haku-meiwaku". Meiwaku is to bother others, but it has very deep social meanings here in Japan that can't really be translated. Haku comes from hakujin which is a term for white people. Thus when we white people are bother Japanese (like we were probably doing with our raucous laughter in a quiet movie theater) we are "haku-meiwaku"-ing. Trust me it will be very applicable when/if you go to Japan.

The other exciting thing for today was my next Espoir visit. Not only did I get my hair done but I also met my hair and makeup people (HA! I have "people"). I also talked to just about everyone in the salon and saw pictures of Daisuke-san's new baby. The more relaxed I'm getting with everyone there the more fun this whole modeling thing is becoming. Also, it's a big self-esteem boost. The number of times I heard the words "kawaii" (cute) and "kirei" (pretty) from many different people was amazing. I also receive lots of other compliments: great hair color, pretty eyes, good skin, long legs. O ho ho ho ho I am basking in the glory of being a tall blond in Japan! In actuality, I spend most of the time blushing and saying "arigatou gozaimasu" (thank you) and "okagesamade..." (Thanks to you...). The big day of the competition is the 22nd-less than two weeks. I'm very nervous/excited!

I don't think I explained how the competition is going to work. To the best of my understanding it's a test of the hair and makeup people's impromptu creativity and ability to improvise. When we get to the competition I will be given an outfit and they have to do my hair and what not in a way that matches and shows off their skills. At least I think that's what's happening. It would certainly explain why Daisuke-san just plays with my hair, trying out lots of different things.

pictures:

Lauren and I posing with the HYD movie poster after the movie.

Before the makeup.

During the makeup process. That's Daisuke-san, and this is actually the only part of the makeup process that he actually did. The rest was this really sweet girl who I think took this picture with my camera for me.

After the makeup. Left-my makeup artist. Right-the person who will do my nails. She's actually Daisuke-san's younger sister.

Time for some cam-whoring. Front and center. What you don't realize is that there is someone standing right outside the shot holding a mirror so that light shines on me in all of these shots.

Head angled to the left.

Head angled to the right. Man does my nose look big.

Me and Daisuke-san after about 2 and a half hours of this.

My attempt to get a shot of the back of my hair. I guess it was curly...it felt like he was braiding it at one point, but that might have been before or after this photo. He tried lots of different things. I think he's just trying to get a feel for my hair.

One last shot of the whole thing. I know you've been wondering about the small garden growing out of the side of my head, and I wish I could explain (allegedly some sort of decoration I suppose), but honestly I don't understand either.