irltrexxx

[irltrexxx]

the ikea post

wow i am so happy!!! i just got back home after a whirlwind shopping day buying white button downs and black pants so i can dress professionally next week at training. this morning looking at recipes (as per usual) i worked up a serious craving for tex mex n every food store i walk past i’ve been eyeballing their aisle looking for tortillas and corn chips. the only tortillas i’ve seen here are sold next to the naan and premade pizzas next to the cheese, and are marketed as thin crust pizza doughs or sandwich wraps. they’re usually pretty thick and inflexible and cost about $3 for 5 tortillas. so i was like “maybe i’ll do nachos.” of course with no oven and pretty bad cheese options i was taking a risk. that was before i knew what my tortilla chip options were limited to: doritos. i did find a bag of corn flavored doritos, which might be regular corn chips, but it was $5 for like 10 chips so i was starting to despair.

then, after i had all but given up and was gonna make taco rice, i found frozen tortillas at the gyomu super (import store, but mostly indian stuff)!!!! 12 fucking tortillas for only $2!!!! and they sold beans!!! pintos were too expensive but i got some kidney beans and tonight’s dinner is ground beef tacos with refried beans and rice (just plain brown...). i even got a dr pepper to celebrate!

alright rest of week...this week i didn’t do too much cuz it was raining most days (even snowed on wednesday). i mainly exercised inside, studied japanese, and watched ru paul’s drag race.

on thursday i had a big adventure day! i took the train to shin yokohama to go to ikea and then met up with sudie’s friend patrick and his wife yuki.

it took me a long time to leave the house cuz i’d gotten so used to being a hermit and it was frickin cold outside! but eventually i did it. walked to the zama station and went 3 stops north to machida, then caught the jr yokohama line to kozukue from which it was a walkable distance to ikea (30 min). that all happened without a hitch! the walk wasn’t too pleasant. it was on the side of a highway and through a lot of construction. they’re building a new elevated rail line and it looked pretty cool, but i had to walk through swarms of construction guards and bow to everyone when they bowed to let me through.

eventually i arrived!!!

i noticed that there was a shuttle bus direct to shin yokohama station where i was meeting patrick and yuki later so thankfully i wouldn’t have to repeat my highway walk.

i had just two things on my shopping list: a lamp for the spare room in the apartment where i do my exercise and sometimes read if patrick is watching tv, or if i want to watch tv but he’s still sleeping. i also wanted new towels cuz the current towels are getting kinda mildewy and ratty.

i thought about using my standby-by ikea tactic: enter through the exit and go straight to the discounted furniture, then go to the you-pick area, avoiding the show room all together. but this is ikea japan! i wanted to savor it, and it really wasn’t too busy. most of the people there were moms with babies walking 3 abreast with their strollers (impossible to pass). i’ve really seem so many babies here it’s hard to believe there’s a population problem.

for the most part everything was normal ikea. kitchens looked the same except they featured just the broiler drawers instead of ovens. bathrooms looked the same except most of the showers were the sit down kind like is in our apartment. i think the selection of dish ware was a little different though....LOTS of little bowls, and even ikea chopsticks!

i know the cafeteria was different, but i opted for a hot dog instead of a sit down experience due to time constraints. i will return for the cafeteria!

also the food section was a little different. they sold alcohol! an elderflower and lemon schnapps and a lager beer in light and dark formats.

i ended up sticking mostly to plan (i’m rly good at telling myself “no don’t buy that”) and bought a lamp, two towels, a hanging clothes organizer, a dark chocolate bar (my kryptonite), and an omiyage (small present) for patrick and yuki. i got them ginger snaps.

i made my way to shin yokohama on the shuttle bus and got to the agreed upon meeting place (starbucks at the train station) just in time! patrick, yuki, and i went to a coffee shop and talked for a few hours. patrick and i have oddly parallel lives...first there’s the sudie/seattle connection, then the japan connection, but he also went to college in north carolina and spent time in philadelphia doing research. yuki and i have lots in common i.e. she loves food too. and she’s been studying italian and wants to go to italy! i told them about wwoof and they said they’d look it up. i think my description of eating ricotta made from milk that was taken the same day, from sheep i fed just that morning, sold her.

we exchanged lots of show suggestions and patrick gave me some really good advice on setting up basics in japan (bank acct etc) and how to avoid being taken advantage of at my new job (a common problem with english teaching jobs in japan). then they walked me to the train gate and we said goodbye for now! i have a feeling we will hang out again yuki said she’s taking french lessons right now in the building next to the one where i’ll be teaching eventually. her capacity for languages puts me to shame.

this weekend and all next week it’s supposed to be super nice (60-70s and sunny). i think i’ll be doing so meal prepping so making lunch and dinner next week won’t be too challenging, and if we feel there’s time/energy i bookmarked some museums i want to check out in yokohama.

happy imminent retirment to my dad! and so long for now!

[irltrexxx]

more grocery stores + one of my favorite life experiences

still haven’t been doin much as i’m waiting for my visa and training for to start! during the week i usually pick a park 3-4 miles away to walk to and then research nearby grocery stores.

this week i walked to a halal store to buy head and shoulders which they only sell at halal stores here apparently. the store was just north of the odayku sagamihara station one hour north of me by foot. it was on the second story and run by a nice bengali guy who said he has been in japan for 10 years and can mostly speak/read the language except for kanji. i asked him if he liked japan and he said yes because it is so safe compared to bangladesh, i.e. terrorists. he sold me a bottle of head and shoulders for 1200¥ ($12) after i haggled him down from 1300¥. i will use this sparingly i guess!

another day i walked to a park 1 hour east of the apartment by foot. the park was pretty nice...there was a large suspension bridge and a water wheel and lots of birds. but there was also lots of trash! i sat and thought in the park for about an hour before it got to cold and windy to keep sitting. then i spent a record 1.5 hours wandering around a sanwa grocery store on my walk back home. ended up buying pads (they do not sell tampons or unscented sanitary products here! but it’s okay i’ve been into pads recently anyway), and got the makings for yaki soba that i made with leftovers from the okonomiyaki (cabbage pancake) i made earlier this week.

on friday it rained in the afternoon so in the morning i walked to the closest train station with a mall (2 miles south) and bought some more basic clothing. bought jeans at uniqlo, shirts at gu (like uniqlo for teenagers), and sneakers at muji. then i took the train back to zama and bought stuff for pizza and whiskey highballs at two separate grocery stores cuz why the fuck not. made my own tomato sauce cuz the stuff they sell at the store is crazy flavored! and had my first encounter with japanese cheese, which is just fine! a little flavorless but that’s what pepperoni is for (the pepperoni here is very sweet).

yesterday patrick and i took the train into tokyo to go to the farmers market and wander around shibuya/harajuku. i didnt buy anything at the market which disappointed patrick. it was too hectic! and everything was more expensive than the grocery stores. maybe i can find a more rural farmers market. then we walked to the famous shibuya crossing with tons of people and i saw the statue of hachiko, the loyal dog who waited for his owner. we thought about going to a basketball game but couldn’t figure out tickets. we also went to a french frozen foods store that was just like a trader joe’s with french food, but alas again i did not buy anything. i’m picky!

we had one of my top five best experiences in life yesterday when we went to aoyama university’s student cafeteria for lunch. in tokyo most cafeterias are open to the public so you can hang out and eat at very low costs. once we found the cafeteria we ordered food from vending machines (i got loco moco ロコモコ and patrick got tonkatsu curry). then we took our meal tickets to the designated lines and picked up trays and chopsticks and very nice ladies gave us our food. we got free miso soup and green tea from a drink dispenser. the loco moco was so good! if you do not know, it’s basically salisbury steak on top of rice and cabbage with a soft boiled egg on top. there was so much food, and i only paid 320¥ ($3.20 ish)!!!!

we chilled in the cafeteria then put our trays on the conveyor belt and explored campus. apparently the school is a christian school founded by like...dutch maybe? lots of statues to people named johanne. we got some tea from family mart (like 7-11) and hung out in the park til it got too cold. then we took the train home and i drank wine and ate chocolate and took a bath and fell asleep early!

this morning i’m making spam eggs and rice and coffee. not sure what we’ll do today but probably not much cuz i’m sore after a week of walking. think i will take a day of rest. i will def be grocery shopping, maybe on base if patrick feels up to testing our luck again.

[irltrexxx]

chigasaki

not gonna write too much today but wanted to share pix i took on my day trip to chigasaki, a beach town 1 hour south of zama.

i took the train from a new station that seemed very rural

then i went to the beach

saw mount fuji

saw some surfers

got lunch at 7-11

found some broken tile on the beach

bought some onsen bath salts along with my okonomiyaki ingredients on the way home

[irltrexxx]

almost employed!

okay! lots of stuff has happened. i accepted the job from berlitz, which is a full time teaching position in yokohama. i will be working 38 hours a week, including full days saturday and sunday. my schedule will not be finalized until after i receive my work visa and complete the initial training week.

ideally i’d be working a 9-5 m-f closer to zama, but hey! berlitz seems like a reputable company and i’m excited to meet coworkers and make money. also not worrying about the visa is nice.

i spent an hour in the berlitz tokyo headquarters yesterday filling out my paperwork to apply for a certificate of eigibility. once that is sent into immigration and processed (anywhere from 2 weeks up) i should get my certificate and be able to apply for the visa. that part sounds faster...my training is at the end of march, but i do not need a visa to take part in the training because it’s not paid (!).

so now i wait. i think now i need to start contacting friends of friends and signing up to volunteer so that i don’t go stir crazy. right now my week days where i don’t have anything scheduled entail me going to numerous grocery stores and trying not to buy too much.

today i walked an hour north to go to a halal african grocery store because they sell head and shoulders, which you can’t find in japanese stores. it was 1300¥! or $13. i talked the guy down to 1200¥ and bought it cuz i walked all the way there and i want to support his business i guess...he’s from bangladesh but has been here for 10 years. he says he likes japan cuz it’s not dangerous like bangladesh, for example they do not have terrorists. he suggested a language school i can attend in machida for me to learn japanese that i might hit up. after i went to that grocery store i hit up two more on my way back without buying things. i comparison price shopped. i’m also starting a log of my observations of each grocery store. thinking of starting a blog just aboj grocery stores but not sure what i’d include. plus i missed so many of the ones i went to in italy!

here’s what i comparison price shop and the ranges of prices i have found:

broccoli: 90-200¥ for one head (like one big floret, not lots of little ones)

spam: 550-700¥

eggs: 158-220¥

six slices of sandwich bread: 80-100¥

hot sauce: 200-500¥

canned tuna: 85¥ - 500¥

i also like to make note if they sell:

hot peppers

hamburger buns

sausage that doesn’t look like a giant vienna sausage

ground beef (very rare)

and lastly i like to check the variety, quality, and price of the prepared food, like tempura, sushi, doria, onigiri, bakery items.

here’s some grocery store pix

each store has a different check out method too. i’ve been to one store with self checkout that accepted credit cards, which was crazy! major selling point. most stores are cash only and regular person scans your stuff and you pay them. some are hybrid person/self check outs where the person scans and then directs you to a kiosk where you pay. the person will never bag your groceries for you. once the person scans the grocery they put it in a new basket and you take that basket to a counter where you bag with your own bag or a plastic one you bought. every store has at least one point card.

i feel like i’m becoming a grocery store expert and i only wish i knew what to do about it. photo journalism project of grocery stores around the world?

yesterday after berlitz and paperwork i took the train to tokyo’s korea town just north of shinjuku. i was looking for spicy food, cheese, and skincare products. korea town was PACKED. so many teenage girls. the skincare stores were teeming. i went into one well reviewed korean grocery store and couldn’t even move. i found the spicy ramen tho so i will have to come back at a better time...maybe cuz they’re in tokyo they open earlier than 10am. i want some spice.

i also learned that the korean products i want to buy (from cosrx) are online only so i will have to start a cart on amazon. life can be so difficult.

to get to korea town (actually called shin-okubu) i walked through the crazy part of shinjuku i hadn’t seen on my previous trip there. i saw that robot restaurant with big boob girls and robots that’s so popular. also saw a LOT of companion bars and love hotels. was definitely the most skeezed out and uncomfortable i’ve been since coming to japan.

i took one pix in korea town of don quijote but also some pix of a fancy mall i went to before:

other things that happened to me yesterday: a woman fell asleep on me on the train, which patrick told me was a rite of passage, and i saw a man take a cell phone call on the train. a first! the trains are dead silent. you don’t talk or make eye contact. maybe if you sit on someone you say “sumimasen” then you go somewhere far away at the other end of the train and try to disappear. high school me would have fit in really well here. i almost wish i hasn’t spent the past 10 years learning how to be a social member of american society.

my train conductor from shinjuku to zama yesterday was a real inspiration. she made me want to be a train conductor. she was probably 25-ish and just loved her job. her announcements were so professional and proud, unlike some lazy ass announcements i’ve heard. and she gave little train trading cards out to a little boy on the train (who was also impressive; he was probably 6 and taking the express train from tokyo to a suburb by himself after school, and semi politely asking the conductor for trading cards). but ya. she was so proud. i hope she didn’t get creeped out by my loving gaze the entire ride.

now i am sitting in the park by patrick’s apartment and plan to read here until five, when i’ll return to make beef curry. everyone is out in the park today but i was lucky enough to grab a big bench and everyone else is too reserved to sit with a gaijin. perks!

more random pix that don’t fit with narrative. first one is daikon growing in the park with old people playing tennis in background.

[irltrexxx]

interview n last three day recap

i’m on the train back from my interview at berlitz in yokohama. it was really interesting! i will tell my day in chronological order tho so i don’t forget anything.

i didn’t sleep too well last night. kept having dreams that the company would email me and say “actually we don’t need you” or that i would get drenched in a rainstorm and get lost between zama and yokohama.

got up, took shower, had coffee (thx patty!) and pb toast (thx for buyin the bread n pb patty!). the forecast for today was freezing and stormy, but that was supposed to happen later in the day so i figured the earlier i left the better. the interview room opened at 10:30 and started at 11:00 and the train to yokohama takes 1 hour. so i left at 8! i wore street shoes and carried my interview shoes with me. my umbrella broke straight out of the gate! but it is a crappy daiso umbrella.

selfie of outfit. wide leg high waters are trendy i swear!

the train to yokohama was uneventful. took local to ebina then transferred to rapid express to yokohama. i guess this was my first japanese rush hour but i got it at the tail end. i had no seat on the trains, but i wasn’t terribly squished either.

i think i got to yokohama at like...8:50 or there abouts. i remember after walking around for a bit i checked my phone and it was 9. i decided to scout out the location of my interview and then i could relax and change shoes.

yokohama station is incredible! huge mall. nothing opened til 10am so after i found the right elevator to take i went to lawson’s (like 7-11) and looked at magazines for an hour lol. then i bought a candy bar and sat down to read. at like 10:15 a kid in a suit came and sat down next to me. i ignored him like kanto etiquette tells me to do. then he cleared his throat and asked if he was in the right building for the language school. i was like “ya are you interviewing?” and he said “ya i guess we are competitors” n i was like “nah man don’t you know they hire ppl all the time.” our relationship didn’t start off great. i found out he is 22 and from guam and lives with his family who moved back from guam to japan. they’re in the kanagawa area. he just graduated from an english speaking college and studied tourism. he was like “do you mind asking how old you are?” n i was like “29!” n he was like “lol you don’t want to know how old i am” then i learned he was 22 and i said “so basically the same age.”

enough of our witty banter. we went upstairs to the berlitz office and there were 3 other candidates already there. two guys and one girl. one guy was from germany, the other was japanese but grew up outside of vancouver, and the woman was from the côte d’ivoire! eventually the last candidate showed up, a woman from hong kong. so i was the only american! i was surprised.

we had like 10 minutes to speak amongst ourselves before the interview started. we talked about spam. guam guy doesn’t like it and other people had never had it.

then the presenters (moody from toronto and sam from hawaii) came in. moody is the yokohama area school manager and sam is the yokohama branch manager. both nice guys! basically we introduced ourselves and then had a presentation about the company. then we had 1:1 interviews.

i think things went pretty well. if i get the job i will wither start in early or late april, spending on how long my visa takes to process. they said it will probably take about a week which surprised me, cuz other companies i applied for take 2+ months. who knows, will stay tuned.

after the interview it was too gross to walk around outside so i chilled in the station mall. went to some AMAZING grocery stores. i kept telling myself “if i get a job at the yokohama branch i will buy this and this and this”. my favorite store was a baking supply store with shelves of different flours and yeast and sprinkles.

then i wandered back to the train and headed back to zama. now watching mre reviews in the warmth.

previously this week...just went to different grocery stores and finished my interview outfit. i found gyomu super which is a “discount international store” which is not super international but they do sell ground beef (mixed with ground pork) and cheap pasta!! very difficult things to find.

phew i am wiped now!! ttyl.

update: just got an email with job offer at the yokohama office! now just gotta consider.

[irltrexxx]

japan week 2 pt 1

gotta come up with some better titles for these posts now.

this weekend was soooo nice. on saturday morning i woke up super early and read the house on haunted hill. great sunny day reading. then i made strawberry french toast and did really very little around the apt. at two patrick n i went to ebina to see black panther, which i recommend! patrick got me some popcorn and coke and goddamn that was the most perfectly buttered popcorn i have ever had. they also had curry and caramel flavors so hopefully soon i learn how to order/become brave enough to order soon so i can return the favor to patty.

after the movie we went to the grocery store n got assorted prepared food for dinner. we gotttt....gyoza, california roll, tonkatsu, and mixed tempura. i got a tall boy gin and tonic in a can and patrick got a salted plum high ball in a can. then we drank our drinks n ate dinner n talked about wakanda and michael b jordan 👄

sunday was a super warm and sunny day! i wanted patrick to have some alone time in his own apt that i have invaded so i took a solo day trip to odawara after bfast (fried sausage, egg, rice). i took the train from zama to hon-atsugi then transferred to the express train to odawara, which is at the western end of the line.

in odawara i planned to go to the odawara castle and then to the beach. the achieved both! the castle was a 10 minute walk from the train station and i could see it as soon as i left the building. super useful! maybe it was special or maybe it happens every sunday, but that day there was a craft/food truck festival and a horsemanship display. guys n girls in traditional clothes rode these tiny ragged little horses very fast in a straight line while sitting (or standing!) very still in the saddle sometimes they shot an arrow while they were riding. the craft fair had a bunch of jewelry and wood carved stuff and there were lots of little trucks selling ¥500 coffee.

i went to the castle and bought a ticket for one adult (also ¥500) to climb to the top of the castle. unbeknownst to me that included admission to the castle museum which took up the entire interior of the castle. the building was totally renovated inside and you couldn’t see much of the original interior until the top floor. i learned along the way that that is likely due to the fact the castle was sacked in the 1900s by the japanese emperor and also hit hard by an earthquake. at one point in the 1920s it was an elementary school. lucky kids. at the top i was able to walk around the tower and get a panoramic view of odawara, which is a seaside town surrounded by mountains.

after the castle i wandered to the beach. it was 65-70*f and sunny and all of the cherry trees were in bloom. i also saw some mimosa trees, my fave. the neighborhood by the beach was so quiet and beautiful and there were a few temples tucked in between the houses and the smell of the incense with salt water was amazing.

i found an entrance to the beach and spent some time watching fishermen on the pier and sketching. then i walked the beach looking for shells, which a lot of older people were doing too. there were so many beautiful shells! i didn’t want to be a dick tourist and take them all, so mostly i took pictures and then took one whole cowry shell. i found some sea urchins too. haven’t seen any in the grocery store yet :/.

after two hours in the sun i made my way back to the train station. i hit up don quijote for groceries but it was too chaotic so i decided to get groceries in ebina on the way back. i found my train back and got a seat (didn’t have a seat on the way over! and it’s an hour long ride). as soon as i sat down i realized how pooped i was. 8 miles of walking and lots of sun.

at ebina i left the station to go to lopia for groceries. i got soba noodles and mentsuyu soup base and fried fish, then sake and donuts cuz the store was really stressful and i thought i deserved it. i hit up the pharmacy too cuz i need some different shampoo. they sold little packs of all the shampoos and conditioners to try out for ¥100! so i got two sets—one of jasmine and cassis and one of geranium and lavender or something.

then got on the train to zama and came home! took a bath then patrick n i made soba noodles with broth n ate the fish. damn that fish was so good, they tasted just like fish sticks. and all 9 or so we’re just ¥280 which is like $2.50. def will buy again but will have with white wine n lemon on the balcony.

today is a rainy day. i did some laundry and got it partially dry before the rain hit. then i went to the coop and got stuff for lunch n dinner (saag aloo with fried tofu for dinner n shoyu chicken for lunch). just got invited for an interview for teaching on thursday! gathering up my documents and second guessing my outfit purchase. at least if i get the job i’ll have the outfit to wear teaching but i think navy blue might be too risky for an interview.

now just sitting inside listening to the rain n waiting til it’s time to cook the rest of the saag aloo. there are lots of good japanese cooking food shows i’ve been watching but it’s tough cuz i just want to eat all of the time.

[irltrexxx]

japan week 1 pt 2

dang can’t believe it’s already been three days since i updated! time flies here. let me try to go back in time...

on wednesday after havin my coffee n bfast (yogurt and honey i think) and applying for some jobs i went on a walk to costco and the surrounding stores, as well as a sizeable park. the google maps directions took me on some serious backroads (like it felt like i was cutting through people’s backyards) and the people i ran into seemed surprised to see me. observation #1 of the day: not many gridded streets in zama. i ended up running into the western edge of the park first before arriving at costco so i looked around a bit. the park’s public bathrooms are in the shape of a log.

i then spent some time brainstorming the most logical order of places to visit and decided costco>super viva home> sanwa>park. so i kept walking.

costco was bumping as per usual. they had japanese cops directing car and pedestrian traffic. i am thinking about getting a membership just for the pizza but am not sure if that is crazy. $50 us dollars and i would have access to the food court and i think they do whole pizzas to go...no oven here so definitely could not accommodate those monster frozen pizzas in the fish grill.

next i went to super viva home which is across the parking lot and is a mix between a home depot and a bed bath and beyond and a pet store. aka it is amazing. seriously super.

when i got inside the first thing i saw was a huge bike section. i will likely not get a bike here cuz i am terrified of riding bikes in traffic but they are all so beautiful. you can get a nice cream and brown cruiser with a fat seat and basket for like $190-250. and there are so many bike accessory stores.

next i made a beeline to the lighting section because i’m still on the hunt for a small lamp for the room i’ve set up camp in as my hang out room. patrick has three bedrooms and i am using one as a closet/exercise/tv room. there’s an overhead light but it is super bright and i don’t like overhead lighting typically. so i just want a simple floor lamp or ambient light i can use in the evening. but, observation #2: overhead lighting seems to rule surpreme. in the entire lighting section there were maybe 3 floor lamps and 5 table lamps. everything else was overhead. and the lightbulbs are insanely expensive! like $20 for a lightbulb. i know ikea sells a floor lamp for $9 so i will sit in the dark until i make it out there.

then i wandered around the rest of the store. there was a pet section with more tiny expensive dogs, as well as bunnies and ferrets and fish. there was a garden center but no herbs were out for sale (i am especially keen on basil and already found the pots i want at daiso). there were aisles n aisles of cleaning supplies and cooking supplies. so much good looking enamel cookwear. there was a camping section with tents (none cheaper than $200 :/). japan seems to take camping pretty seriously and i hope i get to go camping while i am here!! there was also a hardware section that was mostly boring except for the clothing section (great rain boots), mini temple section (didn’t take pic but you can buy pre made temples for shrines), and earthquake supply section (flashlights and freeze dried foods).

i left super viva home empty handed :( and i knew i did not need any groceries because i had too many leftovers at home to eat. i cooked japanese curry the other day and was gonna reheat it with some frozen croquettes for dinner. so i went back to the park! it was a nice day. overcast but warm. i sat and drew for an hour and then walked home.

that was wednesday. thursday....did much the same. had bfast, applied for jobs, then walked 3 miles to a park west of ebina station. that walk was not pleasant cuz i chose to go the most straightforward way which happened to be along the highway. i did see this park with a cute strawberry gazebo:

google maps didn’t give me great walking directions so i ended up hitting a dead end and having to maneuver through neighborhoods to get to the park, but i finally made it! this is a large open park and because the forecast was for sun and 70*f tons of people were out. there were school groups having picnics and moms with babies and old people power walking. the park is along the river and has views of a nearby mountain range. there’s a mini golf course and exercise equipment. i did a lap around the park to see the sights, then used the public bathroom, then sat down to regroup.

after regrouping i decided i did not want to walk back the way i came and that i’d take the train back to zama from ebina. i was hungry too so i decided i would go back home, have lunch and a beer in the sun, then do groceries later. so that’s what i did. browsed the stores at ebina station real quick then hopped on the train and went home for lunch. i ended up taking a nap in the sun post lunch beer and got a little sunburned. woke up at 3 a little hazy and went to the local grocery store to get stuff for dinner: greens, pork, sesame oil. then for fun, strawberries and sakura wagashi.

i got home and made dinner then ate dinner and watched tv. ahhh back to my old routine!

now we’re caught up through yesterday. friday...bfast, jobs. i got an email back from berlitz language schools asking for more info so i filled out that questionnaire. then i went to sagami ono (3 stops in the direction of tokyo) to hit up uniqlo for interview clothes (positive envisioning!) and more spring clothes that are not all black long underwear.

i got to uniqlo and guessed at my sizes, picked up all larges and some mediums. also brought some shoes in to try. i read about dressing room etiquette before arriving thankfully so i knew when i entered i would need to take off my shoes and put a veil over my face to protect clothes i tried on from any make up.

i ended up being a size small to medium in uniqlo and a size 25 in women’s shoes, which is INCREDIBLY lucky because that’s the max size they sell in most stores. i took a risk and bought some navy blue wide leg pants, light blue oxford, and black flats for interview clothes. probably i need to pick up a blazer or cardigan. i also got a brown skirt to wear when it gets hot and two t-shirt’s that were on sale.

then i wandered around sagami ono station. it’s a huge mall. i went to a department store basement to look at the fancy food, then the odakyu ox (grocery store chain owned by the train line, odakyu), the to sanwa. sanwa was great. they had everything i wanted (naan bread, salami, craft beer) and were cheap. i bought my groceries and headed back to zama.

i had a phone date with my bff from seattle whitney then i did my exercises (200 crunches, 200 squats, 200 lunges). then i made pizza in the fish grill! naan bread with tomato sauce, the rest of the cheese i brought back from italy, and salami. it turned out pretty well!! all of the ingredients were a little sweet but i put some sriracha on and no problem.

that’s it! now it’s the weekend and it’s supposed to be really nice. might see black panther, might go to enoshima island...lots of options!

ps forgot to mention patrick bought me an mre from base!! stay tuned for my youtube style mre review!

[irltrexxx]

japan week 1

hey i’m in japan!

now it’s been pretty much a week since i have arrived. even though i haven’t done a ton it has been a lot, emotionally, linguistically, just really a huge change in general. i’ve been kind of overwhelmed and i haven’t felt compelled to write or take pictures, but mom is begging for a post and maybe if i just start writing things will seem clearer.

so last week tuesday at 8am my flight took off from rome to singapore. the flight was 12 hours long and was pretty good! the guy sitting next to me looked like ali g and had bad breath and kept asking me weird questions (how do i recline, how do i turn on the light, can i borrow your usb cord) but then he had a rum and passed out for 10 hours. i had a singapore sling and slept for maybe 30 minutes. i mostly watched movies and tv shows. the foods was good! i had a singaporean curry for dinner (just a curry) with a cute little strawberry ice cream and then for breakfast 8 hours later had stir fried noodles and fruit.

we arrived at the singapore airport at 5am in wednesday and it was 80 degrees and humid. omfg it felt so good, those seconds between exiting the plane and entering the airport.

i had 2 hours to kill before my next flight boarded so i walked around the airport and looked at all the closed shops and restaurants. i checked most of my baggage to tokyo so i only had a backpack and felt so free! i went to starbucks and got like a macadamia coconut frappuccino. the menu items were not as extensive as the website led me to believe, and i can’t use my starbucks gift cards outside of the usa! wat a drag. i went to 7-11 and bought new socks and some mints. walked about 3 miles in circles.

the flight from singapore to tokyo was 7 hours n felt like nothing. this time i had two seat mates so it was a little tight. i slept an hour or so i think. they ran out of the japanese meal i was hoping to get (fish tempura and soba) so i got the pot roast or something. i wasn’t hungry anyway (at some point in the trip i got some mild food poisoning) so i ate the tuna pasta salad and drank water.

then i arrived in japan! think we landed at 2 in the afternoon. i went through customs (they confiscated a guanciale i brought back with me) and picked up my bags and exited the gate to find patrick! he had taken a 1 hour bus from ebina station to the airport and waited 2 hours for me at the gate! we bought return tickets and patrick helped me buy my pasmo (japan transit card) with my name etched on. he had to pay for everything with his yen cuz it is very not credit card friendly here.

we took the bus back to ebina station then took the train one stop north to zama. patrick’s apartment is about a 20 minute walk uphill from the train station, great exercise. we dropped off my bags and i got a tour of the apartment. then we went to 7-11 for dinner. we got some alcohol (canned cocktail called strong zero and two tall boy beers) and some snacks (i think i got an onigiri? i can’t remember). then watched some tv n got faintly reacclimated to each other after more than a year apart.

since that day (last wednesday) i’ve been walking around th neighborhood, practicing with trains, buying groceries, doing laundry, learning japanese, applying to jobs...basic life stuff! patrick took the rest of last week off so we had 4 days together where he showed me basic navigation and we figured out some stuff about how to live together.

it’s tough! not living together before this, now coming to japan, a country where i do not speak the language and know very little and have no job/friends. definitely the craziest thing i have done in my life. but i think things are goin aight! i am staying positive, building some new healthy routines, and keeping an eye out for new friends all of the time. i did not expect to be like the only white person around...i haven’t seen too many. and really there is not too much english either. thankfully the train maps have both languages, and sometimes announcements are translated. i’ve mastered my “thank you very much” and “please excuse me” and numbers, and now i’m working on food so i can be better informed as to what i’m buying in the grocery store.

there’s lots of great tv here! also lots of great prepared foods at the grocery stores.

on sunday patrick and i went to shinjuku, a western ward of tokyo that is two trains and an hour away from the apartment. we went to an antiques market, had lunch at an automated ramen shop where you don’t have to talk to anyone, and went to the shinjuku national gardens. it was lovely! and just ~¥800 away (~$7).

the weather is warming up this week. it should be in the 60s a couple of days this week and sunny. great for balcony sitting and beer drinking! i just finished applying for 5 more jobs and this afternoon i plan on walking to a park and maybe a home improvement store. i’m on the lookout for a floor lamp but they’re kind of hard to find here. might buy some potted plants.

and that’s it! i will make a conscious effort to take more pictures and write more now that i’m less in transition than i was before.

[irltrexxx]

rome pt 2

this is my last night in italy!!! i have been remiss in posting since i got to rome. the first night i drank too much wine and ate too much tarelli with cheese and jam and passed out. last night i was like ‘maybe i’ll wait til my last night to post.’ and now i’m at the hostel bar and i don’t have anything else to do so here we go.

i wrote this while i was on the train from fabriano to rome:

currently on the train heading for rome. this is my last long train ride in italy :( i will def miss this train system.

this morning i woke up with a vision of how to optimize my bag packing for maximum convenience in travel today. so i got out of bed at 7 and realized my vision. basically just squeezed one backpack into my new roller bag so i don’t have to walk around rome for an hour with 2 backpacks and 1 roller bag.

i went to bfast super early and had a double espresso, the rest of the conad potatoes, and some cookies. i’m prob gonna skip lunch today so figured i needed the extra energy.

at 8:40 the goodbyes started. first i gave my goodbye drawing/note to sonia. then mila (giacomos mom) came by and thanked me for helping out giacomo. apparently yesterday at home he said “look mama, i can read now!” (he meant in english). i laughed hard at that story. then the mothers superior (maria laura and maria batista) came with a present—a journal made out of fabriano paper. which is great cuz i am almost finished with the journal i brought from home. luccia came and took my email address and we agreed to write to each other in italian so i won’t forget again.

at 9:10 i went to the kitchen to say bye to rosa and paola, and a third time to teresa, and also to erica (the nun who cut by bread for every meal). they all told me we’d see each other again in the future and they again all wished me a beautiful family in the future. thxxxx.

at 9:30 sonia and i walked to the train station. she took my roller bag for me! we kinda ran cuz my train was due at 9:49 but rly that walk is very fast. we got to the station at 9:35. sonia gave me a card she wrote in english saying i have a calming presence and that we should pray for each other.

and now i’m on the train! it’s full so i couldn’t get a window seat but i’m hoping people get off between now and rome. one guy sittin in front of me is passed out with his hairy belly hangin out his shirt. i hope he changes seats or gets off soon.

—

i ended up getting into rome at 1 and waited at the train station until 2 so i could check in without paying to leave my bags. on saturday i pretty much walked in circles around my neighborhood and scopes out a grocery store for dinner stuff and got myself oriented. ended up buying dinner at a conad by the hotel i stayed at when i first arrived in italy back in december. bought a bag of tarelli (olive oil crackers), a ricotta, and fig jam. drank half of a bottle of €1 sardinian red i had bought in fabriano and ate this and fell asleep around 9. did not sleep well at all! not sure if it was the wine’s fault or the firm mattress’s or the noisy neighbors (it was a combo of all 3) but prbly slept 5 hrs.

woke up the next morning at the usual 7am and walked to vatican city. kept an eye peeled for a coffee bar the entire way there but either they were too busy or too empty. i have a billion ways of talking myself out of entering a cafe when i feel uncomfortable of my ordering skills.

i arrived at vatican city at about 9:30 am. it was drizzling but no biggie. i toured the sistine chapel and might have seen the pope?! there were 5 minutes while i was not allowed to exit the gift shop during which i saw an exclusive looking group and smelled incense exiting the church after 10 am mass. but maybe it was just other vatican city famous ppl.

i left vatican city at 11ish in search of castroni, a roman specialty food store. i walked about 2 miles there and had my coffee for the day after figuring out how to order (pay first, then order at bar). had a cappuccino and a free chocolate covered nut. i bought some food souvenirs and headed out to find the pizzarium which my parents told me about.

the pizzarium was maybe at 1.5 mile walk away because you can’t cut through ththe vatican. while i was walking there it started raining but i was like “whatever! it’s not that bad and i have a rain jacket.” i found the pizzarium at 11:55 but they weren’t due to open until 12 so i shopped in a €1 store for 10 minutes (without buying anything). at 12:05 the pizzarium still wasn’t open and it was raining really hard. i started walking in the direction of an irish bar that i saw on my way there. corned beef and guinness sounded rly good to me. unfortunately within 5 minutes of walking i realized i was so soaked there was no way i could go anywhere without going back to the hostel to change first. i didn’t want to catch a cold!

so i walked pretty fast and pretty aggressively back to the hotel. i didn’t even have to look up directions! i was impressed by how good my memory is when i don’t want my phone to get wet (p sure it is waterproof ish now).

i got back to the hotel at 1 and i thought after that shitty walk i really deserved a good sit down restaurant, and rome is famous for cacio e pepe and so i was intent on having that. i quickly changed and google mapped lunch places and found one just .1 miles away from my hostel famous for casseroles and pasta dishes. i walked there post haste and asked if they had space for one for lunch. unfortunately, this being sunday lunch, they were totally booked up. they apologized and i was like “no problem 😢😢😢” and did some quick thinking. i knew the mercato centrale at termini would be open and that there would be a pasta place, so i trudged there. ordered a cacio e pepe from a place for €8 and paid €4 for a white wine at the bar. found a table after a lot of hunting and aggressive staring. and i ate lunch. it was great.

i returned to my room for 2 hours to wait for my pants to dry. i forgot to mention this day was the day i chose to take all of my dirty clothes (aka all of my clothes) to a laundromat for drop off service. very fortunately i had saved 1 pair of pants and 1 pair of socks in my room so i had reprieve from my soaking wet clothes.

at 5 i headed back out to pick up my clothes from the cleaners and buy dinner. i bought a premade salad of feta, chickpeas, and walnuts from mercato centrale and some “korean sweets” from a nearby korean supermarket. then i did some squats and lunges, ate dinner, and took a shower. that day i walked 14 miles.

that was yesterday. last night i slept reasonably well. i woke up again at 7 this morning (habit now) and got ready for my day. today i did a lot:

1. walked to coffee shop and had cappuccino with cornetto di ciocolata

2. went to trevi fountain

3. went to the pantheon

4. went to campo di fiori

5. got my hair cut

6. had an artichoke frittata sandwich

7. bought stuff at campo di fiori

8. went shopping

9. walked back to hostel

10. got pizza at mercato centrale.

now i’m at the hostel bar after my pizza. i came here under the pretense that there was chocolate cake but there is none to be had so i had a glass of red wine. think i’ll have to maybe deal with peanut m&ms instead of cake?

have my alarm set for 5 am tomorrow so i can get up and shower before heading to the airport for my 10am flight. dang. time in italy is up. i will miss it. but also excited to experience some new stuff.

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 16

wow last day of workaway! i have accomplished workaway and wwoof! numerous things checked off of bucket list! now time for hot shower and heated room and clean clothes!!

i realized today that i’ve gone one month without hot shower/bath and clean clothes. i don’t think i thought i was capable of this before this trip. also living in close proximity with strangers and not speaking english. dag. i’m a bit tired now.

so today...didn’t sleep too great last night but woke up feeling fine at 7. did my stuff. breakfast was a lil bit of rosa’s pecorino and some cookies with a double espresso. i confirmed a hair cut appt in rome on monday, which i’m pumped for.

last day in the kitchen and it was a doozy in terms of number of plates to wash! rosa cooked 3 different tomato sauces for 3 different dishes: one for pasta, one for fish, and one for favas. lunch today was pasta with tomato sauce, fried eggs, bitter greens, and salad. actually healthy! the nuns got the fish with tomato sauce but i got to try it and it was great. i love fish in tomato sauce with olives now! and it’s p easy. for dinner we’ll have fava beans two ways! white and red. i’ve learned everything comes in a white and a red style in italy.

i had to sneak rosa’s tupperware to her this morning because she doesn’t want the nuns to know i went over to her house yesterday. don’t know why and don’t wanna be involved in that drama!

after lunch i walked to ipersimply to buy goodbye presents for the nuns and giacomo. i got the nuns assorted chocolate and giacomo what i thought was a knife (he broke his last week and he used it to sharpen his pencils) but i accidentally just bought him knife blades. his knife was like an exacto knife or box cutter. o well. also bought a bottle of verdicchio to attempt to take out of italy! fingers crossed!

then i walked back to the monstery and translated my workaway feedback from madre maria laura. basically it says i am reliable and mature and they hope i come back soon! it’s very sweet. the madre told me about some recent sketchy workaway requests, like people who ask to arrive at midnight or who call the monastery directly because they don’t want to pay the workaway fee. i gave her the hostel info for where i’m staying in rome so she can give it out to people who ask to come really late at night.

giacomo came at 3 and we had one last session. really didn’t do shit! did some homework but he knew everything. then we exchanged music (he liked mykki blanco n i did not tell him it’s queer hip hop which i’m sure he wouldn’t like). then he showed me his phone games and how he can jump rope fast. he liked his knife blades and said they fit another knife he has at home.

after giacomo went home sonia asked to take me out for a drink and i said hell ya! so we went to a bar i’ve been eyeing in the main square, but when we got there she was like “do you want a coffeee or a hot chocolate?” 😿 but good enough. i got a hot chocolate with panna (cream) and whipped cream. next time imma skip the panna cuz that just waters it down! we talked about how in our travels we have met lots of people who have the same problems but how we also learn new things wherever we go. sonia has spent time living in peru, brazil, and a little in africa as a nun.

at 5 i went to the station and bought my train ticket for tomorrow morning. my train leaves at 9:50 and arrives in rome around 12:50. i’ll have an hour or so to kill before i can check into the hostel.

i went back to my room and did half of my exercises, then took a shower in sonia’s regal bathroom cuz i wanted to actually have time to wash myself before my trip. sister teresa came by and delivered an envelope i’m not supposed to open until i’m in japan! she and i had a teary goodbye earlier today and this was kind of a repeat. she’s so sweet ☺️ she told me she hopes i have children that are just as great as i am and i told her i hope they are too. the normal well wish for me when i leave here is “good luck and i hope one day you have a beautiful family” which is kinda a weird well wish to receive but i appreciate it anyways.

and now i’m at dinner! just ate myself silly with fava beans and roasted potatoes and soup and cheese. sonia had to leave early because compieta is at 7:45 cuz the hermit is in town. so typing in the warm room, bout to wash some dishes, and then i’ll make some digestive tea. i will miss this place only a little bit, but i think i will definitely remember it fondly.

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 15

dannnng i feel like a spoiled kid who just got back from grandma’s! i went to rosa’s house at 3 for coffee and ate 1 piece of chocolate, half a cake made out of almond flour, coconut oil, and blueberries (paleo diet), 1 orange, 1 wedge of pecorino, and 5 slices of salami. now i get the stereotype of italian grandmas saying “mangi, mangi!” but this was more rosas husband, paolo. i also drank 1 espresso WITH a chocolate in it and 1.5 glasses of red wine. on top of that i walked away with a bag full of leftover cake, a big chocolate bar, a tiny chocolate bar, an orange, an apple, cheese, salami, and a box of roasted potatoes from conad that paolo wouldn’t let me say no to. oh yeah after coffee he took me to a lavanderia and a salon to personally introduce me to people because they found out i want to do laundry and get my hair cut. damn. glad i brought them some flowers! wish i had brought them more now. i don’t think i’ll be hungry for dinner :/.

before rosa’s i was workin. had cheese and jam and an apple for bfast. then went to the kitchen for apple duty. rosa said she advocates for my not peeling apples all day but the sisters think it’s good work for a visitor, and i’m cool with it. i’m really fast now.

after work serena and i had lunch. polpettone, AGAIN, sautéed spinach, little pizza crackers, and pasta with tomato sauce. then i went on a walk to buy rosa’s flowers, as well as some deodorant and wine.

i returned to the monstery at 2:30 because i wanted to see rosanna and serena before they left. then were late coming back from school though and i was due at rosa’s at 3 so we missed each other. rosanna sent me the contact info for one of her friends who runs a trattoria in rome and said she’d give me a discount if i let her know i am coming. seriously considering!

oh yeah i forgot. at one am this morning i woke up cuz i had to pee. i unlocked my door but it wouldn’t open. i turned the back and forth for 5 minutes! i started coming up with a back up plan for where i would pee if i got stuck in my room (sink) and how i would set an alarm for 5am to wake up when sonia wakes up so she could go get help. thankfully after fiddling with the key a little more i got the door unlocked. crisis solved.

—

another dannnng! this afternoon when i came back from rosa’s luccia asked me if i wanted to participate in a “recreazione” this evening n i was like sure! i asked sonia wat that meant and she said “oh probably some songs and readings” and i was like cool.

so after dinner (tort of leftover potatoes and cavolfiore, mozzarella and tomato salad, brodo, regular salad) sonia and i walked to the nuns section of the monstery and all the nuns were sitting around a table in a very bright room and i sat next to the mother superior. it was an interview! or a time for them to ask me questions and for me to ask them. i knew this time was coming but i hadn’t thought of any questions to ask!

it started off easy enough. they asked me to tell them about my life and what i studied and what i do. i told them i was born in texas, raised in north carolina, and studied art history and city planning at a women’s college in philadelphia. they thought the idea of the women’s college and of the seven sisters was very entertaining. i we like “yeah i lived with 400 other women!” they were like “woahh.” i told them about americorps and how i worked at food banks after graduating and continued to work with government agencies providing assistance to the poor with food and housing. and then this november i left my job because i wanted to make this trip and also i want to be with my boyfriend who currently works as a librarian at a military library in japan. they asked if i had been to italy before (yes, when i was about 14 with my family and we stayed in san gimignano, venezia, e lago di como), had i been on other big trips before (not like this, but for my last job i traveled to africa and china to help with health surveys), and what i want to do next (find work with more interaction and physical work than a data analyst). it all went well!

when it came time for me to ask my questions i took the easy way out and asked to hear the history of everyone at the monstery. round robin they told me how many years they have been here, where the come from, and what work they do here. i wanted to hear their juicy reasons for joining the monastery but i just got the plain facts.

all of this lasted about an hour and now i’m here! i’m sweating a little still from the shake down but i got two ferrero rochers out of it. i think tomorrow i will buy them a box of chocolates as a goodbye present. even paola said she was sad to see me go because “sei molto pazienza” and i should return to help again in the future.

idk when i started being patient and positive like these ladies have been telling me. i feel like it has been in these last few years that i have developed these life skills, with work experiences and therapy and friendships. i like it!

oh yeah and it snowed last night!

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 14

danggg all these bitches wanna do stuff with me now my agenda is full up today and tomorrow. i am lookin forward to my alone time starting saturday. in 30 minutes rosanna and i are going to walk to school and she’s going to show me around. then mayyybe giacomo will come for tutoring (he wasn’t sure yesterday cuz today is valentine’s day n i think maybe he has a girl). then i’m going to take a real passeggiata with rosanna at 4:30. then TOMORROW rosa (kitchen rosa not teacher rosanna) wants me to come to her house in the afternoon to hang out. so much socializing! and then sonia wants to have lengthy conversations about religion and war at every meal. this morning she showed me some photos of unknown origin of a massacre she says just happened in the congo although i haven’t found anything about it in the news.

anywho that’s my rant. on my period this week and just want to internet in a warm room by myself for like a day.

this morning i went to ash wednesday services! i made an espresso first and talked to rosanna about a coworker/friend who is being annoying. then i went out to the street to enter the church like a member of the public. only 6 other people were at services! i could understand some of the prayers. the priest dusted my head with ashes, which is a little more discrete than the forehead cross. i was looking forward to the forehead cross as a face mask but instead got some palm sunday ash dry shampoo.

the nuns have the day off today as a day of reflection. they told me it was an option to help in the kitchen but i didn’t wanna leave rosa all alone. i helped her wash dishes and peel boiling hot potatoes and she re-showed me pictures of her grandson. she also gave me a book of health secrets the doctors don’t want you to know! it looks like it was written by a pharmaceutical company so i’m not sure how legit it is but hay. check out its food pyramid:

today is a fast day but in this monastery that just means you eat very plain food. for lunch we had boiled fish, boiled potatoes, and boiled rice. rosa made the rice really weirdly. she cooked it like pasta, and then tossed it in olive oil, and then put cheese on top. i haven’t had rice and fish for forever so i ate it all up!

at lunch rosanna and i talked about how we could never live the life of nuns because mostly they just think and don’t do much. then we got onto the topic of school lunches and teachers lounges at school which is why i think she wants to show me around. after that i’m gonna try to hit up the conad or super con te to buy some wine and deodorant.

rosa and rosanna have been telling me horror stories about workawayers in the past. rosa told me about one girl who came in the winter and only wore shorts and high heels and didn’t know how to wash dishes or peel apples. she said a lot of people who come don’t speak any italian at all and how it’s kind of dangerous for them to be traveling alone without any knowledge of the language. rosanna said she met one girl who couldn’t do any of the work the nuns assigned her and would just sleep and eat, never even offering to wash the dishes. rosanna thinks she was drinking the whole time and would just pass out. she said there was also a guy from brazil who wouldn’t leave because he didn’t have any place to go after his stay ended and the nuns finally had to kick him out, and then he came back three months later looking for more work. i love the horror stories.

—

dang this day turning out crazy! so after lunch i walked with rosanna to school. she introduced me to the class and then was like “oh and will you also stay and help us play bingo in english?” and i couldn’t say no of course. so i stayed for 1.5 hours and read out things like “pink horse” “orange dog” to a group of 20 five year olds then graded their papers. by the time i finished and i looked at the clock it was 3:05 and i was late for giacomo if he decided to show up today! so i ran to the monastery, literally, and got there at 3:12. the mother superior was waiting in the anteroom with giacomo and she was about to call me. man i felt bad but i did nothing wrong rly. so giacomo and i hung out, he didn’t have homework but we practiced numbers because i noticed he wasn’t too great at them yesterday. he told me he still hasn’t learned his 100’s and 1000’s yet which i am v suspicious of.

giacomo stayed til 4:10 and i was meeting up with sonia and serena for passeggiata at 4:30 so no time for deodorant and wine :(

sonia, serena, and i went shopping at a few stores downtown to buy stuff for serena’s trip to cambridge. she bought a pair of pants and a cropped sweatshirt. i learned in european sizes i’m a size 42?! which made me feel v fat. all these stores were for teenagers and only had like 2 pairs of pants in my size. le sigh.

we also went to a home goods store and conad and they bought snacks for the train tomorrow: potato chips, chocolate, and sausage. damn it looked good! hcome they ain’t size 42s?

then we came back and i did my crunches and here i am. listening to my favorite murder. i’m thinking dinner tonight might not be much cuz it’s still fasting time.

—

omfg i am internetting by myself in a warm room. the period fairy granted my wish! 🧚🏼‍♀️

everyone else is at compieta which i think is just late nice mass with more singing. suckas.

dinner was boiled potatoes, boiled cauliflower, salad, brodo with riso, and cheese. i are pretty well! then sonia and rosanna washed the dishes ❤️ and left me alone 💕 it’s a beautiful valentine’s day present.

guud night all! i gots some internetting to do.

ps the shower method i worked out monday was aight so imma repeat it today. i sit down in empty tub, wet my hair with hot water, turn off water, lather with shampoo, rinse with hot water, turn off water, and repeat with hair and body.

pps just looked up american european conversion n i’m like a size 36-38! dang rosanna. got me so down.

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 13

another day of not too many interesting things. i woke up at 7 and did my stuff. went to breakfast at 7:45 and caught rosanna on her way out. she gave me a confidence boost by tellling me she admires my constant positivity ☺️ thx rosanna!

i was super tired this morning so i made a large espresso. we had chocolate croissants for breakfast! fat tuesday.

at 9 i started putting the breakfast stuff away as per usual. when i went to open the door between the foresteria and the kitchen, was though, i found it was locked! first i ran through the part of the monastery that is open to me looking for a nun. when i couldn’t find one i exited into the street and rang the front bell. the sweetest nun answered, i don’t remember her name, and said that my cooking is excellent and she wanted to give me a tour of the part of the monastery i hadn’t seen before. eventually she walked me to the kitchen and things went back to normal.

but today was a strange day. everyone was in a funk. none of the sisters helped out in the kitchen so it was just me n rosa. i cut apples for 2 hours and spent the other hour washing dishes. rosa said she didn’t sleep well at all last night. we talked about her health problems (scoliosis, vitamin d and c deficiencies, tendinitis). she told me about a better type of melatonin that is super expensive but also is supposed to be better for your liver.

at 12 i took lunch to the foresteria and serena (daughter of rosanna) and i ate together. i asked her if she liked staying at the monastery and she said ya, so good on her! we had pizza, polpettone (giant meatball, rosa was like “this was not my idea it was paola’s”), salad, and leftover boiled vegetables. i facetimed with my mama for a little and then went on a passeggiata.

it was super cold today, never got above 34. i walked around some suburban neighborhoods with nice views of the snow covered mountains, but after 1 hour i gave in and walked back to the monstery for tea.

at 3 giacomo came and we practiced english for 30 min or so. he didn’t have homework to do for english so we decided to work on his italian homework. he had to read a jack london story and answer some reading comprehension questions. while he was doing that i was reading the story on the next page about a fat little girl who wants to go on a diet. i took pix of all the pages so i can read it all tonight.

when giacomo left i entertainer the idea of staying in but my room was freezing so out i went. walked another hour and came back to a warming up room. did my exercises and watched a room with a view in italian. it was aight!

at dinner we had brodo, leftover pizza, leftover polpettone, boiled cauliflower, and salad. we talked a lot about american eating habits and why obesity is a big problem in the usa. rosanna blames eating on the couch in front of the tv and was shocked that i do that! maybe i will try not doing it when i get back to semi normal life...rosanna also brought some sweets from her schools carnevale party to share. little puff pastry tubes full of nutella. a great end to the obesity convo. i found out that on sunday serena is going to cambridge for a week of culture and language exchange in english. now i get to talk to her in english! she’s really good.

okay now drinking digestive tea and heading back to room. ttyl.

ps giacomo taught me that google chromes “no internet connection” screen is a game. i feel so old.

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 12

this is gonna be a short post cuz really don’t have much to say!

worked in kitchens and had lunch. lunch was amazing. soft pasta with tomato sauce, cabbage with white wine, chicken involtini with prosciutto, and bread that i soaked in the chicken juice. god that juice was good.

after lunch i walked to the shops. i bought a suitcase so i can buy grocery store souvenirs. i also bought a pack of colored pencils that turn into water color when you add (duh) water. they are so kewl. also look at these posters:

i did some comparison price shopping between ipersimply and coop. coop does not sell nduja or this verdicchio i drank yesterday or peanut butter, but ipersimply does. maybe coop isn’t the hot shit i thought it was. i’ve been super craving peanut butter as soon as i realized it is hard to find here. when i found it at ipersimply today it was €6 for a tiny jar, and it wasn’t even jif! or crunchy! maybe the pickings are better in rome.

also did you guys know uncle ben makes indian sauces now?

i ended up buying these ricotta chocolate cups cuz i felt guilty for window shopping with my rolling suitcase for an hour. i also got a mild questioning from employees when i checked out because they were suspicious i was shop lifting but i triumphed.

walked back to monastery and did exercises then watched some netflix shows i downloaded and drank a glass of wine.

rosanna is back today with her 13 year old daughter in tow. i guess they are on school vacation so she came here! i think i wouldn’t be that happy being a teenager from warm naples coming to a cold monastery for break, but who knows! we get to eat lunch together tomorrow so if my italian is good enough maybe i get to find out.

we had brodo, wurstle, zucchine, salad, and cheese for dinner. rosanna was like “maybe we’ll have more food for fat tuesday tomorrow” and sister luccia was like “nah not rly” lol.

then i cleaned up and now i’m here writin this! attempting another shower tonight. i have a new method to test that i hope will prove fruitful. will fill u all in tomorrow ;)

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 11

i’m on the train heading back to fabriano from ancona. glad i went! i left the monastery at 8:20 this morning after a bfast of croissant and leftover prosciutto. since i left before sonia finished bfast she agreed to do the dishes and take them back to the kitchen for me.

the train i took this morning from fabriano was a local and took 1.5 hours to get to ancona. for some reason that same local isn’t running that afternoon so i’m taking an intercity (€6 more) that only takes 1 hour. on the ride we passed through a national park that is famous for its caves. there were lots of beautiful rock faces and rivers. we also passed though a town called iesi that is really big and seems cool. lots of people boarded there.

my first view of the mediterranean was in falconara marittima, 10 minutes northwest of ancona. the sea was super choppy! huge waves and grey-brown water. i guess like most winter oceans.

i deboarded at ancona and walked ~20 minutes to the city center. the neighborhood around the train station was full of indian and african groceries and kebab houses. after that i passed the mole, the cultural center, but it was closed. bad sign! i guess at 10am on a sunday it was still a little early.

i kept walking pretty much all day. first i walked to the sunday market which was really small. then i kept walking down a large boulevard until i reached the ocean. there is a city park there and it was just beautiful! i brought my film camera with me and took pix of the park and it’s grottos (in this case little fisherman’s hits built into the rock along the shore). the restaurant i thought about going to on the beach is closed for the season (which based on the waves i saw is much safer). so at 12 i moseyed back to town square and found the frittura restaurant i wanted to find. at 12:30 it was still empty so i walked around some more. i tried in vain to find the coop before it closed for good at 1pm on sunday afternoon. no luck :(. i wanted to buy wine for the night and the choices i saw at simply con te sucked and at the marche regional specialty store they were too expensive. i decided to take a gamble and bet that i could find an open store selling wine after 1pm in ancona. it was a very dangerous bet. instead i bought 1kg of oranges from mt etna for €2. i’ve gotten rly into oranges here cuz they’re way better than the ones i are in the usa.

so i went to nino pesciolino for lunch. first i embarrassed myself cuz i couldn’t get into the door (it was operated by a button in the alley way). some guy eating pointed me to the right place. then i got embarrassed cuz when i went in i didn’t know if i should sit or order cuz i thought it was a fast food restaurant. eventually i sat at a table and the guy came to take my order. i got an order of fried tiny fish (aliciotte) with picked red onions and a glass of white wine. they gave me a glass is verdicchio which i’ve really been wanting to try because it’s unique to this region. it was really good!!! gonna buy a bottle as a souvenir. this bottle was from iesi the cool town.

everyone else in the restaurant was either a parent taking care of a kid or a significant other staring at a smart phone. i watched them all n ate my fish and drank my wine. i saw another table order an arancine with ragu di seppia (squid) so i decided to get that too and another glass of wine. both things were good! and pretty cheap. total for the meal was €17 and i even figured out how to leave the restaurant without making an ass of myself.

i left the restaurant at 2 and planned to take a 3:40 train back so i killed time by trying to find an open grocery store. i remember seeing a 24 hour supermarket on the map but it wasn’t showing up offline. i probably walked for 5 miles and then right around the train station i found a series of indian grocery stores open all sunday. duh. prices were high and selection was just as bad as super con te so my bet didn’t really pay off. excited to be leaving small town catholic land soon so i don’t have to think about siestas or sunday’s.

got to the train station, bought my ticket, now sitting in seat. we should have left 6 min ago so guess we are running late. i will be taking this same train (from ancona to roma termini) in just 6 days!

—

post din din. we had frozen pizza lol, mine with wurstle. i think they added that in the kitchen.

after i got back i watched some young montalbano and did some more laundry. boring boring.

also i just ran so fast between the kitchen and dining room cuz i’m pretty sure that hallway is haunted and now i’m never gonna feel safe in there!

ps here is a selfie gif

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 10

don’t feel like writing a blog post today because i found out i owe taxes this year n am too sad. but i gotta just suck it up n be a goddang adult 😿😿😿

also sorry but i only took one photo today! it is of lunch. stay tuned.

today was saturday which meant half day of work. sonia got the day off because today is also santa scholastica’s saint day, and santa scholastica is santo bennedetto’s twin, so she is a pretty big deal around the monastery. also the bishop of this area visited this morning so there was a party! but i still had 3 hours in the kitchen, which i love so no biggie.

i started the day off with a ft session with patrick (sup patty shout out!) and then had bfast with sonia. we had cake of indeterminable flavor and i had leftover boiled potatoes and wild greens. then i headed to the kitchen and washed a shit ton of stuff from this morning’s bishop party. today rosa made boiled beef and chicken and tortellini in brodo, all pretty simple stuff! i helped make another round of macedonia, the fruit salad. i asked why it is called macedonia and the answer is great: because there was a huge war in macedonia and all of the people were cut up into tiny pieces, just like the fruit in the salad! i hope they didn’t have lemon juice squirted all over them to preserve their color. i peeled probably 30 pears, apples, kiwis, and bananas.

rosa went on a tirade about her daughters baby daddy with me. he doesn’t sound like a good dude. according to her he never smiles, doesn’t allow her daughter freedom (like she quit school because he told her too and she doesn’t get to go out with friends), and decorated the house in all black and white. he sounds like a psycho to me. coincidentally he is originally from macedonia. they have been together 8 years. rosa finds it very hard to be cordial. i don’t blame her.

after work i ate all alone: boiled beef and chicken (the beef was very tendony, i didn’t really like it), russian salad (i love it! mayo, peas, carrots, and potatoes), raw fennel, lettuce, olives that rosa makes with orange peel and cumin, and a cup of macedonia. while i was eating me sonia joined—yesterday i invited her to join me on a walk to il gentile the shopping mall because she always tries to find it on her own and fails. we bundled up (high of 39*f today) and took the 30 minute walk.

we ended up going to ipersimply and sonia bought some feminine hygiene products. along the way she told me all kinds is bible stories and also reminisced about when she became a nun. she was 20 and working in the winter as a waiter and in the summer as a milk maid IN SWITZERLAND. i met a swiss milk maid. but then she left home for germany and said she had some crazy years. she ended up working in a hospital and met some sisters, then jesus found her. she was raised catholic but left the church at 16.

sonia had to be back at the monastery for afternoon prayers by 2:30 so we walked back, and then i walked another round to il gentile. i needed the walk and didn’t feel like sitting in a freezing room. i checked out suitcase deals at globo, visited eurospin (discount store like lidl) and acqua e sapone (imho a poor man’s tigota, that store with all the soap and hygiene products). i bought nothing cuz i am feeling extra thrifty post taxes! this will encourage me to find a job in japan faster i guess...😿😿😿

i walked back the long way and listened to my playlist of high school music. when i got back the heaters were on early! i listened to podcasts and did my exercises and rewarded myself with a glass of wine. then i did laundry in the tub and hung it on the radiator. i stupidly attempted a shower after doing laundry and had 2 min of hot water. think i will try again after dinner because the water heater should have reheated by now.

and ya, now i’m at dinner by myself! kind of nice but kinda lonely. i had more tortellini in brodo, leftover cauliflower gratin, and the normal plate of meat and cheese. not overdue! which means i get a cookie with my next glass of wine.

tomorrow i’m planning on taking at 8:46 train to ancona to walk around. figure i will head back to fabriano around 3 or so, so will get to eat lunch in the wild! i found two possible restaurants: one on the beach if it isn’t too cold, and one that sells frittura (like fritto misto) if it is too cold. i hope to walk a lot, smell the sea air, and see some fortresses! promise to take pix.

[irltrexxx]

workaway day 9

questions giacomo asked me during tutoring today:

-what does thrasher mean?

-what does volcom mean?

-what does supreme mean?

-(not a question) look at my pimples, it means i’m growing.

we spent 10 minutes using google street view to try to find his favorite skate clothes store that is a 10 minute walk away, and all of the clothes they sell are so expensive! i think the average cost of a t-shirt that i see in store windows here is €80.

this morning was p good. overslept and woke up at 7:40, did yoga and cleaning. at breakfast no one brought me coffee :( :( so i rushed to make one at 8:45 and ended up burning the moka pot handle a little. oops. had prosciutto and pie for breakfast. turned down the cookies though! i’m being healthy today.

rosa was back in the kitchen and she was so upset about that cake we ate yesterday. apparently we ate it because it got too dry after a sister put it back in a hot oven when it was already done. so we rehydrated it with the whipped cream and liquor. i’m happy that nun fucked up. i bet it was paola.

today rosa and teresa made polenta al forno, one rossa and one biancha. i didn’t get to see how they were made in whole because i was washing dishes, but they used pre-made polenta blocks, sliced them up, and layered them with a tomato sauce for one and cheese and bechemel for the other. omfg so good. i sliced the cheese. then paola, letticia, and i cleaned some wild chicory that a local farmer brought in as a gift. we pulled out the gross leaves and sliced the stem to aid in cleaning, then put the leaves through three separate water baths. then the chicory was boiled for 5 minutes in salted water and served as is. it had a great bitter flavor.

for lunch i ate alone and has the polenta both ways with a wurstle (hot dog) and a salad. healthy! i asked for just a small amount of polenta and when i said stop teresa and rosa looked at me and kept putting food on the plate. whatever! finished it all.

after lunch i took a walk to the coop which i hasn’t been to yet because when i passed it on sunday it was closed. it was marvelous!! new favorite store in town. i bought fennel digestive tea and checked out the things i want to buy as souvenirs. there’s also a department store called globo in the complex that i’m gonna check out tomorrow. i realized the key to staying motivated in my walks is to never finish buying stuff off my shopping list and thence keep the stores as landmarks, cuz they are 2 miles away from town. and also today i started listening to music while i walked.

this afternoon i tutored giacomo. no homework but just practice. i think he has a test coming up.

after giacomo i took another walk around town. i found a few new places that were usually closed when i passed that sell local marche artisanal products and almost went to check out the price of colored pencils at an office supply store but decided it was time for cookies instead. so made some tea and had some cookies. now i’m doing crunches and pushups in my room cuz it’s so much easier doing these before dinner than after, i have learned from experience.

—

wow i’m pooped! did my work out, had a glass of wine, then went to dinner. tonight was a simple meal of brodo, boiled potatoes, the wild greens (chicory) from before, an omelette, and cheese. the greens were so good! so was the omelette. fried in olive oil. the nuns are good at salting things.

i heard from kitchen gossip that the family staying here was not able to come to dinner tonight because they’re at the hospital and someone is not doing well, but i don’t know who. it’s one problem after another :(

now i’m starting my taxes on my phone but it’s not very fun :(