January 2012
70 posts
1 tag
Anonymous asked: Thinking of moving to Sapporo! But HOW do you survive the winter???
1 tag
runningecho asked: I would just like to say that I am back and it is cold. COLD. I am considering man-handling the hot chocolate vending machine from the second floor to my office on the 9th. Then attaching a IV drip to it.
Say wha~?
Ahem, excuse me, but I do believe that 10 year High School Reunions are for old people.
Say it ain’t so!!
Anonymous asked: So are you saying you don't believe in volunteer work?
1001 th post!
It would have been more meaningful on the previous post, but late to the party as usual. Tut tut, Sarah.
1001 posts and I have enjoyed every one of them. You all know, I am not a blogger who blogs for fame (hahaha nice way of trying to explain why i don’t have any fame to speak of) nor who blogs purely in order to gather more followers, like a stamp collection of readers. I blog because I...
1 tag
South Africa dinosaur 'nursery' the oldest... →
Tiny prints from baby dinosaurs dot the oldest dino nesting site found to date, a 190 million-year-old nursery in South Africa, researchers said.
The Circle of Life
After our return to Japan from The Great African Trek last December, Boyfriend and I have taken to watching a lot of Animal Planet, National Geographic and Discovery Channel.
He thinks he is a game ranger. Alternatively, the host of his own wildlife show.
`OH! That’s an impala`, he will tell me, jabbing his finger at the screen. `It’s almost as common in Africa as the sheep is in New...
Anonymous asked: Because I work funny hours I don't have a chance to read your blog every day so I have to play catch-up. As a result, this comment is coming quite awhile after your entry. Sorry about that. At issue is your rant against AKwhatever. If you want to reach your students try humour. You can lecture until you turn purple but humour will often work where preaching fails (and if it doesn't...
Anonymous asked: 'Will you take me for a cup of tea?London is just hellishly expensive, though. Sigh. And you have no idea how difficult getting a visa is for a South African in Japan.' It's not as expensive as people think. The exchange rate is definitely in your favour at the moment. I'm going to Japan this May and boy am I poor! If you need advice for afternoon tea places, give me a shout! I...
Rick Santorum 'would urge daughter not to have... →
”I believe and I think that the right approach is to accept this horribly created, in the sense of rape, but nevertheless, in a very broken way, a gift of human life, and accept what God is giving to you. As you know, in lots of different aspects of our life we have horrible things happening. I can’t think of anything more horrible, but nevertheless we have to make the best out of a...
Anonymous asked: Yay, you're coming to London?!! That is all. Melissa
Anonymous asked: Thanks for the Martina in Jozi link you posted a while back. I'm moving to Jo'burg for a year abd I was wondering if you had any more blogs to recommend? Amy
2 tags
Shibuya Purikura, elephant crane game success, drunken eyes, January 21st 2012, Tokyo
Good Peoples
Have any other expats out there ever experienced what I have dubbed the, ‘My Peoples Are GREAT’ phenomenon ?
Before I moved to Japan, I had always thought that since Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were all similar in theory (the most important points being : ex-British colonies, rugby, cricket and Christmas in Summer), that Australians, Kiwis and SAfricans would...
Solution to Rhino poaching....(click for link) →
blahblahfishpaste:
this is really interesting, I vote for the legalising of the sale of Rhino horn!
Things I Need To Cut Back On
Last night, I went to a stationery store on the way home. I needed, as one does on occasion, to buy a new notebook and a roll of Japanese washi paper for our next classroom project. I left with the notebook, two new packs of themed post it notes, three sheets of stickers (cupcakes with faces, sparkly snowflakes, lovebirds) and three mini valentines day cards.
London Hallmark Post It Notes, to...
Living a life of leisure is wonderful, Japanese postcard
AND my life ambition.
'...a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a...
My Grandpa Paul-John would wake up every morning at 5 AM and dress in tweed pants and a collared shirt. The scottish terrier would be pawing at the front door ; waiting for the red tartan leash to be pulled out of the cupboard in the hall, clipped to his collar and for the pair of them to go 3 times around the block, no more, no less.
Gramps would come home, as the rest of the house was...
flying by the seat of my pants
My student who is competing in the speech contest this week in Tokyo, had a practice run in front of the school at this morning’s assembly.
I had to introduce her and , being the 適当 person I am, I didn’t bother to remember the name of the contest. All I remembered was that it had the word ’Gordon’ in it somewhere and so I panicked in front of the mic, opened my mouth and...
Hawaii Coconut M&M’s, Did You Know These Existed?!, Sapporo, January 18th 2012
Touche
Student : You get to school so early some days!
Sarah : Yeah, sometimes I wake up early, go to the Starbucks near the station to get a cappuccino at around 6:40 and study Japanese or read my book.
Student : That's crazy!
Sarah : I don't mind waking up early! I think it gives you a nice head start to the day and you can really focus on just relaxing and...
Student : No no, I mean you get up early and go all the way to Starbucks just to order a cappuccino? That's sad.
Wednesday
Bad Thing : Ordered boots from Piperlime because my other old winter boots are full of holes and the grip has vanished = wet feet and falling all over this city. BUT DHL has had them stuck at customs for the last 4 days. They’re just chilling in the airport in Tokyo, while I’m here freezing my socks off. (ALSO, this my first time ordering boots online and it’s scary....
This is why I struggle to achieve anything.
Boyfriend in his study, studying English. Me, under the kotatsu, studying Cartoon Network.
I don’t even like this show. Fish are my worst nightmare, even cartoon ones.
An Article I Wrote Ages Ago For The Online JET...
Author’s note : I get A LOT of questions in my Tumblr inbox asking me how to get a boyfriend in Japan. I really don’t have much game, but for your reading pleasure, here is what I wrote a while back. Not particularly proud of it, but go ahead.
I arrived in Japan on a sweltering August day in the summer of 2006, fresh off the university boat and ready to get away from the 5 years I...
manycardigans asked: I read your post on AKB 48, I can't tell you how much I agree. They're everywhere! and for what??? because they're cute and that's it?? what a terrible message to send to young Japanese girls, that all they need to be successful is to be pretty and docile and kawaii and that's it. ugh.
AKB round 2
So earlier, when someone asked me about AKB48, I composed a very calm answer. 2012 is the year in which I am trying to be a mature adult by trying to not let my emotions get in the way of formulating well thought out and intelligent opinions.
HOWEVER, I just can’t do it and I must tell you HOW MUCH I HATE AKB48. I hate them. I hate them all so much, my blood actually boils when I see them
...
I Miss You, Guys
Pleas hurry up and buy your large house (w/pool. Tennis court optional) so that boyfriend and I can move home and live with you. He promises to clean, a lot, and I promise to…um… blow on your food before you eat it so that it doesn’t burn your mouths.
Sunday Night, UGH
1. One should never Google `Chinese foot binding` before bed time. I had such awful nightmares the whole weekend because I’ve been reading `Snow Flower and the Secret Fan’ and, never having seen an image of what a bound foot actually looked like, I made the mistake of finding out. Oh lord…
2. If you walk home thinking ‘Wow, I haven’t fallen once this winter!’,...
The Sad Demise of Bike Number 3
I really should have taken my bike inside before the snow. Now , the lock has rusted and frozen to death. Sad times.
#things i should have done / why is the list so long?!
1月
January is one of my favourite months. There is something revitalising about new starts and clean slates ；new calendars and new diaries. It’s always hard, going back to work after the holidays, but it’s nice to find routine. The hard part comes when life becomes too accustomed to routine and the dissatisfaction and resentment sets in. But, for now,there is enough of the new to keep my...
`It may not be racist, but it's a question I'm... →
What a great article!
Anonymous asked: What do you think about AKB48?