News, Hair & Sigur Ros... not much new
I was really annoyed and frusterated in the morning, but the picture thing ended well yesterday. I decided to take the creative approach and make some new friends in the neighborhood by stopping by the beauty salon next to my school during lunch and asking if I could use their hair straightener. It sounds vain, but I am not kidding that my hair looked like a mop!
At first the woman working there thought I wanted some straightening treatment (I think?) and told me it'd be $20-30, but I explained that I only wanted to use the straightener and could do it myself in 5 minutes. I told her I worked next door, it was picture day and I hadn't known and my hair was ugly. That and a smile and it was a piece of cake. I got a chuckle out of the lady (definitely think I gave her something to tell her friends), but the woman was super sweet and let me use her professional iron for $5 (which I then didn't have to pay in the end). Score.
Anyways, the salon and my school are sort of in the middle of a residential area, and the business is actually attached to the owner's house, so her family came out to see me doing my straightening thing, too. Her two-year-old daughter was riding around on this little broom, pretending she was KiKi (from Studio Ghible's KiKi's Delivery Service). She was absolutely adorable and I tried to talk to her a little bit, but she was rattling off Japanese too fast and I couldn't catch all of it. Super cute, though, and we bonded over liking Ghible flicks :)
Conflict and Watching Your Attitude at Work
There were some other things that happened yesterday after not knowing about the pictures, though, and I left work pretty promptly when I realized the lack of sleep - and my state of being extremely annoyed by the lack of information - had put me beyond being in a sour mood. I actually sort of snapped at my colleague, which I have literally never done, stopping him in the hallway and asking him, "Seriously, nobody tells me anything! What is going on?!" There were no bad words inserted in there and I know people have done worse, but the guy is always so nie to me and I said it VERY slowly and with an angry look. He looked shocked. I apologized today and I know that comment was not so appropriate in this work culture, but at least they know how I feel about being left out of the loop(for better or worse). Communication is generally not a problem at my office and maybe the recent gaps will go away... but that coworker still looks a bit scared of me today. Hmm.
News
Ok, onto a random note. Can I just say that the world headlines seem so depressing today. To answer some questions, no we didn't feel the earthquake in China where I am (or was in Tokyo), but I have been following along with the devestating news and horrific death toll updates along with everyone else online. I was also just reading about the bombs in Jaipur, India, which jolted me a bit. Eighty were killed. Kelly and I spent a few days there (actually a few days longer than we originally planned because we loved the charasmatic, beautiful, little blue town so much) just four months back. It's hard to imagine it being bombed and destroyed right now and my heart goes out to those that were injured or lost people.
Sigur Ros
While I was surfing the news and catching up on stuff, I saw a note about Sigur Ros touring America. Love that band, so I checked their website to see if there were any upcoming Japan tour dates. None. And no dates that I could make in America this summer. Bummer. That being said, I am really glad I went to the website to check it out because I was totally blown away. Love the simple design and it's really easy to use, but even more than that, they have some really cool info posted. Check this out...
For example, they actually have a link for a general icelandic pronunciation guide (so you can sing along) and translations of the lyrics, including a section on accent. Dude, no wonder these people (yes, all 230,000 of them) have preserved their langauge and heritage so well. They take this seriously!
The FAQ section is also really funny and actually interesting. Like, what does 'sigur rós' mean?:
sigur rós translates directly to 'victory rose'. sigur rós was named after jónsi's little sister, whose name is sigurrós (without a space). sigurrós is a fairly common female name in iceland. you can find more translations here.
Anyways, that is enough free advertising for bands today, but thought I would mention it.
I need to get some National Council "homework" done and have a full afternoon of classes, but I think I'm heading to the local okonomiyaki shop for dinner (Tenshin - literally won awards for the best Akashiyaki and it's run by these old Japanese women that don't speak English... I LOVE IT!). Then maybe I will consider actually getting more rest for once! I hope all if you are doing well and thanks for listening to the rants :) Peace out.
At first the woman working there thought I wanted some straightening treatment (I think?) and told me it'd be $20-30, but I explained that I only wanted to use the straightener and could do it myself in 5 minutes. I told her I worked next door, it was picture day and I hadn't known and my hair was ugly. That and a smile and it was a piece of cake. I got a chuckle out of the lady (definitely think I gave her something to tell her friends), but the woman was super sweet and let me use her professional iron for $5 (which I then didn't have to pay in the end). Score.
Anyways, the salon and my school are sort of in the middle of a residential area, and the business is actually attached to the owner's house, so her family came out to see me doing my straightening thing, too. Her two-year-old daughter was riding around on this little broom, pretending she was KiKi (from Studio Ghible's KiKi's Delivery Service). She was absolutely adorable and I tried to talk to her a little bit, but she was rattling off Japanese too fast and I couldn't catch all of it. Super cute, though, and we bonded over liking Ghible flicks :)
Conflict and Watching Your Attitude at Work
There were some other things that happened yesterday after not knowing about the pictures, though, and I left work pretty promptly when I realized the lack of sleep - and my state of being extremely annoyed by the lack of information - had put me beyond being in a sour mood. I actually sort of snapped at my colleague, which I have literally never done, stopping him in the hallway and asking him, "Seriously, nobody tells me anything! What is going on?!" There were no bad words inserted in there and I know people have done worse, but the guy is always so nie to me and I said it VERY slowly and with an angry look. He looked shocked. I apologized today and I know that comment was not so appropriate in this work culture, but at least they know how I feel about being left out of the loop(for better or worse). Communication is generally not a problem at my office and maybe the recent gaps will go away... but that coworker still looks a bit scared of me today. Hmm.
News
Ok, onto a random note. Can I just say that the world headlines seem so depressing today. To answer some questions, no we didn't feel the earthquake in China where I am (or was in Tokyo), but I have been following along with the devestating news and horrific death toll updates along with everyone else online. I was also just reading about the bombs in Jaipur, India, which jolted me a bit. Eighty were killed. Kelly and I spent a few days there (actually a few days longer than we originally planned because we loved the charasmatic, beautiful, little blue town so much) just four months back. It's hard to imagine it being bombed and destroyed right now and my heart goes out to those that were injured or lost people.
Sigur Ros
While I was surfing the news and catching up on stuff, I saw a note about Sigur Ros touring America. Love that band, so I checked their website to see if there were any upcoming Japan tour dates. None. And no dates that I could make in America this summer. Bummer. That being said, I am really glad I went to the website to check it out because I was totally blown away. Love the simple design and it's really easy to use, but even more than that, they have some really cool info posted. Check this out...
For example, they actually have a link for a general icelandic pronunciation guide (so you can sing along) and translations of the lyrics, including a section on accent. Dude, no wonder these people (yes, all 230,000 of them) have preserved their langauge and heritage so well. They take this seriously!
The FAQ section is also really funny and actually interesting. Like, what does 'sigur rós' mean?:
sigur rós translates directly to 'victory rose'. sigur rós was named after jónsi's little sister, whose name is sigurrós (without a space). sigurrós is a fairly common female name in iceland. you can find more translations here.
Anyways, that is enough free advertising for bands today, but thought I would mention it.
I need to get some National Council "homework" done and have a full afternoon of classes, but I think I'm heading to the local okonomiyaki shop for dinner (Tenshin - literally won awards for the best Akashiyaki and it's run by these old Japanese women that don't speak English... I LOVE IT!). Then maybe I will consider actually getting more rest for once! I hope all if you are doing well and thanks for listening to the rants :) Peace out.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 3:27 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:21 AM,
Masa Saito said…
I always enjoy reading your blog and I thought I should leave some comments from your message here. You sound like a good negotiator to the woman at hair salon! Well done, Brenda! It was a picture day that nobody told you, huh? Well, we call it "Missing communication". This somehow happen to me at work as well. Even if there are something that are important, the person who is in charge to be announced, have either forgotten or haven't noticed to me until the last minute. It gets me frustrated and I became pretty upset as well. There had a prenty of time way before the important day but those are lacking up their communication with me and so to other co-workers. Anyway, what you acted to one of the teacher with your angry face was good because that was a warning sign to make them realize what they were supposed to do for communication. People don't talk each other here unless they really become familiar with the person and I sometimes don't understand what the heck they are thinking in their mind. Anyway, I hope you do well at school. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home