keeping track

Meet my MortarBoard. Sold by the MortarBoard league, association, whatever, on campus to raise money for scholarships, it has been my sanity for the past four years (and whenever I actually have a life). Sold in two sizes, this is the larger and is something like 8.5" x 11", while the smaller one that I easily outgrew after freshman year is something like 5" x 6" . . . I don't remember. At any rate, whether I have chosen to mentally accept the fact that I have graduated or not, I am still left without my beloved yearly agenda book. It has a week divider and a large full length column for each day of the week, with smaller rows/columns for the weekends. my only problem is finding a large agenda such as this. While I have several people who have offered to buy me one and ship it once school starts (since they're on a school calendar), I am trying to find something a bit more refined and more practical than trying to find someone to send me one every year. I've looked into several Coach and Cross designs, but none have really struck my fancy. And of course, I've scoured Target for one as well (although, I like the idea of getting a Coach or large luxe brand agenda because I'm quite sure I can get new pages anywhere at anytime). So here is my plea: help me find a large, full size agenda. Suggestions, anything - is appreciated.

And while we're on the subject, I'm kind of looking into a new wallet, since mine is showing the two years of college abuse I've given it. I was thinking a nice small billfold, change purse style . . . any ideas there?

monies and currency

I found a lovely little gem in my mail the other day. A notice informing me that I'll be receiving my stimulus check in the mail soon. Which is fantastic, just I never expected to get one. Being a dependent and all I thought I wasn't included in the government's very odd plan to mail us all money to try and get the economy going (my feelings on the economy hearken back to my study of Japan after the housing bubble - but that's for another time). At any rate it's a lovely $300 I wasn't expecting to have. And a unfortunately the same day my work e-mailed and confirmed my reservation at the Ramada for training . . . so that's where my stimulus check will go. To Canada. The irony. Because in reality I really wanted to buy another pair of shoes (like Ralph Lauren's Lauren wedges). I never thought shoes would become the bane of my existence but here they are. So sad.

In other related news I went to a bank bank since my credit union here at home doesn't offer the same as PEFCU back at school (another reason why I miss it so). But I wound up asking if I could buy some currency for Japan (especially since I'll get there Saturday night and banks won't open to cash traveler's checks until Monday). And unfortunately the lady ordering it for me couldn't figure out the website, and who am I to try and figure out why the bank's online stuff won't work. So I have been left with little to show from my trip to the bank, except my mother buying me a shirt from SimplyVera at Khol's.

The thing that gets me is, why can't a credit union do things like, cash bonds, order foreign currency, etc. Is it not in the set up? Credit unions are practically taking over banks as the main form of savings and checking, at least for most young people. Or perhaps that's just a Purdue phenomena. Purdue offers a credit union to its students and alumni as well as employees. But Purdue is also a large institution that probably employs hundreds of thousands of people and services over thirty-five thousand students on a yearly basis. My sister doesn't use a credit union through her school, but UVA is a much smaller school. Perhaps they lack the infrastructure to support such a system. At any rate, the annoyance of having to use my mother to do things at her bank and yet keep savings in a credit union else where is becoming tiring and overly annoying. Ah well, welcome to being a grown up I suppose.

shoeboxes and other randoms

Clearly decorating an apartment is hard work. Especially when you've never seen it, have no idea what you're getting in it, and have no idea what size it is except 'small.' This of course has not stopped me from trying to get an idea of what I want my apartment to be. I spend countless hours scouring Ikea's Japanese website to try and find good and pretty storage solutions. Or search through the endless hoards of wall decals on Etsy. But I have come to the conclusion that I will not spend sixty-eight dollars on a wall decal that I'm not exactly sure will fit my space or design without even thinking about the color of the decal. So I'm resolving to wait until I get over to Japan and to my apartment to try and find decent decals and just have them shipped all the way there. (And using Alchemy to commission some fun seashell shaped decals.)

On the same line of the apartment, goes the job - since it is the reason for the apartment. And the job has quite strict dress code requirements. So I have spent even more hours online looking for things I won't be able to easily find in Japan, like size 8.5 or 9 shoes. (I am especially in love with Ralph Lauren's Lauren wedges but can bring myself to spend $100 on a pair of shoes without any more income than birthday and graduation money.) Close toed, closed heel, high heeled shoes are hard to find in the cute variety. And unless you're in love with high heeled loafers, most are on the pricier side. So TJ Maxx and outlet stores for places for deals - twenty bucks for a pair of brown heels from Nine West, not bad hm? I also find myself constantly on the look out for quirky tops and straight black skirts.

However, I have a feeling the main benefactor of my money spending will be Target. I have a long list of necessities that range from a million pairs of nude stockings to several tubes of toothpaste, I'm afraid I'll look like a very strange version of a end-of-the-world-stockpiler. I apologize if you're in line behind me.

Recommended Websites: Etsy and Ikea WorldWide.

Hello again. As a I sit and ponder the greater meaning of life (or rather, the idea of was buying those shoes really a good idea?), I have come to a realization that perhaps living far away from my friends in Japan is actually a good thing.

As of right now, GEOS has given me an eighty percent chance of landing in Kitakyushu. The second largest city on the island of Kyushu in the prefecture of Fukuoka. It looks sweet, if not a bit industrial (although as long as there are no paper factories that smell, I'll be happy). It's ridiculously far away from everyone I know (over 1,000 miles). And while that's terrifying it's also a bit exhilarating too. I went to Purdue knowing relatively no one - and I have made life long friends, enemies, and generally good ties with most people I've met along the way. I have no reason to think that this won't happen in Kitakyushu. Except everyone speaks Japanese. That's my only worry. Since especially my Japanese has declined in recent months. :\ Sad, right?

But as I scour the internet for blogs, information, and all sorts of other things about Kitakyushu, I'm beginning to become more excited to go than ever. After all the emotion and desire to not leave school and people behind, focusing on the city where I will be moving makes everything much more real and much more exciting.

For postings regarding Kitakyushu shopping, blogs, and all the research I'll do before hand and once I get there - check out: http://community.livejournal.com/gaikokujin_ne/profile .

Moving On

My apologies for the months it has been since I last posted, but a lot has happened. I have received and accepted a job offer in Japan. Classes have ended with a strange lack of finality on my undergraduate career. Finals and final papers are finished and done. Residents are moving out with a strange flurry of hurry up and wait mentalities. But for all my love of Purdue's campus during senior week and the lack of there being anyone to interrupt the beautiful weather and absolute nothingness of stuff to do, I am very sad to see my residents move out. My friend, Lauren, always says I'm a mother hen type, and that I don't deny. I just wasn't as aware that I was so attached to my girls. I suppose that says it all. Referring to them as my 'girls' as opposed to 'residents.' But attachment is what I do best, for better or worse.

A friend called me yesterday and amidst the dinner plans and finals griping, he ask if I was excited to be moving. And honestly, I can't say I'm looking forward with complete abandon and excitement. I keep looking back and holding on to certain things. Friends. A boy. Residents. Jobs. Family. Not in that particular order, but I am starting to feel what one of my professor called the human reaction to change, transitions. I am feeling the vulnerability and fear of change and the finality of it all. I want nights of cuddling and kissing and movies lasting until one am when we pass out in each others arms without consequences of things the next morning. I want to be able to call a mental health day because I still have two excuse free skips in all my classes that day. I still want to be a college student. But I'm realizing that while I want to remain in college forever, I am ready to grow up.

Residence halls are great. Don't get me wrong. Heck, I'm planning on coming back for a masters in student affairs (when I do get back). But I can't wait to move into my own apartment. I can't wait to cook my own food and be an adult (in some ways). There are so many exciting things of being a gown up that I look forward to. Although doing so in a foreign country is a bit daunting.

The last point I want to make is about my attachment 'problem.' I know people think it's silly and I'm crazy for telling someone I like them three weeks before he leaves and four weeks before I graduate, but although I knew from the start I'd be more emotionally attached than the situation should allow, I went for it. And let me say, bravery isn't my thing. Not really. Not emotionally. To tell him - to let someone else tell him even, was a large leap for me. But I've learned you only live once. And I believe that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Especially when you realize you like someone enough that when they embarrass you in front of your friends you still like them. Life is way too short to be taken seriously. People who do end up being boring and ____phobic to an unhealthy degree.

And while I might be overly-attached and invested in a relationship that hardly exists and may cry like a baby when my friends leave, I have at least fulfilled my fantasy of making out with him in the elevator.

let it snow

This entire week has just been horrible. I can't seem to make it to my first classes on time (not for lack of trying). So many papers and other things piled up and I probably made terrible drafts of all of them - but they were done which was more than I could probably hope for. Although God has blessed me with a lot of small victories this week as well, so that's nice. But tonight I relaxed with some of my fellow RAs and helped make scrap book pages for our SR who's officially leaving Sunday (we'll miss her SO much!). Except it's supposed to snow ten to twelve inches tonight. Oh goodness! And being on duty subjects me to shoveling detail. Hurrah. hahaha

One of the major things this week is I found out my best friend is not staying in Japan next year. I know it probably wouldn't have significantly altered my choice for what to do after graduation this May, but it makes me think about what I'm going to do. Both of my good friends, Jon and Lauren, are struggling with the teaching jobs. And not to group myself with them, I wonder if I'll struggle the same way. I feel confident I know what I'm getting myself into, but I always feel that way until I get in and realize I'm in far over my head.

Yet, here is the entire reason I named this blog "Traveling Dish" - I plan on traveling. Jon noted on Lauren's facebook that he felt windows were closing the longer he waited to, I suppose get a real job. And maybe I'll feel that way too, but as it stands my plans are to travel the world. Simple sounding and so . . . cliche. I'm sure people laugh and say, "You say that now." But I do. I fully intend on moving to Japan and teach for two years, and then move to Italy and give tours or teach English there as well, especially if I get my CELT certification. I'd love to move to somewhere in the U.K. - but you can't be an English teacher in England as easily as Italy or Japan. Anyway, Jon may say that's unrealistic - heck a lot of people might - but I want to see things before I settle down - if I ever do.

I mean how much of ourselves do we sacrifice for the security of job? I don't plan to do that, living cheaply isn't fun - but neither is compromising yourself.

a blustry day

With the high of thirteen and a current windchill of ten, I'm perfectly content to sit in the main office and get a few extra hours in. (Although, I could go for having some chapstick.) But it's days like today I wish I could just sit around in bed all day and read something awesome and drink warm drinks (which is a totally different story). That or have my own place with big comfy couches for friends to sit and play games or talk.

The other night I was hanging out with a few friends, and who knows how it came up, but we got onto the subject of languages. I, of course, was super excited. Sometimes it seems like all we talk about (academically speaking of course) is computer systems and plant problems, so to get on a subject I enjoyed and am knowledgable in was very exciting. And then Jacob said, "Isn't it sad that you never hear of anything with German?" As in the language families. I felt like hitting him upside the head. I told him, "English is a Germanic language," and in a fit of immaturity followed it up with, "Duh!" He really didn't believe me, even after I explained the language history of England and how English was formed in all its complex and confusing glory. So I had to go online and wiki it for him. Yes. I used wiki for an intellectual arguement - which isn't to say I don't use wikipedia all the time - but I try to avoid using it in arguements (and papers, of course).

But I went home thinking, 'Language history is so cool.' Yeah, just like that too. The linguistical history has always attracted me, but I have no desire to study the phonetics attatched to it. Phonetics are probably the bane of my existance because I never learned grammar all that well in grade school. Which isn't to say they didn't teach me, I'm sure they did - I just never cared enough to learn it permenantly, and I've never had the drive to go back and learn again. Although I should. Oops. And yet again this led to another thought.

How much do we blame our previous education for things? And how much to blame are they for holes in our education? I know I hate math, I know why I hate math. I hate math because I don't get it. And I am convinced I don't get math because of my eleventh grade, second semester teacher, who seemed more interested in failing all of us than actually teaching us anything. Maybe I'm still too close to the system to be able to actually have a good perspecitive, but I think a lot of the problem with schools is the lack of teachers who care - who want to teach - who, most importantly, want their students to learn. Teachers who are thinking about the next year, when they retire and care more about putting down a grade than making sure the student understands the material, are not only not adding to our educational system, they're detracting from it. I know part of this is because people have to work longer to be able to have enough money to retire, and that teachers are overloaded with students because of the lack of work force, but still, as a system we should at least be aiming to come out at par. Shouldn't we?