Kiki Lala

Do you know Kiki and Lala? They're twin little star fairies from Sanrio.

 

 

 

I grew up with Little Twin Stars goods along with beloved Keroppi and Hello Kitty and some Pochacco, but only today learnt who is who in KikiLala. Because of the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service", I thought Kiki is a girl, but always also thought Lala can't be a boy's name. I don't know why I never bothered to check. Apparently, Kiki is the boy and Lala is the girl.

 

Pochacco

 

I first fell in love with KikiLala (I've never heard of anyone call them by the actual name, LTS) because their tissues from Sanrio shop had the best candy print and mild cotton candyish scent.

 

In Japan, we're taught to always carry with us a packet of tissues and a handkerchief. There's even a "Health Maintenance staff" in each class that checks to make sure each student has them and reports to the Nurse's room. This staff also checks if your nails are trimmed, and if your hair is past your shoulder you are to tie them.

 

Because of such rule and another rule that says we can not bring to school anything that isn't necessary, girls compete to have the cutest handkerchief and tissues, and at the time Sanrio was the only company that had irregular shaped packages and KikiLala even came with a scent which was a big deal for little kids. Because of the no toy rule, Japanese stationery goods often are half a toy, too. The many different erasers clearly not for erasing are perfect example of the situation.

 

I've owned almost all of them here except for the chocolate donut.

These are just a part of the food series, and there are many others.

I used to be obsessed with the food series but recently I'm more into the animal series, especially the fish collection.

Keroppi

 

 

H

Tales of Shopska

When I was little ,I would frequently have a breakfast of vegetable assortment and sirene .
Ah sirene ,this brine white Bulgarian cheese with its saltiness makes for a great couple with a tomato on a summer day .I'd say that I can tell if a certain tomato will taste ripe and red if it smells a certain way : similar to an artificial hot pepper chips flavor ,just like the one sold in Jordan ....

I remember thinking as a child that if there is any meal I would rather eat for the rest of my life it would be that of tomatoes and cheese .I must have been infatuated . I would come up with scenarios in which that would be absolutely necessary ...a task of an introverted child with an imagination running wild  . In fact the first words I learnt in Arabic were bandoura (بندورة ) and Hubz (خبز) - tomatoes and bread .

 Back then I had little knowledge of my middle eastern partial origin . Who knew that in the years that followed I would be discovering a whole different culture from that I grew up in Bulgaria ...
However that is a a non Shopska related tale. More to do with other salads ...

One summer visiting grandma's ,my brother and I ,went with some distant relative kids (two sibling and their cousin ) to a charming neighboring village to fish . One of our friends had a cup filled with freshly picked ,live worms for bate -I wasn't grossed up much .
I often fancied myself as a tomboy :excelling at physical skills ,thinking I would be great at using a hook -it wasn't so . Nevertheless my little brother  was pretty quick to out fish us all ,I was proud ,he soon filled up his bucket .Since we were not to consume  the creature ,we threw them mercifully back in the water . For lunch we went to their village house ,their mom had made small diced Shopska salad with traditional bean stew - it was a warm summer day - the table was set in the garden under the grape vines .As we were filling our tummies I thought what a wonderful thing it was we tried something completely new and how delicious is the previously mentioned combination ...

A Greek salad would be one just like Shopska but with Greek cheese and frankly said not as delicious  ,or at least I think so ,from this one time I had one . What makes a fabulous Shopska ,though,  is the sirene and the onions ...

The first time I went to a spa was last October ,I know I haven't lived enough,for not trying the marvels of the sanus per aquam earlier ...aside from the striking wonder of  hot stone chairs being amazingly relaxing ,I had the epiphany that onions are a key ingredient in the a good Shopska.
The spa was at a crisp air mountain  area with a view of a lake , near Sofia ,I enjoyed a walk aside the lake evening when I was mostly busy taking pictures and early morning when I shivered while watching the fog over the lake sweep away ....

The trip on the way back to hometown was of a bigger interest ,aside from a war time monument we saw ,there were the onions...piriform purple tunic glorious onions ,twenty of them braided together by their dried tip stems ,sold on the side of the road ...I tell you H there are no such delicious onions I have ever tasted...at home they lasted only few weeks ,before I was pining for more .

Possibly on our next meeting H ,we'll have some Shopska for lunch ,followed by our long anticipated tea party.

R

Dress Code

Would you wear a hoodie to school? Are you allowed to? My school in Japan had a uniform, but now that I'm abroad and we can wear our own clothes I sometimes think about it.

Up till now I tried to at least wear a shirt or a dress with a collar to show the instructors respect. Recently I wonder if it actually matters.

I guess it really depends on where you are. I hear the Islamic nations have same values like we do in Japan and many parts of Aisa regarding dress code.

I highly doubt they would care in the US where the instructors might be in a casual tshirt and shorts themselves. I love that about the US, although dressing up can be very nice too.

I've been eyeing some toon hoodie these days,and I nearly bought a Haribo Bear sweater today, but I want to make sure I get ones that aren't colorful so I don't look like a crazy person.

Since when am I so boring and care about what people think of myself is beyond me.

This is a Japanese equivalent of Barbie doll, and she's wearing an actual school's uniform here.

H

Sanrio

Do you know Sanrio? I don't think many people would, but I think most of girls know Hello Kitty. If Mickey Mouse made Disney success, Hello Kitty did the same for Sanrio.

I visited Gift Gate which is a Sanrio shop selling items with their characters, kinda like their version of Disney Store.

One thing that surprised me is that they also sell Peanuts items now like Snoopy clothing. Since when are you a part of Sanrio, Woodstock? They fit right in though.

I was so SO happy to see some Keroppi items. I was a huge Keroppi fan as a kid. Whatever that came out new, I had to have it! I wonder what happened to all the Keroppi erasers and pens I collected. I remember where some of it went.

When Japan had a huge earthquake when I was still in primary school, our school asked pupils to donate stationary goods for the schools in the disaster zone.

My mom took my sister and I to a Sanrio shop, and we bought 100 pencils each. Sanrio shops used to sell pencils individually, each with some kind of charm like flower shaped eraser on top, a fruit dangling etc. They were really cute! We usually only got those for birthdays or Christmas, but I guess mom decided to send something a little extra cheerful.

Mom also bought packets of pencil caps, and that night it took us a very long time to sharpen each one manually and to put a cap.

Oh the disappointment next day when my teacher told me that they can not send what isn't new so that they will be used at the school in the office.

I mean, wtf, they're not used, I just sharpened them because they probably won't have a sharpener at the disaster zone. Besides, if they could not be sent, why didn't I get to just bring them back home?

But I guess that in Japan if sending already sharpened pencil is rude, to send the donation back is considered rude as well. I so did not need that politeness.

I would also like to take this chance to mention how we all know that rescue teams from all over the world came for help, how grateful we all still are, and how Switzerland, despite being one of the furthest nation, was the first to arrive. Thank you all so much for that!!

When Japan recently had the big earthquake, I first found out about it from the many messages that I received from friends on facebook(感謝！).

I immediately tried calling Japan, but the phone didn't go through, and in desperation I posted my JP number on facebook asking someone to try calling. After about 10 minutes, I got two messages, one from India and another from the US telling me that they spoke with my family and that everyone is alright.

I will never forget their kindness from that day. I really appreciate all the messages too. I felt blessed!

So back to the topic, there is one big Keroppi cushion that I'm dreaming to have sitting on my pillow every day waiting for me to come home free of all the stress, but I have no income at the moment and I do feel a bit too old to drag mom there and beg till she bends and I get something pretty and unnecessary.

It's great when I actually like what mom likes, because it will be an effortless process. In reality, I often have to beg mom to NOT get me what she likes because I don't want pink Disney Princess lunchbox, for example.

I wish I was a kid again. No I don't.  

H

Date with Granma

I went out with Granma today in hopes of cheering her up thinking we can maybe have a jyoshikai somewhere over some pretty cake, but it ended up being "Go where Granma's been out on a date with late Granpa" trip, and might I mention how surprisingly happy this made granma!

We ended up staying out till past 20h, something unimaginable for Granma when Granpa was still alive being taken care of at home by Granma. This might just be the only positive thing about his passing.

It was a very emotionally busy dinner for Granma at Granpa's favorite restaurant. She ordered her favorite for herself, and got me Granpa's favorite so we can swap some to taste eachothers', just like how they used to do. She smiled, cried, laughed, sobbed and laughed some more.

I really like listening to Granma talk about her days with Granpa. By now I've heard of all of it at least ten times if not more, but I love watching her eyes grow with happiness every time. Listening to her makes me realize how bad memories will eventually find its way to become a comedy, property of the then-silly me, or they become a sensei of life and you would have lesson learnt owing to the experience.

Her and I are quite the opposite but we have some shared love for gardening and for kimono. We promised to visit my favorite tofu restaurant soon and I might then wear a kimono. There are quite a lot of kimonos that Granma's daughterless siblings have passed on to us, and I enjoy wearing them sometimes but I usually don't go out in them.

Kimono is quite a costly hobby to frequent. I need to find a professional launder who can clean my kimonos for something affordable to me. I've heard of coin-laundry where you get to dry clean your own clothes, and that you could put kimonos in the machine at your own risk. Would you risk it? I can't quite decide. I won't be wearing them much at all if they costed me 30-50 euros to wash each time, but when I think about how much it would be if I had to buy the fabric new, have them pre shrunk and then made according to my size, I would hate to risk it too.

I know that you're really only supposed to wash the inner kimono every time you wear it and the outer layer of the kimono is not supposed to be washed after each wear unless it was a summer kimono, but I guess I'm a bit fussy like that. I'm the only person I know that washes jeans after each wear too. My excuse is that because I have atopic dermatitis and always wear tons of mositurizer, it just feels icky for me to wear same clothes twice or sleep on same sheets for days.

Speaking of eczema R, I wish you could see my skin now that I'm back in Japan, it's so much better I wonder if it's the hard water over there. It could also be that maybe I'm just better living with Japanese food.

I love Granma's food. Both Granmas and also my mom are all an amazing cook. Losing Granpa makes me realize how they really are that old and how I could lose another family any day. I guess it's time I learnt their secret recipes, a kitchen date :)


H

"Visiting" Home

I am so usually not home to the point that its no longer much of going home but rather more like visiting home.

If you are wondering if this is what you think it is, yes, thats an actual airport in 2014.

Half this place is very old times JP and the other half is more Western or European looking with some Hello Kitty to celebrate Mt.Fuji for becoming world Heritage. 

AND this means something to me because...

This is what home looks like, to me.

Mt.Fuji ♪ヽ(´▽｀)/

H