Some Pictures from Harajuku Stroll and A Little Bit of Despondency

Sunday, July 16th, 2017

While waiting for my bathtub to get filled up

(19:30)

One word to describe myself this Sunday: freakin' exhausted.

I don't know, but I'm not getting excited about things this whole day. No, not just today, prolly some days within this week, I've felt this way. I usually felt so excessively happy and high, even for something that some people might find them boring. Maybe I'm just too tired, too sleep-deprived.

Oops, guess the hot water in my oh-sooo-mini-bathtub has filled up. Alright, I'll continue writing in a couple of minutes. I need to go to the bathroom now and I'll be right back once I'm done dipping. Anyway, I'm using MUJI's lavender-scented bath salt this time, it smells nice, and I'm genuinely happy right now. Omg, I guess I just got excited over something, right in this very moment!! lol.

(20:05)

Hi, done with the bathing business. Felt so good, the lavender bath salt has successfully shed away the weariness. Face is still a little bit red by the time I'm typing this, especially the bridge of my nose.  But I just sprayed tea tree water onto the face just now. So, despite the redness, my face is actually feeling so refreshed. Whoop, perfectness. Now this girl is feeling better, both mentally and physically. 

I'm not sure if the thing that I've just experienced can be classified as a mood swing, but my mental condition changed exceptionally fast. It only took a nice dip in a hot bath for 20 minute-ish. To me, that was relatively fast.

Well, I guess I need to take a break again. Be right back after dinner! 🥘 

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

Saturday, July 29th, 2017

While waiting for my laundry in the dryer

(16:50)

Oh my God, time is scary. Don't you think? 

Two weeks ago I wrote that I'd be back after dinner. But then I didn't. I was too sleepy after dinner, then I decided to have a doze before going back to the blog. Turned out, the doze became a deep, deep sleep. I got busy on the next day, as well as the next next day, until I neglected this post and let it sit in the draft, until I realized that it has been two weeks long. Phew! 

Hella talented procrastinator when it comes to blogging lately. This definitely needs to be stopped. But how? Let me contemplate and figure a way out.

Alright, there's just too much despondency going on in this post. Shall we just jump right into the real deal on the photos I have here? *O come on Shabrina, you can even do it from the beginning of the post if you want to! 😛*

So, long story short I went to Harajuku on July 12th to meet my best friend, the one who's always been so ever-tempered in dealing with my never ending babbles, lol. We finally managed to try out Luke's Lobster, that infamous lobster roll originally from NYC, after failing to get one in our last meet-up.

 The lobster roll (below); The shrimp & crab roll (top)

They tasted... okay 👌 

I don't know if it's just me, but I didn't find it amazingly wow as compared to all the crazy hypes about this lobster roll in the world wide web. But yeah, being okay is still acceptable for someone like me who's not so hard to please when it comes to food. 

Have you ever tried the Luke's lobster? What's your take on it?

Right across the Luke's shack, we found this vines-covered wall with cute little lilac flowers thriving mostly at the upper part. "You must be wanting to take photos there, aren't you?" my friend asked. Of course the whole universe could easily know the answer even without me necessarily saying "yes". 

Done with the photo session in front of the vines, yeah, we had to stop taking photos because another tourist was lining up behind us while mumbling in a language that I didn't understand. But from her tone, I could decipher that she was complaining about us being too long 😌 oh, come on...

We continued walking casually. Getting in and out bunches of stores, touched many products, bought nothing, and ended up getting some shaved ice 🍧 in "Ice Monster" to close our meet-up session. We talked about tons of stuffs, as per usual. But this time was mainly about sexual preferences. Definitely my favorite topic to talk about.

That's that! I miss having another casual stroll already.

Anyway, July ends in two days. I did various stuffs this month. I'll try to write some recaps about this. Not to be cocky, but I'm satisfied with my performance this month. Hope August is going to be a great month too! Despite the crazy summer heat we're having here in Tokyo 🔥

Well well, hope you're all having heaps of joy in this very month too! I'll see you on the next post ;)

In the meantime, go explore your neighborhood, dance to your favorite songs and eat lots of yummy desserts. Or just do whatever that will make you happy and love yourself even more! 💟

xx,

Shabrina.

Reminiscing Summer // Festivals

Three months of summer holiday's going to be over very soon. Whoa! It's obviously freaking long, but kind of short as well. Within that long but short school hiatus, I trained myself to juggle between weekly study group (and all of its assignments) + completing research plan + self studying for Master's entrance exam (this one only intensely started lately tho), + yet still making time for some exhibitions hopping (with Pixar Exhibition at Harajuku became the latest one). So yeah, it's pretty much jam-packed with serious stuffs, but I'm content with what I've been through. 

However, still, I'm trapped in that lust to get out of Tokyo for a little while, like away on a trip to Dinosaur Museum in Fukui, and then proceed to the 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa, or even flying further to Shikoku Island for Setouchi Trienalle in Naoshima... these activities have been waiting to be ticked from my Japan travel bucket list, but again, the timing still not allows. 

Hence, instead of lamenting my incapability to travel far, I guess it's wise enough to reminisce some of the happy memories I had earlier this summer holiday. Exactly when the day was longer and the humidity was unbearable. 

Chofu Asagao Festival

Sunday, July 3rd 2016

I remember participating in this festival just one day before the final exam week. Hahaha. Went here with my best girls, Afrin and Freezy. They're just the finest, craziest best friend you could ever ask for! As long as I remember, we decided to postpone writing our essays and prioritized this festival instead. 

Yeay, for world without stranger! This friendly Ojiichan (grandpa) greeted me in English, "How are you?" all of a sudden, with a supper energetic voice tone ever :D What a lovely occurrence to remember. Hope you always be healthy, happy and prosperous, dearest Ojiichan! 

So you know, one of the blessings living in Japan as a foreign student is that, the abundant opportunity to get invited to various events. And of course, not to mention a cultural event like this. With the permission from universities, organizers of such event will stick a poster or leave a pile of leaflet, advertising their events. Not just informing about when, where and what the event is about, but they will also offer a value-added activity that is specifically planned/targeted for foreign students. 

As for this festival, the organizer offered an experience of walking around in a local summer festival in yukata (summer kimono). Moreover, it came in a cheap deal: 500 yen! Well, if you're lucky enough, you can get the exactly same experience hosted by other organizer for free, but I guess 500 yen is still very very affordable! Because, if you do rent yukata in a famous tourist spot like Asakusa or Kamakura, they might charge you around 2000 yen or even more. So, by joining this kind of cultural exchange events, you can experience Japanese culture in a more economical way, haha.

Dancing together with a traditional female dance group! I just love how vibrant the colors turned out in this picture! Looking so summer <3

Wearing yukata in my favorite color: Blue! Pairing it with a bright yellow obi and a splash of red to make it more festive!

Paying a visit to a shrine. As you can see, I didn't come to this festival with Afrin and Freezy only. But also with other foreign students from different universities.

See those colorful paper decorations above? Those are for the celebration of Tanabata Matsuri or also known as the Star Festival. Summer is indeed the season of festivals! Aside from it being very humid and hot, I love how lively summer in Japan has to offer; festivals and firework competitions.

  

Here's my pose that was once I uploaded on instagram, meaning that I was ready to face the wicked final week. Ahaha.

Nishi Chofu Summer Festival

Sunday, July 24th 2016

This is another festival held around two weeks after the former one. This one took place in Nishi Chofu area and was held in a smaller scope. The festival itself didn't make any advertisement, since it was only targeting people living in Nishi Chofu neighborhood. But, Afrin and I managed to know about it from a kind uncle that we met at the Asagao Festival.

Hahaha, so Japan right? Power ranger sort of thing, appeared live in a show called the V-Mask Show!

I was literally jumping out of surprised when that fish monster came out, as it looked terrifying in real life, I swear.

Haha apparently kids love this show so much! xD

Enjoying kakigoori or shaved ice

Say "konnichiwa" to my new friend, Luna-chan, guys! Luna-chan cried when the fish monster from the V-show appeared. Poor, Luna-chan :(

 

Long time no cotton candy!

Even though not as packed as the Asagao Festival, Afrin and I had a really good and laid-back time at Nishi Chofu Festival. Spending an hour and a half, munching festival's sweets while enjoying various shows. Fyi, we were the only foreigners in this event xD

Done with the festival, we then having a pleasant time strolling Nishi Chofu neat and lovely neighborhood!

Oh! did I forget to tell you? That  you can get uchiwa (a round fan) for free during summer. You can get it anywhere, like literally anywhere! There was one day I got two uchiwas at the same time xD Usually they stick some advertisements on the uchiwa.

So, yeah, that was one of my summer highlights for this year. Anyway, 10 days left till normal uni life starts again. Mixed feelings. 

Hope you guys enjoy this post! ;)

xx,

Shabrina

p.s.:

Somehow, I miss the earsplitting chirp of cicadas, the natural background music for summer in Japan. But I'm so excited for Autumn as well! Seasonal dilemma? :p