I threw six lines on the envelope:

Company Name
His Name
Town, Zipcode
Regency
Province
Country

On the back: his phone number

No street or anything, but MAYBE, just MAYBE it will get there. He said the size of the closest town is only about 150, and that the locals know of the company. But according to him, the Indonesian government doesn’t give a shit about anything, so they won’t make the effort to get it to him… Ohhh gosh

Thought & effort that counts, 100%, yeah?

HAPPY 3-mo ANNIVERSARY, SWEETIE! :) :) :) 1 week ago

Having a boyfriend who lives in such a primitive part of the world that he can’t even send or receive mail…. T____T

His work schedule is 6 weeks in Borneo, 2 weeks in Jakarta, 6… IDEALLY. But it doesn’t happen how it should(!!) so YEAH :’( He gets mail in Jakarta, so I write him letters he won’t even get to read for quite some time. And he sends me nothing.

Any cute ideas? Anyone, anyone? Above is letter number two :) <3 <3 <3 I already have ideas built up, but I know I'll soon run out. 1 week ago

Sashimi is so badass! If you’ve tried sushi and enjoy it, I highly recommend trying sashimi. It’s hardcore, haha. Mi Ran soaks it in soy sauce and puts a small chuck of wasabi on it (it is not stirred into the sauce). I hear that’s kind of frowned upon because the soul of sashimi is its simplicity and delicate flavors. But whatever… I was scared, so I followed her lead. Mmm… sashimi.

I got to introduce Mi Ran to an American favorite as well :) Fudge! She really likes it, haha :) We also tried fried ice cream after our dinner. We had to drive to four different restaurants before we found one that was open :\ Zigzagging around town was near-painful… I must be an awesome roommate :P

Let’s see… oh! And I added a new flag to the collection, heh… when I ordered it, I was like, “this will be a great representation of the friendship of our countries!” and all that wonderfully lame philosophical stuff. But when it came in the mail, I felt kinda creepy. Like how is this conversation supposed to go?

“Oh Mi Ran, look what I got!”
“Oooohhhh….”
Fin.
:P

I think my enthusiasm is occasionally off-putting, haha. Oh well… when we were driving home, I apologized that we didn’t get to make it to Bear Country, and she was like, “We can go next time” and I was like, “REALLY?! You wanna go again?!” haha. Yay! We’re on the right road :) BFF? No. Probably never. But hey, I’m happy to be the one that gets to share new experiences with her :) 8 months ago

“So what is Ichirin?”
“Ichirin issa one flower”
“Ahhhh…. so what is Ichirin no hana?”
“Dhat is one flower”
“Ohhhh….”

“There’s this one girl. Uhm. She’s always with this guy. I think he lives in our hall. She’s always on his shoulder.”
“Ooooohh she is Korean”
“Really? She has a really pointed chin.”
“Pointed?”
“Yes. Like some faces are round and then some go in like this”
“Ahhhhh. Does she have long hay-er?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mmm… She is not his girlfriend.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mmhm”
“She’s really loud.”
“OH! Yeees, she is his girlfriend.”

“Do you dhink Jah-pah-nese peepo are quiet?”
“Uhm. I suppose so. Yeah, kind of. I mean it’s just like everywhere else I guess. Like I’m sure there are some Japanese people who are annoying as fuck. But we have really annoying people here too, like the people who live in our hall”
[insert legitimate Japanese girl laugh here]

Wheee :):)
ANDANDOMG
I asked her what she missed about Japan! And she said the food, which I figured…. and she was like, “raw feesh.”
“Oh! Like… sashimi?”
“Yeeeeees! mmm sashimi!”
“I know where we can get some!”
“Ohhh!”
“Don’t get your hopes up, it’s American sashimi.”

Oh, haha! And a couple nights ago, she comes in and says, “Uhm. Where is Kee-sone?”
“I’m not sure. I was thinking about that actually. It might be too far away.”
“Ahhhh,” she says, and she brings me this laminated map of the United States and points, “is in Colorado?”
“Uh. no.”

Lol :) We’re going to Keystone!!! And we’re eating at Ichiban and getting Sashimi/sushi and then going to Fuji on the way back where they serve hibachi which is an American misnomer for teppanyaki

:D :D :D I’m so excited!!! We’re communicating! 8 months ago

mee-say, store.

I told Mi Ran I was going to the store today and said she could come if she wanted :) International students don’t exactly have a car and Walmart is about three miles away. I told her she didn’t have to if she didn’t want to (I don’t want her to feel obligated to do anything, you know) and after probably about three agonizing minutes of silence and digging through drawers, she said in a tiny, slow voice: “I want to come” as if I just asked her to perform a life-or-death mission, lol :D

She’s so cute. It’s funny. I hope she doesn’t mind if I treat her to Starbucks afterward :) Maybe I should look up how the Japanese feel about “buying for others” first. Butsrsly d00d, I have $55 in Starbucks money to spend. 8 months ago

I just asked Mi Ran about this weekend :) I told her we could go to Rapid City, Wyoming (Devil’s Tower), or maybe Keystone if she wanted. I told her she could think on it for awhile. I felt bad using the word “tourist” to describe Keystone, lol… she acts like she doesn’t know English well, which is fine with me. Yesterday I was like, “I worked out this morning” and she gave me a confused face, so I said, “I exercised this morning” instead. Hehe… it’s fun making her understand on the rare occasions we do speak :)

I forgot to ask if she’s seen Mt. Rushmore yet! Silly me! 8 months ago

Every single night before I go to bed, I pick up everything from the floor. I put all the shoes in the closet. I make sure my bins are on the shelves. My desk is always clear. Any leftover work is stacked neatly. Books I won’t need for a day or two are hidden away. The sink is ALWAYS cleared of any of my possessions, save the toothbrush holder, paste, and hand soap. I wipe the sink out frequently… all to impress a Japanese roommate who doesn’t even sleep in the same room as me.

I have been struck with an idea. Mi Ran and I barely speak a few sentences per day to each other. Sometimes I don’t even see her at all. I haven’t even gotten to ask her those annoying questions all the transfer students get like, “What do you think of the food?! What do you think of us?! Are we weird?! Is learning English hard?! Do Japanese sit on the floor to eat? Do you still wear those robe-thingies? HMM?” Nope… none of that. All I know about Mi Ran is that she’s from a little village near Kyoto and she has a Korean boyfriend who lives in our dorm hall. I think it’s time for an intervention. This weekend ::inhale:: I am going to invite Mi Ran to Rapid City for a day trip.

I hope she says yes. 8 months ago

This semester has been really great so far—a lot different than last year. I’ve spent a lot less time holed up in my room and more time reaching out to people and really trying to socialize. Sunday night this girl invited me to a dance. Since dances aren’t really my thing, I declined. Instead of sitting bored in my room, I walked the halls and found someone else who wasn’t going. She, this first-year cadet who’s clinging to me, and I walked around, talked a lot, and picked up some stuff at the convenience store. She and I are still hanging out—yay! And the cadet? Well… he’s at least good for taking walks with.

A random girl also invited me to have homemade tacos at her friend’s house. That was awkward. I decided to risk it and say yes, even though I had no idea who her friend was or who was giving us a ride there (or really even the girl who invited me). Well I ended up in the basement of this house at something that I like to think of as a “Jesus Taco Party.” Like I feel like this girl was trying to indict me into a cult. There were posters everywhere saying things like, “His grace is good enough!” “Trust and obey!” “Pray!” and we listened to gospel music as like… the 13 of us ate tacos.

One of my favorite parts of knowing the ropes of campus is being able to provide help when asked. It’s amazing how a simple smile can open someone up to you. I had a girl approach me and ask, “Is this Jonas Academic? Can you show me where 305 is?” and just this morning a woman stopped me and asked where the student union was. She told me she was looking for the job fair, so I offered to take her to Jacket Legacy Room since it’s on the second-and-a-half floor and really confusing. We had nice conversation on the way about coffee and South Dakota (go figure) and it wasn’t until later I thought, “I bet that woman would hire me…”

It’s kind of funny. I think my favorite part of being knowledgeable, adaptive, and able to solve problems is really that I can use these skills to help other people. There’s no better feeling than knowing I made someone’s day a little bit easier. 8 months ago

Being completely honest but not overly ridiculous is hard… meaning what I say and saying what I mean takes a great deal of courage and vulnerability.

I’m learning. I’ve gotten much better of letting ego driven dribble go, not letting the inner kid have its way, and not fishing or feeling people out before I say something. I’m not callous but their reaction is theirs and my words just need to be thoughtful, necessary, kind, and honest… and ideally, intelligent too. 10 months ago

I have a problem… my new boss is being a bit of a freak. He’s micromanaging me. Basically, he’s obsessing over every little detail and being a control freak. Instead of letting me learn how to do things, he’s just doing them for me.

And lecturing me. And never shutting up.

I need him to give me some space to do my job proficiently.

How do I get him to stop micromanaging me? I hate it when people take over my job. Ugh. 20 months ago

I think it’s important not to be ambiguous. Therefore, I am slightly annoyed at how a girl at work is talking about me.

Everyone at work knows I love my job, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that, while bored on vacation, I send a coworker a message on facebook that says, “omgggggg I miss wooooorkk. Booooo.” (= EXACT message)

No big deal, right?
WRONG.

The girl went to work and told everyone I was E-MAILING (FB =/= email) her creepy messages like, “I can’t wait to work with you again, boo ;)”

WTF, lady. She is making me sound like a freak that is hitting on her. I am female. This girl is fifteen. Not the case, sweetheart… oh sorry, is sweetheart too affectionate for you?! Because I meant it sarcastically!

I don’t know if I want to directly confront her or just tell everyone else what was really said. I need some good conversation skills to mend this one. Ahhh.

Really, this situation isn’t a big deal, it’s just annoying. I don’t feel as though I’m the one failing to communicate, though. This girl is misconstruing my words… or at least taking them extremely out of context.

END RANT. 21 months ago

today where the words would just not come out. I was like, “Naahaaa. Ah. Yes. NO. That. Ah. Yes.”

Hahahaha. My poor underling coworker was so confused. I was like, “Sorry, I know ah ah ahhh” isn’t very specific,” but we eventually got it figured out, lol.

I love me <3. 23 months ago

I haven’t written an entry on this for three years. I feel like I’ve grown a lot in three years… I’m less shy and more talkative… but I’m still awkward as hell, haha.

However, I have a couple coworkers that can never understand me—WTF. When I added this goal, I didn’t have, “speech impediment” on the brain. One coworker seems to think I mumble… I guess I’ll have to make a point to face him directly as I talk, even if I’m trying to concentrate diligently on my work. 23 months ago