Sunday, August 17, 2008

GLAY live in the US: VERB Tour 2008

August 12, 15, and 16, 2008 will go down in history as the 3 most spectacular concerts in J-Rock History. (Well, at least in my book)

Glay, "BELOVED" J-Rock band celebrated their 20th year as a band by FINALLY coming to the United States. And much to my happiness they toured in California, where I live! And even better, they went to both cities where I live!!!!! (Kudos to whoever planned this out) And in case you still need one, disclaimer: this blog is completely biased! haha

It all started near the end of July when I was at a boba shop with friends when I went to grab some napkins and saw a poster announcing Glay's VERB Tour in the US. Safe to say, I freaked out of my brains and called my sister (aka fellow Glay lover) and she, my super duper awesome Unni, went and bought the tickets right away! Despite the fact that tickets starting selling June 22, it wasn't sold out, which was surprising, and left me delighted that I had tickets but disappointed that more people didn't duke it out to get these tickets for such a special show (Glay's first appearance in the U.S.... HELLOO~~~!!!)

Ok, ok, now I will describe the concert at the Fillmore, Glay's FIRST concert in the US!!! Welcome!!! :D Doors opened at 7pm, and the concert was at 8. I got there in line around 2, and I wasn't the first. I wasn't even close enough to the entrance to see Glay when they entered the venue. But I was close enough to hear the screaming and I ran over in time to get photographed by their tour photographer. (But darnit I wanted to wave at them!)

I made some really nice friends in line! On my left were 2 male Glay fans who were super sweet and just as excited as me to get inside, and on my right were 2 female Glay fans who came all the way from Japan to see them! I found out later that they made the trip to California because even though they see Glay all the time in Japan, 1) the concerts in Cali were so much smaller, it's a really rare thing to be able to see them only 5 feet in front of you, 2) tickets are pretty cheap (although I bet the plane tickets weren't!), and 3) this was true of my 2 new friends, they had gone to every single of Glay's tours, why miss it now?



the 2 male fans and me(Ian and Philip)






The Fillmore is a beautiful theater that has a 20's vintage style. The standing area was vast, so there was enough space to move around-- but not in the very front (as is true of all moshpits). My sister opted for the balcony ("best seats in the house" said a staff member) while I opted for the moshpit, because heck, who knows the next time they'll come to SF, I want to see their freaking pores damnit! So I did. :)

Once inside I stood with the 2 male Glay fans and we each said which Glay song we wanted to hear/see the most: I said Soul Love and Ikiteku Tsuyosa, Philip said Glorious, and Ian said Kanojo no Modern. We were in the 4th row and weren't close enough to see the set list. So I learned something new: bands put set lists on the floor so they don't forget the order. For this concert it was on the floor in the form of a glow in the dark sticker! Sweet!
Okay, so things were running 15 minutes late, and there were a lot false alarms, as people came out to tune the instruments and whatnot (making us think they were the actual members!! Hidoiiiiii!), but as soon as the lights turned off... MAN! Let the screaming and craziness begin! I couldn't help but go crazy as I saw the silhouettes move across the stage. Everyone could immediately make out the figures just by the hair and the gestures... it was GREAT. (Being a Glay fan for about 10 years would definitely pay off if there were such thing as a silhouette guessing contest! lol) They appeared across the stage left to right in their "usual" spots: Takuro, Teru, Jiro, and Hisashi. I could not and still almost cannot believe it. I saw them. Wow. This has been a dream of mine since I was in middle school! And now... REALLY?! O_O

Oh yea, photos weren't permitted so I have no pictures, sorry! But, when I got home I did my best to make sketches of their outfits, because C'MON I love their outfits! For their hair Jiro was blonde (my fave), Hisashi had black hair with blonde tips that fanned out, Teru was natural black, and Takuro had his usual pretty shade of brown. Sigh. So cool.





I say Hisashi won, he had a blazer where one side was a bell-sleeve and the other side was sleeveless, but he was wearing a fishnet long sleeve... so awesome. Also he gets props, because his bell sleeve kept flapping around while he was strumming but he kept on trucking! Yay!

Here is the set list (which you can find on their myspace):

1.VERB
2.YUWAKU
3.GLORIOUS
4.IKITEKU TSUYOSA
5.GIANT STRONG FAUST SUPER STAR
6.STARLESS NIGHT
7.AMERICAN INNOVATION
8.Lock on you
9.SORRY LOVE
10.HOWEVER
11.KUCHIBIRU
12.KANOJO NO "Modern..."
13.SHUTTER SPEEDS NO THEMA
14.PEAK HATESHI NAKU SOUL KAGIRI NAKU
15.BEAUTIFUL DREAMER

Encore
1.SOUL LOVE
2.ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE

3.SUFFRAGETTE CITY 4.ACID HEAD


As you can see from the set list... they played all freaking 4 songs that my friends and I wanted to hear. Wow. Thank You, God!!!! Ahh!! But of course, all of the songs were freaking awesome. And amidst all the fans around me belting out the songs, I could still make out Teru's voice. If you think the members sound great on CD seeing them live is 1,000 times better. I mean REALLY. Teru = charisma. He made the songs come ALIVE. It was very cute! Teru did little sexy dances that seriously made me want to scream out in laughter. He is SO CUTE (and pretty damn hot). He danced around the stage and winked and blew kisses at a few lucky fans (even males! haha). In fact, I waved at him to come down and he smiled and waved at me to come up (I WISH). Teru kept drinking out of his water bottle and spitting out the water on the audience, an action that is otherwise pretty groddy, was actually very heartily welcomed by the fans. LOL (I did my best to avoid the spittle spray. Teru or not, mouthwash is mouthwash!)

There was a cute part where the audience mimicked little diddies that Teru would sing (interactive singing! fun stuff) Mainly like Whoooa~ whoaaa~. And clapping together to a beat. I think it was for American Innovation and for Starless Night.

The highlight of the night for me was Shutter Speed no Teema (I am a Jiro fan ALL THE WAY). He was SO into it!! He mainly stayed in the back part of the stage (kinda shy) but for this song he came to the front and took over the microphone and just stole the show!!!!!! AUGHHH!! Any Jiro fan would have been more than impressed and satisfied. Then he kissed his pick and threw it into the crowd... somewhere over my head. Sadness. But! I made a sign that said "San Francisco <3's onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAusTJZPB2cLNiTa_gAZxDOcqOjltY_MyyQYaYMo-4qOB42n_ClqQGdV_zecYYIst7ZJ83F_3jApvnoa2mb6Hhs2HSm7ZX_G1Kw6hc8YInERhOXWKv9fytHFTttiu7alWj-ppwyuyrjw/s1600-h/IMG_0122.JPG">
The Fillmore is super nice and gave out free posters. I will treasure mine for as long as I live! It was cool, I heard a Fillmore staffer say that he didn't know too much about Glay but that he wanted a poster because it 'just looked so freaking cool'. Right on!


Thanks so much, Unni for the tickets and the rest of the weekend (massages, okonomiyaki, and just one on one sister time), I'll never forget it. It was always a dream of our's to see Glay live before you got married. Looks like we did it just in time! (We saw them RIGHT before you got engaged! Omedetto!)



Okay, so yea, I was hooked, and loaded with birthday money to spend on frivolous things, like, say... another Glay concert! So after I visited my family for the week, I was back in LA anyways... so WHY NOT. If I knew that they were in LA and I didn't see them, I'd poop my pants angrily!! Lol (Not really.)

So this time it was a the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. I was going alone this time so I'm SUPER grateful it wasn't in the shady part of Hollywood! Whew~!

I opted for the concert on 8/16 (the finale)!

So at the House of Blues, if you eat there for dinner you don't need to have tickets for the show, you can just chill, listen to some music, and eat for $$$$$$$$. Anyways! HoB gets kudos from me, because they had really friendly and nice staff. And, they let line-people use their restroom (thank GOD). Here are some pics of the HoB:








Well, doors opened at 8 (concert started at 9) and I got in line around 430pm. I was waiting in line, and I saw my Korean TA!! Hahaha! She seemed a little flustered to see me, but hey, I don't judge! :) And I also saw... Rieko and Emi!! The 2 nice Japanese ladies who were next to me in line at the Fillmore!! They sure are dedicated groupies! They went to all 3 concerts! :D They were waiting since 9am. (AUGH. I wouldn't be able to do that, well, not by myself!)

We hung out before the show (they're SO SWEET). And my limited Japanese (which I learned from Glay songs, dorama's, manga and anime) helped me make friends!! How amazing!!! Hontou ni sugoi!!


Rieko-san & me





It was SO COOL. So around 6 I went inside to use the restroom, and I heard... GLAY REHEARSING. I was in awe! There was window next to the kitchens by the bathroom so I snuck over, and I watched them practicing for a little with this other girl who was there. It was AMAZING. Teru was singing and stretching, while the other 3 were standing and playing. I came in time to hear them practice "However". Wow. It was scary though, because Takuro looked up and saw us. We hid and looked back and he was just staring at us. Takuro-san, shitsurei shimasu! Demo Glay no renshuu honnnttoouuuuuu ni subarashii deshita... dakara I couldn't help myself!

Anyhoo! No cameras allowed, so I had to check mine in for $4! It's amazing that they can make money by not allowing people to bring stuff in. I got in!! YES!

I ended up in the moshpit area again, although I didn't really want to be there. I wanted to appreciate the music instead of screaming up and down. Well, a friend I met up with wanted to be there, so I stayed there for most of the show.

Of course, they didn't disappoint at all. MAN. And this time I got my tour tee shirt!! Yee haw!!

Here is the set list for the 8/16 concert:

1.VERB
2.YUWAKU
3.GLORIOUS
4.IKITEKU TSUYOSA
5.GIANT STRONG FAUST SUPER STAR
6.STARLESS NIGHT
7.AMERICAN INNOVATION
8.Lock on you
9.SORRY LOVE
10.HOWEVER
11.ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE
12.MERMAID
13.SHUTTER SPEEDS NO THEMA
14.PEAK HATESHI NAKU SOUL KAGIRI NAKU
15.BEAUTIFUL DREAMER

Encore
1.Winter,again
2.KUCHIBIRU
3.KANOJO NO "Modern..."
4.HIGHCOMMUNICATIONS

W-Encore
1.ACID HEAD

Let me just say, I went freaking whacko when they performed Mermaid. Freaking best song for them to perform. SWOON.

Personal failures/achievements at this concert:
-didn't catch Jiro's anything (pick or water bottle or nothing!) because he kept throwing to RIGHT in front of him (C'mon!!!)
-Teru spit on me (via his water spout)
-I saw Teru do his trademark mic hold with his pinky under the mic!! Well, Unni will know what I'm talking about! lol
-during Acid Head, Hisashi screamed out during the chorus!
-I saw Hisashi and Jiro jam together! WHOOOO~!

All in all it was great. Different from the Fillmore, but not a bad "different".

Costumes were the same, except I think Teru added a belt and Jiro changed his shirt (nice to know he's hygienic lol).

It was funny, there was a balcony on the side of the main standing area, so I walked over there (I was WAY too short I couldn't see anything without hopping around) and climbed up the side. SUPER PAINFUL. My arms are still sore from hoisting myself up for songs at a time. But then again, I impress myself with my strength! LOL

Fun facts:
-Rieko reads Teru's blog from his TeruMe Night sight, and he said that he wished that the foreign fans could come up to the front instead of the Japanese fans (because Japanese fans can see him at many other lives)
-Teru's blog makes a comment about how the writer for the sfweekly article only paid attention to Jiro and he seems sad about it! Maybe that's why he didn't like my sign at the Fillmore... ;P
-I left my sign for Glay at the Fillmore in their gift box. I hope they got it!
[the following are HoB perf. factoids]
-Glay's photographer, Ai, took a lot of pics of fans waiting in line. I saw her so I posed with my shirt (that reads "I <3 JIRO") and a peace sign while nonchalantly on my phone. HAHAH
-when Teru did the interactive singing thingie he went really low and made Santa Clause noises. hahaha
- they did TWO encores! Sweet!
- when they did High Communication Teru did arm movements like an "x" or something, which everyone did too. except for me, because I was holding onto the balcony hoping not to crush those beneath me. lol
-at the end of the second encore Teru said good night and started walking off the stage, and then he ran back on stage laughing at himself, he had forgotten to do the whole "hold hands and jump in the air thingie" that they do, cutie!

Whew. I'm beat. And I feel like I just relived the 2 concerts.

This tour was very important to me, because ever since I first became a fan it was DREAM of mine (and I'm sure for many other people too) to see them live. I was planning on going to Japan to see them, but luckily they came to me! :)

Jiro shaped my fashion sense and they shaped my music taste for my entire adolescence! It was so great to see them. I feel like I got to go back to the past and relive a truly great love that I had in life. People asked me how I liked the concerts and I say with all earnestly "I feel like something that was dead inside of me is alive again". Because with Glay, "I'm in LOVE".






Saturday, May 17, 2008

I found a little time to update...

Bonjour, tout le monde! I got into Marseille (a port-city in the southeast of France) today, and the weather was threatening storms so I did a quick tour of the town and then came back to update! :)

I am going to update by giving a synopsis of the best ways God blessed me on this trip... with the great friends I made!!

It started with Danielle and Afije, who came with me to London!

(taking a break at Regent's Park)



Justine!! My random roomie at the hostel! Super sweet, pretty and French!! Yahoo!! :)


My random roomie at the hostel in Salzburg, Mi-Seong-sshi! A super cool Korean lady who was traveling to research places for her job! :) Fighting!



Yosuke! An English teacher in Tokyo that I met at breakfast. We went hiking up to the fortress in Szg after buying yummy chocolate at the outdoor market :)



Two more random roomies in Szg (a lot of ppl came and went), 2 Chinese girls, Wei and Yuchie, studying BioChem... in France!! It was fun speaking in French with them!


I was walking by the Blue Danube in Vienna and I asked this lovely woman to take my picture... she ended up taking me to coffee afterwards! She didn't speak a word of English, but we somehow communicated. Ich liebe dich, Frau! <3


Torsten and Pia from Denmark that I met at the hostel in Berlin :D Pia and I were the only people who actually woke up in the morning hours for breakfast and I thought it was way awkward if we didn't sit together! She is super duper sweet!


Kristin and me in front of the UN in Geneva! I had such a blast with this chick... eating... chocolate, cheese and bread... and FLORALP. hahah

I also met some more people on the way to Marseille from Geneva. I met another Justine who works in Geneva but is originally from Lille. She works with children and it's fitting because she is so nice!! Then I met a very very very cute grandmother who lives in Marseille. We needed to make the same train transfer and we sat and talked together for most of the journeys. She used to be a dancer, latin-style! She liked talking about her time at the school of dance in Buenos Aires. I never asked for her name. <3

I've spent time and met so many great people in my travels, I really thank God for showing His love through them. I hope I did a little of the same for them.

More updates later!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

EuroTour

Hi hi! This is where I'll be if you want to pinpoint it on a globe or something:

5/2-5/5: London
5/6-5/8: Salzburg
5/9-5/10: Vienna
5/11-5/13: Berlin
5/14-5/16: Geneva
5/17-5/19: Marseille
5/20: Bordeaux
5/21-5/25: Dordogne
5/26-6/2: Paris

Please pray for me! I'm doing some of this tour alone!!

Yea, this post is kind of pointless, but I'm going to excuse myself in advance for not being contact-able! <3

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Le debut de la fin (The beginning of the end)

Alors, c'est deja le temps de dire au revoir.

Dernierement, je trainais bcp avec mes amis, en faisant rien! haha Voila quelques photos:

Thursday night was the beginning of so much fun! I took my last final (3 hours of writing about phonology... ahh!) and then that night Eric, Dominique, Urko, Daniel and I went to a pub for karaoke night! :)


Les adultes (minus Daniel)


Eric secretly signed Urko up to sing a song together! haha "Mexiiiiiiiiiiiiico!"


Look at all the people! One big happy group!




getting ready for my debut! haha


Eric sang "Toulouse" and made the whole house cry b/c it was so beautiful :')


Me and my non-alcoholic beverage. Diabolo a la pomegranate. Mmmmm! (Thanks, Urko!)



Highlight of the evening!!!!!!!!!! Dominique and Eric... PAROLES!! All the practice definitely paid off! :)

Then on Friday, I took Katie to my favorite kebab place!


You can see Renoan in the mirror, lol.


Renoan and me! He is one of the nicest owners/kebab makers! (And one of the BEST!)

Then I met up with Narcine to go shopping... aka go into EVERY SINGLE shop on la rue St. Catherine!! hahah

I think I'll buy a hat like that when I get back to the States, what do you think?

Friday night... billiards tournament!! Haha

We each picked a sponsor. I don't own much brand clothing, so I stuck a plastic bag to my shirt. I am sponsored by the biggest book store in France... MOLLAT! Whoooo!


The trophy!!! :D (Not the actual prize)


Tom is only 7, but he is GOOD! And isn't he so cute??? :D

Results: Eric, Max, Tom, and me! HHA I didn't think I would, since I am a newbie, but Dylan lost because he kept pocketing the eight ball. HAHAHA

Next day, I started off the day at St Michel market! This time with Katie!


THE FIRST TIME I WORE SANDALS! AHHH!!! My toes felt so... freeeeeeee~!



Cathedral of St Michel. I love the ribbons.... <3

Thennnn I met up with Morgane (who does not like photos, so I didn't post any more pics of her)

Tea house! It was a nice little bar for tea and coffee! We stood and talked and watched over Cami, who works there, and who was having her ear talked off by a woman who was bored/lonely/liked complaining. The woman stayed there for 2.5 HOURS! AHH!! Cami, kudos to you! fyi, I had the Venitien (vanilla, with berries, mmmmmm)



random street concert


it was super duper hot so Morgane and I went to the "miroir d'eau" (mirror of water). For the first time I could walk in it barefoot!



the misting means that it's about to start up again!! (It's a nice place to just walk in the water. There were so many cute little kids!!!)



Morgane and I got soaked playing with the little kids, so we laid in the grass to dry off. :) Listening to drums, guitar, and people watching. It was great. See for yourself!




Then off to dinner! We went to my fave Ethiopian place, but it was reserved for a private celebration, but the owner walked us to an Indian resto, and BOY DID WE EAT. I am still full.

And now... I am waiting for my laundry to finish so I can go to church. :P (Just as funny as excuse as staying home from church to study, right?)

Until the next time!! And tonight is the finals of the billiards competition, so stay tuned!!! :D

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The countdown begins... again... sort of... huh?!

As you can tell from the title, I am completely OUT OF IT. In English and French, I am completely unfit for communicating with people at the moment. Let's blame it on the fact that I sleep 1 hour a night! Too much hw? Too much partying? None of the above. In fact, I just lie there thinking... I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks. Holy COW.

I just bought my tickets for London to Salzburg and then to who knows where! Very exciting stuff! And scary at the same time!! Unfortunately, I also just realized that despite myself I fell in love with France. Even Bordeaux. The trams where you feel like you're going to suffocate. The disorganized school system. The toilets with no seats on them. The mean ladies who work at the cafeteria. I don't know how to feel. So I lie in bed wondering how I'm supposed to feel and what to do with the fleeting days...

I even feel depressed hanging out with my friends who I will soon say "au revoir" to. I want to enjoy my moments, but realizing that I'm TRYING to savor every second, remember every joke, it's tiring.

OKAY! That's enough of that! This is the regular dance of falling in love with a foreign place and with the people and then having to leave... it's not new.

Anyways, I have finished 2/6 finals!! Go me!! So far, I have gotten grades that make me happy, but I have a feeling the ones that are to come will not go as smoothly... :P Pray for me!

I just cleaned my room and I found all the presents I've been buying for you folks along the way... if anyone wants anything tell me now! Or else you get some random junk that I pick out.

Today at the gym I started to say "Bonjour" to all these random people instead of studying while elliptical-ing. Eye contact is so key here! If you didn't know, to make eye contact with someone here is the equivalent of saying "Hello" or, and sometimes this happens "Helloooooooo" ;)

Oh yes, so far people have asked me about which country has the hottest guys, etc... Well, I don't think one single country or city harbors all of the hotties of the world, but each place seems to have a distinctively beautiful feature. Let me explain: French people have GORGEOUS eyes, Italians have nice noses, Spanish people have the best proportions (tall and lean with legs up to there), and uh... that's as far as my general observations go. Donc, voila.

Okay, I should probably go and sleep. My one hour. Ha ha.

Oh yea! The Chaperts had a dinner party thing today and while I was not invited, I did get to speak with the guests and experience another authentic French evening! Whoo! (It is wide known that French dinner parties are the most exclusive events EVER. Not French? French, but not cool enough? Bonne chance.)

PS My love for France and my friends here is completely separate from my love for you guys and how much I miss you all. But yea. It's France. And they're French. You understand. :P (hahah jk!!)

Friday, April 11, 2008

April showers... or TEARS

That's right! April is filled with tears, or SWEAT! I have so much work to do, it's crunch time folks!

I'll update one day... maybe! Until then catch up with me via facebook and my photos there!

Peace out!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

A hiatus from food.

HAHAH Due to popular demand I will refrain from talking about the f-word. ("Food", don't be dirty!)

Alors, aujourd'hui je suis allée au marché de St. Michel!! J'ai acheté beaucoup de cadeaux. =] C'est pour ça que je peux pas mettre des photos de mes achats, mais j'ai pris quelques photos du marché. Il y a du tissu, vêtements, sacs, chaussures, et de la végétation! C'est génial!

Comme la plupart de vous ne saviez pas, je suis un cours d'art ici à Bordeaux. Je suis, je pense, la seule étudiante qui ne spécialise pas en art. C'est dur, mais si si si amusant! haha J'ai fait des amis avec des types "artsy", et ils sont tous très sympa, particulièrement parce qu'ils savent que je suis une étrangère. En fait, une fille, Morgane m'a aidée en achetant et en trouvant tous les matériaux dont j'avais besoin. Elle est SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII gentille!!! Alors, je vous présente quelques "oeuvres". C'est franchement crotte-y, mais, ben... =P

Hier Morgane et moi avons eu une fête en faisant de l'art! Whoo! Elle a un apt... g é n i a l. (Comme tous lesquels français) Alors! Elle m'a permise d'utiliser ses outils... Morgane, merci!! Après avoir bu du thé de l'Egypt (mmm) nous avons commencé! J'ai fait un tableau qui est supposé d'imiter le style de Basquiat avec le thème du petit déjeuner. Alors, je comprends rien du tout de l'art moderne, alors, pardonnez-moi. LOL

D'accord, amusez-vous bien à ma galérie. ;)


**
Okay, so today I went to the market at St. Michel! I bought a lot of presents! =] Yea, so I can't put up pictures of what I bought, but I took some pics of the market. There were textiles, clothes, bags, shoes, and fresh foods! It was great!







Like most of you don't know, I'm taking an art class here in Bx. I am, I think, the only student who is not an Art major. It's hard, but so fun! I made friends with "artsy" peoples, and they are all so nice, especialy because they know I am from abroad. In fact, one girl Morgane helped me buy and find all the stuff I needed for the class. She is SOOOOO nice!!! So, I will show you some of my "works". It's seriously poopy, but yea...

Yesterday, Morgane and I had a little "art party"! Whoo! She has a kickycool apt! (Like all French apts) So, she let me use her tools (paints, paper, etc), Morgane, thank you!!! After having some Egyptian tea (mmm) we started! I did a painting that is supposed to imitate the style of Basquiat with the theme of breakfast. I understand nothing of modern art, so excuse me!!


Tea time!!


Morgane, the cutie!



She works hard!!


Okay, have fun at my gallery!! ;)


Okay, so here is the breakfast pencil drawing (I got a so-so grade for this), and in the beginning I totally messed up on the Basquiat imitation. Prof. Garcia told us it was "technique libre" (free style) so long as it was modern. Well, he lied! It was supposed to imitate the artist.


Here's my mess-up. Bof.


here is my Basquiat. eh heh...

Okay! It's REALLLLY gorgeous today, so off I go to the Jardin Public avec Katie! :) A +!

Friday, March 28, 2008

l'argot français [French slang]

les aléas de la vie : twists that life throws at you (usually positive)

une crevette : literal- shrimp, slang- 1) a wimpy/non-buff guy, 2) someone who has a nice body but a not so good looking face [comes from the fact that you rip off the heads of shrimp when you eat them, LOL]

un tombeur / une tombeuse : a lady-killer / a hot mamma


patati-et-patata : 'blah blah blah'; 'and so on, and so forth'

une peau de vache : literal- the skin of a cow, slang- a mean girl
*NB* it's equally mean to use it! :P


un loup dans le nez : literal- a wolf in the nose, slang- a booger
*NB* typically used by very young children

Le fromage de Savoie

Alors, juste sud de Genève, dans les Alpes, au côté français, se trouve Savoie. Une région qui produit du fromage… DELICIEUX. J’avais de la chance d'en goûter ce soir au diner. Mon favori c’est le Beaufort !! MIAM MIAM. Et il y avait aussi le Reblochon, et puis Tomme le Savoie. Tout est bien. C’était marrant, parce que Dominique a commandé Eric d’aller au frigo pour m’apporter le fromage. Ils savent que J’ADORE LE FROMAGE. Je pense que le fromage et le pain me manqueront le plus quand je reviens. (A part de mes amis, bien sur ! haha)

Okay, so just south of Geneva in the Alps, on the French side, is Savoy. A region that produces cheese... it's DELICIOUS! I was lucky enough to try some tonight at dinner. My favorite was the Beaufort!! YUMMY YUMMY. And there was also the Reblochon et also Tomme le Savoie. Everything was great. It was funny because Dominique made Eric go to to the fridge to bring me the cheese. They know that I LOVE CHEESE. I think that I'm going to miss cheese and bread the most when I go back. (Apart from my friends, of course! haha)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

For my mom!

Hi all! This post is for you all of course, but especially for my mother!
Umma, you wanted me to post pics of the new shoes and bag I just bought! (They are for school, okay???)






And voila~! Okay! I am trying not to go on Internet too much because my French has gotten worse, and I will see all you lovely people in 2 months, anyways!

But before I go, I saw August Rush tonight and it was awesome!!! I was so surprised! And the music... PHENOMENAL! WOW!! So incredible it was credible!! (It was followed by French and English slang lessons with Pierrick, haha)


Tomorrow night... more Ethiopian food! And hopefully photos this time! =]

<3,
Michelle

Thursday, March 13, 2008

I love Korean food!

Yes, like the title indicates I LOVE KOREAN FOOD!!! <3

My host family had never had Korean food so I happily agreed to introduce them! The only problem: I don't know how to cook it. -_-;;

With the help of Ian's google search, the Food Network website, and DaeGon I found a recipe for Korean Barbecue. Then I hit another stump, short rib meat needed for this dish does not exist in France! haha I even called a Korean restaurant in Paris to ask them how to say the name of the meat in French. I first started talking in Korean and the person says "I don't speak Korean" and so I switched to French. And then they say "Even though our restaurant is called Korean BBQ we don't really have any..." WHAT?! HAHAHAHA I started laughing at them. They should call it NOT Korean and NO BBQ restaurant.

Anyways! Eric (host dad) bought some super thick meat which I had to chop up into tiny pieces and dunked it in the marinade. I found a lot of good ingredients that are hard to find (like Asian pears and sesame oil) at a local Asian grocer's! Lucky! I also found sticky rice, dakkwang (pickled radish), kimchee (which was SUPER sweet, so not up to a Korean spicy standard-- but my host mom said it was spicy!), and kim (dried seasoned seaweed, yum!). It was great!! I had so much fun being in the kitchen again. Don't scoff, for those of you who have lived with me, I am not a master in the kitchen I know, but cooking is so nice! It was getting to be like dorm food where you just sit and wait for the food to come. So I let the meat marinate over night, and then last night it was time to cook!! Whooo!!!

I actually did a really dumb thing too! I was going to cook the rice first because I had never used their rice cooker (but super lucky they had one!) and I didn't know how long it would take, so I washed it and put it in the cooker. But I didn't want to leave the cooker on for too long since I was about to go to the gym, so I decided to let it sit. When I came back 1.5 hours later the rice absorbed all the water!! haha But this is how we learn, so I just laughed it off. Besides, the rice was SO GOOD.

So yes! They really really liked it! I was surprised! Tom (the 7 year old) actually ate the kim and Dominique (host mom) didn't believe it. And Dominique ate most of the dakkwang, she kept making fun of it earlier saying that it was a pineapple or a banana or something, and then she couldn't stop eating it. Haha. Eric LOVED the kimchee and the kim. (I showed them how to make kim-bahp! mmmm), and Dylan (13 year old) said the meat was "hyper bon" (HAHAH). And I was just content with the rice. MMM. So I bought 2 kg of rice (I WAS going to be cooking for 7 people who eat a LOT, myself included, I mean it's RICE), and Eric was like "Why 2 kg? 1 Kg serves 40 people at my restaurant". Oh yes, but Eric, this is not French rice, this is Asian rice! But just to not freak him out, I only cooked about 5 cups of rice... they all got mad at me for not cooking enough!! haha So I ended up cooking 1 kg (8-9 cups of rice) for the whole evening. Ya hoo!

So I guess I'm learning how to cook Korean food in France.

Oh and they had chopsticks, so that completed my happiness.


RICE!!!!!!!!! BAHP!!!!


Hello, Kim!


Cooking the meat... at the time I thought, "at least it smells good" haha


CHOPSTICKS!!! tee hee!


HAHAH =)

--

The night before (aka the night I marinated the meat) I went to my friend Jenny's birthday party, which was a dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. Never been to one... but... I will definitely go again! And I already looked up places in LA and SF for when I go back home. It was SO GOOD. You eat with your hands! So they set down a plate with a tortilla-like circle sheet (it was very soft yet sturdy! I was surprised at how well it kept together) with meat with spices and sauce (MMM) and salad. Then there was another plate of the tortilla sheets. You rip off pieces of those and you use those to pick up the meat and salad, and you wrap it up and pop it in your mouth for HEAVEN. It was sooo good!!!! And then for dessert, one of Jenny's friends bought her a cake, and it was like nothing I've ever tasted before!! It was chocolate, with cream and a crunchy rice cake (like KitKat) layer... oh man. Yea, this is why I joined the gym. ;P


Jenny et moi <3

(Sorry! I didn't take any pics of the food!)

More updates later! And maybe about stuff other than food. Maybe not. ;)