Superficial Japan
I usually make a post every two days, however I couldn't stand to think that if a new visitor came to my blog, the first entry they would read is about bruises XDIf I was vain before I came to Japan (Hi, my name name is Mel. I am 60% vain and 40% down-to-earth, but 100% fun!) then I'm about 10000x more vain now. If the word vanity was defined as a country then Japan would be the chosen one. I mean even Tokyo women are known for putting on makeup to take out the trash. I have also never heard the word "image" used so much in a school before.
"Image" this, "image" that, "we must maintain our image...", "the image you portray while riding your bike when your mouth is hanging open from the wind is not acceptable. You are in school uniform, please close your mouth."
I don't mind it at all because I quite like the fact that people take the time to present themselves well (especially having lived in laid back, casual and beachy Australia all my life). However, there is one thing that crawls under my skin, so much so that I want to bring out a 9 inch blade, slice open my tender baby soft skin (read previous entry) and pull it out... without getting too gratuitously violent.
I hate it when people judge what I eat. It's a pet peeve. I hate when people ask me, "aren't you full yet?" I just want to scream, "Shut up! Just because I'm fat, doesn't mean you can judge me!"
I have to learn that sentence in Japanese -_-;;
Every single girl in my school is on a diet... Japanese girls... STICK THIN Japanese girls. I bought a packet of chocolate cookies to share with the girls I sit with at lunch today. I offered it to Nori and Saki who sit facing me. It also happened to be the week they started a new diet. They looked at each other, "doushou?" (What to do?) they questioned themselves.
They read the nutrition label.
"Omg 540 calories!" cried Nori.
"Yeah 540 for the whole packet. It's basically nothing if you just eat one," I replied.
The cookies were just too tempting and they guiltily took one each. This was my way of sweet revenge (literally) on Nori for she is the person who always ALWAYS comments on my eating habits. Some days I just want to strangle her, other days I want to hug her for preventing me from eating something that would take a 40 minute run to work off. She is always saying to me:
"Are you still eating?"
"That bread is fattening."
"That's 430 calories you know?"
"I thought you were on a diet."
To keep my calm, I would take deep breaths in (woosaaa) then I tell her that I'm Australian and I'm not use to just eating the little obento my host mother prepares for me... I need more food.
Speaking of my host mother, the other day she walks up to me and suddenly sqeezes the fat on my arm.
"Hmm, you have gained weight," she comments.
For a woman who doesn't like confrontation (if I ask her if I can go out and the answer is, "no" it would take me at least three more repeats of the question on three different occasions before she will actually say, "I don't think it's a good idea if you go") she doesn't seem to have a problem touching on my most sensitive subject.
Fine I get it, I'm fat LoL but seriously do I really need to be reminded of it everday? =P
During one of the English Oral Communication lessons (it's not as dirrty as you think it is) with the 3rd years, our Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) split the board in two and wrote:
"Attractive & Stupid" on the right hand and "Ugly & Intelligent" on the left hand side.
He asked the class which one we prefer to be. I made my way to the left hand side and surprisingly found myself alone. I called out for my friends to come over, but they just said, "ahh you're a good girl, but we don't want to be ugly". That made me laugh for quite awhile. Finally one of the boys came over to my side. Only two people out of the class of forty didn't mind being ugly but smart. Our Irish ALT was shocked.
That day he talked about it to one of the English teachers. She had studied in England before so he thought she would also have a western perspective on things. This is how their conversation went:
ALT: Can you believe that only two people chose "Ugly & Intelligent?"
Teacher: Who were they?
ALT: One was Mel and the other one was the tall boy who's quite good at English.
Teacher: Oh, the one with the small face.
ALT: ...
ALT: Er... yeah I think that's him.
Teacher: I feel sorry for his girlfriend.
ALT: ...
When he told me that I couldn't stop laughing. Japan is so superifical, I love it!
I went out with some of older friends after school on Friday (how sad is it that I'm the only one in school uniform). They are 3rd year University students in a teaching degree. Out of all the exciting food places I was looking forward to that day, we ended up in a health food cafe. Apparently were all on diets. I felt bad for snacking on McFlurry after they left.
Labels: Fatness, Japan Exchange, Rant, School, Teenage Angst, Vanity
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