Princess Pug Says: "obligatory blog title"

Instagram: ThatTeaLady Twitter: ThatTeaLady My name is Ariel Lynn. I am a musician, an artist, a student, a sound, light and stage tech, an aspiring novelist and a model. I majored in Music Business at New Mexico State University and am currently studying at Korea University. I play the trumpet, I dabble on piano and I sing. I love pugs, I love tea and I love God.

[thattealady]

It is good to feel lost... because it proves you have a navigational sense of where "Home" is.  You know that a place that feels like being found exists.  And maybe your current location isn't that place but, Hallelujah, that unsettled, uneasy feeling of lost-ness just brought you closer to it.  ~Erika Harris,

And once you come to terms with wandering, you learn to sit in the quiet places-you learn how to be alone and you learn how to just...be. By doing things that frighten you enough you will eventually not be frightened. You will be grounded and more than anything, you will know who you are. You will cry and you will laugh and these things will taste sweeter than you ever knew they could once you just let yourself know them-and accept that you do because you have nothing to prove. You only get this one shot at being alive. Let's live.

(on a side note I'm kind of proud of this photo so steal it and I'll hunt you down and put salt in your eyes)

[thattealady]

So yesterday was Valentines day and rather than spend it on some schmoozy date (because you know... I'd have to have someone to date) I spent it with my awesome single friends who I love. We wandered around Dearest Jochi, ate chinese food and danced and made strangers laugh and it was glory. Eventually we ended up at a Hoff bar and they seated us in a room with a window facing the street which was probably a terrible idea in retrospect. We pulled the curtains back and started waving at everyone who passed by having a great laugh at their reactions-varied as they were. Some people pretended they didn't see us, some people snickered and looked away, some waved back in varying degrees of shyness, most all of them looked back as they got farther away. We almost lost Gabe to a drunken old man though. There was this one very drunken man in an orange puffy coat who got very excited that all these foreigners were waving at him. He kept pressing his face against the window and making little hearts and peace signs-he even came in.to.the.room. to give us high fives. Which at the onset we all thought was hilarious. However he kept coming back over and over. We sat in our booth trying to think of ways to board the flimsy door shut. Gabe looked to Lucy and I and said that we should be careful of this guy and John grabbed an empty bottle (like really? what are you gonna do with that John John?) but when he came back inside we had an amusing realization. This drunken stranger, whoever he was, didn't want Lucy or I, his target was Gabe. For the next ten plus minutes he would come by and try to convince Gabe to leave with him. Pressing his flushing drunk face against the window. It must have been Gabe's magical hair. Such a killer Gababy~ I can only imagine what the Hoff employees probably thought of the whole thing. Ultimately, I have to say I think it was a successful Valentines Day on the whole- even if we had to spend it single and in Jochiwon. Which we decided if we had to define it, dear Jochi, on the scale of city to town, sits somewhere between being a city and a landfill...

[thattealady]

Kaminarimon~ I got to see a lot of this beautiful piece of Tokyo history during my stay because it was located smack between my hostel and the closest metro station. This photo was taken at night because even then it was always swamped with tourists and hard to photograph without some random Chinese man's head suddenly appearing in the corner like "look at meee!" But I think what I love the most about this photo is that even though it was taken at night and it was much less crowded there are still the peace sign wielding hands of some random tourist-ing strangers bombing the bottom of the frame. Beautiful. I was never destined to win that battle apparently...

[thattealady]

What makes them most beautiful is also what makes them most vulnerable. Here are some Koi in a pond outside Sensoji Temple. 

[thattealady]

I was going to post my photos in the order I took them... but then I realized that these are 7 months late anyway and its not like you know what order they go in so who cares! These were taken on a bridge over the Sumida river during a lantern festival. They also appear to have compressed really strangely. (I hope that is just my screen) I actually have to put most of my photos through a compressor in order for them to be able to be uploaded, so I hope that they still look alright.

I took  a few photos of these girls and at first I was afraid they would be upset if they noticed but they looked over at me, smiled and just went on with their conversation. It occurred to me- this probably happens to them a lot. I mean, some weirdo took a photo of me when I was buying milk at HomePlus once and it's not like I hulk smashed him for it, so, yeah...

[thattealady]

Closing up shop. In some ways the streets of Asakusa reminded me of living in Las Cruces. Things closed early-like the kind of early that happens in a city where 70% of the population is retirees over 60. Yes I'm looking at you Las Cruces.... This was actually a little surprising at first since usually when you think of "Tokyo" you don't imagine that a city that size would close down at 8pm. However, this district basically does. What can I say, a little slice of home for me. And just to make me feel even less homesick there was a Denny's just across the street from my "lovely" hostel that stayed open aaaaall night. Somethings apparently never change. One night I would drink far too much Chew High at Karaoke and stumble into said Denny's at 3 am only to find that their menu was different and they didn't have Bacon. They did however have no problem at all letting me order beer and ice cream... which I did. Good life choices. Make them friends. 

[thattealady]

Asakusa at night. Asakusa always looked sort of greenish during the day but it definitely had a red/orange glow to it after dark. It was a magical sort of place and there were these speakers attached to some of the street lights that played peaceful music as you passed by- like background music for life. It never really got any cooler even after the sun went down. Being from New Mexico and a desert brat at heart that was always a difficult reality to come to terms with. It wasn't until I moved to Asia that I really, like really understood that old adage "it's a dry heat.". Oh. It is. It very much is... And its not a dry heat here. It's a wet, sloppy you will never cool down or feel wholly dry, hydrated or satisfied kind of heat. Welcome to Asia mothafluffers.

[thattealady]

Tokyo Skytree. What I did love about Tokyo in summer was that it wasn't as humid as Korea and on average the sky was bluer and less rainy. However summer in Tokyo is like walking around in a microwave. The buildings and all the concrete and asphalt do a great job of holding the heat in so that if the day is hot enough, the air sits stagnant around you and you fry. I bought lots of fans- which is good in a sense that they are easy to come by and often very pretty to look at. Silver linings...silver linings. Seriously though, there wasn't AC in the hostel (big shock there hehe) so I went and bought an electric fan at Don Quixote and slept with it inside my night gown. Desperate times call for desperate measures my friends. hehe It's a good thing I don't believe in fan death...

[thattealady]

Outside my hostel in Asakusa. Yes I clearly realize these photos are horridly overdue but better late than never yes? Well, because I'm a terrible procrastinator, (which is not obvious at all...) I didn't get a reservation in time to beat the big summer rush for holiday and ended up using HostelBookers.com to find a last minute place to stay. That, needless to stay wasn't the greatest idea and my two wonderful friends and myself found ourselves spending sixteen days in what we fondly recall- The Devil's Sleeping Bag. (Ken's House of Horrors, The Horror Hostel, I think you get the point) I seriously, and I really do wish this was a joke, found myself wondering if we had wandered onto the set of an old Japanese horror film and if a girl with bleeding eyes was going to birth out of the stain on the wall and strangle me with her hair. Unfortunately this wasn't a movie set. I also learned from this experience that even though you take a shower, sometimes it can make you feel less clean...

[thattealady]

Oh. So actually on a completely unrelated note. This exists-in China. It's green tea ice cream flavored Oreos. Now I'm usually of the school of thought that green tea flavored anything is God's gift to humankind. However... hehe however...These sort of taste like soap or a bath and body works candle mixed with the tingly part of mentholyptus drops. But for some weird reason I keep eating them.. (Probably because they're food and I'm a college kid...) and each time I take a bite I think "oh god that's awful and weird" so naturally I eat another... What is wrong with me?

[thattealady]

Hello again...

Well, it has occurred to me that I am a terrible blogger. I only religiously up-kept this blog when I was being graded for for it….which is…sad. Likely because I’m a terrible excuse for a human being. So I thought to myself, Ariel- you’re a terrible person- or blogger- or something. You should do something about that. So I’ve decided to take a defibrillator to this blog and start writing you little tid bits of life again. Though I have no intention of writing out the entire contents of my days any longer because let’s be honest- who cares? ^____^ I can promise you photos and I can promise you sarcasm. Stay and read if you like. I’ll be posting some photos of Japan mañana or possibly later tonight. Love you all~

[thattealady]

Wait for me Seoul I already miss you.. (Yeah right it like it noticed..)

I was going to post more about last week but it's like 1000 degrees in this hostel and I've been awake since 3 am and I need to sleep or I'm going to diiiiieee. Boy do I have so much to tell you though... Tomorrow I'll go find a coffee shop (which after living in Seoul is refreshingly difficult to do here in Tokyo) and type away~~~~

[thattealady]

The day the sky went black.

Around 10 am the clouds came in. The sun faded and the sky grew dim. The rain started around 10:30. By 11:00 the sky was dark. By "dark" this isn't a desert brat exaggeration of "I'm living in asia and I don't like rain". by "dark" I mean that by the last ten to fifteen minutes of class our teacher was cautioning about boarding windows and typhoons. To say that we were freaked out would be a choice understatement. All of our books and electronics were moved into plastic bags and put into Becca's leather backpack. Once outside my umbrella bit the dust in...oh about 3 minutes. Remember something here. It's dark. I. Can't. See. Lovely! :D This is my happy face! We ran into a bus but it was going the opposite direction from where we needed. By the time we figured this out however we didn't care and just figured that rather than go back out into the storm we would ride it full circle. So that's what we did. Eventually we did make it home. Wet, weathered and hungry but home. Hungry was the problem. We tried to call something but after 4 failed attempts and realizing that because of the storm nowhere would deliver we went back out into the rain across the street to Moss burger ate quickly and came back home. Needless to say we spent the rest of the day studying and didn't leave. I love the weather in Seoul in the summer!!!! I also love sarcasm!!!

[thattealady]

Monday was another fun day of class, although the beginning of our last week with our new favorite teacher in Korea. Well ok our only teacher…technicalities. This entire week was going to be more… Intense? That isn’t a pun I just don’t know a better word, but the end our 3 week program exam was on Thursday and this week was buckle down time. After class we went for lunch at a 삼겹살 restaurant called _____. (I’ll get back to you on that. I don’t want to put this in drafts..) Apparently this place is famous? Well we wandered here completely by accident one of the first days we were here due to its proximity to our hotel. Because it is indescribably delicious and apparently really well known we decided to come back~ Logical yes? We thought so to. 삼겹살 is kind of like thick Korean bacon. You cook it on a grill with various other things like mushrooms, garlic, kimchi, peppers etc and you eat it as a wrap inside lettuce or catnip leaves with chili sauce, onions and the other things you’ve grilled in any set or combo, or you don’t have to eat it as a wrap you can just eat it. It’s like Burger King- have it your way! Except it’s better than Burger King and not even close actually so forget I even compared them. Becca wanted a waffle after lunch so we went to a cafe called Lattette and all shared a waffle with icecream and bananas on it. I got a latte there that was possibly the strangest and most beautiful thing I’ve had in a good long while. It was a purple sweet potato latte. Now this might sound naive, and it probably is, but I didn’t actually know that there were purple sweet potatoes. So I went on thinking that my drink was dyed purple until I looked it up and of course the Internet doesn’t lie. Really though I feel like a whole new world opened up to me. I notice purple potato food stuffs now and I’m like “hehehe that’s reeeaallll.” Yeah I’m done now. Later that day we went to the 메세나폴리스 mall in 합정동 to get a few last grocery things, dinner and to just hang out. Why did we never go there sooner?? There were light up fountains, art and LED displays, fotrune tellers (who, much to Becca’s dismay didn’t speak english) restaurants, boutiques, coffee and tea shops, everythiiiing. That place is really neat! Sometimes I feel like Seoul is one of those Russian nesting eggs and every time you think you see something there are actually billions of more things hidden inside it. That was a terrible analogy I’m so sorry Korea. It won’t happen again.

[thattealady]

Hi! I'm not dead...

I’m so behind on this blog I’m sorry! You’re about to be totally spammed and for that I apologize but last week was crazy busy and now I"m trying to catch up on my 3 hour flight to Tokyo. So last Sunday Becca and I went to church at JSM (Jesus Street Ministries) at the church near 연세 campus in 신촌. This was our second time attending service here. The people are so kind and wonderful. After service we went to dinner with people from the congregation at an Italian restaurant close by called Nolita. Becca and I sat at a table with two people named Sylvia and John. John was a Korean/American who moved to Korea 4 years ago from Virginia and teaches English. Sylvia is from Korea and studied English in college and goes to graduate school at Yonsei. Dinner was lots of fun. This is funny to say but it was the first time I’ve used a fork since I got here! John and Sylvia even paid for our meal. This kind of hospitality and feeling so welcomed is what I love about Korea. After dinner everyone went to a place down 연세로 called Coffee Bean to hang out. We met some really wonderful people and had lots of fun. They taught us about Korean birthdays, we ate Korean sweet potato cake (can’t remember what that’s called now…) we learned that animals make different sounds in Korean (like dogs say “믕믕” or something like that haha) and that I’m not the only person here that hates those hole toilets in the subway station… Seriously I’ll wait… Unfortunately we can’t go back this Sunday because we won’t be in 신촌 but I’m hoping I can go again someday sooner than later because these people were too wonderful to not see again~

[thattealady]

Friday morning my breakfast smiled at me from behind his cute little chef mustache~ I meant it before when I said everything here is just so darn cute! In class 이선생님 gave us an assignment to do three things eat 삼계탕, 된장찌개, and to go to a movie theatre. We accomplished all three on Friday. Go. Us. ;) Overachievers. ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ The 삼계탕 was good, it was a little difficult to eat because it was hot and taking apart an entire chicken with your fingers/chopsticks isn't fun if its blazing fire. This is supposedly a good summer dish because it replenishes energy and will make you less cranky if bad weather (like seoul's "lovely" rain) gets you down. The 된장찌개 was very flavorful. This is a soybean paste stew and kind of like korea's version of Japan's miso in its base flavor. It had tofu, clams, hot peppers, cabbage and squash in it- 맛있어요! After lunch we went to Caffe Bene for 팥빙수. Arthur and I are currently on a mission to find the eat green tea 빙수 in seoul. :3 This was a contender for sure. Next was the movie. To start with, the movie theatre was on the 8th floor of a building in 명동 and we got to take the "fun escalator" to get to it. Heck yeah. The movie we went to see was 설국열차 (Snowpiercer). Here's a nib from it's IMDB: "In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine." This movie was mostly in English (with korean subtitles) with two of the main characters being Korean and speaking Korean. It was very interesting and lots of fun. But the theatre experience was SO different than theaters in America. For starters, that picture above is in fact me waiting for my seat drinking beer out of a cup with a straw. Snacks are still overpriced, but the choices are impressively different. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to the lax alcohol laws here, it's disorienting sometimes. We got a big bucket of cheese popcorn and beer. Seats are assigned and you have to sit in a waiting area before the theatre is loaded. The ones in the front (where we sat) recline really far back so you don't go crazy from being too close. It was really comfortable and tons of fun. In a really weird sort of way there was something terribly liberating about laying down in my big red chair, drinking beer through a straw and watching a Korean movie about post apocalyptic trains... YOLO.

[thattealady]

Thursday brought very hot weather to Seoul. Class was lots of fun but the rest of the day was just spent resting and studying. Yes I slept in my makeup. No that wasn't a good idea. But on the bright side, this is the perfect city for me to get something to fix that. Aside from waking up with my mascara gluing my eyelashes shut, my skin felt cloggy and just...well yuck. However! It's hard to walk anywhere without being harassed to go into the hundreds of skin and body treatment stores: Nature Republic, Olive Young, Étude House, Mammonde, Missa, The Face Shop just to name a few! There are so many more in addition to that it's kind of scary. Their sales tactic is to offer "for service" product to get you inside, so essentially free things like face masks, small lotion bottles, samples of products etc., and if you buy anything, they load you up with more "for service" products to try to get you to come back. Well last week I needed lotion so I wandered into a nature republic and left with a bag full of product things for my face that I haven't used. When I woke from my stupid "lets sleep in my makeup nap" I washed my face and put on one of the masks I received. It actually made my face feel really great! Thank you very much Korea~ I wonder, do people here accidentally sleep in makeup often? Side note: some random employee took a picture of me the other day at the grocery store. I hope you enjoy that sir, I have no idea who you thought I was...