#tgis pretty random lol

[hop-a-lot]

Is that how it’s pronounced? I always read it as ‘Nani’ like LILO’s sister in ‘Lilo & Stitch’. Which Disney’s remaking, but as a mid-budget Disney+ film and also less acknowledgement of the racism Native Hawaiians experience like the original film had that was cut down, which is a shame, because I always though a remake had a potential to be a franchise if they planned out three films and a television series before getting started on casting; so that one wouldn’t have to worry about the new Lilo actress getting too old too quickly. Plus it would have been a Disney-level production making jobs for the Hawaiian community consistently for several many years. Leroy, Jacque Von Hamsterville, everybody. Would have been spectacular. Anyway, still will be seeing the film anyway.

uhhhh is this about NANNI from The Fowl Twins otherwise I have no idea... (Assuming you were asking for that) To me the short form itself is like a word play of 'nanny', a caregiver, so yeah it does sounds like 'Nani'

[jasminebutintaiwansojiemin]

July 30th, 2024 星期二 - Hiking Monkey Mountain, Art Museums, Rock Pizza but not Dwayne the Rock Johnson Pizza

For some odd reason, I decided to climb a mountain full of monkeys today. It was very cute seeing all the monkeys and their babies, but never again. I literally slept MAX three hours the night before and woke up to get some fruit before meeting to go on the hike. I swear I’ve been telling people this whole time that some fruits have worms in them and everyone was like nooooooooooooo but I quite literally found SO MANY worms in the dragonfruit at the hotel breakfast. We eventually headed out and took an above ground train closer to the mountain.

Climbing that mountain made me wanna helicopter home to the U.S. BUT I powered through and it was a good experience. It was very very very hot and a lot of the ground was muddy but it was worth it seeing all the cute little monkeys. So many had babies and I even say a few moms that had twin babies. The little noises they make are so cute and I had to avoid getting bonked on the head by a few monkeys who were sitting in trees and throwing fruit down. I did also see a monkey absolutely yoink someone’s food from them and unwrap the plastic with its little fingers. Throughout our hike, we got a lot of help from older Taiwanese people who were also hiking. They were super sweet and even took pictures of us. Also the view of Kaohsiung from the highest point we went to was pretty cool. The descent of the mountain was LONG but less dangerous than the route we took for the ascent. As soon as we got off the mountain we hit up at 7/11 and I bought a Melona popsicle. I devoured that think in the minutes tops. Then we took the train home where I showered and changed for class.

Our first stop for class was a fine arts museum. It had 5 floors and was full of many different types of art, from sculptures to paintings, to even a live art session. I inserted a few of my favorite art pieces from that museum. One of the ones I liked the most was the painting of the Chinese style doors with the talisman papers on the front. When I saw it, I immediately thought of whether it was meant to represent somewhere in Taiwan, or maybe the feeling of being an outsider to the majority of Chinese culture as a Taiwanese person. After the fine arts museum, we headed to a contemporary art museum. This museum was much more modern and contained art of non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese artists alike. There were a lot of pieces that utilized aluminum and glass work to express their art. This museum also contained a really cool cafe that I saw quite a few people working in—though I’m intrigued on whether they paid to get into the museum just to go to the cafe lol.

After this museum I went home and took a nap for a few hours. Upon awakening I headed to a pizza place nearby for a taste of home. I, of course, ordered a pepperoni pineapple pizza and ginger ale. It was a pretty good pizza and reminded me of Blaze pizza in a way. After dinner some of us took a stroll across the pier to look at the water. Then we switched and explored the city side, where I found a stationary store! We looked around there for a bit and it was so cute! I definitely will head back there tomorrow since it’s open until 10 pm. Then I headed home and knocked out.

Academic Reflection

For today, I initially decided to do some research on the prevalence of American restaurant chains in Taiwan. When we were in Taipei, I noticed the heavy prevalence of the most random U.S. chains—such as Starbucks, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Subway, TGI Fridays, Texas Roadhouse, and the omnipresent 7/11 convenience stores. However, I realized that there are actually quite a few Taiwanese chains that we have back in America.

One chain is Happy Lemon. I didn’t even realize this was Taiwanese until I saw one whilst driving down the street today. This type of restaurant serves boba tea and a wide variety of bubble waffles. I remember when it opened in Orlando, it was one of the first of its kind. Here in Taiwan however, I see bubble waffle shops everywhere, from actual store front to stalls at night markets. Happy Lemon opened in 2006, and by 2014 was deemed the world’s most recognized and respected tea culture brand. They accredit themselves with “bringing an expanding the tea culture to Mainland China and Hong Kong” as “elite pioneers”. They have over 350+ stores in places such as the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Dubai, and the Philippines. Through my research, I found out that they apparently created the cheese foam topping for boba tea, which is honestly a really popular topping even in the States. I thought this was interesting because not only did I not know that Happy Lemon even sold tea, I also didn’t know they pioneered so many staples of modern bubble tea.

[alexin-wonderlust]

Day 8 - Japan Blog - 14 February 2024 Yoyogi Park and Shinkansen to Nagoya (Valentines Day!)

Leaving Tokyo today and heading West to Kyoto but stopping in at Nagoya first (just for something a bit different!!).

We have a bit of time this morning to do some last minute advenure in Tokyo before we leave (and IM NEVER DONE WITH THIS CITY, there are so many things I didnt do!!) *tears!*

I wanted to take Ben to Yoyogi Park near Harajuku. But first, lets store the luggage at the station. Which was a pain, because most large sized lockers were already taken!! After managing to find somewhere to stash our suitcases, we headed to Beck for a coffee... (because I want to find my favourite coffee shop!!) and I didn’t rate it. The BLT was pretty good though! Coffee was sub-par. Ah well.

We were on a train that was actually themed with Pokemon and it was really cute!! We walked from Harajuku Station to the Meiji Shrine and back again. Lots of cute doggies, the weather was lovely and it's always nice to walk through a massive garden in the middle of a bustling city.

Then we made our way to the Shinkansen to travel to Nagoya. We didn’t have time to find EkiBen (train lunch boxes) even though it was on my bucket list — but we had some snacks and even found a Baskin Robbins vending machine which was really yum and not sweet, but tasted more like yoghurt.

I even got to see Mt Fuji on the train as we sped past. So majestic! When we got to Nagoya, we found our accommodation and it was a bit basic -- small, but thats expected. There was a craft beer pop up of one of my favourite animes; Evangelion. So I had to get them!! I wanted to go to the Pokemon Centre in Nagoya (just so I can tick another Pokemon centre off my list hehe) and we found ourself in another "underground food market" things.

I let Ben choose dinner and while we had a niku bbq place in mind… this Tonkatsu restaurant won the choice and I had a “setto” which came with the pork, a prawn and some pork coated asparagus.

After dinner it was cocktail time and then home to enjoy the fancy Valentine’s Day cakes we bought at the station. 🙃😍🍰

It’s Valentines Day so we went to three different bars (one was TGI Fridays so it doesn’t count but I wanted a cheap drink haha!); one called Scum, which was a metal bar and the other, I’m not sure of the name but it was the complete opposite (in the same building!!). Super fancy, and quiet with like, Jazz? I dunno. Ben was in some kind of mood -- I was not. LOL! The toilets were extravagant and had every type of convienence needed. Toothpicks, floss, ear picks, breath mints, tampons, you name it -- it was there. I had a Nikka Malt highball to finish the night off and thebartender gave us a jar of the olives he had for the martinis! So random!!

[jung-snoopy-woo]

Random Tag Game

Rules: You dont have to answer all of these! But you at least have to answer 10 of them. You can tag as many people as you want but please always try to tag someone to keep the game going!

—

OKAY SO I WANTED TO DO THIS TAG FOR TOO LONG AND I SAVED IN IM MY DRAFTS AND FORGOT ABOUT IT SO today is the day and I’m sorry it took me sooooo long 🙃

I was tagged by @joyfuljihao

Thank you so much for tagging me, love you!!! 💕💕💕

1. How did you meet your newest friend

I guess my newest friends are probably online friends I met through Tumblr and our love to kpop?

But the latest irl friends I have, probably have met me because we studied in the same class (in my class, all students learned the same subjects together in the same classroom except from one subject, so we were together 98% of the time 😛)

P.s. this Sunday I’m going to start studying in university so hopefully I’m going to meet new friends there! 😉 (Note: here in Israel, we don’t go to school/work etc. Only on Saturdays)

2. Name ONE person you call “b”

Uhmmm don’t have one lol

3. Xbox or Playstation

PlayStation!!! My brother’s got one and I always use it 😂😂😂

4. Name one of your Anon’s codename (Ex: BlueFlower Anon)

I don’t have an anon 😅 aha (same whoops)

5. What Kpop group do you bias the most

Gahhh I love too many 😢 probably Stray Kids, Day6, GOT7 (#jypnation lol 😂)

But seriously tgis question is so hard because I love all the groups I stan so much

6. Who is your ultimate Kpop bias

Hwang Hyunjin 🙃💙

7. Do you like to draw

I LOVE drawing… Unfortunately because I’m about to start studying in university this month (I’ve visited there too many times for interviews and stuff) so I don’t have enough time but yeah when I do have the time I draw a lot ❤️❤️

8. Do you like your name

I used to hate it when I was in elementary school because the name Maor is a name that is mostly given to boys (97%, I checked 😂😂) so kids/teachers always asked me if that’s really my name or “ohh you are Maor!?” Etc. But now I think it’s funny when people are surprised and it’s also pretty cool and unique to have a guy’s name? 😊

9. What’s your age

It’s still weird for me to say I’m 18 lol, turned 18 on September 24 🙈🙈🙈

10. What do you identify as/ What are your pronouns

Her/She 🌸

11. What’s your sexuality

Heterosexual

12. What is your current mood

Uhhhmmm idk haha 😅😅

13. Name 5 songs to go with your mood right now

I don’t know what’s my mood so I’ll just list 5 songs I’m obsessed with ATM?

1. Basically all the I AM WHO Album (by Stray Kids) but mostly Insomnia, Voices and M.I.A? 😍👌🏻

2. She’s In the Rain- The Rose

3. Breaking Down- Day6

4.Naughty Boy -Pentagon

5. Lullaby- GOT7 (I really hope not to hate it soon from all the times my sister’s played it lol)

6. New Heroes- Ten (from NCT)

{Whoops 6 songs}

14. Do you like taking selfies

Not really 😅 I love taking selfies if others take it and I stand next to them…and I love taking pictures of everything

15. How much money do you have to your name

I’m not sure? 😂 I opened my bank account literally two weeks ago but I’ve worked and some money’s already there so idk lol

16. What is a scent you really like

Vanilla… I’m not sure why? I just love sweet smells in general

17. Do you prefer crayons or colored pencils

Colored pencils 😊

18. What’s your favorite color

Periwinkle, Lilac, Black, different shades of blue, white

19. Name 3 of your friend groups and whose in them

I have 2 groups of irl friends:

1st group- 5 friends+my sister (who’s a year and a half younger than me)

2nd group- same people from the first group but with like 5 more friends that used to be with us in class

20. Who is your bestest friend in the WHOLE world

Other from my family, it’s either a friend I know for 10 years (who was born on the same day as me!!) or another friend I know for 13 years!! 😊😊

I tag @minty–minho @wonu-svt @mikamangata @teacoffeeandwhatnot@pureheart-1204 (as always, you don’t have to! And if anyone else sees this post and wants to do the tag, just do it!! 💙💙)

[jigglywater]

crawling in again but ignore if you'd like; heathcliff for the ask game?

sexuality hc: bisexual

gender hc: cis guy again sorry

a ship i have with said character: shinoheath! even if they fight so much 💔

a brotp i have with said character: eumm rutile n kloe ^_^

a notp i have with said character: heathfau👎

a random headcanon: i hope tgis makes sense lol but there is like an unspoken code of subtle eye movement body language in heaths spheres of Eastern Nobility (double the indirectness) and hes pretty well versed in it

general opinion over said character: he is handsome and lovely and i hope he can develop more confidence in himself😭😭