Sunday, June 20, 2010

Louis Vuitton

If you know me well enough you know how much I ADORE Louis Vuitton. I have had two small clutches to call my own and I'm very proud of it. I don't like LV because it's "popular" (if you can even call it that) or because everyone in the world once a piece of it. I like it because I like it and that's all there is to it. I can appreciate the immaculate quality (which is why I refuse to buy fake...which is tacky anyway) and I'm always anxious to see the new collections they come out with.

The reason for this post is to say that Japan has been making me one happy girl because there is LV Everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. The Japanese have a very high standard for quality and they love designer everything here. Just about everyone seems to have something or other LV and it's great. The area where I live is also swamped with consignment (secondhand) shops. Can you see where I'm going with this? Okay...while in Japan I can significantly increase my Louis Vuitton collection at a FRACTION of the price of paying retail because of all the secondhand stores around here. There are these big chain stores called Hard Off that are always guaranteed to be chock-full of designer anything all behind glass cases. There are also the smaller consignment boutiques just about everywhere you look and all these places have LV coming out their ears. I can get $1,800 bags for $300 and $400...sometimes cheaper but the better the deal the more used the bags are. I saw a giant Keepall 60 (a big duffle bag) that probably goes for about $1,300 for $250. Granted, it was very, very, very used...the leather was incredibly dark but it was still in good working condition. If it's still there in a few paychecks I was thinking about getting it. My goal before leaving Japan is to aquire maybe three or four used bags and maybe, just maybe, for a going away present for myself I'll walk into the store in Takamatsu and buy something brand new.

Just a side note...I guess when you resell your used LV (or any other designer items) to places like Hard Off they give you crap for it. An office worker at one of my schools told me she used to have tons of LV but had to sell it to consignment. She said she had about $10,000 worth of it and they gave her under $2,000. Now I'm not sure how consignment works from the selling end but that sounds terrible to me...maybe it's normal...I really don't know.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sorry Y'all

Sooooo I haven't written in a while! I really do apologize but it's not from being too busy to write...quite the opposite...I just feel I haven't had enough interesting things going on to write about. But I'm going to try to blog about even the little things to keep everyone informed on the life here.

Lately, it's been a lot of the same. Working for the weekends, basically. Classes are going well...I can see improvement in some of my students which just warms my little heart. A lot of them are still pretty dumb and I see no hope in sight.

Weekends are AWESOME. It's been a long time since I've had endless things to do and people to see and meet. Any weekend there is something going on in one city or another. Someone is always having a huge party or a lazy castle day where we just go lay on the grounds of the Marugame castle and do nothing all day but eat and chill. Always a get together of some sort and I'm making some friends this way which is nice. I've met two new girls, Vivian and Isabel (from Quebec and England, respectively) and I adore them. Vivien is so nice and sweet and Al loves her because they can speak French to one another and Isabel has that wicked awesome British accent so she can make even the most boring topics sound absoultely riveting. They both are extrememly fun to be around but it sucks because they won't be around for as long as Al and I plan on staying. Boo.

Al has met some other guys that he's getting closer with so things are always improving. Every person we meet is from somewhere awesome or has an interesting story. At one of the castle days we had maybe 20 people there representing like 5 or 6 countries or something. This may sound lame to some people that I'm getting excited over something like that but being from WV it basically comes down to...I don't get out much. Sure I lived in Canada but that's not too cultural.

Boring topic #1: I have discovered my favorite type of Ramen: Tonkatsu. It's ama-za-zing. If you want to wikipedia it and find out what it really is, go ahead, but it sounds disgusting. It is so delish I could eat it daily.

Not-so-boring topic #2: Japan is noted for the cockroach infestation of their country, I guess. Since the day we arrived everyone has told us about how cockroaches are in every single household regardless of the luxury or cleanliness of the place. I've been crossing my fingers for a month but I kept hearing, "Oooooh you wait, they're coming". It happened two nights ago. I closed the lid of the trash can and that monster thing came running out from under it and I screamed bloody murder and had Al get the can of spray and kill it. I had a full on panic attack. I guess he is the start of many but I've found out how to ask for the proper cockroach killer whatever stuff at the store so I will be getting some of that ASAP.

Interesting (to me) topic #3: WE GET PAID TUESDAY!!!!!!! Our first paycheck has finally arrived and I could cry from happiness. We've been barely scraping by since we got here but we're finally getting paid. My first purchase will be an awesome YSL lipstick that I've been dying to get and a bicycle. Al is going to be getting a driver so he can go to the driving range and hit golf balls. I'm getting 290,000 yen and Al is getting 286,000 yen. *happy scream*

My mom sent me some packages and in one of them was two giant bottles of Hidden Valley. I am now going to make some chicken just so I can dip it in it and die from the deliciousness that is ranch dressing. Good night.