Fall makes me chubby.

I usually have lunch at Food For Thought which is a sustainable vegetarian and part of vegan cafe owned by PSU.



Yesterday I was reading the Vanguard dining guide.
I like to read restaurant reviews.

I found they wrote about FFT like this;
"They may not make bad food- in fact their vegan pastries are usually damm good - but consistently low food counts and slow service really make it obvious that FFT is a poorly-run student project, not restaurant."

Wow! Harsh!

But I don't expect food reviews to have kiss-ass comments.
Food reviews should be honest like that, even though it not that I agree with this comment.





Vangard have some reviews about the food carts also.
I had never had the lunch from carts near PSU, so I decided to try Thai cart by the science buildings.



I got the Phat Tai with curry source with Tofu.
I ordered small one but it was pretty big.
Yum yum! It was so good, and i ate all of them.

That was my lunch of yesterday.




Today, on the way to school, farmers market was going on in Parkblocks.
I stopped by there because I wanted to eat fresh seasonal apples.



There were many kinds of apples and pears, and i tasted them too much.
I think all I taste was almost a hole apple.
I was pretty satisfied with it, and I quit to buy apples.
I was a unwelcome customer maybe! Sorry farmers!

I was still hungry.
I walked around more, and I found this.



Pumpkin cookie with chocolate chips!
I made a snap decision to buy this.

I brought it back to campus and I ate it with coffee.
It was dumn good!

Lately I have eaten a lot becuase everything is tasty.
It's not my fault but your fault, fall!

ByeBye For a While!

Beth moved to the next phase. Her college life is over.

Last night, the day before she left, we practiced some Japanese conversations before going to the bed.

She is gonna have these conversations a million times in Japan for sure.

"Konnichiwa! Genki desuka?" = Hello, How are you?
"Woo Nihongo Jouzu desune!" = Oh your Japanese is very good!
"Arigatou gozimasu!" = Thank you!

" Sushi ga suki desu! Hashi ga tukaemasu!" = I like sushi, and I can use chopsticks.
"Woo Sugoi desune!" = Wow that's great!
"Arigatou gozaimasu!" = Thank you!

Things like that.

We laughed so hard.
For some reason, Japanese never expect Americans to speak Japanese.
Once Americans start speaking Japanese, even a tiny thing like "ohayou gozaimasu" = "good morning," Japanese get so surprized and give the huge compliments.
I think that must be weird from Americans' view and also it is so funny.

We were tired of laughing and fell into sleep.


Next moring, we went to the cafe near my house.



She got the big iced Americano as usual, and I had a latte.
NWCoffeeHouse, they always make a good coffee.



In this picture, she looks grumpy wearing the suglasses, but she was fine.
Her eyes were red because of alcohol, not much sleep, and you know.　haha

Lately the weather in Portland has been pretty nice.
Today was also.
It was the perfect morning for leaving.

Beth! Good luck!
You can be like GARY SNYDER!

Block Party！

Beth's farewell party is still going on.
Last night after we chilled out at the bar for a while, we hanged out outside playing soccer on the street and making a big pile of leaves so that Jake runs and jumps into it.



Then some drunk kids came out from the bar and joined us.
We all went crazy.



Jumped into the leaves altogether and laid down on the ground.
My hair and the wool cardigan were filled with leaves.



Somewhere in NW, the block party happened by accident.
The unexpected event like this is so much fun, and it left with a lot to think about.


Now i struggle with myself thinking about my life plan.

I DON'T WANNA LEAVE HERE! BUT I HAVE A JOB IN JAPAN!
Oh i like my life here so much! maybe too much? - I have a option for this, doing internship and stay here one more year.
But I already got job in Tokyo from next spring. I can't give it up - the job is very good condition for me.

The deadline to apply to the internship is coming up next week.
What should I do?

One day my friend told me there were two types of people:
One who lives in the present / one who lives for the future.



Last night, I lived "now " and thought "lifetime is only once" with covered by a bunch of leaves.
But...... I can't help thinking about the future, Oh I'm such a chicken.

I'm getting stuck with it for a last few days.
In either way, it would be fun, so I'm even more indecisive.
Umm... Sometimes life is hard.


昨日偶然に起きたブロックパーティー。
って言ってもただ路上でサッカーしたり、落ち葉まみれになって遊んだりしただけだけど、こういうハプニングってかなりかなり楽しい。
あー今を生きてる！って感じ。

今すごい迷ってることがあって、それはここにもう一年残ってインターンシップするかどうか。
でももう日本で仕事が決まってる。

どっちに転んでもきっと楽しいと思う！（そう願う！）
だから余計に迷う。
うーん、難しい。。。。

Party Night

昨日のパーティーはけっこう激しかったです。
先月見逃したGlass Candyを見にRottureへ。



この人はFarahっていうちょっとサイケデリック系？で浮遊してる感じで超気持ちよかった。



ともちゃんもいい感じ。
自分もあんまり飲んでないはずなのに、けっこうきてた。



友達もいっぱい来てて、みんなハイパーでした。
ご近所のマットとジャスティン、二人も楽しそうにしてました。
しかし、このあたしの顔ひどいね！

Glass Candyかなりかっこよかったです。
楽しい夜でした～。



Last Night was the bomb!
Disco! Dance Dance Dance!



I went to see Glass Candy.
I missed their show last month, and since then I had wanted to see them so badly.
It was the big party. Totally packed.
Everybody was there and they were pretty drunk.



Matt was so fuuny.
When he is fucked up, every single time, he says "Watashi wa Yopparai desu" which means "i am drunk."



I was drunk, too.
I can't remeber what I was suppose to do with this.
Maybe I was eating the fuge babblegum.

Glass Cansy was so cool.
I heard sometimes they have a show in Japan!
I will definetelly go to see them after I go back to Japan.

Preparation for winter

最近ともちゃんと編み物はじめました。
この前Hawthorneまで毛糸と針を買いに行って、今日はベルモントのカフェでのんびり編み物。

てか、毛糸買いに行って驚いたのが、毛糸って安くないのね。。。
ともちゃんといろいろ毛糸屋さん回って、手ごろな値段のがなくて、途中で寄ったDollar Treeで1ドルのマフラー売ってるの見つけたし。
作るより買うのが安い世の中ですね、恐るべし大量生産。



ベルモントは自分の中でかなり熱いです！
あの平和であったかいどっかなつかしい雰囲気が超ポートランドっぽい。
今日行ったカフェは古い一軒家のカフェで、すんごいかわいい。
パティオでは水タバコもすえるんだって。

今日飲んだラベンダーのドリンクはかなりおいしくて、リラックスしながらの編み物でした。
こういう小さな幸せが大切よね。

マフラー編んでるんだけど、いつ出来上がるかな。
実はマフラーが必要で編んでるってより、編み物したいから編んでるって感じです。
完成したら誰にあげようかな、やっぱり自分かな？

今年の冬はこれだね。
去年もやっとくんだったなぁ。


I recently started knitting.

Last week, I and Tomoyo went to buy the yarn and needles to Hawthorne.



Tomochan bought the cute white yarn, and I got the grey one.
I was surprized the yarn was not cheap.
We went around several yern shops to look for reasonble one, and on the way, we stopped by Dollar Tree, and I found a doller scarf there.
It's kinda weird; today hand-made generally costs more than buying at store despite it doens't have a labor cost.
Oh mass production is scary....
But I wanna do knitting!!


Today we went to the cafe in Belmont called The pied caw coffeehouse.
Belmont is the one of my favorite neighborhood.
The atomosphere there is very Portland, I think.



The cafe is the old house which has the nice patio and you can do water pipe there.
I didn't try this time, but maybe next time.



I had a Lavender steamed milk which was sweetish with honey.
The smell of the lavender was very good for relaxing.



I should have done knitting last winter.
I didn't know the combination of hot drink, like coffee and knitting was that comfortable.
It's a small happiness.

I 'm knitting the scarf for you! xoxo

Back to Victorian Era

I went to the party at Candice's few weeks ago.
The theme of the party was "back to Victorian period."



I didn't dress up like that, but everyone at the party was so like mondain and mondaine!



Look at Candice!
She came over to 2008 by the time machine.
Her costume was awesome.
It looked perfect on her.

After the party, I went to Stepping Stone near my house.
If you like banana shakes, you should definitely go there.



The best banana shakes ever.
Johnny likes it, too.

I like American diners especially going late at night because that makes me feel "i'm in America."
I usually try not to eat sweets and fatty foods after might night.
But why fatty foods at late night are so tasty?

I was running home in the cold night because I felt greasy and I was hyper somehow.

One day in fall

紅葉の季節。
そういえば、９月に引越ししたんだけど、
新しい家の近所には木がいっぱいあって、
住宅街なんだけど、なんかちょっと森みたい。



今日の朝は空が澄んでて気持ちよかった。
ポートランドは雨が多いから、晴れてるってだけでかなりスペシャルなんです。
もうけっこう寒いけど、こんな日は自転車に乗ってると気分いいよ。
やっぱなんだかんだいっても秋が一番好きだな～


Yellow, Orange, Red.. It's fall.
My neighborhood has so many trees, I sometimes feel like I'm in the wood.

This morning was very beautiful.
I left my house and I took a deep breath.
I felt so good.



I biked to school as usual.
I didn't watch where I was going, and I almost hit the car.
Oops, I'm too young to die.



I was sitting on the Parkblocks and enjoyed the sunshine.
Yeah I like fall the best.

今夜が山田

頭がクラクラ～

自分がこんなにまじめとは知らなかったよ。
土曜日からぶっ続けでTake Home examに取り組んでいるワタシ。

好きな人とも遊べず、朝寝坊も出来ず、煮たいかぼちゃも煮えず。
かぼちゃ腐っちゃうじゃんね。

今さっき、カフェでコーヒーがぶ飲みしてきて、カフェインばっちりとってきたよ！
さて、今晩もがんばるよ。

しかしなぁ。なんかこんなに学校の勉強に振り回されるのってすごいダサいな。
でもテストなんか知るかっていう勇気ないから。。。
素直に認めます。
ワタシ、いい生徒です。


Oh i'm such a good student.
I have committed the take home exam whole weekend and today.

I wanna finisih it ASAP and i wanna cook my lovely Kabocha.

Halloween

I wanna catch up things from last week.

Beth came to visit Portland last weekend.
Few weeks ago, I went to Newport to see her.
We are like in the long distance relationship. haha

Sunday afternoon, suddenly I, Beth and Jer decided to do carving a pumpkin.
Yes, Halloween is coming up.

We bought a big bottle of wine, cheese, crackers, and three pumpkins.
Chatting and carving with wine were so fun.



This pumpkin is not edible. Too bad!
It's different from Japanese Kabocha sqash.



We made it!
Mine is the one in the middle.
Look at this picture carefully.
Can you see Jer above me and Beth?
It's scary, isn't it?

After carving, we still kept drinking.
I had the three glass of wine which was too much for me.

I went crazy, and started to think about my shoes.



It looked like to have been spotlighted.
I was wondering why this shoes were here.
What is the meaning of the exsistence of this shoes?
Why we are together now?
Who am I?

My brain was like a universe.
Everything didn't make any sense.
But at the same time, I felt everything was so meaningful.

That night was intense.
It's because of Halloween?

Hearing from my friend

パワフルパワーことかずくんが電話をくれた。
今ツアー中でNYとのこと。
今晩何食べたとか、たわいもない話をしただけだけど、楽しかった！
あのゆるさ、なんとも言えない雰囲気がいいんだよね。

彼の歌かわいいからチェックしてみて。
天気がいい朝とか、寝付けないときとか曲によって自分でいろいろ聞き分けてる。

１１月はまだ未定、１２月は確実にポートランドに来るって。
ショウ楽しみだなぁ！


I got a call from Kaz a.k.a PWRFL Power in NY. (different Kaz from the last post.)
He is a musician and on tour right now.

We didn't talk anything spacial, just about what he ate today, things like that.
It was so cozy.
He is funny, talented, open, easygoing, and mysterious little bit.

I love his songs.
So cute.
PWRFL Power

He told me he will come to play in Portland next month hopefully and in December for sure.
Can't wait!

Miso

Today I had presentation in the class.

Americans are generally very good at presenting themself.

My classmates did a good job.

Meanwhile I didn't.

Sigh.

After the class, i went to the cafe on campus.

I ordered the today's special, miso soup.

I tasted it and I thought "I can make this better."

To each one's own.

That's just how it is.

Refresh!

３週間前にベスに会いにNewportに行ってきました。
久しぶりって言っても数週間ぶりなんだけど、ベスに会って海沿いのカフェで延々としゃべりたおした。
海、すごいきれいだった。

そのときあんまりいいことなかったんだけど、あんな広い海みたら嫌なこともどうでもよくなるね。
きれいに全部洗い流してきた。

あんなに果てしなく続く海見てたら、この世界全て作り物のような気がして
プラトンのイデアってこういうことかなって思った。


Three weeks ago, I came down to the coast, Newport.
It was so beautiful.
I and Beth was chatting forever at the cafe by coast.

It was good I refreshed myself.
No more stress!

The ocean view made me feel empty in a good way.
I thought about Plato's idea for the moment.

Schoooool

やばいよーーー



Theories of Communicationってクラス取ってるんだけど
それが超難しくて。
もうペーパーとリーディングとテストの嵐で。
こんなはずじゃなかった、っていうか、今学期は２つしかクラスとってないから
のんびりと最後の学期を楽しむはずだったのに！

すっごい内容はおもいろいんだけど、こんだけ課題があるようじゃ
楽しむ余地はないって。
もう一個のクラスもまぁまぁ忙しいんだよね。

あたし、大丈夫かな・・・・？

もしこれ落としたら卒業できないから、もう三ヶ月ポートランドだね。
まぁ、それも悪くないかな？



Here comes trouble!

I was supposed to be more laid-back....


Theories of Communication

This class is much harder than I expected.
The subject is so interesting, but.....
Paper paper paper... Reading reading reading.... Exam quiz exam quiz...
Too many things to do.
The other class is not so easy also.
I'm not sure if i can handle it, but i have to.
Otherwise, I can't graduate.

Wait a minute.
If I fail this class, I will extend my Portland life three more months.
That's kinda nice.

First Thursday in October

今月のオープニングには日本から２人のアーティストが来た。
KazさんとInaさん。

Kazさんはまじですごい。
広い。
その一言に尽きるかな。

似顔絵書いてもらった～
宝物にします。

Inaさん、Kazさん共にいい作品ばっかだから、
ぜひぜひCompoundにチェックしにきて～


Two artists, Kaz and Ina came from Japan for the opening.

Kaz is a great artist and more than that, he is an amazing person.
Very big heart guy!

He drawn the portrait of mine.
Can you see it?
It's soooo me!

Also their artworks are so cool.
Come to Compound and check these out!

1st day

どーも、はじめまして。
あやです。

最近ダニーがブログを始めたって聞いて、それに影響されて始めることにしました。

タイトルについて。
ayabeanとはべスがつけてくれたニックネーム。
なんでayabeanかって、それは単に豆がすきだから。
さっき料理しながらブログのタイトル考えてて、
今晩はトマトと豆を煮てたんだけど、
それでふとayabeanって思い出したんだよね。
けっこう気に入ってたりする。

Hello.
This is Aya.
I heard Danny started the blog recently.
I’m influenced by that and I’m here now.

About the title of this blog.
Ayabean is my new nickname Beth gave me.
Why ayabean? Simply because I like beans a lot.

Tonight I was cooking and thinking about the title of the blog.
I was making the tomato and beans soup.
That reminds me, "oh! It should be Ayabean!"
I like it.