The “Official” Buchele – Mineta Wedding Announcement (I’m Legally Married now!)
Grace Elizabeth Buchele and Ryosuke Mineta were united in marriage on January 2, 2014. The bride’s parents both escorted her down the aisle, and the bride’s father, Reverend Steven W. Buchele,...
View ArticleThings I love about Peru: Women with Silly Hats
One of the first things I noticed in Peru was that older Peruvian women had some of the silliest hats in the world. And by “silly hats,” I don’t mean those fun themed hats you can find at Disneyland or...
View ArticleThings I don’t Understand about Peru: Why are there Feral Dogs Everywhere?
Peru is one of those countries that didn’t really pop up on my “Places to visit before I die” until I met my husband. Ryosuke, of course, had always felt a strong pull toward Peru (a lot of Japanese...
View Article10 Reasons Packing up to Move to a Foreign Country Sucks more than you Think...
“Travelling carries with it the curse of being at home everywhere and yet nowhere… for wherever one is -some part of oneself remains on another continent” (Margot Fonteyn) I leave a little bit of my...
View ArticleThe Emotional “Cost” of Blogging: The not-so-secret downside to writing about...
My blog is an accident. Not the kind of “I just got hit by a car, woke up in the hospital with no legs, and went onto crusade for more wheelchair access in public places” accident, rather it is more...
View Article5 Weird Japanese Beauty Products that Look Suspiciously like Torture Devices
Does this fix your nose, give your cheeks a lift, or re-arrange your jaw? Scroll down to see! Ryosuke’s parents live out in the middle of nowhere – which wouldn’t be a problem, except this is the first...
View ArticleThings I love about Japan: The Availability of Vending Machines
There are a lot of things to love about Japan, but top on my list is vending machines. Cheap(ish), diverse, and always in stock, these electronic havens have saved me more times than I would like to...
View ArticleComic: Having a Girlfriend isn’t THAT Expensive…
My husband and I have this “thing.” He pays for everything when we go out on dates (food, drinks, clothes, tickets, etc) – we used to try to split things, but he felt judged. Especially in Japan. He...
View ArticleComic: Ryosuke shaves is beard…
It’s been two days now and I miss Ryosuke’s mini goatee. His face looks so naked. This is going to take some getting used to.
View Article6 Reasons I like to wear makeup:
1. I am an artist and my face is my canvas I like to think of myself as an artist (don’t all of us bloggers?). I also like to exaggerate (don’t all of us bloggers?). So, naturally, I also like to think...
View ArticleMy Big, Fat Texas Wedding!
Getting ready for the “Big Day” at Angel Springs Following family tradition, I didn’t have any bridesmaids – just my sister. And as odd as it sounds, I liked it that way. I was a bundle of nerves the...
View ArticleComic: Japanese Visa Lessons
This is basically my life right now. I wrote a “comic” about it trying to deal with frustrations because I’m not allowed to job hunt and Ryosuke and I are strapped for cash. And I don’t handle...
View ArticleComic: “So you really just lost $5, right?”
Free drinks + bright lights + slot machines = loosing track of money. We spent the first week of our honeymoon in Las Vegas gambling, hiking, and watching the shows. It was pretty memorable....
View ArticleThat one time Japan was actually off its game…
Foreigners in Japan have a tendency to either freakishly love (like, obsession-level love) or vehemently hate Japan. To be fair, there are a lot of things to love about Japan (Melon Soda, Pregnancy...
View ArticleComic: Sherlock Holmes’ Voice in Japanese (BBC)
I’m not even joking. Sherlock in Japanese is the funniest thing in the entire world. I highly recommend this clip showing Sherlock and Watson’s dubbed voices in Japanese. It took me four tries to...
View ArticleGuest Post: Jealousy in Cross-Cultural Relationships (from China Elevator...
I’ve never been the jealous type of kind. That is, until I met my Chinese husband, Y. Well, I still wouldn’t say I’m a jealous kind of person, but in the first year of our relationship I have found...
View ArticleComic: Angry, Racist Japanese man at Shinagawa Station
Sorry this comic is a little bit dark. Comics aren’t always “funny.” Last week, when Ryosuke and I were walking through Shinagawa station, we saw a commotion outside. An old guy in a hat was yelling...
View Article9 Reasons I love Hanami in Japan (getting drunk and watching cherry blossoms)
1. It’s literally half of the nation getting drunk while sitting under a cherry blossom tree Hanami comes from the Japanese word “flower watching.” It’s a national past-time in Japan during late March...
View ArticleGuest Post: 6 Things I Cherish about my Cross-Cultural Marriage to a Chinese Man
My name is Jocelyn Eikenburg and I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. This summer, I’ll be celebrating 10 years of marriage with my husband John, who is a Chinese national. Sure, we’ve weathered our...
View ArticleComic: Don’t Climb up the Walls, Spiderman!
Ryosuke has all the oddly productive hobbies like running, working out, meditating, and reading business books. It’s really weird. Anyways, last weekend he finally bought the pair of trail running...
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