Hey everyone,
I hope you’re well on this night of the full moon! I can see it from where I’m writing :)
the moon! and the very nice living room in my house, plant collection courtesy of green-fingered Sophie
Welcome to another week in my life! It’s been a lot quieter than last week, I’ve been getting on with PhD work, teaching stuff, generally trying to be on my phone less, climbing, cooking, washing up… so much washing up… the joys of being an adult! Because the day-to-day has been quieter, I’m going to go by theme rather than by day in this version of the newsletter, I figured it would be more interesting. Also sorry this is so late in the day but that’s just the way I’m rolling this week I guess!
artistic find of the week
We start with this lovely photography collection entitled “Here We Are”. It’s by a photographer from south-west England called Kate Watson, who I came across on Instagram after her work was shared by a morris dancing troupe I follow, Boss Morris (they’re doing really cool things in the folk scene, you should check them out). The photo in the forest won the LensCulture Critics Choice 2025 award, coincidentally selected by Yuri Yamada, curator of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. It’s a small world!
so gorgeous - I love the one where they’re lying in a meadow looking up at the sky!
the light :’)
Kate’s current project is photographing the wild beasts that are part of the Boss Morris troupe, but in retro houses instead of out on dances. Very surreal but very fun!
writing & teaching
The bulk of my time this week, to be honest - which felt good after not really getting much done last week. There were a couple of strands of things going on - first of all, on Tuesday I had my first day of work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, for the first lecture of the term! I wasn’t lecturing (I am next week), but I did introduce myself to everyone in advance of tutorials starting next week. I can’t lie I feel a bit weird walking around campus now, with a bright pink ID card and students who know my name and face as ‘staff’. No more hanging out in the student common room for me…
me on my way to work! it was a lovely day to walk 20 minutes to the tube…
The first week of teaching also brought the first week of learning, which in my case was my Wednesday seminars. I complained about it last week, but actually the 4 hour stretch wasn’t too bad - this time the first 2 hours were teacher training, but from my department rather than the general university which was much more helpful, and the second 2 hours were setting up our post-field seminar and having a chat about how we’re all feeling now we’re back for “writing-up”. It was so reassuring to be in the same boat as my classmates again and to hear some wise words from Naomi, who’s in charge of the PhD programme and an all round lovely human. I came out of the seminar feeling much more confident and excited to see what the writing up process brings!
Speaking of writing up, I’m somehow still writing “fieldnotes” from my time in Japan, except now it’s 2 months after they happened. I was supposed to be doing it daily while it was there but July/August were so busy that I got behind! I’m a bit of a completionist so although it’s not particularly productive in terms of writing my thesis, and they’re definitely not really fieldnotes any more now that 2 months have passed, it’s important to me to have a record of everything that happened and what ‘being there’ felt like. And having been to the post-field seminar, I think it’s an important process in letting go of the fieldwork mindset and moving towards analysing and writing. Thankfully, after putting in a good stint this week I’m nearly done - the last little bit to write about is my last week in Japan, which was such a whirlwind of life admin and interviews that there isn’t much to say about seasonal things I spotted. What’s interesting to me is that after 15 minutes or so of writing, I start to remember all kinds of things that I’d previously forgotten, like a storm that rolled in one evening or the incredibly tall sunflowers that were planted at the bottom of the road from the sharehouse. It’s nice to think back to all that I did.
And finally in this section - I decided at the beginning of fieldwork to turn on my google maps location history, and now it’s finished I was able to make a heatmap of all the places I went! Pretty cool if I may say so myself, and you can definitely tell I lived in Shinjuku (where the biggest red blob is):
the wards are overlaid because I mentioned them in my methodology section
seasonal scenery of the week
This week felt suuuuper autumnal, which is really nice after spending all of last autumn stressing out about how hot it still was in Tokyo. Lots of cool breezes and crisp sunny days. Here are some nice photos:
the beech trees are turning! these are opposite SOAS library
a very autumnal vine along the passage I walk down towards the tube
saturday morning, when I randomly woke up bright and refreshed at 6:30am and had a slow morning enjoying the sun and the breeze. this is the view down the hill from our back garden
climbing
I managed to go climbing twice this week despite getting plenty of work done - I tell you what there’s something to be said for using less social media! Before I left the UK I was barely breaking in to V2 and mostly only able to climb V1, but this week I did several V2s which was very satisfying! And it was two trips to independent gyms, which are always nice to visit.
the V2 I finished at Yonder! I almost finished another V2 but ran out of energy, it got reset on Friday RIP :(
me at Rise showing off my sore finger after losing some skin on a sloper (rowing hands are still worse though)
cooking
I spent a fair bit of time making nice meals this week, helped by the fact I was working from home and not eating out as much as last week. I’ve always struggled with cooking - it’s a lot of thinking both in advance and on the spot - and last time I lived in London I ordered meal boxes with pre-portioned ingredients because it took the mental load out of choosing what to eat and going to the shops while still letting me cook. But not this time! I’m really enjoying planning my own meals and slowly building a repertoire of things I enjoy making and eating. It feels so gratifying to put good stuff in your body each day.
I wish I could tell you the secret which made it easier but it seems to just be turning 26 and finally having a fully developed prefrontal lobe. That being said, here is some advice and videos I found helpful:
making a list of recipes that I already feel comfortable making and with ingredients that aren’t too hard to get (e.g. soba is super easy and the ingredients keep for ages - the sauce is just soy sauce/mirin/dashi in the leftover water from boiling the noodles, then you fry whatever in soy sauce and mirin. boom)
making one new thing each week so I don’t have to buy loads of storecupboard ingredients at once, just occasionally
always having cucumber and red/yellow peppers on hand so I can put veg with every meal without it being a faff (Japan squad you guys already know this about me haha)
hayley honeyman - 3 tier food system for ADHD - whether or not you or I have ADHD, this is a really great way of thinking about food, and I try to have ingredients in stock for meals across the 3 tiers of effort levels. the comments are a goldmine too. also, cooking to make future you’s life easier is a nice way to motivate yourself to cook something.
techniquely with Lan Lam - you need to let your food stick - this is just useful technique info and made me less scared to let things stick to the pan. they’ll release eventually. just wait. especially tofu!
dobochobo - 4 easy asian recipes for when you’re busy and stressed - some really tasty recipes and they don’t use a ridiculous number of ingredients
Here are some nice meals I made!
soba! this time with a boiled egg, which was perfect. it’s worth doing an ice bath
sicilian caponata! it took ages because my celery chunks were too big, but it’s quite straightforward. fry aubergine, put aside. fry other veg - onions, celery, garlic etc. add tinned tomatoes. simmer. taste & adjust so it’s a little sweet. add olives, capers & aubergine with a swish of red wine vinegar. serve with whatever stuff you like, I added frozen prawns, gnocchi (fried > boiled) and salad. yum!
sausage rolls from the reduced section and salad. yummy. took 5 minutes.
fried tofu in a sauce with gochujang, soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, cornstarch
album of the week
I listened to the Taylor Swift album twice through and I thought it was a bit… meh? It just sounds like Taylor Swift music to my untrained ears. Swifties feel free to change my mind.
So, my true album of the week is…
Good Neighbours - Blue Sky Mentality
It’s like liquid sunshine for the dark gloomy days of autumn, every song is a banger. Really enjoyed this one on the way home from the climbing wall yesterday. Aside from this album I also enjoyed Dodie’s new album Not For Lack of Trying, and the special BBC Proms symphony version (from last year) of Florence & The Machine’s Lungs, one of my favourite albums of all time blessed with the power of an orchestra and choir!
that’s all folks
Thanks again for sticking around! As a last little thing, remember that clothing swap I went to last week? I got various things including the plaid shirt I’m wearing in a few of the bereals, a linen shirt for work, a fun colourful shirt, some leather trousers, and finally, the pièce de résistance, a shiny blue blazer!!
LOOK AT HERRRRRRR
So you’d better invite me to your Christmas parties so I can wear it!
See you next week,
Stella x