MEGA-UPDATE

[mood] blah

Last weekend was surprisingly busy.
SATURDAY
I didn't really have anything planned for the day, except cleaning and doing laundry (ugh, domesticity). But then Matt asked me if I wanted to go with him and Namiko somewhere. Even without knowing where, and thus how much I approximately had to spend, I agreed. And I didn't get to bring my digicam, so not a lot of pictures.

First we went to Suwajinja, a Chinese temple. It had English fortunes, but expensive ones (200 yen each). I think I'll buy some before I leave though, they'd make nice souvenirs. The temple has a zoo and picnic grounds.


These are the HUGE Koi in the pond by the temple.

Next we walked and climbed up a mountain [oh my aching legs] to Kazeni______ Park [there's a blank because I don't remember the name of the place -_-;] which has a big greenish statue of Ryoma Sakamoto, a famous samurai. Namiko asked if I knew who he was. I was all like, "Is he a singer?" Hahaha. Uncultured!


Namiko and I, sans Ryoma Sakamoto's big statue. Someday I'll go back there and pose with it.


The view from the top. Yes folks, Nagasaki is all HILLS.

Then that night, a couple of friends and I ate at Joyfull Restaurant. It was a bit pricey (like that's a surprise in this country) and the food isn't that great. I mean, it was generic. Average. But it has unlimited drinks! Like BK before they went cost-cutting. But it's open 24 hours a day, and a lot of high school kids hang out there, apparently. After that, we went back to the dorm and I got my fix of Meteor Garden 2 dubbed in Japanese.

!USELESS INFORMATION! Only recently has there been a Hana Yori Dango Japanese dorama. The Japanese F4 are vastly inferior to the Taiwanese one I used to fangirl over. Especially Rui Hanazawa (Lei)! But Doumyouji (Dao Ming Su) is played by MatsuJun. Who stars in Gokusen. Which will be shown by GMA 7 soon.

SUNDAY
Fun day. First we attended a tea ceremony in Shuntokiji Temple [I hope I got that right]. We were told to dress formally, so I used my black [non-high] heels. BAD MOVE. Walking up and down hilly places in heels is never a good idea. Also, they weren't strict about the dress code, so it was sort of just a waste.


On the temple grounds.


During the ceremony proper. The standing guy is the host. The girl making tea under the red umbrella is his assistant, while the ladies seated in front of her are the honored guests. The other people are just guests. 0_o It's all a very intricate, meticuluous process.


Okashi, a kind of sweet made from beans (what sort, I don't know). It was served before the ocha, the bitter green tea. Which I had to gulp down, even though it tasted baaaaad. I'm never gonna get why the Japanese love this stuff. Even the little kids chug it down like it's water.


The tea-making, uh, implements.


Shah, Sensei, Oil, me and Su Lynn. I smile, but my feet were killing me.

Then we headed to the Nagasaki International Festival. I was hoping to catch some other Filipinos there, but it was not to be so. I ended up answering a lot of questionnaires and surveys for international volunteer groups and the like, though. There were a lot of booths, mostly food, clothing and musical instruments.


The Nagasaki Square Dancing Association had a square-dancing workshop which I unwittingly joined. They just sort of pulled me up the stage and I followed, like a sheep.^_^;; It was rather fun, even if I'm not the greatest dancer in the world [understatement]. Here I am with two of the members [the nice old guy was my partner] and Wei, one of the Taiwanese exchange students.


Some of the other exchange students performed a dance for their classical Japanese dancing class. They were decked out in kimonos, and looked so pretty.:D This is Zue Xhen (Chinese), Mi Hee (Korean), me and Oil (Thai).

Phew. Now off to class.:D

mini-update

[mood] toinktoinktoink

I will update soon, with pictures! Of, er, fabulous Nagasaki. By the way, I mentioned something about UP Main Lib kicking Nagasaki U's lib's ass (or similar). They might be on equal footing, because...

a) This library has free Internet use on slightly ancient, yet DSL-connected (or cable, whatever. It's fast.)　PCs.
b) I can install programs on said PCs! Oh joy. Hello YM. Hello Irfanview.
c) Checking out, checking in and renewing books is unbelievably high-tech. It's automated. There's a machine which just scans the student ID barcode, then the book's barcode. You get a printed receipt with the name/s of the book/s with the due date. Whoa. Awesomeness. However, I did not take a picture of the machine, because that would be a little weird (and my phone camera's shutter sound is Hai, chi-zu! in this perky Japanese schoolgirl's voice).

Something to entertain you:

The Automatic Complaint Letter Generator

Ja.

bills, bills, bills

[mood] yay! yeayeah.

Paid my dorm fees yesterday. It's Y17 400 for this month. BUT! I got mail yesterday! Happy. One letter was from Daddy, with Y10 000 enclosed (verrry risky, with the Philippine Postal Service being what it is), and the other from Gela! :D

We'll be having a field trip to Nara and Kyoto on November 18 - 20. Cost is Y25 000, but Y10 000 will be refunded on the day of the trip. Can't wait. I gotta have a digicam by then...

I actually have enough money to buy a digicam now, but I'm thinking twice thrice, four times, five times...) about shelling out roughly Y36 000 (P18 000) for this baby.

Yeah, update.

[mood] Whee!

For fear of being called porky yet again *coughJeromecough* here's an update. With pictures and everything, granted they aren't that great. Will buy a real digicam soon (I hope).

*This first picture screwed up the sidebar, so just scroll DOOOOOOWN for the tagboard and stuff.^_^;;


This is the view from a window on my floor (Not my room, because there's this net covering the 4th and 5th floor verandas. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe to keep the crows out.0_o). Nagasaki is reeeaaally hilly. It's like a mini-Baguio. My dormitory is located in Nishimachi, around 20 minutes' walk from the university.


This is me looking like a freak with Rena, my Japanese tutor. She's supposed to help me with anything during my stay here. She's really nice, and really pretty.:D I just call her "Rena", but I think I'm supposed to affix a "-san" after that. Hmmm.


Here I'm under the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, since they don't have a ChE Department here. These are the other students (undergrads) who work in the Materials Science Lab. They're funny and entertaining.:D I hope I can improve my Nihongo soon so I can actually have real conversations with them. Counterclockwise: Me, Ishi-chan, Junji-chan, Tetsu-chan, Ryo-chan, Tani-chan.


This is Kuya Mateo and I. He's a research student with a Monbukagakusho scholarship. So he gets twice the monthly stipend I do.:P He's from Negros, and he teaches Computer Science in a public high school there.


Here's Matt and I (again looking freakish) after a few games of JENGA, which is like the original Uno Stacko. (I lost.) Matt's from Seattle, and his girlfriend lives in Osaka. She stayed with a Filipino family for a year in Seattle, so Matt knows about great Filipino traditions such as house blessings, birthday parties for every relative, curfews, and ocho-ocho.


Su Lynn is from Malaysia, but she's Chinese. This is us after we ditched a free rock concert here (we just saw 2 out of 6 bands, but the second one was terrible so we left) and went online in the library. The library here is quite small, by the way. But it's open on Sundays. Still, it's no match for the UP Main Lib, except for the computers and Internet connection.:P Anyway, Matt, Su Lynn and I hang out together a lot, mainly in Su Lynn's room.:D


Oil's room is next to mine. When I first saw her, I was like, "Filipino?" and she thought I could be Thai, too. Oil eats a lot, but she stays skinny. Lucky.:P

I'm becoming known here as the girl who likes to take pictures. And with just my mobile phone. Hee.

Su Lynn and I went to the Suwa Municipal Gym here to check out the aikido classes. I wanna!^__^ But it costs Y4000 a month. I hope to find a cheaper deal first...Haven't really checked out the extra-curriculars here, but there's a classical Japanese dance class (free) every Wednesday afternoon. I would like to join, but I have class till 5:40 pm. Sigh.

*

I passed Chem 153, by the way. Happy.:D

getting used to this

[feeling] lazy

UPDATE! UPDATE! :D

I'm not so bored now.:D Er. Have been hanging out with the other foreign students. I'm starting to like it here...I think.0_o

Anyway. Luuunch!

turning manic-depressive, and enjoying it

Am in Japan now. Thus, update!

First: Nagasaki is a nice place. (Lame adjective, but nothing else comes to mind.) Weather-wise, it's like the Philippines, only colder. It's also a hilly place, which is why the 20-minute walk from campus to my dorm is painful when you've got a ton of groceries. The people are also friendly, and will even smile at you randomly (!) at the street. Or you can say "Konnichiwa" to someone even if you don't know him/her and you'd get a reply.

I am learning life lessons here.

1. Cooking
I am forced to cook my own meals, or starve alone and penniless in the streets of Nagasaki. So far the only thing I've "cooked" is ham, but that will change. It has to.

2. Saving money
I brought some yen when I came here, and JASSO also gave me a settling-in allowance. But that's not enough since I pay for the dorm room (Y5900 a month) and utilities (water, gas, electricity, sewage[0_o]). Since it's cold at night, I don't use the aircon. I also plan to take a bath only once a month. Just kidding. Eeew. I also need to buy my own food, so I definitely need to budget. And my allowance comes in at the middle of the month, so till then...tipid tipid.

*The campus has only one cafeteria, thrice the size of CASAA. It's kind of high-tech (by our standards). They have a tray drop conveyor belt, soft ice cream dispenser, automated beverage dispenser, stuff like that. Niiice.

3. Kababayans
Good thing I am not the only Filipino here. It's so nice to not talk to only yourself in Tagalog. Kuya Mateo is a teacher trainee (IT), while Ate Len is a PhD (Virology) student. Tomorrow I will go with Kuya Mat to the hyaku-en (Y100) shop when he buys his essentials. Also, on Sunday, I will go to church. Mainly to meet other Filipinos.

4. Missing people
The first night here, whenever I saw the certficate Lou and the others gave me (on my desk), I really could not stop crying. But prepaid cards eased the pain. To date I have talked to my family and several other importnat people in my life.:)

It eases the loneliness.

*

I'm getting used to life here.:D Although winter break starts on December 25! These heathens. Christmas break is supposed to be longer.T_T

If you want to send me snail mail *hinthint*, email me and I will send you the address.:D

so grateful

[listening to] Collide (acoustic) - Howie Day

I have the greatest friends in the world.:)

It's a little lonely, knowing I'll be somewhere else while back home, they're growing and changing and becoming involved in things I know nothing about, but I know it will be OK.

That's it for now. Will update when I am in Japan.

HAPPPEEE

[mood] sleepy

Am so HAPPY.

Tonight (OK, nitpicker: last night) is engraved in my brain.

Memories are some of the most precious things to have.