The new the new JYPE students are arriving. They're so easy to get along with. Already I've met a bunch of students comprising of a German, 2 Koreans, a Malaysian and a Chinese that just got back from dinner. I saw them in the lobby and said hi to them already. A few Americans dropped by my room already. I passed stuff along from one of the former students to the new one and gave away a map and directions to another.
The dorms here have been dead for the past 2 months. As I walked by formerly empty rooms, all I could do was think "that was so-and-so's room" as I walk past closed doors. But it will become lively again and I look forward to it... I just hope that I can keep my school work, play and rest balanced.
What is going on this end? I've been downloading so much stuff. Just finished watching Final Fantasy VII: Advant Children (I like CG), started watching Firefly (how the hell was this series cancelled!? I really like the story and characters) and got hooked into music from "Secret Garden."
There are lots of things, loose ends and bits that I need to get done. I know that I am horrible at loose ends-- loose ends are too stringy; I like going after big meaty things instead. Never been a good details person. The devils are in the details... the devils are always in the details. Am I making any sense, nope not really... but that's because I'm tired.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Taiwan Sept 14th and 15th
So here are the first 2 days of my Taiwan trip. I spent the first 3 days in Taipei meeing up with friends from the dorm that went home. Kai Ling and Rifan were really awesome by comming out the airport to meet up with me and show me around. Due to some silly thing with the naming of the picture files, it was better to post the 3rd day of the Taiwan trip in a separate album... which I'll do later. Just horribly tired at the moment :P
What can I say about Taiwan... it was really hot, even for September. They were pushing 33 degrees C and going up to 36 degrees with humidity. Air conditioner in Taiwan is like a necessity. It is hard to imagine what life must have been before air conditioning came around.
I visited the night markets, the CKS memorial hall and the national palace museum during the first 2 days. You can check out all about my first 2 days here.
As for now.. I am pooped, so off to bed I go. I'll make more comments later on.
G'night!
What can I say about Taiwan... it was really hot, even for September. They were pushing 33 degrees C and going up to 36 degrees with humidity. Air conditioner in Taiwan is like a necessity. It is hard to imagine what life must have been before air conditioning came around.
I visited the night markets, the CKS memorial hall and the national palace museum during the first 2 days. You can check out all about my first 2 days here.
As for now.. I am pooped, so off to bed I go. I'll make more comments later on.
G'night!
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Return home... unexpected surprises
No and they weren't good surprises unfortunately, well except for one :). I managed to leave my rice cooker with a full load of rice which had a good 2 weeks to ferment. I walked into my room wondering "what's that strange smell?" I opened my rice cooker to find really moldy rice with worms running around in the bottom. Yummy, really.
I've so far cleaned out the rice cooker and boiled hot water in it twice to see if I can get rid of the smell. The metal pot doesn't seem affected by the smell. But the rubber rings around the edge seem to have absorbed the smell. I can't seem to lessen the smell at all. It would suck to make a fresh batch of rice just to have it stink. My lungs burn from smelling my rice cooker so many times as I try to see if it stinks less after I boil water in it... I may end up chucking the rice cooker. Ugh that's $50 in damage right there.
I left some Kim chee and some left over sweet beans. Needless to say both needed to be chucked after I got home. Aside from forgetting those 2 in my fridge, the fridge is OK.
Finally, a good chunk of tupperware had to be chucked! Lesson learned, DO NOT seal tupperware after you wash and wipe them, even if you wiped out all the water. Pot the lid back on too soon and the water condenses. Fungus grows and well, need less to say I was assulted by wafts of rancid smelling tupperware after I got back. Most of which had to be chuked (tupper ware can be bought very cheaply in Japan however for $1).
There was a plus side however :) On the flight back to Japan I did manage to meet some nice Japanese tourists on their way back from Taiwan. I was sitting with one of them in front of a blank wall (the separator between Economy class and First class). The annoying part was that we couldn't really see the screen so I decided to have a conversation instead. I think my Japanese is getting better... though I still need work since it is still kind of broken. The converstaion did last for all of the flight back to Japan. I ended up meeting 2 other friends of hers who were exceptionally kind and showed me the way to a cheap train out of Narita to Ueno where I could catch the bullet train back to Sendai. We took a group picture at the train station out of Narita :)
The nice people I met on the airplane :)
Pictures of my journey around Japan and Taiwan to follow later in the week. For now, I need to get myself a new rice cooker, replenish my food, finish some paper work for the University and more. No rest for the wicked eh?
I've so far cleaned out the rice cooker and boiled hot water in it twice to see if I can get rid of the smell. The metal pot doesn't seem affected by the smell. But the rubber rings around the edge seem to have absorbed the smell. I can't seem to lessen the smell at all. It would suck to make a fresh batch of rice just to have it stink. My lungs burn from smelling my rice cooker so many times as I try to see if it stinks less after I boil water in it... I may end up chucking the rice cooker. Ugh that's $50 in damage right there.
I left some Kim chee and some left over sweet beans. Needless to say both needed to be chucked after I got home. Aside from forgetting those 2 in my fridge, the fridge is OK.
Finally, a good chunk of tupperware had to be chucked! Lesson learned, DO NOT seal tupperware after you wash and wipe them, even if you wiped out all the water. Pot the lid back on too soon and the water condenses. Fungus grows and well, need less to say I was assulted by wafts of rancid smelling tupperware after I got back. Most of which had to be chuked (tupper ware can be bought very cheaply in Japan however for $1).
There was a plus side however :) On the flight back to Japan I did manage to meet some nice Japanese tourists on their way back from Taiwan. I was sitting with one of them in front of a blank wall (the separator between Economy class and First class). The annoying part was that we couldn't really see the screen so I decided to have a conversation instead. I think my Japanese is getting better... though I still need work since it is still kind of broken. The converstaion did last for all of the flight back to Japan. I ended up meeting 2 other friends of hers who were exceptionally kind and showed me the way to a cheap train out of Narita to Ueno where I could catch the bullet train back to Sendai. We took a group picture at the train station out of Narita :)
The nice people I met on the airplane :)Pictures of my journey around Japan and Taiwan to follow later in the week. For now, I need to get myself a new rice cooker, replenish my food, finish some paper work for the University and more. No rest for the wicked eh?
Monday, September 19, 2005
Ne How!
Greetings from Taiwan. I've been here since last Wedensday and will be here until this comming Wedensday where I will catch my flgiht back to Japan. It's been a jam packed trip so far, travelling to Taipei for the first 3 days with friends I met up with from the dorms to check out various museums and night markets; then moving down to Taichung to stay with family friends sa I toured around the big mountains in central Taiwan (breath taking views) then finally to the last leg of my trip to Shenzhen to meet up with the Wen family where I'll be staying until Wedensday.
Ps. Kevin if you're reading this your mom tells me that you haven't called within the last 10 days (tsk tsk :).
Arrived at 7:30 am this morning, spent today going around the Shenzhen technology and science park, out for a walking tour of the city, lots of food, a quick return back home, more food, more walking and more food. At this rate, I am going to be bringing back a few extra kilos of extra "baggage" to Japan.
I have a really big library of pictures that I will be posting when I get back to Japan. Hope all's well back home (I hear it's getting pretty hot over there).
Lates for now!
Ps. Kevin if you're reading this your mom tells me that you haven't called within the last 10 days (tsk tsk :).
Arrived at 7:30 am this morning, spent today going around the Shenzhen technology and science park, out for a walking tour of the city, lots of food, a quick return back home, more food, more walking and more food. At this rate, I am going to be bringing back a few extra kilos of extra "baggage" to Japan.
I have a really big library of pictures that I will be posting when I get back to Japan. Hope all's well back home (I hear it's getting pretty hot over there).
Lates for now!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Aichi and Nagoya: Beyond Belief
I arrived into Nagoya right about noon on the 9th and I was to meet Alex at about 10:00 pm in the evening... what does that mean? It means big walking tour of the City. I dropped by the tourist office, picked up a few maps and brief notes of the city and jumped onto the subway to Sakae station, the downtown bit of Nagoya with lots and lots of shopping malls.
The malls in Nagoya are really nice and they sell all sorts of stylish stuff. I had the chance to walk through a few of them.
Here is the atrium of one of the malls I walked into. They had some type of paper decoration hanging from the ciling which looked really nice.
They had all sorts of trendy stores. The picture above is a pic of some a trendy hobby/decoration shop selling some really funky clocks. The clock is made out of gears upon gears spinning to make the hands turn. Really interesting to watch.
The outside of a store called "Nano Universe!" Perfect, I thought I'd pop in to see what these people knew about Nano Technology...
Much to my "sha-grin" it turns out that it was a clothing shop. Maybe they make really really small clothing :P
Well I have about 80 other pictures siting on my tour of Nagoya to post so those will have to wait for the photo album... but I ended up visiting a school of design and a science of museum (which was quite rudimentary but very interesting... I saw how they made a tornado :P).
After 10 hours of entertaining myself I finally could meet up with Alex afterwork and hit a chinese restaurant to grab some food. We also we ran into some of his co workers. Whom are very sociable people.
Alex and I chowing down on some food.
The both of us go way back, actually more way back than I realized until my mom showed me pictures of us in the same Japanese class when I was 5 and he was 4. We would later meet up again in High school and in the Richmond Orchestra-- the world is a definately small place.
After finishing off dinner, we hit dropped by an "Izakaya" which is the Japanese version of a spanish "Tapas" restraunt (and with alcohol). Ran into more of his co-workers and friends. I am envious that he has such an awesome crew of people to work with.
I borrowed a futon from one of his friend's room and crashed in his room for the night.
The Next Day:
Woke uo at about 6:45 and got ready to head out to the Expo. We ran into a guy that was staying with one of Alex's coworkers whom told us that there were even people sleeping at the front gates of the Expo. From what I heard from Alex, line ups to the corporate pavillions (Hitachi, Toyota and etc... all of them Japanese corporation) are over 4 hours long! Alex took the staff entrance to the Expo, unfortunately I wasn't so lucky and had to go through the ordinary gates.
My camera batteries lost charge that day so I couldn't take pictures.. thought I did take pictures on my cell phone (need to find a way to download the pictures directly to my computer).
Though originally Alex had planned to give me a personal tour of Expo in Nagoya but it turned out that he had a seminar in the morning and had VIP duty in the afternoon at the Canadian Pavillion. Waht happened instead was that I ended up borrowing his staff pass and got easy access to all sorts of pavillions (except for the corporate pavillions which were way too busy... what is means is that I didn't have to wait in line for other global pavillions if they had line ups :).
The pavillions I visited were Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Korea, Canada, America, China, South America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Germany and a few more here and there. All I cans say is that after seeing all those pavillions is that I want to travel around the world more. There are so many different interesting things in different parts of the world.
At the Candadian Pavillion, Alex gave me a personal introduction and got me in through the VIP door. I also met some of his co workers that day (and the day before) and they were really friendly people. Got along really well. At the end of the tour, I even got a pin only given out to Canadians that visit the pavillion, yay!
A few things to note Sri Lankan and traditional Mongolian clothing are quite nice looking. I also liked Moroccan interior design. I have to look back at my pictures in my cell phone but I really enjoyed looking at the global pavillions.
One thing I wanted to note about the Expo was that the corporate pavillions were the most popular. The thing about this is that an Expo is really supposed be an international exposition... I just thought that it was a sad waste to see all the Japanese tourists at the Expo only spending time waiting in line for the Japanese corporate pavillions. What happened was that in the morning, there was a mad dash for the corporate pavillions... when the wait times got as long as 4 to 5 hours long, then people started falling back to the other pavillions, I thought that was kind of sad.
I talked to various staff from all over the world and it was very refreshing to listen to different perceptions of the world. One interesting thing I heard from an Pakistan staff member working at the Pakistan pavillion was about the Japanese and their herd mentality. When there isn't anyone looking at a display, then all the Japanese visitors walk by... if there is someone looking at the display then people start dashing up to the display to see what is so interesting. The process continues till you have a big fat mob looking at something possibly mundane. It's the craziest thing.
One thing I thought was the most wasted on the vistors at the expo was the lack of attention to information presented at the pavillion. At the expo is looking some something flashy to see, whether it be the corporate pavillion (all about futuristic technology... though the Expo's theme was all about "Nature's Wisdom"), or flashy movies put on by some of the other country pavillions. It's was all about the chutzpa and the big lights for some of these people. Ordinary screens with clips about the country and presentations about different countries were lost upon many visitors. I thought that was particularly sad.
Party!
Here is the best part of the Expo. I got to attend an after hours party hosted by the New Zealand staff members. This party was by far the best party I've attened *ever* in my life. They kicked off the night with the New Zealanders in traditional warrior clothing performing war chants and dances followed by singing. They even ended up sining a Japanese song at the end of the performance. One of the ladies of the NZ crew pulled out sort of a Morning star kind of object, doused the end in gas and lit it on fire and did some sort of dance while spinning around the lit morning star. Very cool.
There were cheap drinks, excellent snacks (like roasted muscled and more) and they had a band playing in the backround with a huge dance floor. There was a pond near by which people started jumping into and dancing inside. It blew my mind.
The people at the party were great. The one of the friendliest bunch I've ever see. All you have to do is walk up to them and say "hey where are you from" and you've got a conversation going and who knows, you might get a friend out of it. It's that easy! The people there are exceptionally chill. Compared to going to a usual club, people at a club are so anti social. I was exceptionally happy to be hanging out with really great people.
We were out till really late, probably until about 3~4 am before heading back to his appartment. Good times, good times indeed.
Well that's all for now. Need to pack and get ready for my trip to Taiwan tomorrow. I'll try posting from there if possible!
The malls in Nagoya are really nice and they sell all sorts of stylish stuff. I had the chance to walk through a few of them.
Here is the atrium of one of the malls I walked into. They had some type of paper decoration hanging from the ciling which looked really nice.
They had all sorts of trendy stores. The picture above is a pic of some a trendy hobby/decoration shop selling some really funky clocks. The clock is made out of gears upon gears spinning to make the hands turn. Really interesting to watch.
The outside of a store called "Nano Universe!" Perfect, I thought I'd pop in to see what these people knew about Nano Technology...
Much to my "sha-grin" it turns out that it was a clothing shop. Maybe they make really really small clothing :P
Well I have about 80 other pictures siting on my tour of Nagoya to post so those will have to wait for the photo album... but I ended up visiting a school of design and a science of museum (which was quite rudimentary but very interesting... I saw how they made a tornado :P).
After 10 hours of entertaining myself I finally could meet up with Alex afterwork and hit a chinese restaurant to grab some food. We also we ran into some of his co workers. Whom are very sociable people.
Alex and I chowing down on some food.
The both of us go way back, actually more way back than I realized until my mom showed me pictures of us in the same Japanese class when I was 5 and he was 4. We would later meet up again in High school and in the Richmond Orchestra-- the world is a definately small place.
After finishing off dinner, we hit dropped by an "Izakaya" which is the Japanese version of a spanish "Tapas" restraunt (and with alcohol). Ran into more of his co-workers and friends. I am envious that he has such an awesome crew of people to work with.
I borrowed a futon from one of his friend's room and crashed in his room for the night.
The Next Day:
Woke uo at about 6:45 and got ready to head out to the Expo. We ran into a guy that was staying with one of Alex's coworkers whom told us that there were even people sleeping at the front gates of the Expo. From what I heard from Alex, line ups to the corporate pavillions (Hitachi, Toyota and etc... all of them Japanese corporation) are over 4 hours long! Alex took the staff entrance to the Expo, unfortunately I wasn't so lucky and had to go through the ordinary gates.
My camera batteries lost charge that day so I couldn't take pictures.. thought I did take pictures on my cell phone (need to find a way to download the pictures directly to my computer).
Though originally Alex had planned to give me a personal tour of Expo in Nagoya but it turned out that he had a seminar in the morning and had VIP duty in the afternoon at the Canadian Pavillion. Waht happened instead was that I ended up borrowing his staff pass and got easy access to all sorts of pavillions (except for the corporate pavillions which were way too busy... what is means is that I didn't have to wait in line for other global pavillions if they had line ups :).
The pavillions I visited were Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Korea, Canada, America, China, South America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Germany and a few more here and there. All I cans say is that after seeing all those pavillions is that I want to travel around the world more. There are so many different interesting things in different parts of the world.
At the Candadian Pavillion, Alex gave me a personal introduction and got me in through the VIP door. I also met some of his co workers that day (and the day before) and they were really friendly people. Got along really well. At the end of the tour, I even got a pin only given out to Canadians that visit the pavillion, yay!
A few things to note Sri Lankan and traditional Mongolian clothing are quite nice looking. I also liked Moroccan interior design. I have to look back at my pictures in my cell phone but I really enjoyed looking at the global pavillions.
One thing I wanted to note about the Expo was that the corporate pavillions were the most popular. The thing about this is that an Expo is really supposed be an international exposition... I just thought that it was a sad waste to see all the Japanese tourists at the Expo only spending time waiting in line for the Japanese corporate pavillions. What happened was that in the morning, there was a mad dash for the corporate pavillions... when the wait times got as long as 4 to 5 hours long, then people started falling back to the other pavillions, I thought that was kind of sad.
I talked to various staff from all over the world and it was very refreshing to listen to different perceptions of the world. One interesting thing I heard from an Pakistan staff member working at the Pakistan pavillion was about the Japanese and their herd mentality. When there isn't anyone looking at a display, then all the Japanese visitors walk by... if there is someone looking at the display then people start dashing up to the display to see what is so interesting. The process continues till you have a big fat mob looking at something possibly mundane. It's the craziest thing.
One thing I thought was the most wasted on the vistors at the expo was the lack of attention to information presented at the pavillion. At the expo is looking some something flashy to see, whether it be the corporate pavillion (all about futuristic technology... though the Expo's theme was all about "Nature's Wisdom"), or flashy movies put on by some of the other country pavillions. It's was all about the chutzpa and the big lights for some of these people. Ordinary screens with clips about the country and presentations about different countries were lost upon many visitors. I thought that was particularly sad.
Party!
Here is the best part of the Expo. I got to attend an after hours party hosted by the New Zealand staff members. This party was by far the best party I've attened *ever* in my life. They kicked off the night with the New Zealanders in traditional warrior clothing performing war chants and dances followed by singing. They even ended up sining a Japanese song at the end of the performance. One of the ladies of the NZ crew pulled out sort of a Morning star kind of object, doused the end in gas and lit it on fire and did some sort of dance while spinning around the lit morning star. Very cool.
There were cheap drinks, excellent snacks (like roasted muscled and more) and they had a band playing in the backround with a huge dance floor. There was a pond near by which people started jumping into and dancing inside. It blew my mind.
The people at the party were great. The one of the friendliest bunch I've ever see. All you have to do is walk up to them and say "hey where are you from" and you've got a conversation going and who knows, you might get a friend out of it. It's that easy! The people there are exceptionally chill. Compared to going to a usual club, people at a club are so anti social. I was exceptionally happy to be hanging out with really great people.
We were out till really late, probably until about 3~4 am before heading back to his appartment. Good times, good times indeed.
Well that's all for now. Need to pack and get ready for my trip to Taiwan tomorrow. I'll try posting from there if possible!
Alive and well (In Tokyo)
Went to Nagoya on the 9th and 10th to see long time friend Alex since I knew from when we were in Japanese classes when I was 5 (he was 4).. and then to meet up again in High School and orchestra many years later.
Had a time beyone belief in Nagoya and at the Expo.. stories are going to have to wait unfortunately until I have a better chance to post. I'm supposed to leave for the famous fish market in Tsukiji tomorrow morming at some really early hour and it's already almost 2:00 am here.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and well. Going to get a more detailed post down perhaps tomorrow or after I get back from Taiwan... utill then I will be sporadically on the internet.
See ya!
Had a time beyone belief in Nagoya and at the Expo.. stories are going to have to wait unfortunately until I have a better chance to post. I'm supposed to leave for the famous fish market in Tsukiji tomorrow morming at some really early hour and it's already almost 2:00 am here.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and well. Going to get a more detailed post down perhaps tomorrow or after I get back from Taiwan... utill then I will be sporadically on the internet.
See ya!
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Saving the Planet!
Oh nooo! Everyone is leaving and I'm acquiring all their left over stuff. There are so many nice things being thrown out, like dishes, utensils, left over spices, hardly used pots and pans (for people that didn't end up cooking all that much)... and much more. The thing is that everyone moving out feels really bad about throwing things that are perfectly usable away... so what's happening instead is that friends are dropping by to give me left over stuff.
What kind of stuff?
I now have 4 TVs (here are 3)
I've got 4 fans (one not in the picture, and there's the other TV)
I've got a second oven and a bunch of pots and pans 
And a crap load of sugar and spice!
I've got more too, like a cordless phone, a chair, nice speakers (which I bought from a friend for $30), candy, olive oil, 3 bottles of honey (all from different people), baking equipment, plates and more.
It's going to be a give away fest when the new students start comming in from different countries. It'll be a nice way to meet the new students... "hey, need some stuff?"
I remember the first time when I got here... the volunteer group attending to the new international students gave us a face cloth, a coffee cup and a few maps and that's all I started off with. It took me a few weeks to find my way around this place before getting used to where everything was (that and walking everywhere on foot didn't help either). Atleast when I give stuff away they'll start off running!
What kind of stuff?
I now have 4 TVs (here are 3)
I've got 4 fans (one not in the picture, and there's the other TV)
I've got a second oven and a bunch of pots and pans 
And a crap load of sugar and spice!I've got more too, like a cordless phone, a chair, nice speakers (which I bought from a friend for $30), candy, olive oil, 3 bottles of honey (all from different people), baking equipment, plates and more.
It's going to be a give away fest when the new students start comming in from different countries. It'll be a nice way to meet the new students... "hey, need some stuff?"
I remember the first time when I got here... the volunteer group attending to the new international students gave us a face cloth, a coffee cup and a few maps and that's all I started off with. It took me a few weeks to find my way around this place before getting used to where everything was (that and walking everywhere on foot didn't help either). Atleast when I give stuff away they'll start off running!
Going to be a rough trip to Nagoya
Not sure when my papers for registration are going to come in yet for university. Official results are to be presented at the university on the 7th. I will be attending the presentation... which is going to be some list posted at the main engineering office at the University.
I am hoping that the paper work makes to me in time before I leave, if not, the office just told me to do it when I can get around to it.
Depature to Nagoya on the 8th on an afternoon bus, arrival to Shinjuku at 10:00 pm, catch 11:30 night bus from Shinjuku to Nagoya. Arrival in Nagoya at 6:10 am. This is going to be a 13 hour bus ride to Nagoya! Painful indeed for local travel. The last time I had to deal with a long bus ride was to Calgary for a band trip in grade 8. That trip was 14 hours... but I had lots of good friends on that bus to keep ourselves entertained. I'll be brining some research papers along to read on the bus.
Going to meet up with Alex and say over for the 9th and 10th. Check out the expo and hang out. Hitch the bullet train back to Tokyo on the 11th. Debating if I should make a pitstop at Fuji mountain on the way. If timing works out right, I will hit the mountain for the day and visit my uncle in the Evening (Fuji mountain has been on my todo list for Japan!).
Stay in Tokyo for the 11th, 12th and 13th. 14th, catch plane to Taiwan and meet up with Rifan and Abby (I am very much looking forward to seeing them again!). Stay in Taipei for the 14th,15th and 16th then depart to Taichung to meet up with family friends on the evening of the 16th and stay over to the 19th. Depart 19th and head off to visit Kevin's family for a day. 21th, return to Tokyo. Hitch either a bus or a bullet train back into Sendai.
Gotta get packed and clear out the fridge on the 7th :)
I am hoping that the paper work makes to me in time before I leave, if not, the office just told me to do it when I can get around to it.
Depature to Nagoya on the 8th on an afternoon bus, arrival to Shinjuku at 10:00 pm, catch 11:30 night bus from Shinjuku to Nagoya. Arrival in Nagoya at 6:10 am. This is going to be a 13 hour bus ride to Nagoya! Painful indeed for local travel. The last time I had to deal with a long bus ride was to Calgary for a band trip in grade 8. That trip was 14 hours... but I had lots of good friends on that bus to keep ourselves entertained. I'll be brining some research papers along to read on the bus.
Going to meet up with Alex and say over for the 9th and 10th. Check out the expo and hang out. Hitch the bullet train back to Tokyo on the 11th. Debating if I should make a pitstop at Fuji mountain on the way. If timing works out right, I will hit the mountain for the day and visit my uncle in the Evening (Fuji mountain has been on my todo list for Japan!).
Stay in Tokyo for the 11th, 12th and 13th. 14th, catch plane to Taiwan and meet up with Rifan and Abby (I am very much looking forward to seeing them again!). Stay in Taipei for the 14th,15th and 16th then depart to Taichung to meet up with family friends on the evening of the 16th and stay over to the 19th. Depart 19th and head off to visit Kevin's family for a day. 21th, return to Tokyo. Hitch either a bus or a bullet train back into Sendai.
Gotta get packed and clear out the fridge on the 7th :)
Saturday, September 03, 2005
"So long and Thanks for the Fish"
The title's from "Hitchhikers guide to the Universe" for those that missed the reference.
There'll be nothing like the going away parties that I've been to over here. All you can eat and late night Karoke the night before...
Steve from Minnesota
Look at the dude to the right. Now that's stuffing your face!
Twan from Sweeden (yes, he's Asian!)
Hang Loose!
Squish! Wow his face turns really red!
The remaining bunch of students!
Today, Albert, a student from Indonesia left this morning, yesterday's party was for him and we stayed up all night hanging out (well they did, I had to get some sleep at 2:00 am for a lab meeting but I woke up to see him off before he left). I've never seen so much crying while seeing a friend off. I got to listen to all sorts of stories and look at their yearbook. After looking at their year book, these people spent an amazing year and they had every right to cry as these people leave one by one. After heading back to my room, I realized something strange however... that I was a little jealous that they did have something to cry about.
I tell these people that should they ever the find their way back to Japan that they'd be more than welcome to crash, but that's really only a small consolation-- living here is *all* about the people. If world peace existed, yeah, it existed here between a mix of American, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (both Taiwanese and Mainland), Swedish, French, Indonesian, Thai, Columbian, Canadian, Philipino, Venezuelian, Russian and more.
Comming to Japan country to experience life like this has gone beyond all my expectations.
There'll be nothing like the going away parties that I've been to over here. All you can eat and late night Karoke the night before...
Steve from Minnesota
Look at the dude to the right. Now that's stuffing your face!
Twan from Sweeden (yes, he's Asian!)...and then an all nighter party the next day to hang out...
Hang Loose!
Squish! Wow his face turns really red!
The remaining bunch of students!Unfortunate for me that I didn't spend enough time hanging out with these people during the first 4 months. Too busy working like crazy teaching english (I took on way too many classes :P), studying Japanese, having my life sucked in on the weekends and on the other days, I spent either exploring on my own or sleeping in my room to recouperate.
Most of these people are atleast 2~4 years younger than I. Some were the same age and were still doing their undergrad. At first I thought, "how am I going to fit in with a bunch of undergrads? They party all the time and do all sorts of silly things!" I acted like a grown up and I got treated like a grown up... then one day I was my usual insane self when one friend turned to me and said "what happened to you? I thought you were a gentleman" (what my friend ment by gentlemen was that I was mature), heh, I put an end to that image quite quickly.
Most of these people are atleast 2~4 years younger than I. Some were the same age and were still doing their undergrad. At first I thought, "how am I going to fit in with a bunch of undergrads? They party all the time and do all sorts of silly things!" I acted like a grown up and I got treated like a grown up... then one day I was my usual insane self when one friend turned to me and said "what happened to you? I thought you were a gentleman" (what my friend ment by gentlemen was that I was mature), heh, I put an end to that image quite quickly.
Today, Albert, a student from Indonesia left this morning, yesterday's party was for him and we stayed up all night hanging out (well they did, I had to get some sleep at 2:00 am for a lab meeting but I woke up to see him off before he left). I've never seen so much crying while seeing a friend off. I got to listen to all sorts of stories and look at their yearbook. After looking at their year book, these people spent an amazing year and they had every right to cry as these people leave one by one. After heading back to my room, I realized something strange however... that I was a little jealous that they did have something to cry about.
I tell these people that should they ever the find their way back to Japan that they'd be more than welcome to crash, but that's really only a small consolation-- living here is *all* about the people. If world peace existed, yeah, it existed here between a mix of American, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (both Taiwanese and Mainland), Swedish, French, Indonesian, Thai, Columbian, Canadian, Philipino, Venezuelian, Russian and more.
Comming to Japan country to experience life like this has gone beyond all my expectations.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Travel Plans!
Now I'm done, time to focus on travel plans.
Depart Sendai to Hokkido [tomorrow] (northern Japan) spend weekend there, return on 7th to see marks from exam.
Depart Sendai on 8th or 9th after getting paper work done, head to Aichi for World Expo. Hang out with friends in Nagoya for a few days. Visit relatives in Tokyo for a few days, hang out in Tokyo!
Depart to Taiwan on the 14th. Spend 3 Days in Taipei with Friends from dorm. Leave Taipei, drop by Ms. Wen's house in Taiwan for a day. Proceed to Taichung spend 3 days with family friend and friend from dorm. Return to Japan on 21st.
Go for a hike on the 23rd (national holiday). Last week before school starts... start reading research papers.
Depart Sendai to Hokkido [tomorrow] (northern Japan) spend weekend there, return on 7th to see marks from exam.
Depart Sendai on 8th or 9th after getting paper work done, head to Aichi for World Expo. Hang out with friends in Nagoya for a few days. Visit relatives in Tokyo for a few days, hang out in Tokyo!
Depart to Taiwan on the 14th. Spend 3 Days in Taipei with Friends from dorm. Leave Taipei, drop by Ms. Wen's house in Taiwan for a day. Proceed to Taichung spend 3 days with family friend and friend from dorm. Return to Japan on 21st.
Go for a hike on the 23rd (national holiday). Last week before school starts... start reading research papers.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Through the Front Gates
I was talking with the assistant professor today when I dropped by the lab to drop off my study materials and I heard from him, "congratulations, you passed." I had only done my interview yesterday and most of my exams 2 days before. I am exceptionally happy to hear the good news. Now I am ready to go out and have some fun.
Today, however, I will be heading out to a farewell party for the next batch of students soon to be going. These kids in the time span of 10 months for some and 4 months for others have melded together into one of the closest groups I've seen. In 4 months these people probably have done much more than I. I take for granted how long I will be in Japan (going to make up for that this month!). I will miss them and stay in contact!
Random thing I learned:
Kareoke in Australia occurs in pubs, after much drinking and on a stage. Where a solo person or a group stand up and belt out songs to the audience... for their enjoyment or horror (depends on the people singing).
"Dutch courage" is courage solely gained from drinking.
Today, however, I will be heading out to a farewell party for the next batch of students soon to be going. These kids in the time span of 10 months for some and 4 months for others have melded together into one of the closest groups I've seen. In 4 months these people probably have done much more than I. I take for granted how long I will be in Japan (going to make up for that this month!). I will miss them and stay in contact!
Random thing I learned:
Kareoke in Australia occurs in pubs, after much drinking and on a stage. Where a solo person or a group stand up and belt out songs to the audience... for their enjoyment or horror (depends on the people singing).
"Dutch courage" is courage solely gained from drinking.
Monthly Costs
The month of August has ended, I have decided to compile all months worth of data and plot them together to see what my monthly expentitures look like when looked at all at once. The graph below is what it looks like.
With that said, the interesting thing is tha food costs have stabilized at about 32,000 yen/mo, that works out to about 1,000yen/day for food. My predictions that food costs would drop did not pan out. What it means is that sure, groceries are cheaper to buy, but when I cook for myself, I tend to eat more than I would eat compared to eating out.
You will notice that my costs for goods tend to fluctuate. The big spike is when I bought my scooter sending my goods costs skyrocketing for the month of July. The total I pay for the month will vary by about 10,000 yen (about $110) depending on if I make a large purchase or not.
Services, you'll notice that I have spikes in my service in May and August. Those were the times where I paid for gym subscription fees, 2 months in advance. That's $77/mo or close to $150 in a single shot.
Transportation. You will see that my transpot fees remain low. I bought a set of 1 day rail passes in August (3 of them) for $66. Gas costed me about $22 for the month of August for my scooter. I logged 262km and I pay $1 per 11.2km travelled. This is quite a significant savings over riding my bycicle.
A scooter travels about twice to 2.5 times faster than a bike (and with no effort). Using about 20km/h for average biking speed vs 40 km/h average scootering speed, I save 15 minutes for every 10 km travelled. Suppose I worked at a job that paid me $20/hr (not unreasonable for tutors and certain city jobs) meaning that 15 minutes saved is actually $5 more productivity (net gain, $4 savings by travelling by scooter assuming that all time is money). The break even point for this calculation is $4/hr (yes, this is below min wage). Assuming that time is money, even working at min wage, you'd be "saving" money by using a scooter under these conditions.
Just a note, the amount of money you save will be slightly less as you have to factor in the fixed costs of bike maintenance and insurance. My insurance fees for 2 years ran me about $120. Assuming that I used my bike for 9 months out of a year at 260 km/month, I would be paying about $0.05/km or about $0.5/10km. Brining my cost per 10km to about $1.50/10km... putting the break even point at $6/hr. There are more benefits to scooters, such as not needing to wait at bus stops and not having to walk the distance from a bus stop to your destination. Factoring these values in scooters give further value to their users. OK enough about scooter costs...
Room costs, they stayed fairly constant for the last few months. I will see in the winter if my room costs go up for heating and by how much.
Finally Entertainment. It fluctuates. This month I had exams meaning I locked myself into my room and pounded books, slept and took walks to relax. Meaning that I didn't go out to movies, events or etc.
Observations...
Room and food costs remained constant. I expect transportation costs to be faily fixed as well. Costs that should vary the most are goods and entertainment costs. I am still debating whether to consider costs like train rides to fire works or fun trips fall under transport costs or entertainment costs. My gut is telling my to put those costs into entertainment (currently they are listed in transport costs). Anyways, there you have my little financial report.
With that said, the interesting thing is tha food costs have stabilized at about 32,000 yen/mo, that works out to about 1,000yen/day for food. My predictions that food costs would drop did not pan out. What it means is that sure, groceries are cheaper to buy, but when I cook for myself, I tend to eat more than I would eat compared to eating out.
You will notice that my costs for goods tend to fluctuate. The big spike is when I bought my scooter sending my goods costs skyrocketing for the month of July. The total I pay for the month will vary by about 10,000 yen (about $110) depending on if I make a large purchase or not.
Services, you'll notice that I have spikes in my service in May and August. Those were the times where I paid for gym subscription fees, 2 months in advance. That's $77/mo or close to $150 in a single shot.
Transportation. You will see that my transpot fees remain low. I bought a set of 1 day rail passes in August (3 of them) for $66. Gas costed me about $22 for the month of August for my scooter. I logged 262km and I pay $1 per 11.2km travelled. This is quite a significant savings over riding my bycicle.
A scooter travels about twice to 2.5 times faster than a bike (and with no effort). Using about 20km/h for average biking speed vs 40 km/h average scootering speed, I save 15 minutes for every 10 km travelled. Suppose I worked at a job that paid me $20/hr (not unreasonable for tutors and certain city jobs) meaning that 15 minutes saved is actually $5 more productivity (net gain, $4 savings by travelling by scooter assuming that all time is money). The break even point for this calculation is $4/hr (yes, this is below min wage). Assuming that time is money, even working at min wage, you'd be "saving" money by using a scooter under these conditions.
Just a note, the amount of money you save will be slightly less as you have to factor in the fixed costs of bike maintenance and insurance. My insurance fees for 2 years ran me about $120. Assuming that I used my bike for 9 months out of a year at 260 km/month, I would be paying about $0.05/km or about $0.5/10km. Brining my cost per 10km to about $1.50/10km... putting the break even point at $6/hr. There are more benefits to scooters, such as not needing to wait at bus stops and not having to walk the distance from a bus stop to your destination. Factoring these values in scooters give further value to their users. OK enough about scooter costs...
Room costs, they stayed fairly constant for the last few months. I will see in the winter if my room costs go up for heating and by how much.
Finally Entertainment. It fluctuates. This month I had exams meaning I locked myself into my room and pounded books, slept and took walks to relax. Meaning that I didn't go out to movies, events or etc.
Observations...
Room and food costs remained constant. I expect transportation costs to be faily fixed as well. Costs that should vary the most are goods and entertainment costs. I am still debating whether to consider costs like train rides to fire works or fun trips fall under transport costs or entertainment costs. My gut is telling my to put those costs into entertainment (currently they are listed in transport costs). Anyways, there you have my little financial report.
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