What has been going on here?

Well I have been holding off on making any posts because I was hoping to make some rather long posts (with pictures) catching up on what has been going on over here. I do have a long back log of pictures to post and thought it would be fun to throw them up. That just hasn't been wanting to happen the last few weeks and I don't know why. Perhaps a lack of motivation? Energy... I dunno. But anyways I thought I might as well post on how things have been going on here in text instead.

As busy as I sound, I am having quite a lot of fun in addition to doing my masters work (nothing concrete at the moment). The masters work itself (or at least the getting a thesis process it self, will explain later on). For the past 2 weeks, my life has consisted of getting to the labs in the morning, taking classes, reading papers and then heading out at about 6:00 pm to teach Engish to a few students on Tuesdays and Wedensdays. If I don't have to teach, them I'm here usually till about 9:00 pm reading papers or learning more about whatever ideas I have at the time or the Micro Electric Machines (MEMs) field in general. I have already filled 1.25 binders with reading material which I have downloaded the net.

On other days when I don't have to teach, I periodically head home and eat with friends, usually inviting them over for dinner or getting invited out for dinner, baking cookies and etc. Great fun. We have a guy named Mike over here from MIT that can make some pretty mean cookies and Thai curry. Damn good stuff, heck I ate too much of it that I ended up having a stomach aches the next day (since I haven't been eating really spicy food for a long time).

Weekends have been really busy as I have been doing something every weekend. 3 Weeks ago was something called an Imoni-kai in Japan. Which is where groups of friends head out to the rivers to cook a type of stew with Japanese potatoes, an assortment of veggies, meat and a sort of soup base (soy-sauce or miso depending on the region). The interesting thing is that only Miyagi and Yamagata (the neighbouring prefecture) are the only 2 prefectures in Japan that carries out this tradition. And the food was most excellent. I will be having an Imoni-kai party when I do come back to Canada to introduce everyone to this little Japanese event.

I have so far gone to 2 of these events, once with the international club and another time with a friend as guest for a tennis club. I have not played tennis in about 3~4 years but we had Imoni, beer and played tennis (beer has never tasted so good after a hard game of tennis!) During the same weekend it was some person's birthday whom I did not know, but got invited anyways out to the party. Ended up hitting a kareoke bar and then a club for the evening (the second time I've been to a club in Japan). Didn't get home till 4 am. Just as a note, Kareoke is awsome in Japan. Just because you can go with groups of 20+ people and there is a very wide selection of English music (much more than the selections than what I have seen back home when I did have the chance to go). That and when you pay $20 for2 hours of singing, that also include an all you can drink... all in you can drink as in booze! Crazy no?

The week after, on the Friday evening, the dorms here had a roof top party. Though instead of partying on the roof, I held a little party in my room and was up till about 5 am. The next day was a Korean friend's b-day party at the dorm were a bunch of friends and I would surprise her by all cooking a big lunch and crashing at her room. Yay, more food.

Finally, this week, I ended up going out with friends looking for a halloween costume. A friend of mine came up to me and asked me "Um this might sound weird but, where's the porn store around here?" since they were looking for some school girl outfits to wear. Can you imagine the horror of guys with really hairy legs in a short skirt school girl outfit? Scary indeed. I went as a kung fu master with blood and scars on my face.

Ps, if anyone knows how to remove tea stains, a bit of ash and a bit of melted red wax from a white silk shirt, please do tell me. I had a little incident where I got a white silk shirt (bought in Taiwan!) a little dirty and I've been trying like mad to remove a few marks. Gah, I've hand washed the shirt so many times... .

There were a few parties here and there and a little trip I took to a farm I took last month (pictures which I still need to post) and more misc things I have been doing that has been keeping me busy. Yes, lots of work and play. It's the way I like it... just wish the work part was getting a litte more progress however.

What's the itenary for this week? Nov 2nd, going out to a party with the masters students. The 3rd going out on a trip to check out the Autmn leaves in Sendai. This Friday going to be helping out with a Chinese dumpling party hosted by the lab and then on Sunday I'll be going to a hot Spring. Busy busy... in a good way.