Weekling

I guess from now on I'll start posting on at least a weekly basis, instead of on a daily basis.  Blogging about how your life has gone on a daily basis takes a little bit of time - precious time you could use to actually live more of that life.  Maybe someone else can just blog about me.  Or not.  Anyways, the past week was marked by post-Fuji tiredness.  "Tiredness is there."

As mentioned in past posts, TPU was closed until last Tuesday.  After coming home from Fuji on Saturday and taking a little visit to Tokyo on Sunday, Monday became nothing.  As in I woke up really, really late and slept relatively early; I only had one convenience-store meal at around 10pm.

Tuesday in Japanese is "kayobi;"  in my case it was "aikiyayobi" - IKEA day.  Left home a little past 11am, got to IKEA in time for queueing up at the IKEA restaurant for lunch.  I had a quite expensive lunch - nearly US$15 worth - but worth it, I guess.  I missed them swedish meatballs with the gravy and raspberry sauce.  I wanted IKEA's usual salmon but instead there was only marinated salmon (more like smoked salmon) which came with a few veggie leaves, and me being a Go-Grow-Glow guy, I had to get a couple of pieces of bread to go with it.  Whew, the bread was expensive.  US$ 1.20 for one, and US$ 0.60 for the other.  And there's a charge for the butter: 20 cents (20 yen).  Dang.  Well, it was all worth it, if only to experience a non-Japanese setting in Japan.  After that, I probably spent at least an hour or hour and a half at the showroom and marketplace.  I didn't really find much interesting.  Actually at the back of my mind, I was like, I'll buy only stuff that I could actually bring home to the Philippines that the Customs wouldn't charge me so much for!  After IKEA home stuff shopping, it was IKEA food shopping.  I bought IKEA-brand chocolate bars - one dark, one milk, and one hazelnut.  I've tried the dark one so far; I love dark chocolate the most and I liked IKEA's.  I do still like Meiji's dark chocolate, though.  Or Hershey's.  Anyways, I also brought home some ready-to-eat meatballs, and ready-to-eat potato gratin.  The potato gratin unfortunately got thawed on my way home!  IKEA itself is at least 80 minutes from my apartment.

Dinner for Tuesday evening was convenience store food, I think.  I also cooked Adobong Manok during the week, which I ate for dinner on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I ate the IKEA meatballs and potato gratin for lunch on the same day.  My 2nd try of Adobong Manok wasn't as great as the first, probably because I used different chicken parts this time, or maybe I just missed or over-seasoned with some ingredients.  But nonetheless, it was still yummy, as well as the IKEA food.  I didn't mind having the same lunch and dinner menu for three days.

On Friday we were supposed to play basketball but the basketball gym was closed, but we were able to play table tennis and so ping-ponging we did.  It was fun, we won a "betting" game (guess whose idea), and it wasn't as strenuous on my yet-to-fully-recover knees as basketball is.

For Saturday lunch, I forgot what I ate for lunch, but I think I still had some of the meatballs and potato gratin.  They are really yummy.  Did I mention they're a bit expensive though?  But I think it's not so bad.  I ate them with rice by the way and that's why they lasted 4 meals.  Oh yeah, I cheated by assuming potato as a Glow/veggie food. :D

Then there was our usual Saturday seminar.  I went to the seminar room at 2pm only to find out that it has been moved to 2:30pm!  And the presentations and discussions took quite a while this time.  We finished at 6:15pm!  For dinner, I had convenience store food again.  Torikatsu and a really huge burger patty.  A few days ago, I had a "yaki" trifecta from the convenience store: yakisoba (noodles, a Japanese-style pancit canton), okonomiyaki ("Japanese pancakes"), and takoyaki (octopus balls, a popular Japanese street/festival delicacy).  "Yaki" means grilled, but here, "grilled" means on a flat pan with a little bit of oil.  Think teppanyaki grill.  "Soba" means noodles, of course.  "Okono" means anything you want, but okonomiyaki that you did not cook by yourself usually just contains some vegetables, usually cabbage and onion.  "Tako" of course means octopus.

And then Sunday.  Woke up early enough and surprisingly a usual 1 hour 50 minute trip from my apartment to Meguro became a 1 hour 10 minute trip - I was too early for the 12 noon mass.  So I had brunch first at a place I am very familiar with - McDonald's.  Big Macs for only US$ 2.00 each!!!  The set though is still around US$ 5.50.  Have I told you I don't really like Big Macs?  I prefer Quarter Pounders to Big Macs.  Can't do without the tomato ketchup and onions.  I also like the pickle.  Then the mass.  My Filipino friends all had to go somewhere, and so I went back to Atsugi.  The first thing I did back at Atsugi was get a haircut. The lady barber cutting my hair asked me something in Japanese, pointing to my sideburns, and I replied yes. I thought she was asking if she can trim/cut it.  Apparently she was asking if she should leave it as is.  Oh well, this is the cheapest barbershop here.  US$ 10.00 for a haircut.  In 10 minutes.  After the haircut, I went to the secondhand store and got me a guitar!  It's a Yamaha CG-150, if I remember correctly.  It's a classical guitar.  This is the first time I will own a classical guitar.  And the first time I'll own a "real" guitar brand - a Yamaha.  But I still love my 14.5-year-old acoustic guitar.  Hmmm, I forgot now what my guitar brand is.  But it is made in Cebu, if I'm not mistaken.  Now I chose this Yamaha because it's the best among the cheapest priced ones.  It's another insurance investment for sanity while I wait for Mara to come here.

The guitar was too bulky, of course, and so I went back to the apartment first, cooled down (high was 34 degrees; cooler than Tuesday's and Wednesday's 37 and 36 degree highs - yes, and I was out during that day!), and then back to Hon-Atsugi with Ali-san to meet up with Okada-san to eat all we can shabu-shabu at Nabezo again.  $19 for a dinner buffet, drinks excluded.  Not a bad price for here in Japan.  And for the ambiance.  We again had beef, tofu, and lots of veggies and shrooms as main ingredients for our shabu-shabu.

I was "wa chuns lah" - very, very full.  But I still had to do grocery shopping.  I went to SATY then and bought 5kg rice, ~8 liters of fluids, around 1.5kg of meat, and some veggies and snacks.  That's around 14kg I carried from SATY, to the bus terminal, and finally to my apartment.  While I was carrying that heavy a bag, I thought, that must have helped me prepare for my Fuji trip - because I certainly did not feel the 12kg weight I carried then.  But, with that comes bad news as well.  My trusty TheNorthFace bag which I bought in Hanoi, Vietnam, has started to given in, probably because of that Fuji trip.  It is still useable though.  And oh I will still use it.  I don't think I'll be throwing this one away.  It was the only thing that was (physically) with me the whole 14 hours climb up and down Mt Fuji.

Hanabi!

Fireworks!  It is a Japanese tradition to hold fireworks shows usually at their major rivers during summer.  Tonight was Atsugi's turn, at the intersection of Sagami River with two other smaller rivers.  As I mentioned, there was one in Tokyo's Sumida River last week, and tonight also at Edo River, I think.

Before that...  My day started a bit early today, at a little past 8am.  I did my laundry and finished before 11am.  Then I packed lunch and went to the office.  I ate ginisang giniling with pechay and with semi-hard-boiled egg for lunch at 12:30, and then attended a seminar at 1pm, where a presentation was given by the most senior PhD student who is to graduate by end of September.  He presented his research thesis/dissertation, of course, and the intention was to get public opinion, thus this "open" seminar.  At a little past 2pm, the graduating student finished his presentation, and shared some snacks with all of us, while the professors continued to deliberate his thesis.

Then, it was back to the office for most of us.  For me, though, I didn't do any school work - just work.  At around 5pm, me and my "kuya" (Filipino for "big brother," but in this context a more senior student assigned to take care of you) went to see one of the professors who was apparently still busy with his earlier meeting.  We waited until a little past 6pm and scheduled meetings with the professor for Monday instead.  During that wait, my "kuya" and I exchanged stories about our home countries - the Philippines and China.

We actually had to be at Sagami River by ~6:30pm.  But we left our apartment probably around 6:30pm already!

On our bike ride to the hanabi venue, we tried a new route this time.  It was a slightly shorter route, but with a steeper downhill part that ends abruptly in an intersection -- dangerous!  Anyway, we were all safe.  I don't usually ride my bike on very steep downhill slopes (and uphill of course) and so as usual, I walked my bicycle downhill.

Then straight along relatively flat terrain we went, but then at one point we were not sure which direction to go.  We noticed that an unusual number of people were walking in the same direction, and so we thought where everyone was going is were we should be going as well.  We were right.

Then we noticed that people were all WALKING.  So we decided to park our bicycles somewhere and started walking ourselves.  There were so many people already, and some streets were closed to traffic.

Along the streets, we noticed that some people were already camping out on the sidewalk, seated on mattresses or beach chairs, and taking some food and drink, some even selling food and drink along the sidewalks.  There were a lot of police, traffic guides, and crossing guards that helped ensure the hundreds of pedestrians are all safe, and cars are properly diverted.

Then there was a little bit of a choke point where some stalls started to appear, lined up, selling the usual Japanese street food fare at these summer fireworks events like cotton candy, takoyaki (literally "grilled octopus," but it actually one small cube of grilled octopus meat wrapped inside an egg-based ball together with some veggies and mayo - yummy!), yakisoba (literally "grilled noodles;" they look like pancit canton with less sahog and with a sweetier taste - yummy!), yakitori (grilled chicken - yummy of course), furankufuruto (a Japanese-style frankfurter), some shabu-shabu-like street food fare, okonomiyaki (literally means "anything you want, grilled" but in this non-restaurant setting, they look like a sandwich of different veggies between two pancakes - very different from the one you would get at a restaurant), drinks of course (beer, water, sports drinks similar to Gatorade, soda, juice, shaved ice drinks), ice cream on a stick (which obviously you have to finish quickly - not a problem during summer), suteiki (Japanese-style "steak," this time served in square-shaped pieces on a stick), ikayaki (grilled squid), sakanayaki (grilled fish), and I think that's it.  We would find there are many stalls selling the same thing, but I think each stall is owned by one family, and so their fare would have slightly different taste from the other.  So, some would look and taste yummier than others'.

And then those hundreds of people were apparently just the newly arrived.  There were thousands of people, and I would guess there were at least 10,000 people there.  And that's just on our side of the river.  Apparently on the other side of the river, there are even more people, and even more food stalls.  On our way, we heard "booms" already - hints that the fireworks had already started.  Indeed even from far away, we can already see the action starting.

We walked, and walked, and walked, until we decided we were close enough to the action.  Along the supposedly walkway, some people have sat in a row and so we thought joining the bandwagon and sit there.  And sit we did.  Thankfully, one of my fellow students brought some junk mail that we can sit on.

There were plenty of people in yukata, a traditional Japanese clothing usually worn indoors (nowadays, you can find some in hotels), or during summer.  On women, you would think it is like a kimono but it is as you can see less formal.  There is also a version for men.

And then the fireworks.  There were different colors, of course.  And smiley face shapes, heart shapes, maybe some hiragana (Japanese) characters, Saturn (planet) shapes, mushroom shapes, zigzagging fireworks, flower and butterfly looking shapes, the usual en grande finale in some presentations, and I forgot what else.  Having watched two International Pyro Olympics in Manila, these were normal to me already and in fact, lacking coordination with a certain song as background music, to me, was something missing here.  There was some loud speaker on but usually there was just some announcement by some lady after each 1-minute or so fireworks showcase.

By around 8:15 I think we started moving again, with the intention to get out of there before everyone does or else it's going to be a stampede!  Well, no, that won't happen here but well, we just wanted to avoid the sardine-can-like crowd.

On the way out, we tried takoyaki balls (500 yen for 6 pieces), yakitori (100 yen per stick), and yakisoba (500 yen per pack).  Expensive!  Takoyaki is just 400 yen for 10 pieces at the convenience store.  And instant yakisoba is just 100 yen and probably tastes better than the ones we got.  But of course, these are all cooked fresh, and it didn't really matter during this festive event.  Overall, this was part of this hanabi experience.

And then so we found our way out of the crowd and got back to our bikes.  It was probably 9pm already.  And then here they go again.

"Let's pass by the (out-of-the-way, back-deep-in-to-the-multitude-of-people) supermarket first before we head home."  What?  Why not just go tomorrow to the supermarket that is just 10 minutes away by bike from our apartment?  "It's boring to go there."  What is so boring about that?  And so he wanted to drag all three of us companions of his along, out of the way from our route home, and back towards the crowd that we just ran away from.  I think he was just tamad to go again to the supermarket tomorrow, and for his tamadness he wanted to drag us along with him.  "My fellow Indian friend said I have to buy chicken now, for tomorrow, and that the supermarket here in downtown closes at 9:30pm.  So I have to buy now."  Hmmm, I think I see what's going on here now.  Someone is being a puppetmaster, another a puppet.  One is more senior than the other.  Match A & B with 1 &2.

Well, no, not me, man.  I told them I'll go ahead and head straight home.  Hitori de (by myself).  It was the first time I rode by bicycle by myself between downtown Atsugi and my apartment.  It was fun.  It was also the first time I tried the route we usually take going downtown, the opposite way around.  Fun!

But, wait.  I haven't drank anything yet!  On the trip, "thirst came," as these Indian fellow students of mine would say, meaning "I felt thirsty."  And it was a little bit warm.  It's summer, you know.  And so when I got home, my clothes were drenched yet again.  And I drank sports drink and nearly a liter of water.

Overall, this is a very nice day, and very nice new experience.

Wa pao la

That is what I said after eating... Shabu-Shabu! :-)

Anyways, almost the usual Saturday except I got up really, really late.  But I was able to finish my laundry and hang them up for drying.  Then lunch, the last of my cooked meals for the week, nilagang baboy.  Then I went straight to the "regular" Saturday seminar, by bicycle of course, because it is not so easy to walk just yet.  My ankle feels much better though, thanks to the good, long sleep I enjoyed last night.  Thank you, Lord!  I think what happened was I tied my shoes too tight after the injury, and that may have caused the pain.  I didn't notice any significant swelling so maybe it wasn't a sprain?  Yikes!  Well, I don't know.  Today it feels like there's a very minor sprain somewhere inside.  As mentioned I still can't walk straight, but I can walk now.  And even do brisk walking.  But riding the bicycle is not a problem at all.  Plus it's just two minutes to get to school by bike then the short walk from the bicycle parking area to the seminar room (or to the office), compared to a 5 minute walk, completely on foot.

Anyways, after the seminar, went back to the office, did a little teeny beany bit of work, while Skyping with Mara. :-)  And then off to Hon-Atsugi we went!  By bicycle!  As I've mentioned before, it's about a 30-minute bicycle ride, but it's not so boring because there's two of us on this trip so we could chat a little bit.  At the restaurant, called "Nabezo," our two more senior colleagues who got there by bus were just waiting for us.  So there was 4 of us at Nabezo.  Then we started ordering, and the food started coming!

Because one of our colleagues didn't eat pork, and there was no seafood or chicken on the menu, we only had beef as meat.  Tofu was another source of protein, but mostly it was veggies, veggies, veggies.  Did I mention this is tabehodai, i.e. eat-all-you-can?

So there was me, the Filipino, and I was with one Japanese researcher, and two Chinese.  We learned how to say "I'm full" in our respective languages.  So I taught them "busog ako" or "ako ay busog."  And I learned...

Wa pao la.
Wa chan la.
Wa chans la.


Respectively, those are Chinese (Mandarin) sentences for:

I'm full.
I'm more than full.
I'm practically dead because I ate too much.

Actually at one point I thought I was like, wa chan la.  But after some time, I became just wa pao la.  The trouble though was, we had a 30-minute (or so) bike ride ahead of us.  Uphill.  Well, it wasn't a problem.  We were very happy about the food, though my Chinese colleague said that this time he did not eat that much because if he did, he would find it difficult to sleep early enough.  It is summer, though.  The temperature was not so bad as it was already around 8pm, but it is still summer.  Humidity!  And the daytime high was 34 degrees.  I was like soaking wet when I got to the office.  But it was all still worth it.  I like trying new food and new places, and interacting in such an international setting, sharing stories, words/sentences, and so on from each other's hometowns.

By the way, so while I saved 520 yen for a roundtrip bus fare to and from Hon-Atsugi for this Shabu-Shabu escapade, the Shabu-Shabu price itself was... 2000 yen.  It is a little bit expensive, but for an all-beef meatfest, which they say is all-Australian beef, I think it's still not bad.

Two lectures

Starting at 1:30pm, there was going to be two lectures given by one professor from Australia, and one from Germany.  Supposedly we should be at the venue by 1pm, because we have to arrange the tables and chairs.  I woke up, still a little groggy, at 11:30am.  I didn't get to eat lunch until after the lecture, which was at around 4pm already.  And then basketball at 5pm.  And then dinner at around 8pm because I took a little rest first, and cooked my meal.

No one won the "betting" again.  Lunch was adobo with steamed pechay.  Dinner was grilled salmon and steamed carrots.  The steamed carrots didn't come out like steamed this time; I think it was microwave cooked (or dried) and not just steamed.  I should only steam them together with pechay, which somehow traps the moisture and doesn't get microwave-cooked/dried like the carrots.  Actually, next time, if I'm thinking of steaming, I should just buy these ready-peeled baby carrots already.  One less thing to worry about.  Also for some reason, I can't estimate the proper amount of salt to put.  My salmon turned out a little too salty for me.

Interesting

Ah, a break from the consecutive busy, not very interesting days.  As I mentioned, I slept quite early last night, and woke up quite early today, around 8am in fact.  I did my laundry - and finished my laundry at around 10am. I was thinking, should I go to the grocery already?

I got the bicycle, but I ended up in school.  And I didn't leave school anymore until the seminar, which was an interesting one.  Delivered by a current University of Tokyo professor who was formerly a UN officer, it was about disaster risk reduction, which is the trend now versus yesteryear's disaster reduction, which he explained was very different from disaster risk reduction.

Anyways, the seminar ended around 3:15pm, and I was debating again whether I should go the grocery already?  I thought about it and thought about it, and next thing you know, it was 5:30pm already.  Our meeting time for our "group date" was 6pm in downtown Atsugi - a 30 minute bicycle ride.  So what the heck, grocery shopping can wait till tomorrow.

And then wow, the food was good.  It was Indian food, all-you-can-eat, and I haven't ever eaten that much since I came to Japan.  There were samples of Tandoori Chicken, Samosa (a kind of potato empanada dipped in ketchup), Fish Fry which was really good, Cauliflower Fry which was also surprisingly good, and then the all-you-can-eat nan, this other bread, Indian rice, and 4 kinds of curry - ebi (shrimp) curry, chicken curry, keema (mutton) curry, and vegetable curry.  Yum-mee.  We were told it's drink-all-you-can as well, so I had a couple of beers.  Turns out it wasn't drink-all-you-can for beer.  I should have just tried the Lasi.  And the Mango Lasi.  There's always a next time.  I heard that at that restaurant, it was only eat-all-you-can because our Indian colleagues arranged it so, and that there needed to be at least 10 people.  I think there was 17 of us.  Fun!  I really love the bread (nan), especially the garlic nan, and the keema curry!  Of course the Indian way was to use the hand, and maybe I and every one tried doing that but it wasn't so comfortable so thankfully there were spoons and forks and knives. :-D

After dinner, some went home and some wanted to go out for some more drinks, and so I went out for some more drinks.  I didn't know Atsugi had such cozy places for just relaxing and chatting with friends over some drinks.  I also got to speak with some Japanese, and supposedly I was to exercise my Japanese, but I ended up exercising their English. :-D  Anyways, because I was getting sneezy with beer, I had what they call a "Kiwi Sour" drink.  It's basically Kiwi (fruit) with "Sour," which was kind of a Japanese alcoholic thingy.  It wasn't so strong.

By the way, I learned that "draft beer" is nama bi-ru in Japanese.  Here's a joke for all ye Pinoys: Use nama bi-ru in a sentence.... Di ka nama bi-ru e! :-P

Workshop... Cocktails!

As mentioned yesterday, today is workshop day.  A technical tour of TPU research facilities (i.e. various wind tunnel testing facilities) was held in the morning, then a buffet lunch, then the workshop proper, then continuation of the technical tour, then cocktails (stand-up dinner), then...  Here I am.  Full.  Drank a little bit of Asahi beer :-D

Fun, fun, fun.  It is fun to learn.  :-D

For dinner there was lots of sushi, and lots of fruits.  I ate a lot of those because they are much more expensive here in Japan (comparing to prices in the Philippines).  And, long day for me, but, these few words just about sum it up.  It was rainy the whole day, but it wasn't such a bother. :-)  Tomorrow is class day (just one class), and studying day. :-D

Seminar Day

Woke up late, and had brunch for lunch.  Spanish-style sardines and my own cooked rice.  Attended the seminar at 2pm but it finished early, before 4pm.  I then dropped by the mini-library to look at the available references there.  I tried a coffee vending machine; one shot: 70 yen.  Not bad.  Actually I tried only the Nescafe brand.  The Japanese brands like UCC are 100 yen!  Ehehe.  I'll try them next time.

By the way, yesterday while I was about to take a shower, I discovered that I left the gas line on and probably the fire burning for around 24 hours for my shower's water heater!  Thank God nothing happened.  I really don't like this having to manually turn on and off the gas line; I'm just not used to it.  But yeah, I should get used to it.  Other than the risk, my concern now is...  I wonder how much my gas bill is!

So, Sunday again tomorrow and it's my first 2nd Sunday of the month.  So I had to look for another church.  I found that the 2nd nearest church could be just 50 minutes away from my apartment: the Yamato Catholic Church.  Unfortunately it doesn't anymore have or I can't find its official website, so I can't confirm the actual English mass schedule.  So I'll try anyway.  Based on other websites, their English mass schedules are at 1:30pm every 2nd and 4th Sunday, and maybe a Tagalog mass at 1:30pm every 5th Sunday.  I might just frequent this church, except of course on the 3rd Sundays of the month when I will go to the Atsugi Catholic Church (just 30 minutes away), on the 1st Sundays of the month when I might go to the churches in Hiratsuka or Fujisawa (over an hour away), if I am going to the nearest IKEA I might as well go to mass at the home of the Yokohama Diocese in Sacred Heart Cathedral (also known as Yamate Church), and if I am going to Tokyo anyway so I might as well go to one of the churches in Tokyo.

When in Tokyo I might not go to Tachikawa again; it just too far.  The shortest commute times would be to the church near Yotsuya (where I heard, many Filipinos are regulars) and near the Todai (Tokyo Daigaku = University of Tokyo) Komaba Campus.  I could go to the church in Meguro to meet up with my college friend, Coy, though she's staying here only until August I think.  Or in Kichijoji or Roppongi.  Many choices in Tokyo; the catch is it's at least an hour and 30 minutes away on average.  But for these places I'm considering, they're just within 15 minutes from Shinjuku.

I prepared this matrix to help me decide which churches to go to:

Hopefully the schedules don't change and this could help fellow Filipinos and/or other English-speaking people find the nearest church from around here in Atsugi.

For dinner I'll just buy ready-to-heat, freshly-prepared meat and vegetable ulam to accompany my rice.  Oh and I should not forget to get some bananas!

May Day; No Pain, No Gain 2

Hello May, hello spring, hello good weather.  Well actually I underestimated the cold and wore not enough layers of clothes and it felt cold in the morning.  But not so cold; the past few days I didn't have to wear gloves or a scarf or a beanie/tuque/bonnet.  Daytime high today was 23 degrees.  That's like a Manila evening in December/January/February.  Daytime low is 12 degrees; currently - it's 9:40pm here - it's still 18 degrees.  Just like an air-conditioned room.

Anyways, today I was late to school, but I did cook my rice for my two meals today, and ate the food I bought yesterday for lunch - 12 pieces of siomai (Chinese dimsum, with pork filling I think) and a handful of mixed veggies.  For dinner I ate my imported can of Century Corned Tuna and another handful of mixed veggies.  Guess what.  I didn't spend a cent/yen today!  Yay!  But my projection though stays the same; my cash is just enough until June 18, assuming I don't make too many trips, buy anything, and stick to maybe a maximum of $8 (800 yen) per meal.  I did get a break though - one of my basketball "buddies" treated me to a bottle of Pocari Sweat.  Yum.  Oh, and I played basketball again today.

I was feeling the muscle pains today, and I thought I should take a break from basketball.  But what the heck, I love basketball, played for about 2 hours maybe...  And now I feel great.  I guess the pain will just haunt me again tomorrow... :-D  But overall, I think this is good.  "No pain, no gain" again comes to mind. :-D

Today there was a seminar, a professor from Italy.  His field is in hydraulics - not wind engineering - although of course hazard assessment and fluid dynamics are two common areas between the two fields.  The first one though was a little difficult to digest all at once, or not for me being into structural wind engineering; he was talking about algae and stuff.  The second topic he discussed was about climate change - which was a little bit interesting.

I learned how to use my washing machine.  This is how it goes: press on, press start, and voila!  That's it!  It'll determine the weight of the laundry and the necessary amount of water and probably the length of time it needs to do the washing, and rinsing, and spin-drying.  Great!  Oh, of course I have to put the clothes and detergent in.  I haven't bought fabric softener yet...  Yikes!  Let's see what will happen. :-D

And that's about it.  Short day.  Tomorrow is Laundry day.  And mass in Tokyo.  And go around a bit in Tokyo.  And meet up with a friend who's also a graduate student.  And maybe get a Japanese mobile phone so that I can make emergency calls (but I hope I don't have to make emergency calls!).  I still don't know if they charge for incoming calls...  I hope not!

Ja ne!

1st Day in School

I woke up "early" today - around 8 or 9am local time..?  My Manila body clock is still working, I usually wake up there around this time.  Better than my wake up time the day after the last time I went here - 2pm.  But I also had a reason to.  Or two.  First, I had to tidy up my (42kg of) stuff and my apartment (or apaato, pronounced apah-toh).  Second, there was a "seminar" in school at 2pm.  The Japanese are very punctual people.  Actually, I would call them normal people.  I would call perenially-late people extra-normal.  Anyways...

I finished taking some breakfast, tidying up, taking a bath, and getting ready by around 12:30pm.  I was starving.  For lunch I was able to score some Japanese "lunch box" food, but since I was too late I didn't have a choice - it was an all-fish meal with mushrooms, pickled ginger, and seaweeds on the side.  One of my Japanese seniors said that I might not find that meal to be nice.  I said I don't think so; I love Japanese food in general.  Indeed it wasn't great, but I liked it still, nonetheless.  I really like Japanese food in general, except for that very bitter soy bean dish.  I'd have that dish again!

So the seminar went.  Because of some exhaustion from my 13-hour door-to-door trip yesterday, I felt a little sleepy at one point in the seminar.  But I was able to battle it out.

After that, one of the senior researchers accompanied me to teach me how to use the bus, and around some stores in the Midorigaoka area.  I bought a rice cooker, rice, breakfast food and drinks, and my dinner for the night.  Make that dinners for the night.  I had a 10-piece mixed sushi dish, and some kind of teriyaki chicken, and microwaveable rice.  Sorry, I can't figure out yet how to use the rice cooker!

And I was able to Skype back home.  I'm lovin' it.

Speaking of lovin' it, there is a McDonald's nearby, just a 15 to 20-minute walk away.  And it's open 24-hours.  Pap-parap-pap-pa, love ko 'to!

P.S. I saw some cherry blossom trees around the campus actually.  But their... leaves? petals? are all on the ground na.  Brought down by the rains, perhaps?