3rd week

here i am, into the 3rd week of stay at japan. getting to know a little more people in the dorm. they are super nice to me. mifo-san bought me out on the last weekend for a sushi feast. there are many choices, much more than in spore. like they have this red shelled sushi, and in spore, we have the bean curd skin wrapped with rice, but here, they have the same thing but dripped in brown sugar syrup. sweet!







after she saw my pathetic lunch on the first sunday, she offered to cook lunch for me on last sunday. so nice! it was my first time cooking a proper meal, not spags. haha. i am so proud of myself.

i think getting to know more people here in japan really do help me in settling down. i have friends to talk to, and not always face the 4 tall walls in my dorm everyday after work. it is starting to feel a little like the hall life. making new and random friends are always so exciting. i met a sporean who sat beside me in the cinema when i went to watch angels and demons. and now, i have an indian friend who is my few outlets to speak english to in japan.

but, i cant forget all my dear friends in spore. i am really glad that i still feel connected with the life back in spore. all the bitchings and happenings in their lives, i know a little bit here and there. i dont need to know the full picture in details. i just want to still be part of their lives although i am here in japan.

and one thing i have learnt about travelling is to always be open to new things. i used to hate eating vegetables in spore. you never see them on my plate at all. but last sunday, i actually ate my first slice of tomato in salad dressing and okinawa bitter ground since dont know how many donkey years ago. good job! never be afraid to learn and try. i dont know how to play softball. dont just stand there and watch. try to get involved. ask around to know how the game is played.

and i am going to attend an english class tomorrow morning. haha. all the best for the next few weeks.

1st week at japan

it has been a week at japan and yes, i do miss everyone and everything about singapore. gradually i am starting to appreciate the tiny little bits of singapore that makes me feel comfortable. in singapore, it doesnt really matter how late i am home because i know my streets will be well lit and i will be safe. but here in japan, the sun sets super early. so the sky turns dark pretty fast. at around 7pm japan's time, the road leading to my dorm is already dark. and the total number of street lamps along the way up to my dorm is 2 only. pathetic isnt? so some parts of the roads are really dark, no light at all. so i do make it a point to be back at my dorm before my dinner serves at the dorm ends, which is at 9pm.

weekdays are pretty boring. it is just the normal daily routine of waking up to go to work, stay in the lab for almost the whole day, go back to dorm, sometimes go to the nearby supermarket for some grocery shopping, head back to dorm for dinner and rest. nothing exciting or worth mentioning for my weekdays.

yesterday was my first weekend in japan and i went over to chiba, the city area to watch angels and demons. yes, it is one of my highly anticipating movie of the year. i was waiting anxiously for my favourite part in the book and it was not shown in the movie. damn it! so disappointing. and it is really very costly to watch a movie at japan. a student price student cost me 1300yen, which is approximately S$20. crazy! so we should STOP complaining in the rise in the movie tickets, because it is so much cheaper to watch movies in singapore than japan. i din have much time to walk around chiba because the movie and lunch took most of my afternoon away. i was hoping to capture some city landscape on my holga in the day but it was a super cloudy day yesterday. sucks! there will still be chances ya.

it cannot be considered as a culture shock for working in japan. we are all asians. more or less there will be similarities. their work space has this open concept, which is absence in singapore. in spore, each employee has their own working space but here, everyone works in a big table and the only division between each other is the CPU. haha. so basically if i lean a little backwards, i will be able to see what my neighbour is doing. haha. i realised they place lots of emphasis on safety. i am not sure if it runs in all the japanese companies or because i am working in a chemicals research centre. but i have monthly safety meeting to report on safety matters in my centre and at other plants. to end the meeting, we have a short group discussion on HAZOP. haha. dont be deceive by the japanese drama. we dont do morning exercise together everyday before the start of the work. instead we have this team meeting at 9am sharp every morning to report on important matters and tasks that individuals are going to complete for the day. yes, task-orientated.

one thing that i may have some difficulties in is japanese are all super punctual for work. if the meeting is going to start at 9am, it really begins at 9am. and their transportation has timetable, that shows the arrival time for the buses at the bus stop. it is damn accurate although the some timings are quite weird like 1757hr. so i guess it is in their blood to be punctual. so far, i have not been late. so let's keep up the good work girl!

there are bound to be some difficulties in adapting to the life here. luckily the japanese were super helpful. when i first moved into the dorm, i couldnt connect to the internet although my cables were connected correctly. i tried to look at the guide CD but everything was in japanese. so i went over to seek help from my neighbour. he, his friend and the dorm in charge were super nice. they came over to my dorm for 2 nights to try to fix it for me. finally on my 3rd day, i got the net up. and the female neighbour just popped by to pass me some walnut brownies, cake and oranges that her parents bought for her. haha. nice!

one week has past and 8 more weeks to go. i do not have any major complaints about my stay yet except that sometimes the loneliness is unbearable. i do make friends with some japanese along the way. and i am sure things will only get better. miss everyone at home and thanks for letting me made this selfish decision back then. love you all!

in japan

yup, and i am blogging at my cosy one person room at tokyo now. the first day was just CRAZY with lots of dragging 25kg heavy of baggage over to find the hotel, carrying that heavy shit out and in the many different trains and walking till my toes had the burning sensation when i dripped myself into the public hot bath, just to get a japan mobile phone and internet access for communication purposes. i was telling the other 2 girls this trip can really train our stamina and our arm power. maybe i will become fitter when i return. haha. and there is another round of dragging and carrying tomorrow, finally to my permanent stay in japan, my dormitory.

the internet access here is like insane! the plan that we signed up only allows us to use around 50MB per month. any extra bytes downloaded will be charged per usage. i was damn turned off. initially i wanted to bring my external hard disk full with movies and videos to watch. but i thought it is pointless since i will be able to stream my video online. now, it doesnt seem to be that case anymore. luckily, the other 2 girls have movies to share with me or else i dont know how i am going to survive ALONE at chiba for 2.5months. i think i may resort to talking to ants again.

i dont know how the dormitory is like and yes, i am so freaking alone there. and i heard from the lady who picked us up that my dormitory is somewhere along the hill. omg! i will be damn close to nature. will i be cut off from the outside world when i am there. haha. we shall see, just look out for blog and facebook. i need to limit my internet usage per month NOW. like wtf!

anyways, yes, i am scared to go there alone. the language barrier and being forced to face anything that will come in my way alone in Chiba scare the hell out of me. maybe what dabai and junrong said were true, i did not think about the consequences of agreeing to this internship. weighing the pros and cons will just make my head grow big and bigger. i will just have to learn and adapt and handle everything with grace when it comes my way. it is hard to do but i will try. so family, dabai and friends, do bear with my complaints if there are any.

and so we 3 girls went to shibuya, the shopping district in Tokyo and visit the Tokyo tower when we were free in the evening and night. the people they do really know how to dress. couldnt buy anything since i will be on the move again. so everything shall wait. i just need to settle my dear internet access and adapting to Chiba first.

dear all friends, i am not sure if you will be reading this but i really appreciate your effort and time to come down to Changi airport to send me off yesterday. i really appreciate it a lot except for all the laughing at my hair. damn it!! and please do STOP laughing when i return. meanwhile, just miss my presence a lot and enjoy your hols/internship in singapore!

i will be back soon. =)