Friday, July 24, 2009

leave everything behind

have you ever felt like abandoning everything and just leave? you dont have to worry about your performance in this crazy rat race. you dont have to plan your schedule to meet tight deadlines. all you need is confidence to convince yourself this is the right choice.

i wish one day i would have the courage to uproot myself and move to a foreign place to start afresh. somewhere like boston where no one knows my name. a place where people really do enjoy life, leading a well-balanced lifestyle.

why am i writing such depressing stuff? because i am need a break! not like holidays or travelling because i know too well that it is damn tiring. probably spending a day on my own, cuddling in the familiar corner in my room and day dream. all i want is a day to relax. i do not want to rush anymore.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

back to singapore

finally back in Singapore. how was my trip is the common question i get when i meet up with friends. well, the overall experience is an enjoyable one. it is impossible to tell them every single detail of my trip, so here are the photos!

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my dormitory

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sushi lunch

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yokohama Y150

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disneyland

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my weekend

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baseball match

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kyoto and osaka


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yokohama drinking

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tsukiji fish market and harajuku

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colleagues

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last weekend

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

right after farewell party

i just got back to dormitory from the farewell party. not like those emotional ones i used to have in my CCA in secondary school. to me, it was more of a dinner and an opportunity for everyone in the unit to interact. people dont have many chances to sit down and talk because they are all busy with their experiments, walking to and fro laboratory and office.

i cant believe that my internship is coming to an end in 2 days and i will be back in sunny island soon. i do miss spore food a lot because i cant find them here. imagine how happy i was when one of the colleagues said another colleague bought dried durian from the airport to office recently. DURIAN!! the king of fruits and of course, my favourite.

everyone is nice and takes extra good care of me. although the duration is too short to foster any strong friendship with the colleagues, i had fun knowing them. they taught me many things, like random japanese words, introduce me to the japanese custom such as we cannot refill our drinks by ourselves because they believe that by doing so, they wont be happy in the future. i dont know what else to say to them except thank you. i am very grateful for all the help that they have given to me for the past 10 weeks.

i feel sad to leave japan. firstly, i have not explored the whole of japan yet. seriously, travelling during the weekends arent enough. time is not on my side and so it restricts the area that i can visit. and i am actually enjoying the freedom i have now. totally in control of my life and schedule. i do not have to inform my parents if i will be home late or what and no nagging from them when i go home late. definitely i am in love with the drinking culture here. comparing to them, i am not considered as a strong drinker. but drinking and smoking are in their blood and of course i choose drinking. i love alcohol! and it is so much cheaper in japan than in spore. if i used to be able to drink once or twice in a month in spore, i think i can afford to drink weekly in japan.

finally free from fyp. i am just super super glad that it is officially over. it has been a killer for me during the past few days. the lack of sleep, without coffee this time round and the mad rush to prepare to leave japan makes me ultra tired. i guess i seriously do need to rest more these few days because my eyes kinda hurt when i was reading from the computer screen today. i shall sleep early and rest well before my sleepless night on sat.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

what is the difference?

culture shock! something that is inevitable when you come to another country. coming to japan is not exactly considered as a shock, but there are small little details that surprise or puzzle me.

i dont think i can ever understand the long term employment practice in japan. most, like 99%, of my colleagues are working at mitsui since they graduated. so this is their first job and they do not have plans to change jobs. that is so different from spore! we job-hop like crazy because we are always telling ourselves that the grass on the other side is definitely greener. we want growth and progress. if we cant find that in our jobs, most likely we would just look for alternatives.

i do love guys but i cant help to not stare at pretty girls. there is this pretty japanese girl, whose locker is beside mine in the changing room. so sometimes, i would meet her before or after work. coincidentally, i met her at the staff canteen today with my mentor. i causally asked my mentor if he thinks she is pretty. he just replied she is pretty?! i gave him the stunned look because i do think she is pretty. and he just shut me up with no comments. are japanese guys that shy or they are just being polite because i am more of a guest than an internship student.

not much time left in japan. little problems cropped up in the going back to spore arrangement. but we have came up with a solution, not the best of course. countdowning to the number of days left and the days to submission of fyp report.