hello again

it's been 20 days since i last blogged.

oh dear, time passes so quickly.

i apologise for my lack of updates, over the past few weeks i have settled more or less into a routine.
finally.

weather has been steadily getting warmer.
now when i cycle to school i can actually sweat.
temperature in the day is 23-25 degrees and at night goes to about 18-20 degrees.

also i play soccer quite regularly here.
training starts at 6.30 and ends at 8.40 like that, training everyday except monday.
so since i teach english on thursdays, ususally i only go on tues wed and fri.
sat if i can wake up cos it's training at 9.
sunday they have league match so i go and watch when i can.
so far they have had a good campaign.
unbeaten run of 5-2, 0-0, 8-0, 4-0
quite imba actually.

because of soccer i come back quite late though and that means that i have to use my time efficiently.
i reach back about 8.50.
need to order and finish dinner by 9.30 at the canteen, then they will wash dishes for you.
anytime after 9.30 have to wash yourself.
then i go up and eat an orange and drink a yoghurt drink.
10 pm is ST.
st stands for study time for japs,
and (my version) shower time for non japs.
so no japs in the bath at that time.
prime time to bathe.

after taht, finish about 10.30 and i try to sleep by 1 am.
so that means 2.5 hour to do everything else so i can get enough sleep.

this wednesday i am going to a j-league game.....in saitama.
haha.

i anyhow buy ticket. so now got to travel OUT of tokyo to go to watch the game.
hope we don't get lost.
i will try to take pictures and update what happens then.

now is time to sleep.

38 golden week chronicles part 1

golden week is over and it's back to school tomorrow

what did i do over golden week?
not so much but still some.

friday it started and i was glad that there were no lessons that day.
i generally chilled at home. morning went to kick football in school and rest of the day was just a well-deserved break from my usual hectic schedule(haha).

saturday is go to yokohama.
there is really man mountain man ocean. cos of golden week i guess.
we went to chinatown

people people everywhere

everywhere people people

so in yokohama it's basically a port town place, and the other main thing there is the chinatown.

look familiar?

but chinatown was just ok for me, super commercialised as expected and anyway i think i am chinese enough liao.
we had lunch at this chinese dish buffet place.
pay 1980 yen and u can order anything from the menu any quantity. and the menu got 136 dishes to choose from. but is golden week so price become 2480, my friends din know about the price hike :(
so we eat loh. eat until super full haha.

order anything u want

after that we go to the portside of this yokohama place. at first my friends were saying can see the sea. and i thought, "oh, beach? cool!" but turns out is just like psa in singapore. chey.

the port

after that we go to take train to some other happening part of yokohama. there were many things to see there. the shopping centre was HUGE (but didn't get to explore. my jap friends basically lead the way and i just snap away).

super size shopping centre

out of the shopping centre, we went to the nearby amusement park, but did not sit any rides. just looked around. there were many pretty lights there.
and further beyond that was a the cup noodle museum which we did not go to and also another building called the red brick building or something. there was  german beerfest going on and there were tonnes of people there too. but......we didn't buy or try anything, just looked around. haha.

this is the red brick building(if that's what it's called)

and this is the amusement park

pretty lightsssssss

and the beerfest at the red brick building

so after all that walking around, we eventually headed home. lotsa walking that day, and lotsa money spent....on taking the trains. doh. haha. my budget for last week blown cos of the past few days.
will write about day 2 and 3 tmr.

oh and new furniture came to the dorm on this day!

say hello to NEW SOFAS

now i sleep on the sofas cos they are more comfortable than my bed. hahaha
no la.

day 37 : golden week begins

this year golden week is  3-6 may.
that means that there is a massive holiday for tonnes of japanese from friday(today) until next monday.

usually i have free day from sat to tuesday.
plus golden week, that would give me one additional day to travel.
hence i finally decided on visiting hiroshima because i thought it would be interesting.
only thing: I CAN'T GO.
because of golden week, all the hostel all filled up.
NO SPACE.
haiz.
such a let down.
guess i'll be hanging around my area abit then.

still, having seen some of hiroshima on the net, i will go in future.
currently my list of things to do and see in japan include:

watch a j league soccer match
go to a concert
visit a castle
climb a mountain
go to ghibli museum
go to hiroshima and stay a few days
go northern japan(haven't decided where yet) and stay a few days
see an old town
go to a forest
see a beach

like that so far.
if got more i will add or if got suggestion, please let me know.

been joining the soccer training the past few days. as a result, my toes have not been very happy

ouchie

got blisters on my feet cos of the training...haha. but it is ok, i think maybe too long never play this hard...
will be resting the next few days cos of golden week. my muscles also pain haha, so need to recover.

i've been cooking the past few days cos i thought i should clear my stock before golden week comes in case i'm not around during the period(turns out no need of course) and my food turns bad.
so here is a sample of what i cook. it is hard to take pictures of me actually cooking, and asking a friend to take picture of me is a bit silly. so i can only show my ingredients and the transformation.

first i take some vegetables and mushrooms

and then some pork strips

and then i make MAGIC

like real.
no la, i chop up my vege and stir fry whatever i have.
the oil recently ran out, so i have been using an unclaimed butter to fry.
haha.
what i really get is this.

close enough

day 33 - cinema

today i go and watch ironman 3.
the only cinema i knew of was in tachikawa and when i check internet it also says that the nearest is there so i headed there.

the 3d show was at 3 something and i reached by 1 something.
then i saw that there was a cheaper 2d version at 5.50 so i bought ticket to that instead.

that means that i had 4 hours to kill.
which i did.
spectacularly.

first i had to eat something cos i was starving. desiring a taste for home, i went to macs, and indeed, it tastes just like in sg. only the serving smaller.
i order the golden week special and when the burger came i literally opened it to look for the patty.
i thought they forgot cos the burger looked so small.
IT REALLY WAS THAT SMALL. THE PATTY WAS HIDING BETWEEN THE EGG AND THE BREAD.
i'm just saying. not complaining. it still tasted good...

after that, another 3 hours plus to kill....
i remember that yesterday at church one of the uncle say that there was a nice park near tachikawa station and that today there was a once a year event happening.
so i go back to the station to see if i could smell out any clues as to how to get to this place.
there's signs to this park nearby so i decided to go check it out.
but first, as a season traveller, i went to pang sai. this way i would have no emergencies later.

after that i'm off!
today i realised very early(but still too late) that my camera got no sd card.
GOOD JOB, cannot take picture and bring for nothing.
but nevermind, skilled photographer dun need good camera. so all my shots today is use my handphone to take. haha.

so i walk and walk and walk and eventually i find this

ok cool.

showa is one of the emperors of japan and a period of japan's history is named after him.
so like now is the heiwa period or something, showa was the period before now.
i was born in the last year of the showa period
so my birthday here is 昭和 63 年 11 月 17日.
cool eh?

welcome welcome

anyway so this park is a memorial to showa and i walk abit more and i reach the entrance.
and then i realise that there is admission fee.
"huh, go park also must pay?"
but i go closer and it turns out today no need to pay. cos is SHOWA DAY.

how nice!

so i happily walk in and snap away.
basically, even if pay, the place is totally worth it. very cool park to come see, and if japanese, totally worth coming with friends.
the place has so many things to see and do.
it's a huge park and got lotsa open space to chill, fly kite, picnic.
there are futsal courts and soccer field
there is water play area for kids
there is big playground for kids
there is basketball half courts
there is big garden to go and see
there is traditional japanese garden to see
there is barbecue area where got lotsa pits and tents and sand on the floor(almost like a beach area)
there is a disc golf course
there is even garden for u to let ur pets run wild.
I DUN THINK I EVEN COVER EVERYTHING.
so anyway, here are just some pics that i took

disc golf looks fun. throw a frisbee into a frisbee thing

let your pets run wild here

customary flower shot 1

customary flower shot 2 (so pretty hor)

entrance to japanese garden

fountain at the front

futsal court - FREE

BIG OPEN SPACES

a lake in the japanese garden

lost children here

full soccer field

some big bouncy thing for kids to jump on. *.*

big lake that u can rent boat to row around in

so like that, 3 hours burned. i didn't even see all that i wanted to see.....
next is back to the cinema.

this is what it looks like inside

and very cute, there is this staff that will come and make announcement like i dunno what she was saying and also that the show is starting soon.

lady talking but nobody listening

after the show i went back to hachioji and i ate mos burger for dinner.
and the burget look and tasted so much better than mac (of course but i still love macdonalds dun worry).

good stuff

so with that i came home and did my essay.
need to submit soon so i had to rush.
at the same time i realise my feet smelly. (from all the walking i suppose. and maybe cos i haven't change socks in a while)
so i do work with my feet sticking out of my door.

after i bathe, my feet still smelly! i could not take it.
likely it was cos i never wash my feet (or body) with soap so i went back to toilet sink to wash my feet with soap and now it's ok already i can sleep in peace.

so yup. good night.

day 32- I'M GOING BLIND

something wrong with my right eye.
vision blurred, i hope i am just being paranoid. will rest and see how it is over the next few days.

today i went to church with hugo from ntu.
haha the sermon was one of the longest that the pastor preach so i think it was hard for him to stay awake, cos his jap not so good, so can't understand most of what is being said the entire morning.
still, i think the people there are a very pleasant bunch.
i plan to visit other churches around the place, but i will go back there the most i think.
simply because it's the first church i visited here. :)

after service and a very nice fellowship lunch and a birthday celebration for a 70 year old aunty,
we went to tachikawa cos i wanted to get my eyes checked and also to get contact lenses.
on the way we felt hungry so had a donut break.
of course at mr donut, where else?

had the hello kitty donut today. cos real men can

after that we go and do my contact lens.
basically a very long and arduos process which i am lazy to talk about.

at the end of the day i got 1 month worth of contacts,
an eye check that tell me that nothing is wrong with my eyes,
and the eventual struggle of having to put contacts in eyes that are just too small.\

after that is back home.

pretty much normal things happening after that....except for....

TUM TUM DUMMMMMMM

keys.....BIKE keys!

now i have the power to rule the streets.
"dear japan, your motorways are no longer safe anymore. please avoid them and take the train. the king of the road has come"

i've got a ticket to ride~

so that's it for today. good night

p.s. decided to just include this to show what i am feeling in my right eye:

an accurate representation of my current visual predicament is shown below

what i see with my left eye

what i see with my right eye

like i said, nothing serious....

31 - bch

hung over from my 500ml of fruit beer with 6% alcohol the night before.
truly an alcoholic, yes.

clearly i am living the wild life here..
haha no la. woke up at 8 to go play football but when i reach the field all i saw were girls playing football.
seems like no practice today. pfft.

so i come back and do laundry and stuff.

i felt like i was handling drugs today.
yes drugs. very potent BCH.
a social drug, but of course still dangerous if eaten in large amounts.

the BCH came with my resup.
left 2 whole kg of it with me.
if the customs knew, they would have confiscated for sure. laws are very strict here.

so anyway, to make my BCH last for a long time,
i was advised to keep in the freezer.
but to do so, have to package it properly.
i will now show you how to package it should you ever need to store your own BCH.

you will need:
scissors
a clean working surface
plastic sheets
and ziplock bag

so BCH in its original state looks like this

potent stuff. keep away from children.

i did not have plastic sheets so i made some with those food plastic bags

plastic bag

super sharp surgical scissors(note the alliteration)

plastic sheets prepared

next is to place the solid BCH slabs individually separated from each other by the plastic sheet

pure BCH. do not leave exposed to air for too long.

first slab on the plastic

carefully laying each piece on top of each other

once done with the layering, wrap up everything with the remainder plastic and slot it into the ziplock bags.

in the ziplock bags, ready for storage

some cosmetics

after that, all that's left is to put it in very very cold place for storage
freezer is a good idea

my dorm's freezer, now BCH's new home.

and that's it!
simple. i wish anybody copying this all the best in your BCH endeavours.
good night

day 30: beer

today i did not go to soccer again because i wanted to rest my leg still.

however, at the same time, some of the guys wanted to go out eat ramen, then comeback and party.

so i followed them.

basically we went to a local ramen joint, and i ordered a big bowl, which i regretted shortly after...
it was just too big. like huge big upsize mega supersize.
i barely had anything for lunch, and yet i could not finish.
this was the first time in my 30 days here that i could not finish my meal.
crazy big.

lunch was funny.
i wanted to order some udon so i join the udon queue.
the menu instructions were in kanji (which i could not read).
so when the aunty ask what i want, i just order the first thing that i could read on the menu.
"ka-ke udon"
she then ask me some question which i could not hear or make out.
and i mumbled some answer.
and so what did i finally get for lunch?

one bowl of udon with some leek sprinkled on it. that's it.
so u can imagine how hungry i was by dinner and you can imagine how big the bowl was if i could not even finish it when i was hungry.

anyway after dinner we went to a nearby lawson to buy beer cos we were going back to the dorm to play playstation 3.
yes you read that right.
playstation 3.
bobby from ntu brought his ps3.
he actually did it.

I CAN'T BELIEVE HE BEAT ME TO IT.

so yup, playstation party.
i don't really drink, so i bought me a fruit beer. but not the jolly shandy type.
the MAN type. got 6% alcohol one.
and i bought the big can(500ml) somemore.
so i guess now i can truly call myself an alcoholic.

we headed back to the dorm and bobby set up and we play and i drink my one can of 500ml very MAN fruit beer and then after that i feel abit tipsy.
but that only made me play better, so i beat everybody at racing. haha.
seems i actually drive better when i'm drunk.

so after that we play some other games.
and then i go and bathe and then i come back and play a bit more.

and then when everybody has gone away to sleep.
me and my viking danish friend are left and he says he wants to talk.

hmm.

seemed abit strange at first because he seemed unusually sombre.
like something happened like that.
so anyway i say ok. and we talk. and indeed something happened.
he got a bit aggressive with someone in his room when he walked in and didn't recognise the stranger.
so guess he was a bit shaken and worried that it might escalate to something undesirably serious.
so we talk loh. just chat about like life here. what's different from our homes.
what we might miss, some of our thoughts about japanese culture and stuff.
and then after that i think abit late already. and i think maybe he calmed down abit too.
so we left it there and i said good night and then went off to sleep. hope he's feeling better.

interesting encounter...

and so after that i head back to my room.
and while walking past another dorm living room thing,
i saw a guy awake and the tv on.
and the tv was predominantly green.....
..................
green........
......green.......
.........

which meant.........
...........


FOOTBALL.


it was the champions league!
HUH! champ league replay on tv!?
din know they had that.
and someone watching!?
HMM!

in my mind i was thinking: "if can watch champ league full match, even if is replay i dun mind loh. somemore the quality so clear"

so i walk in and just check it out.
and it turns out to be this guy i know!
his nick name is "hime" (princess). i forget his real name.

haha.
his facial features abit feminine, like soft features. that's what i feel.
but anyway he say that his nick name is hime but not because of the princess association.
i dunno why he call himself hime though.
maybe i will ask him next time.


ANYWAY.
we have a short conversation about football. i am standing at this point. he's sitting

then we move to the topic of how i play abit with the soka team and then he say he used to be in the team.
then i: "HMM"

but now he doesn't play. instead he coaches.
HMMM.

he says that, in fact, he intends to go germany to study football coaching after he graduates.
HMMMM!
by this time i am sitting down. facing him. fully engaged.

what a nice conversation i had!
really one that i enjoyed thoroughly! the first time since i came here that i felt like that, regardless of whether with a local or exchange student.
we talk about various things, not just football. but it was a very comfortable exchange.

he's a linguistics student.
studies german now and knows some german works and also did a couple of literature modules.
HMM!
so i could speak to him in my broken japanese and he could understand me(i think because of his discipline) and also he reply me in both jap and english and his english is generally better than most japs that i've met too.
his pronunciation good. (again, i think because of his major)
and also he like, know about the world more. aware of the world and current maybe. relevant.

so i felt that i clicked with him.
after a while i think should sleep too.
so i told him i better go sleep.

then i walked away happy.
hopefully can chat with him more in future!
yay i made a new friend.
:)

ok. so that's it for the day.
goodnight.