Life in ...

Taking a break from blogging about Life in Japan. It can be quite a challenge to be lazy and yet be able to recall every details about the trip.

Sunday went out with my useless friend buddy for Initial D. Not in a mode of reviewing since I am lazy. He is a nice useless bugger as he cant get any of his Uni girls to come along. bah... anyways, the good thing is that we went for an unexpected sales at Times Square (new building in KL near Pudu) and bought some nice pants. I paid my stuff and looked for my friend.

"She is quite cute wei," my friend said, referring to a salesgirl; not sure if she could her it or not but which girl doesnt like compliment. Damn, why I paid so early!!! And now that my friend spot it first I shouldnt double cross him...argh!!

She was kinda sweet and she looks adorable, maybe because of her front tooth and her long hair. I bet she is from Ipoh, I cant find any KL girls that pretty. Well, we 'shopped' longer and tried to bug her. I call her Winnie the Pooh. So WP was near us most of the time and laughed at our silly remarks without hiding, I mean which stranger would simply laugh right in front of you like they know you since you are in kindy. So, my friend make friend with her but as soon as they exchange handshake, her boss called her to deal with some cloths in the shop. Jealous bitch...she is simply jealous...

Well. There goes the part 1 and we went Borders reading books and laugh at the silly boss.

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To those out there if you didnt realize, it's already August. Yea, it's August already!! Arent you excited? I guess not.

Last year I had the busiest moment trying hard not to forget my friend's birthday and also writing them email and also customize them some ecard. This year, it is even worse since I totally forgot that I am not available grom Aug 3-Aug 16, getting myself brainwash at some weird area ruled by my green alien research sponsor unit. My friend's birthday? Aug 4, Aug 8 Aug 13, Aug 18 Aug 28 Aug... that's all, I believe. Oh no, I promise to send e-flower to my primaryschool friend for her graduation. Nice, a promise to a girl is the most troublesome promise to keep. A lesson that I would never learn.

What should I do?

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Part 2 continues with us coming stopping by the shop before leaving Time Square. My friend, already wrote his details on a piece of paper decided to wait for opportunity and approach again. So, he found one while I make a call home. Unfortunately she gave him her mum's handphone [cellphone] number and claimed she didnt use an email...what the heck...the sales is until this Sunday...

Life in Japan 3: matsuri

(I apologize for the late updates but bear with me. I am trying to recall and present to you the best of my memories in Japan. )

After a disappointing showdown of hyakumangoku matsuri, I was very very excited when we were about to go to abare matsuri in Notto, some 2 hours drive away from where we stay. Thanks to my friend who just bump into me and ask me if I wanted to join since there was one more space left; and also those kind SGE members- Sacchan and Takumi.

Prelude to Japanese matsuri (festival). To begin with, hyakumangoku matsuri was actually the biggest festival in Kanazawa. Previous year IJST students manage to catch the glimpse and even join in the dance and parade. It was very disappointing for us that it rained and the outdoor activities were cancelled. Moreover, we had training at Anamizu in the morning and had to forgo the noon parade by default.

Hyakumangoku matsuri literally means festival of 1 million (unit of) rice. koku is a measurement with 1 koku almost equivalent to 5 bushels or 14.58 liters. In a more simple language, 1 koku can feed 1 (lower ranked) samurai for 1 year. This festival commemorates the entry of Lord Maeda Toshiie, Lord of Kanazawa, into the Kanazawa castle in 1583. Yea, imagine how many samurai he can feed with 1,000,000 koku of rice. As a matter of fact, he was one of the most powerful clan in ancient Japan. So, every year during the noon parade, there will be a reenactment of the scene where someone will portray Lord Maeda riding the horse into the city. Of course, you will be brought back to the 14th century where every one put on traditional clothing including the kids! Hyakumangoku matsuri is a local warlord festival, not necessarily related to the religion.

I dont know the origin of abare matsuri but it was very much related to the religion and belief of Japanese people. Evidence of that was that many mikoshi (portable shrines) were brought out and beautifully decorated. Some mikoshi were a few blocks away from the town of celebration and locals would carry them back to the original resting place. Those mikoshi featured were extremely huge, about one storey high (5 metres or 18 feet tall) and was definitely very heavy. Apart from the shrine itself, taiko (Japanese big drum) was also put on the shrine and women and children will climb up the mikoshi, carried by at least 20 men (some women also carry it but men are the majority). On each mikoshi, there will be a young (cute, better than average-looking) girl playing flute, which of course, captured by my manual Minolta camera! Sorry, no pictures. Will consider investing in digicam soon.

Abare masturi literally translated to festival of chaos. There were 7-10 huge poles strapped with straws which I found out its use later. Matsuri almost always starts with hanabi (fireworks) and then the parade. After the fireworks, one those poles were lit with fire and when it almost burnt out, another one will follow soon. Then about 30 mikoshi were ushered in by hundreds of people in jinbe (loose cloth normally worn in summer, apparently a version of yukata). Jinbe was much looser than yukata hence allowed bigger movement. Even girls would wear them, especially those that took part in parade. Since wearing jinbe (loosely) would expose the chest, girls would strap themselves with white linen, like those you watch in samurai movies, or the modern version of it- a white top.

So, there you go with hundreds of people moving their local shrines and circling the pole with yet another few hundreds watching from the side. It was really packed and sometimes, burning ashes from the pole would drop like falling leaves in the fall. Flutes and drums were played and people shouting and cheering, the event was simply amazing. Imagine 30 shrines were congested on the street, having to make a circle at every pole of fire. They have to stop, make rest, align themselves…it was not easy at all to maneuver that huge mikoshi in circle, commanding some 20+ people moving in coherent. Sometimes it looks as if the shrine will lose balance heading to the flaming pole, and yet they manage to control it. The first thing that comes to me was ‘what about the kid on top of the mikoshi?’ Well, they have done it for centuries and maybe will be for another century.

One interesting thing about this festival was that people would drink sake even during the parade. So, you literally have half-drunk people, youngsters included. I can imagine them getting really high from the work, excitement, and sake! It seems that the only orderly element comes from the crowd watcher, but even that, people were excited and getting restless. Abare matsuri truly lives up to its name- I experience the most chaotic moment of my life, and I love it!

PS: currently blogging from Malaysia. Hopefully with the time, and nice food, I will have better inspiration.

Life in Japan 2: My student's life

Life in KIT was rather overwhelming. Every week there will be something going on if you stay tuned to the local gossips around. I was rather consistent for the first two weeks and missed only a few smaller events. It wasn’t like there is an announcement board on what is coming up for that week, you just have to be conscious about it.

For the first two weeks, there were 2 parties going on. There were more after that but I don’t want to go and sometimes I didn’t know about it. Japanese party was crazy but peaceful. They drink a lot, got drunk quickly, yet by midnight they were sober enough to go home. There were only a few cases where people puked or passed out. I feel good because Japanese turns red pretty quickly, just like many Asians and I am not alone! However, they are not ashamed to admit that they are drunk, and they did lots of funny stuff. Almost every time, we have bottles of huge sake and finished them by the night. Each bottle is supposed to last 1 person (I think) for a month but we finished 2 bottles at least. On top of that, there were rum, vodkha, beers and other punch. One thing nice about the party is that it is cheap. We forked in \700 (about $7) each for one party. People were kind and they watch each other’s back. It is something that one should not miss.

Since it is a summer program, life is not all about party. We have classes as well. Our classes start at 955am, a real luxury compared to my life in UIUC where the earliest would almost always 900am. Although our classrooms are air-conditioned, I still feel rather warm, and sometimes the AC wasn’t cooling too well. One interesting to mention about the class room is that we can have access to the internet. However, they do not have wireless but to rely on an infrared connection. There are various IR source from the ceiling, and there is a machine that will locate and connect to it. All we have to do is basically plug our LAN cable to the desk, and let the machine do its job. Nonetheless, this robot looking machine will take a long while, shivering like it is going to break down and making a machine gun looking noise before successfully connecting the IR source. The success rate is table dependent. Some table may take forever to launch a successful connection.

Since there is a class, there will be assignment. I mostly stay in the lounge to study together and to use the internet (there is not connection in our room). The Japanese student will be there too most of the time. If we have problems, we could ask them. Meanwhile, they too would bring their homework. One of them is studying Korean while the other one studies Chinese. Of course, we would help them if possible. There were also talking and crapping in both Japanese and English, if possible. There is this guy trying to learn English and in the end, what he picked up most were expressions like ‘Hell, yeah!’, ‘Oh my god’, ‘Give me a hug’…we too picked up some funny Japanese expressions, one which I will never forget ‘chibiri sou’, which means I want to pee. Most of the social mingling takes place here.

Meal plan over here was pretty much eating out. After coming back from Kyoto-Osaka trip, I have decided to cook more, hence less mingling with fellow ‘comrades’. There is a cheap ramen store called bikkuri, as low as \189 for a nice ramen, a place that I frequent most. The boss is nice and the waitress is friendly. Once, the boss treated us with chocolates! There is also a bakery, sankyo, which we pack most of our lunch. They have cheap bakeries, and me and my friend would get our favorite ‘diabetic’ there for almost every lunch. ‘Diabetic’ is basically a bakery coated with lost of sugar, something that is common even in Malaysia but nowhere to be found in the States.

Then, there is this 100yen supermarket that I went frequently to get my stock of ramen and soumen, eggs, cucumber, soysauce, drinks, etc. Things there are indeed cheap, and I save a lot from there. I even got my bread and jam there and some snacks. In short, it is like having Meijer in Champaign- convenient and cheap.

As for the money, we change our traveler’s checks in the nearby post office. They seems to cater for our needs because they even have our dorm address prepared. Many years of IJST students must have changed their checks over here for the last 10 years maybe. It is fun exchanging traveler’s check once in a while because the rate fluctuates. It is like speculating currency but in a much lower level. I had at once a very low rate ($1 to \106) but recently it jumps up to very high ($1 to \110), higher than what I was offered in Champaign. I am now still speculating as I need to change more for the after program trip in Tokyo, hopefully they will rise up to $1 to \115.

Of course, one experience that I will not forget is having been to a local festival.

More to come!

PS: My condolence to the immediate families of London subway explosion. It is an attempt by terrorist, and many people had blog about it. Look it up!

Life in Japan 1: Intro to Summer Study Abroad Program

With full consciousness, I realized that it’s been a month since I wrote something about my blog. At least something would happen in my life that is worthy of mentioning and share with what little audience that had been faithfully lending their ears. To everyone out there, I am in Kanazawa, Japan, doing a summer study abroad program with Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT), in case you forgot, you didn’t realize, and if I didn’t tell you earlier. Life is almost too wonderful over here, and yes, I have been really bad for not sharing with you all. So, here I am trying to do it the shortcut way by highlighting my life in Japan. Thank goodness my sensei make us wrote journal, which is something that I would cherish at this moment.

Let’s start my blog with the appetizer- IJST (Intensive Japanese Science and Technology) Orientation.

It was amazing that 3 years in US makes me forgot most of the ritual which is so Asian, until our cultural sensei mentioned it. It begins with formal speech by the dean of KIT, and ends with a welcoming party. I met many Japanese in that party and tried very hard to understand the conversation. To be frank, KIT students’ command of English is poor, conversation wise at least. Although I dare not say that’s the case on behalf of all Japan, I believe it is safe to assume that. They would look up in their electronic dictionary the words we are trying to express, and from chunks of words, we begin to understand each other a little better. Hence, from the very beginning, our Japanese skill was being tested. And the myth that almost everyone carries an electronic dictionary in Japan is true.

As part of our orientation training, we have to go through zazenin daijoji temple, meditation. The chief monk in the temple insisted that zazen is not meditation, since meditation focus on concentration while zazen focus on letting go of our mind. Nonetheless, the term meditation alone saves the time to explain the differences. We did a total of 15mins of zazen and during that time, I had a trouble moment of controlling my mind. It was not easy at all letting go of your mind and remained calm, especially right in front of me there is a not too bad looking female lady also doing zazen...hmm...

After that, we went for a one night training camp at Anamizu, which includes a BBQ, a communal bath, some free time to get sweat and illegal after curfew game, morning lecture and bay cruise! The BBQ was one of the best, with lots of beef and seafood. Everyone was full yet there were some left over! It was an awesome feast, and interacting with the Japanese was fun too. They refer to the senior students as senpai instead of just their name. It reminds me of my Hong Kong roommate where they sometimes refer to their seniors as see heng or juniors as see dai.

After that BBQ, we went to sweat ourselves at gym, before going for the communal bath. The communal bath was definitely interesting as everyone went naked into the bathing room; of course the boys and girls are separated. (Nonetheless, I heard some places offer mixed open door communal bath somewhere in Japan...) There was a place for shower and a big bath tub (ofuro), enough to fit 8-10 people in after cleaning by the side. The water was very hot, it hurts after the initial touch but as I soak longer, it became comfortable. For the boys, they brought in a small towel to wipe themselves and to cover the lower part. As for the girls, we peeped through a hole from our room and saw that they too brought a small towel to wipe and their upper part (which includes the breast) uncovered. OK, I lied. My friend told me about it; there wasn’t any hole to peep through, else it would have been a huge privacy and moral issue. ,

The illegal after curfew night was fun. We went roaming at random rooms and joined in whatever activities that we think it was fun. In one room, there was Indian Poker and loser had to drink Korean sake. Korean sake tasted bad but the smell was rather strong. However, the small bottle was not good enough to get anyone heavily drunk. Yea, I drink for the first time in Japan.

The following day’s lecture and cruising were not extraordinary fun. Overall, I think the purpose of the program was not to train us, but an attempt to connect us as a group. It also served as a window to meet with Japanese students, all from SGE (Student Global Exchange) in this case. Maybe the coordinator has intended something else, but this was what I have gained during the supposedly training period.

More to come!

(Hmm...did I say the same thing for my trip to UK?)

My Summer Meal Plan

Since it is summer, I am booted off my dorm and gotta bunk like a refugee in the desert with Isrealite patroling team. Not quite refugee camp but rather bunking with my friend and taking over the role of his roommate...muahaha. Hmm...you seems to be confused, let me give you an anology- my friend's roommie went home, so I can stay over at his place. Is that understood?

Anyways, the point is that I have no meal plan like I am sploit in the dorm. That includes unlimited Hagan Daz ice cream and once in a while cheese cake with strawberries. So now I have rely on my wallet plan. The most economic way is to go litch at friend's place like I did twice. But one cannot do that often else his reputation will go down the drain. What I could do next is to buy Antonio's pizza!

Yes, this is a free advertisement for Antonio's pizza along Green Street. The pizza is cheap but nice to eat. It comes with various creative flavors such as quesadillas, and other weird taste. You could also put your own toppings. It is cheap enough for me to eat for 3 days. Oh yea. Then I have my free KFC during the Midwest games as...ya, as official. Illinois student who are helping out are given free KFC if you know the person in charge.

Now, I just finished the packet of buffet tapaoed from Midwest. Oh yea, microwave and fridge are your good friend. They are like mistress and wife- hot and spicy after the few minutes preparation; fridge is always reliable it doesnt matter how long you dump the food in it.

Midwest Games

After months of preparations, the Midwest Games (Midwest) finally comes to a closing note. For those who are not undergraduates in the United States, Midwest is like a mini Malaysian Olympic where hundreds of students coming from all over the states to come and compete. This year, UIUC is honored to host this annual event and it looks like we pulled off pretty well.

UIUC Team:

Commitee was formed and people signing up for the intested sections...blah blah blah, you know the procedure. But what you may not know is the man power crisis we are facing. 2 previous hosts had a selection of 200+ Malaysians to help out and we only have 80, including graduating seniors. Hence, we may not connect all the dots well in the end of the day but we deserve the credits for doing a good job. Comments? Yes. The bid to host Midwest was rather controversial. Not every Malaysians in UIUC is keen about it. Volunteers comes only at the last moments. I dont blame them since only a fraction of people who are really interested in running the show anyways. I appreciate the volunteers who come and help out on the day itself. Sad but true, majority chinese communities here are not doing much in the planning of the game. I think we should be more active politically sometimes, instead of complaining that the commitee was not doing enough.

Registration:

The registration was great. Everyone reported in and pay their dues and buy additional buffet tickets...blah blah blah. All but those who are late and will be entertained by us tomorrow at the late registration counter. Comments? Sure. I love the Ohio State Universities registration team- they sent only 3 representatives to handle all the payment. That is neat. Instead of some crowds who barged the counter like refugess leaving the campsite. Specifically mentioned a person from West Michigan Kalamazoo...I think. He thinks he deserved the best treatment and was rather insisting that he and his basketball team be cleared of the problems first. I could sense a feel of dissatisfaction from his school mates. Man...

VIPS:

If you read my blogs in tblog, you would realize that I am not too fond of VIPS. Especially those who create so much troubles. This is a Midwest Games and there are 900+ students. Shouldnt this be student orientated? Of course we will never leave the VIPs alone and let them starve and sleep by the road side. So please, we do realize the ever irritating protocols to follow. Nonetheless, since most fund comes from the MSD, we have to appeal to their requests...and obviously includes pleasing the VIPs. So fine, we have students meeting with them, student leaders meeting, VIP speech...but please, leave the planning with us. Comment 1: We as the host here would realize better what that we can do and what that we cant do. Hence, some of their request...sorry but can only be denied. I dont like those officers who place specific request and proceed without informing those who are in charge. Please, there is a procedure to follow, regardless of your rank. And the student leaders dinner list? I cannot understand their reasoning by inviting only some. Some schools were denied while some were invited 2 representatives. Funny...In short, I hate the fact that more than half of the planning was focus on the welfare of VIPs.

UIUC Performances:

UIUC has the greatest performances, with glitches in the ending. Damn. Due to miscommunication, the surprise ending was delayed for too long to create the awesome expected effect. Apart from that, we were praised by fellow students and audience for putting up a good show. The musical drama was original, creative and also superb. That's what I am proud of, and the best compliment we can get for attempting to steer away from the traditional dances. It's so much easier to perform the traditional Malay dance but I believe we were great. Special credits goes to paydot, the team leader for holding up all the performers with unbelievable patient. I handled something like that once but lost my temper and failed to hold the performers together as a team. Also the girls, because not only they have to tolerate the guys laziness (I think at one point, they were fed up with the guys), they also have to do our costumes and simply the fact that the play had more female appearance- which means more practises and dance sequences to remember. Thanks for you all, at least I am truly grateful for given a chance to perform and working with every performers.

One special person:

Midwest in UIUC would not meant any more if the name Dezerk is not mentioned. Diagnosed bone cancer, he went through 4 chemos and walking in crouches. Yet, he did more that what those fitting Malaysians did. No one realize it because he was involved in the stage planning and coordinating. He did not sit himself with the VIPS, which he easily could given his conditions, but chose instead to sit at the back of the stage and help out. Plus, his ever understanding character. Everyone involved in the stage set up and performers set up looks like a time bomb waiting to explode. But he was magically appears calm and that look of 'dont worry, everything would go well' did add some time to the time bomb countdown. He still has 2 more rounds of chemo before more diagnosis could be done, but stay strong, I want you back as my roommate!

So, here they are, the highlights of Midwest that is of my interest. May that too shed some lights to things that was not seen from the surface, but only by those who runs around.

Gilmore Girls

Someone just challenged me that I could never blog in tow of their presense. That i should just give up and join them watching Fillmore Firls. Yea...i meant Gilmore Girls. So here I am watching Gilmore and my daughter realized that there is interesting shot going on in the movie. There is this moment where she was sitting and kept talking to the bar tender. What my daughter realized was that the collar of her shirt moved. Sometimes it was neat but sometimes it was flipped in. Cool, you never move but the collar seems to have a live of its own. Great. It wasnt funny but the fact that someone pointed it out makes it funny. I wonder if my daughter is watching the movie or not, but that was an interesting observation. It is just a small mistake from the production team but it is interesting that sometimes we were caught by the flow of the movie and these little things slip our eyes. Wanna check it out? My friend said it is 4th season and ... why not you go find out yourself and tell me.

I am now watching Angelina making out with her brother...kissing her brother, i meant