Settled down

Today is my 18th day in Japan. This thur I will spend my last night in the apartment. I am so gonna miss having a room of my own. We plan not to sleep on thur night as the finale of the Yamakasa festival will take place at 4:59am on fri morning. Thereafter, we will head to school and most of us will be going to Hiroshima! We will spend a night there at a traditional Japanese inn. This sunday I will be moving to my host family house. The beginning of my 3 weeks stay near the sea..

Yesterday was particularly memorable for me. My host family son, Miruto, had a really important baseball match yest afternoon at 230pm. My lessons ended at 230pm too. Right after class, I cycled at full speed to Tenjin train station. From there, I ran to the Oomuta Line and bought a 1000yen express train ticket. At the station, I was asking this middle-aged lady for directions and we boarded the train together, it was a 2 seater carriage. It's amazing how much we conversed on the train with my barely there Japanese, she was extremely friendly and told me a lot about her work and her children. When she was about to alight, she insisted on giving me her bag of bread that she bought. I was so surprised and reluctantly accepted it. She also gave me her contact number and I contacted her later to thank her.
It took an hour to reach Oomuta, which was really far south from Tenjin. From Oomuta, with the help of some passer-bys, I managed to reach Oomuta stadium after a 15min walk. When I finally reached the stadium, I saw my host mother taking pictures of the bus which was about to depart. Damn, I just missed the match. When she saw me approaching, she was stunned speechless. She had not expected me to go there and I did not want to bother her so I went without informing her. Miruto won and I was so happy for him. He will be having a match again tomorrow. Another adventure for me. On the way home in her car, she couldn't stop praising me about how amazed she was about me travelling so far on my own. Actually, I do not understand why it is such a big deal, it was rather easy I thought. I was just glad that I made it before she left for home, if not I would have to take a train back, which will mean another 1000yen. Later at night, host dad called me and couldn't stop praising me for going down to support Miruto. I thought they might have over-reacted.

Earlier this afternoon, my project group in Agricultural Economics presented on Food Safety. We were so relieved that it is over now. This also means the module is coming to an end, next will be Japanese Literature.

Tonight, a few of us will be cooking and I will get to enjoy some Korean dishes and etc. Pictures are posted at http://sg.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/eddie_tcs/my_photos

New updates

Last night, the whole bunch of the ATW students went to the Fukuoka dome to catch a baseball match. The dome was magnificient. Amazing architecture. It was my first time watching a baseball match and thank gawd I had Guo Cheng beside me to explain how baseball is played. By the 1st hour, i was cheering along with the rest of the hardcore fans. The match lasted almost 4 hours... At the end of the match, there was a firework display. Fantastic.

These 2 nights, I dreamt of this Japan trip like ending prematurely. Hmm, like something bad happens here and I have to go back to Singapore right away. I always wake up relieved that phew, I still have like 4 weeks here.

More pictures have been posted over the yahoo photos.

Excited

I managed to contact my host family and they invited me to their house to spend the weekend. It's unbelievable how fortunate I am. I've always imagine myself staying somewhere near the sea in the future. But here I am, in the house just few minutes from the sea.

My host family is very interesting. My 'father', Ohara Kouji, is 36 yrs old and my 'mother',Ohara Mari, is 44. Their only son, Ohara Miruto, is 17. Their dog is at a ripe age of 14. The 'father' surfs after work and his son is in the school's baseball team. Actually today their son, Miruto, is supposed to have a baseball match, but it was cancelled because of the pouring rain. As I had mentioned before, it's supposed to be the rainy season now before actual summer, dark clouds are aplenty but the rain doesn't seem to fall, until today. I'm actually in the countryside now. It's very peaceful here and quiet. I recollected that during a Japanese class back in NUS, I wrote in a short passage that I would like to reside in Japan's countryside in the future. The dream is prematurely fulfilled. I expect so many happy days running through the woods in the early morning, visiting the local shrine on the way back and surfing in the afternoon. Gardening with my 'mother' in the evening and learning baseball from Miruto.

Well, the life here is definitely very different from Singapore's. People here can give up a luxurious life to enjoy life leisurely. Work is still hectic, but there's life after work. More pictures of this paradise will be posted in the near future. Now, I've got to work with my Japanese.

scrambled egg, keropok and fried chicken wings and porridge.

I cooked this for dinner as I bought too many chicken wings, 2 packets for 750yen. if not, it's 410yen for one packet.









Looks pathetic..Myojo with egg.

Updates...

These are the guys in my apartment. There're only 6 of us. From left: me(duh~), Ying Ling(Singapore), Andriy(Hong Kong), Blondie(Hong Kong), Stefan(Sweden) and Kuo Cheng(Taiwan).