November 6, 2003

Money

Thursday, November 06, 2003 Posted by Mary , , , No comments
Ok, let's see. Our allowance arrived last Oct. 31. And since then, I have withdrawn a total of 25,000 yen. In my wallet, I still have around 5,000 and at the bank I have around 55,000. I can't believe it! Money just slips through your fingers sooo fast, it's even faster than the proverbial "water slipping through your fingers".

If I were in the Philippines, I would probably be rich right now. My allowance in pesos is actually around 35,000 per month. Imagine that?!? My monthly allowance back when I was still at home would just be around 5,000 pesos max. *blink blink* See? But here, phew! You have to really scrimp if you want to save. Clothes are the ultimate downfall, coz the really good ones are soooo freakin expensive. Can you imagine I saw a 198,000 yen coat at the department store near Ferris. That was probably a real fur coat, which just makes it even more sad! Because, they had to kill a poor animal for the fur, and now they're targeting the pockets of vain people. Soooo sad! Where are the animal rights activists?

Oh wait, I haven't posted much about the Ferris Festival, have I? *giggles lots* Well, there's this really amusing thing they did here at the school. Of course, there were a lot of Japanese guys who came here during the festival. There was a "booth" where these guys could have their pictures taken, write their contact info at the back of their pictures, and then post them for the girls to see and contact them later. Actually, the pictures are still posted until now. Hehehehe. It's amusing, isn't it?


Sukiyaki


Last night, our coordinators at the dorm invited April and I for dinner with them. However, April couldn't come because her seminar class was having a welcome party for her (speaking of welcome parties, my seminar class with Haruki sensei is giving me one on the 12th). I was really scared with that, coz I thought I had to face them on my own! Imagine just one barely-Japanese-speaking girl in the midst of two non-English-speaking adults! Fortunately, I learned that the two Chinese exchange students, Kak-san and Tei-san, were also invited. *phew!* We had sukiyaki (which I ate for the first time), and it was absolutely, absolutely oishi!!! It's my favorite Japanese food now!

November 2, 2003

Halloween and Ferris Festival

Sunday, November 02, 2003 Posted by Mary , , , No comments
OMG I am so freakin' tired!!! Wanna sleep! But it's still too early. It's not even 7 pm yet...




Well, that was some weekend. So many things happened this week, but frankly, I don't have the energy to go into detail about it. So, to make it short, for halloween, we didn't go out because of our curfew and had a "party" at the dorm. Annie rented "scary" videos, and I dressed up as a cellphone. Haha. I cut off tin foil for numbers and stuck them on my chest and used a foil-wrapped chopstick for antenna and stuck it behind my ear.

Saturday, we went to Hiroko sensei's wedding... she's finally married! Funny things happened, but... I'll elaborate next time. And today, we had that presentation about the Philippines (including a dance haha) at Ferris. And so all these things made me as tired as I am now.

ZzzZZzz...

October 29, 2003

Poems

Wednesday, October 29, 2003 Posted by Mary , No comments
WHEN WE TWO PARTED
Lord Byron



When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sank chill on my brow
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.


***My favorite!***


----------



PRELUDES
T. S. Eliot


I

THE WINTER evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimney-pots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.

II

The morning comes to consciousness
Of faint stale smells of beer
From the sawdust-trampled street
With all its muddy feet that press
To early coffee-stands.
With the other masquerades
That time resumes,
One thinks of all the hands
That are raising dingy shades
In a thousand furnished rooms.

III

You tossed a blanket from the bed,
You lay upon your back, and waited;
You dozed, and watched the night revealing
The thousand sordid images
Of which your soul was constituted;
They flickered against the ceiling.
And when all the world came back
And the light crept up between the shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,
You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed's edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.

IV

His soul stretched tight across the skies
That fade behind a city block,
Or trampled by insistent feet
At four and five and six o'clock;
And short square fingers stuffing pipes,
And evening newspapers, and eyes
Assured of certain certainties,
The conscience of a blackened street
Impatient to assume the world.

I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.

Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;
The worlds revolve like ancient women
Gathering fuel in vacant lots.


***The poem we're now reading in British Poetry class.***

October 26, 2003

Interesting...

Sunday, October 26, 2003 Posted by Mary No comments
Yokohama Station


It has been a long weekend. Long and tiring, that is. I mentioned before that I was going to help some girls at Ferris make the program for the robot, right? Well, so Hisako (one of the girls) and I met at Yokohama station (first time I went to Yokohama Sta. by myself!) yesterdayat 9:30 in the morning (damn! i had to leave the dorm at 8:30). I didn't know where we were going, but as it turned out, we went to Tokyo Institute of Technology (TITech) near Ookayama Station! I never expected that I would be going to Tokyo yesterday (even though it was just the outskirts)! Nor did I expect to be at one of the top technology universities in Japan. Pretty cool, if I might say so. Also, TITech was having their school festival this weekend, so it was even cooler. (Not to mention the weather was pretty cool, too!) A lotta booths were there, selling all kinds of food! I even got a school brochure and a DVD from their Centennial Hall where an Open-House for high school students were being held.

I didn't get to do any programming for the robot yesterday, though. I think they didn't need the program yet. But at least, I realized something with my going to TITech. And tbat is: I AM NOT A TECHNOLOGY FREAK! I admit to being an internet junkie, but no way am I a tech freak! I say this because we were looking at their robot exhibits yesterday... and I could totally not relate! I don't think that I ever will. Nope, I am not into that kind of technology. *shakes head* Nah-uh, just mobiles and PCs for me!

An almost scary part happened though, coz while it was approaching afternoon, they told me that I would have to go back to Yokohama station by myself! I had to leave the place early because I needed to be at Izumino station at 6:00 (we were again invited by Hiroko sensei), but Hisako and the other girl who was there wanted to stay late to work on the robot. That really scared me, but when the time grew nearer, I felt pretty much confident that I could make it back, if they just told me which stations to change trains and which tracks to use. Ota-san, the guy who works at the Ferris IT Center and who was also there, then gave me intructions on what to do. Luckily, Hisako needed to buy something for the robot, so she decided to go to Yokohama again. But when I think about it, it wouldn't have been so bad if I made it home on my own. That would really have been a good accomplishment, don't you think so?

Well, yes so after that we went to Hiroko sensei's house and had... *drum roll*... sushi!!! It was interesting... but I swear wasabi is soooo weird! I don't think I can stand it! Not because it's hot (Tabasco is still hotter, mind you!), but I think it just tastes sooo freakin' bad!

And today, April and I went to church, but it turns out that the mass today was at 9:30 because there was a bazaar. We thought it was 10:30 so we missed it. I did buy a nice, lil black hand bag at the bazaar for just 200 yen though. Definitely amazing! I could even throw it away after using it once and not mind!

After that, Astiti, Annie and I went to the International Student Lounge near Tsurumi station, which is like, sooo far away! We went there to register for Japanese language classes, like a tutor thingie. We had a "biscuit party" (ROFL) and met other foreign students from Korea and China, and some tutors. It was kinda interesting actually...

October 23, 2003

Java and falling leaves... (please connect!)

Thursday, October 23, 2003 Posted by Mary , , No comments
I've coded my first ever Java program by myself today. *grin* I didn't just copy it anywhere, I coded it. Heheheh. Isn't that just swell? I feel so accomplished, because I thought that while I was here, I wouldn't be able to do anything related to my course. Now, as it turns out, I'm doing lots of stuff! This Saturday, I am going to meet some students from Ferris who are making a robot for a contest in Nagoya next month. They don't know programming (C++), so I supposedly am going to help them. *blink blink* The question is, do I have enough knowledge to be able to do that?

Oh by the way, Uchida Sensei bought another copy of the book we're using and gave it to me. I am so grateful! I want to pay for it, but she won't let me. It's a really great book! It's interesting and beginner-friendly. Now I'm even more excited to learn Java!




Wait, I just saw the first leaves falling down from the trees in front of our school. They're in different colors: yellow, red, and brown. Wheeeeeee!!! *gathers leaves and throws them up in the air* My first fall! *lol* They're so pretty... I'll be sure to take a photo!

October 20, 2003

Hiroshima Report

Monday, October 20, 2003 Posted by Mary , , , No comments
Genbaku Dome (Atomic Bomb Dome) - Ground zero of the Hiroshima bombing


So here's my report about Hiroshima, I decided to post it here. I submitted this last night to the people at Ferris, coz they're gonna make a document with all the reports of the people who went on that trip.


There are things in the world we take heed of, yet sometimes there are certain instances where matters of great importance are just neglected.

Before I came to Japan, I only had very basic knowledge about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yes, I learned that a lot of people died, properties were damaged, and horrible aftereffects of harmful radiation were manifested immediately and even decades after the attack. However, for a catastrophy which did not even happen in my lifetime, and which took place in a country relatively far from my own, it is hard to imagine the real extent of the damage, and even much harder to feel the anguish victims might have felt on such a tragic event.

The moment we arrived in Hiroshima during the Japan Study Tour, we immediately went to Peace Memorial Park. The first thing we saw was the Atomic Bomb Dome, formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, standing ruined but proud more than half a century after the attack. That was my first glimpse on reality about the Hiroshima bombing, and I realized that the horrendous attack was not something to be taken lightly. It must have taken a very powerful blast for a strong structure such as the Exhibition Hall to be damaged so much, and I could not stop thinking that if buildings like that were damaged, then the damage to human life must have been unthinkable. It was there that I learned, upon reading an inscription near the building, that around 300,000 people were killed because of the attack. That number is indeed unimaginable.

We went around the park, exploring monuments which served as memorials for the unfortunate victims. There were monuments for children, teachers, soldiers, and students, among others. These people led different lives, and had different hopes and ambitions, but they all shared the same fate as they fell victim to the bomb on that fatal day of August 6, 1945.

When we entered the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, it was there that I fully understood the extent of the damage. The museum was amazing. The displayed pictures of Hiroshima before the attack made me think that it was so sad for such a bustling, developing city to have been reduced to dust. The miniature before-and-after models of the city were so in contrast that they totally shocked me. Such a big part of the city was damaged, and so many lives were lost. For me, the most heart-wrenching articles in the museum were the things left behind by the victims which were discovered by their loved ones later, and the sad stories and poems I listened to on the recorded audio guide I was using. Looking at the remnants of the attack, hearing the poems and stories, and seeing the pictures of the victims were extremely heart-breaking. There were even some instances when I almost cried.

In the course of the history of mankind, different nations and individuals have done numerous horrible deeds. The making and using of nuclear bombs is certainly one of these. Because of war, acts like these are oftentimes justified. But no matter how much a nation wants to defeat the enemy, and no matter how reasonable they might claim the intention to be, great efforts should be done for the loss of innocent human lives to be minimized. It goes without saying that weapons of mass destruction should be wiped out from the face of the earth.

In so many places around the world, people are ignorant to the existence of these killer weapons and the harm they could do to the human race. The city of Hiroshima is like a shining light in the battle for peace and nuclear abolition. I can say that I am truly lucky to have been given the chance to visit the city, for because of that, I have become aware, and now I can make my own little efforts in the pursuit of world peace.

October 18, 2003

Pumpkin Joint 2003

Saturday, October 18, 2003 Posted by Mary , , No comments
Today was English Students Society's (ESS) "Pumpkin Joint 2003". ESS by the way, is an organization of students from Ferris who want to explore the English language more. April and I joined it because we thought that maybe we could get something out of it, and we needed to do something with our time, too. Every Friday, we have luncheon meetings with them in one of the rooms at the University.


When they told me that there was gonna be a "discussion" today from 10:00 to 5:00, I wasn't very keen on it. You see, who would want to be in a single discussion which topic was about "wealth" for a whole day? But I dragged myself there, and to my surprise, it was a big deal! From the moment we came to the intersection near the campus gates, we saw girls holding placards saying "Pumpkin Joint". I thought it wasn't for ESS, but it was! It turns out, Pumpkin Joint is a yearly event hosted by Ferris ESS wherein they invite ESS members from other schools in Tokyo and Yokohama to come over and have a discussion. The venue was at a nice hall and there were more than a hundred students attending. All in all, there were representatives from 14 schools of Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba.

We were then grouped into six persons, and had one classroom for each group in the 7th Building. I was quite happy with my group. There were four girls and two boys. Our group leader was from Meiji Gakuin University, and she was an exchange student to the states for a year. Another member was from Ferris, and she also stayed in the US for two years. There was one girl from Tokyo University for Foreign Studies, a boy from a technology school in Tokyo, and another boy from Chiba University.

We had around an hour of introducing each other, had lunch, and then discussions about the topic. The girls were pretty good in English, and the boys could speak it, so I had no problem. It was a lot of fun actually. We had exciting "thinking" games afterwards, and I was actually a bit sorry when the joint ended. It was cool, and I made new friends. Contrary to what was expected, I really had a good time. Hmmm, sometimes that's the advantage of expecting the worst.

October 13, 2003

Twice in a row.

Monday, October 13, 2003 Posted by Mary , 1 comment
We had a Japanese cooking session yesterday. It was the second one actually, coz a few weeks back, we also had one. During our first session, we cooked tempura. Their tempura here is really great, not at all like the ones we have in the Philippines. Their tempura here are cut vegetables, or shrimp, dipped in flour and then fried. Yesterday, we made something called "norimaki" or sushi rice.


We went back to Yamashita Park yesterday. It was the final day of the festival, so it was really great. We were able to see a music performance by Cambodians, a Balinese dance, and a costume presentation from different countries. The Park was packed, but it was loads of fun. A lot of "gaijins" from different countries were there, and that was really cool. We met a Filipinos on the train going there and at the Festival, too. I bought a "kebab" from the Turkish booth which was really good, and a cheap book from another booth.

Today is a holiday, so no classes. *Yay!* A storm hit us this afternoon though, and thankfully, I was just in the dorm during that time. And boy, was it really nasty! It was the first time in my life that I really heard the wind howling. I'm on the second floor, and the sliding glass doors to my small terrace was facing the direction of the wind so I could really feel the wind hitting the glass. Because of the wind, the rain looked as if it was beating on the doors horizontally (which it probably was)! That's how strong the wind was! I think there are even some parts of Tokyo which are flooded. I saw it on the news, but wasn't pretty sure 'coz I couldn't understand what they were saying. I just heard the names of some places in Tokyo and saw flooded places on the screen.

The weather here is pretty unpredictable. At one time it could be warm and cozy, then it would suddenly grow chilly. And just this afternoon, after the storm, the sun was shining almost immediately. Weird, huh?

Today is my mother's birthday by the way. I'll be sure to call her in a while.

October 11, 2003

Tsukareta!!!

Saturday, October 11, 2003 Posted by Mary , , , , No comments
The title (above), means "tired" in Japanese. And that's exactly what I'm feeling at the moment. We've just gotten home from roaming around some of the nice areas in Yokohama.

We had been invited by one of our Korean friends out today, and so April, Astiti, and I, together with another Indonesian, Indri, went to meet Chong-gum (Korean) at the Ishikawa-cho Station. This station is located near the Chinatown area. Chong-gum's original idea was to bring us to Chinatown, but upon knowing that we had already been there, we ended up going to Yamashita Park instead, which has a really pretty boulevard. When we got there, we wondered why there was a group of people making a circle at the boulevard, and we found out that a white "gaijin" (foreigner), an American, I think, and speaking in Japanese, was having an act--sorta like street magic thingie. He was quite entertaining actually (didn't look bad either, but he had a companion who looked even better haha), and at the end he even juggled a ball, a stick with fire, and a chainsaw. Yes, a chainsaw. A chainsaw that was turned on. Yep, he was quite good. Of course, he asked for money from everyone... *lol* and people were so amused by his performance that quite a lot actually gave money. I wanted to give, but I had no change. Haha. (In Japan, if I say change, it means a few hundred-yen coins, mind you!)

We then took pictures of the Hikawa Maru, which was docked right beside where the "gaijin" was doing his "show". The Hikawa Maru is the only large Japanese liner which survived WWII. Now it's used as a restaurant and sorta museum. We would have went inside it, but we found out that the admission fee was too expensive. *Ugh!*

Yamashita Park


After that, we found out that there was an international food festival going on right there at Yamashita Park! There were booths from different countries, selling food... and we found the Philippine booth! They were selling arroz caldo, cucinta, barbeque and some other stuff at our booth. We also met girls going around the place wearing their national costumes. I have a picture of Astiti and Indri with three girls from Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. A bit later that, we befriended two girls, one was from Laos and was wearing a national costume, and the other one was Thai. It was a great experience, actually. Plus, I had my first taste of Indian food. It was quite good actually. We had some sorta Indian fried potatoes, and a really "oishi" one which looked like "polo" (of course I'm referring to the mint with the hole here) stacked together. It was supposed to have been made with lamb meat, and was spicy (not hot, just spicy). Ooh... loved it! And my first lamb meat! *heheheh*

After that we went to the Yokohama Doll Museum... and dolls galore! They were really very pretty, and depicted nationalies all over the world. Of course, I found Philippine dolls, wearing "Barong Tagalog" and "Maria Clara". Naturally, a large number of the dolls were Japanese, and showcased the many different varieties of Japanese dolls.


Yokohama Marine Tower

When it got dark, we went up to the Yokohama Marine Tower, which has an observatory at the top two floors. The tower is around 100 meters high, and the elevator they had was really cool! You could see the view around you while riding it and the ceiling had luminous stars! Of course, when we got to the top, the view was awesome! Yokohama is indeed beautiful, especially at night.

My feet ache right now, but I had a really great time exploring today. Plus, I put my camera to use for the first time. I hope I can post the pictures here soon!

October 9, 2003

Yes!

Thursday, October 09, 2003 Posted by Mary No comments
This is it, I've decided. This is going to be my new journal.

I'm going to post my last post from my 2nd, short-lived journal at Diaryland.

------

New technologies

11:04 a.m.
2003-10-09


Yesterday, we went to Yokohama and roamed around. And, I bought a digital camera! *yay!* It's an Olympus μ-20 DIGITAL model. It cost me about 50,000 yen in all, including case, and tax.



At the moment I'm at the IT Center again, reading a Java book entitled SAMS Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 Days. This book is Uchida sensei's and she's letting me read it 'coz we're gonna learn it together. It's quite interesting. Hmm.. I'm really looking forward to learning Java. Hopefully, when I go back home and study it in my curriculum, I will have an easier time.

-----

If you want to see my old journals though, here are the links:
     http://mfgab.pitas.com/10_30_2003.html
     http://mfgab.diaryland.com

Another day, another time, another journal.

Thursday, October 09, 2003 Posted by Mary No comments


And so here it is, again. A new journal. Fyi, I'm just testing out these sites to find out which is really the best one. Good thing is, this journal is very interactive--I think! 'Coz it allows people to comment on my messages. Hmmm. Not bad, huh? Well, let's just see what happens...