Happy Chinese New Year!

My internet line'll be cut off tomorrow so there probably won't be posts for some time... ( T__T ) I thought I'd update that list I posted since I just dowloaded some batches in the last minute...

Kumo no mukou (movie)

Night Head Genesis [c]
Xenosaga [c]

LoL. I'm turning into an anime freak. Well... maybe not too much... since I don't think I've watched properly even half of what I have now haahhaha...

Adeline, Susan and Siti came to Kobe today so we (with Aurelie) met up in Sannomiya and walked to Chinatown to see what it was like... then ended up walking all the way to Harbourland too. Instead of having a chinese lunch, we had Indian. Curry and nan etc. ... LoL what a way to spend the day.

Now I'm bumming in my room again... same thing I've been doing the past 2 days... only yesterday I got so lethargic I went out (even though it's gone back to freezing cold here, and it was raining) and I walked for nearly an hour... =__= I didn't even break a sweat when I came back. I wanted to walk more but it was late and it was coooooldddd. So back under my uton again.

Like now. Man I'm so happy that I have an electric blanket. I don't know what I'd've done without it this winter.

Oh well.

I'm off to hibernate again. Tomorrow I'm cleaning my room. ... ... Tomorrow... ... I hope (^_^;)

Congratulate me!

I'm on holiday officially now!! Woohooo~! I'm so happy happy happy~~~

I'm sooooo happy right now~~~

I have loads of time tomorrow to clean my roooomm (inseart heart icon here) hahahaha....

And just for the people in Brunei... I know that making a list seems childish (to myself at least) but I just wanted to show my siblings, (Mom! Could you make sure that the boys read this at least!) the anime you can expect to leech off me after I come back... Feast your eyes on the list below:

Ah My Goddess [c]

Ah My Goddess ~Sorezore no Tsubasa~ [c]

Air Gear [c]

Angelic Layer [c]

Asatte no Houkou

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

Basilisk [c]

Black Lagoon [c]

Black Blood Brothers [c]

Busou Renkin

Code Geass

Coyote Ragtime Show

Death Note

D.Gray-Man

FLAG

Full Metal Alchemist [c]

Gatekeepers [c]

Ghost Hunt

Gintama

Gravitation [c]

Harukanaru Toki no Naka de [c]

Haru wo Daiteita [c]

Higurashi no Naku koro ni [c]

Honey & Clover [c]

Honey & Clover II [c]

Jigoku Shoujo [c]

Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori

Jyu Ou Sei [c]

Kanon

Kaikan Phrase [c]

Kekkaishi

Kiba

Kyou Kara Maou [c]

Kyou no Go no Ni [c]

Le Chevalier D'Eon

NANA

Naruto [c]

NHK ni Youkoso [c]

One Piece

Ouran Highschool Host Club [c]

Princess Princess [c]

Read or Die [c]

Red Garden

Saiunkoku Monogatari

Saiyuki Reloaded [c]

School Rumble [c]

School Rumble 2 [c]

Shounen Onmyouji

Spiral [c]

Soukou no Strain

Sukisyo [c]

Tenpo Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya [c]

Tokimeki ~only love~

xxxHoLic [c]

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

Yoake mae yori ruriiro na [c]

You're Under Arrest [c]

[c] of course means complete. Yes I know, I'm insane. I'm so insane. My external HDD went full several times already and I had to ask Adeline to burn out so much for me... (then again, one must be aware of the fact that Adeline has the same collection as I do... and more. Since she's got the complete Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny and Fushigi Yuugi and most of Inuyasha etc etc etc....... =__= she literally has a treasure box of them. ... oh how I salute her hahahahah

Happy Valentine's

It's raining here... how depressing. I went to the Immigration Centre today to apply for an extension for my visa. It was so depressing to walk from the station to that stuffy-looking brown building (the inside was pretty classy though... it was the exterior...). Then after that (since Aurelie and I went together), we stopped by Starbucks... both of us a little sulky because of the depressing rain.

Then we decided to walk to Animate, this anime merchandise store for a pick-me-up, and it did cheer me up a little bit. But it was still raining. How depressing. I got to chat with Farah online which cheered me up a bit, but now I've got to start writing a report and I feel so depressed again.

... ... ... Hahaha I was challenging myself as to how many times I can say depressing before getting tired of the word. That's about it. The rain's stopped. Maybe I'll postpone that report until after I watch an episode of Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. Hahahahaha... samurai anime.

I got this song stuck in my head...

Unbreak my heart

Say you'll love me gain

Undo this hurt that you caused

When you walked out the door

And walked out of my life

Uncry these tears

I cried so many night

Unbreak my heart...

KUSO.. It was all that party's fault... I haven't been able to get this song out of my head for ages now.

Aurelie's Birthday Dinner. The whole gang plus some more people.

But you don't see me in there so-

muhahaha... then again this is me preparing to go out... my hair's a little messed up... I tried to use these curlers to make it more Japanese-y but... hahaha as you can see my hair didn't curl (or fluff up that much either!).

Oh and remember when I mentioned before that I went all around Nipponbashi/Namba with Daniel and Adeline last weekend?

This is a picture of... well form an overpass of a main road going through Nipponbashi (yeah... Nipponbashi I think... I think hahahaha)

this is facing right!

still facing right! I just want you to see the big gundam poster! (^__^)

facing left!

facing front and up!

It was pretty fun that day... though I nearly dropped dead from all the walking... Daniel too I think... Adeline is so... genki. She was still all bouncy with her step towards the end. Sasuga... a true woman's shopping endurance is high!

Speaking of fun times with Adeline- I was bored and tried to do her hair one day... You can't see that much though but I put curlers all over her head at the time...

hahahahhaha....

Weekly report...?

Wahoo my exams are over... one more report to finish and I'm home free~ haha.

I went to Gaidai on Friday last week (since I don't have any more classes) and went off searching for familiar teachers (and met them all really). I was looking for Shimamoto-sensei, my history teacher in Gaidai, but while searching for him I stumbled over Itou-sensei, my Friday-Japanese class teacher, who also teaches in Kobe U. but it was a while since I last said hello and he was surprised enough as it was apparently. It was a nice face to see around Gaidai again... his classes were the most interesting then, I think hahah.

Then I found Shimamoto-sensei, said my greetings and on my way down I saw Atsuta-sensei through the elevator doors and we had a nice, brief chat too hahaha... then after I put my stuff down in Adeline's room, I went back to CJLC to look for Yamakawa-sensei who was my homeroom teacher... and I met him just as he left the elevator I was going to take to go up to his office. And who just stumbles over us on her way off- Adeline (who also has him as her homeroom teacher) hahaha... Very... weird day it was.

I nearly forgot but part of the reason why I went to Gaidai was to have that dinner with Ruo Lin and other Malaysians... which started at almost 10pm I think.... So late.... But it was so fun anyway... we were all bullying Adeline too... hahahahaha poor girl.

The next day we went to Namba... met Daniel for lunch and walked around there Nipponbashi, Shinsaibashi for nearly 6 hours... I was dead tired at the end. We walked so much partially because... I was looking for an Evangelion robot model for my brother... which was amazingly hard to find.... =_= but then I finally found it! hahaha.... (T_T) I felt like an otaku boarding the train back with it but anyway. Gaijin will be Gaijin.

THEN! On the way back to the apartment with Adeline... this Jamaican guy just came up to us, introduced us to his 3 japanese (female) friends and called us off to a barbecue at his friend's house.... It was so weird to me... and I tried to say no... but I guess I was just too tired... so we ended up going... and it was actually nice. The Jamaican guy turned out to be a writer of sorts and the friend whose house we were at was an artist (nicknamed JD... J.D. ... hmmmmmmm) his art is exhibited in the Modern Arts Museum somewhere on the western side of Kobe. And he has a pet snake.

It was so weird... but we got to make good friends with these 3 Japanese ladies... they were so nice. But it's still.... the whole encounter was just weird... hahaha. Apparently this is normal behaviour in the west... but still... *sigh* anyway.

Sunday was Aurelie's birthday! We left for Shin-Osaka, the three of us, met up with Ruo Lin and then went to a Koto concert (japanese traditional instrument). But then me, Adeline and Ruo Lin left half-way... for Sannomiya... because... we wanted to go to Animate! Hahahah (fyi. Animate is a place filled with manga... anime figures and spin-off merchandise.) I got myself some more manga... I really have to stop buying books... my shelves are filled to the brim and there are books in my room I wasn't even sure were there! =_= For example when Ruo Lin came to stay over at the apartment with Adeline she just picked up a book from somewhere in my room and started reading it... I hadn't even noticed that I put it there!

Anyway, I jumped the story a little bit... that night we celebrated Aurelie's birthday at Liliana's dorm. Adeline and Ruo Lin helped me cook... omg I forgot the spelling??? KweTiaw? KueTiao? HAHHAHAHAH Anyway I cooked that as per Aurelie's request. Liliana cooked spaghetti, Mihaela cooked pancakes... and everybody we knew well were there... it was so nice ^__^We started cooking at 7pm (cooking while talking and playing around in the kitchen even.... we were so noisy) and then... We basically adjourned at 10pm after a round of singing in the kitchen... songs like.. "Unbreak my heart.... say you love me again" "I love you baby and if it's not okay I need you baby lalala lalala..." "All by myself.... don't wanna be all by myself..." "Take me home... country road... to the place... where I belong......" Okay we were crazy singing like mad in the kitchen until 11pm where after the big group we ended up being Aurelie, Adeline, Ruo Lin, Amin (Morocco), Liliana and just me... moving to the TV room to watch Ghost Hunt (anime) ahhaha... until exactly midnight... when me and the girls and Aurelie went back to Rokko by train (they stop running at 1am... Japan is amazing)... crawled back up to the apartment and finally KO'd there... this morning hahahah.

What a week.

Update!

It's been a while since I've been able to update. January 23rd was the last one so... well what has been happening lately?

January 23rd was the main week of my exams... It was either I had report deadlines, project deadlines, presentations or exams. Not a day of rest this week nu-uh. So on the 22nd I had to hand in my English report. I went up to Uni (I don't usually on Mondays) and printed it out, talked to the teacher and everything. It wasn't so hard... but I was also finishing up my powerpoint presentation project to be handed in the next morning. On Tuesday I also had a French test. It was about translating a piece of text so there really was nothing much I could study except to cram for vocabulary so I could translate faster. It was French to Japanese translation, the teacher offered to let me do it French to English but I pointed out that he wasn't very comfortable with English- gak! It was so rude of me, and I'm still so very sorry! But I was being stubborn about it and I said I would translate it to Japanese... then look what I ended up doing! There was the piece of text and I was scribbling the meanings of unknown vocabulary in either Japanese or English, and then in the blank space at the bottom of the paper I translated it to English and then in the actual answer space I answered in Japanese. ...I'm so silly, I should have just said yes to translate it to English if I was bound to do it anyway.... This is where being stubborn gets me.

Then came Wednesday! My presentation fo Japanese Communication class... my presentation... was on Oguri Shun! i.e. Hanazawa Rui from Hana Yori Dango (Japanese version) Haha... He's so cool! I made a mock-presentation in front of my Japanese friends to see how it sounded and let them correct me, and they were all laughing their heads off... guess I sounded too much like a fangirl... but Oguri Shun is SO kakko-ii ... coolnesssssss.

Thursday! Was when I had to hand in my other English report, which wasn't so hard really but I had an exam that morning about "the Science of Shape" or I guess that's the direct translation of it. That was definitely not my kind of class. I don't know what to do about that really... I've a feeling that I didn't pass. I think this was the toughest class I've attended yet really. Taking into consideration I had no Japanese friends I was familiar enough with attending that class. Trouble right from the start. But anyway... I did what I could.

Friday! That was when I had to give a presentation to Kelly's class (the one on Irish culture). I did one on Celtic-based Aquatic Mythological Creatures. (He asked me why I forgot to talk about the Irish faeries i.e leprechauns etc, but I said it was aquatic... so ha! -evil laughter- I know what I'm talking about. I specifically said aquatic too. Hee.... Then off I went! To Gaidai! I went and stayed over at Adeline's again hahaha... this week it was special, because they were celebrating Ruo Lin's birthday! (Have I ever mentioned Ruo Lin here? She's a girl from Malaysia and she and Adeline are just inseparable! hehehe Cute..) Adeline and a friend of hers had this idea of making Ruo Lin search for her present by doing Treasure Hunt. And birthday-girl plus friends (making a 10-strong group) went in search for clues and such throughout the entire of Gaidai for no less than 2 and a half hours! That was one loooong Treasure Hunt. But they said it was fun, and when it was all over... we just barely had time to rest and then! Out of simple spontaniety! We went to KARAOKE! All night long woo~~ I'd been dying to go for so long (even though my throat was sore and my nose was constantly blocking so I had to use this spray medicine once every 4 hours to clear it up haha... I really wanted to go)

The next day I woke up at almost noon... Then I had to go back to Kobe since I had a movie date with Aurelie to watch The Departed, which was by the way was nice, that night. Adeline couldn't resist the temptation of going to Kita-Senri (the train station closest to Gaidai) for lunch at the Semba Curry shop! Semba Curry rocks!

So after the movie on Saturday I rested pretty well at night, and then! Sunday! I went to a concert... if a concert one calls it. It was a choir, lead singers, and an orchestra. Yup, the conductor, the violins, trumpets, flutes, organ and everything! Haha... It was really nice and relaxing. One of Aurelie's Gaidai teachers, a teacher I'm very familiar with too, was singing at that concert. This was one weird day. I can't remember exactly what Aurelie and I were up to this day but we were going around so much! The concert ended around 4... so we decided to go to... Sannomiya I think to go do a little shopping. Oh yeah! It was to buy a new lamp for the kitchen (which we did find and it was pretty nice too)... but then we walked off to the Shopping Gallery in Motomachi too... this is pretty long... I would suppose that the Gallery that extends from Sannomiy to Motomachi should be about 3km or longer. Maybe longer. I think it is longer. 3km or so and shops left and right... a pretty typical scene in Japan. Hmm... then again I think the Gallery of Sannomiya-Motomachi might not be as long as the one in Tenjimbashi-suji 6-chome in Osaka... and definitely not as long as the Honmachi-Namba Galleries, but it was long and interesting enough. We went to this bakery she liked that was apparently baking bread exactly like the one in France. It was nice (insert heart icon here) I love croissants!

Anyway, so we head back to the apartment after a brief stop at La Pausa, Sannomiya (for a light snack), then! We walked all the way back down to Rokko-michi (15-20mins downwards slope) and had sushi! And who did we meet there? Chris! This guy from Poland who was off to meet this dentist friend of his. And what did we decide to do just then? Karaoke! Hahahaha.... It wasn't exactly two days in a row of Karaoke but it felt like it, but since we only stayed for an hour and a half, my voice was spared.

Monday was not so busy. (Finally a mini-break!) THEN came Tuesday.... when we went to karaoke... again! Oh my goodness we are all crazy. 3 times out to karaoke within the span of a week. This time my voice really did break. It was horrible and scratchy after that. But then what ho! When Wednesday came! ... actually I think I stopped coughing so much by Wednesday... haha. Thursday wasn't so eventful either. (Thank goodness! It had been one long week since exams started... Is this what one calls balancing work and fun? Hahah... weird).

Friday! February 2nd... was nice. It was the day of my French oral test... and after the last of Kelly's classes the girls in my class, actually we all just kind of accidently bumped to each other and then all of a sudden we all ended up grouping in the cafeteria... studying French all afternoon long. It even snowed! Actually it was the first snow this Winter! That should tell you how weird winter is this year in comparison to last year's! Last year it first started snowing in mid-December... I think? Oh no, I think it was more like late-ish December, but it was in December! And now it's February! It snowed last Friday, and it feels like Spring weather now! ..... Global warming?? Oh dear I hope summer this year won't be as hot as it was 2 years ago too... Last year it was at least bearable... considering it gets hotter than Brunei here too.

Anyway! So we had our French test and we were all supposed to go out to a French restaurant but! It was cancelled because of the snowing. Snow on not so-cold days = melting + lowing temperatures during the night = freezing = ice = slips on roads = car accidents etc. The teacher lived pretty far away and he was using a car so he couldn't stay too late at night or else he wouldn't have been able to get back at all. *refer to snow turning to ice on roads theory. So, we couldn't go. But! Kyoko (this really good friend of mine) said she just couldn't feel satisfied with the outcome so we dedided to go out to an Izakaya. Izakaya = Japanese pub. Hmm I wouldn't know how to explain what an izakaya is and how it differs from other types of pubs because I haven't been to any other pubs before... but it's your basic restaurant, but you have dividers? Um... there are these walls and stuff keeping you isolated from other customers (way to keep privacy) and it's always noisy. But it really just boils down to your basic restaurant. But the food was so good... Fried garlic potatoes. Heee. It was so fun, we stayed till nearly 11pm and then we decided to adjourn. It was only 7 of us girls there though... the 3 guys didn't want to come and one of the girls had to get back early. But it was so fun! A true experience with a group of Japanese people! It really was so nice because it really felt that I was assimilating well with them. You know the whole problem they always talk about foreigners not being able to assimilate well into Japanese society.

I've been wondering about that lately really. Is it because I have an Asian mentality which is why I think that I've assimilated alright enough? I mean assimilation into groups in Asian societies have different priorities and criteria than other societies... right? Well that's what I think really. Hmm... But it was so nice to be a part of a group again.

Adeline was over for the weekend! It was fun. I was trying my best to get myself in the mood to write this one report I had to hand in on Monday (yesterday) on International Relations. But I just couldn't get in the mood. I ended up sleeping at 4am on Sunday after I finished my English draft and then woke up and left for Uni a little after noon... then continuing to the computer lab of the Foreign Students centre to type for nearly 3 hourse straight everything into Japanese... which I finally finished to do by 4pm. Then I ran to my campus, bought a stapler since I lost mine (again), photocopied the newspaper article which was supposed to be my reference, met a friend who was finishing up hers too.... then handed it in at half-past 4... The deadline was 5pm... so... phew. I am never going to do that again! It's so stressing to do things at the last minute... =_= then again if you're not in the mood to write... you're not in the mood. It's so haarddd! I wish I had a switch I could flip easily!

And now here I am about to read some books for tomorrow's exam.... on Culture and Economic Exchange... I guess you could call it. I know what essay I'll be writing about roughly already... but I still need a little bit more material... Life is weird. I'm planning to go over Adeline's place this Friday (since my last exam is on Thursday... and I have one more report deadline on the 15th, but since I already have information on that, and it's Kelly's class so I'm supposed to write it in English anyway!). I have no more classes! Wee....... ehehhe~

Over and out. Holidayyyy~~ come to meeee~~~ *dances*