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*