winter makes me hungry

it's a fact when your body is cold, your body will counteract with producing as much heat as needed, and even though your body has so many fat, there'll be signals sent to the brain telling it it needs more resources from outside, thus the hunger.

a hungry me is definitely not the best state. the thing is i admit i'm not a good cook, nor i like to cook in the first place. so i can hardly produce any food by myself. i have to get it somewhere. but, winter really is not my best friend. in fact, i dread it quite a bit. while most people i know would be so happy to see snow, i'll smirk. it's hard to move, it's cold. even to walk to the nearest 7-11 is quite a task. like today, i just had spaghetti as dinner (thankfully there's instant spaghetti sauce for people like me), yet i'm now hungry again.

one thing i hate to be in japan is the ambiguity of the ingredient listed. easier said, i'll just be a vegetarian here. i would avoid all the things with meat or animal extracts, and resort to seafood stuff and vegan. yet, for all the processed food available out there, the most problem i'll encounter is these two: 'emulsifier'(乳化剤) and 'shortening'. both of them can be originated from either plants or animal. emulsifier is called by that name due to its function which is to stabilize an emulsion by increasing its kinetic stability of a food. on the other hand, shortening is a substance that prevents cross-linkage between gluten molecules. the problem for me here is those two can either originate from plant (which is okay) or animal (which is definitely a no). i mean, what's the use of listing ingredient by its function? is there anyone who is interested to know there is a substance in the food that is doing what kind of job. what i want to know is what it is derived from. just why can't you write down specifically 'lard' or 'vegetable fat' instead of shortening, those two functions to prevent cross-linkage between gluten molecules (just copypasting the above). don't vegetarian people in japan be conscious of these stuff? or there's practically no vegetarian here. oh yeah, here is asia after all. animal-sourced stuff maybe is cheaper and more economic for food manufacturing, but please be detailed in disclosing the information.

and oh, my bad when i made a call to the manufacturer, to confirm whether there's any animal-sourced ingredients or not, apparently dairy stuff also considered animal. err, and then i don't know how to ask further. how can i exactly ask them, anyone can teach me the exact term for those?

but i wonder why in other places i've been (talking big as if i've traveled the whole world, yet the number of countries i've gone can even be counted by one hand), i never had to bother with these? i mean, these are the common substances used in food industry. is japan (the famous advanced country) is the only who uses animal-sourced subtances as emulsifier? you see, how awkward to not be able to buy bread? i assume at the moment fresh-baked stuff at bakeries is okay as it's less likely to have these subtances. or should i ask every single time, "does this bun has lard? does this one too?". okay, i know no other ingredients than lard that i shouldn't consume.

babi.

the above is the name of their main source of meat, favourite for most. (okay, honestly i just wanted to mencarut)

yes, i'm hungry. i need to drag my feet to 7-11 and get my favourite dango which cost 105yen, and a 1L pack of lipton milk tea (anyone wanna inform me the emulsifier in it is animal-sourced?? i don't know how many hundred of litres i've drank so far).

or maybe i won't after all, it's cold. i'd rather be in my futon. oh no, i should be studying coz i haven't started at all!

okay, otsukare to all who's already done, and ganbarou who still have papers coming. mine starts next week

p/s: feast to the eyes. another delicious food i got to relish last weekend. maguro saikou!!!

.... (didn't even know i unposted this)

The last time i wrote here was about a month ago, and just like then, i'm still on a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions. And i could only laugh just like how i would when i ride the real rollercoaster.

I've been quite disappointed for quite a few things especially when it's regarding my own self. I'm questioning myself where had all the motivation gone and how to retrieve it, worried when i sense no crisis when i think i already should. I have no plan or whatsoever, and the things i'm doing at the present doesn't seem to be in good shapes, it makes my mental goes haywire. At times i took a breather, or should i say a lot of times? Well, they work as effective as placebo.

Okay, that's all for some soliloquy.

Now, i shall write by what's happening lately. I realized my english has gone worse when there's zero demand to use it here. In fact, japanese language has monopolized my language use including inside my head. I know i should do something when i start to have to translate things from japanese first in my head. As a countermeasure, i frequent the english lounge we have here a lot now. And i also took part in the lecturer's research which requires me to take ielts test, in the same time it enables me to know my current language ability. Well, the result significantly shows that i have a lot to improve. But surprisingly i did quite great in listening though i know that was certainly my weak point as i'm not exactly an auditory type of person. On another event but closely related, i was really at a loss for words when someone told me i exude good energy it made her feel good to be around, that was my first time to be told that, i don't know i should be flattered or what, i was simply astonished.

Moving on to another topic, i think i just managed to make miso soup! I'll try to make it again next time all by myself. I hope it'll turn out delicious like the one i made (supervised by my friend) the other day.



While writing this, i'm on a train heading to hachiouji as i'm having nothing to do after i forgot my reading materials at home. The heater located below the seat really makes my legs warm, in fact hot. i actually was (or still am) grouchy since the early morning, i keep listening to 2 songs in my ipod on repeat. As always, Solanin by Asian Kungfu Generation makes me calm. i also found DUGOUT by Radwimps to have a consoling effect too and made me curious with the lyrics as well. Usually Noda always amazes me with his words. I wish i have that kind of skill too, but maybe it's just because the way we think is different in the first place. Now that's something i can't really do anything about. Human minds are so wonderful just by the diverse ways it works by individuals, it makes the world so complex and colourful.

Okay i've been rambling randomly here. Now i just reached my destination, so Byebye

Sleepless in the futon

It's nearly 8pm and i've curling myself for about 2 hours under the blanket. Really want to sleep after staying up all night last night. But i'm still not asleep.

It has been a while since i last wrote nothing particularly worthy here. So let me just recount what happened today.

In the morning, starting from 2nd period, i got class. The first one was applied fluid dynamic. I remembered the lecturer mentioned about sonic speed airplanes, then i got asleep for the rest of the class until my friend woke me up as i was nearly producing snoring sounds. I'm glad i got a kind friend at times like these. Then, after lunch break the 3rd period was material engineering. We were learning about material strenghtening. There was something molecular stuff mentioned, even into nanoscale. But as always i can only stand half the class before i run out of concentration and can no longer pay any attention. Yet, the class still goes on even when i secretly hope the lecturer would just pause and stop talking for a while. It kind of makes me sick. What's greater, next week we got a test. -.-

The final class i got was human interface where my 2 close buddies just decided not to come. In previous 2 classes on the subject we were required to do presentation which is evaluated by all students aside from the teacher himself. and today, the result was announced. Who would've thought my group was the most highly evaluated. No, it's not exactly a good thing, we were required to present it again! but yeah, the person who was responsible for presentation was absent today, so it was up to me and another one member who were in charge of the slides. The sudden notice was quite a shock. That was my first time doing a presentation in front of others here, impromptu. Ditto.

Thankfully, when my stock of chocolates is running down at the moment, we were given chocolate as reward!

We made gyoza! +verbal descriptions

it's somewhat a chinese food but it seems like it's normally made in japanese home. so when my friend came over again last time, this is what we made.

apparently they usually use pork for the 'inti'/fillings but we replaced it with minced chicken. and actually we made 3 types of them. chicken kimchi, chicken miso and chicken umeboshi+cheese.

it was really yummy!

okay, don't ask me for the recipe. i only had to stuff the fillings into the skins and i managed to make that hideous curls (the 3rd picture is my first piece). eventually i was getting good at it though. and actually the gyoza is not fried like in the 5th pix, i had to borrow aluminum foil from others because i don't have the lid for my pan. they are somewhat steamed to produce the delicious gyoza.

oh gyoza! 餃子 <-- i just knew this is the kanji for it.

now i'm looking forward to what we will be cooking next time (or more accurately what Tsubasa-chan will cook). previously she made hamburgers too~~ (look below). but at least i already am resolute to learn how to make miso soup(let's see how serious i'll actually be). i love the miso soup that she makes each time, especially with the dearie mushrooms :D

practising english

recently i've frequented ERC lounge a lot. it's a place where people can freely come during the designated hours everyday and communicate in english, no nihongo(japanese language) allowed. i've made quite a few friends there with whom i enjoyed chatting. actually i'm not really that good in making a conversation, usually i just lost of idea what to talk of. honestly i think myself as a boring person to talk with, even while chatting to myself, i can be bored. oh, i'm starting to make a self-condemning post if i were to go on. better quit that, back to the topic, yeah i went there today as well.

i met a few people i've known from before and today i came along with one of my classmate, shouhei who's trying his best in english. he made quite a progress from few visits he has done so far. he no longer relies on the electronic dictionary as advised by ms. adriana who told him to utilise his brains more. he's still at an early stage in making a normal conversation so i tried my best to help him, but indeed i'm not a teacher material so it sometimes just get on my nerves when he's soo slow. luckily, there're a few students there who are actually going to be english teachers and they know how to handle such situation. phew~

so, the topic of the ielts came up when i saw Ken holding a book on it today. Ken is a good-looking guy who i'm not very shy to say "you got a really smooth skin, i envy you!" to him. i'm taking ielts this year (and for some reason next year too) as well given the chance to take it for free. since english is not really in use in my daily life as of lately, it kinda scared me off and i was reminded, one of the ways i use english is by blogging, which i've been quite away for a while. thanks Ken for triggering me to do this post. actually it's not like i'm not feeling to write an entry at all, in fact i have drafts here but it all remain as drafts but i couldn't finish it till the end. okay, the US trip entry only has one line so far. sometimes i've updated my livejournal first, that was quite inevitable as to how my fandom gets quite fierce lately.

and it made me down when Siri in iPhone4s just won't understand me. i'm glad i'm not using that or all i'll be throwing it away in tantrum.

the owner of the said iPhone is also my friend who just came to japan nearly a month ago from Thai whose name is Mai. with that kind of name and her look with fair skin, she's always been mistaken as a pure japanese. she just learned nihongo upon arriving here and she reminds me of myself a few years ago but in a way she's lucky to be in a whole japanese environment unlike me then. the other day we attended a some kind of party, and it was so amusing to watch Mai conversing with some nihonjin(japanese people), Mai was speaking in nihongo while the nihonjin is talking in english in return. to remind, both of them is a beginner in respective languages they were using. it was funny, i only look from the side and i can't help but to giggle all the way, it's too cute (girls really love to use this word somehow).

well, aside from that, there were a lot of events recently i'm just too lazy to update like one of the highlights of the year, the gakusai-school festival. it really worth an entry for it. or my trip to disneyland with my girlfriends-i'm so glad i managed to get close with them, it is so much fun. or more descriptions on the kouyou (watching autumn leaves) which i only put photos in my previous post. it was so stunning beyond words-is this a way to justify my action of only putting few visual proofs of it?. oh yeah, the US trip. in short, below is what my current state is (or hopefully is)

okay, i better blog more or i know my english language skill is rusting away in time. and also studying properly as i got a feeling i'm slacking off too much this semester.

p/s: as a way of thinking positively, recently the person i thought was being cold to me actually didn't know how to talk to me, and today i was glad to discover that was kinda true, i want to believe it's true at least. but, it made me reflect that so far maybe i've done the same thing to others, i often have no clue how to approach people, so in return perhaps they would see me as a cold person too. okay, maybe i'm just full of myself now

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

It's fall!!

A lovely autumn and it's getting to chill to the bones~

yosh!

days without solitude

are definitely the days i'll have more smiles on my face.

recently my friends have been coming to spend time together more. even in this cramped room, we can still have fun, make food, and sometimes sleep together. well, those are the times i love being in this room. my room which is so clattered, messy, untidy but cozy. we can talk about a whole lot of stuff, though at time when they talk too fast in japanese i can't even catch, but it's still fun.

one of the funny thing is when my friend spent the night, i woke up in the morning, and saw her in the futon and nonchalantly i asked,

"sedap tidur malam tadi? best kan futon tu?"

and i was wondering why she got such a perplexed face upon being asked that ^^"


and now we already have this sorta club of mechanical engineering girls, apparently only my batch has many girls (we have 5!) while other batches only have 1 at best among nearly 100 of boys. when i met the girl who is a junior a year under me, she cannot relax much but it turns out we are actually of the same age! next time, i hope he can wear off all that awkwardness.

so, when i'm spending my time alone in this room, something does feel not right for some reason. as much as i dread the coming monday which means school, i really look forward to it where we can have fun together again.

these things adorning my wall is my only companion on days like now

now, let's get all these works done!

the tohoku +a bit of hokkaido train trip (a tecchan travellogue)

i've long thought of travelling across nihon using trains, they even got this ticket called seishun 18 kippu that enables you to do so with less money, a good choice for those who has so much time to kill as it only allows you to use the local trains, no express or shinkansen. (more details here)

the problem was i have no one to travel with. well, it'll be very boring to spend time so much time on trains alone.

and suddenly, on a sunday night, i brought this plan upon my friend who surprisingly eager to do the same thing too! so right after the iftar, we bought the ticket, and then the next day, we took off! yeah, i love you, Arini Nuran to make my wish come true!

Baskin robbins a.k.a sa-tiwan

From the first time i went to indulge the srumptiliciousness of baskin robbin's ice-cream here, it took me less than a month to savor it for the third time already. But there's something quite different between the one in malaysia and in japan. It's how it is known.

The first time i went was on 31st of last month. It was chilly at the time, but who cares, there's discount! I invited my friend to go along with me (i don't wanna eat alone at the shop). So i gave a mail:

Me : there's discount at baskin robbins today right? I want to eat icecream, let's go together!

My friend : alright! Where's the place?

Me: i think it's very near to Saizeriya

My friend : u mean Sa-tiwan?

*it took me about a few minutes to figure out what he said, i was like "what korean word he's talking about now?"*

me : yea!

Apparently no one knows the name baskin robbins here. Even the website is www.31ice.co.jp they call it thirty-one (of coz with the katakana english). I wonder why they don't translate it fully like 'sanjuuichi'? Lol but yeah, it's really a delight especially in a hot weather like now. I'm still trying to get used with the recent heat. It's just like malaysia now. Wearing 2 layers nearly not applicable. Back to the topic, actually i also tried another place for ice-cream just the other day. They have many specialty menu with the icecream and they prepare it on the spot, like handling dough on the ice-cold stone slabs. btw, the shop's name is 'cold stone' (and aisya jLo mistook it as 'cold storage' at first :P) what makes it quite special is how merry the atmosphere they personally create! They practically sing a lot songs (mostly that sounds like nursery rhymes) every now and then while serving the customers. But maybe because they are simply attracted to our foreigner self, when it was our turn, they interviewed us instead. Maa ii ka, at least the icecream was truly delicious!!

 

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

Borborygmus

i just found an interesting word.

it's a word that describes what always happens to me recently. it simply means the growling of the stomach.

i just woke up and it makes that sound again.

by the time i'm writing this, it's about a quarter to 5 in the morning and it's already so bright.

this is the sight i get from my balcony at 4:50 a.m. passing that gate at the other side is my university. walking about 100 meters from there is pretty much the engineering department. i love my current house.

and actually yesterday i slept from nearly 8 p.m. until it was nearly 4 in the morning. i missed yesterday episode of BOSS!

okay, i should be grateful i woke up in time for Subuh prayer, but regrettable for the Isya' that i missed (never thought i could actually miss that one, astaghfirullah)

what happened to my body clock? it seems not to be in japan. this is not the first time. it's becoming frequent lately. even on the previous day too (but there was no drama i watch on the tv on that day, so i don't particularly care)

i just hope today it won't behave that way again, i have something to look forward tonite. yeah, nico!

jaa, mata!

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

the 7th weekend : yokohama (part one)

in the previous weekend, i spent time cooped up in my room, so i regained my momentum back, and there i go, more places added to my weekend diary.

to start it off, the journey there was epic. i mean, i would never ever forget that super clumsy me. the plan was to meet up with Ceca at shibuya station and together we would go to Lia's house. as we didn't particularly have any other plan to do on that Saturday, i thought i could complete my report first prior to going out in the afternoon. in fact the rendezvous was supposed to be at around 4:30, so stepping out of my house even after asar (half past 3) is still okay.

but no, i did not manage to complete the report, so i had no choice but to bring it along with me to yokohama. i dared not to finish the weekend with reports still undone, the dateline being monday. and i'm going to house of the geniuses after all, they can help me. so, i was busy packing my bag, the clothes, the netbook, the notes, the relevant books. thankfully my backpack fit all that. so, quite later than planned, it was nearly 4 p.m that i started off the journey. the closest train station(Minamiyono) only takes 10-15 minutes by bicycle from what i heard, so i guess i could just save 170yen if i were to go there by bus. paddling  the bicycle, i tried reaching there with the help of the map in the phone. okay, it was no 10-15 minutes, i got lost. and the route was partially hills, so it took more time than i thought. even to find where to park my bicycle took time too. i was ready to apologize to ceca coz i was about to be late. to reach shibuya, i also had to change trains. and then, here where the unexpected came-it was only a station away from shibuya. i realized i forgot a very very important thing at home!! 

i alighted at Shinjuku (can you believe it, it was already this far!) and took another train back to Minamiyono again. in 3 hours, i travelled so far just to reach the same point again. i'm relieved they don't charge you if you get in and out from the same station. quickly got on the bicycle again, and rushed to my house in haste. okay, this time it was truly in that 10-15 minutes range. entered the house again, took the stuff i forgot, drank water straight from the 2-litre bottle, and dashed out again. (let's count how many times i typed again) but i think my head actually got dizzy, i haven't eaten the whole day. so it was nearly impossible to reach the station by bicycle again. in the end, i  parked the bicycle in the campus and took the bus. yeah, the 170yen that i wanted to save got spent after all-with an extra 3 hours of time wasted.

what a long journey just to arrive here

so that was the journey. 

from shibuya to my final destination-Hiyoshi took another half an hour. so, when i arrived at Hiyoshi station, ceca was already with Lia and Iza. Hiyoshi is the station next to Keio University. i know those 2 girls hate this when i say this, but i when i reached the station, i really do feel the atmosphere where it's like smart-looking people are all around. there were a lot of students, perhaps on the way back from their club activities. i don't know how to describe this, of course, here the infrastructure is clearly different, even the people exude different aura. it's like a different world LOL. so, it was night when i arrived, though i can't view much of the surrounding, it was beautiful. 

my breakfast+lunch+dinner at otoya. ikan bakar. how nice if they also have sambal belacan or sambal kicap.

and of course, desert included

the next day.... (continued to next post :P)

p/s: and i just remembered i still have the bicycle in the campus as of now

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

and we were taught the wrong one all along

know how the school textbook sometimes don't exactly teach the right thing? and it stays like that until no one knows when.

so today was Seminar (i don't know how to explain this, but let's just say it's a subject where we're exposed to the research labs, something like that). for the past half semester, it was only like a class session with the sensei from respective research labs giving lectures explaining stuff regarding the topics related to their labs. as any lecture may be, those were as effective as sleeping pills. sorry sensei m(_ _)m

so, from this week onward, we're split up into 4 different major labs. there were Fluid Dynamic, Machining, Control Engineering and Thermodynamic. fortunately i got the one of my choice-fluid dynamic. coz it just seems interesting. as my sensei says, choose something you like, and this one involves aeroplane.

and here, like i mentioned, we learn about planes. yeay, i love this! so, we went at the meeting place and the sensei later arrived. seems like we were to watch a DVD for about half an hour.

it's a video about migrating birds. rather than 'about' the birds, it only 'shows' the bird. half an hour watching birds flying and flying through the globe, with barely any narration. how i think the video is actually a video for relaxation or somewhat. well, it does have a soothing effect like a healing video for stressed people.

okay, the point here was only to spot the difference between flying mechanism of living things (bird) compared  to human inventions (okay, now i wonder why 30 minutes are needed for that sole reason). so, we were asked to explain how exactly things fly. the stuff about lift and all. this reminds me a lot to Ishimatsu-sensei. i was like, "why the heck don't i remember much of the contents of what he taught me before?".

so, the 7 of us tried to remember what we've learned so far, and the explanation that there are pressure difference due to the different velocity of air above and below the aerofoil. i sensed something when the sensei was not really satisfied but i had no clue at the time. he even asked us why exactly the air that split at the front of the aerofoil must meet at the tail. of course, we were puzzled too. well, the above explanation was generally what we were taught during school and i've remembered it like that ever since.

if only i remembered Ishimatsu-sensei's class...

so yeah, that kind of explanation(the so-called "principle of equal transit times") is already obsolete. and i only discovered that after i returned home and surfed the net. when i read it here, it all makes sense. and i'm pretty sure i've heard/read this same explanation before, but it just didn't stick in my mind. like how 'Newton Law' or 'Air Viscosity' play a role in lift. we are people, and we forget stuff.

and i got to do this as a report, and present the findings next week. i wish my nihongo won't fail me.

so, how i wish they teach the right things from the beginning. sometimes, the memory of the first contact with something is the one that lasts long. like how i still remember there are 4 different area of taste on our tongue, and they still haven't introduced umami in textbook yet, have they? and i still cannot remember the correct chemical reactivity series, there was a bit of confusion when the one i remembered from high school is different for when i entered university, is there really any difference?


btw, i'm happy today i got to remember the names of the members of our group, hopefully i'll still remember when i'm gonna meet them next week^^ *nagasu*tomoi*minami*matsunaga*matsuda* just typing down to not let me forget, at least i'll try not to mix up all these

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

note before the end of may

the end of may means half of my semester are already done with

while i'm still clueless about most of the classes.

the end of may also means, june's approaching.

my read-book-list still haven't increased since the early april.

what has become of my a-book-a-month target?

nevertheless, i read a few volumes of manga (like i expected, Waltz is truly a great purchase):D


now i hope i could finish the novels stuck at the rack beside my bed.

i wonder just when i can finally be a great time manager to be able to spare time for those.

as i am currently a queen of wasting time.



dame da!

p/s: and yet again, i'm eating instant noodle for dinner. no wonder my head seems not to be functioning at its best.

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

day 40 -sushi-

it really took me a long time to update things here.

and already 40 days has passed since i first set my foot on this land.

but then, only yesterday i got to eat sushi for first time in nihon.

it was really fun. of course, time spent with friends are always enjoyable. and funny and everything else.

better than doing things alone, right?

yeah, i've infected with kawabe's style of blogging with line by line basis. (note: kawabe is the drummer for one of my fav bands, WEAVER and he blogs almost everyday here)

well, coz it seems easier and neater to look. compared to this one sensei's writing on the board. he really writes things anywhere he feels like it, nowhere everything on it is in any particular order.

i think i've been spoiled too much by a lot of sensei who write everything so neat, easy to copy straight to my notes. now i'm troubled. i even got a test for that particular subject this monday.

i think i've started to 'mengumpat' or more familiar in english, grapevines gossipping. lol

so, why don't i just continue?*evil grins*

back to today's event, like i said, it's fun and indeed FUNNY. how something i predicted actually came true. how people's behaviour can be that easily foreseen is amusing. i read a lot of shoujo manga so it's funny how to see stuff often illustrated in manga to be before my own eyes. like how someone has a crush on another, and obviously shown yet barely gets any response.

somehow, i feel sorry.

okay, now i feel bad. but the fact i find it amusing to watch is not a lie.

nevertheless, it was really enjoyable, eating sushi and all. thanks to all these people. but then, look at the difference of the number of plates on both tables. respectively there were 4 boys and 3 girls yet the number of plates is greater on the girls' side. gyaku janai??

また遊びに行きたいな～

p/s: i got a sorta test tomorrow, yet i can still update blog?

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

to be honest

living alone is simply lonely.

lol. talking about the obvious.

but yeah, when i go to classes, i do meet my friends but then, when i returned home, there's no one but me alone.

only when it's the weekend, it feels lively, which requires a bit of effort to go somewhere with people i know, and spend time, no matter how trivial it is. or for some stupid reason, like i can't do my homework alone in my room, so i took the trains to go to the neighboring city.

i cleaned up the room after a while, yet i still can't find the lost wallet. and it still has 10 singapore dollar in it. well, thanks to my habit of spending every last yen i have in the wallet each time i shop. yeah, i went shopping again last week. an unplanned one as i only intended to only go to Ueno Zoo.

i managed to see giant panda for about 30 seconds.

the giant panda was behaving like a sloth.

just like how i'm feeling most of the time.

so, what i'm going to do this weekend?

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken

GW '11

ohisashiburi~~~

yappari, typing from the big keyboard here at the computer still gives a better feeling. and i can type faster.

so, as the title goes, this is so as to not forget the first golden week i had here. just for some who doesn't know, you might like clicking here to get a clue of what i'm talking about. this is a prized holiday since there will be no holidays excluding the weekends until we finish our exam, that is in July.

for this year, the golden week is a bit inconvenient. it's a friday off bundled with the weekend, and three days more off in the middle of the next week. so, the monday of school sandwiched in the middle of these two  was really demotivating.

so, part one-Friday till Sunday (29th apr~1st may)
on friday, i went to shinjuku with Arini. only two of us wandering into the complete unknown roads of shinjuku by ourselves. the original plan was to spend the day shopping so that was what we did. but unlike me who brought back about 10 pieces of clothing, arini barely shopped for anything except for a few. ate kebab for brunch at a shop with such a friendly owner, and finally some food that i can call hot.

for saturday and sunday, it was a gathering for the sisters at a campsite in Seseragi somewhere in Saitama. yeah, we were really close with nature. the water is like icewater. and then i'm plunged back into the town life of saitama (though the prices of stuff are high here, but it's still not a city) for the Monday.

and goes to part 2!! Tuesday till Thursday (3rd~5th May)

and Tuesday came, holiday mood again!  in fact, we went into a lott of places in that single one day. On that day, it's me and Arini again and also Aisyah Jlo~~ Takuya offered to show us the around, that's so kind of him. he also brought along his Korean girlfriend who is shy but friendly. so, first we made our way to Harajuku. 

it was so packed with people we could hardly slip through the massive crowd. after being there for about an hour, we retreated and headed for lunch at shin-okubo, somewhere a station away. ate at a thai restaurant after united with another bunch making a table of 10 people at the cramped place. well, not bad but i guessed i've just picked the wrong menu, it's not that amiable to my tongue. and afterwards, a bit of detour for someone was looking for a specific store, it was cloudy but we still went for ikebukuro. thanks to the guide of the day, without much ado, we reached our destination-Nekobukuro! it's located at the most upper floor of some building, the rest of the building is Tokyu Hands store. we entered the premise and there they were, a bunch of cats lying everywhere. i mean, they just lie and do nothing. so inactive perhaps tired from being an exhibit all day every single day. well, i won't be surprised even if these cats are intentionally sedated or something, coz they are just plain lazy to move at all. like this sleeping cat, we were tired too so we called the day off and 3 of us returned to Jlo's house in Chiba~

 Wednesday, the real reason of our sleepover at Jlo's house. we were invited to join a sort of manager at Jlo's residence to go fishing~ well, i never thought i'll see a japanese rice field by now. where i live at, it's all concrete. here at somewhere in chiba, it's quite a village. beside the field, the waterway houses some fishes, honestly we were surprised to find we're actually fishing here. we originally thought we're going to some river or somewhere. but more surprisingly, we weren't the only one fishing there, though not as much as people flocking in harajuku, but cars and vans are lined along road. the result: 2 tiny fishes both caught by the expert Arini.

 Thursday, picnic at Shimizu Kouen. originally there was no plan of this but it just happens that some senpai are going there on that day, so we stayed at Chiba for another night and joined the crowd.

so, before we go separate ways, together we entered a flower garden. the fee is quite the same as entering nekobukuro. though we were off the season a bit, the flowers that are present are simply magnificent. i guess this one deserves a post of it's own to show it's whole spectacle. 

and the next day came, it was school again before another weekend. so on to part 3? 

hehehe, until the next post ;)

Location:Saitama University, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken