american idol

the AI fever has started a few weeks back. they are now on their 14 episode. my friend, emman, seems to be obsessed with the show. she wrote in her blog about her dreaming of AI. i haven't dreamt of the show. so that means i'm not that obsessed with it.

it sure is fun to watch. :) i hope the contestants that i like would make it to the top 12.

on another topic, someone revived the eros forum. that was a great idea. now, i can spam whenever i want to. i can be updated with the other erosians, most of us have already moved on, evident on the top page:"resignation is only the beginning...".

goodbye, ja.. see u again soon!

saturday. we had breafast first before we took a bath and left. i left my bags in lloyd's apartment and came back for it later. jay and i then went to kamioooka to look for apartments there. lily and lloyd went somewhere. jay had a class that day. so, i planned to go to shinkawasaki w/ lloyd and lily later.

at kamioooka, we went to this place near the station where we saw some posts about apartments for rent. the kind lady there suggested a place. it was only 11mins walk, a 2DK bedroom, one room is tatami, the other is western. the cost is 67k. plus a maintenance fee of 1k. we said it's a bit over our budget, and she said the maintenance fee can be waived. then later she said the rent can be lowered to 63k. good news, indeed. we went to another real-estate agency a little further but the ones the lady found were a bit expensive, and when she inquired, they are not too keen on having foreigners. she suggested we check-out the other real-estate guys. we tried to look for them, but we only took some brochures 'coz we were already hungry. we ate at lotteria, then went to yodobashi to print some photos (they are for future greeting cards). we had a difficult time looking for the machine that can print 4 pictures in 1page. luckily, we found it. jay was already late for his class. we took the keikyu line train. i got off at yokohama, jay continued to shinagawa. luckily, when i arrived at the bus stop, the bus was still there and there was still a line. this time, the ride took only 15minutes.

at lloyd's apartment, lloyd still wanted to take a nap but lily ann was already preparing the things they will bring and she had to consult lloyd about it. i wanted to go to shinkawasaki already, so i insisted that lloyd should take a nap in shinkawasaki instead. i also contacted henrison, asking if they are on their way and if they can find their way to jaja's apartment. they decided to wait for us at the station. at yokohama, i still looked for a psp pouch. so, henrison and ken were already waiting at shinkawasaki eki when we arrived. we walked to leopalace 21 joy and on the way, ken added a few names to the resigned engineers list we already have for last week. in rj's room, we played naruto. lily ann sent a message that we should go and buy the chicken before jaja arrives.

here's the secret...surprise... jaja's farewell party was supposed to be a kkb dinner somewhere. i suggested shinkawasaki denny's since nanay suggested we throw a surprise party for jaja. early last week, i asked jaja if her farewell party pushed through last weekend. she said she was busy, so there was no party. i asked if she still has plans. she's thinking, but only kkb since she can't cook anymore 'coz her things need to be shipped on sunday, feb25. kkb since she can't afford to spend a lot by treating others to dinner outside. it would cost too much. but it's sad if there would be no farewell party. since nanay wanted to have a surprise party, i thought of a good plan. i suggested the kkb dinner at shinkawasaki's denny's. i told jaja we should meet at their apartment at 630pm and hopefully start dinner at 7pm. i contacted all invited guests (including jaja, 12 ppl: tatay, nanay, lily, lloyd, jay, ryze, grace, joel, rj, henrison, ken) and told them about the plan. they were enthusiastic (i guess) and agreed to cooperate.

so... lily ann, lloyd and i walked to kfc. on the way, we passed by summit, a grocery store. since nanay and tatay will be arriving late (they got stuck in traffic somewhere), we don't have any chopsticks, paper plates & cups. so, lloyd volunteered to buy these things as well as the apple pie (mcdo). lily and i proceeded to go to kfc. we ordered 18 red hot chicken, and 4 original chicken, and 1 coleslaw (i took each person's order). they would be ready in about 25minutes, so they gave us complimentary drinks while we wait. i wanted to order the thigh part but the girl said it would be difficult to have 18 chicken of only 1 part. so, i just said it's ok, as long as there would be no wings. while waiting, jaja already contacted us because it was almost 7pm. i apologized, saying we hope to be there in 15minutes. lloyd followed us to kfc, but he took a long time to arrive. he was also asked to wait for a few minutes before the apple pie (10pcs) could be ready. he also bought some drinks. so finally, our order arrived and we walked back to the apartment.

in rj's room, we prepared the table. when everything was set, i went upstairs to call joel and tell him to go to rj's room. i told him to hurry since i will go to jaja's room and tell her to go down right away. i thought jaja & i could go down right away. but, i was so wrong. since we were supposed to be going to denny's, jaja had to put on her jacket, put on some lipgloss/lipstick, comb her hair, etc... so, it took us longer than i expected. so, we went to rj's room and jaja was really surprised to see the food on the table. (btw, rj and grace cooked the rice) she really didn't expect it. she really thought we were going out. so, we ate the delicious kfc chicken, with mc apple pie for dessert.

nanay and tatay arrived a little later. they brought pizza. we were all surprised with the pizza. thanks, nanay and tatay. since dinner, we just talked and talked. since we were all complete, i said that lily has an announcement. lily didn't say anything at first. then someone guessed it correctly. yes, lily's pregnant! she's 7 weeks pregnant. i'm so happy for them. the expected delivery date is oct13 (wada-san's bday). congrats lily and lloyd.

so, that night, after dinner, some played wii. the others played mahjong. jaja went back to her room to continue packing. lily and i passed around the message board for jaja. it was a hello kitty board, with kitty's face in the front center. we put our pictures. that's what lily and i did in their apartment yesterday. it wasn't really that great (we're not artistic), but it was ok. we covered the kitty in the center with the pictures. we wrote our messages at the back. when everybody has written, i went upstairs again to call jaja. she was supposed to bring some drinks to rj's room, but she forgot. so, i asked her to help me bring the drinks and junk food. it was actually another surprise. :D we told her it was the last surpise we can give her.

we continued playing mahjong and wii. i don't remember what time, but nanay and tatay had to go home. they didn't want to bother jaja, but i called her and she wanted to say goodbye to tatay and nanay, so she rushed downstairs. she then made her farewell speech. she thanked everyone. it was quite long, actually. hehehe just look at the video. :) after nanay and tatay left, the rest continued playing. i felt light-headed around 4am, or was it earlier? so, i slept on the sofa. when they finished playing, i woke up and went to grace's room. lily and lloyd were already there since lily had to sleep early, and lloyd had nothing to do (so, he fell asleep in rj's sofa, then just decided to just sleep comfortably w/ lily). we slept until 1030am.

grace bought rice and eggs, and we cooked lunch (sausage, luncheon meat, eggs, sardines). since the rice usually takes a long time to cook, i prepared some crab and corn soup, just to satisfy a little our hunger. while grace and i cooked, lily, lloyd, and jay played wii. when everything was finally ready, i called jaja. the nippon express guy just left and she felt so lonely with an empty room. so, when she opened her door, she was crying. i told her we better go down and have lunch, maybe we can cheer her up. we also called rj after we almost finished our lunch. after lunch, we played mahjong. after 2 rounds, we felt sleepy, so we took a nap for about an hour. i think only lloyd was awake, playing wii. when we woke up, it was 530pm, i think. we then took a bath and left. the four of us decided to take the bus to kawasaki and have dinner there. we wanted to eat at pepper lunch, but the place was so small, we ended up in wako (tonkatsu, lloyd's favorite). after dinner, we went our separate ways.

it was a very busy weekend. well, not doing anything outside, but inside 2 rooms. it was so much fun, really. i would really miss jaja. we spent many nights in her room. we talked about so many things, especially her lovelife. i would surely miss her here. i hope she would come back to visit us sometime. even without jaja, i will still visit their apartment. grace, rj, and joel are still there. it would be different without jaja. but it won't be any less fun.

thanks ja for everything. i hope you will have more blessings in your life, as you go back in cebu. it will be another world for you, very different from your world for a year. just be strong. whenever you need to talk, we're just an email away. take care, ja. :)

good news!

heard a great news from lily ann today. details later.

we made something today. cut2x and paste2x. details also later.

lily ann & i just talked since i arrived around 1pm. let me describe my route to yokohama. i took the chiyoda line to omotesando. then, transferred to ginza line for shibuya, just 1 station away. in shibuya, i must transfer to the tokyu toyoko line for yokohama. this route is cheaper than taking the JR from nishinippori (chiyoda) or from tokyo (marunouchi, otemachi). when i entered the tickets gates, i saw 4 platforms. there was a board showing the train schedule. but, i don't remember the destination of the train i'm supposed to take. i saw many people on platform 4. i decided to follow them, since i saw on the sign that it will pass yokohama. i was glad to be able to sit down 'coz my bag was heavy and i still had another paper bag. then, i turned around and saw there's another train on platform 3, the same destination as the train i'm on. then i realized i'm riding the local train, meaning, many stops. the train on platform 3 is a limited express train, meaning few stops. i was debating whether i should transfer or not. but, someone was standing a near the space in front of me. so, i decided to just stay put. at naka-meguro, i realized the express would pass there. but, i didn't get up. at jiyuugaoka, the express train also arrived a minute after we did. but, i realized too late that it's there. i was afraid that if i stand up, i will not make it in time and it would be so embarassing. so, i stayed put again, staring at the express train leave us. at kikuna, i listened to the announcement and decided to transfer to the incoming express train (this was the 2nd express train). the next stop is yokohama, so i guess i was ahead of the local train maybe only for about 3 or 5 minutes.

in yokohama, i waited for the bus for a looooong time. the line got very long. lucky for me i was still able to sit down. it was around lunchtime and raining, so maybe that's why the ride took about 25minutes. the last stop was kandaiji-iriguchi so i just walked to lily's apartment.

so... we did some cutting and pasting... and a lot of talking. we also cooked the banana (saba). we cooked only 4, thinking it was enough for us. but we were still hungry so we cooked the remaining bananas. then lily cooked sinigang for dinner. we played PS3, the marvel game. jay arrived first, then lloyd. we had dinner and then played wii. jay recently bought a new game for the wii, naruto. we also played bomberman. but, i'm already tired. so, i'm not going to stay up so late...

i'm back...in tokyo.... again....

i'm back again in tokyo. i arrived around 930pm in ikebukuro. jay told me to go to ueno because he was meeting his coordinator(?) there, talking about something. when i was almost in ueno, he called to ask me where i was 'coz he's finished and can go home already. duh! i told him we'll just meet on the platform in ueno and ride back together. so, there... we went home and i just bought some pasta from 7-11.

tomorrow i'm going to lily ann's apartment. we're going to do some secret thing. hahaha then, jay will go there directly from work. we'll sleep there tomorrow night. on saturday, we will go to shinkawasaki for jaja's farewell party at Denny's near their apartment. so, that will be another overnight stay, probably in grace's room. whew! it would be a very busy weekend, for sure.

btw, today is frank's birthday. :) happy birthday, kulot.

the top 12 girls performed tonight. they were great! stephanie, sabrina, jordin, melinda, lakisha. very powerful vocals!

happy birthday, mae!

today is mae's birthday. i wanted to give her a cake. but, no budget. bus still, i wanted to give her something. so, i thought i should look for a mini-cake in a convenience store. unfortunately, no mini-cake at save-on, the nearest convenience store to the place where i bought my bus tickets to tokyo. speaking of the bus ticket first, i bought a round-trip ticket. i didn't reserve ahead of time because the schedule i chose was not really full. so, i just went there and told the lady i would go to ikebukuro from nagaoka kita on 2/22 5pm and back on 2/26 1pm. as i was putting my wallet and tickets in my backpack, she suddenly asked me where i'm from. i told her from the philippines. she asked if our language is really english. i told her filipino and english. english is taught since grade 1, or even kindergarten. she said it's taught in japan but is not practiced (well... i think that's what she was saying, nihongo kasi!). anyway, after i bid her thanks and farewell, i went to Save-on and ended up buying some choco roll. then hurriedly walked back, hoping i could still catch the 1021am bus. i walked fast, so there was still time to buy some bread, so i bought one for me and one for mae. i was still early for the bus, and luckily bondry (febri's hubby) passed me by. so, it was a free ride for me. :D thanks. earlier that day, mae went to gidai also in bondry's car with febri. turned out febri just took some forms from the school that she must submit to the rotary club (regarding her scholarship and leave from school due to pregnancy). and, bondry took her back home and helped some friends with something.

today is also wawang's first day at his part-time job. i hope it went well.

anyway, happy birthday, mae. hope u will have more birthdays to come... more blessings... :D

b4 i forget... today was the performance of the top12 boys. based on tonight's performance, i liked blake, chris richardson, and jared. :D

tokamachi snow festival

last saturday, we went to tokamachi. they had their 58th snow festival. we rode the 1006am bus from kibougaoka. some myanmar students were on the same bus. mae and her family also rode the same bus to nagaoka eki. at the eki, we all agreed to meet at bus stop #1 at 11am. we will ride another bus bound for tokamachi. we still had at least 30minutes of free time, so jay and i just bought crepe and some drinks. the ride took about an hour and 30minutes. we stopped at honcho 6-chome. we would meet a volunteer at cross 10 building. since it wasn't 1pm (meeting time) yet, she told us to checkout what's inside the building and go out again at 1pm. we went inside, they were selling some sake, food, native things, etc. we went to the other side and bought squid to eat. at 1pm, we went outside and the old lady just gave some of us a map to her house (others would be staying at her house for the evening), tickets to the carnival show, and something to keep us warm. it was a very cold day. she gave instructions on how to go to the carnival. then she waved at us and wished us well. we (jay, mae, wawang) were surprised because we thought she would guide us. apparently, she was just there the give us the instructions and we had to see the place by ourselves.

so, we walked a few blocks and arrived at the road to the carnival. lain (myanmar) explained that that was the way to the carnival. and we can also go to the community hiroba to play. he doesn't know what we can do there, but said the old lady said to go there and play. they decided to checkout the carnival first. we followed them. there were ice sculptures along the way. they were nicely done. at the top (place of the carnival), we took some pictures. a group of dancers were practicing for the show in the evening. it was very cold, and some of them had no shirt on! the show would start at 6pm. we have tickets to the show, but we must be there by 530pm. we wondered where the other sculptures are. then, jay understood that they are distributed in the city. so, we have to go back to the main road and go the the marked places on the map. so, we tried to find as many sculptures as we can. since it was very cold, we decided not to watch the show, and go home early. we took the 544pm bus to nagaoka eki. though we didn't get to see all the ice sculptures, it was still a nice trip for us.

we arrived around 710pm at nagaoka eki. the next bus that will pass by kibougaoka is at 835pm. jay and i wanted to eat outside. so we tried to look for a bus that will at least pass-by jusco. there's a 730pm bus that will pass jusco mae. so, we decided to take that. now, for mae, their nearest bus stop is nishi-chuu iriguchi. i tried to look for an earlier bus that they could take. good thing i found an 8pm bus that will pass by their place. the bus stop name is the same but the actual location is not. so, i explained it to mae first, so that they won't get lost.

so... off we went our separate ways. we stopped at jusco. then walked to hard-off and looked at their stuff. then walked a little further to m's dining. soup bar and drink bar for 500yen. in total, for the two of us, we spent 3k yen and we were very full. then we walked to book doom. jay was looking for gamecube memory. we bought there. then, we walked home. at home, we just watched some tvseries and slept around 12mn. i thought jay would still play mario party, but he said he slept at the same time i did. but the next day, he woke up late.

we didn't go anywhere on sunday. we just stayed at home. we ate brunch and dinner at home. jay cooked adobo for brunch. i cooked pinakbet for dinner. mae and wawang fetched us at 630pm. jay's bus is at 7pm. wawang took us to nagaoka kita bus stop and we waited for jay to ride the bus. we then went home. thanks for the ride, mae and wawang.

now, it's back to being lonely once again. i'm going to try to concentrate here. but it seems my rtr mode is on today.

updated:
here are some pictures....

laboratory trip in Oginoshima Inn, Takayanagi Town

we just arrived this morning, about 11am, from our laboratory trip in takayanagi town, kashiwazaki shi. it was a very nice experience.

yesterday, we left gidai at around 230pm. it was almost an hour's ride to ogonoshima inn. i rode in ashu-sensei's car with nandasara-san (both sri lankan), and pann & zin (myanmar). in mikami-sensei's car were suzuki-sensei, nakahira-sensei, and adachi-san. in iwafuchi-san's car were chisuga-san, wada-san, and kitade-san. kodama-sensei went there by himself, because he was still a beginner in driver. he was called a "baby driver". at the inn, we left our belongings, had ocha, decided that the men would stay in the first house and the women in the second house, left again for the onsen, which was 10minutes away. it was zin's first time. pann also haven't tried onsen before. when she entered the room with us girls, she was surprised that the people there were not wearing anything! she said she will not take a bath. she just waited outside. her religion is islam, and i think it's not allowed for other people to see their body.

it wasn't my first time to strip in front of someone i know. the first time was in nov1999, during my first trip to japan, a business trip in the tamagawa plant. i stayed in a girls dormitory, where the only bathroom is the common one. you have to take off all your clothes when you enter, put your clothes in a basket, and walk naked to the shower room. after showering, you could go into the hot bath. during that business trip, i was introduced to this japanese girl who's a friend of an officemate. my officemate told me to look for the girl and introduce myself because she stays in the same dorm with me. one time, i saw her in the changing area. she talked to me, said hello and a few things. i was shocked that time. usually, when i go there, i don't talk to anybody. apparently, if you know someone, it's normal that you talk to them while change. she just finished taking a bath and was changing, while i just arrived there. that really was a first for me. anyway, i never tried the ofuro. i just showered (the shower room has 3 cubicles, but no door in each. if you face the faucet, anybody who gets inside the room can see ur back), even bringing my towel inside so that when i go out, it's wrapped around me.

now, back to last night's onsen. the four of us (adachi-san, nakahira-sensei, kitade-san) showered then went in the bath. we talked just for a while. then we decided to go out, to their outdoor bath. it was so nice. it was so cool at that time, the water was hotter, though. then, adachi-san went back inside first. after a while, nakahira-sensei and kitade-sen followed. i stayed the for a while, then went out and followed them inside. we still took a bath , but adachi-san went out first. the 3 of us followed after a few minutes. i noticed they did not shower anymore. i still took a shower (just to wash off the onsen water), but without soap anymore. then i went out to the changing room, i felt dizzy. still, i tried to change, but had to stop 'coz i really felt dizzy. they kept on asking, "rizza-san, daijoubu desu ka.", and i replied "daijoubu desu.". so, i slowly changed, but still felt dizzy. they suggested i sit down near the sink with mirror. so, i did. i also drank some water, i thought maybe i was dehydrated. so, i had to continue changing while sitting, and combed my hair, too. i was feeling a little better, but i had to walk real slow. at the lobby, the guys were already there. they just finished eating ice cream. i couldn't bring myself to buy soft cream, so i just bought aquarius from the vending machine. from there, we went back to the inn. at the car, i felt so dizzy, so i just sat quietly, sometimes putting my head on my knees. the roads had many twists and turns. so, at that time, it wasn't a good ride for me. when we arrived at the inn, i immediately went inside our house. i went to the toilet and vomited in the sink. pann maybe noticed that i wasn't feeling well so she helped me. after that, i felt a bit fine. maybe dinner would make me feel better. i don't know what made me dizzy. it's possible that i was hungry, because during lunch, i ate only a little. it's also possible that i was in the water for a long time (longer than my normal time). i don't know for sure. but during dinner, i felt better.

we gathered at the first house for dinner, which consisted of lots of food. all were vegetables, except for one fish dish. all were very delicious, i suppose. but there were others that i felt were delicious but just too bitter. we talked while eating and drinking. i only had coke at first because i wasn't feeling well. kodama-sensei opened some other drinks like sake, umeshu, wine, etc. i didn't drink the sake and umeshu and the other sake. later, i drank the wine from honey (very sweet), fruit wine (like punch), and a little beer. there was a time when the talk was about girlfriend, like wada-san's, iwafushi-san's, chisuga-san's. i was curious about kodama-sensei's lovelife, so i asked adachi-san. she said he's not married but she thinks he has a girlfriend. she told me to ask him myself, but i'm embarassed. adachi-san loudly told kodama-sensei that i have a question, and she asked in my behalf. kodama-sensei said that his gf is teaching nihongo in china. they met in tokyo university of foreign studies. so, that solves the mystery of kodama-sensei's lovelife.

later, sensei talked about some professor's words that has very nice impact or meaning. then he asked us to draw the university emblem. all students had to draw. i have seen the emblem, but i don't know how to draw, and i can't remember what's in the emblem. so, i just drew something, just for the sake of submitting one. sensei laughed at my drawing, because it looks like the emblem of keio university. haha he graduated there, so he knows. a little later, all of us were asked to say something a book we read or a movie we saw. then later, we sang songs from the songbook mikami-sensei and adachi-san brought. they were japanese songs, old songs, i guess. i found a nihongo song translated from a filipino song, "magtanim ay di biro". i sang a bit of the filipino song. zin & pann sang a myanmar song. the others sang songs, too. but not everyone sang. we finished at about 12mn or 1230am. we then went outside to go to our house. pann took a shower first and slept. i slept a little while later, listening to my iPod music.

breakfast was at 8am. pann & i woke up around 730am. i immediately went to the bathroom to take a bath. i never feel comfortable leaving a house without taking a bath. after dressing, we went to the first house for breakfast. we talked a little, but ate a lot. mikami-sensei left around 9am, since he has a meeting at 11am. nakahira-sensei and suzuki-sensei went with him. we left around 945am, after taking some pictures.

i took pictures of last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast. i also took pictures of the scenery outside. it snowed this morning. so, the view was very nice. we also wrote in the notebook (like a guestbook) of the inn. we found the messages of the previous visitors. mikami-sensei and other foreigners first visited that place 2 years ago, around this time. but at that time, the snow was very heavy, the pile of snow was very high. we wrote our own messages, with me writing in bisaya. it was difficult to write because it seems so formal. i don't know how to write in formal bisaya. i just know daily-converstaion bisaya. we also left a shikishi with our shorter messages. i wrote, "Daghang salamat. Maraming salamat po.". they put it on the wall of the first house. on march 4, sensei and other delegates of the Oshin summit will be going there again.

it was a really nice experience. even though i vomited just before dinner, it was still a worth-while experience. i hope i can still join some trips like this in the future. (ashu-sensei suggested having a laboratory trip every quarter. he also wants to go to okonoshima inn once a month, for lunch)

now, it's back to my research. i'll concentrate on my research for the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow. saturday will be another trip, to tokamachi, for the snow festival. whew! so busy from last saturday until this sunday. but, this is my last winter in nagaoka, so i would like to visit as many places as i possible can.

--
updated with some pictures...



our dinner


the house had 2 floors


the house


breakfast


with kitade-san and pann-san


the view

thanks, makino-san...

really, thanks to makino-san for showing us around nagaoka today. i'm sorry i didn't inform you earlier about our plans. i hope i didn't do much damage to your schedule today.

when i opened the door to check the weather, i didn't expect to see snow. but, it was snowing. it was a great view. we took pictures outside, before we left to meet makino-san at 10am. the four of us (jay, lloyd, lily ann) walked to mae's apartment, passing by 7-11. it was already 10am, so makino-san and mae just went to 7-11 to meet us. lily ann, lloyd, and jay rode in makino-san's car, while i stayed with mae and wawang. we followed makino-san's car. he wanted to show his house. so, we went there first. his wife was there and served us coffee and biscuits. after talking a little, we left to go to echigo hillside park. there, the view was very nice. we went inside, took pictures. in their culture room, there were some people making some slippers, hats, jackets, made of dried rice stalks (what do you call them??). from there, we went to the historical museum. the regular exhibit costs 400yen. to also look at the special exhibit, just add 200yen. makino-san suggested we see both exhibits. it was already 1230pm.

we were near the special exhibit. so, we looked at them first. it took us almost an hour there. we were thinking of eating lunch, but we didn't have enough time. so we went down to the regular exhibit instead. it was very nice. they had life-like figures, depicting the life of the people a long time ago, in the jomon period. it was great! we would have loved to further examine everything, but we didn't have enough time. we had to rush through the exhibits and had to hurry back to the apartment to get lloyd and lily ann's things.

makino-san was kind enough to bring them to the bus stop (nagaoka kita). mae and wawang also followed, so that they will know how to go there. after bring them to the bus stop, we went back. makino-san dropped jay and i at kappa sushi, while mae and wawang went home directly, since dana looked tired already. jay and i walked home after eating at kappa sushi. jay left at 545pm, by taxi. his bus is at 605 pm. i'm back to being lonely once again.

i sent a text message to lily ann around 730pm, asking if they arrived already. that's the time they're about to arrive at ikebukuro. but, her reply was that they just left the 2nd service area, and they're 2hrs delayed because of the traffic. another bad news was that they were not able to buy any food because there were so many people. they only had bread for lunch (the one they bought at 7-11, supposedly for breakfast). jay also said they just left the 2nd service area around 930pm. he just sent a text message now (1105pm) they they just exited nerima. under normal traffic, it takes less than an hour to reach ikebukuro. i hope they don't encounter much traffic from now. so that jay can still arrive in time to ride the yamanote train to nippori or nishinippori.

it's really lonely, with me alone here in my room, when just last night, we were so noisy here. i'll just have to look forward to the next time jay and i will see each other. it will be this friday, around 1230am. we will be going to the tokamachi festival on the 17th. i'm also looking forward to our laboratory trip in kashiwazaki on wednesday. it's a fun-filled weekend, but it's time to think again about my research tomorrow. my room's a little messy right now, but i still don't like to tidy up. maybe next week.

thanks to makino-san once again for his help today. thanks to lily ann and lloyd for coming here. it was so much fun. thanks to mae, wawang, and dana for last night's dinner, and for today. it was so much fun. i'm looking forward to another fun-filled weekend next week.

--
updated with pictures...



with makino-san, trying out the handicraft


at the museum, life-like woman cooking


at the museum, house covered in snow

yehey! yuki matsuri @ minami uonuma shi

we slept around 1am this morning. it's really fun to be playing Nintendo wii.

today, we decided to go to minami uonuma shi, to see their snow festival. i checked nagaoka weather forecast for today. in nagaoka shi, there is no snow. i checked ojiya, tokamachi, and minami uonuma. the forecast is snow the whole day. so, we decided to go to the festival. all we know from the pamphlet i took from echigo yuzawa eki yesterday was that we should go to muikamachi eki. there is a bus from there that goes to the festival site. so, we had to catch again the 1032am train. lloyd didn't want to get ready in a hurry, so he asked if there is still another bus schedule we can take. since we didn't need to buy train tickets (remember, we have a 2-day pass), it was ok to take the 1006am bus to eki. so, we did just that. when we went out, it was snowing! lily ann was happy because it was her first time to see snow.

at muikamachi eki, we looked again for the information office to ask for directions to the festival site. we also asked where we can find an outdoor onsen in the area. the staff were very helpful. lily ann and i took some free mini-cards.

we waited for the bus to take us to the festival site. there, saw some people dancing on a stage. we were hungry then, so we tried to look for food. there were many food stalls and other stalls selling some stuff. jay and i ate pork steak, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba. further on, we saw several snow domes. when we arrived in that area, we saw some stalls with foreigners. the first one was kyrgystan. the next one had a philippine flag! they were students from kokusai daigaku, selling banana cue, chippy, royal, and some other filipino foods. the next one had posters of malaysia and thailand. the filipinos had a tv, where they played the music vide, "byahe tayo". we took pictures of each other. to those filipinos, thanks for the karaoke invitation, but we're sorry we couldn't join 'coz we had dinner plans already. further on were the snow domes. others served as shops, others contained display items. next was the area for sliding. i don't know how to describe it, but the slide was made of snow. i'll just post pictures somewhere. it was fun looking at the children sliding, and having fun. that was the last of the attraction there. we went back, snowing, and facing the wind. it was like a snowstorm. we took shelter in one of their waiting tent, to look at the map with the onsen marked. i bought first a choco banana, then we went on our way. on the way, we asked someone for directions, just to be sure. we went back past the snow domes, crossed a bridge (the festival was near a river) and went to the onsen place. it was actually a hotel, but we can take a bath in their onsen even if we wouldn't stay overnight. lily ann and i also decided to try their onsen. it was hot inside, of course. but it was better than the hot bath we tried in nikko. they have several bath. there was one outside. and several others inside. we tried only 3 (i think there were 3 more). i liked the outdoor one. we bathed there twice. after bathing, i checked the train schedule while jay and lloyd asked for directions to muikamachi eki. we either had to take the 442pm bus or the 530pm. it was almost 420pm. the receptionists said that it would take about 20minutes to walk to the station. we can take the bus we took to the festival site, but if we hoped to catch the 442pm bus, it's better to walk. so, we walked, taking pictures on the way. we had to rush when it was about 435pm, afraid that we won't make it in time. we did, still had time to take a few pictures at the station.

when we arrived at nagaoka eki, we took the 6pm bus that passes chousei bashi. jay suggested we get off at chousei bashi west end bus stop, and walk near the river to mae's apartment. it was very cold, but we walked for about 10 or 15 minutes. when we arrived at mae's apartment, we immediately had dinner. it was very delicious. we ate beef and ramen (pancit-style). we talked a lot. it was so much fun. we ate a lot, too. after dinner and talking, i invited mae and wawang to go to my apartment to check out jay's nintendo wii. since we won't fit in the car, jay and i decided to just walk home. it was cold, but just a few minutes walk.

at home, we played wii. we let mae and wawang try it out, too. dana was very noisy in their apartment. but in my apartment, she was very behaved. it's because my room is small. she has no place to run, unlike in their apartment, they have 2 bedrooms. anyway, we all had fun playing wii games. they just left a few minutes ago. dana's eyes were already watery, although they said that it's usually like that, but she actually sleeps late.

i almost forgot..i called makino-san after dinner and asked him to bring us to echigo hillside park tomorrow. we want to see what's there. he agreed and said he will just go directly to mae's apartment at 10am. so, our plan for tomorrow is echigo hillside park and whatever we can do before 3pm. lloyd and lily ann will go back to tokyo at 305pm. now, i'm sleepy. but jay and lloyd are still playing. i think i'll sleep earlier than them. but, i will still play for a few minutes before sleeping... today was very fun. i'm glad it snowed and agreed to go to the snow festival. next week, jay and i will be going to another snow festival. i just hope the snow will not be as strong as it was earlier today.

ski..ski..ski...

jay, lily ann, and lloyd arrived around 430 this morning. they took the 11:35pm bus from ikebukuro last night. when they arrived, we still talked, so we were able to sleep at 5am, saying we had to wake up by 7am. my cellphone's alarm is set for 7am, 730am, 8am, 815am, 830am. but, just like any other day, i woke up at 8am (it had to be before 830am if i need to throw the garbage). after taking a bath and getting ready, i checked the train schedule for echigo yuzawa. our plan for the day was to ski somewhere there. we haven't chosen any ski area yet. we will just go and inquire there. anyway, the train schedule is 1032am. the next is around 1230pm. and since we would still be buying the train ticket, we had to go to the station as early as possible. we must ride the 934am bus. we had to rush to the bus stop. fortunately, we arrived before the bus.

at the station, we discovered that they have a 2-day pass that you can use for regular trains from somewhere near echigo yuzawa until niigata. it costs only 2,500 yen. when we checked the fare from nagaoka to echigo yuzawa, one way costs 1,280yen. so, we decided to buy the echigo 2-day pass. we then planned to fully utilize it by going somewhere by train tomorrow. travel time to echigo yuzawa is around 1hr and 20minutes.

at echigo yuzawa, we went to their information office to ask for recommended ski areas. lloyd and jay talked to the lady, and asked for directions. lily ann and i bought a pin. we went to the bus stop to wait for the 1240pm bus that will go to iwappara skijou. the bus fare cost 300 yen. there, we went to find a restaurant 'coz we were already very hungry. i ate karaage, lily ann ate gyuudon, lloyd ate katsu, jay ate some kind of pork dish. after eating, we went downstairs to rent ski equipment. that building was also a hotel/inn. we asked first if they have available rooms. they didn't. so, we proceeded to the rental shope. lloyd and jay rented ski equipment and wear. since lily ann and i will not ski, we just rented the ski wear, so that we can play outside.

it was raining that day. we went to buy lift tickets for jay and lloyd. 1day pass costs 4,500yen. lil ann and i just bought the pass to the kids playground, which cost 500yen. we made a snowman. lily ann has the pictures. after making the snowman, we went to the side near the skiers, looking for jay and lloyd. but, we couldn't see them. (we later found out that they were just going on the lift at that time and were waving at us). so, we left the ski grounds and went inside to rest, because it was raining very hard. although our body didn't get wet because we were wearing ski attires, our heads were unprotected. after resting for a while, we went out again and tried to look for our partners once again. we found them and waited for them to ski down (it was very cold!) so that we can take pictures. it was very cold, so we decided to go back inside again. jay took the camera so that they can take pictures at the top. lily ann and i returned the rented wear and waited for them at the waiting room, talking. they finished before 6pm, changed, returned the things they rented, and tried to catch the 6pm bus to the station.

at the station, we found out that the next trains leave at around 645pm, and 830pm. the guys decided to try out the onsen in one of the shops at the station. we ladies just window-shopped at the station and waited for our partners to finish taking a bath. after they finished, we ate some food we just bought at the station. they have some food stalls, selling crab soup, siopao, bbq, oden, ramen, and others. lloyd didn't like their food so he went outside to buy spag from 7-11. we then took the train and arrived in nagaoka eki around 10pm. no more bus that passes by kibougaoka. so, we took the bus that passes by nishi-nagaoka annaijou(?), and walked about 15minutes to my apartment. on the train on our way home, we were thinking of dropping by mae's apartment, just to talk. but, we changed our plans because it was raining.

now, we're at home. we will not sleep yet. we'll still play tennis on jay's wii. i don't know what time we'll sleep, but it surely won't be anytime soon.

updated with pictures:


the making of the snowman


can you see lloyd & jay?


pa-cute lloyd


pa-cute jay


their view from the top


echigo-yuzawa

what am i doing?

nothing. nothing at all. that's why i'm bloggin right now. i'm supposed to be modifying this program, 'coz its output is different from what i expected. but, i still don't feel like doing anything. for about 2.5hrs, i've been just reading the news. now, i'll probably read the blogs of friends.

it's friday. i'm excited for the weekend. it's a 3-day weekend. lily ann and lloyd will come here with jay tonight. they will leave ikebukuro around 1135pm and will arrive here around 4am. tomorrow, we're going to echigo yuzawa or urasa to ski. well.... lloyd and jay will ski. i still don't know what lily ann and i will do.

last night, i looked at the nagaoka newsletter for list of events here in our area. i found 2 for this weekend. tomorrow, there will be some kind of hanabi at koshiji. tomorrow, in some other place (i forgot the name, just about an hour by bus), there will some candle-lighting and also fireworks. and on sunday, some kind of race will happen. i think it's an eating contest. hahaha (早食いレース)

on monday, someone will take a look at my ref. it won't cool. good thing it's winter. no need for ice. it's just that i can't buy many meat at one time.

it's time to take a break. gotta think of ways to get a little money for this weekend. i only have 5k yen in my wallet right now.