rest days

i'm glad for weekends. i can rest. whether it's spent in tokyo (mahjong, wii, overnyt) or here at home just watching movies or even doing nothing, i still consider it rest days. on these days, i try not to think about school. although i'm supposed to think about my research since weeks ago, i still haven't spent any weekend doing that. i hope to change that next month, though. i really do need to spend even my weekends for my research.

i'm going to tokyo again tomorrow. the bisdakgaijins will have a hanami party tomorrow at shinjuku park. they planned to be there at 11am, but i'll just see them there at 2pm since my train leaves at 827am.

i'm just relaxing right now, chatting with a friend, blogging, spamming. i've been so busy last night preparing my presentation, i wasn't able to cook for my lunch and dinner today. so, i just bought bento for lunch, and had sardines for dinner. now, i'm going to start preparing my bag for tomorrow.

bisdakgaijins, see u tomorrow. :D

おめでとうございます,和田-さん

by phone mail:

my email (3/26 17:16):
congratulations!
おめでとうございます。

-ライザ-

reply (3/26 17:32):
ありがとう！Ryzeには本当にお世話になった！ライザのおかげで卒業できたし！ジェイにもよろしく！

sardines or pork & beans for dinner?

i chose pork & beans over chili sardines. though i think sardines is better than pork & beans. but i'm not in the mood for eating spicy food right now, especially since the rice left is not that much. and i also want to eat itlog na maalat. i think it wouldn't go well with sardines. :lol

i think royal tru-orange would be a good beverage.

itadakimasu!

welcome, spring

i feel like it's spring already. with only a little snow here, it seems spring has already arrived. at this time last year, the snow was just starting to melt.

i haven't turned on my heater since friday evening. i washed my towels yesterday, after lunch. so, this morning, i towel-dried myself with a still-wet towel.

there was a little drizzle when i came to school today. i left my umbrella at mae's apartment, when i went there last night. the forecast for this afternoon is sunny. i do hope it will be.

today is the graduation ceremony of the B4 and M2 students of gidai. 6 M2 students and 3 B4 students will graduate from our lab. congrats to them!

earthquake

japan experiences several earthquakes every year. this morning, an earthquake woke me up around 945am. i wasn't fully-awake when the quake continued for several seconds. after it stopped, i looked at the tv, waiting for the news about the earthquake. they usually show some bulletin regarding safety measured. thank goodness, there's no need to worry for our area. i don't know the magnitude of the quake that hit nagaoka, since the news is focused on ishikawa-ken. the magnitude there was 7.1! it was about the same magnitude as the earthquake that happened in nagaoka on oct 2004 (glad i wasn't here yet) that damaged a lot of houses. i keep on reassuring myself that a big quake won't happen in the nagaoka soon because it had a big one in 2004. on the news, about 130pm, 1 person had died and 90 people have been injured.

panic time!

it's now time to panic. but i still haven't started to. i hope i can start soon. 'coz i only have 2 months left to do what i have to do.

since last night, i've got stomachache. i don't know whether it's because of the 2 cups of ice cream i had, or because i didn't have a proper lunch. whatever it is, it doesn't matter. i feel a little better now.

our deadline is on may 24. i have to make a presentation for next friday. i still have no idea what i should put there. i hope i can start working on it tomorrow. yeah, it's a saturday. but i hope to do something tomorrow. i don't want to go sightseeing anymore. not for the next 2months. ugh!!!

anyway, gotta write here that jay transferred to miyazakidai from sendagi last saturday. i helped him pack his things. we slept at lloyd's place that night since we already sent the futon. on sunday, we went back to sendagi to continue cleaning and getting some other things. there are still some things left there, which we had planned to get on wednesday, but didn't.

on tuesday, i went to lily's place to have lunch. doc tess was there. after lunch, the 3 of us went to sakuragicho, just to show it to doc and have her picture taken there. we had cold stone ice cream (i got the mud pie mojo) for snacks. we were joined later by jay on our dinner at wendy's.

on wednesday, jay's company was supposed to have a hanami near asakusa eki. but, the sakura didn't bloom yet. so we just ate lunch at a restaurant, and took the boat trip to hinode pier and back. i forgot it was grace's birthday, until she called me. after the "hanami", jay and i looked for joel's requested book, then went to grace's. we then ate at denny's (thanks, grace). jay & i prepared some macaroni salad for the hanami, but only got to eat a few (at the boat), so we gave some to grace.

i came back here yesterday. on the train to nagaoka, i talked with a japanese lady from yokohama. she told me to visit kamakura, a nice place where there are temples. i'll visit someday. i didn't get her name, but it was a nice conversation.

gotta go home in a few minutes. i'm hungry.

new apartment

jay has transferred to his new apartment. well, actually, it's more like a new room in a new apartment. from sendagi, he's transferred to miyazakidai. for travel time before, it only takes him about 25 minutes by train, now it takes him about 51 minutes. today will be his first day at the office, coming from the new apartment. so, he had to wake up early this morning, an hour earlier than his usual time.

i arrived here last friday. the trip was really uneventful. Nga and i just talked. when she got tired, she slept while i read a book. i met jay at akihabara and tried to look for a vb6 book for joel a. but, couldn't find it yet. dinner was at kfc in nishinippori. i was walking a little slower than normal 'coz i wore my highheeled-boots.

saturday was spent packing jay's stuff. i easily got tired, so had to rest for a bit. by 4pm, he tried to look for movers. he called but found out that their weekend's full. the transfer has to be a weekday. since jay has work, it has to be in the evening, at 8pm. it was almost 5pm when jay finalized the transfer process. he decided to just use sagawa takkyubin, so that it will arrive the following day. with about an hour left, we hurriedly tried to finish packing what needs to be sent. when the guy from sagawa arrived, he told us to hurry so that it will reach the cut-off for sunday morning. so, we hurriedly filled-out the forms. it cost us about 15k for 8 boxes and bags. i think he overpriced it, but it was to late when we noticed. since we already sent the futon, jay decided to sleep at lloyd's. so, we went there, i cooked pancit canton and tj hotdogs, and we played bomberman land.

on sunday, lloyd cooked breakfast. we left together, but separated at mitsuzawa kamichou eki. jay & i are bound for azamino. lloyd & lily are going to yokohama and then to narita to meet doc tess. from azamino we transferred to den-en-toshi line to miyazakidai. after leaving our things and opening the boxes which were delivered about 30 minutes before we arrived, we went to sendagi to clean and get our remaining things. but before leaving for sendagi, we had dinner at kfc near miyazakidai eki. the travel to sendagi took about an hour. the, we finished in sendagi past 6pm already. so, we ate dinner at matsuya then came here to miyazakidai. we haven't arranged our clothes and other stuff yet. i'll be doing that this morning. we still have 1 big bag and 3 paper bags left in sendagi. we'll get them on wednesday. last night, we went to 99shop which is just about 5minutes from here. beside the shop is a grocery store, and mo's burger. this seems like a very nice location. the apartment is also nice. i hope our next apartment will be as nice as this one, and as convenient.

ok. so, i guess it's finally time to clean!

tokyo peeps, see u soon...

i've stopped counting how many times i've been to tokyo. i'm going back there again today. maybe Nga and I will take the 420 train from nagaoka eki. or maybe an earlier one. we're not sure yet.

jay will be transferring to another apartment this weekend. i'm going to help him clean his room in his old apartment, and prepare his things for transfer. i still have some of my stuff there. it's not fair to let him do it alone.

i had initially planned to go there on the 20th (or 21st - vernal equinox holiday) and wait for emman who will arrive on the 24th. but he changed his plan to march 31. and jay's latest transfer date is march 21. so, i've just decided to go back there this weekend and come back here on the 22nd and concentrate (i've said this for the nth time!) on my research starting on the last week of march. the last week of march is a school holiday. but, for research students, we don't normally follow that one. i checked my old mails last year, trying to see if i came here during the school holidays. and to my surprise, i did come here. maybe i wasn't aware it was a school holiday, but most importantly, it was during that time that the deadline for the final poster submission.

anyway, as with all my previous tokyo trips, i'm looking forward to this one. although i will be travelling for about 6 hours, for the price of 1,600 yen, i won't have regrets.

today is skirt day

Nga and I decided to wear skirts today, so that we can wear our newly-bought boots. although the skirts we have are not brand-new, they still look and feel good. i just washed the 2 skirts and 1 pants i bought from 2nd street yesterday. i didn't plan on buying anything, but the skirts were really good. so i ended up buying those things. imagine, the 3 items i bought only cost me 280yen.

before we went to 2nd street, we visited febri. makino-san picked up mae at her apartment, then came to gidai to pick me up and also nga. we went to join mutsumikai (support group for foreign students, meeting every wednesday) for a few minutes to drink tea and eat some food. i wasn't able to talk that much because i had to entertain a phone call from the filipino store in tokyo. i ordered some food and drinks. so, after a few minutes of talking with some people at mutsumikai, makino-san said we have to go. so, we left for the hospital. near the hospital, there's a new mall that will open on the first of april. it's quite big, and febri said there will be a starbucks shop there. anyway, we went inside the hospital, bought some flowers and visited febri on the 5th floor. the room can hold 4 patients. there was one other patient in the room. we had to talk softly so as not to disturb the other patient. febri's baby is so cute. her lips looks the same as febri's husband. febri said her baby's eyes are not as round as hers. we somehow think she's more japanese-looking than indonesian-looking.

so, after the visit to febri, we went to 2nd street, which is just nearby. makino-san dropped us off there. he bought something before he left to meet his daughter. i think Nga bought 6 items, and Mae bought 3 for herself and 3 for danna. from 2nd street, we walked to jusco. i bought a mini-rose flower at the flowershop, and conditioner at the supermarket section. we then went to the shoes section, and tried on the boots. they were so cheap! the price tag showed 1000yen. but with a half-price tag below it. nga had to clarify if it means 500yen for each pair of boots. she liked two boots, and if it's only 500yen each, she's planning to buy both. and, it's only 500yen! so, we really bought the boots, and decided to wear it with a skirt today. and so, here we are, looking like japanese girls with our fashion. i will never get used to wearing skirt or boots. but it's fun to try to be fashionable sometimes, even if the fashion doesn't really suit me.

yokatta... :D

that was the first word i sent to febri, nga, and mae just a few minutes ago when i heard febri's good news. she delivered her baby girl this afternoon. congratulations, febri & bondry. :D

febri's expected delivery date was march 5. the baby wasn't ready to come out yet. they were told by the doctor to wait one more week. so, they went last monday. the doctor then told them that they have to induce her on wednesday, tomorrow. i sent her a message this evening, asking her if she's okay. she replied that she already gave birth this afternoon. it was good news. i heard induced delivery is more painful. thank goodness she didn't have to experience it. we'll be visiting her on thursday, since she's still weak right now having lost a lot of blood. we're very excited to see them. i'm sure their new baby girl will be as cute as their eldest daughter, caca. :)

still snowing???

i left nagaoka last wednesday. it was snowing at that time. but since i'll be going to tokyo, i didn't want to bring an umbrella or use snow shoes. so, when i went to the bus stop in hurry, my coat was covered in snow. because of the snow, the cars moved in a very slow pace. at the station, i bought the seishun 18kippu for just 8k yen (originally sold at 11,500) because it's the 20th anniversary of the privatization of JR. i left nagaoka at 1032am and arrived in ueno at 355pm. 18kippu can be used 5times on the local JR trains. it wasn't such a bad travel, even if it took me 5.5hrs. on the way to minakami, the snow was heavy, i couldn't take good pictures. in ueno, i bought 2 books, the other side of me by sidney sheldon & the new book by mary higgins-clark. i then went to the filipino store in kannai and bought banana (saba), itlog maalat, purefoods tj hotdogs. i then met jay at hamamatsucho eki and ate dinner at a chinese restaurant. in contrast to nagaoka, tokyo was very sunny.

on thursday, i just went out to buy rice and some meat. i didn't go anywhere else. on friday, i also stayed at home. on saturday, jay didn't have any class and janz was in abiko (can't meet him), we just decided to stay at home. in the evening, we went outside for dinner. we wanted to walk all the way to tokyo dome, but it was just too far and we were already hungry. so we ate at jonathan's. i think it was about 2 or 3 blocks away from tokyo dome. but, it's a 35-minute walk from jay's apartment.

on sunday, we went to church at the saint ignatius church near yotsuya eki. we thought the mass would start at 11am. we arrived at 1125am and the japanese mas just ended. apparently, the english mas is at 12nn. we met janz, aris, ken, and lito there. we went to akihabara together. we ate at yoshinoya. with the exception of lito, we looked for some stuff in akihabara (it's the last weekend of aris & janz). then, we walked to ueno to see some sakura. it wasn't in full-bloom yet. most of the trees don't have flowers yet. we had niku-man (siopao) for snacks. for dinner, we ate at ichiran. after that, they went back home to abiko while jay & i looked for a coat for me.

yesterday, i went back to nagaoka by local train. i took the 1025am train to takasaki from ueno. i met Nga at the train to minakami. there were so many passengers. we arrived in nagaoka around 349pm, 5minutes later than scheduled. we went to ito yokado to buy some groceries then went home. there was a little snow. my coat wasn't completely covered in snow, but i had to wear my bonnet and gloves because it was very cold.

right now, the sun' shining. it didn't snow this morning. although today's forecast shows snow, i hope it's wrong.

tulips...

bought for myself last saturday, with jay. i've always wanted to buy flowers, but couldn't get the chance. everytime i go to the supermarket, i always forget. last week, i bought some yellow roses. i already paid for my groceries and was about to go out when i glanced at the flower section. i was supposed to buy flowers. the same thing happened last saturday. we were about to go out when i glanced at the flowers and remembered i was supposed to buy some. i bought tulips (na-inspire ko sa post ni nene about tulips). i wonder if these flowers will last for 5days without a change of water...

too many posts...

i had so many posts for the month of february. i don't know why. maybe it's a sign that i'm bored. but, i'm not supposed to be bored. i'm supposed to be doing something. but, hey. my february was very eventful. i had lots of fun. and, i wanted to write them down.

i regret not writing about my past experiences. my 2006 was my most memorable year, having gone to Paris and Edinburgh. it was also last year that jay got a job, first a part-time here and now a full-time there (in tokyo). that's why i wanted to try as much as possible to write as much as i can this year.

there are still things i forgot to write. i want to write it here now.

last january, i ordered for roses to be delivered on valentine's day. on feb13, my family and jay's family received their roses. they were very happy for such a thoughtful gesture from us. on feb14, friendships and addie received theirs. addie said he felt gay receiving flowers. the flowers for the friendships were addressed to dong. dong was surprised to receive the flowers. he couldn't find any dedication, which got him confused. he thought maybe it was a mistake. i pitied him so i just told him who the flowers are for. it's for everyone of the friendships. anyway, i think i made them happy. the flowers were nice. i strongly recommend you to order roses from islandrose. they have nice roses and the price is not so high compared to other online stores. check out their website: http://www.islandrose.net. i have been a member since august of last year and have bought several flowers from them already.

on feb14, in our lab, i gave chocolates that i made the night before. i just put the liquid chocolate mix on the microwave. the poured them on some aluminum molds and decorated them with some kind of candy toppings. the result wasn't so bad. at least i was able to give chocolates on vday, a tradition here in japan. here, the ladies give the guys chocolates on vday, feb14. the men give the ladies chocolates on white day, march14.

i suddenly remembered the chocolates because today i received chocolates a omiyage from chew-san who came from france. this year, he attended the same event i attended last year.

oooopppps... i had so much fun writing that i forgot it's time for lunch already. gotta go!