今日も雨が降っています。本当に雨の時期を感じます。

嫌いわけではないが家の中にいれば大丈夫けど

外にはちょっと大変な

ビショビショの感じは嫌だです　*＿＿*

でも雨の香りが大好き！なんか切なくて懐かしい匂いがするけど

時々爽やかな草の匂いもします

それは風を吹くと頭がすっきりしますよね

I was out the whole day today for my weekly therapeutic shopping trip and was waiting for the bus to get back home when it started to drizzle and in no time, it’ll be raining cats and dogs so I need to get back fast or face getting wet throughout.

It took a while for the bus to arrive and surprisingly it was relatively empty and no one except me (who was waiting at the bus stop) got onto it. I told the driver my destination and he gave me a quizzical look for a moment before unwillingly agreed. I too was puzzled since the bus does passes by my house and yet he seemed so reluctant.

I paid the fare and before I took my seat, he told me that it’ll take a while before reaching my destination and I nodded again. The distance between the mall and my house is not that far (about 10-15 minutes ride) so again I was puzzled why it’ll take longer than usual but I didn’t give it much thought and sat down.

After a few minutes, we pulled into the bus terminal where the driver stopped the bus and got off, asking me to wait for a while. It was still drizzling outside, a little harder than earlier so I just nodded and sat down, alone in the bus, waiting for time to pass while listening to the raindrops pattering outside, tiny drops sliding down the mirrors of the bus windows. It felt so serene, so peaceful, as if I was sitting at the backseat of my dad’s car, all alone while he runs off on an errand, a reminiscent of my childhood days.

I could have fallen asleep there and then but of course it’ll be dangerous so I kept my conscious awake and well alert and waited patiently for the bus driver to return. It took at least 10 minutes before he returned and off we go. A few passengers came over wanting to board the bus but the driver told them that the bus does not goes to wherever they wanted to go so I was left alone in the bus again. A few minutes of silence and suddenly the driver asked where should he dropped me off, I gave him the directions and after a while, I pressed the bell and was ready to get off when the driver told me, “You are lucky that I agreed to take you in outside my working hours”

That was when the whole situation became clear. No wonder he was so reluctant to let me go aboard in the begining.

I don’t know who he is and probably we won’t be meeting with each other anymore after this but I am so thankful and grateful that such kind living soul exists in this world. A stranger showing kindness to another stranger is not uncommon but to have me personally experience it is one-of-a-kind. I truly appreciate his kind gesture of accepting me as a customer and dropping me off at my desired destination even though he’s supposed to be off-work. All that I can say is,

“Mr. Bus Driver, THANK YOU!”

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friends Soo Ann (14 Nov) and Shu Jun (15 Nov)!! best wishes~ ♥♥♥

PSS: 09年11月12日の秘密の嵐は超おもしろかった！VIP ゲストは広末涼子さんが登場しました。嵐との初共演だが広末さんの衝撃発言は超おもしろくて高知県ご出身の彼女の大好きなよさこい祭りが嵐みんなさんに挑戦して相葉ちゃんとニノの間にいたリーダは相葉ちゃんの激しい行動で全然踊れませんでした。かわいそう！*笑*

次は私個人も大好きなコナー「モテ嵐ダメ嵐」テマは～彼女と初めて過ごすクリスマスデート～でしたけどメンバーそれぞれの好みとか性格が出ちゃって特にニノとリーダの答えは注目して下さい。

三つ質問だけ人の性格までもわかちゃうぐらいすごくない？

選ぶとしたら翔くんの企画は一番良いです。私自身も横浜ドライブデートしたいし翔くんがいればそれはプラスかな　*照*

でもね横浜の夕焼けは超きれい！いい天気なら富士山も見えるんよ！うわ～色んな思い出だすと今すぐに行きたい～

*溜息*　お金持ちになれば良かったね

PSSS: Just read this latest news about my favorite group, K8 will be having their 1st solo countdown concert with a 3 consecutive days of concert starting from 30 Dec at Kyocera Dome Osaka! Me wanna go~!! T___T

The other JE group which have done the same was Kinki Kids but they are the “sempai” so that doesn’t really count.

And in conjuction with this (and also their 5th year celebration), they’ll be releasing 3 different singles 「GIFT 白」　「GIFT赤」 and 「GIFT緑」 Each costing only 888 yen! (relatively cheap compared to their other singles…) 7 songs in total

*sigh*

-drinks her tea to calm herself down-

It has been constantly sunny in the mornings and raining in the late evenings recently

A tell-tale sign of the arrival of the monsoon season?

The extreme weather aside, there is another vortex swirling in my life now…

嵐♥ or Arashi♥ has taken the world by storm (unless you are not into watching dramas, you’ll realize that the main protagonist in the series 花より男子 Hana Yori Dango 1,2 and F is a member of this group) that they have fans everywhere…and well, yours truly has also been sucked into this fandom, albeit not as enthusiastic over them as my No.1 K8 ♥

And I still wonder why Golden Rush Arashi (GRA) was discontinued after 23 episodes as I found them very educational especially in introducing Japanese culture to the audiences…

I just finished watching their 10th Anniversary Live 3D Concert 嵐１０周年３Ｄ生ライブ and it was a success! 歴史で新記録できておめでとうございます！*happy* and the revealing of the contents of the letters that they’ve placed inside the time capsule 10 years ago was purely fanservice! if not mistaken, the time capsule was planted at the northernmost area of Japan in Hokkaido when they finished the tour all around Japan for their then first regular variety show, 真夜中の嵐 and 10 years later, everyone remained the same!

翔くん’s letter was simple and sounded exactly like him, i’m still wondering why he assumed the 10 years later he will be married?

未来の自分へ　未来なあなたは何をしてることでしょうか。結婚していますか。とにかく嵐のメンバー五人と楽しく仕事ができれば何よりです。今より大きく成長したナイスな大人になっていることを願って

ナイスな大人 lol C=

Next, ニノ’s letter proved that he will always be the everlasting 17 years old he was back in those days…an eternal real life Peter Pan

未来の自分へ　僕は元気にそして思うんままに生きてればそれでいいです。めんどくさいしね。まあぁこれからも適当にがんばってください

しょうがない？well, at least he admitted he has such personality…

Continue on…相葉’s so cute! writing messages to everyone and they are fairly accurate as well! sixth sense? future fortune telling?

松本潤へ　まだキングーですか。何歳になってもキングーでいるよ。

二宮和也へ　野球しに行こうぜ！マリンススタジアムに

大野智　最近どうよ？釣してる？今から行こうぜ！

櫻井翔へ　またいてるの？オヤジギャグ、本当にオヤジギャグかもね

釣してる？ wow! how he knows that leader will be addicted to fishing?!

松潤’s letter is next.

なりたい自分になれった？回りの人を大切にしてる？いつまでも自分らしが欲しいです。メンバーへきっとたくさん迷惑かけたと思うんだけど僕はメンバーが好きです。

かっこいい！！*Matsujun’s fangirls kyaaiinng~* um…

And finally, 大野 aka Arashi’s Leader

色んな世界一になる！

翔　ギャグ王になれ！

ニノ　ボクサーになれ！

相葉ちゃん　走り向けろう！

松潤　いいお父さんにね～

そうよ！適当過ぎるよ！*笑* did Nino mentioned he wanted to be a boxer when he grows up? hmm…and will Matsujun be the first to get hitched? *fangirls’ hearts breaking into pieces sound effect* All Aiba needed to do was to run and keep on running C=

Temperatures should be around 8-15 degrees in the Northern Hemisphere by now…

but back home…

no matter when or where…

it will always be a constant 24-32 degrees…

in other words….

HOT! HUMID! GLARINGLY SUNNY!

the sun rises in the East from 7:00 in the morning and sets in the West at 7:00 in the evening…

if I were to draw a graph, wouldn’t it be linear?

scientists and geologists wrote about the ever moving earth’s tectonic plates and i’m wondering after 100 years, will the plates moved far enough that trees will shed their leaves and turn golden from November-January? or white fluffy water crystals form when temperature drops below 4 degrees?

when you’ve gone through the change of 4 season, the equator has become your worst nightmare

it was BLAZING HOT! at around 10:00 in the morning in my university…

clear azure blue sky with fluffy candy-floss-like-clouds

you might not be able to feel the “hotness” from these pictures but i can assure you that it was burning…

and within 5 minutes of getting out of my room, beads of sweat start to form and soon, i’ll have sweaty palms and be sticky all over…

*sigh and plans to jump into the shower the first thing after got back*

onto other news…

Arashi’s 5 members new Fuji TV Special Drama Project! slated to be released next year’s spring entitled 最後の約束 The Last Promise, a human suspense themed drama.  It has been 10 years since all 5 members acted together in a drama since 1999’s [Vの嵐] but didn’t they also starred together in [ピカ☆ンチLife is HardだけどHappy] in 2002 and the sequel [ピカ☆ンチLife is HardだからHappy] in 2004 and the latest 2007’s [黄色い涙 The Yellow Tears]

I didn’t really watch any of these movies from the beginning till the end (only a part here and there) but I lol-ed at 大野’s weird salaryman’s hairstyle in Pikanchi, amazed at both 翔くん♥ and 松本’s Kyoto and Akita dialects in Kiroii Namida, surprised at 相葉’s singing abilities in Kiroii Namida, 涙の流れ星 and finally, ニノ…erm I don’t really have any strong impressions of him in any of the movies…*scratches head and thinks hard*…AH! his punk hairstyle and his first appearance in Pikanchi? the one where he appeared in the first scene of the first episode dressed up in some kind of spaceman suit (silver in color!) riding a skateboard and crashed into 大野 in a park…LOL

now, if only K8 is allowed to have their own special drama too~ *looking forward to this* the last time i watched すばるand 村上 in [ありがとうおかん Thank You Mother] a special drama for Kansai TV in conjunction with the TV Station’s 50th Anniversary, they were quite good and impressive and would really love to watch all of them acting in a drama, in a typical Kansai household setting with everyone speaking in Kansai dialect! ♥♥♥

okay fangirling time’s up so sweeping that aside…

just saw this article in the today’s news column, Chinese Cinderellas Going To A Ball where 1,500 young ladies in Guangzhou submitted their applications to attend this one-of-a-lifetime-ball organized by a local matchmaking agency where only 40 lucky selected girls will be able to meet some of the richest multimillionaires aboard a luxury yacht. The condition for the guys? Single and must have a value of at least 50 million yuan whereas the competitions for the girls are stricter. Guys pay around 36, 800 yuan to attend the ball but girls get in for free C= The main reason for such an extravagant meet-up? Rich guys hardly have the time to get out of work to find their “Cinderellas” thus such event helps in giving them an extra leg up in the social ladder.

This came as no surprise when a news article released a few months ago stated that at least 1/3 of the world’s richest people reside in China or come from China and when asked around the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, the businessmen shrugged their shoulders over their opinions whether the current looming world economic crisis will have an effect in their lifestyles and jobs. Many replied that although the economy is not looking good, they are still able to splurge and continue to indulge in their luxurious lifestyles. A bunch of very optimistic people, the Chinese are.

PS: I just finished watching the Arashi Around Asia (AAA) Tour 2006-2007 where the group held press conferences in 3 different venues within 24 hours on a private jet! (…the life of those born with a silver spoon, a commoner like me will never understand that…) in Bangkok, Taipei and Seoul. The group has 5 members but with only 3 places, 大野 surprised me with his almost-fluent Thai when he gave a speech at the press conference! @__@ while 翔くん showed his good educational background as a Keio graduate when he spoke eloquently in Korean in Seoul and finally,松潤’s Chinese sounded so cute (and very funny! sorry to all the fans out there!)…

I’ve asked a Korean friend of mine regarding the difficulties in learning Japanese and he said, “Surprisingly Korean and Japanese are very similar especially in the grammar and even share same vocabularies so it’s fairly easy and fast to pick up the language” Interesting…

Next! 5×10 dvd clips! *Believe Animation PV is too cute to resist!*

PSS: Oh…and the Golden versions of  秘密の嵐ちゃん, VS嵐 and 嵐の宿題くん had mellowed down quite a bit…missed those ピンクの小倉さん moments~ lol

Reading news like this makes me happy and thankful that I was born in such a wonderful city

China’s President, Hu Jin Tao arrived today for an official visit after a lapse of 15 years creating a new milestone in the Sino-Asean relations

Home is a place where you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to

20 years ago on a cold Monday night, 9 November 1989 the East finally opened their gates to the West

Years of separation and anxiety melted into the unbelievable reality of freedom and a future without border guards, secret police, informers and rigid communist control

On that night, the wall of separation was finally pulled down and knocked over, strangers hugging each other as celebrations continued on well into the nights and days

20 years on, parts of the wall still stand but most of them are gone, shadowed by development of the city

It was on this date that a country became whole again, a country called Germany

On another note, the Korean wave struck again, this time in the heart of Tokyo where for a limited time only, a special “Winter Sonata Cafe” opened its doors on the rooftop terrace of Matsuzakaya Department Store in Ginza attracting hordes of female fans of the series. The shop is based on the world of animated version of the series (there is an animated version of the series?!! *face palms*) started 17 October on Sky Perfect TV Channel

Continuation from previous post…

A prove that the university is surrounded by wilderness! Not that I am complaining though…*smile*

Hirodai in winter…brr~ *cold*

Hirodai in autumn…beautiful! this is the walkway near the Engineering Faculty

Vending machines are everywhere~ tempting us with cold drinks in summer and hot drinks in winter~

A mixture of hot and cold drinks on sale~ My recommendation? +150ml Coca Cola for 100yen! and Fanta Grape and Zero Sprite (my first time encounter!) and Qoo! Apple Juice *delicious!*

Environmental Eco Friendly! ^__^ Pour away any ice cubes/water down the chute on the left and then place the cup upside-down on the right and press the red button in front and you’ll get 10 yen back

Main Library 中央図書館

2nd floor inside the Main Library…there are computer terminals on each floor (2nd and 3rd floor)

the West Library 2nd entire floor is actually a mini computer lab with dozens of computers for students to use

and the best attribute? Free printing! service on recycled papers of course!

Study tables and chairs and shelves upon shelves of books in various languages (I once stumbled upon books written in French, German, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and I think a few in Latin?) but most books are in Japanese

I am happy with my university’s library but would be super grateful if only there are more tables and chairs provided on the 2nd floor *___*

The West Library

Shortcut from the IAS (Integrated Arts and Science) Faculty to the Education Faculty…one of the first hidden pathway I found on my first few days exploring around the campus

The court on the left is the tennis court and the building behind the court is the Music Faculty

ATM corner (there’s another corner near the IAS building) and a cute tiny post box next to it

Satake Memorial Hall さたけ記念ホール where most of the major events will be held

Mermaid Cafe, the one and only cafe where you’ll find a lot of international students gathered together…

and also the one other place in the whole campus where you can enjoy free-refillable coffees while surfing the internet with power outlets provided besides the libraries (minus the coffee)

The Science Faculty and the grey building opposite is the International Center

And more bicycles…the campus has a lot of parking bays for bicycles and motorcycles but only a few parking bays for cars so most of the lecturers will park their cars at the designated bays and walk to their offices…

If this is implemented in my university, the first group to raise their objections would be the lecturers…

*sigh*

It still is a mysterious to me on how the Japanese keep the streets and premises so clean…

We don’t have 1 big rubbish bin but a lot of small bins like these with labels for empty cans, empty bottles, empty PET bottles (plastic bottles), burnables (papers and the like), recyclables plastics and not-burnables…

which till now, I am still confused on which bin I should throw my onigiri plastic wrapper into

These bins have images on them (like the picture at the bottom) to let you know what kind of rubbish goes into which bins but most of the time just like the picture at the top, there are no indicators except the labels in Japanese (and if you can’t read Japanese, you’ll be in a pinch) but worry not, just open the lid and peer inside the bin and you’ll know which is the correct bin but if there’s nothing inside, then that’s a different story…

PS: Someone told me that Hirodai Higashi-Hiroshima is the 2nd biggest national university campus in the whole of Japan (and I am still searching for the champion) which explains why no matter how many times I circled around the campus on my bicycle, I can’t seem to find the exact perimeter of the campus…interesting~

Oh and there are also a big track and field area behind the campus plus, a medium-sized baseball ground, a fairly large botanical garden (or is it plantation field?) and surprise! surprise! a horse track complete with stables! *amazed*

Then there are also an indoor and outdoor Olympic sized pool (it turned up on the campus map but I’ve yet to find them), a fitness training room (inside the West Gym), a Kendo practice hall (inside West Gym), basketball court…did I missed anything?

お待たせしました！ Finally, on to the one place which made my dream to go to Japan come true by accepting me as an exchange student in their university…also the place where I spent most of my time (attending classes and events), made a lot of new foreign and Japanese friends, met my Japanese language lecturers…life was bliss!

My One Day in Hiroshima University Higashi-Hiroshima Campus 広島大学東広島キャンパスの一日

“Kriing!!~ Kriing!!~”

9.30am on a beautiful Tuesday morning as I got up, get dressed and get ready for my class at 10.00am C= That’s why I had a bicycle and often skipped breakfast…by the way, the earliest class begins at 8.45am, thank God!

cycle all the way from my dormitory down the hill, stop at a traffic light junction and within 2 minutes, I’ll be cycling down this path, the bicycle and pedestrian walkway leading towards the main gate of the university, the main road is just next to it…this was taken in spring, hence the pinkish sakura blossoms…

notice how wide the walkway is! definitely won’t happen in my country…

and don’t be surprised if the university does not have walls/huge archways or impressive gates as barriers…

1st class: Japanese Language Level 2/4 (autumn and spring semester respectively) class

Education Faculty building where most of my classes were held

A small classroom for Level 2 class as we’ve only had 6-8 student…this was taken in the beginning of summer, hence the open door…

there will be an umbrella stand like this found outside each classrooms/rooms where on rainy days, everyone will place their wet umbrellas into the holes so that there won’t be any dripping wet umbrellas inside the classroom as well as to avoid slippery floors…nice idea! me like!

12:00 noon – Lunch Time

Possibly one of those fun times my friends and I looked forward to everyday…there were 2 choices…

Line up together with the other students (this is the super long queue seen everyday outside the West Cafetaria)

or

Get some onigiri (rice ball) or bento (lunch box) or sandwiches from the Lawson convenience store or from the Co-op Shop

There are 5 cafetarias found all over the campus, the Main Cafetaria (next to the main library), North Cafetaria (opposite the Education Faculty building), West Cafetaria (next to the West Library near ISA Building), East Cafetaria (next to the Engineering Faculty building) and University Hall Cafetaria (next to the clubs and circles building)

These cafetarias are not always packed with students but lunch time is the peak and most cafetarias close by 8.30pm

The above picture is the North Cafetaria opposite the Education Faculty building which my friends and I often frequented as it’s the nearest to our classes and also not so crowded (as in the queue is not as long as other cafes)

This is what you’ll see at the North Cafe during lunch time

Basically, National Universities (just like mine but mine looked more like a fortress with those gates and guards more than anything) are open to everyone, a good way to promote life-long learning so sometimes you’ll meet the local aunties and uncles walking around the campus or nearby schoolchildren in their uniforms having lunches at the cafetarias

This was taken in front of the North Cafe in autumn…

Regular students will normally have their lunches (and sometimes dinners) at the school’s cafetarias as the university has a meal plan (something like prepaid cards) so this helps the students to save up on meals

And tadaa~ free lunch time entertainment! ^__^ Performances by students of various clubs

Surprisingly lunch time is kind of short (in my opinion) as the next class starts at 12.45 noon! That explains why the lunch time queues are always so long…

Next class! 2:45pm – What Is Peace? (I am still puzzled on why we had to take this class…)

Bicycles! the main transport of almost all the students (and some lecturers)

What is Peace class is one of the compulsory subject (Peace Studies) for all exchange students and is also offered to other Japanese students (we were separated into groups of 4-5 students with 1 group having at least 1 international student) My group had 3 Japanese students, 1 Korean guy and me…I am glad that we got along quite well and I really enjoyed their companionship during those few months C=

The class ends at around 4:00pm and during Fall Semester, day was short, night was long so sunset occurred earlier…

By the time I’ve cycled out to the main road leading towards my dormitory, this was what I saw

Beautiful sunset!

Comparatively to the other regular students, we exchange students were quite free (since we were free to choose the subjects we wanted to take)  so most of the time, I will have at least 1 class  and at most 3 classes per day, from Monday-Friday

きょう午後から雨が降リ始まる

今も雨が降っている

いつまで降るかでしょうね

寒気が感じながら暖かいお茶を飲んで

お茶をゆっくり飲むながらベッドとかソファーで好きな本を読んで時間を潰すのは

私自分自身の中で一番理想だな

最高リラックスの方法と思う

人見知りであまり出ることが好きなので

これは休みの日一日できたら嬉しいよ

私変な人でしょう　*笑*

今村上春樹さんの１Ｑ８４の本を読んでるが

使った言葉は難しいし何か話すなのかよく分からないで

他の本よりペースは遅いよ～　Ｔ＿＿Ｔ

でも村上春樹さんの作品が好きだから

がんばります！

窓際座ってる私は今

雨は見えないが

音は聞こえる

シャシャシャで

良い音です

Credits: 読売新聞

According to the newspaper, this is an image of the full moon rising from the summit of Mount Fuji dubbed “Pearl” due to the shape, color and overall visual of the scenery. Chances of seeing such visuals are quite high especially during the autumn-winter period where the night is longer, day shorter and sunrise doesn’t occur till later in the day.

This was taken from the city of Gotemba in Shizuoka Prefecture

Beautiful! I didn’t get the chance to see Mount Fuji covered in snow or snow peak (fell asleep on my way to Tokyo during winter break the last time…my life’s most tiring 18 hours train ride!) before so a little disappointed here…but can’t be help since my university was located far, far away from this area…one of the cons of staying far away from Tokyo

Would I go back just to see the mountain with my own eyes? Definitely!

EDIT

Oh and I found this picture in this morning’s news section

Credits: 読売新聞

This was taken at the peak of the Mount Taisen 大船山 one of the mountains found along the Kyushu Mountain Range in Oita Prefecture. According to the news, this autumn season’s strongest cold winds struck the whole nation leaving many places with the lowest temperature recorded in November and in this particular area, the temperature recorded was 4.1 degrees, a fall of 3.6 degrees from the previous year. Snow started falling heavily on the night of 2nd November and dusted the mountain peaks with white powder by the next day. One of the rare opportunities to be able to enjoy both the colors of autumn and winter at the same time.

nope, not the song by Arashi but more like…my emotion right now

^___^

I just got back from a very short meeting (15-20 minutes…wanted more time! T__T) with 堀田先生 Hotta-sensei! and the President of Hirodai and 2 assistants

They were attending a 3 days conference held in a hotel very far from my university but they took the time to come all the way here to have a talk with me, I felt so touched by that! Apparently I was the 1st student from my university who went over to Hirodai for exchange and the President wanted my feedback about the life I had in Hirodai.

Oh by the way, the whole conversation was in Japanese, that’s why my hands and feet were trembling so much and I think I’ve mistakenly used wrong grammars >____<”

But I am so happy and glad that we’ve met and had a proper conversation! I had a chance to chat with Hotta-sensei and from our conversation, memories of my stay in Hirodai suddenly resurfaced and I felt so nostalgic…somewhere deep down inside my heart, I really wanted to return…

But…there’s always a but

*sigh*

I’ll have to finish my studies, graduate with a degree and then…FLY~

*looks beyond the horizon*

I’ve completed one of my childhood dream and maybe now it’s time to make another dream come true…

On another note,

Beautiful Autumn in Mount Koya, Wakayama Prefecture!

My friends and I were there during autumn too but the journey took such a long time that by the time we arrived at the foothills, it was already dark (sunset is earlier) and we didn’t really get to see much of the autumn colors in full splendor *sad*

*wishes that her country has 4 seasons too but of course that’s impossible…*

Then there’s the latest news regarding a Japanese woman who was caught on suspicion with drugs at KLIA and will be sentenced to death if found convicted. The amount of methyl-amphetamine found in her luggage was 4.7kg (certainly quite a huge amount) but that was not what I found weird but if you follow the link and scroll down to the last comment made…

Here in Switzerland, she will be captured and released…

I was like @__@ Really? Then I did some research online and found out that Cannabis is classified as illegal narcotic is punishable by monetary or imprisonment punishments but on the contrary, in 1998, 250 hectares of land were used in cannabis cultivation yielding more than 100 tons of narcotics per year!

So basically if you are caught smuggling drugs in Switzerland, you’ll be caught (of course) and if you can afford it, pay up the fines and you’re free. Interesting facts for drug dealers this is…

PS: Listening to Hero by 嵐 the main theme of 24 Hours TV 2004