some pour out their souls
some don't
because they are afraid of getting hurt

i think im the ...... type

Emergency backpack!!

Today, I found out that everyone in the company has an emergency backpack underneath their desk!!

List of emergency supplies for your backpack

■Supply of emergency food and drink for 3 days (well.. more like 1 bottle of water + a can of bread)

■First aid kit (gauze, bandage wrap, eye drops, medicine for cuts, stomach medicine, adhesive bandages, plaster, disinfectant, aspirin, etc.)

■Survival blanket (packed very tiny, specially designed)

■Flashlight and portable radio (with spare batteries)

■Whistle (which should be carried with you at all times)

■String, rope, helmet, gloves, adhesive tape (gloves + rope are the most important)

■Lighter

■Swiss army knife

■Writing utensils (marker preferred)

■Change of clothes, waterproof clothing, spare pair of glasses (poncho)

■Towl

■Cash (10 and 100 yens coins for using with public phones)

■A map of your neighbourhood with all the temporary meeting points, evacuation centres and sites, hospitals, police boxes, etc.).

■A copy of your official papers (passport, gaijin card, bank books, driver's licence, health insurance card...
 
■An Emergency Identity Card
 
Card contents:


■Name, surname and date of birth

■Address, phone number

■Blood type

■Allergies

■Chronic illnesses

■Current medical treatment/medication

■Family doctor

■People to contact in case of emergency

海角七號

一九四五年十二月二十五日
友子，太陽已經完全沒入了海面
我真的已經完全看不見台灣島了
你還站在那裡等我嗎？


友子
請原諒我這個懦弱的男人
從來不敢承認我們兩人的相愛
我甚至已經忘記
我是如何迷上那個不照規定理髮
而惹得我大發雷霆的女孩了
友子
你固執不講理、愛玩愛流行
我卻如此受不住的迷戀你
只是好不容易你畢業了
我們卻戰敗了
我是戰敗國的子民
貴族的驕傲瞬間墮落為犯人的枷
我只是個窮教師
為何要揹負一個民族的罪
時代的宿命是時代的罪過
我只是個窮教師
我愛你，卻必須放棄你

第三天
該怎麼克制自己不去想你
你是南方艷陽下成長的學生
我是從飄雪的北方渡洋過海的老師
我們是這麼的不同
為何卻會如此的相愛
我懷念艷陽…我懷念熱風...
我猶有記憶你被紅蟻惹毛的樣子
我知道我不 該嘲笑你
但你踩著紅蟻的樣子真美
像踩著一種奇幻的舞步
憤怒、強烈又帶著輕挑的嬉笑…
友子，我就是那時愛上你的…
多希望這時有暴風
把我淹沒在這台灣與日本間的海域
這樣我就不必為了我的懦弱負責

友子
才幾天的航行
海風所帶來的哭聲已讓我蒼老許多
我不願離開甲板，也不願睡覺
我心裡已經做好盤算
一旦讓我著陸
我將一輩子不願再看見大海
海風啊，為何總是帶來哭聲呢？
愛人哭、嫁人哭、生孩子哭
想著你未來可能的幸福我總是會哭
只是我的淚水
總是在湧出前就被海風吹乾
湧不出淚水的哭泣，讓我更蒼老了
可惡的風
可惡的月光
可惡的海

十二月的海總是帶著憤怒
我承受著恥辱和悔恨的臭味
陪同不安靜地晃盪
不明白我到底是歸鄉
還是離鄉！

傍晚，已經進入了日本海
白天我頭痛欲裂
可恨的濃霧
阻擋了我一整個白天的視線
而現在的星光真美
記得你才是中學一年級小女生時
就膽敢以天狗食月的農村傳說
來挑戰我月蝕的天文理論嗎？
再說一件不怕你挑戰的理論
你知道我們現在所看到的星光
是自幾億光年遠的星球上
所發射過來的嗎？
哇，幾億光年發射出來的光
我們現在才看到
幾億光年的台灣島和日本島
又是什麼樣子呢？
山還是山，海還是海
卻不見了人
我想再多看幾眼星空
在這什麼都善變的人世間裡
我想看一下永恆
遇見了要往台灣避冬的烏魚群
我把對你的相思寄放在其中的一隻
希望你的漁人父親可以捕獲
友子，儘管他的氣味辛酸
你也一定要嚐一口
你會明白...
我不是拋棄你，我是捨不得你
我在眾人熟睡的甲板上反覆低喃
我不是拋棄你，我是捨不得你

天亮了，但又有何關係
反正日光總是帶來濃霧
黎明前的一段恍惚
我見到了日後的你韶華已逝
日後的我髮禿眼垂
晨霧如飄雪，覆蓋了我額上的皺紋
驕陽如烈焰，焚枯了你秀髮的烏黑
你我心中最後一點餘熱完全凋零
友子…
請原諒我這身無用的軀體

海上氣溫16度
風速12節、水深97米
已經看見了幾隻海鳥
預計明天入夜前我們即將登陸
友子…
我把我在台灣的相簿都留給你
就寄放在你母親那兒
但我偷了其中一張
是你在海邊玩水的那張
照片裡的海沒風也沒雨
照片裡的你，笑得就像在天堂
不管你的未來將屬於誰
誰都配不上你
原本以為我能將美好回憶妥善打包
到頭來卻發現我能攜走的只有虛無
我真的很想妳！
啊，彩虹！
但願這彩虹的兩端
足以跨過海洋，連結我和妳

友子，我已經平安著陸
七天的航行
我終於踩上我戰後殘破的土地
可是我卻開始思念海洋
這海洋為何總是站在
希望和滅絕的兩個極端
這是我的最後一封信
待會我就會把信寄出去
這容不下愛情的海洋
至少還容得下相思吧！
友子，我的相思你一定要收到
這樣你才會原諒我一點點
我想我會把你放在我心裡一輩子
就算娶妻、生子
在人生重要的轉折點上
一定會浮現…

你提著笨重的行李逃家
在遣返的人潮中，你孤單地站著
你戴著那頂...
存了好久的錢才買來的白色針織帽
是為了讓我能在人群中發現你吧！
我看見了…我看見了…
你安靜不動地站著
你像七月的烈日
讓我不敢再多看你一眼
你站得如此安靜
我刻意冰涼的心，卻又頓時燃起
我傷心，又不敢讓遺憾流露
我心裡嘀咕，嘴巴卻一聲不吭
我知道，思念這庸俗的字眼
將如陽光下的黑影
我逃他追…我追他逃…
一輩子

我會假裝你忘了我
假裝你將你我的過往
像候鳥一般從記憶中遷徙
假裝你已走過寒冬迎接春天
我會假裝…
一直到自以為一切都是真的！
然後…
祝你一生永遠幸福！

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

好像好久沒有寫了，今天手癢。
寄宿家庭沒人，他們都出去了，所以家裡好不容易清靜。
聽著台北之音溫習日文，效果不這麼好，可是很享受。
上個禮拜六去了成田太鼓祭，感受日本文化。
表演著幾乎都是小學生，可是他們打鼓的氣勢不賴，
打鼓動作非常一致，很有看頭。

上上個週末和寄宿家庭到了Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building看東京的景觀，

新宿天王公園欣賞櫻花。昨天和同學到了東京步谷（Shibuya），新宿（Shinjuku）看看。

週末的東京實在是人山人海，比旺角還要旺。
禮拜一到五一整天都在上課，禮拜一到五早上7點起來，晚上6點回家。
中間有時間都和同學待在學校里溫習。所以都是等到週末才有時間到處看看。

temaki

my host family and i made temaki for dinner on sunday. the the wraps were very yummy, cuz i made them myself. and i actually ate a full bowl of rice, which was the 1st time it happened since i came to japan.

Narita Drum Festival

The time stamp is wrong, I went on 10 Apr 2010. I'm really glad I went, cuz it was super fun!

Hanami

I went to hanami (flower viewing) with my host family last Sunday. It was ok, the park is very beatiful, but I'm not that into Sakura. Jp people LOVE LOVE LOVE sakura, they all have picnics under the sakura trees when the flowers start blooming.

Sakura has really special meanings to jp, I don't know what it is though. They're pretty flowers, even prettier when you see the petals falling. It looks like the scene in the Disney movie Pocahontas

Dear all,

I miss you. I've been in Jpn for 2 weeks now and I wish I'm back in Chambana. Jpn is a cool country, my host family is pretty nice, the courses are easy/ interesting and I've made some friends here, but they're nothing compare to Chambana and you.

Commuting here is driving me nuts, it takes me at least an hour to get somewhere, whether it's internship every Wed, going to school everyday or traveling between 2 campuses (one of my classes is on another campus). I miss classes in Allen Hall when I could wake up 10 mins before class and simply walk downstairs. My commuting buddy is Keri from Hawaii. She and I both live close to the same station, so we end up going to school together everyday.

There's another guy, JK who also lives close to us. He's actually from the U of I, but I didn't know him until the 2nd day of the program. He's a Korean, 26 years old and I have a small crush on him :P It surprised me that I have a crush on him, cuz he smokes! Cigarettes and weed!! But don't worry, nothing's going to happen, because he has a gf.

I went shopping in Harakuku, Tokyo today and bought a ton of clothes. Most of them are dresses, dresses that are very Jpn style - all flowery and flowey. They're mostly around US$ 20 and my my host mom and Jpn friends told me that's super cheap. Jpn style is very different, they like wearing a lot of layers and clothes are usually not fitted.

My host family is easy to talk to, everyone in the family speaks good English (relatively speaking), so it wasn't hard to communicate with them at all. But I'm not very used to their eating habits. They eat a lot of rice (main dish) and a few side dishes (like 2-3). I honestly think that I didn't get enough nutrients for the past 2 weeks. But it got much better today. For dinner tonight, I had tofu, stir fry mix veggies and chicken. Hopefully it will be like tonight from now on.

This Saturday, I'm going to the Narita Drum Festival with everyone in my program. Speaking of my program, there's a student council election coming up this Friday, so everyone needed to nominate 3 people for the council. They do it the Asian way: you can nominate yourself, but it's more common that other people nominate you. They don't care if you want to do it or not, people will do it if they're elected, because it's an honor. Well.... I got nominated and I'm not happy about it at all! The student council has to meet at least once a week aka it takes away my fun time! Anyways, I'll send an update of the election after Friday.

I'll be traveling to Hokkaido for 4 days 3 nights Apr 29 - May 2, then visiting Dana in Kobe from May 7-9 (Fri - Sun). Hopefully we can all Skype when I'm in Kobe with Dana.

Good night.

Yinting

Commuting here is driving me nuts, it takes me at least an hour to get somewhere, whether it's internship every Wed, going to school everyday or traveling between 2 campuses (one of my classes is on another campus). I miss classes in Allen Hall when I could wake up 10 mins before class and simply walk downstairs. My commuting buddy is Keri from Hawaii. She and I both live close to the same station, so we end up going to school together everyday.

I went shopping in Harakuku, Tokyo today and bought a ton of clothes. Most of them are dresses, dresses that are very Jpn style - all flowery and flowey. They're mostly around US$ 20 and my my host mom and Jpn friends told me that's super cheap. Jpn style is very different, they like wearing a lot of layers and clothes are usually not fitted.

Clothes I bought

Harajuku is also famous for crepes!

My host family is easy to talk to, everyone in the family speaks good English (relatively speaking), so it wasn't hard to communicate with them at all. But I'm not very used to their eating habits. They eat a lot of rice (main dish) and a few side dishes (like 2-3). I honestly think that I didn't get enough nutrients for the past 2 weeks. But it got much better today. For dinner tonight, I had tofu, stir fry mix veggies and chicken. Hopefully it will be like tonight from now on.

This Saturday, I'm going to the Narita Drum Festival with everyone in my program. Speaking of my program, there's a student council election coming up this Friday, so everyone needed to nominate 3 people for the council. They do it the Asian way: you can nominate yourself, but it's more common that other people nominate you. They don't care if you want to do it or not, people will do it if they're elected, because it's an honor. I'll be traveling to Hokkaido for 4 days 3 nights Apr 29 - May 2, then visiting Dana in Kobe from May 7-9 (Fri - Sun). Hopefully we can all Skype when I'm in Kobe with Dana.

Good night.

already in Jp for 2 weeks

Classes started last Thursday. I'm taking:

Mon: Japanese, Marketing in Japan
Tues: Japanese, Urban Soc of Jp
Wed: Internship at a marketing research company in Harajuku
Thurs: Japanese, Soc Org. of Jp
Fri: Japanese

The Jp classes are 1.5 hours long and 3 hours long on Friday, the other classes all meet only once a week for 3 hours. 3 hours long lectures = nap time. I could still stay awake for the first hour, but after that my eyelids are out of my control. The classes are pretty interesting and none of them are too hard.

Commuting

Commuting takes at least 2 hours round trip from where I live to school and back. I'm already fed up with commuting and waking up at least 2 hours before class starts to go to school + an extra 40 minutes to get ready. I thought that would be all the commuting I have, but obviously not. My Marketing in Jp class is not on my campus, so I'd actually have to travel an hour to another campus Mon afternoon for it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlNyCHlLt1Y

Breakfast @ homestay 

People here don't take breakfast to go, or it may be just my host family. They all eat breakfast at home, which means I have to eat breakfast at home too. I can't say I like it, it's really awkward for me to eat breakfast at home. The 2nd day I came to the host family (Sun), my host mom "asked" (more like implying) if I can make my own breakfast on weekdays. I said "yea, sure" because I thought maybe she usually wakes up later, so she couldn't make me breakfast. But that's not the case, she's the 1st person awake everyday and she makes her family breakfast, except for me. They would have fish/ soup/ toast/ fried egg/ yogurt for breakfast and me who's sitting on the same table eating breakfast with them will be eating raisin rolls and cereal. WTF?! 

Meals @ homestay

I don't think I'm getting enough nutrients. This family has such a different eating habit. They only have 2 -3 dishes for the entire family (small dishes) for dinner and rice + soup. They eat a lot of rice! So it makes me feel like if I'm still hungry, I should just get more white rice which is literally just carbohydrates with no nutrients at all. Last Saturday, we had dumplings and rice for dinner. Dumplings and rice and nothing else! Everyone got about 3 - 4 dumplings and unlimited rice. Yay............ WTF?! I can't believe this is what they fed me. 

Host family is paid US20/ day to feed me breakfast and dinner (no lunch included), USD20 just to buy food for me. My breakfast for the 5 days costs ~ USD 2 = ~200 yen =  USD 0.40 or 40 yen/ day. Doesn't that mean I should be eating really good dinner?! Seriously, why don't you just give me 20 dollars a day for me to buy my own food. I could eat at Sweets Paradise (dessert/ spaghetti buffet for USD 15) everyday and still have $ left over.





To my dearest friends: stop asking me how i like jp. To be nice, I always say I still need time to get used to it or just lie and say I like it. The truth is i dont like it here. i dont think i can stand this place for a year.

my host sister wanted to say something:

i am yuriko.i am yinting's host sister.i am 7 years old.

nice to meet you.i like yinting. yinting is cute.she is smart.she is my sister.she is my english teacher.i am happy. see you.

from yuriko.

Windy city

No....... not Chicago! Chiba, Japan is super windy! This morning, all the trains on Keiyo line were canceled, most Musashino lines were too. So, it took me 1.5 hours to get to Kanda from Myoden, instead of the 1 hour commute I usually have.

When I woke up at 7am, my host mom told me that the trains were canceled. My host dad told me an alternate route to Kaihin Makuhari (school's station): the Sobu line. When Keri and I got to the Nishi-Funabashi station for transfer, the station was so packed that the staffs decided to let everyone enter/exit the station for free! We got stucked in the station lobby for 10 mins trying to figure out where we were going and trying to get to the right platform by pushing everybody out of our way! It was crazy!!

Then the Sobu line train stopped for 20 mins to wait for the wind to stop and we got stuck in the sardine can for the time. The doors wouldn't close, so people kept coming in to the train and the train got more crowded. To make sure nobody passes out, the train captain cranked up the A/C, but it was still quite warm inside the train.

Keri and I were the lucky ones who took the right alternate route. Some students took the Keisei line and they ended up being on trains for 3 - 4 hours. It was an interesting experience, kind of fun because it makes me feel like I'm in Jp. But I don't really want to experience it again.