July 1, 2008. Tuesday

Post script: This and previous posts are all written at home and brought to school to be cut and paste.

Another day! Today I woke up at bleeding 5.05am because I thought the cat was coming into my room. I *thought*, but there was no cat. Then I drifted to sleep and back before finally waking up at 8a.m.

Breakfast was Japanese rice ball, Japanese fried dumplings and miso soup. Oishii~ Japanese rice is a lot more stickier than our rice. It fills you up really fast too.

Today’s my oral interview and my slot’s at 11:55am. I left home early because I wanted to explore a bit, I thought I’ve seen a DAISO nearby but couldn’t find it when I walked around.

I found a 7-11 and went in to ask if they had calling cards. I still haven’t called Mom, bad daughter. Using my broken Japanese, I ask (probably in not lady-like grammar) if they have the card. The 7-11 staff were very very helpful.

In Malaysia, if they don’t have, they would probably say, “No.” and expect you to leave. But here! they flipped their notes and brought me to their computerised ticket buying system and poked at the touch screen.

At last, I saw some card that looked like a calling card. I asked for one and the lady printed out a voucher. The guy cashier scanned the voucher and out came my reciept. The lady poked some buttons on a machine and out came a “printed calling card.”

Even though the staff was helpful, the printed paper wasn’t at all. I still don’t know how to use the paper/ card. There’s no freaking number for me to dial for access! Mom, please wait some more!

After that, I walked a bit further down and gave up looking for DAISO. I turned to the direction of the train station.

Japanese children are really really cute. They have plump rosy cheeks and their moms dress them nicely. The language is already cute and even cuter when in a (real) baby’s voice. I don’t mean the “act cute” voice some girls in dramas use.

On the train, there were several babies and fashionble young moms. Cool country.

Here’s my (very cheap looking) which I put in my pocket and now it looks like it’s already one month old. my bad! but you’re too cheap too.

Oh, the day was sunny and it feels like the UV rays are much stronger here. Perhaps I need to reapply lots of sunblock. It was so sunny during my walk to scool.

When I reached school, I decided to try the post office ATM. My card went in but the ATM told me they don’t recognize it. OI! I need money

Nevermind, I’ll ask others about this. I shall go use the internet at the International Student Centre first to check out how to use the calling card. The info on the net wasn’t very useful. AHH! I tried using that to call but it was useless.

I met a Malaysian girl who’s studying in the US and came with tow other friends. MC told me they were planning to travel after ATW. She said I can join them. THey’ll be going to places I want to go too. COOL!

I hurriedly updated the blog with pre-typed material and photos. The photos didn’t turn out well, I had resized them in Picasa and they turned out horrible in Xanga. Hope this entry’s photos turn out well.

My oral test at 11.50 went OK. The first thing I told the prof was, “I’m very unconfident in my spoken Japanese.” The prof’s really nice and chatty. He didn’t make me feel stupid like the one in my NUS placement test did.

He told me I will be in level 5 and I could be transfered to level 4 if I feel I’m not ready for level 5. Thanks!! Maximum level’s 6 and they’re really really good. I will be in class with NUS students who were in LAJ level 3. Faint. I haven’t practised much but (be confident) I will do my best and make it!!!

Had lunch with my tutor, Wawa and her tutor. My tutor brings her own lunch. You can’t get more ladylike than homemade (granny made) lunch!!! I checked her skin and it wasn’t caked with foundation. Some people have all the luck!!!

Oh, here’s the reciept for lunch and you can see they tell you how much calories you’ve had, the salt, reds, yellows and greens you’ve had. (As if we need to know!)

After lunch was class. We’ll be having it in a 100 year old building. It looks like scenes from Japanese horror movies, seriously. The class room’s large but stuffy. The chair was so hard. Thank goodness the Malaysian girls sat quite up front or I would have fallen asleep.

Class didn’t fly by, unfortunately, but Prof Teow’s from NUS so I can still understand him. Before the end of class was a self-intro. Turns out lots of people like to drink and to sing karaoke.

At the end of class, I thick skinnedly joined a group by asking S (who’s from Thailand) if they were doing anything. Operation Leeching was a success. S and I tried our cards at ATMs and asked a bank’s employee but still no cash. SOB

I took photos of Junichi and Jun from vending machines. HAPI~ (Japanese for happy -_-“)

We went into the tiny streets in search of the 100 yen store. At last we found it by asking a granpa.

The shop’s not that large and it was the 4th floor of a supermarket. I bought writing stuff, a face spray (it’s summer and I want to see if it’s good enough to set my foundation), a bottle of lemon sugar water. I always try to limit myself to five items when I’m in shops like those.

We went down to the supermarket. They had beers in all sizes! One litre, regular and condensed milk tin size. Their pudding looked fantastic in the open fridge but I didn’t buy it because I’ve already have fake lemon juice.

The “tour” ended and I took a bus alone back to the train station. No one lived near me and everyone else stayed in the dorm.

At least I can read kanji, which helps very very much. I found a bus and hopped on when it came. The buses here aren’t that frequent and they have the schedules stuck at the bus stop.

The bus sign said my stop is two stops away. But it wasn’t, it went on and on before finally stopping at where i thought was near the train station because it had the same name.

I was so wrong!!! I had to walk and walk before I got to the station. Another try at using the calling card and nothing happen. Merde.

My train ride is rarely crowded. I wonder if it’s because not many people take it or I always (luckily) miss rush hour. hmm

When I reached my stop, the sun was still out. I got back and okaasan told K to walk the dogs. I went too and was in charge of Benni a mongrel who (yes, a “who”) isn’t cute. Bummer. K and I had nothing to talk about during the walk. I wonder if it’s me that’s anti-social. But I will be thankful that he’s not an otaku or a visual-kei (really weird subculture where they make themselves up to be really scary looking) or an emo kid. Phew

Dinner was baked sardines with miso soup. Super yummy. We had green tea too.

The green tea here is made up scooping green tea powder into a teapot, unlike back home where I used teabags.

We watched a quiz TV program. I like TV so much… I will ask if I can watch Maou on Fridays 10pm. Please please please let me watch!

Afterwards, it was shower time and time to finish my blog.

See you in the next entry. I hope to explore the library tomorrow and see if they have anything nice.

The entry’s so long. Hope you’ve had the patience to finish it. I hope I will have just as much things to say by the end of the program. ^_^

Really tasty looking bottles