Saturday 18 December 2010

Mandarin Chinese

For some unknown reason people are always really surprised when they hear me speak Mandarin Chinese...they'd look shocked and then they'd compliment that I speak really good Mandarin, when in fact I'm really not confident about speaking in Mandarin.

I've only had about 4 years of learning Mandarin formally in class, but that was in primary school in Hong Kong (between 1996-2000; months before the handover they suddenly thought it was time for us to learn Mandarin) where we only had about an hour per week, and honestly no one was listening in class, let alone practicing or speaking it when we're at home.

Since coming to Britain I think I've actually learned more Mandarin than I had done in HK, mainly by watching Phoenix TV on Sky. And I guess the visits to Shanghai and Beijing (my Dad worked there for several years) helped a bit too.

I think people are surprised when they hear me speak Mandarin is because people from HK are supposed to be Mandarin-speaking-handicapped; some people are surprised just by the fact that I read/write Chinese alone...they think that since I've been in the UK for a decade I probably don't know how to read/write Chinese. Some of my parents' friends in HK are like "you can read Chinese? wow that's great!", and I'm like "duh of course I can". Okay I may not be able to write a business letter or an academic essay in Chinese (not that I don't have the vocabulary, it's just I don't know the format and style), but I can certainly read essays, novels and newspapers in (traditional) Chinese.

But the truth is I'm still not confident in speaking Mandarin, maybe because I so rarely speak it I'm never certain if I'm speaking it correctly or not. I really need to get back to practicing speaking Mandarin, and Japanese...and perhaps someday I'll go back to studying French and Spanish again (my GCSE levels only allow me to read menu at restaurants). It'd be nice to be able to become a polyglot :)

Friday 17 December 2010

End of semester

Well actually the official end of semester is the end of January, after the exam fortnight. But I only have one oral exam in mid-January, and today's last day of classes so it could be seen as the end of semester I guess.

In the past few weeks things got quite eventful. Not socially though, apart from Seb's and Daan's visit to Manchester nothing much happened. I'm still working 20 hours a week at the shop, I'm still stressing about university and job applications.

On 5th December I took the JLPT N1, it was better than I had expected, so hopefully I had scraped a pass. Around that time I was feeling really really low, getting rejections after rejections in job applications. When Seb and Daan came it was so wonderful, just hanging out together, watching Friends, cooking and eating...

Around the same time Seb and Daan were here, I had 2 essay deadlines: dissertation plan and the essay for POLI30101 (Global Governance and International Organisation). The dissertation plan is only pass/fail so I wasn't too worried, but the global governance essay was quite stressful. It was due on Monday at 1400, I was writing it until 0400, then went to bed and got up at 0700 to continue writing it, and finished at around midday. I slept for 11 hours that night ;)

Then I thought after handing in the POLI30101 essay I would have an easier time, but obviously life doesn't always work that way. I went down to London on Wednesday for an interview, which was alright I guess but I'll have to wait till next week to see if I got through to the next round. Had another telephone interview this morning, after receiving 2 rejections... one of them was from Japan. This application to Japan had me stressing over taking numerical and verbal reasoning tests in Japanese (I just made random guesses); after the tests I got an e-mail saying that the next stage is a telephone interview, which made me think that I had got through and I started freaking out about having a telephone interview in Japanese (my business Japanese is non-existent), then this morning I got a rejection from them (obviously haven't passed the reasoning tests)...so I just freaked out over nothing.

Anyway the most upsetting is the other rejection I got today - from the Civil Service Fast Stream. The rejection from Uniqlo wasn't as upsetting as this - I've been wanting to join the FCO for a long, long time...guess I'll have to wait 'till next year, or maybe later...

Last night we had a nice, small gathering and Christmas dinner. We made Delia's roast chicken with lemon and tarragon, potatoes, tomato and mozzarella pizzas, Julia Child's tomates à la Provençale, Wen-chean's cheesecake brownies and the Hummingbird Bakery's pumpkin pie. Quite satisfying actually, the whole cooking and eating process. I guess that has become my main hobby, now that I'm not taking so many photographs since returning from Japan. I have, however, bought myself a long-desired Polaroid SLR 680 camera. I've been dreaming about this since I was 14 or 15, when I started to take up photography as a hobby. The auto-focus single lens reflex instant camera uses the Polaroid 600 series film, unlike the iconic SX-70 (which requires the less readily available SX-70 film), but then now that Polaroid is no longer manufacturing the film it doesn't make that much a difference eh? I need to save up money to buy the films (my finances right now are in an absolute mess), via either eBay (that's how I bought the camera) or The Impossible Project (started by some lovely people who decided to bring back the manufacture of the polaroid films).

This year we're spending Christmas in Manchester. Since Sam moved here last week my parents thought it might just be easier if we spend it here. My brother and I are responsible for the Christmas dinner though, and we'll have to start planning it soon! It's only one more week to go and we have to make sure we get all the shopping done before Christmas Eve... what's for dinner?

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Leaving chorus

my life hasn't changed much since I last blogged. it still revolves around the following: JLPT (10 days left!), dissertation, job applications, global governance essay, global governance presentation, Japanese speech, Japanese reading class presentations, part-time job...sleep, shower, eat, and cook.

I feel like crying but I think my tear glands are too proud. It feels like I'm about to crack under all this pressure and stress. Cooking is my way of relaxation, that's really the only time when I feel peaceful and soothed. All the other times I'm just anxious, stressed and exhausted. I haven't been to the gym in weeks, the lack of endorphins is soon to be filled by caffeine. A while ago I decided to give up drinking (alcohol), but now I think I'll take up caffeine instead. I don't usually drink coffee (tea all the way!) because it makes me really jittery and my heart beat speeds up like a sports car, but now I think I might need it for the future all-nighters.

because of the busy schedule I have these days, plus I've been having a crappy time at chorus, I've decided to leave chorus. even in October when I wasn't as busy with work, Wen Chean and I realised that chorus had drastically changed when we temporarily left for our industrial placement and study abroad. the new conductor is not as inspirational as Marcus, the repertoire is not as exciting as Elgar/Britten/Mendelssohn/Orff, and the committee seems to be lacking organisation. at the beginning I knew that I couldn't sing in the December concert because it clashes with the JLPT in London, so there hasn't been motivation for me to attend rehearsals and enjoy singing with chorus. then came November when work really started to kick my ass, I just couldn't make it to the rehearsals. Thursday is my busiest day at the University, with the last lecture (with the politics lecturer who resembles Brad Pitt) ending at 1800, I'm usually exhausted by that time. so basically that's the story...it's quite sad, when I think about it, because in my second year I put in so much time and effort into chorus, being the committee's secretary, preparing for the concerts (especially the big one at Bridgewater Hall). It was so much fun and very rewarding watching 2,000 people coming in to listen to us sing. But now I know that's not going to happen again.

anyway these days instead of singing Haydn with the chorus, I'm singing Les Mis in my room. And apparently my singing is more audible than the hoover...

Thursday 4 November 2010

The King's Speech

Just came back from a lovely evening at the Leeds International Film Festival. Tonight was the opening night and the selected film was The King's Speech, the much anticipated film of the year. It certainly deserves all the hype, personally it's the best film I've seen in years. I've read reviews of it from the film festivals in Toronto and London, and I just couldn't wait until January to watch it in the cinema, so I took the hour-long journey to Leeds to watch this film. The cast is absolutely stunning - Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham-Carter, Timothy Spall, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon etc etc.



In one particular scene, I was reminded of BBC's 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer Ehle (Elizabeth) plays Lionel Logue's (Geoffrey Rush) wife, Myrtle, who had no idea that her husband's patient was the King (played by Colin Firth, aka Mr. Darcy). Myrtle walks into the dining room and sees Elizabeth (then Queen - not Queen Mother yet) sipping tea. Already shocked, then Logue opens the door and says "erm...I believe you haven't met erm...King George VI". It sort of reminded me of the scene in Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth walks into Darcy at Pemberley. It's worth mentioning that David Bamber (aka Mr. Collins) made a cameo appearance as a theatre director, who rejected Lionel Logue's audition (Logue was an aspiring but unsuccessful actor, as well as a speech therapist) earlier in the film.

The film will be released in the US later this month, but in the UK we'll have to wait until January, closer to the award ceremonies season. I really hope and I think there's a great chance for Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter to get nominations and possibly awards!

Wednesday 3 November 2010

my life these days

this is why I haven't been blogging much lately. these days my life revolves around:

- 19hrs/week of work at part-time job at a Japanese restaurant/food shop
- 6.5hrs/week of classes at university
- going to the gym
- being a temporary vegetarian
- reading for presentations in Japanese class
- reading for global governance class (weekly tutorial - with the hottest lecturer ever, essay and presentation)
- writing a speech for Japanese class
- translation
- studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in early December
- reading for dissertation
- job/internship applications
- reading the newspaper to prepare for job applications
- having doubts about my ability of getting a job interview/job offer
- having doubts about my ability to get a 2:1/1st

Thursday 7 October 2010

twenty two

8035 days. Or twenty-two years. That's how long I've been living for.



Today was just another ordinary day.

0001 got out of the shower and blow-dried my hair
0040 went to bed
0740 woke up
0815 breakfast (toasts with houmous; Tetley tea)
0850 watched Friends on Channel 4
0945 laundry
1200 POLI30101 tutorial
1300 Lunch by myself at the Refectory (roast lamb, veg and mashed potatoes; vanilla cupcake; Quavers)
1400 EALC30000 class (oral and listening with Shaw sensei)
1600 skyped with parents
1630 watched a little bit of Friends on E4 whilst talking on the phone with Shachi, who turned out to be the only person to call me on my birthday
1700 POLI30101 lecture
1800 Dinner at the veggie cafe with Wen-chean
1900 Chorus rehearsal
2030 Got bored of Haydn's The Creation so Wen-chean and I sneaked out of rehearsal during the break and went home; watched Friends then The Big Bang Theory on TV; blew the candles on the strawberry cake Wen-chean made for me, ate the cake and some popcorn whilst watching TV.
2130 Watched She's All That (Afifah's DVD) - the last time I watched it was probably 10 years ago?

Last year I spent my birthday with people I barely knew. Had cheap, disgusting sushi off a conveyor belt and walked through the rain in the typhoon.

This year I got 60 messages on my Facebook wall, some from people I love, and some from people I haven't spoken to or seen for years. I don't even know what their "Happy Birthday" messages mean. Is it just 13 letters in the space of 14 digits that conventionally represents a greeting used on the anniversary of someone's birth?

Usually I'm a fan of Facebook, because it allows me to get in touch with people who live half way across the world, and it's fun to upload and tag people in photos etc etc. But sometimes, things get complicated because, let say for example, there are photos or messages that I only want a certain group of people to read. And then some people make a fuss about not able to see someone else's profile etc. And today I dislike Facebook more than ever. I guess it's pretty handy when you want to send a message to someone you're friends with, but not that close that you could write a personal e-mail or text message or give a phone call. But when your parents, sibling, the closest friends...the most important people of your life chose to send their regards and sentiments via a web portal, just because it's handy and convenient, life doesn't get more miserable than that eh?

I'm not upset that today's been uneventful; I never wanted to celebrate anyway. A birthday doesn't signify much, does it? Right now all it means to me is that 22 years ago I was born on this day. Other than that actual day (7th October 1988), what do the other birthdays signify? I'm just disappointed at myself. This is perhaps karma. Cold and detached as I could sometimes be, this is probably what was coming for me. 22 years on and I still have plenty to learn about building and maintaining relationships.

Don't get it wrong, I am truly grateful for my friends. I love and am grateful for my flatmates. I feel at ease when I'm with the girls, even if it's just watching TV, going to the gym or cooking dinners. Last night I managed to have a short skype conversation with Morgan after I got off work; and today I received a few very lovely text messages (thank you Seb - I look forward to see in Oxford!). One of them was from a guy I've only met a couple of weeks ago.

And oh yes the birthday presents: a set of cute plastic pencil cases from Rachel, a lovely pink Strawberry cake by Wen-chean, and a small two-tier cupcake stand and a cookbook from Afifah...

And 60 e-mails from Facebook titled "xxx has written on your wall..."


Is this my quarter-life crisis?

Les Miserables

So the Les Mis 25th Anniversary Concert was amazing, as everyone had been expecting. The concert itself was phenomenal.

My favourites of the afternoon were Lea Salonga's Fantine (of course), Alfie Boe's Valjean and Norm Lewis's Javert. Matt Lucas (of Little Britain) played a wonderful Thernadier; his comedian nature came in right on spot.

Every actor was singing and acting superbly...well everyone except for Nick Jonas. I must say he was a better suited Marius than Michael Ball, in terms of appearance and character. But when it came down to the singing, well... I didn't know who Nick Jonas was before the concert, and I have never heard of his songs, but when he was singing on the stage his voice was almost non-existent compared to the other actors, who all had substantial training and experience in theatre. I felt bad for Jonas, 'cause it was obvious that he was putting in his best efforts, and his acting was pretty good too.

As much as I've enjoyed the concert, I must admit that I still prefer the 10th Anniversary "Dream Cast" concert. One thing the 10th anniversary didn't match this 25th anniversary concert was that a few of the numbers were cut from the programme 15 years ago. The programme at this year's concert is longer (although I was not happy that Gavroche's "Little People" was cut to only one verse, they had an amazing boy singing Gavroche!). But in terms of the singing and vocal qualities, the "Dream Cast" of 1995 is still the best.

However, this concert's encore was mind-blowing. Cameron McKintosh, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil had invited the 1985 Original Cast (Colm Wilkinson, Michael Ball, Patti LuPone, Alun Armstrong, Frances Ruffelle etc.) onto the stage and perform with the concert cast as a finale. Colm Wilkinson and Alfie Boe were joined by Simon Bowman (who originated the role of Chris in Miss Saigon in 1989, alongside Lea Salonga) and John Owen-Jones who were playing Valjean at the Queen's Theatre and the Barbican respectively. The four Valjeans performed a quartet of "Bring Him Home". It was definitely the highlight was the concert. When Colm Wilkinson opened his mouth and began singing "God on high...", those three notes were pure gold.

And then Michael Ball and Frances Ruffelle (and the original Cosette) came to the front and sang the "A Heart Full of Love" trio. There at that point, when Michael Ball began to sing, I genuinely felt sorry for Nick Jonas. There was a huge contrast between his voice and the one of Michael Ball. Oh yes Lucy and I managed to catch a glimpse of Ball at the stage door after the concert.

At the stage door, the most unexpected happened. Lea Salonga walked out and immediately I shouted her name. Even now I don't know where I found that courage to do so, I'm usually pretty timid about things like these. Then I asked "Hi, can you sign this for me please?" and handed her a programme of the original production of Miss Saigon from 1989, which I had bought from eBay for less than a fiver. She looked at her biography and photo from '89 and said "Oh God". It was so surreal. I met my favourite musical theatre actress and she autographed my vintage programme. Lucy and I were jumping up and down, screaming with joy afterwards.

Afterwards I went back to Euston to meet Andrew. We had dinner in Russell Square. It was so strange, to see him in London and not in Osaka. It was absolutely delightful though - but then it did make me miss the life I had in Japan, and the friends that I had made there.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Time flies

Wow it's already been over a month since I left Japan and returned to Britain. Not that nothing has happened since I came back, it's just that I can't really write about the same stuff as I used to write about when I was in Japan. From time to time I would have periods of depression because I miss my friends too much. It's especially bad when the photos I ordered arrived in the post, and I pinned each photo onto the noticeboard in my room, and all those memories come rushing into my mind and explode in tears.

There's been a lot of frustration regarding university, which I shall discuss further later this week. Before classes started it was about looking for a part-time job. I got rejection from Harvey Nichols, Boots, and the Manchester Museum. Still haven't heard anything from H&M or Selfridges. But anyway I now have a regular part-time job (in addition the occasional student ambassador stuff I do at the University). When I was looking for jobs I thought of place where I can practice Japanese, so I wrote to Samsi (a Japanese restaurant in Manchester owned by two Britons) and asked if they had any vacancies in their basement shop (I didn't want to do waitressing - I didn't have a good time at the Midland 2 years ago, except for the occasional celebrity sightings such as David Cameron and Martine McCutcheon). And the owner replied and soon offered me a part-time position after a very brief interview.

A couple of weeks ago I did an evening of training, shadowing the other staff, learned how to use the cashier etc. Today was my first formal, 10-hour shift. God it was exhausting! At times it's really quiet, 'cause the shop is in the basement and only patrons of the restaurant and people who know the place would come in to buy Japanese snacks and cooking ingredients. But today, apart from using the cashier, credit/debit card machine, replenishing the shelves, I also cleaned out a fridge (some idiot had turned the power off over the weekend so the fridge was filled with mouldy food and stank real bad), cleaned a sink (again stank like hell), took out rubbish, washed up a few dishes and mopped the floor. I'm pretty sure those things were not in the job description. But then there wasn't really a job description, or a contract or anything in print. I won't even get paid by bank transfer. They pay in cash apparently. The advantage is that I won't have to pay tax/NI contributions on it, the disadvantage being there's no legal protection. One of the perks of the job (in addition to the 20% off staff discount) was the free meal. It's nothing fancy but today I had grilled salmon bento, which would normally cost around £5.

The salmon, the Japanese food and snacks (Pretz, Pocky and the Koala chocolate etc.) in which I'm surrounded - all remind me of the wonderful year I had in Japan. It's very, very hard not to think about it.

I'll now work 29 hours per week at the shop; 6.5 hours of lectures/tutorials at the University; and the rest of the time I'll be spending it doing homework, reading for tutorials and dissertations, chorus rehearsals, applying to postgraduate courses and graduate jobs, going to the gym, in the shower, cooking, and sleeping. There's really no time to relax or procrastinate. I really need to get back into my don't-waste-time mode I was once in while in 6th Form; I was insanely productive at one point, having 25 hours of classes per week (no "study/free periods"!), applying to universities, planning travels to Mongolia and Japan, participating in two orchestras, Jazz Band, chamber choir, organising events for boarders and captaining the badminton team. How did I manage that? I really can't remember...in the second half of Year 13, the procrastination cells started to dominate my mind, which was unfortunate as it was the most crucial point of my secondary education. That really can't happen at any point this year.

I shall update later this week about my day trip to London for the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert, which was phenomenal, and it was followed by a wonderful dinner with Andrew :)

Thursday 26 August 2010

11 months

Next Tuesday morning I'll leave Japan, after spending some fabulous 11 months in this country. I'm not one of those enthusiasts who is madly in love with Japan. I definitely like this country, but what makes this past year so amazing isn't just the country itself. It's the people I've met, whether Japanese or not, who have made my year in Japan the best year of my life so far. And there are some breath-taking, stunning sceneries in Japan which has blown my mind away.


In the past eleven months, I...

...dressed up for Halloween for the first time in over 10 years
...met some incredibly gifted polyglots
...had my first hangover after 7 or 8 tequila shots
...kissed four girls in a row in one night (no tongue though - I'm not a lesbian!)
...kissed a gay man on the lips (also no tongue)
...learned to cook a few Japanese dishes
...passed Level 2 on the JLPT
...travelled to the following prefectures: 京都府、兵庫県、奈良県、和歌山県、三重県、滋賀県、愛知県、岡山県、広島県、岐阜県、新潟県、宮城県、栃木県、東京都、神奈川県、香川県、愛媛県、高知県、徳島県、沖縄県、山口県、福岡県、大分県、佐賀県、長崎県、熊本県、鹿児島県、長野県
...been to the 3 Kyoto festivals (時代祭、葵祭、祇園祭)
...been to the 日本三景(松島湾、厳島、天橋立)
...dug gravel and pushed a car
...learned to make green tea cupcakes and lavender cupcakes
...learned to say "eight" and "basically" with an Irish accent
...accumulated 9 different stores' point cards/membership cards
...learned to like karaoke and internet cafes
...made many mistakes in terms of handling relationships with people, and learned from the mistakes
...have come to wish I knew how to turn back time
...learned a lot from some very talented photographers
...learned to sleep without air-conditioning during summer
...sang レミオロメン's 「粉雪」over a thousand times, at karaoke, a cappella, with Daan's guitar accompaniment etc.
...entered into a relationship for the first time
...broke up with someone for the first time
...discovered my own flaws; learned about myself thousands of miles away from home
...met some of the most important people in my life







Without you, I don't know how I'll ever be the same person again. I don't know how I'm going to adjust to moving back to Manchester. There's probably going to be some sort of counter culture shock...I thought that going back to somewhere familiar might help, but it seems that Osaka is now the familiar place.

I love you. Everyone of you.



瞳を閉じれば あなたが
まぶたのうらに いることで

Even if I close my eyes, I can see you behind my eyelids...

(レミオロメン「3月9日」)

Monday 9 August 2010

由布院

After 阿蘇山 we drove to 由布院 (Yufuin) in 大分県. On the way to Yufuin, we stopped by a garden called 九重ラベンダー園 in the countryside of the 九重 (Kokonoe) area. The season for lavender is actually early~mid-July, but there was still some lavender at the garden, plus other beautiful flowers. It reminded me of my first visit in Japan, when we went to Hokkaido in July '03. Farm Tomita in Furano is famous for its lavender; we had to get up at 0600 to see the lavender before all the other tourists but at that time there were already dozens of photographers at the lavender farm. This time in Yufuin - there was no one else!







Yufuin itself is a small touristy town, like Takayama in Gifu, there isn't much in the town really, just some shops selling souvenirs and handicrafts. There was one shop, though, which caught my eye. It was a shop that sells only One Piece goods. The first thing/person that came into my mind was Andrew, 'cause he's a huge fan of the manga.

Around dinner time we drove past an italian restaurant and decided to check it out. The prices were not amazingly cheap, around 1200-1800yen for a pasta or pizza dish. It's worth every yen though. The restaurant was packed with people; the pizzas were baked in a stone oven. I ordered the classic margherita - tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil leaves - yum.

阿蘇山 (Mount Aso)

阿蘇山 (Mount Aso) is now officially my favourite place on the main Kyushu island (i.e. except for Okinawa and the outlying islands in Kagoshima prefecture).

For accommodation we stayed at ペンション サンディーベル (096-767-2008; 熊本県阿蘇郡長陽村河陽4635). It's a family-run accommodation. A little bit like a bed & breakfast, except that we get both dinner and breakfast. The room itself isn't that amazing, looks like a dorm room with 3 single beds, a TV and an en-suite bathroom.



The meals, though, were amazing. The house itself is European-style. It looks like it has just popped out of a Swiss postcard. I don't know who cooks the food, the owner (an おじさん in his 60s I guess) or the younger guy who gave us serrano ham... anyway the food is delicious and it was my first time in a very long time to have good authentic European food. I just didn't imagine it would be in the middle of the Japanese countryside near an active volcano.

Here's the dinner menu:

1. Hors d'oeuvre



2. Serrano ham with homemade freshly baked dark rye bread



3. Gazpacho



4. Warm salmon and potato pate with spinach



5. Roast duck breast



6. Vanilla mousse



We were also offered a pizza at around 2200, as a late night snack...we were so full from the dinner already so we could only eat half the pizza.

The next morning breakfast was just as pleasing - a huge chunk of bacon and tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette), served with green salad and freshly baked bread.



Oh yes about Mount Aso - I totally forgot to write about the volcano having been too absorbed in the deliciousness of the food - it's an active volcano, but we could still drive right up to the crater. I wanted to look pretty so I wore my dress - it was a huge mistake 'cause it was damn windy up at the top of the volcano! Luckily there was no flashing or anything immodest.



We also saw the views of Kumamoto prefecture from 草千里ヶ浜 and 大観峰 -






Saturday 7 August 2010

Kyushu

I'm currently at a family-run B&B-esque (ペンション - "pension" in Japanese - no idea why though) accommodation at Aso-san (阿蘇山), an active volcano in Kumamoto prefecture.

I haven't had internet access so far, until now, but this crappy internet in the middle of nowhere is not free, except for Google-owned websites (e.g. Gmail, Blogger...). Odd.

This is what I've done so far in Kyushu -

04/08 Met up with my Mum in Fukuoka; had a late dinner at a 屋台

05/08 Went to 有田 ('cause my Mum wanted to see the
apparently famous pottery);
佐世保, where we took pictures of 九十九島 (where they shot the opening scene of The Last Samurai); lunch (soba and udon)


長崎 - the Confucius temple,
Peace Memorial Park (where things have been set up in preparation for the 65th anniversary of the 2nd atomic bomb attack on 9th August, 1945), 眼鏡橋, 大浦天主堂 (the oldest Gothic cathedral in Japan, built in 1864), the former Nagasaki branch of HSBC; sushi for dinner

06/08 長崎原爆資料館 (Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum);
drove to 島原 to catch the ferry to 熊本
delicious 豚骨ラーメン for lunch
熊本城
and now we're at 阿蘇山



Tomorrow we're going to drive around the volcano before heading to the hot springs of 由布院.

The weather has been superb, just like the past few weeks in Osaka, but it's been very very hot. I manage to get a little bit tanned, which is nice 'cause I know once I get back to Britain it'll be rain rain rain all day long...

As much fun as I'm having with my Mum in Kyushu - I've started to miss people in Handai already!

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Baking frenzy

Today is my first day of summer holiday. Well I guess it hasn't officially started yet 'cause we still have the final presentation tomorrow afternoon. After that I'll be off to Kyushu for 9 days!

Anyway today I'm supposed to prepare for tomorrow's presentation, but since it's going to be boring as hell no matter how much or little work I put in it, I decided to spend the afternoon baking.

I made 10 matcha (green tea) cupcakes, 12 lavender cupcakes (both from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook), and 26 chocolate chip cookies (Martha Stewart's recipe).





Sunday 1 August 2010

August

As much pain as I'm in right now, writing this literary criticism on 「蜜柑」, a short story by 芥川龍之介 (Ryunosuke Akutagawa), I don't really want this weekend to end.

It's not because tomorrow is Monday and we have classes - it's because tomorrow is the last day of classes. Tuesday I have the day off to prepare for Wednesday's presentation. And that's it - the end of my studies at Osaka University.

Yes it'll be nice not to have to stress about exams and essays etc., but I'm not looking forward to saying goodbyes to the people I love.


瞳を閉じれば あなたが
まぶたのうらに いることで
どれほど強くなれたでしょう
あなたにとって私も そうでありたい

Saturday 31 July 2010

One more month

I have exactly one month left in Japan. The classes are almost over...I still have a kanji exam, an interpretation exam, a literature essay, and a presentation.

Here's my schedule for August:

02 Exams and essay deadline
04 Presentation; my last day with Morgan :'(
05-13 九州
14 Daan's birthday; might go to Nara for the 燈花会
16 京都五山の送り火
19 彦根城
20 修了式
22 天橋立
24-25 犬山城、松本城
31 flying back home via Frankfurt


Things to do before leaving:
- pack (ugh this is not going to be fun)
- send parcels in the post
- cancel phone contract, PiTaPa card, bank account
- stock up on Japanese food? well at least the matcha powder so I can bake green tea cupcakes when I go home :)
- The Museum of Fine Arts Botson exhibition in Kyoto
- Impressionism and Modern Art exhibition in Osaka

Saturday 24 July 2010

Resemblance



Having recently discovered the joys of facebook and modern technology, my Dad scanned and uploaded a photo of him and my Mum in their 20s (he was 29 and my Mum was 26). While my brother is the literally the masculine form of my mother, I've never considered myself a splitting image of her (even though there have been many people who say we look alike). I don't object to that statement, of course I look like her. But looking at my parents' old photos, I was in awe at how I bear resemblances to both my parents, I could actually see myself in their faces.

One time my Mum joked about what if my brother and I got mixed up at birth at the hospital, I laughed it off 'cause that would be impossible. Not only it's completely hypothetical, I just don't see it as possible. My brother looks exactly like my Mum (except for his ears, which stick out a little like my Dad's), and I look like both my parents, so even without a DNA test I'm 100% certain that my brother and I are the products of my parents' union.

NANA







I'm normally not a great fan of manga or anime, but this film adaptation of the manga NANA is one of my favourite Japanese films. (I love のだめカンタービレ too but only the tv series.)

The movie came out in 2005, and I remember watching it (with Chinese subtitles) with my Mum at a cinema somewhere in HK (the summer holiday after GCSEs). And then my Mum bought me the DVD, and I watched it with my roommate Sarah at school. The TV at school couldn't display the Japanese subtitles, nevertheless we watched it together, despite the fact that we had only studied Japanese for about 6 months! Sarah is a big fan of the manga, and she had been reading it for a while (in English) as it's published in a manga magazine in the States. So even though we could only understand a tiny bit of the dialogues, we knew the story quite well.

Maybe now I can watch it and understand the entire film fully for the first time?



Apart from the friendship of the two main characters (奈々 and ナナ), the other main theme is the music - songs such as "Glamorous Sky", "Journey", and "Endless Story" are quite memorable. And the performances by 中島美嘉 (who plays ナナ, vocalist of the fictional band Blackstones) and 伊藤由奈 (who plays the vocalist for another band, Trapnest) are pretty good too.

Right now "Endless Story" is my song-of-the-moment. Yes it's a ballad but I love the lyrics, simple yet precisely describes my thoughts right now...

Tuesday 20 July 2010

13 new rules

Been feeling like I'm in a slump, so I made some new rules for myself:

1. Smile
2. Say "thank you"
3. Be decisive
4. Straighten up and stop slouching
5. No junk food
6. Recover from failure
7. Don't freak out about mistakes
8. Be positive
9. Quit feeling jealous
10. Make eye contact
11. Remember the good
12. Stop procrastinating
13. Don't overreach

Monday 19 July 2010

Two chicken dishes

Today for lunch I made 野菜と鶏肉のくわ焼き, and for dinner とうがんと鶏肉の煮もの. Both are chicken dishes, and unbelievably easy to make.

野菜と鶏肉のくわ焼き is basically stir-fried chicken and vegetables (lotus root and エリンギ - king oyster mushroom). The veg is cooked first; the chicken is first marinated in soy sauce and Japanese cooking wine, and then coated in corn flour before cooking in the frying pan. And everything is stirred together with the sauce (soy sauce, mirin and Japanese cooking wine).



In contrast to the stir-fry, which has a great sweetened soy sauce (as mirin is added) flavour, とうがんと鶏肉の煮もの is even simpler in terms of flavour. There's very little added flavouring, just 1/2 tsp of salt, a big piece of ginger and some Japanese cooking wine. It reminded me greatly of the good ol' Chinese home cooking I used to get as a child.

とうがん (冬瓜 donggua), literally means "winter melon", is actually a summer fruit. Similar to watermelon, water makes up 90% of its weight, hence it's a very good hydrating fruit to counter the sizzling heat. The dish is basically boiled winter melon and chicken, a bit like a soup, but slightly different from the Chinese a corn syrup (2 tbsp cornflour with 4 tbsp water) is added at the end to thicken the soup. Because there's little flavouring, all you can taste is the original flavours of the melon and the chicken. Very natural, healthy and tasty!

Sunday 18 July 2010

A lesson of love

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(1 Corinthians 13: 4-7)



Here's one of my favourite scenes from Grey's Anatomy (Season 2, episode 24 "Damages") - I always cry when the father of the victim puts his hand onto the guy (played by the brilliant John Cho) who crashed into their car and subsequently killed his pregnant daughter


(BGM: "Nowhere Warm" - Kate Havnevik)
I go nowhere high, go nowhere warm
Until you’re by my side
Your hand in mine
And I’ve always known
You’re like a feather
You go where wind and fire melt together

And I’m sure you’re on your way
Yes I’m sure you’re on the road
And I’m sure you’re faster than before
Yes I know you’re somewhere on the road
I reckon there is nothing more to say

あじの梅じそ揚げ

So for a while my Japanese cooking thing went into a halt, probably because I had been lazy, and trying to save some money by eating some instant food (e.g. なっとう、くらげ) with rice. As much as I love natto et al., I can't eat that for a week straight. For sometime I ate at the cafeteria as often as possible, but then I got bored of the crappy food there (the unagi rice a couple of weeks ago was pretty good though).



Anyway, today I got back to cooking, and I made あじの梅じそ揚げ. Aji is Japanese for horse mackerel. The dish is basically pieces of aji and bits of ume-boshi (pickled plum) wrapped inside an しそ(大葉; shiso)leaf, and then coated with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried.



It looked tasty in the recipe book, and I happen to like fish, umeboshi and shiso so I thought I'd give it a go. It tasted okay, perhaps a little bit more umeboshi would have made it better? But the process was a pain in the ass.

At the supermarket I couldn't find ready-to-cook horse mackerel fillets. So I bought two fish - actual fish, that needs filleting. That took me almost an hour! and I had to wash my hands a dozen times 'cause they stank of fishiness...and the chopping board was covered in the fish's internal organs and blood and roe etc. Ugh.



As much as I liked the dish, not going to make it again. Never again.