Wonder

Haha I don't know what I ought to write, but I just felt like writing because I'm alone in the first floor of smudd trying to procrastinate from doing my E-Learning. Yes, smudd is open 24/7 with AC in the summer! Life is good(:

I am fascinated by a thought: I am a hero in my own story, the main character, the one who saves the day. As is everyone with their own lives, and their own stories. However, occasionally I might play the villain in someone else's story. I'm rather curious what kind of villain I would be, and what sort of sins I would commit.

"If you play the drama, you shall reap the karma." That is what I was taught; but to live is to be involved in the drama of others. This reminds me of my pal Dan (who I'm visiting in Princeton next week!) who was a sailor, and dealt with a lot of different characters. His answer? Tread lightly.

Anyways, a little update on my end: My internship is winding down, and I've been running on top gear (and will be for the next coming two weeks) so I'll love to kick back and relax for a bit. I might be on the road for a couple of weeks; but I also look forward to be done done and just sing, throw my hands up, and dance :)

Hope you are having an amazing summer!

Williamstown, MA

Warmest greetings, dearest readers.

I hope you are all doing well and fine :) A lot of things has happened but it's slightly difficult for me to express them through prose (I guess since they're not that comical.. hahaha) so allow me to start with the lighter touches first.

A few weeks ago I took a zipcar to visit my (only) Williams friend, Jaeho, whom I met during my summer in Beijing. Public Service Announcement: If any of you readers are looking for a boyfriend, I strongly recommend Jaeho: He is one of the nicest, unassuming, and well-meaning people I've ever met in my life. He's smart, a hard worker, and also a serious but fun guy. And he's pretty cute too <3. Anyways, before you guys start suspecting my sexual preferences (I am attracted to women and women only) I'll proceed to the story, then.

By the time my GPS announced that I have arrived in Williams, I reached out my phone to call Jaeho. It's only then I realized that my mobile does not have reception there. And you've guessed it, I haven't agreed with Jaeho where exactly in Williams we were meeting. I grew pretty desperate and considered to step out of the car and asking random Williams kids if they knew Jaeho and if they could connect me with him, but there were two things holding me back: a) Williams had way way more kids in the Summer than Amherst, what are the odds that I'd pick somebody who knew him? b) I was wearing an Amherst College T-shirt. I was kinda scared that I would end up being tackled by a bunch of Williams footballers due to our schools' rivalry.

Being a super rational person as myself, the genius but desperate me decided to be innovative. I parked my car near a quad full of students sitting down on the grass, chatting, and enjoying the waning summer sunshine (which, I later learned, was right in front of the campus center). As I walked out of the car toward the building, I took off my purple Amherst T-shirt and I charged toward these people, while repeatedly yelling "Jaeho Jaeho Jaeho!!!" and wildly swinging my T-shirt in the air. I was expecting Jaeho to pop out and save me from the embarrassment but instead three young buff lads quickly stood up and tackled me. Next thing I knew I was being interrogated in the Williams' campus police.. Whew, I thought they were going to send me to a mental asylum or something. Fortunately, the folks there were nice enough to call Jaeho up and let me off scotch-free..

Just kidding, I actually managed to get ahold of him without shaming myself to death like above. One of his friends actually told me that I made a rookie mistake of not knowing that T-mobile doesn't work in Williams at all. (Thanks for the late warning, sir...) But I really had fun in the quaint place. Yes, Williams only had a street as their downtown, and zero Chinese restaurants (Amherst has an intersection as our downtown, and we have three Chinese restaurants within walking distance) but it's fair to say that Williams College has a more beautiful architecture and environment. Jaeho took me to see a Van Gogh exhibition in the Clark museum, which was stellar, and the next morning we drove and had a breakfast in an American diner in Vermont. It was my first American diner experience despite having studied here for 1.5 years, and food was superb. The best part was catching up with him and learning what's up from him, though.

I guess that's it for now. Thanks for having me, Jaeho, and you're very certain that I'll be back again!

The gorgeous chapel in Williams College 

The Blue Benn Diner in Vermont, a ten-minute drive from Williams

Enter Summer (ver 2)

Hello again dear readers :)

It's my first summer in the United States, and I'm pretty excited! I arrived in Amherst exactly one and a half weeks ago, and I'd say by now I'm pretty much settled in. I've bought things that I'll need to survive the summer comfortably, see attached (read: pillows and fans) so I think it'll be alright.. hehe

A sneak-preview of my room ;) my little haven <3

Anyways, I'm not quite sure myself why I've taken up to write, but let me share a few things:
1. I'm really pleased to meet friends who I can practice my Chinese and Japanese with. While I guess I can say my Japanese is conversant, apparently my Chinese "depreciated" by a huge margin lol. Well, I shall grab more opportunities to improve my Chinese, then!
2. The people in my office are amazing, and I love my work. They are really capable people, but they are really nice and willing to share too. Another thing worth mentioning would be the fact that most of the people in my office are ladies, out of the 30+ people working in the building I'm one of the four men there.
3. Here at Amherst, taking long walks in the evening summer is really pleasant. I took most of mine with a really close Korean friend in the past few days, and we would go for coffee (she'd grab tea) afterward. Too bad she's on her way back to Korea for the rest of the summer... But I'm chuffed to bits we got to catch up even just for a bit :)

I have plenty of time to catch up, rest, and reflect. It's really tempting just to buzz around and start saturating my time with people, or just moving around and going to different cities to catch up with the old pals, but I'll probably lay low for a bit more. I always welcome people who feel comfortable around me, though. The biggest compliment you can give me is if you can laugh and cry in front of me without a care, if you can be your truest self in my presence. I shall reciprocate and treasure you.

Also, pray that I don't forget to take it easy ;)

Happy summer everyone!

Transit

I usually try not to update my blog too often, but since I have some time, and am feeling great, so yeah why not?

Thank you for your understanding, readers :)

I am in Narita now, waiting for my next flight to New York. Narita is a fantastic airport to be stuck in, it has Japanese food, goods, and people. The free wifi's great, and I'm enjoying a fantastic resting space which is stylistically built and is very comfy! Although objectively Singapore's Changi Airport remains the best transit place I've experienced, I am very pleased with what I get here. As a bonus, I was enjoying my bowl of tonkatsu in a restaurant here when I heard a bunch of Japanese people practicing their Bahasa Indonesia. After the meal, I stopped by them, praised their Bahasa in Japanese, and finished off with terimakasih and sayonara. They were shocked; but it's one of the many little moments which make learning foreign languages worth it ;)

The comfy sofa-bed in Narita

Ahh. It is lovely to be back in Japan, even if just for a while. It brings me back to the country which treated me very well. It's difficult to not remember strolling down the dimly lit streets of Kyoto or watching the cherry blossoms flutter in Osaka Castle whenever I hear Japanese being spoken. I am truly grateful, for whatever the costs might have been, that I chose and was given the opportunity to spend some time in Japan during the past semester.

Let me conclude this with another story, a reminisce of my Japanese memory. Toward the end of the program, I began to hang out more with the 3rd Year Japanese kids, and they love going to Nipponbashi with passion. Nipponbashi is almost an hour's worth of travelling from my home in Shojaku, and in the region they do three main things: Doujinshi, Games, and Arcade. To be very honest, I wasn't much of a doujinshi/anime or game console buff, but I really enjoyed the Arcade visits to Taito.

On our second last weekend, I decided to follow Bry-Chan to split up with the group from Namco and to go to Taito. Probably good thing I did so, because I discovered this amazing drum game in the latter arcade. I really enjoyed the game because before I knew it I was smiling and laughing everytime I managed to beat a song. However, there was a song that I was always very close to beating, but I never managed to. I promised myself that I would beat the song before I left Japan for good. Therefore, in the very last day (it was a Friday after our final exams, and everyone had to check out of the dorms on Saturday), when everyone was shopping, packing, or saying goodbyes, I left for Taito by myself to finally beat the song, and only after then I joined the group's farewell party. I'm so glad that I did so, because now I can say I left Japan without any regrets!

Well, I hope you all are having fun! Cheers!

flyt

Hi All, thank you! :)

I'm sitting at Jakarta International Airport's Starbucks, having checked in my gigantic luggage. In a few I shall hop on my plane bound for Narita (a good chance to finish my Yen and recharge some of my nihongo) and then eventually New York. It was a good 18 days I spent here. I might say that my return flight from Osaka felt just like yesterday, but I learned a good deal about a lot of different things that my black notebook is brimming with barely intelligible scruffings hahahaha. 

Anyways, I shall have a meal with an old friend in New York before I reach Amherst around midnight. I'm excited because I've been blessed with a lot of things: Amazing friends who are staying around in the summer, *fingers crossed* wonderful boss and meaningful work, and a nice single room in Hitchcock (if I'm correct, it's even better than my single room next year lol). So, thank you, I have been blessed.

To paraphrase a friend, a student's life in school is like driving straight. The obligations and the potentials are clear as day. Therefore, to even it out, the bends and the u-turns happen during holidays for the students. I have had winding roads during the past few weeks; One fine Saturday I was just out from morning till midnight driving solo, cafe-ing, and meeting the news and reconnecting the olds. Another I was up till 3am in the top stories of a Singaporean construct, wine-ing with my cousin who I always respect. And this, below. If there are any international readers, this is an appeal for you to come visit Indonesia someday. Yes, I didn't upload the prettiest pic, but since I'm travelling soon the bridge symbolism becomes more relevant :P

Anyways, I'm glad because I finally tried kayaking on a solo boat and re-lived my old Sec 3 OBS at Pulau Ubin days. And yes, sorry, this is more for myself, but the 100 Yen gloves I bought for a "dishwasher" game in the Japanese arcade actually became handy on that day ;)

For all readers who are travelling, or who are about to, safe travels! May your paths be safe and be a cheerful one!

Lombok, Indonesia

PS: Oh and Happy Vesak Day everyone, may we eventually reach the perfect enlightenment so that we can save the universe! And to my best friend, Agan, cheers to an amazing study abroad semester in Qinghua, Beijing! I'm so proud of you for making that choice, and I'm so happy for you because you're gonna be in one of my most favorite city in the world! It's a pity that I might not be able to catch you there, but see you again somewhere mate!

Sharing

They say to share is to care, and according to the answers to the Emperor's three questions, the most important thing to do is to care. So I will probably share, probably.

How are you?

I am fine, as always. I almost can't believe that it has only been ten days after I left Japan; time has been really fast and really slow, really merciful and really cruel, at the same time.

And I have been blessed with a lot of stories and people who shared them to me. They happen fluidly too; I didn't put much effort or resistance in obtaining them. My task is merely of a student's: The black notebook is brimming with scribbles since its inception in Tahara. I guess I'm a study addict, a nerd, or a true scholar, for I'm learning way more, even when school's out. One time I was sipping wine in my cousin's condominium until three in the morning, and he taught me what it meant to conquer a mountain and what it meant to be rich, among other things. Another I was sweetly sitting and smiling at a group of sweet Indonesians who were puffing smokes, and they shared about making life more beautiful. Thank you...

I am a story teller, but my disposition is always such that I prefer to listen first. I can assume a fountain, which fills and overflows, but a good fountain keeps quiet in front of a waterfall. After receiving a lot of water and pumping, I'm starting to overflow too, so let me pour some to you readers!

(This story is a throwback from Japan)

Do travel, because traveling is a prayer to stop thinking about life and to start living it.

After an amazing day exploring Minoh 箕面市and its beautiful waterfalls, Dan and I decided to try our luck in Wakayama 和歌山 the next day. This time, not only Htet-Htet, but Wesley and Montana also decided to tag along. Wakayama is located in the south of Osaka, we took the slowest train to get the cheapest fare. It took us nearly 1800Y (15USD) and 3 hours in total to reach Wakayama.

Let me start by confessing that I am often guilty of being an impromptu sort of person, and I didn't plan the Wakayama trip at all. I just assumed that it would roll along well like the Minoh trip; we'd reach the place and then slowly figure out the ample things to do in Wakayama. Thus, being a democratic citizen, we settled for a chain curry restaurant that can be found in Umeda 梅田 (downtown Osaka) and discussed our plans for the day. (For readers from Jakarta, Singapore and Beijing, the chain restaurant was CoCo Curry..)

We finally settled to go to a famous temple with a forest walk, which was said to calm one's nerves and enhance one's happiness, but none of my friends knew how to get there. Thus I google-mapped the name of the temple, and found the supposed destination around an hour away by train. Thus begins the epic misadventure in Wakayama.

Firstly, I led my friends to a perfume section of a department store "KINTETSU", asking the confused store clerks if they knew where the train platforms were. We left the clerks confused and left to the station to take themed-trains for which our train passes did not work. Our toy-themed train was very adorable, laden with kids and young parents, but it took us straight to very far in the sticks. By the time we reached the recommended stop, we were in the middle of nowhere. There were vast paddy fields and narrow, single lane car roads around us, up north were the mountains, and there were few small residences interspersed.

I led my friends through harrowing roads and very old Japanese houses. We walked through and against the traffic, complete with curious onlookers who probably never saw white people in their lives. (Yes, I'm Asian, but three of my friends weren't). We saw gardens, giant pumpkins and flowers, traditional co-ops, until we finally reached a wall and a step of stairs by its sides.

"Friends, I think this is it. The Maps are telling me that we've arrived to our destination." I told my friends. I was fervently hoping that whatever shrine in the sticks we were visiting would be worth the journey, but..

At the start of the steps there is a traditional gate-like structure that signifies an entrance to a Japanese shrine. That's where I learned that you are not supposed to enter from the center of it unless you are a god (or a God, probably). We meekly climbed the stairs until we saw the temple, and we were appalled at what we saw.

Nope, it wasn't therapeutic. We saw a square-ish ground, with a really small, unkempt shrine full of cobwebs to our left, and a charcoal-burnt, half-standing structure on our right. There was a barricade preventing entry to the blazed grounds. To borrow the words of a friend, the place looked "hobo-ish". That was it. Some of my friends decided to toss some Yen into the donation box and pray, one of them missed the throw. (Dan, I hope you're not cursed.. hahaha) I could sense several murder intents, but boy I'm lucky I am still alive hahaha. My friends probably need my GPS to lead the way back home!

We traveled back to Wakayama station through the tedious roads, and Htet-Htet and Montana decided to catch the train back to Osaka. It was probably a wise choice, because I decided to catch a bus to Marina City with Dan and Wes, and it was a "marine" themed park with an odd mix of Mediterranean. Yes, we got a beautiful view of the ocean, but we were watching it in a midst of drizzle and we didn't last long. I also bought and lost an omiyage (I think it was a yuzu mochi) but thankfully someone stopped me before I left the bus without my phone. To top off the perfect adventure, the boys decided to get some horse sashimi in Aikawa 相川. We walked late at night after reaching Suita吹田for a good 15 minutes in the middle of the rain without an umbrella, and only when we sat down in the izakaya and ordered we realize that they were out of horse that night.

What is the moral of the story? Enjoy and bless every moment.. Hehe. I am really glad that the trip happened. We bonded together as friends and shared this unforgettable memory of the misadventure, and I fully agree with Wes who told me that he much preferred improvised trips like this, exploring the middle of nowhere without any plans, because they are much more remarkable and fun. Ten years down the road, when we meet again, we'll probably remember the cursed shrine in Wakayama.. So glad to live the 危ない生活。Hahaha. (or blessed?)

Thus, please feel free to travel, roam, and explore. Even feel freer to plan less. If you are even luckier you will be blessed with amazing and understanding travel buddies. It is the characteristic of your spirit to roam about freely, and to enjoy life. Cheers!

中国の姫様

僕は、日本で勉強していた時、色々な女性に会った。彼女たちの中で、めっちゃ親切で、完熟な中国から女の人にいた。僕と彼女はあまりしゃべらなかったとしても、僕は彼女と一緒に話す時がめっちゃ大好きだった。

ある日、僕と彼女一緒に相川の寿司やで晩御飯を食べていた。僕は彼女に聞いた：どうして全部女の人のわかることが難しいと思う？

返事は：
“其实，虽然我是个女性，我并不敢说我了解自己。对我来说，了解自己还不如控制自己好。我觉得一个女性不必了解自己，但她先要学好怎么控制自己。”と言っていた。

実はその言葉聞いた時、僕はちょっとびっくりした。だから、僕はその彼女に聞いた：“那么你觉得为什们需要控制自己呢？ 而且， 你觉得你能够这样做吗？”

もう少し返事：
“其实，每个女性的情绪蛮多。你要看这个女孩是这么控制她的情绪。以前我也不这么会控制我的情绪，所以我就常常去闹别人。现在呢，我更能够控制自己。”

その言葉はたぶん正しいと思う。僕は他の女性がもうちょっとわかりたいのです。る様、どうもありがとうございます！君と一緒にたくさん遊んで、話して、食べた、めっちゃめっちゃ楽しかったよ！またね。。