Ikuko's Husband

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:19:00.003-06:00

Wow, I haven't posted anything last year. Amazing. Well, I can say at least that I posted something this year :)

Well, the biggest news last year was that we found out Ikuko is pregnant. We will be welcoming our daughter in April.

Also, we visited Oahu and Big Island in May and had a wonderful belated honeymoon. We would like to visit again in the future with our daughter.

I hope everyone finds 2011 a wonderful year with long-lasting memories. I'm sure we will.

Townhome and Business trip destinations, V

2009-06-16T21:18:00.002-05:00

Wow, six months have passed since I last wrote. At this rate, I might end up updating my blog once a year...

Anyway, Ikuko and I will move into a new townhome next week. We're closing on 6/22 and need to clear out of our apartment by the end of this month. After we move, my commute time will be reduced to about 10 minutes instead of 25 minutes, but Ikuko will need to commute to Arlington Heights until she can find another job in Elgin area.

Next month, I'll be abroad for three weeks visiting Australia, Korea, India, Singapore, and Malaysia. It will be the longest (and probably most tiring) business trip I'll have taken in 3 years. In order to cut down on expenses, I've booked all flights in Asia at Malaysia Airlines. I'll be taking twelve flights total, three of which are to Kuala Lumpur just to transfer to different flights out of Malaysia.

It will be my first time to Australia and Malaysia. I've been to India and Singapore two years ago, so it will be my second time to these countries. I'm a little worried about summer heat (except in Australia where it will be winter), but hopefully, I'll survive to come back to Chicago weather.

Oh yeah, we signed up for the Japanese SkypeIn number again. From Japan, people can call us at a domestic calling rate, and we can pick up the call on our wireless Skype phone or have the call forwarded to Ikuko's cell phone. So, if you are in Japan and want to give us a call, please dial 050-5539-6988.

Update on places I've been to/will go to since November 2008.

March 2009
Burlingame, California

July 2009
Sydney, Australia
Seoul, Korea
Bangalore, India
Singapore
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Congratulations to Il Ji and Mark!

2008-12-14T20:18:00.002-06:00

My sister's second baby's due date was November 20th, so I didn't actually call her up until then. However, when I called my sister on 11/20, she told me the baby was already born on 11/12 and that they were back home already.

I feel bad that I didn't keep in touch with my sister's family often. Ikuko and I got to visit my sister's house during Thanksgiving, and we finally met my first niece, Hannah Hyunmi Kim. I now have two nephews and one niece. Hopefully, it will be our turn next.

Congratulations to Saeko and Shintaro!

2008-11-07T08:54:00.004-06:00

I got a call from Ikuko last night that Saeko and Shintaro's baby was born around 3 a.m. on Friday, November 7th, 2008. Congratulations!!!

Ikuko and I will visit Japan next month, so we will have a chance to meet the new baby soon.

We don't know the new baby's name, but he is my second nephew after my sister's son. My sister is also expected to have a baby girl on November 20th, so this month is going to be a birthday-rich one from next year on.

Business trip destinations, IV

2008-09-02T08:49:00.002-05:00

Update on places I've been to/will go to since August 2008.

August 2008
Austin, Texas
Shanghai, China (two-week study abroad)

September 2008
Yokohama, Japan
Seoul, Korea

November 2008
Milpitas, California

Business trip destinations, Part III

2008-06-17T18:54:00.002-05:00

Update on places I've been to since March 2008.

March-April 2008
Yokohama, Japan
Shanghai, China

May 2008
Karlskrona, Sweden
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kortrijk, Belgium
Brugge, Belgium

June 2008
Austin, Texas

Places I want to go with Ikuko

2008-02-18T04:54:00.003-06:00

Wow, two posts in two days! Having slept too much on Sunday, I woke up around 4 a.m. today. Having nothing better to do, I cleaned up a pile of junk that was forming in the living room. In the process, I found a piece of paper that shows all of the places I had wanted to go for last year's Thanksgiving. Here is a list of the destinations that I was considering but never had the chance to go with Ikuko last year.

Asia
Hong Kong
Seoul
Taipei
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Guam
Beijing
Shanghai

South America
Buenos Aires
Rio de Janeiro
Sao Paulo

Middle East
Dubai
Abu Dhabi

Europe
Rome
Paris
Madrid
London
Stockholm
Copenhagen

Now that I have this list in electronic form, I can get recycle one piece of paper. Stay tuned for the next post...

Business trip destinations, Part II

2008-02-17T22:31:00.002-06:00

I haven't updated my blog for a while, so I'm gonna just list some more places that I've been to/will be going on business.

October 2007
Milpitas, California

November 2007
Taipei, Taiwan

December 2007
Yokohama, Japan
Fukaya, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Ueda, Japan
Matsumoto, Japan
Hakusan, Japan
Kato, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Seoul, Korea
Gumi, Korea

January 2008
Las Vegas, Nevada

February 2008
Nice, France

March 2008
Yokohama, Japan

More business trips coming up!

2007-11-25T10:10:00.000-06:00

After my business trip to Europe in September, I had two more trips, one to Milpitas, CA in October and one to Taipei this month. I've already had 6 business trips this year, but I got one more coming up next month to Japan and Korea. Also, I have to attend the CES show in Las Vegas in January 2008, and another trip to Japan is tentatively scheduled in March.

I don't mind all these trips, but I've come to dislike the long flights. The only thing that's good about the flights is that I get a lot of mileage added to my accounts. This year, I've flown over 50,000 miles on United alone, so I've gained the Premier Executive status. With this status, I get 100% mileage bonuses on all flights I fly. Also, I get to enjoy the luxury of any Star Alliance lounge on international flights. Now that I got United and Star Alliance covered, I'm trying to get some American and oneworld miles. Basically, I'm using my AA credit card on most of the purchases I make until I have to cancel the account when my annual-fee-free first year is over. Then, I will switch to my Delta credit card.

Places my job has taken me so far...

2007-09-15T14:18:00.000-05:00

Ever since I got hired at Quantum Data on 8/14 last year, I have been to many different places on business trips. Now, I'm in Horsens, Denmark, stomach full of beef bourguignon, trying to remember all the places I've been to. I'm sure I will get to visit more places as time goes on.

Yokohama, Japan
Osaka, Japan

Tokyo, Japan
Seoul, Korea
Gumi, Korea
Pyeongtaek, Korea

Las Vegas, Nevada

Singapore
New Delhi, India
Bangalore, India
Hong Kong

Taipei, Taiwan
Jhubei, Taiwan
Dongguan, China
Shenzhen, China
Huizhou, China
Zhongsan, China
Xiamen, China
Fuqing, China
Fuzhou, China
Shanghai, China

Istanbul, Turkey
Izmir, Turkey
Vienna, Austria (airport only)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Brugge, Belgium
Kortrijk, Belgium
Copenhagen, Denmark (airport only)
Horsens, Denmark
Skive, Denmark

Call me stupid

2007-08-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

Ikuko and I got locked out of our apartment tonight. I had locked the door before going outside, and as soon as I closed the door, I realized my mistake. It was around 8:30 p.m., so there was no one at the office to help us. I ended up leaving a message, hoping that someone would be paged and come to our rescue. We hung around at my next-door friend's place for a while until someone called my phone and came to unlock the door for us. It cost us $25 because the job was off-hours.

The kicker is that I found my key in one of my pockets later on. I had wasted $25 and valuable time just because I did not think of checking my pockets. Boy, do I feel stupid tonight!

Remember, next time you get locked out, please check your pockets at least. You might miraculously find your key.

Flickr Pro Account

2007-07-20T08:13:00.000-05:00

I have Flickr Pro account until 10/11 this year. Please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonki421 before then to view all of my photos in high-resolution! After that, you will only see 200 out of 5943 photos that I have uploaded. In low-resolution!

SkypeIn: Call us from Japan!

2007-03-19T19:23:00.000-05:00

We signed up for a Japanese SkypeIn number last month. From Japan, people can call us at a domestic calling rate, and we can pick up the call on our PC. If we can't pick up the call, then people can leave voice messages. It's basically having a Japanese phone number for $38/year. However, outgoing calls to Japan cost 3 cents/min (landline) and 18 cents/min (mobile). Check out http://www.skype.com/products/skypein/ for more information.

So, if you are in Japan and want to give us a call, please dial 050-5539-6667. You know you wanna!

Moved Out

2007-03-19T00:06:00.000-05:00

Ikuko and I moved out from my parents' house on 3/16. Boy, I have lots of junk. We started moving our stuff on 3/11, and it took 4 minivans + 1 sedan full of things to move most of our stuff. We still have some books that still need to be moved.

The apartment is a mess now. I have so many boxes lying around that I need to organize. Since I only have weekends to work on them, I think it will take a few weeks to get everything settled. My next-door neighbor is my college buddy Euntae. Ever since we moved in, we have been eating dinner, going to groceries, and playing games with him. We are sharing his wireless Internet access splitting his bill. It's good to have someone I know close by.

The apartment size is more than adequate for the two of us. Compared to what I had paid in Dallas in 2002, the rent is pretty expensive: $795. We're going to have to save lots of money before we move to a townhouse at least.

We ended up bringing the 50" plasma TV with us. I wanted to leave it at home for my parents, but Dad insisted that I should take it with us. We get free cable for some reason, but we can't get the local Korean channel. I'll have to have my parents record two Korean historical dramas so that I can watch them on weekends. Ikuko wanted to watch Japanese TV, so we got DISH Network installed. We only ordered TV Japan channel, but we even get KBS World channel, Korean channel similar to TV Japan. Picture quality isn't so great, but it's good to have them nonetheless.

Well, the next time you visit Mitsuwa, come visit us as well.

Back from SE Asia business trip

2007-03-03T19:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I came back home from my 11-day business trip to Singapore, India, and Hong Kong. It was a great trip, but very tiring as well. India was especially memorable because it was totally different than any other country I have visited before.

My manager and I started our trip in Singapore. There is no direct flight from Chicago, so we had to land in Hong Kong first. It took about 20 hours to finally get to Singapore, and we checked-in after midnight. We were beat.

The next couple of days were spent visiting customers and demostrating our new products and features. We had some free time on Saturday, so we went to Sentosa Island, a resort southwest of Singapore. We went to the aquarium as well as the pink dolphin show, but it was raining on and off and hot as well, so the overall experience was so so.

There is a road called Orchid Road, which is similar to Chicago's Michigan Avenue. We spent some time on Sunday to walk along the road and do some window shopping. There was a huge parade called the Chinggay Parade on Friday and Saturday on this road, but we were too tired to go out and join the fun at night.

The next stop was Delhi, India. Right from the moment we landed at the airport, I knew this country is different from any other I've been to. The airport facilities were old and shabby. The presence of soldiers was strong. It took my manager a long time to go through the customs. I exchanged 90 Singaporean dollars (S$) to Indian rupees (Rs), but the guy who did the exchange with a calculator made a "mistake" and gave me only S$58 worth of Rs. It's a good thing I caught the mistake immediately. He apologized for the error and gave me the full amount when I asked him to recalculate. So, if you ever go to India and make an exchange at the airport, do yourself a favor and double-check the calculations yourself.

The biggest problem at the airport, however, was getting out of it and going to the hotel. We didn't do our homework and didn't know that the best way of not getting ripped off is to call a radio taxi before getting out of the airport. We didn't know anything and just stepped out of the airport. Immediately, someone approached us and asked us if we were looking for a cab. We said yes, and he offered a fare of Rs1250 (about $28). Our heads weren't spinning too fast, and we were very tired, so we said OK. When we arrived at the taxi, the person said we had too much luggage and needed a bigger taxi which costs extra. We didn't really argue and accepted the higher cost. The trip to the hotel was very enlightening. The roads were dirty, shabby, and there were constructions going on everywhere. There were lanes, but nobody paid attention to them, and there were 6, 7 vehicles across the 3-lane road. This is the state of the capital of India? Well, the next few days, we found out that everywhere we went, we saw a clear distinction between the rich and the poor, and the fact is that the poor stands out. Anyway, to cut the long story, my stay in India made me aware that we take many things for granted in other parts of the world.

Business-wise, we visited a couple of customers in Delhi on Monday, and we had to make a day trip to Bangalore on Tuesday to visit more. The plane back to Delhi was delayed and we checked-in to a small hotel nearby the airport around 2 a.m. We had a few hours of sleep and woke up at 4:45 a.m. to catch our flight to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was a whole different world compared to India, and we took it easy the day we arrived there. I met up with Ikuko's friends and a good Chinese dinner with them. The next few days were spent visiting customers and doing a technical seminar at one of our distributors. We didn't have much time to do any sightseeing, but I'm sure I'll do so the next time I come to China via Hong Kong.

The trip was great, but it's good to be home as well. Ikuko and I will be moving out to an apartment next to Mitsuwa on 3/16. If you want to visit us, let me know.

Blackjack!

2007-01-20T10:28:00.000-06:00

This is a story of how I returned from Las Vegas as a loser.

Before I went to Las Vegas on a business trip last week, I borrowed 3 books from local libraries to study how to beat the house and become a winner in Blackjack, which is supposedly the only casino game that you can have an edge against the house if you stick to the winning strategy.

Several times Ikuko and I won big. However, the losing times were more frequent, and in the end we came back home with less money than we started with. Below is the breakdown of Ikuko and my wins and losses.

1/10
Amount bet: $270
Ending balance: $395
Net profit: $125

1/11
Amount bet: $350
Ending balance: $0
Net profit: -$350
Running net profit: -$225

Amount bet: $160
Ending balance: $220
Net profit: $60
Running net profit: -$165

1/12
Amount bet: $340
Ending balance: $280
Net profit: -$60
Running net profit: -$225

1/13
Amount bet: $120
Ending balance: $333
Net profit: $213
Running net profit: -$12

Amount bet: $300
Ending balance: $0
Net profit: -$300
Running net profit: -$312

1/14
Amount bet: $360
Ending balance: $0
Net profit: -$360
Running net profit: -$672

Amount bet: $300
Ending balance: $500
Net profit: $200
Running net profit: -$472

We really had fun, but it would have been more fun if we ended up winners. Next time I go, I should study the Chart more....

Las Vegas

2007-01-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

First time to Las Vegas.

My third business trip in 5 months will bring me to the Sin City. I will be representing my company at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show. Ikuko will be joining me on Thursday night after I'm done with work, and we are going to enjoy what Vegas has to offer until Sunday. We hope to win some money playing blackjack.

Next stop will be China, Singapore, and India most likely after February 18th, the lunar New Year's Day.

Wii

2006-12-29T13:04:00.000-06:00

Wii is fun.

Thanks to a friend of mine who got selected to buy a Wii at Amazon.com, I was able to buy the Wii from him last week. I ended up buying 2 extra sets of remote controllers and Nunchucks as well as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, and Trauma Center: Second Opinion.

I've been playing Trauma Center for a while now, and it's a great game.

I wanna buy an Xbox 360 to play Gears of War and Halo 3....

I'm Still Alive

2006-11-10T17:53:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been more than 3 months since I last wrote. Looks like I don't have what it takes to write even one post a month.

Anyway, I've been quite busy after I passed the drug screen in August. Work is from 8 to 5:30, but I get Fridays off every other week, which is a very cool system. I wake up at 6 and get back home around 6:15. After dinner, I usually spend some time looking at work e-mails. Then, I wash up and watch an episode of a Korean drama with Japanese subtitles with my wife. I usually go to sleep around 10.

This has been my schedule for the past 3 months. I haven't had much time to play games, go out to eat, exercise, etc. Surprisingly, weekends usually pass by quickly doing chores, grocery shopping and what not. I wish I can fit in some exercise time in because I've gained so much weight since I got back from Japan.

Work has been good so far. I have been to Japan twice and Korea once on business trips already, and I got a 50-inch plasma TV for bonus. I will be going to Las Vegas in January for the CES show, and I will be doing the Asian circuit tour on business early next year, visiting China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and maybe India as well. Coworkers are nice folks, giving me lots of pointers. I still don't have an in-depth knowledge of many things that I'm supposed to provide technical support for, but I've gotten familiar with basic stuff like operating my company's products and understanding how the company runs things.

Well, I guess I've generally covered what I've been doing the past 3 months. I don't think I'll get to update this blog as often as I would like to, but rest assured that I'll be busy saving money so that Ikuko and I can move out some time next year. Once we do, you are welcome to come visit us. Don't forget to bring a nice gift. =)

Have a happy Thanksgiving, merry Christmas, and happy New Year's (just in case I don't get to post again).

Mission Complete

2006-08-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

I'm employed!!!

Thanks to my friend Jeff's timely referral, I was able to interview at a local company and get an offer for the position of Asian Sales Application Engineer. The job description is as follows:

-----
Sales Application Engineer (ASIA)

The person will be responsible for providing basic sales administration and technical product support (80% email, 20% phone) to customers and sales personnel located in the Pacific Rim. The position will involve working with our Product Engineering group to duplicate and resolve customer-reported product defects and represent customer interests to product development, sales, and marketing teams.

The position requires a minimum of 20% travel (about four, two weeks trips a year) to our Pacific Rim accounts in order to provide training and customer technical demonstration.

A Bachelor's degree (B.S.) in engineering, computer science, or relevant discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience is required. Strong troubleshooting skills, proactive problem solving and the ability to self-manage multiple projects are a must. Excellent verbal communication and team skills are necessary and the ability to speak Korean or another Asian language is highly desireable.
-----

I'm really excited about accepting this job offer because it closely resembles my "dream job," which is an engineering job where I can take advantage of my Korean and Japanese language skills. Plus, I will get to go to Asia several times a year on business trips! Just thinking about all the mileage that I will accrue every year makes me smile.

I'm a little bit worried about the technical side of this job because I have almost no background knowledge on video test generators and things like HDMI and DVI. However, Jeff assures me I will be able to get up to speed quickly and make contributions. I guess I will be bugging Jeff and coworkers a lot during the first few months.

Oh yeah, I will start working on Monday, August 14, pending I pass the drug screen that I will take tomorrow. I guess that means I won't be getting high tonight.

Back Home

2006-07-29T05:12:00.000-05:00

After one year of JET Program in Miyagi prefecture, I came back to America two days ago. Even though I was placed in a rural area and stayed home most of the the time like a hermit, I think it was a good experience overall. Plus, I came back as a married man.

Ikuko will probably come to America in September, and depending on how soon I get a job, we will be living together at my parents' house for a while. If any of you out there know of an engineering job with required knowledge of Japanese or Korean, please let me know.

Kanken Level 5 and Immigrant Visa

2006-06-27T03:21:00.000-05:00

Yay, I passed Kanken Level 5!!

I missed 11 problems, which is more than I expected, but passed by getting 180 out of 200 points. A minimum of 140 points is needed to pass.

This will probably be the last Kanken test I will take. I'm glad I forced myself to study kanji during the past year because I can proudly say now that my kanji proficiency is close to that of a first-year Japanese junior high school student. Hopefully, I will continue studying new kanji little by little.

Another good news is that Ikuko got her immigrant visa approved 2 weeks ago. She will probably come to America in September. Hopefully, I will have found a job by then.

On an unrelated note, I'm looking forward to going to Lake Towada in Aomori prefecture with other ALTs this weekend. This will be the last major adventure before boarding the plane back to the States exactly one month from now.

My Successor

2006-06-08T07:44:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update on who is going to replace me as the ALT at Shizugawa Senior High School.

The lucky winner is a woman from Houston with initials J. M. She is in Group A, so she will arrive in town on 8/2. I will be taking off from Narita on 7/27, so I won't be able to see her in person, but I wish her the best of luck in her new adventure!

I'm a Celebrity!

2006-05-26T06:17:00.000-05:00

Yay, I finally got a post in for the month of May! OK, here are some updates.

Showa-style wedding ceremony members

I went to Miyazaki for 9 days during the Golden Week, and I became a celebrity. Ikuko and I participated in a Showa-style wedding ceremony as models, and we were interviewed by newspaper companies and TV stations. NHK and a local TV station covered the event in their news shows, and newspapers also carried articles about the event. Ikuko and I ended up participating in the event because the person who prepared the event is an acquaintance of Ikuko. Since all preparations were done by an NPO, we didn't have to pay for anything, which was the best part. Pictures can be found at the usual Yahoo site. On 5/3, we drove to Takachiho, a touristy place famous for its gorge, for a day trip but just missed a chance to ride a boat.

The famous Takachiho Gorge

On 5/14, I went to Mt. Kurikoma with some other JETs to enjoy sledding, flying kites, fishing, etc. It was my first time fishing.

Sledding in May on top of Mt. Kurikoma

The last Miyagi JET meeting was held on 5/19. I got some important information on things to do before and after leaving Japan. It was the last chance to meet many of the fellow JETs, so it was bittersweet.

Spicy Thai curry at a cozy restaurant in Sendai

After the meeting was over, Kazunori, a friend I've known from my study abroad at Kanazawa Institute of Technology during the summer of 2002, came to Sendai to pick me up for my weekend trip to his hometown, Obanazawa in Yamagata prefecture. The last time I met Kazu was in Tokyo in 2003, so needless to say, I was looking forward to our reunion. We had a delightful dinner at a Southeast Asian restaurant before we headed for Yamagata. Although it was a short stay, we enjoyed going to a local onsen resort, watching The Da Vinci Code, and playing arcade games. On Sunday, Kazu was generous enough to drive me back home. We took turns driving, but it took about 5 hours to get back home because we didn't know which roads to take. Kazu left for home around 7 p.m., but he ended up getting a bit lost and finally got back to his house at 2 a.m. Hopefully, I will see him again before I leave.

Kazu letting some morning air in for watermelon plants

Huge Kannon statue in Sendai

Today, I took Kanken Level 5. As usual, I didn't get much studying in and ended up cramming until the last minute. I think I did well enough to pass, but I made some embarrassing mistakes. I couldn't remember some kanji for the life of me, and even got the kanji for "salt" wrong. Salt is a Level 7 kanji, so it's kind of frustrating to forget something I've studied already. I hope I can retain most of the 1006 kanji I've studied since December last year. I guess the only way is to write them out by hand from time to time.

By the way, I still haven't heard anything about my successor yet. Supposedly, I will find out in early June. Two months left in Japan.

Golden Week

2006-04-25T20:14:00.000-05:00

Golden Week is just around the corner! Golden Week refers to a week in late April/early May with a string of four holidays. Thanks to GW, I will be going to visit Miyazaki from 4/28 to 5/7. It's been almost a month since my wedding, but nothing much has changed since Ikuko and I don't live together. I'm looking forward to our reunion as a married couple.

Visa application process for Ikuko is going smoothly so far. Although there are some documents that still need to be prepared, the interview date at the American Embassy in Tokyo has been set already. We will be going to Tokyo in mid-June to clear our last hurdle in having Ikuko immigrate to America come this August. After the interview, we are going to spend some time at Tokyo Disneyland. She's been grilling me about Tokyo Disneyland for a long time, and it seems like we will finally have a chance to go.

By the way, I will take Kanken Level 5 on 5/26. I'm skipping Level 6 because this will probably be the last time I will take Kanken. Level 5 covers 1006 Chinese characters, and if I pass it, my kanji level will be equivalent to that of a kid entering junior high school.

July 25th is the last day of my JET Program contract. Three more months.

Just Married!

2006-04-05T19:57:00.000-05:00

I just came back from my one-week stay in Miyazaki last night. I got married at a Japanese temple on April 1st. My parents and sister from America and 18 guests and relatives from Korea attended the wedding. My wife's side had about 45 guests.

The two months leading up to the wedding were really hectic and mentally exhausting. Since I was far away from Miyazaki, Ikuko did almost all of the preparations by herself, and she was at the brink of breaking down many times. We are just glad that the wedding is over now.

Some pictures of the wedding can be found here.

Now, we need to prepare some documents for Ikuko's immigrant visa. Hopefully, she will get the visa before I leave Japan so that we can go to America together.

LSAT

2006-03-14T22:18:00.000-06:00

Having nothing better to do at school, I downloaded and took the sample LSAT test which was actually administered in October 1996. Out of the 4 sections, I wasn't able to finish a single one, and I got 63 out of 101 questions correctly. The converted score is 153 out of 180.

Even though this was my first try at an LSAT test, I'm kind of surprised at my subpar results. Granted, I had no idea how to pace myself throughout the test, but low scores from all fronts except in analytical reasoning make me sigh. If I ever should apply to law school in the future, I really need to practice reading critically and not wasting time reading questions over and over just to understand what they mean.

It's times like this I really feel like I'm not a native English speaker. I wonder how I would do on GMAT.

Kanken Level 7 and Go

2006-02-26T02:53:00.000-06:00

I got Kanken Level 7 results back recently, and I did a bit worse than I had thought. I got 5 questions wrong and got a score of 191 out of 200. Since I'm planning on skipping Level 6 and taking Level 5 in June, I should start studying soon.

I participated in an online go tournament yesterday and today, and I got 6th place out of 17 people. I lost my first game badly, got a bye on the second game, and won both my third and fourth games. Click here for the results. My ID is stargazer.

I've been playing go on and off since my co-op days at HP in 2002, but I haven't improved much in terms of skill. However, I find go more interesting and fun than chess. In chess, there are so many people better than you, and there's little room for personal improvement, as shown here. I played as the number one board for my high school at the state chess tournament in my senior year in 1999, and I got 67th place.

I'm not dissing chess, but go simply offers more complexity and variety and styles. It's a wonderful board game that I will hopefully continue playing throughout my life.

If you are interested in playing go, check out the rules here. The rules are simple, but the game is hard. If you ever want to play the game with me, let me know.

Getting Married

2006-02-15T04:31:00.000-06:00

After much miscommunication and misunderstanding among everyone, it has been decided that I will get married on April 1st in my girlfriend's town in Miyazaki. Anyone interested in attending the wedding ceremony, which will most likely be very simple, and who can afford to come to Miyazaki is welcome. Contact me for details.

I will write about my visit to Korea and Sapporo at a later time, if I feel like it.

Miyazaki and Korea

2006-01-28T05:54:00.000-06:00

Due to my grandmother's sudden death, I will be going to Korea from 1/31 to 2/5 to attend the funeral. Normally, I would have to take paid holidays off in order to go to Korea, but since this is for a family funeral, I get 7 days of special leave.

I'm in an Internet cafe in Sendai as I type this entry because I'm going to take an overnight bus to Tokyo tonight. Tomorrow morning, I'll be heading to Miyazaki to rendezvous with my mom and uncle who will be coming from Seoul for just three days in order to talk to my girlfriend's parents about our future. Originally, I wasn't planning on going to Miyazaki, but since the timing fit well with my going to Korea, I decided it's best for me to be present when they have the talk.

I will be in Miyazaki only 1 day because I need to get back to Tokyo to get the re-entry permit before I leave Japan. If I don't, I won't be able to come back to Japan without a new visa. So, I will need a place to stay on Monday, and I'm looking over the address book on my cell phone, but there's almost no one that I can ask without hesitancy. It's sad because I have 360 entries.

It's been 2 years since I last visited Korea. Many of my cousins probably have changed a lot. My aunt from Canada and uncle from California will probably come to attend the funeral. It will be a big reunion, but it won't be joyous. This will be my first time attending a funeral. I hope I don't have to attend another any time soon.

Grandma, RIP

2006-01-27T17:36:00.000-06:00

I would like to believe you've had a good life. 3/7/1919-1/27/2006. Rest in peace. I shall miss you.

Kanken Level 8 and 7

2006-01-25T01:37:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post my Kanken Level 8 results, so here goes. I took it on 10/29 last year, and I got 146/150 points, missing 3 questions.

As for Level 7 that I took on 1/18, I don't have the official results back, but I checked the answers, and I think I missed 4 questions, giving me 194/200 points.

I will shoot for Level 5 next time. I got plenty of time, but I have a feeling I won't be studying until the the last minute.

Kanken and MYC

2006-01-23T03:53:00.000-06:00

So, I took the Kanken, Kanji Proficiency Test, Level 7 on 1/18. I studied a lot before the winter vacation but did no study at all while I was in Miyazaki. So, I only had a couple of days to review after I came back from Miyazaki before I had to take it. The review paid off, and I was able to finish the 60-minute test in 30 minutes. The teacher in charge checked my answers, and she told me I missed a few problems but did OK. The next Kanken will be in June, and it will most likely be the last one I will take before going back to America. If I study hard, I should be able to take Level 5 and pass.

I was in Sendai from 1/18 night to 1/21 for the Mid-Year Conference. This once-a-year conference gathers all JETs as well as JTEs in Miyagi for 2 days of workshops. The workshops were somewhat useful, but I thought the lecture given by Ken Schmidt, a professor at Tohoku Fukushi University, about extensive reading and its benefits was the most beneficial part of the conference. It was nice to see fellow JETs from all over Miyagi, but I wish I had hung around with them and had fun more. I've changed my personality a lot since I got into college, but I guess I'm still a shy person after all.

Happy New (Dog) Year!

2006-01-17T02:47:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been 3 months since I last updated my blog. Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have started this blog at all. I was pretty bad at keeping a diary when I was an elementary school kid, and I guess I can't grow out of old habits.

Well, nothing much has happened since I last wrote. I wake up at at 7, take a shower, have a light breakfast if I had bought something from the convenience store the night before, go to school, make lessons or team-teach classes or surf the Internet, study kanji for the Kanji Proficiency Test (now studying Level 7), come back home some time after 4, watch TV, eat dinner, watch TV or play PS2, and sleep. Repeat the cycle 5 days a week. Sleep past noon on weekends.

I haven't traveled much on weekends and holidays because I'm trying to save money. I went to Miyazaki for 2 weeks to spend the end of the year and greet the new year with my girlfriend's family, and the roundtrip expenses cost me about $700. Long distance relationship in Japan sucks.

I got a little more than 2 weeks until I have to make the decision to renew my contract or not. After much consideration, I have decided not to renew the contract and go back to America in August. What will I do in America? Well, if things go all right, I might be able to secure a job before I go back. If not, I will start job hunting.

Well, I guess this is enough writing for one day. Hopefully, I won't neglect the blog too long.

Life in Minamisanriku-cho (formerly Shizugawa-cho)

2005-10-08T02:50:00.000-05:00

Hello, world.

Some of you are wondering why I stopped updating my blog, and the reason is because I'm tired all the time! Teaching English to high school students isn't as easy as I thought. After work, I come back home, eat dinner, watch TV, and sleep. Repeat the process every weekday, and sleep the weekend off.

That has been basically my life in Minamisanriku-cho so far. This weekend is a three-day weekend, so I have extra time to do stuff. I uploaded some pics I have taken in Japan on my Yahoo Photos page at http://photos.yahoo.com/moonki421, and I hope those will be enough for you readers until I update this blog again.

Time to watch TV and wait until dinner time.

Of Hilton, Northwest, and PowerBook

2005-07-14T14:21:00.000-05:00

So, I recently found out that I will be staying at Hilton Tokyo Hotel instead of Keio Plaza Hotel. Apparently, every new JET except those going to Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures are staying at Keio Plaza Hotel.

Keio Plaza Hotel seems to be notorious for its slow elevators, and sharing them with thousands of other JETs for 3 days doesn't seem very appealing. However, the orientation is going to be held at Keio, so those staying at Hilton must walk over to Keio in blistering Tokyo weather. Good thing it's only a 5-minute trek.

An unwelcoming piece of news found its way to my inbox today. I am 1 of about 40 people chosen to ride Northwest instead of American for my trip to Tokyo. Mind you, I don't really care which airline carries me to Japan, but considering that Northwest doesn't have a direct flight from Chicago to Tokyo whereas American does, you can see why I'm kind of upset.

About 160 new JETs leaving from Chicago will ride American nonstop and arrive in Tokyo at 2 p.m. on 7/24, but I'll have to transfer in Minneapolis and arrive in Tokyo at 5:30 p.m. More hassle getting there and less time to relax and meet friends on Sunday night which we have off.

Also, I have about 15,000 miles accrued with American and only about 5,000 miles with Northwest, so flying on Northwest doesn't really help me towards a free ticket any time soon.

By the way, I got my PowerBook back from repairs in 6 days. I was told that the voltage on the video card wasn't set correctly, rendering the video card useless, but I wasn't too impressed with the explanation/excuse. It's working OK now, so hopefully I won't encounter any more problems in the future. If I have any problems before the warranty expires in 1 year, I will consider getting the AppleCare Protection Plan which extends the warranty up to 3 years at $239.

Floor Plan!

2005-06-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

This is the floor plan of the apartment that I will be living in starting 7/27. It's pretty big for a single person to live in. Compared to the dorm room in Tokyo where I lived 1.5 years, this is a palace.

The toilet is separated from the shower and the bathtub, and there is a washing machine. There is even a veranda! I'm sure some of you might be thinking, "Hey, what's so great about this place?" Granted it's not Tokyo, and rural parts of Japan have bigger housing, but in Japan, this would be considered a very nice place to live.

The rent? About $440. It's not that cheap, but my predecessor tells me her previous apartment before moving into this one was a lot worse and cost about $400. I just hope I will like it as much as my predecessor does.

Exit PowerBook

2005-06-29T12:37:00.000-05:00

That's it. I officially hate Mac now. My PowerBook that I have been using for only 12 days is dead. Well, it's not totally dead since I can turn it on and off, but I can't see anything on the screen.

Last night, I was using it as usual, and I closed the lid which would make it go to sleep automatically. When the PB goes to sleep, the button that opens up the lid pulsates in white light, but my PB didn't do that. Panicking, I opened the lid again, but it was already too late. The screen was completely black even though the machine was still running.

I tried troubleshooting it for several hours, but I gave up and went to the Apple Store in Woodfield this morning. The guy at the Genius Bar took a look at it and tried similar troubleshooting methods I had done and declared that there's something wrong with the hardware, which I had guessed already. So, my new PB is off to repairs, and hopefully it will be back next week.

The repair is covered in the warranty for one year, but I'm afraid of what will happen after the warranty is over. I'm thinking about enrolling in the AppleCare Protection Plan which extends the warranty to up to 3 years anywhere in the world. The cost? $349. If I can get the Education Discount, it's $239. The repair would have cost me $310 if I didn't have the warranty, so I think I should play it safe and enroll in the Protection Plan.

While I was troubleshooting last night, I found out that there are a lot of people who have had various problems with their iBooks and PowerBooks. I'm sure all laptops are susceptible to failures, but having it die on you after only 12 days isn't what I call reliable.

I will never buy another Mac. Ever.

Enter PowerBook

2005-06-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

Yessssss!

It's finally here. Well, it arrived on 6/17, ahead of ETA much to my delight. I still need some time to get used to it, but so far, everything's going great except Mail. I have some trouble sending e-mails in Japanese due to some encoding problem, so I need to look into that soon.

Anyway, this post is dedicated to some cool pictures of my PB. Enjoy!

Glowing Apple logo! This was taken on my bed, so you can see the yellow blanket....

Isn't this pretty? Glowing keyboard! You can adjust the brightness as well.

JET Contract

2005-06-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

While we all wait for my Powerbook to arrive, I'll quote some parts of importance in my contract.

Period of Contract

- Your contract is for the period beginning on July 25, 2005 and ending on July 24, 2006.

Job Description

- The ALT shall perform duties as specified by the Supervisor and/or Principal of the board of education and/or school, as specified below:

I. Assist in foreign language instruction at junior and/or senior high schools.

II. Assist with foreign language education at primary/elementary schools.

III. Assist in the preparation of teaching materials, and to assist with foreign language ability contests.

IV. Assist with seminars for current foreign language teachers.

V. Assist with special and extra-curricular activities.

VI. Assist with local international exchange activities.

VII. Other duties accepted as necessary by the Supervisor or the school Principal.

Remuneration

- You will receive an annual remuneration of 3,600,000 Japanese yen, after the deduction of any applicable Japanese income tax or resident taxes.

(This amounts to about $36,000 per year.)

- The renumeration shall be paid on the 21st day of each month.

Travel Expenses

- Your travel expenses to Japan will be provided. Your return travel expenses, however, will be provided on the condition that 1) you have completed your Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme contract, 2) you do not enter into a subsequent contract with the Prefecture or a third-party in Japan, and 3) you leave Japan to return to your home country within one month of completing your JET Programme contract.

Hours, Holidays, and Leave

- The JET shall perform duties thirty-five hours a week exclusive of break time.

- The JET duty hours shall be from 8:30 A.M. to 4:15 P.M. from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday as days on which the JET is not required to perform duties. The time from 12:00 P.M. to 12:45 P.M. shall be designated as break time; that time may be utilised as the JET desires.

- The days identified in the following items shall be holidays for the JET:

I. Japanese national holidays (those defined by Article 3 of the Japanese National Holiday Law [Showa Year 23 Law #178])

(There are currently 15 national holidays. January (2), February (1), March (1), April (1), May (3), July (1), September (2), October (1), November (2), December (1).)

II. New Year's holiday (the period from December 29th to January 3rd of the following year)

- During the period of contract stated in Article 4, the JET can take twenty days of yearly paid leave, individually or consecutively. This yearly paid leave may be taken in hourly units.

- The maximum period of sick leave to be used at one time shall not exceed a total of twenty consecutive days....

- The JET shall be allowed 5 days of special summer leave.

Financial Assistance

- The Prefecture will not subsidise the JET's rent. However, the Prefecture will provide the following assistance towards JET set-up costs:

I. Deposit Depending on requirement, up to:
120,000 yen for a deposit of three-months' rent
80,000 yen for a deposit of two-months' rent
40,000 yen for a deposit of one-month's rent

II. Estate Agent's Fee/Key Money
Depending on requirement, up to one-month's worth of rent (40,000 yen).

III. Set-up Costs
50,000 yen will be given to the school to set-up the new JET's apartment.

My sexy new partner will arrive soon!

2005-06-10T21:57:00.000-05:00

I just ordered my first Mac!

After about a month of pondering, advice from friends, researching online, I finally switched! I've been a PC user since 1991, but recently, Windows and MS software have been giving me a few headaches, so I've been trying different solutions such as using Firefox. Also, I knew I wanted to buy a laptop before going to Japan, and there are so many different PC brands and options that I was kind of wary of buying a PC.

After considering a Mac, it soon became an obvious choice. I will be mostly free from things plaguing Windows and Internet Explorer such as spyware because Mac OS X has better security. I can try out new things on a totally different OS, and the time to try out new things is just right because I will probably have lots of free time in Japan. Also, Apple's laptop is just plain sexy! Just look at the picture below, and you will know what I mean.

PowerBook G4 15"

Several friends advised me not to buy a Mac because it's not a PC and because Steve Jobs recently announced that Macs will be switching to Intel processors starting next year. Price was another factor that kept me from making the decision quickly. At $1999.99, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 that I ordered is not a cheap deal.

However, I'm not regretting my purchase at all, and I'm really looking forward to playing with my new toy which might arrive as early as 6/18. Oh yeah, I ordered iWork '05 as well, which consists of Pages and Keynote 2, similar to MS Word and Powerpoint. As you can see, I'll be doing some exciting computing with non-MS software for a long time, hopefully.

I will post pictures of my PowerBook as soon as it arrives. Stay tuned.

Shizugawa-cho, my new home starting July 27, 2005

2005-06-03T23:19:00.000-05:00

So, I finally found out where I will be living in Miyagi-ken. Once again fate has cheated me (might turn out to be a blessing if I like the town) of my hopes of getting placed in Sendai, which is conveniently located 2 hours north of Tokyo via shinkansen and even has an airport.

My new home starting July 27, 2005 will be a town called Shizugawa, 2 hours north of Sendai via train with a declining population of about 14050. Below is a close-up map of Motoyoshi-gun/Kesennuma-shi area on the left and entire map of Miyagi-ken on the right. If you look at the map on the right, Sendai is the biggest block of area in the second bold section from the bottom.

Motoyoshi-gun/Kesennuma-shi area northeast of Sendai

In Japan, land is divided into 43 prefectures (there are 4 exceptions, including Tokyo and Hokkaido), and many prefectures are divided into areas called shi and gun. Gun is in turn are divided into cho (machi) or mura. So, I will be in Shizugawa-cho, Motoyoshi-gun, Miyagi-ken, Japan.

I will be teaching English 4 times a week at Shizugawa High School, the only high school in town with about 465 students.

Shizugawa High School

My predecessor is teaching once a week at Kesennuma Nishi High School which is 1 hour north of Shizugawa via train. She said I might be teaching there once a week as well, or I might get a different school. If I do indeed get to teach at Kesennuma Nish, I have to worry about doing a 1-hour commute via train to and from the school until I get a car. Unlike most predecessors, mine is staying in Japan, so she probably won't sell me her furniture, much less her car which is a 94 Skyline GTS-25T type M.

94 Skyline GTS-25T type M

I hope to find more about my visiting school soon. In the meantime, I will be busy being a victim of red tape with all the paperwork I need to complete, things like visa application and Japanese income tax exemption. I will update as new information about my future rolls in.

Cheers.

Miyagi-ken, here I come!

2005-05-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

Today, I finally received the JET Program placement e-mail. Much to my disappointment, I didn't get assigned to Miyazaki nor Kagoshima nor any of the Kyushu prefectures. Instead, I got placed in Miyagi prefecture. I know two families in Sendai, so I guess it's better than going to some place where I don't know anyone. I will find out the exact location hopefully in early June. From what I gather, it seems like I will be teaching in high schools.

So, my long-distance relationship will continue even after I go back to Japan, but I will have the Pacific Ocean behind me this time. In the meantime, I should get to know Miyagi better and look forward to teaching some English!

Japan

OWNED by the Big Irish

2005-05-07T06:11:00.000-05:00

Hey, y'all~

So, I happened to go shopping last night for Mother's Day with an old friend who went to the same schools I did since 5th grade to college graduation, and we decided to eat dinner at Bennigan's because I wanted to eat something I couldn't eat in Japan.

After looking at the menu and being undecisive for longer than I intended, I finally said what the heck and went with an All-American (Irish?) burger called the Big Irish. Here's what the menu says about the burger.

THE BIG IRISH
Two juicy, 8-ounce patties perfectly grilled and served with two slices of melted American cheese and an extra bun. The bun-less, Low Carb version (Carb: 11 grams, Protein: 87 grams).

Being used to eating at McDonald's in Japan, I simply didn't pay attention (or I guess I wouldn't have realized the significance even if I paid attention) about the two juicy, 8-ounce patties part. And of course, I didn't even pay attention to the bun-less, Low Carb version. Who needs that, right?

To get straight to the point, I got OWNED by the burger. Well, there were fries and a pickle along with it, but still. The only consolation was that my friend couldn't finish his John Bacon's Burger either, but it was smaller than the Irish, and he's not a big eater anyway. And there he was, cheering me to go for the kill, finish it like a man. I was like I can eat a lot, but this is a lot.

So, I ended up chickening it out, for the betterment of my wimpy stomach, but the burger was pretty good. A real American burger the size bigger than my two fists combined. A pound of meat. I salute you for defeating me. I have lost in shame.

Here's to the real American troop. Cheers.

The Big Irish. A real troop that gives your stomach a run for its $.

JET Program

2005-04-07T19:29:00.000-05:00

I got a notice this week that I have been accepted to the JET Program! I will be leaving for Japan on 7/23. I will found out where I will teach English in May, so I guess I will relax and do some chores until then. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Miyazaki.

3/18 Farewell lunch

2005-03-23T20:55:00.000-06:00

All right, I have one week left in Tokyo. I've been kind of busy this month with all the farewell parties and trying to write a thesis-like paper summarizing my research.

I just decided to post this picture of sushi set that I had in Shibuya. It's 2100 yen which is like 20 bucks, but it's considered pretty cheap. I got treated for it, so it tasted even better! For those of you who can't get enough of sushi in America, come visit Japan and try some genuine sushi. I'm sure it will taste better than that of Kamakura in Chambana. Now for your visual enjoyment...

2100-yen sushi set!

Good news!

2005-02-05T07:02:00.000-06:00

I got good news to share! I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 on 12/5 last year, and I got the results back today. Guess what? I PASSED it!!!!! Although I bombed the kanji section, I almost got perfect on listening and did well on reading/grammar as well. 70% (280 points) is the minimum for passing. Below is the detailed results.

文字・語彙 (Writing/Vocabulary) 66/100
聴解 (Listening) 97/100
読解・文法 (Reading/Grammar) 177/200
総合点 (Total Score) 340/400

9/10 homestay in Kagoshima Day 2

2005-02-05T00:00:00.000-06:00

Wow, two posts in two days! I hope to wrap up the Kagoshima homestay series soon.

---
Woke up around 5 a.m. because Kanako-san was making bento (lunchbox). Fell asleep again and woke up around 6:30 a.m. Kozue was getting ready for school. Ate breakfast (miso soup, egg rolls, rice, meatball, etc.) and had a quick shower without soap (I don't quite remember, but I probably couldn't find it). Went to Ichikichou Post Office and cleaned up the place with Mandy (Man-Yi's nickname) and Tabuchi-san, Mandy's host mom. I used the vacuum cleaner. After work, Fukuyama-san, the post office director, showed us books that covered 120 years of Japan Postal Service history and gave us omiyage (gift), a mailbox-shaped piggy bank. Mandy and I watched post office rules on video which is shown to new hires. Fukuyama-san bought us yogurt, and we participated in the radio taisou (morning exercise performed in schools and companies). We introduced ourselves in Chinese and English.

Left the post office and stopped by A-Coop, a supermarket, and bought some coffee. Went to Tabuchi-san's friend's house and watched a Korean drama called Autumn Fairy Tale. Seemed like a rich family because the house was pretty big and the living room was fairly large. Mandy taught me Chinese while Tabuchi-san and her friend were chatting. After the drama was over, all of us went to eat tonkotsu ramen and dumplings at a restaurant.

9/10 tonkotsu ramen

Afterwards, we went to a dessert place and ate cakes and the famous shirokuma dessert. It's basically ice covered with ice cream and fruits. It's supposed to look like a white bear, hence the name shirokuma which means exactly that in Japanese. What do you think?

9/10 shirokuma dessert

After taking Hinokuchi-san, Tabuchi-san's friend, back to her house, we visited Kawakami Elementary School and introduced ourselves. We were going to spend a day with elementary school kids on 9/16. Children were riding unicycles. Went to Tabuchi-san's place, and I played with Qoo, a dog, and Tatsu, a cat. Other dogs were barking at me, and there were two chickens walking around the garden. The cell phone reception was so bad near the house. After fooling around a bit more, we went to pick up Hiromi from middle school. Stopped by Daiwa supermarket to buy some food, and we saw an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher, basically an English teacher) there. I asked Hiromi about it, and apparently, they have an ALT in elementary, middle, and high schools.

Tabuchi-san dropped me off at Miura's on the way. Kozue was already back from school eating a Korean snack I had brought from Tokyo, onion rings. The black-white cat, Tama, was inside the house, and I played with him for a while. Grandmother Mie-san doesn't like cats, and she hit the poor cat on the head and tried to get him out of the house. I actually carried Tama outside. Studied for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 for a bit and ate dinner. I automatically got extra helping of food, and it was once again 1:3 sitting style, me sitting on one side while the others sat across from me.

9/10 yummy chahan and soup dinner

Some guy from the Karaimo Homestay office came with a large shochu bottle. He talked with me for a bit, asking some questions, but he spent most of the time talking to the host mom. Supposedly, I was to go to his place and help fix some computer problem (ended up never going to his house). Miura-san's first daughter, her husband, and two children visited later. They left Riena-chan, the older child, to sleep at the house. Miura-san's second daughter, Tomomi, woke up from slumber and came down. I was seeing her for the first time, so I gave her my omiyage. She didn't open it right then, so I don't know what she did with it. Maybe it's still unopen. Who knows.

Did some Internet surfing, and watched the TV drama version of "Sekai no chushin de ai wo sakebu," which roughly means "Shouting out love, from the Center of the World," with Kozue in Mie-san's room. While watching the drama, Kozue found a BIG cockroach on the wall and freaked out. I had to put it to sleep with a flyswatter, and I threw it out the window. Anyway, the TV drama is based on a popular novel, and a movie came out last year as well. The movie's title song by Hirai Ken, Hitomi wo tojite, was the best-selling single of 2004. The drama's title song by Shibasaki Kou, Katachi aru mono, was really popular as well. Shibasaki also starred in the movie. Confused? Anyway, the story is pretty good. Good enough for me to buy the DVD. It has English subtitles, so if any of you wants to watch it when I'm in America, let me know. Kanako-san asked me if I wanted to go to the chorus practice and watch her sing, but I declined because I wanted to watch the drama.

I've been a very BAD boy...

2005-02-03T22:02:00.000-06:00

Hello, readers!

As you might/might not have noticed, I haven't been updating my blog for a long, LONG time. There are several reasons behind this outrageous deed.

First, I've lost the will to continue documenting my daily life. When I started blogging, I didn't think it was a big deal because I've read other people's blogs, and they are updated pretty regularly. Apparently, I thought wrong. Maintaining a blog is TOUGH work! I realized (again) that I will never be successful as a writer.

Second, I've been busy (kinda) for the past few months, studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1, applying for the JET Program (again), homestaying in Miyazaki, going to Aogashima (a small island 360km south of Tokyo) to teach kids about Korea, and what not. Yeah, I know this is the most used excuse, but it works every time. Right?

Finally, I'm the laziest person I know. People who know me well know this fact. But, I can't emphasize enough how lazy I am. There have been countless times I chose watching TV over updating my blog. I know this post will probably be followed by a long absence of posts, but I hope I will pick up my pace and be like Y.I. (I hope you recognize your initials!)

Now, if I can just bring myself to copy my Kagoshima diary that I started in October...

9/9 homestay in Kagoshima Day 1

2004-10-16T19:57:00.000-05:00

OK, this will be the first entry to a 11-part series recounting my homestay in Kagoshima prefecture. I'm too lazy, so I'm just going to copy from my diary notes, so almost all of the sentences will be fragments. Enjoy!

---
Left home and did interview with Fairway. Got to Haneda Airport and met up with a Mexican guy and Anchelee (Thai girl whose father is English and mother is Japanese). Got into the plane and Anchelee had the next seat, so I was surprised. We had some nice talk, and I shared my ebi shumai (shrimp dumplings). Showed her how to play go.

Landed in Kagoshima and were guided into a conference room. 24 people from Tokyo. Lots of Taiwanese people. One really cute girl who had an adolescent girl's voice. Talked to Aussie girl and Taiwanese guy who sat at the same table. Met host mom and left airport with Taiwanese girl named Man-Yi. 1977 and kind of pretty. She taught me Chinese (I'm hungry, you are beautiful, I miss you, etc.) on the way to Ichikichou, my homestay town.

Arrived at Man-Yi's host family's house. There were goats and a dog. Bid farewell and arrived at Miura (host family's last name) household. Met Mie-san, the grandmother, who injured her leg last year and uses a rolling chair to help her move around. Waited when Kanako (host mom) was cooking dinner and when she went to get Kozue (host daughter) from school. Watched TV and talked with Mie-san. Met Kozue. She's tall and has a mole on her philtrum (dimple in the upper lip). Was told to talk to her in English whenever possible. Apparently, she did a homestay in Los Angeles. Her favorite subject is English, and she's not good at math.

Kozue and Kanako set up dinner, and I wiped the table. Ate dinner, and it was very delicious. Had complex rice (combination of various kinds of rice), daikon + meat + carrot + etc. soup, kaisou (jelly-like seafood with mustard put on top), peanut tofu, dumplings, and Kirin beer. Host dad arrived home, and we had Tanegashima shochu mizu-wari (shochu with water mixed). Host dad is from Kyoto. We ended up drinking the shochu quite a lot. I don't like shochu that much but southern Kyushu offers imo-zochu (sweet potato shochu), and the fragrance and taste are obviously different from regular shochus.

9/9 first dinner at Kagoshima homestay

Did a personality test with Kozue using the Kururinpa book I bought at the Terakoya UNESCO event. Kozue is Mishira/Kizuna, same characters that my test resulted in. For those of you who might be interested in taking the test, please visit me in Tokyo.

Stay tuned for Day 2.

Alex Kim, my nephew I haven't met yet

2004-10-03T08:01:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to upload a picture of Alex, my nephew born on 12/27/03. I'm looking forward to meeting him next year when I go back to the States. Hang on, Alex!

9-month old Alex

7/19-9/9 timeline of my nonexistent period (blog at least) part 2

2004-09-26T23:58:00.000-05:00

on to part 2...

8/11 Went to the Arakawa-ku Education Office for the orientation of the World School English Camp. Met up with the Japanese instructors and some of the native speakers. First impression of Yoko was good. As soon as the orientation was over, I went to Yabuzuka, Gunma prefecture for the Onnuri camping. Only about 10 people were in total, but it was nice to have a nice chat while drinking beer.

8/12 Left the camping place and went north to the Tomohiro Museum in Goudo, which is written the same as Kobe. Tomohiro Musuem has the works of a disabled person, whose name is Tomohiro, exhibited. His drawings and poems were done by using only his mouth. Very nice drawings.

8/14 Sa-chan came back from her trip to America. I met up with her in Shibuya and ate ramen for dinner. She missed ramen while in America. Went to Shinjuku and killed time talking about our love lives. Saw her off at the highway bus terminal because she was going back to Kanazawa via overnight bus.

8/15 Met up with Scott, who's teaching in Tokorozawa as a JET, and Naomi, an e-mail friend, for dinner at Gyukaku.

8/17 Met up with Oikawa, a Japanese dude who speaks Korean really well, Chang Yup, who is Oikawa's Korean friend, and Chang Yup's roommate for dinner in Shinokubo. Oikawa's friend Ai joined us for karaoke afterwards.

8/18 Went to Shakujii Park in Nerima-ku with Nagasawa-san, a Japanese man I meet once a month for cultural exchange. Walked around and took some pics.

8/19 Part-time job at Alaya and Activision. Both are translation-check jobs.

8/20-8/22 Participated in Global International Camp in Koufu, Yamanashi prefecture. Group was mostly Japanese kids and mothers, but there were some foreigners as well. Sang a bunch of songs, surprised that there were lots of Korean songs, danced along the songs, and went hiking, etc. Nice to have fun with kids.

8/22 Met up with Chie, an e-mail friend, in Ikebukuro after coming back home from Koufu. Ate at Subway and talked a bit in English.

8/23-8/27 The best week of my stay in Japan so far. Went to Kiyosato, Yamanashi prefecture for the World School English Camp and taught English to 161 Arakawa-ku elementary school kids with 19 Japanese instructors and 17 native speakers. If being a JET is this fun, I will have a blast next year. Got to know many of the Japanese instructors, and some are good friends now. It was hard saying farewell to everyone on the last day, especially to the kids. I keep in touch with one of the girls via e-mail. We played badminton a lot during free time. She's a sweetie.

8/28 Went to Onnuri. Hadn't gone there for about 2 months. There were lots of new people. It was kind of awkward, so I didn't teach Korean to anyone and just talked with people. Didn't go to dinner with them and got back home quickly because of the Turkish Night event at my dorm. Head of Meguro-ku personally came to say congratulations. Ate Turkish food and watched some performances. Food was unique. Got out of the event a bit early to meet Hiroko, one of the Japanese instructors at the World School English Camp, in Ikebukuro. We both like each other, I think, but apparently she doesn't like the fact that I'm nice to many women. I could have started dating her, but I didn't have confidence in myself after breaking up with Hyoju. So, we are just friends now.

8/29 Went to Shiodome with Morita-san to volunteer for UNESCO as a representative of Meguro UNESCO organization. Showed visitors how to play a game and also helped people take a personality test. Bought a book containing the personality test and many other cool stuff, a mug cup with cute pics, and postcards. I got a free T-shirt for volunteering. Left as soon as the event was over and went to Shinjuku to meet up with Scott, the JET teacher. Window-shopped and ate ice cream before we called it a night.

8/30 Met Kanae, an e-mail friend, in Shinokubo and showed her around in Koreatown. Kanae is a nice person, but she hasn't been to many places in Tokyo even though she lives close in Saitama prefecture. Her father is very protective, I think. Went to Alaya to do part-time job doing translation check. Met up with Takano-san in Okubo and had dinner with him and his NPO's female interns. After dinner, some of us went to Jonathan's, a Japanese family restaurant chain, to talk more. Unfortunately, none of the female interns joined us.

8/31 Went to Wang-san's farewell dinner at Asahi Beer Garden near Mitsukoshimae Station. Japanese teachers in my dorm and some of the students joined us. Ate and drank too much so I almost threw up in the subway on the way home.

9/1 Movies tickets are only 1000 yen on the 1st day of every month. I was going to see a movie with Hiroko, but she canceled on me, so I invited Yuuki, an e-mail friend, via MSN Messenger. She said yes, and we went to see "LOVERS" in Shibuya. It's a Chinese movie starring Zhang Zhi Yi, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro. I enjoyed the movie and Yuuki's company. It was my first time meeting her, so I wanted to talk more, but she had to go back because she had left work early to see the movie with me. She works at IBM Japan in Roppongi.

9/2 Did an interview for a full-time job at Fairway Solutions, an IT company. Talked with a woman named Izui. Went to a panel discussion with Nagasawa-san and listened to 3 foreigners talk about manner in Japan. Met up with Hitomi, a chat friend from Utsunomiya, Tochigi prefecture, and her male friend in Shinokubo. Ate at a Korean restaurant first, then went to a Chinese restaurant and ate some more. The guy ended up paying for us, and I felt sorry because I didn't pay much. Hitomi's car that was parked on the street was gone, towed away for parking violation, so we had to go to the Shinjuku Police Station and paying money to get the car back. Pretty unique experience for me.

9/3 Went to the MIFA office for part-time job. At night, met up with Akiko, one of the Japanese instructors at the World School English Camp, in Chiba, and went to eat at an izakaya. We talked about the Camp a lot, how we missed the kids and stuff. Went for a drive after dinner, and I didn't want to go back home, so we ended up sleeping in the car. She drove me to a station and got back home to change clothes for work. It was Day 1 with Akiko.

9/4 Met up with Hiroko in Ikebukuro because I needed to tell her that I can only be her friend, no more, no less. After meeting Akiko the previous day, I had to choose if I wanted to date Hiroko, date Akiko, or stay single. I chose Akiko, but we are still not official yet because it's hard for us to meet. Anyway, so I had dinner with Hiroko but didn't have the courage to tell her anything looking at her face. On the way back home, I e-mailed her on her cell phone and told her I have no confidence in dating her, and she was cool with the whole thing. I'm glad.

9/5 Went to a Meguro UNESCO meeting and talked about many upcoming events. Went to izakaya for dinner, and 3 of us went to Shibuya for coffee afterwards.

9/6 Met up with Kan-san, a Chinese girl who went to the Meguro UNESCO International Exchange Youth Retreat together, and she taught me Chinese because we decided to teach each other Chinese and Korean.

9/7 Met up with Yoko, one of the Japanese instructors at the World School English Camp, in Ueno and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Talked about Akiko and me and other things troubling me. She's a good counselor.

9/8 Started a new part-time job teaching English to a Korean-Japanese 6-year-old girl, whose name is Ribong, and her mom in Nishiogikubo. They lived in America for a while, so Ribong can speak pretty well. Will be getting about 1500 yen per hour.

9/9 Went to Fairway Solutions again to do the 2nd interview. Met a Korean guy who's going to be working in Japan as well as the President of the company. Talked about full-time as well as part-time, and it's decided that I will start part-time job this year and possibly move to full-time job in March when I finish my research program. I think I'll stick to my JET Program next year.

Stay tuned for my 10-day homestay program in Kagoshima prefecture.

7/19-9/9 timeline of my nonexistent period (blog at least) part 1

2004-09-21T18:27:00.000-05:00

Hey, everyone!

How's it going? I decided to come out of my intentional hibernation, partly due to some people dying to hear about my life =), so hopefully, you will be able to read about what's going on with me on a I-would-call-it-a-regular basis.

First off, I would like to go through what happened to me from 7/19 to 9/9 before I went to Kagoshima prefecture to do a 10-day homestay. Even though I didn't blog during last two months, I at least took notes about what I did.

One thing the readers should note is that I broke up with my gf in Korea on 8/11. Some of you know this already, but I've moved on after that, and rest assured that I'm doing fine.

OK, then. Here we go, back in time.

7/19-20 Trip to Hakone (a famous hot spring resort with lots of stuff to do about 2 hours from my place) with my ex, Hyoju.

7/20 Went to see Spider-Man 2 with Hyoju at Roppongi Hills.

7/21 Looked around Odaiba with Hyoju.

7/22 Went to the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building (Tocho) in Shinjuku with Hyoju for the nightview and met up with Muk and other UIUC students who were done with their study abroad in Kanazawa and were sightseeing Tokyo before going back to America.

7/23 Kanto from Kanazawa came back to Tokyo from his trip to Korea with some of the study abroad students, so I met up with him and Tony, Ray, and Scott (last year's study abroad gang).

7/24 Delievered my speech about gyudon (beef bowl) at the Meguro-ku Speech Contest, and 5 out of 13 participants got a prize, including me!

7/25-27 Went to Wadamura, Nagano prefecture for the Meguro UNESCO International Exchange Youth Retreat. Learned about UNESCO and had fun hanging around a bunch of foreign people.

7/28 Went to the MIFA office for my once-a-month part-time job. Basically, trying to help just-arrived-foreigners get used to life in Japan by making Meguro-ku, where I live, a more foreigner-friendly City. Ku is actually a City rather than a Ward, but many governmental offices use Ward because Ward has been used since the old times. It's messed up.

7/29 Went to the lab nomikai, drinking and eating event, because one of the members got married, one just came back from an internship in America, and one successfully defended his doctoral thesis. I feel like I'm the lowest in the chain because I'm just a silly, lost research student who doesn't get student discount on mass transit.

7/30 Did part-time job at Activision translating DOOM 3 manual. Korean and English. Went to a volunteer event and played around with Korean kids with disability who came to Japan for sightseeing. Met some Japanese volunteers as well who ranged from middle schoolers to college students.

7/31 Volunteered again by cleaning up a small park in Shibuya with some people from the night before. Went to the Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai, the biggest fireworks in Japan, with Mina, Naomi and Mayumi.

8/1 Went to see King Arthur alone.

8/6 Met Satomi, a Japanese e-mail friend, in Kinshicho and had some English conversation.

8/7-8 Climbed Mt. Fuji with dorm people. Rained on the way up, but the bigger problem was I got sick shortly after eating cup noodles at the 7th station. Managed to get to the apex and take some nice pics but ended up throwing up 3 times during the whole ordeal. All in all, a good experience that I will not try again. Not any time soon.

8/9 Met Junko, another e-mail friend, in Shibuya and had some English conversation. Met Chie, another e-mail friend, in Kikuna and had some English conversation.

8/10 Part-time job at Activision again. Got an e-mail from Hyoju declaring an official breakup. My first relationship lasted 172 days.

to be continued with part 2...

writer's block

2004-08-29T18:31:00.000-05:00

Hey, everyone.

Many things have happened since I last wrote. Plus, I'm having a writer's block and a temporary composition-phobia. I hope to be back in action soon because I got a ton to write about. About 2 months worth of stuff.

I will be going to Kagoshima prefecture to do a homestay from 9/9 to 9/19, so I guess I will start blogging again after that. Take care, everyone!

7/18 Disney Sea

2004-07-29T03:34:00.000-05:00

Hello, everyone. It's been a long time since I last wrote. I got lots of events to write about. Well, this post is about what happened on 7/18.

Remember that on 7/17 everyone met up for dinner in Shinjuku. Muk and my gf were planning to go to Disney Sea all along, and the little trip talk came up during the dinner, and Ai suddenly got interested in it and said she wanted to go with us. There was no reason to refuse, so we said yes.

We decided to meet up at Disney Sea at 3 p.m. because it's cheaper from 3 p.m. on. 5500 yen vs. 4500 yen. Anyway, Ai and Muk were planning to visit Hata-sensei's house in Chiba prefecture in the morning, so I thought my gf and I could do the same and go to Disney with them together. So, my gf and I left for Hata-sensei's place in the morning. On the way to Kemigawahama station, I got an e-mail from Ai that she couldn't get in touch with Hata-sensei's wife, Yaeko-san, and that she and Muk were walking around Shibuya. Ai added that they would come to Disney Sea at 3 p.m.

After we arrived in Kemigawahama, I tried calling Yaeko-san with no avail, so we bought some food from the konbini, Japanese for a convenience store, and ate nearby the station. I don't remember how, but my gf and I got into an argument after eating lunch, so I left her and walked south, toward the sea. I thought she would follow me, but it turned out that she didn't. From the map I saw by the station, the sea seemed to be about 15-minute-walking-distance away, but it took me about 30 minutes to get there. I took some pictures and looked around the yacht harbor, and I got another e-mail from Ai that she and Muk won't come to Disney Sea because they couldn't get in touch with Yaeko-san. I was kind of angry, but I thought oh well. Then, I got a call from my gf who was still nearby the station, telling me to come back as soon as possible, in a not-so-friendly voice. I wasn't too pleased with her conduct either, so I took my time looking around and taking pictures before I headed back to the station. Don't forget that I've been trying to get in touch with Yaeko-san all along as well. I finally got back to the station, and saw my gf noticing me. The problem was Yaeko-san answered my phone call, and she said she was back home. Without telling my gf anything, I turned back and walked toward Yaeko-san's house, and my gf followed me, as I knew she would. I got to the apartment complex and waited for my gf to arrive.

When she saw me waiting, she suddenly shouted out "Hey!" in Korean. She was furiously shouting out what the heck was going on and what I was doing walking away without talking to her what it was about. Although no one was around, I'm sure people inside the apartment heard her yell like a crazy woman in Korean. I got mad in return and told her that I'm going inside Yaeko-san's house and that she doesn't have to come in if she didn't want to. I didn't expect her to enter anyway. I gave Koreanseasoned seaweed to Yaeko-san as an omiyage, Japanese for a gift, and told her I had to go back. Yaeko-san insisted that I should stay for a cup of tea, but I succeeded in getting out of there quickly in the end.

My gf was nowhere in sight, so I assumed correctly that she went back to the station. When I caught up to my gf and told her we were going back home instead of Disney Sea because Ai and Muk weren't coming, she told me to call Ai and ask why they were breaking the promise. I told her to no avail that Ai wouldn't answer my calls because she almost always doesn't, but my gf wouldn't have any of that. So, I had to call Ai several times on our way back home. Inside the subway, my gf started saying many different things to me in a loud voice, not minding those around her and me. One comment pissed me off so much I just stood up and went to the other car of the train. She had said that she couldn't understand why I hang around with such lowly people. It would have been OK if she were just badmouthing me, but I couldn't stand her badmouthing my friends. After we got off the subway, we walked back home in silence. In the end, Ai didn't call back or answer my calls.

So, that's the Disney Sea story folks. We never even got close to Disney Sea on 7/18. Stay tuned for our trip to Hakone.

7/17 adventure cont'd

2004-07-20T19:40:00.000-05:00

Long time no post. I came back from a trip to Hakone yesterday morning. I will write about it when I finish writing about stuff that happened before that.

So, last time I lost gas after getting up to the rendezvous point. I will finish the adventure of 7/17 for good with this post. Wish me luck.

For a quick recap, I was meeting up with lots of people in Shinjuku for dinner, and it took about 1 hour to get everybody at the same place. Last group of people to arrive was Kanto and 3 IJST members this year who had come to Tokyo via the 7-hour-long bus trip. I had to go get them at the west exit, and 9 others went ahead to find a place to eat. After putting their luggages in the coin locker, Kanto and crew followed me to an izakaya, Japanese-style restaurant/pub/bar where you can eat food and drink alcohol. The izakaya was called Tsukimaru, and it was in Kabukicho area. For those of you who are Tokyo-naive, Kabukicho is the infamous red-light district. I personally think it's fun to take a walk there because I get to see so many interesting people and cool advertisements/names of establishments. The best thing about it all is that there's a police box in the heart of Kabukicho, and they are not there to stop prostitution. They are just there to guarantee an orderly operation of these establishments.

When the 4 of us finally got to Tsukimaru, we had to put our shoes in plastic bags and take them to our seats. This was the first izakaya I've been to that didn't have a place to store shoes and offered plastic bags instead. I had a feeling this particular izakaya wasn't up-to-par with the rest of the pack like Warawara and Watami. Ai and others decided on a nomihoudai, Japanese for all-you-can-drink, for about 1400 yen per person. One catch was that each person had to order at least one food, which started from about 300 yen all the way up to 900 or so. The group separated into two tables, one for guys and one for girls. I was with the girls. I felt left out, or right in, whichever you look at it.

I remember my gals ordering pizza, salad, and gyouza, Japanese for dumplings. I'm sure we had more since there were 5 girls and me at the table. I don't really remember what the guys ordered. Ray really liked the nomihoudai deal, so he ordered many drinks, especially the Malibu Pineapple cocktail, which happens to be my favorite.

Anyway, the dinner was good and all, although a bit expensive, the problem of the night showed up with the receipt. The bill divided in 12 came out about 2229 yen per person. So, I asked everyone to pay 2300 yen. Most people had 10000 yen bills or didn't have 3 100 yen coins, so I had to go get change a couple of times. Getting money from everyone took about 20 minutes, and in the process, there was a disagreement with Kanto and Scott and me about them paying me already. I said I didn't get money from them, and I still don't to this day, so Kanto ended up paying me 5000 yen for both him and Scott. I would find out later that Kanto and Scott had probably paid me somehow, in a way that I don't remember, because I went over the financial matters before I went to bed that day, and things just didn't match up nicely. This was the problem #1 of the night.

Kanto, Kim, and Greg were going to Yokohama that night and going to Korea the following day, so they bid farewell to everyone first. Others didn't really wanna stay either, so we all left and headed for Shinjuku station. Muk and Ai left together because Muk was gonna stay at Ai's apartment. Scott, Ray, and Tony left together via Odakyu Line because they lived in Kanagawa prefecture. Mina, Dylan, my gf, and I were gonna use the Yamanote Line, a loop line covering many of the major stops in Tokyo, but Mina had to go the other direction. Dylan was staying at a hotel in Gotanda, which was 3 stops after ours, so I told him the necessary directions before my gf and I got off in Shibuya.

After we finally got back home, I entered the day's expenditures into my Excel sheet and checked the leftover dough. Enter problem #2. At this point, I'm furious at myself because I can't seem to remember where the missing 10000 yen is. Well, it wasn't exactly 10000 yen because of the problem #1, but I had a feeling one of my beloved brown bills was missing. I got angry at myself at the possibility of dropping it somewhere, and even got mad at my gf because I was just not a happy camper. So, I decided to take a shower and think the course of the night over. Aha! I remembered the terrible, horrible incident that led up to my bill's MIA status. When I arrived in Shinjuku that night before the rendezvous time, I went to the Odakyu ticket machine area in order to buy the Hakone Freepass for our trip to Hakone on 7/19. There are two types of the Pass. One usable from Shinjuku and one from Odawara, a stop in between Shinjuku and Hakone. I wanted to buy the cheaper one, of course, but what I didn't know was the fact that I can only buy the cheaper Pass at Odawara station. To make things simple, I'll leave out unnecessary details. I entered my brown bill into the machine, and then this Odakyu guy came up to help me and told me that I can't buy the cheaper Pass in Shinjuku, so I decided not to buy it then and backed out of the machine. I had totally FORGOTTEN about getting my bill back! You have to press this cancel button in order to get your money back. The reason I had forgotten this simple action was because the Odakyu guy was such a pain in the butt. He talked to me as if he's really angry at me, and so I also talked to him back in an angry tone. So, when I decided not to buy the Pass, I quickly left the machine in a fury, badmouthing the Odakyu guy in Korean. Bad karma? Oh, well. In the end, my Excel sheet has entries called "Odakyu loss" and "missing" on 7/17. The lesson for the day? Don't let your feelings get in the way when it comes to $.

That's my story for 7/17. Stay tuned for another bad adventure involving Disney Sea.

fun times turned into bad times

2004-07-18T09:28:00.000-05:00

So, today was a terrible day. We ended up not going to Disney Sea. I'll save that story for later and elaborate on last night's adventures instead. Geez, at this rate, I will always have some stories in my stack. Hehehe....

Anyway, so after our little nap last night, my gf and I went to Shinjuku to meet up with a large congregation dying to meet me because I'm so popular. The appointed time was 8 p.m., but I knew well enough that not everyone would make it at 8 p.m. First to arrive was Ai, a Japanese friend of mine who graduated from UIUC last year and now working in Shibuya. She's from Yamaguchi prefecture, and you can call her an inaka girl, from the rural area. She doesn't like being called that, but I haven't told her this site, so I'm safe for now. Our rendezvous point was Shinjuku east exit in front of the kouban, Japanese for a police box where you can get directions and what not. Pretty useful if you are lost. Although this particular place is really convenient, hundreds of other people think the same, so it gets crowded at night, especially on a Saturday. My gf isn't particularly fond of smoke, so I had Ai take her inside the station and talk with her. I waited a bit more outside until Scott and Dylan showed up. Scott is a fellow IJST participant from last year, and Dylan is this year's participant. Both are from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. At this point, my cell was being bombarded with mails and phone calls because I told everyone to call me if anything's up. Kanto, a Japanese guy from KIT, and his crew just arrived in Ikebukuro and were heading towards Shinjuku. Muk, a Thai girl from UIUC and another IJST participant this year, called me from a nearby Sakuraya, an electronics store. So, I told Scott and Dylan to stay put and ran towards Sakuraya to get Muk. I tried to surprise her from behind, but I guess my running sandals gave me away as she turned to greet me. We went back to the east exit without much how-do-you-dos, and on the way back, I got a call from Mina, a Chinese girl who's been living in Japan for about 10 years, who just had arrived by the police box and was looking for me. I told her to stay put because I was gonna arrive in like 20 seconds. So, let's do a head count here. My gf, Ai, Scott, Dylan, Muk, Mina, and me. That's 7. Since most people were meeting each other for the first time, I told them to talk and be jolly good. At this point, I get a phone call from Tony, another Rose-Hulman IJST from last year, who was at the south exit even though I specifically mentioned east exit in my previous e-mails. Scott wanted to go get him, but he said he's at the place where the dancing monkey was, and only I knew what Tony meant, so I started running again towards the south exit. When I got there, I couldn't find Tony, so I went all the way to the bus terminal and back. I was gonna go back or call Scott when I spotted Tony looking lost, and Ray was next to him. Ray is another Rose-Hulman IJST from last year. We exchanged quick hellos and walked briskly back toward the east exit. Yay, so we had 9 people in all. Only Kanto and his crew were left. They should have arrived in Shinjuku by then because Ikebukuro is only about 10 minutes by train. We decided to wait for them, talking and trying to decide where we could go for dinner. We were gonna have 12 people in all, and finding a place for 12 on a Saturday night in Shinjuku is very difficult. About 10 minutes passed and still no contact from Kanto. I said to all, let's just go! And off we went toward the more popular area. I thought we could find a place first because everyone seemed hungry and tired of waiting. It was about 8:45 p.m., 45 minutes past the meeting time.

On our way toward the main fun district of Shinjuku, Kabukicho, the red-light district, which happens to have not just prostitutes and massage parlors but also some good restaurants and karaoke boxes, I got a call from Kanto. He and 2 other IJST members from this year were at the west exit. So, I told everyone to go without me, and I started running towards the west exit. Wow, I covered 3 exits of Shinjuku station! By the way, I think there are 4 main exits at the station. There is an exit called the new south exit. Anyway, I had some trouble locating Kanto and the crew because Shinjuku station is kind of big. When I last found them, they had some luggage with them, so we went to the nearest coin lockers and put those beasties away for the night. Kanto is a Japanese guy, but he's from Yamagata prefecture, which is about 4 hours north of Tokyo, so he doesn't know Tokyo very well. I think it's safe to say that I know Tokyo the best out of the 12 of us, excluding Mina of course. Greg, from Rose-Hulman (maybe...), and Kim, a Korean girl from Rochester Institute of Techonology, were with Kanto.

Wow, I wrote so much about the rendezvous that I still didn't get to the dinner part yet. The bad part comes at the dinner and afterwards. So, stay tuned for more adventures of MK! I gotta sleep because I'm going to Hakone with my gf when I wake up. Hakone is a popular tourist place with lots of cool onsens, Japanese for hot springs. Thanks for reading!

fun times be had with all

2004-07-17T19:58:00.000-05:00

Yo, readers! Notice anything different? Well, you will if you keep reading.

Yesterday was pretty fun. And pretty bad. Let me elaborate. My gf and I went to Shibuya and looked around 109, women's fashion mall, and Tsutaya, CD/DVD/video rental and purchasing store like Blockbuster, before I left her all alone to go to an orientation for a camping event I'm participating from the 25th to the 27th. The orientation took a bit longer than planned, so my gf was not a happy camper. I gave her my cell phone so that I can call her if something happens, but apparently, she pushed some wrong combinations and ended up calling all these female acquaintances of mine on my recently-called and -received number list. It's a good thing she had the sense to stop the calls immediately after she noticed that that's not what she wanted to do in the first place. When I met up with her again, she was tired from waiting and fiddling with the cell phone, so we went back to my dorm and took a nap before we headed out for our night adventure. Well, stay tuned for the next adventures of MK. I gotta go out soon. Gonna have fun at Disney Sea!

etc. et al.

2004-07-16T01:22:00.000-05:00

yay, 3rd post. and i already broke the streak of posting every day. o well. a good geek friend of mine complained about my writing style saying that its hard 2 read. what do all of u think? at least i comma, period, and stuff, which is way better than my chatting style. if enough readers complain, ill think about changing my style 2 an immaculate 1.

o yeah. i still need 2 finish up that etc. part from my 2nd post. unfortunately, i forgot what i was gonna write. i guess this teaches me the lesson of writing down stuff when its still in my head. man, im old.

ive decided just now what my ultimate goal in life will b. i got an email from a word a day which is a mailing list that i subscribed 2 a couple of years ago in order 2 read good quotes rather than learn a word a day. its like a junk mail, except that i actually read it before i trash it. todays word caught my eyes: polyglot. anyone know what that means? according 2 awad, it means:

polyglot (POL-ee-glot)

adjective
1. Conversant in many languages.
2. Composed of or having several languages. (as in a book, a population, etc.)
3. Encompassing diversity (as in culture or origin).

noun
1. One who is competent in many languages.
2. A book having the same text in several languages.
3. A mixture or confusion of languages.

[From Greek polyglottos, from poly- (many) + glotta (tongue, language),The words gloss, glossary, and glottis are derived from the same root.]

cool, huh. yeah, i wanna b able 2 speak many different languages. currently, im fluent in korean and american english, and i would like 2 say im a better-than-intermediate-level japanese speaker. after im done with my stuff in japan, ill go 2 china 2 study chinese 1 year. hopefully, ill become proficient at least conversation wise.

some of u know that i teach korean once a week at my dorm. due 2 a special request, i started recording pronunciations of example sentences i use in class as mp3 files. if u r interested in checking my voice out, please visit my homepage at http://www.home.cs.puon.net/moonki421. the last link leads u 2 the page of doom. once u hear them, u will b glad im not a voice actor.

tonight, i need 2 go 2 the narita international airport. my gf from korea is visiting 4 a week before she locks herself up 1 month 2 study 4 her exam in december. shes currently a contract teacher 4 1 year. if she passes the test, she will become a regular teacher with more benefits.

well, i guess i can go on with lots of other things, but im in my research lab now, and i should b doing some work. i say thanks 2 my faithful readers. until next time, ciao.

inspiration, summer vacation schedule, future plans, etc.

2004-07-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

ok. 2nd post. im doing fine so far. as u can c from the title, im gonna talk about a few things this time. first of all, inspiration. as i mentioned in my first post, i was taking the train back home from school last night, and it suddenly dawned on me that i, nor anyone else, will remember what i have done in tokyo from october 2003-march 2005. ive been taking pictures almost everyday up until a few months ago, but i stopped doing it everyday because there simply isnt any spice in my life currently. ive visited many blogs of people i know, and every time, i thought, geez, what a waste of time. i failed 2 realize until now that blogging isnt a bragging contest. its not like lets c whos blog site looks better or who has more friends in the blog community. the essential core of blogging, i believe, comes down 2 a simple idea: diary. keeping track of your life and events around u so that 10, 20 years from now, people who care, especially u, will remember what u did. posts might b very mundane, and will most likely b so, but u sure will b having a kick out of reading what u did in the past. so thats my inspiration. i wanted 2 keep track of what i did in japan, and from now on, because i want 2 have a kick out of reading what i did in the past when i reach the state where i cant enjoy outdoor activities. so thanks again 2 lorena 4 introducing me 2 blogspot. some friends pitied me 4 not signing up on livejournal, but hey, i like blogspots looks.

summer vacation schedule. my vacation starts at the end of july until the end of september, 2 months. however, i plan on going 2 the research lab and catch up on what i should have been doing the past 4 months. other than that, some excursions and events i have in plans, not just 4 the summer, r as follows.

7/19-20 hakone
7/20 roppongi
7/21 odaiba
7/24 speech contest in meguro-ku, tokyo
7/25-7/27 wadamura, nagano prefecture meguro unesco retreat
7/31 sumidagawa hanabi
8/7-8/8 fuji-san climbing
8/11-8/12 yabuzuka, gunma prefecture camping
8/20-8/22 kofu, yamanashi prefecture camping
8/23-8/27 kiyosato, yamanashi prefecture english camping
9/9-9/19 kagoshima prefecture homestay
9/25-9/26 honda field trip in tochigi prefecture
10/30 ywca speech contest in tokyo
11/21 speech contest in kobe
1/27-1/28 cultural exchange program at an elem-middle school in aogashima (remote island far, far from tokyo)

sounds like fun, eh? i sure hope i can participate in all of these. oh yeah, i might b doing a part-time job as a korean-japanese-english translation checker. getting paid well 4 it. 1200 yen per hour. and they pay 4 the transportation fees. thats always good in tokyo, if u know what i mean.

future plans. some of u know my future plans, or knew them. ive changed them so many times last couple of months, its not even funny. earlier this year, ive mentioned 2 some friends about my marriage plans, but i think u can rest assured that i wont b doing that any time soon. 4 some time, i thought about studying chinese 4 years at a university in korea, but some people convinced me that thats not a good idea. they said i should go 2 china 2 study chinese. makes sense. so my current plans 4 the next few years is like this. i will go back 2 america in april 2005 after my research program is over. recharge myself and gain some pounds before i come back 2 japan 2 teach english starting july 2005. i can do that 4 up 2 3 years, but im sure my gf wont b 2 happy about that idea, so 4 now, ill just teach 1 year. after i get some money out of that program, i will go 2 dalian, china and study chinese 4 a year. i heard some good things about dalian, so im looking forward 2 going there in 2 years, at the earliest.

i wanna say more things in order 2 fulfill the etc. part of the title, but ill save that 4 later. thanks 4 those of u who read this far. ill hug u next time i c u. beware.

first blog!!

2004-07-13T06:46:00.000-05:00

on my way back home today, i thought i should start blogging. so i did. thanks lorena! u r the friendliest paraguayan geek i know in tokyo!