back on 1st august.

back from Izu. it was a really sudden decision to go there but i'm glad i did. rediscovered my love for karaoke after last night :P

it rained the whole of today so we didn't do much and headed back to tokyo. i decided to catch hana yori dango final with my sis cos it came out yesterday and i was quite excited about it. on the way to roppongi hills there were all these really amazing posters of inoue mao and matsujun in vegas and hong kong for the ANA ads but honestly the movie was just plain terrible. clearly they had a huge budget, and the overseas locations, private jets, cars were all pretty but even that couldn't save the miserable plot.

the only saving grace was fujiki naohito. when he appeared in that casino scene he stole all the limelight from matsujun.



i need to find some screencaps of him in hanadan final..

got good news in the mail today..so right now it's just down to THAT letter.

i finished a lot of prison break this week. i can't believe i started so late. season 3 will have to wait till next week, though. anyway, whoever rents from Tsutaya has to be incredibly loaded. after renting once, i decided that i'd stick with tudou. pixelated, a little laggy. but it's free.

been real busy with preparations for finland. paperwork's a nightmare..

taiwan pics
this was the 孔子庙i think


chiang kai shiek memorial (i fulfilled my obligatory cultural,touristy duties)


and then we went off
BING!

omg


had to crawl up so early the second day to go round the temples i got tired in the afternoon so we checked ourselves into a cinema in ximending and watched sex and the city :)

our hotel was in the area...


my taiwanese friend warned me that taipei would be unbearably hot and true enough, it was disgustingly hot and humid. i don't even remember singapore being that bad.

random observations
-taiwan kind of reminds me of the less developed parts of singapore
-their transport system is rather undeveloped..
-the roads are dangerous. drivers honk all the time, cut lanes, and do not give way to pedestrians at all.
-they are totally 哈日。they've got Familymart, Royal Host..almost everything imported from Japan.

the shifan yeshi. i didn't want to go to touristy shih-lin. this one was awesome although it took us some time to find it.

ai yu bing, tian bu la (the fried one IS THE BEST), cong zhua bing, bubble tea, chou dou fu (i love the stuff)

taipei 101. because kisa told me about how the elevator is quite cool but it just felt like any regular one =.=


we took some artsy shots on the 89th floor..


random dessert at the food court(i think it was a singaporean idea)


went down to taichung to catch xiao jing teng cos my sis is quite a fan..

ji zhua dong? i think


the stage outside xing guang san yue (see, another japanese shop)..they even brought mitsukoshi in...


i guess in taiwan such events are a lot more common so there aren't crazy fans queueing up one week in advance with their tents and rations

...seriously he needs to come up with a better english name.


he looked really frail in person. but yes, he has a huge voice. i really pitied the hosts though, they had to constantly talk because xiao jing teng would always give his signature two-syllable answers and there'd be this awkward silence..

on the 高铁back to taipei. they imported this shinkansen wholesale from japan.


all in all, it was a great trip. nice weekend getaway. i'd go back someday to eat the food. but definitely not in summer.

one more month in tokyo and then HOLA EUROPA!!!

it was a really great 4 days..
food was good, although the weather was terribly hot and humid. and we caught xiao jing teng at taichung...although i'm not a fan..

really tired now. it's funny how i was so worried that it would rain a lot in taiwan and it didn't at all during my stay..and when i'm back here it is raining cats and dogs.

i literally pia-ed all the way from narita to akasaka for my scholarship meeting. but i was still the latest and the others were all in serious discussion about environmental issues and whatnot already. it was honestly quite an eye opener because most of the japanese youth i know do not engage in conversations relating to politics, environment, technology. there were lots of students from keio (i'm starting to think they're a whole lot more impressive) all I-WANT-TO-CHANGE-THE-WORLD-like, articulate and in general, very different from the average japanese twentysomething out there.

bath calls. photos and other stuff up later..

i finished the paper one hour ahead of time..dunno if it's a good sign. but there were just 3 plain, direct questions.

oh well I AM DONE WITH EXAMS. (well there's finals in like a month but nevermind..)

negi good luck for your essay. and we must go for sushi tomorrow!!

it's been a pretty good week. and..

TAIWAN HERE I COME!!

btw i've moved. if you're planning to send me something by mail ask me for my new address :)

takes 45 DAYYYSSS!!!!

and so, i cannot go home during summer. anyway the CIE thinks everyone's staying in tokyo for summer..from the rate they're doing stuff...so i will just stay here and travel around until late aug...

and so it suddenly hits me i've got to plough through 600 pages of stuff and commit them to memory before thurs :(

after this thurs i will start doing all the things i wanted to do, visiting the places i planned on visiting and celebrating the end of my one year contract....cupcakes...dried natto...tsukiji.....

on another note, helsinki's confirmed. london people pls fly over for christmas!!

by writing letters.

from my brilliant friend who knows all the karma and psychological theories behind fights.

so i wrote one


and i got this reply. all is good(i hope)


honestly i can't imagine japan without u either, amiga.

so after counselling and analysis i'm a lot better. if the person next door doesn't provoke me, that is.

my mum sent me a super random email today asking if yi and i want to skip school and go vienna to catch the uefa euro final =.=

anyway

taken during spanish. carlos was thoroughly annoyed..and exasperated HA HA HA


the good luck presents really worked for mids!!!! well i'll know for sure next week :)