Today... We had our last lecture under Prof Tamura at 9:30am. I WOKE UP AT 9:05! Damn! Was about 5 or 10 minutes late. I really felt the exhaustion from yesterday's trip.
Anyway, I had lunch at the cafeteria - maybe my last lunch there. I had my favorite ulam there, deep fried breaded salmon with fries. Hehehe. I got my usual vegetable side dish, and "L" size rice.
4:00pm came and it was presentation time! My presentation actually started at around 4:15. I ended maybe around 5:30, at around 5:45 after the questions. Hehe. Quite interesting, I liked my presentation, except that I noticed that I was not looking too much at the audience because I had to point to the screen using the laser pointer. I was able to respond naman to the questions asked by the top two professors (Prof Tamura, Prof Matsui) in the group. Earlier during my stay here, I had thought that my presentation would only take 30 minutes. Two weeks ago, and then again a week ago, I practiced my presentation and it took me 1 hour, and a little over an hour each! I had too much to talk about. Some of the guys said it was very interesting anyway. So, that's quite a good thing.
I feel good now, having overcome that minor obstacle. Tonight, I did some laundry, and I am doing some packing. I could sleep better tonight. I'm leaving soon! It's quite sad actually. Two people already asked me if I want to leave Japan. I answered to both of them "Yes and No." Yes, because I have things to finish in the Philippines, and I miss my loved ones there. No because, it is so nice in Japan among other reasons. I have thought that this has been my most memorable experience so far in life. For those of you who don't know, I am not married yet, and presently I don't have a girlfriend. :-)
Anyway, last Wednesday, I was also chatting with a friend--si Elaine actually, my touring companion around Tokyo. She was one of two people who asked me if I want to go back now to the Philippines. Anyway, I was listening to some kinda senti music then (kinda lang), and mej na-senti nga ako. (For the curious souls, I was listening then to the background music when Trinity was dying in the Matrix Revolutions movie.) While that song was playing, I was telling Elaine that this stay in Japan is so far the most memorable experience for me in life. And she remembered our first meeting at Ueno, when we planned to meet at 9am but we met at almost 12 noon na! She was apologizing again, but anyway, I told her that that was a very essential part of this stay in Japan being my most memorable experience. I told her that if I were someone else, I might have gone to the park and cried by myself. But anyway, I took it positively, and well, that and other experiences here have taught me somethings about myself. Of course, Elaine did not know that the background music was a senti kind of song, and hehe, that might have affected my reply to her. Hehe.
Shocks, right now, I'm listening to senti songs again. Hirap din mag-maintain ng blog. Time consuming. Anyway, eto, it's 1:00am again, and guess what is playing: "I'll never get over you getting over me." Damn. I should stop this here, right now. So, until next then!
Tsukuba! (JUN-10)
We went today to Tsukuba to visit two research institutes: the BRI (for buildings) and the PWRI (for Public Works).
We met at the Hon-Atsugi station at around 9:30, we got to Tsukuba at around 12:45! We bought lunch at Tokyo station, and ate it (cold) on the bus from Tokyo to Tsukuba.
Tsukuba is quite a nice city, it's north of Tokyo, and farther north from Chiba prefecture (where Narita airport is). Lots of trees, large roads... It is I think a relatively young city, and I think being a location of (government) research institutes is its main industry. Anyway, if you like the "city life," you won't like it here because it's far from Tokyo, but anyway, I like suburban places and this is one of those kinds of cities, much like Atsugi.
Our first meeting started at 13:30 (1:30pm--did I mention already that Japanese are more used to the 24-hour format?), and we saw this really big wind tunnel at PWRI - 40 meters wide! There was a scale model of a 5-kilometer long bridge inside. Very interesting.
Palatastas: in making a scale model of one busy city center in Tokyo--the Shinjuku area--it cost one wind research facility around 8 million Yen. That's 4 million pesos. That is 80 houses for the poor. Hmmmmmm.....
We next went to the BRI and they had quite a lot of interesting facilities there. Our meeting ended at almost 5pm or so. We then took a taxi back to the bus center. The taxi cost around 2,020 Yen by the way. Maybe it was around 4 to 5 kilometers lang... Anyway, so we got on a bus back to Tokyo.
Actually, today was also the first time I experienced Tokyo traffic on the way back to Tokyo. It was rush hour din kasi.
We got back to Hon-Atsugi station at around 8:30pm already! Man, we were so tired! Giang-san and I had dinner again at this ramen restaurant beside the bus center in Atsugi. Got home after 10pm na I think. I did some more things at home, and was able to sleep na at around 1am.......
"Busy" (JUN-9)
It's another one of them busy days. Got home just in time for the closing time and discounted meals at Sekichu Home Center (the grocery). Actually I was early but I dropped by the 100-Yen shop, but I did not find what I was looking for. Actually I found something, but it was 840 Yen. No thanks! I also went home early today because tomorrow, we have a "business" trip to a really far place......
Later! (JUN-8)
Not a very exciting day. Lecture in the morning. "Work" in the afternoon. Stayed at the university until almost 12 midnight! (Why do I have a feeling this is just one of those old movies being replayed?)
Home late! (JUN-7)
Not a very exciting day. Lecture in the morning. "Work" in the afternoon. Stayed at the university until almost 11pm!
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