- we -
currently listening to - Sora wo Miro (Sakamoto Maaya)
mood - slightly relieved
quote of the day - YOU CAN ORDER ONLINE???? (referring to pizza)
were talking about how each of us made it to japan. i have no idea how many times have i repeated the same story to different people from different places (ok.. maybe not that many. i'm not a person who enjoys boasting about my past, mind you), but still we shared out thoughts amiably while we're on our way back to the dormitory one night. i realised that i've even mentioned this in my presentation during japanese culture class, but it's still lingering on my mind. our minds. we, as in, my friend and i, who sat for the scholarship selection test at the same venue last year.
was in singapore when i found out that i was qualified for the selection test. i didn't (and i still don't) understand why was i chosen instead of people who are obviously more hardworking and intelligent than me. anyway, i rushed back home a day before the test, and was, once more, shocked by the fact that i had to stay in the examination hall from morning till late in the evening, just because i chose to take the japanese papers (optional) as well.
on the other hand, my friend, who lives in the northern part of the country (a few-hour's drive away from the capital, where the test was held), planned to take a night bus to the capital together with his fellow schoolmates the night before the test. the plan was to reach the capital about 2 hours before the test, idle away their time around the city, then sit for the test. and their lovely plan would've worked if it hadn't been the night bus, which decided to puncture one of its tyres and release another one during their journey to the south (yeah, i don't get it why but apparently one of the tyres went missing suddenly). to top it all, the bus conductor announced that passengers who were in a hurry could take an alternative night bus, when all of them were... asleep.
i must say, they were really lucky, since they managed to make it to the examination hall........ not exactly on time, though.
so, back to the thing that's bothering us (yes, i sidetracked again). the selection test was held in a chinese high school that adopted the name of a famous chinese thinker and social philosopher (which rhymes with the word "confusion"). not sure if it's a coincidence, but it seemed like the school was having a anti-japanese movement on the very same day, seeing that the 10-metre wide notice board in front of the examination hall was covered with newspaper cuttings about how local men and women were tortured by the japaese army during wwii and the like.....
hell yeah it happened and it's true that many suffered. and i can see that many are stereotyping japanese as proud ideologists who discriminate women and foreigners. but i doubt that mere newspaper cuttings will be able to change a determined person's mind, no? (fuiyo... talking big eh....)
this is my 2nd time studying abroad. yet i've learnt a lot of new things in half a year. new facts, in fact. about how normal it is for some families to own 10 cars at home. about how お嬢さん (pronunciation: "o-jo-sun". meaning: a naive/unsophisticated woman from a wealthy/good family who knows nothing about the world) can a person be (and i'm surprised that i'm not in that category). a classmate of mine who's studying overseas for the 3rd time, had never gripped a frying pan in her entire life before coming here (although my cooking skills really suck, at least i know something about cooking). wanted to boil potatoes, but they turned into charcoals after leaving the fire on for 5 hours. wanted to use the frying pan, but wasn't sure if she should fry with oil or water. wanted to slice onions, but hesitated between cutting off the edges 1st or peeling off the skin 1st. and so on.
sorry 'coz my sentences seem to be lengthy and hard to read. =p was told by my essay teacher that i should try limiting my number of words per sentence to less than 3 lines of a manuscript paper (which is like... less than 60 kanji........ ok that sounds a lot..). speaking of which.. i'll be sitting for my essay paper the day after tomorrow.... darn, i'm still halfway through the exams..
mood - slightly relieved
quote of the day - YOU CAN ORDER ONLINE???? (referring to pizza)
were talking about how each of us made it to japan. i have no idea how many times have i repeated the same story to different people from different places (ok.. maybe not that many. i'm not a person who enjoys boasting about my past, mind you), but still we shared out thoughts amiably while we're on our way back to the dormitory one night. i realised that i've even mentioned this in my presentation during japanese culture class, but it's still lingering on my mind. our minds. we, as in, my friend and i, who sat for the scholarship selection test at the same venue last year.
was in singapore when i found out that i was qualified for the selection test. i didn't (and i still don't) understand why was i chosen instead of people who are obviously more hardworking and intelligent than me. anyway, i rushed back home a day before the test, and was, once more, shocked by the fact that i had to stay in the examination hall from morning till late in the evening, just because i chose to take the japanese papers (optional) as well.
on the other hand, my friend, who lives in the northern part of the country (a few-hour's drive away from the capital, where the test was held), planned to take a night bus to the capital together with his fellow schoolmates the night before the test. the plan was to reach the capital about 2 hours before the test, idle away their time around the city, then sit for the test. and their lovely plan would've worked if it hadn't been the night bus, which decided to puncture one of its tyres and release another one during their journey to the south (yeah, i don't get it why but apparently one of the tyres went missing suddenly). to top it all, the bus conductor announced that passengers who were in a hurry could take an alternative night bus, when all of them were... asleep.
i must say, they were really lucky, since they managed to make it to the examination hall........ not exactly on time, though.
so, back to the thing that's bothering us (yes, i sidetracked again). the selection test was held in a chinese high school that adopted the name of a famous chinese thinker and social philosopher (which rhymes with the word "confusion"). not sure if it's a coincidence, but it seemed like the school was having a anti-japanese movement on the very same day, seeing that the 10-metre wide notice board in front of the examination hall was covered with newspaper cuttings about how local men and women were tortured by the japaese army during wwii and the like.....
hell yeah it happened and it's true that many suffered. and i can see that many are stereotyping japanese as proud ideologists who discriminate women and foreigners. but i doubt that mere newspaper cuttings will be able to change a determined person's mind, no? (fuiyo... talking big eh....)
this is my 2nd time studying abroad. yet i've learnt a lot of new things in half a year. new facts, in fact. about how normal it is for some families to own 10 cars at home. about how お嬢さん (pronunciation: "o-jo-sun". meaning: a naive/unsophisticated woman from a wealthy/good family who knows nothing about the world) can a person be (and i'm surprised that i'm not in that category). a classmate of mine who's studying overseas for the 3rd time, had never gripped a frying pan in her entire life before coming here (although my cooking skills really suck, at least i know something about cooking). wanted to boil potatoes, but they turned into charcoals after leaving the fire on for 5 hours. wanted to use the frying pan, but wasn't sure if she should fry with oil or water. wanted to slice onions, but hesitated between cutting off the edges 1st or peeling off the skin 1st. and so on.
sorry 'coz my sentences seem to be lengthy and hard to read. =p was told by my essay teacher that i should try limiting my number of words per sentence to less than 3 lines of a manuscript paper (which is like... less than 60 kanji........ ok that sounds a lot..). speaking of which.. i'll be sitting for my essay paper the day after tomorrow.... darn, i'm still halfway through the exams..
posted by aikoais at 9/17/2006 09:08:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home