- i'm officially a fong-fei-kei senior -

it's been one and a half months since i applied for visa renewal, still the immigration bureau hasn't sent a notification letter to me yet. so i decided to go to the ryuugaku section directly to inquire. spent 550 yen (150 from Meguro to Shinagawa, 400 in total to go back and forth Shinagawa and the immigration bureau) and queued in front of the inquiry counter for an hour, only to find that the line was almost stationary.

there were 3 workers at the counter - a man who had been talking to a visitor ever since i started queuing (and they sounded more like gossiping rather than discussing confidential matters), another man who kept fumbling in front of foreigners, and a lady who spent most of the time deep inside the office looking for documents and seldom showed up.

witnessed a free-show - a Korean man behind me was semi-quarreling with a Japanese lady who seemed like his guardian or something. another Japanese man came, and the lady explained that the Korean man lost his passport. then the Japanese got extremely upset and he started reprimanding him. the Korean tried, in vain, to defend himself. "think about what you've done! all these days we've been trying to help you and what have we got? LIES!! you can't blame us for what's happening now, it's YOUR fault.." said the Japanese man (in Japanese), and he went on mumbling "shiranee.. shiranee ttsuttendarouga.." (= i don't give a damn.. i don't fucking give a damn do you hear me)

after another 30 minutes of suffocation in the green-house-like space, (the trio seemed to have calmed down and) i was finally called. by the lady.

"oh it's ALMOST done. we'll send you a notification, don't worry."

thank you so much. wasted my transportation fee just to hear that.

*****

on the other hand, the sakuras in Tokodai are beginning to fall.

*****

but not the ones in Tobitakyu, they're still in full-bloom.


speaking of which, i went to Togaidai to see my new juniors. i was supposed to reach by 11am yesterday, but i overslept (and my mobile was on "moving" mode, which means no vibration and sound whatsoever)..

the TUFS sign.. which looks like STFU from this angle...

6 juniors this year - 3 each at Tokyo and Osaka, 2 girls and 4 boys (and finally, we have someone from the art stream). 1 of the girls is the sister of our Todai senior, and 1 of the boys in Osaka appears to be a strict vegetarian. fun times~

it was 9 seniors vs 4 juniors (a Singaporean junior joined us because her senior abandoned her lol), and apparently it was a rare sight for so many of us from the same country to hang out together. we ate at a Korean/Japanese restaurant at Musashi-Sakai and bonded a little. told the juniors about stereotypes in Gaidai - the characteristics of Korean, Mongolian, Vietnamese students and the westerners, from our point of view. also we explained about the so-called "orientation" in Japan, and the Singaporeans (the senior came later) were amazed how Japanese could call a hanami + drinking + eating session an "orientation" - to them, an orientation is supposed to have ice-breaking games and mass dance and government-sponsored dance parties.

reminds me of "good" times back in Singapore.. sigh..

we wanted to further "brainwash" the juniors by luring them to a karaoke session, but it was too late and the Todai seniors had to leave soon. instead we brought them to the only supermarket which was open, for some grocery shopping. quote Yeo, "must buy pangsai-zua!"

then we sent the juniors home. was supposed to meet them again on Sunday for sakura-viewing cum welcome party but im booked on that day. and partly because im just being lazy.