It's been a while ~
Well not a LOT has changed i guess, but some things have been occurring since I last posted. Let me split this up into subcategories- so it comes out organized and be less of a rambling blog (although there's nothing wrong with rambling right?)
1. SCHOOL STARTED!
So I've made a temporary timetable for the while, and this is for the 2nd semester for the year (後期）which runs from now until the beginning of February. With just a 2 week mini-break in between for X-mas, new-years and my b'day lol :P STILL haven't been able to get my timetable done yet!! But that is because of a number of reasons; I'll list them out-
- The courses I have chosen to take previously when I first filled in the Transfer of Credits (TOC) form were either non-existent, or they clashed with each other. (Therefore, future exchange goers, go get more courses approved if you can!)
- There weren't enough classes of the right standard. For example 2nd year Chinese was soo basic... it was like "what is this? where is this? what time is it...?" etc. So it would be too much of a miracle to get that approved by the Chinese Studies headteacher who was adamant on making me get 4.5hrs of class -_- so i decided to drop it (for gender studies actually, which is easily transferable as an extra arts option. We'll see how that goes tomorrow -_-;)
- It was too HARD omg. We all (all the exchange students) went to some course called 現代日本社会論 - which is modern society in japan. The lecturer literally just stood in front and talked for 1.5hrs, while referring to a few newspaper articles with a million and one kanji... I pretty much only bothered to translate the titles tho hahaha... So definitely not taking that, and hopefully there are easier subjects in the same field > <
- Takes time to get things approved, because I have to exchange information with UNSW via mail- and that is really annoying. Especially when they need me to give them a detailed course summary, and all I have is a Japanese syllabus. (Yes, that means I have to translate everything for them to understand ><) Yeah, but it looks like it on the right track to being approved... I got until the 9th before I need to confirm my subject selection tho.
Yeah, and apart from the tutors + their friends, and Saya and Tomoka, haven't really met anyone out of class. Always the bunch of gaijins that walk in the cafeteria and get stared at haha oh well. Also this is the newsletter where we just wrote a simple intro and took photos lol
交流センターnewsletter (Oct '09)
Mhmm that should be it for the school summary
2. FOOD!
Unfortunately, there has been hardly any cooking progress as I planned. But I am surviving by making basic stuff such as... egg on rice.. or miso soup.. or just frying meat and stuff and eating that with rice... nothing in particular. If I run out stuff in the fridge I just get a pack of instant ramen, toast, or fruit- OH, and tofu. ^^
Stocked up my fridge with about 2000yen worth of food yesterday- such as eggs, chicken, veggies, sausages etc- all good stuff! Couldn't find the cereal in the supermarket I went to last night tho, but I'll survive :P Supermarket food near closing time is discounted by the way, so more night trips and later dinners from now on i guess :P
3. OMG I SPILLED TEA ON MY LAPTOP
Okay, I should have remembered this earlier since it was such a crazy stressful process >< I was drinking one of those green-tea sorts in a .. fairly tall glass next to my computer. Knocked it over, and it went ALL on my keyboard!! > < I freaked out like crazy, but i did what was necessary to keep it from short circuiting and whatnot. I.e. Force-shutdowning the laptop by holding the power key, pulling out the battery and then tilting the laptop upside down. Also, I turned it on its side, and tea came out of the USB ports on the side!!!! nooo!
So immediate measures, i got a cloth, soaked it in water, and kinda cleaned it up- so at least the keys aren't sticky when it dries (so I thought)... then I left it on the side and used the hairdryer on it for a while. I heard tho that hair-driers can damage you're computer more tho - not sure why (something about static electricity?) but I'll keep that as a note for next time. So after I did that, I put it in my laundry basket on its side, and left it to dry until sunset- while I went to sleep because I felt so bad, and was worrying like CRAZY crazy CRAzYYY.
I did try to open it, but the screws are so tight on- and i couldn't get the cover off. Also a bit scared that the warranty might be void if i did open it (but I'm not even sure if it is covered for accidental spillage). I really wanted to clean the insides after seeing stuff come out the usb ports... > <
Well 2 days later I turned it on to see if was working *crossing my fingers* It turned on!! :D Bit skeptical still because the keys which the tea fell on are now a bit hmm... sticky. As in it makes a weird plastic-y. crunchy noise when I press slowly down on them (especially the space bar). But other than that, I've been wary of overheating? Because the tea reside might burn or something??? I don't know... all I'm doing is being cautious, and paranoid - and perhaps smart.
SO, it is alive and I am now blogging on it. But just in case, I'm shutting it down and letting it cool off every 2 hours of usage. Which I can keep a pretty good monitor of due to the customisation tool, RAINMETER.
3. UNI'S TORE-NINGU RU-MU
The training room in uni (i.e. the gym) is a pretty run down shack with quite a lot of equipment. Albeit a bit old, and some rusty etc- but still usable. The most important thing is that it is free, and easy to access :) .. and not crowded. Well at least it wasn't crowded today because it was raining when I went there with Rui and Ingma ... and found Jesse training by himself in an empty gym hahahahaha. Dude, stop running off on your own :P
4. KEITAI!
Yay btw I got my keitai, so if you need to contact me desperately here- email me on wingking[at]softbank.ne.jp please :) It goes directly to my mobile, so I'll get it. However, I did try to email myself from gmail, and it arrived after 10 mins... I guess the delay varies a lot. It was really weird too because I sent 2 emails, and the 2nd one I sent arrived about 2 minutes before the first one i sent (although they were both late/delayed wtv.)
All is good. Can use internet on it, but I will refrain from doing so too much due to costs- but as you would know, you can do plenty of stuff on a jap phone. Oh yeah, by the way, this is TOMOKA's old vodaphone- which she let me have because it was .. old! Thanks soooo much Tomoka :D It's not even that worn down, I just had to replace the battery pack which was kinda gettin distorted and big o_O; So glad I got one tho, saved me a lot of money! ^^
So- a few things you can do. You can scan the docomo(?) barcode, which is the weird box-type barcode you see now and again. And what that is, is you take a picture of the barcode with your 'scanner', and then it comes up with information- such as contact details, or a url etc. Also, since lots of people have long long emails, and not just their phone number details- people exchange phone numbers via infrared! Which may be good for knowing who has your contact details (security measure) :P - but yeah, feel free to email me whenever, as long as you don't spam me with junk >:( - and only if i know you, of course :P
The process in itself was a bit bothersome- took a good 2 hours, because there was something wrong with some machine -_- But Tomoka was with me and kept me company while we waited the long wait- thanks again Tomoka!
