#23 First-time Driving in Japan

First Time Driving in Japan

From Kiroro to Yoichi to Otaru and Back



Well, the third week of work is just as usual, but there's something much more important happened for me this week - I drove for the very first time in Japan.

 Driving has always been my kind of thing, I enjoy driving everywhere in the car, listening to music, feeling the tires rolling on the tarmac roads, sometimes feeling the incoming wind, enjoying the views around and stuff, I really loved driving. 

 So, in this hotel we have a total of 3 Malaysians, as far as I know, first one would be me, another one is working at the Resort Market, and the last one works at the corporate office. I happened to know the one from the resort market and we meet each other quite often since I worked at Sheraton Hotel's front desk and I always see him around, so we would normally chit-chat and stuff. Then one day I happen to know that he owns a car, and I thought I might be able to borrow the car to go around, so I asked, and who knew, he was actually ok with it, so I actually went ahead.

 Now, the legality of me driving in Japan was a definite no, as I do not have an International Driving Permit (and I regret not getting one now), but since we are in such an isolated small place, I figured that I'd most probably not get pulled over provided I do not do anything stupid and stuff, and I heard also that there's not really any checkpoints set up to do random checking and stuff, so I just went ahead with the driving plan. 

 Ever since the first time I came to Japan, I have always impressed with the road quality here, it's so smooth and flat, and so well maintained, unlike those in Malaysia, with filled with potholes and rough as they'd just add layers on top of old layers instead of removing it and redo everything during road maintenance (for this problem, I realize only like Malaysia does this, even the Philippines has smoother roads than Malaysia). 

 But of course, I am in this tiny township far away from big cities in Hokkaido, so the road quality here was of course not as good as those in Tokyo or Osaka, and to be honest, even slightly worse than those of Toyama and Fukui, but it was acceptable.

Well, I drove through mountains and valleys, the view was really breathtaking. I have never seen such a beautiful view before, it was a cherry farm, and it was under a valley, imagine seeing a huge wide field, with mountains surrounding and stuff, it really makes a great driving experience, much better than driving on country roads in Malaysia, where there are only palm oil plantations. 

 The driving was also a great opportunity for me to travel to the town of Yoichi though, as I wouldn't have travelled there if I do not have a car, I was too lazy to take a train there. The town was beautiful, and was quiet, with all the super old vibes going on too just like Otaru City, so I just toured around the city a little, and then there's the thing about driving in Japan is that carparks aren't everywhere, and there's really no free carparks around, but at least I found a relatively cheap carpark with the first half an hour being free, so, all in all, I only had to pay like 100 yen since I parked for about 1 hour. 

 I drove from Yoichi to Otaru City though, just roaming around the city by car, and then went back to the dormitory. I spent 1000 yen on petrol too though, and for that price, I only got like 7 litres of petrol, it's not to say too expensive considering petrol in the Philippines costs around that much too, needless to say, it is much more expensive than Malaysia, God I love petrol prices in Malaysia. 

 Really, driving in Japan is a very different experience for me, as a person who loves to drive, the roads are quiet, even though it's a city, and people generally are very law-abiding, not much speeding occurs even though the speed limits are generally lower than I'd like, if it's not for the cost of driving in Japan, I'd love to make road trips around Japan one day.

#22 Second Week on Internship

Second Week on Internship

At Kiroro Resort Hotels


The second week of my internship here in Japan, I think I am starting to get used to this new environment, albeit on an isolated mountain.

 To be honest, I think I am kind of loving this job right now, not sure it is the novelty of it or something else, but I am really enjoying doing this job and looking forward to going to work every day.

 The second week into the internship, I am already starting to get closer to the workmates over there, I now felt like I am actually part of the team and actually doing something, and I have made closer acquaintance with a few of the workmates over there, and we would sometimes have lunch break together and stuff, and I really kind of having fun working over there. The people there are generally very fun to be working with, and I'd proactively help out with what they are doing right there as I'm just an intern, I really do not have many things to do.

 Most of the time, I'd just be walking, roaming around the lobby hall and see if I can be of any help to the guests, but then, there aren't really many guests so I'd be really really free. So, normally I'd offer my help to workmates that looked busy doing things, and I guess sometimes they themselves really have nothing for me to do because I do not know anything - do not know how to check-in/check-out guests, do not know how to use the management system, and do not know how to verify documents and stuff.

 After several days of trying to offer my help, some workmates started to teach me how to do stuff, while we would chat around a little to get to know each other more, and so to get easier to work together and stuff. After two weeks working with the Front Office, I am starting to get a gist of what they do there and how they do things, and to be really really honest, I really did notice the difference when a 100% Japanese people are taking charge of the office and when a foreigner or when a foreign-born Japanese is taking charge of the office, the atmosphere is so much different. This might give me some points of consideration when I choose my workplace after graduation. I realised that it is actually very fun to work in a working environment with many foreigners, I find it more interesting and less dull than working in an office where everyone, or at least when the person in charge is a Japanese. 

 Well, overall the second week went fine for me, felt like I am an empty sponge sucking up all everything there is for me to learn and stuff, and I'm probably really am enjoying the novelty of it. I've heard of how busy it could get during the winter season though, they told me that it's Hell, and I do believe that it is nothing less than they described, but, I am kind of tempted to experience that, to be honest, not really sure why, but I am just here till end of August, so I guess no luck for that LOL. 

 Here's to 6 more weeks of internship!
The chapel right next to the hotel building

#21 Summer Internship in Japan

Summer Internship in Japan

At Kiroro Resort Hotels


Well, finally, no matter how nervous I was and stuff, the time has finally come that I am here in Hokkaido, more specifically Yoichi-gun, or Yoichi County of Hokkaido. After almost one year of a hassle applying for it, preparing all the documents while being scolded by the teacher for not having the sense of a Taiwanese/Japanese when handling documentation and stuff, after spending so much money for the application process and air tickets and stuff, finally now, I am here at Kiroro Resort Hotels, working as an intern.

 It has been about two years since I last step foot in Japan, and in between the two years, I did have quite a craving of Japan and sometimes really wanted to come back here and stuff, who knew two years later I would finally be back, but this time working, which is a totally different experience in on itself. 

 So I actually arrived here two days ago on the 4th of July, now thinking of it, that was actually independence day in the United States, no wonder it sounded so familiar to me. Well, the first thing I arrived at Japan is that I had Ramen, which in the future I think is going to be my ceremony arriving at Japan in the future - have a Ramen as the first meal. Speaking of which, Ramen here is really nice no matter where I went and eat, it was so much better than a lot of those in Taiwan claiming that they are selling Japanese ramen, which I beg to differ. The broth was so good, the noodle was so bouncy, the flavours are so rich that I drool every time I talk about it, even as I was saying it right now, and I am not even hungry right now.

 Well, so I arrived at this place on the 4th of July, and work immediately started on the 5th, also today. We were given an orientation of about 2 hours, where the HR person gave us some introduction about the company as well as giving us a tour of the hotel resort.

 The hotel can actually be more accurately be described as a resort, which has a huge footprint, and it's actually a ski resort, and it's famous for that. So, the fact that we are having our internship during summertime means that it is not going to be a lot of things to do. Sure enough, the carparks are mostly empty, the lobby, lounge, restaurants are also mostly empty.

 The resort itself has two hotels actually, The Kiroro Tribute Portfolio hotel as well as Sheraton Hotel, both are under Marriott International, something like the biggest hotel franchise in the world or something like that, I am not very familiar with the hospitality industry so I didn't bother the hassle to check that up, anyways, that's what the HR person told me.

 So I was first assigned to the Front Desk department as a bell attendant, which basically means I have to attend to arriving guests as well as attend to their needs when they have something they need during their stay. Then, we (me and one more senior from the Japanese department) would exchange departments (he is in the F&B department) after a month, so that we would be able to understand more about what they do in a hotel.

 The one thing that I am quite surprised is that in the Front Desk Department, more than half of the people here are actually foreigners. Actually, there are a lot of foreign workers working in this hotel, they are from all over the world really, there are Indians, Caucasians, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Thai, basically everywhere, have I mentioned that the HR person who gave us the orientation was I think Korean with fluent English? Because of this, during the first two days, I think I have actually spoken more English than Japanese. 

 I think because of the composition of the employees here, working here is actually quite fun and relatively stress-free than working in an all-Japanese environment. My department manager is a Thai, and she is so friendly with everyone in the office, and people actually make jokes while working and stuff, making the whole office and workplace quite merry, which really makes me even happier and enjoy working here.

 These first two days were relatively free as there aren't really any guests coming in because it's the off-peak season, very very off-peak, so there are only like about 5 check-ins for my whole 8-hour shift during the two days. There are quite a lot of things to remember though, like the opening times of facilities and restaurants and stuff. Because it's the off-peak season, the hotel that I am currently stationed in - Sheraton Hotel, is like half-closed. The mountain centre connecting beside it is fully closed except for the public bath, and many restaurants on the other hotel are also closed. It's a ski resort, and there isn't any snow, that's why.

 Well, I guess I had a great start at the job, and I kinda look forward to going to work every day though, maybe because of the novelty of it or maybe I am really enjoying the work, I don't really know yet. I can't really say the same for the F&B department where I am going to be assigned to next month though. Yet, good or bad, I think I am going to just take it in and learn as much as I can.

 Good luck with me.

#20 Start of Summer

Start of Summer


It's summer-time again! This is my second summer and marks the end of my sophomore year at this university. Who knew I'd have lasted two years in this place called Taiwan, that I have disliked during most of my residency here? Ever since I quit Monash, I never really had the thought that I'd be one day a university graduate, really, never even once it came across my mind, though I really wish that I could graduate, get a college degree and start working, this is a story for another time I guess. 

 My summer job which is due to start this week has been delayed because my Certificate of Eligibility application was approved late so my application for the visa was also delayed. That said, I had one whole week of an actual holiday of not needing to do anything, which is quite good because I really needed some rests.

 For the whole week, I was just doing my own stuff, minding my own business, sleeping really late at night and waking up whenever I feel like it, procrastinating on my bed like nobody's business, really felt like paradise for me. 

 Also, since everyone was so free with nothing else to do, I always make dinner and everyone would actually come over and eat, and then we'd have movie (they preferred horror) and sometimes beer, everyone was just chilling and enjoying life, God, I hope this could actually last longer, preferably a month or something.

 One more thing is that my friend lent me his gaming laptop for this whole week, so I have actually been gaming for almost the whole week now, that is really quenching my long-chronic thirst for some good quality gaming. Sometimes I really regret that I bought this shit of a laptop like it can't really do much except like document processing and shit (which to be honest, the whole point when I bought this laptop), then the battery decided to not last for more than 2 hours, even on super power saving mode in which the performance was cut in half, and then the keyboard started to not working as well, which really frustrated me because my parents have really spent a fortune on this laptop for me.

 Well, I guess I could say that the first week of summer started really great for me like really gave me some time to charge myself back up before going to Japan for my summer internship. Well, I do wish that the internship will go well because I am, to be honest, quite nervous about it. First thing is considering I have to stand for 8 hours a day, I am afraid that my back would be pain again from my old sport injuries, and then there's this fear about not being able to cope up with the Japanese style of work, I've heard so much about how Japanese work and how stressful they are, not only because of work but because of all the rules and the way the Japanese socialise.

 That said, even though I know more or less from how the Japanese works, I still get quite nervous really. So, I spent quite some time during this week to have some conversations with myself and try to adjust and orient myself to try to open myself to the Japanese society and the brand new environment, with so much isolation from what I have been comfortable with and stuff, I even Googled on how to adapt to a new working environment, Google Street Viewed a lot on the vicinity where I will be spending the next two months on, looking up the profile of the hotel that I will be working in and stuff, so to minimize the shock that I might get when I arrived there.

 Well, this post should've been quite a happy and relaxing one, and I guess it took quite a gloomy turn. But, I think I am still optimistic that I would be able to cope and adapt to the new environment there. I wish myself best of luck there!

#19 End of Semester

End of Semester

Semester Review


End of the semester came so quickly, it felt like #1 has just started and now it's already a few more weeks towards half of #53, really, time flies.

 This semester was overall quite hectic that I have had so many things to do and deal with, well, most of them association work and stuff, and because of that, I have neglected quite many things, especially in my studies. Of course, neglection to my studies wasn't solely because of association work, another big reason was because of good-old procrastination.

 Remember during #1 I have set up a few goals to achieve during this semester? Well, almost none of them has been realised. For the income part, I think I have achieved almost NT$8,000 a month, still around NT$1,000 to reach the goal, but I think for the next semester I am going to be able to well exceed that goal as I am getting part-time employment. I am going to have so much more time to myself next semester, and I think I am going to focus more on working and saving up money.

 For the other goals, none of them has been achieved really, so looking back, I feel like I haven't been achieving anything that I wanted to achieve, only giving time to studies and association work, plus procrastination. Not to say that studies and association work isn't important, but I felt like these two combined have already taken a huge piece of my time pie, and I feel like I don't really have any other time for anything else.

 Still, another thing that I am still having a hard time to overcome is my habit of procrastination. The fact is, most of the time I know it damn well that I really have a lot of things queuing up waiting for me to finish, but somehow I just couldn't make myself start really doing it, until the last moment, when panic strikes. I really do not understand how this happens, although I really try to focus and do, sitting in front of my desks, removing the distraction, somehow I just couldn't focus and just unconsciously going to do some other things thinking I am being productive. 

 Well, that day I watched this video talking about procrastination and how the mind of a procrastinator works, and I found the description really accurate, so I thought I might want to share it here.

 Well, I have been having a lot of fun during this semester and I really enjoyed life. Every day was a busy day but maybe because of that, I didn't bother about many other things, like the semester goals and things like that. I didn't save any money for this semester, and I didn't achieve much of my goals this semester, and I stopped doing Spanish on Duolingo and stuff, I was only focusing on association work as well as studies. But it was really a happy one, probably the one semester that I enjoyed the most and the most stress-free one.

 Well, hopefully, I'll be able to meet my goals next semester while I think of what kinds of goals I should achieve, and this time really put my effort into achieving it.



#18 Birthday Week

Birthday Week


It's my birthday week this week!

 Well, I am officially 23 this week and to be honest, I don't really feel anything much. There was one big surprise for me this birthday though, Joyce came all the way from the Philippines secretly to give me a big, huge birthday surprise. Well, she did what I couldn't, really. I love you so much, Joyce.

 Well, Happy 23rd Birthday to me now. Don't really have anything to wish for except for the happiness and wellbeing to everyone around me, friends and family. Had a blessed year though, everything went quite well, although still, procrastination is always on me, it was a good year otherwise. 

 Well, Happy 23rd birthday to myself! It has been a really good and blessed year, and I really appreciate all the celebrations that everyone has done for me, especially to Joyce who travelled across an ocean just to celebrate my birthday. Thank you, Joyce, and I love you so much.

#17 Trip to Kaohsiung!

 Trip to Kaohsiung


After a year-long work together with the ex-cos of the Malaysian Student Association, we actually planned a trip to Kaohsiung, a southern city in Taiwan, sometimes more seen as a southern rival of the northern Taipei City, as you really do see a lot of people from Kaohsiung comparing themselves with Taipei and vice versa.

 I have been to Kaohsiung once, though not really of a tourism nature, I went there during my first few days in Taiwan as I have left some important documents back in Malaysia and I went there to retrieve it from my brother. Back then I only had a few hours in Kaohsiung, not really able to explore the city much, and finally, after two years of confining myself in Taipei and New Taipei City, I finally flew out of the cage and travelled.

 To be honest, I wasn't really enthusiastic about travelling inside Taiwan because I thought that everywhere in Taiwan is more or less the same, and I am not really a nature kind of guy so most of my travel happens in city bounds, and to me, cities looks the same inside the same country, more or less. If it wasn't because I take this trip as a trip to strengthen bonds between my fellows that worked our ass out for one whole year, I really would not want to go.

 Well, we've are in Kaohsiung City while we speak, and although it is a city, with a population of about one-third of my residence New Taipei City, it was much less crowded gave me a serene vibe in an urban setting. The roads are considerably wide even for alleys, those super-tight alleys that are very common in Taipei are less of a view here in Kaohsiung, in fact, I have never seen those during the times I am here, and I thought, this is how a planned-city looks like!

 But urban-planning wise, there is one thing about Kaohsiung that is kind of annoying to me - the climate. I have long heard stories about how Kaohsiung is very hot especially during summertime, almost unbearable kind of hot. Well, I am here during times when it's not really summer yet but it's not really spring, and it got hot, really hot. Well, just to keep it simple, all of us got sunburnt quite bad after only two days under the sun, some even with sunscreen on, which really says something about Kaohsiung's sun.

 The trip was planned as our "consolation" or something as such after one year being together working on and going through so much together as a team, although the attendance wasn't 100%, but at least most of us are here already, which I don't think after this we can gather together like this anymore since everything will be caught up with their future planning and stuff, of course, it is impossible to have everyone coming together again, well, sounds really familiar. 

 The trip was really fun, we got our first-time stay at a backpacker's hostel, and lucky our group has just enough number of people to occupy two full rooms all for ourselves, at least for our first-time experience, we don't have to be stuffed with strangers. But overall, the hostel was quite acceptable, equipped with a common room that has tables to take to people, or we can enjoy 24/7 movies at the lounge, or we can have games and beer and stuff at the rooftop lounge, although a little hot. We had quite some beer as well as games together on the first night since we were still energetic enough. The hotel itself is really cosy enough that we really enjoyed our stay there.

 For food, Kaohsiung City really does have some good offering for food. We went to Ruifeng night market there, which is quite well-known, considering that when we got there, it was cramped as hell, like it was totally the first time in my life where I really experience people cramping like sardines trying to walk, it's really like a full-scale grid-lock traffic jam, except replacing cars with people; and we came across this presumably Filipino woman (I caught her Filipino accent) pushing her way out of the crowd without considering the fact that it was so packed literally no one could move. I almost fell down because of her pushing, well, that was a little bit of bad experience but back to the food, the night market was really different from what they have back in Taipei.

 Night market in Taipei although much more spacious with much more stalls, a lot of the stalls sells the exact same thing, even having identical stall banner and design, so to me, Taipei's night market offering is really lacking in terms of variety, and I got sick of it real quick for the fact that they sell the same thing every freaking where; if you'd try taking away all the identical stalls leaving only one left in the night market, I'd say half of the night market would now be empty. But, this isn't the case for Kaohsiung, there was just so much more variety inside, although still with some repetition, I was really spoiled with choices! Considering the prices aren't really too high there, I had a ton of food really, especially with those sweet sweet oysters which I couldn't really find in night markets in Taipei, I really enjoyed it. I ate like 20 plus oysters in one night and I'd say that I really, really enjoyed food and night market in Kaohsiung.

We went to quite a few places of interest though, in Kaohsiung, we actually made plans for the trip, due to some delays and the weather, we skipped quite some of the plans for good. We visited Ruifeng Night Market, Qijin Old Street and places around Qijin as there are quite some popular tourist spots there. We rented 3 4-seated, electrical-powered bicycles to go around the old street, it was fun, the weather is so good that despite getting sunburn, we got to travel freely around the old street, and took quite some nice group photos, it was really fun, especially when we were on the bicycle, we talked and laughed, having the time of our lives after a hectic year together.

 Overall, the trip was really a successful one to me as everything went very well. Yes, it is the last time that most of us are able to come together and do something as one, to come together and talk, play, laugh and really have fun and bond together. Really, to me, this is the best kind of ending for this team that got together for only a year. Although from this on, at least for me, the team has been officially dissolved. 

 Anyhow, for the first time travelling out of Taipei and actually have a trip in Taiwan, the trip has been really unforgettable, it's been so long since I had a road trip with friends and I really was enjoying the experience again, let's hope we would have more time together in the future! Here's to our friendship and more trips together!
#37371787

#15 #16 End of Another Chapter

 End of Another Chapter

...where to go next?

#16 marks the official end of my term as exco for the Malaysian Students' Association in my university. Time really flies, it felt like one month ago when I first started taking up the post of treasurer for the association.

 To be honest, taking up the post of treasurer came as a bit of surprise to me as I wasn't really told that I will be the treasurer for the association, especially when I have absolutely no idea about how to do journal entries as well as all those financial report thingies. Initially, I was going to be the vice-president for the association, which I was actually asked to take up, but then because of reasons, as well as considering that I might not have what it takes to take up such heavy responsibility, I declined the offer and opted to take up another post instead, but not expecting anything really in fact, so, when I was contacted by the president, I was told straight that I was going to be taking up the post of the treasurer.

 Well, being in the position for one whole year, besides getting some chronic lack of sleep and, I actually managed to learn quite a bit about money management in an organisation, and more than anything, being able to work in a team, and able to learn and practice more on how to communicate in a team.

 Well, as of now, all these association work finally came to an end with a super extravaganza party, together with many other associations and societies, we did had a hell of a last day when we were rushing to get all the documents ready for inspection during the annual report day for all the association and societies in the university, but although it's very tiring, I didn't feel too happy that it is going to end, but in fact, I started to feel a little empty.

 Indeed. Whenever you are freed up from the busy schedule, you will empty inside, having no idea what to do next. I did give some thoughts into what am I going to do after all these have finished though, I thought of continuing to focus on my Spanish studies, and learning some programming, like overall, I wanted to learn stuff that prepares me for the future, like practical skills, as well as spending more time working so that I can meet my goal of earning at least $8000 a month.

 Well, no matter what the next step is, I'd say this year was very fulfilling for me, like work hard play hard kind fo fulfilling. It really did remind me of the days I work in an association during my high school days, having a great team working together towards the same goal, that feeling is the best.

 I only hope that the friendship we fostered during this one year will see its continuity in the future. Great job everyone.

#11 #12 #13 #14 All Association Work

All Association Work


The past month has been very packed for me as there were tons of school work, presentations, reports and association work. First, there was the AGM (Annual General Meeting), and there were so much paperwork and reports to prepare, especially when I am holding the position of the treasurer and all money-matter matters. Of course, the AGM didn't go too well IMO because there were quite some drams-llamas there, but nonetheless, we managed to get over it.

 Mid-terms came and went by, and to be honest, I haven't been doing too well for the first half of this semester, I wouldn't blame it on anything that I have on hand for doing bad, and I honestly think I have been quite relaxed, and maybe a little slacking for this semester. I think I should be paying more attention to my school work. But to be honest, association work is taking up so much of my time, and most of the time I did chose to prioritize on the association work, so I guess there's nothing more to say.

Of course, I am still trying to aim for an average of over 85 this semester, although I think it's still doable, I don't think my overall average this semester will be over 90. But to be fair, I have been also slacking off quite a bit for this semester, gotten quite lazy. Kinda worried about my semester goals and stuff, but I think everything is still under control?

 These two weeks we have been preparing the last event for our term, the graduation party. It's a big event and so, much time has been devoted to organising the event. My house has been packed full of people doing all sorts of work these few days, and for days, people were working until 3 or 4am just to get the work done, and I couldn't be excluded. 

 Of course, working together is a lot of fun. This reminds me of the time when I was in high school when I was in the students' association, I had a team just as great, and we spent so much time working together and we became close as ever, we would eat, sleep, work and play together all the time, especially during times when we have huge events to organise. Eventually, we graduated, and we parted, the chapter ended like all chapters would. Now, some of us would meet up occasionally, but there's really nothing much to connect us together except for the past memories we have had.

 Soon, it is going to be the last event we are going to organise before our term as the exco of the Malaysian Students Association ends, really, time flies. One year ago around this time, I as an exco didn't even know more than half of my fellow exco members, and now, here we are, closer than ever before, like we have been friends for how many years. I am here writing this post feeling a little sad because a whole chapter is coming to an end like all chapters would eventually. Heh, sounds familiar?

 In one or two more weeks, after the annual report thing, our term would officially end, more or less, I am not sure. But one thing I could be sure is my life would be very different. Without the burden of association work, I would have much more free time for myself, and maybe, just maybe, I'd feel empty for that. I hope the friendship we made along the way would continue on though.

#10 One Week Before Mid-Terms

One Week Before Mid-Terms

...exams, exams exams


 Time flies, it's already one week before mid-terms. Without really noticing, half of the semester has already passed. I guess being busy really make time flies, every single day is so occupied that you won't even notice that time passes, and when you look back, days felt like minutes.

 Come to think about it, this is really the life I have been wanting back when I quit Monash and had so much free time with me but I had no idea what to do with it. Now when I come to think about it, I should have worked more back then, but I just couldn't find work that I've liked. To be honest, I never liked doing restaurant work, I really liked office work more, doing office chores and stuff, I wonder why.

 I have been preparing for my exams for the past few days, since I really did pay attention during classes, I thought that I really didn't have to study much. To be honest, I had a few quizzes a few weeks back and I haven't been really preparing for those quizzes, but what do I know, I did all the quizzes without any prior preparations and I actually aced all of them. Especially for subjects like Economics, I was really surprised that I was able to do everything perfectly even though I haven't been studying. But to be fair, I paid a lot of attention during classes and I did a lot of notes, plus I have already had prior studies back in A Levels, classes here for Economics are more like revision than actual learning - something I didn't expect from a university Economics class. (P.s. I'm not trying to be pompous haha)

 Well, that being said, exams are still exams, I've still got to prepare for so many stuff. Although work is still piling up, I just couldn't care more because I had to prioritise on my studies, something I feel like I have been neglecting since the beginning of this semester, felt like I have to do something about it.

 Well, there goes half a semester of my life, padayon pa (keep on going) for me for the next half of the semester! I can do it! 

#9 Defeated (Almost)

Defeated

...almost

Hell of a week, after a fun one week vacation in the Philippines, my work kind of pilled up. Mostly it was association work, where one week worth of work is (almost) enough to bury you six feet below the ground.

 Association work has been quite heavy this semester as most events are almost back to back, and for the first time in forever, I had a fight with our advisors because I think they are just not doing their work as they are supposed to, at least one of them. But I don't want to get into details anymore because this already passed, no point bringing up, just gonna do my work as I am supposed to.

 Sometimes I do think, what is the worth of doing so much of these, considering I have so much to do in school, so much to learn, also, things are getting heavier at the academic side of things for this semester as well. All these association work is taking up so much of my time, I don't really have much time left for my studies (I did procrastinate some, but I think much less than the previous semester).

 Really, I think work is literally raining down on me and I just have to deal with so many stuff, well, this semester I do feel that I am so exhausted that I wanted to flung and give up on everything and live a relaxing life and that's it. Sometimes I think, what's the point?

 But well, since I chose to do it in the first place, I guess I just have to hold on and continue doing it. 
Photo of the Paint Ball game the association organised, well we.
I took the photo and got complimented, at least that's a consolation for this week.

#8 Short Trip to the Philippines

Short Trip to the Philippines

#itsmorefuninthephilippines


It was a spring holiday this week for my school, so I have decided to travel to the Philippines to Joyce, originally as a surprise to Joyce for her birthday, but it was blown like literally the second day after I booked my flight, so, no surprise there.

 It has been quite a longed trip for me because I really do love the Philippines, not quite sure how to put it, but even though the country is a little backwards, the environment is dirtier than what I have been accustomed to, but ever since the first time I went there I really fell in love with the place, it is a place that makes me feel home, even though it's not my home, I just feel so relaxed when I'm there.

 I travelled there for one week, and this one week is a much needed week for me after all the busy days that I've been through. I really needed a break, even though it came with a hefty bill and literally burnt a hole through my wallet, I still think it's worth it.

 Anyways, this time Joyce and I planned a trip for ourselves, an official trip, not a spontaneous road trip. We initially planned to travel to Dumaguete, just a few hours drive and a ferry ride away to the south of Cebu City, but we decided to call that off as it looked too small for a 2D1N trip, so eventually, we settled with Iloilo City instead.

 The trip to the Philippines this time is a little special for me as this is the first time Joyce and I actually rode a plane together and travelled, also, this is the first time I finally booked a flight with Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air, both of which I have been wanting to fly with for a long time, and I've gotten both this time. 

 Well, flying with Philippine Airlines is overall a pleasant flight for me, the service is considered good, but I felt like the airline is more oriented towards a low-cost carrier instead of a full-fledged airline, comparing it with airlines like Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines. But still, their service is good, their in-flight meal was acceptable (I had something with chicken), and I had some red wine on the flight, for free, of course, which is also, of course, a first-time experience for me.

 Back to the Iloilo trip, it actually started with quite a bad experience, in which our flight - with Cebu Pacific Air, actually got delayed for around 4 hours. The PR handling of the incident was, to say the least, not good. The 4 hours delay was actually the total delay, we arrived at the airport at around 7am thinking that we are running a little late, but upon arrival, we got the announcement saying that the flight will be delayed for 30 minutes for additional servicing work to be done on the aircraft, but over an hour after the scheduled boarding time, there weren't any updates on the situation and we were kept waiting, until some passengers grew more impatient and started to talk to the ground staff, only then they announced once more that the flight would be delayed even more, there were a lot of scolding that went on after the second announcement for delays, at the end, we boarded the plane at around 1pm instead of the scheduled 8.30am. 

 Anyways, the flight to Iloilo was actually fast, in less than an hour after takeoff we landed at Iloilo International Airport, even though we flew with a prop-plane. The airport is definitely much smaller in scale compared to Mactan-Cebu International Airport, more so than compared to NAIA (as a side note, even though NAIA is the largest airport in the Philippines, its interior definitely looks very old, it may not be good to say this, but the terminal of NAIA, at least the one that I went to during my transfer, is the least appealing I have ever been). 

 We rented a car to get around in Iloilo (renting a car is what we do for road trips, as public transport in the Philippines leaves something to be desired). The city proper was filled with old and historic buildings, just like the old town in Ipoh, except they are under-maintained, making them look old and a little creepy at night since the city proper itself is not really well-lit, but I do love the city for its full-of-history atmosphere.
A city full of historical gems

The city itself wasn't too crowded too, without crowded streets, honking everywhere and dirty air everywhere like Cebu, I really liked it. I read one thread online regarding Cebu City, it was mentioned that Cebu City is a failure in city planning, after comparing the two cities, I feel like there might be a truth somewhere in the statement itself. With a metropolitan population of almost a million, the city is relatively quiet, I feel like Ipoh, with around the same population, is actually more crowded. Some of the dispersion roads are well built and are very wide, the air is clean, the roads are not overcrowded, and interestingly, the city does not have a lot of traffic lights - not that I have seen much, installed (at some intersection they are installed but does not work), even at intersection where two 4-lanes roads meet, so it does require some attention while driving. 

 The city was also interesting to me for it doesn't use Cebuano, it uses their own language called Hiligaynon, which according to Joyce, sounds half Cebuano and half Tagalog, Joyce has been a translator for me throughout the whole trip in Iloilo, and also, this is the first time I actually went outside of Cebuano-speaking area in the Philippines, which is quite an experience for me, considering I haven't been to a place where I really couldn't understand anything for a very long time.

 The food in the city was great, in which their staple dish, La Paz Batchoy was a blast to my picky tastebuds. I originally thought that batchoy is a vegetable kind of dish (as I mistook it as Bokchoy), and I was a little shocked when I saw it was actually soup noodle. We had Buko Batchoy (soup noodle in a coconut), as our first meal in Iloilo, and it was really delicious, and to be honest, I haven't been trying a lot of traditional Filipino food (more of the street food kind of Filipino food) because Joyce wouldn't let me, and to be honest, it's quite dirty. But this time in Iloilo, I got to try many Filipino dishes that are normally eaten on a family dining table, not like Jollibee most of the time. There, I actually fell in love with Filipino dishes, with their sour kind of taste, I really loved it. 
Buko Batchoy
The city itself, of the area in general, was packed full of centuries-old churches, mostly remnants of the Spanish colonial era, and it was just gorgeous. Personally, I really like old buildings because I really like to see with my own eyes, the places that people, who are (probably) mostly (definitely) dead, has been to, and all the stories that have unfolded in those places during the centuries. This is one of the reasons why I really like the city, and I felt happy that we have chosen to travel to Iloilo over Dumaguete.

San Jose Church (Built in 1873, the original church was erected in 1607)

Molo Church (Built in 1831)

Miagao Church (Opened in 1797)

Surprisingly, during a roam around the city proper, I was able to find schools and Chinese commerce association in the city, it was only then I learned of the city's Chinese name of 怡朗 yi2 lang3, which only has a one-word difference from the Chinese name of Ipoh, 怡保 yi2 bao3. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to come across Chinese-speaking Filipino there (though I bumped into a Filipino-Chinese family in NAIA and I heard them speaking in Hokkien, which differs quite a lot from the Hokkien that I know of). 

 More interestingly, they are still using Traditional Chinese characters in the Philippines, which Chinese speaking areas out of Mainland China and Taiwan are using less and less.


Joyce and I went also to Garin Pilgrimage Farm, which is, interesting, to say the least. It's basically a farm, filled with Christianity, Jesus and God, literally.




Well, overall, it has been a fun trip, and it made a fun spring break for me. To be honest, this is the kind of trip that I really enjoyed, I do not like to go to places full of tourists or something, I have always loved to travel to places, and try to live the life as similar as the locals, even if it just for a very short time. I like to travel to places, mostly big cities, but at the same time, they preserve their historical heritage. A city like Iloilo for example, there are areas in the city in which some skyscrapers are sprouting, but at the same time, the city itself has preserved a lot of its historical buildings, in which it makes a huge contrast in the city itself. Walking in a city like this is like walking through a time tunnel, which brings you across times modern and ancient. This is the ideal kind of travel which I love.

All and all, the Philippines is really a fun place, and I do look forward to the next time I pay my visit to this gem of a country.

#6 #7 Productivity Overload Week

Productivity Overload Week

...or busyness overload week


 It has been a very busy and fulfilling sixth and seventh week, work got so packed up that I haven't been able to squeeze out even a little time to write updates here, but here I am, although am late even for #7, I'm still writing.

 There have been a few things that have been occupying my time like a hogger, and for two weeks I got so squeezed out that I mostly do not have time for myself and I didn't even have had proper rest.

 Foreign Students' Week
It's a school's annual event where us foreign students in TKU holds a foreign students' week to introduce our country's food and culture and stuff to the mass public in our school. The event itself is primarily organised by the Overseas Chinese Students Association and the Indonesian Students Association this year, and for students from different countries, their respective students' association will be handling their part of the and I have been chosen to organise the Malaysian part of the whole event.

 Work had to start before the Winter break mainly because we had to decide what kinds of Malaysian food we are going to put on sale at the venue, we had to buy it beforehand as we can only get it from Malaysia. But the real busy part actually starts around one month before the event itself, of course, some procrastination later I have only got about 2 weeks left to make all the preparations for the week-long event itself. 

 I had to make arrangements for my fellow Malaysians to be on-duty for the Malaysian area of the exhibition, which itself is a very time-consuming job considering most people chose the same timeframe, leaving most other timeframes in the void of anyone to be on-duty, it is very annoying, plus there is a lot of miscommunication between us and the main organiser regarding the starting and ending time of the exhibition which added another layer of work to be done. 

 FInishing duty-time table and I have to oversee many other things that are supposed to be overseen by my partner, well, I wouldn't want to bad mouth but in the end, I carried on most of the work that I am not assigned to do initially. It does get on my nerves sometimes that I am doing work that I am not supposed to be doing, and I had to do it because of the fact that my partner has done jacksh*t about anything, and someone has to do it.

 Well, sometimes I do think that I am a person that is well-suited to do work on my own, I have always enjoyed doing work in a quiet office alone, without anyone to report to and stuff, I find doing my work like that gives me more freedom and I feel less constricted. Maybe it's because of this I haven't been learning how to communicate well with my fellow partners? There are many occasions during presentations that I just prepared the points to present and the PowerPoint slides itself while most of my teammates were just left aside waiting to do the presentation, I guess most students actually hate to do a presentation in front of the crowd, and they expect everyone else to do it, and most of the time if I am in their team they are lucky, I do all the work. 

 And for the foreign students' week, I guess maybe it's my inability to effectively communicate with my partner and this left her empty minded on what to do, or maybe she just couldn't care more! I don't know really haha.

 Overall, getting involved in this event is really fun, I almost forgot how fun it is to actually organise events. I really learned a lot, especially on how to do work and stuff, I learned to try to communicate more with partners and stuff, as I realised that it is really very important to the success of something, you have to communicate on problems, and communicate on how to solve problems, I guess if there is this one thing I learned on #6 and #7, that's it.





Early Thesis Writing
For some reason, I have decided that I could actually start researching what I want to write for my thesis, I'm not sure if I really am going to write the actual thesis before my senior year but I thought in case I really did it before my Senior year, I might have a honeymoon year during my senior year. 

 I have been thinking about writing a thesis in the field of linguistics, since my major is the Japanese language, the scope of what I can write is fairly limited to cultural stuff, or literature, or linguistics. I have been quite interested in the scientific study of language since quite some time ago, well, I've been loving science forever. I thought I can do some studies about language, and I choose to do language comparison between Malay (my national language) and Cebuano (Joyce's native tongue).

 For quite some time I have been quite interested in the Austronesian family of languages and I happen to have a girlfriend who speaks an Austronesian language besides Malay, it really got me very interested in the language family (to be honest, I thought Malay only started existing about 500 years ago before I learned about Cebuano and the Austronesian languages). 

For this, I have actually been talking to a Professor in my department regarding this, and he's good enough to support me doing this, for some reason, and luckily enough, I happened to have met a PhD student in my school from Cebu, who is also quite interested in the theme I am planning to do on, she has offered to contact me up with some of her friends currently teaching at UP and Universit of San Carlos, both in Cebu, whom expertise are in Cebuano history and language, to help me out with my studies.

To be honest, I do not know if I am capable of doing such studies for my undergraduate thesis, but I am very interested in a theme that I think I'd continue on it. I've signed up for some basic linguistics courses on MOOCs online to give myself some fundamentals on the subject of linguistics. God, I don't know if I am crazy but I really am doing this? It's hard to say if this will actually be what comes out on my thesis, but I don't really see this as something unnecessary that I am doing, I really see this as doing something I am interested in. 
These two weeks has been very busy and very fulfilling for me, and I might have learned some very important life lesson from it too!

 Well, this semester is going to be so busy, like every other semester before this, but I think I am getting more productivity this week because I am feeling like I am getting a hang out of not procrastinating!
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