Half Way There

I don't believe that we're already half-way done our academic term here in Tottori University. Before we know it we'll be on our co-op work term in a more exciting and bigger city.

Me biking to school (I'll take a photo of my entire bike in a later entry)

Yesterday one of the grad students in Teresa's lab, Tsubasa, found a job so we all went out to celebrate his success. Tsubasa was one of the graduate students who went to Waterloo for exchange this past term. I was the first "Canadian" to arrive at the dinner party so I had conversations with Tsubasa and his friends in Japanese. It was not until then that I realized how well my Japanese has improved since I was here. After 10 years of French in Canada, I am at a higher level in Japanese than I am in French. I guess being forced to speak it in an environment where NOBODY understands English helps the cause quite a bit.

Teresa, Will, Daigo (Tsubasa's friend), Ana, and myself at a traditional Japanese restaurant called "Tottori Ya" to celebrate Tsubasa and his friend Sono in finding jobs for after graduation

Teresa and Tsubasa's friend named Aki

Will all red after drinking

So I'm becoming more and more excited about the Hunger Banquet as it's approaching closer and closer. But yet the committee still has TONS AND TONS to do. Everyone is so relaxed with the "we'll do it later" type attitude, but yet their ideas are very very very ambitious. From the experiences I've had in organzing these types of events, extremely ambitious ideas are really hard to achieve considering the amount of work and time required. Plus in Japan you aren't able to gather as much resources (e.g. borrowing forks and spoons from the campus cafeteria) as easily as you would be able to in Canada. In Japan there are miles and miles of red tape that complicates the matter 10 folds. But overall I am very excited about the event and may propose to do one in Waterloo with Engineers Without Borders when I return in January. I have attached the ENGLISH version of the Hunger Banquet flyer below. Click on it to view a larger version. You can also visit the hunger banquet website at www.tottoriworld.com

HUNGER BANQUET flyer (in English). Click for a larger version

Hunger Banquet homepage: www.tottoriworld.com

This past year I have watched a ton of documentaries, went to tons of talks, read books, and have been talking to people about International Development in developing/third world countries. It definetely has made it clearer for me, that yes, I want to devote my life, by applying my skills and knowledge, to tackling issues that actually matter in the world such as world poverty instead of sitting in an office for a corporation and worrying about materialistic problems (like whether to buy a Mercedes or a BMW). I want to do something meaningful with my life. As EWB puts it, I want to devote my life to "human development", whether it be at home in Canada or in other countries. Usually Asian families don't condone their children to go into such careers, because "it doesnt make too much money" and because "its dangerous"... but I am very grateful that my parents allow me to pursue a career of my choice and will support me in whatever I do.

Last weekend we went surfing again... It was super duper fun. Tsukasa (not Tsubasa.. they are two different people) is a great guy taking us everywhere we want to go. He told us that "he will try his best to make our experience in Japan as good as possible.

I also started to swim again. I swam every morning before starting work in Waterloo before I left for Japan. It feels so great to start exercising again. But... the one problem is that the Tottori University campus pool is outdoors and surrounded by trees and flowers... That means that the POOL IS FILLED WITH POLLEN. Never in my life have I sneezed so much during swimming.

So I have found a solution to my allergies!!! Thank goodness for CLARITIN I brought. I guess I could buy Japanese allergy pills, but god knows much they cost and if they cause drowsiness or not. I can't afford to be more exausted than I already am.

oh.. and the fact that I'm turning 22 in 20 days scares the daylights outta me. I have soooo much I want to personally achieve in life and the years just fly by... sigh... People always tell me that its when you are in your 20's that you will have the most fun. So I guess I'm trying to make the best out of it

(Reshout out to alice REJ from back at home... ITS NO LONGER IN 6 PNT FONT!!!!.. lol... stop holding your poo rej... and of course shouts to my other buds back at home in TO and KW: gary, eggo, mama, rolo, megs, kir, ET, laura, shaun, shru, allan, joanna, jay w., sarah l & the ewb crew, linders, prof MacG & the PDEng group, llama, rinal, burt, mike p, andy, tim horton, ken, joe, sorry if I missed anybody). I miss all of you!!!