Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Tottori, in conclusion....

So with a blink of an eye, our days in Tottori are coming to end. At first, to tell you the truth, I found this city a bit unexciting, but now as the months flew by, I made many many new friends, new contacts, and pursued many new initiatives and experiences. I will miss it very much. I believe this coming work term for "Nippon Koei International Engineering Consulting Co. Ltd." in Tokyo/Yokohama (two really huge cities) will be more lonely than this past academic term in the small rural town of Tottori.


My beloved bicycle. I'm gonna miss her sooo much. Without my awesome pastel blue bike, Tottori life would have been super difficult. Will miss you!

I think one activity that I will miss the most is teaching English. I bonded very well with the students and what made me so happy was that they developed a deep motivation to learn English. The one important key that I found for the students is to allow them to speak and practice. It's the exact same thing with me and learning Japanese. Sometimes after class, the students and I would go to dinner at the school cafeteria and they'd teach me new words in Japanese and I do the same in return for them in English. I'm really going to miss everyone there. It was such a very close and welcome community feeling. I was glad to be able to make a tiny difference in everyone's lives.


My students from the English that I teach almost every weekday. What an amazing experience: new friends and a new passion

So school has finished. I didn't talk much about schooling itself here in Tottori cause there wasn't too much to talk about. However, we finished all our final exams last week and our design project was a huge success. Our design project was a device which automatically adjusts the brigtness of an LCD monitor according to ambient lighting conditions. The whole team worked together very well and we applied the knowledge that we had gained from previous courses. Our systems education has come into handy... I hadn't realized how powerful it was until now. The Japanese professors and students were really really impressed with our design project and our presentation. Yokomatsu-sensei told me that most students here in Japan, while presenting something in front of an audience, read to themselves instead of engaging the atmostphere. And they were really impressed with how we followed the design process to come up with our prototype. I personally have to thank Professor MacGregor for that. If she hadn't grinded us in SYDE 161, I don't think we would have the user-centred design process engraved into our heads.
I would have to thank all our Japanese professors for putting up with our questions and requests... hehehe Suzuki-sensei, our thermodynamics professor, thank you for being so patient and kind with us. Tanimoto and Koike-sensei, our engineering economics professors, it was a very smooth course without and bumps, we thank you greatly for that. Kitamura-sensei, our models/controls professor, your class was an amazing experience as it challenged us to put our Japanese to the test along with the courses' challenging concepts. Kawai, Koyanagi, and Sato-sensei, our optimization professors, thank you for the amazing experience and kindness. And of course Yokomatsu and Tanimoto sensei for being amazing and understanding Introduction to Design advisors. Last but not least, Kita-sensei, the entire exchange won't exist without him. Thank you Kita-sensei for negotiating with professors, finding our co-op jobs and of course being extremely patient with our questions and requests.


(Left to right) Will, Teresa, Suzuki-sensei (thermodynamics prof), myself and Richard

The one place I am really really going to miss is the laboratory. It was my home away from home. My room in the International House had absolutely nothing in it, so I spent most of my free time in the lab studying and chatting. As I said in my first blog, I belonged to the Coastal Engineering laboratory within the department of Social Systems Engineering. I got to know the three sensei's very well: Kimura-sensei, Matsumi-sensei, and Ohta-sensei. The grad students were extremely helpful: Tskamoto-kun, Ishibashi-kun, Fukuda-kun, and Manabe-kun. The undergrad students were always there when I needed someone to chat with: Nakamura-kun, who was always there till early in the morning with me, Murata-kun, popping into the lab at weird times of the night. Abe-kun, one of the most kindest, most welcoming members of the lab. What a wonderful character. Nishida, Ryota, Ideguchi, Ayaki, Kinoshita, and Fujii-kun also for being very kind and hospitable. Without everyone in the lab, my experience in Tottori would have been very much less exciting.


Some of the lab members during my last day in Tottori
(in front kneeling from left to right) Murata, Ryota, and Nakamura
(back row from left to right) myself, Matsumi-sensei, Nishida, Ohta-sensei, Tsukamoto, Ishibashi, and Manabe


Me at my lab desk

And the International House. It was great getting to know fellow international student studying here at Tottori with me representing over 20 countries from all around the world. It was amazing getting a chance to communicate with others from other countries using he mutually common language of Japanese. Not only was a great opportunity to practice the language, I also got the chance to learn and hear about the different cultures. Even tough I had to live in front of the cockroach infested kitchen, which as a result caused my room to have cockroaches, it has made me a stronger person. I will miss it very much.


My room door at the International House

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Goodbye parties were very sentimental as I say farewell to the many people that helped shaped my amazing experience here in Tottori. First, Gaku (from the rowing club) and Shintaro took me out to the fireworks festival in another city in Tottori prefecture. They were amazing. Much more creative then Canadian fireworks I have to say.

After the fireworks, Teresa's lab (the main lab: the lab of the professors that organize the exchange) took us out to drink as a farewell celebration. All five of us went and it was certainly very exciting.


The five of us at the farewell party with members of Teresa's lab



Then the night after, Kimura-sensei, the head professor from my laboratory, invited all of us over to dinner. His wife was kind enough to cook for all of us. Richard, Teresa, and myself ended up going and the meal turned out to be amazing. And we had an amazing conversation bouncing thoughts and ideas back and forth with the sensei and his wife about life, the cultural differences and everything .


Teresa, Richard, and I with Kimura sensei (the head professor from my lab)

The next day, in the morning, Gaku and Shintaro took me 'jinbei' shopping (Japanese traditional male outfit). I ended up finding a cheap one at Jusco (Japan's Walmart... but of course much more expensive). Then he took me to an onsen. For as long as ive been in Tottori, I havent been to a hotspring. Tottori is known for their hotsprings, so I was determined to go to at least one before I leave. I went to one in Okinawa. It was okay. Again... like last time, I left the onsen with a huge headache. I don't think my body is built for onsens... hehehehe...

Then after that Kita-sensei, the director of the exchange, took the four of us out to dinner (Ana went on vacation somewhere) to this traditional vegetarian Japanese restaurant on top of a mountain in Tottori. The food was spectacular and it was completely an experience all in itself. It was nice enough that he organized this entire exchange, but also take us out to dinner is even more kind of him. This exchange would have occured without him.
Then after that, we went out to celebrate Richard's 22nd birthday. It was lots of fun. We went out to drink at a bar named "Reset", then afterwards we went to Karaoke till around 4 am. Sugoi ne.


Richard, Will, Teresa and myself holding gifts from members of Teresa's lab


Us celebrating Richard's birthday



And on the very last day in Tottori, my friend Tsukasa, (a student in my English class and a the friend who took Ana and I surfing) took me out to dinner. He is one of the kindest Japanese guys that I've met during my four months here. He'll be heading to Waterloo for the summer "English for Success" program that runs every summer at Renison College for students every year. So its kinda interesting that he's going to my home university and that I'm here. I guess that is the idea of an "exchange" hahahahaah... anyhoo...


My friend Tsukasa and I at dinner during the last night in Tottori

So whats next? Well after this week, I will be heading off to Kanazawa city, in Ishikawa prefecture, for the "Japan Tent" conference (with Anastoria from Jamaica, and Kin from Myanmar). There I will be spending a full week with about 300 international students from all over Japan experience Japanese culture and staying with a host family to experience everyday Japanese family living. I am can't wait.
Then afterwards, I will be travelling for two weeks to Taiwan. With my friend Roy, a Canadian currently in his third year of study at Tainan Univeristy, will be starting off at Taipei and we'll work our way around the small island country. Then afterwards I will be travelling alone to Seoul, South Korea for a week to explore the city and surrounding areas.
Then after that, I will come back to Japan and start my work term in Tokyo for "Nippon Koei Co. Ltd.". I will be housed in the nearby big city of Yokohama (in Kanagawa prefecture). So every morning, I'm going to have to commute about 1.5 hours to work by train. That's going to be fun.
In the last week of December, after the work term is done, I will travel back to Tottori to give a final presentation about the entire exchange experience, and of course to say goodbye to everyone that has made this experience unforgettable.

In conclusion... Tottori, even though is an extremely small and quiet town, it's close knit community has made my experience extremely special. I learned many life lessons and learned a new language. I learned to not see the obstacles that come my way as hardships, but rather as challenges that will only make me stronger. Life is short, when experiences like this come along, I learn to get the most out of it. These past four months will forever be engraved in my memory.

(PS. I wont be able to update this online journal until I settle down in Tokyo/Yokohama. I'll be back in September :-) )

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