Lab trip - day1

At the end of February our lab planned a trip to Hiroshima.
It took around 5 hours by bus, which meant I had to get up around 5 or 6 in the morning. The long ride meant I could sleep on the way so I didn't mind too much.
The first stop was 厳島神社 (Itsukushima shrine) - famous for it's torii that is surrounded by water during high tide. More on that later.

Entrance to the ferry towards Miyajima island.

Catching up

It's been such a long time. I was super busy with my MA project these past couple of months. We already had the presentation and I'm not sure, but it seems the outcome was good? The graduation ceremony is more than a month away and we were not told our results at all. A bit confusing, but, perhaps, I missed something. Our professor doesn't seem too worried at all.

This here is a peek at my project. I might post prettier posters or a PDF,

but right now I'm a bit sick of looking at it.

Another thing that's coming up is our lab trip. We'll be going to Hiroshima. As usual all trip details will probably be posted at the last minute. I prefer to know at least the departure time in advance, so I'm slightly frustrated.

We were going to find a bigger flat to rent, but we were so busy, we ran out of time. So another year will be spent in our tiny one room apartment. Which is fine, I guess.

Since I had a bit of time to relax, I finally finished editing the Takachiho trip video, which was waaay back in November. Oh yeah, I'm so fast. I found out my iMovie was pretty basic, no options for sound separation or slowing down/speeding up functions. Still, it was quite interesting regardless. I did get tired of listening to the random things I say over and over :D

The video is in 4 parts over at YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/MariaLivchak

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Another Week

This week I was a bit more free, since we no longer had the debate preparation meetings. So nice. Tomorrow, though, we will get a new debate topic and the troubles will start all over again. Hopefully, this time there will be someone in my group who speaks English.

Right now it's all about the campus project. But the more I listen to what the teacher says, the less I understand: gradation story? requirements/conditions for space? Huh? Am I being thick?

On the other hand, I'm hoping that my Japanese is improving slowly but surely. I do try and talk more in the lab. I guess I 'have' to, because one of my pals speaks not a word of English. It's fun though. We share some similar interests.

On Friday we tried to get married, but the City Hall officials had other ideas. All our papers were in order, it's just one of those things - one of my documents was of a new type, different from an older version (no longer given out). We'll wait a bit and see what the embassies say.

On Saturday we went to the city centre. To get my shoes from the cobblers' (the place is too upscale for that word...) and buy some walking shoes. Shiv persuaded me to buy slightly larger ones. Buying new jeans for Shiv was also on the agenda. He looks pretty good :D

Today we had the campus project meeting, and afterwards I went to play catch-ball with some of my lab mates. It was fun, but I got bitten by mosquitoes and am now super itchy.

May

Already end of May. Time flies so fast, but it feels like one week takes ages.

University is far too busy here. I often have to go there on the weekends as well. I feel overwhelmed.

The weather is a bit annoying as well. I should really start getting ready for the rainy season and buy some rubber boots (and a better umbrella). I've already spent some days with totally wet feet.

Today was pretty nice tough. Quite warm and sunny. I have actually got a bit of a tan, although nothing too noticeable it seems. If I was in Latvia, I'd be pretty happy about it. But in Japan, white skin is considered more of a beauty standard, so you can see many girls and women walking round with parasols. Because of this, now that I finally don't look like a zombie, I'm afraid of getting too tanned. Ridiculous! Oh, the dilemma :)

In general, I think, I'm getting accustomed to university life. The biggest problem, of course, is the language barrier. There are only 2 people in my lab who speak English, some more people who can understand some amount of English, and the rest can't make out even a word.
One of the lectures has debates. Today we had the first one. It was pretty awful. I prepared for it a lot, but when it came to asking or answering questions, I couldn't help, because I couldn't understand when was the time to ask the question or what was the oppositions question to which I know the answer. Soooo frustrating.
But some of the students do sometimes express a desire to speak more English. And many help me by typing some of the stuff that's being said into a translator. I am infinitely grateful to them for that.

I keep forgetting about the blog. Plus, I rarely get a lot of free time. But maybe now I'll try tracking my study process more, so that'll give me more opportunity to write :)

Recent stuff

I haven't written in a really long while. Since February in fact, and it's already April.

I have been to Latvia and back. Spent only about a week there, running around the place. I think that week we got all the yen out of Rietumu Banka.

Currently awaiting my papers to go through to change my status to 'Student'. Yes, I am going to study at a university here. For now it's been a bit of a disaster really :) I feel very out of place on a campus that is predominantly made up of asian kids. Been getting too emotional as a result - no idea where I'm going, how to ask where to go, and what to do.

I also miss my parents a lot. Knowing that I won't see them for at least a year and a half makes me very sad. At the same time though, I'm pretty happy here. So maybe it balances out in the end.

I got my hair cut. It cost quite a bit for what you get. Next time I'll try explaining more what it is that I want. Maybe even in pictures. I doubt that my hairstyle is so unusual in Japan that the hairstylist couldn't understand the idea. So now I have a fringe... :D It's not too bad, but very hard to style and looks hilarious in the morning.

For now the days are peaceful. The weather is great - it's already 20C. Dreading Summer. Mostly I just lazy around and occasionally do useful stuff, like cooking, washing and cleaning. Very housewifey :)

I found this great site with easy and quick recipes - http://www.japanfoodaddict.com/

I've been trying them out a bit. Even with my culinary skills they are achievable. And with practically all ingredients I used to use at home unavailable in Japan, these recipes help out enormously. A sort of a guide for beginners into Japanese cooking.

That's about it. I suppose starting next week I'll have a more busy university life. がんばります。