[KYOTO KYOTO .JP] BLOGS

Couple entries ago, I wrote about my love for raw oysters.

This guy right here.

Well, last week, I went to the super market and bought another pack of oysters. I was so happy...so satisfied

About 36 hours later... my stomach felt strange. It didn't hurt, but it just felt strange. I felt full, even though I hadn't eaten all day.

40 hours later... I started feeling a little bit dizzy. Strange...

42 hours later... I hopped on the elevator and thought I was going to vomit. I ran into the restroom and vomited. For the next hour or two, I kept vomiting.

44 hours later... My stomach felt a lot better. After vomiting 5-6 times, I was dehydrated so I drank some water.

44.5 hours later... Within 30 minutes, I vomited WATER that I had just drank.

45 hours later... I felt nauseous. I realized I was dizzy and I took my temperature. I had a temperature of 38 degrees. I passed out in my bed.

Luckily, I did not vomit after that, but my temperature did not go down until the next day. I did not understand why I suddenly started vomiting. Could it be food poisoning..? Wait a minute... OYSTERS!!

I basically slept for 24 hours, and came to the conclusion (after searching online and asking people) that I had norovirus infection. I heard that it's very common this time of the year because a lot of people eat raw oysters during the winter.

I had never experienced food poisoning in my life. I felt awful. But is this experience going to stop me from eating raw oysters? NO WAY! I will try to be more careful from now on but I will continue eating raw oysters for rest of my life

2010 was an AMAZING year for me. I feel as though I have grown a little bit and have a clearer vision of my future. I started grad school, turned 25, started job searching...I am very happy with the choices I've made. No regrets!

I was in Tokyo last week for another career forum at Big Sight. The interviews did not go well but I have nothing to lose, right?



I have been going to Tokyo every month since October. I will be going again next week for another interview. Gahh!

My goal for 2011 is to GET A JOB OFFER! :D

This has been such a stressful month but I have also been partying hard. Perhaps it's not a good thing, but it's important to relieve your stress, right?

WORLD -- http://www.world-kyoto.com/
This is the largest club in Kyoto, but I had never been so we decided to go, and I will probably never go there again because it was SO SO SO SO SO PACKED. I can't believe people fit in there... it's very big, but there were way too it many people, we were drenched in sweat. Maybe I'd go again on a less crowded night...

We also checked out 2 new clubs that opened this week in Kyoto! They were both in the same building complex.

BOYS&GIRLS -- I can't find the website but it was a small club. We got in for free and got a free shot because it was their opening day! :) I had a fun night with my girls.




BUTTERFLY -- http://www.butterfly-kyoto.com/
This was a very classy (?) club. Very spacious and very colorful. We didn't stay very long because I wasn't really feeling the music but I would like to check it out again another time. It was packed yesterday because it was their opening day.


But in the end, we ended up going to SAM&DAVE's. http://www.samanddave-kyoto.com/ (This is probably my 10th time mentioning that club in this blog lol) I don't know why we always go there but we always have a good time. lol

When I like something, I will continue to eat it until I get sick of it.

I have been eating raw oysters about 2-3 times a week. It's always been one of my favorite foods... and I can't stop eating it!!

It's a bit expensive to eat it at a restaurant so I usually buy it at the supermarket. I usually buy the cheaper ones that come in a package but today, I found a fancy oyster... it was love at first sight! lol



A bit fancy, huh?!

Winter foods are delicious... I need to eat as many oysters as possible before the season ends!!

I had a final interview 2 weeks ago...

I can now understand why Japanese students go crazy with this whole job searching process. Before this all started, I used t think, "What's the big deal? Why do Japanese students focus so much on job searching instead of focusing on school?!"

I believe that this Japanese system of job searching process interferes with school too much. There is no way you can focus both on school and job hunting. Job searching is too time consuming, and if you try to do both, you end up failing both.

Basically, a Japanese university will spend almost 6 months searching for jobs, while enrolled in school. It's a big waste of money, simply because most students can't go to school during this time.

Anyways, back to topic -- my final interview was probably the worst and the most stressful interview I had ever experienced. There were 4 interviewers (3 men, 1 woman), asking me the same questions over and over. They were giving me discouraging words, which almost made me cry. The interview lasted for an hour. I felt devastated.

I know I won't get the job because it was just a horrible interview, but I will say that it was a great experience because I can now understand why Japanese university students get so stressed over job searching!!

I need to practice speaking in Japanese so that I can breeze through these interviews in the future.

I am going to another job fair next week in Tokyo. I am missing school for 3 days. My professors don't seem to care if students miss lectures for job fairs! I feel guilty missing so many lectures for these job fairs but I need to get through this process as soon as possible so that I can actually FOCUS on my research!

I am so excited for Christmas! There are Christmas decorations all over the city, which is making me happy. I am so excited for winter vacation. I have no plans but I want to sit around and do nothing for a couple days...

Hotel Okura's Christmas decorations!


Oh, and my new furniture!! Welcome to my room! You are amazing!


ANYWAYS.
I was at the gym couple days ago and noticed a post on a bulletin board. There is a section for comments from members about the facility, instructors, staff, etc. There was a post that said, "There is a foreigner that is walking around with shoes in the locker room. I think you need to make signs in English saying that shoes must be taken off before entering the locker room."

I was a little bit surprised. How do you know this "foreigner" speaks English? What makes you think that all "foreigners" can read/speak English?

I can never fully accept the concept of "foreigners." In Japan, anyone who doesn't look Japanese is considered a foreigner. For instance, my friend, who is half American (born and raised in Japan) was called a "foreigner," despite the fact that she was a Japanese citizen. However, I was never called "foreigner" in the United States, despite the fact that I was never naturalized and kept my Japanese citizenship.

99% of people living in Japan are Japanese so anyone who doesn't look Japanese will be put into the "foreigner" category. However, in the United States, it's impossible to categorize people in the same way because due to the existence of diversity in the American population. In the U.S., people are categorized as White, Latino, Asian, Black, etc. I was always labeled as "Asian" but was never called a "foreigner."

This concept of "foreigner" is so new to me and sometimes difficult to understand. The concept itself seems racist in some aspects, yet, the term "foreigners" are used openly and widely accepted in Japan. With so many inter-racial marriages, Japanese society is slowly changing, but the concept will probably remain for another 100 years (or more).

I am learning something new about Japanese society everyday! Living in Japan has really allowed me to analyze people/culture from a new point of view.

Winter is approaching. It's getting colder and colder day by day. I've been spending most of my free time sleeping at home. I really like to keep my room clean and organized but I have been slacking off lately, with no motivation to clean or organize my room.

Last week, I decided I needed to do something about my room. I came up with a (not so) brilliant idea --- NEW FURNITURE! I begged my father to take me furniture shopping. We went to NITORI, which is the greatest furniture store out there because it's SO CHEAP!

I bought...
- chair
- chest
- blender
- hot plate
- toaster
- hand mixer
- bed covers... etc.

My room is CLEANER than EVER BEFORE!! This is my best friend!! lol --> I will post a picture of my new room next time

Now that my room is nice and organized, I need to start making a full use of my kitchen!

Autumn is... HERE?

It's mid November and I am still running around without a coat. What a STRANGE year! I was walking to school the other day and I realized that the leaves are changing color. How pretty!



Fall is not my favorite season because it makes me feel sad and lonely. :( I cannot stand the winter and I heard that it may be extremely cold this winter... I need to get vaccinated soon because I DEFINITELY do not want to get the flu again.

BEST


I recently discovered my new favorite snack. It tastes like toast with a lot of salty butter but it is DELICIOUS. I probably eat it about 4 times a week. Yes, I am going to turn into a pig. This snack is only sold in specific stores so I get so excited when I find it! They also have the tuna flavor, which is also DELICIOUS but I prefer the simple butter salt flavor. YUM!

WORST
Last week, I was feeling very sick so I decided I wanted something refreshing. I went to the convenience store and found pink gingerale. Very cute packaging and sounds refreshing... I bought and as soon as I took a sip, I had to spit it out. It tasted like ginger tea. It was not gingerale! Big waste of money... :(

I was in Boston for a week to attend a career fair = the most miserable experience in my life...

So this job fair is the biggest job fair for bilinguals in the WORLD. 10,000 people from all over the world attend this event every year and I was one of them.

Let me summarize my schedule:

Day 1: 9am-6pm [food: vitamin water and granola bar]
Attended a bunch of seminars. Took notes like a maniac.

Day 2: 9am-6pm [food: 3 pieces of chocolate and water]
Attended seminars. 6 INTERVIEWS.

Day 3: 9am-3pm [food: mountain dew and a splice of cheese pizza]
3 INTERVIEWS.

Basically, I was running around all day (no time to eat, as you can tell) hopping from one booth to the next. I had to do some crazy info analysis, for I had to interview with 6 (?) different companies in 2 days. My interviews, for the most part, were successful, especially because they were all done in JAPANESE!

On day 3, after my final interview, I went shopping in downtown, thinking it would be the best way to relieve stress. Did some major shopping (5 coats/jackets, 4 pairs of shoes, couple sweaters, etc.) and was really happy...until I found out that I had dropped my Japanese cellphone somewhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so depressed because my phone was brand new. I called up the stores I went to but the staff were extremely unhelpful and uncaring.

This experience made me realize that once again, JAPAN IS A SAFE COUNTRY. I've lost my phone about 3 times in Japan and got it back somehow. People in Japan tend to report lost items, regardless of size/price, whereas in the US, they just leave them alone or...take them...(!?!?)

So my point is, I took a bunch of pix on my phone and I was going to put them up, but they are all gone. I am very sorry that this entry is extremely depressing, boring, and lacking in color!