眠い

^#&*($#^%&*#*#(@)%*#(^%&$*!!! [curses and swears]

I super super detest people who instruct me as to what the hell to do, especially when it comes to work. I am disciplined (most of the time) and extremely responsible when it comes to homework and project work. I almost always get my work done before the project meeting, even if it means I don't sleep the night before. If I weren't responsible, I wouldn't have said, "I cannot hand it to you at that time. Can I send out at a later time instead please?" I'd just have said, "Okay" and proceed to forget all about it the next day. Granted, he's only been given less than a week to understand my working style. But I understand his. He is a dictator, a totalitarian. He'd ask, "I don't know, what do you guys think?" and then completely blows our comments off by saying, "Well, this is what I think." ARG. IIt's authoritarian style leadership. I feel so stifled and feel like striking out. ARG... What the hell. I came to Japan to avoid such cases (which are so rampant in my SMU life, and sometimes I am the authoritarian leader, I must admit) and here it is, playing out in a group project in Japan. ARG. If it weren't compulsory, I'd never take this *$#*&(%#&$ course. &*$#(^%#&^!*()@^&*$# [more curses and swear words]

-

My sore throat is sort of gone. In its place, like I predicted, is cough. Scratchy throat, scratchy throat.

Welcome to my world of sickness. Where I know I'm sick because I don't feel as hungry as usual.. And my body has the aches that usually tell you you have an impending fever. Looked for my panadol (I distinctly remember having packed it) but could not find it anywhere. Bloody hell. Luckily I have some medicine stowed away somewhere else.

Hmm, and so, I can no longer share food/water with other people. This reminds me of what Alex said some time ago (last week I think) when I offered him water from my bottle. He said, "In the words of Galen, 'How do I know if your bottle hasnt been promiscuous?'" haha. Galen is his ex-Singaporean roommate who once ate an entire stick of butter. Because of Galen, Alex can sort of understand me when I accidentally add a "lah" after my sentences.

-

Today, I was in the fish tank, ready to read my readings for Issues class today [cos I spent the entire night last night from 830 all the way to 130 working on my Issues project proposal, which eventually was only one page long]. was halfway through the first page of readings (and there were 26 pages) when this Japanese girl with her friend came along and asked me, "日本人ですか？” [are you Japanese?] In my mind was this immediate, "oh, no! My readings!!!" But I cannot lie, can I? So I said, "No, I'm not Japanese. I'm from Singapore." The girl and her friend very excitedly took her seat beside me. I swear, if Alex hadn't just gone off then, she would never have approached me. I blame Alex for this. Okay, or maybe I should blame myself. He spent 10 minutes convincing me why I should have lunch at Cafeteria 3 with him instead of reading my text but did I listen? NO! I wanted to be いい学生 (good student) so... My "punishment" for trying to be a good student was...

To spend 45 minutes talking to the girls about food [yes, food is a very safe issue to talk about you know], travelling [iwate and tohoku] and Mandarin [the girl who approached me was taking double major in English and Mandarin, and needed someone to practise]. I admire them, actually. It takes a lot of courage actually to come up to a person, and say, "Are you Japanese?" Because if the person they're asking is Japanese, then it would be a little bit embarrassing, wouldn't it? So, yeah. I put aside my readings because I felt like I should applaud their bravery or something. Haha. Some misguided notion of award for courage/bravery. Later on, Ashley, Amy and Robbie came to join us, so I introduced them to her. Robbie, like I mentioned, is studying Chinese, so I thought it'd be nice for them to chat. And Amy said she needed practice with her Japanese, so this girl was the perfect practice partner. Haha. Unfortunately, when I met Amy after class just now, she told me that the girl was a little shy and that she didn't want to join them for lunch. Ah, oh well. Bravery has its limits, ne?

Spent some time in the afternoon telling Kana (my classmate, Mik's Japanese friend) about Singapore because she wants to do an exchange in Singapore. Apparently, according to Mik, people who study Mandarin in KGU want to go to Singapore for exchange because they feel that they can practise their Mandarin in Singapore. If you ask me, Taiwan is a much better choice for this, or China. Singapore... erm, ちょっと。。。 *shrugs* Anyway, apparently, the SMU reputation has spread. Kana said, "I heard SMU is a hard place for studying." And I'm like, "Erm... Actually, that is very true..."

Isabelle (at OIR) tried to tell us to be SMU Ambassadors. While I'd love for more SMU students to come to KGU, I don't really want... erm, KGU people to go to SMU and suffer. SMU is such a stressful place, you know. Even international students feel the stress (some guy from Poland told my friend that he has never studied so hard in his life, even back in his home country, where the credits count), and they're not there for stress. They're there to relax, learn the culture [what they probably will learn is the stay over at SMU to mug your head off culture] and enjoy themselves! haha, but anyways, I directed Kana to the other 2 Singaporean girls from NTU.

I just found out today in class that there is this American who stayed in Singapore for a year. Asked her about Singlish and she said, "When I went back last summer, I totally couldn't understand a word anymore, even though I picked it up in the year I was there." haha. An Australian in my class knew I was Singaporean the moment I spoke. In Australia, there are many Singaporeans. So, he said, right from the start, he knew the accent. The Singaporean accent is so distinctive! I was walking away from Todaiji in Nara when I heard this father talking to his son. Immediately, it was recognizable! Singlish! haha. So I turned excitedly to Daryn and said, "Ah! Singaporeans speaking Singlish!" and she said, "No wonder I couldn't understand. It sounded totally foreign to me."

For the first time, I sort of miss Singapore today. 本当にはじめて。What sparked it off was the smell of the house when I came back today. Otoosan had the afternoon off, so he was cooking. And the smell that filled the house was the exact smell whenever Mummy boiled the ABC soup. Ah... 懐かしい...

Yep, so I'm going to either knit more, read my readings or to go and sleep. I'm behind my knitting terribly... =(

***
今天，朋友好像很闲。一向来，他是十分好动的。每次都会找借口欺负我。但是，今天，坐在我身边，好像有气无力的样子。。。我写文章到一半时，他的头突然靠在我的肩膀上，对我说：“我想回家。” 问他为什么，他的答案是：“因为不喜欢这里的人。这里的女生，千篇一律。　都是bimbo。没有思想，没有主见。在我的学校里，虽然女生长得丑，但是，都很聪明。跟那些女生比，差远了！好无聊啊！！"哈哈。原来如此。难怪，今天我介绍两位日本女生给他时，他面无笑容。。。还摆了一个，“不要跟我说话”的制式！我听了，不知道该怎么回答。。。奇怪的是，他没说：“这里的男生，千篇一律。　都是airheads。” 只针对女生！

可能，因为他说了那句话，“我想回家”， 让我在路上想起了家。好像离开了很久。其实，只是过了一个月罢了。朋友ｅｍａｉｌ我，问我想家吗。。。我直接回答：没有，不会。但是，今天，到家时，闻到那股香味，一瞬间，有了“想家” 的感觉了。。。希望，我不会太想家，不然的话，这一趟‘日本之旅’就会很难受了！