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My baby cousin got baptized yesterday. She's a fluffy little thing with droopy cheeks and the yummiest hands and feet. It occurred to me that there's 30 years' difference between her and my lola's eldest grandchild, my brother. The next time we'll see a baby in the family is when one of us grandkids gets married and has one. Who knows how long that'll be??
Been getting so many emails from the friends I made in Osaka. It seems everyone feels disoriented in their home countries somehow, missing our cozy bedrooms in the institute, sunset views of the beach, free meals and the endless wine and yogurt and fruit, the bilingual TV channels, and the sweet little convenience store in the lobby that sold ice cream and notebooks and detergent and sent your parcels for you. I guess everyone misses their teachers as well; I don't think I'll ever have such funny, devoted and resourceful people to teach me Japanese ever again. I haven't really had a chance to process the events of the last two months, since I've been busy unpacking and seeing to my mom, that somehow it feels like I didn't leave for Japan at all. It's been great to spend time with everyone back here though, especially my family and boyfriend, but there's really no one who can fully understand what a special time that was for me.
Am missing my Southeast Asian friends especially. I didn't think I could get on with foreigners that well, but the bond that sprung up between us six girls (well not really girls, since I was the youngest and two were already married) was something really special. Often, after dinner, we'd ride our bikes for 30 minutes to get to the newly-built shopping center, Aeon, to stock up on toiletries and sponge cake, and feast on takoyaki (octopus balls), which are an Osaka specialty, gossiping about people in the institute and cackling about this and that while trying to avoid the passing cars in the narrow streets of Tajiri. Most of all, I miss conversing in Japanese. Since not everyone in the program could speak English, the preferred tongue was Japanese --- which really did wonders for our skills --- even if we were just ordering food at the cafeteria or looking for books in the library. It seems just a bit sad, though, that even if we all live just 3-4 hours away from each other by plane, the chances of getting everyone in one place are pretty slim. But then, there are always the photos of Yvonne lugging her shopping bags, Jessie making gyoza, Loan and me whooping with joy during a yacht cruise, Took wolfing down her noodles, and that video of Ina wowing everyone with her karaoke singing.
Haaaayyyy. If you want to know what a good time I had, click here!.
*****
Balik na naman sa job-hunting. Leche!
Been getting so many emails from the friends I made in Osaka. It seems everyone feels disoriented in their home countries somehow, missing our cozy bedrooms in the institute, sunset views of the beach, free meals and the endless wine and yogurt and fruit, the bilingual TV channels, and the sweet little convenience store in the lobby that sold ice cream and notebooks and detergent and sent your parcels for you. I guess everyone misses their teachers as well; I don't think I'll ever have such funny, devoted and resourceful people to teach me Japanese ever again. I haven't really had a chance to process the events of the last two months, since I've been busy unpacking and seeing to my mom, that somehow it feels like I didn't leave for Japan at all. It's been great to spend time with everyone back here though, especially my family and boyfriend, but there's really no one who can fully understand what a special time that was for me.
Am missing my Southeast Asian friends especially. I didn't think I could get on with foreigners that well, but the bond that sprung up between us six girls (well not really girls, since I was the youngest and two were already married) was something really special. Often, after dinner, we'd ride our bikes for 30 minutes to get to the newly-built shopping center, Aeon, to stock up on toiletries and sponge cake, and feast on takoyaki (octopus balls), which are an Osaka specialty, gossiping about people in the institute and cackling about this and that while trying to avoid the passing cars in the narrow streets of Tajiri. Most of all, I miss conversing in Japanese. Since not everyone in the program could speak English, the preferred tongue was Japanese --- which really did wonders for our skills --- even if we were just ordering food at the cafeteria or looking for books in the library. It seems just a bit sad, though, that even if we all live just 3-4 hours away from each other by plane, the chances of getting everyone in one place are pretty slim. But then, there are always the photos of Yvonne lugging her shopping bags, Jessie making gyoza, Loan and me whooping with joy during a yacht cruise, Took wolfing down her noodles, and that video of Ina wowing everyone with her karaoke singing.
Haaaayyyy. If you want to know what a good time I had, click here!.
*****
Balik na naman sa job-hunting. Leche!