bunny tales

Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the Dog be one that brings good health, wealth, joy and happiness to you wherever you are and whatever you do!

Yes, it is the time of the year again which I miss the celebration at home most. Since coming to Japan, CNY is like any other day: I have my classes, still need to be at my part-time jobs, etc. It is not a big deal at all. Every year I tell myself that I should make my way to Yokohama’s Chinatown to immerse in any possible festive mood… but, normally, I just put on my Chinese top and have dinner with my Japanese parents and big brother Rajiv… that’s all.

Well, it is always good to recall the good old days just for the festive mood. I remember apart from the pre-CNY cleaning that lasts until the very night of CNY eve, a CNY movie is a must just before the reunion dinner at home with mom (well, it is our excuse to get out of the house as she busy herself with the preparations… laughs…). We normally do our CNY shopping in stocking up New Year goodies and our new clothes weeks before or during the shopping carnival. Reunion dinner also happens a few times due to my family’s special status.

The things we do during this festive season is eat and eat some more! From the scrumptious reunion dinners, the first day of the New Year is often started with mom blasting festive tunes on the music system. Then, she will be off to my grandparents place for custom rites before bringing all the immediate relatives over for a vegetarian meal prepared specially by my grandma (she only cooks once a year and this is it). Then it will be snacks all the way as we collect our "red packets." We will make trips to visit relatives of both my mom and dad’s family to Ipoh or Seremban. All is these fun is added with my personal CNY outings with my guy friends for visitation and movies. For the next 15 days, we will just be enjoying what the festive season brings by having guests over, visitations to other homes, absorbing what the malls give us, and the TV receives a lot of attention too.

My favorite and must eat "stuff" during this time of the year (which I am missing so much) are dad’s, mom’s, grandma’s cooking, the "yee-sang" at the restaurants, my favorite cookies, gummy sweets, sugared vegetables, etc. Aww… I want to be home for this season of celebration too!

So, what will I be doing this weekend? As the entire Chinese community gather at their homes for reunion dinner tonight (Saturday, January 28, 2006), I will be heading down to Tokyo, to church to help out with the Jr. High School "lock-in" as chaperone for a night of very little or close to no sleep, games, fellowship and discussions. I most probably will be wearing the same ol’ clothes for tomorrow, attending service before heading back to my place to catch up on my sleep and homework. Sad, eh? But all of these will be taken with the festive mood in my heart.

恭贺新喜, 龙马精神, 万事顺利, 年年有余, 快乐安康, 恭喜发财!!!

It snowed! It snowed! It snowed so much that it was ok that I missed the first time it snowed at my place the day I came back. Well, the story then was that the first snow in Chiba was on January 10th. The pile-up of it was pretty good, but it all melted in the afternoon sun, 2 hours before I actually got to see it.

ANYWAYS….

It snowed a lot. As you may have heard from the news, it has been 6-8 years since the East Kanto area had that heavy a snowfall. Downtown Tokyo had a pile up of almost up to 8cm. It started snowing around 5am Saturday morning and lasted till past 8 in the evening. I measured the depth of the snow almost every time I went out. The final pile-up was over 20cm! Just below my calf! Woo hoo!

Everywhere was simply beautiful! The cold weather outside is keeping the snow as it is and the view reminds me of the time I spent my winter vacation in Nagano. The thick white blanket covered almost everything in sight. I had my fun in the snow for close to 2 hours after lunch on Saturday. We built a snowman close to 2 meters tall. It is still standing in the courtyard… slowly melting away. We had so much fun that I was drenched all over. The snowball fights were getting really out of hand and it hardly ever took a pause. Hehe…. just thinking about Saturday brings a smile across my face. I didn’t get any work done on my assignments or graduation theses… but hey! Who can work on a snow day?

However, the aftermath of heavy snowfall was experienced on Sunday. Many of the cars at the parking lot were snowed in. Students from campus who normally go to church by car had to use the train as even if they did managed to get the doors opened, the depth of the snow made it almost impossible to drive without snow tyres. Even I had to walk to the station, as I don’t think it was a good idea to cycle. The past few days was also very tiring to walk around trying to be extra careful in order not to slip or fall. I fell on my way back to my place yesterday… a little embarrassing, but I managed to salvage the eggs I was carrying in my hand. Phew!

This was the best snowfall ever! Normally, everything would be melted and gone within 2-3 days… but it still looks like a winter wonderland everywhere! I did enjoy my walk to work this morning… though being careful not to slip and fall again.

I will upload the pictures soon, hope you will enjoy them!

Dearest loved ones, near and far…

Hello there. Though it is late, please allow me to extend the warmest greetings from the land of heavy snow (this winter) and icy cold… a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU! May the coming year be filled with blessings, joy and happiness!

The Winter Semester is wrapped up its 2nd week of classes already. Sigh! This is one short semester with only 6 weeks of classes, I really wonder how am I going to get much of my work done in the net 4 weeks… before I know it, it would be deadlines and exams really soon! Anyways, on the lighter note, the last semester, though crazy as usual, I did manage to clear all my subjects with the regular grade (the grade for Dr. Franklin’s Systematic Theology I is still unknown). All is good as (will be) discussed with the dean at my interview this afternoon.

Let’s see. This semester, though a short one, I have been "graced" to take 2 subjects, but having all subjects doubled the class periods a week. "Expansion of Church" by Dr. Kurasawa and "Japanese Culture" by Dr. Fujiwara. Both professors are strict and have high expectations of us, thus, this semester will yet be another one filled with book reviews, research papers and a presentation. As usual, your truly is wtill taking her music lessons in choir and voice, but have dropped piano as she doesn’t have the time to practise. Furthermore, I wish not to get myself into trouble with the unfavorable grades from piano. (sinister laughs) And, as you guys know, missy here can not get herself a regular class life and as if she isn’t busy enough with the already packed schedule and supposed-work-on-graduation-thesis (which haven’t had any progress of late), she enrolled herself in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). My classes with Dr. Tuzi are just packed with quizes, discussions, online reports, etc. Suemae, you are a pure masochist!

Above all these, I have my regualr part-time jobs at the library and teaching English. Hey wait… Hmm, I think I have English lessons everyday this week! Hmm… I went to teach at Nishinohara Nursery School on Monday, a new class started with Osumi-san on Tuesday, teaching Asakura-san on Wednesday, helping out at the post office English class on Thursday, and will be teaching my regular class on Friday (tonight)! Hmm… (again) I seriously should work out my time and feed it into my grdauation thesis, otherwise, Dr. Franklin (my graduation thesis supervisor) might be upset and dissapointed the next time we meet for our discussion.

So, my schedule is like such.
Monday- work on my graduation thesis, meet Dr. Franklin, (sometimes) teach at Nishinohara Nursery
Tuesday- English Lesson with Osumi-san, Voice lessons, "Japanese Culture"
Wedneday- TESL, English Lesson with Asakura-san, Japanese Tea Ceremony Practice, "Expansion of Church," and the weekly prayer meeting at Kobayashi-sensei’s place
Thursday- English Lesson at the post office, work at the library
Friday- Dishwashing duty (breakfast), TESL, Choir, and English Lesson in the evening.

I am still helping out with the translations at chapel on an almost, weekly basis. Which by the way, I will also have my graduation chapel this semester on the 13th of February to share about what TCU has given me in my life, reflections of faith, etc. Though my weekends seem to be free, I will be involved in the Youth Ministry at my church, and occasionally, visitations to people.

Thus, all is well… and have to be well for another semester out here. Till next time, cheerio!

Thank you God, for creating us in your image and shed gave us the opportunity to have higher intellengence than the rest of all creation. With such a mind and skills we are able to invent things that aid us in our daily lives and help us to continue to survive in this world. Praise God for eletrical heaters available in all forms during this cold winter season. From the heating function in the air-conditioner to the electrical blankets, to the hot-carpets and even the only-available-to-the-Japanese "kotatsu" (living room table to heating underneath covered with blankets and all). I thank you especially for allowing man to have the intellegence to invent toilet seats that comes with the automatic heating elements that also extends to heating up the water that flows in the washing function. Ah… what great blessings we have that our bottoms won’t freeze over everytime we need to relieve ourselves. May this grace be spread to all the toilets that yet to have this heating seat in order that we won’t catch a cold everytime nature calls. Amen!

The best way to know whether something really happened is to share it with others. Well, by retelling the event, I guess I get to back track and go through all the happenings, reliving the moment, and rooting the memories into my system that nothing will be easily forgotten.

Ok, from the last time I wrote in Decemeber, I was already on my winter break which started on December 10. Though I had papers and work to wrap up, I got them done by the 15th, had a really early Christmas lunch with my mom (which was extremely delicious) and hopped on a plane towards the equator. Yep! I was going back home, to the tropics for my winter holidays!

SINGAPORE (Decemeber 16-17)

I arrived early in the morning on the 16th after some delays in my flight, around 1.30-2am in Singapore. After a short rest at the hotel, I was off to explore the long missed Singapore with an excursion to Sentosa Island with HongWei. There, we went to the aquarium, hung out on the man made beach and island, sitting close to 4 hours in the sun! We even got to watch the pink dolphin show! It was really fun. After spending the day there, we returend to the main island and hung out at Orchard Road enjoying the Christmas illuniations, decorations and display in the evening. We had to cut the night short as I had a terrible tummy ache.

The next day, we managed to hang out at Bugis and even caught a movie there, "Chicken Little." It was a fun trip taking things slow, at our own pace. We enjoyed the window shopping, local food and only started to make our way across the boarder back to Malaysia by MRT and the local bus in the evening. Haha… it was an experience… after hanging out for a while in Johore Plaza, killing time at Sushi King and McD’s, we boarded the 11.45pm train bound for KL. I thought I was able to make it back on time to join my sis, Su-Anne to go to church, but I only arrived at the doorsteps of home just a few minutes before Su-Anne had to leave. I was so exhausted then that I called it a raincheck, proceeding to my bed for my needed rest instead.

Home

Much has changed since summer last year. I was welcomed with a new, slightly different looking facade of the house since mom got the automatic gate along with the rocket-look-a-like water filter. Apart from that, the addition of a garden shed and the renovated back portion of the house seemed to make the view from the kitchen door a little strange. Hmm, the thing I longed for most was to dive into my bed but was suprised to find myself jumping on a different bed. haha… nonetheless, changes are good. The Christmas tree was put up and taken away in the length of my stay. Hmm, it seems to make my stay feel stretched out long though it was only 25 days. The cable was out until the very last moment when Mom got back from her trip, giving Astro a piece of her mind. Due to no cable and the lousy internet access, I found myself spending most of my time doing housework, cooking, watching DVDs… oh, and I even managed to read "The Half-Blood Prince" in 2 days!

Carolling (December 23)

Wow! This is one story I have to tell. It was a Friday and Su-Anne and I decided to take things slow with our preparations for the big night. We were to be the last house the carollers were to visit that night, and as the years of the past, lots of preparation has to be done with the cleaning and provision of food, drinks and snacks who were extimated to arrive around 10pm. Amidst all the stuff we had to do, I invited a few friends over for dinner. I made Linguini Ai Funghi (white sauce mushroom pasta) for MeiQi, ShatLi, HongWei, my sis and I. We a great time enjoying my almost dried out pasta with chips and wine. Still, all was good and I continued with the preparations for the night. With good helpers, we adorned the dinning table with a spread of O-nigiri (Japanese rice balls… which by itself has a story to be told another time), sausages, vegetable dumplings, crackers and dip, and some cakes with a fruit punch and watermelon on the side. The table was set to the festive color of red and green which made my night… until…

A few of the carollers arrived early, came in and greeted "Hi Su-Anne! Hi Su-Annes relatives!" I spun around and went "what? relatives? what an insult!" My sister went oops and said "she is my sister..lar!" Hmm, seems like I HAVE been away that long! Then, they came like the whirlwind. The house was soon packed with people that I couldn’t even count them. The dinning hall was packed, the living room had people on almost every square inch, and there were still people sitting and standing outside! They came, they sang, and they ate! All was pretty scary for me after being accustomed to the quiet and serene Christmas celebrations evpereinced for the past 3 years here in Japan. I hid myself in the kitchen with the company of those who knew me, catching up, etc. My other shock was to find that food were brought from other houses that the carollers went… there goes my table display… well, the intention was good though. It was just me being "little miss picky." The carollers sang a few songs and I was more than happy to meet the few familiar faces who I missed dearly: HonYau, Marcus, HonChien, Jonathan… it was a great night. I was wiped out with the preparations but my sis, Chris and HongWei did a great job cleaning up while I rest my back that slaved to do the cooking for the evening. Definately memorable!

Christmas

I have to admit that the Christmas celebrations at home are different from those I had here in Japan… instead of the quiet candle light services of Bible reading and carols, we have full fledge carolling, Christmas Eve Evangelistic Dinner, and Christmas Day service in KL. Su-Anne was busy with the rehearsals as she and Chris were the main producers and directors. Yep, my little sis ain’t that little any more. Since I left, she has matured so much and has played a major role in the creative ministry of Emmanuel EFC. I am so proud of her…

Anyways, getting back to the story… the Christmas Dinner was a new thing as it started the year I left for Japan. Wow, it was a night were everyone was in their best clothing (gowns and all) inviting friends and family for the occasion… after the presentation, a short message was given and then, dinner! It was great catching up with everyone who I miss.. there was Joshua Teo, Marcus, Hon Chien and Matthew… and a whole lot of new faces too. It was fun and the night was wrapped up with a good dessert.

oh… this year I attended Christmas Day service… something not practiced in Japan (unless it falls on a Sunday). The church celebration for Christmas is focused mainly on the 4th Sunday of Advent. Hmm, mainly it is because Christmas is to celebrate and remember the birth of Christ and the 25th is just the day when the later church chose to remember. Oh yeah… and there was also a Christmas Day episode… do ask me in private if you really want to know.

New Year’s

I was abandoned by my mom and sis on this weekend as they had some Rotary and roteract thingy to attend. I spent New Year’s Eve nursing myself from food poisoning (I think it was from the Nasi Goreng Kampung I had the night before). So, no partying for me that night… I was weak and in a total mess, sleeping my way into Year 2006. I couldn’t watch "kou-haku" as the cable was down… nor have any strength to even make it to the window to see the fireworks display! poor me, eh? Anyways, I went to church the next morning and though I missed my "ozoni" and "osetchi- ryori" (traditional Japanese new year food) I brought some "mochi" (Japanese Rice cakes) over to dad’s to eat it with the steamboat he prepared… not bad at all… it is almost like "O-nabe…" mmm…. yummy

In a whole, I spent a lot of time with my family and loved ones. My brother is super cute now. He still remembers me and has already started nursery school… aww, how kids grow! I apologize for not keeping in touch with most of you (online or in person). However, I did manage to meet those who went off far away for studies and all… and those "must-meet-less-i-wish-to-have-a-terrible-death" figures. I enjoyed great meal times with my grandparents, watched movies at the cinemas, shopping and playing dress up with sis… it was a good holiday… before making my way back to Japan for the winter semester. Now, back to work bunny… the Year 2006 has lots for you to get done… hurry up now… hop, Hop, HOP!!!

I did manage to put together a little album of my Winter vacations.. hope you will enjoy taking a look at it. There will be more updates and addition to it in the near future. Till then, I hope the visual aid helps.

… with a great big "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" to all! Ok, I know it is a little late, but better than never, right? Best wishes to all for the year 2006. May you be blessed abundantly and have a fruitful year ahead!

(cheeky laugh with a tinge of guilt) HeHeHe..

I am back in Japan now (avoiding piercing glares and a few items being thrown from nowhere)… I know, I am sorry for not putting any effort in catching up with all of you guys there. I have been busy. Well, with the Christmas and New Year preparations and celebrations… they have pretty much tired me out, adding to the stresses of the last semester… I just wanted to rest and relax, pampering myself to what I like and want to do… a real, holiday… you know what I mean? I know, it is still a matter of the heart whether I wish to keep in touch with you guys or not… so, 100 lashes with a wet noodle for me, ok? (whip! whip!… ouch!)

On the comforting side, I am back in Japan safe in a whole piece, though a little cold, maybe a bit frozen from the drastic change in climate… on campus and deep into the work pile I have left unattended. I am so in trouble. Man! what a way to kick off the new year. Ok, Suemae, breathe… you can do this. All you need is some organzing and pulling yourself back on your feet. (you better do it quick as there is only 5 weeks of classes this semester!)

Hmm… I don’t see myself making any sense here. Ah well, I guess I would leave it here till the next time I write. In the mean time… think happy and peaceful thoughts in order that I won’t go nuts by the next time you hear from me. cheerio!