Me Room in Taiwan (Part II)

After 2 years, it's time to move..

Though my first room in Taiwan was very very close to the University, the things that I once thought was great aren't so as time goes by.. It was too bright with all the windows (those ancient curtains don't do much covering) and too noisy (from all the aunties and grandmas hollering at their kids/grandkids in the morning, especially); The walls were fairly thin so I can hear my neighbor talking to his (girl/boy)friend almost every night.. Then the air-con doesn't quite work and way too noisy when it was turned up as it was quite old.. I can't hear the television every time it rains even when the television is less than 2m away.. and not to mention that I'm kinda terrified whenever a storm comes by as the roof or windows felt like they may come down on me anytime..

By paying an additional NT$2000, I found a studio that is slightly further from the University but is very new (less than 5 years old). It is roughly 1.5 times larger than the old room and has its own little kitchen top/sink so I can do some light cooking which I missed greatly..

Here are some of the 'before' photos.. before I moved in, that is..

just a row of windows from waist up.. and 2 single beds.. :)

a kitchen top/sink near the door and opposite the bathroom.

One of the many things that I like about this studio is that there is a shower cubicle in the bathroom that keeps the dry part (aka the toilet) separate from the wet part (the shower). And there's lots of shelves for my stuff. Finally, I love the sofa and glass table where I can eat and/chill-out.. :)

With the help of my senior Joe, whom I stayed with when I first came over, and his fiancee, I managed to get all my stuff to the new place.. After some arranging (I can't say decorating cos nothing much to decorate with/for), here is my humble abode..

a t'shirt for the chair cos I sweat a lot and don't wanna dirty the chair

didn't have matching bedsheets but at least I have the same color tone.

My housing estate is located at the end of a road, meaning there is no through road. I can take a bus (cost NT$12) from the junction but I rather take the 10-minute walk to school. Though I have to climb a hill on my way to school, I'll just treat that as an exercise.

With this new place, I can now have friends over, for meals or stay-overs.. So anyone? :) :)

my neighborhood..

Okay, finally have some time to process some of the photos I've taken.. so first up, my neighborhood.. here are some of them...

My block.. I am staying on the level above the green awning.. on 5th floor..

Main gate on ground level, leading up to my room but no lift, only stairs..

View of the lane where I live.. left side

View of the lane.. right side..

Lots of students park their bikes along this lane, as it is only a few minutes to campus.. and no parking fees required.. here, they park "responsibly" and do not block entrances..

The other side of the lane.. leading to more smaller lanes..

another small lane around the area..

A lot of bikes are parked along these small lanes.. this is what I see all around the campus, or rather outside the campus.. students need to get a permit to park inside the campus and the permits are very hard to get.. so most just park outside the campus..

From the main road, going into "my" lane..

view from "my" lane looking out at the Main road.. on the right is the University..

view from the campus back to "my" lane.. with the 7-11 being a very good landmark.. :)

That's all for now.. next up, my campus..

Me Room in Taiwan

Think it is time to show you the "apartment" that I've rented in Taiwan.. here are some of the photos before I "furnished" it..

Compared to the dormitory room I had in Japan, this room is bigger.. two person can sleep on the floor.. 

There is a single-sized bed frame, a study table with chair, a small fridge (not seen here), a small TV (not seen here), a wardrobe and a very small cupboard.. my landlady said that I could use the standing fan if I don't mind it being dirty and unable to pan around.. so I took it..

The air-con is on top of the bed.. I would need to get myself a mattress.. but seeing that there is no elevator and this "apartment" being on the 5th floor, I think I would just make do with a thin fold-able mattress.. else I might need to fork out more $$ for the delivery of a thick mattress that will no doubt be more expensive..

The bathroom and toilet are pretty new.. in a sense that there's no broken/dirty tiles.. I don't want to spend my time scrubbing tiles or cleaning dirty toilet bowl/sink.... :p

However, due to the close proximity of this area to the sea, most of the metal racks in the toilet have rusted.. but that is just a small inconvenience to bear..








One thing I really liked about this "apartment" (maybe I should just call it a room.. :p) is that it is very bright.. :)

It has rows of windows around the room.. Mmm.. maybe I might regret it when winter comes.. :x anyway, the above is the view from the main windows.. while the side window's view is this..

Most of the apartments in this area are rented by students as it is very near to the University.. I can walk to the library in less than 5 minutes and my faculty in less than 10.. there are plenty of small food stalls in the area.. I've no hurry to try them out since I can't really cook in my room..

There is 4 rooms in this level  and all owned by the same landlady.. I am the only lady tenant.. each room has its own electricity meter (as seen on the left side of the photo below) so we pay for what we use every 2 months.. while the water bill is being shared equally..

There is also a washing machine in the common area for us to use.. and we can hang our clothes to dry there too.. but I prefer to bring mine back to my room as my room is bright, sunny and airy enough to dry my laundry within a day or two..


After spending almost MY$500 "furnishing" my room - buying mattress, pillows (3 of them :p), table lamp, clothes rack, electric water pot, bedsheets and many misc household items, this is how it looks like now.. 

For those who are thinking of bunking over, here is one advice.. this room is very close to the University, but it is rather inconvenient to those who wishes to visit downtown Taipei.. you will need to walk about 5- 10min to the bus stop and take a bus to the nearest MRT station, Danshui Station (a 5-10 min bus ride).. then you will need another 40 - 50 minutes to reach Taipei MRT Station.. 

If you are okay with the "hassle" (for those who have lived in Japan, this is nothing.. :p), feel free to come and stay over!! :)

Brown

Got my brown belt (3rd kyu) and my certificate last night.. :)

After almost 2.5 years of practicing karate, I have something to show for it.. :) Something that I AM proud of..

Once I settled down with work and all, either in Singapore or any city, I will look for a dojo to continue my karate.. another 3 more promotion tests to go before getting black belt.. I would want to achieve that before I kick the bucket... So for the mean time, I just need to practice all the basics, including kata.. which I am very poor at memorising.. :p

Settled... II

So tired.. just got back from the dormitory.. cleaned it and returned it to the office as required.. Went to throw all the rubbish a couple of times too.. didn't realize that I was such a paper hoarder.. :p

It snowed for a while in the early afternoon.. my first snow in Japan for 2009.. too bad I didn't have my camera with me.. took some photos with my handphone but since I don't have a SD card, I can't post them to my blog..

Aching all over now.. age is really catching up.. after two days of non-stop packing, moving and unpacking, need a couple more days to recuperate.. what is left to do is to go to all the government offices to get my address updated.. also my hand-phone and my bank accounts.. hope to get them done by mid of next week..

New Place..

Now I am blogging from my new room.. :)

The landlord, Watanabe-san, came to my dormitory to move my stuff over around 11.15am.. I have already moved 70% of my stuff to the lobby.. so while he loads them to his van, I went and carried down the rest.. the drive to my new place took about 30min..

Once there, Watanabe-san was kind enough to carry my big luggage up the steep staircases.. Took me more than 2.5 hours to unpack.. And here is the end result.. :)




This room is bigger than my dorm room.. At least I have space to walk around.. :) and to exercise (simple stretching) too.. Need to get a clothes rack to hang all my clothes/jackets/pants/etc... as I can't just use those adhesive hooks here.. and also a laundry basket..

Tomorrow, I will be going back to my dorm to clean it up and return it to the JASSO office in the afternoon.. then what is left for me to do is to get all my particulars updated with the new address.. And then, I can start planning for my Taiwan trip.. :p ;)

Pack to move...

So unmotivated.. Need to pack to move out of the dormitory by tomorrow morning.. This is the umpteen time that I need to pack and move.. :x

Although I could say that I am an "expert" in moving house by now with all my experiences in Singapore (6 times in 13 years!), I still dread the packing portion of it.. With the unavailability of boxes and the miserable spaces of the rooms in Japan, I need to improvise.. As a hoarder, who tends to keep EVERY thing, moving is one good exercise that forces me to throw away stuff that shouldn't have been kept in the first place....

Okay, need to get back to my packing now.. shall post my new room's photos once I settled down, maybe this weekend..

Settled..

Finally "cured" my headache of "where to stay till I graduate this Aug?"-problem..

Thanks to a fellow Malaysian whom I met at last year's Japan Open (Thanks Philip!), I found a guesthouse within walking distance from my University (less than 2km). Being a guesthouse, the bathroom, toilet and kitchen are all shared, but the room comes fully furnished with study table & chair, bed, small fridge and cupboards.. just like the good old days in Eusoff Hall, NUS.. :) The other tenant is another Malaysian lady, so I don't have to worry about rowdy noisy neighbors..

Since I have more or less decided to look for jobs outside of Japan, at 65,000yen a month with all utilities included, this place would suffice for the next 6-8 months.. Will be moving end of Feb when I get back from Malaysia.. Need time to do some spring cleaning and throw some things away..

Buzi, Buzy, Busy... III

Been frantically busy these few weeks.. after my short trip to Kyoto..

Tons of stuff to do.. :( and I don't foresee myself being totally free for at least another week or so.. :x

Let me list down the stuff that I have done, am doing and need to do... for the next month or so... :( :x :(

1. Study for my JLPT 2 Exam.. [which I must admit I did rather poorly.. :(]
2. e-Government reports for my Professor's pet project.. [which I have submitted one, completed another and am writing the last one.. :x ]
3. Catching up on my Japanese classes' homework.. [the price to pay for skipping class.. :x ]
4. Translation jobs.. [BIG ones which take me at least 6-10 hours to complete.. but the thought of the $$$ kept me going!! :P ]
5. Presentations for my theme research.. [something that I can't run away from.. :x ]
6. Karate promotion exam.. [was rather proud of myself for performing well in the exam yesterday.. :) ]
7. House hunting.. [one thing that I can't avoid doing..need to move out of my dorm by Mar next year.. :( ]
8. 3 assignment reports for this semester... [need to do research and start BS-ing.. :P ]
9. Update my resume and send them out.. [need to start looking for jobs if I wanna work in Japan.. :x ]
10. Plan my trip back for CNY.. [something that I am definitely looking forward to.. will surely visit Singapore.. :) :) ]
11. ..
12. ..
13. ..
14. ..
15. (more tasks will surely arises as the semester comes to an end next month... :( )

These are tasks that I NEED to do.. not things that I WANNA do.. There are tons of stuff that I WANNA do during these period... like reading books, catching up on my drama series, watching movies, do some sight-seeing, play WoW, etc, etc, etc... :( Without doubt I will be doing these "want-to" activities together with the "have-to" tasks... ;) :P :)

Room with a view..

I was very fortunate to have my room facing a wide space, instead of the railway track, other dorm rooms or a high school compound.. The view was very nice actually.. and I like to just lie on my bed and watch the clouds go by.. :) :)

Here are some of the photos I have taken from my room.. Enjoy!! :)

Views in Oct 2008..





Views in Nov 2008..




Views taken just these few days..






Don't you just love the way the sky and the clouds looked??!! So now you know why I like to stay in my room so much.. ;)

From 6 to 5

Just got the result of my karate promotion exams this evening.. I passed!! :) Am promoted from 6th to 5th kyu (level).. still green belt though..

Two weeks ago, I was tested on 2 kata (型 or 形, detailed patterns of movements), one is the basic of the basic: Tai-Sabaki no kata (体捌の型) and the other is a must for promoting from 6th to 5th kyu: Heian Sandan (平安三段).. The former was the first kata to be learned by all beginners but to execute it perfectly still needs lots of practices.. Although the latter kata was more intermediate but if compare to other more advance katas, this wasn't very long nor was it very complicated.. but still training only once a week for about 4 times before taking the exam was quite a stretch.. so I was very grateful that the Sensei passed me... :p

Looking back in the past 18 months, I had taken 4 promotion exams and had been promoted from 0 kyu (white belt) to 5th kyu (green belt) so far.. not too bad I must say.. :p :p :p but from here to my target of brown belt (at least 3rd kyu), I think it would not be as smooth sailing as it was the past months.. need to clear two more exams before I can reach brown belt.. hopefully I can do it before I graduate next September.. :) And if I were to work in Japan, I will try to continue this weekly karate practice and hopefully get to black belt... ;) cos I can really feel the improvement in my well-being.. haven't been so 元気 (healthy) and so flexible since my university days.. :)

The next promotion kata, from 5th kyu to the 4th, would be Chi-i no kata (地位の型) which is much much more difficult with lots of steps and turns.. I must admit that I am very "retarded" in the turning portions.. :( :x always mixing up between turning left or right and moving which leg.. :x :x :x So I think I need to really really put in a lot of effort in mastering this kata.. The possible exam date would most probably be in Dec, so not much time to learn.. gambarimasu!!

I really hope that they...

ROT IN HELL!!!

It is almost 2am and I can't sleep... why?? Cos some a**h*** and b***hes decided to have a party!! yep, that's right.. party on a Thursday night during school term.. can you imagine that?!!? what a bunch of inconsiderate pain-in-the-ass idiots!!! :@ :@

I seriously doubt what good does it bring for Japanese government to be sponsoring these nincompoops to come to Japan?? All they do is to party, party and party!!! Good money down the drain if you ask me.. Maybe if the government use the money to buy a couple of monkeys, they might even generate some money from tourists!!

I have 2 Japanese grammar classes and 2 presentations TODAY.. and I can't sleep because of the bloody noise... And what the hell are the night guards doing?? Sleeping on the job??? :@

I think this is the final straw.. I will move out as soon as I can.. It is bad enough to be inhaling 2nd hand smoke every day courtesy of my next door neighbor from Russia, who also seems to like to talk and laugh LOUDLY.. :@ :@

Seriously, this semester is the worst.. first with the PNs, then the RNs.. Enough is enough...

Recap: Golden Week Outing (Part I)

Went to Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館), an indoor arena for Japan's national sports, Sumo during the past Golden Week. It was an outing organized by the RA (Resident Assistants, aka the Japanese students) of my dormitory. Well, I must say the planning and execution of the outing could have been better.. I had expected it to be much more organized.. but well, that's just me, the planning/control freak.. :p

A couple of Malaysians from another dormitory came to join in. So by and large, there are about 8 Malaysians, 5 from my dorm (including myself) and 3 from Soshigaya. We met at 10:30am at the lobby of Building 2. Other than the fact that we are going to see Sumo, we have no idea where the location nor the (train) line that we are going to take.. It was like, "Ok, let's just follow the RAs..." :x Seriously, there are about 35 of us, 外国人(foreigners), thus at least they should tell us the itinerary, which station, which (train) line so that if any one of us gets lost, we can still find our way there...

We took Chuo Local Line from Yoyogi Station and alighted at Ryōgoku (両国) Station. Unfortunately for us, it was drizzling, so the added hassle of carrying an umbrella. After walking a few blocks from the station, instead of going to see Sumo, we were lead to a temple, Ekoin Temple (回向院).



There was a 両国賑い春祭り, a kind of spring festival going on. The main hall was filled with people as the memorial service was being held.



All around the hall, there are miniature statues of bodhisattvas hanging on the walls.. but because the service is being carried out, I didn't use flash while taking photos, so all of my photos are blurry..


After a while, we got out of the hall and started to wander around the compound of the temple which proved to be more interesting..

There are several statues that seemed to be dedicated to the souls of animals, and finally I saw the statue which confirmed it..



Other than the memorial statues for animals, there is also a cemetery behind the compound..

A statue of the 地蔵菩薩 is seen here on the left of the entrance to the cemetery..

The whole place is serene and well maintained. If not for the kanji that identified the place as a cemetery, one would just assumed that the whole place is just an extension of the temple..



Unlike the cemeteries in Malaysia and Singapore, the Japanese tombs are nicely aligned and although seemed narrow, but are clutter-free..



Other than cemetery for humans, there are also rows of wooden tablets for pets that have passed away.. If you could read from the photos, most of them were for cats (猫) and dogs (犬).


There is also a site for aborted fetuses... they called it 水子塚.


It was lunch time. We were given 1 hour to eat and then meet back at the train station to proceed to the main attraction of the day, Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) to see the sumos..

To be continue in Part II..

A Pleasant Surprise

Had my karate promotion exam last Wednesday.. it was for the promotion from level 8 to level 7. I would still be in purple belt if I pass this exam..

Today was the result announcement.. What a big surprise it was.. :) Instead of the expected level, I was promoted to level 6!! :) :) :)


Note the addition line of remark at the bottom of the result slip.. "Special promotion of 2 levels" or something to that line of meaning..

There were 4 of us in level 8 who took the exam last week, but all of them were absent for the practice today, so I have no idea if all of us were given a 2-level promotion or I was the only one.. but anyway, I was really quite surprised to say the least.. Cos I knew that I made quite a lot of mistakes, here and there due to nervousness, during the exam, so I was just hoping for a normal 1 level promotion..

So now I will be in green belt!! :) ;) :p

Sakura 2008: My Dorm

There is a sakura tree in the vicinity of my dormitory.. It is located slightly to the left of my room. As my room is taller than the sakura tree, I had to stretch out of my window to take a nice shot of the sakura tree.. :)


Here it is..at its full bloom..

I cant really see it if I sit in my room, but if I were to stand in front of the window, I could see about 60% of it.. And that building just behind the trees is one of the guys' dormitory.. talked about wasting a good view.. :p




The view to the right of my room is this.. Same as the one in my dorm, one single lone sakura tree, blooming.. proudly..

All over Japan, I think, there will always be a sakura tree here and there.. But I think in order to appreciate the full glory and beauty of sakura, one needs to see a whole park full of them.. else with just one sakura tree, there isn't much to look at ...

Snowing Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures that I've took from my room last week when it snowed..
:)





And a short video clip..



Will write more soon.. after I clear all my reports.. :)

First SNOW!!

Woke up before my alarm clock as usual.. as I looked out of my (almost full wall) window I was surprised with a scene of snowing!! Have not seen snow before.. and really the scenery outside my window is very beautiful.. I like the way the snow sits on the leaves of trees.. :) the way it slowly drops down from the sky.. floating and swirling..

It's like a belated birthday present from the ONE above... :) Will write more later.. need to get ready for school.. :)

Masak Masak III

As the weather gets colder, I tend to cook more as the food sold in the convenient stores could no longer be as piping hot.. Even though the walk from the convenient stores to my dorm room takes no longer than 7 minutes, the food that was microwaved in the convenient store could not remain as hot as I liked as the wind kept howling away.. :( Add to that, I am getting sick of the food offered in those places...

This is the Japanese version of "yong tao fu".. :) I bought the ingredients from the supermarket for around 350yen (i think) and just throw them into the rice cooker when the water was boiling.. the taste wasn't not too bad.. but I do miss the yong tau fu's sweet sauce.. :p

After eating so much soupy instant noodles, I had some craving for fried noodles... so I bought packets of 焼きそば-kind of noodles, some fish cakes and cooked this pot of fried noodles, again, using my multi-purpose rice cooker!! :p 3 small packets of uncooked noodles around 500g, with some sauces cost between 150 to 200yen..

Other than that, I like to cook a pot of rice and just eat with some of the instant dishes that are readily sold in the supermarkets which only requires some heating up.. There are a lot of different kinds of dishes available, like Japanese curry, Indian curry, Thai curry, Chinese mixed vegetables, Beef-don, Oyako-don (Egg and chicken), mixed vegetables, Mo-bo toufu (麻婆豆腐) etc.. All of them are one meal portion for 1 person.. So what I normally do would to just place the packet inside the rice cooker to warm it up and then just pour it onto a bowl of rice.. Fast and easy.. If there is extra rice, I would freeze them up and then have fried rice some other day.... :)

Usually I would get packets of frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas and corns) and just add them into my instant noodles while I cooked.. Sometimes, if there is meat balls on sale, I would get them too.. with an egg, some meat balls and some mixed vegetables, a simple bowl of instant noodles could also become quite nutritious.. :) It is remarkable how much one could improvise using just a rice cooker!! :) :)