Taking Time Out

Life In Japan

I could barely enjoy the outdoors nowadays because of my allergies, and believe it or not, we’re seeing more of rain than sunshine these days. What a bummer! But last weekend we actually got lucky – we were blessed with sunshine and clear skies, and it was warm enough to just wear a shirt outside. We hied off to Doho Park – for the first time in months. If there’s one thing I’m grateful for living here in Tsukuba, it’s the accessibility to parks. We all need time to unwind. For me, parks will do the trick quite easily. Just roll out the mat, soak in the sun (within reasonable time limits), jog around, play.

And so we did exactly just that.

IMG_4720

 

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Who, Me?

Random Thoughts

Scene One:

The year: 1995. I was hunched over my book, reading. Then one of the guys from our lab approached me from behind and exclaimed:

“Kathy, nakakalbo ka na.” (Kathy, you’re starting to go bald.)

I carelessly shrugged off the comment the way you would dust off dandruff from your shoulders. I have had super-thin fine hair for as long as I could remember. I wasn’t exactly blessed with glorious mane like my two wicked sisters. And I have this ahm…cowlick that looks like a gash right smack on top of my head. We call it puyo in Tagalog, I think. My “puyo” is so obvious, peeking through the barest amount of hair, that it makes me sort of look err…balding. Depends on which angle you’re looking. Not as bald as your Archbishop in your favorite church, but …you get the picture. Incidentally my puyo is conveniently hidden whenever I tie my hair into a ponytail.

Scene Two:

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The Analogy Between Papers and Souls

Random Thoughts

“You’ve got to get rid of all those papers,” Baggy told me one evening while we were sitting down for dinner.

“What papers?” I asked him.

“Those papers which you have accumulated for the last twelve years,” he replied. He was referring to the piles of papers I’ve kept all these years, and are still awaiting Judgement Day in the boxes which we had used when we moved out of our old place.

“Oh, that.” I sighed. I’m an avid collector of memorabilia and other mundane stuffs. And that includes anything and everything. I love to go over old stashes of papers and reminisce the events associated with each one. Like that brochure we got from the hotel when we stayed in Narita, or Singapore, or wherever. Or the handouts I got from my first six months of Japanese intensive course in Tohoku U, complete with my doodles and notes. You get the picture.

But this is Japan – where space is precious, and we don’t have the luxury of spacious storage space in our house. We have to take the “minimalist” approach: retain only what is essential, trash the inessentials.

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The Reluctant Birthday Girl

Special Occasions

Yep, that would be me. Sigh.

When we were young, we looked forward to birthdays.  Birthdays are always happy occasions – cakes, parties, gifts, friends. We simply couldn’t wait till the next birthday celebration.

But as we grow older, more often than not we wish that the birthdays wouldn’t come anymore. We wish that we could skip that particular day and not have to count the years anymore. We wish we could just hide from the world and let the day slip by without anyone else remembering. Or maybe that’s just me. I usually start getting depressed at the start of my birth month – March – and this continues until the very end of the month. I always wished that I could breeze through the days and get to April…fast.

But then the birthday greetings would pour in – and no matter how fervently I wished that nobody would remember my birthday, exactly the opposite happens. Friends and families will never make you forget, hahah. 😉 The only way you could get back at them is to do the same thing to them when their own birthdays come.

birthday card

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Daycare Issues

Growing Pains, Life In Japan

I’ve just received a copy of the city-issued newsletter, Tsukuba no Ko (Issue 61, 2008 03 18). This issue is interesting for me because it reports on the results of a survey conducted last year among parents who use the public daycare system in Tsukuba. I participated in that survey, if only to contribute positively, in my own little way, to the improvement of this very important system. Why? If you were to ask me if there was one single thing that has allowed me to work all these years, it would be the hoikusho, or daycare. Aya has been enrolled in the daycare since zero-sai, or "zero" years old (a convenient way of referring to children’s age below 1 year old). I love the daycare because it is well-structured, organized, and dependable. It has allowed me to work without worrying about my daughter. Aya loves the daycare too, for it is where she enjoys playing and gets taken care of for the most part of the day, and she has developed really nice relationships with the kids in her class.

I’ve heard of the moves to privatize the daycare system across Japan, but I couldn’t really say that I understood well the reasons for it. Why? Because despite the fact that there are a number of foreigners like us who use the daycare system, there has been virtually no effort to communicate to us these things in a language that we understand. Personally, I would very much like to know the issues related to this very important aspect of our life here, because it affects us directly. But how? It is already complicated as it is. I think I’ve gotten some handouts at one time or the other about the privatization move, but I have a feeling that it is just stashed away somewhere in my growing pile of papers. Gomen ne, zenzen wakarimasen.

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Health-Conscious Moi

Life In Japan, Random Thoughts,

lola

Health-conscious na…ang Lola n’yo!

I used to take Nature Made vitamin supplements, for the simple reason that it’s the only familiar brand amongst the other brands available on the drug store’s shelf. However, the tablets are just too large. I feel like I’m being punished everytime I shoved one into my mouth! I begrudgingly took my vitamins anyway, in an effort to make good use for the money I spent.

But somehow, it still took a lot of effort to take those vitamins on a regular basis. Halfway through the bottle, I just gave up. I discovered recently the half-empty bottle and found that it has expired. To the trash bin!

So I went to the nearest drug store and decided to try something new. I found those two Meiji bottles shown above. The purple bottle is Multivitamins, grape flavor, whereas the blue bottle is Calcium, yogurt flavor! And yes, they’re chewable, so no more choking on any ultra-large Mama tablets! And because of the added flavor, it is like eating candy. Sweet.

But there’s something else. The brand name attracted my curiosity, which found me smiling from ear to ear as I bought it at the drugstore: Lola actually means Grandma in Filipino.

LOL. My granny pills. Aw, my back!

Lola, don’t forget to take your vitamins and minerals! 🙂

Quo Vadis, PhD Graduate? (Practical Advice to New PhDs in Japan)

Life In Japan, On The Serious Side, ,

It’s graduation season once again. To those who are completing their course requirements and who will be receiving their coveted degrees at the end of this month, congratulations! It’s time to relax and bask in the glory of your PhD. Bring out the champagne! Have a blast at karaoke! Give yourself that well-deserved break.

Someone wrote me a couple of weeks back, asking me for advice on how one should go about on choosing a postdoctoral position. As a PhD candidate, that person is naturally anxious on how to proceed next. It reminded me of how fraught with anxiety I was when I was nearing the completion of my degree. I was very relieved to know that I had endured and would soon be receiving the fruit of my labor. However, at the same, I couldn’t help but feel so confused. Where do I go next?

As a new PhD graduate, the choices that one makes can and will ultimately determine the fate of one’s career. Don’t even think that having a PhD is an end; rather, it is a beginning to a brand new adventure. The question is, how does one begin the long trek?

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Spring is Here

Life In Japan

Finally, I don’t have to wear that thick overcoat whenever I go outside. I don’t even need to wear a boshi (hat) because the temperature is getting warmer by the day. Yay! It is such a relief to be rid of those layers. Unfortunately, judging by the way my jeans fit me these days, there are other bulges that I need to be more worried about. Don’t you just hate it when you pack on the pounds during the winter season? Not to mention the ravenous appetite!

Picture 20 Practically everyone celebrates the end of winter, and the accompanying start of spring. When you see so many flowers in full bloom, you couldn’t help but feel giddy with happiness. I wish I could, but like the millions of kafunsho (pollen allergy, or pollinosis) sufferers in this country, I welcome the start of spring with much wheezing and sneezing. Not to mention the clogged nostrils and the itchy red eyes. In other words, hell.

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On Writing

Blogging, Random Thoughts

When I was in Grade Four, I was asked by my teacher to join an on-the-spot essay writing contest. Although I didn’t have an inkling on what an “essay” was, I agreed anyway, figuring that I could just ask my Dad what it meant later. Unfortunately, I found out that my Dad was on a business trip and wouldn’t be home for several days. So instead I asked my Mom what an essay meant. She tried to explain it to me, but I couldn’t quite understand what she meant. Exasperated, she just pointed out to me an essay in one of the English textbooks we used in school. The title of the essay was “The Banana Tree.” Stupidly, I thought that the essay was “THE” essay I was supposed to write. I failed to mention to my Mom that the contest was “on-the-spot,” meaning, the theme or topic was to be given right then and there.

Long story short: I memorized the entire essay, and wrote it from memory during the essay contest, word for word. I could imagine how the judges must have laughed their hearts out when they read my essay. If I remember correctly, the topic of the contest was something on health (as it was supposedly during the celebration of Health Week or Month). I was so embarrassed.

Thus began my induction into the world of writing.

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