Waseda Sai 2009

Seems to be a tradition here for universities to have a University Festival (大学祭daigakusai) - nobody I've asked so far knows why though. So Waseda's was held on the past weekend (7th and 8th Nov) and we dropped by on Sunday since Saturday was spent at Hadano (one post before the previous). Met Chuan and his girlfriend Yihe at the festival too. Haven't seen him in so long - he said 10 years? Anyway they were really nice but the Festival was so crowded that it didn't really facilitate much interaction. So what was there at the school festival? Food stalls, game stalls and alot of performances, even concerts which had sold-out tickets. We barely stayed an hour before the boredom and the crowded-ness took its toll. Pictures below:



(Angklung Performance - they played Bengawan Solo.)

(Just a peak at how many people there were at the Festival, seeing how this was only one small (and filled with people) part of school. Some of the soldout concerts were held in that building behind - Auditorium.)


(Saris and Indian dances in Japan!).


(Abit of Uzbekisthan in Japan).

Hadano International Festival

Isabel and I signed up for this event via Waseda - and made the 1.5hours trip there today. Interesting event held yearly by the Hadano Education Council and the festival seeks to provide a chance for internationals and local junior high school students (13 to 15/16 years old) to mix and speak in English. There were 2 english speech presentations by the students, a skit, free-speaking time, game time and it finished off with a song (Sing - by The Carpenters!). Interesting event and I don't know how but they managed to get people from Poland, Vietnam, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belgium, Israel, USA and even Africa! Didn't take that many pictures but here's a collage:



Best thing about the event? They gave us 3000yen to subsidise our transport fee (which was 650yen 1-way so 1300 2-way) Yay! =P


(P.S. To see a larger version of the picture, just click on the picture!)

Otsuka - Mongolian Buuz and International Friends

Today, in a very rare spirit, we made our way down to Otsuka (near Ikebukuro) and partook in an 'international exchange' that had nothing to do with school. We had no idea what club/circle it was actually, but signed up anyway, because Chance had it that we'd bump into one of the main organisers outside our dorm doors just a few days ago. Well but I'm guessing that the food was partial incentive too. Not exactly free food, but we were going to exchange our summer have-dones whilst making Mongolian buuz. How cool was that!

Turns out Mongolian buuz is something similiar to the Chinese xiao long bao, except the filling consists of lamb meat and diced white onions rather than the juicier pork meat. Still yummy definitely, especially with the Japanese ponzu sauce.

Not to say that the entire activity was smooth-sailing; in fact, it was anything but. Especially when there's people like me who understand so little Japanese and not all of them understood English. The international mix was certainly eye-opening though, with about 6-7 Mongolians (who spoke varying levels of Japanese), 2 Chinese, 5-6 Japanese and well, 3 Singaporeans - of which one knew no Japanese, one who knew the littlest bit, and one who knew quite abit. Nonetheless, the 5 hour activity was great, especially since I separated from my countrymates for the first time in a few days I guess. Oh there was Mongolian chai too, where they added salt instead of sugar - what a novelty. Seems like a few Japanese had got to go on a Mongolian exchange and homestay programme - will certainly be looking out for that! Wonder if I'll be eligible.

The only sad thing was, we haven't got our handphones yet, so whilst everyone else was bustling about busy exchanging mobile numbers, the 3 of us silently left. Certainly hope there'll be more of such activities on the horizon!