Homestay III

13 May 2015

This was the day I attempted to go to Tashirojima (cat island) but the earthquake struck, and I never made it. I decided to cheer myself up with hotcakes instead. It's called pancake & cafe 38 Mitsubachi. I forgot to take a photo of the exterior, but here's the interior. It was nice and cosy, and near empty when I went, which was nice.

Sugar cubes

I got the buttermilk pancake set, which came with a drink. 

It was good; nice and fluffy. The whipped butter was rich and creamy. The syrup was maple honey, and it was really quite sweet, but the pancakes aren't sweetened, so it was a good match. The only issue I had was that the place smelled a little strange. But other than that, it was pleasant. 

I spent the rest of the day walking around again, and reading, and blogging. That day was my host mummy's birthday, so we had a really small celebration. The cake looks simple but it was seriously delicious.

Happy 33rd birthday!

My host family! Minus the youngest cos he was asleep. They're clearly not very used to taking photos hahah. Awkward gap.

Homestay II

12 May 2015

Wandered around Sendai station today. Went to the Tohoku Pokemon centre, which was a lot smaller than I expected. It's some corner shop in one of the malls.

The roundness of these characters is ridiculous.

I then googled for some things to do around the area, and this free observation deck thing popped up! I love free observation decks.

Sendai is pretty densely built as well, but definitely not as dense as Tokyo. Their streets and roads are much wider also, which is nice and relaxing.

I found this taiyaki recommendation on Google, Taikichi, and decided to hunt it down, and found it!

Maccha & whipped cream taiyaki. The two flavours worked superbly well together. My only gripe was that the pastry was a little soggy, I guess for cold taiyakis they can't have crispy skins.

Studio Ghibli merchandise is everywhere, especially Totoro. 

As I was walking along the street, I found this sign for an extremely inconspicuous cafe. It looked very modern and simple as opposed to every other colourful signboard screaming at passers-by, so I thought I'd go and check it out, and I'm so glad I did.

This is the entrance to the cafe. It's like some cult group gathering haha.

Once you go through the wooden doors, you have to walk through this walkway. Really strange; it's like being transported to a different world.

The light at the end of the tunnel!

The exterior of the cafe. Walk up those stairs, and...

Voila!

Menu

I got a rare cheesecake and latte.

The cheesecake came with strawberry jam that had sesame seeds in it. The sesame seeds were a surprising touch to the jam. The strawberry worked for me, but the sesame didn't cos I'm not a fan of sesame seeds. But the cake was good; creamy and cheesy and delicious.

The latte was good too! I was surprised at the standard cos the Japanese don't really drink coffee. I loved the mug it was served in as well! The way the handle is shaped makes it super easy to hold.

It was a lovely cafe, but photos of the interior weren't allowed. I spent half of the afternoon reading. It was really crowded; I was there for about 2 hours, and it was never quiet or even half empty once. Definitely worth a visit, and I would happily return.

Homestay I

11 May 2015

Nothing much happened as half the day was spent travelling from Tokyo to Sendai. Met up with my host family; the host mummy is so pretty! =^^= Then we made takoyaki and I hung out with the kids for the rest of the day.

I was extremely tempted to buy my own takoyaki machine.

Motomura Gyukatsu

Clearly I'm not very good at keeping up with this travelogue thing. Not very active but there are reasons, a major one being that the wifi connection when I was in Sendai was not strong, so I couldn't upload photos, but well, I've been back in Tokyo for 4 days now, so it's just excuses since then.

10 May 2015

Had a late morning and went to Lifehouse Church in the afternoon. It's a branch of Hillsong Church, and I knew what I was getting myself into, but I figured it would be better to go for something a bit more familiar. Well, what can I say; the sermon was offensive, and not in a good way. The underlying message was that it was better to be married than to be single. Verses from the Bible were heavily taken out of context and misinterpreted. It was worrying. I did, however, make acquaintances with a really sweet lady, although I don't have a photo with her.

I didn't have plans for the day until dinner, so I just wondered around a bit, and found myself heading towards Tokyo Tower. I contemplated going up, but it was too expensive. The tower is impressive though. I think it lights up at night.

I walked around the area for a bit, and found a park and thought of going there to read. I saw this lady walking two huge giant poodles (?? is that even a breed?). They were very cute, but they were huge. 

The lady was clearly struggling. 

I managed to find this grassy area where people were just lying around and basking in the sun, so I decided to just read there until dinnertime.

I met Vanesa and her friend, Hayley, for dinner again, and we had Motomura Gyukatsu in Shibuya, which is beef cutlet. 

 The restaurant is really small, seating only about 7-8 pax at once, so the queue took forever. I think we queued for 1.5 hours even though we reached at 6pm, and by the time our order was taken, the largest portion had sold out. 

It was incredible. The steak is fried for a mere 60s and served immediately, so the inside is rare. Worth the wait? Yes!

We wandered around Shibuya for a bit, then went for parfait at Nishimura Fruit Parlour. Nobody does desserts like the Japanese. It was delicious.

Since it was going to be my last night staying so near the TMGB, I decided to drop by en route home to take the night view. Good decision.

Choices and milestones

[14 May 2015]

It's a beautiful day today. I'm writing this as I'm waiting for the ferry to Tashirojima. I've made it! I'm really excited, although slightly concerned about how I will return to ishinomaki station. But that's for later. I'll worry about it if and when I can bear to leave that island.

I'm just taking some time now to reflect on Uni life, and I marvel at how things have turned out. When I was at Sea Life Park, I thought about how different my life and experiences would be have I gone down other paths. If I had managed to study overseas, I would definitely have grown in other ways. Staying in Singapore did make me bitter, and I wrestled and I struggled and I fought through frustrations and the inability to comprehend why God wouldn't give me what I wanted more than anything in the world (at that time).

I thought about what might have happened had I really decided to pursue veterinary studies somewhere else (in spite of my not terrific biology and chemistry grades). How different life would truly be. Ultimately, because of circumstances, I had to stay in Singapore. But even then, I had choices.

I got accepted into NUS FASS and NTU psych. I thought of taking a gap year to consider again what I really wanted to study. At that time, I wanted to pursue psych overseas, but now that those doors were closed, I wasn't so sure anymore. So I wanted to take some time off to think about what was it at I really wanted to do. At that time I was relief teaching at ACJC, and I remember Mrs Chan calling me into her office shortly after the results were released to have a chat with me. She advised me against taking a gap year, which I'm thankful she did, and I'm glad I listened to her, because knowing me, that year would probably have been a waste. Now then, it was between NUS and NTU. I remember Ms Yong advising me to go to NUS and not to commit myself so early on to only psych. She told me to keep my options open at NUS, and try out different things. Which I'm so glad I did, because I got to try my hand at a number of different subjects and interests, including theatre, philosophy and (not my favorite) linguistics. 

I took a long time to decide what to major in. More accurately, I remained undecided until I got my scholarship just before the start of the second year and was assigned Geography, which was my second choice. I do at times wonder why MOE didn't assign me theatre studies, my first choice, and I think about how different life would be if I had really majored in TS. I would perhaps be a very different person.

After I knew I was going to major in geog, I started researching on the course and department, and the options I had. And I came across this module called field studies, held every summer. And I decided, if I can't study overseas, I will at least jump at any and every opportunity to do so during Uni, like exchange. So I decided I would go for it. But in that year, I had MOE attachment, and I figured it would be easier to push FS back one year than to write to MOE to reschedule my attachment. So I went for attachment, and met some of the greatest people there who have impacted my life in incredible ways. I was really happy I decided to go for attachment that year, and to have been able to cross paths with these people. 

The semester after attachment I left for exchange, which was a dream come true. I went to UCL, no less, and had the greatest experience. I made new friends, caught up with old ones, and learnt so much more about myself. I volunteered, travelled, didn't really study, but still took away many lessons. Time away from friends and family proved to be challenging but sharpening.

The semester after that was year 3 sem 2. Many of my pre-uni friends who were also in NUS were graduating, and at that time I didn't think much about it, but I was sure I was going to be alone in year 4. It wasn't much of an issue; I was used to taking classes alone. There was something very liberating about being alone. But this sem was particularly difficult, possibly due to post-exchange blues. The modules I was taking weren't particularly interesting or meaningful either, so it was really challenging.

The summer following that was when I was to go on FS, and eventually make the majority of my NUS friends. I met incredibly funny and interesting people, and I'm thankful I found a bunch who accepted me and whom I managed to click with and get along with. FS was a wonderful journey as well, so much more meaningful than just classroom teaching. Friendships with the Thai students were made as well, and continue to endure.

With these friends I entered final year, and because all the modules I took were honors modules, I was in class with many of the fellow year 4s, and got to know many more of them, especially in the final sem. Life would surely have been very different had I not made those friends on FS. Not necessarily worse, but different. Very, very different. Have they changed the way I view NUS? Maybe. Have they changed the way I view Geography? Definitely. Also due to the intellectual depth and intensity of honors modules, I've come to love the subject I'm studying. I still struggle with the concept and process of studying, because I think it's highly self-serving, but I suppose in times like these, I should keep an open mind and look for ways in which I can use the knowledge and skills that I have obtained in my years of education in meaningful and practical ways.

This isn't to say that NUS life was a breeze. It was anything but that. There were extremely trying and discouraging times. There were instances when I just wanted to give up so badly, when everything was a drag, and I was doing things for the sake of doing them. Not the best attitude, I know. But it was tough.

Who knows what the future holds? Who knows if I will keep the friends I make? Who knows if the world will end tomorrow? These are really dangerous thoughts, because they justify living in the present. I believe that to some extent, you create your own future through the choices you make. You have to put in effort to keep and maintain friendships. Friendship is, after all, intentional. And even if the world ends tomorrow, at least you can say that you've given your best today.

I foresee that I will one day look back upon this post and cringe as I read it again because it's so cheesy. But no matter. These are the thoughts that I have today, and tomorrow, I will mature again.

With that, university life is truly over. It has been 4 long years, but I regret none of it. This chapter ends and another will begin.

Emergency post

No pictures for this post because I'm doing this on iPad. A quick update as I need to vent my failure to visit Tashirojima.

Planned to go to the cat island today, but things didn't go as planned, unfortunately. I suppose I should have taken the morning incident as a sign to not bother going at all.

I woke up at 445, made sure I left the house by 515 in order to reach the train station by 530 to catch the first train to Sendai. I forgot to bring my JR East pass and passport when I left this morning, and I only realized it when I reached the station. So I had to walk all the way back to get it. I reconsidered at first whether I should bother going today, or perhaps going later in the day, but when I saw that I could still make it, I rushed like crazy.

When I got to Sendai station, there were tremors at the station, cos of an earthquake off the coast of Iwate. The entire station was shaking, but thankfully nothing fell apart. No casualties or infrastructure breakdown reported as yet. I managed to get on the train to Ishinomaki, but then it stopped at the next station for the longest time, and finally the train conductors said that those headed to Ishinomaki should change trains to another line. So I followed the crowd, and was headed in the right direction. I managed to get on another train on another line, but it never went to Ishinomaki. Instead, it headed back towards Sendai after stopping for a long long time at Takagimachi. Turns out, the stations in between were destroyed during the 2011 tsunami, and reconstruction works are in the process, so you'd have to get off at Takagimachi to get a bus to Ishinomaki. I wouldn't have made it in time for the ferry to Tashirojima anyway so I figured I would just head back to Sendai and wander the area (again).

I read online about this pancake place and thought I might check it out, and it was great. The pancakes were delicious, they played really nice, calm, cafeish French music. It was really nice. So I sat there and read for a bit. Photos in a later post.

I'm going to attempt to go to the cat island again tomorrow, and if it doesn't work, I guess I'm really just not meant to go. Sigh. I really should stop being so stubborn.

Photography

9 May 2015

Went hunting for the Totoro Cafe, and it was harder to find than I expected. I walked in circles countless times, and I thought of giving up because I was getting so tired, but I eventually made it! And all those extra rounds were definitely worth it.

They relocated sometime this year or last year, and moved to their current premises which is supposedly larger, but it's still pretty small, not a lot of seating capacity, so I wonder how much smaller their previous location was.

It's a quaint, small, cozy cafe, very cute, very comfortable.

I skipped breakfast to come for this, so I ordered 3 puffs! The custard (original), strawberry (seasonal) and green tea (seasonal).

The strawberry was the first I ate, and also my favourite, because the tanginess of the strawberry balances out the sweetness and heaviness of the cream really well.

The green tea one had red beans inside, which were a pleasant surprise, and a really good mix of textures.

The custard one had vanilla seeds (which you can't really see here cuz mine didn't have a lot) and I love love love love LOVE vanilla, so it was great. 

I had a hot chocolate too, and thought it wasn't photo-worthy, but it was delicious. It had an edge of bitterness (like dark chocolate kind) and it wasn't overpowering or too sweet at all. In total I spent 1830Y, and it's not the cheapest place around, and I can't vouch for the entire menu, but it was definitely worth it for the cream puffs alone. I mean, anything is worth it for Totoro.

I headed down to Tokyo Sea Life Park, and at the entrance of the park there was this street performer. He's some world champion juggler, and he's really good. An entertainer as well.

I was very excited to come here, and maybe my expectations were a little too high, but I think the SEA Aquarium beats this HAHAH. Well, maybe the difference in price reflects the difference in quality too. This was 700Y, which converts back roughly to about $8; SEA Aquarium is much more expensive ($38!).

I always dream of one day being able to take really nice pictures. 

There are a few people I know who take really, really, REALLY nice pictures, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for them (*_*). 

And I've come to a point where I don't know if the photos I take are nice or not; they all just look really plain to me.

 But I suppose if they serve the purpose of helping me preserve certain memories (no matter how inaccurate or selective), that's fine.

Met Vanesa and Hayley for dinner at Narikura Tonkatsu, and it was really amazing. We met at 5pm when the place opened at 530pm, and there were already a couple of people in the queue. Crazy.

I read the reviews online, and sometimes those food shows talk about how certain deep fried foods are not oily at all, and I'm always like, how is that possible! It's deep fried, it has to be greasy. But it wasn't. It was rather magical. Unfortunately, towards the end, the crust in contact with the plate got soggy. But other than that, it was delicious.

We walked around after looking for dessert, and found this random cafe in a karaoke place that had honey toast. This, too, was delicious. It was a pleasant surprise, actually, because I think we weren't expecting much. And it was buttered with honey butter. Yumz.