Geniuses and Idiots

I haven't realized that I haven't posting for a long time. This was due to very hectic week I had. Why the title? I did some pretty stupid things this week. Firstly, I went jogging, as I always do, but I planned to buy some fruit from the organic shop in my route. The stall is halfway through my route. So I bought some fruit, and found that they sold some cereal and some healthy snacks. But being an organic store that wished to live up to its image, it didn't provide any plastic. Customers had to bring their own. So I carried the pack of oranges in my hand, but the problem was the cereal and snacks. Solution: I stuffed them in my jacket. I don't know what possessed me to keep on jogging. With oranges on hand and cereal and snacks in my tummy, I felt odd, but I finished my route!

No. 2 was actually an offense I've done before. I went to the first ever Philippine studies conference in Japan and very much enjoyed the papers presented at the conference. However, an important panel that I went to had papers regarding overseas Chinese Filipinos. One of the Japanese researchers used data from gravestones in Chinese cemetaries in Cebu to create a history of the overseas Chinese in Cebu. It sounds simple, yet no one has done anything on it yet (as far as I know). So during the open forum, I told him of my observations from the Chinese cemetary in Iloilo (such as mausoleum sharing, etc.) . After the presentation, he ask me (in perfect Hokkien), if I could speak Hokkien. My answer: "sukoshi" ("A little" in Japanese). He was taken aback, I grilled my brain to find the actual word, but it escaped me. So we ended up talking in English and Japanese. Later, after consulting a friend, I realized it was "Tampo". Idiot. Why is this a 2nd offense? A few months earlier, I was on the phone with my parents and we were casually talking. And I forgot tampo again and said sukoshi to my dad! :(

Geniuses refers to the scholars in the conference. It was soooo refreshing to hear discussions and actually understand them. I was happy to meet up with Tricia, Cheska, Hanna and Siao. Also met a number of other Filipino scholars in Japan as well as Japanese scholars. Met up with Ma'am Lydia and Sir Rico. I got to talk to sir Rico as to where I can get good books in Jimbouchou, as well as in Nakano. Plus we talked about what can be down in the field of World War II research through projects that he is currently doing. One highlight of the activities, was a presentation of Filipino dances performed by Japanese students taking Philippine Studies! WOW! To my shame, I couldn't name a number of the dances. Another highlight was meeting a new History MA student in Ateneo. She is Japanese, but wanted to study Philippine history. :)

Another event occured two Wednesdays ago. Hitotsubashi University hosted a shindig for all foreign students. The three of us decided to wear Filipiniana. :) Part of the program was a list of how many students per country there are in school. For the Philippines, 10. 3 in Kunitachi campus and 7 at Kanda (Business campus). The highlight of this event was the foreign students performing. The last program was the Filipino contigent from Kanda which performed a medley of Filipino, Vietnamese and Malay dances.

As for food, because of Jdrama "Lunch Queen" I craved for Omurice (omelette rice) which I finally got in a visit to Nakano with Tricia and Mia. The other food picture is a Korean porridge-type thing. (Technically, a soup which I poured rice in) I ate this during the conference on the same week my sisters blogged about their current obsession with Korean food. haha. How serendipituous.