Mortality

At around 6am today, I was woken up by an alert I received on my handphone. It had the heading “Emergency Alert” and the rest was in Japanese language. The feeling of disorientation quickly gave way to a sense of urgency and I checked my Twitter feed for the latest news. I thought it might have been an earthquake warning. Turns out that North Korea had launched a ballistic missile towards the northern part of Japan.

Arang and the Magistrate

Warning! I know it’s an old drama but spoiler alert if you haven’t watched and plan to watch ;)

I just finished watching this 2012 Korean drama. It was mostly because I had just finished watching Moonlovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo which revived the Lee Joon Ki fangirl in me.

Summer in IUJ

Wow, I can't believe my last post was in autumn last year. I totally skipped through two seasons. So here's a recap:
In winter, I got DUFF-ed for the first time and it really affected my self-esteem for the next few months. Academically, now that I am more familiar with the system of this university, I did better than the fall term. I was really happy that my efforts paid off :) It wasn't all about studying though. Surprisingly I went out more in winter than I did in autumn. This despite my initial plans of just hibernating till spring. My friends and I went to the Tokamachi Winter Festival which is like a snow sculpture festival with lots of food stalls and entertainment. We also joined the IUJ Ski Day and learned how to ski at Hakkaisan. This was an experience I'll never forget. I was nervous about it but it turns out I did not too badly, I did not fall down as much. I guess all those rollerblading and ice skating helped. I even went up the slope three times! I wouldn't mind doing it again next year but I suspect I might be lazy. 

Autumn in IUJ

It's almost two months since I've stepped foot at International University of Japan in Minamiuonumashi in Niigata, Japan. I would have written sooner but this is the first time I've been away from home (excluding vacations and assignments); settling in takes time. When I first arrived the weather was transitioning from summer to autumn so it was still pretty warm. It's been gradually getting colder since last month. I've bought a ceramic mobile heater, which is a speaker size heater that can only directly heat whatever's in front of it. Now I know why its called "mobile" heater. My Uniqlo heatech undershirts are now a daily necessity. I decided not to wear one yesterday because I was wearing double layers and I regretted it; can't live without my heatech shirts now.

Ramadan 1437

Rokugatsu

Hiroshima

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - After World War II, a group led by Japanese architect named Kenzo Tange designed the park to turn the land into the Peace Memorial Park. It was completed in 1954. Photo credit: Visit Hiroshima.

Three days ago, I was checking out what was trending on Twitter. One of it was Obama. It was about his planned visit to Hiroshima at the end of May. I believe the reason it was trending was because Barack Obama would be the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima.