Shopping

Ok, there are certainly other Japanese foods that I miss besides Sushi. Since my semester started I began thinking as to what I can take for lunch. I am not a fan of campus food, which besides being pretty low quality is also pretty expensive. Well, most students either don't have other options or simply are too lazy to go anywhere else.

After giving it some thought, I remembered about Onigiri, Japanese rice balls with a fish filling. Usually wrapped in Nori (dry seaweed). They are small, and give a lot of energy, and with the right ingredients they don't seem too difficult to make. But, I guess I'll know for sure when I try.

Shopping for ingredients was a little more complicated...it was quite rare for me to go grocery shopping in Japan and when I did go it was usually to buy instant noodles and beverages since they were a lot cheaper at a grocery store then at a convenience store or vending machine. So, shopping for the right ingredients took some research, luckily the internet is a great resource and there is a nice Oriental grocery store near by. It did take me a while to find Japanese rice. The place was full of rice bags including Indian Rice, Chinese Rice, but no sign of Japanese Rice which is a must for onigiri. I eventually asked the shop clerk about it since it would be pretty surprising that if they didn't have it. Turns out it was in a rather hidden corner in Ziploc bags...figures.

I did buy some afternoon milk tea that I really liked in Japan. It was rather disappointing, while it was the same brand as in Japan, it tasted watered down and too sweet.

Update

Ok, so I guess I haven't had any updates long enough that most people would consider this blog dead. I guess I'll make an attempt to revive it. I have several drafts saved, entries that I started writing, got discouraged half-way through and did not post them.

Now, its been 1 month since I've been to Japan. And it has now been one week since I returned to Stony Brook. I am dealing once again with Stony's crazy bureaucracy,there are 2 classes that I have to take for graduations, in semesters past both classes had 2 sections, but this semester they both have 1. Worse yet, they are at the same time, one has mandatory attendance the other one has daily quizzes. As such I spent my time running back and fourth, figuring out balance this between the professors, and getting a bunch of signatures for a "conflict registration". What's making all of this funnier is that today it was announced that one of the classes would be split into 2 sections because the single section has too many people, unfortunately for some reason, both sections are at the same time. If there is a silver lining to this, its the fact that all of the professors know my face and hopefully are happy with the amount of dedication that I'm putting in an effort to take both of their classes to the best of my ability.

As far as my academics as a whole, I was wondering if I would see my major, computer science, differently. I do, now do explain more specifically, computer science isn't really a "science" and perhaps naming the major "Software Engineering" would be more appropriate. I will not get into the details as to how I ended up picking this major but getting a job as a software developer always concerned me. I was not attracted by the job of a stereotypical "techie" that codes all day. I realize now, that SE is about making good software and coding is only a part of it. SE is definitely a very people job since a good developer has a very deep understanding of his users. As far as I can tell coding skills can't get you very far here, I should definitely try to talk to some more Software Engineers. Apparently the university has a database of alumni that volunteered for informational interviews, I still can't access the database because I have to attend an orientation, my career adviser who I've spoken to said that she could give me access without attending it because I took a career class in my freshman year. Unfortunately, she's been out for a few days, I really should speed this up.

Obviously, my job search is dominating most of what I'm doing now. According to ComputerWorld.com the unemployment rate for SE even in this economy is only 4.1%. Still, I can't help but feel that I will have trouble getting a job by graduation, at least the type of job that I want.

Diet

A thought. While I was living in Japan, my calorie in take went way down, and I also ate very little meat. That's not to say that people in Japan don't meat, I think I mentioned in one of my entries that being Vegeterian actually caused in issues in the AIU cafeteria, its just that its eaten in far smaller portions. Coming back home I realized that the typical Japanese meal generally has a lot of variety. There may be meat, fish, egg, always rice.

An American meal..well, I guess the only real American meal would be an outside BBQ. Otherwise, Americans will stick to their 'roots' and have a Chinese, Italian, German, or other meal. Either way, I realized that here I'm less likely to have a meal with variety, and meat might be a far larger portion of the meal. Furthermore, I came back just in time for the Holidays, meaning Holiday meals.

I lost quite a bit of weight during my time in Japan, therefore, as soon as I arrived maintaining myself became a priority. So far its been easier then I thought, because first of all, consuming red meat gave me a bloated feeling I did not like. So within a few days I completely stopped eating beef and pork. I am also seriously considering limiting my intake of bread.

2 weeks later

Well, its been 2 weeks since I came back. I am thinking of two things, first proofread this blog since I know that when I type fast I make grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes that change the meaning of the words. I guess since I'm not writing a resume here, its good for a few laughs. Second, I'm thinking of starting another blog, one that's not really related to Japan.

As far as how I'm going, well I miss Japan of course. Coming back, well, I must admit it doesn't feel like the end of anything. As a matter of fact it feels like going to Japan was the beginning of something, and it won't end so easily. Also, I think my Japanese improved since I came back. While I no longer hear Japanese on a regular basis, now I may be watching TV and go "I wonder how you say this in Japanese", run into my room open the dictionary and look it up.

Another thought that occurred to me, I live very close to NYC, everyone wants to visit this place, therefore I live in a good place if I hope that someone I met in Japan will decide to come and visit this city. I can of course come meet them, show them around.

New York again

Yes, after a 4 months stint in Japan I am sitting home in front of my brother's computer and typing this. The trip back home took close to 30 hours if I consider the trip to the airport, check-in, the flight, the car ride back home. A few things I noticed right away...I can read everything! I don't need to stare and try to remember a Kanji, my brain feels so relaxed. Second, I discovered I have trouble sleeping on mattrasses, they are too soft.

Well, I'll keep writing about my reverse culture shock, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

The Tokyo Homecoming

Well, I am back at Sakura Asakusa Hostel. My day today was, not fun, I will say that moving out/in is not a lot of fun. I ended up sleeping only 3 hours during the night, packing until the last minute, ending up with more stuff then I expected and making the bus 3 minutes before it left. Telling a quick good-bye to two close friends and taking some last minute pictures.

Still, by the time I got to the station I wanted to talk around the akita city a little bit, but by then I could not find the energy to do it. So, I locked up my stuff in a coin locker and spent a little bit of time just wondering the station buying some food. I ended up sleeping most of my 4 hour train ride to Tokyo. Dragging the luggage around, it still was not nowhere near as bad as my trip to Akita.

Arriving in Tokyo, I coldn:t help but feel a little relieved. Akita is so rural, so seperated from the outside world. Being in a real city gave me some kind of sence of relief. Still the atmosphere was very different, the atmosphere wasn:t as laid back, it had city energy. I made it back and checked in at the hostel without any issues. I have one full day in Tokyo, I probably won:t leave Asakusa, I will try to meet up with a friend who is leaving for Canada on the same day as me and will also be in Tokyo tomorrow.

Picture update starting with this one. Includes pictures of Snow at AIU and Okonomiyaki with the Aikido club.