1) i am a student on the move and sometimes i feel like i don't belong anywhere. 2) mobility is quite interesting though. it colors my dreams 3) sometimes in love with life. sometimes tired with everything. id say im generally interested in life. 4) seriously believes in the wisdom behind painting velikden eggs.
Fly. Walk. Converse. Discover. A Filipina in her mid-20s records whatever.
Dada obtained her masters in Human Security Studies from the University of Tokyo in March 2008. While not formally trained in the arts, Dada is interested in multi-media work and performance. Her works generally discuss issues of space and identity. In 2006, she founded Nabua Forum, her hometown's first website.
This morning, as I was about to enter the train station, I heard one grandma whisper to another...
"Asoko made ikanai desho." (Literally, "We wouldn't go that far, right?" or "We wouldn't get to THAT terrible age, right?)
The other grandma giggled and said: "iyaaa!" ("iyaaa" means something like "eeeew" in American slang)
They were talking about another old lady who seemed a century-old. She was sitting on a wheelchair being pushed by a similarly aged man. She looked very frail and pale. She was harmless yet these ladies were gossiping about her.
Well Japan is indeed "super" aging. It's an everyday thing to see old folks out on the streets doing their regular errands. They walk very slowly, and sometimes, when they are being squeezed inside trains, people around them seem not to care.
I had fun on the way home today. I passed by school to pick up some books from the students' room, chatted a bit with L, dropped my scholarship extension application in the department mailbox, and headed back home. Sengawa station was a bit crowded today. It found it a bit unusual as Sengawa is usually a quieter station. Some Japanese grandmas were in their kimonos, there were a lot of toddlers running about just outside the station. And the kids were in cute little costumes... for the Halloween! I had forgotten about Halloween!
Anyway, I initially thought that I'd just get some food from Marusho and rush back to the dorm. I had to go home as M emailed me today, saying that we need to finish editing my paper before Nov 1. Pressure! But I understand her apprehension about not finding internet cafes on Nov 1. All Souls/ Saints Days are big, big holidays/ events all over the Philippines. Oh, reminds me how we commemorate these days in Nabua... I remember that they become a combination of commemoration and celebration. People set up tents for entre quatro, tong-its and domino. Relatives from abroad would return home, so these days would oftentimes become mini reunions. People even set up small carnivals with some ferris wheels, and there would be koronkoron vendors, and a lot of balut and bbq. This is really far from the american tradition of trick or treat. I am not sure if kids there now wear costumes and go around the neighborhood but im quite sure I didnt see any kids going out for trick or treat in Nabua.
Oh I blabbered much about Nabua when I thought I'd be talking about Tokyo halloween. Its almost 9pm and the party here in the dorm's about to start in an hour. B YM'd me last night asking what costume Ill be wearing for the party tonight at soshigaya dorm. I replied that I dont really wear costumes and that perhaps I'll just pass by to take some pics. Maybe I'll see my foreign co-dormers dressed in frankensteins or whatever. I'll post some dorm pics later...
*i edited this page to include some pics from last night! twas fun!
Here is where I take the train to university. The name of the station is Meidaimae and it's 4 stations away from Tokyo U. I couldnt take this train because only local ones pass by school.
Ok,I just started this blog. I am getting amazed recently with blogging. Hmm, quite late though for me to get into the online journal publishing bandwagon, but anyways, sometimes I spend too much time wondering about how my day was, and how my trips here and there went. I might as well be putting them into words...About me, I love wandering (not when it's winter!). Perhaps its strange that I do not need to convince myself much in deciding to go to a far flung place alone, like Mumbai, but then id usually have to drag myself to go to to near places like the neighborhood park or grocery.One of my hosts in India once told me that I probably wont travel without my camera. He is very much right! But I also do enjoy just looking around, observing the things and people that pass by me.
Sometimes when I walk while reflecting on things, I forget to observe. Observing is a form of concentration. I have been trying to practice yoga and there I learned that paying attention to minute details can be very relaxing. Your mind listens when you pay attention.
I usually carry my camera and my voice recorder with me because I usually get high when I manage to capture the small surprises that I come across everyday. So here I am. This space will hopefully be a tool for self-reflections. Here ill write simply events of my everyday. Baibai!
