7th Day , 23 Dec 2007- Sloth

Woke up real late today... ate Brunch XD around 10 am ( pretty late for Japanese)

nice western style breakfast.. I really respect Japanese, every meal seems to be very well prepared.

But!! Today is really exciting, for we get to go to the mountains!! And whats that at this kind of year?!

YUKI DA!!! YUKI DAZO!!!! WOOHOO~ SNOW!!!

we got in for free!! (Myme-san's good friend knows the high ranks so.. yeah....)

instead of entry pass, we wore a PRESS PASS arm strap. (since when did i became a jounalist?!)

didnt get to skii... but!! Good thing i bought the right jacket >3 waterproof.. hehe.. so we just slide down steep slopes in turns.

I feel so like an idiot now ==" (me in the pic, sliding down)

OH!!! OH!!! just to say hi to those skiiers n snowboarders who pass by the slope, we made them a snowman XD with (YOKOSO!! WATASHI WA BRUNEI SNOWMAN DESU!!)
And I had to sacrifice my Sony player for the snowman T.T



After the fun with snow.. we went to Myme-san's friends house. Oddly... we were watching POC 1 (pirates of the carribean)

Then we had hamburger for dinner back home, which Yamaya-san had a function and Myme's another friend came over.

Kinda forgot how did the night went by but i remember playing the wooden 3D puzzles till late night.

Day 6 - Day of the Jesters, Me and Warner Bors.

What a morning, one last glance at our room which we had used for the past 4 days. Now well cleaned with futon folded. And the warm sunshine rarely seen in Niigata's winter days.

Which then Daniel's uncle came to pick us up. We had our last breakfast n last cup of coffee with To-san and Ka-san. Hopefully we'll meet again one day.

We left the house, having one last glance on the home which i felt awkwardly familiar but in reality yet so strange, I just cant help to feel as if am leaving home..

Gave To-san n Ka-san a hug n off we go.

We went for lunch before going to our next homestay. A local "Ayamku".. they have japanese styled fry chicken, not too oily and not too much flour on the chicken.. nice..

before
after (again...)

Then we went to the 100 yen shop... you guess it DAISO. Its only 1.50 BND not like the Brunei 3 BND.

They had tons of snacks n foods too. To give you a clear idea how big DAISO was, just imagine 1.5 times the size of THE MALL ground floor.

We then receive a call saying we'll be only going to the 2nd homestay in the late afternoon so we went back to Daniel's uncle's house to pack some of our stuff we bought the other day.

WE got so bored waiting, we went to the playground just across the street. The weather was too cold, no kids were playing there. Played the swing by standing on it. We sure are bored... ya...dude....

WE ARE LOST!!! AAAH!!! Uncle Kensuke couldn't find his way to Myme-san's house. T.T she's the mother of our 2nd homestay.


Good thing Myme-san came to pick us up at a nearby convenient store.

She looks younger than her actual age. And she seems to have cute actions at times ==" I cant believe she already has 2 sons who had done college.

The house is sure big, too damn big for only 2 people to live.

My room ( Daniel in the pic... he was complaining that my bed is softer than the one in their room... Hong slept on the bed while Daniel on solid floor in the same room)
View outside my room

theres 2 cats and one dog in the house (photoes to come) the cat is of human teenage but in terms of human time, its 70++ yrs old while the dog is around 80++ human years old. But theres a white cat which is just slightly younger, n WAS a boy... thats what the husband says (FYI he's a circuit board engineer, now u know where the house comes from)



We went for a movie at Warner Mycal- national Treasures 2 but thats not what i had a deep impression about... ITS BUGS BUNNYY!!! OMG!!.... he speaks japanese.... so are Daffy Duck n others... and advert is goddamn long...

after the movie, we went to TsuKiYa for GyuDon. I just dont understand why would Daniel n Hong order curry when its a GyuDon Ya where Gyudon are the best... not curry...

Then we got home, man... the house sure is warm. And we hanged out in Yamaya-san's work room for the whole night playing games on our own.

But... when we were asked what time we sleep, we said 12 am ~ 1 am?! then Myme-san was like "That early?!"

OMFG!! My mum would have killed me if i ever sleep that late at home.

My mind just kept flashing about warner mycal's Bug's Bunny speaking Japanese... thats just so... other worldly... just like.. Doraemon speaks english...

Day 5 - Reminiscence with the elders.

Today, we went to an activity centre for the middle age. We joined an IGO session with the elderlies.

Funny thing is... we dunno Japanese n they dunno much English so u know hows the scene like when we communicate plus gestures XD

but at least we made their day. Then Ka-san picked us up ( she left us just now for medical appointment FYI)

then she said the elders was really happy we visited n shared about Brunei with em n wanted us to visit on the same time the next week. But sad enough, we will be heading for Tokyo on that day.

Then we went to Royal Host restaurant for lunch.. ah... the Drink Bar.. where u order a drink for 150 yen n u get to drink all u like by refilling any drink at the Drink bar corner of the restaurant.

As Daniel wished, we went to a local swimming pool for a swim. Which we were picked up by To-san afterwards.

After the swim, we had to wait at the pool lobby... after washing our body more than 5 times. And out of my mind, I thought I was still in Bru, I wore a t-shirt and bought an ice cream out of the vending machine.

When To-san arrived, I cant help to noticed this cute school uniformed Japanese girl coz...coz... she's staring me with a "OMG" kind of face for quite a while since I sat down beside the vending machine. I know I look good >3 (as if ==")
So I asked Daniel whats wrong with her, then this is what he says " Its freezing 3 degrees Cdlcius, you ate an ice cream and wore a T-shirt".. owh.... OWH~

We were invited by Ka-san's friend who is an Indonesian professor to Niigata University for the International Performance night made by foreign students who study in Niigata U.

Guess what I digged out from the students there, there was once a Bruneian who studied there but has graduated a year or 2.

We then went to a traditional Japanese restaurant named Fu Sen. The meal is quite fairly priced but the taste kicks ass >3

Before

After(dude, i was real hungry ~~(m=.=)m

Its the last day for homestay so we talked for the most of the night. Received a present from them, To-san's ShoDo caligraphy of our chosen words.

To-san plays the flute again while Ka-san plays the piano. One last time for me, the song, 千の風になって "Sen no Kaze ninatte "- I am a thousand wind.

Day 4 - Warrior re-armed

Today, not much pictures are taken so mostly would be words. Coz... we ran out of batt after the ramen shop XD

Today is our shopping day, Daniel wanted to buy his swimming EQ's which are.. race purpose swimming goggles with extra shield blade below the goggle lens that reduces water friction by 30% ( trust me, that 30% makes really big diff) and also his swimming suit n trunks.

Hong just wanted to follow us around.

While I myseld.. u guess it. kendogu.

Too bad, we only manage to find a really BIG ( or rather, gigantic ) sports shop. which is in a mall complex named Apita.
Dude, this place is like 3 times larger than THE MALL.. seriously, Brunei should feel ashamed to name a small shopping complex the "mall".

We.. um... kinda got talked into buying swimming trunk for the 3 of us. And yes, we are planning to swim in cold winter at 3 degree celcius.

Then Ka-san said we should go for lunch before going to the bank to change our cash to Japanese yen.

Surprise surprise... MUSASHI DAZO!! the ramen shop is actually called Musashi XD man.. what damn coincidence.

And it was full so we hadta wait outside, and out of boredom, we met Michael Jackson!!... umm.. i mean Mr McDonald..

After our meal of Salt soup Cha Shiiu Ramen (pork again) we went for the bank.
And after that... KonDou budogu shop.

Yes, tons of kendogu it has. N surprisingly after I paid my bill, the plastic used was extremely familiar.
SENSEI HAD EM!! I might have ended up in the shop we always wanna find. But then the shop said they aint sure if anyone else did use the same packing as they are the only one in the area who uses that.
The shop is situated in Kayama in Niigata just across the street of KaYama Jinja.

After all these shopping we did, Ka-san brought us to a place where soccer fans might recognise. Niigata Stadium!!
It was used in the previous FIFA world cup Japan-Korea.

After seeing its architecture, we went to a Italian restaurant LA Piante.

Strange enough, Ka-san brought us back to Apita again, she told us to go around on our own n she went for grocery shopping.
WOOHOO!! we are eating NABE tonight. Man... I feel so overwhelmed, so much stuff in it XD

N we finish the night by introducing them about Brunei n showed em pictures.
Man... the food lasts till midnight XD