Fukuoka Memories: Day 8

Today was the last day in Fukuoka before home sweet home. We had to wake up especially early to get ready to go to the airport. The breakfast at the dorm on that day was especially memorable, not because the food was nice, but because we all knew that this was going to be the last meal we're ever going to eat for this Japan trip (excl. lunch on the plane).

I still remember the taste of the dense miso soup, the sticky Japanese rice and the main dish of chicken and beef. It sounds like lunch in Singapore, but that's what they eat in Japan - big servings. So immediately after we finished, the school bus fetched us to the airport, which I expected to be near the coast, but instead it was in the middle of the city area.

So the airport was rather big even though it only had one terminal. There was a long queue to check in at the airline counters, because baggage screening was held there instead of after checking in. So finally we checked in and I bought a lot of 白色恋人chocolate from the duty-free shops inside. Then, we went to board our plane and it took us back to Singapore.

On the way, I watched Avatar, Grown Ups and the Flight Status. I was sitting beside my teacher so I couldn't watched any adult-rated movies. Just kidding. The plane made a smooth landing and before we knew it, we had to exit the plane and I could already feel the humid hot air of Singapore. Aish.. even the airplane's air-conditioner was blowing out white vapor lol.

My father was waiting outside the "inside zone" so once I exited, I took the car home, along with handfuls of foods, toys and miscellaneous items. It was a good trip. Thanks AEP and Fukuoka!

Fukuoka Memories: Day 7

It was the second last day of my Japan trip, and I was already feeling nostalgic. Weird huh. So Day 7 was the day where we reunited with the Japanese students again, so I was feeling kinda excited, because I get to see my buddy again.

In the morning, we headed to Kyushu University where were were supposed to have animation lessons. As we arrived at the school, we saw many students walking in. The bus continued up a steep slope and finally stopped at the front of the art faculty. A teacher was there to receive us and also an ang moh translator was present to help us understand. So we went around the building to look at their galleries - sculpture and photography, which there were some amazing photographs. Then we settled down in a classroom that had at least 50 iMacs in there. We grabbed a station each and opened the Blender programme, which was some 3D animation software that Japan used instead of Autodesk 3DS Max. We opened a few of the samples and woah! we were amazed at how each object in the samples were carefully modelled and even more beautifully presented when rendered.

Then we tried out a few of our own animations and it didn't turn out that bad. So afterwards, the teacher showed us a few of the university's animation works and they also had some very good models. But I took this time to update my facebook, hence that short status on my profile page. After 2 hours, class was dismissed and we headed to the canteen where they had the special meal of the day - beef steak. I was the first few to pay for the food ticket and hand it to the kitchen. Then, more people started coming (our own Hwa Chong guys) and started cutting queues so me and my buddy soon ended up the last in the queue. I was furious, my buddy was to. We were complaining about the stupid queueing system the canteen had so we gave up and took a seat somewhere first. After the queue had subsided, we then went to collect our food. But then the kitchen aunty didn't recognise us and so refused to hand us our food. Then our guide explained to the aunty that she saw us queueing first and told her our story.

After we got our food, we sat down at the table and started eating. The serving wasn't as big as those in restaurants and wasn't as delicious too, but we made do with it. Then we went back to the bus, which took us back to the boys school. Over there, we headed for a Japanese calligraphy class called shodou.

As we settled down in our seats, took the calligraphy guide books, mixed our ink the ancient way by rubbing the solid flakes on a rough surface submerged in water, the Japanese calligraphy teacher then called us to come to him for a demonstration. He said "Come on baby" like he was hooking up chicks. It was hilarious!

Then, came the funnier part. What we expected initially was like any ordinary calligraphy lesson Mr Quek could give us, but we were wrong. Instead of making the brushstrokes as fine and neat as possible, the Japanese teacher told us to be aggressive and free in our brushstrokes and hence to make them as THICK as possible. Every time he gave us a demonstration on a chinese character, he would act like he's choking on each brushstroke - choking on his own phlegm as if he wanted to spit but was unable to. It was damn funny, but I did not get to take a video, shit...

So after that was our turn, and I wrote my own name in the weirdest and craziest manner possible, and actually earned the praise of the teacher. He shook my hands and not others everytime I showed him a new character. It was my normal painting style in art, and it was the first time I ever got recognised for that. Ok, enough of that, we ended our lesson sooner than possible and cleared up our desks, washed our palettes and cleaned our clothes. Then we heard from another teacher, our next lesson was PE.

Luckily since morning, we were already instructed to wear our PE attires but guess what, they were short sleeves and short pants. We didn't wear anything underneath, so we were fricking cold the whole day. Even the Japanese soccer players wore long pants and sleeves. I found myself and my fellow Hwa Chong people like retards. Then we had to wear these singlet jerseys with our country flags on them. The teacher told us that it was gonna be an international friendly between Japan and Singapore. But hey, it was an unfair advantage since we were at away ground and I had a broken foot.

But who cares, we started playing and eventually our bodies warmed up. I ran quite a bit and tackled some too. But our defence still wasn't strong enough to break up their attack, and soon the game ended with us losing 4-2. But it was a worthy game and we shook hands with our opponents, even though deep inside, we were bitter about losing.

Heck, afterwards was the dinner, I guess.. We had sushi and many other table snacks. But it was the only time in the whole trip that I actually got to eat raw salmon and other fish. They were as yummy as the ones found in Singapore's NTUC Fairprice finest or other expensive supermarts. Then the snacks were also like heaven, the chocolate made in Japan was just as good as the ones in New Zealand and Australia which they were supposed to be famous for.

Then after the dinner, we got a surprise. Because we ended early we had like 2 hours to spare. So the bus driver took all of us to the beautiful Ferris Wheel place.

It was quite chilly by night, so I had to put an extra jacket on. Anyways, around the ferris wheel was a huge shopping district that sold souvenirs, collectibles, sports stuff, muji and more food stuff. That was where I got my seaweed from. There was also an arcade there which I saw a few games I was really familiar with.

But my friends and I decided not to waste time at the arcade, but shop instead. So we toured the huge mall like 2 times and bought handfuls of stuff, especially food. I also got my favourite neck pillow with loud speakers and earphones there at a shop called Vintage Village.

There were also like tons of Gachapon machines there so I spent some of my money turning the wheel and the machine does the magic by automatically selecting a toy for me. It was worth it. Haha! Finally we got enough of stuff, and again Guan Chao and I were the last to arrive so we got scolded by the group again. The guide told us that we were running late to catch a bus. So we literally ran from the mall to a faraway bus interchange to catch the bus. Lucky for us, it was still there so we got on and it brought us to a subway station. We then needed to take the subway back to our dorm subway station - Imajuku. We visited the same old convenience store again and I bought more than I had ever throughout the trip of tidbits and small snack-food like break, sweets and chocolates, before the bus took us back to our dorm.

I wish I bought instant noodles though, but I only saw cup noodles. It was late at night like around 9pm so we all took our time to shower. We met up with all the table tennis players which were Japanese students too, and we took a group photo together. Memories... I was tired by 10, so I headed back to Guan Chao's room for a talk that lasted all night. We talked about almost everything under the sun, and Stephen joined us soon.

By 12, I got laid back and decided to go back to my room to sleep. Good night! Sweet dreams and see you tomorrow!

PS. The last sentence above was my feelings then, it's not my grammar error ok.

Fukuoka Memories: Day 6

Day 6 could have been considered as the day which I spent most of my money on food and goods. Why? Partially because it was already the 2nd last day, and I little did I expect the next day to also be a day of shopping. So for this day, we went to a place called the Dazaifu Shrine in another town outside Fukuoka. Luckily the bus ride wasn't as long as the ones we had previously.

There was another similar festival held in that shrine with children dressed in the yukatas heading inside the big room for prayer and chants. That place had very beautiful scenery as well, trees that looked like they were growing since ancient times and leaves of yellow and red. The floor was especially beautiful because there were like these ripple patterns on the little stone grounds all around the estate. The cold weather really made me feel like I was in one of those Korean dramas that stood by a house, looking out at the greenery with a lover, and slowly their relationships got even closer that the story reached its climax.

After the sketching we did at the beautiful temples and old houses, we headed back "downtown" into that street with shops on both sides. Guan Chao and I headed off alone again, leaving the rest of the group behind for our little own tour around the street. Firstly, we became rather hungry since it was lunchtime, so we settled down at this affordable and decent-looking restaurant that sold fine and sumptuous meals. Look at the natural smile that has been put on my face.

So, after our lunch, we went shopping like typical shopaholics. We started out window-shopping but we couldn't resist looking at the soft toy shop, like Totoro. I myself had to get one of those plushies cuz they were too cute to be forgotten. I also got myself a toy aeroplane and a lot of foodstuff. It was worth it, considering I still had a lot of space in my backpack to stuff them in.

Then we took the subway to Tenjin area where we visited another art museum called the Fukuoka Art Museum. They didn't allow photo taking so I didn't take any because I'm an honest guy. But their artworks weren't as good as FAAM definitely so I didn't regret a lot. Basically, that museum was structured with a theme of art movements. So I saw cubism and surrealism. Nothing much so we left after one and a half hours of seeing. One thing cool there though was that there was the first ever water-cooler we had ever seen since we first arrived in Fukuoka. Amazing right, so there was a must do thing then, which was to refill my empty water bottle. Lame huh... Well, the other AEP guys were as usual, playing card games again. They never fail to look for spots to sit and take out cards.

The sky was already turning darker by the minute but the landscape was still just as beautiful. I forgot to mention, to get to the art museum, we passed by a beautiful river that reflected the sun's rays to the green surroundings.

There was also this childrens playground on the other side of the lane we were walking, and it was really big. Instead of rubber floors, they were sand, so if someone were to fall, it wouldn't hurt as much as cement. The slides were pretty high and the swings were like golden man! We don't see swings in Singapore playgrounds anymore, at least not for me..

After that intense tour, we went back to the subway to take another train to a shopping district in the Tenjin area. Again, the 2 man gang ventured out on their own, and soon got lost. But it wasn't really considered lost as the main road was well pretty wide, and obvious to the eyes. So the subway entrance to the underground mall wasn't that hard to spot. The sky was turning cloudy, almost looking like rain clouds, so we quickly hurried to a small roadside food stall where we had really cheap udon and oden. I got this massive big piece of fried tempura stuff on top of my udon, so it looked kinda weird. Wait, I think it was rice..

So, then we continued shopping after that and one shop I particularly remembered us visiting was Muji, the no brand store. We bought quite a lot of stationery since they were rather cheap, and also we did trust Japan to produce really high-quality goods. So, a good buy!

Then we looked at the jeans and wow we were kinda shocked at the prices, I was very shocked. Over SGD $150 for a pair of jeans is like a bomb in Singapore, where the exchange rate is so worryingly high. So we quickly got down the shopping mall and went back to the underground shopping mall, where we took a train back to our dormitory.

One thing that I haven't mentioned in my previous Fukuoka related posts would be that everytime we went back from somewhere to our dorm, there was always the convenience store at the train station we alighted at. We always did some shopping for small snacks before the school bus came to pick us up and fetch us back to our dormitory. So I also did the same as the rest, purchasing a few bottles of sodas and juice, and melon bun and some sweets or chocolates which I planned to bring home for relatives to share.

So after we arrived at our dorm, Guan Chao and I again rushed to the shower to get our bodies washed and ready to do other stuff. So he continued his lesson of table tennis with me and the story goes on for the entire night. And as always, it always ends up as a good night sleep. Teehee.

I took many videos on this day and little photos so be sure to check out my video blog once it's up!

Fukuoka Memories: Day 5

15/11/10

I woke up today with a slightly less energetic spirit, because I knew that the main attraction of this Fukuoka trip was already over. No more hot springs, no more cool and fresh air. Ok, maybe the weather was still cold as ice, but somehow I just loved the mountainous areas more. Anyways, back to the main point of the trip - Art. So, we made a trip back to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, this time not to visit the exhibits again but to attend a curatorial workshop by a curator in the museum.

Empty sculpture studio

They gave us a task of refurnishing and redesigning the sculpture studio, which was rather empty. So for the rest of the day, we brainstormed for different ideas. Firstly, a famous artist paid us a visit, and brought us to some of his artworks.

They weren't really that spectacular but how he explained it, was just so captivating that I even wanted to open up my 3rd ear if I had one.

After that, the curator brought us to a restaurant which was somehow affiliated to the museum. We had to take off our shoes and sit on pillows, with short tables. I ordered myself a really big bowl of udon, and i repeat really big. There were like so many things in the soup, but most of them were cabbage. I thought only Korea would have nice cabbage, but turns out Japan also has some really juicy and big cabbage slices for consumption. Take a look.

I definitely enjoyed my meal. So afterwards, we headed back to the museum, and amazingly enough we were given a very short time to consolidate our ideas and present as a group. My group came up with a theme of a country with both forest, urban and suburban areas in the sculpture studio, and each area would have paintings of the same type/ theme. So the curator gave us a thumbs up, which we were very honored to be praised. But there was another group with an amazing idea of family and a structured path in the shape of a house, with paintings going in chronological order from people who start off as babies to grandparents and finally in the other world.

After the presentation, the curator brought us to another shopping mall in a faraway place of at least 2 train stops to visit another art exhibition. That wasn't the main highlight, but that place had an amazing arcade. Nope it's not like Singapore where the arcade is only a shop size in a single level. It was 3 levels of hardcore fun. The TV Screens weren't like 8 bit or sth, the resolution was like awesome, at least as clear as a newly developed desktop screen or moniter.

One game that attracted me was KONAMI Winning Eleven 2011. There were like 8 stations and a big wide-screen TV in front for spectators to watch. I think it was the only LAN game in the whole arcade. But the graphics were like, you can never expect such good stuff in Singapore.

Here's a picture, if you want to see the soccer game, watch my video blog on my disudopwn youtube channel.

Then Guan Chao, Stephen and I headed off for our dinner at a small ramen shop. Again, it was in a single bill, but we had no problem this time. The food was rather disappointing, considering that we had very high expectations of Japanese food.

We went shopping around the Tenjin area for a bit, but because time was running short, we headed back to the dorm.

But I didn't sleep immediately this time. After showering in the common bathroom and dipping myself in the hot water bath, I stopped by the table tennis room where Guan Chao gave me a table tennis lesson all night. The most memorable thing was I learnt how to hold a bat to smash. I still need more work on my slicing. Whereas according to GC, opposite for him.

So that night was indeed a very fun one for me. It was much more fun than just spectating card games of bridge. This ends the day and of course I had a good night sleep again.

Fukuoka Memories: Day 4

The day started out crappy, I found my shirt drenched and sticking onto my skin under the thick blanket. At first I was wondering, was there an uncapped water bottle near me? No, there wasn't. So I guessed it was my sweat after remembering that I turned on the heater for the entire night. So as I woke up, I found out another problem, forgetting to bring an extra pair of socks. My old socks were creepily smelly, so I walked downstairs barefooted, only with my slippers to the shop. They only sold those collectors edition socks which costs like a bomb, so I went out into the freezing cold across the street to a conve (short for convenience store) to look for one. They didn't have any either, so my only choice was to wear my old socks the other way around.

By that time, all my sweat have already evaporated out of my body, so I was quite cold. Lucky for me, the breakfast venue was warm and they had the same delicious breakfast foods as the previous night. They used margarine instead of butter, so I'll have to give them a minus point.

Bus trip up Mt Aso

So after that, was another bus trip up Mt. Aso. The winding road reminded me of Genting, but this time with much more beautiful looking pine trees and more greenery. There were also cows along the way, eating the lush grass. It was a meaningful trip.

The bus was rather small, yet very powerful. The road was quite steep at some point, but the bus still rode up in a fast pace. Japan vehicles are really good sia. It's like a Proton car with a Porsche engine

Grand Canyon look alike

Finally we reached the top and had our bento lunches there. The food was really cold all thanks to the shopkeepers at the conve who didn't bother heating it up for us. But it was still a damn fun experience. You wouldn't believe how amazing the scenery was. At one end, was a cliff that looked so much like the Grand Canyon, while on the other, was multiple mountains ranging from near to far, and a small lighthouse nearby, the improved the view so much it seemed that we were so privileged to do all that. Check it out.

After that we found out that the crater of Mt Aso was closed to the public because of poisonous gas emissions which just so happened to occur on that day. But there was the cable cars on the track that spread all over the mountain magnificently. Such a shame..

So instead, we went around the other parts of Mt. Aso like the smaller hills and they turned out to be quite fun as well. Trust me, these are great photo spots as well. So we got to see steam rise out from the ground and climbed a steep hill that was full of mud slope scares and steep drops, but each step up just became more and more exciting.

After going through all that, we finally headed back for the bus which took us back down the mountain and to home, Fukuoka. On the way, we stopped by another town - Kurokawa Onsen Town. The scenery was just as beautiful, in fact it was even more colourful than anything we've ever seen. Colours of red, yellow, green and orange cover the mountains and forests, almost like a painting done by Matisse.

The shops there also sold a variety of cheap and high quality goods, which just made us want to buy one home. The ice-cream sold there was also mouth-watering, and instead of normal flavours like Vanilla and Chocolate, their flavour was the most simple and yet the most delicious - milk.



The shrine there also excited me a lot, not because of the ancient structures and tiled roofs, but the festival that was going on there. When children turn ages 3,5 and 7, they'll have to visit a shrine and be prayed by some guy, dressed in their yukatas. For that, they looked exceptionally cute, and their parents were also dressed. So it was kind of like my dream once, where everyone was dressed up in some sort of costume.

Anyways, there wasn't any smell of incense, so I did not dread going to a temple for once. In fact, the air was so nice that it was one of my rare chances that I actually got to take in deep breaths, because the bus was just too stuffy.

Soon, it was 8pm and the bus had just entered the Fukuoka margins. We were all hungry so the guide brought us to a family-friendly restaurant called Joyfull. They gave us big servings and free flow of soup and drinks. I took about 8 bowls of soup, not miso, some corn starchy flavour. I bet most of my stomach then was filled with liquid rather than solid food stuff. (sorry no biology terms please)

Then came the most troublesome part throughout the whole trip. We actually lost count of the bill, so we lacked cash. In the end, we spent about 20 minutes finding lost money, and the teacher finally paid for us first. I was like so damn pissed.

We returned to the dormitory at night, played a couple of table tennis matches, and went to sleep. See you all tomorrow, I said in my dream that very night.

Fukuoka Memories: Day 3

13/11/10

2 full days had already passed, and I had adjusted to the new surroundings and environment. I also picked up a couple of Japanese words. But on this day, I was of utmost excitement because we were gonna go to Mt. Aso, and the best part was the hotel, which was what we were all looking forward to. It was just a normal school trip, but we get to go to hotels?!? Cool!

From left: Guan Chao, Me, Stephen in my dorm room/bed.

So I woke up early with this thinking in my mind, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Wow! It was freezing cold walking down the hallway. My buddy Guan Chao and I got down to the canteen for yet another delicious breakfast. After that, the school bus came to pick us up to bring us to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum for the opening ceremony. We were honored!

The art exhibition was awesome, every single artwork looked as real as a photograph, but they were paintings done by Chinese painters. Here's a sample

An old couple, with every wrinkle and mole clearly depicted using the smallest brushstrokes no one could ever imagine. Each single pixel was painted with much tenderness and carefulness.
Hmm, what more could I say? For my artworks, go check out my facebook photo profile page. However, I'll be sued if this gets out to the public, so I'm just going to limit the readers and viewers to my blog readers.



Afterwards, we went to Lawsons, a convenience store where I bought my first ever bento set, which was Udon, my favourite Japanese meal! We went back to the bus and ate it like dogs cuz' we were hungry. The guide then told us that we would be heading to Mt Aso right away, and that was when my heart started beating irregularly, I was excited!

Along the way, I took a couple of pictures of the surroundings, which were mainly mountains and low grounds, it was just a spectacular sight.
Whilst everyone was sleeping soundly, I was the only one awake so I was the only one who owned these pictures of this part of the trip.

Yeah! WOOHOO..

The bus soon exited from the highway and went in the direction of Kumamoto. The city was incredible, there were trams to transport people around the streets, it was like their main form of transportation.

Kumamoto Castle from a distance

Top of Kumamoto Castle view

It was fun riding over the tram tracks as the bus continued driving through the city and finally took a right turn uphill. Within minutes, a great castle stood before us and it wasn't exactly the type of Roman castle that people normally stereotyped this word to, instead, it was an ancient castle that was built to honor a king, and was rebuilt in the 1960s to allow visitors to enter and have a good view at the top of the castle.

It was cooler up there, but we had to head back down to the ground floor for our sketching (which I lost the sketch the next day)

Anyways, there were many cosplayers up there, in samurai, and other asian superhero costumes which I can't name. I took pictures with a few and then the guide told us to go back down to the bus.

Oh yah, one perculiar sight was that we saw MGS girls there. And they were the same ones we saw at Changi Airport and also the same ones that took the same flight as us to Fukuoka, Japan. Coincidence?

So by that time, it got well... pretty dark already so we made one more pit stop before finally reaching that hotel. I think it was called the Suizenji Temple. Another scenic view which I got some really good photographs.





Sooner than enough, we were at the hotel, and it was crowded with Koreans. Some were dem chio. And at every Mountain hotel, there was always a compulsory activity to do - Visit the Hot Springs.

At first I was kinda like ew.. that's disgusting. Having to strip naked and looking at other naked man while in a small room full of hot water baths and hot springs + an outdoor hot spring was pretty scary.

Guan Chao and I in our Yukatas

Before we went to the hot spring, there was one thing I forgot to mention, which was the Japanese buffet dinner. There were not much things as Singapore buffets but the food was just as delicious. I especially liked their sashimi section and dessert section. The puddings they make are like heaven~ I ate quite a lot, so I got more plump the next day. Then we went to the mini arcade also present in the hotel and played like 5-6 rounds of air hockey.

Thereafter, we went to the hot spring. It was freaking hot at first, like I couldn't even dare to get my legs in, but soon because we went to the outdoor pool and it was so cold, that I had no choice but to enter, which soon I got used to.

In fact, it became rather enjoyable and relaxing, with all my troubles and worries evaporating through the sweat and the steam.

It was a great night and I spent the rest of the night watching others play card games. By 12 I got too tired so I went back to bed and turned on the heater for the room. (By the next day, I found myself sweating furiously in my bed)

Fukuoka Memories: Day 2

Natural alarms don't come easy. I didn't get woken up by some irritating alarm clock, neither was the sun so bright shining deep into my closed eyes. Instead, it was the crows that quacked non-stop, with a tune so melodious that it kept ringing in my ears. So I got up, took a quick morning brush and headed downstairs for another home-cooked meal, this time breakfast.

The food wasn't entirely special, just a slice of thick bread and some warm milk. I shan't elaborate further. So afterwards we took a family photo and took the car to school. I met up with the other Hwachongians and we started sharing our experiences. Some families even took their Hwachong buddies to communal baths, which was a excruciatingly fun experience for them, since everyone there had to strip naked.

The background behind me was the Kendo venue

After that came the more exciting stuff. We were taught Kendo and Judo, which we saw quite a few somersaults and flips here and there. I also had a touch on the real Katana sword. Then we took unbrellas that looked like swords and started slicing/ hitting each other, and then we were one vs one with the teacher, which obviously you'll know who will be the winner.

Then we went to another high school, which wasn't all boys, so there were girls. As we took the stairs to every new floor, classrooms of girls waved at us with smiles on their faces, and we waved back, looking rather embarrassed. So finally, we entered a art class that taught us how to paint a kind of powder-form water colour on white cemented canvases.

Here's a photo of my finished product

The lesson soon ended, and we already missed the company of the hilarious teacher and some really nice pretty Japanese school girls.

Kyushu High's baseball field

So we toured around the school a little and then boarded a bus to a shrine. Amazing enough, people boarding had to enter by the backdoor while those exiting the bus went through the front door, so it was kinda awkward.

Then it was time to get off the bus, but the ride was rather expensive. About $6 SGD maybe..
So we all kinda stalled the bus for about 6 minutes, the people got really angry so we hurried up our pace to prevent some madman from bursting off his anger.

Afterwards, we went to the Kushida Jinja Shrine and finally there wasn't any smell of incense or sights of ashes flying around. It was clean and people would perform 2 claps then pray, standing at the foot of the tall shrine.

It took roughly 10 minutes for us to enjoy the sights of ancient buildings, with tiled roofs and stone walls. So then, we headed off to a food street, which I myself went to eat some yummy curry rice with a beef patty. It was free and easy then, so I bought some items from the 100yen shop. Other than that, I decided to save up for spending in the next few days at Mt. Aso and other tourist attractions.

Night came faster than expected. By 5.30, the sky turned really dark, and street lights already had to be turned on. But other than that, the atmosphere was still the same. In fact, I think it was hotter at night than day. So we went back to the dormitory, and discovered a table tennis table and some bats in the fun room. Some Japanese students entered as well, so we kinda had a mini match of Singapore against Japan. Obviously, Japan had the upper hand due to home ground, but we had quite a few table tennis talents on our side, so the scores were even.

Then I went to deposit my laundry and headed to sleep after a tiring day. The rest stayed up past midnight to play endless rounds of card games. I guess they must have made much better friends after the 8 days of intense card games. INTENSE.

This rounds up the second day of my Fukuoka Trip, stay tuned for the next few days. Also, please anticipate my video blogs on youtube, which I will say the same things mentioned in these blog posts plus some unrevealed video footages of Fukuoka

Fukuoka Memories: Day 1

The first day, as seen in almost any camp, was the most awkward and artificial scene one could ever experience. There wasn't much interaction between the both levels - Secondary 3 and 4. There wasn't even any interaction between the levels themselves. But it was always fine since the teachers helped us break the ice, not through icebreaker games though.

So we got onto the plane and then we already had a little fuss. You see, my seat was away from the rest, so I hated it, I wanted to sit beside my buddy. But then another person would get compromised, so the conflict just got worse. Finally I got the upper hand and grabbed my seat, feeling sorry for the other. But anyways, I always had a phobia of inertia, not heights. So I always dreaded take-offs and landings. Once the plane entered the clouds, we experienced some rough turbulence. But there were much worser ones throughout the flight.

There wasn't really much to do in the plane besides the little TV in front acting as your one and only companion that could give you entertainment. I watched Despicable Me and Toy Story 3 which the sound became weird at the half-way point. The pilot did us a kind favour by turning off the lights, perfect for sleeping and watching midnight movies, maybe with some popcorn and a soda.

The meals on the plane were excellent, but we could only just expect much more in fukuoka. It was only breakfast anyways. Ok, now the plane has landed and we have met with our so called school teacher-cum-guide who brought us to this boys school. We met our buddy and then we took some of their lessons. I particularly found the English Conversational Lesson exceptionally awkward. They spoke so much and I only answered their questions with a word or two. Argh! Some teacher really needs to teach me how to tell grandmother tales.

After that was Math, and they had really cool graph softwares that included optical illusions to entice the students to favour math. But apparently it didn't work because the teacher still sucked, or perhaps it's just that I don't understand a single word of Japanese at all.

Anyway, after that came the most exciting thing - Homestay. My buddy was this really cool dude, who was sporty and he had a good body. So we went to his house and I was amazed at their technological products, especially the TV. It looked like a normal wide-screen TV that any house in Singapore would have, but their resolution quality was as if you were just looking through a window. Everything was crystal clear and uber real.

Then came the dinner, which I had to force myself to finish all of them - not because the food sucked, but because there was seriously very big servings on my plate. Using vegetables(cabbage), egg, pork and some other ingredients, they fried it on some hotplate and put the flakes, gravy and mayo on it. Something like takoyaki tako pachi. Awesomex + they also gave me some soup dishes that rocked the soul out of me. Basically you dip tofu and other small "snackfood" into this soup, and it comes out Oishi.!

Then I headed for bed, which surprisingly the room was very nice warm and cosy, unlike the weather outside cold and windy. So I had a good night's rest of about 11 hours and was pretty much very alert the next day