CHIES...CHEESE

Wow.. I am back, well only for today. I had fun. Spent one week with mum and two whole weeks with sis. Enjoyed myself very much and that explains why I kinda feel bad today. My sis left for home this morning and will be reaching Malaysia soon. My life sure does feel empty when she left. The feeling of being all alone and homesick is getting on my nerves. Actually planned to go shopping but wasn't in the mood. I know that my sis and mum have to return home but 'knowing' is different from 'accepting' their absence! But this will only last for one day.. hmm, hopefully.. since I will be off for a ski trip tomorrow night. Hehe

Time to update my blog again. I am going to blog about a camp that I attended on Dec 11. It was a wonderful experience and because it was free it was even better. The camp was called CHIES (Camp in Hyogo by International Exchange Students - 兵庫県国際交流学生キャンプ）. It was a 2 days one night camp whereby international and japanese students stay together under one roof for the night.

On Dec 11, all of us have to meet at 9am. We were then divided into 6 groups and proceeded with the discussion session. On top of having fun, all of us also participated in discussion sessions. The camp was an avenue for me to brush up my Japanese and also to make new friends. It was also a great opportunity to understand and learn different cultures.

After the ice breaking and discussion session, we visited a Tanzanian art and culture exhibition. There, I took some photos of some cute painting. Very interesting painting.

Pretty yeah??!! Look at the black shadow.. hehe.. HI!!

Flamingo
Sent by the lost angel

Here, presenting to you... giraffe.

Giraffe
Sent by the lost angel

And also rhinocerous!

Rhino
Sent by the lost angel

After the art exhibition, we had lunch and visited the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution in HAT Kobe (the same place I visited 2 weeks ago!!) I had to see the same heart breaking video on the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake!. But I guess the second time wasn't so bad. At least I knew what to expect and the emotional feeling wasn't that strong anymore. But now after the strong earthquake that shocked asia last week, I think that it is even more important to visit this place.

After visiting DRI, we headed back to the seminar rooms for more discussions on Patriotism, Relationships and Culture Shock. We then headed for the basketball court to play Kin Ball. I have never heard of Kin Ball before but the game turned out to be extremely fun. Too difficult and too lazy to explain the rules of the game. But look at the size of the ball.. it is HUGE!!!

Kin Ball
Sent by the lost angel

After Kin Ball, we left HAT Kobe for the Camp venue. We arrived at Hyogo prefectural Ureshinodai lifelong education center an hour later. Dinner was... hmmm... ermm... ちょっと。

Dinner
Sent by the lost angel


Me and Kari
Sent by the lost angel

After dinner we headed back to the bedroom. Rested for a while and took the opportunity to snap more photos. I was really impressed with the room. The room is extremely huge and can fit at least 40-50 people. We had to take turns to go to the ofuro (public bath) as there is no attached bathroom.. Walked all the way to the ofuro.. damn far... damn cold... lucky I did not die from pneumonia!!!

Ji Won (Korea) and Kari (HK)
Sent by the lost angel

We then went over to the guys' quarter and had fun playing some games. Look, there were so many of us!

Soooo many people
Sent by the lost angel

We had to create a tune using tiny bells with different note.. from do re mi.... to la ti do! It was tough but fun. As it was near christmas, most groups came up with a christmas song.

Music Performance
Sent by the lost angel

Ho, ho, ho... then we had Santa... hmm, or rather a Santarina.. distributing snacks to everyone!

Santa....
Sent by the lost angel

Here is my group. Group no.2, we had to work hard together throughout the camp.

Group 2 (Jonathan-USA, Yukari-Japan, Ka-China, Kim Yu Jin-Korea, Me-M'sia, Chou-Vietnam, Suga-Japan, Aya-Japan)
Sent by the lost angel

Look, all of us sleeping on futon.. Was really tired but did not sleep well! Sigh, only managed 3 hours of sleep. Woke up extremely early and it was super duper cold. No hot water... can you imagine, brushing your teeth and washing your face using ice cold water.. the temperature at that time was below 10 degree C!!! Damn cold. Worst still we had to do morning tai chi!! Can't feel my hands after the tai chi... they were harden!!

Going to bed
Sent by the lost angel

Me... ready to go to bed!

Oyasuminasai
Sent by the lost angel

After tai chi in the cold.. we went for breakfast! Yuck... cold breakfast...

Breakfast!
Sent by the lost angel

Clay making was after breakfast. Came up with another personal masterpiece but was too lazy to take a photo. Then it was time to go for lunch... was hoping to have something nice. Look at what we had to eat!! God!! This is not curry rice!! No way... it should be named cha han (fried rice) instead!!! Again, cold lunch!!

Curry Rice??!!!
Sent by the lost angel

After lunch, we had to present our discussion. Everyone was looking forward to the finale of the camp. We went for dinner onboard a cruise. Hehehe... the best part of the camp! We had buffet dinner and it wasn't too bad but not extremely delicious too.

Onboard dinner cruise (Mizuho, Me, Kari, Korean gals)
Sent by the lost angel

We cruised around Kobe port and passed by the world strongest and some say longest bridge.. the AKASHI bridge. I tried to capture some shots but failed.. So gave up and took photos with friends instead!

Kari, Yutaka, Me
Sent by the lost angel


Me, Aya, Kari
Sent by the lost angel

One last photo of my group. We won second place... all games and presentation was taken into account and our group only managed second... But still, we were happy!!

Happy Family
Sent by the lost angel

Say CHIES... CHEESE... we had fun.. it was great except for the food!