A really long post

It's been a long time since I last blogged, but since I won't let this blog die (just yet), i'm blogging today.

There's a lot of stuff to write about, so I'm going to be breaking this post into sections :)

 

Raffles Medical Attach

It was pretty great.

A big (belated) thanks to all the people who made my brief stay there enjoyable. Even though I didn't really get to interact with patients or work hand-in-hand with doctors (which honestly, I wouldn't have expected anyway), the experience was fulfulling and meaningful. I'm quite happy I managed to get along with the people there and enjoy my work at the same time.

A career in medicine? For now, the answer is a resounding "Yes."

 

Japan Trip

I sort of wrote down entries in my holiday Journal, so here they are:

Dec 21st, 2009

I'm conducting a monologue in my head here in the bus on the way back to Sapporo, and I've been reflecting about the many changes that I have gone through this year. One major change would be that I'm that more comfortable with myself as a person.

This is quite random, but I sort of understand how the Japanese are able to construct such beautiful music. The quiet, snowy countryside of the Rusutsu Highlands really invokes a sense of 'zen', as the Japanese call it. Such an environment invariably makes you feel more at peace, and I suppose then you might be able compose more brilliantly..

The last 4 days have been some of the best I've had this year. I've really enjoyed the skiing experience. Most notably, some highlights include zooming down the beginner slopes, warily taking on the intermediate slopes and fighting for my life on the black diamond (there's a reason for its name) slopes. Other memories include speaking in broken English/Japanese to my ski coaches. Matsuda san is a good man. He's really funny, and most importantly, he's passionate about his job and he really enjoys teaching. Apparently he's also a rugby coach in the Summer and a professor for sports at a local university. He turned 59 just yesterday, and was made a grandfather about 4 days ago. A very happy time for him indeed...

My sister also met her classmate, so we went skiing together as a group; my sister, Esther, Esther's sister, and I, while our parents mingled in the Onsens(?) of the nearby Lake Toya and Niseko. Oh and I also met Beatrice at the resort (which was somewhat of a surprise), though she left early the next day.

I'm about to arrive at Sapporo, Japan's 5th largest city. It's located somewhere in the North of Japan, at about the same lttitude as Harbin(?) in Hei Long Jiang in China. It's pretty cold, and temperatures can go as low as -15 at night. Sapporo's a vast urban sprawl that stretches out as far as the eye can see, but its buildings are arranged in a grid pattern, much like New York's, which gives it surprising 'livability'.

I'm looking forward to the stay there!

 

My next entry is on the 24th...

24th Dec, 2009

How strange it is that I should remember this date as the day one day after Avatar starts, and not as Christmas eve. It goes to show how stellar the movie really was - and I didn't even see it in 3D! Some might brand it as more environmental protection propaganda, but to me the movie had so many underlying themes other than environmental protection, e.g. colonialism, just to name one of them. Adding all this to the action packed sequences and the unbelievable special effects, the movie was simply awesome. James Cameron is a genius.

Anyway, enough about Avatar. I just got to Tokyo yesterday after a wonderful stay in Sapporo. I'm going to write about Sapporo first since I didn't really get a chance before this.

The highlight of Sapporo was probably the complex we were staying in - an amalgamation of 4 megashopping department stores, a hotel, a bus interchange, and the Mass Rapid Transport system, comprising of the Subway, the Railway, and the Airport Express. I'm really impressed by how integrated the whole thing was - I mean, it even had like a Movie Frontier. Not just any cinema, but a MOVIE FRONTIER.

Of notable mention is also Otaru, a nearby fishing port (40 mins travel by railway), where they serve up the freshest sashimi you will ever get to taste in your life. I even had ABALONE sushi! The scenery there is pretty neat too.

Enough for tonight. The holiday's been great so far.

-

 

Ok so after that I got lazy and didn't write anymore, but to summarise, Tokyo's great. Whether in terms of architecture, sightseeing, food, or fashion (!), Tokyo really never ceases to amaze.

Some of the better photos from the trip:

This post is really long, but I'm still going to lengthen it slightly.

 

Post Japan

I think the mosquitoes miss me. I've been bitten 6 times today, and 5 times yesterday. I think Japanese food makes your blood sweeter or something.

In other news, my computer CRASHED! So I've resorted to using my laptop and waiting for the computer man to come tomorrow to help me fix the problem.

I’ve wasted the last 2 days, but I've resolved to make the most out of the next 12 days, so go me!

I think this post is long enough to compensate for 2 weeks of blogging leave.

Bye now.