Ramblings

Time is flying by. My parents come in a week, we spend some time sight-seeing here, then I travel solo for a week (maybe Hokkaido, although I'm still not fully committed), and then I'm back in the US, ready (or not) for my 5th year of graduate school. I don't like the feeling that time is running out; but as I realize that I likely won't be able to finish up the project I came here to do, or as I think about only 1.5 weekends left in Tokyo, it inevitably shows its ugly head. So at least I want to try to document some glimpses of my life before it all becomes nothing but a distant memory.

I've now settled into a routine: I wake up relatively late, go to work by 9:30-10:30, stay at work till ~ 7:00, have dinner and hang out in the evenings with some of the other people who are temporarily at RIKEN (from all over the world, but not so many Japanese, unfortunatelly...). Or I ride my bike to buy some food at the grocery store. Or just stay in and read a book. Or go for a drink at a local pub. I don't feel like doing much sightseeing in the evenings anymore, and things that seemed so strangely-cutely-interestingly Japanese are not that surprising anymore. Don't people fall dead asleep in trains/subway everywhere in the world? Men don't wear purses? I'm wondering sometimes how will it feel to be back in the US. Sometimes I feel like I've been here for ages; and sometimes -- just a bit over a day. I'm guessing that's normal.

I haven't written much if anything about many short trips I've taken. Maybe it's time to start doing it. Although not sure if I'll be able to describe it better than pictures, most of which are on Flickr. (although if it surprises anyone, i'm behind on uploading those too). I wanted to have a blog to just have notes of some interesting things I see or hear, or participate in here, without necessarily maintaining the "Yesterday I did so and so" style. But time is running out, if not now, it will be never. So here's my feeble attempt at recording my life here. A few more posts will follow, with a more "did this, saw that" kind of a theme.

In many ways it feels much like summer camp. Especially recently, since I've met others who are here temporarily (some are summer students like me; others are here for 1-3 years doing postdocs). We went for sushi (kaitenzushi -- sushi that comes on a rotating belt, and you can just grab what you like from the belt or order directly from the guy making the sushi); we had Italian Food night (with delicious risotto, thank you Paolo and Giorgio!), cocktail & kimono night, a frog-searching expedition, an all-night-long-dancing event, fireworks festival, and tonight we are riding our bikes to a somewhat nearby onsen (hot springs; one the best things in Japan :) ).











I work many hours, but I seem to lack my everyday-graduate-school-related-stress. Maybe
because this is temporary and/or because it is so far away, and/or because it seems
so it's carefree. And at the same time, I'm guessing it won't be so bad to return my normal life after a 2-month-long summer camp. Hopefully, more refreshed, enthusiastic, and with some lessons learned, while at "camp."