My trip to the Japan Embassy

Okay so I got my acceptance letter some time last month.

These days, I’ve been buried in school work that I haven’t been updating my blog much.

But here ya go!

I got my certificate of eligibility last week! 

That’s a xerox of the real thing.

The real thing was taken by the visa people.

But then my dad wanted to have a copy, I don’t know why! 

I went to the Japan embassy earlier today to apply for my student’s visa. I got there around 10 and I was out in less than 30 minutes. Lols. When I got to the waiting area, my number was already being called. So cool.

Btw, if you have a certificate of eligibility from a school in Japan, don’t forget to have these ready (in no particular order):

1. Certificate of Eligibility

2. Photocopy of number 1

3. Birth certificate from NSO issued within a year

4. Photocopy of your acceptance letter (this wasn’t in the site but they took the copy I provided anyway)

5. Passport

6. Filled out application form with 2×2 picture

7. A copy of the letter you got from your scholarship (if you have one; they asked me for mine — shrugs) 

And the guards there were SO helpful and so very friendly!

I was told to go back on Wednesday for the releasing.

Here’s to hoping I get my visa! 

Okay — so back I go to staring at my laptop and cramming for my exams!

Book Review: In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden

In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden is the story of a bittersweet romance set against the backdrop of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flod–a tragedy that cost some 2,200 lives when the South Fork Dam burst on Memorial Day weekend, 1889. The dam was the site of a gentlemen’s club that attracted some of the wealthiest industrialists of the day–Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Mellon, and Andrew Carnegie–and served as a summertime idyll for the families of the rich. In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden imagines the lives that were lived, lost, and irreparably changed by a tragedy that could have been averted.

Rating: 2/5 

With books like this, I want to have a connection with the people in the book. I want to get to know them more. It didn’t really happen to me in this book. I didn’t feel like I know the characters after reading. It felt insufficient somehow.

Although, I gotta admit — I loved the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius quotes!

Check out my 50Leaves page.

Smint Ad

From all the ads that I watched during the UP Fair, this one caught my eye:  

The girl is smoking hot!  

Pao Express

Okay. So this is just too cute to not share.

If you pull the string, the box opens like this. NYAAAAAAA. CUTE! 

Different dots mean different flavors.

Plus, they don’t have that annoying under the siopao that I always accidentally eat! 

Chinatown Adventure

The Chinatown Adventure happened this morning. Our call time was 6:30 but we got there around 6:45. The “program” started at around 8? I’m not so sure because we were at our stations by quarter to 7.

Our station was the at Ongpin Statue. The Lion Dance station.

Participants were given 5 minutes to learn and perform the lion dance.

2 people on the Lion, 1 on the drums, and 1 on the cymbals.  

 Funny Anecdote:

While there weren’t any participants on our station, we asked to be taught the Lion Dance. I was able to learn the drums. And there was this guy, who told my sister that she should try the Lion’s head. My sister refused because the Lion’s head is heavy. And then the guy said, “Di bale, malaki naman braso mo. (Ah! But you have big arms!)” To which my sister replied, “Bugbugan na lang oh! (How about some fist-fighting!)” LOLOL. Okay. Translation fail.

Anyway, it was over and all was good.

It was super worth it! Imagine: You pay a refundable 500Php (It’s just to make sure that you actually show up today), run around in Binondo and play around with stuff like Lion Dance, some other dance, eat siopao, blahblah. And then you get freebees like a Pao Express box, Robby Rabbit folder bag thing, Mug, Chinatown Adventure shirt, etc.

1st: 10k

2nd: 8k

3rd: 6k

4th: 5k

5th: 4k

6th-10th: 2k

11th-20th: 1k

21st-30th: 500

NYAHAHA. Congratulations to everyone!

I heard that there was this guy who was given 10k by a Feng Shui expert for knowing the name for the 12 hours in a day — did I get that right? Anyway, boo for the people I asked to join and refused.  

Photos at my Multiply! Check it out!