Random Thoughts by Grace

I leave in a month and 23 days!
The EAP Orientation got me super pumped. I shall keep an open mind and be willing to try new things.
Pastor John's buying my plane ticket from Tucuman to Buenos Aires sometime this week along with the rest of the Argentina team. :)
Andres said he might be able to visit Chile in December!
NATALI IS BUYING HER PLANE TICKET TO CHILE THIS WEEK!

Doko ni itara ii no?

After Grace Mao made that humungous post about where she wants to go in Chile/Argentina, it got me thinkin' about where I wanted to go in Japan.

To be honest, I haven't got a clue. I do know that I don't just want to stay in Tokyo but I want to travel around, maybe even catch a plane to Okinawa after I'm done with my quarter at ICU (Okinawa is like Japan's Hawaii). But what to do while I'm there is completely lost on me. I don't even know where to start looking. I definitely want to hit up tourist hot spots 'cause man, I gotta do it while I'm there! But at the same time, I don't really like being in the big city and stuff so I'd rather go somewhere scenic and where there aren't a bunch of tourists and stuff. Where should I start looking?

I should probably ask my Japanese lecturer or something. Hahaha. And then ask her where all the good restaurants are in Osaka, since that's her 'hood. Ahahhaa. I hope that I didn't pick up an Osaka accent from her. 8D;;

Back to the joyful world of BILD3. *barf*

Oh yeah. I keep forgetting. Word of the day!

生物学 (せいぶつがく = seibutsugaku)
Definition: Biology (as a discipline)
Example sentence: 私の専攻は生物学です。
Translation: My major is biology.

How much stuff costs Pt. 2

Police clearance letter: $39

Ooh! I found this great website to see how much everyday stuff costs in Chile and other countries, including Japan and Denmark. Sad to find out Chilean price are not that much different from US prices.

Oh well! At least I'm not in Japan! :P
Cost of stuff in Chile

Dear Japan, why are you so expensive?

I didn't think that spring quarter would be this busy. I'm taking JAPN 20C, LTWR 100, BIMM 100 (molecular biology), and BILD 3 (evolutionary & organismic biology). It sounds easy but the workload's not as light as I thought it would be for JAPN 20C and LTWR 100. D:

Anyway, I told Grace that I'd write a post like hers where she goes through all the stuff that she had to pay for so hereeee I go:

Putting the ICU application together:
* Passport sized pictures: At least $20.00 -- the first set that I took wouldn't show my shoulders when I cut them down to 4 cm x 3 cm. This also costed me an ENTIRE DAY because I kept running around to get them taken. Then I had to manually cut down the 2 in x 2 in pictures down to 4x3 cm.
* Printing and photocopying: At least $5.00
* Buttering up (to use Grace Mao jargon) the lecture who wrote my letter of rec: At least $20.00 (This is an underestimate. The card and chocolates were so expensive.)
* Sending three separate things via overnight mail: $54.00
> Total: $99.00

EAP & Japan health clearance stuff
* Blood test (to see my blood type. I'm A+): $3.59
* Urinalysis: $10.00
* Chest x-ray: $37.00
* Health history review (I think? It's just listed as Health HX Rev): $30.00
* Travel visit: $35.00
*PPD immunization (wait a minute... I didn't get this...): $9.00
> Total: $124.59

UOEAP stuff
* First payment: $450
* Extending my overseas health insurance for 30 days: $35.70
> Total: $485.70

Things I have yet to pay for:
* Hepatitis A immunization (w/SHIP): $25
* HPV immunization (w/SHIP): $62.50
* Flu: TBA ( D: )
* Oral typhoid vaccine: ?
* Cipro: ?
* Second payment: $1,158
* Final payment: ? It doesn't say how much but it says that I have it! D:
* Plane ticket: ~$1200
> Total: At least $2445.50

What the heck:
* Orientation, activities & services fee: $75
* Mandatory health insurance (I thought that this was included in our UOEAP payments, though?): $115
> Total: $190

Grand total: At least $3344.79!


This doesn't even touch how much I have to pay for boarding and food once I get there. Here's a link to the projected costs. On the table, my program's "Joint ICU/UC Fall Term," the last column. That includes the costs of everything (minus my health stuff and the silly costs that I added) that's related to the program. It projects that the program'll cost me $13,538. This is the second most expensive program on there. But the thing is that ICU is going by the quarter system while all the other universities are going by the semester system. With that in mind, my program is the most expensive. :( :( :( :( :( :(

And look at this! According to google, 100 Japanese yen = 0.9994 U.S. dollars! 100 yen = 1 USD is a rough conversion factor. It's been fluctuating a lot, though; one day, 100 yen = 1.0666 USD or something like that. Then it dropped to 0.98-somethingsomething USD the next day. -_-

Well, there you have it. And considering that I'll hopefully be traveling in Japan and buying souvenirs and stuff, I think that I'll be spending well over the projected costs. :(

As doom & gloom as this entry is, I still vouch for people studying abroad in Japan! (Even though I haven't even gone, yet. 8D;; I'm sure that there are better things to come!)


Oh! Word of the day!

お金 (おかね = okane. For you gringos, it's pronounced oh-kahn-eh)
Definition: Money
Example sentence: 今お金がありません。 (Ima okane ga arimasen.)
Translation: I'm po'

Email from Pastor Jorge

I didn't know quite where to categorize this email I received from Pastor Jorge (Hehe, another PJ!) so it shall reside on this blog. :) It is also good practice with my Spanish translation. Here goes:

Señorita Grace Wu: ¿Como estás? Recuerdo la última conversación que tuvimos en I.B.M. Tucumán y lo que me dijiste acerca de que yo nunca contesto tus e-mail y me propuse hacerlo,no niego que me cuesta mucho porque ni siquiera se escribir a máquina y estoy haciendolo por amor a una *persona*,porque yo amo mucho a las personas y vos sos una a la cual amo mucho.Me pone triste esa idea que te vayas a otro lugar que no sea Tucumán y eso NO me gusta,porque aqui somos muy celosos de nuestros amigos y no queremos compartirlos con nadie y menos con los Chilenos. Aunque me alegra que Diosa te dió esta oportunidad y yo se que hubieras preferido venir para vernos y estar con nosotros...¿verdad?
Estaremos orando para que tu tiempo allí sea muy provechoso y que Dios guie esto para que puedas aprender mas cosas que sean útiles en su obra.En verdad que vamos a extrañarte mucho,pero quiero que sepas que ni las distancias,ni el tiempo,ni ninguna cosa creada puede separar el amor que tenemos por ti.*Rom 8:38-39*
Ahora esperaré tu respuesta.Te quiero mucho....................Pastor Jorge

Traduccion: Miss Grace Wu, how are you? I remember the last conversation we had at IBM Tucuman and what you told me about how I never answer your emails and I proposed to do it. I don’t deny that it’s hard for me because and I am doing it for love for a *person* (Meeeeee?? ^_^) because I love people and you are one that I love very much. I was sad at the idea that you're going to another place that isn’t Tucuman and I DON’T like that because here, we are very jealous for our friends and we don’t want to share them with anyone, much less with Chileans. (JAJAJA, aww I love Pastor Jorge!) Still I’m glad that God gave you this opportunity and I know that you would’ve preferred to come to see us and be with us…right?

We are praying that your time there would be very profitable and that God guides that so that you can learn more things that are useful in your work [of ministry]. In reality we are going to miss you a lot, but I want you to know that neither distance, nor time, nor any created thing can separate the love that we have for you *Romans 8:38-39*

Now I will wait for your response. I love you lots…. Pastor Jorge.

@_@

I haven't written in a while, I am aware. I promised a couple of people an entry soon but I'm sorry to say that I haven't worked on it yet. I have yet to scope out places that I want to visit in Japan. I need to do a little research before that, though. I do know that I want to go to Hokkaido, while dropping by Aomori along the way.

I, too, will write a money post to let y'all know what you're getting into if you apply for my specific program. The dollar's all weaksauce now. If I were to get $2000 back in yen, I would get 203 107.545 yen back. That means that I'll be losing 30 bucks. Doesn't sound like a big deal perhaps but dang yo, I need to buy food everyday to eat. T_T I never thought that I'd say this but I miss meal points.

I've asked Mike Hasegawa & Pastor John about churches in Japan and they said that they'd ask the pastors that they know in Japan for me. :) I've tried looking around and spent an entire night listening to sermons and stuff. It's really frustrating because none of them seem to be solid. "/

And what am I doing up at this obscenely late hour? Why, I'm writing a short story. I guess that I'm more a flash fiction kinda girl but I do need to write a story that's somewhere from 2500 to 5000 words long. It's kind of painful 'cause I didn't have time to work on it until today.

So, the word of the day?

遅い。 (おそい = osoi) It means late. It can be that one's tardy but it can also mean something like late into the night.

遅くまで話を書いています。
Osoku made hanashi wo kaite imasu.
I’ve been writing a story until this late.

T_T

Oyasumi nasai~

How much stuff costs...

A lot, I'll say that.

• Plane ticket: $1253.33
• Hepatitis A immunization: $25
• Tetanus shot: $42
• Flu shot: $11
• Health clearance visit (x-rays, blood test, TB test): $91.79
• Travel clinic visit (Cipro, typhoid medication): $52.50
• Yellow fever immunization: $77
• Visa: $131
• Mailing documents: $5
• Suitcase: $50

More to come later...my wallet hurts.

Word of the day: dinero.
How to use in a sentence: Ahora no tengo dinero.
Okay, in all seriousness. In Argentina, the informal way for saying "dinero" is "plata." Hope you learned something.