Lone trip to Osaka Castle

I was supposed to meet my friends at a venue near the castle. But they already left when I got there.

Oh well, at least I got to enter osaka castle. It was free for university students I just had to show my ID. Awesome...

I wonder how deep this is.

Climbed to the top and the view was rewarding.

Outside were modern buildings. That's how they mix modern structures with their cultural heritage.

Nara Trip (DeersEverywhere-Part3)

 It's just amazing how these deers are so free. No cages or fences at all.

 They seem to be so trained. But I didn't see any caretaker. They bow to people so that they will feed them.

They just look so majestic. It's my first close-encounter with these creatures.

Nara Trip (Daibutsu- Part2)

Had to pay some amount to enter this temple.

They claim they have the biggest buddha in Japan.

It's just so gigantic. Interesting background about this: the temple was burnt few centuries ago and only its head survived.

Fortunately, when we went there, there was ceremony. Someone told me that this rarely happens.

This just looks like the one from movies.

Russia, German, Australia, US, Japan, Mexico,, and PH represent!

Free entrance fee in this japanese garden for foreigners. Wieeee!

Nara Trip (Temples-Part 1)

Outside the train station, you will instantly feel a sense of Japan's history.

BING-BONG! KLENG! Different sounds  of bells from temple.

Wishes and petitions written on wood. You need to pay for the wood though. It's a little pricey for a prayer.

This is a huge statue. I bet this looks creepy during night.

Obviously, I lack literacy on the specifics of japanese history. I'm one of those tourists who simply appreciates the facades of this structures. But I think there's definitely a lot to learn about these landmarks.

Someone performing at middle of a lake.

This was the historically-ignorant tourist who roamed Nara. He looks cool though with that white plastic bag.

Spring Fest (Lifehouse)

 This is a late post. This was a time when cherry blossoms were still blooming, but i'm gonna blog it anyway.

 Bubbles soccer was fun and hilarious especially when people try to bump and trip each other.

 I remember losing the game, but seeing how people bounce was more than rewarding.

 And this was supposed to be a game of hiding the flag but it became a tree climbing competition.

 Outdoor cooking.

 Cooked some noodles and grilled some meat.

Met people from other universities, and met someone from ADMU. I noticed that there isn't much school pride, but instead a more collective national pride exists in these situations.

Frisbee Saturday

Didn't have exercise this week 'cause I needed to rest. So I decided to play frisbee with Tommy, who mentioned that he can't find anyone to practice with. 

In return I got tom yum chicken and indonesian noodles. It was a good bargain! Kidding.

There were two kids who happily played frisbee and soccer with us. I felt like a kid again, with that unceasing energy and bursts of giggles.

 Someday, I hope these kids become part of the generation will change Japan. A generation who believes in a sovereign God. I don't think that's far from impossible.

 Then tsukemen! You have do dip the noodles in the soup. Since I'm not good at chopsticks, it took me almost 2hours to eat. But even after that, I didn't finish my meal.

The intricacy of preparing Japanese dishes makes it expensive. Got free additional eggs in our meal (worth 100yen). Cool.

Spring Semester Welcome Party

 Japanese parties are unusual. They start and end very early, 5:30pm 'til 7:30pm to be exact. There wasn't any music and no program. It's a forced interaction I must say, but I guess this is better than knowing people through social media first.

 Met a lot of new people. This is me with my mexican friends. It's cool how I can understand most of their conversations since Filipino has a lot of spanish derived words.

I can't count on my hands the number of countries that are represented here. It's definitely challenging to overcome different cultural barriers. But I am hopeful that all nations will worship God someday.

Odd Poverty

Poverty is usually defined in an economic sense. If you don't have money you're poor.
But why do we need money anyway? Of course, to access basic needs like food, education, and health service.

However, I found an interesting contradiction to the conventional view of poverty. Cuba is one of the poorest nations in the world, still suffering from various sanctions. 

But Cuba is one of the countries that rank top in terms of literacy,low infant mortality rate, life expectancy, and employment.  


They beat Canada in terms of literacy, infant mortality, and employment rate. They're even better than the US in terms of overall health.

So...what now is poverty? If money is just a means to an end, should we say the Cuba is under poverty?

The Dangers of Internet

We live in a generation bombarded with information. Often overestimating the accuracy, importance, and wisdom of viral internet data.

The 12th most searched question in google is "what shall I do with my life?"(Miller, 2014). People searching the net for life's deep questions, to the point of skipping the process of contemplation itself.

"Books will promote forgetfulness; that people would be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing"

-Socrates

His line of thinking suggests that people put too much trust on information, produced by external characters [which are no part of ourselves], that it leads to the death of our critical faculties. 

We have to stop thinking that answers are always out there. We have start thinking that we have a larger role to shape and create those answers.

 

Icheo Festival

 This week is Japan's golden week. It's holiday and there are no classes for a week. Osaka University is celebrating icheo which is ginko in english. It's "our" school logo here. But I still don't know why we are celebrating because of ginko trees.

There are student booths that sell food and drinks. Somewhat reminiscent to UP fair.

I went to the fair late in the afternoon so everything was about to close. Bought this sausage at a discounted price. Around 50php, it's the cheapest I can get.

Stayed for some performances.

Most performances were acapella, like pentatonix. They were really good. I would appreciate it if UP fair have this kind of music rather than ear-shattering metallic songs.