Lab and another hanami

Being in Japan again as a student is a mix of deja vu with new situations. For example, as I don't know the surroundings of where I live I get lost sometimes, like when I lived in Himeji. But on the other hand I still have some general knowledge, like using trains and the surroudings of stations like Kyoto Station. Besides, my condition as researcher implies a different routine than my exchange student period in Himeji.

Anyway, It took a while to meet my advisor and my lab. In part because it's at Katsura campus (Kyoto University has 3 "main campi" which form some sort of triangle as it takes about one hour to go from one to another. I live near Uji campus, Japanese classes and scholarship related affairs are at Yoshida campus and my lab is at Katsura campus). As it's also the most recent campus it looks new (well... it is) and well planned (except for being uphill... tiring). And I think I'll like studying here. We were dismounting some equipment other day... a set of 70 channels of speakers surrounding a chair. And did I see alot of spectrum analyzers over there? Ok, most people who read this aren't from that field, so I'm stopping here.

And last Sunday I was invited (by Carol) to a hanami event. With foreigners and Japanese at the event, it was a chance to chat and get a "social life" as a Chilean guy would say. And from the mix of Japanese and foreigners, somehow it turned into a "bad English free class". Considering that some words with very different meanings are pronouced almost the same way in "katakana-go" ("English" using only Japanese phonemes), words like bless (that may "turn into" breasts) and sentences like "clap your hands" (crap your hands) and "we pray for your election" (we play for your erection) were making people laugh to death.

But one of the philosophical sayings of the day was "Japan is the Matrix, so that if you step out of the behaviour you're supposed to follow, Agents appear out of nowhere to crush you".

Not so far from the truth, maybe...