Busy July~

It all began when my aunt and some relatives came to Japan. They arrived in Tokyo first, and then my aunt came to my place on the first Sunday. At first, we went to Dotonbori and Osaka Castle after putting my stuff back. The thing I did forget is that she is old and prefer to visit places in the city rather than natures. But wait a minute, don't all attraction placed at least on the hills?

I took her walking to Osaka castle. She whined again that the castle is so far (even from the entrance). After that, she wanted to go to Dotonbori and I was planning to take her to some good place to eat and try Japanse foods. But when we were there she asked for salad along the way. YOU COME TO JAPAN AND ASK FOR SALAD? Ok. I think if she wants it so bad, I know where to bring her to eat salad as much as she could with steaks. I proposed to go to an all you can eat restaurant, Barbacoa. All you can eat steak and salad. But what she said: "Too expensive.". Later on, we passed through a small bar selling a small portion of salad for 780 yen, she bought it. WHERE IS THE LOGIC? GOSH...

At every subway, whenever she saw uphills, stairs, or anything that goes up, she would ask for bus, elevator, escalator. DAMN IT. I can't handle this person for too long. Tch. Then the second day we planned to go to Kobe but canceled in the morning because she prefers Kyoto. She wanted to go to Amanohashidate and Ine no Funaya which means we have to wake up early. However, in reality, I woke up at 6 and she woke up at 8. She took a good 3 hours to get ready and figures everything. She didn't plan anything at all. Only wants to go to several spots. So that noon we went to Kyoto by train and had champon for lunch.

11 July, my chain snapped. I don't know why. I was cycling to Aeon with one of my Japanese friends because I need his help to do furikomi. I think the problem is because I degrease my chain once a month with detergent. Another thing that I noticed is that my rear derailleur doesn't smoothly shift at 5th to 6th gear while the other seems fine. Duh. However, the braking power from a pair of Shimano Zee brake is superb! A buttery smooth pull on my handlebar and my bike stop without sore hands. I can't imagine the power of Shimano Saint. Can't wait to upgrade my tires and drivetrain. Oh, money...

My highschool friend came to my place. Since he will go to Milan for a master degree, he traveled across Japan after resigned from his workplace. Fun fact: We were born on the same date and month.  We met at Nara Park but I could only accompany him for one day since I have something to do on the next day. He wanted to feed the deer, but unfortunately that time the stalls had already closed. So, at the end of the day, we ate Ano ramen. There he mistook the broth to keep the soup warm as lemon tea. How funny could you be, dude?

What a hot day. This Sunday after church, 2 days before my trip to Berlin, I saw 2 mid-school girls playing in front of me. yeah, no big deal, they just pinching each other's tits. Damn it.

Then I prepared my poster for a conference in Berlin next week (23-27 July). Nothing much, but after all the effort I spent, I ended up spent only a week approx. because I have to do everything from scratch again. Got very critical reviews from the teachers, but I think it is fine and acceptable.

I with my supervisor went to Berlin via Munich. The whole flight took around 13 hours and I suffered slight jetlag in Berlin. Not a big deal. In Berlin, I went out a lot with my aunt and uncle Klaus. I tried a lot of food, from kebab, Käse Spätzle (originated from Northern Italy), The authentic Italian pizza, Wienerschnitzel vom Schwein (Vienna style Tonkatsu), Currywurst (Sausage with curry powder and ketchup), Gyros Reis Pfanne (Lamb fried rice), L'émincé de veau à la zurichoise (Zurich style roasted potato with calf meat and creamy mushroom sauce).

Brandenburger Tor and food market at night

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and some bullet marks on the wall at Berlin’s Museumsinsel

Charlottenburg PalaceKaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Chilling at the backyard of Charlottenburg Palace 

FOODS!!!

MORE FOODS!!!

Starwberry, Raspberry, and Malaga ice cream

Gendarmenmarkt

Gendarmenmarkt at night (side view)

A bad thing happened on the last day. I got frauded. 300 euro gone (40K JPY) because I was hypnotized. So I saw a bunch of people playing a where-is-the-ball game and suddenly he gave me money and told me to join. I thought there was no harm, it is their money anyway. But then he told me to step on the box of my choice and asked for more money. I should've said no and go away and return his money. But as if I was hypnotized I took out my wallet and as soon as I opened it he snatched my money from it. Lastly, they told me to open the box which of course was empty and shoved me away just like that.

Let it go. It will come back in some way. But lesson learned. Never ever take out your money in public. Never get near street magic or such. Another thing I realized is I think it is God's way to show that I can actually lose so much but I still have more and I'm not losing too much actually.

Then I went back DIRECTLY TO A MORNING CLASS (9.20AM JST) straight from Berlin. It was the longest trip I took for an attendance. Then I suffer from jetlag the whole week. I can't sleep before 3AM when I should wake up and I can't stay awake above 12PM when I should have my lunch.

Sometimes we lose something we want to keep not because we are not supposed to have that, (besides that we are stupid), but if you think in a different perspective, it might be a proof that you can actually give more than you think you can.