Update

Waiting period Mar 11 - April... 23rd(?)
 After the earthquake came a period of angst where I waited for the travel restrictions to be lifted in my area so I could go to Japan. At that time, I was thinking a lot, I found myself constantly looking up news about the radiation levels etc. I also thought about how I didn't really have a back up plan if I didn't get to go. The only back up plan i really had was to stay in Vancouver, take a course, hang out with friends and perhaps volunteer somewhere.. But the idea of not going to Japan in the end made me sort of depressed. :P During this period I discovered reddit, more specifically reddit/r/japan. It's a pretty neat place where people post up to date links related to .. Japan.  I found out there that the travel advisories were lifted for my region, it was a great day.

Japan Co-op Training week May 2 - May 5
The week I met all of the other students going to Japan for co-op! Everyone was super nice and it was great meeting people who were all in the same situation as I was after the earthquake too. A lot of the questions I had were answered during this week. A lot of useful information was provided during this week. Some highlights include:
- the tea ceremony in the nitobe gardens at UBC - We had to kneel for the longest time, and many of us lost feeling in our legs afterwards. Women in kimonos served us tea, it was sort of bitter, looked like matcha green tea. I think I would've enjoyed it more if I wasn't sick. That way it would've tasted better (olfactory sense) instead of just tasting the bitterness of it..
- Lunch at the consulate.. general of Japan's house. We all introduced ourselves in Japanese and partially English all dressed in business attire. The lunch provided was epic, hoping to eat more of this in Japan. The house was beautiful too.

cons of the week: I was sick... Sounded like a frog the entire week,couldn't entirely taste the food during the lunch and I regret not taking any pictures. (which ultimately makes my blog a tad bit boring to read)

Today May 6th 2011
I went downtown to submit my visa application after I received my CoE on Thursday. I went downtown to the consulate's office after my eye exam and choosing my frames.. I arrived right at 12pm when the office was  closing for an hour (lunch break probably) =_= so I had to lounge around downtown for an hour.

I'll try to update more often soon otherwise I'm just prone to forget most of what happened and end up not blogging about it at all. Just that this week has been hectic and I've been feeling under the weather.

Next time I blog will probably be right before I leave or something!
またね！