No, he just stole my heart

On Tuesday this week, burglary entered our working place and stole rhinoceros's horns from the museum. Next day, three news articles cynically reported that you can freely enter the building because there is no security system! Those horns estimated to be worth about over 5,000,000 yen! The culprit seemed to a kind of mafia, traveling around the whole country to rob valuables and sell them. I noticed that last week a stranger with a beard and wearing a black jacket was checking each floor by the elevator but never entered the rooms. Several people witnessed the guy but nobody did not care about him. Therefore, we were really careless to realize any persons could get into the building and steal something even in the daytime. At this moment, an unrelated phrase came to mind, ''memento mori''.

how I can appease my furious thought..

Description of happenings so far.

1. My watch stopped due to flat battery, which had lasted for about five years.
2. I attended a faculty meeting as a deputy of my boss, in which we decided to take PhD students for us this fall.
3. I started preparing a paper of my next work.
4. I took charge of an international exchange guy who came from a local private university in Kyushu.

The event No.4 was especially ridiculous waste of time. He was exclusively dependent on me because he totally could not communicate in English. Even though he is still pretty young (20 years old) and would like to find an occupation like me, I could not find his potential. His future plan was childish and shallow based on his point of view in our field and his lack of common sense (no gratitude, no apology, overslept, and weird otaku? communication.). That recalled me what I was doing at his age. I was traveling around form Kyushu to Tokyo, wandering about for sketches, which still lively comes into my mind. After returning to Kyushu, I decided to be a professional in this field. I don't know what made me direct the way but I just got kind of energy during that journey. Certainly my plan was also obscure but was not the case like him (His attitude toward the field a bit reminded me a deceased friend, though that exchange guy rather lacked intelligence...). His innocent ignorance annoyed me and felt shame on me as well as Japanese education that cannot provide competitive ability in international circumstances. That's not a real international exchange, just wasting time and money! In the end, I complained to my boss and could not resist commenting on the level of Japanese student in that event by a questionnaire. Writing up the comment settled my confused anger, and I decided that I will never ever take such students. Damn kick em out!

in Edinburgh

Last week I had been in Edinburgh on business. The atmosphere of the city was amazingly dark-fantasy medieval town, kind of Harry potter's world. The weather changed so much every 1 or 2 hour to rain, cloudy, and clear sky. After work, we had gotten together everyday to drink wine, whiskey, and beer with fatty delicious foods. Even in weekdays, many people stayed up late, drunk with yelling and singing. We learned and exchanged many culture differences and manners, which was really another turning point in my life (a bit dramatized..). One of the funny stories occurred when we drank a toast. In Italy, people say chinchin for a toast as I am correct, but Italy guys asked me what chinchin means in Japan. So I told the meaning xxx in Japan. Fellows further asked me what awesome chinchin means, so I translated the word into Japanese 'sugoi chinchin'. Ever since, fellows were cheerfully pointing out buildings and people, saying 'sugoi! chinchin~!' during walking around the city. I could not help laughing. Possibly I guess nobody of Japanese ever have told such bad words in exchanging cultures..

proud of my home land

I recently found a very very great TV CM that is produced by JR Kyushu. The first watching made me almost cry when I was in the working place. The long version of the CM (~3 min) was the best one I saw, where over 10,000 people living in Kyushu area along the Kyushu Sinkansen line were celebrating the opening of Kyushu Sinkansen! They looks really naturally to be happy and enjoyed the celebration with their own styles; running along the footpath between the rice field, shaking many funny flags, dressing in a costume, shaking hands from homes, apartments etc. Every single faces, people, and viewing from Kyushu Shinkansen were reflecting the people's lives and their warmth or strength. That's the Kyushu! I was so encouraged and watched again and again with tears in my eyes. With the mixture of nostalgia for and being proud of Kyushu, in a little while, I wanted to go back Kyushu where I was born.

in Montreal

I had been in Montreal for almost whole the last week, meeting exciting people and topics. By talking with very motivated people day and night, I got both an encouragement and reflection. Those encounters were the greatest ones that I ever had. Our field is still worth dedicating to.
Montreal was a nice city blended with European and American culture. I was impressed people there were more friendly and sophisticated (sometimes posh) than European people. In addition, Asian people seemed to live more lively. However, there was no special highlight for the sightseeing. Maybe, this is because I went there alone..

from her voice

As someone called our workplace in the early morning, I answered the phone. She did not said her name and just 'Is Bridget here?' So, I hung on the line and looked for Bridget but she was not around. Then I replied 'Sorry, she is not here at this moment' The woman over the phone was trying to say something like 'Could I leave a message?' but still with inarticulate words. 'She will come today?' she asked. Suddenly, gradually, I started recalling her voice but still I could not confess like 'Hey, it's me!'. She still did not seem to recognize my voice. 'Well, I am not sure she..' the next moment I answered, she replied 'Hey, Crespondence, it's me Caroli!'. I just laughed with relief. Because I haven't contacted her over a year due to my stupid rule; not contacting her until my works are done. Her voice is more relaxed (not upset) than I expected as she recognized my voice. 'So, You could not recognize my voice!' she teased me. Even a long time has passed, I did not feel any hesitation and talked several topics with relaxed manner. I repeated an excuse for not getting in touch with her. She just gently said as usual 'You can contact me anytime you want' However, it's weird because she has never tried to contact me except for meaningless messages. To make matter worse, I smirked and felt refreshed after the call. Thus, talking with or seeing the beautiful is good for my work...