Last Sunday, we brought Japanese university students around. Too bad it was only for a short 5 hours because I really enjoyed myself. Initially, I thought it was going to be awkward because I speak zero Japanese and I don't know much about the Japanese culture either. Was really worried that we would have no common conversation topics. But it turned out that wasn't the case. The Japanese students were really nice and friendly, and I learned quite abit about Japan. Now I'm so interested in Japan, its language and culture. Japan's definitely at the top of my list of travel destinations, no more Korea. I want to go Japan, LIKE NOW!!! =D

Anyway, after we met the Japanese students, we brought them around Parkway for awhile. The girls did some shopping, while the guys, well, I don't think the guys shopped that much. I'm not sure about the other guys who were with Kristy, Tracy and Shanmin but at least that's the case for my buddies, Hiroya and Daichi, both of whom are guys. We went to the CD shop in Borders, then to the Timezone arcade where they played this crocodile game in which the crocodiles starting coming out of their 'caves' and you're supposed to whack them. They told me that it's a very popular game among Japanese elementary students or middle-schoolers and that they also used to play it almost everyday after school when they were at that age. I was pretty surprised because in Singapore, as long as you're in your uniform, you can't enter an arcade. I guess it's different over there.

After the game, we ended up drinking Iced Chocolate in the food court. And after that, we met up with Kristy, Tracy and Shanmin who were also with their buddies, and then headed off to East Coast Park.

Alright, let the photos do the talking!











Shanmin & Kristy with the girls



The sky looked threatening






Tracy attempting a Sir Stamford Raffles but Kristy isn't letting her.



The next Sir Stamford Raffles statue after Victoria Theatre's & Boat Quay's! Hahaha. I saw in some of the Japanese students' Facebook albums that they had visited the statue while they were here. And guess what, I realized that I've never seen the statue in the entire 19 years of my life, and I call myself a Singaporean. -.- I'm such a failure as a Singaporean.



Tracy, Kaori & Nozomi








Playing Wacko!


Group photo

After East Coast Park, we each brought our buddies back to our houses. The theme for the short 5-hour tour was 'Local', so everything had to be as local as possible, not your usual tourist attractions. No Merlion, no Sentosa, no Integrated Resorts, no Universal Studios, no Orchard Road, no Zoo or Birdpark but local food like Ice Kachang, Rojak, etc, places where the locals go like Parkway, East Coast Park, hawker centres, foodcourts and the neighbourhoods, SBS bus rides and our houses for a glimpse of a typical Singaporean family life. I was pretty worried at first that it would be boring for the Japanese students, because really, there's nothing interesting about my family. I think it's just like any other family in the world. But I guess my worries were unfounded when my buddies started chatting with my parents. =)

Daichi & Hiroya with my parents


Hiroya & Daichi






Us at dinner at Siam Kitchen



Shanmin wanted to say something, but I snapped a photo before she did. Hahaha.






Me with my buddies!



Shanmin with her buddies!



From top left in clockwise: Nobu, Shanmin, Maaya & Akiko



Shanmin & Maaya



Akiko & Shanmin



Nobo & Shanmin



Me with my buddies & Shanmin's buddies



Me & Maaya



Me & Akiko



Me & Nobu



Shanmin and her buddies with her Dad!



Shanmin & Daichi



Hiroya, Daichi & Akiko



Gen, Nozomi, Satoko & Kaori. Just before they boarded the bus to their hotel.

On Tuesday, we got little gifts for the Japanese students and went to send them off at the airport.

Me, Maaya, Shanmin & Akiko



Tracy, Satoko, Kristy, Nozomi & Kaori



Me & Ryuta



Me & Gen



Vicky & Shanmin



Me & Kaori. I find Kaori so pretty!!! I think she looks like Erika Sawajiri from One Litre of Tears! =)



Kaori & Shanmin



Gen & Shanmin



Shanmin & Ryuta



Shanmin & Nozomi



Nozomi & I

The girls insisted on getting a Pandan Swiss Roll to celebrate my birthday. Aahhh, it was so embarrassing! I mean, I was really happy that the Japanese students celebrated for me, but we were supposed to send them off, not celebrate my birthday! Hahaha. Anyway, thanks so much to the Japanese students & the girls for the birthday song and all the wishes! Really appreciated them very much! And thanks Ryuta & Gen for wishing me all the best for my university interviews! ^^

Nozomi with her pandan cake






Nozomi & Ryuta






Nobu, Akiko & Maaya



Maaya & Shanmin



Akiko & Shanmin



Ryuta



Ryuta looking so surprised at the cake. =D



Nozomi



Maaya, Kristy & Akiko



Vicky!



Me & Ms Yoko



Tracy & Ms Yoko

After that, we made our way to Terminal 3. By the way, sorry about the blurred photos because I was using the Programmed mode and the shutter speed was alittle too slow.

Tracy & Onion. LOL! Don't kill me, Tracy!















This is what paparazzi shots do to us. Tracy & Shanmin were each holding a camera and taking shots at the same time. We didn't know which camera to look at!






We were both looking at different cameras












Finally, a decent photos after so many attempts. Lol.

Here are more photos from Kristy:

Kristy, Vicky, Gen & Ryuta



Kristy, Tracy & their buddies on the bus



Kaori & Tracy






Ryuta, Gen, Vicky & Kristy









Left to right: Nobu, Akiko, Vicky, Nozomi, Kristy, Maaya , Ryuta & Gen



Vicky & Kristy



Kaori, Nozomi, Maaya, Shanmin, Kristy, Akiko



Ryuta & Gen



On the bus back to Kristy's house












Kristy's & Tracy's buddies at Kristy's house for BBQ!



Setting up the fire...



Smoky!!!



Nozomi, Satoko, Kaori & Ryuta barbecuing chicken wings!



Kristy & Nozomi



Kristy & Satoko. And Kaori! =P



Kristy & Kaori



Kristy & Ryuta. Kristy's favourite photo! Hahaha.



Kristy & Gen



Vicky & Kristy



Tracy & Nozomi Shot 1. Tracy's chicken wing is covering Nozomi's face. Retake!



Tracy & Nozomi Shot 2. Better, but now with ashes from the BBQ! Lol.



Tracy & Satoko



Burning



Tracy & Kaori



Tracy & Gen



Kristy captioned this as 'Greedy Beano!' Hahaha!



Vicky eating chicken wing & Tracy



Tracy & Ryuta



Tracy & Kristy






Group photo of Kristy, Tracy, all of their buddies and oh, Beano!



On the bus from Kristy's to Parkway



Kaori, Satoko, Tracy, Nozomi & Vicky



Ryuta attempting the 'Ms Yoko stare'. LOL. Apparently the Japanese students told Kristy that Ms Yoko, one of the people in charge of their itinerary, was scary(or was it funny?) because she has this stare. Hahaha!



This is so funny!!! All 3 of them doing the Ms Yoko stare! Hahaha. =DDD



Tracy at Terminal 1's Popeyes, hard at work!



Kristy with the beautiful photoframes she decorated for the Japanese students!



And Tracy with her decorated photoframes!



Kristy's & Tracy's photoframes were so beautiful! My photoframes look so insincere next to theirs. Lol. Honestly, I can never draw like that. I gave my buddies photoframes too, but undecorated. I just don't have any artistic flair.



Shanmin with the wallet-sized photos she made for the Japanese students! My photoframes also looked so insincere next to her photos, because she photoshopped them herself and laminated them! And thanks Shanmin for giving me some of the photos to give my buddies. The story went like this, I went to the photo shop at the last minute to print the photos, only to find that the machine couldn't read the format of my photos, so I couldn't print them. Luckily, Shanmin gave me some of her photos to put into my buddies' photoframes. =)



Kristy's photoframe for Ryuta!



For Kaori!



For Gen!



For Nozomi!



For Satoko!



For Vicky!



Tracy & Ryuta



Tracy & Gen



Kristy & Gen



Kristy & Ryuta



Kristy & Nozomi



Tracy & Nozomi



Kaori & Kristy



Tracy & Kaori






Thank you guys so much for the celebration! =D



Ryuta to the rescue with his lighter! =P






Vicky & Kristy



Tracy & Vicky



Maaya, Kristy & Akiko



Ms Yoko & Kristy



Ms Yoko & Shanmin



Us at Terminal 1



In the skytrain






Kristy! =P






At Terminal 3



WAHAHAHA!!!



Kristy hugging Tracy! LOL!!! =DDD Kristy & I are so gonna get killed over this. =X












Another paparazzi shot



What was I doing?!?!?









Crowne Plaza Hotel






Tracy?!?!



回头一笑, FAIL! Hahaha.



Lol, all unprepared!



=D



In the MRT

It's been almost a week now, but I still miss the Japanese students! =(
Thank you guys so much for the wonderful time! ありがとう。^^ And may we meet again~! =D

Last Sunday, we brought Japanese university students around. Too bad it was only for a short 5 hours because I really enjoyed myself. Initially, I thought it was going to be awkward because I speak zero Japanese and I don't know much about the Japanese culture either. Was really worried that we would have no common conversation topics. But it turned out that wasn't the case. The Japanese students were really nice and friendly, and I learned quite abit about Japan. Now I'm so interested in Japan, its language and culture. Japan's definitely at the top of my list of travel destinations, no more Korea. I want to go Japan, LIKE NOW!!! =D

Anyway, after we met the Japanese students, we brought them around Parkway for awhile. The girls did some shopping, while the guys, well, I don't think the guys shopped that much. I'm not sure about the other guys who were with Kristy, Tracy and Shanmin but at least that's the case for my buddies, Hiroya and Daichi, both of whom are guys. We went to the CD shop in Borders, then to the Timezone arcade where they played this crocodile game in which the crocodiles starting coming out of their 'caves' and you're supposed to whack them. They told me that it's a very popular game among Japanese elementary students or middle-schoolers and that they also used to play it almost everyday after school when they were at that age. I was pretty surprised because in Singapore, as long as you're in your uniform, you can't enter an arcade. I guess it's different over there.

After the game, we ended up drinking Iced Chocolate in the food court. And after that, we met up with Kristy, Tracy and Shanmin who were also with their buddies, and then headed off to East Coast Park.

Alright, let the photos do the talking!











Shanmin & Kristy with the girls



The sky looked threatening






Tracy attempting a Sir Stamford Raffles but Kristy isn't letting her.



The next Sir Stamford Raffles statue after Victoria Theatre's & Boat Quay's! Hahaha. I saw in some of the Japanese students' Facebook albums that they had visited the statue while they were here. And guess what, I realized that I've never seen the statue in the entire 19 years of my life, and I call myself a Singaporean. -.- I'm such a failure as a Singaporean.



Tracy, Kaori & Nozomi








Playing Wacko!


Group photo

After East Coast Park, we each brought our buddies back to our houses. The theme for the short 5-hour tour was 'Local', so everything had to be as local as possible, not your usual tourist attractions. No Merlion, no Sentosa, no Integrated Resorts, no Universal Studios, no Orchard Road, no Zoo or Birdpark but local food like Ice Kachang, Rojak, etc, places where the locals go like Parkway, East Coast Park, hawker centres, foodcourts and the neighbourhoods, SBS bus rides and our houses for a glimpse of a typical Singaporean family life. I was pretty worried at first that it would be boring for the Japanese students, because really, there's nothing interesting about my family. I think it's just like any other family in the world. But I guess my worries were unfounded when my buddies started chatting with my parents. =)

Daichi & Hiroya with my parents


Hiroya & Daichi






Us at dinner at Siam Kitchen



Shanmin wanted to say something, but I snapped a photo before she did. Hahaha.






Me with my buddies!



Shanmin with her buddies!



From top left in clockwise: Nobu, Shanmin, Maaya & Akiko



Shanmin & Maaya



Akiko & Shanmin



Nobo & Shanmin



Me with my buddies & Shanmin's buddies



Me & Maaya



Me & Akiko



Me & Nobu



Shanmin and her buddies with her Dad!



Shanmin & Daichi



Hiroya, Daichi & Akiko



Gen, Nozomi, Satoko & Kaori. Just before they boarded the bus to their hotel.

On Tuesday, we got little gifts for the Japanese students and went to send them off at the airport.

Me, Maaya, Shanmin & Akiko



Tracy, Satoko, Kristy, Nozomi & Kaori



Me & Ryuta



Me & Gen



Vicky & Shanmin



Me & Kaori. I find Kaori so pretty!!! I think she looks like Erika Sawajiri from One Litre of Tears! =)



Kaori & Shanmin



Gen & Shanmin



Shanmin & Ryuta



Shanmin & Nozomi



Nozomi & I

The girls insisted on getting a Pandan Swiss Roll to celebrate my birthday. Aahhh, it was so embarrassing! I mean, I was really happy that the Japanese students celebrated for me, but we were supposed to send them off, not celebrate my birthday! Hahaha. Anyway, thanks so much to the Japanese students & the girls for the birthday song and all the wishes! Really appreciated them very much! And thanks Ryuta & Gen for wishing me all the best for my university interviews! ^^

Nozomi with her pandan cake






Nozomi & Ryuta






Nobu, Akiko & Maaya



Maaya & Shanmin



Akiko & Shanmin



Ryuta



Ryuta looking so surprised at the cake. =D



Nozomi



Maaya, Kristy & Akiko



Vicky!



Me & Ms Yoko



Tracy & Ms Yoko

After that, we made our way to Terminal 3. By the way, sorry about the blurred photos because I was using the Programmed mode and the shutter speed was alittle too slow.

Tracy & Onion. LOL! Don't kill me, Tracy!















This is what paparazzi shots do to us. Tracy & Shanmin were each holding a camera and taking shots at the same time. We didn't know which camera to look at!






We were both looking at different cameras












Finally, a decent photos after so many attempts. Lol.

Here are more photos from Kristy:

Kristy, Vicky, Gen & Ryuta



Kristy, Tracy & their buddies on the bus



Kaori & Tracy






Ryuta, Gen, Vicky & Kristy









Left to right: Nobu, Akiko, Vicky, Nozomi, Kristy, Maaya , Ryuta & Gen



Vicky & Kristy



Kaori, Nozomi, Maaya, Shanmin, Kristy, Akiko



Ryuta & Gen



On the bus back to Kristy's house












Kristy's & Tracy's buddies at Kristy's house for BBQ!



Setting up the fire...



Smoky!!!



Nozomi, Satoko, Kaori & Ryuta barbecuing chicken wings!



Kristy & Nozomi



Kristy & Satoko. And Kaori! =P



Kristy & Kaori



Kristy & Ryuta. Kristy's favourite photo! Hahaha.



Kristy & Gen



Vicky & Kristy



Tracy & Nozomi Shot 1. Tracy's chicken wing is covering Nozomi's face. Retake!



Tracy & Nozomi Shot 2. Better, but now with ashes from the BBQ! Lol.



Tracy & Satoko



Burning



Tracy & Kaori



Tracy & Gen



Kristy captioned this as 'Greedy Beano!' Hahaha!



Vicky eating chicken wing & Tracy



Tracy & Ryuta



Tracy & Kristy






Group photo of Kristy, Tracy, all of their buddies and oh, Beano!



On the bus from Kristy's to Parkway



Kaori, Satoko, Tracy, Nozomi & Vicky



Ryuta attempting the 'Ms Yoko stare'. LOL. Apparently the Japanese students told Kristy that Ms Yoko, one of the people in charge of their itinerary, was scary(or was it funny?) because she has this stare. Hahaha!



This is so funny!!! All 3 of them doing the Ms Yoko stare! Hahaha. =DDD



Tracy at Terminal 1's Popeyes, hard at work!



Kristy with the beautiful photoframes she decorated for the Japanese students!



And Tracy with her decorated photoframes!



Kristy's & Tracy's photoframes were so beautiful! My photoframes look so insincere next to theirs. Lol. Honestly, I can never draw like that. I gave my buddies photoframes too, but undecorated. I just don't have any artistic flair.



Shanmin with the wallet-sized photos she made for the Japanese students! My photoframes also looked so insincere next to her photos, because she photoshopped them herself and laminated them! And thanks Shanmin for giving me some of the photos to give my buddies. The story went like this, I went to the photo shop at the last minute to print the photos, only to find that the machine couldn't read the format of my photos, so I couldn't print them. Luckily, Shanmin gave me some of her photos to put into my buddies' photoframes. =)



Kristy's photoframe for Ryuta!



For Kaori!



For Gen!



For Nozomi!



For Satoko!



For Vicky!



Tracy & Ryuta



Tracy & Gen



Kristy & Gen



Kristy & Ryuta



Kristy & Nozomi



Tracy & Nozomi



Kaori & Kristy



Tracy & Kaori






Thank you guys so much for the celebration! =D



Ryuta to the rescue with his lighter! =P






Vicky & Kristy



Tracy & Vicky



Maaya, Kristy & Akiko



Ms Yoko & Kristy



Ms Yoko & Shanmin



Us at Terminal 1



In the skytrain






Kristy! =P






At Terminal 3



WAHAHAHA!!!



Kristy hugging Tracy! LOL!!! =DDD Kristy & I are so gonna get killed over this. =X












Another paparazzi shot



What was I doing?!?!?









Crowne Plaza Hotel






Tracy?!?!



回头一笑, FAIL! Hahaha.



Lol, all unprepared!



=D



In the MRT

It's been almost a week now, but I still miss the Japanese students! =(
Thank you guys so much for the wonderful time! ありがとう。^^ And may we meet again~! =D