It's been quite a while since I last updated the blog. Sorry!! :(
In the week of my birthday, I had some family visiting me, which made me pretty busy in the evenings. On the other hand, I got to taste some of the best Japanese food, served as a nine dish menu. The only thing I did not enjoy was sea-urchin (I stepped on one of them a couple of years ago, that was pretty painful). The evening after (I think it was a Friday), we were invited to the American Club Tokyo, where I had the best burger in a very long time! Seriously, it was insanely good!
On Monday, I went to see the place I lived in before, over 15 years ago. I even found the kinder garden I was at. Although I can't really remember much of my first stay in Japan (I was born there ^^), it was an interesting experience. Learning about your past is always something special. There is actually a Japanese temple with graves just behind the house where we stayed. We asked the old lady who was working there if we could enter to have a better look, and then I was told about my birthday party on the balcony when I turned three...
A very strong typhoon hit Tokyo on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. It was so severe that the trains didn't work for a few hours (which is extremely rare in Japan!). Luckily, Yokohama wasn't hit directly, and we only had rain and strong winds. So I think most of the exchange students stayed at home, as I did.
After this exciting week, the weather turned and Japan froze. Ok, I am going a bit over the line with that, but from the mild 25 degrees we had, we were down to 15. And rain and wind. Luckily, I brought enough warm jackets with me to survive the cold. Nevertheless, I somehow managed to become ill and spent time in bed with headaches and stomach pain. I actually think that the diet consisting mainly of rice and noodles is not exceedingly healthy and I guess my stomach shared this view. It is also due to the season, but I don't feel really healthy again yet.
Work is getting interesting now. I moved on from synthesis to actual catalysis, which is a totally different topic. I work with very small quantities: I have started losing patience waiting for the scales to tare out to the fifth digit... I obtained, until now, quite promising results though. Nothing that will change humanity yet, but on the way there ;) My job is to combine the photocatalyst metal complex on a zeolite, and then to measure the loaded amount and the reactivity. It's not trivial, but doable, with enough patience.
Oh and as you can see, I had a haircut. I decided that it was time to see a world free of hair in my face. Also, since I wanted to join sports clubs in November (after the official match season ends), I thought it might be useful. Getting a haircut in Japan is a nice experience, since you get a little massage after your haircut and they wash your hair before and after cutting. My lack of Japanese was disturbing though and their English wasn't too good either, so I consider myself lucky that it turned out well.
Last week on Wednesday, we visited the Life Safety Learning Center in Ikebukuro as a part of the TOJ class. Basically, it's a center that kids go through in primary school to learn about basic fire and earthquake safety. It was a great experience though, since they had a firefighting course (using water to "extinguish" burning oil! Bad idea) and an earthquake simulator we tried out. And just a few days after that, a real earthquake actually struck Japan. Strength 7.3, but in Tokyo, only a slight shaking was felt. Still, it woke me up...
So, I survived until November... I'll try to update a little more often since I know you guys are waiting for the stories :D See ya!
PS working on the Switzerland presentation... Comment any good ideas below! I'll post the presentation once it's finished.
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