Good results, but a long way to go
At night, I went to eat dinner with my friend Sena, who went to BYU-Hawaii. We ate at Coco’s, a family restaurant. The food was all right, I wish I brought a camera so I could have taken a picture of the caramel parfait because that was the best part. It was really refreshing to get out of the lab for a while and talk about Hawaii and other things.
So after a night of feeling down we finally found a plasmid that we can use to go on with the research rather than starting all over. We finally determined the sequence after some work, and after confirming the results were good it felt good. Anyway, there is a long way to go.
But enough about science, tomorrow I will go on my first date in Japan. I don’t know what it’s going to be like… but we’ll see. Stay tuned!
2007-10-24
Monday- October 22, 2007
When will plasmid construction end?
So I have been studying in the lab for a month and a half, but it seems like I haven’t progressed with my research project. I am still working on expressing the core of Qcr6. And I won’t know if it is the core portion of the protein or not until I finish with constructing the new plasmid. It has taken over a week before new colonies grew and I’m still not sure if the desired plasmid was successfully transformed or not. I guess staying in the lab until late has taken a toll on me, and it’s hard to keep a positive attitude when things aren’t going well. But, I realized that’s what research is, and when good results finally come then it’s all worth it.
So I have been studying in the lab for a month and a half, but it seems like I haven’t progressed with my research project. I am still working on expressing the core of Qcr6. And I won’t know if it is the core portion of the protein or not until I finish with constructing the new plasmid. It has taken over a week before new colonies grew and I’m still not sure if the desired plasmid was successfully transformed or not. I guess staying in the lab until late has taken a toll on me, and it’s hard to keep a positive attitude when things aren’t going well. But, I realized that’s what research is, and when good results finally come then it’s all worth it.
Sunday- October 21, 2007
It’s cold!
Today it got really cold in the evening. It’s already starting to get dark around 5:30, so I just stayed indoors after church. Anyway, church was really fun! It was nice to be back after missing it for the past two weeks. When I got there I definitely felt a different feeling from the other days of the weeks.
Today it got really cold in the evening. It’s already starting to get dark around 5:30, so I just stayed indoors after church. Anyway, church was really fun! It was nice to be back after missing it for the past two weeks. When I got there I definitely felt a different feeling from the other days of the weeks.
Saturday- October 20, 2007
Karaoke
Today was really fun as I got to go out with Sena, Chiyomi, and Dylan after a baptism at the church. We ate at an all you can eat yakiniku- Japanese bbq restaurant and then went to karaoke. It was my first time in Japan, and it was really fun. Sena and Dylan are pros. After we ate at mister donuts and talked for a while. I wished I brought my camera because it was such a fun time, but anyway I’m thankful I have such good friends in the church.
Today was really fun as I got to go out with Sena, Chiyomi, and Dylan after a baptism at the church. We ate at an all you can eat yakiniku- Japanese bbq restaurant and then went to karaoke. It was my first time in Japan, and it was really fun. Sena and Dylan are pros. After we ate at mister donuts and talked for a while. I wished I brought my camera because it was such a fun time, but anyway I’m thankful I have such good friends in the church.
Friday- October 19, 2007
Seminar
Today a professor from the University of Arizona came to talk about his work done on arabadopsis. It was in English so it was nice finally understand something completely, rather than just guessing what the person is saying. After the seminar we all went out to eat at a restaurant nearby, and it really was a fun time.
Just being with everyone is so much fun. Shiota-san, makes so many jokes and even though I don’t drink I have a great time. I really feel I am so lucky I came to professor Endo’s lab to study because he is so funny during these outings and he really is a nice guy. If it was another professor’s lab, I probably wouldn’t have had this much fun.
The restaurant we ate at after the seminar on plant biology. Even though the service wasn’t that good, we had a fun time. 
Yamano-san having fun being surrounded by the girls in the other lab. The joke of the night was that we would tell his girlfriend that he is having so much fun without her.
Today a professor from the University of Arizona came to talk about his work done on arabadopsis. It was in English so it was nice finally understand something completely, rather than just guessing what the person is saying. After the seminar we all went out to eat at a restaurant nearby, and it really was a fun time.
Just being with everyone is so much fun. Shiota-san, makes so many jokes and even though I don’t drink I have a great time. I really feel I am so lucky I came to professor Endo’s lab to study because he is so funny during these outings and he really is a nice guy. If it was another professor’s lab, I probably wouldn’t have had this much fun.
The restaurant we ate at after the seminar on plant biology. Even though the service wasn’t that good, we had a fun time. Yamano-san having fun being surrounded by the girls in the other lab. The joke of the night was that we would tell his girlfriend that he is having so much fun without her.
Thursday- October 18, 2007
Late night
On the way back home from institute, I ate kishimen for the first time at Nagoya station. It tasted like udon, but better. Anyway, institute was great, and I’ll just say I enjoyed the train ride home because I had the opportunity to talk with nice people.
After I came back to the lab at around 10 o’clock and then I stayed till about 4:30 in the morning to help my friend, Shiota, with his English presentation. It was fine because as I helped him with his English, he helps me understand the lab material further. It really is fun to be with everyone in the lab, and even though we don’t speak the same first language it’s cool that we can still communicate and have fun.
On the way back home from institute, I ate kishimen for the first time at Nagoya station. It tasted like udon, but better. Anyway, institute was great, and I’ll just say I enjoyed the train ride home because I had the opportunity to talk with nice people.
After I came back to the lab at around 10 o’clock and then I stayed till about 4:30 in the morning to help my friend, Shiota, with his English presentation. It was fine because as I helped him with his English, he helps me understand the lab material further. It really is fun to be with everyone in the lab, and even though we don’t speak the same first language it’s cool that we can still communicate and have fun.
Wednesday- October 17, 2007
Lots of Waiting
Until now, I haven’t really written about too many spiritual things. But, today I learned something new. In the lab while during experiments there was a lot of waiting in between steps. For example, I added an endonuclease to a DNA sample which takes 1 minute and then I waited 1 hour. Then I added a different endonuclease to the sample and then waited another hour. Anyway, I had something that was bothering me for some time. It was deciding what I want to do in the future. Recently, I have been seriously thinking if medical school is the thing that I want to pursue in my life. One reason for that is that I haven’t had much success with my applications yet. When I went to New York to interview I met my “competition” and it was pretty intimidating.
One of the questions I was asked in my interview was, “what do I see myself doing down the road”? I couldn’t think of a good answer. It was because I have been thinking of a back up plan to medical school. I was seriously contemplating graduate school or even just directly working after college so I don’t have to depend on my parents. So many things have been going through my head, and there was no real peace because the future is uncertain.
But today as I listened to a church general conference talk I found some relief. I heard the story of Rachel in the Old Testament. She and Jacob waited a long time before they were married and they had to wait a long time as well to have kids. They must have gone through during the waiting process. But in time, “God remembered Rachel,” she was blessed with children, and her posterity flourished. That led me to remember and feel that God is watching over me too and in time everything will work out. I then made up my mind to give my best effort to get into medical school. I put a lot of effort to getting into medical school so I could one day become a doctor and provide for a family. Now I just have to wait for the best, holding a patient and hopeful heart.
Until now, I haven’t really written about too many spiritual things. But, today I learned something new. In the lab while during experiments there was a lot of waiting in between steps. For example, I added an endonuclease to a DNA sample which takes 1 minute and then I waited 1 hour. Then I added a different endonuclease to the sample and then waited another hour. Anyway, I had something that was bothering me for some time. It was deciding what I want to do in the future. Recently, I have been seriously thinking if medical school is the thing that I want to pursue in my life. One reason for that is that I haven’t had much success with my applications yet. When I went to New York to interview I met my “competition” and it was pretty intimidating.
One of the questions I was asked in my interview was, “what do I see myself doing down the road”? I couldn’t think of a good answer. It was because I have been thinking of a back up plan to medical school. I was seriously contemplating graduate school or even just directly working after college so I don’t have to depend on my parents. So many things have been going through my head, and there was no real peace because the future is uncertain.
But today as I listened to a church general conference talk I found some relief. I heard the story of Rachel in the Old Testament. She and Jacob waited a long time before they were married and they had to wait a long time as well to have kids. They must have gone through during the waiting process. But in time, “God remembered Rachel,” she was blessed with children, and her posterity flourished. That led me to remember and feel that God is watching over me too and in time everything will work out. I then made up my mind to give my best effort to get into medical school. I put a lot of effort to getting into medical school so I could one day become a doctor and provide for a family. Now I just have to wait for the best, holding a patient and hopeful heart.
Tuesday- October 16, 2007
New books
I finished reading my first book in Japanese. The title is called, “tengoku de aetara”- if we meet in Heaven. The book was about a man who was a pro windsurfer who was diagnosed with cancer. He went to Hawaii with his family to spend the last days of his life. The book was made into a movie called “Life” that showed in Japan. The movie has my favorite actress Itoh Misaki, and that’s why I bought the book in the first place.
After finishing the book I went to the book store again to buy two other books. One is about “interviewing” which I need help with and the other is about 50 scientist that changed the way world thinks. I definitely can’t read Japanese perfectly, but it’s nice to have a new hobby
I finished reading my first book in Japanese. The title is called, “tengoku de aetara”- if we meet in Heaven. The book was about a man who was a pro windsurfer who was diagnosed with cancer. He went to Hawaii with his family to spend the last days of his life. The book was made into a movie called “Life” that showed in Japan. The movie has my favorite actress Itoh Misaki, and that’s why I bought the book in the first place.
After finishing the book I went to the book store again to buy two other books. One is about “interviewing” which I need help with and the other is about 50 scientist that changed the way world thinks. I definitely can’t read Japanese perfectly, but it’s nice to have a new hobby
Monday- October 15, 2007
Back to the lab
After sleeping for thirteen hours I woke up at 2:30 pm and finally made it out to the lab. I handed out the omiyage, I brought back with me from New York and the kids were happy. I brought back chocolates, and I love NY t-shirts for the students, and gave my professor coffee. At nigh, I went to FHE tonight because the presentations were short. It was good to get some spiritual nourishment because I missed church on Sunday.
After sleeping for thirteen hours I woke up at 2:30 pm and finally made it out to the lab. I handed out the omiyage, I brought back with me from New York and the kids were happy. I brought back chocolates, and I love NY t-shirts for the students, and gave my professor coffee. At nigh, I went to FHE tonight because the presentations were short. It was good to get some spiritual nourishment because I missed church on Sunday.
2007-10-15
Wednesday-October, 10 – Sunday- October 14, 2007
New York trip
Because of the time differences it’s too hard to put all of the New York trip in order.
Wednesday morning started off nicely. I got to ride on the “kaikyuu”- comfortable express train to Nagoya airport. Then the flight from Nagoya to Tokyo was also nice as I got moved to business class because the flight was empty. I slept on the 1 hour and 20 minute flight, and it was really nice because the seats go back all the way and there are nice Japanese features on the electronic chairs. The 12 hour flight from Tokyo to New York wasn’t so bad either because the seat next to me was open.
After arriving at JFK airport I caught the subway from the airport to Manhattan temple. Boy do I have some stories about the New York subway. After going to the temple I still had to wait for my high school friend Bobby to get off of work, so I took a nap in central park. Because I was so tired from the flight over I just crashed on the park benches. But it was safe because it was still light outside and there were lots of kids playing in the park.
I then walked down 5th avenue to meet my friend Bobby. The streets were lined with expensive shops and filled with people and there were tall buildings everywhere. It really felt like Tokyo, except for the fact that there were super tall white people instead and the streets were dirty, and every 2 second a horn was beeping. The horns weren’t a nice warning toot, it was like a 10 second, get out of the way, I’m in a hurry, blast.
At night Bobby took me out to see some of the town and we ate French fries for dinner. On the way back home I played chess on the street with a guy named Sam. At the beginning he told me just wanted a friendly match and he was no Bobby Fischer. But near the end of the match he started trash talking and said to buy some beers, come back, so he could take my money all night.
3 dollars was a small price to pay for a little fun.
Because of the time differences it’s too hard to put all of the New York trip in order.
Wednesday morning started off nicely. I got to ride on the “kaikyuu”- comfortable express train to Nagoya airport. Then the flight from Nagoya to Tokyo was also nice as I got moved to business class because the flight was empty. I slept on the 1 hour and 20 minute flight, and it was really nice because the seats go back all the way and there are nice Japanese features on the electronic chairs. The 12 hour flight from Tokyo to New York wasn’t so bad either because the seat next to me was open.
After arriving at JFK airport I caught the subway from the airport to Manhattan temple. Boy do I have some stories about the New York subway. After going to the temple I still had to wait for my high school friend Bobby to get off of work, so I took a nap in central park. Because I was so tired from the flight over I just crashed on the park benches. But it was safe because it was still light outside and there were lots of kids playing in the park.
I then walked down 5th avenue to meet my friend Bobby. The streets were lined with expensive shops and filled with people and there were tall buildings everywhere. It really felt like Tokyo, except for the fact that there were super tall white people instead and the streets were dirty, and every 2 second a horn was beeping. The horns weren’t a nice warning toot, it was like a 10 second, get out of the way, I’m in a hurry, blast.
At night Bobby took me out to see some of the town and we ate French fries for dinner. On the way back home I played chess on the street with a guy named Sam. At the beginning he told me just wanted a friendly match and he was no Bobby Fischer. But near the end of the match he started trash talking and said to buy some beers, come back, so he could take my money all night.
3 dollars was a small price to pay for a little fun.
Bobby Webster, he was the man in high school and still is. I remember all the younger girls would line up for his autograph for year book signing, and he was nice enough to write letters to each of them. We enjoyed new york fries with various dipping sauces for a light dinner snack. 
Me and Sam in the park playing chess. If you look closely, I have more of his pieces at this time, but in the end he accomplished his goal which was taking money from a tourist.
The next day I had my interview with NYU’s medical school, the purpose of my trip. The tours were nice and the campus was nice and the students there were very friendly. I was scheduled to interview at 1:30 but I didn’t start my interview until 3:00 because one of the interviewers didn’t show. If it wasn’t for another girl who was there waiting too, I would have gotten really nervous just waiting. The interview went well, but now it’s just more waiting. The intimidating thing about it was seeing the other students who were interviewing there who came from all the Ivy League schools and had already interviewed at like six top notch med schools. For me it was my first one.
After the interview the rain came down in New York. Even though I wanted to go to see the city it was raining so hard I just waited indoors until I went to the temple again in the evening.
At night I got to meet some of Bobby’s friends and we went out to a haunted house. I guess the haunted house being in New York added to the scariness of the atmosphere because I got the most scared in my life in a haunted house. People kept jumping out of everywhere and it was super dark and it was dangerous. I mean you had to climb over stuff, and because it was so dark we lost our way a few times. Anyway, it was a fun time and a good way to relax after feeling down about the interview.
On Friday I finally went out to see the city. I went to ground zero where they were re-building the world trade center. I then had lunch with my friend Carole-Anne who works at NYU. We ate Korean food and caught up on things. I then went shopping in SOHO on Broadway St. It was really fun but the shopping was a lot different because there was no mall, rather the streets were just lined with stores. After shopping for a few things to bring back to Japan, I just relaxed until the time came to meet with two other friends from high school, Tiffany and Eaton. We ate dinner at a nice place called “Peeps” and then we went to Eaton’s house to watch the UH football game. I think watching the game with people from high school that I haven’t seen in years in New York city was the highlight of the trip. We went through a lot of emotions as we saw Hawaii go down two touchdowns with minutes left in the fourth quarter before bouncing back to win in overtime over San Jose State.
Bobby, Tiff, Tiff’s boyfriend, me and Carole-Anne watching the UH football game. Eaton took the picture. 
Proof that we did watch the game. The quarterback of UH, Colt Brennan, who provided the emotional rollercoaster-ride for the night. We were all happy UH beat San Jose State in overtime.
At night we went out to the same bar we went the night before to a place called the cave with another friend from high school, Tanner. It was already past 1 o’clock and it was normal for people in New York to start going out at that time. I left early because I didn’t drink and I was a little tired.
On the way back home on the subway, the train stopped for about 35 minutes because someone passed out on the ground. I happened to be in the same car as the person. He was obviously hurt from something because he didn’t respond to anything. The cops and paramedics were called because he couldn’t get up. People kept yelling at him to get up so the train could go so they could get to work to provide food for his children as one person said. Finally after the cops arrived, the man was escorted off the train I finally made my way home.
I just realized from there how different New York subways are different from Japan’s. For one thing the subways are cleaner in Japan, absent of rats that pop out every few minutes. Also the times are known to the minute when the train will come to each stop rather than just waiting at the platform and sticking your head out to look down the track for a train.
I also had other interesting subway stories. When I was riding to NYU the morning before, the subways were really crowded. But for some reason the car I entered wasn’t that full. Five seconds after the doors closed I realized why. There was a homeless man at the end of the car that was sleeping on the seats. No one was around him because he was super stink. I mean not just a fart stink, but like diarrhea stink. I couldn’t breathe. So at the next stop I jumped into the next car with other people that made the same mistake as I did even though the next car was really crowded. Everyone in the car got to see a lot of people doing that, and when we saw someone coming in from the next car we all smiled knowing the reason.
The other evening when I was riding to the temple for some reason the stop I wanted to get off at was skipped. I later found out that someone jumped in front of the train so they had to shut that stop down. The people said that happens often.
After saying goodbye to my good friend Bobby, who let me stay at his place and took care of me the whole trip I made my way back to JFK airport. After the 13 and ½ hour flight then two hour flight back to Nagoya that got delayed, and a 1 hour train trip then 10 minute walk, I was finally back home to my dorm in Nagoya. What a nice trip to New York. I really appreciate all my friends in New York; they are all such great people. It was so good to spend time together watching the UH football game and having our home state’s team win. Even if I don’t get into NYU, this trip will always stand out in my mind.
Tuesday- October 9, 2007
Changing the experiment
In the morning I had my second class in Japanese. But, because of the trip and because it was so early in the morning, me and the rest of the lab members, even though they don’t want to admit it, feel asleep during most of it. In the evening we had our biweekly group meeting. There I showed my results and even though I thought they were good, it actually wasn’t what we were looking for. But instead, the professor came up with a new hypothesis and it’s really exciting. After one month of learning the lab techniques, now comes the fun part of finding out new stuff. The bad thing is that I only have a little time left here and I want to finish before I go back home.
In the morning I had my second class in Japanese. But, because of the trip and because it was so early in the morning, me and the rest of the lab members, even though they don’t want to admit it, feel asleep during most of it. In the evening we had our biweekly group meeting. There I showed my results and even though I thought they were good, it actually wasn’t what we were looking for. But instead, the professor came up with a new hypothesis and it’s really exciting. After one month of learning the lab techniques, now comes the fun part of finding out new stuff. The bad thing is that I only have a little time left here and I want to finish before I go back home.
2007-10-09
Monday- October 8, 2007
The return trip
On the way back we stopped at Futami Sea Paradise, a water adventure park... well just a plain aquarium, because Mie is right on the ocean. There were sea otters, penguins, weird fish, and dolphins, just your normal random sea creatures. After eating a really nice lunch I slept on the two and half hour drive back to Nagoya.
Pengunis, the big walrus, and a strange fish.
On the way back we stopped at Futami Sea Paradise, a water adventure park... well just a plain aquarium, because Mie is right on the ocean. There were sea otters, penguins, weird fish, and dolphins, just your normal random sea creatures. After eating a really nice lunch I slept on the two and half hour drive back to Nagoya.
Pengunis, the big walrus, and a strange fish.
Sunday- October 7, 2007
Lab trip to Mie-ken
Like the shirt says, some people were “up for it” and others weren’t. Mochizuki-san sleeping, and Yamano-san sporting the nonsense English shirt.
Because of the three day weekend our lab planned a trip to Mie, the prefecture west of Aichi. We gathered in the morning and had the freedom to go wherever we wanted to as long as we met up at the hotel in the evening. So our car and another car first went to eat the famous Japanese Matsuzaka-gyu (beef). In America Kobe beef is well known, but in Japan, I hear Matsuzaka beef is just as high up there. Well we didn’t eat at a super expensive restaurant that usually cost over $100 but it was still pretty good.
Matsuzaka-gyu (the red stuff) with vegetables! The restaurant was all you can eat and pretty good. I tried horumon, intestines, for the first time and it was, just like many might think, pretty disgusting.
After a nice lunch we went to Ise-jingu shrine, part of the Shinto religion. This is supposedly the most famous “shrine” (not to be confused with temple- Buddhism) in Japan because it is where the god of the first emperor resides. During the Edo period, people were supposed to make the trip to the shrine at least once in their life. It was really crowded, and though it really isn’t a touristy spot with lots of foreigners it was packed with lots of Japanese people.
Isejingu- after about a 25 minute wait in line, we came to the place to offer money and pray. The shrine is behind this and you can’t enter it. 
Tofu ice cream- oishikatta yo!
At night we met up at the hotel for a traditional Japanese dinner. It was okay, I couldn’t eat the sazae- turban shell, yeah I still don’t know what it is in English and it was pretty gross. After dinner there were skits and games. I dressed up like Billy, from Taeboe, and did a work out skit. The other students were pretty funny too!
Dinner at the hotel with all the lab members!
Like the shirt says, some people were “up for it” and others weren’t. Mochizuki-san sleeping, and Yamano-san sporting the nonsense English shirt.Because of the three day weekend our lab planned a trip to Mie, the prefecture west of Aichi. We gathered in the morning and had the freedom to go wherever we wanted to as long as we met up at the hotel in the evening. So our car and another car first went to eat the famous Japanese Matsuzaka-gyu (beef). In America Kobe beef is well known, but in Japan, I hear Matsuzaka beef is just as high up there. Well we didn’t eat at a super expensive restaurant that usually cost over $100 but it was still pretty good.
Matsuzaka-gyu (the red stuff) with vegetables! The restaurant was all you can eat and pretty good. I tried horumon, intestines, for the first time and it was, just like many might think, pretty disgusting.After a nice lunch we went to Ise-jingu shrine, part of the Shinto religion. This is supposedly the most famous “shrine” (not to be confused with temple- Buddhism) in Japan because it is where the god of the first emperor resides. During the Edo period, people were supposed to make the trip to the shrine at least once in their life. It was really crowded, and though it really isn’t a touristy spot with lots of foreigners it was packed with lots of Japanese people.
Isejingu- after about a 25 minute wait in line, we came to the place to offer money and pray. The shrine is behind this and you can’t enter it. Tofu ice cream- oishikatta yo!At night we met up at the hotel for a traditional Japanese dinner. It was okay, I couldn’t eat the sazae- turban shell, yeah I still don’t know what it is in English and it was pretty gross. After dinner there were skits and games. I dressed up like Billy, from Taeboe, and did a work out skit. The other students were pretty funny too!
Dinner at the hotel with all the lab members!
Saturday- October 6, 2007
New suit/ new haircut/ still looking bad
Today I bought a new suit and got a haircut for my interview next week. I bought the suit at Jusco, a department store, for only 10000 yen ($90). Even though I tried my best to get prepared for next week I still feel unprepared.
Today I bought a new suit and got a haircut for my interview next week. I bought the suit at Jusco, a department store, for only 10000 yen ($90). Even though I tried my best to get prepared for next week I still feel unprepared.
Friday- October 5, 2007
Hitting Up the Club at ‘Sakae’
Today was my first experience at the Japan clubs, and it was super fun!!! My friend Shiota invited me to go to a Zip-FM’s (radio station) party that was supposed to be a pretty big event. Well the club was pretty packed, and there were a lot of people dressed up. The announcer, Hattori Aiko-san, was one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen, but I was too scared to take her picture. Even though it was mostly techno music it was still pretty fun!
Club Ozone in Sakae-Nagoya, where Zip-FM’s 20th anniversary party went down at.
Missing Link. They were my favorite group of the night. 
Just a random shot of the people there. 
Me and Shiota, who invited me! He’s from Osaka so he’s pretty funny!
Today was my first experience at the Japan clubs, and it was super fun!!! My friend Shiota invited me to go to a Zip-FM’s (radio station) party that was supposed to be a pretty big event. Well the club was pretty packed, and there were a lot of people dressed up. The announcer, Hattori Aiko-san, was one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen, but I was too scared to take her picture. Even though it was mostly techno music it was still pretty fun!
Club Ozone in Sakae-Nagoya, where Zip-FM’s 20th anniversary party went down at.
Missing Link. They were my favorite group of the night. Just a random shot of the people there. Me and Shiota, who invited me! He’s from Osaka so he’s pretty funny!Thursday- October 4, 2007
Making friends at Institute
The theme of marriage prep class today was becoming friends before marriage. So today I made new friends with some nice girls!!! We’re going to play basketball.
The theme of marriage prep class today was becoming friends before marriage. So today I made new friends with some nice girls!!! We’re going to play basketball.
Wednesday- October 3, 2007
English
The other day I thanked my professor for everything that he did for me up until now like letting me study at the university and arranging convenient and cheap accommodations. So I asked him if there was anything I could do for him or for any of the members of the lab. Of course he being really nice he said to not worry about it and to just continue with the experiments and enjoy my time here. But then it finally came up that I could help with the students’ presentations they give on Mondays in English. So today I went over a presentation with a post doc that is here, Sakou-san. She taught me the science and I corrected some of her English. I finally felt like I could give back something to the students here because up until now they all helped me out so much and I couldn’t do anything in return for them. (Yeah, I know you might be thinking my English is pretty bad. But to them I'm pretty good)
The other day I thanked my professor for everything that he did for me up until now like letting me study at the university and arranging convenient and cheap accommodations. So I asked him if there was anything I could do for him or for any of the members of the lab. Of course he being really nice he said to not worry about it and to just continue with the experiments and enjoy my time here. But then it finally came up that I could help with the students’ presentations they give on Mondays in English. So today I went over a presentation with a post doc that is here, Sakou-san. She taught me the science and I corrected some of her English. I finally felt like I could give back something to the students here because up until now they all helped me out so much and I couldn’t do anything in return for them. (Yeah, I know you might be thinking my English is pretty bad. But to them I'm pretty good)
Tuesday- October 2, 2007
Class
Today, I went to my first Japanese science class. In Japan, the semesters are from April to June and then October to March. With school restarting the cafeteria and campus became more crowded. It was really interesting to learn about protein chaperones and their role in newly synthesized proteins reaching their native state. The lecture was in Japanese, but the handouts were in English and Japanese. I was happy I could understand about half of the material. But still there’s a long way to go.
Today, I went to my first Japanese science class. In Japan, the semesters are from April to June and then October to March. With school restarting the cafeteria and campus became more crowded. It was really interesting to learn about protein chaperones and their role in newly synthesized proteins reaching their native state. The lecture was in Japanese, but the handouts were in English and Japanese. I was happy I could understand about half of the material. But still there’s a long way to go.
Monday- October 1, 2007
Presentations
After two weeks of having holidays on Monday we returned to having weekly presentations at night. Four people presented their in the recent months and it lasted over four hours. Halfway through we had a 20 minute break, and thing that impressed me was that during that time the students didn’t take a break, instead they returned to their experiments.
A random picture of the lab’s bunny rabbit. The lab has several rabbits to make antibodies to be used for different experiments.
After two weeks of having holidays on Monday we returned to having weekly presentations at night. Four people presented their in the recent months and it lasted over four hours. Halfway through we had a 20 minute break, and thing that impressed me was that during that time the students didn’t take a break, instead they returned to their experiments.
A random picture of the lab’s bunny rabbit. The lab has several rabbits to make antibodies to be used for different experiments.
Sunday- September 30, 2007
Ward Conference
After a great ward conference we took a ward picture and had a nice lunch! The best part of ward conference was being able to with all the ward members who are all super nice.
Saturday- September 29, 2007
Church talent show
Because this was a church talent show, it was filled with a lot of variety. There was a rock band, karate demonstration, musical performances with traditional Japanese instruments, and even hula dancing. My favorite part is when one of the members brought their Playstation 2 to show that she could beat Tetris on the fastest level. I challenged her one-on-one and got my butt kicked. There were also quizzes between performances with freshly grown vegetables as prizes. Dinner was provided in the form of sushi and sweet potatoes.
Because this was a church talent show, it was filled with a lot of variety. There was a rock band, karate demonstration, musical performances with traditional Japanese instruments, and even hula dancing. My favorite part is when one of the members brought their Playstation 2 to show that she could beat Tetris on the fastest level. I challenged her one-on-one and got my butt kicked. There were also quizzes between performances with freshly grown vegetables as prizes. Dinner was provided in the form of sushi and sweet potatoes.
Friday- September 28, 2007
Sanma party!
No not a summer party, it’s already fall. Sanma is a Japanese fish that is in season right now. For 100 yen, less than a dollar, you can buy delicious fresh sanma at the grocery. So some of the guys in the lab decided to do so and we had a sanma barbeque. You usually think of meat and vegetables when you have a barbeque. Well we didn’t have meat, but we did have vegetables… in the form of grilled mushrooms.
Anyway, it was a pleasant evening to bbq not on the beach at a park or at a friend’s house, but the nerds we are, right between the classroom and laboratory. Yeah, after the bbq we did some more experiments.
No not a summer party, it’s already fall. Sanma is a Japanese fish that is in season right now. For 100 yen, less than a dollar, you can buy delicious fresh sanma at the grocery. So some of the guys in the lab decided to do so and we had a sanma barbeque. You usually think of meat and vegetables when you have a barbeque. Well we didn’t have meat, but we did have vegetables… in the form of grilled mushrooms.
Anyway, it was a pleasant evening to bbq not on the beach at a park or at a friend’s house, but the nerds we are, right between the classroom and laboratory. Yeah, after the bbq we did some more experiments.
Sanma! I fish for 100 yen! Surprisingly super tasty! The mushrooms on the side were all right. 
Some of the member in the lab that barbequed- a really relaxing time!
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