Sunday- November 25, 2007

Farewell party
After church today we had a send-off party for two of the people in the church. They are getting married so they are graduating from the ranks of being single. I am really happy for them because they are both great people! Shougou and his fiancé Machiko. I served with Shougou on my mission. They will get married in a month in Tokyo. I’m so jealous, but so happy for them.

Saturday- November 24, 2007

Japanese study!
So the big Japanese test is next week and I have been trying to study while doing experiments in the lab. Well I took the practice test, and it wasn’t that good. Sena helped me out but I have a long way to go in one week. It’s not like a science test or a math test when I make a mistake I know what I did wrong. When I got a problem wrong I don’t know why I got it wrong and when I get a problem right and I don’t know why it’s right. Anyway, if you want to see what’s it’s like try this out.
次の（61）から（65）の言葉の使い方として最も適切なものを、それぞれの1，2，3，4から一つ選びなさい。
（６１）。相応
１．月の引力は地球の6分の1に相応する
２．この条件に相応する人は少ないだろう。
３．砂糖と相応のしょうゆを入れてください。
４．会社に貢献した人には相応の待遇を考えるべきだ。

正解は。。。（４）

Friday- November 23, 2007

The “Goukon”
Today was a Japan’s labor day, and I enjoyed a nice break from school. At night I went to a Japanese style blind date, called “goukon” or “konpa”, with my friend Oguro in the lab. I got to go because Shiota double booked dates on the same night. He chose to hang out with another girl, so I got to benefit from his mistake. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. It was interesting to experience the Japanese culture even though I didn’t drink. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was a lot of fun. We played games and just ate and drank. I heard a lot about it before and it’s pretty normal so it was good to go to at least one. Everyone said they had a good time too. Konpa- The five boys from Nagoya Univ. Two of the girls were from Nagoya and the other three from Sugiyama University.

Thursday- November 22, 2007

No Turkey, just KFC Chicken for Thanksgiving
Today after a full day in the lab I told everyone that we should do something special for Thanksgiving. I was feeling kind of down because I made a few mistakes in the lab today that made me stay later than normal. Anyway, we decided to go to KFC for dinner. It wasn’t turkey but it was still nice that everyone gathered together to eat a warm meal. KFC for dinner. Even though it wasn’t turkey it was still good. The best part of the meal was actually the fries.

Wednesday- November 21, 2007

Bad results
So for the past two weeks I’ve been trying really hard to get “good results.” In group discussion today I showed my work that I had been doing for the past two weeks. One of the gels that I thought was good wasn’t that good because I didn’t do a positive control so I couldn’t really say anything in the end. Ahhh. So now I’m just going to take things easy for a while and wait for the next experiments that are planned for next week.
I got a little sick recently because it’s so cold. Outside is cold and inside buildings are cold too, especially my apartment. Anyway, to get so fresh air I decided to play football for a few minutes with Shiota. That really helped to break a sweat and that helped me feel better.

Tuesday- November 20, 2007

Sena!
Today I ate dinner with Sena. It was really fun because we get to talk in English in Japanese. Her English is better than my Japanese but she is really patient with me. We ate at Denny’s. Yes they have Denny’s in Japan but it’s a Japanese menu. I didn’t see any grand slams on the menu. Anyway, Sena has a super stud boyfriend in Hawaii that I met before and she always gives me advice on how I can be better.

Monday- November 19, 2007

Sarubobo
Today Hayashi-san in the lab gave out omiyage- presents from trips. It is called, sarubobo, and I really enjoyed it. Today the presentations went a little long. I realized today that I should really try to study more because everyone is trying really hard, especially the professor. So tomorrow I’m really looking forward to the new experiments. Sarubobo, the edible type. This is probably my most favorite Japanese omiyage that I ate so far.

Sunday- November 18, 2007

Church
My friend Shu Rin, from school came with me to church. He’s a Chinese foreign student like me too, but he’s studying really hard right now to enter the graduate program at Nagoya. He’s really good I see him reading the scriptures in the lab. The sacrament meeting was a special one as the primary children did a fabulous presentation. It was so nice to hear their pure testimonies and song.
Today again I ate with my church friends again at night. They are so nice to make food for everyone. I realized tonight that I’m going to be back in Utah in a few months to go back to school. I was so sad that I’m realizing this right now. I have to go back to school at tests. And because I saved the hardest classes for the last semester it’s really something I’m not looking forward to. I don’t know what I want to do. Well I know I have to graduate from school but I also want to stay in Japan, but I also want to go to medical school. Because that will take sometime because I’m not getting younger I should start on that, but I also want to still play.

Saturday- November 17, 2007

Tokyo Temple
The temple was nice but because we arrived so early it was kind of hard to stay awake. It was good to see old friends from my mission that also came on that day. I saw Sato-kun who was also a missionary with me in the Tokyo North mission. He’s married now and living in Tokyo. After the temple a few of us went out to eat Mexican food and then go shopping at the foreign store.
While the ride from Nagoya to Tokyo was uncomfortable, the ride back was okay. It was fun to stop at the rest stops along the way. I also played chess on the way back home and won.

Friday- November 16, 2007

Osaka, the GRE, and the ride to Tokyo
I went to Osaka to take the GRE for graduate school. The ride there was pretty nice and it Osaka was a lot closer than I imagined. Kyoto was about a 40 minute ride and Osaka another 20 minutes or so by bullet train. I made a mistake though as I sat in the smoking car on the way there. I was so dumb because on the way back to avoid the smoking car I got a reserved ticket, but because I didn’t read the Japanese well I booked a reserved smoking seat ticket.
Anyway the test went well and I just walked around the town for about an hour looking for a restaurant that my friend suggested. I found it, but it was closed so I ate a ramen shop and it was really good. I bought small omiyage for the lab and I arrived back in Nagoya by evening.
That night I took the midnight bus to Tokyo with other church members to go to the Tokyo temple. Let me tell you there is a huge difference between the bus and shinkansen.

Tsukemen at Osaka. It’s like ramen, but you dip the noodles in the soup and eat it. If you just throw everything in the soup I guess it’s exactly like ramen. The bugga was grinds! I wanted to stay in Osaka longer but maybe next time.

Thursday- November 15, 2007

Another day in the lab!
Even though I didn’t do this today, but a few days before, I just wanted to show that the lab raises rabbits to make its own antibodies. I got to inject the antigen into the rabbits and it was kind of fun. Even though the rabbits get scared we have to hold them down. The weapons to inject the antigens so the rabbits will make antibodies that the lab uses. Yamamoto-san and Oi-san doing their thing. This rabbit was especially scared.

Wednesday- November 14, 2007

Eating at the Takeshima’s house
There’s something about eating at a house rather than an apartment. Yaya was so nice to invite me and cook dinner for me and her family. The food was really good and it was really nice to eat in a house with family. We talked about everything. Yaya told me about her time in Hawaii and her mission that she came back from. Yaya’s older brother who will also go to Nagoya University taught me about how architecture can help global warming. He also told me about SSK which stands for the three schools in Aichi-ken that the rich girls go to.
Yaya, me, and Yaya’s brother. Her mom gave me bread and a banana in the red bag so I could have energy to study. It’s such a blessing to be able to come to Nagoya and meet such nice people.

Tuesday- November 13, 2007

Miho made me dinner
My friend Miho was nice enough to make me a warm meal for me. She came after her work of cooking lunch for 700 elementary school students. She is a nutritionist and she made pasta, soup and brought fruit, well balanced, huh. It was really good and there was extra for lunch the next day. I’m so impressed with her. I found out later that she was actually sick but she still made the whole effort to make it out to Nagoya from Toyota city. A nice warm well balanced dinner made by Miho.

Monday- November 12, 2007

So Tired
Today I started remaking proteins to be used for experiments in the lab. That means I had to start from scratch and work with E. coli. When I first came to the lab it was kind of gross, but now I’m just amazed how we can manipulate bacteria to make them synthesize a certain protein that we want to evaluate. Anyway, it was a busy day so it took a lot out of me. During the Monday presentations I just fell asleep because I was so tired.

Sunday- November 11, 2007

Church!
The new missionary at church today was in my chemistry class that I was a TA for about a year ago at BYU. The world is a really small place. After church, I went to Reiko and the gangs house to eat dinner. It was a relaxing day.

Saturday- November 10, 2007

SA Conference and blessings!
Today I went to Meito for a SA (single adult) Conference. It was pretty fun! Two happy things happened. First, I met Yaya who I met in Hawaii two years ago. She just finished her mission in Hiroshima and just came back to Nagoya last week. I remembered her but she only remembered my mother. The second thing was finally getting to meet my missionary trainer, Tomoya Ohori. We played basketball in the church parking lot until it started raining and then we went to eat dinner with Madoka and Miho. We ate at the family restaurant Saizeriya and talked for like 5 hours. It was a lot of fun. Being around them makes me want to be better. I feel so thankful to be able to meet these people in Nagoya. Just another reason why I feel so lucky to be here.

Friday- November 9, 2007

Party!
After finishing up with the experiments from yesterday which produced some interesting results we had a farewell party for the secretary and a welcome party for the new secretary and a new technician. It was so fun as everyone in the lab participated. We made and ate okonomiyaki and, just talked until late a night. It was nice to see the professor and the other people in the lab in a different setting. They really all do work so hard during the week so it was nice to see them enjoying themselves.

Mizutani-san (that goofball), Fukui-san, and Matsunaga-san making the Okonomiyaki. Mine-san (new technician), Okimura-san (new secretary), and Kametani-san (old secretary) that we had the party for. Me and the gang just enjoying the party.

Thursday- November 8, 2007

So close!
Today I retried my experiment according the professor’s new suggestion. But after a day of work I still wasn’t able to finish what I set out to do. Instead of running a regular SDS-PAGE gel I had to run a Schagger gel because the protein we are investigating is small. But the Schagger gel takes about two and a half hours later than the other gel. Anyway, I ran the gel but I mislabeled one of the testubes so I had wait until the next day to rerun the gel. That’s the thing about the work we do, you can’t see it with your eye so you can’t tell if you made a mistake until after the fact.

Wednesday- November 7, 2007

Make up!
Yesterday I heard from the people in the lab that the professor was mad at me for not telling him directly the days I was going to leave to go back to Hawaii. Knowing that I was really careful what I said during the group discussion this morning. I also made sure to give him coffee and chocolates from Hawaii so he wouldn’t be that mad. Actually, he wasn’t mad at all he just told me nicely to just tell him before.
Later today, I learned that the research I am doing might not produce good results from NMR. It just takes luck, they said. I was like, if it doesn’t give good results what can we do? They responded by saying, just move on to a new project. Then I learned that these guys have been at it for years and they saw many “failures” but that’s research. But, I don’t have years I only have two months. So I just got to pray that we can get a good signal.

Tuesday- November 6, 2007

Back to Japan!
For many reasons I was so happy to come back to Japan. Seeing everyone in the lab again and even the old ladies who run the dorm made me so happy. I ate at the cafeteria and I played catch at night with the football I brought back with the other students Flying back to Japan was also a nice experience as I sat next to this lady who helped with the Japanese I was studying.
It’s not that I don’t like Hawaii or anything, but I really like it here; I’m a different person here. Maybe because I know that I will be there for only a short time I try to be my best and nicest. It’s probably the Japanese influence of being nice in public to guests and foreigners, and not so nice to people close to you. However, I just realized I should try to be like that everyday and everywhere especially at home.

Wednesday- October 31- Monday- November 5, 2007

Hawaii trip!
It was nice to go back home. It was hard to adjust to the Hawaii time because I stayed up late on the plane talking to a couple who was going to Hawaii for their first time for their honeymoon. But, after a short rest it was off to interviews, the purpose of my trip. I was still really nervous and I wasn’t prepared to answer the questions the doctors asked, but I felt good that I was just myself. One question I was asked was, “name five qualities that you think makes a successful doctor”? I named two which was having a good knowledge and compassion, but then I was like oh, no I have three more to go. But the interviewers were so nice and friendly and professional that I really enjoyed and learned from the time we spent together.
That night was Halloween and I was a bum because I didn’t celebrate, rather I just prepared for another interview the next day and the GRE chemistry test. My brother, Jon, and his girlfriend, Beth, dressed up as a missionary couple.

On Thursday I met with the dean of admissions and it was enlightening because he explained to me the exact process of how students are chosen. It was another good meeting, but the rest is up to the admission committee. After a good nap I headed out to Laie to see my friends at BYU-Hawaii. It was good to see everyone and the best thing was seeing them all studying for the tests they have. I also saw my friend from BYU, Sister Tateoka who is serving her mission at the Hawaii temple.
Friday, I studied the whole day for the GRE because I didn’t study well before. So Saturday morning I felt pretty about the test. It went okay, but I just have to wait for the results. After the test I went to play golf with my dad. It was either golf or surfing with my brother. Because I’m not the best in the water I choose what I’m comfortable with. It took the front 9 nine to warm up, but I beat my dad on the back side with 3 birdies. Still got it!!! It was a good match. At night I went to the church’s Octoberfest, but it was November. There was good food there. Then after that I went to Ala Moana to buy omiyage for the kids back in the lab.
On Sunday, I went to see my cousin’s baby’s blessing. It was good to see family there too. Everyone is having kids of their own and the family is growing. It’s such a great thing. After I went to my own church and met old friends. It’s always good to go home and see everyone. After a nice dinner cooked by my brother, it was a relaxing night spending time at home on an American-size normal bed. The drop biscuits my brother made for Sunday dinner. They were great! The view from my parent’s house. They just moved to Waialae Iki in April. Being at home was nice. There’s no place like home.

Tuesday- October 30, 2007

Last minute presents
It was good to get out of the lab at night as I got to eat with my friend Sena after she helped me to pick out omiyage for people in Hawaii. It’s always good to talk to Sena because she can speak both English and Japanese. She also gives me good advice on relationships.

Monday- October 29, 2007

Experiments are tiring
After doing experiments in for the day I feel asleep during the presentations. Doing the lab work has made me more patient because things don’t always go according to plan. I’m excited to go to back to Hawaii because it’ll be nice to have a little break.

Sunday October 28, 2007

Stake Conference
Today was the second part of stake conference. Because the stake is so large and the chapel is so small the meetings were broken up into two. Our ward went to the morning one which was nice because the rest of the day was free. I got to sing in the choir. After conference we then ate lunch back at our own church and then I just crashed for a few hours because I was so tired. Later that night Dylan invited me over to some friends’ house and we ate good food and played games. Almost everyone there could speak English. One person graduated from BYU and the other from BYU-Hawaii so it was really cool to talk about old times.
I finally had somewhere to go on a Sunday evening. Up until now I was so lonely.

Saturday- October 27, 2007

The zoooooo
Today I met up with my friend Madoka Yamasaki. We worked together on our missions in Takasaki. She just moved to Toytota city to work for the Toyota car company for five months. Yeah, what a coincidence? I thought I wouldn’t see her while I was here because she lived in Fukuoka, which is on the south island of Japan. But she just suddenly decided to change jobs and now we are less than an hour away by train. We went to Higashiyama doubutsuen (zoo) together. There we saw all types of animals and we also went to the gardens and rode the ‘Sky tower”. Even though it was raining up until we were about to leave, it really was a fun time together.

Me and Madoka in front of Higashiyama zoo, which is close to Nagoya University. The koala bear, which the zoo is famous for in Japan. In addition to your usual animals there was also a garden and amusement park which was part of the zoo.

At night we also went to stake conference together. It was such a fun and spiritual day! I feel so lucky to have these kinds of experiences to see old friends again.

Friday October 26, 2007

“Manichi o taisetsu ni suru”
Today was a late night in the lab, but then Kiyomi from church invited me over for to have katsudon at night. It was really good because it was made by his mother who is a nutritionist. We got to talk a lot and Kiyomi is pretty good because he can speak both English and Japanese. The thing that struck me when we were talking was that I should "treasure everyday" I have here in Japan. For the past month or so, I have just loved my time here. But, it has been going by so fast. So I learned I should really make the best of my time here because I know I won’t have this same type of experience later in life.

Thursday October 25, 2007

Japanese class
I went to Japanese class today for the second time. Yesterday was my first day where it was Japanese conversation class. Today it was writing class. Anyway, I sat next to this Chinese girl in the back row and I was trying to explain to her things that the teacher was talking about, like the recent news and such. But anyways, I got scolded for talking and was asked to move seats. Then later when the teacher later came around she said something to me, and I responded. Well, the normal thing to do in Japanese is say “un” which is like “yeah, I’m listening.” So, I said “un”, but in formal settings you’re suppose to say “hai” meaning “yes” instead of just making a grunting noise. So I got scolded for that too. Then next time she said something to me I said “hai, hai” or “yes, yes” like I’m really listening. But then she said say “yes” only once. Class was really quite strict, but I learned a lot.

Wednesday October 24, 2007

Fun times!
I learned a lot today from my date in Nagoya today. I learned that dates are suppose to be a time to get to know the other person more. Until now I thought dates were just for fun and to have a good time. Maybe, that’s why I never had a girlfriend all these years. I learned that I should have dressed up more and not have listened to the immature guys in my lab who said to just go normally because she probably won’t dress up. I felt really bad because she was really pretty but I was looked like a bum. We ate dinner and played Wii, and it was really fun.