Pre 3.11

Every year from February to March are the hardest times of the year. Not only is it very cold with very little sunshine and gloomy weather but it's almost the month before 3.11. This year will mark the 5 year anniversary since the earthquake in Japan and every year during this time I suffer physically and mentally the pains of the incident for an entire month. I've come to realize it's a form of PTSD and it's something that I have had to cope with no matter how many years have gone by. I suppose it's because the Japanese media start to put together feature articles and documentaries around this time of year and washes up (no pun intended)a plethora of bitter and painful memories.

It's something very hard to explain to someone unless you've experienced it yourself. Imagine the place where you grew up as a child --memories of playing in the fields, watching baseball games with family, going to buy ice cream with your uncle, fishing in the rivers with your cousin, going to the barnyard to see my aunt squeeze milk out of his cows, waiting for my uncle and cousin to bring fresh fresh from the harbor to eat for lunch -- are all one day shattered and obliterated. The place where I call my childhood home no longer exists and waves have washed away my friends, family, and memories.

Every time you remember the happy times of your childhood, it also brings up painful ones. Every time you close your eyes you can remember the tiniest details of your neighborhood and your home and then you see flashes of images of it being washed away by violent waves, and then when you open your eyes you see nothing left. You think of your family members and then you realize that they have been homeless and that they live in tiny makeshift barracks for the past 5 years. It's heartbreaking to say the least.

But I also know that there have been lots of improvements and changes being made in the last 5 years. New buildings, new initiatives, and new projects. New protocols and safety measures have also been put in place. The future is still uncertain but you do start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. One of my distant relatives, an ex-UN worker himself, has re-shifted to dedicating his life to reconstruct my city and has been an active spokesperson and NGO board member in the global community. He is actually the one that suggested to me as a child that I should work for the UN some day and he's been an inspiring model for me. He was back in Geneva for a UN conference on disaster relief and we enjoyed a brief moment on reminiscing about the good old days back home and also about the future prospects for the city and its reconstruction process.
 

He also took me out for dinner, knowing that I am a poor student desperate for Japanese food which I was incredibly grateful for. Especially because Japanese food is probably the most expensive food to eat in Switzerland (a landlocked country trying to serve seafood..... go figure)

Fusion sushi made by a Hokkaido chef: Fois-gras with sashimi sushi and mozzarella with raw scallops yum!

Yakiniku-style beef sirloin with shiitake mushrooms. Ah, my heart just melted

Japanese sesame sauce mille-feiulle

If you live overseas, you know that you crave for the most odd things. As we both have/have been living away from Japan for many years, we know what we crave for: Japanese "Financial Times" and traditional Japanese cake. Oh yes, these things are more previous than gold!

Office Life

I haven't been able to update properly because I have been so overwhelmed with work but I'm happy to say that I finally have my official contract from the UN, which means I have my very own office and desk. Before I was working in cafes and libraries around the UN grounds and also working from home but it's really good to be able to have a "proper place" at where you work.

Another thing that I have noticed is that I am not a "at-home" work person..yes I know, it sounds ideal to be working at home in your PJs and having your own schedule. But I don't know whether it's because I'm Japanese and love to work so much.... but I love waking up early, putting on my work clothes and makeup, and commuting to work. It feels like I am part of society and that my office puts me into "work mode". I suppose that I like my home to be a place to relax and my office to be a place of work and keep them separated. So I thought I've never say this..but I'm glad to be back in the office, even if it's for only for a little bit more till my contract ends.

 


This was a few weeks ago but there's always 1-2 days during the year when Geneva just gets snowed in. This was one of those days, and it looked absolutely beautiful .

Also one thing that is definitely needed in the office is a junk food drawer. Yes I can imagine you looking at me with disdain but I'm sure you have something similar as well to get through those sleepy afternoons and wake-me up moments during hard times in the office. But just FYI, I don't hog these all to myself, I do share with my colleagues as well!

Les Chemins de L'Ecole

フランスのテレビはつまらない、よくＲを始め多くのフランス人は言うのですが、私自身はフランス語の勉強には最適だと思ってほぼ毎日観ています。日本語を覚えたのも日本のテレビを見たことが大きく影響していると思うし、テレビの影響力っていい意味でも悪い意味でも偉大だなって個人的には思います。スラングから俗語そして政治経済まで幅広い課題をカバーするのはやはりテレビだけなんですよね。

そしてフランス人の考えとは裏腹におもしろい番組も多いんですよ！笑　お気に入りのフランスの番組を話し出したらキリがないんですが、その中でも特にお勧めなのがLes Chemins de l'Ecole。直訳するすと、『学校への道のり』。世界に住む子供たちがどうやって学校に行くのかを追うドキュメンタリー。あたしが育ったアメリカでは学校まではバス停留所まで両親が車で送ってもらって、そこからスクールバス、もしくは直接学校まで車の送迎通学が多いのでぶっちゃけつまらないのですが日本では徒歩も多いですよね。私も小さい頃日本の小学校に少しの間通っていたときは近所の友達が迎えにきてもらって一緒に２０-３０分歩いて集団通学したのを思い出します。帰り道は道草をして田んぼや空き地で遊んだりと田舎だったので、すごーくいい思い出もたくさんあります　＾＾

でもこの番組では今にでもおぼれそうなカヌーに乗って漕いで学校にたどり着いたり、サバンナの中を何時間も歩いて命の危険をおかしてまで学校に行かなければならない子供たちもたくさんいるということに気づかされ、学校に行き教育を受けるのが世界ではどれだけ大変でどれだけ貴重なことなか気づかされます。

私も今は学生の身で勉強が大変とか愚痴を言うことも多いですが、多くの試練を毎日乗り越えて学校に行く子供たち比べて自分はどれぐらい恵まれているか自分が恥ずかしくなります。

大学院で学んでいることが持続可能な開発なことだけあって教育の大切さについては日々学んでいますがこうして目の当たりにすると自分は今後どうやって大学院で学んだことを生かせるのだろうととても考えさせられます。

Ｎ○Ｋではアメリカのドキュメンタリー放送などは放映されていますが、ぜひこういう番組も日本でぜひ放映して欲しいですね　＾＾

It's Done!

I apologize for the lack in updates (again).
The past month has been nothing but pure work and studying.
But I'm proud to say that I am officially done with exams and papers. I have just gotten my results back from my last quarter of grad school and I've passed with flying colors; even better I got the best grades out of my other semesters which was very surprising considering I worked 30 hours and had two 8 am classes. As you can imagine it was an extremely tough semester and there were times where I wanted to break down but I'm really glad I pulled it through and I'm extremely happy with my results.

I still have the thesis left so I can't celebrate just yet, but it's a sigh of relief that I don't have to study for another test on sustainable development of renewable energy initiatives!

Now is a time of transition for me; I'm currently in limbo between working full time and still being a student. I will have to make big changes in the coming months and needless to say a lot of work needs to be done. But up till now I'm very happy and have no regrets on the steps I have taken the last 3 years. I have learned an enormous amount and I can't be more satisfied of coming to study in Geneva. I'm a bit apprehensive of what awaits next but at the same time I'm excited of where I am about to go.

I think for now I have to figure out the basics. For the past 3 years, I never really had a weekend since they were used for studying whether it was for GREs, catching up on reading, or reviewing lecture notes. So now that I have proper weekends, I'm a bit confused on what I should do. Is it bad that I spend my weekends sleeping and watching TV? Or should I be out enjoying the world? Any suggestions are welcome on weekend ideas!

Thank you for all your support, hopefully in the coming months I can keep you updated on more on my career and thesis progress (eek)

Bucolic running

I've either been really busy or it's been really cold so I haven't been able to go running so much these days (which is actually a horrible excuse as a runner) but sometimes it's really nice to be outside and enjoy the fresh cool breeze and feeling my body soar as I increase my speed. I've ran in many different countries but Switzerland by far has the best air quality; you can just feel your lungs fill with fresh clean air and that in itself makes you a bit high. You also realize that you're in the middle of farm country; just 10 minutes away from my dorms are fields and fields of grape vines, cows, and....yes, sheep!