Kinda cool...

Here's kind of like a tie-in to the previous post.

Apparently, a prison in the Philippines has been coordinating dance programs including all of their inmates for some time now.

Here's the news report on CNN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTFBy_71U1s&feature=related

And here's their rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LkqAb5Eu9g&feature=related

I think it was pretty cool, although I can't imagine something like this happening outside of the Philippines, lol...

Michael Jackson is dead?!

I'm just watching the news right now... and they're saying that Michael Jackson is dead?!
Wow! That's pretty sudden... 0_Oa

Earnings - expenses = savings

For some time now, I have been 'evaluating' which of the places I've lived in offers the best deal when it comes to monthly savings. I base my evaluation on savings instead of earnings because the cost of living also differs from one place to another.

For the purpose of comparison, I will present everything in Japanese yen (JPY). Here are the rough estimates between different currencies for your reference:

1 Philippine peso (PHP) = 2 JPY

1 US dollar (USD) = 100 JPY

1 Taiwan dollar (TWD) = 3 JPY

The average monthly pay for college graduates (rough estimates) in

the Philippines is JPY 16,000

Taiwan is JPY 54,000

Japan is JPY 180,000

The price of a coke in can (350 ml) in

the Philippines is JPY 25 (0.16% of earnings)
Taiwan is JPY 45 (0.08% of earnings)
Japan is JPY 100 (0.06% of earnings)

The price of a Big Mac meal (at McDonald's) in
the Philippines is JPY 124 (0.78% of earnings)

Taiwan is JPY 315 (0.58% of earnings)

Japan is JPY 620 (0.34% of earnings)

Anyway, the list could go on and on...

It's clear from the figures, though, that by the end of the month, people can save more money if they work and live in Japan, as opposed to living in Taiwan, and much less (or almost nothing) if they live in the Philippines.

And that's where things stand right about now, and it says a lot about the country's economy.

Apparently I'm an apartment building...

So I was googling my own name like many of us do when we have time to kill (I'm sure there are many of us out there :P). I've already tried my English name (too many results) and Chinese name (again, too many results) in the past, but this is the first time I tried googling my Japanese name (ルージェニー).

Guess what? Apparently my name is used as a name for an apartment building.

Gee, should I be flattered?

Studying abroad versus studying at one's home country

I just came back from a big event where over 400 people from many different countries came together and mingled for two days. It was interesting to find that most of the kids from non-Japanese families are fluent in both Japanese and their mother language. Many of the kids also converse in Japanese to one another and also with their parents.

Loosely related to this is the fact that I used Japanese throughout the past two days because my friends were from different countries and our common language was Japanese. That got me thinking about the debate between studying a language in the country where the language is spoken and studying it at one's home country.

Two of the most important arguments (that I can think of) supporting the study of language in the country where it is spoken is that it allows people to use/practice the language with people at the same level, for instance in the circumstance I mentioned above, wherein the only way we can communicate is by using Japanese. This is directly related to the second argument, which is the fact that there is a real need to communicate.

I really do think that such exposure is helpful for people learning a language.


Another random entry, lol

Alternative lodging

In Japan, there are several alternative options for lodging that are most probably unheard of in other countries. Here are a few that I know of:

Daily Mansion
These are fully furnished apartment type hotels. They cost almost the same as a hotel room as far as I know

Internet Cafe
Yep, you read right. Japan's Internet cafes offer individual booths, which are sometimes furnished with reclining chairs (I don't know about beds) and shared shower rooms (in addition to computers, of course, and comic books)

Capsule Hotel
These so-called "capsules" are kind of eerie. Basically you sleep in a rectangular box (with a TV!) and you clean yourself up in a shared bathroom. However, because of the lack of privacy (the "door" is made of glass), women don't usually stay in this type of... um, hotel?

I've never tried any of these though :D

Blackle

Apparently, there is a new (?) search engine out called Blackle. It is said to be more energy efficient because it is mostly black.


I'm thinking that Blackle is probably Google's retort to Microsoft's Bing, which by the way has not given me any reason to pay attention to.


Which reminds me, I worked as TA for Mathematical Programming today and my partner did not show up... O_O
That was totally scary (cuz like I mentioned, I couldn't quite follow what the teacher was teaching). Luckily, though, no one asked any questions today. Yay!

I know... totally random, haha