What-to-do on Birthdays (Headache!) neglecting the I-Need-to-Study Conscious >_>

I just got back from working+hosting a group of Japanese students from Gunma, the Kanto region, !
these students are 17-year olds, students of the Kiryu Daiichi High School.

yep. It was fun - I visited Bottle Tree Park, learnt cooking (sorta) and I got to practice my Japanese again!
hohoho. Basically, I worked as a cooking assistant @ Bottle Tree Park (Khatib) and earned
$40, for about 6-7 hours of work! seriously the money came in time to last me for Youyi's Birthday celebration and present tomorrow T.T.. another fantastic thing is that the teacher also gave us a set of canvas bags (one big one small) that she makes each! <3>

All in all, I admit I didn't do much really.. a Malay woman helped me in much of the stuffs cos I was struggling and must've lookedvery blur.. (cos I hardly cook - besides my Home Econs lessons eons ago, and the occasional helping of my maid last time!! ) tried looking smart, like I know it all in cooking but I think I failed terribly!! T.T

Anyway, my group has 6 people - Tomoaki (nickname Kyun?), Hiroki, Anima, Mizuki and Misato, three guys and two girls who are 17 years old. they all looked so cute, as usual.. through this experience, I realised how much the Japanese hate dirtiness! they are ALL very particular about hygiene, to the extent they even bring their Dettol Hand Sanitizer while cooking! abit kua zhang lah. we have soap lorh.

one of the girls, Misato, look quite angmoh sia.. which kinda reminds me of the research I did for the Ainu Indigenious people yesterday as Canoco-san e-mailed asking for my help/view on the Ainu people and their plight. it's to help out in her university admission recommendation. (Canoco-san's my Okinawa friend whom I got to know through TP Cultural Exchange!)

I spent 1/2 my night yesterday writing the reply of my view of whether Japan should change from being linguistically and culturally homogenous (single, national Japan) nation to one that is more open to multi-ethnicity..(of course I advocated the latter!) for it, I referenced from what I did for my Sociology Presentation too. LOL. and just to not let my research go to waste, for any souls who's reading this and are interested to know about the Ainu people (the discriminated Japanese race!), here's the links!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84ynu_people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=endv3PVpXFg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYEhubSOtcI&feature=related
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fourth_world/22057/3

it's quite interesting really. It makes me wanna know more about Native Americans, about other country's history, who owned this or that land before revolution/evolution/wars/invasions..etc etc etc. From my research I also found that the Japanese has Chinese gene! but I was too lazy to probe or like read the lengthy information. LOL.

anyway, back to the topic. walau!! I wish I can host tourists forever.. maybe I should be a tour guide when I retire.. earn money, touring the world while entertaining people and making friends. LOL. if only there's like an association where I can offer my help as a host. not only do I get the opportunity to meet people all over the world and learn about their language/culture etc, it's also like another form of training man (another form of training besides what CCI offers me)!! it'd push me to be thick-skinned (cos you really gotta speak up to converse with them. the students are soo shy)+ improve my public speaking and utilise my very very (kinda forgotten) limited Japanese language I picked up in Poly!! oh well.

hais. anyway I returned home quite early because the job ended early cos they started early!! =D hohoho. had my rather horrible (it's supposed to be Ramen? but too oily/spicy) lunch. watched TV, read newspaper, bummed around, neglecting my I-Need-to-Study Conscious. asked Qian Lin about the plan tomorrow. researched about Birthday Celebration ideas. we don't know what to do man. but since I was online I just did research anyway (out of point, but seriously sometimes I wish I'm the blonde woman in Criminal Minds who does research so fast, with her many computers in her dark room, to produce information at her fingertips for her colleagues - she's like the most useful character man, besides the kinda nerdy cute Genius) and I found out some relevant/hilarious cute sites:

It's Halloween and don't know/no money to dress up?
Consider dressing up as these, just for the fun of it! (I think they're good ideas really. as a joke or a conversation starter)
http://www.timeoutsingapore.com/aroundtown/feature/cheap-frills

Got the moolah? Rent these costumes!
http://mycostumecity.com/_wsn/page2.html

*** The WEARHouse! (PAssion Cardholders get discounts!)
Dress up as a Samsui woman, Indian/Malay/Japanese/Korean, a Chinese bride, a Bellydancer, Santa/Satarina, OR a Victorian woman this Halloween or for a themed party !! - IMO, the rentals are quite cheap!
http://twh.2ldenews.sg/costumeHire.aspx

Need balloons for that 21st Birthday?
http://www.creativeballoons.com.sg/walking_pet.php
(so this is where that girl got the walking dog ultra-cute balloon!!! I want one too!!)

20 Unique Things to do in Singapore ? (really? It's not very helpful)
http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_do/20_unique_things.html

Food Review/Friendster Profile (yes, a Friendster profile) of Hideout Cafe!
http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/hideout_cafe/
http://profiles.friendster.com/53632706

More about Mount Sophia !
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=20406741
http://sgpropertypress.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/creative-school-of-thought/
http://www.sinema.sg/
http://www.oldschool.sg/

Random Blog (but kinda interesting too)
http://www.theizu.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

anyway, to conclude, I suggested to Qian Lin:
1) Ice-skating (but not very appropriate?)
2) Night Safari (but not very appropriate?)
3) Visit Mount Sophia (YAY! it'd be suitable for Youyi, Amos and I guess cos we're into art/photography. don't think Qian minds though)
4) Go walkwalk/eat @ Holland Village OR Haji Lane
5) Visit Haw Par Villa? (not appropriate! HAHA)

SINGAPORE DOESN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO LAH!! =(
actually these ideas are very "for me" and not Youyi.. basically what I want to do lah HOHOHOHO. other activites that are considered but Youyi/we had already went to is visit the Settler's Cafe and Mount Faber.

woo! I just received my **PAssion Card (http://passioncard.com.sg/pa/index.html - wow so many merchants listed under PA! muah ha ha), which honestly, I didn't sign up for. Mom and Dad got it as well..so it's quite weird. in the mail there were some vouchers that came along with the card and it was for Iceskating (how appropriate!!), Kayaking, HideoutCafe (it;s @ Bedok North St 4 only!), Rollerskating, JerkThai free desert, Aangan 1-for-1 a-la-carte dinner menu!! YAY!! but darn. vouchers only make me motivated to spend more to make use of it..>_>

on another note, receiving this card also motivated me to check up on courses @ CCs! but apparently, I can't find the site for the Eunos CC -.- so I gave up. no money anyway.. don't think I'd be signing up for courses this year, LOL!