Neglected Blog

I have somewhat neglected this blog.. I still have about 7 draft of entries, pero di ko pa ma-publish coz I haven’t uploaded the pictures yet. And since nasira yung modem namin sa apato leaving us “net-less”, it gave me another reason not to upload the pictures. (Another reason is laziness ). Anyways, the next few (or should I say several) entries would be about hanami and other things that I did and experienced. But before I go to “flashback” again, I’ll give you a brief update on what’s going on with me.

1. Uuwi na si Arthur sa May 31. Arthur is my only Filipino officemate here. He’s going back to the Philippines, malilipat daw sya ng project.

2. Menchie will arrive here at June 13. Since uuwi si Arthur, he will be replaced by Menchie. Another officemate from JPI. Di pa kami nag-meet. Batch 12 kasi sya, but I’m looking forward sa pagdating nya dito.

3. Started Nihongo class. I enrolled at Aichi Kokusai Senta- (Aichi International Center or AIC). It’s cheap and the subject is basic conversation. Though sobrang basic nung tinuturo, at least meron akong mga new found friends.

4. Got a new celphone. Before I enrolled at AIC, I decided to get a cellphone. Para naman pag meron akong new friends, meron akong mabibigay na contact info. hehehe.

5. AJAX. I’m trying to understand AJAX now. And since it’s a combination of several other languages, mejo iniintindi ko pa. I admit, I’m not really into web programming, so mejo marami-rami yung aaralin ko. But anyhow, I know na matututunan ko din ito. Ganbarimasu! I guess yan na yung mga nangyayari sa akin recently. I’m hoping na gumaling na ako sa Nihongo, para naman magkaron pa ako ng mas maraming friends. And para mas maging okay ako sa work.

Gimik With The Senseis!

I got an email from Sato sensei March 2005. Hata sensei was here and she’s also going here to meet him. And she’s asking us if we want to meet them too. Of course we want to!

So we decided to meet them at Kanayama station at 5pm. Hata sensei was the first one to arrive. Well, the nihon-jins are really prompt and they really value time. Let’s just say that an ordinary nihon-jin arrives 10-30 minutes earlier the apointment time. And we arrived there around 5.15pm (we’re not able to catch the train going to Nagoya. And the next train was 30mins after.) So Hata sensei could have been waiting for more than 30 minutes. When we reached Kanayama, Sato sensei was still not there. Itsumo osoi ne. I think working in the Philippines is not doing any good to Sato sensei. hehehe.. She already acquired the Filipino time (which is, most of the time, late..) Anyways, after about 10minutes, she arrived there.

Hata sensei brought us to a restaurant near Kanayama station. There we ate tebasaki. That’s a Nagoya delicacy. It’s the wings part of a chicken. It’s breaded in sesame seeds and I think it was deep fried. It’s spicy and very delicious. We had two large plates of that. Ang dami pero masarap talaga! Also, we have some potato balls with cheese filling and some dimsum (i think) and a pork dish (parang adobo na manamis-namis). Sarap! And what’s more, Hata sensei paid for the meal. hehehe. That’s the best part of it!

From there, we took a cab and went to a Korean restaurant. It’s a small shop and I think the owner is a friend of Hata sensei. So we went there and ate some kimchi and had yakiniku. Everyone was already drunk (except for me and Asa). Coy was already loud and Sato sensei (who’s always loud) was a little quiet and her face was already red and her eyes watery. Malamang inaantok na sya or nahihilo na. hehehe.. Hata sensei was also red. We left around 9.30pm and Hata sensei also paid for that. Ang yaman ni lolo! hehehe.. Thanks Hata sensei!

We took another cab going to Kanayama station. And since Sato sensei was still drunk and she’s alone, we decided to have some coffee first in Starbucks. Unfortunately, we were just there for about 15 minutes because they’re already closing. hehehe.. But anyways, she called her friends and asked them to meet her somewhere. So when we’re assured that she can take the subway to meet her friends, we see her off the subway station and then we went home.

We had a great time! And that kind of experience was really unforgettable. The food was great, the ambience was okay and the company was fun! I get to speak Nihongo, and I also get to understand and follow the conversation of Hata sensei and Sato. And don’t forget, I had my first taxi ride in Japan!! hehehe.. It’s quite expensive, actually. The flag down rate is 600 yen. And I can’t remember the rate per mile or meter or whatever. All that I remember was that it’s really expensive. Kaya subway na lang ako. 😛

Welcome Party

Our team (Java-team) welcomed us last February 17. It was held in a yakiniku near our office.It was really fun. hehehe.. And it’s our first time to eat at a yakiniku restaurant. BBQhan, Japanese style. hehehe.. Cooking meat was fun, eating was also fun, and hanging out with Japanese officemates was also fun. Hehehe..

Also, that was my first time to drink nihon-shu (Japanese sake), atsukan. This mean that it’s heated before you drink it, “hot sake”. Before I drank it, I smelled it first. And my God, it really has a very strong smell. It’s like smelling Ethyl alcohol. Just by smelling it, I felt that it went to my stomach. hehehe.. Naging acidic agad e. hahaha… Anyways, it’s not that strong when you drink it. But after a while, I think I felt a little dizzy and Minoda-san said that I was a little red. hehehe.. Di pa naman ako lasing, tipsy lang siguro. And I still know what’s going on.

It’s really fun going out with them. I get to learn new words (maji or majide, from Yano-san), and also a joke from Uchida san. hahaha.. “Yoruna noni, ASA!”. This means that even if it’s already night (yoru), it’s still morning (Asa). Maybe the literal translation of this one would be “Night but Morning”. This was somewhat funny cause the Japanese for Arthur’s name is A-Sa-, but we call him Asa. So the jokes on Asa. hahahaha..

That night was fun… Sana merong kasunod! (*_*)

Home Alone At Christmas Time

I know that this is very late.. But here goes….

Well, not actually alone.. I spent Christmas with an officemate here. Just the two of us.

December 23. It’s a national holiday in Japan, the birthday of Emperor Akihito. It’s also the birthday of Murase Denki’s shacho, Murase san. Eventhough it’s a national holiday, we still have office. It was not a holiday in Murase Denki. Neither a prime overtime. Zannen… Anyways, it’s better this way than to spend time at home. In this way, time passes faster. And besides, Melanie would spend the night at my apartment.

At about 6pm, me and Arthur went to Aeon mall. We had dinner and just windowshopped. Then we also did our grocery since the next day was already Christmas Eve. Then around 8.30pm, we went to Ogawa station to wait for Melanie. I really missed Melanie! The last time that we saw each other was November 2003, I think. More than 2 years! So we talked and talked. hehehe.. I finally let her sleep at 1.30am since she would be going to her cousin in Nagoya around 10am.

In the morning, I did my usual chores. Laundry. Clean the apartment. Cook breakfast. At about 10am, I accompanied Melanie to Ogawa station. Sayang wala kaming pictures. But anyways, maybe when I see her again we will have loads of pictures. hehehe.. When I went back to my apartment, I continued cleaning the house and my laundry.

After finishing all the chores, I just watched some videos (Friends Season 2, i think). Then at 5pm, we went to Sunkus (a convenience store nearby) to get the friend chicken and cake that we ordered 2 weeks before. After that, we went back to our apartment and went to the office. Since we also do not have any telephone connection, we went to the office to call our families and friends in Manila.

We went home at about 8.30pm. Then we prepared our noche buena. We cooked spaghetti (actually, not really cooked. We just re-heated a ready made pasta sauce. And the noodles was a quick-cook noodles. hehehe..). We also made hot choco, thanks to the chocolate tablets that I brought from home. Then we prepared the table and took pictures.

After the photo-shoot, we ate our “birthday” feast and then watch “Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers”. This was the Extended Version so it is very long.

My family greeted me “Merry Christmas” in YM at the struck of midnight. hehehe.. of course, i told them to turn on their webcam so I can see the kids as they open their christmas presents. We talked a little and then they went to sleep at about 1am (2am here in Japan). Since LOTR was also finished by the time I finished talking to them, I also went to sleep.

In the morning, we went to Sakae to attend mass. After the mass, we just strolled and walked and window-shopped. Taking pictures and making some mental notes on the things that I would buy in the future. hehehe.. After several hours of walking, we finally went back to Ogawa.

I can’t say that it was my best Christmas ever. But it was not that bad either. Hmm.. I can say that it is so-so. But I do wish that I spent it with my family and people I know and love. I know that the next Christmas would be different. And I do hope and pray that I spend it with the people that I value and love most. (^_^)

bounen kai

In the Philippines, we have Christmas parties. And in Japan, they have “bounen kai”. Both are parties but they have different reasons of partying. As for us Filipinos, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But for Japanese, majority of which are not Christians, they celebrate to “forget the past businesses and look forward for the next year”.

We had our bounen kai in Japan last December 9. It was held in a restaurant near our office. It’s our first time so we’re really excited. I was seated among Japanese guys (including my supervisor, Hirata-san). There were so many food and the liquor was overflowing. Arthur and Minoda-chan were seated together, and there’s about 2-3 people between us.

One of the food that was served was sashimi. In the plate, there’s salmon and tuna (i think). There’s also fugu. Fugu is the Japanese term for blowfish. And if you’re not that familiar with blowfish, it is a poisonous fish. In Japan, a chef should have a license first before he can serve blowsifh. If the blowfish is not properly served/prepared, one bite of fugu could kill anyone who eat it. It’s like an adventure while eating! hehehe.. Anyways, before I began eating sashimi, Hirata-san asked me if I want to eat fugu. I said, yes. I wouldn’t pass that kind experience ’cause fugu is really, really expensive.

The games were also quite interesting. There’s Bingo and another was Janken. “Janken” is the Japanese term for “Jack and Poy” or “Bato-bato-pik” in Tagalog. But this is not that ordinary. Everyone prepared 100 yen. Then everyone would pick a partner and play. The winner would get the 100 yen of the loser. And then, the winner would find another partner and play again. We’re more than 50 persons in the room. I’m really not sure how many we were. But we’re many. Those people who lost but still wants to join the game, they would have to prepare 1000 yen. As the people decrease, they amount to join again also rose. It even went to 5000 yen! I think the winner took home more than 50K yen!

After that, people just kept on drinking. I was just observing them, how they behave after getting drunk. hehehe.. It’s quite interesting, actually. It’s nice to see their other side, aside from their “serious” side that I see in the office everyday.