Monday, September 27, 2004
A 1-Day Weekend
OK - here comes a rapid recap of the last few days - I don't have the energy to write anything too in-depth at the moment...
Thursday Night:
After meeting Kat, Dawn and Danielle (who had spent the afternoon shopping in Ueno) at the station near work, we follwed standard Bond Uni tradition (as alumni, we feel it is neccessary to uphld university values wherever possible) and we went drinking again. At an izakaya in Kawasaki this time.
This one was made more challenging by the fact that the menu was totally Japanese, and I became translator for the night. I guess it worked well enough, we ate well if nothing else. The minor issues of the staff laughing at us, and Dawn and Dan getting blatantly busted trying to swipe chopsticks from nearby tables just made the night more interesting.
After a brief wander, and a short pit-stop at Mr. Donut (mmmmm... donuts) we squeezed in about 90 minutes of (particularly vociferous and energetic) karaoke before heading home.
Friday:
Very little happened today. I went to work, came home and we had some really good noodles for dinner. (There is a great little noodle place right next to my station) and I gorged myself.
Saturday:
My company likes to boast that it's employees work a certain number of days each year, so to combat problems like public holidays, occasionally we are called in to work on Saturdays. Needless to say, this is a stupid policy, and I hope that the people who devised it die from haemorrhoid infections. So, I bit the bullet and served my 8 hours at work for the day.
A few happenenings... uh... happened.. at work today - I will expand on those a bit later (as in, some other time). Long story short - I may or may not end up spending six months helping to set up a new factory somewhere in the Birmingham area of the UK in the near to mid future. We shall see.
Dinner however, was great. We went to one of my local izakaya, sat down and started ordering - as they 2 guys next to us debated (in Japanese) where we were from. By the time the food arrived, they had started talking to us. Turns out they were brothers and lived in the area, so we stayed and chatted with them for a while, partly because they were good company, partly becuase they were buying us drinks. Eventually we headed home, and they paid for our meal. There might be no such thing a free lunch, but free dinners are certainly attainable.
Sunday:
Inevitably Sunday rolled around - not just any Sunday, but Kat's last day in Japan for a while. For the most part, it was fairly uneventful. I burned a few DVDs and CDs and we ate a hearty lunch of assorted Japansese junk food and Strawberry Fanta (which tastes EXACTLY like Strawberry Chupa-Chups).
In the evening, we headed into Yokohama station and said our goodbyes as Kat took the bus to Narita airport. I have just recieved an email informing me that she made it home, so I am guessing the final leg of her trip went off without a hitch.
And so, after my one day of weekend, here I am, back at work for another week. I just learned that our company has decided on a factory site in the UK, and it is quite possible I will end up going over there for a week or two at some stage in the next month or so. Fun times.
Apologies for this rather uninteresting post, I shall attempt something a bit more readable next time round.
Thursday Night:
After meeting Kat, Dawn and Danielle (who had spent the afternoon shopping in Ueno) at the station near work, we follwed standard Bond Uni tradition (as alumni, we feel it is neccessary to uphld university values wherever possible) and we went drinking again. At an izakaya in Kawasaki this time.
This one was made more challenging by the fact that the menu was totally Japanese, and I became translator for the night. I guess it worked well enough, we ate well if nothing else. The minor issues of the staff laughing at us, and Dawn and Dan getting blatantly busted trying to swipe chopsticks from nearby tables just made the night more interesting.
After a brief wander, and a short pit-stop at Mr. Donut (mmmmm... donuts) we squeezed in about 90 minutes of (particularly vociferous and energetic) karaoke before heading home.
Friday:
Very little happened today. I went to work, came home and we had some really good noodles for dinner. (There is a great little noodle place right next to my station) and I gorged myself.
Saturday:
My company likes to boast that it's employees work a certain number of days each year, so to combat problems like public holidays, occasionally we are called in to work on Saturdays. Needless to say, this is a stupid policy, and I hope that the people who devised it die from haemorrhoid infections. So, I bit the bullet and served my 8 hours at work for the day.
A few happenenings... uh... happened.. at work today - I will expand on those a bit later (as in, some other time). Long story short - I may or may not end up spending six months helping to set up a new factory somewhere in the Birmingham area of the UK in the near to mid future. We shall see.
Dinner however, was great. We went to one of my local izakaya, sat down and started ordering - as they 2 guys next to us debated (in Japanese) where we were from. By the time the food arrived, they had started talking to us. Turns out they were brothers and lived in the area, so we stayed and chatted with them for a while, partly because they were good company, partly becuase they were buying us drinks. Eventually we headed home, and they paid for our meal. There might be no such thing a free lunch, but free dinners are certainly attainable.
Sunday:
Inevitably Sunday rolled around - not just any Sunday, but Kat's last day in Japan for a while. For the most part, it was fairly uneventful. I burned a few DVDs and CDs and we ate a hearty lunch of assorted Japansese junk food and Strawberry Fanta (which tastes EXACTLY like Strawberry Chupa-Chups).
In the evening, we headed into Yokohama station and said our goodbyes as Kat took the bus to Narita airport. I have just recieved an email informing me that she made it home, so I am guessing the final leg of her trip went off without a hitch.
And so, after my one day of weekend, here I am, back at work for another week. I just learned that our company has decided on a factory site in the UK, and it is quite possible I will end up going over there for a week or two at some stage in the next month or so. Fun times.
Apologies for this rather uninteresting post, I shall attempt something a bit more readable next time round.
# posted by Nils @ 1:09 PM 
