train blog:maid cafe

my friend introduced me to a maid cafe today. basically, it is just a cafe except that the waitress are all dressed as maids and they call the customers master. these places are usually found in akihabara and usually frequented by otaku-term that mean people who are crazy over manga and anime. other than that, i was shown shops that sell manga characters and dolls. can say today is quite an eye opener for me.

train blog:new grave design

there is an advertisement about a new grave design that allows the pet to be buried together with the owner. one thing for sure is that there will never be advertisement like this in the trains in singapore.another thing is that i do not know how advance the technology goes for grave designs but i am pretty sure buryin with pets is not really hard to do.not sure if it is a really good point to advertise.lookin forward to 2 days of holidays next week but i will probably go office the whole time.

Ghost in the shell

Today watched an animation movie which I borrowed from a friend which is called "Ghost in the Shell 2:Innocence." The story is pretty interesting and futuristic. Movie's animation is very realistic and the 3D graphics are really well done. Kinda impressed at the level of clarity and how far we have came from animation movies in the past. Been walking past a stationary store which I have never been before and went in to have a look. They sell templates for comic books drawing and have lots of designs and interesting backgrounds. Kinda of wonder how they draw the comic books using the templates. This Saturday there is a gathering for the people staying in my dorm. Also, I might be meeting a friend whom I had met when I went over to San Francisco when I was there looking for a job. It feels like a long time from the time I was in San Francisco till the time I got the job, which makes me feel like blogging what happen when I went over to San Francisco.

Basically, I went to San Francisco just to attend a 2 day Japanese-English Bilingual Career Fair. Bringing only my friend's suit(because I didn't have my own then), and a few daily necessities in a backpack, this is the trip where I travelled with the least luggage. I stayed at a co-ed youth hostel, the cheapest and nearest I could find. The rooms are like army style, double decked with cheap mattress but what is there to complain, the price is cheap. I would expect that the people staying there are there for travel but turned out to be wrong. There are actually people there to take exams(2 japanese in the common rooms), to look out for graduate courses(the lady sleeping across my bed) and looking for places to stay(someone I talked to in the hallway). The Japanese guy that I am going to meet on Saturday was in the common room and had trouble with booking hotel rooms as his English is not really good. He is doing a round america tour with another friend. So I sprang at the chance to practise my Japanese and went to talk to him even till the extend to help him book his hotel rooms.

On the day of the job fair, it is kinda exciting and nerve wrecking. I didn't expect the whole environment to be totally Japanese, all the way from greeting you in Japanese at the door till the presentations all done in Japanese. Basically, it's more of a Japanese Career fair than a bilingual career fair. Walked around first to find some Japanese friends from my school, followed by getting brochures of companies and free goodies. The first booth that I really find out information from is actually the one that I am currently working in now. Sat through their lecture knowing only about 40 percent of what they are saying and talked to their representative in English followed by presenting my resume. They were asking me for interviews and I agreed to go for it after going for toshiba interview which was planned before I reached san francisco. Toshiba intervew was kinda packed with people sitting in about 8 seats behind and 3 interviewers at the booth interviewing us. The whole interview took about 1/2 hour and they told me to check the board to see if I qualify for the second round of interview. My name never appeared on it apprantly. So back to the original company where they lead me to one of the hotel rooms for the first round of interview. It went quite smoothly with a translator to help me on the parts where I did not know how to say it in Japanese. Following that, I went to the next room to have an interview with the President of the company. Kinda shocked that the president actually came down for the job recruitment. It went pretty smoothly and he offered me the job depending on my chances with toshiba. So in the first day by the afternoon I already had a job offer and so kinda relax on my search. Went to a few more letures and looked at a few more companies but didn't really talk to them. Met up with Thiha, my ex-roommate and walked around San Francisco for the rest of the night. For the second day, I had an interview with sandisk and got a free 16MB CF card. Quite cool. Nothing much happen for the rest of the day and so went with my Japanese friends from University to a food court nearby for food.

Anyway, all in all, the trip was indeed an eye opener and alot of first times for me. Just thought of writing it down before I forget about it later. This trip can be counted as a big changing point in my life and so it is quite important to me. I think.

snow

it begin snowing this morning. wanted to stay at home but have to go for a company meeting.it is not thd first time i see snow but seeing it outside your house is something different. feelin kind of exited. will take more pictures when i reach home.

testing

please forgive me on the capital letters. it takes too much time to change them on my handphone. waiting for the train now. in today's japanese class, we did alot of cooking. we prepared 3pots of nabe(hotpot)and some other assorted dishes. most of the people that come today are chinese so it is more of a chinese class than a japanese class.

testing

Hi, i am just testing on sending blog by email. this entry is sent by my phone actually. just want to see how fast it takes. now i am at home. nexttime when i post my blog will be from the train

present myself

arrgghh. Presentation tomorrow. My heart is beating really fast. 今はどきどきしてる。Wish me luck.

new year

A year has passed so fast. Didn't really feel anything this time round. Anyway, everything is still the same. This trip to Singapore wasn't that bad but it wasn't that good also. I fell sick just before I go back to Singapore and was sick all the way till when I go back to Japan. I'm just happy that I am able to meet my gf and hang out with her.

In this new year, I redesigned my room and throw more stuffs into the cupboard, which means my room is neater and nicer. I have extended my table(adding another box) and made space for some of my electronic items on the table. Pictures are in flickr.

Throughout the next few blogs, I will introduce the place i'm staying to you guys so keep a lookout.

busy busy busy

I know busy is not an excuse but the truth is I have really been busy for the past few weeks. Firstly, I have to write technical manuals in Japanese, projects are abit behind and friends are coming back from USA. As per usual, my time is spent on learning Japanese except that my weekends are more fufilling. Last weekend night was spent outside. I managed however to catch the first train back home just in time to change and make it for my first part time job, conversation school teacher. Class size is about 4-6 people and ranged from different levels. In a way it is good for me to practise teaching which I realised requires alot of skill. Going back to Singapore on the 25Dec and will be there till 11 of Jan. Time to catch up with my friends in Singapore. Until then, I will have to clear as much work as possible so that I could enjoy myself in Singapore. Wish me luck and see you guys soon.

nostalgic

It has been a long time since I have been able to sleep till anytime I feel like, wake up and do whatever I want. Today is such a day. I was supposed to go out but changed my mind. Instead, I stayed at home and listen to Chinese pop songs and study Japanese. Listening to the songs that used to be popular few years ago, bring back thoughts of what I was doing during that time. I remember my university days where I will study in the weekdays, watch tv at night and go out with Lucian and Louanne in the weekends to do groceries or just to relax. Felt like I really came a long way and 4 years pass by so fast.

another week passed

This week is the same as other weeks before with few happenings. On friday, I went with my company to an embedded systems exhibition in Yokohama. It's a pretty nice place with many interesting building designs and the Yokohama landmark tower is there also. At the exhibition, just paticipated in a survey and got myself a thermal cup. Well, I take it that I used my travelling money to buy the cup. On Saturday which is yesterday, I had a gathering/drinking/eating party with people from my company. The gathering this time beats the one before as I could understand more of what other people are talking about and I have more new friends around. Also, we get to meet trainees from few semesters before us and they are working in other companies now. Their faces surfaced on the company website and this is like the first time I actually met them face to face. Quite an interesting experience. After drinking alot and eating alot, today was spend at home trying to clear the stomachache which I had from since I woke up till now. I am also trying to warm myself up in this cold weather and trying to attain better scores in a game i'm playing. Tomorrow is another day of work, I'm just glad that wednesday is a holiday which makes the week shorter.

Sorry guys for not updating my blog for a long time. I have been very busy trying to catch up with my projects and whatever free time I have left is spent on animation, japanese drama and studying Japanese. I did not step out of the house during weekends as well except for grocery trips. I had the sudden urge to start to cook Japanese dishes. I started with miso soup and some tsukemono( which wasn't good) and will be trying to cook nikujaga tomorrow. I am also making plans to go back to Singapore during the winter. Will post it in the blog when I'm confirmed with my plans.

back to normal..not really

ブログ始まる時から、英語と日本語と中国語のバー ジョン書けば良かったと思ったんだけど、時間がないし、自信も持 てないから、全然してない。日本語の勉強 が始まるばかりから、間違い所がいっぱいから、誰にも笑わせたくない。でも、最近突然気が付いた、間違い事は勉強中絶対出会った事だ。そして、間違いない なら、新しい事は学ばれない。だから、自分で決める事は今から日本語でブログを書く事だ。今まで私にとって、日本語はそんな本気に勉強しではない。興味だ けだ。これは日本語上手になるの第一歩だ。誰がブログを見たら、間違う所を直してくれない？

まじめ事以外、僕の生活は少し慣れた。友達会 うのが少なくなったんだけど、研修の仕事が増えてるから、そんなに暇ではない。いま一番気になるのはお金だ。 もっとセーブしなきゃいかない。そして、バイトも探してる。今もう晩いから、そろそろ寝る。今度は色んな面白い事を教えてあげるよ。また来てください！

How to say, after James left for Osaka, I am back to my normal life here in Tokyo. Everday going to work and coming back home to learn Japanese, ocassionally hang out with friends. With the start of the new phase of training, the hours that I have to go to work also changed. Instead of mornings for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I get mornings for Tuesdays and Thursdays which means I get more days of not having to wake up in the early mornings. Also, this phase of training that I choose is at a different environment, about 5 mins walk from the previous location. Also, one of my closer friends which I go to work with everyday is in a different program from me. Therefore, it feels to me like I have been to a totally new place. Lecture is in Japanese, friends around are all Japanese( or have Japanese blood in them) and I don't get to speak English much at all during work. I guess the environment is good if you are learning the language but it is also pretty stressing. Things are going okay now but there is still alot to come. Wish me luck. During the past days, I have been with James to many places including Odaiba, Asakusa(again) and Disneyland(again). Many stories to tell even if I went to some of the places more than once.

busy

Sorry for the lack of update. My friend just came to visit me from singapore and he is staying at my place. My current training phase is just over and I am going into another new one. Been to many places within this week and came home late and tired. Will fill you guys in maybe later during this week. sorry for the wait.

new friends.

How I met my new friend goes a long way back to taking a flight back to singapore from the usa. As the transit country of the flight is Japan, there are many Japanese taking the same flight back from the U.S.A. As me and my father were boarding the flight, I chatted up with the Japanese woman and told her that I am going to Japan to work. After that, we exchanged contacts and said that we will meet in Japan. From the time from I reach Japan till this week, we had never been able to meet up. This weekend is the first time when I actually met up with her and had a nice chat. She is a Japanese woman about 60 years of age with an adopted son who is a dj of a radio station. Also for those of you who know, he is also the voice over for one of the parts of "Iron Chef" show, which is pretty interesting. So it has been interesting. My friend from Singapore, James, visted me and I am bringing him around Japan. So it will be a busy week for me. heee

white hair

Yesterday pulled out the 2nd white hair I had for about 5 years. I'm not sure if I had more or not and I'm not sure if it is a good sign or not but I'll still continue to take care of my hair and health. Maybe I'm not studying hard enough. hee.

End of phase update

As the beginning phase of my training is about to come to an end, a comprehensive exam is coming up also. Thought that I should give an update about my own targets and goals and which I had met or not.

Japanese: Aimed to reach level 2 by end of this year. At the rate it goes seems like I might not be able to make it. Chinese characters i'm at about 300 words still and I need to reach about 1000. Grammer still less than halfway through, still far on vocabulary words. I will need to work double on it.

Money: Not earning althought trying to control my spending. Spending alot more every weekend due to hanging out with friends which I think is alright. Going to get a job when I get my visa so this will have to wait.

Friends: I think I am pretty satisfied with the amount as I have almost no time for anything else during weekends. Will want to make more only Japanese speaking friends then I will be forced to speak only Japanese to them.

Life: life is pretty settled now that I have bought most of the things i need. There are still many other things I want but those will have to wait till I earn enough money.

In general, the next steps are: Get my visa--> get a parttime job --> get the things i want-->happy.
At the same time study Japanese.

Autumn

With the coming of autumn, the weather becomes colder and the heater is turned on in many buildings and offices. I'm still like in the summer wearing short sleeves to work and all only to realise that I am the only one. Everyone around me were like in long sleeves. Not that I wasn't cold but I wasn't that cold to need to wear long sleeves. I guess I had built up a defense mechanism for cold somehow during my four years in USA. For those who had been talking with me knows my "One with the weather" technique. Haven't had the need to use it yet but I got to start wearing long sleeves soon or else I will stand out too much in the crowd or freeze.

disneyland update

Pumpkin scarecrow: Reason it's there-- Halloween is coming.


Pooh's Hunny hunt. The setup is really interesting and it's a a story based with well thought out planning and nice effects. Enjoyable and relaxing ride. Wanted to take more pictures but not allowed to.

Main castle at night.

The main castle in Disneyland. Because it's halloween, many black and orange designs can be seen.

Picture before buzz lightyear's ride. The ride is interesting and the first time I take it. It's like there is a joystick on every cart which you can control which direction to turn. At the same time, each person sitting there has a lazer gun where they can point at certain spots to shoot to earn points. The gathered points will be shown on the cart which you can compare to the chart later for skill level.

for more pictures goto:http://www.flickr.com/photos/35478544@N00/

drinking

Sorry about the change in website. There has been a problem with my previous one and I moved here temporary. I just went to a drinking party with people from my company. I guess when you start to pick up a new language, there are days when you were unable to speak no matter how much you try. It just happened that today was one of those days and I couldnt' mingle well with the crowd at all, although my money is well spent as not talking means eating and drinking more. Well, there are definitely more chances to meet them so I'm not really worried about it. Weather is becoming cold. Got to get ready.