Week 14: Dec 1 - 2
Friday night we went to a Japanese restaurant and ate
ramen noodles. Then it was
off to Moui's flat for a game of Monopoly. That night we learned that Moui is not a graceful winner.
The only thing worse than a French person is a French person with tonnes of money.
Saturday I went to Matsumoto with Guillaume and got my haircut. That was an adventure.
I'll probably write a Misc Rambling about it. We then tried to do some Christmas shopping, but had a hard
time finding anything worth buying.
Week 15: Dec 3 - 9
Came in to work Monday morning and saw something incredible. I was checking out the latest
computer news at a popular website (
www.javaworld.com)
when I noticed
my name on the front page. Not only that, but they had quoted me in their Quote of the Week!
The quote comes from a forum posting I made, answering someone's questions about programming for hand-held devices (like
the cell phones I'm currently working on). I have kept a
screenshot of the page.
I hope these words of eternal wisdom appear on my tombstone after I die.
I stopped in at the local Hard-Off on Sunday. It's a consignment store; they play their "jingle"
continuously. As I was leafing through some pretty classy Glay albums, my brain tuned into what the jingle
was actually saying. It's sung by a cheerful group of young people; the words are "Hard Off, Hard On." I had to
leave.
My bike went "missing" on Thursday, in the sense that somebody "stole" it outside
Hirooka station. I think Hello Kitty is responsible. One can only hope, for safety's sake, that the perpetrator
doesn't try to go too far, since a) the pedal assembly is not connected properly and b) neither are the brakes.
Also, the front wheel has been warped ever since it was run over by a grocery van.
Friday was badminton, followed by a light supper at a Japanese family restaurant. We were all
secretly working out the details of Guillaume's "surprise" birthday party for Saturday night. He knew all about it.
Saturday was Guillaume's birthday, and we celebrated at a
sushi
restaurant. There I tried raw whale, much
to the chagrin of environmental activists everywhere. We played Monopoly that night and "let" the birthday boy win.
Also, the third Waterloo Co-op, John, returned Saturday night from a trip to Canada, in an exhausted,
post-flight daze. We let him sleep.
Week 16: Dec 10 - 16
Sunday we played 4-on-4 basketball and completely exhausted ourselves. After that, I went into town to meet
with my Cultural Exchange teacher, Aika. She's a Japanese woman who is interested in one day moving to the US. She helps me with my Japanese
and I tell her what to expect of Americans.
Well, the rest of this week went by fairly uneventfully. Did some Christmas shopping on Thursday and ate dinner
at the Astroboy Family restaurant, except in Japan they call him Atomboy, and he serves
sushi.
Friday was one hell of a day. I was asked to demo my project (the cell phone Crazy 8-type game) in front of the
six R&D managers. Basically they told me my design was flawed in several areas, all of which I had brought up at several of
the previous meetings, but no one thought they were very important at the time. Well, now they're important, and I'm going to miss
my first deadline implementing the changes they asked for. Sigh.
Week 17: Dec 17 - 23
Sorry about the lack of updates. Work has been demanding lately (Japanese work ethic is finally rubbing off on me).
This week was pretty slow. Friday we enjoyed a home-cooked Chinese dinner by our friend Miranda, another co-op from Waterloo. We stayed
up all night playing Monopoly (what else?). I managed to win thanks to my hotels on Baltic and Mediterranean.
This week most of the foreign students went home. Lou and Paul went back to Canada and Guillaume left for France to enjoy his
beloved cheese. Ryan will be leaving Christmas Day, and Moui will leave sometime soon after that. To ease the boredom, Ryan and I went
to a party with some of our basketball friends, where I overindulged in alcohol. Merry Christmas.
Week 18: Dec 24 - 31
Christmas Eve evening, Aika, her friend and the remaining foreigners attended a candlelight service at a church
in Minami (South) Matsumoto. The service was in Japanese, with simultaneous translation from the pastor's wife. It was very nice, and
reminded me of Christmas at home... until they brought out the big book of Japanese Carols. For dinner we went out for a Japanese meal.
I had
sashimi,
tempura and
te-maki
sushi. I really love Japanese food :).
I came home to find a package from my parents. It was 11:30pm, and I figured that it was close enough to Christmas Day, so I
opened it. Inside were some nice new clothes and junk food, the likes of which I haven't seen since I left. I plan to put on 10 lbs this holiday
from all the chocolate. Thanks Mom, Dad, Matt and Alexis!
Christmas Day. I hauled my butt out of bed to come to work. Ate fish and rice for breakfast. Ryan left for Canada. I
started to feel depressed until I looked out my office window at around 10:00am. It was actually
snowing. This is the
first snow we've had this year. Granted it didn't snow for long and immediately melted, but it actually felt like Christmas. Thank you
everybody who wished me a Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.
Well the rest of the week was boring. The snow all but completely melted by Wednesday, but it's still pretty cold. John and
I have planned a trip from December 28 to January 4. We will catch a bus to Osaka, and from there take a ferry to the southern island of
Kyushu, then visit Beppu and Nagasaki. I promise that I'll have a better account of this trip than of the Tokyo Trip. I think that Misc Rambling
is going to be cancelled due to lack of interest (on our part, that is).
Happy New Year everyone and I'm looking forward to reading all your emails when I get back.
