Just What I Needed: Japan + Home Trip [Part 3]

03.03.07 - It was SOMETHING's last day in Japan. He was due to return to Casablanca on the late night flight. And my flight back to Singapore was early next morning.

Despite the short time we have left in Japan, our Saturday wasn't about to go wasted.

A busy day filled with activities lies ahead as Mrs Tsuzuki has planned a one day trip to Kyoto just for us!!!

*WoOOopHIee*

TRAIN RIDE *chOoo cHoO~*

#1ST STOP: 三十三間堂 . SANJUSANGENDO

#2ND STOP: 清水寺 . KIYOMIZU-DERA

#3RD STOP: LUNCH . TOFU RESTAURANT

#4th STOP: 平安神宮 . HEIAN SHRINE

- - - Wishes are tied to the tree for good luck

- - - There was a wedding going on :)

#5th STOP: 金閣寺 . KINKAKU-JI

- - - This was my fav.! The scenery was simply breathtaking.

#6th STOP: 二条城 . NIJO-JO

#FINAL STOP: DINNER . YAMACHAN

- - - You can't leave Nagoya without trying Yamachan's chicken wings!

After this, it was GOODBYE JAPAN . . . & HELLO SINGAPORE ! ! !

More to come in my later posts.

Just What I Needed: Japan + Home Trip [Part 2]

On the night of 02.03.07, SOMETHING & I finally arrived at the Tsuzuki Residence after an hour's flight from Fukuoka + another hour of train ride to Tajimi Station where Mrs Tsuzuki & her daughter Keiko picked us up.

That night, we had a yummy home-cooked dinner prepared by Mrs Tsuzuki. We had DIY sushi, loads of sashimi, my fav. eggplant prepared in the way Mrs Tsuzuki does best, and also simmering hot miso soup! *yum*

This was my first experience to stay in the home of a local Japanese. And the Tsuzuki family sure made my short stay pleasant & cosy. =)

Just What I Needed: Japan + Home Trip [Part 1]

Last week, I was on a business trip to Japan for a week + 4 days to Singapore for a short visit!!! I'm not one who'll feel homesick & all. But hell it sure feels good to visit Asia!!! v(^_^)v

First 3 days of my business trip were in Nagoya. Most days were spent in meetings and some occasional site visits to observe the actual operations. Or what they call - Genchi Genbutsu.

On the 4th day, we took a domestic flight (which SOMETHING & I missed btw... Starbucks' fault... don't ask =_=) to Fukuoka for yet another on-site visit. Was still very jetlagged, but this time, I had a little bit more time to do some sightseeing & shopping.

And that pretty much ended the business part of my Japan trip.

We moved back to Nagoya on 02.03.07, and for the remaining 2 days, we bunked over @ the Tsuzuki residence (my director's home - he ain't home, but was kind enough to offer his home for us to stay and even arranged for his wife to take us around) and toured around a little before we left Japan.

Will write about it in my next post.

The Truth About Bert & Ernie

I'm certain there's no need for me to introduce those 2 characters you see on the left.

Yesh! They are my childhood heros from the basement apartment of 1-2-3 Sesame, Sesame Street - Bert & Ernie!!! *woo hoo*

You know how there has always been speculations about Bert & Ernie's sexuality. That they're more than best buds & room-mates?

Well, being the Nonsense that I am, I decided to Google about Bert & Ernie's REAL RELATIONSHIP!

So here's what I found out. Bert & Ernie were originally planned to be like parent & child. But because Ernie is always tricking Bert, they decided to just make them best friends.

Now, what is Bert & Ernie's significance in Sesame Street? The truth is, they represent individuality.

Wearing '70s clothes, using weird lingo, Bert's obsession for pigeons (bet you don't remember his most beloved pigeon's name is Bernice), taking baths with a rubber ducky, living with another male in an apartment and have no girlfriends...etc, etc.

Truth is, in the real world, these dudes are bound to be serious outcasts.
But that's what makes Bert & Ernie so special. They don't give hoots about what others think of them! They DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!!!

So there you go... my true childhood heros!

P.S. Thou I do find the alternative explanation about Bert & Ernie's relationship here rather entertaining.... *hahahaha*

Spending Valentine's Day In Algeria

I never would have dreamt that one day, I will be spending Valentine's Day in Algeria.

But here we are, SOMETHING and I, stuck in Algeria because of work.

We had to make the best of it!

Told our fellow colleagues that we won't be joining for dinner. Instead, we stayed home (yes, we've got a place we can call our home now... IN ALGERIA... will blog about this again some other time), whipped up some simple dishes and enjoyed it over a romantic candle-lit dinner.

Here you see SOMETHING busy preparing omelette w/ ham and some tomato-based ravioli.

Okay, for those of you who think I didn't help in the cooking and did what I am best at doing-taking pictures..... YOU GUESSED WRONG! *hahaha*

I prepared the spaghetti and mushroom cream soup! *bleh*

Our Valentine's Day Specials!!!

Got flowers some more!!! *woo hoo*

A Special Day @ Casablanca

Finally left Algiers on December 20, back at where I first started my North African journey - Casablanca, Morocco.

Once again, we're back at Hotel Barcelo. I tried to request for the same room I stayed in back in Nov - Room 504. Too bad it was occupied. But I managed to get a room with the same layout on a different floor. *aces*



December 21 - A special day for a special SOMETHING.
It's a pity Casablanca couldn't offer us much, but we tried to make the best out of it.

SOMETHING started off his day by calling his family to say hi.
And I, I was screaming "HELLO ! 嗨！你们好 ! " into his phone while snapping pictures of us the whole time. *ha ha ha*



We then walked over to Casablanca Twin Centre to do some money exchange before making our way to La Cote where we had our lunch and a nice hot cuppa cappuccino along the beach.

'

By night fall, we were back at Barcelo for drinks & dinner. And since we didn't have a birthday cake or any candles .....
We improvised!

How I Started My Day

Since this is gonna be my last working day in Algeria (...FOR NOW), I decided to get myself a nice, hearty breakfast!

So... I requested for breakfast to be served to the room @ around 08:15hrs. I ordered omelette w/ cheese, ham & mushrooms, accompanied with a nice hot cuppa nescafe. *yum yum*

Oh! I simply love the vase-like thingy which holds the little bottles of jams! Sweet!

Rookie Lecturer

Last week, I had my first go at training a new batch of freshmen for my company’s Algerian Distributor. The group we were supposed to train was rather small, and my part of the training was merely a day’s lecture out of the one week long training.

However, since this is my first time to stand in front of a group of students who are mostly around or above my age, it was inevitable for me to feel a little nervy. It also didn’t help to notice that most of them, regardless of age, somehow manage to LOOK very mature and TALK like they “know-a-lot”.

But once I started lecturing, I realised it wasn’t all that intimidating. There was a lot of classroom participation; the students were responsive to questions posed, and were very serious when it came to doing exercises & workshops. I would have to say, I’m not sure if the same training had took place in Asia, would have received similar enthusiasm.

SOMETHING was also one of the lecturers for this training. He was previously involved in a freshmen training last summer, back in Casablanca with 40+ students. Hence, he was able to give me lotsa useful advices on how to respond to difficult questions and how to react when being challenged. Thanx SOMETHING!!! (^_^)

All in all, it was an interesting and refreshing experience for me. Shall strive to perform better next time! Meanwhile, I’ll be training up on my presentation and lecturing skills for the next freshmen training.

~THE BUNCH OF US @ THE TRAINING~

Google Is King!

A show of hands now; how many of you have ever tried to Google yourself?

Well, I did!
People don’t label me Nonsense for no reason.

I was in the office the other day, tons of assignments to complete but absolutely no mood whatsoever to even attempt to start on them. So, out of boredom & bits of curiosity, I opened up Google search engine, and decided to see what kinda of stuffs I’ll be able to find.

* I found out that there were in fact people carrying the same name as moi in other parts of the world. I managed to find a couple in LA, some in Alabama, some in Mexico, and some in other parts of Europe.

* To my pleasant surprise, I chanced upon a webpage which Alicia created, probably while she was back in the university. She posted this picture we took together in school while we were 16… ahh… the good old days.

* Then, I stumbled across something really interesting. A post by Someone which was dated back in 4th November 2004. Back when I was working in Thailand. This Someone has been gossiping about me on her blog. This Someone was neither a friend of mine, nor was she a colleague of mine. This Someone barely knows who I am. But gosh did she sound like she knew what my “true self” was?! Mmm… naughty naughty!

Burst of Boredom!!!

It's 09:17hrs in Algiers on a Thursday morning.
Today's half-day work in Algiers cos' it's a Muslim country and weekends are on Thursdays & Fridays.

SOMETHING & I were so frustrated wtih work & filthy loos that we decided to take silly pix of ourselves ... in a BURST OF BOREDOM!!!