9/24/11

In Japan...

... there was a Taifun the day I arrived. I was quite scared. ...there was also a rather strong earthquake at night just as I tried to get to sleep. That was scary, too., ...the interview was quite hard and I can't reallz predict the outcome. Will know on Monday. ....I also had to take a psychological test and as I hadn't reallz slept during the 11 hour flight and prior to that I was at my "best" crazy behaviour. ...when I reached my hotel room later that day, I was so dead I couldn' t sleep at all any more. (My day: Flight landed at 8 am. Bus leaving Narita at 9.10 am, reaching destination at 11.05, taking taxi to final destination. waiting at the firm, getting my transportation money back, waiting, some more waiting, stress interview with mean questions in English and Japanese - duration one hour, psycho test 50 min (every minute of which I cursed certain people...), some waiting, getting send to hotel via taxi at around 4 pm.) ...I decided to eat something, but couldn`t go out to buy something as the taifun was raging outside. ...Then I slept a little bit, but was woken by some sounds and thought there was someone knocking on my door. I thought we would have to evacute or something (I was on the 7th floor of a 13 floor hotel!). ...at night I watched the new episode of The Princess` Man. ...because of the air con I couldn't really sleep well and ended up to have a cold the next morning (but my throat had been hurting during the flight, so it wasn`t really a surprise.) ...the next day I decided to check out and go to my friends in Gunma. I persuaded the hotel to give me the paid nights (which where more than I thought) the next week as I am supposed to be back at the firm on monday. Hopefully this is going to be no problem. I`ll know tomorrow. ...it took me 3 hours by local trains (but only two) to reach my friends house. ...I changed trains in Ueno, Tokyo and really wanted to stay a lillte bit and explore (even though I know Ueno very well already) , but my suitcase is really heavy and there are lot of (non-moving) stairs on the way. ...I really was sick the next day and slept the whole day. ...I got better a little bit and went to the onsen bath at night to warm my body up. ...today I'll meet another friend and eat at their house. More news soon. Greetings from Japan!

9/19/11

Crazy about...

Currently I'm absolutely in love with the korean drama "The Princess' Man" which is described as korean Romeo and Juliette story. Against all odds I'm hoping that there is a happy end in some way. The heroine is quite suffering at the moment because 1) she thought her beloved was dead and 2) he came back but kidnapped her (but not in a romantic way) and even wanted to kill her as her father had killed his family. (Yes, it is complicated.) But she still loves him and is doing a lot of dangerous things for him and he starts to realize that he is being a total a**hole, but when she begged him in the last episode to run away with her, he still couldn't say yes. Ahh - the tragedy. Unfortunately, when one is a specialist about Asian popular culture one knows that the ending "both dead" also counts as Happy End in most Asian Culture

9/17/11

BIG News (in every way)

Sorry for my long absence! First of all, I enjoyed some vacation time with my family (even my half sister and her family dropped by) on the beach. And I had a second telephone interview with a German firm in Japan. After which I was invited to fly to Japan to meet up in person!! After trying to get a cheap ticket (even though the firm will pay the fare) and realizing that SAS isn't offering cheap tickets to Japan these days, I ended up getting a ticket for a Lufthansa A 380! Unbelievable - and there I was thinking I wouldn't be able to sit in that gigantic plane for some years to come. And unbelievable still that I will be able to see Japan after just having been there last year in March. I'm totally thrilled and end up screaming every other minute or so. My flight is on Tuesday, I'll land on Wednesday in Narita and will have the third interview right after that. I'm super excited as I'd really love to work and live in Japan. I might end up entering on the job training right away. If not, I'll enjoy my time in Japan till October 6th. Wish me luck!