Friday, February 29, 2008

School, and an all nighter

Did a presentation in Accounting in the morning and after headed to Costco in Kawasaki with Mason to get a cake for Satoko, one of the counselors at work that will be working at a different location starting Saturday. The Costco was pretty much exactly like the one in the US, even the prices. Pretty cool. I brought the cake to work and said "Bye" to Satoko, and headed home.
After dinner I headed out to A971 and met up with Josh and some girls, but some other girls wanted to meet with us that night too so we walked the first set to the station around 10:00 and met up with the second set. It was packed and time flew by so I missed my train. After that we went to Grace, a really cool club in the area and danced till morning. Good times.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

School and Work

Another day of school and work. See previous entry.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

School and Work

Just a regular day of school and work. Taking four math related classes at one time is a bad idea. I would never recommend it to anyone.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

School and home

Headed to finance, and then Statistics. Today the teacher mentioned how he grew up in Lebanon and studied math in French. The schools there are either French schools or American. So I mentioned that I heard he did Judo and he told how from 91 to 95 he was the National Judo champion. He actually competed in the Olympics in 1992! That guy can kick serious butt!
After that I met up with my group for accounting and we went over the cases for our presentation and then I hung out in the computer lab till it was time for Risk Management. We had class in the computer lab today and spent the whole class messing around with stuff on Excell. From there I headed back home, had dinner, and worked on school stuff till it was time for bed.

Monday, February 25, 2008

School and Language School

It's kinda funny cause when I lived in the US, my feet would just smell bad, but now after eating Japanese food everyday my feet smell like vinegar. I guess it smells better then bad.
Accounting and International Business like usual. After class I headed to Shinjuku Gyoen and to KCP. The roads there changed a bit. They added brick sidewalks on each side and classed the place up a bit. It looked nice, but I kinda miss the old school feel that it had when I was here in 05'. I talked to Tanaka, the guy who deals with all the US students there and it was good to see him and some of my old teachers again. It was funny to hear every one's comments on the KCP song. We looked into classes this summer, so I'll most likely be back at KCP this summer, getting my Japanese more (ぺらぺら - perapera) fluent. Since I already have a visa I am able to enroll in the Asian program which is cheaper, which is great!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Work, work, and homework

Today was cold and windy. Headed to Takehito's in the morning for his lesson and then back home for a while till it was time to head to Shinjuku for work there. After work I headed back home, had dinner and ironed for a long time. When I had ironed everything I own I worked on homework for Finance till it was time to go to bed.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Work and hanging out

Did some laundry in the morning and headed to work in the afternoon. Today was kinda warm in the morning but it was getting cold again so there was a crazy wind blowing all day. On the way to work the wind picked up a bunch of dust and threw it in my face, it sucked. After work had dinner at home and worked on a PowerPoint thing for school till Charles called me up and I met up with him at A971. Since it was a lot colder than the day before not many people were out, but I always have fun.

Friday, February 22, 2008

School and going out

Accounting and Risk Management like usual. Headed to Yokosuka with Charles to get some US supplies, Unfortunately, because of my large size, even at the base it is sometimes difficult to find dress shirts or shoes in my size. After that I headed home grabbed dinner and met up with some friends at A971. We hung out there till last train and that was the day.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

School and work

Got up early for Finance, and then had Statistics. After that some friends and I headed to Keio for lunch, which is great cause it's cheap and good. After that I hung out at school and worked on stuff for risk management till it was time to head to work. At work I only had one lesson cause my other student canceled and it wasn't all that busy. After work I headed home, had dinner, and worked on risk management. Here is a picture from near Shinbashi station.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

School and work

Headed to school for the first Accounting test of the semester. It was hard. After that I had International Marketing and talked about our new paper which focuses on Wal-Mart's entry into china after they had withdrawn from Korea. Should be interesting.
After school I headed to work, did a couple lessons and headed home. Here is another add from the train encouraging people to be careful of their backpacks.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

School, School, School

Finance, Statistics, and Risk Management. Tuesday is the long day at school cause it ends with a 3 hour long risk management class. The class was a little more empty than usual because a lot of people skipped to study for the accounting test tomorrow. After I got home I ate dinner and tried to figure out accounting myself. Another classic JR train add.

Monday, February 18, 2008

School and study

Accounting, study for Accounting and trying to do Finanace homework, then International Marketing. It was pretty cold, other than that just a regular day. Accounting test comming on Wensday, No good! One thing I found kinda funny is a sign on the side of the road on the way to school that says "Speed Down". Once it warms up a bit I'm gonna stand by that sign and tell people on bikes to Speed Down, either that or change it so it days "Slow Down".

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Work and Study

Headed to Takehito's for his lesson. After a quick stop back home and some lunch I headed out to Shinjuku for a little more work. It was pretty cold today with a strong wind. After I got home I tried studying Accounting for a while and that was the day.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Study, Laundry, and Work Party

Today I had the day off from work and spent the whole day studying and doing laundry. I really don’t know why accounting is taught the way it is. No one needs to know how to do this by hand unless they are poor and don’t have a computer in which case they don’t need to do it anyhow. So dumb.
At night there was a Valentine’s work party in Shinagawa. It was pretty much like all the other work parties but with less students and more teachers. They are always fun because you meet a lot of interesting people and they usually have good food. After that I headed home and went to bed.

Friday, February 15, 2008

School and hanging out

Normal day at school. The teacher told us what to study for the accounting test, but it was basically the entire book and more. Bad. I was still a little tired from the day before with the cakes and having to get up early for school the next day, so when I got home I took a two hour nap before dinner and heading out to A971 to meet up with Charles. As always I met some interesting people and grabbed some Ramen at that ippudo near by. This time when I was there I took a picture, inside the bathroom cause it was just so cool.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentine's Day in Tokyo

Today was Valentine’s Day. As I mentioned before in Japan the holiday is mostly girls giving Chocolate to guys and next month on the same day is “White Day” where the guys return the favor. I got a lot of chocolate and Mason brought in one of the cakes he made yesterday so I could bring it in for work.
At work one of the girls made brownies and another girl made some really good chocolate things. Unfortunately, I only had male students so I didn’t get any extra chocolate from students. So it was pretty much a regular day but with a lot more chocolate.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

School, cakes, and cops

Headed in to accounting today. The teacher "randomly" selected two of my friends and I to present the Harvard case study that he had assigned and it was big fun. After class, Ryu one of his friends and I all headed to Pacific Currents, a really good Italian place near school. From there I headed back to school and read the finance book till it was time for International Marketing.
When class finished I headed to work, did a couple lessons and headed home. My friend Mason is trying to make a cake for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day and he realized that he didn't have a oven so my host mom said that he could use theirs. After trying in vain to make frosting out of cream and sugar he gave up and drove the batter in pans to my place where I put them in the oven. Not wanting to pay for parking he parked on the street and left the hazards on. We went into the 99 shop in search of frosting and even with the dictionary built into the phone it was difficult to ask where the frosting was. After showing the dictionary and having the worker show it to his manager he almost gave up. Near some of the other dairy we found whipped cream and it was good enough.
Headed back home to check the cake, it needed more time so we headed to the car to put the whipped cream in the car and found a cop car stopped by his car and the cops were investigating his car. We walked over and talked with the cops. They searched his car and us. We explained that we are students and that Mason was in the process of making a cake for his girlfriend and it was pretty interesting. The cops were actually pretty nice and the one even gave us his business card and they bowed and said "excuse me" to us before they left. After moving to a nearby parking lot we headed back to the house and found that the cakes were done. The parking fee was about $6 but the cakes were done so It worked out ok. Hopefully they taste good.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Day off... Kinda

Day off from school, but not from work. Cleaned my room and got some things together, then headed to work. After work I got home and worked on a thing for accounting and went to bed.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Holiday.... Kinda

Today was a national holiday in Japan. Not sure which one but I was working at Shinagawa today and I did nine lessons. It was pretty crazy. After I got home I had dinner and headed out to A971 agian to meet up with my friend Daniel. It was cool to meet up with him. His wedding is drawing closer and I've been asked to do a song there, which should be a lot of fun. Our friend Mike was supposed to meet up with us but had some issues with a school project so he didn't.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Work and work

Got up and headed to Takehito's for his lesson. After I headed back because work in Shinjuku didn't start till 3 so I had some time to relax at home before heading out. It was warmer and most of the snow had melted. In Shinjuku many of the students asked me about Valentines' day. In Japan it is a holiday where the girl gives chocolate to guys and often give "obligation chocolate" to co-workers in the office. The department stores are selling chocolate like crazy and that area of the store is packed with nothing but girls. Next month in March, they have a holiday called "White Day" where the guy returns the gift to the girl but typically just with the girlfriend, not people at the office. The holiday is starting to mirror the American style of exchange from both guy and girl, but the stores like having two separate holidays so I think it will take a while before it totally mimics the American system.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Worked and hanging out

Headed to work this morning and finished around 7, headed home, ate dinner, and headed out to Roppongi to meet up with Ryan. We had some pretty good timing so we met up on the same train and headed to A971. Ryan had just come from a wedding so he was a little on edge.
There we met up with Josh’s girlfriend and her friend and talked with them for a while till Josh showed up. About a hour after Josh showed up it was time for the last train. We had considered staying out all night but decided against it. Since I had already missed my last train, Ryan and I headed to Josh’s and crashed at his house. Before heading to Josh's we stopped in at Sukiya and got some food.
Josh lives out on the west side of Tokyo about a hour away from where I live by train. He has a Xbox360 that his girlfriend got him so I was finally able to play Halo 3 and on his small TV, it took a bit away from the visuals and sound that can be better appreciated on a HDTV with surround sound. Unfortunately, since I was already tired, I didn’t play past the first level, but it seemed just as good as the first two.

Friday, February 8, 2008

School, and out with a chocolate bar

School like normal finishing off the week and leading into the long weekend. Headed home, grabbed some dinner and headed out. Before getting on the train I stopped at the Family Mart and got a huge Chocolate bar for 500yen and headed to Roppongi to meet up with Josh.
We met up and headed to Heartland. It was hilarious because we were getting lots of looks from girls and it was fun working my way through the crowd with a giant chocolate bar out in front of me. Some girls stopped us and asked me why I have a giant chocolate bar and where I got it. Of course I naturally responded telling her that I have a friend who makes chocolate and I got it from my friend.
After that we wanted to make it a little more fun so we headed to A971, this time I opened the box and had the bar sticking out the top and took bites out of it while we stood outside contemplating if we should enter or just go home. Within one minute of arriving there a girl came up to me, took a bite out of my chocolate, and signaled for me to follow her inside. After about 15 minutes we went inside and this time about 30 seconds after entering another girl came up to me and took a bite out of my chocolate bar. Not wanting to loose anymore chocolate or miss the last train I headed home. Whenever I am holding anything that is food in my hand I just keep eating it till it's gone so I continued to eat the bar the whole way home. In the subway I was standing up eating it and a girl took out her phone and took a picture of me with the chocolate. It was hilarious. By the time I got home I realized that I had eaten more than half the bar and I wasn't feeling very good, but it was all worth it for the story.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

school and work


School like normal and work in the evening. It's starting to get cold and there is a possibility of snow this weekend which I'm not really looking forward to. Here is another train manner pic.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

School, work, school, and trians

Accounting and International Marketing like usual and then study for the Finance test. Headed to work and after work headed back to school and studied for the Finance test till 11 and headed home. Finance is no good.

JR, Japan Rail is a Train company that is broken up by region but runs lines all over Japan. They have great ads trying to promote good manners on the train. There are a couple rules that everyone knows like no talking on the phone in the train and turn your phone off completely when near the priority seat. The Priority seat is mainly for old people, pregnant girls, and people with broken bones or something like that. Regular people can sit there if people in the group above aren't in need of the seat. You are supposed to turn your phone off when near these seats because apparently the signals from the phone can interfere with a persons pace maker. In an attempt to provide higher levels of customer service in the stations and trains they have signs with new recommended rules which I find mildly entertaining.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

School and a Bugatti Veyron

Finance and Statistics. During the lunch break I was walking with my friends outside and saw a Bugatti Veyron on the street. It was just some balding 40 or 50 year old man driving around in his 16 cylinder quad turbo 1001ps car. It was pretty sweet to see the second fastest car in the world on the street! After After lunch I studied for Finance till Risk Management and did some more studying after. Headed home, ate dinner and worked on school stuff till it was time to go to bed.

Monday, February 4, 2008

School in Japan


Regular day at school. Accounting 2 test in the morning and International Marketing. One thing that seems pretty important for Japanese girls is how cute things are and how cute they are. Today during lunch I noticed one of the girls drawing in her book it was a perfect example of Japanese cuteness.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Snow, work, and Sakubun no hi


Woke up today, looked out the window to find a snow storm far greater than any I have ever seen. Not really but it seemed like a lot for Tokyo. Headed to Takehito's for his lesson and then to Shinjuku. When I got to Shinjuku I stopped in at work and grabbed an unbrella that I had left there last time it rained and headed to the barber shop to get my hair cut. From there I headed to Ootoya and got lunch before headeding to work. It was cold and snowing so only 3 students showed up. After work I headed home, and had dinner. Today was "Setsubun no Hi" which marks the beginning of spring. It literally means "the spliting of the seasons". People throw beans at someone wearing a mask and representing a demon and chant 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi' or 'Out with the demons, in with good luck!' Often celebrities visit major shrines to throw out beans and other goodies to large crowds. In our case we threw beans off the balony at unsuspecting people walking below and some inside which we had to clean up after. After it was all said a done we each ate the same amount of beans as our age.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Work and a movie

Headed to work today. It was cold. After work headed home and grabbed some dinner. From home I headed to Roppongi and met up with Aya at the station and then we met up with some other friends at Toho Cinema in Roppongi Hills and saw the movie "Earth". It was a bit over the top on the sob story but the visuals were great and Patrick Stewart's Naration wasn't bad either. This movie isn't really one I would recommend, for DVD but is worth seeing in the theater. After the movie we all headed home.

Friday, February 1, 2008

School, getting my license translated, and A971

Headed to accounting and after class Josh, Ryan, and I all headed to JAF
to get my license translated so I can take the driving test and get a Japanese drivers license. On the way there we passed a Ferrari Dealership and they didn't have a F430 hardtop so I'm holding off on my purchase for now. When we got to JAF they had us fill out a form and it was about a 30 minute wait while they did the translation. At the place they had a driving simulator that was pretty good. It moved very realistically and everything from the Headlights, to the Hazards all opperated like a normal car. There were day time city driving tracks, night driving, and you could even run a few laps on Suzuka Circuit in a S2000 complete with a working handbreak!

After that was finished we headed to Mos Burger for lunch and then back to school where I put a couple finishing touches on my paper for International Marketing and handed it in.
At night I met up with Josh and Ryan at Roppongi Hills where we picked up movie tickets for the movie "Earth" which we are going to see tomarrow night. In Tokyo movie theaters tend to fill up pretty fast regardless of the film and tickets usually need to be purchased in advance. Most theaters have assigned seating and after the movie most people remain sitting will after most of the credits roll.
Anyhow from there we headed to Heartland an upscale bar that is a popular meeting spot and famous for the Heartland Beer. Heartland Beer brewed by Kirin is made 100% from wheat giving it a western flavor that is usually not found in Japanese beer.
After we headed to A971, met up with some friends and hung out till the last train.