想い出は遠くの日々

It’s been a week since I got back from Asia. I finally got around to fixing my blog and upgrade the blog engine to Wordpress 2.5.1. I think I’ll refresh the blog design shortly – thinking of the new title: 想い出は遠くの日々 (Memories of a Faraway Day)

At the request from my old boss, Okamoto-san, I’ll throw up the pics when I met up with my old coworkers from the NTT lab. I had dinner with my old team, U高G back in my first week in Japan. When they found out that I was going to work for Identity Management down in MSFT, they were like “OMG, you’re a competitor!”. However, I think they were glad that I was able to reuse the knowledge I gained during my internship in the lab. The dinner was certainly fun… mostly conducted in broken Japanese (me) and English (the team). But once again, I think their English is better than my Japanese.

Faces certainly don’t change in 2 years time. However, my previous research group acquired some new faces… I just can’t remember their names. U高G members, could you comment and let me know their names?

Edit: Added in the new names. Thanks!

By the end of tomorrow, I would have traveled 2590 kilometers by train for a flat fee. I’ve made good use of my Japan Rail Pass. More on this later.

Edit: I’ve noticed that comments page is showing double… need to fix it when I get back.

I just remembered how difficult it is to express myself in a foreign language. Despite learning more Japanese grammar after I left Japan, I am still struggling to create meaningful sentences and complex thoughts. Trying to follow a true Japanese conversation is a monumental task. I pick up about 60% of the spoken words and grammar, and the rest, 40%, is guessed by context. I have problems with translating in real-time due to the fast speed of normal Japanese. And let’s not forget about making a decent response. I am often left speechless because I am still deciphering the previous sentence. Contrasting to 2 years ago, at the beginning of my Japan internship, I didn’t have an immediate need to speak Japanese. I could get away with speaking English to the other Canadian interns. Now, because of the people I met in Japan, I need to hit the ground running. I am much more decent with written Japanese, however. I haven’t lost my mailing skills.

If I am ever to return back to Japan, I need to vastly improve my Japanese, preferably staying a longer period. I’m slowly regaining my vocabulary but it’s not enough to hold my own in a conversation.

To say that I’m frustrated would be an understatement. After two years, I am still like a lost child in Japan.

Also, I suck at karaoke… especially in Japanese.

5:50 am: Woke up
6:15 am: Got dressed and took a taxi towards Hong Kong airport
7:30 am: Bummed around the airport and ate breakfast
8:45 am: Boarded Dragonair flight to Beijing
11:30 am: Plane was told to turn back. Airspace around Beijing closed…
1:30 pm: Plane landed back in Hong Kong airport. Next plane is at 4:55.
2:00 pm: Got some lunch with a HKD 75 voucher
4:55 pm: Got on the next Dragonair flight towards Beijing
5:00 pm: Still on the tarmac
6:00 pm: Another delay… everyone told to get off plane. New departure time 8:05 pm.
7:10 pm: I’m sitting here rather upset. Spent the entire day at the airport or sitting on a plane. Hoping this one makes it.