Mount Fuji, and a hairy day out during the Spring Equinox!

Let me start this off with a small, true story about India. Back in 1875, the British in India were ecstatic, as they heard the news of Queen Victoria’s visit to India. As most of you know, India was ruled by the British at that period, and so it was monumental, and pivotal in many ways. But during the time of the visit, she was late by 2 hours, and the puzzled Indian folk, who had arrived an hour before the scheduled time were told that it is a norm in the United Kingdom to arrive at least 30 minutes after the scheduled time. Indians have since then been groomed with that philosophy, and we still practice it today.

My Canadian friend was oblivious to that fact, as is the rest of the world. So anyway, we were supposed to leave by 7:45 AM yesterday, but we left at around 8 AM as I was just following our long, followed tradition. Fine, everything written above is completely false. Of course, Alexander ran from time to time trying to get rid of me, but I was calm and composed, simply tracing his steps as I walked to the bus stop. Needless to say, we weren’t late and we met Yamamoto – san and Yuka – san, Alex’s colleagues who were kind enough to let me tag along for their trip to Hakone. We first had to drive for an hour to what looked like a resort/holiday spa, and I was given harsh looks when I bought a huge soft drink bottle for our journey. I had to exchange it with a small can. That was my first “That’s way too big” look in Japan. I wish I had more *Cough*.

So after a long trip, we finally reached our first destination, which was amazing! All the flowers, the small streams, cottages, old – style Japanese environment and more made it pretty fascinating. We tasted Japanese tea as Alex and I couldn’t sit in Japanese style for long (I was the first to fold. Literally). We then had lunch, and I had coke and breakfast. I’m not complaining – The pumpkin soup was pretty delicious!

Sakura flowers! So amazing.

Yamamoto - san and Yuka - san

More Sakura flowers!

And that's Alex "The 'Murican" Peace

I took a lot of pictures yesterday, as I’ve decided to do so from now to capture all the bright moments during my trip. I’ve noticed that the days have been passing by way too soon, and I plan to cherish these memories and take them back with me. Anyway, so I might have made fun of Alex’s balding head, and he might have actually had a hair cut today and I might have felt awful about it afterwards. Don’t give me that, “How could you do that?” look! I then took the walk of shame, as written in the bro – code.

Anyways, getting back to yesterday, we then drove to the hot springs, and it was a breathtaking sight! We could see Mount Fuji pretty clearly, and the rest of the mountains/scenery made it all the more amazing. We had to climb a long way to reach the spot where the hot springs were (And they were pretty hot. I mean the hot springs). We then went to visit some other place, but it was already closed. So we headed back to Chigasaki – shi to have out dinner and call it a night.

We went to the Indian restaurant that I’ve fallen in love with (Vegetarian food is a rarity in Japan), and apparently, I had pissed them off during my last visit with “Not enough spice” complaints. I was breathing fire and Alex teased me, saying he didn’t think it was spicy at all. Anyway, Yuka – san and Yamamoto – san bid us farewell and we came back to our dorm rooms. I fell asleep almost immediately as I was too tired. I have to work on my presentation for tomorrow, and I haven’t even started it yet. If you don’t hear from me again, I’d probably be sacrificed. So I’ll you with some memories!

Fuji - san. Incredible as always

Hot springs. Burn!

The freezing Indian.

Traditional Japanese sweets!

Just being kawaii.

Mount Fuji up close!

Work, long weekend and the great club of Manchester.

So another week has almost come to an end. Everything seems so unreal, like a riveting dream unraveling at the rate of knots! I want to stop and savor the moments; I don’t want the time to fly by when good things happen like most of the people. But this time, it looks like Father Time isn’t listening. I’m not complaining though, it has been the best month of my life (Well, one of the best months at least). I went to Hong Kong and Macao, met and talked to some of my idols, covered a live UFC event and then immediately flew to Japan. I’ve experienced the cold weather, met some insanely nice people and have finally found some good vegetarian food. Life is good once again for now.

It has also been a very tiring week. I didn’t go out last weekend (Because I was broke), and had a lot of work to do. I managed to complete some of it, but I have to work on a presentation for Monday. The company I’m interning for wants me to tell them about India, so that the employees of ULVAC from all over the world can listen about the second most populous country in the world. During my research for the same, I breezed through some old videos which made me nostalgic. Lata Mangeshkar’s classical patriotic songs sent chills up my spine like they used to a decade ago, and I once again remembered the good things about India. At this point, I’m not missing home, but I’d like to experience the history and beauty of India to its fullest once I get back. Also, I managed to find someone else's Suzuki Hayabusa during work *Jealous vibes*.

During work hours one day, a colleague of mine asked if I was home sick. It was odd, because that was the first time that the reality dawned on me that I wasn’t in India anymore. It feels weird because I’m so used to being away that I don’t miss it anymore, although I miss my family and the good food my mom got me addicted to once again. Anyway, work is pretty interesting, as I get to do and learn all the engineering jargon that I’ve almost forgotten. Also, I get to see Mount Fuji every day at work, which is pretty awesome. My neighbor, Alex invited me to a trip to some place tomorrow, and I have to wake up pretty early for that once again *Sigh*.

Also, because of the time difference, it’s almost impossible for me to watch Manchester United’s matches in Japan. Although being a huge fan has its own downsides; I tried watching the recent PL match between United and Liverpool, but had to sleep midway to not blow a gasket and get kicked out of the dormitory. Being a United fan isn’t easy these days, but last night, they finally put a smile of my face once again when they beat Olympiakos in the second leg to book a place in the Quarterfinals of the UCL. Needless to say, I’ve been watching the replays of the match and screaming my head off. Also, I was contacted by Paul Heyman’s agency regarding a recent article I had written about him, and they made it go viral, which was pretty cool!

Friday is a holiday here in Japan because of the Spring Equinox, which seems to be a pretty big deal. Although I like holidays, I hardly get any rest, and this weekend doesn’t seem any different. I plan to go to Tokyo this Saturday, as an independent wrestler by the name of Prince Devitt replied to my message regarding a possible interview. I’ve always been fascinated by the Japanese wrestling circuit, and I’d hate myself if I didn’t check out at least one show during my stay in Japan, and I plan to do it this weekend, which might not be the best idea as I have a lot of work left to complete. Oh well, like I need sleep in the nights!

I will be back in India on May 1^st, which seems ever so close. Although I want to go back to my home and eat Indian food, it almost makes me sad that I have to leave this great place and the amazing people. Let’s hope that I travel a lot more and see a lot of other things before I pack my stuff and get on the flight to India. Oh, and if I hadn’t mentioned, great things might be in store for me as soon as I get back, but more on that later. I got my paycheck today, so I’m no longer broke! Yay for that!

End of week 2: Pennies and midnight showers

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I landed in Japan. I then decided to get a good vegetarian snack, some hot vegetarian noodles and some alone time with a good shower. I was then pulled down to Earth and reminded that I was no longer in India. I was in China for 5 days before coming to Japan, and I thankfully found some good Indian food, or people who could speak in English and understand that I’m just a sad brown kid who needs his greens.

It’s hard to remember everything that happened in the past 13 days. I was in Germany before for an internship, but it was completely different. Although I struggled to find some good vegetarian food (By now, you would’ve understood that I’m a vegetarian. Yes, some people are scarred for life), I did manage to get some tasty potatoes in the cafeteria. Here however, I got the same rice – salad – more salad combination every day, and I soon found out that being a vegetarian who can’t speak Japanese and flaps like a bird in cold weather isn’t easy in Japan. What was I thinking?

Anyway, getting back to the story, after covering a live UFC event and being on top of the world, I had to catch a 3 AM ferry to the Hong Kong central, then a taxi to the Hong Kong airport, from where I flew down to Shanghai and had to catch another plane to Tokyo. In the airport, after managing to successfully get lost for a few minutes, I found the person who was supposed to take me to my hotel room. Her name is Risako, and you’ll probably hear a lot about her and other people that I will be mentioning soon. Anyway, I had some noodles for dinner and hit the sack after a long day.

Next morning, I was taken to the office where I would be interning for the next 2 months. ULVAC Inc. is a company working in the niche and cutting edge sector of vacuum technology. I was placed in the PMG department, and I first met Ms. Kawamura and Mr. Izzal Din, the person who would be my supervisor. After a couple of failed attempts at slapstick humor, I soon realized I had to shut up. I met Alexander “Don’t call me ‘Murican” Peace, a Canadian with a great sense of humor (And then we clicked, of course), who would be my next door neighbor, and he showed me around (Not in that sense, perverts). I soon realized that there was a common shower, and have since started bathing at 2 in the morning. It’s a huge room with a sauna and a lot of nozzles, like those scary bath scenes in Japanese horror movies. Anyway, so food and bathing became huge issues, but I found solutions in the most outrageous ways.

I then met Joe, a cool guy who cannot handle his alcohol *Stop pointing fingers, hypocrite*. Ahem, anyway, we had a good time last Wednesday, and I was finding my place in this amazing, yet scary country. The people go out of their way to be nice to others, and it used to tick me off at first. Then I started doing the same, until some people called me a stalker and asked me to leave their lawn alone. They must’ve thought I was a Mexican. Not funny? Your face!

The person who was the supervisor of my supervisor, Mr. Modeki (Hope I got it right) decided to take me out for dinner along with some colleagues for my welcoming party last Friday. We went to an awesome Indian restaurant near the bus station, and I was happy as a dog after getting a hold of its tail. Mr. Ozaki, one of my colleagues, bought me warm clothing so that they won’t have to deal with a dead Indian soon, and that made me ecstatic. I finally found a great place with great people! Last weekend, me and Alex met Risako and the other AIESECers, along with a new intern (No, I won’t take his name), and went to the Tokyo nature park, along with a couple of other places. We then had dinner at another Indian restaurant (Pamper the foreigner. That’s a ritual in Japan), and then Alex and I went to karaoke along with a bunch of his friends, spent the night at a club, walked around for 3 hours in the morning as I did some stuff that I don’t *cough* remember. We slept at a hotel for a few hours in the morning and Alex got me on the wrong train. Yes Alex, it was your fault.

So my Sunday got wasted in me figuring my way back to my room, and without proper rest, the next week began. This week, it was all about knowing my role, getting hands on experience, watching those humongous machines in the factories being manufactured and tested, and all that jazz. I then learnt 3D and 2D CAD and AutoCAD in a couple of days (No shizz, Japanese are THAT good), worked on a presentation that I will be presenting in just over a week’s time and found some places where I can get more salads (Yay!). Today, I was involved in a meeting that was done in Japanese, as I yawned, flexed and bored my way through, and we are done with the second weekend! Oh, and I spent so much money for my trip to Tokyo that I have to live the next 8 days with virtually peanuts. Yes, I’m just that awesome.

Germany was a different experience. I could stay back because I’m too lazy to get up at 8, take an occasional day off or go to the office extremely late. But in Japan, it’s a norm to be early, which is considered to be on time which is at 8:20 in the morning, and no one takes a day off. Worse, they work over time, don’t really chat that much and work like a *pause* horse (Not the best place to put in my innuendos). I really don’t have plans for the weekend, but I have a lot of work and since I didn’t have internet for the past 2 weeks, I need to catch up on a few things. But rest assured that I will be following up with some more updates about how I’m screwing things up in the land of the rising Sun!