RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

. yThe curtain pullers of 2007 are standing by the sides, holding onto the ropes just waiting for the year to end so that they can move on with their lives after the curtain falls, while many of us are still wondering where did all the time go. Wasn't it just the other day when we ushered in 2007 amidst fireworks, auld lang syne and a crazy countdown? So, what did 2007 do for us? It was a strange year, as it moved at an abnormal pace. Way too fast to do anyone much good, way too fast to be remembered as one of those good years by people who look at each year as a passing phase. So fast that I can't even remember if a certain incident happened in this year or the year before! Things I learnt in 2007: 1. Adrenaline can be your best friend 2. Fingers are not heat proof 3. Coffee is addictive (after many years!) 4. Previous year's claims of insomnia were exaggerated. 2007 was the real deal 5. Vista can be a pain, but you get used to it. In fact you can get used to an...

Monday, the first day of training was pretty uneventful… here we found out what damage literal translation can do – make you laugh till you can’t laugh anymore! Anyway, after 5 pm, we found ourselves activity-less, so after dinner which we had at 6:30 pm, we decided to head out to the local area to check out their v ersion of Carrefour and visit the 100 yen shop. Tuesday night dinner – The training division decided to have a dinner together for all the trainers and trainees that night. We had a chance to dine the proper Japanese way on the low table. The food was amazing. We had steamboat, salmon, octopus (this is a must try!) and a var iety of mushrooms. The low table where we had our dinner After eating we were ‘forced’ to participate in some games like to use 3 matchsticks to make 4 triangles, or try to ‘push’ off a 1000 yen note of the table without actually touching it, and the local version of rock, paper, scissors. Next, each country had to go out and sing a song. Why???? The ...

Day 1 – touchdown and some adventures in Osaka We touched down at Kansai International at 7 am Japanese time on Sunday morning after having a ridiculous attempt at sleeping in the plane. “Would you like to have Malaysian fried rice with chicken satay or the omelette with potatoes for breakfast?” asks a very chirpy flight attendant at 4 am . Groggily I say I would prefer the fried rice. Anyway, who on earth (besides people who really have to) has breakfast at 4 am? We waited a bit for other trainees from other cou ntries, got to kno w each other and took a long ride in an airport limo bus to the train station nearest to where we were supposed to stay throughout our training… a boarding house also known as a dormitory. The rooms were really nic e and spacious, and at that moment the *sun was actually shining into the room and the effect was just lovely! The room without the sun... The floor is lined with Katami - (something like a mat that helps keep off the cold) While some of them s...

It’s been almost a week since I touched down in Malaysia after a about a week of living in and a 6 hour flight from Japan. What’s really funny was I thought I found back my muse in Japan, especially when we were on the limousine bus from the airport to the nearest train station. There was this really long bridge, and the view from the bus was simply magnificent… the streets unbelievably clean and sea birds perched at the sides of the bridge as though they were waiting for an unseen sign to fly away together. Alas, I lost it again on the flight back when I forced myself to watch 3 in-flight movies back to back (sle pt through ¾ of 1 of them, though… hehehe) Our cups of coffee The Training…. Anyway, the main reason I went there was to train about static electricity, which seems to be one of the major causes of workplace r elated accidents, and we were there to be trained on proper prevention methods. Despite the serious tone of the training, we had coffee breaks every ho ur or so. In t...