Koksaibu Office Party
...written on 2001-01-29, @ 00:28:02
Tales of Kim's Life in Japan
Sun January 28, 2001
Lana, Yasuyo and I went to the Futon shop which had a lot of neat home decorating items. Pretty reasonable prices too. After that we went to the 100 yen shop (Dollar Store). I bought a lot of candles.
I've been in a candle mood. I guess it's because I haven't had any, but my apartment is taking on a very relaxing feel and I've been wanting to add candles for ambience for a long time. I wanted to get a little rice paper lamp too, but didn't find one to my liking.
Yasuyo came back to my apt and we sat and had some tea. I was very quiet. That's what 4 hours of sleep does for me. Yasuyo was a sweetie and dropped me off at Hombu where I was to meet the Koksaibu (overseas division) gang and go out and celebrate.
Hide, Fred, Toyo and Manami took the TOEIC test today. It is a listening and writing test of English. Fred was disappointed in his performance. Manami felt she didn't pass and Hide said it was tough. The test is given every year and they take it basically to see how they are doing. I plan on doing the same with the Japanese level 4 test (beginner's level) in December.
We were to celebrate the end of the test, and also have a going away party for Manami even though we aren't sure she is leaving the company yet. She has taken several tests and had interviews with various airlines for a position as a flight attendant. Hide will be out of the country when she finds out if she passed all the tests or not.
So far, the picture she has painted to us has been one of big doubt that she will pass, but this could be her way of being humble. At any rate, if she doesn't pass, she will transfer out of our office to the Office Lady pool.
We all met at the office, piled into two cars and went to a yakiniku restaurant that had grills in the tables. The Japanese call this the Korean style. Whatever style it was, we gorged ourselves on cow tongue, beef, pork, rice, vegetables and dessert.
Our next stop was a Karoke palace. This was a two story building that had 36 sound proof rooms where you could go with your friends and sing along with the karaoke videos. The halls are lined with soft drink and beer vending machines. A 12 oz beer is US$3.00.
All seven of us squeezed into the little room with the big TV and browsed the big catalogs for songs to sing. I started off with "Killing Me Softly", then followed with Ohhh, Baby, Baby (Linda Ronstadt), Phantom of the Opera, and Tonight (West Side Story). The music was so loud it was hard to hear myself sing, so I had trouble maintaining the same register. Lana got up and sang a Jewel tune and sounded just like her. Ivan should always sing "Let it be", he does a great job on that and was hysterically funny doing "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns n Roses. Chad however, well, Chad just shouldn't sing and he knows it. But we all had fun, singing, cheering and clapping each other on.
After Karoke we raced Manami to the train station so she could get the last train to Nagoya. Hide dropped me off at Hombu so I could ride my bike home and took Lana to her apartment. Lana thought it was rude of Hide to exclude us girls and just make plans with the guys to go off to another bar. Yes, perhaps rude in America, with all of us being out together and all, but in Japan, the plan was to have dinner and sing karaoke. That was it, party over. Then it was up to Hide to do what he wanted to do.
I'm calling it an early night. I have been staying up until 6 am the past few nights and then getting up early, so I am ready for some shut-eye.
It is warm in my "living room" right now. I have the futon spread out on the floor, two pads, one electric blanket, a sheet over that and a comforter over that. The wall heater is on as well, so I am going to be downright cozy when I hop in. Ahhhhh.
Hide said tomorrow will be an easy day for me so we can get together and talk about training and my plans to renew or not for another year. Hide is leaving this Thursday for the states and I will be running my first training session on Saturday.
Drats, I don't feel like I've had any time for my self to sit and think in a while. I'd like to just light my new candles, turn off the lights and be still.