August 31, 2005

Travel to Europe


I am going to go on a trip to Europe with my friend from tomorrow. We booked hostels and trains and planned enough using Excel! It is sometimes better to be flexible, but planning will help us in some points. 20 days, 8 countries and 12 cities. Is it possible? We won’t be able to “know” those countries but we will “feel” or “see” many countries!

I am excited! What I am VERY looking forward to doing is to see my host family in Germany!!!

Wish me luck and see you later.

posted by Maffie @ 10:12 AM 6 comments

Experienced People

I like playing with kids.
I like hanging out with my friends.
And I like talking with people who are older than me.

Older people are usually experienced much more than me. I enjoy listening to their stories. I know the one who is over 60 and is going to go to Fiji to be in charge of personnel management in cooperation with local people. To me, his life is very interesting.

Today, I also talked with the man who has been working in Japan for years as a foreigner. I wondered if he might be missing something in his country, but he said, “No, I am not missing anything because I am here.” mmm I see~~ As long as his mind is in Japan, he does not miss his country even though he thinks of his country.

I met many interesting people. Who will I meet next?

posted by Maffie @ 2:30 AM 2 comments

August 30, 2005

Internship-Mistake-

If the time comes when I train someone on a job, I want him/her to feel the same way as I do.

I sometimes make a mistake while I am working; however, my boss and other staff do not get mad at me. Instead, they give me ideas and solutions to carry out the work more smoothly.

They told me not to be afraid of making mistakes and added that people learn from the mistakes.

Thank you for training me and allowing me to make mistakes. BUT I should not repeat the mistakes! Right?

posted by Maffie @ 12:37 AM 3 comments

August 29, 2005

Japanese Style???

For rain
For skin
For fashion
For traditional art
For what else…


There are many differences between foreign countries and Japan. I think it is one of the differences how to do skin care. Many women in Japan use umbrellas as parasols to keep off the sun, while I hardly saw women using that kind of umbrellas when I was in the US. Maybe we are afraid of exposing our skin to sunlight and try to protect the skin from the damaging effects of the sun’s UV rays, though some people go to a beach or a tanning salon to get a suntan. In Japan, you can also see women wearing long-sleeved clothes in summer. Talking about farmers, they cover all of their body by wearing long-sleeved clothes, long pants and hat!


I did not care about my skin when I was a teenager. I used to be a runner and had a good tan. But I started protecting my skin as I grew up. Also my mother has been telling me to use a UV protect umbrella in order to have milky skin. Yah, now I use it. It also keeps me cool!


To use an umbrella might be one of our traditions. We have a Japanese umbrella made from traditional Japanese papers and bamboo. We rarely use it anymore but we would find women wearing Kimono and taking traditional umbrellas with them in many pictures of the distant past like the Edo period.

Anyway, do you use a sunshade in summertime? Is it Japanese-like??

posted by Maffie @ 9:36 PM 2 comments

August 27, 2005

Internship-Healthy Workplace-

I imagined I would have stress from any workplace, but I haven’t felt it so far from the current internship. I enjoy working there and am always looking forward to what I can learn next.

Our boss and employees may be controlling the stress caused by their work, but I believe we have the healthy/cheerful workplace. We sometime play a joke and enjoy having small talk. (Of course, we work seriously!) Last time, the president surprised me by patting me on the back when I was working and staring fixedly at the computer. He made me laugh. That atmosphere might help us not to get stress.

The office has an unique environment, and I like being there.

posted by Maffie @ 6:31 PM 2 comments

August 24, 2005

Congratulations!

What a great news it was! My friend got a job offer. As soon as I found out her e-mail about the news, I called her. I was sooooo happy for her and wanted to congratulate her in no time.

We had a small conversation over the phone. Her tone of voice was different from the time when she got accepted from another company. How do I say… From her voice with good spirits, I felt she had finally found the place where she wanted to be. We will see and have a lunch or dinner to congratulate each other on being informally accepted for employment.

She never gave up until she got accepted from the company that she really wants to work. It took time but she did great. Her result might teach us a lesson. I respect her.

Congratulations again. I hope you sleep well tonight. OTSUKARESAMA!

posted by Maffie @ 11:03 PM 7 comments

Have you ever seen someone who is similar to you?

We regard ourselves as if we had been twin in the previous life.

We have got to know in Las Vegas. Through studying English and spending some time together, we became good friends.

Curiously enough, we are like-minded. I mean, our way of thinking, reaction, personality…those are similar. We also do the same thing at the almost same time, like saying the same word, sneezing, e-mailing each other, etc… It happens a lot! Such as today, she gave me an e-mail about the thing that I was about to discuss with her. We also found out that we had printed the same papers.

We grew up in different environment. She grew up in near the center of Tokyo and has no sibling, while I grew up in the countryside and have an older brother. And of course, some of our characters are different and we are interested in different things. However, she and I can almost read each other’s inmost thoughts. Is it telepathy? Is it because we have similar ideas? What is it?

She is one of my best friends. I feel comfortable when I am with her. We get along very well and do not have to bother about each other’s feelings.

Somehow tonight, I would like to express my thanks for making friends with her.

posted by Maffie @ 1:43 AM 2 comments

August 21, 2005

Earthquakes

Japan…it is the country with frequent earthquakes.


Recently we have been having earthquakes very frequently. When a strong earthquake occurred in the TOUHOKU region last week, which is in the northern part of Japan, Tokyo also shacked a lot. Then today, another one happened in NIIGATA, which is in the opposite side of Tokyo. At the time, I was on the 8th floor of the building in Tokyo and felt it…

I heard we are getting to be able to predict earthquakes and I see technological advances. But can we really predict when earthquakes happen? I hope we will be able to do it, but I sometimes feel scary… You know, the power of nature is much stronger than that of human beings…

I finally prepared some things for earthquakes. flashlight, batteries, first-aid kit, water, emergency food, outdoor sheet… Shoes should be very important to protect my feet. Maybe I also need to include gloves and rope.

What else do I need? Did you prepare something for it???

posted by Maffie @ 11:31 PM 2 comments

August 20, 2005

Internship-Aloha! Spirit-

“Aloha!” – It is our morning ritual.

As some of you have already known, I have been working at a human resources management/training company as an intern since July. (I will be a banker though.) The reason why I started doing it is I am interested in coaching and want to keep or even improve my English skills after my stay in the US as a student. Americans, Canadians and Japanese work in the office, so I believe I will have good experiences. I cannot be in charge of many things like other employees, but I can learn lots of things. Plus, by doing the internship, I found some tips that would make our life colorful!

We have a morning ritual. In the office, we greet each other by shacking hands and saying “Aloha~!” We also answer the phone saying the same greeting word (not “Hello”) when our staff calls the office. Honestly, I was surprised about it at first, but now I like doing it. I feel refreshed and inspirited by seeing other’s smile. And I can also think, “Ok, it’s time to start working!” So I want to give them a big smile as well.

Some of my friends who started working say people do not greet each other when they come to the office. Don’t you think it is kinda sad?

I looked up the meaning of the word, Aloha Spirit. It seems to refer to a powerful way to accomplish any goal and to resolve any problem. In the Hawaiian language, the word Aloha seems to stand for much more than hello or love. That is, the joyful (oha) sharing (alo) of life energy (ha) in the present (alo).


Saying “Aloha!” (usually “Good morning” or “Hello”) is easy but makes others feel good. It should be a good tip on business as well. It would motivate coworkers. You know, working is sometimes not so fun…

So, let's say "Aloha~~!"


posted by Maffie @ 3:10 PM 3 comments

August 18, 2005

Memorable Family Event

Last weekend, my family and my friend’s family (actually, our mothers have been good friends since high school) went to a hot spring in Hamamatsu, Sizuoka prefecture, which is almost located in the central part of Japan. As we children grew up, both families lost time to spend together; however, you never know how much we have great memories and funny stories!

We did nothing but talk during our trip. It does not sound thrilling, but to me, I had a good time. Talking about the stories of our childhood, the recent lives and the views for the future, I realized we have grown up. One of us is going to get married next year. Who imagined the time would come?

Oh, I noticed one more thing. I may have the same nature as my brother. When we found a BIG BIG vegetable (white gourd), which is about three times as much as my face, both of us were super excited and took the picture with it. Thinking back to the life when I was in the US, I always took pictures when I saw something “BIG” or bigger than that of Japan. Yes, we are “brother and sister”!

We spent only one day together, but I got another sweet memory from the trip. It may be because I enjoyed the time with the important persons at the place where I often used to go shellfish gathering with my family. Now some of us are still students, but all of us will have a job from next year. Once we start working, we will have less time to see each other…

I decided to put our pictures of the trip on somewhere in my room. Maybe my family’s one, children’s one and the one of all of us!

posted by Maffie @ 12:55 PM 5 comments

August 17, 2005

@TULLY'S

She is my best friend. We have kept in contact with each other since we got to know in Seattle. Being with her, I always get great energy. Maybe that is because she is the one who works really hard and challenge anything.

I know she has been looking for “the place”, but I believe she will find it. She will.

As your friend, I always think of you. GANBATTE!

posted by Maffie @ 6:59 PM 6 comments

Welcome to my page!

I started creating my own blog here! Since I had great experiences in the US, I have wanted to keep all of my friendships. Feel free to browse around and come back for new updates!

posted by Maffie @ 2:03 PM 0 comments