Golden Week

Cannot believe Golden Week is over.

Oh how time flies when you're having fun.

5/2

Met up with Lisa and Lara after work!

What better way to kick of Golden Week than spending quality time with your girl friends!

I'd had an argument with Kohei the night before, so it helped a lot to get things off my chest.

I owe Lisa so much for always listening to my problems...

Then we laughed hard as we talked about guys, coworkers, life and enjoyed our frozen beers!

TGIF!

5/3

My first visit to NAGANO!

My grandmother's hometown,

Having lived abroad my entire childhood, I'd failed to acknowledge that I had other family living in Japan besides my grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

When my ojiichan passed away a year and a half ago, I met so many family members that I never knew I had.

This tme, I went for a memorial service in memory of my great uncle, and my great grand parents.

「あやこはあ会ったことはないけど、この人たちがいなかったら、今のあやこはいなんだよ」

My great uncle told me this as he drove me to their home from Nagano station.

Family, being related by blood, it's all a very funny matter.

I hardly knew these "family members" but everyone greeted me and thanked me for taking part in the ceremony. I was welcomed with so much warmth.

Family. What a wonderful word.

One of my greatest ambitions is to keep this family tradition alive, and to build a happy family of my own.

5/4

Midnight. Dinner? with Kohei after another massive argument.

I'm glad we got everything sorted.

思いやり is key.

Went home, slept.

Got my nails done, cleaned up the house, and met up with Kohei again.

Visited the new Kirarina, only to be bombarded by a huge crowd of people.

Got some fresh air at Inokashira park, and visited the bird zoo and mini aquarium there for the first time.

Headed to Shinjuku, and met up for ICUHS ３組会！

Me, Kohei, Lisa, Yurie, Michiru, Johnny, Taketake, Yoko (and Nao)

It's funny how things never change.

And oh, I'm really not good at speaking in front of a lot of people.

I really want to overcome this.

5/5

Watched 「船を編む」。

The importance of words, the changing ways of language,

the rewards of perseverance, the courage to communicate thoughts and feelings.

A lot of interestng themes were weaved into this warm and entertaining film.

It really incorpotaed some great unique aspects of Japanese films.

Ate soba for lunch, and headed to Yokohama.

We roamed around Minatomirai, and ate dinner in China Town.

5/6

CHEER PRACTICE.

Oh how I had waited for this day to come.

Cycled to school; I usually love this, but shame that it was drizzling today...

Practice was fun.

Cheerleading is such a hot sport.

Makie had joined Rising, and 7 freshman had joined Angels.

Later, went for Lunch at Yochika with Mami, Asaki, Makie, Inocchi, Minami, and Haruka.

It's great to have a place called home.

There were time that I felt a little uncomfortable to visit practice, but I'm really glad I went today.

BACK TO WORK TOMORROW!

気合いだー！！！

april drawing to an end

4/26

Met up with kohei and his mother for lunch.

Having been told to relax, I showed up wearing jeans and sandals...oops

Also, I'd totally forgotten to buy something as a gift, so I qiuckly stopped by the station shop to buy some yokans.

Hmm I think I should've prepared more.

We went to Kohei's old pre-school, which had opened a restaurant for a limited time only!

It was a beautiful place with lots of seasonal flowers, and it was nice to hear stories about Kohei as a little boy.

Eg. he chose the pre-school himself, he once cut his head after play fighting with a boy in his class (first of man injuries to come)

His mom was very frank, and I guess that's why he is also so down to earth.

4/27

Had lunch with Kohei, and called it a day since he had a lot of studying left.

Ahem we weren't very successful in studying the day before.

Went home once, and then headed out again to Yoyogi park!

Angels Picnic!

I was very surprised to be greeted by my old team-mates doing stunts in the middle of the park, and yelling my name lol

Risa had baked some chocolate cupcakes for me, and they all sang me happy birthday:)

Then, headed to Ebisu with Lara and Risa to meet up with Mami and Marika for pizza!

Oh how I love drinking good beer, eating delicious pizza, and spending great time with 13 Angels<3

Lara was talking about her very active love life.

Mami about her very not active one.

It's great to see that they all don't change.

I mean they have changed in the sense that they're all doing new things, but when the 5 of us are together, it's just like old tmes.

And again, they celebrated mine and Risa's birthdays!

I'm so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

It was truly a very happy day.

4/28

Mondays are always hard, especially after having spent such a fun weekend.

Quickly got my work done, headed home once to clean myself up, and headed back out to meet Angels once again!

This time, it was Mimi, Manami, Jochan, Kumichan, and ALMOST ALL 13S!!!

I really dont remember the last time all of us 13s got together.

It's sad we kind of drifted apart, but I was so over the moon to reunite with Junna and Chika:)

Cheerleading was tough, I gotta admit, most of the time.

Yet, when I look back at it, I'm always left with such warm feelings.

There's so many things that I regret and I think I could've dealt with things much better,

but really, I think the people I met through cheerleading, and the memories of it,

is helping me get along today.

Go Angels!

4/29

National Holiday! Woohoo!

Met up with Yoko for the first time since January!

Talking to her is always so beneficial.

She knows so much that I don't know, and she THINKS much more than me.

Her boyfriend is currently in Sudan, doing some voluntary work, and he is considering extending his time abroad in order to apply for a program related to the UN.

As much as we praise and look up to his high ambitions, we discussed the probably difficult reality of having a long distance relationship with someone who lived in a developing country...

After lunch, we met up with Takuma where we dicussed work, life in Japan, and news around the world.

They told me about Malala, a Pakistani girl who fights for education for women.

Note to self: read her book.

Later, we met up with Kohei and the 4 of us went for dinner.

It's interesting that all 4 of us ICUHS graduates all have a rather easy going view on the whole lifelong employment system in this country; yet we're all working as salary-men/women.

One thing's for sure though. We're all highly motivated, and we all have potential to do great things.

Let's hope we don't drown in the Japanese society, and that we can make the most of ourselves.

歓迎会

秘書部歓迎会！

送迎会に引き続き、歓迎会も先輩に準備・進行を助けてもらい、とっても助かりました！

個室で予約していたはずが、なぜか普通の席になっていたけど、

わいわいしても許してもらえたのでOKとしよう。

今回は新メンバー紹介と、前部署・新部署のマネージャーからのコメントを中心に進行を進めました。

少し大変だけど、やっぱ人に喜んでもらうために、

ゲームを企画したりするのはとても楽しい。

新しく部署に来た先輩が言っていたことばが印象的だったので、

記録します。

「企画部・事業部は、試行錯誤することが仕事。

自分たちの予算をもっていて、明確な数的な目標もある。

それを達成するために、ミスをしながらも、解決策を探っていくことが大事。

一方で、秘書部では明確な目標を設定することは難しい。

予算等もない・・・

しかし、秘書部は常に本番。ミスは最初から許されない。

いつも本番。」

確かにそうなんです。

ミスをせず、周囲から信頼を得るためには、

必要な知識を身に着けて、

常に相手目線で考動する必要があると思う。

先を観控えて、できる準備をする。

まだまだできることはあるはず。