A little something.. From Claire: Farewell Dinner! One more WeeK of IA!!

This was probably gonna be one of the last few Ford Walkers I will be joining.. Friday is party night and I know Ford employees love Fridays.. But who doesn't? Escpecially when you start working, Friday is probably the sweetest day of the week.. Even for students... There's only Mido-san to walk with me today.. Or shall I say 豚兄... Lol...

But Summer was around the corner and everyday, the temperature was becoming more and more like Singapore... But Summer is great because there is the Summer Festival/Natsu Matsuri/夏祭り... This gives reasons to Japanese to weat their summer traditional clothes, 浴衣, with clogs and fan, hair all nicely done and walk around the busiest area Hiroshima, 本鳥/Hondori..

This season's fashion seems to be those big pieces of cloth hanging from the 帯び/Obi, looking like ribbons and water fall..

And the 夏祭り is pretty much like the Pasar Malam in Singapore, except that it onlylasts for a weekend.. and its only once a year I think... Oh, and they start in the day and last through the night, certain roads may be blocked for the street performances.. whic are really flamboyant and cool.. Traditional costumes, drums, colours... But I think the greatest joy is watching beautiful girls in their pretty Yukata and super extravagant hairstyles.. I took more photo the next days of the festival, so stay tune for the next post yeah?

Fare well dinner was scheduled today(7th June 2008 today! Not 2009 yeah?) Friday makes things great cuz more people would be able to make it for the farewell.. Since I wanted to buy Yukata, Akiko-san brought me to Hondori to look for a suitable Yukata.. And while we were in the lift, we ran into Morimoto-san/森本さん... And it striked me that they were both wearing Blue!! Isn't that cool? Lol.. But anywayz, farewell was gonna be at a Spanish restaurant.. Its so cool, cuz I've never eaten Spanish food till I came Japan, and now I ate it twice in a month!

Eating in Japan is really special cuz they have many authentic foreign food prepared by Japanese chefs who spent many years as a chef in that country.. And the ebst part is that Japan produces the finest ingredients for their food, so the food can even taste better than how it does in the home country most of the time! Besides, Japanese never compromise on quality, so this ensures that every cent is simply worth it.. Above is the Tapas, I plate of cold smoked, bacons and some fishes... It was surprisingly not so salty and yet it felt light and refreshing.. Probably the summer made us feel this way..

This is イカ墨/ika sumi.. its a dish of 'sotong' with the sotong's ink.. Its really rich, and fresh.. There is no particular taste, as in the ink is generally a bland taste, but the blandness itself is a really unique taste.. Kinda like eating creamy plain water? Hard to describe.. Really..

After the two dishes, I simply didn't take photos of food anymore.. Lol.. Taking pictures with the wonderful people I met and making me feel at home and well taken care of was the main priority of the day for moi..

Here's 高さんと原崎さん/Ko-san and Harasaki-san, I'll remember 高さんfor his daily one-on-one o check on my progress for the project.. And Harasaki-san? The above 70 man who keeps his youth by taking the Fordwalker with us almost every other day!

Er-hem,er-hem.. One of the most important people responsible for my grades,

中島さん/Nakashima-san .. The Manager of our department, and.. My supervisor.. ^.^(*Wink)

And not forgetting 亜貴子さん/Akiko-san, who treats me like a younger sister and took really good care of me while I was in Japan... I swear I'll remember every meal I had with

亜貴子さん/Akiko-san for the rest of my life..

There were even farewell gifts for us!!! And here's me trying to be "Miss Ford" lol.. This came in really handy cuz I forgot to bring a towel to Japan and I have been surviving on the apartment's weekly towel replacements.. Lol.. And this will come in handy when I go on my trip after IA.. :D

This is the team of people who I spent my IA with, well, actually, the people closer to the camera were from my team.. And Choon's team had 横本さん/Yokomoto-san, 松岡さん/Matsuoka-san, 原崎さん/Harasaki-san, and our Director, 橋本さん/Hashimoto-san.. Rest of the people were in from 麻生さん/Asou-san's team..

My supervisor, who always kept so calm and cool.. Took such a corny pic with me... Its really funny and kinda hard to believe.. :P

Beside me, the head of my team, and also my supervisor... 麻生さん/Asou-san.. He's a really serious man, and I was pretty afraid of him when I just started IA.. Partly be'cuz I was a little too ignorant about office behavior.. But he was really kind and patient enough to correct me subtlely.. Most people who work under him really enjoy cooperating with him becasue he's really open to suggestions and he gives his subordinates loads of room for creativity.. Like

魚住さん/Uozumi-san, next to him.. He's always keeping himself up to date with the latest trends in the automobile industry and never fails to share them with the rest of the team.. :D

橋本さん, who earned everyone's respect for his calm, cool and steady leadership.. NTU interns should be thankful to him that we get overseas attachment in JApan.. He's really supportive of the program and students really benefit alot from the attachment... The life experiences and lessons I learned has changed my life alot.. Interns are actually an expense to the company and interns from NTU really cost the company alot, so I can't stop feeling appreciative towards everything the company has provided for me..

Here's タッチャン/大久保さん/Okubo-san, 玲子さん /Reiko-san.. I believe everyone has heard alot about 大久保さん, so introducing 玲子さん, who has always been patient with my ignorance.. And really kind towards teaching me my mistakes via e-mail.. :P I learnt loads of office ettiquette from her.. :)

横本さん/Yokomoto-san, the head in Choon's department... I was surprised when he told me he read my blog recently(as in June last year) lol.. He shared his sentiments on how difficult it us for interns like us to survive alone overseas and even apologize for not doing enough.. Its really sweet and kind to hear these words.. I mean, seriously, we have never done anything for them, yet, their care and concern for us never stops.. It really makes us feel that they are our family in Japan...

Dun ask me what I was doing to 高さん/Ko-san.. It was really random.. But its funny.. Haha.. But our dear Korean here who speaks Japanese as well as any native gave a really great farewell speech about me.. He gave it in Japanese, and with my horrible standards of Japanese, it was really hard for me to comprehend.. But I caught alot of things here and then and thankfully they were good.. Except when everyone started laughing, I wonder what was is about.. But I simply laughed along to laugh at myself.. :S

After the dinner, 亜貴子さん/Akiko-san felt its a waste for us to spend our farewell friday going home, So we proceeded to タッチャン's/Tat-chan place! Went to Fiesta to grab some drinks, ice creams and snacks.. And thankfully we all lived near each other, so タッチャん/Tat-chan was really nice enough to give 亜貴子さん/Akiko-san and us a lift home..