Kyushu

Hello everyone,

sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Now I really have a lot to tell you.
Firstly about my work: I finally started on my first project. Of course I can't really give many details but it is a small team (4 people including me) and they are all very nice and help me out whenever I need it. I have been entrusted with the creation of manuals in english and it is actually something I am good at so it is fun.

After working for one week I finally had my first holidays! 9 days all in all. Of these 9 days I still have 3 days left and I plan on enjoying them. Unfortunately the weather turned rainy yesterday so I stay inside.

And now to what I did the first couple of days of my holidays: I went to Kyushu with my boyfriend for 4 days. And it was a really nice trip. We flew to Fukuoka on Sunday morning and from there took our rented car around the island. From Fukuoka we first went to the city of Dazaifu which was the administrative center of Kyushu for over 500 years (build in the 7th century). We went to Tenmangu Shrine and the small Komyozenji Tempel both very beautiful. Especially the old big trees at Tenmangu. Close to the Temple is a pedestrian area with nice shops and we ate a lot of different food there. There is actually more to see in the small city, but because we also wanted to have a look around in Fukuoka we went back relatively early.

Back in Fukuoka we checked into our hotel and after a short nap went to Fukuoka tower at the coast of the city. The view of the city was spectacular! Looking around made us hungry so we went to the Yatai (Food Stalls) in the center of the city. At these Food Stalls you can enjoy all the food Fukuoka is famous for. We chose Hakata Ramen and I have to say it was the best Ramen I have ever had! We had to wait in line for quite some time, because at each stall the seats are limited, but it was really worth it. And it was really part of the charm. With this our first day ended, we were tired and just wanted to sleep.

The next day we started late. After lunch we headed for Amakusa in Kumamoto prefecture. A couple of island with really nice atmosphere and scenery. We wanted to reach Jusanbutsu Park by sunset (which shouldn't have been a problem) but unfortunately the going was not only slow but incredibly slow and the time went by. It got darker and darker and we were about 5 km from our goal when we decided to just stop at the street and watch the sunset there. And it was magical. The sky was cloudless and in front of us was the big orange ball of light. In front the sea and some rocks sticking out of it. The pictures we took look nice but don't to the atmosphere any justice.
After the sun went town it was still bright enough so we went on to Jusanbutsu Park and looked around there for a bit before taking the long way to Kumamoto city.
We arrived there after 11 p.m. and were very hungry. The food Kumamoto is most famous for is Basashi (raw horse meat). So of course thats what we wanted to eat. Unfortunately all restaurants were full so instead we went to a steak bar which was introduced in our guide book. And it was delicious.

Day three we started early, since we hadn't yet seen anything of Kumamoto. So we went to the most iconic place of Komamoto, the castle. I have been to other castles in Japan (Osaka and Nagoya) and they are all similar but still very nice to visit. Afterwards we had lunch (Shabushabu) and had the chance to eat the famous raw horse meat, which by the way is really delicious. Then we made our way to Mount Aso an active volcano on the way to our next and last destination Beppu. Aso had just had a small eruption one week earlier and was still blowing fumes and smoke into the air, which is why we couldn't get very close. It was still very exciting to be so close to an active volcano. The nature around Aso was also very beautiful, everything was green with grass and trees and mountains. Really nice to look at.

Our way to Beppu was then a very short one without any delays and so we arrived before 6 p.m. We went and had lunch and afterwards went into the onsen (hot spring) of our ryokan (Japanese style hotel). Beppu is a very famous hot spring resort within Japan.

On our last day we went to the Jigoku, the hot springs that are very beautiful to look at. The water that emerges from the ground is up to 100 degrees hot and the fumes stink like rotten eggs but it is still magical. The different pools have different colors, from red to gray to blue or white.

 The hot ground is apparently very good for breeding crocodiles, so thats what they are doing. 

For lunch we had cold noodles and then we went back to Fukuoka to fly back home to Tokyo, both of us not really wanting to return, and just continue traveling for a couple more days.

When we get the chance we will definitely go traveling somewhere again, next time maybe outside of Japan. If only we didn't have work we would only be traveling!

The good old times

Hey everyone,

work-wise a lot has happened lately. I took the SAP Sales&Distribution certification and passed! And I have been assigned to my first project. Unfortunately I can't say much about it, but I can tell you that I am very excited about it. And that I will be able to go to another country for work (but I really don't know much myself). Until my first project starts in two weeks I have my last days of training. And I will just enjoy them.
Also I just realized that I have started working in my company almost half a year ago, it is incredible how the time flies when you are having fun.
And since I haven't had any holidays in half a year (except for the Golden Week in May) I decided to take one in September. I will have 9 days off and go traveling! When I know more I will let you know, but I am also very excited about that!!!

In the last couple of weeks a lot of friends have come to Tokyo and it has been great catching up with them.
First Roy stayed over and we went to the Zoo (finally) and the Cinema (Inside Out is such a cute movie) and did our Karaoke / Torikizoku routine.
It was an incredible hot day and so all animals were sleeping, unfortunately. But it was still fun. Like I just mentioned above Inside Out is a really cute movie. We watched it in Japanese and actually understood most of it, which I am very proud of.

The weekend after Roys visit I met with Kati (one of my friends from University in Germany). She is now back in Germany but I was very happy to see her again just for a couple of hours!!

On Monday after my SAP Test I managed to meet with Uri just for an hour to catch up. Which is a miracle because we never meet, even if we are in the same city...

Summer time

Hello everyone,

the first two weeks of SAP Sales & Distribution training are over. It is in Japanese and kind of hard, but I am able to use the English material to study with and I am confident that I will pass the exam in two weeks.

Since coming back from Malaysia the weather has been fantastic, over 30 degrees and sunshine all day long. Unfortunately I only get to enjoy the weather on the weekends.
There are certain things that you just have to do in Japan. And in summer one of those things are Hanabi (Fireworks). So thats what I did! I went with one of my friends to a fireworks event close to her home. We didn't actually sit in the official area for the fireworks and thats why it was not so crowded (thankfully). We still had a very nice view. The actual fireworks took over an hours and it was really amazing. Unfortunately it is hard to take pictures. Here are some of the best I managed to take, but they don't do the actual thing justice.

I also found some time to do some tourist stuf on the weekend, and so I went to Enoshima with my boyfriend.
Enoshima is a very small island off the coast of Kamakura about one and a half hours from Tokyo by train. And despite being so small there is actually a lot to see and to do.
First we ate Shirasudon, the typical food on Enoshima, which you can get at every corner. Shirasu are very small fish.
Enoshima is actually very high and there are many steps to climb, we made our way up by escalator (because someone, not me, was too lazy to walk) and first visited Enoshima shrine, then the Samuel Cocking Garden and the Iwaya Caves.
Before making our way back home we also went to the beach, just to put our feet in the water!
Here are my impressions:

Global Training in Malaysia

Hello all,

I am back in Japan and I can't tell you how good a shower feels after 7 hours of flight!
But maybe I should start from the beginning:

Last Wednesday we met at 9 in the morning at Narita Airport to fly to Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia. With 7 hours the flight was surprisingly long and I had time to watch some movies, unfortunately I wasn't really able to sleep. We arrived around 8 in our hotel and everyone was extremely hungry. So we set out in groups first to change or withdraw money (which took an incredibly long time because of the Japanese decision making process, namely standing around for ages not deciding on anything concrete). But we finally moved to the Midvalley Megamall (one of the biggest Malls in the world) joined to our hotel and there had our first Malaysian dinner. And on that day my party period of 8 days began. Of course I mentioned we went to have a training in KL, but about 50% of the experience there was more like a school trip, and that is how everyone behaved on their off time. We drank until 2 in the morning the first day.

Second day, and first day of training we had to get up around 8 to have breakfast (big breakfast buffet with food from all over the world) and then met for our first training session at 9.
I wont go into detail about my training but it was a kind of case study in english with final proposal presentation. We were groups of 5 people everyone with their strong and weak points and we got to know each other in the course of the training. We developed a good dynamic after day 2 and were able to put out high quality results faster than other teams. Even though I don't have trouble with english, like many of my colleagues I learned a lot about brainstorming, creating proposals and so on and I am confident I will be able to use my newly learned skills when I am finally assigned to my first project.

Over the next couple of days it became a routine of getting up early, training until around 7 and then going to dinner and have a party at someones room from 11 usually ending between 2 and 3 thirty (at least for me). The alcohol of my choice became tequila, I managed to be drunk but not too drunk that I would feel bad the next day, actually being used to having 8 hours of sleep I have to say I managed very well over these 10 days only sleeping about 5 every night.

The big highlight of our trip was of course the weekend (which for us was Sunday and Monday). On the first day I went shopping in the mall and to the swimming pool of the hotel. On day number two I tried to squeeze in time for presentation preparation with my team in the morning and afterwards going sightseeing to the most famous places in KL (Batu Caves, Petronas Twin Towers, Central Market and China Town). We were definitely ripped off by some of the taxi drivers we used (a lot of taxis in Malaysia don't have meters, and it is not easy to argue a good price).

The last days of training went by very fast and our final presentation (like our presentations before) was a huge success and we received the Excellence Award! We are still very proud.

Our last day ended with a party and from there we had to leave directly to the airport, we took our flight at 11 and arrived in Tokyo at 7 in the morning. What an experience. Here are some more impressions.

 Brainstorming Work in progress.

 Poolside of the Hotel.

 Japanese card games!

 Batu Caves

 Petronas Towers

 Typical restaurant in China Town - it was a little bit scary and also unclean but very good!

 Everyone talking to themselves while practicing for presentation.

 Preparation for fairwell party

 All participants + trainers and supporters

 My super awesome team (Dan from China, Koya, Natsuki and Keita from Japan)

Our excellence award!!!