Thursday, May 29, 2014

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 6 - Japan Day 6

I woke up before the alarm and so did Daniela. She started communicating with her sister via text then eventually Skype while I was getting ready for work. I left her still talking to her sister. She said she was going to go to Shibuya maybe and look around today. Han was eating breakfast when I got downstairs but in a couple minutes we were on our way to the office. We again took the stop that allowed us to walk to the office rather than taking a taxi or a bus. I am much happier with that method.  We got in at about 8:20 or so and I started preparation for the day but since the day's work involves some tools and preparation that I have all ready at home and I did not have all of that here it was a harrowing morning. First the translator was taken to another project for the day so I had to speak to the students without translation which meant they really didn't understand what I was saying so well.  Then with the mishaps in getting the lab environment correct for the work for the day there was a large gap where I was preparing things and the students were going over their own material provided by the more senior engineers.  All in all it was an embarrassing and difficult morning.

We started lunch at 12:30 instead of 12 because of the delays partially. I had Katsudon (deep fried pork with a sweet sauce on it) and rice today with none of the other extras.  It again was serviceable but not anything to write home about being basic cafeteria food.  After eating we had a few minutes to check email before continuing on at 1:15.  We were able to finish the material by 5:15 with only a few small problems so overall the time after lunch went well enough. Still it all made for a long day for me.  We headed back to the hotel basically right away and were at the room by 6:15 or so.

Daniela was waiting to go out somewhere and had her heart set on Shibuya which of course is practically the other side of the city from Asakusa but at least the Ginza line is direct to it with Asakusa being one termination of the line and Shibuya being the other. We bought her a Pasmo card so we could both get around Tokyo without having to buy tickets at every ride.  The train took I think at least a half an hour to get there but I was not keeping track of time. We walked around a bit. She was fully amazed at the number of people and all the lights and big screens on the building and the whole spectacle. This was the stereotypical Tokyo seen in all the movies she was expecting.

After a bit of walking around with her visiting a couple of shops and taking pictures of a lot of fashion around the area we found a restaurant that looked good and went in but when the waitress said ti was all beef tongue not just regular beef Daniela wished we exit and we went to a place instead called  Le Porc de Versailles.  She ordered a steak that looked like a rib eye and was very tasty, she gave me some of hers.  I had  roasted pork chops and fries.  We both got rice.  I had a beer and she had a glass of red wine. After we finished the meal we each had a dessert. She had a cream pudding with strawberry and I had a creme brulee that had ice cream on top. They were both nice.

After eating we walked around a tiny bit more then made our way to the train station and rode back to the hotel where we turned in for the night.

The pictures from Japan day 6 are here.


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