Another eventful weekend

Having seen japanese office life for a week. I needed a break more than anything else. On friday night we went to Ginza in Tokyo for the Satyam new year party. It was a very nice opportunity to break ice with who's who in Satyam Japan. I left to Tokyo by train from Hon Atsugi station. I carried my teammate's cell phone and he was supposed to guide me on which train to take. His watch was probably a minute here or there and he asked me to take a train and I took the wrong train. But fortunately one going in the right direction. The Japanese accuracy can be a pain at times if you are adjusted to Indian way of planning.

Now I was in a train I dint know much about and nobody in the train spoke English. To add insult to injury the cell phone network is the weakest in the train. I was lucky enough to meet a Syrian gentleman ho spoke English to volunteer to guide me. After lot of tension I reached Ginza atlast. The party out there was all Bollywood numbers and our Japanese colleagues also shaking leg to them. One more interesting thing was eating continental suff with chopsticks. For a long time I dint spot any spoons. Actually they were placed behing everything. Anyway alls well that ends well. I learnt to use the chopsticks.

After the party Rajesh and I got back to Atsugi together on the train. It was the perfect opportunity to break ice with someone you will work with for sometime to come.

Next morning it would be my new friend Vijay's last day in Japan since he was flying back next morning. I shifted my stuff from Park inn to my new appartment in excell hieghts. We decided to go back to Tokyo. Again we decided to take the train and make plan on the move. We had a vague idea of visiting Rappongi hills since he is a veggie and thats the only place we were sure about a veg restaurant. On the train we met Moto san who also works in Nissan. He adviced us to see Rappongi hills which is the tallest tower in Tokyo. On the whole a perfect plan made on the move.

It was a lovely day spent in Rappongi hills. We saw Tokyo tower and the skyline. The best view to see Tokyo. We spent about an hour or so there and got back on the train. We had plans to go to Machida to check out some electronic stuff in the market there(Moto san adviced us to do so). To our surprise there was nothing but barber shops and restaurants in Machida. Maybe we checked out the wrong places. Then we left back to our home in Atsugi. Had our dinner in good old neel gagan and bid farewell to Vijay.

Now the mission for sunday was to wash my clothes and find a mosque aound my home. I took the train to Ebina(two stops from hon Atsugi). Then read he map I found on google. As usual I again lost my way. Relying on shadows to find directions. The lesson learnt here is that the shadows are reliable only near the equator. Then a japanese teenager guided me correctly to the mosque. Over there I met a Anis bhai. After prayers he took me out for lunch and helped me find a halal grocery and even helped me buy a calling card. He refused to let me pay any bills telling me "Aap to humare mehmaan hain". Only way I can return the favour is by praying for him.

Then I got back home by train after the mogrib prayers. I was dead tired ate some stuff I bought at the grocery and hit the bed. But the biggest anticlimax for the weekend was that all the equipment in my appartment had instructions written in Japanese. I had a tough time with everthing right from washing machine to AC. I had a tough time that night but after a lot of trial and error things are sorted. Overall the weekend was fun. Now I better get back to work. Lotsa stuff's pending.;)

PS: Since I moved out of the hotel I dont have the facility of either internet or receiving calls till I buy either a mobile or a laptop. I only have access to updating my blog from office. Im planning to get online asap;)