The last day of 2013

I went to an udon restaurant in my home town with my father and aunt because it's my favorite restaurant.

We went to shopping for the new year's meals.

A work I was in charge of was to cut mochi.


Time flies. 2013 has ended.

Going back to my home town

I took Shinkansen from Tokyo for going back home. I met an Arizona friend at the Tokyo station. She was selling Tokyo Banana.

Since it's a new year's holiday time, trains are super busy.


I ate sashimi at my home. It was way better than American sashimi for sure.

Super Busy two days

At 10 am, I went to Ichigaya station to meet up with my old friend who I met in Arizona. We and his friends went to a famous shrine together. There were many police in that shrine.

We had lunch at Tokyo Chubo which is my favorite restaurant.

After that, I showed around Asakusa and Tokyo Sky Tree for my friend who is from Osaka. There are more people than I thought.

 

At 6 pm, we had a reunion of Arizona friends in Shinjuku. We had so much fun. It ended up finishing 6 am... A game we played in the early morning was called "Mafia." It's an intelligent game. It was so exciting and fun!! We would play again next year for sure.

The time I went back home was around 7 am. After 5 hours quick nap, I went to Shinjuku again in order to meet other friends for lunch.

At 3 pm, I went to Asakusa again and met Thai friends and another Japanese friend. I ended up going Tokyo Sky Tree again Lol

At 6 pm, I met other friend in Shinjuku. The dining bar we got together was called "Cha-Cha Hana." It was a very nice izakaya restaurant.

We moved to another Yakitori izakaya and drank until 11 pm.

These two days are very busy but exciting days because I met many old friends. The people made my days.

Arrival Tokyo

I arrived at Narita airport at 3 pm. It was colder than I thought. When I got home was still early evening, I decided to go out. First thing I did was to eat a ramen, actually an aburasoba (no-soup ramen with oil source). It was marvelous!!

After I was full, I went to Ikebukuro and bought a wifi router for my home.

I also stopped by Seven-Eleven because, as you know, 7-11 Japan is totally different from American or other countries one, and I missed 7-11 items of Japan quality. I bought two bentos (lunch boxes) and a cheapest umbrella (due to sudden rain). I was a bit surprised because the umbrella was developed a little bit Lol

Christmas and going back home

This is the only day the flight ticket is cheap in December. In the morning, I was taking off to go back to Japan for celebrating a new year in my home town.

I watched a couple of movies and show. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. It was easy to understand. My evaluation is ★★★☆☆.

Another one was HOUSE, a short story (it was a TV series).

Another one was Despicable Me 2. I've actually watched this in English yet. To make sure the story, I watched this in Japanese tho Lol

I was watching (or just hearing) other movies or shows while I read some books on my Kindle Fire. I felt I got so-called the economy syndrome because of too much watching or reading. I had a headache in the plane.

In short, I spent this Christmas day in the plane over the sky.

Christmas Eve

I finished packing for going back home, Japan. My friend picked me up and went to his family Christmas party. This was the first time for me to join an American style Christmas family party. Even though my friend said, "This is not typical.," it was a great experience. A roast beef was wonderful.

We came back early and watched a documentary show, which I've watched long time before. Japan: A Story of Love and Hate. It was interesting that I explain a fact of so-called "working poor" in Japan while watching the documentary. Also, it was nice to discuss with non-Japanese people about the fact and to hear their opinion.

It was a very very interesting Christmas ever.

American Hustle

I went to watch American Hustle with my friends. Even though I couldn't perfectly understand, it was a funny story. I wish I could listen to English more than now...

SF before Christmas 2014

I went to San Francisco to buy some souvenir for my family and friends because I go back to Japan during the new year's holidays.
I haven't come back home for a year, so I miss Japanese food so bad.

Anyway, what I bought this day was not only one, but many stuff such as two bottles of wine, rainbow pasta, a stuffed TED, and so on.
There was a huge Christmas tree at the Union Square as well as last year. Also, another big tree was at the Pier 39. I ate a cup of calamari salad at Fishermans Wharf. Because this was the last weekend before Christmas, there were so many people for shopping in San Francisco. I like a big city fulled with many people thought.

Table moving, Umi Sushi, and party

I helped to move a group table of our international club from my friend's home to his mother's home. After that, we went to Umi Sushi, a Japanese restaurant, with his brother.
His brother had an exchange student program to go to Japan, so he was somewhat familiar with Japanese culture.

I joined dinner of the English department at a pizza restaurant. I met another guy who had come back from Japan. He was a teacher in a high school in Kyoto, so he also had many knowledge of Japan including how to survive as a foreigner.

Later on, we had a small drinking party at my Iranian friend's home. The guy who was a teacher in Kyoto also joined.

I drank a cocktail mixed with a plum wine (ume-shu) and an organic vodka made in Germany. I was a bit drunk. It was so fun Lol

Busy paper works

It was a kind of busy day for me. I did several paper works at school.

I attended a small party at my friend's home. It was not just drinking but a lot of conversation, which my favorite style, even though I did shots as well.

Busy for something to do... + Indian food dinner

I was not only physically but also mentally busy because I was necessary to go several places and because I needed to several communication over e-mail.

I went to bank to put some money into my back account. I went to the post office to send my stuff to my home. I went to a water company to cancel my termination of using water. I had a Skype consulting about the internship. I had a dinner event of my international club.

The dinner event at an Indian restaurant was good. I met many friends who I've not seen for a long time. I ate Tandoori chicken. It was good.

The final final

I had a final exam of CIS class. This was the literally final exam for me (unless I have a serious bad grade). We were allowed to bring a one-side page note for the exam. Yet, the original notes were over 10 pages, so it was so hard to put them into a page. Anyway, I'm done. I'm so relieved.

The last class of this semestter

The was the last Operation Management class. I was just looking other team's presentation though. Operation Management is one of the most practical studies among all MBA program. The main objective of study is how to improve the quality of products and services. Actually, I like our professor of this class he is not organized sometimes but his example was really practical and easy to imagine situations.

Anyway, all class was nicely done!

Last ? Arizona visit 3

I was invited to Thai friends' dinner. It was a hot-pot. An interesting thing was that they put eggs into hot-pot. We use eggs for sukiyaki, but not into the boiled hot-pot.

After dinner, I talked to Korean friend for a couple of hours. He is also a graduate in this tri-mester. He has a huge human network and has a lot of gossips episodes Lol It was a funny and wonderful conversation! Hope I will see him in the near future.

Last ? Arizona visit 2

In the morning, I attended my friends' graduation event. I think this was the fourth time I attended this event Lol After the ceremony, I went to King Wah, which is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, with Taiwanese friends and Chinese friends. Again, it was great food.

The main event was at night. The school has a graduation party at a fancy place every time. This time was as if it's a church or a maze building..

It was so much fun!!

Last ? Arizona visit 1

I flew to Arizona to see my friends graduation.

My Taiwanese friends picked me up at the airport, and then we went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinese Cultural Center. Food my friends recommended was great!!

The final CIS presentation

This was really the final presentation for me. The topic was the Cloud Computing. Because I thought I knew well, I didn't practice many times. I think I did good job because I didn't bring note to speak while other team members had script cards.

Only thing I cannot get over is that I sweat a lot no matter how many times I experience presentations....

The OM presentation

I had a group presentation of the Operation Management class. Because my teammate was really good and contributed the project well, we could get over it. I really appreciate her.

Upset presentation

I had a group presentation for HR class, but didn't practice enough...so I could't speak well at the presentation, especially I was freaking nervous for a last couple of minutes. Fortunately, my group presentation was done in a good way, I think...

The final hardest presentation

I had a 45-minute presentation as a final team project of the Business Strategy class. Unfortunately, one of teammates was so lazy or had difficulty to handle her time, another teammate and I decided to fire her. Despite the team project started with three people including me, we ended up preparing for the presentation only by two of us. It was hard for me to cover another person's parts. Yet, we did it. It was seriously a great experience.

Chicago 2nd Day

I went to the University of Chicago in the morning to see Booth business school. The campus was huge!! The buildings are very European style like churches. I walked to the station from the campus and headed to downtown.

Finally, I met my friends who were my classmates when we were in the university in Japan. They are also a couple who married about five years ago. I was so excited because not only is it a reunion but also a meeting oversea. We went to Cloud Gate to see the metal bean and take a picture together. After that, we visited the Northwestern University to see the Kellogg School of Management.

We also went to Navy Pier, in which there is the Ferris Wheel. Since it was cold. The air was, I felt, clean. We could see a nice view from the top of the Ferris Wheel.

For lunch, we tried to go to Gino's East, a famous pizza restaurant, but it was too busy to get in, so we gave up and move to find another restaurant. Where we ended up entering was Rosebud on Rushan, an Italian restaurant.

After long walking and taking a rest at a cafe, we went to Sky Deck to see the night view from the observatory. Yes, it was really awesome.

For dinner, we went to eat a typical Chicago pizza. It looked quite high calories...

Anyway, it was a nice trip. I like Chicago. It's one of the best cities among cities I've visited in the U.S.