Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Meeting: Drink the Right Coffee

February 22, 2011 - 5F Cynthia Conference Room

I got 2 meetings today.
One @12:30 noon (gosh, who does meetings at lunchbreak????!!)
And I had to give up my 30-min nap for that.

At 3, I went down and bought a cup of coffee with milk.
It was more of milk with coffee.
At it says "homemade", when the vending machine made it for me. 
LOL

The next meeting was at 5pm. 
And I had two small but very obvious holes on my stockings.
(Time to get rid of the long fingernails..)
As suggested by a friend, I looked for a pentel pen
to have the exposed part of my leg marked.

My Japanese friend got the pentel pen and 
marked my leg - and was laughing boisterously.

Then came 5 o'clock. I confidently entered the meeting
room while waiting for the others. The project manager 
was so friendly asking me questions bout Philippines.
But when the meeting started, I realized I was the only
non-Japanese speaking person in there.

And in the middle of the discussion, my eyes
started to get heavy. I took a pen and scribbled 
a lot of things on the scratch paper I brought.

I mustve looked so stupid, taking down notes
in a purely Nihongo meeting when they all
knew I didnt understand a thing.

That was the hardest fight I had to undergo that day (over!) 
But reading what ive written, really made me chuckle.

1. grabe kaduka sa akong mga mata
 
2. mopiyong na gyud cya ug kalit

3. puros pa jud nihongo ang ila storya

4. ang ako tupad kay maayo mosulti ug japanese

5. as in hapdos na kaayo akong mga mata

6. kanus-a pa man ni cla mahuman ug storya

7. gacge nako ug kusi sa akong panit para makamata

8. grabe na jud ni nga struggle

9. ginalugod nalang nako ako mata para dili makatulog

10. ngano niapil man ko ani nga meeting nga wa man tawn ko kasabot

11. nag atbang pa jud mi sa project manager

12. nagcge nako ug panguy-ab dri waaa

13. baho pa jud kaayo cla ug baba. bahog kape.

14. did ihear someone say kawaisou (luooya)??


Lesson learned: Drink black coffee next time?? What u say?
I completely forgot bout the holes on my stockings.
But it kinda twitched, exposing bare skin. 

A few reasons to ruin my day, but i was still in the mood to cook. 
Id look more stressed if I pout, so i chose not to and tried to be 
smiling and pretty.. :) char!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Maid Cafe: A Man's World

February 13, 2011 - Akihabara

I was always curious bout what's going on inside the famous maid cafes here
in Japan. Until we were invited by a Japanese colleague to go to one.
She has left the company we're working at, 
and it was one of the last hang outs with her.

We were four, all girls, lining up at the 7th floor of Home Cafe in
Akihabara. Gosh I thought there's just one cafe, but to my surprise,
there are 5, from 4th to 7th floor. Each week one floor has a different
theme than the rest. That time, all waitresses in 5th floor were wearing
Kimono. But we went to 7th floor instead, original theme was our preference.

The cafes open at 10.30 AM. 
We arrived minutes earlier, but there were ppl who came much earlier than us, 
shivering at the stairs, mostly were older men. LOL

After we were settled at our table, we checked their menu and
found it so hard to choose. Because ppl who go there arent really
after of the food. They got menu courses, prices range from 1k-3k,
inclusive of picture-taking with one waitress, a little game, and a souvenir.
By the way, taking videos and pictures from customers' cameras are
not allowed.


We felt pampered, the waitresses really acted like our maids.
They called us "ojyou-sama" (my lady).. whew!
One stirred my coffee, and drew rirakuma on my omelet.
They asked us to form our hands like a heart and say, 
"moe, moe kyun!" -- we did that 3 times.. then the
maid was so happy she applauded. lol



Then our attention was caught when they called some customer's

to go up their stage (they had a mini stage) for picture-taking
with one of the cutest maids there. They used an instant camera
for that.


Something hilarious happened when we asked for our bill.
The waitress had to go back to the counter 4 times (i guess)
because they got confused on the charge.
So our Japanese friend computed everything for her.
And then said, "they're pretty but got no brains" (no offense meant here)
But thanks for tha card they gave us after paying.


i can now be called, "your highness" :P

got my name written on the back :)
All that time in Akihabara, from eating at a maid cafe to buying some
chocolates in Don Quijote, I still got this price tag hanging on my skirt.




LOL i got tagged, literally :D



It was a nice experience though, got to visit one of Japan's originals :D
And that was enough.  Awed,  saw pretty girls, and felt royal that day.. 
"moe, moe kyun!!" :D

reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz6VTNqrrG4