Hiroshima Internship Programme: June 2008 Archives

Hiroshima Internship Programme 20/6/07

Jhui

on June 11, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Last day in Hiroshima.

As I managed to amass tons of stuff over the month I've been in Hiroshima, I was unable to stuff them all into my luggage. In fact, I left the training centre with one bulging lugage and 5 paper bags of stuff. Everyone was visibly shocked and asked me how was I going to pack all of them into one luggage and not get charged excess baggage weight at the same time. By the time I had to actually pack my luggage to board the plane, the 5 paper bags ballooned into 6 paper bags and one glass bottle of juice. In order to make more space for my purchases, I had to buy bag to put my clothes in and vacumn all the air out. However, even after doing so, I still had lots of unpacked stuff and I had no idea how to bring them back. (In case if you were wondering why I didn't hand carry them, it's because I already had a hand carry that was almost 7kg.)

The only way was to ship those excesses back so Okaasan and me went down to Kuroneko to do so. So cute right, the cats :D

I wanted to take a photo of the cats only but somehow, the saleslady thought that I wanted to take a photo with the cats...so yup, that's how we ended up doing so. Oh, the shitty thing about shipping things from Japan is that it's not cheap. It cost me 10,000yen(~SGD128) to ship back 5kg worth of stuff. Actually it was supposed to be 5,000yen but my box exceeded the allowed dimensions by 2 freaking cm so had to pay double instead. Can you believe it?!

Obaachan dozing off after dinner. So cute! Asked her to go to bed but she refused to because she wanted to send me off at the bus station. When it was finally time to go, she actually put on 3 different cardigans and wanted to know which one was nicer to wear out. =D

While waiting outside the house for Otousan to drive the car out, Obaachan suddenly took my hand and put a ring on my pudgy fingers...and so that's how the ring on my finger came about.

After I boarded the bus, I started tearing...so not glam can...but luckily it was a night bus so no one was going to look at me. Okay, the little kids who boarded the bus were pointing at my red nose and eyes...-_- After 5~6hours on the bus, I reached Namba Station, took the JR to Kansai Airport where I waited for the rest of the girls to take the plane back home together.

Took Thai Airways back and the experience was...erm...let's just say that I don't want to take Thai Airways anymore if I can help it.
Firstly, we had to transit for 5 freaking hours and it wasn't fun at all as the prices of the stuff in the airport was so expensive.
Next, we went to ask the Thai Airways counter guy if dinner would be served or not and he said no...so we went to find a shop to eat dinner before boarding the plane and guess what, dinner was served!
Thirdly, when dinner was served on the plane, the cabin attendant asked one of the girls if she wanted chicken or prawn in which she replied "prawn". (By the way, I kept hearing "prawn" as "pork". wtf is wrong with me?!) However, the cabin attendant then told her that there was no more prawn sets left and chucked the chicken set in front of her. At that same time, some ang moh wanted the prawn set and ta-da, suddenly there was prawn sets left! WTF?! My friend was so pissed off that she demanded the prawn set...which she asked for first. We paid the fucking same amount as the ang moh and I dont see why he should get the prawn set and not us just because he's white. Bah.
Next, at the moment when the cabin attendants were collecting used cups back, I haven't finished my drink yet so one of them stood next to me, coughed out loudly and looked at me with a scary look as if telling me to hurry up and stop wasting her time. Kaoz.
Lastly, the cabin attendants were scary and rude. One passenger accidentally pressed the button to call for assistance and one cabin attendant came out asking in a rude voice, "YOU CALLED?" Considering that I was seated at least 5 rows behind that passenger and I could still hear him, imagine the volume the cabin attendant spoke in. Apparently, the passenger was clueless about it because the cabin attendant went, "BUT YOU PRESSED THE BUTTON!" He then leant over to switch off the button, I presume, and went back to where he came from...but not forgetting to turn back and stare at the passenger with a dont-mess-with-me look. -_____-

I hate Thai Airways...Bah.

In a damn abrupt conclusion, the Hiroshima trip was damn fun~ Whee~

Hiroshima: The Food Post

Jhui

on June 10, 2008 2:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The title says it all! I'm going to blog about what I ate from day 24 to day 29 in Hiroshima. A very wtf post that's going to make you feel hungry...so decide if you want to scroll down further or not......................I know you want to. Heh.

Day 24

Lunch
Had homecooked spaghetti with meat sauce for lunch. Actually it was more like 95% mashed tomatoes with 5% minced meat sauce because Okaasan realised that there wasn't any canned minced meat sauce left so she had to make do with whatever that was in the fridge. =D

Dinner
Dinner was rolled cabbage soup with pickled cucumbers as the side dish. I had a part in making the rolled cabbage okay! As you can see in the picture, the rolled cabbage on the left hand side looks like as if it got disfigured or something, as compared to the right hand side one. Yup, I was the one who made the disfigured rolled cabbage. Not bad already okay! At least the minced onions and meat inside didn't fall out. Phew~ The rolled cabbage tasted damn tender because it was boiled for like what...2 hours?

Had boiled sweetcorn as well for dinner.

Day 25

Lunch
Had lunch at this restaurant called Shouintei, which can be found along Tonomachi. Tonomachi was quite an interesting place because there were canals along the streets. Erm...not interesting enough? Okay, there were like tons of carps swimming in the canals, like an aquarium like that.

One thing I like about Japanese food is that it's damn colourful. So colourful to the extent that I normally can't bear to eat them up...but I always do in the end though.

Didn't notice the dot of wasabi on the top of the soba and mixed it in blindly. Only realised it after I ate one mouthful and almost died of spiciness.

Ochazuke that had a mild wasabi taste even after I removed the wasabi. wtf. Damn delicious still though.

I initially thought that the dessert was made from jelly powder or something but to my pleasant surprise, it was actually a carrot kueh that was mildly sweet. Wanted more but each set was only entitled to one. =(

Dinner
Had dinner at this restaurant called Seine de Paris, which can be found inside Hotel New Tanaka.
Started dinner with a delightful plate of scallops topped with grapefruits and tomatoes. Japan's seafood is like omg, so damn freaking delicious lo! Big, juicy and fresh...unlike Singapore's.

Next up was the soup which tasted like as if MSG was free or something and look at the quantity! Pitiful.

Luckily, the rest of the dishes were better than the soup. Had Japanese tiger prawns next. Damn big and juicy~ yum~ I'm making myself damn hungry here and it's like what, 2am...-_-

Next up was steak covered in mushroom sauce. Not as fantastic as the Wagyu I had in Malaysia but definitely worth the money. Okay, I didn't exactly pay for it so I don't know how much it cost but I'm sure it wasn't cheap...because it's a restaurant. The boiled carrots and potatoes that came with it tasted wonderful too~

As if I did not have enough food already, here comes the soft shelled crab spaghetti! Luckily I shared this dish with Otousan or I'll probably end up in hospital for overeating or something. Then again, end up in hospital for overeating such good food...I don't mind. Heh.

Bread. I don't know why they suddenly served bread but I still ate them anyway.

Washed down the food with a cup of tea...

...and a glass of red wine. Was supposed to have dessert but the restaurant was out of desserts that day. wtf?!

Day 26

Breakfast
Hotel breakfast. Usual buffet-style but nevertheless yummy.

Lunch
Had lunch at this little shop near Shuuhoudou/Akiyoshidou. Each of us ordered a Kappa soba set. Why it's called Kappa(literally means "river child") soba I do not know. All I know is that this was damn delicious. Even the onigiri tasted different.(They added salt to it)

Dessert was matcha ice-cream~

Dinner
Had dinner back in Hiroshima where we had gyozas, ika shuumai(squid siew mai, damn tasty and bouncy..wtf) and a side dish that consisted of seaweed and tomatoes. By the way, I made the side dish~ See, I'm a great cook! Placed the chopsticks in the wrong direction though.

Day 27

Lunch
Day 27's lunch was simple because Okaasan was in a rush but even if it's simple, still have to arrange nicely. As you can see, lunch consisted of ika manjuu(squid bau that was as bouncy as the squid siew mai), sushi and a slice of watermelon for dessert.

Dinner
What's this?!!! It's iwashi tempura, or sardine tempura! I almost died whiffing in the fishy smell of the fish when Okaasan was cutting open them. Tasted damn nice though it looks a little scary.

Besides iwashi tempura, we had sashimi too! It included salmon, maguro, sea bream and sea urchin. Didn't really like the sea urchin though as it tasted too creamy. Had tofu, boiled eggplant, miso soup and chu-hi as well~

Day 28

Dinner
Had prawn and squid tempura for dinner. I helped in making them~except that I chickened out when it came to the frying part. Side dish was raw onion rings topped with bonito flakes. I normally don't eat raw onions because it has a stinging taste and it's spicy but the onion rings here didn't taste spicy at all. The best thing is...I know the secret to making it~ but I won't tell you because I'm selfish. Hahaha. Had chu-hi as well. Alcohol again!!

Day 29

Bento
Otousan's bento. I never knew that so many ingredients could be placed inside the seemingly small bento box. There was stir-fried squid, konnyaku, egg rolls, broccoli, tomatoes and even one whole slice of salmon inside. All of them were stuffed into the left compartment, leaving the right side for rice and umeboshi. The bentos I've made before never contained so much food before lo.

Lunch
Lunch was microwaved Hawaiian pizza. Somehow I was so hungry that day that I gobbled up the whole pizza. Yes, I ate one whole pizza by myself. Up till now, I still don't know how I managed to do it.

Dinner
Dinner was seriously ALOT of food to finish. Had corn soup, avocado with tuna(learnt that from tv that day), steak, vegetables and rice. Normally can get full by eating steak or rice alone and so eating both=a very full me. Washed them down with red wine.

Yup, that's the end of my food post of what I ate in Hiroshima from day 24 to day 29. I'm feeling damn hungry now and it's already 2.30am...What am I going to eat?!

Hiroshima Internship Programme 19/6/07

Jhui

on June 9, 2008 6:45 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Nothing happened much on day 27 so I'm moving on to blog about Hiroshima, day 28.

Met up with Ms. Miyoshi for lunch in the erm...afternoon obviously.

Lunch was pretty delicious and look at the amount of food!!! Damn worth it. The main dish was tomato chicken with brown rice and for sides, there was salad, eggplant, tofu, miso soup and more. I initially thought that the yellow thing at the top right corner was egg but it turned out to be chicken. I am so good at identifying food~!

Dessert was cake.

After-meal tea.

After lunch, we made a visit to the place where Ms. Miyoshi works at.

With some guy who speaks really good Chinese.

Me and Ms. Miyoshi outside the office.

Had a cup of nice cold coffee at the cafe which was situated on the first level of the building.

Went home and had a cup of grapefruit jelly. Damn...been eating too much man. The grapefruit jelly was sour but refreshing...I wanna eat one more!

During dinner, we were watching some programme when suddenly, Mr. Tamura came on screen. They were talking about him forming a baseball team to fulfill his dream(and the dream of the other players) of playing at the Koshien.

So cute~.

More pictures at http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=170.

End of Day 28.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 17/6/07

Jhui

on June 9, 2008 6:15 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima, Day 26~.

Took a boat tour out into the Sea of Japan to see the stone/rock formations of Omijima. The waves were fairly strong that day and it was quite cool to see the waves splashing against the boat we were on.

Otousan, Okaasan and Obaachan.

Reached some cave and we were asked to come out to the deck to take photos. After that, they started going around asking people if they wanted to purchase the photos that they took. The only bad point was that...you can't preview the photos and they'll mail you the photos in like 2 days or something. So anyway, the Shinkawas bought one photo for me but when the photo arrived, they realised that the photo did not capture me...neither was Okaasan in the picture. Only Obaachan, who was smiling really happily, was shown on the photo. =D

Lots of marine products were sold there. Smelt totally like a fish market...with fresh fish. wtf...I don't know what I'm talking about.

They bought me this t-shirt~ Whee~

Next, we went to this place called Shuuhoudou or Akiyoshidou, depending on how you want to pronounce it. Both pronunciations are used. It's basically a limestone cave with lots of cool limestone formations in it. The temperature in there was a little chilly though. The limestone formations were so cool and luckily I rented the English translator thingy or else I probably would not understand anything.

Entrance of the cave. So scenic!!!

Was pretty dark inside the cave so I wasn't able to take alot of photos inside. This is the golden pillar. So.freaking.cool. Everyone was queueing up to take photos with it lo.

Next, we took a taxi to Akiyoshidai, or Akiyoshi Plateau, the largest karst formation in Japan .

Before returning to Hiroshima, we went to the Kazuki Yasuo Art Museum. His artworks were really cute and I liked them alot. I even bought like postcards that featured his artwork =D

End of Day 26. More pictures here:http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=168

Hiroshima Internship Programme 16/6/07

Jhui

on June 9, 2008 4:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima, Day 25~.

Today, the Shinkawas brought me to nearby prefectures called Shimane and Yamaguchi. On our way to our first destination, we stopped by the Kintai-kyo(bridge) located in Iwakuni City. Initially I did not want to cross the bridge because first of all, it cost 300yen(~SGD3.90) to take a 5minute walk across the bridge and secondly, the arches scared me. (I'm afraid of slopes remember?)

In the end, however, I managed to muster up the little courage in me to cross the bridge. Surprisingly, the arches weren't as steep as I thought they would be so it was pretty alright.
Wonder how would this place look like in winter? Was supposed to come to this place during Winter 2006 but instead, I went shopping because my legs were aching from wearing boots. In case if you were wondering, shopping can still take place even though one's legs are painful okay!

The Iwakuni Castle? Not very sure but according to Okaasan, you got to take a cable car all the way up to that castle. wtf. Build so high for what anyway?! Staying at higher altitudes probably gives some people a sense of security but eh, what if your enemies surround you? The only way you can escape is to jump down lor!

Went to the Taikodani Inari Jinja/Shrine in Tsuwano next. According to Wikipedia, an Inari Shrine is a Shinto shrine used to worship the god Inari who uses foxes as his/her messengers. Bought aburaage(deep-fried tofu) as an offering as it's believed that foxes like it. When my host family handed me the aburaage, I seriously thought that it was for me to eat okay. Somemore it smelt damn nice. -__- Luckily I didn't ask "Is this for me to eat?". Phew~

Obaachan donating money.

Miko-san(shrine maiden) in the shrine.

What's a Inari Shrine without fox statues?

Next, we went for lunch but I shall not blog about lunch in this entry. Will blog about all the food I ate in a single entry~ =D
After lunch, we went to see an exhibition on Jingdezhen porcelains. Damn cool can~!

We also went to the Anno Museum of Art where there were cool replicas of Anno's atelier and a classroom. Too bad we didn't have enough time to see the planetarium. =(

Instead of returning to Hiroshima today, we stayed at this hotel called Hotel New Tanaka. The cool thing about this hotel's that it has an onsen at the top level and it's open-air~! Went to the onsen twice somemore.

Had dinner before going to the Ichinosaka-gawa(Ichinosaka-river) to look at fireflies. Damn cool lar! I've never seen so many people gathered along a river to look at fireflies before. Everyone got so excited when the fireflies appeared. =D The streets were really dark(I guess you need really dark places for fireflies to appear in bunch or something) but it wasn't scary. :)

Was supposed to return to the hotel to sleep but the over-zealous taxi driver kept introducing us to places to go so yup, we followed him. He first brought us to part of Kouzan Park where echoes could be heard. Next, we went to this temple called Rurikoji, which is famous for its five-storey pagoda.

The taxi driver even provided us with a disposable camera and helped us take photos...without us asking. Wow...either business has been really bad or he's a really nice guy. In the end, I think my host family gave him a 7000yen(~SGD90!!!) tip or something. wtf.

Obaachan and Otousan pulling the bead thingy. If you manage to drop eight of the beads, no more no less, something good will happen to you...or something like that. One year ago okay...can't remember exactly.

Okaasan doing the same thing.

The stone with buddha's footprints. Woah~

After the night tour of Yamaguchi, we went back to the hotel to go to the onsen and sleep~ Whee~

End of Day 25. More pictures at http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=167.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 15/6/07

Jhui

on June 9, 2008 1:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 24~.

Today's the day where everyone leaves the training centre. Some would be going to Tokyo, some to Osaka and as for me, I would be staying in Hiroshima to find my homestay family.

During the 3-week internship period, all of us stayed in this traning centre. When the nine of us first arrived, we didn't know each other that well, except for a few. However, at the end of it, we became good friends =D

Every night, the nine of us would talk in the bathroom while removing our makeup.

As there was only one large bathroom, everyone had to bathe together or else there won't be enough time for everyone to bathe.(There was a curfew for using the bathroom.) Initially, everyone was shy about taking off one's clothes in front of everybody but in the end, we had so much fun taking baths together.

In fact, we loved taking baths together so much that we made a lot of noises during bathtime. I mean, hello, nine girls chit-chatting and splashing water around=LOTS of noise. In fact, we were so noisy once that the neighbours called to complain and Mr. Kajiwara gave us a scolding. =(

Ofuro~

The corridor of the 3rd floor. All of us stayed on the 3rd floor of the training centre.

The toilet.

The toilet's very quiet and I hate it when I have to make a visit to the toilet in the morning.

Laundry area. Most of us had no idea how to do laundry so we just anyhow poured in washing powder and hoped that it was the right amount. In fact, there was once that we put in too much washing powder that our clothes were still soapy after 3 washes. wtf.

The office in the training centre. Never been inside before.

We did internship once before in this room~

The computer room. As there was only one computer in the room, we had to wait for our turn to use it. While waiting for it, we would chit-chat and gossip about what happened that day. Although we weren't supposed to eat in the room, we sometimes sneaked snacks in to munch on. Once, we even brought beer to this room and talked while we drank it. We stayed up till 2~3am that night. Damn fun~!

The popular computer~!

The room that I saw for the first time while I was taking photos around the training centre.

Damn big and pretty can.

I stayed in room 301. Eh? "The Installation Room For Emergency Escape Device"? wtf...haha.

Is this the emergency escape device? Hmmn. Didn't get to use it though. Heng.

The 3-week internship period was a great experience and I totally enjoyed myself. The people from the Shinkin Bank were freaking nice to us. Mr. Kajiwara, the caretaker, was nice too! The noisy 9 of us must have had troubled him alot...I think. Haha. Also, I must not forget to thank the organiser of this internship, the Hiroshima-Singapore Association. Without them, I wouldn't have had the chance to participate in this programme.

So yup, this ends my internship in Hiroshima. I shall blog about my 1 week extension with the Shinkawas another day :D

Hiroshima Internship Programme 14/6/07

Jhui

on June 9, 2008 12:41 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 23~.

Today was the last day of the internship. Rehearsed in the morning for the presentation which was scheduled to be held in the afternoon.

Mr. Nakamura brought us out to lunch today.

I ordered Japanese-style dolsot bibimbap. Compared to the original Korean one, it wasn't spicy at all. Instead...it was kind of sweet. Very Japanese. -_-

Pei San and me.

After-meal coffee.

Look at how small the cup was! So cute~

Us before we started our presentation. Our presentation was basically a summary of what we've learnt during the internship period.

After our presentation, a representative from each department talked about the interaction they had with us. While listening to it, it brought back memories of the past few days and I almost cried but I fought hard to hold back my tears. However, uopn stepping out of the company feeling, the feeling that the whole internship was over set in and my tears started pouring out. Mr. Nuibe was trying to console me to not cry but instead, I cried more. So paiseh okay! Walking to the station with tears flowing down my face was...so paiseh!!!

As my room was one of the messiest, we returned to the training centre early today to do packing. Below's my dinner for today~ Ohagi~

Fruit jelly drink.

The number of bottled drinks that I bought during the internship period. Actually there were more but I threw them away already so the actual number's higher.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 13/6/07

Jhui

on June 9, 2008 12:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 22~.

No internship today but instead, we were supposed to prepare for our presentation which would be held on the following day. Mr. Nakamura's cute mouse :D

The last 400yen staff meal in the Shinkin Bank. Delicious beef set.

The staff canteen.

Staff canteen picture no. 2.

At night, we had a drinking session(nomikai) back at the training centre with Mr. Tani's department and Mr. Kajiwara, the caretaker of the training centre.

There were like TONS of snacks there that day.

The freaking big wine bottle. Compare it with the onigiri!

My mango cocktail.

My mayonnaise karaage onigiri.

Vivien, Mr. Kajiwara, Me.

Ms. Goto and me doing the "Saranghae" pose.

Mr. Saeki and me.

Me, Mr. Tani.

We had a taste of what it's like to be at a Japanese nomikai. Cool~ Can't write out what happened that day though. =D Just know that it was fun~ Whee~

Hiroshima Internship Programme 12/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 11:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 21~.

We were assigned to Mr. Tani's department today where we prepared the documents for tonight's general meeting. As we were fast enough, we were allowed to take a break and we browsed through some of the books on Singapore there.

Since when did guava become brown? I always thought that it's green...

Next, we went out with Mr. Nuibe to get some books before following Mr. Saeki out for lunch at Mister Donut~

Besides treating us to donuts, Mr. Saeki also bought for us the Mister Donut bag. Whee~

After lunch, we followed Mr. Nuibe to some government building where he had some errands to run.

Mr. Tani holding the flowers that Pei San presented to him. =D

Mr. Saeki at work.

Department photo :D

Our next task was to go to Rihga Royal Hotel and arrange the nametags which would be used at the general meeting.

Ms. Nakamoto with her colleague.

The Singapore and Japan flags.

Us doing reception work...like real. We were just standing there and greeting the people who arrived.

The stage.

Emcee of the day, Mr. Tani.

Mr. Tamura, the President of HSA.

Us on stage.

Liling, presenting the omiyage we bought for Mr. Tamura. She also gave a wonderful speech that day :D

Students from Singapore Polytechnic.
Don't really like this batch of people. Reason being first of all, you don't wear skinny jeans to a formal event like this. Somemore it was so tight that you can see her...erm...cameltoe. wtf. Next, during the flute performance, one of the guy students made disrespectful remarks in Japanese like "tsumaranai (boring)" and "nemui (sleepy)". He wasn't whispering the remarks but he was saying them out loud. He was seated quite near to the video camera which was used to videotape the performance and that means that whatever he said was probably recorded down. Shithead. Wanted to really turn around and punch that guy. The best thing was that his teacher was seating with them but she made no attempt to tell him to shut up. wtf.

Some Singaporean who received a tuition grant from HSA to study Japanese.

The splendid flute performance.

Something that's never absent at a Japanese function...beer.

The buffet spread was just too wonderful for words. Lotsa delicious food~! During the buffet, the students from Singapore Polytechnic performed a song but guess what, no one was listening to them. HAHAHA.

Airi and me. While eating, one Japanese came up to us and started talking to Airi in Chinese because he thought that she was the Singaporean. wtf. All the NUS students were dressed in suits lo. Quite interesting though...when I told him that I'm the Singaporean. He was like "Oh, sumimasen."

Mr. Tani, Me

Mr. Saeki, Me

Me, Mr. Nuibe

Mr. Guo Chun Gui, a teacher from Hiroshima Shudo University, Me

Hiroshima Internship Programme 11/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 11:01 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 20~.

Today's internship was held at the Marketing Department. Learnt about international marketing and the management of funds. Tough stuff.

Although the stuff that we learnt today was difficult, it was quite interesting, thanks to our nice "tutors". =D

After doing internship at a few different branches with no staff canteens, it was nice to come back to the staff canteen today for lunch. Nothing beats the 400yen lunch. Today's menu was diced beef set. The beef was so tender and smooth while the scrambled eggs were so soft and fluffy~ Loved the pickles too.

The Electronic Banking Deparment gave us a packet of sweets which we went to share with Mr. Tani and his department. =D

Sanji no oyatsu~! This Wonda coffee was so sweet and fattening but nice. Heh.

While waiting for our "tutors" in the room, Pei San and I started doodling on the board. Both of us were supposed to draw a hippopotamus. The one on the left's by Pei San and the one on the right's by me. Mine looks better right? :P

Looking at the stock exchange~

Hiroshima Internship Programme 10/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 7:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 19~.

Went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End~ To get to the cinema, we had to ride for about 45 minutes by bicycle. It was my first time riding a bicycle for such a long time and also my first time riding a bicycle across the road. Whoo~ Exhilarating!

After the movie, Ms. Oogata treated us to icecream~! It was matcha icecream topped with azuki, shiratama and chestnuts. At the bottom's cornflakes. OMG, so freaking delicious~! As Melody doesn't eat shiratama and I don't eat chestnuts, we exchanged her shiratama for my chestnuts so in the end, I got to eat like 6 shiratamas. *happy* Damn fattening but *happy*.

Me and Airi...and Melody in the background. Haha.

Me.

To pick up my luggage from Airi's house, I had to ride the bicycle again for 45 minutes. Actually, the ride could've been faster if not for me. Normally, when people go down slopes, they just ride their bicycles down but as I'm afraid of slopes, I had to push the bicycle all the way down everytime we encountered one. -___-

Took a train back to Hiroshima City.

I basically slept throughout the whole train journey. I rock. -_-

Had dinner at this restaurant located in Yokogawa Station.

Mine was seafood spaghetti. Although there wasn't alot of noodles, the taste made up for it. It was delicious.

Kiki-chan(Airi) and Mimi-chan(Ms.Oogata)

Dessert~

Hiroshima Internship Programme 09/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 7:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 18~.

Since it's the weekend, it means that it's homestay time~ Like the first weekend, Mrs. Watanabe brought Melody and I around as our homestay families had something on. Went to Sankeien~

Sakura-chan and Shota-kun having fun feeding the fish there.

The ever curious Momo-chan was looking around while her siblings were feeding the fish. Erm...but why is she peering into the rubbish bin? =D So cute~!

Me and Melody.

Momo-chan, with her hat covering her face.

Sankeien was really scenic although it's man-made. The wonderful thing about countries with four seasons is that, each place can have 4 different looks, depending on which season it is at the time of visit.

Shota-kun.

The not-very-visible me.

Me again.

The children waiting excitedly for their candy floss to be made.

And they finally got it~!

Next, we went to the Hiroshima Airport to have lunch. When Momo-chan saw a plane taking off, she kept shouting "Shinkanse~n!". Even after when her mum told her that it's not the Shinkansen but rather a plane, she kept insisting that it's the Shinkansen. So cute!!! Then, when we passed by the taxi stand, she went "Bee Bo Bee Bo", mistaking the taxi for a police car. -_____-

Momo-chan helped us carry the omiyage we bought at Sankeien. So strong!

This was what I had for lunch. Fried oyster set.

Even though it wasn't autumn yet, the oysters were big and juicy~Unlike the ones sold at Japanese restaurants in Singapore...can't even taste the damn oyster. Thanks to Mrs. Watanabe for the treat!

After lunch, we returned to Mrs. Watanabe's house where we had sanji no oyatsu. The snack for that day was mochi wrapped with seaweed. My god~ Mochi~!!!
Yukiko-chan with Sakura-chan.

Sakura-chan.

Momo-chan attempting to wear her mum's shoes.

Had a Hippo Club party at night, following which I went home with Airi.

The Singapore scroll which I gave to Airi =D

This is where I slept on~To tell the truth, I love sleeping on the floor...because it means that it's unlikely that I'll fall off the bed and die when I'm sleeping. wtf.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 08/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 6:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 17~.

Went to the Koyo Branch today for internship. Unlike the other branches of the Shinkin Bank, the Koyo Branch's situated in a supermarket! Also, one special thing about this branch is that it operates 24/7.

There, we learnt about investment trusts. Almost died from all the knowledge~

Had lunch at this restaurant called Bonta. The ambience there was quite good and the food was delicious too. Not to mention cheap as well.

Even the chopsticks holder's pretty. wtf.

The salad came first. It had a sweet and tangy taste that I liked alot. =D

Next up was the breadstick. I can't remember whether mine was the one sprinkled with mentaiko(spicy cod roe) powder or the honey one. Anyway, loved it so much but too bad that there's only one for each person.

Ordered carbonara which I ate with a fork. The other people ate their spaghetti with chopsticks. Very Japanese indeed. Together with the salad and the breadstick, the whole meal cost us only 800yen, which is around SGD10. Quality+Quantity = Damn worth it.

Thanks for the treat~!

Next, we went shopping and we saw this car with an odd shape in the carpark.

After shopping, we returned to the office where we learnt about electronic banking. Following that, we also created a webpage that introduces who we are for the company~Click here to view: http://www.shinkin.co.jp/hiroshin/local/sing190608.htm

As I was feeling damn poor that day, we returned to the training centre to eat instant noodles with cucumbers for dinner. Oh, and plus a chu-hi as well. I've drank like more alcohol during this trip than I ever had in my life seriously. -___-

Hiroshima Internship Programme 07/6/07 Part II

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 5:28 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 16 Part II~.

After internship at the Ujina Branch, we went back to the training centre where we had a discussion session with the newbies of the Shinkin Bank.

The theme of the discussion was about the differences between Japanese and Singapore companies. Of course, we were allowed to talk about other stuff as well but as we had to present our findings later, we had to talk about the theme somehow. Learnt lots about the differences and also some non-related stuff =D

We were either in groups of fours or fives.

Quite a fun-filled discussion~

Finally, at around 7:30pm, it was time to present our findings! As everyone was hungry already, we were allowed to eat while we did our presentations. Woo~food galore~!

My favourite!!!! Mitarashi-dango~...but as I was in Group A, before I could sink my teeth into the dango, I had to finish my presentation first. =(

My group giving our presentation.

Grace and Vivien's group.

Hui En, Liling and Melody's group.

Wei Ying and Po Ling's group.

Mr. Hashimoto giving his conclusion.

Mr. Tani.

Mr. Saeki.

My group once again. Pei San, Me, Miss. Harada, Mr. Hayashi.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 07/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 4:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 16~.

Like the previous day, our internship was not held at the main branch but at the Ujina Branch which is located at Kaigan-doori.

Exterior of the Ujina Branch.

Interior of the Ujina Branch. After meeting the people who worked there, we were brought to a little room where we were briefed on what we were supposed to do for the day, as well as chit-chat a little.

Ujina Branch's branch manager Mr. Narasaki, Pei San, Mr. Nakamura

This time with me :D

We learnt how to count money with fake money(for practice use) there. Quite difficult to count money the Japanese way but the way they count money is damn cool! Oh, and we got to touch real money too! The stack of money in my hands is REAL lor. My god~! I want!!!

Pei San with the stack of money~

The ATM machine there. I got a feeling that the Japanese think that Singapore is a very backward country, or at least the people who were visibly shocked when we told them that we have ATMs/subways/use chopsticks in Singapore. Hello, Japanese are not the only people who use chopsticks can...and somemore, the usage of chopsticks was passed down by the Chinese lor! wtf.

Us in the Ujina Branch.

We then went to the harbour where there was a pretty cruise ship docked there. Bring me along~!

Next, Mr. Narasaki, along with Mr. Teramoto, brought us to the Hiroshima Manga Library...

...but it was closed!!! Somemore, the best thing was that...

...they close the library for a certain period of time ONCE a year and we suay suay went during that period. wtf.

Since we couldn't enter the library, we went to the Modern Art Museum that was situated opposite the library. The museum was nice but...I didn't understand any of it. -____- The exhibit with the living person was quite interesting though.

Had lunch at Cafe Gourmet where Mr. Narasaki gave us a treat! :D
While walking towards our table, I saw this guy, who's old enough to be my grandfather, reading a porno magazine. -________- In Singapore, I don't think that people are open enough to read porno magazines in public and somemore this is a old guy lor! wtf. In Japan's convenience stores, guys stand in there and read porno mangas/magazines like no one's business like that.

Anyway, moving on to lunch, we had a beef set meal each. Look at the amount of food!!! Couldn't finish ...damn!

Rice with pickles.

And of course, miso soup~! Should've eaten more!!!!

After lunch, we returned to the office as Mr. Narasaki had to complete some work. Pei San and I then followed Mr. Teramoto and some other guy who looked like Matsuyama Kenichi(no photos, sorry!) to give out tissue papers to customers while saying "Irasshaimase!".

After Mr. Narasaki finished his work, we then set off for the Yamato Museum located in Kure City, which took like at least 1 hour to reach by car!...which means that it took at least 2 hours to go to and fro. The driver for that day was Mr. Teramoto, who was a newbie. He only drove us to and fro but did not enter the museum but just waited in the car the whole time. Xin ku le~! Really sucks to be a newbie sometimes as you get to do all the sai gang(shitty jobs).

Me with the missiles.

The kamikaze plane.

Went to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force(JMSDF) Museum, which was opposite the Yamato Museum.

Pei San outside the JMSDF Museum.

This is what toilet bowls look like in submarines. Erm...got difference meh?

Meal place~! The submarine tour was soooo cool!

Me and Mr. Narasaki~

Mr. Teramoto (Doesn't he look a little like Bi? The eyes at least), Me, Pei San, Mr. Narasaki

Hiroshima Internship Programme 06/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 3:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 15~.

Today's internship was not held at the main branch of the Shinkin Bank but was at the Yokogawa Branch. Our first task was to sort out documents and photocopy cheques.

Next, we got to try out this cool cheque sorter that basically sorts out cheques by Shinkin Bank branches and cheques by other banks. Freaking high tech can! Then again, I've never seen how a Singapore bank operates, or any other bank for that matter.

Me trying out the machine.

Next, we used this machine to verify the stamps and cheques used by customers. In an twinkling of an eye, it was time for lunch~! As no lunch was prepared for us, we went to Coco Ichiban Curry House to eat ...curry...again...wtf. The curry was good though and although I ordered the normal level of spiciness...it was too spicy for me. wtf.

After lunch, we scanned documents into the computer and did data entry before proceeding to sort out the company mail. Damn cool lar! Letters and packages were like flying across the mail table~woo, like in movies like that!

The place to sort out mail. Can't really see the flying of letters and packages here because this is like the end of the whole process and people are clearing up the mail table.

Us with the lady who was in charge of taking care of us for the day. :D

One good thing about working at Yokogawa Branch was that...it was located near to the training centre that we were staying in so yup, didn't have to spend any money on transportation back home :D

Hiroshima Internship Programme 05/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 3:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 14~.

Today's internship was also at the secretary department. This time round, I was assigned to the first floor in the morning where I worked with Miss. Matsusawa (or was it Matsuzawa). I almost died of shock when she suddenly passed me the phone she was talking on with the secretaries on the 4th floor. I was like "Eh?!!! Nononono, dont gimme the phone...!"

Us with the secretaries of the fourth floor...not all of them though.

For lunch, I had curry. I've been eating like curry over and over again during the whole internship period. wtf.

After lunch, we had ikebana, or flower arrangement, lessons. Woo~ so cool!

The most important thing in ikebana....is of course the... flowers. Lalala.

Our teacher for the day, Ms. Tamura.

wtf. Doing ikebana also can take time off to take photos. -_____-

My masterpiece that looks damn ugly compared to the teacher's. I think that I was the lousier one of the two of us. Somehow, I just couldn't stick the flowers and leaves properly onto the needle pad and so the flowers and leaves kept coming out while I was arranging them. In fact, one of the flowers actually dropped out after I took this photo. -____-

Us with our respective masterpieces. I look positively worn out here. Aberthen! Try kneeling down on the tatami floor throughout the whole process while trying to arrange the flowers properly...damn tiring lor.

Me, Pei San, Ms. Tamura~

Next, Ms. Izawa(or something, can't remember her name, sorry!) prepared matcha and Japanese confectionary for us. Loved it!

Showing us how to make the matcha.

The tools to make matcha.

Me trying to make myself a cup of matcha. Didn't go too well as my tea was still lumpy(we used matcha powder) after I was done with it. FAIL!

I gave my ikebana masterpiece(that was transferred into a vase) to Mr. Nakamura while Pei San gave hers to Mr. Tani.

Me and the security guard. Wanted to take with the other security guard too but I didn't get the chance. Boo~he was damn cute lar! Cute as in old people kind of cute. :D

Miss. Utsunomiya with her prize-winning smile~

Had dinner at Lotteria where I ate some burger that I can't remember.

Korea's Lotteria has better fries than Japan's Lotteria. :D

Hiroshima Internship Programme 04/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 2:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 13.

Today's internship was held at the secretary department. For the first half of the day, I was assigned to the fourth level while Pei San was assigned to the first level. The fourth level is basically the level where all the important people's(board members) offices are located and the first level is where customers pass by. After lunch, both of us switched places to have a feel of what it's like to work on both levels.

Schedules of the board members.

Food vouchers that are used to buy erm, food.

Order form. Basically, the secretaries will ask the board members what they want to eat, total up the orders and fill up this form. Then, they'll use the food vouchers to purchase the food and bring them up for the board members to dig in.

Had lunch at the staff canteen again~ Ordered the always worth it 400yen set meal. This time we had karaage. The karaage was different from any other karaage that I've eaten in my life. It had a unique taste that made it taste like potato chips(yum~) and oh boy, was it crispy!

Pei San and me at the fourth level counter. Obviously posed-for photo.

Had to make tea and serve it to the board members. The tea-making process was pretty interesting and I think that I can remember the steps...I think only. There's lots of rules to make one seemingly-simple cup of tea. Knocking on the doors of the board members had rules too, as well as serving them the tea. Damn scary lar! Luckily, nothing went wrong. :D

Had calligraphy lessons after the tea-making and as you can see from the picture, my calligraphy sucks. Guess I can't make a living from calligraphy in the future~

Dinner was at Handaya where I had kimchi-don. In Japan, I eat Korean food. In Korea, I eat Japanese food. Wtf is wrong with me?!

Hiroshima Internship Programme 03/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 2:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 12.

2nd day of the "free" weekend. Had yaki-udon(fried udon noodles) for lunch and it was so good that I can still remember the taste of it up till now. It was a little spicy because Okaasan added pepper to it but still, damn delicious lar. I don't normally like eating udon but prefer soba more but yaki-udon is so much better than yakisoba. :D

Had Uirou for Sanji no Oyatsu (literally "3 o'clock snack)~ Uirou might look a little like youkan from the picture but it's quite different from it in reality. Youkan has this agar-agar feeling when you bite into it but Uiro had the mochi feeling. Yes, once again, I can never be a food critic. Lalala.

The koi-nobori that Obaachan made~

Was watching NHK while having the Uiro and there was this singing competition on air. Wasn't paying much attention until I heard the starting of "Seishun Amigo" being played. I was like "OMG, don't tell me it's Kamenashi and Yamapi coming on right now!"....And then I looked carefully....wtf. Good effort though, the dancing, but the vocals weren't that good. Then again, who am I to comment? I have pretty bad singing skills.

As a late birthday celebration for me, we had dinner at Mario Espresso, which was located at Marina Hop.

Salad with avocado, tomatoes and grapefruit.

Another salad but this time with prawns and sotongs.

Moving on to the main course, we had pizza topped with minced meat sauce and cheese. Loved the thin crust, crispy and light~

Pizza No. 2. This time topped with sliced potatoes and ham slices.

Otousan's beef steak. Okay, it didn't look as miserable as this but I forgot to take photos of it initially and by the time I remembered, only this was left.

Seafood spaghetti~ Love seafood!!!

Ikasumi Spaghetti, or Spaghetti with Squid Ink, or Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia....yar, you get the idea.

Teeth gets like really black after eating ikasumi spaghetti and as it wasn't a really nice sight, I shall spare you the agony of looking at it :D

Assorted seafood spaghetti. Yummilicious~

Dessert was vanilla icecream topped with...wait for it wait for it...hot coffee. wtf, didn't know that you can eat vanilla icecream like that. The combination tasted a little weird to me though.

Otousan, Obaachan, Okaasan, Me(damn fugly)

Hiroshima Internship Programme 02/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 1:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Day 11~

Unlike the previous weekend, we had this weekend off so we could basically do whatever we wanted for 2 days. The others visited Miyajima while I went to find my homestay family whose house I stayed in in 2006.

After picking me up from the training centre, we had shabu-shabu for lunch at this little shop called PAN. The exterior of the shop was decorated with so many different kinds of flowers that I thought that it was a flower shop or something. Anyway, first time eating shabu-shabu. Damn delicious~, especially when dipped with the sesame sauce. OMG~

Mrs. Shinkawa =D

Me~

Dessert was sponge cake with vanilla ice-cream, one of the specialities of PAN. Coming from someone who's not a big fan of cakes, the dessert was sooo freaking good.

Went back after lunch and as you know, many Japanese families require you to wear slippers inside the house so here's my cute bunny slippers~!

As dinner was going to be gyoza, Okaasan, Obaachan and me started preparing for dinner once we got home. I totally suck at making gyoza. I can't make the nice "fan" shape that gyoza's supposed to have but instead, my gyoza looked more like soon kueh instead. wtf.

Frying the gyoza~

Gyoza getting cooked. OMG, can't wait to eat~

Obaachan, Okaasan.

Ta-da~ The gyoza's ready! Had a sense of accomplishment although I only wrapped the gyozas into some ugly non-gyoza-like shape. :P
In case if you were wondering, the gyoza was omg, so freaking crunchy and juicy~ Yum!

Hiroshima Internship Programme 01/6/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 1:45 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship Programme Continuation~

Went to watch a Noh play today and that meant that no work for today~ Whee~

Po Ling, Liling, Hui En. Taking photos while waiting to enter the theatre and while waiting for the rest of the girls to come out of the toilet. =P

There were like tons of high school students there that day but mostly girls. Oi! Where are the guys?!

Got to sit in the box seats~ Damn cool can! I mean, how VIP can you get? Somemore it was tatami...I think. Haha.

Photography was prohibited but looking at the picture below, I guess you can say that I did not obey the rules~ I took pains to take this photo okay. I was constantly looking around to see if there's any usher lurking around to catch people like me. After taking the photo, I looked down(we were seated on the 2nd floor) and saw the caucasian lady blatanly holding up her video camera and taking videos. -___________- wtf By the way, I was only awake for like 10minutes during the Noh play~ Yes, I can't appreciate art.

Had curry rice for lunch. It was 100% curry rice okay, without any meat or veggies. wtf.

As there was a matsuri called Toukasan that was held at night, we went down to Kinki Nihon Tourist so that the nice lady there could help us put on our yukatas~

Vivien, Me, Wei Ying, The nice lady, Hui En, Melody

@ Hondoori. The guy in the costume posed for my photo. Damn on!

Candy apples~Not a big fan though.

Wei Ying and me obviously can't wait to eat the takoyaki balls. Takoyaki in Japan is like damn cheap, unlike Singapore where they sell 3 lousy, not exactly delicious balls for $2.20.

Smoking Taiyaki. wtf.

I love taiyaki soooo much man! I think I ate at least 2 pieces that day~

Liling and her host family. The kids were damn cute~especially the boy but he was so shy!

At the temple.

Basically just followed the crowd and walked one round in the temple before leaving.

Cute right!!!

Awww~

Decided to be 'patriotic' and went to take a picture of the lantern by the Shinkin Bank~

As nobody else except Liling and myself wanted to enter the haunted house, we each paid 500yen to get ourselves scared. It was damn scary okay. We were screaming at the top of our lungs the whole time and we kept jumping backwards whenever something popped out/almost popped out. I think that the couple behind us was quite irritated because 1st, they had to keep out of our way when we jumped backwards and 2nd, we were screaming so freaking loudly and so I guess that the guy couldn't whisper words of courage to his girlfriend.

There were sooo many people there that day and the rubbish pile was scary.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 31/5/07

Jhui

on June 8, 2008 1:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As you can see from the title, this is a very outdated entry dating one year back. Whatever la, at least I'm blogging about it~

On the morning of 31st May 2007, the 9 of us went to the Shinkin Bank to meet the important people of the Hiroshima-Singapore Association. Below is a picture of Liling presenting the gift we bought for the Chairman, Mr. Tamura.

Us with the important people of HSA (not Health Sciences Authority hor!).

After the short meeting, we took a short break before everyone set out for their respective work destinations.

Today was quite interesting because we got to go see showhouses with Mr. Furuta. The showhouses were located at Ushita and they were like so freaking pretty. Anyone wants to buy me a new flat? Oh, and you'll have to keep it tidy for me or else it will look like a rubbish dump after 1 month. :P

Peisan, Mr. Furuta

Mr. Furuta, Peisan and the cute guy from Sekisui House. Can't see his face very clearly because the cameraman had freaking shaky hands. Damn you, cameraman!.....Oh, in case if you were wondering why I'm not in the picture...that's because...I was the lousy cameraman.

Went to some hill after visiting the showhouses. Can't remember what hill was it though.

Returned to the company for lunch. Lunch was diced beef with rice. My god, it was heavenly ok! For only 400yen, it's a real bargain. If I did not remember wrongly, this was the day that we had lunch with Mr. Saeki. It was damn hard to keep up with his eating speed...or with any Japanese in fact. The Japanese eat damn fast till the extent it's kind of scary.

After lunch, we went out with the Marketing and Sales Promotion Deparment. When we got out of the car, I was like "Eh? Isn't this the training centre that we're staying in?!" -___- As it takes like at least 30 minutes to walk from the train station to the training centre, we thought that it would be nice if they let us off there but nope...had to return to the company after the training there. Boo.

The training was pretty interesting. We got to use their simulated bank system and played around with the sophisticated equipment. Damn cool lar!

After we returned to the company, we were given some of the company magazines to browse through and ...I saw my photo inside!!! Taken when I went there in 2006~ :P

Had dinner at Saizeriya. I had prawn macaroni gratin which was damn creamy, delicious but cheap. Yummlicious. I'm so going to eat it again when I visit Japan!

Took the Astram Line for the first time to go back to the training centre. Somehow, the Astram Line had this really weird urine-like smell. Oh, and the Astram line resembles Korea's subway ALOT.

Grace, Liling

While walking from the station to the training centre, we made a short trip to the supermarket to buy discounted breakfast for the next day. I love Japan's supermarkets because they usually have sale after 8pm or something. At the supermarket, I saw Koike Teppei!!!! OMG~!

Okay, his picture only but whatever la~

« Hiroshima Internship Programme: March 2008 | Main Index | Archives

Hiroshima Internship Programme: June 2008 Archives

Hiroshima Internship Programme 20/6/07

Hiroshima: The Food Post

Hiroshima Internship Programme 19/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 17/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 16/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 15/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 14/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 13/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 12/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 11/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 10/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 09/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 08/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 07/6/07 Part II

Hiroshima Internship Programme 07/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 06/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 05/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 04/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 03/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 02/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 01/6/07

Hiroshima Internship Programme 31/5/07

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