August Smile

For the first 10 days of August, I must admit that I have been having nothing but fun. I laughed every single day and enjoyed myself so much I could officially declare the first two weeks of August as one of the main highlights in my life.

August once again proves to me that it is not what you do but rather who you spend your time with. In the first week of August, I had tutorial session with two of my juniors (Nadia and Husna...yes, Nadiah, I debuted your name) and we spent a lot of time laughing. Everything was so spontaneous and everything was so entertaining. WE laughed at every single mistake and perhaps, that is how education is supposed to be. Rather than feeling sad about every little mistakes, we should just take a moment and laugh about it. But don't get me wrong though, we laughed a lot but we studied quite a bit as well (but Nadiah and Husna, you girls have to buckle up. You girls could rock this coming exam if you step it up).

Then starting Monday this week, Petronas branch in Japan, Mitco Japan organized this Educational Summer Programme for us. It might sound boring but heck, it is so damn exciting. Perhaps it is the 9 other colleagues (5 juniors and 4 other friends from the same batch) or perhaps it is just me getting high from inhailing too much oxygen. One way or the other, I laughed the whole week. Not even a single family problem could bring me down. Well, it did but I got so frustrated I took a walk to the convenient store which was a few minutes away and by the time I came back, I realized I am not here to save everyone but here to save myself. And if I can do that and laugh the whole way, I am satisfied.

So on Monday, we went to the office and had this briefing about what the Petronas operations in Japan are all about. We met the replacement General Manager for the first time, and boy was he friendly. Don't get me wrong, I won't attempt to step on his head anytime soon but he sure is a friendly guy. For the whole day, we laughed over every single thing. Including the fact that Nor, Ihsan, Iman and I were swindled by a ticket agent (who used to be under scholarship but was dropped after failing his classes) and we lost about RM 1500. Sure, we're frustrated about it but once the lesson is learnt, we move on and laugh about it over lunch on Monday. To come to think of it, boy were we fools.

On Tuesday, we went for this cool boat ride at the Yokohama port. It was the most luxurious thing I've been on. We took millions of pictures (many of which I would put up on my Friendster soon) and it was so damn exciting. There were so many funny photos as well (if we were to put captions on each of the photo, we'll get a 19 year old pregnant teenager, two gay men holding hands and a lady cheating on her boyfriend....heheh lawak kan iman?). On that afternoon, we went for lunch nearby the port. There Ihsan and I learnt a very important lesson. Just because someone else is paying for it, it doesn't mean you should order the most expensive thing. Especially when it is the last thing to arrive and everyone just realized you order the most expensive thing on the menu. Lesson learnt. It was embarassing but once again, it's funny. We were laughed at by the managers, our remaining 8 colleagues (jaga ko orang...akan aku revenge wahahaha) and even by ourselves (cant help it...too funny).

Oooh then we went to this sugar factory where we were told how sugar is refined to be what it is. For the first time in my life, I learnt that they actually use cow bones to extract dirt from liquid sugar (if i hear correctly. I am sure I heard cow bones are used but for what, I am not 100 percent sure. Japanese still crappy, I guess). Tuesday was exciting cause we took the train, we rode a boat and we took a taxi all in the same day. Speaking of travelling, I hope we get to get on a private jet plane next year (if we do, I'll laugh my head off)

On Wednesday, we went to this steel factory. Gosh...watching how the steel was made was like watching a documentary on Discovery Channel. It was surreal (and so hot and man, I don't look cool in uniform at all. Note to self : study hard to avoid working in a factory). Then that afternoon, we went to this Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum. I never like museum but if I were to say one thing I like about museums is that they have games to cater to the interest of young kids and me. And I played all the games. It was fun, but compared to the boat ride, I prefer the boat ride better. LOL. But we still laughed a lot at the museum. That evening after the program ended, we returned to the mitco japan's office in sakuragichou and were briefed about the next day's safety measures. We were also told off by the managers regarding our attitude during lunch. NO NO no 1 don't order more than the managers. NO NO no 2 don't choose your food . I shall remember both NO NOs.

On Thursday, we went onboard a ship. It was this huge LNG ship that just arrived at the Negishi port. We were shown around by the engineers and it was really really cool. The lunch was cool as well. We were served Malaysian food. Even thinking about it makes me hungry all over again. I drank rootbeer for the first time in 16 months. I ate guava for the first time in 16 months. I ate Yong Tau Fu for the first time in 16 months. Somehow, after the lunch, I lost all purpose to go back to Malaysia next week already. Who am I kidding, I still miss laksa sarawak. Hehehe.....and I miss someone as well...you know who you are....hehe...

So after the boarding the ship, we head off to the station to say bye bye to each other but before splitting up, we sat down to discuss the newsletter that we were told to do. Okay, fine, we weren't asked to do a newsletter, we were just asked to write a 5 to 6 pages article about what we've done the past four days. But since the past four days was so amazing, there is no way I am going to let it go down in history as a long essay. It has to be more than that, so as the editor of the article (yeah...my first publication as an editor. i sense many more great things to come...this is when the crowd throws eggs and tomatoes at me), I decided that we do a newsletter. The discussion didn't go down very well though as tempers fly and one of my juniors stormed off in rage. Although that happened, I am still confident we can pull it off at the 11th hour. Or else I'm doomed. Hehehe...

Okay, I need to start writing my mandatory report about what we've learnt for the past four days and also start writing my portion of the newsletter already...What a great first 10 days of August I had. And owh did I mention, I receive free tickets for two (sorry Iman and Nor, aku ajak Ihsan. dia beria ia nak tengok. If you girls want to go, you can but you need to see from behind lah. the tickets for reserved seats. sorry eh) to watch a fireworks display in Tokyo Bay this Saturday from a student who I am teaching English to. Okay so I need to start writing my article already....okay maybe after doing this weeks chart...heheh