July 5, 2005
Today flew by—meetings and presentations all day. Japanese meetings are shockingly efficient. Evereyone is on time and on task. Very different from meetings in the Monkeyhouse on 27th street (holler back, yo!)
I had to give a presentation today to about 20 people about my company, RCW. Because I had to pause after every 2 sentences for translation, I relaxed a little. Afterward, I played a cute video showing all of us at RCW over the last year (from our holiday slide show, thanks Matthew, Eugene, and the Davids!) It’s a bunch of photos of us acting insane (as usual) interspersed with our creative work. The Starship song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” plays in the background. It’s an old song, but the sentiment is right and the Japanese loved it.
After the presentation, we had “welcome drinks” in the conference room. It was awkward at first, but once everyone had 2 beers, all the fun started. It turns out that they are all whackos here, too. I’m able to bond with many of them because many of them have little dogs (inu). When I asked to see pictures, they whipped out their mobile phones and started arguing over who has the cutest pup. (Clearly, Delilah and I win.) Even the President was in on the action. He has a poodle named Juri.
After many drinks, they started teaching me the local slang; nothing off-color (yet) but, it made me feel like they were starting to accept me. The two top guys told me to say, “majii??” Which means, “Really???” in very teenage slang. Every time I said it, they cracked up. I guess it’s like “hip hop” style speak in Japan. From a gaijin (non-Japanese) it’s hilarious stuff.
The Japanese are big drinkers. I didn’t want to get drunk, so I kept “losing” my drink. If you have a drink in front of you, they will keep filling it up, like when the waiter in a posh restaurant tops off your water glass. I really wanted to see how they act a party. In a word, NUTS. Another word: DRUNKS.
Just when one of the AEs started on his Billy Joel repertoire, the party was declared over (at exactly 10 PM). I was barely awake at that point because I am not caught up on my sleep yet. They said goodbye with promises/threats of a karaoke outing in the near future. I’d better brush up on my Gloria Gaynor!
2 comments:
Hey Colleen. Writing from PA where the grass is so dry it breaks when you walk on it. Send some of that rain our way! Did you get a good trench coat before you left? I can't remember. All that shopping is a blur. Miss you. It'll seem so strange at the apartment when I get there tonight. No one to say hello to except two (undoubtedly angry) kitties. Can't wait to read your next entry!
Me again. I'm confused. I had to create my own blog to make a comment. Is that right?
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