Umeda

Umeda
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

I celebrated the New Years with a beer in my hand and the city street on my feet. I completed the 3peat of dressing up at New Years. Rick and I started the dance party at the Christian Club. the music sucked but we got the party started nonetheless. This was the weirdest New Years ever. The pic was taken after the street beer. add salt for better flavor.

Illuminare night

Illuminare
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

Here's a photo from the other trainee in the pic, Rick. I also uploaded two other photos from Rick that also explain the night. Briefly, the one with me looking like a giant is how I always feel in Japan. I was in a crowd of at least 1,000 people and not a one of them came above my shoulder. The second one is of me sticking out my tongue at the camera. It should also be noted that I am holding one chopstick in each hand. This is not my usual style (nor should it be). I was a little distraught at the time as I found out the food I ordered which was called beef something and had a picture of beef on top of a that something did not actually include beef and you couldn't order it for extra. crazy.

the end is nearing

I am supposed to be making my final presentation for AIESEC that will be given next week saturday. I have some ideas, but I have no ambition to start such a project. I am missing Madison and more importantly, AIESEC.

This project has started a time consuming self/world reflection:

First, being a trainee not near your host LC sucks. What is worse is that before I left Madison, I was trying to preach to our members in-charge of Madison's corporate accounts not to create such traineeships. This past summer we had a trainee in Milwaukee. Now Milwaukee is fine, except that I meant Milwaukee in the general sense. The trainee was stationed in suburbia. Only one of our LC members lived close to her and only one person in Madison had a car so that we could visit her. Yes, the trainee enjoyed her job and we started a partnership with a "local" company, but at what price. Ali, our LCP, I thought did a great job of trying to get her involved with our LC. The problem: she didn't live near us, she didn't work near us, she didn't hang out near us; we were practically in different countries. Now, some members from our LC have said that she was a bad trainee because she wasn't an @ member, but I think that's bullshit. That girl would call Ali at least 2 times per week asking if she could hang out. She went on the crazy trip with us up to Jenna's cabin, even though she was NOT a country girl. I thought she did what she could in the short time she was in the US. Then we get another trainee who works IN MADISON, and he's a godsend. Somehow the LC attributes this to being in @, but again, I don't see it. He lived with a member for a time; you can't get any more personal than that. What's worse is that before I left to come here, the EB was seriously thinking about accepting a trainee that would stay in Green Bay. GREEN BAY! This city is over 2.5 hours from Madison. CHICAGO IS CLOSER. I know our LC hasn't had trainees in awhile and people were complaining about how hard it is to raise trainees in such a small city (even though Green Bay is 25% as big as Madison), but I never heard people of saying we should do exchange in Chicago. Luckily, the traineeship fell through, and the exchange never happened. I am making the most of my experience in suburbia, but in the US, there is absolutely no reason why we should be creating partnerships like the above mentioned ones. Yes we want to create change, but how do you create change, when no one around you wants to change. This is why Delphi got such a bad reputation. Yes, we were exchanging people and yes @ers were getting great ‘real-world experience’ working with said company and trainees, but how much change occurred? Most of the trainees had families already. They were coming to the US, NOT TO EXPERIENCE THE US, but to advance their careers. Yes, they are human beings and while they were here they enjoyed talking to some of us. I just don’t feel they actually changed their perspectives. When you have to take care of your family, how much time are you going to have left to meet new people in a culture you don’t understand, in a language you barely speak, and a place you didn’t voluntarily sign-up to go?

I am now thoroughly off the subject of missing Madison.

I left AIESEC-Madison with two bad flavors lingering in my mouth. One was the way we were going about raising traineeships (above) and the other was the general atmosphere of the LC. What I miss most is the old LC. Somehow when I and the other EB/experienced members brought along the newbies from last fall, we missed something. I could blame the mono, but I don’t think that was it. When I left this summer to go on my journey, I felt most of the members in Madison’s LC were leading duel lives. They would share their feelings in AIESEC meetings and then go home to their ‘other’ friends and pretend like they did nothing that day. There was no integration of AIESEC into their lives. There is not a single friend of mine that doesn’t know the name AIESEC or what we do. I didn’t preach or try to convert them; I didn’t have to. Just talking about what I did with my time was enough. I felt everyone else was the same. Most of the people the LC looked up to, Williams, Trent, Burbs, Ali, Jenna, all integrated it into their lives. There was no difference between a friend and an AIESECer. We would do things together and try to include all of our friends in the activities. Now it seems like the members separate their friends. They have @ friends that they do certain things with and then they have their regular friends that they do different things with and you can’t mix the two.

All I think about is how I, being on the EB, could’ve let it happen. Granted, maybe it was just growing pains for the LC and now everything could be normal again, but this is how I left. Now I am trying to reflect on what I’ve done in Japan, but all I’m thinking about is what I want to do in Madison. I’m always looking towards the future; my curse forever.

The Line-up

The Line-up
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

Christmas Japanese Beer Tasting

all 4 beverage makers are in the test. I also decided to go with the 500mL cans to make sure I get a fair sampling.



Im posting on blogger and flickr simultaneously through my cell email. Could I be the first？

No Business like Snow Business

My boss knocked on my door this morning before work. As I lean out the door into the frigid morning, I realize it's snowing. A lot. I asked my boss if this was normal and he said this is the most he's seen it snow in the Kansai area in his life. He's 44. He said the trains were very delayed, so I could take my time coming in. I am a little surprised as the snow accumulation was less than 2", so how does this stop a train? Seriously. THey drive the trains like crazy people in monsoons, but they drive slow in lightly falling fluffy snow? I dropped the thoughts and enjoyed the extra nap time.

Photo is on flickr, which I just added to the sidebar. Not sure if I like it. I also have been playing with blog colors. I think they need to be changed back.

The Germans are coming

After talking with this dude, I realized I didn't update on the weekend. Yes, it needs updating.

I bought my return ticket home Friday. It was by far the cheapest ticket out there... until taxes. The taxes on the ticket ended up being almost as much as the freaking ticket itself. It was still a good price, but I think Hooter's Air would've been more worth it. On Saturday, I met up with a new trainee from the Osaka LC(as opposed to mine of Kobe) in the southern part of Osaka, AKA Namba. I didn't get to place till after 10PM. I just wanted to say hi to the man from Germany. We grabbed a Guiness. His train home left at 11:45PM. I stayed. I got invited out by his two teaching buddies from Texas. 5 hours of karaoking later, I finally headed home, voiceless.

Sunday afternoon (my body thought it was still morning) I met up with Ric, the new guy from Germany, again. This time we met in Kobe with the intention of going to this thing called Illuminare. At the time I thought it was just a bunch of lighted buildings. No Japanese person cared to explain the significance of it. Anyways, Ric gives me and some of the Kobe @ers a short presentation on Germany. Then we leave for the Light show. 90 minute queue in the near zero temps. OK. The queue was actually as wide as the street itself. And it was packed. Crazy packed. to see Christmas lights. The beginning felt very weird. Both Ric and I felt like we were about to walk into prison or something. It also was a little weird as I was again (Japanese theme) the tallest person in the crowd. It did help for taking pictures though, even if everyone within 30 feet would stop and stare at me.

OK, 60 minutes later, we finally reach the Illuminare. It was awesome. What the @ers failed to mention was that the festival is a tribute to the Great Earthquake that crumbled the city of Kobe in the early 90s. It wasn't a normal memorial in that it was bright and beautiful. I liked it. It was a celebration for the city of what they have gone through. It was like honoring the past through living. I took many pictures, but I won't post any until I can hook my phone up to a computer and get them all at once. The best part I think was seeing so many people with smiles on their faces. Not that Japanese people aren't happy, but in public most people have very straight faces. And people always cover their mouths when laughing as if to make sure no one sees that they are enjoying themselves. This was treat for me to see so much excitement painted on faces. It was especially cool seeing all the little kids staring up in awe at the monument. A tragic event commemorated in happiness.

El Cocina de Bruhaha

El Cocina de Bruhaha
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

I've been having these really strong cravings for beef, so I decided to make a decent dinner.

I am considering this a Japanese dish because:
1. I made it up in Japan.
2. I added the cucumber because Japanese people add cucumbers to everything else, so I figured it fit.
3. In the middle of frying the veggies, I realized I still had some of Unknown Sake #2 left, so I added it. Japanese Sake = Japanese wine = Japanese cooking wine = good Japanese.

Final Entrants to the Frying Pan:
Beef
Cucumber
Onion
Salad Pepper
Japanese root thing
Olive oil
Garlic
Unknown Sake #2

It was delicious.

How to properly raise a child

Braeden
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

That's it. Change their diper. Dress 'em in Cardinal and White and BOOM, a happy little kid.

This dude is Braeden, my nephew that has yet to turn a year. (It's still weird receiving Christmas cards from my siblings, especially with pictures of their children.)

Food: I love this stuff

I was getting out of the gym really late, so I decided to stop by a local convenient store and pick up some dinner. Sandwich number one: Tuna fish spread, egg spread, cucumber and extra mayonaisse. Sandwich number two: ham, cheese, egg, mayonaisse and lettuce. Both were very delicious. Not on my normal things to eat at midnight list, but it hit the spot. I also found the most delicious, unhealthy product that Americans crave when abroad: Peanut Butter. MMMMMM. It wasn't a jar; that would've blown my mind. It was in some of these little bite-sized candies covered in chocolate.

oops

i remember making some blog 'comments' last night. they sounded a lot better last night. i guess the bottle of sho-chu hit harder than expected.

So my dirth of friends gave me no choice but to hit the town alone. I didn't end up leaving until after midnight and I mistakenly decided to go to the snack bar some guys at work brought me to once. Since I was feeling gangster or something, I decided to wear my Toyo hat out. I get to the bar and I asked where the previous waitress (who is the same age as me) was. Yeah, she's married now. great beginning. Then I realize there was a small gathering of friends taking up most of the tiny place. I finally take off my hat and I try and talk to the guys. It turned out they work for Yokohama, Toyo's competitor. even better second start. Thank you hat. Anyways, I explained that I was still a student and they relaxed a bit. I practiced my Japanese and I feel I improved a little bit. I got a final kick in the pants as everyone began to leave (what time, I have NO clue). I had two drinks. TWO DRINKS. The bill came to \3000. That's almost $12 per drink! I think this ends my snack bar visits.

どよび、 十日 十二月、二千六

Saturday, December 10, 2005
Originally uploaded by Der Bruhaha.

Can someone translate for me? It's decent sho-chu, though only 50 proof. Is this supposed to be good? Also, trying to make kangi is a lot harder than I thought, even if I know how to spell in hiragana.

Change

Here's the Christmas card I just received in the mail from a relative:

"Is it different in Japan for Christmas? I hope you don't take up smoking. Those Japanese men are really smelly!!! Have a Merry Christmas and New Year."

Somehow I think that's supposed to be a joke, sort of, but it didn't sit too well. I still don't understand how people can think this way. I grew up with tons of comments like these all the time from all sides of the family and yet I still cringe everytime I hear one. I used to try and tell them otherwise, but that never worked. I guess you can't be changed unless you want to be.

Heart & Soul

Since being in japan I've been listening to older music, mostly rap. It did its job of keeping me awake. As with all rap songs for me though, they get old very quickly. Way too catchy and unchanging in their melodies and beats. I was recently looking at my favorite rock stations from back in the states and noticed some new songs, so I downloaded them. Danko Jones was the best new band/person(not sure which) I never heard of before. What's awesome about download is that I also got to listen to previous LPs/non-singles. Blues has always caught a piece of my heart, and it was cool to listen to a new person that brought the blues with hard rock. It was sort of like new Thorogood with a cleaner voice. I also got the new Disturbed video and some new songs off their new CD. Some were good; some were ... not good. I like the music they make, although I think I'm a little biased since I tend to think bands from the Chicago area are always better than everyone else. Another half good half crappy CD is Audioslave's new one. The new single is atrocious. It's worse than 'What's my name?' by M&M. I then revived my soul: Pantera LIVE. I found some of their concerts from the early 90s and wow. My head pounded, my heartbeat fastened and I felt alive. Too bad I wasn't driving 4 beligerent punks smoking shisha in a car across 5 states at 2AM just to crash a new member conference. I did finish my one paper for school though. I also got an old Metallica concert from Woodstock '94(I think), but it was them doing 'Master of Puppets' and 'Breadfan.'

This all came to my head again because we had our end of the year banquet for work last night and I was talking with some other people from my department I haven't fully met yet. They happened to have talked with others that found out I liked hard rock. They asked where I was from and I said Wisconsin, hoping that for some reason they would have learned of the great state. He looked at me kind of funny, more clueless, and then he exclaimed 'STATIC-X!' WOW. That was definetly a first. 90% of the people in the US wouldn't even understand.

That's right, Metal connecting the world. Write that down.

purpose

so today I went to the store and was buying food for the night's dinner, when I stopped by the junk food section. I purposely didn't take known potato chips as I really wanted to try some without seaweed. Went home, eagerly opened the mysterious bag. NEW seaweed. How many kinds of seaweed are there and why do I always manage to find it?

My journey back to the US is looking more and more rediculous. Reason: money. My new plan is to fly to Vegas, stay a night, fly to Chicago and meet old friends, and then bus it back to Madison. Apparently flights to Vegas are popular for Japanese people too. This translates to cheap for me. And if I'm not mistaken, Vegas is a pretty easy and cheap place to stay for a random night. I also have to buy a round-trip ticket to vegas and then cancel the second half. Does anyone know if there are penalties for skipping a flight other than the loss of the ticket? Round-trips are half the price of one-ways.

(parents: don't worry; i will figure out a plan soon enough. everything will fall into place)
(well, except getting seaweed-less potato chips. but tomorrow is another day. i will prevail.)

El Tigre:A Runner's Idea for Fun

El Tigre
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

What is this great idea? Getting a group of your friends together to wake up at the crack of dawn to run a marathon together outside in the pouring rain at 3 degrees C while wearing a tiger costume. OH, and then you have to finish the last 50m on all fours while roaring.

There was also a group of cowboys, a pro-wrestler, a bear, a swan, and a bunch of little elves. It was awesome. I did not dress up sadly (although I was decked out in all Badger gear and just being the only foreigner and standing almost 2m high kind of makes me an outlandish creature already). The reason for the post is not to say that Japanese people are crazy, which they are, but that runners, no matter where in the world, are at the forefront of this craziness. Many people dress rediculously or make animal sounds, but they don't do it while pushing their bodies to their physical limits. Who's heard of a futball(soccer) player that has dressed up as King Kong and played an entire game just for the hell of it ? I know this happens in the US, but today showed me how universal the trend is.

To recap today's events, I entered a relay marathon with some fellow Toyo employees. This meant creating a team that would trade off running 2km laps until you finished 42.195km. There were over 120 teams 'competing'. It was the most relaxed, but competitive event I've ever run in. Everyone was there to challenge themselves and have fun doing it. I finished my 10km averaging under 4min/km. I ran with a huge smile plastered on my rain pelted my face while water was gushing through my shoes. It was also sweet because the last 195m the whole team comes off the sidelines and joins the last runner to finish the race together. I definetly want to do this again.