Shibaiteyaroka???

japan has been surprisingly awesome. i have to admit, i was a bit apprehensive about making this trip sans boss - first time ever to something of significance. not to mention around the world with minimal knowledge (3 semesters in college, but that was awhile ago) of the language.

but it's been a great trip so far.

1) business class is freaking awesome. 14 hours of bliss. food and drinks on command, a comfy reclining seat with ample room (it helped there was no one in the seat next to me as well), tv and movies on demand, and noise cancelling headphones. geez, it's better than being at home. disconnected from the world, with nothing to do but eat, sleep, and relax. (fine, i guess i could have done work, but i chose not to)

2) apparently i look japanese. everyone keeps talking at me in japanese and it's only when it's painfully obvious that i'm trying to formulate a response with my limited nihongo that they switch to english. sign language gets you pretty far with people who can't speak english.

2a) the foreign language sector of my brain is mad confused. it's some combo of the fact that japanese is very similar to korean, that i recently had to start learning spanish to tutor (which has only caused me to confuse french and spanish to begin with) - and the fact that finnish is running through my brain. the first day here i tried to say something like today it's very cold, and i drew a huge blank followed by tannen wa froid yo. it's like i have each part of the sentence i'm trying to say, but it's a crapshoot as to which vocabulary will translate each word first.

3) japan is clearly not ready for female engineers. i'm the only woman who isn't bringing coffee. i want to manufacture a new hard hat design that has room for a ponytail. during inspections yesterday, the reports said "inspected by mr._christinapark. to which i pointed out the error of the "mr." they responded "ahh...sumimasen....mrs?"

sigh, no. FAIL.

i told sab and he gave me some choice phrases i could say, including shibaiteyaroka??? (should i beat you up???) haha, oh sab.

4) the airport totally ripped me off in exchange rate. they gave me something pathetic like 77 yen to a dollar, when the going rate is like 89. i only realized this last night, so i'm trying to spend all of my cash on business expenses so i can expense the horrid rate.

5) the food is just that good. no joke. i won't be able to eat sushi in america for quite awhile. the presentation is amazing, but honestly, i could do without the eyes of everything staring at me from my plate.

6) i love how they gift wrap everything for you...FOR FREE! awesomeness.

that is all for now.