of drinks and knives
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
I went to the office on Friday and learned that I'll be interviewing for my transfer to EDS Japan this coming Tuesday. Then I deleted 450 pieces of unread email and worked on wrapping up the project I've supposedly been working on for EDS Canada. I also signed up to resume Japanese classes on Tuesday. So that will be a long day...
Friday night, I was treated to a small get-together in honour of my birthday (shared with that of Ranko-san, the girl from the office who spent her teen years in Surry, BC) at the little western-style pub that I could never find while staying at the Cerulean in the Summer, despite the hotel and pub being directly across the street from one another. Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of "Sparky", Jon's electrified collection of nails and pins and whatnot that hold his damaged wrist together. Even for those of you who enjoy watching shows about surgery (e.g. on trips to Ottawa, Ken & Dad) would not like to hear how they went about setting the bones etc in this country where they even do their version of Cesarean sections without anesthetic....
Then yesterday it was a slowish day with Mari as we did some errands (I had to collect my suit and a few other things from her place, such as things relevant to my taxes). Then we sat in the park and read for a bit, with the fruit trees beginning to blossom and everyone obsessively enjoying the faint warmth. After that we went to a Sukiyaki place, where you cook your food in a shallow mix of water and soy sauce and who knows what else, then dip it into a bowl of raw egg that's before you.
Then today, Mari took me to a distant suburb of the city to where a fellow runs a business making knives and teaching woodcarving. We spent quite a bit of time there (some two hours) and he talked Mari's ear off the whole time while his comrades ran the instruction of the mask carving session and his wife hurried around and presented everyone with tea. He gave us a steep discount in the end, because I was a foreigner there to buy his "best in the world" Japanese stuff. I even got one of the Japanese natural shale sharpening stones that I have only ever read about. Mari insisted on presenting the whole set as a gift, and something in her tone caused me to abandon my suggestion that I contribute. So, I'd better get carving!