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No-4 Vacation, in NY, Geneve, Paris, London. |
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No-4 Vacation, in NY, Geneve, Paris, London. |
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-11/27-12/2-ｻﾝｸｽｷﾞｳﾞｨﾝｸﾞﾃﾞｲはﾆｭｰﾖｰｸで ｻﾝﾀﾞｰﾊﾞｰﾄﾞの仲間に会えて嬉しかった。ｻﾝｸｽｷﾞｳﾞｨﾝｸﾞﾃﾞｲはRuth (ﾙｰｽ)のうちにご招待頂いた。みこ、ｷｬﾛﾙ、ﾙｰｽと私はﾙｰｽの家に集まった。土曜日には以前ｸﾞﾚﾝﾃﾞｰﾙに居たときのﾙｰﾑﾒｰﾄでもある、Eric Zyla (ｴﾘｯｸｻﾞｲﾗ）にもﾆｭｰﾖｰｸの町で会った。彼はとにかくおもしろい奴だ。年は40歳になるが若い若い。ﾊﾟｰﾃｨｰでも若者と良く戯れる。以前は弁護士、職歴もながいだけあって頭もいいし、知識も豊富。 この休みの間、わたしとみこは3つもの映画を見た。おすすめは「ｴﾝﾍﾟﾗｰｽﾞｸﾗﾌﾞ」非常に有名な高校での教師と、生徒の間の物語。 |
-11/27-12/2-Thanks Givingday in NY Link to Thanks Giving Day at Ruth's house in NY, Thanks Giving Day, nice to see Thunderbird friends! We were invited to Ruth's house at the Thanks Giving Day. It was great to meet Thunderbird friends in different places. Ruth, Miko, Carol and I got together. Also on Saturday we met Mr. Eric Zyla. He is originally from New York and was in NY during the Thanks Giving Day. He is one of the best friends at Thunderbird and actually he was a roommate when I was fourth trimester. He is quite funny and interesting person for me. I and Miko watched three movies for four days; the best movie was "Emperors club" | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/3-財布をなくした! ｱﾒﾘｶからﾐﾗﾉに朝の8時半に到着し、すぐに電車に乗り次の目的地、ﾌﾛｰﾚﾝｽ(ﾌｨﾚﾝｾﾞ）に向かった。ﾌﾛｰﾚﾝｽはﾄｽｶｰﾅ地方に属する、美しい山々と、なだらかな丘がある美しい地方だ。<ﾌﾛｰﾚﾝｽ地方の風景> そこでｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙ生産者のｶﾙﾛｶﾀｰﾈｵに会った。親切にもここでもｱｸﾞﾘﾂﾘｽﾞﾓ（日本で言う民宿のような物で広い農家の敷地内で一緒にｺﾃｰｼﾞの様なﾎﾃﾙを運営している。ｲﾀﾘｱの田舎町に多く存在する。）彼の運営するｱｸﾞﾘﾂﾘｽﾞﾓは高級な物で、全ての部屋はいわゆるｽｲｰﾄ仕様。ｷｯﾁﾝ、ﾄｲﾚ、ﾀﾞｲﾆﾝｸﾞ等々全てが揃っている。<右のｱｸﾞﾘﾂﾘｽﾞﾓ写真参照> 
悔しいの一言につきる。財布を無くしたか盗まれたか？ﾌﾛｰﾚﾝｽの駅についてﾎﾟｹｯﾄを確かめたら無いことに気づいた。今まで物を無くすなどはほとんどしたことがなかった。幸いにもｸﾚｼﾞｯﾄｶｰﾄﾞやお金は半づつ他のお財布と分けておいたので被害も、ｸﾚｼﾞｯﾄｶｰﾄﾞのｷｬﾝｾﾙ手続き等も半分で済んだ。これもｻﾝﾀﾞｰﾊﾞｰﾄﾞで学んだことで、"Diversify""危険分散"とでも訳そうか？危険を一つにしないで分散しておくこと!みこに感謝。ｸﾚｼﾞｯﾄｶｰﾄﾞの連絡先などを調べてもらった。方々にｸﾚｼﾞｯﾄｶｰﾄﾞ停止の電話をするのに3時間も要した。皆さん、長い旅行の時にはｸﾚｼﾞｯﾄｶｰﾄﾞの緊急連絡先を持って行くことをおすすめします。 |
-12/3-Lost my wallet!? I arrived at Milano 8:30AM and immediately took a train to Firenze (Florence). Firenze belongs Toscana region, North part of Italy. The view in Firenze is different from South part of Italy. <View in Firenze>There are a lot of mountain and hills. It was beautiful, too. I met Mr. Carlo Cattaneo who produces wine, olive oil and some meat (animals) in this area. He kindly offered me to stay in his Agritrismo (local cottage). It was more luxury one. Most of rooms are kind of suite rooms and there are two rooms: dining room, bedroom, bathroom with sofa and kitchen. The room is very big.<Agritrismo at Firenze>
I lost my wallet somewhere in the train or it was stolen...? There was bad luck with me today. Fortunately my credit card and money were diversified as I learned at Thunderbird. Thanks to Miko, found out the contact number for credit card companies. I had to spend three hours for this accident. That was big money for me. Then after I decided to save that amount of money during rest trip. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/4-ｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙの味、北部と南部の違い 以前訪れたｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙ生産者とは違ってここは非常に小さい規模の会社である。そのため社長自らも現場に出て家畜と戦っている。この日はちょうど食用豚が運ばれる場面を観た。 ｶﾙﾛの仕事ぶり!--->Italy051.JPG Italy052.JPG ｶﾙﾛが親切にもｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙの品質の見方を教えてくれた。このときになって初めてｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙの違いを見分けることができるようになった。北の方のｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙは北部の物と比べて少し軽い味がする。おと、おもしろいことにｵﾘｰﾌﾞの木自体外見が北部と南部では違う。南部の方は大きく、北部、このｴﾘｱの木は小さい。だいたい2倍は小さいのではないか？ この日の朝はなんと11時まで寝てしまった。ﾄｰﾀﾙ12時間睡眠の新記録である。それもそのはず、前日は飛行機でほとんど寝れず徹夜状態でｲﾀﾘｱに帰ってきたのだから。午後には町中を観光することにした。ｲﾀﾘｱはどこへ行っても美しい。町にはすてきな建物がいっぱいある。すでに夕方で雨も降っていたので当たりはすぐに暗くなり十分な写真を撮ることができなかったのでまた次の日にでも来ることにした。明日はｽｲｽのｼﾞｭﾈｰﾌﾞへ移動だ! |
-12/4-the different between South and North Calro has smaller farm than other olive oil producers does. That is why the owner him-self often has to work outside. He also said that it is important working in the field to know what is going on outside. Italy051.JPG Italy052.JPG <---workers in the field. I slept for 12 hours and woke up at eleven o'clock. I want to go to the town in the afternoon. Unfortunately it was raining, so I stayed in the Internet cafe waited for one hour, and walked outside. There were many beautiful buildings, but it was already dark out side, so I could not see them clearly. I decided to do tomorrow again. Carlo invited me for dinner again. Carlo is nice person. We had a good discussion for long time.Now I can tell the difference between north part of olive oil and south part of olive oil. The olive trees in North were much smaller than South ones. In Northern part, the taste of olive oil is lighter, I guess and Southern one was heavier. Tomorrow after enjoying sightseeing around Firenze station, I will move to Geneva, Switzerland. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/05-Firenze, Italy to Geneva!! Before leaving Firenze, I enjoyed a quick sightseeing. Because it was already dark yesterday, I could not take any pictures. I visited Duomo square, Medicee Cappelle, Michelangiolo square, Vecchio palace and Vecchio bridge. Moved to Geneva! Geneva, there is a Thunderbird campus, actually in Achamps, France. Katsuji and Keiko kindly offered me an accommodation for three nights. Katsuji seemed busy for studying. Of course he was still Thunderbird student and specializing finance here. He told me that he could find excellent professor at Achamps and he was very happy about it. We were the same class for Business Communication in English, 5000, then often played golf and went out for lunch. We have been good friends. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/06-Great to see Tbirds!! We hung around the Geneva town and saw several buildings. They are beautiful too. I do not know how to explain, but the style and design were something different from Italian ones. (It is normal things which each place has different things.) It was great to see Utku &Ebru. We had a great discussion lasting forever. Utku was working (still working) for agricultural side of Turkish government. He knows a lot of olive oil and these producers. Moreover interesting story is that his boss means that he is a head of agricultural sector in Turkey, is transferred to Japan in order to develop export/import between Japan and Turkey. Again, the Thunderbird network is great and helpful. I should meet his boss. Turkish warm-hospitality still exist. They invite us to Ankara and Izmir (Middle West part of Turkey) next summer. Anyway everything is people. It is too good to meet people or friends! It is true during this trip, I should meet as many people as I can and get some idea about olive oil business. I met Utku and Ebru NOT to get some information. I just wanted to meet them and enjoy conversation, because I like them. Katsuji and Damon, some other friends are same. When I met them, I always got something from them. (Problem is that I do not know they could get something from me...?) I just wanted to meet them. All of my friends are great people. I like them and would like to keep in touch forever. I visited Achamps campus. It was too good to see friends there. It was great to see many t-birds there; Utku&Ebru, Katsuji & Keiko, Damon family... <Italy551.JPG,Katsuji> | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/7-ﾃﾞｲﾓﾝ一家に会えて良かった 私のｸﾗｽﾒｲﾄの一人ﾃﾞｲﾓﾝに会うことができた。卒業後ﾌﾗﾝｽはこの地、ｱｰｼｬﾝﾌﾟに場所を移し就職活動をしているのは知っていたが、まさかその地を訪れることになるとは私も彼も予期していなかった。
昨年生まれたばかりの赤ちゃんも少々内気の娘さんも皆元気そうで何よりである。彼も未だ無職。世界を旅行しいろいろな仲間に会っているが仕事を見つている人はかなり少ない。 この日の午後にはｱﾈｼｰと呼ばれる可愛い町に行った。確かに可愛い、私の好みの町だ。ここで仕事や勉強のことから離れて食べるｺｰﾋｰとｸﾚｰﾌﾟの味は忘れられない。<ｸﾚｰﾌﾟ,Drepe> |
-12/7-Good to see Damon Family! I met Damon, one of the 2001 Summer Wonderful classmates. He is doing well, enjoying his life with his family. He gave me Christmas card filled with his kids' pictures. It is amazing to meet t-bids in different place. It was quick meeting, only 40 minutes. However we walked around the town and talked a lot.  Annecy, small pretty town located one-hour drive from Geneva. Crepe is popular in France- I did not know it. We had a crepe for lunch and also a "desert crepe" for coffee break- it was my favorite time; during a vacation, I do not have to worry about anything, in a pretty town, sweat with a cup of coffee-Oh man!! When I met Julie at Achamps campus, she said that her favorite place in France is Annecy. Yes, it is right, it was nice town and also there are a lot of historical sites. Katsuji and his wife Keiko cooked curry rice for a dinner, I missed Asian food a lot. The curry was very home style and similar to my family's taste, Yummy! I had a good time in Switzerland and France. Thank you, Katsuji and keiko-san. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/8-母親と合流 天国に来ました。TGVは世界で一番早いといわれた電車ですが、何しろ高い。でもﾗｯｷｰなことにﾕｰﾚｰﾙﾊﾟｽを持っていることで50%ものﾃﾞｨｽｶｳﾝﾄが得られた。 |
-12/8-Met my Mon in Paris I moved to Paris. TGV, fastest train in the world is very expansive and Eurailpass is not available. However they offer 50% Eurailpass-discount. For example, the standard price for second class is 150 Euro and 75 Euro with Eurailpass-discount. After I go back to US, I should calculate sum of transportation cost to see if it is offset with Eurailpass cost. Anyway it was very comfortable. My Mom was visiting Paris and we got together between 8th and 10th. My mother, aunt, Shige, Ms. Mah were gorgeous mom. Kyobe-, my friend's mother (the most gorgeous mother in the world) caught a cold at that time, so I could not meet her. <My mom's friends> I stayed very luxury hotel along the Montaigne Street. It was very wonderful hotel. I did not want to sleep in the room, because the room is very nice and I wanted to enjoy this environment. I have been doing ﾒmoney-saving tripﾓ poor trip, so this hotel was heaven for me. We had a great dinner too. It was 100% French style. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/9-Beautiful Paris! In the early morning I jogged around the hotel. The course was a triangle area, from Montaigne Street to Gearge V Street, and come back to the hotel. This was first time to visit Paris. I wanted to visit many well-known places such as Champs Elysees Street, Triomphe Etoile, Tower Eiffel, Musee Du Louvre, Nortre Dome and so on. The view in Paris was also different from ones in other countries. The government of European countries tried to maintain outside of the building and instead renovate inside of the buildings. For example, an old station was renovated into a museum. Anyway they were incredibly beautiful. <ﾉｰﾄﾙﾀﾞﾑ寺院,Nortre Dome> My mother asked me to find souvenirs for my father and So. My father requested a second bag (small hand bag) and So likes dresser shirts. I visited several shops in the town, but could not find good ones. Tomorrow I will try to find them again. In Paris, Chocolate is popular and many cafe restaurants serve Chocolate. After shopping I had a cup of Chocolate at the restaurant close to the hotel. Because the restaurant looked so good, I hesitated to enter the restaurant. Think about this, these good restaurants are similar to French style restaurant in Tokyo "cafe des pre". It should be OK. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/10- Great to see Masayo and her boyfriend. By Eurostar train, I came to London. One week before I came here, there was heavy flood in the bottom of tarnel between Dover, UK and Calais, France and the trains were stuck. Many people complained about the inconvenient transportation. Fortunately the weather was good, so the train could go through the tunnel. I have four friends who lives in London; Masayo Koji, working for Barkley, Stephen Hui (tbirds, Joe's brother) studying PHD of Italian history, Keita (Jack) Fujiwara working for Itochu corp., and Mitsuru Miyamoto working for Isetan. London is playing a key role in European economic sector and also there are many branches of Japanese companies. My friend, Masayo and her boyfriend, kindly offered me an accommodation in London. They live in very nice 2 bedrooms apartment. It was like a hotel. Today we enjoyed a dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel close to their flat. Masayo was a colleague when we were in Cheering association in undergraduate school -It was 11 years ago when we met first time, but still we have kept in touch and could get together in different place. They live around this area.<Italy563.JPG>Thank you Masayo. -12/11- Great to see Jack (Keita) Fujiwara
<Italy564.jpg>It was great to see one of my best friends, Keita. He worked for Itochu and last year he was transferred to Tunbridgewells, UK branch (located in south part of London) and is dealing with a variety of tasks. What did we talk and discuss? There were not special conversations among us. Since we have been close friends, we did not have to talk too much. Actually I was already sleepy, so I went to bed around 1:00AM, earlier than Keita did. He also stays very good apartment. There are big two bedrooms with bathrooms, a kitchen, wide living, middle size dining and big balcony at upstairs. He just moved to this apartment one week ago. In summer he should have fun at the balcony. I stayed at his place only one night and came back to London next day.
-12/12- Great to see Stephen and I studied!? I enjoyed Christmas shopping in London. There is a place called Piccadilly Circus in which is famous for young people and it is FUN. England is called United Kingdom in another name. There are houses and many shops which were being (still) used by King or Queen family. My favorite shop is ﾒSmythsonﾓ, selling elegant stationery. Another one was called "Turnbull & Asser", selling wonderful dresser shirts often (still) used by Princes Charles. This shop was highly recommended by my friend, Keita. I hesitated to enter this kind of shops, because they looked very elegant and very formal. But this is one of English "gentleman culture", so I had to accept it. After these shopping, Joe's (tbird friend) brother, Stephen invited me for a dinner at his house. He was wearing English style suites; looks tuxedo. Funny discussion lasted forever among us and time flew fast. Even though I met Stephen first time, he was like good friend of mine. The topics varied from olive oil to Italian history. Yes, he is a teacher of Roman history and still studying some European history in London. I had a question for him about Italian history. I met one Count and one Duke during a trip in Italy. Both of them were olive oil producers and their families were noble family before. They still use the titles. I did not know anything about count and duke. Stephen should know about it, so I asked him. He explained to me very clearly and now it is clear. There was noble in Italy long time ago and they were very high class besides prince or government. In noble there were five ranks from Duke, ...Count...(*Duke: a man with the highest social rank below a prince, Noble: the group of people in particular countries who have the highest social class) Noble is less than 1% of whole population and duke is the top class among the noble (very few.) Our conversation lasted forever! A common thing for both of us is that we enjoy meal very much. After the dinner we had a cup of coffee. He had an Italian style coffee pot. It was the same one I used and burned at Marianna's place. Anyway I always look forward to having meal. I had to leave for Spain on next day, so I went back to my friend's house before twelve o'clock. Thank you, Stephen for having me. I had a good time. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/13-ｲｷﾞﾘｽは嫌いだ 彼らには自分には理解できない行動がある。
12日にｼﾞｮｾﾌのお兄さんと会うのでｳｴｽﾄﾊﾝﾌﾟｽﾃｯﾄﾞ駅で待ち合わせた。乗り換えがﾎﾞﾝﾄﾞ通り駅でできなかったため、その当たりを右往左往。20分も待ち合わせに遅れてしまった。ｲｷﾞﾘｽ銀行に古い現在は使われていないお札を替えるために行った。（そもそも古いお札がその辺の銀行では返られないのがおかしい）ﾊﾞﾝｸ駅という駅に本店があるが、地下鉄は工事中か何かで止まらない。一個前の駅から歩かなければならない。寒かった。消防士の給料が40%もあがる？40%とはもの凄い額である。一体ｲｷﾞﾘｽ政府は大丈夫なのか？飛行機の遅れはいま隣に座っている人によると、極めて希なことらしい。彼自身も今回が初めてだそうだ。私は保険も入っているしこの土日は特に用事も無いので、良しとしよう。ﾌﾞﾘｭｯｾﾙに一泊しなければならなくなってもそれはそれで楽しいだろう？ それにしても「遅れ」や「ｽﾄｯﾌﾟ」「閉鎖」が多い国だ。残念ながら私の性格には合わない。彼らとはこれで縁を切ることになりそうだ。 |
-12/13- I do not understand some of UK I do not understand some of their behavior. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/14- |
-12/14-Finally from Brussels to Barcelona It is nice to see t-bird again in Spain! There are a lot of historical sites in Barcelona: cathedral, port, church and Starbucks!?ﾉStarbucks always makes me happy. I had a cup of cafe latte. My favorite site was called "Singing fountain" established in 1992 for Barcelona Olympic - there is a big and beautiful splash fountain lit up by colorful lights and also popular classic music are being played. The selection of music was great; By Tchaikovsky, from ballet music "The Nutcracker Suite", the Waltz of Flower, Walkure by Wagner and finale was Carmen Suite by French Composer, Bizet. The music was matched with the movement of fountain perfectly. It was great modern architecture. I have never seen that kind of modern architecture in Europe. There should be some especially in developed countries. I think that most of countries have maintained traditional building and they are more interested in on old sites than modern sites. At dinner, I had a traditional Spanish dinner. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/15- 
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-12/15-Gaudi Asther kindly invited me for a lunch with her family. Because I was tired and had a little bit headache, I could not make it. After taking a nap, I could enjoy sightseeing. "Gaudi" is the most famous architect. There are a lot of his architectures in Barcelona. The design is mystiques and beautiful. From the Sants station, there are trains to go to south part of Spain and there are ferries from these areas.
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-12/16- |
-12/16-Spanish culture!? It is interesting to know Latin (Spanish) culture. A person friend was going to pick me up at the hotel, 3:30PM today, but he still did not show up at 4:00PM. I called Asther who helped me contacting with him and said that he did not call her, so it should be OK. It is NOT OK in Japan or for Japanese people. Is this Latin culture I learned at Thunderbird? Normally Latin people may be late about for thirty minutes, but today he is late for more than one hour, two hours... I should be patient and wait... Everything is all set in Morocco. I could contact with Mohammed and booked a hotel. I am sure that I can meet him on 18th evening. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/17-
結構大変だ。正直死んだ。悪党な人々も多く、いきなりﾀｸｼｰで5倍もぼられたし、案内人らしき人に10ﾄﾞﾙもぼったくられた。 |
-12/17-Toughest time during this trip, total 25hours It might be toughest period during this trip. Last time, when I took a night train from Bari to Venezia, I did not sleep at all. But this time it was better than before, because the train was built in with four beds in one room. After arriving at Bobadilla, I took another train to go to Algeciras. It was pretty-local-small train. Imagine only three-small cabin is going on in the local field. Yes, there are a lot of "olive fields VIEW." At the Algeciras, I walked 10 minutes to the port area to find a ferry ticket and catch a ferry. There were about 8 different ferries going and immediately I took a ferry at 12:30PM for 23Euro. The ferry was very comfortable. Only a few people were on the ferry, so I could relax on it. After the long trip (12hours) from Barcelona, another 6 hours-bus was waiting for me. Taking buses seemed more convenient and faster than taking trains, because the bus station was close to the ferry port and my guidebook said that it takes 4.5 hours to go to Casablanca. But everything was wrong, I took a private bus it means the bus stops many LOCAL stations between Tanger and Casablanca, takes six hours and I had to ride the bus with local people. The bus I took was not for foreigners one. The cost was only 7Euro for six hours long drive, there should be some reasons for that. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/18- すばらしい人に会えた。
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-12/18-Met another wonderful person, Mohammed
I appreciate for spending almost whole day with me in Morocco, even you are busy. Also thank you for the hotel arrangement, olive oil research and delicious lunch. As as first step, I wanted to know you and "How is Morocco doing?" I was glad to find a wonderful person, Mohammed. As this step, it was quite successful and I was very satisfied with the trip in Morocco. It was interesting to know about olive oil market in Morocco. (a little different from what I thought and it makes sense.) Hopefully after talking with many customers in Japan and the needs are matched with Moroccan olive oil, we can do business together. It was amazing to know what you are going to start next year, it was exactly the same business as I did in Japan for three years. Hopefully I would like to help you something instead. At least I can tell you many tips "how to explain it, how to educate customers, how to sell the service and so on" (For example, the damages are mainly coming from a small stone from the tires of road tracks, especially on a highway...) When I can use Internet, I will find out some information about that project. I am sure the project is still going on in Japan, so you are welcome to visit me next time. Dr. Zoubir; I met Mr. Mohammed Rainhani in Casablanca. He also said "Hello" to you. Please look at the attachment. Mohammed; I put his email address in CC; so that you can keep in touch with him. Below, you can find my Homepage address. It contains so many pictures at Thunderbird. Hope you enjoy it. Again, thank you very much for everything in Morocco. I had a good time with you, and it was very nice to meet you. Good luck on your business, keep busy and keep in touch. Regards, Go | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/19-Came back to third home country, Italy Good by Morocco and Mohammed. I had a great memory with you. I feel comfortable to be in Roma. My home places are 1) Tokyo (of course), Japan 2) Glendale, US 3) Bari, Italy. After coming back to one of the home countries, I found a good hotel. Again it was ﾒwalk inﾓ. Everything is in the room; there is a bathroom, TV, safety box, closet, desk and Internet jack. Even it was two stars hotel, the facility is well organized. It seemed that the hotel rooms were recently renovated and most of places looked new and clean. The actual price was a little more expansive price than the price in my guidebook, 50Euro, but it is worth. I am so excited to think about plans for rest two days. Before leaving Bari, my friend, Simona gave me some recommendation, so making plan was not so difficult. One thing I wondered was if I go to far place by a train or not. I missed Zermatte (beautiful mountains) in Switzerland, Napoli and Umbria region. Anyway I decided to stay in Roma and enjoy sightseeing here. Normally I prefer local and natural site for sightseeing, but there are two many, famous sites in Roma. I should focus on Roma. I had pasta for dinner, walked around the hotel, found another hotel for tomorrow. ---------------------------------------------------------------My parents: At the final destination, Morocco, I could build good relationship with one of the Alumni from Thunderbird (t-bird) who owns an import and wholesale company of foods products. Finally the Olive Oil trip has been done without any accident. "Holiday in Rome", my brain was filled with olive oil, opera and beautiful art of Europe. I am looking forward to spending one month in Miami, but I feel that I want to work as soon as possible too. See you in February. Go | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/20- First time to stay the same place for three days. In the morning, quickly I visited "Teatro Dell Opera", Opera Theater to see if there is a concert or performance tonight or tomorrow. Yes, there is "Madam Butterfly" today and ticket is still available for 31 Euro with student discount? (50% discount). I was very lucky, so I bought one ticket without any hesitation. In the afternoon, I enjoyed sightseeing around the Roma Termini station (close to the hotel I stay). Look at these pictures. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/21-Visit Pope I return to San Francisco, US. Final sightseeing was Vatican. The place is actually another country. Before entering the building, there was a security check. The BIGGEST basilica was outstanding. Good bye | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/22-Thanks Joe and Julie It was nice to see Joe & Julie again. They picked me up at the Airport and immediately we went to dinner. We found a good Japanese restaurant in South West part of San Francisco. We had Japanese foods. After that, they came to my hotel and I showed many pictures of Italy. By priceline.com I got a good deal for staying at Hyatt hotel I was always lucky. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/23-Accident again! I had a jet lag. I woke up at 4:30AM, worked on some diary and tried to confirm my flight. The phone number of Nationalair did not work, so I went to Web-site of National Air. It said, "Due to 02/ Nov...no service anymore...your money is refunded going through credit card..." I realized that the National Airline went bankrupt one month ago while I was traveling around Europe. Of course there is no flight of National Airline. I do not know how shall I do this? The National Air Web-site listed some information about airline companies, so that customers can contact with them and these companies can arrange something. Most of airlines offer "standing by" wait with additional $35-(depends on airline companies). It means that I go to the airport and wait at the check-in counter, if there is a seats, I can get in. If not. I cannot board and wait until next time. It may be next day or two days later or forever. It seams most of airplanes were fully booked, because it was Christmas Eve. First I called Jet blue, but there are no available seats until 28th of December. Second I called America West and succeeded to book a seat for $450-. Third, I called to Southwest and could book a seat for $310-. I did not know if the trip-fee occurred by the cancellation is covered by the travel insurance. Just in case I picked up the cheapest fare. I was lucky to be able to book the flight. After that around 6:00AM, when I checked the Web-site, there was no available seats. The ticket was purchased at STA travel agency in San Francisco. They might arrange something for me, so I had to visit STA travel in the morning. In addition to this, I had a several problem during the Europe trip such as trip delay in UK and lost of wallet in Firenze, so I wanted to ask how to apply insurance for these problems. The conclusions of this insurance coverage were 1) trip delay is covered 2) loose of wallet is NOT covered (*the price of wallet is covered, but the loose items such as money is not covered) 3) the difference amount of money between purchased price and refunded price is covered, if the refund price is less than purchase price. Everything is all right. I can flight to Miami. I met three persons today: Mr. Fujigiwa who works for Japan Fish Company, Miko's friend, Annie and my relative Mrs. Yumiko Shimada. I heard a lot of good story from Mr.Fujigiwa. He often taught me many tips when I take over my family business and the stories were very helpful. I have been always encouraged from him and some confusion was disappeared. | |||||||||||||||||
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-12/24-ﾒﾘｰｸﾘｽﾏｽ 社長、 無事ｱﾒﾘｶに戻りました。やはり第2の故郷ｱﾒﾘｶに帰りほっとしております。ﾖｰﾛｯﾊﾟ旅行では本当にいろいろなことを学ぶことができました。再度ご支援をありがとうございました。 半分は仕事で行きましたが、良いｽﾀｰﾄを切れたと思います。いい人にも会え、この人とならBusinessをやれるな？という人もいました。しかし中には変な人もいました。幼稚舎出身の私たちとしては誰でも信じてしまう傾向があるのでその辺は気をつけたいですね。 本日今月分の振り込みを確認しました。ありがとうございました。しばらくﾏｲｱﾐで休暇、ｵﾘｰﾌﾞｵｲﾙのｷｬｯﾁｱｯﾌﾟ、将来へ向けてのBrain Stormingを行いたいと思っております。ではまた。 ここｻﾝﾌﾗﾝｼｽｺでは（一日だけで）ｲﾀﾘｱへ行く前にお世話になった仲間におみやげを渡したり、由美子さんに会ったり、藤極（ふじぎわ）さんという魚の卸をやっている人に会っていろいろな話を伺ったりしていました。時差ぼけがひどいです。いまからﾏｲｱﾐに移動です。 Go Shimada |
-12/24-Marry Christmas President, I just got back to the US without any accident. I am very comfortable to be here, second my home country. During the Europe trip, I could learn many things. Again, I appreciate for your support. Half purpose of this trip was for business and I believe I got god start; meeting many wonderful people, some are not good...Some are good person who I would like to business together. As our personality, people from Keio Yochisha, we trust everybody, so in this point we must be careful. I would like to spend some time in Miami to think about future strategy, catching up olive oil information and so on. In San Francisco, I met several people who took care of me before going to Italy and gave some gift to them. Also I met Mr. Fujigiwa working for Japan Fish Company and heard about a variety of things. A jet lag is annoying me. I will move to Miami. Go Shimada | |||||||||||||||||
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I arranged a New Year party at a club in downtown, Miami. When the year turned to 2003, immediately I proposed to her and she said Yes! I gave a small alternative diamond ring to her so that she can use it whenever she does not want to wear REAL one. I would like to let her choose an official real diamond. My brain in 2001, 2002 and 2003 were filled with wonderful memory in the U.S.A. I have been always surrounded by many wonderful friends. Two years ago, I met Mikito at Pre-MBA English program at Thunderbird. I have known his wife, Kako-san for long time, but I did not know Mikito before. We were the same class at Pre-MBA by accident. He, his wife and their sans (Leo and Ken; First there was only Leo and they got a new baby, Ken last year) always took care of me. I decided to come to Arizona after I met Mr. Jugo Tsumura. He recommended me to join Thunderbird and also my needs were matched with the Thunderbird program. I wanted to get diverse knowledge, make international friends, and learn English. Even though Thunderbird is MBA school, only it offers Business English class. There are a variety of students: 35% American, 45% Asian, 5% European and 15% Latin. The courses were all about international business. I met many many international friends at Thunderbird and I am still keeping in touch with them. I graduated from Thunderbird, traveled around Europe. Arranged by Rossella (Oldways Italia representative), I could visit many olive oil producers. After this trip, I came back to the U.S and engaged with Miko. I hope 2003 will be good as well as 2002. Finally I would like to say thank you for my friends and family. Without their support, I could not have done this great achievement. First there are friends & family and then I can do something. In addition to this, I would like to say special thanks to Miko. |
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常に素晴らしい友に囲まれ、 ｻ ﾝ ﾀ ﾞ ｰ ﾊ ﾞ ｰ ﾄ ﾞも卒業し、 ﾖ ｰ ﾛ ｯ ﾊ ﾟ各国の旅行も成し、ついにはみこに ﾌ ﾟ ﾛ ﾎ ﾟ ｰ ｽ ﾞ。2003年も昨年同様いい年であることを願う。 最後にここまで支援してくれた家族と友人に「有り難う」を言いたい。Thanks a lot! 01/29/2003 Returning to Japan --->島商株式会社に入社 Go Shimada |
