A Double-Blast from the (Japanese) Past

On top of all the other positive impressions of my visit to Japan, I was truly wowed by its polite citizens. Interestingly enough - and this excludes my Japanese friends here in Vienna - this seemed to be restricted to strangers. Let me explain. Before flying there, I got in touch with a colleague at the Firm's Tokyo branch who like me had volunteered to occasionally entertain visitors from other offices. We arranged that Chiquita and myself would drop by at the office on our last night which coincided with a Halloween party there. Unfortunately, though, the colleague was really stressed and once it was obvious she had to stay in the office until very late and would not really have time, nor the engergy to meet for a drink later, we said our good-byes and I left a gift there. That was the last time I heard from her.

Earlier the same day, I finally posted a present for my former bosses at Coma HQ, who are now a married couple. Inexplicably and despite the computer-typed address in Japanese characters, the person behind the counter at the post office in Ueno signalled that he had no clue what I wanted him to do with my padded envelope. After much pointing at myself and then at the "sender" address on the envelope followed by pointing at the recipient's address and making a forward motion with my hands, I hoped he had understood that my highly unusual request was to - gasp- post this item. I know...at the post office, of all places. Anyway, when I heard no word of thanks from my former bosses (and those were nice gifts, mainly for their newborn son), I was convinced that the guy had either sent it to his grandmother or fed it to the shredder. I thought it very out of character for them not to show a reaction of some kind and was rather tempted to write to ask directly whether they had received any post from me.

Yesterday, however, I was surprised by a FedExed t-shirt (really cool, with the Firm's logo spelt in pseudo-Japanese) and card from my colleague, apologising for not having had time to properly entertain me when I was in Japan.

When I got home, a New Year's card from my ex-bosses was waiting for me, on which they thanked me for my gifts.

Just like the mortal offence not to send a "thank you" card in the UK or US which is an alien concept for most Europeans, it is obviously not required for Japanese people to acknowledge gifts upon receipt. Well, I knew that the gift-giver must not make a fuss and hand over their offerings as if they were completely worthless, but I had actually expected the recipient to show more enthusiasm, given their profuse thanks for mundane daily transactions like paying for groceries. Must do research on that!

In any case, I was relieved to finally find out that my envelope had reached its destination.

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Mindreader

One More "Fogscape": Magdalensberg

Yesterday's digestive walk led us to Magdalensberg, a safe bet for fog-free walks. It was not as sunny (any more), but still offered pretty impressive views:

Like islands in a pool filled with cotton wool:

Idyll..

The original plan for today was to go skiing, but as it's foggy and snowing (or raining) on the mountain tops as well today, we're going to make a little excursion to the IT/SLO/AT border triangle instead.

Somewhere Over the Rainb...er...Fog

Vienna is known for its wind, Salzburg for its rain and Klagenfurt for its fog. My Mum, whose middle name should be "Spaziergang" (walk) likes to escape the ground fog by driving to nearby Radsberg/Radiše. Like yesterday. When we parked the car, we were just above fog level:

The fog looked almost like an impenetrable wall:

But just a few metres higher up, the sun made a very welcome guest appearance:

Afterwards we drove back to the foggy basin of KLU, which was getting even more opaque in the course of the night with the by-products of the bangers and firecrackers ignited by our martial neighbours.

Off to a Bad Start?

PS to my earlier post's musings about the old and new year: I had just laid out my party outfit, admired the freshly applied golden nail polish and was selecting the ingredients of tonight's YouTube worthy make-up to complement my new haircut (!) when the hostess rang to tell me she was feeling miserable, had thrown up and was going to bed.

Bye-bye New Year's Eve party. Hello, TV.

We'll See

I'm trying a different approach in 2010: keep all the yearly horoscopes for my sign, aquarius, that I stumble upon in magazines and look at the end of next year which of the prognoses were accurate. 2009 was supposed to have been my year. Much to my disappointment, thoses promised stellar successes both on the private and professional front did not materialise. If you ask the Mermaid or my Mum, the fact that Prince Charming did not turn up on my doorstep might have to do with the fact that I'm just not looking properly...maybe. In any case, it has been, or rather was, an interesting year. (What a versatile adjective "intersting" is, don't you think?).

Most of all, it was a lear of learning, not of the academic kind, but of the "lessons for life" variety, which is not always pleasant: re-evaluate some friendships, be less trustful, don't always wear your heart on your sleeve, and (don't give up hope you'll be able to one day) handle disappointments better and more professionally. Overall, it was a good year, though, one of the highlights of which was my extraordinary holiday in Japan and also the realisation that support and affection often come from where you least expect it.

In any case, I'll be able to see clearly with my new glasses, which I already received yesterday:

They make me look a bit "strict" compared to my rimless pair, which I will continue to wear, but as I wear contact lenses most of the time anyway, I hope I won't scare too many kids.

Wishing all of you a sparkling and shiny New Year with all your wishes coming true!