The Great Japanese Adventure: May 2005

The Parting of the Ways

So there we have it. I am no longer a member of clinical prep at Weston General Hospital. I am between jobs. Well for a week or so anyway.

I am sad to leave behind all the people I work with. It really has been sad to let them go, but my future destination has filled me with excitement and anticipation and masked any feelings of regret I may feel. I have said that they can keep track of me via this blog and email. And as I have said before I am not going to miss the actual work part of my job!

The actual "leaving" gifts were great and I am really grateful to anyone who donated to them. I had a lovely silver pen that has been engraved, about £45-50 worth of Yen, and a really nice card that has been signed with messages of good luck. Then there were the individual presents that people gave to me.

To all of you at Weston General Hospital; You are a great bunch, with wonderful team spirit and resilience to the stress that the damn job can cause, and in the words of Douglas Adams "Thanks for all the Fish."

My leaving meal was held on Friday night at Hot Cuisine resturant in Weston-super-Mare. The reason I chose them in particular, was because it served Indian, Malay, Thai and English food. I really enjoyed my meal there and have included a link to their website. If you are in Weston, and fancy some darned good food in a classy, hip resturant then this is the place.

www.hotcuisine.co.uk/

24

My name is Justin Buckley. People I work with are celebrating me leaving my job. My family may be involved.

This is the longest day of my life...

Actually I have 1 hour and 58 minutes to go. The day so far has been very nice, with the office decorated with pictures of me (ewww!) from a baby onwards. Suffice to say there are some fairly embarresing ones.

I will be sad to leave this truly great group of people. We are all out for a meal tonight, and then that is it. Well, if things go as well as I hope! Ha Ha.

The job has only ever been just that. A job. It has paid the bills, and taken up a large portion of the last 5 years, but I won't be sorry to see the back of prepping notes about pus filled bottoms!

Ah, well 1 hour and 53 minutes to go!

The Clock is ticking...

About a week to go until I disappear off into the distance of Japan. Again I apologise for the lack of posting on this blog, but things, as you can imagine have been very hectic these last few weeks, so I thought I would write a long rambling update.

Visit to Carrington House for Seminar

This took place last Thursday, and involved another bus journey to London for a Seminar with the London based NOVA office. I was happy to discover that a lass called Donna, who attended the same interview as me had also got the job and was being posted to the Kansai region as well.
In actual fact, my fellow newbies were a great bunch, and the afternoon passed quickly. This involved a pre-departure seminar and a brief but entertaining Japanese lesson.

GENKI DESUKA ? - How are You ?

TOTEMO GENKI DESU - Fine Thanks

Impressed ? No neither am I. I'm sure this won't be sufficient to see me through one year in Japan!

All 16 of us, then had to wander off to the Japanese embassy for our Visa's to be merged with our passports. With my Certificate of Eligibilty photo making me look like some sort of Al Qu'ada suspect, I was unsure as to not only would I be allowed in Japan, but whether they'd let me out of the embassy!

After that it was beers all round!

CASH

What fun this has been.

NOVA recommended at least 120,000 yen when travelling to Japan. Half in Yen and half in Yen travellers cheques. ARGH!

Even worse was the fact that after ordering £263 worth of yen travellers cheques from Barclays, I was told on Monday that "they stopped doing them last week".

DESTINATION

Apparently I am not going to Kansai.

But a city by the name of Higashi-Hiroshima, near Hiroshima.

I will be sharing with an Australian and a Canadian, although the Australian chap is moving out in July. Plus the appartment has internet access.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2561540-hiroshima_restaurants_and_bars-i

Finally, I spent at least £53 on toiletries on Sunday! Bloody Hell.

Can you believe this is nearly Â£55's worth?

Can you believe this is nearly Â£55 worth?
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

And this doesn't include my shower gel's or "Medical Kit".

More Pics from a great weekend

Here are some more pictures from a weekend I will never forget! A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED!

Cheese!

Cheese!
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

John in sunny Weston

John in sunny Weston
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Me and Bethany

Me and Bethany
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Apologies for the blur...taken by Veronica "shaker" Buckley

Brothers in arms; the next generation

Brothers in arms; the next generation
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

The Morning after the night before

Picture 078
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

I told you too much dancing was bad for you!

Oh, Hokey-Cokey Cokey

Picture 064
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Grant checks out "little grant"

Rave on!

Picture 063
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

More Party Monsters!

Picture 059
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

"Don't Stop me now, I'm having a good time"

What a weekend. My brother and sister in law travelled all the way from Huddersfield, to say goodbye before I depart these shores for a year. I believed that there would be a nice family get together and a nice meal...

Was I wrong!

My Mum and Dad had organised a massive surprise party for me at our local, The Windsor, and invited my work colleagues, friends and of course family. I have included photo's from that amazing evening.

I would like to thank everyone who turned up (and I hope you had a good time), my Mum and Dad for organising it, Kel and Grant for spending their afternoon decorating the pub and of course the Windsor itself...