In Sapporo

This was definitely a very productive day. Woke up in Tokyo, took care of business and finished some stuff related to the upcoming trip to Indonesia, worked intensively until 3:30 pm, departed to Haneda airport. Next thing we know come 7 pm, the five of us were already landing in Shin-Chitose airport, 58 km off Sapporo.

My first impression of Hokkaido was the smell. It smelled as if you were walking into a big farm. Strange that I didn't see any cows anywhere, but then realized that we were at one of the largest airports in Japan.

Second impression: the roads were huge, like in midwest US. When the bus from Nippon Rent-A-Car picked us up, we were driving through the darkness (yes it was pitched dark already in Hokkaido at 7 pm).

Third impression: it was chilly. FINALLY! I brought my fleece jacket - I was good. My colleague didn't realize it was going to be somewhat cooler in weather - the city girl that she is - she was shivering and suffered from some hiccups accordingly.

Fourth impression: people in Hokkaido are very friendly and pleasant. They seemed to be very pleasantly surprised once me or my Australian colleague opened our mouth and started speaking in Japanese. They liked to chat, too, and picked up conversation left-right-front-and-back. Very un-Tokyo like.

Fifth impression: the food. Ah... the food was EXCELLENT!!!! We had the best first meal in Sapporo comprising Hokkaido king crab legs, scallops, salmon roe, sea urchin, potato, asparagus, etc. We ate until we felt like exploding. Brilliant food!

First 5 hours in Sapporo had been great. I am looking forward to the coming 2 days.

Must get up early tomorrow morning. I salute you good night!

Sapporo!

I go to Sapporo tonight. JA!

Got some work to do in Sapporo on Saturday.

Am looking forward to go because I have never landed my feet on the land of the North.

It will definitely be cooler than it is in Tokyo.

The weather forecast indicated sunny weather for the entire weekend.

Other than feasting on the much raved about seafood, I plan to spend 12 hours on Sunday to drive about and visit an Ainu village.

The entire island is populated by 'only' 5.6 Million - not even a third of Tokyo's population. Very much looking forward to NOT meeting many people there.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

ITTE KIMASU!

So, I'm going to Paris...

I am lucky, I have to say.
Last year I was a committee member for the conference that was (originally going to be in Cape Town) in Athens.
As a result from the previous participation, two weeks ago I received a contact from ESOMAR noting that they'd like me to participate in the Qualitative Conference 2007 in Paris.
It took a lot of convincing to make my company let me go again this year (this being my 4th participation), but the additional responsibility as a chairperson that I will have to bear somehow sealed the deal.

I am very lucky this rare opportunity comes by. It is a lot of work, but it will be a brand new challenge and thus it'll make me feel alive again.

So, hello to friends in Paris, make sure you're in town around November 12-14, let's have a good time. (Yes, I am talking to you, Henrike! And you, Patrycja! And you, Montchan, just in case you want to coincide your annual shopping trip to Paris around that time!)

Image was excerpted from "Ratatouille"