今の会社では英文メールの冒頭に「I hope this email finds you well.」と記されていることがよくあります。用途/目的としては、定型文頭挨拶の「いつもお世話になっております。」のようなものなのでしょうが、前の会社では一度も見たことがなく…。使ってよい言い回しなのか判断ができず長らく避けていましたが、NY在住アメリカンが使っていたことを切っ掛けに、この度改めて、Google先生に聞いてみました。すると、先生の意見は、「古めかしい言い回しで、単刀直入が基本のメールには相応しくない」「英文ビジネスメールの基本」と完全に二分。結局このまま、答えの無い悩みは続き、利用頻度が上がることはなさそうです…。I hope this note finds you well:)
So this’s it..
Time flies. It actually does especially when you wish not to. Our vacation is now over, we are on our flight coming back to Tokyo. The vacation which had been my only hope, is OVER now. Sure, I am having a hard time to get over my depression. To confront tons of email follow-ups and works to do next week with guilty feeling for taking a week off while the team was working, I need big courage. I am not ready yet and I would never be, I guess:(
Massage
We have been talking about getting a massage since we arrived, but we did’t have a chance to do so, so far. As it can be easily imagined, a massage here is very cheap, only 1,500JPY per hour. So there is no point of not getting one or more. We decided to get Thai traditional and foot massage. Though my neck hurted a lot due to accumulated stiffness, my body definitely has gotten light after it finished:)
We woke up early again today to visit a beach before the breakfast. The beach in early morning was quiet with less people though there were some early-bird runners. Also, we could enjoy watching a beautiful sunset today thanks to the wonderful weather!
Patong
As Patong is the most famous and popular town on the island, we cannot ignore there this time. So shopping at Patong was our plan today. As I felt a little concern, the town was crowded with so many tourists and lots of bars were open from morning with young Thai girls standing in front of each bar to welcome the tourists. A bar even had a couple of tiger statues on its roof. Thai girl -> Ta-i-ga-rl -> Tiger. You get it? I have no idea if it was the true reason they put tigers there, but it could be, right!? So we shopped at a supermarket in a mall and came back with four plastic bags. The mission completed:)
<-Ahio-san running for shooting sunset photo with his duckie, completely forgotten about me…
Phiphi&Khai
Got up at 6:00 and we headed to Phiphi and Khai which are neighbor islands of Phuket. Yes, unlike the last time, we have a “planned-activity” this time:). The tour took us to those two islands and two snorkeling spots where we can jump into the water from the boat. Thanks to the sea sick pills “Aneron”, we didn’t feel any dizziness and could enjoy being on the speed boat as well as floating in the water on the whole trip. The guide was very friendly and taking care of our group well. He even took a great picture of us. The only negative side of the tour was islands were too commercialized and too crowded especially Khai. 200 bahts for a mango shake is ridiculous price, I think. However, after all, it was a good day by being surrounded by some colorful fish and standing on the same beach as L. DiCaprio once did.
Poolside
Now we are tasting a great moment of peaceful morning. Ok, it took almost 12h for us to get here, incl. 7h from Tokyo to Bangkok, 2h of transit, 1h from Bangkok to Phuket, and 1h drive from airport to the hotel. My energy was obviously running out by the time we reached the hotel. But now nice cool breeze and country music at the pool-side are helping me to recover.
Spring break;)
YAY-YAY! This is something I was longing for a looong. Well, actually since we planned it in early Feb., the time we waited for was just for a month and half, but it felt like a year!!! So, where we are heading? – To Phuket, Thailand. After working over 120h in two weeks, we are so ready to eat tons of Mangos and Sum-tam salad as much as we can under nice sunshine and heat.
Now, we are on our second round of the movie “The Intern” starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway in the flight to Bangkok. Though two glasses of wine made me a bit dizzy, I Love the movie:)
home party
大学時代の親友2人が遊びに来ました。久しぶりのお客様ということで、アヒ男シェフが腕を振るって、日本酒マリアージュコースを出してくれました〜!メニューはこちら↓
塩麹サーモン
チャンジャ
チョレギサラダ
牡蠣の酒蒸しポン酢
アボカド&オクラのクリームチーズ和え
肉豆腐
椎茸のバター焼き
友人が持ってきてくれた日本酒はこちら↓
陸奥八仙ブリュット
羽根屋 煌火
皆、平日は働く女性なため、昼間からお酒を飲める束の間をしっかり満喫してエネルギーチャージ!