Antariksh off to Japan

Last week Antariksh left for a three month Architecture internship at Tokyo. You would not believe what all areas the recession has impacted-- the Engineering interns at the Univ of Waterloo were hard pressed for a coop opportunity as most firms were hunkering down for the recession and trying to save every dollar they could. As options dwindled the search was intensified and it is to Antrix's credit that inspite of the odds being against him, he persevered till he found a position in Israel and Japan. We had to rule out Israel as during those days Israel was at war with Palestine and it did not seem a safe place to travel to. Japan was the other option and a quick call to the Japanese Embassy enlightened us that a visa was not a challenge. Morale & spirits rose from then on . A recent communication from Antrix indicated that working a 11-13 hrs a day seems normal. All these years when I heard that the Japs were workoholics, that aspect seems to get confirmed now. The last few days while Antrix geared up to leave for Japan , he tried to pick up some rudimenatry Japanese. Though he a did do a good job at picking up essential phrases but I guess a large part in language learning is pronounciation. I am sure he would have ended up murdering their langauage the first time he must have attempted a conversation.

By the way have a look at his portfolio-- seems a bit sci-fi to me.
Portfolio: > http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/portfolio/atandon/portfolio_.pdf

We wish him all the best for his coop term in Japan