4-30 -well 5.00 now

When i climbed into bed at 23:30 something I did not think I would make it till 00:00.
It's not the heat, as it's only 27 degrees right now at 4.30am. It's not the mosquitoes as so many have fallen to my thunderclap, I am the mosquito slayer today. I believe it is the fact that 2 weeks from today I should be on the plane back to sunny/rainy Heathrow London and there is a bright side to returning home don't get me wrong but there is a dark side the size of the moon waiting for me. I can remember the ,minutes, hours, the days, the weeks , chasing the gold that doesn't pave the streets

You know what, i just had to jump out of bed as the engine of another mosquito is wreaking havoc on my ears, i am going to cover my head and sleep.

My chain of thought has been broken and I have a day ahead of me tommorw. Jikan ga mottai nai.
As i said 2 weeks, put on a brave face, take the long trip.

his blog has been therapy for me though. If you read this though I urge you to go to the beginning and just read my extracts there are only a few. I'll do the same and see If I have been true to me.

On another note I just listened to a podcast I used to listen to and could barely understand a word but now I can understand it a lot better. That put a smile on the sleepy face.

Any other random things I can say, oh yeah I made a flyer for that restaurant I told you about that I went to that was real cool. That's what the whole client thing was about.

Oh yeah I was gonna mention that it's hard work and passion that drive success, shout out to my Mercredi , Jabz ,Morals ,Neeks inspirations in there own fields. Reaching out to Skillaz, A.D . Captain Kwapeeeeeesh make it happen in Ghana The Mayamada familia lol. Dream chasers I salute you. If you're not dreaming ,wake up. Exactly.
Oi Bruce wayne- whats up?

If i forgot you it's 5 am allow me
So much for no chain of thought, Brain dump

i can feel it in the air

It feels like you are sitting in a Sauna, very cliche but I am being very Literal, the wind feels like the breath of a fire breathing Dragon. My house is made from Wood and I'm sure that when I go to get a glass of water, i literally lose all the water I just drunk in the form of perspiration by the time I get back up stairs.

Was there any point mentioning the wood? (shrugs)

I say perspiration but I mean sweat, like a sweaty horse running a race in a sauna.

I mean I can deal with it now and deal with it by i mean sit at home with the AC on, but it's going to get hotter. Basically when I live here, I don't know what I will do in Summer, I'll turn up to my place of work in a vest and hope i'm not noticed.I don't like to have to do anything in hot weather so that will be a struggle. Look out for that blogpost in the future.

Yesterday was hotter, we went to an International party but I spent my time conversing with the AC. It's not really about being inside on a day like that but as I mentioned the fresh air was like a kiss from Charizard so, between molten rock and a hard place of fire it is.

I know it's hot in London but I've been a few places in the world and this is taking the biscuit just a little and it's not even deep summer. I feel sorry for those of you here in August, Ganbatte Kudasai.

Its nice to go sit by Kamogawa, which I did at somepoint this afternoon. Sometimes you get a little warm breeze, not cool but warm air feels like a handshake with jack frost at times like this.

I'm gonna see how many pounds of sweat i'll lose tonight.

If you're fat, on second thoughts fat is a bad word.f you are concerned about your weight,this is my advice, come here and just live for the summer, walk around a bit. You will lose pounds I seriously mean it.

Oh and I have to plug Sure roll on, even after all the above sweat talk. STILL Fresh ish

Hai Sensei

If you don't know know you know.

If you speak English as your native language you are pretty much qualified to be an English teacher in Japan and many other countries around the world. We English speakers are lucky that we already have a trade.

Anyhow I took one of my friends private lessons today just to see how it is. (I did it on a volunteer basis as I am not able to work here on my visa as a tourist , so i state, that I did not receive payment) It went pretty well for me I can see the appeal of being paid to basically talk and assist language learning. I mean I do it in England all the time with my Japanese exchange partners and friends and to have the opportunity to be paid for it seems to be a no brainer. But at the same time I am not doing it and working a Job in London that I "love so much" (these quotes are air quotes) there is no love.

I turned up in My polo and boat shoes, basically the smartest things I brought with me to a mutually agreed location.

What was funny was that I told the guy I would be wearing a red top and i was about 180 cm tall and I'm sure he was aware that I was black. In kyoto this would be enough to dstinguish me from 99% of the population, BUT when I step into the mutually agreed establishment. There is another black guy about my height wearing exactly the same shade of red top I am wearing.
I don't know what the chances are that the both of us would be there at the same time same place same colour x 2 but I'm sure it's pretty one in a million.

Anyway I got spotted by my student who was early and we got the formallities out of the way and began.

This was in fact the longest conversation i've had in English for a long time, even when I speak with my English speaking friends it is not an hour of straight back and forth. I made sure there was never a dull moment, and when i say dull moment I mean I made sure English was coming out of my mouth or the other guys.

I love talking with people so it was an experience and fun for me, I mean if you wanna pay me for it. I won't say no.

the attraction

Like, when I got here I got attention but not too much.

I pretty much expected it but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
I guess I was just another foreigner in town something different ubt nothing special and that was fine. i wasn't looking for their attention so no problem

But as soon as it started getting hotter and I started wearing the sleeveless and wearing the shorts it all changed.

I guess there is something about me. I personally can't see it but I guess I don't look at myself the way they do.I mean this doesn't happen to me in London

I mean now even if I take a few minutes to sit down I can feel there eyes on me , some of them are brave enough to even approach me.

And at night it gets worse, I just want to rest and I get harassed and there is next to nothing I can do about it. It could be my size , my colour or just the way the sun reflects off my head but boy

I wish these Mosquitoes would leave me alone.

TakoYaki Party

Tako = Octopus (yes octopus)
and Yaki = Fried( I think)
Therefore everybody gets dressed up and dances dressed up as fried octopi (ok toe pie) Yeahhhhhh
and there you have it end of blog post with a little MatheMagic.

NOt so simple, Takoyaki is ,.and this is just my knowledge, which has been greatly broadened today, octopus balls ( not testicles
,octopus surrounded by a ball of flour et al. We used ginger and something green and a bit of something that looks like rice crispies and tako yaki sauce amongst other things.

Imagine how good my recipe book would be, yeah get some yellow stuff, milk, red bitsmix it for a bit and then heat it up.
That would be my recipe for victoria sponge.

There is a takoyaki machine which is like a (HOLD ON... i had to take down a mosquito the size of a golf ball that was heading straight for me) anyway its basically a machine which looks like a hot plate crossed with a cupcake tray but for round things. That's as good a description as I can give :D

Anyway had a couple friends and my housemates all cooped up in a thin and narrow kitchen, stuffing our faces in between sessions of octopus ball making. I pretty much sucked at making the balls, but aced the preparation as you can see by the above picture, not sure which one I will use. though so this may not be relevant.

I am full to the brim with octopus and flour and cheese, and had a great time, if i have the space which I do not i will take the tako yaki machine home :)and have a go in London. So that was my evening, it's dark and quite hot- so will go to sleep and hope I don't get bitten by the mosquitoes that are waiting for me.

mata kondo ne

let me make my mistakes

i'll learn from your mistake if the result was severely negative, i know fire will burn I know jumping off high places will lead to broken bones and taking loans from sharks will bite but if it's not as clear as that I think I will learn for myself.
Me and you are not the same, when I look in the mirror I don't see your face.
My point? I hope you have it.
What happened to you may not happen to me so on and so forth.
This sounds like a reaction to a conversation but it's more of a realisation.
I'm not 19 but I'm not 90, they say now is the time as tomorrow can not be promised by no one but he who gave me this day.
(Are you still with me)

I think i'm starting to realise that the decisions I do or do not make will impact my future If I am blessed with one.

Kyoto has him now

samurai spirit

I'm always asked why I started learning Japanese, it is the most asked question of me except for WHERE FROM? (where are you from?)
most people assume it's for the women and for most people that answer may be right, but not for me.

From young like most of us I was interested in the ways of the East, as a world so far way from anything I could experience in London, I mean China town probably is as close as I got to Far east culture in London and I'm sure it is not that good a representation. I\ve always been interested in The Wise Old Man from Kung-fu films, the shaolin monks and the Kouga Ninja.

One group trumped them all, these were the samurai. If I could be a samurai I would. The pride , the honour, the discipline, the armour the swords. It was and is a main factor to why I leaned over to the Japanese side. I don't know specifics who, what, when where why but I love Samurai.

Secret- i didn't come to learn Japanese I came to learn the way of the samurai, i ran to the hills but I couldn't find them

So anyway by chance my new flatmates, invite me to their friends bad called Shi Shin, samurai cafe and bar. not a second thought every other bar in Japan is called samurai this or Dragon that BUT this place was the one.

This guy Tomo and his friend restructured an old kimono shop into a time machine, when you step in the door you are transported to a restaurant from the edo jidai or maybe they just created a restaurant from the edo jidai. Either way it looks really authentic and I'm sure I said Kono toko ga suki ( i like this place) on at least ten occasions The cushions to accompany the lowered tables are embroidered with patterns of the times, the tables contain mini Japanese zen gardens. The armour of a samurai warrior along with replica katana( Tomo explained that a bar and swords don't mix well.)watches over the diners.

Long story short, i told them I'd do them a flyer so I took tons of photos the next day and will work on that soon thought of a business concept i may have to try out here :D

Grave of the fireflies -火垂るの墓 Hotaru no Haka

I have a general disregard for insects bugs and all creepy crawlies, and I go about dealing with this disregard in a very non African way. slowly walking away scared in the opposite direction. I would easily be bullied out of my room by a spider smaller than my wrist watch leaving my mum or girlfriend or anybody to help me get rid of it. This is one way I feel like I fail as a man. (Hold that though it will be relevant in a minute)

Yesterday was a good day .Binboo na seikatsu. Life of a poor man. it always happens we overspend the first half of the month and then scrimp the second half. Cost of living in japan is quite high if everything is new and you want to do everything and you want to go out, but if you cook and do free things like go for walks with friends to riverside temples then you can save some money. Convenience store drinks and takoyaki can serve as lunch.

SO yesterday I went to a shrine based in the land between the Kamogawa river delta, it took like an hour to walk whilst talking and it was 28 degrees yesterday so water breaks were definitely needed. Was a really fun and FREE time entrance fee was non existent but I paid my fee in Mosquito bites which are troubling my ankles making them swell a little , I look like a girl with CANKLES, you know what cankles are right？ well my ankles look like a girl with cankles ankles.

Ankles aside I look like me.

Now here is where the opening para becomes relevant, there are a few places in Kyoto where you can see fireflies HOTARA and you can see fireflies all over the world but because i loved the Studio Ghibli film grave of the fireflies and because Japan is so beautiful and because firefly season is just starting at about half 8 last night, the journey was made to a canal north Kyoto where the fireflies usually appear in abundance. there were only a few around but it was still fascinating to see . i ha vent seen fireflies since I was a young boy in the Cub scouts and I didn't care then. But I care now ( a bit) and i prayed that I could catch one and I did , It was a small thing to happen but it meant a lot to me and I was excited as a 26 year old man because I had a disco fly in my hands.(shrugs)

I'll be back in 2 weeks when I'm told there would be hundreds.

Level 4 Mamachari

So I've been here a month and a bit, time is running out. so i've basically entered my fourth stage in my trip, which is my own room.

1st Francis's for a week +,
2nd Homestay
3rd Francis for a week
4th Own room


It is not huge, I'm using my suitcase as a makeshift desk, I Park my bicycle in my boys house across the street, which i could literally jump.

And I say my bicycle like it is my bicycle but it is not my bicycle it is my boys bicycle, he has at least 2 bicycles. Balling.It's not about Maybachs out here it's about Mamacharis.(google is your friend and note picture) We don't ride mamacharis though we are rolling on Mountain bikes with the kick stand attachment. mamacharis are col though you have the basket for carrying your conbinience store shopping.

Anyway the couple that I live with are young 26 and 28 and are quite friendly, they got excited about my level of japanese and I'm sure they were very happy that I was the BFG and not Big angry Foreigner. I've spent most of the day just chilling used the kitchen to make a west african egg stew with Korean Kimchi in the mix. I didn't do a great job. I know there is something missing but for the life of me I do not know what. Friends finish work soon so will probably treat myself to something nice to eat before having my first nights sleep in this room I think it would be a 6 tatami room. Enough space for pushups so I'm happy.

Tomorrow I think i will be out all day polishing up the linguistics

Okay I need to buy something to make this room smell less , i want it to smell sweet and stuff but I don't want air freshener. HMmmmm what to buy??

i don't know what I want to do for a living but I know where I want to be while I'm living.

This is a short blog post, if you don't understand it then I can't help you.

I Run Kamogawa

If you know me a little, you may know that I like water, I mean I'm not a great swimmer but I like being by lakes, the sea, rivers ponds, even a bucket of water will keep a smile on my face.
In London i live like 2 stones throw from the river Thames, like literally you throw a stone walk up to where it lands,pick it up, throw it again it should land in the waters deep.

I usually cross tower bridge and London bridge and then return to my dwelling place very sweaty faced and exhausted but with a sense of accomplishment and that sort of thing. Now being 5895.882 miles away from my post code( and yes I just spent 10 minutes on http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm working it out) I am fortunate enough to be very close to a smaller but more scenic river the Kamogawa river in Kyoto. Pretty pretty and I ran along it yesterday and the day before and I will again today maybe.

First day I ran though it was so hot like 28degrees and blazing sun , I nearly keeled over due to the heat but it was such a good run. And I saw some serious wildlife , Huge fish in the river. I am going to stick my neck out and say they are koi but they may not be. The other day me and the Mrs walked by a otter type thing called a Kawauso and there are always Cranes and a huge bird called the Tonbi -Japanese black kite which isn't actually black but hey.They are spectacular to watch and they will swoop down and steal your food. I ran past a snake in the grass, it was pretty long as well. I wanted to take a picture but it was too fast and i was too scared. I saw another snake swimming but this is when I was studying later on when the killer sun had taken some time off behind the buildings.

the sun seriously tried to scorch my hairless head so i need to take a cap next sunny day, lately its been cloudy but still hot in the high 20's enough to really make you feel exhausted. Okay it's nearly 10 I need to run now or I will just make myself a sandwich and be done with any chance of exercise.

Schools out

日本語を勉強するために日本行きました。
I came to Japan to brush up my Japanese and enjoy a place I love and this involved attending a popular school called the human academy which sounds like a weird institution where body parts are harvested for the socialist elite, like in Never let me go.

So Friday just gone was my last day at school after attending for a month and I was pretty much devastated when it ended (for real) , I built a nice rapport with my international class mates the awkwardness of being new boy was over and I was getting into the swing of things. I couldn't afford to go to school any longer but if i could I would be there now or at least on my way class starts at 9.20 :(.

Somebody want to sponsor me please huh?

After University I didn't think I would want to study any more but this didn't feel like studying I think im a have to do this again after my japanese level 2. I loved languages at school getting good grades at French , German and Latin I am still puzzled as to why I didnot follow langauges through to A-level and degree level.
.
no point looking back, it's onwards and upwards


I managed to buy a plain fan from a 100en shop, a sensu which is one of those fold out fans you see Geisha using. I got all my classmates to sign it and I will keep it as my little souvenir, it is priceless now. I had classmates from China,Taiwan,India,Ukraine,Hawaii,Bolivia,The Phillipines and Korea sign it and my teachers

Robosquare

When it came time to make the decision as to what degree to study for I chose Computer Science, why because I liked robots and gadgets and all those things. There was a module in my degree which included AI Artificial intelligence, which I am very interested in but i did not choose it as my programming skills were non existent so I chose E-business which was a lot easier resulting in my final 2:1 (almost a 1st) degree.

Anyway the point of that introduction was to introduce you to a GEM that we found in the Fukuoka tower building, on the 2nd floor lived an army of miniature robots ranging from the cute Hello Kitty Robot which speaks to you in Japanese and AIBO the robot dog to the necessary robot that helped locate survivors after 9/11. The robot I wanted to buy would have left me living in a trash can like that guy in sesame street, so I bought a miniature Tamorobot which is attracted to light. Basically a glorified children's toy but i like it.

My inner geek turned up to Robosquare big smiles discussing in Japanese with the Otaku sales clerk on the best use I could get out of my own personal robot. My smile turned to a frown when I realised i would need to be able to program to make some of the larger robots do something more interesting than walk forward and turn right.
Damn the level of programming instruction at XXXX University that I attended. All is not lost I can write algorithms and then pay a programmer to write the code, The only language I'm interested in learning is 日本語

Fuji San

I will upload my own picture when I have the chance but I just wanted to mention Mr Fuji, Japans greatest mountain and pretty damn beautiful I must say. Although Fuji is not even half the size of Mt verest it still gets a place on my wall of pretty big things.

Me and the Mrs rented Jitenshas aka push bikes and cycled around lake kawaguchiko. I say around like we circumferenced it, but we did not we cycled for a while got hungry and cycled back but that had us out and about forthe best part of 4 hours. We took the same rope car that we took last year but thistime we could see Fuji. Yeah we came here last year but it was so cloudy that we could not see this Godzilla mountain. Mountain is elusive but this has been the best day weather wise for a while -take note this is the start of the rainy season- 25 degreesand blue skies.
have to go and catch a bus to the station so we can roll to tokyo. Have to say bye bye to the Mrs, return to Osaka, move out of my home stay, go to kyoto and sort out my flat and all by 2morow evening. Ganbarimasu.