slowly but surely

YAYE high fives all around I made it to Kyoto in April this year. It took 6 years since my first job application which I never got, 2 years in Ibaraki-ken the least charming prefecture in the whole of Japan and many many many great nights good experiences made many good friends who were hard to leave. Everytime I tried to say goodbye something would work its way into my eye and make it seem like I was crying (which is ridiculous). I passed my JLPT level 2 and am aiming for level 1. I have started teaching Kizomba here dancing more salsa and bachata which is great. I have danced more in the last 2 months than I did in the entire 2 years I was in Ibaraki.  My new school is great, co worker is great bosses are cool. What else?  Oh I just peered over at our cat "shinobi" I say we as  I am in a we situation. So there is a kitten he is very cute when he wants to be and then a nuisance to my feet at like 5 in the morning.
Slowly but surely things are moving in the right direction.

Ariyo

Wake up!

After all the hesitation, the doubt, the fear. All the times I felt I shouldn't be here. All the times that I should turn back and seek more familiar shores, where my presence would not be the white elephant (or the black bear). I am one step away from my dream. One more step and then I can wake up and no longer have to dream.

Back for the first time.

So,  a year had passed since leaving London's green and grey shores for the land of sushi, extreme politeness and warm space toilets.I missed my family and friend from the very second I said my teary goodbyes.
I didn't regret my decision to leave the U.K but it was far from easy.

Anyway here I am back for the first arriving at Heathrow after staying awake on a 12 hour flight. My mum greets me and I feel like I just saw her yesterday thanks to Skype. My brother (12 ) got a lot taller and I fear he will be taller than me when puberty really kicks in and my other brother looked ,how do you say, well. HAHAHA.
I got to see my Dad and his new Heisenberg beard and sample his (pepper soup) which I can not handle at all.

Anyway this not a recap but I just wanted to note that in the 10 days I was in London I couldn't see all my friends and family properly and eat enough of my mums food or wrestle or play enough with my brothers or play tennis or call of duty or go to the cinema or dance enough or  anything. There wasn't enough time.

I don't know how it ties in but a lot of the things that were available to me everyday are no longer accessible from my little Japanese town.

Saying that I gave up and lost a lot by moving out here so I'm more determined to make the most of it now.

YDKWYGTIG

Japan has Valentine's day backwards

So yeah! In comparison to the west Japan does have it backwards but it's a good thing. Instead of the guys spending money buying gifts for the special person in their life and taking them out for over priced meals, Japan has it that the ladies get the guys chocolate and apparently the ladies do all the work, dates and stuff.

I did get some chocolate for all my female teachers at school but that was just to add more height to the towering gentle man image I have constructed of myself.

It is 18:12 pm and I am freezing at home typing this up so I am obviously not going on any dates BUT I did get some chocolate at school which is a result.


There is another day (White day)when the guys get candy/sweets whatever for the girls in return so I guess I'll have to purchase some stuff in return  but I don't know nothing about that yet.

Legally beat them

When I told her what I was going to do I thought she would have an objection, but she told me she was interested to hear that I was going to take part in a Judo PE lesson with her form class and even came and took pictures.

I had wanted to join in training with the Judo club but for some reason or another I hadn't made it. Kawara the Judo Sensei told me I should join the first years for a lesson and that he would bring in his own Judo gi for me. He stressed the length of the arms and legs may be short and this was no exaggeration. It was also a bright blue one which contrasted heavily with all the various shades of white gis the students had. You could tell which students had hand me down gis as theirs were bordering on a creamy yellow colour.  

I walked to the Dojo with a nike pro t-shirt so all my students were in double shock first reaction "Ariyo da!!!" - It's Ariyo. followed by "wow, sugoi(great), tsuyoi (strong), macho baby" etc. They were all excited that I joined in. I was surprised to see two other teachers with their black belts. I never even knew they did Judo.

Kawara sensei passed me the blue gi and Akurai sensei helped me get the obi (belt) on. Orai sensei lead the class through the introductions and I joined in ,as Orai sensei put it, as a foreign exchange student. We warmed up and practiced Ukemi which are breakfalls which I picked up after a while. We practiced a few pin techniques, only Kawara sensei and one of the giant first years( a member of the Judo team) managed to escape my hold.

Finally we had a challenge type sparring round. I was surprised at how many students were willing to fight me. I'm a big guy in Japan and according to my JHS first years I'm a titan. I kicked all of the kids asses, some were easier than others but they all went down. I had a try with one of the teachers and that was a stalemate. I really enjoyed it, might be something to learn ( get my first black belt not from H&M ).At the end of the class all the students bowed and thanked me for coming.

On leaving the gym the class from which I have students that cause me a problem came in. How I wish I had them during judo would loved to have thrown some of those guys around.

Nothing stays the same

no relation to any of the content but I drew it.

Hmm. I feel like there is so much I could talk about. I regret that I haven't updated this. School life has been fun so far. I had my last day teaching at my elementary school last week and that was an indication that I have been here a while.

I have been in a speech contest, had my bike stolen and recovered. Ups and downs turn arounds been in Typhoons countless amounts of earthquakes cat cafes all nighters conflicts of interests, interesting conflicts.Hot like fire and cold like ice. I even had a box beard. I'm In the middle of a 12 week fitness challenge and realise that hitting the blog will help me remember this stage of my life  and allow me to reflect more. So many interesting stories get forgotten or put to short term memory and then deleted.

I think I'll try and go back in my memory banks and fill you in on some things.

Like my bike.

Schools out for summer

Near my school - 5 storeys

So, my first term as an ALT is over I've still popped into school to do some odd bits of work with the kids. They say when you love something you'd do it for free and that I am. I'll still go to school tomorrow at 9 am to do some stuff with the kids.

I have a lot of time to myself and I need to use it to work on a plan and things I'd like to achieve make short term goals to meet long term ones. I know I always said the goal is to be in Japan but now that has accomplished I NEED to work on the next step.

I've managed to get in some dancing been to Tokyo a couple of times and will possibly be getting in some club time Kizomba on Tuesday.(good news) It has been hot insects have been flying. I have received a bike which I have to pay for at the end of the month. The guy just said take the bike and pay when you have the money cool stuff. Working on a little Vblog venture so you can see what is going on so stay tuned for that. I think I'll try and link it all together and add Instagram as well. Triple threat son WHAT!!

little and often

Meet the little ones

This was my year 1and 2 intro lesson,
the numbers are them guessing my age

So yeah it has been a while- sorry.

Anyway enough of the apologies (imagine me bowing really low, like I'm going into flat back (insanity joke) )  Hmm can you put brackets in brackets when it's not math?  Well , I can


Anyway for the second time a couple of weeks ago on the 6th I had to teach the 1st and 2nd graders at my elementary school. Most times I teach the 5th grades and they are energetic enough BUT the 1st graders and 2nd graders are like little Ninja duracell bunnies and they don't understand more than a couple words of English but they are the most enthusiastic classes I have taught.

The way they got excited when I turned up you would have though I was a power ranger or something they went crazy and I went crazy and it was just a crazy day. Like working with kids puts a lot of people off having kids but this was the opposite. I gave out high fives and the kids literally mobbed me at one point. They see me as a  high five giving BFG climbing frame from a mysterious land. I remember having kids n my legs climbing them like trees and a couple kids swinging from my bicep and this was before I even stepped into the class.

And  playtime I'll go into that in another post but  I really enjoyed that day and yeah I got paid for it. :D Good times  Shame is I don''t have the 1st and 2nd years in my regular schedule so who knows when the next time will be.

What is funny is that the little kids who you think would be scared and apprehensive when meeting a giant foreigner are the most welcoming and friendly and then it's the adults who are the fraidy cats. I think it's great to get foreign people into Japan so these kids will understand and grow up knowing foreigners and not having some of the fears that their elders have.  I'm just glad that for the students I have had the pleasure of teaching, I'm glad that I can dispel many of the negative stereotypes they may have otherwise received about my demographic and to realise that personality has no real relation with race or background.

28

I'm 28 but what does that mean, it means I've been here for a while and I thank God for that. Fullstop aye

Just flicking through my Iphone pictures shows
me how eventful my birthday and start to the golden week weekend was. I am still trying to claw back sleep that I missed out on thanks to the nightlife of Mito, Osaka and Kyoto respectively. My actual birthday was spent with new friends starting of in an Izakaya Japanese style and ending in a bar which I'm sure is a great live music venue. This was via late night karaoke , intoxicated skateboarding tricks by the Tanda and posing for pics with the BMX crew. The night ended with a really tasty burger which left me as quickly as it entered me, some of the guys getting down with the guitars and drums and me starting my journey to Kyoto.Shinkansen baby

The weekend was ridiculously good. Met with my boy  Kwaps who features in this blog from my last time in Japan. I won't go into details now but 4 all nighters in a row fun times.
It is funny though the reaction we get walking around people gawking oh and if the arms are out then it's a wrap lol. Sugoi-Yabai-Kakkoi lol Pictures, pointing, greetings etc.

Saturday morning killed it with some stair training with Kwaps which almost finished me, my legs are still hurting. There is a picturesque stairways leading to a temple/shrine  surrounded by trees in what seems like the middle of nowhere but this was not a serene scenario just the two of us running full pace up steps and descending when tired , which was much earlier for me, and repeating the process. Killer. the ultimate test was having to stand on the shinkansen on the way back and the next day having my elementary school class but that went well as always.

Ended the weekend knowing that I need to get myself a permanent residence Kansai sides man.

Cash down

So after the 3 way money transfer drama of trying to provide myself with enough money to eat, I'm in a good place and am due to hit up my home away from home in Kansai, Kyoto for the tail end of golden week. Bus is fully booked so I have to go by Shinkansen 'poor me'. Literally poor me as it isn't cheap but since I wont have another chance to go till late summer sacrifices have to be made.

Also confirmed it that Hitachi is not the place to do an all nighter, it's not that kind of town don't get me wrong Hitachi has so many bars but unfortunately 95% of these are Snack bars- google it.
Hitachi does have many nice little spots , karaoke places restaurants of a variety , had a nice Italian last night which fits the budget, and cool bars western and Japanese. This however means that if you go out you should make sure you get the last train or you will have a long wait with little or no stimulation. There will be exceptional nights but unless you have your own party going on, you will not find one in Hitachi. MY OPINION. We will be moving the party to Mito and hit up bubble as Mito has a bit more to offer and that may be worth an all nighter.

On another note , I gots me my Sofa bed and a nice low Japanese style table delivered to me yesterday in the early hours of the A.M yesterday which was straight after the all nighter that led me to my earlier drawn conclusion. So as I have furniture I can not just move so I'm grounded in Hitachi for a bit
.
Last thing I need some hair clippers my transformer is not working and the razors are giving the me those ugly uncle bumps at the back of my head and they take like a week to go. Hitachi is so lacking that I haven't found any yet but I'll get some if not now then when I get my self to Kansai.

say this in a japanese accent please

BURAKU----SANDA -- 

Thanks

BOB SAPP,I AM NOT

I'll say Thank God it's Friday not because I hate work because the opposite is true and more because I am tired. I've greeted more people than the pope walked like an hour each day as my commute and climbed that hill that my school is on top off which will get me fit. Plan is to get the quiet cheap drink in with a few friends and just relax.I say the as it is going to be one lol. I'm looking forward to some Umeshu plum wine which I'll eventually learn to make.

Like it's Friday end of the working week and, I had a busy day, there were only 5 school periods in the day and I was  only meant to work 3 but I ended up doing all 5. So extra work but this is more of me putting my hand up saying I'm free let me take part in these lessons.


I think I'll benefit from writing little and often as everyday there is something to say. I wish I could have videoed my introduction lesson because I think its cool. I confronted  the Bob Sapp comparatives I knew I would definitely receive head on by pulling out a Bob Sapp flashcard to introduce the concept of name.. A few kids try call me Bob Sapp but since I brought it up first it is more like a laugh together than at me and they can't take credit aye.

SO I attend a Japanese class once a week on Thursday and it's in a community centre so I showed a few members the basics of Salsa and a bit of Kizomba on the Thursday , I mean being a teacher helps now as showing and demonstrating becomes part of your life which is always fun so I look forward to working on that part of my life (the dancing)here. Also I received a generous amount of rice from one of the teachers who happens to come from an area where rice is in abundance and this came about from me complaining that the price of rice is too damn high. I think i have enough to last me the year and It was necessary as times are hard, month in lieu pa and all that means pay  arrives end of May now considering I moved here end of March and I travelled 6000 miles and rent a modern apartment it is a hard life. Top it off I met somebody else who has invited me to a vibrant international church in the closest big city Mito so everything is falling into place. Earthquake count for me now is 3 now so I'm getting used to it.

PEACE

Day 1 x 2

So, I came to Japan for many reasons but my vehicle here was and is teaching the English and it's something I had thought about since I was 19 when I read the blog Gaijin Smash you can find here http://gaijinchronicles.com/ . I actually just got sidetracked reading it for like half an hour.


Anyway I'm here now and I had my first day at my Junior High School yesterday and my first day at my Elementary School today. I've never taught a real class of school kids, only fake ones with  my peers pretending to be Japanese kids. There is a big difference, sometimes you get that kind of silence that comedians get when their joke doesn't fly or the silence you get when you ask a girl her name and she blanks you ( Neither of these have happened to me by the way).  Doing the same class a few times allowed me to fine tune my class and it went done quite well, it was aimed as an introduction and they got to know my name with thanks to Super Mario as a lot of times I introduce myself as Mario without an M. It helps trust me.

The Elementary school now was like the best fun I've had in a long time, and it helps that I understand a fair bit of Japanese because although I only teach one year in the school, everybody is running up to me and asking questions and they don't even think about talking to me in English, I'll just have a kid asking me if they can jump on my shoulders or, how tall i am?where I am from`? Can I dunk? How strong am I? what's my favourite song? my favourite animal? The only thing everyone can say in English is 'HELLO'

Like I could go into detail but I mean being able to laugh and smile and make people do the same at work is amazing. I mean there are man things I could do better but it is just the start I think I'll learn a little each day and eventually I'll be that guy.

Oh and the teachers act like I'm some wonder child and they love that I brought Earl Grey Tea in a little souvenir box.

Never be late in the land of the rising sun

So in Japan you can't be late, being late  is a big problem. Common practise is to arrive earlier than expected, ten minutes early is on time 20 minutes early is early and if you really want to impress just be there from birth, just be there. Ask your Mum to give birth to you there

So my first appointment was at 5:19, I know very exact but these were the instructions. I'm not talking PM either this is AM.  To be first in line is a big deal and I didn't want to wait till midday because everybody would want a piece of the action and I think getting some one on one time is important. Anyway I couldn't sleep properly I had 3 dreams about being late and even woke up before my 4:30 alarm.

So I wake up but because my appointment is within walking distance I  faff about and end up leaving minutes late, throwing a sandwich in my mouth knowing that I have to move down the road in some semi-run looking marathon walk type movement down the quiet streets at dawn. Feeling like a fool.So meeting place is the beach I think it's the best place for a first meeting and I get there early - Brilliant.

I wait around for a minute and then I see what I've been waiting for the rising sun.
I've seen the sun rising before but I have never gone to see the sunrise it was something else. I could see the inspiration for the flag and for the name of my city and the alias for the country. My eyes were a better lens than the one mounted to my camera and the image in my mind is more vivid than any of the pictures I took.

Worth the wake up and worth the dash but I'm not doing it tomorrow.