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