Journey to da East

Back to Tokyo prt 3 and preparing for Thailand!

2011-12-21T16:28:00.202Z

I will change the date on each post to reflect the month that everything happened in and not the date in which I wrote it. So now we are up to the month of December!

Officially all of the NT (Native Teachers) and JT (Japanese Teachers) at PKC were given time off as company holiday from the 22nd December. But for the NT's we officially stop teaching from the 16th December. So for most NT's the days leading up to the 22nd were either Office Days or Team Meetings. But because I had a couple of days off between those days I thought maybe use some of my 5 paid days off to allow myself to have an extended holiday during Christmas/New Year. I also felt like going to Tokyo once more before I left for Thailand on the 22nd.

So once it had been okayed by my manager and I was able to get some of my work colleagues to cover me I was off from the 14th December - 4th January. I decided to go to Tokyo from the 14th - 20th December. Then I would be in Thailand from the 22nd - 4th January and go back to work on the 5th January!

Due to the time of year and my late booking the cheapest hotel I could find close to the city was in Itabashi about 4 minutes away from Ikebukuro Station. I actually walked to Ikebukuro from the hotel which is right near Itabashi Station in about 25 minutes which was pretty good.

Because I was luckily enough to arrive in Tokyo on Wednesday I could go to the event Ram Jam Dancehall at Club Bed in Ikebukuro. I had wanted to go to this event for a long time after having seen videos of the event on YouTube. It was also from videos of this event that I first discovered many of the dancers that I know today such as I-Van, Helty Baddy Girls, Corn Bread and Sizzka. Also this Thursday the event had a special guest named Nari in Kingston who I had known from Facebook but like many others I know he was someone who I had not actually met in person before. I also told Kaori about this event and she wanted to come too which was nice. I had asked Corn Bread aka Jaken before I got to Tokyo if I could get a discount to get in to the event and he said no problem. So luckily when we got there I only had to pay ￥500 which included 1 drink. But it was free for ladies so Kaori didn't have to pay anything which was good.

The night started off a bit slow like most Reggae/Dancehall events do. But it was nice to see everyone again and also meet/speak to some people who I haven't met in person before. But I think Kaori was a little tired from work that day so she ended up kinda sleeping in the corner whilst I was still dancing around. But she said she had a nice time.

One the Saturday I met up with Kaori again and we went to see the Taiko Drummers named Kodo who were celebrating their 30th Anniversary at the Aoyama Theatre. This was the first time that either Kaori or I had seen something like this. I had found out that Kodo were performing via the Time Out Tokyo website and thought it might be something interesting for the two of us to do. The show was really interesting and the music was very nice. Some of the pieces Kaori and I felt reminded us of the movie Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) which we both agreed was one of our favourite movies. After the performance had finished we decided to get something to eat at a restaurant in an underground complex near the theatre.

After we had finished we decided to go to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I had read online that the cinema in Roppongi Hills was one of the better ones and thats were we decided to go to see the movie. Again this would be the first time for me to visit the Roppongi area. It was quite busy at Roppongi Hills mainly due to it being a Saturday. It was quite nice in the evening due to all the Christmas lights that they hand on display. We managed to finally get to the cinema but all the good seats had already been purchased but we had walked all this way from Aoyama and thought we might as well just get the ticket. The only other option was watching maybe Real Steel and at the time we both weren't too interested in that movie.

Fortunately we had some time to kill before the movie started so we were able to walk around the Roppongi Hills area. Like I said before there were a lot of people there taking pictures of the various lights and sculptures in the area. As we walked around we stumbled upon a dog grooming parlour which had big windows so you could look in side as the dogs were groomed which I thought was quite amusing. It was soon time for the movie to start so we headed back to the cinema. However once we actually got inside the screen we realised that the seats we chose were not so great because we were pretty close to the screen! But we made the most of it and tried to enjoy the movie but at some point we both fell asleep. I just remember seeing Tom Cruise in Russia then I closed my eyes for a second and then he and the team were in India! I was thinking wow what the hell happened here?! But from what I remembered the movie was pretty interesting/entertaining.

Once the movie had finished we walked around the Roppongi area and due to the time there were a lot of people out. Also Roppongi is an area known for foreigners so I could see many of them here as well as all the promoters trying to entice people to enter their club. I also saw the infamous Gas Panic which my friends had liked to go to the first time I came to Japan but to be honest those places are not for me mainly because I don't drink. After that we both saw each other off at the Station.

One my last morning in Tokyo Kaori and I went to Ueno Zoo. But before we actually went to the Zoo we walked around the Market are near Ueno Station. Kaori wanted to eat sushi but I'm not a big fan of sushi to be honest. After we were finished there we went to the Zoo. The day was quite nice so all the animals were out but some more more active than others. The Gorillas were quite amusing to watching especially the young one. But its quite interesting now that I've gotten a little older I see Zoo's more of animal prisons than anything else. But unfortunately we didn't get to see all of the Zoo because Kaori had to do something and I had to catch my flight back to Kumamoto.

Due to me being in Tokyo a little longer this trip I was able to do some more things. I can honestly say I had a good time seeing my dancer friends again and I really enjoyed spending time with Kaori again. In the next post I will be talking about my trip to Thailand!!!

Back to Tokyo prt 2!

2011-11-25T14:47:00.127Z

Once again sorry but here is what happened in the month of November for me in Japan.

I will change the date on each post to reflect the month that everything happened in and not the date in which I wrote it. So now we are at the month of November!

This time I decided to stay in an area that was closer to the city as opposed to Kamata. Using Booking.com and managed to find a decent hotel called Hotel Horidome Villa which was near Ningyocho Station. From this station it took about maybe less than 5 minutes to get to Akihabara Station. The first night there I went on a mission looking for the R4 Revolution cartridge which can be used in the Nintendo DS. I never did find it though but I did manage to find a Burger King which was the first one I had ever seen in Japan.

Whilst I was in Akihabara I managed to stumble across a Brazillian Grill/Bar named Tucano's which served pretty nice food at a decent price. The next day I met up with Kaori again because we decided to go to Tokyo Disney Sea since it was another place I had never been to before. Kaori told me that the last time she went to Disney Sea with her cousin she was fortunate to get an extra ticket for free due to a mistake made by the cashier at the convenience store. Also during this month there was a special promotion being offered that allowed anyone who bought their ticket from FamilyMart to receive around ￥1,000 discount on the usual ticket price.

I remember when we got off the train and the Tokyo DisneyLand station we went to the convenience store there and it was practically empty! You would think they would have more than just one in the area when I have seen up to 3 of the same convenience store no more than 100 meters from each other. We were lucky because the day was quite nice with clear blue skies although it wasn't so hot. We were also lucky due to it being a Monday there weren't that many people there however Kaori said the last time she came on a weekday there was hardly anyone in the park but I didn't mind.

The first ride we went on or rather I should say the first ride we waited to go on was Journey to the Center of the Earth. I don't know how long we waited but it must have been well over 2 hours because it felt like forever and a day. There were also a few moments where we thought the queue was about to end then we went around the corner and there was an even longer queue. But through out the day we also rode the Indian Jones ride and ate at the curry restaurant located in the Arabian Nights area where they had the Aladdin themed shops and rides. However due to work commitments Kaori had to leave early so I was left in the park alone. But just as she left the evening parade started and it was a pity that Kaori wasnt there because earlier in the day she said that she had wanted to see it.

Because the parade had now started there were a lot of people crowded around the parks main lake to watch the show. I thought this was a good time to try and get one some more rides whilst everyone else is occupied. Although I had this idea it seemed that others had the same idea which I found out once I got to the Haunted Mansion ride. I have to say that ride was quite surprising and made me smile a lot it also made me wish that Kaori was still with me because I know she would have liked it too. I was also able to ride the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea Ride but for me that ride was a bit too kiddy for me and I could have done without riding it.

The next day I told Kaori to meet me at Ebisu Station because I wanted to go the Jamaican Restaurant named Aalwai and thought she might want to try their food too. I had tried to go to Aalwai on Sunday but for some reason it was closed but on their door they had a calendar and luckily they were open this day. It was funny because each time I had tried to come to this restaurant it was always closed. But I have to say their food was pretty damn good and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to have some Jamaican food in Japan. Although I would say that their Jerk Chicken was better than their Jerk Pork.

Well this was a short trip to Tokyo this time but once again I had a nice time here and it was of course nice to spend some time face to face with Kaori as opposed to just Skype or just messages via Viber.

3 Cities: Kumamoto x Fukuoka x Tokyo

2011-10-23T16:32:00.018+01:00

Sorry, sorry, sorry...did I mention that I was sorry?! I know it has been so long since I've updated my blog! I thought to myself that this is a new year and so one of my resolutions should be to actually start writing in my blog more frequently. But before I can start doing that I need to write about everything that's been happening with me since October 2011.

I will change the date on each post to reflect the month that everything happened in and not the date in which I wrote it. So let's start with the month of October!

During this month it actually made 6 months since I had been in Japan which was a nice milestone to reach without having any major problems. Also in my company all of the Native Teachers have a lighter schedule during one of the weeks in October which is referred to as Halloween Week. During this week only the Japanese Teachers teach the students and so all of the NTs can have near enough a week off work. For me it worked out to be 3 days off, 2 days on then 4 days off again.

Because I had already received my yearly calendar I knew exactly when this week in October would actually happen so I told my mum if she wanted to visit me here in Japan that during the week of the 17th would be best. She ended up arriving on Sunday 16th which was even better. Although due to my mother not using her phone here in Japan it was a little difficult to communicate with her to arrange the best time to meet at Kumamoto Airport. It was actually a good thing that I missed the original bus that I had intended to get to meet her because her flight was actually delayed. It was really nice to see my mum here in Japan after feeling slightly lonely here in Japan at times.

The next day I took my mum to some of the familiar places in Kumamoto such as Kumamoto Castle and Suizenji Park. We also tried to go to the Kumamoto Zoo and Botanical Gardens but for some reason it was closed. My mum seemed quite impressed with Kumamoto Castle and she also enjoyed Suizenji Park. I also thought it was a nice place when I visited it for the first time. Later in the evening we went to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes at the local Kadokawa Cineplex. This trip actually made it the second time that I had been to this cinema. I don't really go to the cinema here in Japan very often as some of you probably already know its quite expensive. One ticket costs ￥1,800 which is around £15 and this is just for the normal cinema! After the movie (It was really good by the way, I recommend it.) we went to eat at one of the restaurants just off Shimotori Arcade named Curry and Ethnic. It was my first time here too but the food was pretty nice and not so expensive at around ￥1,000 for one of their dishes.

The next day we went to Fukuoka City. Fukuoka City is about 2 hours away from Kumamoto City by bus or train. But I would suggest getting the bus because you can purchase a return ticket for ￥3,600 as opposed to ￥4,000 if you were to take the train. This was actually the first time that I had been to Fukuoka as well if I don't include my trip to the Airport.

Because it was both our first time to Fukuoka I was relying on the website WikiTravel as a guide for us in the City. The first place we ended up was the Hakata Machiya Folk Museum which gave us some historical information about the Hakata area. Right near the museum was a shrine which also had a giant type of sculpture which had many different types of figures on it such as Samurai, Priests, Horses and other interesting figures. I'm not sure what this type of sculpture is called otherwise I would provide you with a link. We also saw a smaller version of this inside the Museum.

Once we were finished at the shrine we walked over to Canal City Hakata. I had heard of this place before but once we got there I was quite impressed with the design and thought that Kumamoto could use a nice place like this. We didn't buy anything there however because a lot of the items were name brand and kind of expensive. From Canal City we walked to the the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum where we could see many interesting pieces created by artists all over the Asian continent.

Whilst I was at the museum I had remembered that my friend in Kumamoto had told me about a Jamaican Restaurant/Bar in the Fukuoka area that I should check out. I had a look for it on my iPhone using google maps and we were able to find it pretty easily. The name of the Restaurant/Bar was Xaymaca and it is run by a guy named Allan. He was very friendly and welcoming once we go there. He was also curious as to how we found the place since it was our first time here. I told him that a friend had told me about it in Kumamoto. However we couldn't stay there very long due to the last bus leaving Fukuoka for Kumamoto at about 11pm. So we had to make a quick dash back to Bus Station before it was too late. But overall we had a nice day in Fukuoka.

The next evening in Kumamoto we met up with a couple of my friends who are currently teaching on the JET programme. Both of them are from Jamaica which my mum was quite surprised by the first time I told her about them before she came to Kumamoto. We all went to Za-Watami right near the entrance to the Kamitori Shopping Arcade. This was the first time that I had also been to Za-Watami but I have to say that the food there was quite nice and it has now become my Izakaya of choice even though I do not drink. My mum also thought the food here was quite nice. We both thought it was so nice that we ended up going to the same place the next day for dinner.

When it was time for my mum to leave Japan she would be doing so from Tokyo. So I thought I could see her off at Haneda Airprot in Tokyo. But I thought it's not every day I go to Tokyo and so wanted to spend more time there. So I left one the Friday morning when my mum would arrive in Tokyo on the Saturday evening then catch her flight to London on the Sunday. I ended up staying in Kamata due to its location to the Airport and also due to the fact my mother had a really early flight so we wouldn't be able to take the train to the station. Luckily right near Kamata Station is an Airport Shuttle Bus that takes about 20 minutes and costs less than ￥300 which was very convenient.

I landed in Tokyo on the Friday and thought this would be a good time to check out Club Jamaica in Shibuya. Also this night happened to be a memorial service for a Japanese dancer named Issy who unfortunately died in a car crash. I was able to meet up with some more people that I previously had only knew from Facebook. This was a pretty good night because a lot of the people in the club were dancers so it was pretty fun.

Because I was in Tokyo again I thought it would be a good idea for me too meet up with some of my friends that I knew from Facebook. However two of them had to cancel to due one being sick and the other had to work that weekend. But I was still able to meet up with Kaori. This would actually be the first time that I met Kaori. I wasn't sure about what we should do so she suggest going to Odaiba since I hadn't been there before. We both ended up running a bit late but luckily we both got on the same connecting train towards Odaiba. I remember thinking that she was quite pretty and when we were with each other it felt like we had already met before.

We ended up just walking around Odaiba and talking. We went and had lunch/dinner at this Izakaya type place but I was a little disappointed with the food because it wasn't so cheap and the portions were kinda of small. After we had finished eating we went for a walk around the area again since now it had become night. The Rainbow Bridge looked really nice at night since now it had all of its lights turned on. After we had finished here we walked to Venice Fort which was a Venice themed shopping mall. We hung out there a little while mostly just talking. We couldn't hang out for very long however because Kaori had to meet up with her cousin and I had to pick my mum up from the Airport. But I had a really nice time with her it felt really natural like I said before it was like we had met before.

I went straight to the Airport from Odaiba but once I got there I couldn't find my mum. Because she didn't have a phone it made it difficult sometimes to contact her. Luckily she had used one of the pay phones at the Airport and left me a message. It turns out I was waiting at the wrong part of the Airport for her and that's why I couldn't find her. I remember she wanted to see Shibuya and the famous crossing there but it was about 10pm and I thought it's too late to do anything worth while in the area. So we ended up just going back to the hotel.

The next day I took my mum back to the Airport and saw her off. I was feeling really tired because she her flight was at maybe 5:45am or something. Once I got back to the hotel I went straight to bed. I remember once I woke up I sent Kaori a message asking what she was doing and she said just hanging out with her cousin. I told her I didn't have any plans for the day and she thought I couldn't come all the way to Tokyo and not do anything so she told me to come out and meet her and her cousin. I thought sure since she was kind of right about coming all this way.

I met Kaori and her cousin Akemi at Shinjuku Station. This was actually the first time I had been to Shinjuku even thought I had been to Tokyo quite a few times. We ended up going to an Izakaya in the area which happened to be better than the one that we went to in Odaiba. After that we hung out in one of the arcades near the Izakaya. However shortly after that Akemi had to go back home because she had to go to study. So Kaori and I just talked some more and walked around Shinjuku. I remebered that the Love Sculpture was in Shinjuku and I wanted to see it. So using google maps on my phone we managed to find it. After that we walked back to the station and said bye to each other. Once again I had a nice time hanging out with Kaori.

The next day I went to Yokohama since I had never been here before and it was close to my hotel in Kamata. The first place I went to was Chinatown, once I got there it reminded me a lot of the one back in London. After Chinatown I went for a walk along the river front. I then randomly went to the Yokohama Customs Museum just because it was there. However inside they had some interesting things that they had seized from various people. Some of the items included weapons, drugs and fake designer goods. I then continued to walk down along the river towards Yokohama Cosmo World which is home to the worlds largest clock which doubles as a Ferris Wheel. After I was done there I had to made a bit of a mad rush back to my hotel in Kamata where I had left my suitcase and then make my way to the Airport.

But October was a very interesting month with my mum coming to visit me here in Japan and also spending time with Kaori. I was able to visit Fukuoka and also places in Tokyo I hadn't been to before. So it was a nice month.

Now it really has been a long long time!

2011-09-30T18:29:00.002+01:00

Like the title of this post says I can honestly say it really has been a long long time! I don't know but for a while I've not been motivated enough to make any posts on here. This is quite the contrast considering whilst I was in China I was practically writing something in the blog every other day.

Because quite a few months have gone by it looks like I will have to briefly summarise what happened in each month leading up until now.

JULY

July was quite interesting for me because I actually decided to go somewhere else in Japan for the first time since I started my new job in Kumamoto. I was luckily enough this month to get my July schedule quite early in June so this gave me enough time to book a trip to Tokyo.

Originally I had planned to spend 2 weeks in Tokyo during the Christmas period but I thought to myself "Hey, I have 3 days off...I could go to Tokyo!" and so I booked my plane ticket. I decided to fly with Skymark mainly offering the cheapest domestic flights in the country. A lot of people I know take the Shinkansen places or the Night Bus but I think this is silly since Skymark offer cheap flights and you can get to your destination in a couple of hours if that.

This was also the month that Japanese Reggae Singer Akane came to Kumamoto as part of her "D-Swagga 4 Life" tour with Baddy-45. It was really nice to see Akane again because she was one of the first Japanese artists that I met/spoke to during my first trip to Tokyo back in January 2010. Like always Akane was really nice and friendly!

My flight to Tokyo was the morning that Akane's event ended so when I finaly got to Tokyo I was really tired because I hadn't slept for a good while. To waste some time before I could check in to my hotel I walked around Shibuya and I noticed some shops that I had been to before had now closed such as Rockers Island and HMV. I guess a lot can change in the space of a year!

This trip to Tokyo was nice because I got to meet a few people in person that I had been communicating with for a while via email and places like Facebook. I ended up going to The event Kachi Kachi at Shibuya Axxcis where I met Shy-N and Chie again. I also got to speak to Issei and Mask from Cross Colours Dancers also. This was the also the first time I got to meet Romain who I had known from Facebook for a little while. It was cool to meet him but it was just a shame that he had to go back to France the next after spending quite a while in Japan. But unfortunately during that time I was still in London so had no way of hanging out with him then.

I also ended up meeting Asian Star again at Caribbean Sunday! I also finally got to meet Youko from Helty Baddy Girls because the first time I came she was in New York. I also saw Yumiko again from Helty Baddy Girls who like the first time I met her was just as nice. The night started off slow mainly because I had to get there early because the last train from my hotel was around 23:50. But it wasn't until really 02:00 that the party really started. Being at the club this night really reminded me of my first trip to Tokyo so it was really good.

During this visit I was actually able to go Asakusa because I didn't have much time during my first trip to Tokyo. It was nice to visit the Sensō-ji temple there because the gate there is quite iconic. It was also nice to spend some time with one of my other friends who took the time to show me around there area.

Overally I had a nice time in Tokyo again but just wish it was longer because I didn't have enough time to spend time with everyone. But there is always the possibility of another trip when I next have 3/4 days off work.

During the end of the month was my first chance to experience Summer School! This was an experience yet it didn't seem as difficult as it was made out to be in previous training sessions. There were three levels that were taught and class sizes for some were as big as 30 or more if all of the students parents attended. For me this was some of my most fun experiences of teaching since the lessons seemed more fun and a lot more of the students were engaged in the lessons. However I did notice a lot of the mothers of the younger children did not really discipline them when they misbehaved and then I realised why they were so naughty during their lessons with me...because they get away with murder when they're at home!

But I had a lot of interesting times during this month.

AUGUST

Just like in June I was luckily enough to get my August schedule early in July so I could plan another trip somewhere. I was thinking to myself where should I go next and then I just decided on Osaka mainly because Skymark only flies to Kobe and Tokyo (Haneda) from Kumamoto Airport.

Unlike the first time I went to Osaka I hoped that I would get more of a chance to see the city and also at the same time do some more tourist type activities. Before going to Osaka I searched on Booking.com to find a hotel with reasonable rates. Luckily I was able to find a decent hotel in Umeda that quite close to the station also.

Whilst I was still in Kumamoto I went to the International Centre there and managed to find a flyer about The Unlimited Pass in Osaka which would allow me free entry to some attractions as well as unlimited travel on certain train lines and the subway. I thought this would be the best and most cost effective way for me to get around Osaka.

I first picked up my Unlimited Pass from The Hankyu Station in Umeda. But unfortunately they only had the manual in Japanese and advised me to go to Osaka station to get an English version of the manual. Once I had the English version of the manual I decided to follow the guide at the back which suggested a good route to take to see quite a few of the attractions. I did however have to keep the Japanese version of the manual because it was in this that the 'Free Entry' coupons were. By the end of the day I was able to see quite a few attractions in the city. I really enjoyed the Pirate Ship ride near the Aquarium and also the Boat Ride in Namba.

Because I was enjoying the pass so much and wanted to go to the Zoo I thought I would try to pay the difference so that I could exchange my 1-Day Pass for the 2-Day version. However when I asked at Namba Station they told me this wasn't possible but maybe if I asked them at Hankyu Station where I got it from it might be possible. When I got to Hankyu Station I told a little lie and said that I had originally asked them for a 2-Day pass and was given the 1-Day pass by mistake. Then then gave me back my 2,000yen and told me that they only sold the 1-Day pass here and that I would have to buy the 2-Day pass from Osaka Station. I then thought to myself if I was really dishonest I could just leave with my 2,000yen since I had already done so much in the day, but I thought no I will go to Osaka station to get the 2-Day pass. When I got to Osaka Station they told me that the 2-Day pass was only available for people with Tourists Visas so I ending up keeping that ¥2,000 after all! ha-ha-ha

The next day I went to Universal Studio Japan! I had heard a lot about the park from people that have been. I was also curious to see how it compared to the one in Florida. There were a lot of people there that day and the queues were quite long at some of the attractions. Some of the rides brought some nice memories of when I was younger at Universal Studios Florida. A lot of the rides were the same as their American counterpart but because all of the introductions to the rides were in Japanese sometimes I didn't get as much out of them because I couldn't really understand what was being said. I also found that a lot of the rides were more family orientated and there was really only one roller coaster. But overall it was a nice place to visit even if it is a little expensive at ¥6,200 but I could have sworn I saw a yearly pass for ¥12,000+...go figure! ha-ha

Later that evening (morning) I went to Gets Your Shot! hosted by SNOB SOUND at Sam & Dave 02 in Shinsaibashi. This wasn't the first time I had been to this event so I knew what to expect. This was also the first time I was able to meet a Japanese Reggae dancer named Chammy. Even though I have spoken to her via Facebook/Twitter I had never actually met her. I was also in luck because she performed a Dance Showcase with her friend Aina. I also met more of the Japanese dancers again and they always seem surprised/find it funny that I know many of the Japanese dance routines and the songs that go with them! I really enjoy SNOB's (Yuka & Tsune) events because Yuka Snob loves dancing and everyone ends up dancing so there is always a lot of energy at the events. I hope one day this type of energy and vibe will be more present at events in Kumamoto.

The next day I pretty much slept in because I was tired from dancing all night. But once again I really enjoyed being in Osaka and was happy that I did something other than just go to the club which I was normally so used to.

SEPTEMBER

This month has gone by so quickly. I am finally starting to feel a bit more comfortable in my job and also with the students. It also nice that I am starting to remember more of their names and sometimes I don't need to give them their name tags.

However this month was the first month for me to experience Parent Observations! After my first week I realised once again there was no reason to be so anxious about it. As far as I am aware the parents had no problems with me because I was there doing what I was supposed to be doing.

Luckily near the end of Parent Observations I was luckily enough to have 4 days off in a row and so decided to go to Okinawa!!! I ended up staying in Naha because it was easy for me to get to the Airport from there. Also the other reason was that I was able to find a hotel that only charged me ￥16,500 for 4 nights which I thought was pretty good! However what I didn't realise was that all of the good things to see/do in Okinawa are not really that close to Naha for example the Aquarium. I read that the Aquarium was about 140mins away and would cost over ￥2,000 to get there and that's not including entrance to the Aquarium and unfortunately I only had around ￥15,000 for the whole trip.

Even though I was in Naha I was able to see some interesting things such as a Chinese Style Garden near my hotel, Kokusai Doori-Street and Shuri Castle which was quite nice since it was quite different to typical castles you see elsewhere in Japan. Whilst I was in Okinawa I was really getting a Chinese vibe from the whole area which was brought back some nice memories for me.

Whilst I was in Okinawa I met up with another friend who I only knew through Facebook. Jarvis was nice he enough to take me around in his car. On the Saturday I got there was his Birthday Party at Club Nest. It was here that I got to see Crossfire from Unity Sound as well as Pikkal King from King Jam Sound who I had met the month previous in Kumamoto. It was nice to meet all these people again and it was also interesting to see a dance in Okinawa where a lot of the people there where Non-Japanese (American Soldiers). However I think I prefer events where the Japanese are more in the forefront rather than the background because it made me feel like I wasn't in Japan and just at a normal dance back in London or maybe New York! ha-ha

Before the dance Jarvis was cool enough to take me to a place called Flex Bar & Grill which served Jamaican food. This was real good because I had been wanting to eat some Jamaican food since I got to Japan and I have to say that their Jerk Chicken was pretty good. During my last night in Naha I went to another bar called Afro Nest which I found a flyer for at my hotel. Once again I tried their Jerk Chicken however it wasn't as good as the Jerk at Flex but it was alright still since it tasted like seasoned chicken.

I had a nice time in Okinawa but what I learned from the trip was that you need more than ￥15,000 and possibly a car/some friends to drive you around. But like I said I had a nice time overall. Also I forgot to say that there was supposed to be a Typhoon when I was there but luckily it was alright just a light sprinkle nothing major which was good thank god!

I would have written some more but I'm a bit lazy and this post is already long enough as it is already. Also I hope to start making more videos and uploading them to my channel so if you have any ideas of what you would like to see please leave a comment on the channel. Thanks again for reading.

My Japanese Apartment!

2011-06-13T06:33:00.003+01:00

Like I said here is the video tour of my LeoPalace 21 apartment here in Kumamoto City, Japan. I know I made a few mistakes whilst I was talking but please forgive me because since this is my first video after all.

Please check out my YouTube Channel for more videos of my time here in Japan.

It's been a while.

2011-06-10T07:41:00.003+01:00

I've been really bad recently and haven't been writing in the blog. Whilst I was in China I was practically writing in it everyday but I think maybe that was more to do with me having to be at school for 7:40 yet I had nothing to do until at least 8:30.

I'm now in to my second month teaching. I would like to say that its getting easier but that's not 100% true. I have some classes which are good and I have some classes that are bad/annoying. I find that some of my most challenging classes are some of my youngest classes. It's like they have way too much energy and don't know when enough is enough and they don't listen. Thankfully it's just a handful of all my classes that I find a little challenging.

I work at a total of 3 classrooms and they are in Kamimashiki, Kikuchi and Kumamoto-Nishi. But because I only have 3 classrooms I tend to have to cover another teacher at a different location. Last month I went to Makurazaki in Kagoshima and this month I have to go to Kirishima once again in Kagoshima. The covering isn't so bad because I get a meal allowance of ¥2500 a day, get to stay in a hotel and all my travel expenses are covered. The only down side is that I won't get the money for this trip back until the end of the following month.

Last week I had to attend a meeting with all the teachers in my area (Kumamoto and Kagoshima) down in Kagoshima. We took the Shinkansen down there which was paid for by the company. The meeting was mainly about everyone showing off their demo for Summer School. I felt my demo went pretty well compared to my first demo I did a few weeks ago. We also had to do a short presentation on our home city/town which was pretty interesting because a lot of people put some effort in to it.

Last weekend I went to a talent show show hosted my the JETs that live in Kumamoto. It's was kinda cool to see some of the other foreigners that are living in the area. Most of them seemed pretty friendly too which is good.

When I go out in Kumamoto it seems like I mainly go one of two places and thats Bar Jail or Vibe. This is mainly due to them probably being the only places in the area that have regular Reggae/Dancehall events. It's gotten to the point that a lot of the people in there recognise me and some even gave me some nicknames such as Mr. D and Osaka 6 because of my Superdry t-shirts.

I like going to the Reggae events because it's always the same people so it's like a small community of people here in Kumamoto City that are in the Reggae/Dancehall scene. But unlike Tokyo or Osaka there aren't as many dancers here in Kumamoto so sometimes it feels like they want me to lead with the routines which I can't always do because I'm not a dancer! Also find because there aren't many dancers that come to these events the DJs don't play as much dancing music which is a bit disappointing sometimes. But hey at least there are some Reggae/Dancehall events in the area because I could be in a place where there are no events what so ever!!!

I've actually started to like living in Kumamoto City a little bit more. Kumamoto has quite a lot of cool things in the area. There are also quite a few specialised clothes shops that sell all kinds of things. I went to a shop last week in Kamitori called Packin' because I was told via Twitter that I could buy a t-shirt called 'Swag School' that was made/designed by the Japanese Reggae dancer I-Van. But I was really surprised when I saw that they were selling it for ¥5040! I ended up just buying a Red Stripe towel for ¥2000 instead.

I actually made my first vlog of me doing a tour of my apartment. After watching it back I noticed quite a few mistakes with what I was saying but I really didn't feel like spending any more time filming again. I'll upload it probably when I get home so please keep an eye out for it on the YouTube channel.

Finally completed one whole week!

2011-05-14T16:02:00.002+01:00

Today marks my last official work day of the week! I can honestly say I had fun for the most part. However some of my younger classes were a little difficult to control. They were more interested in running around or fooling around than learning English!

I met my first Japanese Teacher too at one of my schools. She is very nice and helped me a lot during my lesson with my youngest class. She seems like someone I could hang out with too when I'm not teaching which is a plus.

This month I am working all 6 day weeks where one week will be spent covering another teacher in Kagoshima. It's not so bad because the company will be putting me up in a hotel and giving me a meal allowance.

Today I was supposed to be covering a teacher but it turns out there was some kind of mix up because she wasn't told that I would be covering her so she turned up at the classroom too! We ended up team teaching where she taught two lessons and I taught one which was pretty cool.

I'm just happy I get to have a day off tomorrow. I got my schedule for next month and thankfully I actually have 2 days off a week! I think I will try and pick up a bike tomorrow since all this walking after I get home because i missed the last tram can be tiring sometimes!

I feel so tired after 2 hours of work!

2011-05-07T13:50:00.001+01:00

Right now I'm on my way home from one of my classrooms. I feel like today went quite well compared to my lessons yesterday. I was better able to manage my time and the students worked really well also. Because I finished at 8:30pm I could not get the lady bus and so had to get a taxi. Unlike the first time I decided to take the taxi to Kengunmachi tram stop rather than going all the way to my home. Overall this way worked out to be nearly ¥2000 cheaper which is good. I think I may stop by the supermarket again to pick up some of their discount pre-cooked dishes because I can't be bothered to eat spaghetti again for dinner!

*I was just joking about the 2hours thing by the way.

Where is all my money going?!

2011-05-01T13:01:00.000+01:00

Finally I think I have finished! I think now I have finally managed to buy everything I need (emphasis on NEED) for my apartment! It took me a while but today I was able to buy a pair of bins so that I can easily separate my burnable rubbish from my non-burnable rubbish (the plastic will just go in the corner somewhere). Having the bins will also give me a better reason to clean up because currently my place is in a bit of a state!

Recently it seems like I'm spending money like its water which is not good at all! The iPhone so far has been my most expensive purchase but I have found that general items are not cheap in Japan. The only place I can go to get cheap items is in the 100yen store. I think once I get paid my next high value purchase will be a bike! Today I also managed today to buy some more items for the kitchen such as a dish drainer and some sauces (chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and mustard) which will hopefully help when I'm cooking! Yesterday was the first time I cooked spaghetti bolognese in my apartment and it didn't come out too bad but maybe if anything I could have added bit more sauce.

On Friday I went to this Jamaican bar called Bar Cannon which was owned by one of the sound men from Cannon Connecter who was a DJ at the event I went to on Thursday called 'Cherry Thursday'. The event was pretty cool but at times I could help but wonder if they knew what type of night they were supposed to be because I was under the impression it was a Reggae night but there were a selection of DJs playing different types of music which a bit weird. Anyways the bar was pretty cool and the bartender in there was pretty friendly and same goes for this guy from Okinawa who was the only other person in there. But supposedly here in Kumamoto there is a little Reggae scene and people in this City/Area are into Jamaican culture which is good for me. Hopefully now that I have a phone I can start linking people a lot easier when I'm out and about.

Oh yea if you didn't already know its currently Golden Week here in Japan so I have a week off work! Its a pity I don't have anywhere to go though. If I had been placed in Kumamoto a little earlier maybe I could have made a trip to Tokyo or something to see all my friends down there. Some of the other teachers in my area have gone to South Korea for Golden but unfortunately I have to stay here in Kumamoto for the rest of Golden Week.

Tomorrow I hope to go out and visit some of the interesting places in Kumamoto City such as the Castle as well as the Suizen-ji Park. Supposedly the weather tomorrow will be quite nice if the app on my iPhone 4 is anything to go by. Yesterday the weather was terrible and so I was stuck in the house all day. So hopefully tomorrow will be much better.

Mr. Independent!

2011-04-28T09:09:00.000+01:00

Now I can officially say I have my own apartment!!! This will be the first time in my adult life that I will living alone if I don't count China.

On Monday I was able to meet all the other teachers in the area. They all seem nice and easy to get a long with. In the meeting we mainly discussed what is going to happen at Summer School and also if we have any problems with teaching in general.

After we finished the meeting the majority of us went back to Kumamoto City and hung out at an Izakaya. Like always I didn't drink any alcohol and just ate instead but the other teachers seemed to be enjoying themselves. Once we had finished in there we went to do some Purikura which was pretty weird. That was the first time I had ever done anything like that before!

Later we went to another bar which one of the teachers named Becky suggested. We didn't stay in there for too long due to some of the teachers feeling a bit tired. I was happy to do what ever the other guys were doing because I wasn't too familiar with the area any ways.

The next day I met up with one of the teachers named Sarah who was going to help me with applying for my Alien Registration Card aka Gaijin Card at the local City Hall and also setting up a Bank account. Everything was pretty straight forward with applying for my ARC and Bank account. But at the City Hall I was given a little booklet which would allow me to have free entry to many attractions/sights in Kumamoto for just applying for my ARC.

We also tried to enquire about getting a phone. After realising there is not enough time to decide to go somewhere for Golden Week I thought I might as well spend that money on an iPhone 4. So Sarah and I went to the SoftBank shop and enquired about the phone and they told me I would have to buy the phone outright because I only have a one year visa and so can not pay monthly. In total the phone would cost about 46,080yen (£336) and then I would have to pay the monthly bill. The deal they were telling me seemed like it was fairly good.

I then went with Sarah to the 7Eleven to withdraw some money but for some reason it was rejected. I later found out from my bank that my limit is £300 per day with my current card and I was trying to withdraw 50,000yen (£364) and this is why it was rejected. So I will probably end up waiting until Friday to buy the phone because right now I need this money to buy some items for my new apartment.

Oh yesterday I had my first day officially teaching. I think it went pretty well apart from getting really confused when I needed to get a bus to my school and also getting the taxi back home (it was expensive) because it was after the last bus! But apart from that it was pretty good and the students were good students as well.

I just realised I haven't actually said anything about the apartment. Well I am living in a LeoPalace21 apartment so I already have a TV and pretty fast internet (23.26Mbps download & 21.68Mbps upload) which is all included in my monthly rent. Overall it's quite nice and looks like one of the newer ones I had seen on youtube. I will probably do a 'My Apartment' video at some point but not sure when. Maybe once I make it a bit more homely. It seems like I am the only one out of the trainees to have an electric toilet which is pretty sweet! I think I will go out in a bit to pick up some stuff for this place because its pretty empty not even any toilet paper! I also need to find a way to stick things to my walls without damaging them. I have a Jamaican flag I want to put up as well as some other things.

It seems like Kumamoto City may not be such a bad place to live after all!

Sayonara Osaka!

2011-04-24T05:07:00.000+01:00

Today is now my official last full day in Osaka! My teacher training ended yesterday with a test which I didn't do too great in. Everyone needed to get at least 75% to pass but I ended up with 68%. I was told by my trainer that I would have to take the test again at some point once I move to Kumamoto. Out of the whole group there were 3 of us including myself who didn't pass. I didn't get much chance to revise mainly due to me being unwell and spending most of the past couple of days in bed!

This whole sickness has put a stop to my raving plans! I haven't been able to go out since I started to feel sick on Thursday. But I think I went out enough times since I been here in Osaka and I managed to meet some more cool people. The majority of them I knew through Youtube videos and/or Facebook but some of them I had met the last time I came to Japan.

Right now im in the process of getting all my stuff in order to repack my suitcases. I had the option of sending one of my suitcases to my area ahead of time but I decided to take both of my suitcase with me tomorrow. But I hope I don't regret that decision tomorrow! I will need to get the train from Shin-Osaka at 6:50am and I will arrive in Kumamoto at 10:27am. Pretty much as soon as I drop my stuff off at the hotel I will have to get back on the train and attend a meeting with all the people in my area. In this meeting our manager will go over some new things such as what the plans are for summer school.

I think I may keep my future posts short so I can post more frequently and I wont miss anything out. If you haven't already done so please 'like' my facebook page and follow me on twitter @dgrey1986. Thanks for reading.

Finally some time to myself!

2011-04-18T13:43:00.003+01:00

Ok I finally have some time to write something in here that is a little more substantial. Just in case you didn't see any of my pictures of Nagoya Castle or the Sakura on my tumblr photo blog you can see a few of them below but the rest are on the photo blog.

Well I have been in Osaka now for nearly one week. At the moment I am staying in an area called Takatsuki which is about 20mins away from Umeda, Osaka by Rapid Express train.

I can honestly say that I have been enjoying living in Osaka far more than living in Nagoya. Compared to Osaka Nagoya seems kind of tame. The first night we got here I knew that this would be a great place to be living. It also helped that we weren't too far away from the main areas in Osaka or Kyoto.

So far my teacher training has been going pretty well. It reminds me a lot of my CELTA that I did early last year. The format is pretty much the same except that it is all being squeezed in to 2 weeks rather than it being spread over 4 weeks. The only gripe I have with the training so far is having to travel some distance to get to the training school/location.

I have observed two teachers so far and the first was pretty much what PKC were trying to tell us not to be! It was quite funny seeing him but I have to say he was really good with the students and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves in his lessons. The second teacher was pretty cool too unlike the first he was a bit more by the book but that didn't get in the way of him having fun with his lessons and creating his own games for the students to play.

Last Saturday I had my first opportunity at teaching whilst being supervised by a more experienced teacher. Overall I felt it went pretty well apart from the fact that one of the students seemed a little bored/disinterested in the lesson. But after reading the teachers notes in the communication notebook it was clear to see that it wasn't only me that noticed she seemed unfocused in class.

Later that night I was actually able to go to a Dancehall event in Shinsaibashi, Osaka! I had been waiting for the chance to go to somewhere good after arriving here in Japan. I don't really count the place I went to in Nagoya as good because it wasn't really a dance night just old school Reggae.

I got to the club around 12:30am after following the directions I had written down in my notebook. When I got inside the place was pretty empty. Apart from the DJs and Staff there were only 2 of us in there. But I have to expect this in the club scene here in Japan. Normally people don't start showing up until maybe 1:30/2:00am. It wasn't until around that time people started to fill up the club but I was quite surprised when I first got there at how small it was.

I decided to come to this club over any other mainly due to SNOB being one of the DJs on the night. I knew one of the members from SNOB named Yuka mainly through my Dancehall in Japan facebook fan page. But it was actually nice to meet her in person. Both her and her partner Tsune were both very nice and kept bigging me up on the mic...MAD!

There were 3 dance performance that night which were all pretty cool! But I will say that I liked both the first and second ones over the last one. I have posted a video of the first performance below.

Everyone in the club was very friendly. A lot of them kept asking me where I was from and if I was a tourist here in Japan. Fortunately this time I could say that I was an English Teacher and that I will be living in Japan. Although they were all pretty surprised when I said I will be moving to Kumamoto City! I took quite a lot of pictures that night and can't post them all here. If you want to see some of the better ones please have a look at my tumblr photo blog: j2dephotography.tumblr.com

I ended up leaving the club around 6:00am and got back to Takatsuki around 7:00am so was very tired when I got in. But luckily I have the chance to go out again tonight. I will go to another one of SNOB's dances in Shinsaibashi at Sam and Dave 02 called 'Get Your Shots'! Luckily I do not have to teach until 4:00pm tomorrow so I will be alright coming back at 6:00/7:00am that morning...I hope!

More to come...

2011-04-11T16:08:00.000+01:00

Sorry I haven't updated this in a little while. But just in case you didn't know I have arrived safely in Nagoya. Since I have been here I have been fortunate to see some interesting things in the city. The most interesting thing so far was actually being able to see the Sakura in full bloom at Nagoya Castle.

At the end of tomorrow I will be moved to Osaka to complete the remainder of my two week training course which started yesterday. I am quite excited about being moved closer to Osaka city since we will actually be in Osaka prefecture and supposedly we will be somewhere between Osaka and Kyoto. I am really looking forward to checking out some of the reggae clubs in Osaka on the weekend since the reggae scene in Nagoya isn't really saying much unfortunately.

When I next get a chance I will update the blog more thoroughly with more information and pictures. Same goes for the facebook page and youtube channel. But for the mean time please have a look at some of the images I have posted on to the tumblr account: j2dephotography.tumblr.com

Thanks for reading.

Sadako says: 7 days!

2011-03-29T22:31:00.006+01:00

You're probably wondering what I mean by the title of this post but I am simply referring to the character from the Japanese movie Ringu (aka The Ring) where the deceased character Sadako says to you on the phone "7 days" after you watch the cursed video tape! So basically today makes it exactly 7 days before I leave for Japan!

I have been watching BBC News as well as NHK World nearly every day since the events of March 11th happened. The situation at the Nuclear Plant and the radiation being emitted from there makes me slightly nervous at times. But I know once I get moved from Nagoya to Kumamoto City I will be very far from the plant in Fukushima however I still wonder sometimes if Kumamoto is far enough!

My mother has her own ideas about me going on this trip. But I keep trying to reassure her that after the two weeks I spend in Nagoya I will be even further from Fukushima and the Nuclear Plant. But the fact that I am surround by active volcanoes doesn't help my case about me being safer in Kumamoto. But I know that if things do become too serious I have enough money put aside to leave the country at the drop of a hat.

When I haven't been worrying about my safety in the country I have actually been researching a little more about Kumamoto and the surrounding areas. There seems to be a fairly large community there for expats most of them being teachers participating in the JET Programme. I have also managed to find a few websites with more information about the area. One of the main ones being Kumamoto International which is a wiki page all about things in Kumamoto in English that people living in the area have written.

There seem to be many recreational activities to do in the city such as swimming, ice skating, karate, tennis or working out at the gym. As well as the things I just mentioned there are also the standard things you will find such as bowling, the cinema, restaurants and many bars and clubs. I am sure that I can find something in the city to occupy myself with when I am not busy teaching!

I also found out that I can take a ferry from Fukuoka to Busan, South Korea for around 25,000yen (£188) return. The journey takes about 3 hours one way and the company JR Beetle makes several trips to the city per day. Hopefully I will be able to make this trip at some point of me being in Japan. But for Golden Week I hope to go to Osaka since I can't seem to find a cheap guesthouse in Fukuoka.

In regards to actually getting to Japan I believe by the end of this week I will have completed everything that is on my to-do list. Although I haven't actually started packing yet due to me waiting on some clothes I recently ordered to be delivered as well as some other small things. But like I said, hopefully by the end of this week I will have everything sorted.

Kumamoto City here I come!

2011-03-16T15:09:00.001Z

After much waiting myself and the other teachers have final been told our tentative placement locations. Because of the recent events in Japan we were told that all over our placements had to be re-jigged and so we were either placed in the Chūbu Region or further west in the Kyushu Region.

My location is Kumamoto City in Kumamoto Prefecture which is on the island of Kyushu. Riaz and Loren who are two of the other teachers that are attending the same training session as me were placed in Gifu Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture which are both in the Chūbu Region. Helen another teacher was placed in Wakayama Prefecture which is in the Kansai Region. The last teacher Peter was placed in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. So as you can see we have all been spread out across the country.

When I first heard about my location I was a little disappointed because I had hoped to at least be placed somewhere near my 2nd choice which was Osaka in the Kansai Region. Or at least somewhere that I was more familiar with. But after doing some research about the area and watching some videos it seems that Kumamoto City may not be such a bad place after all. Originally I thought about asking to be moved somewhere else based on the fact that the city is situated fairly close to two active volcanoes. But later I realised if they did move me somewhere else I could end up in a place that is better or a lot worse! So I decided to just stick with this placement.

Micaela riding around Kumamoto City with her bike
From looking up Kumamoto City on WikiTravel there seems to be quite a few interesting things to do. I will be able to see the Kumamoto Castle, Suizen-ji Gardens and visit Mt. Aso which is about 1hr40mins from Kumamoto City by local train. There is also an amusement park in Arao City called Mitsui Greenland which is not too far from Kumamoto City.

One of the many festivals in Kumamoto City
There also seems to be quite a few places to shop as well as nice places to eat in the city. One of the traditional foods in Kumamoto City is Basashi which is actually raw horse meat!!! I am fairly adventurous when it comes to food but the idea of eating raw horse meat does not appeal to me at all! But depending on how long I am in Kumamoto City I may end up trying it!

Lucky for me Kumamoto City is about 2hrs away from Fukuoka by train or bus both costing around 2,000yen one way. So if I can't find something interesting to do in Kumamoto City i'm sure I will find something to do in Fukuoka. Also during my investigation I found a couple clubs in Kumamoto City that play Reggae. So some Reggae is better than no Reggae at all so I can at least get my fix. If not I can always go to Fukuoka because they have a lot more going on there. I am a bit disappointed there doesn't seem to be any type of sports team in Kumamoto because I would have liked to have gone to a Baseball game. But again I can always visit Fukuoka for that type of entertainment.

I have just a few weeks left before I am supposed to fly out. Luckily I received my suitcases and all the other stuff I ordered. All that is left is really to buy my travel insurance and also some new clothes/shoes for my new job. Luckily for me I can wear casual clothes in the classroom so I do not need to bring many shirts and ties. It looks like my suitcase is going to be fairly light...I hope!

...almost there! prt 3

2011-03-12T16:36:00.003Z

Today in the post I received my external hard-drive, hair clippers and camera bag. I decided to open up the hard-drive first and to my surprise the hard-drive was a lot smaller than I had initially thought. I was under the impression that it was quite large in size and this was the reason I decided not to but the blue model instead of the white one. I felt that the blue version would look ugly compared to everything else I own. But now, I am thinking maybe I should've bought the blue one for an extra £5 since that model has an extra 110GB worth of storage!! Well I guess I just have to be satisfied with 640GB and delete things I do not need when its filling up.

The hair clippers are quite small too and feel nice and comfortable in my hand. My friend thinks I should use them before I go just in case they can not cut afro-hair but I believe they will be alright. However if I do find that they are not that great whilst I am in Japan I can feel easy knowing that I only spent £20 on them.

I am happy now that I actually have a bag for my Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2! The bag which I bought will allow me to carry around the camera with the 14-42mm lens attached and have the 14mm pancake lens in the bag also. But I think I may also get another bag just to hold the camera when it only has the 14mm lens attached.

The only thing I am really waiting for to be delivered are my suitcases. Hopefully they will come on Tuesday/Wednesday next week. Once I get that I will pretty much have completed 90% of the things on my to-do list for the trip.

Yesterday I received a letter from my old employer stating that there had been an overpayment in my last wage of £135. They paid me from the 1st - 31st December when I should have only been paid from the 1st - 28th December. This is actually the worst time to hear that I owe someone money when I am supposed to be preparing for my relocation to Japan. I have until the 7th April 2011 to pay the money back!

I think I will contact them next week to sort this out as well as the Lufthansa to confirm that my booking was made. I will also need to explain to the Student Loans Company that I will not be paid until the 25th May and so will not be able to make the repayment date in April. Hopefully they will be able to sort this out since all of the information about my pay was included in the copy of the contract I sent them!

Latest Earthquake in Japan recorded at 8.9!

2011-03-11T18:19:00.000Z

I'm sure everyone has already heard about the Earthquake (recorded at 8.9 on the richter scale) that has hit North-Eastern Japan. Shortly after the Earthquake that area of Japan was with by a Tsunami with a height of up to 10 meters (32.8ft). The aftershock was felt in Tokyo and as far as Beijing in China.

Originally when I first heard about the Earthquake it was on the radio during their news segment. I didn't think much of it because I know Japan is a place that is used to receiving many Earthquakes. It wasn't until I started to watch what was happening on the TV that I began to realise it was quite serious.

Whilst I was watching the events unfold on TV it did make me think that I could had possibly been involved in this disaster if my start date was slightly earlier. I spent the majority of the day tuned in to BBC News to find out as much information about this disaster as possible. I also thought about my friend who was in Tokyo on holiday but luckily I found out later he was ok.

I just hope that all of my friends and their families in Japan are safe. But I believe this Earthquake will be remembered by the Japanese people and the world for quite some time.

...almost there! prt 2

2011-03-10T16:02:00.006Z

I received confirmation from the Student Loans Company regarding how much I would have to make in repayments of my student loan. It seems I will only have to pay £39 per month towards it based on how much I will be earning in Japan. Luckily like here in the UK the repayment threshold is £15,000 in Japan and so I only have to make repayments based on anything I earn over that at 9%.

What I think I will do is add about £500 to one of my saving accounts here in the UK and then I can make my repayments to SLC of £39 via direct debit using that account. I believe if I do it this way its one less thing I need to worry about when I am in Japan and also I will not miss any payment deadlines.

I am still keeping my eye on my payment to Lufthansa via Paypal after reading online that sometimes they have been known to accept the money very late and sometimes not at all! I have read that certain travellers have arrived at the airport only to be told that a seat had been reserved for them but no money has been sent to Lufthansa. So like I said I am keeping my eye on this transaction. I am lucky that I bought my ticket a month in advance to sort out any problems like this!

I am able to cross another thing off my list today as I have just ordered my new suitcases. In total they were £69 but I get two instead of one for this price. Originally they were listed at £149 but have been reduced to £69.

www.thesportshq.com
I think the one I ordered looks very nice but its not very indistinguishable from another suitcase so I plan to put something on it so I can easily spot it. I decided to get two suitcase just in case I decide to visit other parts of Japan I can bring a change of clothes much easier.

Hopefully tomorrow I will receive my Camera Bag, 640GB External Hard-Drive and my Hair Clippers (all bought from amazon.co.uk). I wanted the external hard-drive because the internal one in my new laptop is not that big and if I wanted to do any video editing or Photoshop work I could fill that up quite quickly. Just in case I can not find someone to cut my hair well whilst I am over there I may need to cut it myself hence the purchase of the hair clippers.

The only thing that is really left is to buy some travel insurance to tie me over until I enrol on to the National Health Care System. The company also require me to obtain a letter from my Doctor just stating that I am fit to work in Japan. I should be picking that up new week sometime so I will keep you posted.

Messing around with Vegas Movie Studio 10

2011-03-07T14:39:00.005Z

Recently I've been trying to get used to using Vegas Movie Studio 10. I have made a few video clips using various effects and I have also been practising using the different titles/text available in the program. I hope by the time I am ready to go to Japan I will be competent enough with VMS that I can make fairly decent videos.

I hope to upload all the videos I make whether they are vlogs or just general videos about Japan to my youtube channel. Like this blog the youtube channel has the same name: youtube.com/journeytodaeast

I spent some time yesterday trying to create a decent background for the channel. I ended up using one of my older graphics so that I could quickly put something together. Right now on the channel there is only the test video of me messing around with key frames but I hope to upload a lot more very soon.

If you haven't seen the quick video I put together you can have a look at it below. However I think that 30sec for the intro is a bit too long and so I will cut it down to around 15sec. I will probably use the same theme with the collage to keep it clean and simple.

Once I take some new photos out in Japan I will create a new intro for my videos. Also if you didn't know there is now a Facebook page so when you get a chance please 'like' the page: facebook.com/pages/Journey-to-da-East/191209360918679

Its official I am good to go!

2011-03-05T19:53:00.003Z

Officially I am good to go! I got my work visa earlier this week and I bought my plane ticket to Nagoya yesterday. Luckily the price of the flight with Lufthansa was still the same as the last time I checked. I ended up paying £497 for the flight with a stop over in Frankfurt. The duration of the flight will be around 15 hours including the stop over in Frankfurt. This will be the first time I will have flown to Germany but it is a pity I will not get to see much of the country.

All I really need to do next is buy my travel insurance for the first couple of months before I enrol on to the Japanese National Health system. I also need to buy a new suitcase as well as some new clothes to fill it with. Although I still do not know what position I will have in Japan nor my location so I think I will wait a bit before I start buying new clothes.

On Thursday of this week I met some of the other teachers that will be starting the training session at the same time as me. I had been communicating with them all via email but it was nice to actually meet them in person. From having spoken to them they all seem friendly and I believe we will all be able to get on really well once we are out in Japan.

Today I have just spent my time trying to streamline this blog by adding a removing certain things. I have also added more links to other social networks so people can better follow my journey in Japan. I ended up creating a Youtube account for my vlogs, a Flickr account and a new Facebook Page. So please if you get a chance please like and/or subscribe. I will try my best to keep all of these places updated. But the main area where I will post content will be on this blog. Thanks again for reading.

...almost there!

2011-02-28T23:43:00.000Z

After waiting 3 days I was able to get my Work Visa. Like the first time I went to the embassy I had to show my I.D. at the door as well as being searched as I went inside. I was lucky (or maybe unlucky) to meet the same person who took my application from me. The whole process we very smooth apart from the fact that this guy was probably the most grumpy person I had ever met. I couldn't wait to get out of there to be honest but I did stand in the embassy for a little bit just admiring my new visa! Now all that is left to do is buy some travel insurance and my plane ticket.

Now that I have my Work Visa I would love to just go to Tokyo and chill for a bit before I have to go to Nagoya to start my training. But because I have already arranged a few little get togethers with friends I don't know if I want to change everything now.

I will probably still book my flight with Lufthansa because they are (were at the time I last checked) offering the best deal to Nagoya. Because the flight is about £100/200 less than I thought it would be means I will have a bit extra left over to spend on other things I may need/want for this trip.

It seems as if everything is coming together very nicely...only 5 more weeks to go!!!

Back to Japan!

2011-02-25T01:32:00.003Z

It has been a little while since I have written in this blog but it appears I am going back to Japan!!! It may have taken a little over a year but its finally happening and I will be able to stay in Japan for at least a year maybe longer depending on how things go!

I thought long and hard about it and decided that I should apply for a teaching job in Japan late last year. This was mainly due to my contract ending at my previous job. I went for two interviews, one was with Shane English School Japan and the other was with Peppy Kids Club (iTTTi Japan). I was lucky enough to get offered both positions. I found out that I was successful during my third interview which was with Interac.

I informed both SESJ and PKC that I needed to think about their offer and that I would get back to them in a few days. After deliberating for a couple days I decided to go with PKC mainly due to the hours that I would be working and that fact that my housing would be subsidized and I would only have to contribute ￥55,000 towards it as opposed to ￥78,000 if I had gone with SESJ. The only downside I guess to having chosen PKC is the fact that there is no guarantee that I will be placed near Tokyo (SESJ was in Tokyo). During the interview I had requested to be placed near Tokyo as my first choice and then near Osaka as my second choice. The recruiter also confirmed that I would be sent for the training session beginning April 11th in Nagoya.

In the interview with iTTTi Japan I was also told by the recruiter that I may not be given the job at PKC but could possibly be given a position as an ALT or as an Online English Teacher. I was a little surprised at this since I had originally applied for the job with PKC. The Online Teaching position has the same monthly wage as PKC at ￥250,000 (+commuting expenses) while the ALT positions monthly wage is ￥266,000 (+commuting expenses and enrolment onto Shakai Hoken). Both the ALT and Online Teaching positions are in and around Nagoya, Aichi prefecture. I am still yet to find out which one of the three positions I will be doing or my location but supposedly I will find these out around 4 weeks before I depart.

Once I accepted the position there was a lot of paperwork that I needed to complete before I can actually get out to Japan. I had to get a Criminal Record Background check done and also apply for my Certificate of Eligibility. My CRB came back in a few days and I have just received my CoE after waiting around 3 - 4 weeks. I went to iTTTi Japan's office in London and picked it up. I then took the CoE to the Japanese Embassy and they informed me that it would be processed by Monday 28th February with a processing fee of £20.

So far I have managed to buy the majority of the things I will need (want) for the trip such as my new camera the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 and a new laptop. Unfortunately I knew the netbook I already had wouldn't be good enough for everyday use and so I decided to get something which was a bit more powerful. The only things I really have left to get are a pair of Monster Beats by Dre and a new iPod (160GB).

Once I have my Work Visa I will buy my plane ticket to Nagoya. I will probably buy my ticket with Lufthansa because at the moment they are offering the best price for a one way flight to Nagoya at £496. Although there will be a stop over in Germany for a couple of hours due to the flight not being direct. I was contemplating flying with Cathay Pacific because their stop over would be in Hong Kong. However their flight is £575 and I'm not sure its worth spending the extra money just to visit Hong Kong for a couple hours.

I will try and keep this blog updated about my time in Japan like I did when I was in China. But I am sure I will have a lot to tell you and it won't just be about the Dancehall scene in Japan because Japan has so much more to offer. I will keep you all posted!

Japanese Saukra at Himeji Castle

19th Day: Last Day in Japan!

2010-01-20T12:30:00.007Z

Today was the last official day I had in Japan. Everything was packed and ready for the airport fairly early. I didn't have much trouble sleeping because myself and the guys mostly stayed up all night waiting until we needed to leave to catch our flight. It was quite early when we left because I remember it still being dark outside and the whole guesthouse was very quiet.

Bren had told the other guys a quick/cheaper way to get to Narita Airport rather than taking the Narita Express from Tokyo station. Once we had gotten to Ikebukuro station we took the JR Yamanote Line to Ueno where we caught another train. It was here that we said out goodbyes to Bren because this was as far as he could come unless he wanted to come all the way to the airport.

The train ride was fairly long and the guys and myself kept falling asleep because we had not slept the night before. At one point I felt so tired that my eyes were burning. Once we got to the Airport everything was calm and relaxed. We all had Mc Donalds breakfast because we were all so hungry and I also managed to pick up some souvenirs (omiyage) for my family members.

I can honestly say I enjoyed this trip a lot even though a lot of the things I ended up doing alone. I also didn't get to see or do as many tourist type things as I would have liked but I knew at the time like I do now that this wouldn't be my only time to visit Japan.

If you plan on going to Japan I would recommend picking up a book such as the ones I posted below to help you plan what you would like to do and see whilst you are in Japan. Once you have a plan you will not waste any time whilst you are there.

17th Day: Trip to Ebisu for some Jamaican food!

2010-01-18T23:50:00.000Z

Today was the day that I had agreed to meet Haruno in Ebisu. She had planned to take me to a restaurant that served Jamaican food. I had confirmed earlier in the day via email that I would meet Haruno around 18:30 at Ebisu Station.

When I left the guesthouse I realised that I had no way to contact Haruno because I did not have a her phone number, a phone or access to the internet. I arrived at the station on time and at the exit we had agreed to meet however I couldn't see Haruno. This was the worst time not to have a phone because I had no way to get in contact with her.

I then started to walk up and down the station in search of Haruno but she was no where to be found. I carried on searching for around 30 minutes and just as I was ready to leave the station to go back home I saw her standing in the middle of the station. I was so relieved to finally meet her because I was slightly worried since I didn't know if something had happened to her. She explained to me that she had trouble finding me too. Either way I was just happy we finally met up.

I then walked with Haruno in the direction of the restaurant. As we walked and talked it seemed as if she had forgotten the way to the restaurant. She told me should couldn't remember the way because she hadn't been there in a little while. We then went to a convenience store were she asked for directions. The guy working there didn't seem to know where it was however he pulled out a big map from underneath the counter to try and help us find it.

When we left the store I told Haruno that I was surprised that the guy had pulled out a map because everyone time I asked someone in a store for help they just told me they didn't know where it was I wanted to go. She then told me that all convenience stores have a map like that which made me slightly annoyed. We continued to walk for about 10 minutes or so and then we eventually found the restaurant...but it turned out it was closed! So after all of that it felt like the trip was slightly wasted.

Haruno proposed that we go somewhere else maybe to another restaurant. I didn't mind where we went at the time because I was just really hungry! We ended up going to this Chinese restaurant and I decided to order egg fried rice with some fried squid. When the rice came it had a fried egg on top of it! I remember saying to Haruno is this how it comes and she said yea. I was surprised because I assumed the egg would have been mixed with the rice. Although it came like this I managed to eat most of it (with some help from Haruno) and the fried squid was nice too. We both continued to talk and have a good time but all the time we were there Haruno was surprised that I didn't drink alcohol. I just told her I have never liked the taste of it.

After the restaurant I wasn't quite ready to go home so Haruno suggested that we go to Starbucks to chill for a bit before we went home. This was the first time I had actually been to a Starbucks to actually spend any amount of time in there since I don't drink coffee. Again Haruno was surprised that I didn't drink coffee or tea either and laughed when they gave me this little kids drink carton when I asked for juice!

We stayed in Starbucks for a little while talking about various things but I was surprised when she told me she was a an avid Star Wars fan! She never once gave the impression that she was one yet her and Chiho called me an Otaku for liking Japan!

After Starbucks we left and went back to Ebisu Station. We said our goodbyes on the train as she got off at one of the stops before mine. I couldn't help thinking that it was a shame that I had to make a friend right at the end of the trip when I was about to go back to London. But I guess everything happens for a reason.

16th Day: Carribean Sunday

2010-01-18T11:00:00.003Z

After having a nice rest from being out the night before I decided to go to Caribbean Sunday for the last time before I left Japan for London. For me Caribbean Sunday was the best night I had out whilst I was in Tokyo and this is why I wanted to go again but it also helped that I could get in for free because I was Jamaican.

Earlier in the day I had been in contact with Haruno via Facebook and Email. I was curious to know if she would be coming to Caribbean Sunday but she wasn't. Instead she invited me to go to dinner at a Jamaican restaurant in Ebisu on the Monday. I agreed to meet her in the evening after she had finished work at Ebisu Station.

Getting to Ikebukuro from Hibarigaoka was probably the easiest compared to going to Shibuya. It took only 17mins using the the Rapid Train. I also was so familiar with the location of the club that I took a special exit out of the station that allowed me to be about 10 meters away from the club once I came out.

Once I got to the club I saw this African boy that I met the last time I went to Carribean Sunday called Muhaed. Whilst the club was quiet I started to speak to him and he told me how he and his family came to be in Japan. He was also excited about being able to go out to clubs and bars now that he had turned 20 years old. Then I remembered that in the previous week all the young people had their Seijin no Hi Ceremony.

Once it got around 01:00 I noticed that the club wasn't as packed as the last Sunday. But I guess that was to be expected since the last Sunday was a special occasion for a lot of the young people in Japan.

Later that night I-Van came to the club along with Yumiko from Helty Baddy Girls, Milo, Corn Bread, Irie Pam Pam, Lisa and Hotta Manammy. This was the first time I had seen Yumiko so was quite excited to speak to her because I was familiar with her and her dance partner Youko. I remember confirming with I-Van that she was actually Yumiko even though I knew full well that it was her.

I got a chance to speak to Yumiko and she was surprised I could speak some Japanese. I also told her that it was a pity that Youko wasn't there that night but before she could tell me why I told her it was because she was in New York. She asked me how I knew that and I told her I knew this from their blog.

This night was quite cool because there were less people in the club and so there was more space to dance. I also had the opportunity to dance with almost all the dancers there apart from Hotta Manammy because I just remembered what happened to the guy at Master Blaster the night before when he tried to dance with her!!! So I wasn't really in the mood to be embarrassed just yet in Japan.

When the song Dem Alone by Mavado was played Yumiko was very surprised when she saw me doing Japan Squads (I-Van, Helty Baddy Girls and Baboo) routine for the song. I told her that I had learned the routine from youtube!

The DJ from Asian Star was very friendly and he would always hive me a shout out on the mic. He remembered me from Party Hard Tuesday, Rockers Paradise and the last time I came to Caribbean Sunday. He would always say on the mic "Dorian don't be shy" when it came to me dancing with the girls in the club. Later that night he made an announcement informing everyone else in the club that this was my last time I would be out in Japan before I go back to London.

Once the party was winding down I wanted to take some pictures with everyone that I had met. I asked them all to take a group picture with me which they happily agreed to do.

Asian Star and I-Van both asked me when I was coming back to Japan but at the time I didn't know when I would next be back. They then wrote down their contact details and told me to contact them again in the future when I come back to Japan.

As we all left the club I went with Muhaed to Mc Donalds because I was feeling very hungry and by this time they were already serving their breakfast. Once we got in there we met up with I-Van and the other dancers. It was quite funny when they were trying to tell me that the Japanese dancer Lisa was known as the "cockey clasher". At that moment however I didn't know what they meant when they kept saying "cockey" but later I understood.

This night for me was pretty good too since by this time a lot of people were familiar with me and tried to make me feel more welcome in Japan. It was just a pity that by this time I only had a few more days before I had to go back to London.

15th Day: Master Blaster

2010-01-17T13:02:00.000Z

I decided not to do anything on the 14th Day which was a Friday and just stayed at the guest house with the other guys. However I decided to go to Master Blaster at Shibuya Eggman on the Saturday.

I had not been to Eggman before and so was not quite sure where it was in Shibuya. From their website (and the flyer I had) the easiest way I for me to get there was through Yoyogi Station because I was familiar with that area since I had been there before. I walked from the station in the direction of NHK Broadcasting Studio and then I saw Eggman on the left just down some steps.

Once I got there it was pretty empty but this wasn't usual considering it was only around 00:30 and the Japanese don't get to the club until around 01:30 or 02:00. The night started off with Early Warm music which played until the club got slightly more full. Once the club was more packed they started to play more Dancehall music as opposed to the Reggae they normally play during the Early Warm session.

This particular night had a lot of dancers there and one of them was I-Van who I had seen the other night at Ragga Wagon. Once I-Van and the other dancers arrived the energy went up in the club and people were dancing and enjoying themselves a lot more. At one point the group of dancers that consisted of Corn-Bread, Milo, Bag Juice, Irie Pam Pam, Lisa and Hotta Manammy got on the stage and started to perform. Later I-Van joined them with Marie and Cha Cha from ChandeLella and performed his "Get Score" routine.

This was also the first night where I actually saw someone filming the event. They were also doing interviews with some of the people in the club.

Whilst I was in the club I was able to take a lot of pictures of everyone as well as all the dancers. It seemed that they were all putting on a show whilst they were on the dance floor. I also saw Shy-N while I was in there and went over to chat to him. However this time I did not get to speak to many of the dancers like last time at Ragga Wagon but that was cool. I just had a good time dancing with them all instead.

After the club night had finished I was hanging around near the exit and two of the girls that I had took a couple of pictures of earlier started to speak to me. One of them asked me what my t-shirt said. I was wearing one of my Superdry t-shirts and I knew that the Japanese/Chinese on it didn't make any sense. Although it was a good thing I decided to wear it that night becase it actually was a good conversation starter.

After I got talking to Chiho, Haruno and their friend Akane I realised that their English was pretty good mainly due to them studying it as well as having visited English speaking countries such as America and Jamaica. One of the girls who was named Haruno told me that she had actually studied in New York for a period of time too which I thought was pretty cool.

Once we left the club we continued to talk about where I was from. I started to talk to Haruno more and asked her if she had Facebook. I was fairly surprised when she said she did because not many Japanese people that I spoke to previously used it. She then used her iPhone to add me on there as a friend. Later they started to tell me that they had a friend who went to London to study Music. However at the time I didn't make much of it but thought it was cool that their friend went abroad to study. Chiho told me that they were going to eat and asked me if I wanted to come. I thought I might as well because I was pretty hungry after all that dancing.

We ended up going to a restaurant called Denny's which was about 5 mins walk down the road from Eggman. The restaurant was laid out ina typical American way and they also served American food along with Japanese food. Whilst we were there Akane did not speak as much as Chiho or Haruno mainly due to her English not being as good I think. We stayed in the restaurant for a little while but it seemed liked Chiho was pretty tired because she kept falling asleep.

When we left the restaurant it was daylight and I felt really tired as well. We just walked down the road from the restaurant and I was surprised to see that it was so close to the main area in Shibuya (with the pedestrian crossing) considering I walked a totally different and longer way to get to the club earlier. Chiho and Haruno went their separate ways to catch the train but Akane was getting on the same train as me. I managed to speak to Akane a little more whilst we were on the on train and it was quite funny when she was telling me about her time in England and how she used to eat Fish & Chips.

I had a really good time that night at the club and also spending time with some Japanese people that I could actually have more of a conversation with. I hope that I will be able to see them again when I next visit Japan.

13th Day: Ragga Wagon

2010-01-16T17:02:00.020Z

I remember looking at some of the flyers I had from previous nights at the club. In amongst them was a flyer for an event called Ragga Wagon which was being held at 27 Destiny in Shibuya. I had never been to the club before so like many of the others I visited I had to try and find its location based on the directions on their website.

I managed to come of of Shibuya Station via the Hachiko Exit which seemed to be my usual exit every time I went to Shibuya. Looking at the little map that was on the flyer I preceded to walk along the Shibuya streets in search of this new club. I had to walk a little bit to get to the club. But once I managed to find it I was fairly surprised to see that it was next to Club Asia!

Once inside I was given a drink token like many clubs I had been to previously in Tokyo. But unlike the other clubs I was also given a Ragga Wagon ticket which would allow me to participate in what was going to happen later in the evening. When I walked down to the dance area the club was fairly empty apart from a few Americans and some Japanese. But it seemed like these people didn't know it was a Reggae night at the club nor did they know these club nights don't really get going until the early hours of the morning. Because of this quite a few people left the club and some even tried to get me to go with them but I told them I was going to stay.

The night started off slow with some early warm music. But as the night went on more people started to pour in to the club and the music started to get more lively. I even saw the guy Chaka Chaka. I asked him what happened on Wednesday but he told me he was busy that day and could not go to the dance. Later on a few people went on the stage and began to dance too. As I was standing I noticed one girl that looked familiar to me and I remember saying to her "...I know you from youtube!" which is a great way to start a conversation I know haha. It turned out that she was a dancer called Sizzka! Unlike many other people I got talking to her English was pretty good and she like the rest was very friendly. While I was hanging around I saw both Miharu and Haruka from AB Squad. They were pretty cool as I tried to speak to them using my limited Japanese. At one point one of the DJs started to make an announcement and it sounded like he said I-Van. I asked Chaka Chaka if I-Van was here and he said he was then pointed to the corner. I approached I-Van in the corner and asked if I could take a picture with him. I-Van then said "YEA MONNNN!!!!" and started to talk to me in a Jamaican accent. He then told me to come on the stage with him to dance but I was like "no, no, no" since the last thing I would want would be to embarrass myself on the stage. I thought this was quite funny when he spoke to me since it was the first I had heard a Japanese person talk like this. I-Van asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Japan. I told him I was from London and was just in Japan for a holiday.

It was at this point that I-Van wanted me to come on the stage with him to dance but I kept saying "no, no, no" because I wasn't ready to embarrass myself just yet in front of Japanese people I barely knew. I-Van began to dance to one of his new songs that he had just recently finished recording in Jamaica with Shelly Belly called "Get Score". The crowd started to get really excited once I-Van started to dance.

After I-Van got off the stage the 2006 Japanese Dancehall Queen Mai and MC Shen Long started to begin the whole Ragga Wagon night! A whole bunch of ladies lined up on the stage and what I could gather from understanding some of the Japanese the men on the dance floor were supposed to choose one of these girls. This was the first time I had ever seen anything like this in the club before. Each lady came up one by one and gave an introduction and then Mai asked the audience whether or not there was a man that wanted this lady. If a man said yes he would be called to the stage and then the lady would decided whether or not she wanted him. Hardly any of the men decided to get on the stage but when they did the majority of the time the ladies said no and the man kinda just walked off the stage with a look of disappointment on their faces.

After this had been going on for a little while I thought maybe I should go on the stage too if I see a girl I like. But of course there was one I liked, the same one I had seen a few other times at the club. Yes it was the one and only Haruka from AB Squad! When Mai brought her on to the stage she went through the same routine of asking her some questions then saying to the audience in Japanese something like "...which one of you would like this woman?". At the time I thought I didn't want to seem too eager so waited about 5 seconds before I put my hand up..haha! When Mai saw that I had my hand up she called me to the stage and asked me some questions in English but she was quite surprised when I answered her in Japanese. Mai then asked Haruka whether or not she wanted me and Haruka then began to think. Luckily for me she said "OK!" but maybe she just did that so that I wasn't embarrassed haha. We then shared a glass of champagne to seal the deal so to speak.

I kept wondering to myself what was supposed to happen or what were we supposed to do once this was over. Although I did ask Haruka if she wanted to go on a date but she just told me she was busy which I thought fair enough. While I was walking around the club Domino-Kat said to me "...you got di gal!" which made me laugh because I just remember how I saw Domino-Kat nearly every night since I have been out in Tokyo. At the end of the night I hung around a bit more to take some pictures with some of the dancers such as Megu from Hottie Cat and Mai. I spoke to Mai briefly and she was very friendly and asked me if I was going to Master Blaster at Shibuya Eggman which at the time I wasn't sure if I was going or not.

Overall I would say that I really did enjoy this night and met a few more people in the club that I only knew from youtube videos.

12th Day: Rockers Paradise

2010-01-14T23:12:00.009Z

When I was leaving PHT (Party Hard Tuesday) this guy I met in the club called Chaka Chaka told me that he would be going to another dance on Wednesday called Rockers Paradise. I thought to myself I didn't have anything planned that evening so I might as well go to this dance. This was the first time I had ever been to Shibuya Camelot and wasn't sure where exactly it was. Luckily as I was walking around Shibuya following the map on the flyer I noticed some people I saw from Teki Teki Thursday at Ikebukuro Bed. I asked if they knew where Shibuya Camelot was and they pointed me in the right direction.

When I got to the club I paid the entrance fee but also received a lighter as a gift which I thought was pretty cool. Once I was inside the club was fairly quiet but I came to expect this since the majority of Japanese that go to these types of clubs tend to get their quite late in the night. What I didn't realise however was that this night was fairly special because there was to be a live showcase or battle if you will between Japanese artists.

I was lucky enough to see Akane again as well as a few other artists perform on stage. I also got the chance to see Ryo the Skywalker perform on stage as well which was pretty cool even though I did not know many of his songs lol. Whilst I was in the club I got to see my new friend Domino-Kat again. Everytime I met him he was always friendly to me. While he was talking to me there was a video playing on one of the monitors in the background which he then began to point to. He then started to say "...look, look" as I was looking I asked him what the name of the song (video) was and he told me it was called "Street Team". While I was watching it I noticed a lot of J-Reggae Dancers featured in it like I-Van and the Helty Baddy Girls.

A lot of the music that was being played were some of my favourite songs. As I danced around it seemed as if a lot of people were looking in my direction, maybe they thought I was a dancer from Jamaica or something lol. While I was dancing this guy came up to me and started to do a routine, as he was doing this he tired to get to me copy his routine but by this time of the night I was too tired to copy anyones routine especially when it was more than a few steps.

Overall this night was pretty cool but was a bit disappointed that I did not get to meet that guy from the previous night since he was the one who told me to go to this event. As I was on my way back to Hibari House I stopped off at Mc Donalds for their breakfast because I was so hungry due to the fact that the last meal I had was nearly 7 hours ago.

11th Day: Party Hard Tuesday

2010-01-13T23:07:00.003Z

Like most days recently I slept until about 9pm. I wanted to get up earlier however I was just too lazy to wake up earlier. For once I had made a plan before that night about where I wanted to go. When I was in Axxcis on Saturday I was able to pick up a few flyers for upcoming events. One of these events was 'Party Hard Tuesday' at Shibuya Amrax.

Luckily I already knew about Party Hard Tuesday but it was handy to have the flyers because they allowed me to get a discount of 500yen. Like most nights I decided to ask the others if they wanted to come, but the majority of them said no. However this time Jordan said he would come out.

Left the Hibari house shortly after Jordan agreeing to come with me that night. I told Jordan that I walk quickly so that I can get the last train to Ikebukuro from Hibarigaoka. We went the exact same way that I had gone on Saturday to get to Axxcis for Kachi Kachi: New Years Party. We left via the East exit at Shibuya station and I walked the same way I had gone before. However we were following some directions on the bottom of the flyer but got a little confused. We went inside a Lawson convenience store which was near by and asked for help. The guy in there tried to direct us in English but was having difficulties, but I just started speaking Japanese to him so then he easily gave us the directions in Japanese.

We left the store and walked around the corner following the guys directions. As we walked down the road I noticed the club Axxcis and thought wow the two clubs are so close to each other. When we walked past Axxcis we noticed some girls practising a dance routine while playing dancehall music. I approached them and asked them in Japanese where club Amrax was. One of them pointed in the direction of the club and told us that its very near to where we are standing, so we continued walking down the road.

When we got to the club I realised I had passed it on the Saturday as I approached Axxcis. When we got in we were searched briefly by security. Because we had the flyer we only had to pay 1500yen instead of 2000yen. We got inside the club and it was quite small we thought, however it wasn't until we walked around the club a bit more that we realised there was a downstairs part to the club. After waiting on the dance floor for a bit I decided to come back up stairs because it was quite empty. When I got upstairs I walked around a bit just looking at the posters on the wall and some CDs they had on sale.

It was after about 15 minutes of being upstairs that's when I saw a Japanese reggae singer named Micky Rich. I said to him "hey, you're Micky Rich!" and he said "yea, I am". I thought it was pretty cool to just seem him in the club like that. I asked him if I could take a picture with him and he said sure. I didn't speak to him much because he didn't seem like he wanted to talk to me that much.

While I was upstairs I also saw Ken-U and Domino-Kat who are members of Ent. Deal League with Micky Rich. Both of them were very friendly and allowed me to take a few pictures with them. I also got to meet a group of American guys who were in Tokyo on holiday like myself. After I was finished upstairs I ended up going back to the dance floor to join Jordan. Whilst I was on the dance floor Domino-Kat approached me and he remembered how I said that I liked his song with Akane called Flowers. He told me that Akane was actually in the club this night too. I was quite surprised to see Akane in the club that night but I later realised that it is not a big thing to see celebrities in the club with other people.

While I was on the dance floor I noticed Reggae dancer Shy-N was there as well as a few other dancers. I also noticed Haruka from AB Squad, however at the time I was a bit shy to talk to her. When we were leaving the club Domino-Kat shouted out to us that we should add him on Myspace.

Overall I had a good night at Party Hard Tuesday and would recommend it to anyone in Tokyo and to anyone who likes Reggae/Dancehall music.

9th Day: Caribbean Sunday!!!

2010-01-11T21:44:00.003Z

After having slept for the majority of the day I eventually woke up at around 10pm. I was quite excited about this evening because I knew tonight was the first night I could actually go to Caribbean Sunday since I actually knew how to find Ikebukuro Bed.

I quickly had a shower and something to eat before I left the Hibari Guesthouse. As always I asked the others if they wanted to come but they said no. One of the main reasons they didn't want to come was because of money issues and them not really being as interested in the Reggae/Dancehall scene as I am.

By now I was pretty clued up about when was the best time to get the last train. I got to Hibarigaoka station at about 23:50 and I was just in time to catch the last train. When I got to the Seibu exit at Ikebukuro I decided to walk a different way this time instead of the usual way I knew which would be all the way around the outside of the train station. This time I walked all the way from one end of the Ikebukuro station to the other. This way took me practically to the exit right near club Bed.

When I got inside the club I approached the door man and told him that I was Jamaican. He didn't seem to have a problem of me not being able to prove it and just took my word for it. It was quite funny because the only thing I had on me Jamaican was a little keyring with the Jamaican flag on. The reason I told him this was because it is free entry for all Caribbean and Ladies all night.

Once I walked into the main area of the club I noticed a lot more people compared to Teki Teki Thursday. I think one of the main reasons for this was due to the next day being a National Holiday. The National Holiday in question was actually the Seijin no Hi which is literally the coming of age day. This is when people who become 20 years old are officially recognised as adults by law.

As the night went on the club became so packed to the point where it was a little too much at times. There were too many people in any one space which made it difficult to dance. All through the night the DJs were playing some of my favourite Dancehall songs. They also had Jamaican food being served provided by Good Wood. It was interesting to dance with the Japanese because everyone was there to have a good time. There was no sign of people being bad mind towards one another. Everyone was just there to have fun and enjoy themselves not to start any trouble what so ever. This was a welcomed change compared to what normally happens at many clubs in London.

It was weird at times because I was dancing with quite a few girls but only realised afterwards (from some youtube videos) that some of them were actually somebodies in the Reggae scene. The two I mainly danced with were part of a dance group called AB Squad. I liked one of the dancers more than the other. The one I liked was named Haruka she was very sexy and it was her dancing just made her that more appealing.

Once it got to about 04:00 people started to leave so that freed up space in the club. The party didn't actually finish until about 08:00 which I thought was crazy. While I was in the club I met this African boy named Mahmoud. I recognised him from the night before at Kachi Kachi. He told me that he liked the way I was so relaxed on the dance floor yet I hadn't had anything to drink. Mahmoud told me that he had been living in Japan since he was about 10 years old. I thought to myself wow he is pretty much Japanese by now. On the night he was like many others celebrating his Seijin no Hi that weekend. I told him that I would see him again next week at Caribbean Sunday. After I came out the club my whole body was aching, it felt like I just came back from having a workout at the gym.

I took the train back to Hibarigaoka and as soon as I got in I pretty much went straight to bed because I was so tired. However I did take the time to upload my photos and videos to my facebook profile ha-ha. Overall I would say this was the best night I had so far since I have been in Japan.

8th Day: First Night in Shibuya and First Day in Harajuku

2010-01-10T21:54:00.001Z

I ended up sleeping for the majority of the day. When I awoke everyone at the Hibari Guesthouse told me that they were planning to go out in Roppongi. I however already had plans to go to 'Kachi Kachi 2010 New Year Party' at Shibuya Axxcis. I found out about this event earlier in the night but thought this may be my only chance to see the reggae dancer Shy-N.

After I had finished getting ready to go out I was in two minds about whether to go to Kachi Kachi or not. While I was on the train going towards Nerima I decided at the last minute to go with the other guys to Roppongi instead. We changed at Nerima to get another train that would take us to Roppongi. As I sat on the training thinking I realised I would much rather go to the reggae night at Shibuya Axxcis than go to Roppongi. I said bye to the others and quickly got off the train at a station where I could get the JR Yamanote Line towards Shibuya.

Once I got to Shibuya station I followed the directions I had written down in my little note book. I managed to follow the directions well until I got to an area where I became confused. I asked some people for help and they told me that the club was down a side road. I told them thanks and then proceeded in the direction they had told me. I kept walking in that direction because the guy said I would be able to see the club. I continued to walk for about 20 minutes until I realised I didn't know where I was. I asked a group of people at a crossing for help and they told me I was in Ebisu now not Shibuya and I had walked way too far.

I walked back towards Shibuya and then asked two ladies for directions. Luckily they actually heard of Axxcis and could tell me where it was. I followed their directions and ended up at the club. I saw a queue of people outside the club waiting to go in. I waited until I got to the front of the queue. I told the lady that I wanted to go to Kachi Kachi on the 4th floor. She told me that the entrance fee is 3000yen, but I could have sworn on the website the picture on the flyer said 2500yen with no flyer. At the time I didn't query it and just paid the amount she asked for. Once I got upstairs I saw some of the flyers for the night on the table. When I looked at them my suspicions were confirmed about the price, however I couldn't be bothered to go back downstairs to argue about be ripped of for 500yen.

Unlike Teki Teki Thursday there were a lot more people this night at Axxcis. The lockers here however were 300yen instead of 200yen like at Ikebukuro Bed. Early in the night they were playing Reggae tunes but as the night progressed they moved in to Dancehall. I was one of only a handful of foreigners which I liked. Later in the night Shy-N and Issei came out carried out a dance performance. Once they had finished they continued to party with everyone else in the club. I told Shy-N that I knew him from youtube videos and asked if I could get a picture with him which he didn't have a problem with.

The night finished about 6:30am which was good but by the end of the night I was very tired. I was so thirsty after I came out the club that I went to the nearest convenience store and bought a big carton of fruit juice. On my way home I realised it was actually Sunday now and this was the day that people came out to cosplay at Harajuku. I arrived at the station at around 7am but realised people won't be in Harajuku until around 10am at the earliest. I thought to myself what would I do until that time because I knew if I had gone home I wouldn't have come back out. I decided to stay on the JR Yamanote Line for three full cycles to waste 3 hours. One cycle around the Yamanote Line is 60 minutes.

When I got to Harajuku station it was pretty busy and I was feeling very hungry. I decided to stop off at Mac Donalds for something to eat. I decided to wait until around 12pm before I went in search of the cosplayers. To waste some time I walked through Yoyogi Park. I was actually surprised when I saw some ice sculptures on display. I left the park and I then walked around the area looking for the bridge the cosplayers normally gather at. I ended up asking some Japanese but they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I then asked some foreigners and they told me that they gather right here. I thought to myself right here? The area was right next to the Harajuku Station but it was so small and on TV and in pictures the bridge looked much bigger.

It was about 11am so I decided to visit the NHK Broadcasting Studio to waste some time before I could see the cosplayers. The studio was fairly interesting and they had a lot of Domo-Kun memorabilia. When I got back to the bridge at around 12pm I didn't see anyone in costume. I waited a little bit and eventually I saw a group of people in costumes. I found it quite funny when this American guy went up to the group and asked for a picture and they just said no to him directly.

I decided to make my way back home because not much else was happening in Harajuku at this time. When I eventually made it home it was around 2:30pm. I was so tired because I hadn't slept in like 16 hours and my body was so sore from dancing all night.

7th Day: Studio Ghibli / Hip Hop night but um...where are those girls?

2010-01-09T06:22:00.007Z

Today was the day that I had planned to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum. I followed the instructions I had received from japan-guide. I went my normal route to get to Ikebukuro from Hibarigaoka. Once I was at Ikebukuro I got on the JR Yamanote Line to change at Shibuya. When I got to Shibuya I changed on to the JR Chou Line for Mitaka. It took me a little while before I got on the right train at Shibuya because I got a little confused by the directions.

Once I left the station in Mitaka there was a little shuttle bus that went directly to the Museum like it had said on the japan-guide website. It took roughly around 5 minutes to get to the Museum from the station. The museum was quite interesting however I did find myself not as interested in certain aspects of the Museum for example the section devoted to Ponyo which I knew nothing about. I didn't stay very long at the Museum because it wasn't very big. Outside the Museum there was a large statute I think from the movie "Castle in the Sky".

I arrived back home early that afternoon. It felt strange being back at the Hibari house to early. Later that night I decided to go back to Ikebukuro Bed this night because the night before the three girls I had met told me they were going to be there again. The night was a Hip-Hop night with a few live MCs and dance performances.

When I got to the club it was pretty packed and filled with smoke. That is one of the things I dislike about the clubs in Japan, everyone can smoke! Fair enough if you are a smoker its not a problem but if you are like me and not a smoker its not a good environment to be hanging out in.

I waited for a little while but it didn't seem like the girls were coming, but unfortunately I was stuck at the club until at least 5:00am so I could get the train back to Hibarigaoka. I saw another guy I had met at Bed the night before and I told him I was waiting for those girls and that it didn't look like they were coming any more and he thought that was bad of them.

One of the MCs came up to me as I was sitting down and started telling me about his group. He was Japanese but had lived in New York for 20 years. The name of his band is 'The Sexorsist', he also gave me some stickers with his bands logo on.

I didn't really enjoy this night that much because I am not that into Hip-Hop and those girls never showed up.

6th Day: My First Night in the Club!

2010-01-08T09:02:00.003Z

I had been waiting a little while for this and the day (night) had finally come. I decided to go back to Ikebukuro Bed now that I knew where it was for one of their Reggae nights. Before I left I asked the other guys at the Hibari Guesthouse if they wanted to come but they didn't.

I made my way to Hibarigaoka station to catch one of the last trains of the night to Ikebukuro. When I left the train station I decided to quickly get something to eat from Mac Donalds before heading to the club. I managed to remember my way back to the club quite easily. When I got to the club they told me that it would be 2000yen entry and they also asked me for some I.D which luckily I had. I also got a ticket to get one free drink at the bar.

Once I got on to the dance floor there weren't many people and at the time they were only playing Reggae music when I had actually gone that night to listen/dance to Dancehall music. I went up to the bartender and asked him where I could but my coat and he told me I could put it in the locker behind me. I went up to the locker and it appeared to be a coin one. The cost to use the locker was 200yen. I thought to myself that is not too bad considering my stuff would be kept secure in there until I am ready to leave.

When I got to the club at around 12:30pm it was quite empty. It wasn't until around 1:30/2:00pm that it started to get a bit more lively. It was during this point I met a group of girls that loved dancing to Dancehall music. They danced around me and seemed surprised when I knew the dances to each of their respective songs. All through the night it never got busy so we all just danced with each other. I think one of the main reasons there weren't many people that was because it was a new event.

Thee club stopped playing music around 5:00am but I stayed a little bit whilst the three girls kept talking to me. They all seemed friendly and were interested in finding out information about me. Two of the girls decided to stay a little longer but I left with one of the girls named Momo because we were going home in the same directions. But before I left I asked the girls when they would next be at the club and they told me Friday which would be the later that night. I told them cool, I will come tonight again as well.

Overall that was a pretty interesting night and a good start to more nights out in Japan.

5th Day: The Motivation Day

2010-01-06T12:02:00.015Z

Today was the day I actually motivated myself to going out somewhere. It helped that I had my little note book with interesting places to visit. Today I decided to visit Akihabara. Akihabara is a place where you can find many electrical items as well as Otaku, Anime, Games and Maid Cafe.

While on the train to Ikebukuro there was a guy next to me just looking at porn like it was nothing. I found that pretty funny because he did it as if there was nothing to be embarrassed about. When I arrived in Akihabara I was overwhelmed by all the lights and shops filled with electronics. I took a quick stroll down the road until I saw a Maid handing out flyers on the street. I thought to myself I might as well check out one of these Maid Cafe so that I can say that I have at least been to one.

The little maid outside was pretty cute but she must have been about 4ft or something because she was very small. Once I got inside I was greeted by all these girls dressed in french Maid outfits shouting "irashaimase, okyaku sama" which means welcome honoured guest or something along those lines. I was overwhelmed once again by all the pink and hearts all over the place. The little maid told me outside (in Japanese) that it would cost 500yen service charge and I would have to buy at least 1 drink which costs 550yen.

Inside the Cafe I saw posters stating that I can not take any pictures whilst in here. As I was sitting a Maid came up to me as I sat at the table and explained what happens in here. She told me that I am the master and she is the Maid. She used a candle to symbolise this bond we would share for this meeting. She also told me I can get her to do stuff for me if I pay, for example she could play a game with me (and let me win I think) like Jenga or we could take a picture together. But each of these things were extra at the cost of 500yen each. I told her the one drink would be fine for now.

As I sat I looked around to see what kind of people attend this type of place. I saw some teenagers, a middle aged guy and then a business man. I was surprised when I saw the business man because I thought he must have a daughter that is around the age of one of these maid kids.

After about 20 minutes the little maid who got me to come in from the street got up on stage and then started singing some song. It was pretty cute but again I thought what am I doing here this place is not for me. If I wanted to pay for women to hang out with me I might as well got to the Hostess club at least there the women are adults and not dressed like Anime characters or maids.

When I left I saw the little maid on the street again and asked her for a picture but she said no you can not have a picture, you have to pay if you want a picture. I guess I was out of luck. As I walked up the road I saw the other Maid that was supposed to be mine whilst I was in there but she left to go do some touting early in to my visit.

Because the day was still early I decided to go to Shibuya to have a look around. I decided to leave Shibuya train station via the Hachiko exit because I was curious to see what type of memorial they have created for this dog. As I came out the station I saw so many people on the streets, the most amount of people I have seen since being in Japan.

Hachiko: A Dogs Story (American Version)

I walked around briefly and crossed the Shibuya crossing which was insane because there were so many people crossing the road. I later ended up in HMV because I was curious to find some J-Reggae CDs which I could possibly buy and take back to London. I was looking for a specific CD but unluckily I was unable to find it whilst in there however I did enjoy listening to the music they had on offer using the headphones.

I didn't spend long in Shibuya because I didn't want to do any shopping and I didn't know what else was good to see in the area. When I was going back to Hibarigaoka from Ikebukuro station there was a mad rush to get on to the train. So many people rushed on the train to find a seat. This was the first time I had ever been in a train as packed as this but I guess it had probably something to do with it being rush hour or something.

When I got home everyone was getting ready to go out. No one was quite sure where it was we were going to go but just decided to go out. The first place we decided to visit was Masters bar but it seemed like he had already closed for the night. We started to walk around and eventually found one bar. Bren was the actual person who found it, but the funny thing about this bar was that it was a Jamaican bar. I was surprised to see such a place in Hibarigaoka. The owner was happy to see us all because we were a large group and deicded to give every the option to drink as much as they like in one hour for 1000yen each. Unfortunately I didn't get a discount for drinking soft drink but what can you do.

It was quite interesting inside the bar because it had been decorated to appear Jamaican. I also asked the owner if they had Reggae music and he said "sure, I do", so he put some music on for us as well all just had a laugh while relaxing in this bar.

4th Day: Feeling Lazy

2010-01-05T22:40:00.004Z

I spent the majority of this day sleeping. It was like I was too lazy to get up. I even set my alarm for 12:00pm but I still didn't want to get up. I eventually got up around 5:30pm. That is a really bad time to get up considering I am supposed to be on holiday.

I met up with the other guys in the house to see what they were doing. Like me the were all pretty lazy that day. They told me that they were going to go to Life to pick up some supplies. I decided to go with them because I wanted to buy a little note book which I could use to plan what I wanted to do whilst I was in Japan.

We all went to Life to pick up some stuff. Ebz had this big bottle with him that he could get refilled with filtered water for free. I told Ebz that I was going to look for my note book. I asked at one of the counters and they told me I can find it on the 2nd floor. After I had found they type of notebook I wanted in Life I met up with the other guys inside the shop. Ebz told me that there is one cashier that strokes your hand when she gives you your change. I thought to myself, that sounds pretty weird but I was curious to see it for myself. I went to buy something and then went to that cashier. It was just as Ebz had said she stroked the bottom of my hand as she gave me the change. I still kept thinking that was a pretty weird but not necessarily in a bad way ha-ha.

Once we got home I decided to fill in my note book with places I wanted to visit and how to get there. I knew once I did this there would be no reason why I can't go anywhere by myself. While using Japan-Guide to help plan stuff to do/places visit I realised that I needed to buy the tickets for the Studio Ghibli museum in advance from Lawson convenience stores. Lucky for me I knew exactly where there was a Lawson and that was in...Ikebukuro.

I just happened to find many Lawson just by chance as Jordan and I wondered around Ikebukuro getting lost. I went to a Lawson once I got to Ikebukuro and luckily the cashier in there was friendly and knew exactly what I wanted when I said Studio Ghibli. He helped me buy the ticket because the Loppi machine is totally in Japanese. After I had finished buy the ticket for this Friday I decided to check out Ikebukuro: Bed again now that I knew exactly where it was. This time I took a picture of the timetable outside the club so that I could remember when things were. I noticed that this Thursday (07/01) was a Reggae night so I decided not to go in that day because it was just a Hip-Hop/R&B night and I would rather go to the Reggae night. That is after all one of the main reasons I am in Japan.

When I was going back to the station I noticed a lot of people running around which mad me think "shit, they must be closing!" so I quickly started to run to the Seibu line. The guard there was lowering the shutter which was about 3ft from the ground but luckily one guy shouted out and the guard stopped the shutter so I seized this opportunity to dive under too ha-ha. I was lucky to get on otherwise I would have ended up at the club after all waiting until 05:00am to get the train again.

3rd Day: Ueno with Friends and Ikebukuro Mission

2010-01-04T01:30:00.016Z

Well for the first few days I didn't get up to much, except stay at the Guesthouse. The main reason for this was the fact that everyone in Japan was still pretty much on their New Years holiday.

It wasn't until Monday came that I actually ended up doing something. One of my friends from Facebook told his girlfriend that I would be coming to Japan and that she should take me out if she has time. I told Yumiko on that Monday that I was in Tokyo through Facebook. She later informed me that she was going out for dinner with her friends and that I should come if I have the time. I responded saying that I wasn't doing anything that day and that I would love to come.

Later on that day I realised that I would not be able to contact Yumiko once I leave the Guesthouse due to my lack of a Japanese mobile or any other internet device. I asked the other guys if they wanted to come but only Jordan was interested. It was good that Jordan wanted to come because at the time I was not too familiar with the train system.

When we got to Hibarigaoka station we were running a bit late. Yumiko had told me to be at Ueno station for 19:30 but the time was already 19:00. While I was in Ikebukuro I decided to purchase a Suica card which is similar to the Oyster card in London but does not give you any discount on the fare. However having this card makes things much quicker whilst travelling.

We eventually arrived at Ueno station at about 19:50. I followed Yumiko's instructions from the email and left the station via the central exit. Just as Jordan and I got through the barriers there was Yumiko smiling whilst saying "DORIAN!!???" and I said "Yea thats me!", that was when she gave me a big hug and breathed a sigh of relief as she said she was worried she would not be able to contact me whilst I was travelling and didn't want me to get lost.

With Yumiko there were about 6 of her friends. We went round to each of them introducing ourselves. They all seemed like nice people from first the impressions. One of her friends had accidental left his keys on the train and so went back to look for them. The rest of us proceeded out to Ueno towards to the restaurant. On the way Yumiko's friend met up with his other friend who he had also invited to the restaurant.

Once we arrived at the restaurant I realised it was going to be Japanese food. Me personally am not a big fan of Japanese food so was a bit worried about what they would order. The restaurant was pretty cool, it was a standard Japanese restaurant where we had to take off our shoes before we sat down at our table. Everyone seemed to just order a lot of food from the menu, Yumiko asked Jordan and I what we would like but we didn't really have a clue what to order.

After about 10 minutes the waiter started to bring the first of the dishes that everyone had ordered. Everyone then began to start sharing the food they had ordered, this was kinda interested because Jordan and I got to try things we may not have normally ordered. The most interesting thing I had on the night was fried Tako (Octopus) which was quite nice but a bit chewy.

We left the restaurant around 11:30, we all walked together to the station before saying goodbye to everyone as we all parted ways. Yumiko, George, Kazuki, Jordan and I were all going towards Ikebukuro which was cool, so we all went together. It was interesting talking to George because he was a foreigner like us and gave a different perspective on what life is like in Japan. He sememed to be interested when I told him about my life in China and some of the challenges I faced whilst being there.

Once we got to Ikebukuro we said bye to Yumiko and the others. I felt it was a good idea that I decided to meet Yumiko for dinner because she and her friends were very friendly and welcoming which is good for someone who is out of their comfort zone.

When Jordan and I were in Ikebukuro I had the urge to go to the club. I asked Jordan if he wanted to go and he said sure why not. There was a specific club in Ikebukuro called Bed that I was looking for. We went all over the place looking for this club, we asked countless police men for help but still we couldn't find it. In the end we were lucky enough to ask one set of police officers who knew what Bed was and could direct us a little better. We finally managed to get there but when we did it was closed! Outside the club was a timetable which happened to be different from the one that was on their website.

We decided to walk back to Ikebukuro station but as we were approaching there were all closing the exits. It seems we were too late to catch the last train back to Hibarigaoka. We had to wait until 05:00am until we could get the next train. We walked the street for a little while trying to find a place we could stay until 5:00am because at the time it was only about 02:00am. We managed to find one bar near Sunshine city where we could play some games like Darts, Table Football, Jenga and Golf. This place was pretty cool however we had to pay a service charge which was 530yen. When they first told us about this cost I could have sworn they said it included 1 free drink. But when it came to pay I saw on the bill that we had be charged for the drinks we ordered. I queried it but they couldn't really understand what I was saying but it seems that we just had to buy at least 1 drink plus that service charge to stay there.

We then made our way back to the station which was finally open again. I was so glad to get home but I wasn't even that tired to be honest. I think it was because I was still on UK time. But overall the night was good and I got meet some nice people as well as find some interesting places in Ikebukuro.

1st Day in Japan

2010-01-02T20:38:00.008Z

I have just arrived at Tokyo's Narita Airport. Overall the journey was quite quick. Once I got to the airport I had to buy a train ticket from Narita airport to Ikebukuro. My friend Ebz had told me the previous day that it would only cost around 2,200 yen. However once I was ready to pay the lady told me it would cost 3,300 yen. Luckily I had the money because I wasn't expecting to pay just 2,200.

I waited around 20 minutes for my train to arrive. The train was actually the Narita Express that would take me straight to Ikebukuro station where I would have to change there to get on the Seibu Line. It took around 1hr40min to get to Ikebukuro station. When I got off the Express Train and actually went in to the station I was slightly overwhelmed by all the signs and people rushing around.

I walked around the station a little bit until I found the signs for Seibu-Ikebukuro line. At first I was a little confused about where I was supposed to buy my ticket. It wasn't until I saw a crowd of people gathering around a set of machine's that I realised that was where I was supposed to purchase my ticket. Unfortunately for me there were no instructions as to how to buy my ticket.

Luckily I was able to figure out that the number (station) on the train line map related to the number on the machine which in this case was 260. After I had bought the ticket I was a little confused where to go because on the electronic timetable I did not see Hibarigaoka. I had to ask for some help, this was when my Japanese started to actually come in handy.

I asked a mother and her children for help in Japanese. I told them I wanted to go to Hibarigaoka but I didn't know where to get the train from. The daughter went to look at the timetable for me and realised what platform I needed to get the train from. They told me you need to get the train to Hana but the mother then said to me it is the 2nd stop, that is Hibarigaoka. I thanked them then proceeded to platform 5 to get on my train. It only took around 10 minutes to get to Hibarigaoka from Ikebukuro because it was the express train.

When I arrived in Hibarigaoka I recognised the area from looking it up previously on google maps street view. I followed the map I had previously printed off of the Tatami Guesthouse's website. The walk was not very far from the station but I did feel tired after a little while because my suitcase was slightly heavy and I was carrying two of them plus a bag on my back.

After about 20 minutes I got to the area I thought the guest house was according to the map but I couldn't find it. I also didn't have a phone to contact anyone to ask them where I need to go. While I was wondering around lost I bumped into an old couple, I asked them for help in Japanese and thankfully they were more than happy to help although neither of them spoke English however. I told them I wanted to go to Tatami/Hibari Guesthouse and they phoned their daughter to ask her for help. The mother then passed the phone to me so that I could speak to her daughter. The daughter asked me in English were it was I wanted to go and I told her. She then asked me to pass the phone back to her mother. The mother then realised where this place was and told her husband. They then told me to follow them as we walked back up the road. Eventually we ended up at the Tatami/Hibari Guesthouse, I thanked both of them and bowed and they simply said while smiling you're welcome.

When I went inside, the place was empty. On the side near the office was a letter and a key, at the top of the letter was my name. The letter simply explained where my room was as well as other amenities. I proceeded to my room and unlocked the door, I was so happy to be able to sit down at last. I quickly plugged in my netbook to see if either Jordan or Ebz were online to inform them I had arrived. I waited about 30 minutes then Jordan came online, I told what number my room was and then he said he will meet me in a minute. Jordan came down and greeted me, I then asked him where the others were and he told me still sleeping, I laughed because it was around 2pm now. He said that he was just about to have a shower and would see me again shortly.

Later that day I met more of the people who are staying at the guesthouse in the common room. I met a guy named Adam who was also from London, this guy was pretty cool and very welcoming. He told me some useful things about the Guesthouse which I appreciated. He then told me he was going to the local Super-Market called Life and asked me if I would like to tag along so I thought why not.

Inside Life there was also a MacDonalds, at first I didn't want to eat that but I then thought I'm hungry so I might as well get something I am familar with. Adam ordered me a new pork burger with some tangy sauce as well as a "shakin' chicken" or something. It was a piece of chicken fillet that came in a bag which you sprinkled either lemon or black pepper on then shook the bag. Once I had finished my lunch I did a little bit of shopping. I just bought some crisps and bread with some ham and cheese which I could use to make a sandwich.

When I got back to the Guesthouse I ended up falling asleep as I sat in my room. I woke up later that evening with so much energy. Because another one of the guests staying at the Guesthouse was leaving soon everyone decided to go out to wish him farewell. We ended up going to a local bar which one of the guys went often. The guy that owned the place was nick named Master. This guy was very friendly and kept giving us free food. We stayed at this bar until about 4am.

When we left the streets were practically empty void of any people except ourselves. A few of us were feeling hungry and decided to eat some curry so stopped of at a local restaurant in the area. This place was pretty cool because you make your order outside using a machine then take your ticket inside and hand it to the waiter/chef for him to cook it for you.

After we had finished our meal many of us couldn't decide what we wanted to do so just decided to walk back to the Guesthouse. When we got in it was around 5am. Because I was so awake it was difficult for me to get to sleep. I woke up the next day at around 8am but then went back to sleep at about 11am. I then woke up at 3pm. I think my sleeping pattern is slowing fixing its self....maybe!

Lou Jing

2009-12-31T22:56:00.004Z

Lou Jin the Black and Chinese contestant on Go Oriental Angel a Shanghai-based talent competition. She has been receiving a lot of hate online by Chinese who feel she is ugly because she looks so dark. They also dislike her because her mother had an affair with a black man whilst married to a Chinese man. One of her nicknames online is "xiao hei gui" which means "little black devil".

http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/shanghai-black-girl-lou-jing-racist-chinese-netizens/

check some of the comments the Chinese left (its been translated to english).

I think Lou looks very pretty in the picture below. What do you think?

Penultimate Day

2009-12-31T22:33:00.004Z

The day has nearly come for me to leave for Japan. Like I said in an earlier post it has been a long time coming. I just hope when I leave tomorrow I won't forget anything at home. My next post will be after I have arrived in Tokyo. See you on the other side.

I wish everyone reading a Happy New Year!

Acer Aspire D250

2009-12-06T15:47:00.005Z

I finally have my netbook. In the end I decided to go with the Acer Aspire One D250. The screen size is about 10.1 inch and the netbook is around 1 inch thick. The netbook comes with both Android and Windows XP OS. I messed about with Android for a bit but didn't really like it that much. However having it enabled allowed the boot-up time of the netbook to be around 15 secs which I thought was pretty cool.

But to be honest I'm in no rush to start the thing up so I decided to go with XP. I am more familir with XP and I can install more programs using this OS. Overall I am happy with the netbook and think it will be very useful whilst I am in Japan.

This is one thing that I can cross off the list. Not sure what else I need to get for the trip. But i'm sure it will come to me as the time draws nearer.

The time has come!!!

2009-11-24T22:35:00.003Z

Finally the time has actually come where I can visit the country known as Japan. It has been a long time coming. Ever since the age of maybe 16 I have wanted to visit Japan.

I was able to get 3 weeks off from work. I would like to stay longer in Japan however with a full time job its not possible to take long periods off work.

I will be staying in Tokyo from the 1st - 20th January. I decided to fly with Virgin Atlantic because my friends are flying with them and I want the air miles just in case I decide to fly to Jamaica with Air Jamaica in the near future.

I'm a bit annoyed at the cost of the ticket, I only wanted to spend around £500 on the ticket. But it the end it turned out to be £669 return just for the flight alone. The guesthouse I will be staying works out to be around £280 for the 3 weeks.

As of right now I am trying to decide what I want to do Tokyo and where I want to visit. I already know what clubs I want to visit but I don't know what sights I want to see. It seems like my interest in Japan has waned over the years. Apart from Reggae music/clubs in Japan I don't know what else I am going there for. Japanese Urban music and their love for Reggae music seem to be my main interests in Japan at the moment.

I think I will have to think long and hard about what I really want to experience from this trip otherwise it might end up to be a waste of time and money.

Finally Back Home

2009-01-10T07:55:00.002Z

So I have finally arrived home after having spent 4 months in China teaching Oral English. I can honestly say that this will be an experience I will never forget. The flight took just over 10 hours even though it was delayed from Beijing.

On the plane I was able to watch a few movies, some of which turned out to be pretty good. It felt like the plane journey went by really quickly, but maybe it helped that I was watching movies. It was really difficult for me to sleep on the plane, I probably only got about 1 - 2 hours worth of sleep.

Once I had arrived at the airport there were many foreigners queuing up at border control where as the line for UK/European passport holders was very short. I felt sorry for the other guys because they would have to que up for a long time to get into the country.

Once I got out to the part of the airport where you are met/picked up by your friends/family I saw my mum waiting for me. It was nice to see my mum again after so long, but it felt as if I had just been gone for maybe a few weeks rather than a few months.

Its strange to be back in London because I notice more how expensive things are compared to China. I'm mainly talking about food rather than anything else since in Xi'An/Beijing everything is expensive especially clothes.

Well its nice to be back home however I will miss my students. I can hopefully connect with them via QQ or email. This will be the last entry for a while unless I update older post with pictures.

It was nice to write down my experiences on here!

The day before my last.

2009-01-08T04:15:00.027Z

Yesterday was my last day in the town of Zhen'an. When I was being driven to the airport I started to realise that this trip has been an emotional journey for me. I have had days where I would be happy and days where I would be sad. However I would say that there were more good days than bad.

I started to remember all the people, teachers and students who have made my time in China that more special. I came here knowing no one and having no friends but I am going back with many new friends. It was hard at first when I could not speak any Chinese and had no one to talk to but that all changed however when the four VSO teachers and their four translators came to Zhen'an. These eight people became my family during my time in China.

During the last meal I had with them on Tuesday we exchanged gifts with one another. It wasn't until I gave them my card that I started to feel sad mainly because I knew that I would never see them again or not at least for a long time. I had said in the card that I had appreciated what they had done for me, since this was my first time to go anywhere by myself and they made my time that more enjoyable and interesting.

So like I was saying as I was in the car with Mr. Chen I began to cry because I knew I would not see them again. But I tried not to think about this and only the happy times. I can honestly say that I will miss them.

The flight from Xi'An to Beijing only took one and a half hours. I was surprised it took such a short amount of time. When I got to Beijing I was told by VIP to meet at the office by myself. So I got the shuttle bus and when to the office. I was able to meet Ryan again which was nice. It was nice to have someone I knew in Beijing to talk and hang out with.

The next day Ryan, Jon (the person wo invited me to China) and I went to the Birds Nest Stadium. I was also able to meet their new Indian friend Sam (I forgot how to spell his Indian name), it turned out that he was a pretty cool guy and very friendly. Once we arrived at the Stadium I took many pictures, it was funny because just like when I went to Tiananmen Square some people wanted to take pictures with us.

While we were in the stadium the 6 Olympic Mascots came out and began to dance a strange choreographed routine. The music was slightly childish however the more I watched the more I thought to myself this is kinda cute. The performance went on for quite a while maybe 15 - 20 minutes.

Once the performance had finished the guys and I proceeded to the gift shop. I have to say I was slightly disappointed by what was on offer at the shop. I was expecting to see memorabilia representing each of the countries that took part in the games. I was interested in buying something related to Usain Bolt since he had performed so well and in turn made me feel proud to be Jamaican. All the shop had to offer was memorabilia of the stadium and some small nick-naks related to the 6 Olympic Mascots.

Later we went to a buffet where we ate pizza and other western food. It was nice to have something different to eat before I go back to England.

Finished the Trip!!!

2009-01-03T10:15:00.073Z

The trip is now officially over. I was able to see a few interesting sights in Xi'An such as the Tang Paradise, Small Wild Goose Pagoda and the Terracotta Warriors.

When Mr. Li and I arrived in Xi'An we needed to get a taxi from the bus station to the centre of the city. Once we left the bus station we were approached by a taxi driver who told us he can take us to the centre of the city. The taxi driver grabbed my bag and then proceeded to put it inside the boot (trunk) of his car. I asked Mr. Li how much he said it would be and Mr. Li said 15RMB and I thought that wasn't too bad.

After about 20 minutes we arrived at our destination or so I thought at the time. Originally I had shown the taxi driver the way to the Hostel that I/we wanted to stay at. The driver acted as if he knew where it was and the way to get there. Before we got out of the taxi Mr. Li gave the driver 50RMB for the fare, I then asked Mr. Li where is your change and he said that's how much it cost, 50RMB. I thought to myself "what the hell we have been ripped off big time!". I told him that I thought he had said it was 15RMB not 50RMB, If I had known it was this much I would have told the taxi driver no thanks.

Standing on the street I started to look around and thought...where is the Hostel? Mr. Li didn't seem to know either, so we asked one of the local people at one of the stores. They told us that we were not where we wanted to be, it appears that the driver just dropped us at any old place. I was even more annoyed because we gave him 50RMB and he couldn't even take us to our destination.

We then began to walk around asking different shops where our Hostel was and how we could get there. Eventually we managed to reach the Hostel but after all that hassle it turned out that they had no rooms available for the two of us. This day was just not going great for us. The Hostel that I had suggested to Mr. Li had been recommended to me by 3 of the VSO teachers I lived with in Zhen'an.

Mr. Li and I then went on a search for another place to stay. It seemed that everywhere we decided to try was either not up to standard or way too expensive. I then remembered the hotel that I had stayed at before the last time I visited Xi'An. Once we arrived there we were in luck that there was a room avaliable for 3 nights. However they only had just that one room. Mr. Li checked out one of the other Hotels around the corner and they had a room. So I stayed in one Hotel and Mr. Li stayed in another.

That afternoon I met with Mr. Li at his Hotel and he asked me what I would like to have for lunch. I said I definitely do not want noodles or rice, Mr. Li laughed and said ok then what do you want? I thought for a second and then decided I would have some pizza from Pizza Hut. I knew that Pizza Hut was pretty expensive by Zhen'An terms but I thought If the school wants me to have a good time this is what I want to eat.

Luckily the Pizza Hut I wanted to go to was just around the corner from our Hotels. When I was inside I started to think to myself that it seems very similar to how the restaurants are arranged in London. I pretty much ordered what I would normally get in Pizza Hut but Mr. Li was not feeling adventurous and decided to buy something he knew which was rice. Once my food arrived I asked Mr. Li if he wanted some but he said he didn't like pizza. I then asked him if he had ever eaten pizza before and he said no, so I thought how can you say you don't like it if you have never eaten it before. I think Mr. Li just did not want to try anything new or maybe he is too stuck in his routine/old ways.

After we had finished our meal Mr. Li told me that we were going to go to a famous park in Xi'An. The park Mr. Li was referring to was in fact Tang Paradise but it didn't really matter because I had never heard of Tang Paradise before that day anyway. After a short taxi ride we arrived at Tang Paradise the entrance was quite beautiful to see (especially at night). We walked around the massive park and I also got a chance to see some Lion Dancers performing on poles. When we were about to leave it was night so all the lights had come on. I have to say that the park looked that much better with all the lights turned on.

Mr. Li decided we should go to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda after we had exited Tang Paradise. Unfortunately something had happened inside the area where he Pagoda was and the officials closed it until further notice. Mr. Li asked one of the attendants there what was going on but they didn't want to tell him anything except that the park would re-open at 9:30pm. At the time it was around 6:30pm and I didn't want to wait around that long to go to the Pagoda since it was freezing that night.

The next day we pretty much did the same thing again, we visited a few parks but I also got the chance to do a little shopping for my family. I got the chance to visit the Drum Tower of Xi'An but once we were inside there wasn't really that much to do or see. However I was able to take some nice photos. This was the first day that I had Mac Donald's since I have been in Xi'An. I have to say it tasted pretty normal to me considering I have read things on the net telling people to stay away from Mac Donald's in China.

The last day was the day Mr. Li and I visited quite a few places. The first place we visited was an ancient Hot Spring that I think was used by the Emperor's associates at the time. The bath was quite a nice place to see. I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet one of the four men who discovered the Terracotta Warriors which was quite interesting. After that Mr. Li and I went up the mountain in a cable car then went on a guided tour around the mountain top.

The next stop on the trip was a visit to the First Emperors Mausoleum. At the Mausoleum there were these steps which led to a spot that is directly above the First Emperors resting place. While we were at the top this old lady came up to me trying to get me to buy this old rusty coin. Mr. Li jumped in and started to say to the women "...oh no, he doesn't want that!", it seemed however the old women did not appreciate this and then started to call Mr. Li "bakayaro" which is Japanese for stupid fool. I started to laugh and the women started to laugh too but Mr. Li seemed unaware as to why we were all laughing because he was too busy reading information at the Mausoleum on a notice board.

While up there I noticed this girl being a guide to some other foreigners. I thought to myself wow she is quite nice, she was one of those brown skin Chinese. Anyway I wanted her to take us around and tell use about the Mausoleum so we waited around for her to finish with the other foreigners. I told her that I wanted her to be our tour guide because she was a Meinv (pronounced May New and it means pretty girl) and she laughed and agreed but she wanted 30RMB. Mr. Li and I both thought that this was way too much money and told her it was too expensive, so we finally agreed on a price of 20RMB but she would not take us up the steps to the top of the Mausoleum.

When she was explaining things about the Mausoleum Mr. Li had to translate everything she said into English for me to understand however I wasn't that interested in what she was saying I was more interested in how she looked, I know dumb right. Well after she finished the tour we gave her the money and she seemed happy to be receiving some attention but kept saying she wasn't a Meinv but she really was.

The next stop for the day was the Terracotta Warriors. When we first entered the place this woman approached us and started to explain to us that she is the official English tour guide for the site. We asked how much it would be and she said 100RMB and Mr. Li and I both said "...too expensive" in Chinese and walked off. Mr. Li then said to me "...I'm not going to pay 100RMB for that ugly woman." when he said that I couldn't stop laughing.

After a short walk we arrived at the main site for the Terracotta Warriors. In one of the buildings there was a giant puppet representing one of the Terracotta Warriors who was holding a small girls hand. In total there were four buildings three of which had the Terracotta Warriors in them. Once I saw the Warriors I felt slightly disappointed I was expecting a more exciting feeling when I saw them.

Next place we went was the gift shop. I started to look around a bit then a shop assistant came up to me and asked me if I was alright, I said "...yes I'm fine." so the woman was about to walk off however Mr. Li wanted me to talk to her some more in English. I ended up befriending the woman and was able to get her QQ number as well as her email address.

On our way out this man tried tried to sell us small replica figures of the Terracotta Warriors but I wasn't really interested. Mr. Li told the man "..oh no, he doesn't want any of those." then the man simply said to Mr. Li "Fuck You!" it was funny because Mr. Li seemed a little surprised that he said that but I wasn't, I just told the man thank you in Chinese and walked off.

We walked around this guided path which was filled with all these memorabilia shops selling things about the Terracotta Warriors. It was funny because these ladies came up to us as we were walking trying to sell us some stuff and I said in Chinese "...I don't like this". Then the ladies asked me "...what do you like?" and I said to them in Chinese "...I like Meinv" so the ladies (there must have been 4 or 5 of them in the area) all started to laugh even Mr. Li.

After we had finished at the Terracotta Warriors we were finished with the trip in Xi'An. But I have to say I did enjoy have something to eat other than rice or noodles even if it was that poison KFC and Mac Donald's haha. I also liked eating the Dumplings on the Islamic Street in Xi'An near the Drum Tower.

I actually did have a funny time with Mr. Li as my guide. It seemed as if every other person we came into contact with they all had a problem with Mr. Lee. Even when I tried to buy something for myself in the market, it seemed Mr. Li wanted the price to low and the boss of the store did not like that and said he will not go any lower on the price because he didn't like Mr. Li.

But overall I had a nice time and it was a nice little break from Zhen'An. On the bus ride back I began to think that it wont be long until I have to go back to England. Well this day had to come sooner or later.

Christmas Time

2008-12-27T08:01:00.007Z

I will start by saying my Christmas here has not that great one I've been sick all week nearly and I didn't get to finish taking pictures with all my students so I'm a little annoyed. One other thing, today I tried to use my debit card from England to buy some games on the Internet. I wanted to do this so that I would have something to play as soon as I get home. But oh no my stupid debit card isn't working just like before nearly 4 months ago. I don't know what the hell is going on. I'm going to close my damn Abbey account and get a new one with someone else because this is a joke now. I told them the problem months ago and they told me they had sorted it out by sending me a new card but no, I still can't use it online. Anyways looks like I'll just have to save my money so I guess its not all bad haha.

Apart from being sick and not being able to buy anything online everything here has pretty much been the same. However I did get some apples from my students on Christmas Eve and some presents also which was nice. Oh something interesting did happen on Monday though, some criminals were brought to the school and made an example of so that the students wouldn't get any ideas about committing crimes haha. One of the criminals was an actual student from the school, supposedly he stole money or roughed some people with the others up or something. There were about 4 or 5 of them in total. Either way it was them now who were being roughed up, it was quite strange though to see this because they were all tied up and treated like animals.

Not sure if I will go to Xi'An next week with the school if I still feel sick but I'll have to see how that goes.

The Beginning of the End

2008-12-22T09:14:00.018Z

Today is the first day of my last teaching week at The 2nd Middle School of Zhen'an. The day started off as any other normal day however it wasn't until my 2nd Junior class of the day that one student began to cry mid-lesson.

The girl started to explain what was wrong to Mrs. Di, I just thought she was having problems or something until Mrs. Di told me that it was because I was leaving. When I saw the tears in her eyes I started to feel a bit emotional, I'm not sure why but then I just started to cry. I honestly felt sad that I would not see the students anymore after a couple of weeks and it didn't help that one student was crying for me either. I tried to comfort her and tell her not to worry as I wont be leaving just yet. One boy in the class told me not to cry, which I thought was quite nice.

Other students began to tell me in their own special way that they will miss me when I leave. One student gave me a key-ring with a picture of her in it. I thought that was quite nice since it made a change from all the plastic stars the children normally make and give to me.

After I had finished my lesson I wanted to take pictures with all the students. The students all seemed so eager to take pictures with me. They all fought and pushed each other to get close to me but I had to tell them to stop and calm down. I continued this for the 4 other classes I had for the day. It was funny that the Senior class I have on Monday's were quite happy to take pictures with me or maybe they were just happy that they won't have Oral English Lessons anymore lol.

Overall the day today was quite emotional but I can't let that get to me. Its just my time to leave. Hopefully if a new teacher comes to replace me they will be much better than me rather than worse in teaching, I say this because I would like the students to better their Spoken English.

PS: I forgot to say that in my last class after we had finished taking pictures two boys started to fight, I think it was because of all the pushing. I think something got broken or one of the boys got hurt. I was quick to jump in and break them up, I told them to relax and calm down as I held on to one of the students while some of the students held the other boy. Apart from this the day was fine.

The Oral English Contest - The Aftermath

2008-12-18T01:30:00.009Z

The contest has finally come and gone but I have to say that I am proud of all my students that took part in the contest.

All my students from Senior and Junior 1 (that's about 1000) gathered out in the school courtyard in preparation for the performance. The students were there to help encourage their fellow classmates and friends.

The other foreign teachers and I sat down right in front of the students who were spectating. While I was sitting there it kind of felt as if I was one of the judges on X-Factor/American Idol haha. However I did not let that phase me since I was there to mark my students on their performance and they would be more nervous than I was.

The students came up one by one first the Juniors then the Seniors. Many of the students felt nervous when they spoke and often made silly mistakes and took very long pauses when they were speaking. I tried to encourage them as best as I could but it seemed that the pressure may have been a little to much for some. After about 1 hour we had a slight break, for entertainment two students came up and sung a song for the audience. I thought that the two students did a good job considering how many people they were standing in front of.

I was slightly disappointed in some of my students who were spectating because they were making a lot of noise and they made it difficult for the judges and I to hear what the competitors were saying. It wasn't until one of the school leaders told the kids to shut up that they stopped making noise.

All the students who took part in the contest received something for their effort. I think they all received a Walkman or something but the winners won a dictionary that was quite thick. The two students that won did really well and I think they deserved to win the competition.

I was able to take many pictures and even film some of my students singing while the students had a small break during the contest. But I can say I enjoyed seeing and listening to the students perform. I felt a little sad while I was watching because I knew that I will only have a couple more weeks with the students before I go back to England.

Once the contest was over the VSO teachers, their translators and I were invited to dinner with some leaders from the county. The dinner was quite nice and made a change from having noodles or rice everyday. The restaurant was a Hot Pot restaurant so we needed to cook our own food in the pot. But I enjoyed myself while I was there.

So to summarise the contest was a success apart from the small few that were misbehaving but I can safely say I enjoyed the day overall .

OMG WE........

2008-12-05T08:05:00.002Z

Yes that's right we lost the basketball game. Luckily though this time our team did much better than the first game we played together. This time we only lost by 3-points instead of the originally embarrassing 25-points.

However I did notice that we played a lot better as a team. We did more passing and took less 3-pointers. This allowed us to keep up with the other team in scoring. Although often as a team we made silly mistakes such as bad passing and other mis-communication.

The headmaster was watching my game this time and told me (or so I think) "...too bad that you lost, Dorian." I thought its just a game no need to feel too disappointed but we could have won the game so I was a little disappointed with myself and the other members in my team. I guess better luck next time.

Im not Kobe Bryant you know!!!

2008-12-01T09:50:00.004Z

Today was the day I was told that I had to play in the teachers basketball game. I kept trying to tell the teachers that I'm not that good and I haven't played in a long time. However this did not seem to bother the teachers (or maybe they did not understand).

After I had finished my classes at 4:05pm I put on my jersey to represent Junior 1 Grade 7. It seemed like many teachers had high hopes on me but I did not like the pressure. One teacher did say, don't worry if we win or loose we just have to try our best. After he said that I thought ok cool, some of the pressure has been lifted.

The game began at 4:30pm but before you knew it my team was down 15 points or so. I was thinking what the hell is going on. Then I realised that many of the teachers on my team were fouling the other team and that was one of the reasons how they were getting their points. The other reason was that my team was getting too greedy with the ball and always going for 3's (I'm not going to lie I was that person at times lol). I felt the difficulty in communication between my team and I was also a factor in our unfortunate demise. In the end the score was a slightly embarrassing 21 to 55.

We still have two other games to play...I think. Hopefully the team has learned from this game and will work much better together next time, that includes me also.

Not long now =(

2008-11-29T02:29:00.001Z

It seems like I do not have that long left in China. It feels like the weeks are going very quickly now compared to how they were in the beginning. I can say that I am enjoying being here but sometimes I do feel its time for me to go home.

The school said they would like to me finish teaching on the 5th January. But after this date they would like to send me on a 5 day trip to maybe Xi'an to congratulate me on my hard work at the school.

This sounds like a good idea, it would be nice however if I could go to maybe Shanghai or somewhere else like that. I say this because I can go to Xi'an anytime I want since it is so close to Zhen'an. But my assistant told me that those place are expensive to get to...but we'll see. =P

Its not long either until the Oral English Contest. I like the other foreign teachers will be judges during the contest. The students will perform a number of English activities to demonstrate how good their spoken English abilities really are.

Wang Ba, Wang Ba, Wang Ba

2008-11-17T03:50:00.005Z

Like always the days here are pretty much becoming the norm. Everyday its just the same thing. I think once the highway between Zhen'an and Xi'an is completed I will go to Xi'An maybe to the Zoo or to see the Terracotta Warriors.

I have also been told today that the school will hold the oral English competition on the December 24th. It also appears that I will not get to have Christmas Day off from work which is a bit of a pity. But my assistant told me that the Headmaster might give me a present because its a special day for us Westerners haha.

There was also a visit at the school last week by some leaders but it turned out they did not come to the school to inspect it on that day. This was a bit annoying since some of my students rehearsed something to perform in front of them, ah well what can you do.

But like I said everything is pretty cool here however I feel I can honestly I'd rather break my arm then have to choose between noodles or rice to eat for lunch/dinner. When I go to Xi'An next I can maybe buy some different food to eat.

Oh yea before I forget can someone tell me whats so funny about the word Wang Ba? thanks =P

YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-06T02:05:00.004Z

Well I didn't think this day was possible well not for another 50 years or so but we now have our first Black (mixed-race) President of America. Im just really happy for Barack Obama and hope that he can deliver on everything he has promised.

!!!!!!!!!!!!! WELL DONE BARACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just the same old

2008-11-03T02:57:00.002Z

Well, things have gotten to be quite normal here now. Its seems like I have gotten into a routine and the days/weeks are just flying by.

Last week the school had their annual Sports Day which was quite exciting. Many of the students were pumped up cheering on their fellow class members. All the cheering they were doing got me all into the mood too. It also seems now that the students are becoming more familiar with me and more and more of them are saying hello to me. However I can't remember if they are from my class or not.

On the weekend Barbara's boyfriend came to stay with us. Barbara said he was tall but I didn't really understand until I saw him. The guy must have been around 6"5 or something. But he was a pretty cool guy. Although he didn't speak English but he told Barbara that when I talk I often move about so he could sort of understand what I was talking about.

Right now I'm at school, no one told me I did not have to teach the Juniors this morning because they weren't at school. Also no one told me that they were not raising the flag so I woke up at 6:30 for nothing.

QQ and I

2008-10-24T02:53:00.004+01:00

I saw Hong's comment and thought I would write this. Well I have managed to get myself QQ but I cant use it anywhere because I dont have it on any computers haha. Also all the QQs are Chinese here (as you would have expected) so I do not understand. But like I said I cant use QQ because I have no computer to use it on haha.

But my QQ number is: 858559232

So add me and maybe when I next go to the Internet Cafe I can use it there. =)

O_o Aiyaaa what did you say!!!! & .....Xiu Pin Park at Night =)

2008-10-23T03:07:00.008+01:00

Why do they have to give me more responsibility haha. Right now at the school the Headmaster wants me to set up English Corner and also an Oral English Contest. This is a lot of responsibility for me since the headmaster said if the students perform badly we have failed our jobs lol.

I have decided to have the English Corner on Tuesday from 5:00pm onwards since that is the day I do not have many lessons. I felt that on this day I could use my time to prepare what we (the students) will practice in English Corner. However the rules/information about whats happening is still a little sketchy at the moment, they don't really tell you much here.

It has also come to light that the other foreign teachers from VSO will help with English Corner. This will be a big help to me since I can focus my time on on the students that will perform in the competition. Mrs D also told me that they want me to perform something at the Oral English Contest. Right now I don't know what I will do but to be honest I'd rather not do anything at all but I don't think that is a possibility haha.

Yesterday Barbara, Nan and I went up the mountain to Xiu Pin Park at night. The park is quite different at night and quite nice because of the lights which turn on there. We also managed to fly the kite we bought in Xi An there. The wind was quite strong so we could fly the kite pretty well up there. Unfortunately the wind was a bit too strong and we lost 5 kites or so ='(.

When we finally got to the end of we saw all these old people dancing in the open area. They were dancing to Indian music and doing something that looked like Indian dancing but I'm not too sure haha. There must have been maybe 30 of them there all doing the same routine, it was funny but at the same time quite cool to see.

The Cutie and Taekwondo

2008-10-16T11:03:00.009+01:00

Well nothing much has been happening really. School has been getting quite easy and nothing out of the ordinary has been happening. I still hang out in the shop which sells all those random items. The people there are cool and the boss is crazy.

Often there is a girl there that helps out, supposedly she is the niece of the bosses wife. I was surprised to see her at the shop the other day because I was under the impression she was going away, well that's what she said anyways.

Her English is not that great but she can answer some simple questions. She is nice to hang out with. The other day she kept saying "...lets go shopping" but since I had nothing to do I said sure. We went to the supermarket for her to buy some random items like toothpaste, soap and shampoo. I guess these things were for her to stay the night with her auntie. Originally we took the bus to the supermarket but we ended up walking back, why I don't know @_@. We took a short cut through my school because she said she wanted to see her friend...I didn't mind. Once she had finished talking I told her I was going home and I'd see her later she said "...sure, see you later =)"

After I had finished eating my dinner at one of the local restaurants (I call this one Beijing because they had some Olympic stickers in the window). While in Beijing the crazy man from the shop came in and the lady who works in Beijing asked me if he was my friend because he was talking to her about me and I said "...yea, I guess so lol". After I had finished my meal this lady came in to the restaurant and all the women working in the restaurant asked (well gestured) that I should go dancing in the club upstairs with the women who just came in. If the girls who I live with had been with me at the time maybe I would have gone but they weren't so I politely declined haha.

Once I left Beijing I went back to the shop to hang out. The girl was there and she asked me if I wanted to go somewhere...then she started to pretend kick and punch me. I didn't know what she was talking about at the time. Later another one of her friends from my school came to the shop. Her English was a bit better and she explained what she meant. First she wanted to visit her friend and I was like ok, I'm not doing anything else.

We took a taxi into the center near the supermarket to meet her friend. While in the taxi the girls friend asked me if I recognised her and I said "...no, why are you in my class?" and she said "...yes" I was like ahh ok then, cool. The friend she wanted to meet was some hairdresser and he had some funky looking hair haha. Anyways after they finished talking they asked me if I wanna see some something then they started to kick and punch the air again. I said sure why not.

We then walked down the street and went into a building with no lights on. The boy then used his phone as a light as we walked down the several flights of stairs. At the bottom he opened the door to a room filled with mats and punching bags. From the back room emerged 5 or so boys, they seemed surprised at first to see me. After the group I was with explained who I was they started to demonstrate some Taekwondo for me. They wanted to take pictures with me but kept joking about how tall I was.

I asked them If I could take pictures also and they were like sure. I asked them to perform so I could take pictures of them and they did. It was quite funny watching them pose and fight, some of the shots I got are quite funny.

After about 15mins we left and went back to the shop. I told the girl I was tired and I would see her later so I went back to my room. So that day was quite fun and interesting.

My Weekend

2008-10-13T10:15:00.006+01:00

Finally....I get a weekend off from school (not including the holiday I had not too long ago haha). Well on Thursday the girls I live with told me they were going to Xi An to pick up some winter clothes from their University. I asked them if I could go with them and they said "...sure, why not ^_<". I really just wanted to leave Zhen'an for a little bit but I also knew that if the four girls weren't around I would be pretty board.

Not sure if had said before but the girls names are Yomi, Barbara, Smile and Nan. Often we keep calling each other names from the Television Show, Journey to the West. Its a little ironic that we do this because this blog is based on that concept but in reverse. Most of the time they call me Wukong because I always copy Wukong when he says "...sifu" haha. Smile is the horse because she is kinda white and Yomi is often the fish man and Barbara is the pig. However Nan often is referred to, as many characters from the show.

On friday we bought tickets at around 48 yuan for both tickets, to Xi An and back. We left Zhen'an at around 8pm and arrived in Xi An at maybe 10:30pm. We were not able to get seats on this train so we had to stand up. Although we were standing it was quite funny because we were playing silly games with each other. Another thing Barbara and Yomi kept telling me there was no juice in Xi An and I could only drink Beer or Water. I was thinking they must be lying so I asked some random woman sitting behind us. I said "...can I buy juice in Xi An?" and the woman replied "...yes". I said to Barbara "...shame, I can buy drink" but Barbara seemed to think the woman could not speak English and that is why she said yes. So I asked the woman "...is your name Mary?" and the woman replied "...no", but Barbara still thought she could not speak English so I just asked her "...do you understand English?" and the women said "...yes I understand English ^_<". I was laughing mainly due to the fact that Barbara was now very embarassed because she thought the women didnt understand what we were talking about haha.

While on the train Smile befriended some guy who happend to work in a computer shop. I thought to myself cool, maybe he can help me get a discount on a laptop. However we did not really talk about that but they did get his card. We ended up playing a game with this guy instead of talking about computers. Basically Smile would tell the guy something in English and then he would say it to me to see if I could understand. Then the same thing happend with Yomi and I but surprisingly he seemed to understand what I was saying haha. When we arrived in Xi An the girls took me to a hotel to stay. The room was 178 yuan but because of the time and some negotiation from the girls the room went down to 120 yuan. The room was quite good and I had my own bathroom with shower. I only stayed one night in this hotel and the girls (well just Barbara and Nan) came to pick me up in the morning.

That day we just walked around Xi An, we went to the Bell Tower (or rather walked around it) and went to the Drum Tower (haha I dont know what its called). We then went to the Islamic Street, if you didn't guess by the name this is where all the Chinese Muslims hang out. They have shops and restaurants all along this street. Near the Drum Tower we saw this man flying a kite. The kite must have been maybe 15cmx15cm but on the string there were 30 kites all flying at the same time. At the time I was thinking wow I want to do that. The man then gave Nan the string and she was flying it for a bit. We decided to buy one and try it for ourselves, but when we tried to fly them it did not appear as easy as it did when the man was doing it. After several atempts at trying to fly the kite we decided to call it a day.

Barbara and Nan took me to a place called Ginwa which is the place to find all the expensive designer items in Xi An. We went in and I was shocked at how expensive everything was, most of the items were comparable to the prices in London. I thought to myself this place is a rip-off. We left pretty quickly without buying anything as you'd might expect.

Later that day we decided to eat at KFC because there isn't one in Zhen'an and I kinda missed having junk food. While at KFC we basically stayed for hours to waste time. We had decided to go Karaoke but at 12am so this was the reason we were wasting time. We also had the idea to stay at Karaoke for hours until the morning to save money on me staying at a hotel.

At around 6:30pm we left KFC and went to the girls university. Their university was called "Xi An Normal University" don't ask me why its called normal because I dont know. Most of the students attending this unversity want to become teachers. I went to their canteen to have some dinner, I told Nan I wanted Chow Mein but I ended up getting Chow Fan for some reason. I didnt really mind that much because the rice was alright. By this time it was only maybe 8:00pm so we had to kill some time before we went Karaoke. The girls introduced me to some of their friends and we hung out with each other in the school grounds playing games.

At around 11:00pm we all gathered ready to go to karaoke. At this time however there were very few buses running and the walk to KTV took around 15 mins. The road was pretty dead, very few cars and no people what so ever. We finally managed to arrive at KTV at around 11:30. It cost just 80 yuan and all six of us could stay there until 6:30am. There were a a fair amount of people in KTV at this time and as per usual they were surprised to see a black foreigner in this place lol.

Once we were in the room I did not manage to sing that much mainly due to the fact that 95% of the songs were in Chinese and the English songs on there were kinda crap. It was a pitty I only knew Japanese songs otherwise I think I could have sung many songs that night. Shortly after getting in the room I began to feel tired as did the others. Everyone began to fall asleep but it was so uncomfortable trying to sleep on that big sofa. I kept falling in and out of sleep and my neck started to become stiff, but it was a funny experience sleeping in karaoke.

At around 6:30am the KTV staff came in and told us to leave. We all went back to the University but the girls left me and then pawned me off onto one of their friends. But I will let them off because they had things they needed to do in Xi An. Their friend was sweet and was happy at the chance to practice her English with me since she was an English major. Later that day she called up her other friends and we all played table-tennis and badminton for a bit. The Chinese are very keen on playing sports, at this time though I was feeling quite tired. I was practically half asleep.

One of the girls with us told me that she was a friend of Smile's and they are roomates. There was another girl with her that went by the name......shit I forgot her name and the other girl....im sorry TT__TT. But anyways she was told by Smile to look after me and take me where ever I want to go. I thought ok thats sounds cool. But because of the time constraints we could no go many places. In the end we went back to the Bell Tower but instead of KFC that day I had Mac Donalds instead hehe. Normally I don't eat that poison but that day it felt so good to have some junk food haha.

I told her that I wanted to buy a laptop so we went around looking for one. We ended up in the shop Gome looking for one but the majority of them were too expensive and comparable to prices in England but the only thing was that the models were old. So in the end I did not buy anything.

She then took me back to the train station in the afternoon to meet up with the other girls. I told her thanks for looking after me and she said "...no worries ^_^" which was nice. We all got on the train but luckily this time we had seats so we could have a good rest.

But overall my trip to Xi An was pretty cool and maybe I can go there again when I have time. But I would say the smog there is not very appealing and I was very happy to come back to Zhen'An with its blue sky, cleaner air and the mountains.

I have been bit lazy in updating this thing. But I will try to update it as much as I can.

My New Friends......The 4 Meinu LOL

2008-10-09T01:38:00.003+01:00

Well on the school side of things nothing much has been happening, except the fact the school dean doesn't know whats going on with the time-table. I was a little pissed off because I was told that the lesson had been changed because of the holiday but it turned out that they had not changed at all. I wasn't prepared to teach next weeks lesson this week, so I ended up playing games with my Monday and Tuesday class. Oh I had those classes on Saturday and Sunday because like I said the time-table had supposedly changed. So in fact I did not need to go to school on those days.

Well on Sunday evening my new housemates arrived. They were four girls who will be the translators / assistants for the other foreign teachers from VSO. They are all around my age and they are all pretty friendly which is good. Since then we have all just been hanging out with each other. They often come to my room at night to hang out and steal my food (damn them ¬_¬).

Lately we have been going out for dinner together also. Yesterday was funny because we went to some restaurant that I don't like and I told them this but they still wanted to go. Once we arrived at the restaurant we saw the other foreign teachers eating there. It was funny because all the foreigners in the town were all in one place haha. The reason I don't like this place is because its expensive and the portions of food are small.

The girls ordered some Hot Pot (they order that all the time) and I just had Mi Fan (rice) with some Pork. However the meat in the Hot Pot was chicken but the girls seemed to think that the meat had a strange smell. I thought it was quite funny because they were having an argument with the cook there. My rice also did not taste very nice, it was dry. Well all I said to them was "I told you this place was bad...lol" and it seemed like they agreed with me. In The end they manage to get half off what they would have paid for the Hot Pot.

Later that evening we went to the center of town to by a DVD player. The VSO teachers found all these DVDs (pirate ones) in their office so I thought we should have something to watch them on. I also wanted to watch my j-drama Liar Game and Attention Please on it. We had gone to the same shop earlier but I did not bring my discs with me and I wanted to make sure they played in the DVD player ok before I (we) bought it. Well anyways we ended up buying it but we were supposed to get some karaoke Mic's with them (for free) but the guy we had spoken to the first time wasn't there and this new guy did not know what the hell we were talking about. So we ended up not getting the Mic's because we would have to pay an extra 30 yuan.

I set the player up in my room because Its near the kitchen I told them lol. The girls came later that evening but didn't know what they wanted to watch. One of them suggested Liar Game and I was like sure. We only watched one episode because the girls wanted to go to bed. They seemed to enjoy the show (I think). Oh it has Japanese audio but English subtitles, often they would ask me to explain an English word for them.

I would say the only annoying thing is that the player glows blue even when its not on so its very annoying when you try and go to sleep. The only way to get rid of it is to plug the thing out.

Right now I'm at school waiting for my lesson, I came here at 7:30 but my lesson doesn't start until 10:30. It is so pointless being here at this time with nothing to do, all I do is use the Internet. This doesn't not help me or the students.

Anyways that's it for now, sayonara lol

Its Sunday But.....

2008-10-05T01:38:00.002+01:00

Well its Sunday today but guess what I'm at School. But no its not because I'm Teaching or anything its because Mrs. D told me I was. But it turns out I don't start until Monday. This is annoying me now, I had to get up at 6.30 to get ready and it turns out I don't even have to teach anything. Well I guess its not that bad since I have to get back into the routine of getting up early (not like I don't do that already anyways.) and getting ready for School.

Nothing much has been happening recently, since You Lan left haven't been doing much. I went for a few walks with the other foreign teachers and went back up the mountain a couple of times. But nothing really exciting.

Yesterday I decided to go into one of the new shops near the School. By the way every time there is a new shop that opens they put a whole load of fire works outside the shop then just set them off on the street. The noise is so loud, the first time I heard it I almost had a heart attack. They sounded like gun shots going off.

Anyways I went into the shop and like most places people in there are quite friendly they often tell me to sit down and relax. Well this place was no different, I sat down this time since I had nothing to do. Also the little girl from the supermarket was in there too so I decided to hang out for a bit. In this shop were two boys and the boss works in the shop next door.

While I was there they let me use their laptop/internet. Most of the time I just fooled about on Youtube and showed them videos. They seemed to like the R&B videos I was showing them or rather they liked the dancing in the videos.

Later the boss came and spoke to me (or tried to) and then they began to teach me Chinese words/phrases. One of them was something like "Menu Go Lai" but I'm not too sure how you spell it. It means something like "pretty girl/young girl come here" it was quite funny when I was saying it to people. They told me to say it to some older ladies too, luckily though they they just thought it was funny lol.

I stayed in that shop for a few hours mostly chatting/playing with the girl. She was the only one who could understand some English. However there were times when the boys and the boss of the shops just wanted to take pictures with me. They probably want to tell their friends they have a black friend lol.

Well today there are supposed to be 4 Chinese girls coming to live with us. They will be translators for the foreign teachers. The house is going to be packed now, luckily we don't all have to share a shower. But its good now since I will have someone young to talk with. Looks like I can go to the club now lol.

Anyways that's its for today, will post later cya.

Up In The Mountains

2008-10-02T01:05:00.006+01:00

OK so I've had a few days off from school, not including today though because I'm back at school writing this. On Sunday I went to my normal restaurant for my dinner but this time the families eldest daughter was there. Here name was You Lan and she was also 22 like me. She told me that she is learning English at University and would like to become my friend to practice English with me. I didn't mind because this gave me someone else to talk with.

That same evening You Lan asked me many questions such as what do you like to eat, what music do I like and what do I like to do when I'm not at school for example. After she heard my answers she said that she would cook a meal for me at the restaurant and that I must come on Monday to have it. I was said "...are you sure?" she just said "...yes" so I thought ok then.

When I woke up on Monday I also thought to myself...."Its about time I got a haircut". I phoned Mrs. D and asked her for some help, she told me to meet her at this hair salon because she was already there getting her hair done. When I got there a lot of the people in the place were interested in seeing a black man but ah well they gonna just have to get used to it. When my time came to cut my hair, the guy didn't know what to do. I had showed them a picture from a book of what I would like but still they were a little confused. The guy tried to cut my hair as if it was straight hair. First he would comb it using a fine tooth come and then try and use the clippers. But I kept on telling them just to comb it then go over my whole head with the clippers. Eventually they got what I meant, the haircut isn't the best but for 8 yuan (which is like 80p) I cant really complain. They also washed my hair twice and it still only cost 8 yuan.

Anyways after the haircut the other foreign teachers and I went to the mountains with each of our assistants. After a climb of about 400 steps (maybe a slight exaggeration) we arrived at the top. At the top there were many things to see and it was a nice park/shrine. Once we had finished walking around our assistants took us for dinner. I told them I didn't want to eat because someone was cooking dinner for me. However I was tempted at times to just start eating all the food. But 90% of the time I was able to resist haha.

When I finally managed to get to You Lan's restaurant it was about 8pm. Her parents had prepared a lot of food for me. First I had cabbage in some soup, potato strips, rice, chicken and chips. Yea her family made chips for me, I didn't ask them too but they made them. The chips were thin like French Fries and not fat like how home made chips normally are. The mum also made some home made tomato ketchup for me too. It taste quite sweet ^-^. Overall I liked the food and it was even better that I didn't have to pay anything, thanks You Lan. =)

Earlier I had asked You Lan if she wanted to come to the mountains with the foreign teachers and I but she had said no because her uncle was visiting. We then agreed to go the next day which was Tuesday. She said I should get up early to go because that is the best time since the sun is not high and the weather is cooler. We decided upon 8am to meet up.

When Tuesday came You Lan, her sister and her cousin were waiting for me outside my place ready to go. We walked to the mountains hung out at the top for a bit took some pictures and fooled about. Later her little cousin said she was hungry so we went back pretty quickly, on the way back we passed a Mosque and outside where Chinese Muslims, they all seemed excited to see me. Maybe they thought I was Muslim too, who knows haha.

While we were going back we came across this dog yard, basically it was a yard filled with dogs and puppies too. The puppies were playing with each other and the other dogs were just walking around. There must have been maybe 6 or 7 dogs there and about 5 of them were puppies. I took some pictures and then left.

You Lan then took me to some place to have something called Bouzu (I don't know the spelling), it was like a dumpling. I preferred the meat one which was smaller to the bigger one filled with Tofu and Vegetables. You Lan told me that she had to go to the country to visit her grandparents for a few days but she told me to come look for her in the restaurant in a few days. I was like sure, will do.
In afternoon the other teachers and I went to the town and supermarket. I bought some incense and other fresh smelling things. I also bought a mop since there was no way to dry the one I had been using and it was getting a little annoying. I also bought a dart board for like 28 yuan which is nothing. I thought it would give us something to do in the dorm.

Later that evening we went to eat at some out door restaurant that just cooked food on a barbecue. You choose which food you would like and then would cook it for you. The food was pretty cool and not too expensive either. It worked out to be 88 yuan for 5 of use to eat there.

Not sure what I'm doing today but it appears that I do not have to go to school until the 5th hehe. So I can rest and do what ever I like for a little while longer. I think I might go and play some darts now, will post again soon.

Finally....Someone to talk to.

2008-09-29T08:15:00.004+01:00

OK so finally the VSO teachers have moved in. There are three women and one man. Unlucky for me though they are all mature people, but I guess that may not be such a bad thing since they know how to look after themselves. So far today they been buying things to use to clean the house with and new sheets for the bed etc. While we were at the supermarket everyone was crowding around them, people seemed very interested in what they were buying. But it felt nice for once not to be the center of attention. Even on the street more people were concerned with the new people from VSO and me. ^-^

Yesterday when the teachers first arrived we all went out for dinner and met some important people such as the dean of education or something like that. We went to a restaurant I had never been to before. There were about 11 of us at the table and they order much food for us and keep telling us to "eat...eat...eat" was quite funny at the time.

The also tried to force people to drink some very strong alcohol, but I didn't drink any no matter how many times they offered. Later the Headmaster of my school was playing a drinking game with someone else at the table, I think it was the vice dean of education. The game had them shake 3 die in a cup and then try and guess how much of each number there are in your cup and your opponents. The Headmaster then played the game with me but I was confused and lucky I wasn't drinking otherwise I would have been very sick. The Headmaster won maybe 5 out of the 6 rounds we played.

So far its nice to have someone else living at the dorms, they are friendly people which makes it good. The also said there will be 4 other Chinese girls coming to live with us to be their interpreters. Wow going from just me to a full house in such a short time, thats crazy haha. I wonder what these girls will be like.....they just better not drink up my drink, thats all I'm gonna say. ¬_¬

Well right now nothing much is happening, I wanted to get a haircut but Mr. Lee isnt picking up his phone. I wanted him to tell the barber what it is I would like, plus I think he may know of a good place for me to get to get it cut. Anyways I think this is all for now, will post soon.

Its Saturday...But I'm Still At School!!!!!!!!!!!!! O_o

2008-09-27T10:43:00.002+01:00

OK let me start by saying what happened yesterday evening. First I went out to get my dinner like I normally do now (seeing how I cant cook and I can afford to eat out). I then went to one of the two shops I go to. The man that works there was trying to entice me to buy things, random things on the shelf but I kindly refused.

As I was looking in the shop he tried to tell me what something was (in Chinese) but I didn't understand what he was saying. He then called to the back and his daughter then came out. She speaks some English so it was nice to have someone understand me. She told me what it was, I then spent a good hour or two in the shop with the man his wife and his daughter. They would ask me questions and other things. The Wife was then measuring her husbands height with my own (he is taller than me) , he then began to measure his foot with my own. He then tried on my shoe and seemed to think it looked good on him. It was all quite funny to me, but at least all this had me out of my room.

The Dad then asked how much my shoes were, I told him maybe £55. Then he wanted to know how much it was in Yuan. I did the calculation and it turned out to be 605yuan. The Dad was like "WAhhhhh" he was even more shocked when I told him they were made in China haha. The Mum was asking questions too, then she asked if they could take a picture of me and I said sure. These people are nice so I don't mind them taking pictures of me. We then started to do some price comparisons between England and China and they were quite shocked at how much money people earn in England.

I then spent some time talking to their daughter, she is the same age as me and seemed like she wanted to be friends. I was like sure, I don't know anyone else round here. I asked her if she was busy because I didn't want to keep her from what she was doing, but I told her that its boring in my room so I just wanted someone to talk to. Later the daughter went to the back of the shop (living quarters), I then continued to walk around and ask the Dad whats what.

After a little while the Dad told me to go to the back (well he pointed really), I did want he said and saw the daughter on the computer. They told me to sit down on this little stool, damn the thing was so low I nearly popped my back haha. Anyways the daughter was using the computer or rather she was using this thing called QQ. She asked me if I had QQ (like my students the other day) but I said no. She then told me she was talking to her friend and she was telling that I was with her. I realised she was talking about me because I saw her write lao'wai (i think that's how you spell it) before the computer turned it into Chinese characters. Her friend was like "WAhhhh", then the daughter turned on the web cam so her friend could see me. The daughter later asked if I had a phone, I said yea I do. Why you wanna know? Then she said no reason...lol. So I think she wanted my phone number. I will give it to her next time, would be nice to know someone that can speak for me lol.

After she was done she was like use the computer, I was like are you sure and she was like yea go on ^-^. So of course I did. Their Internet was slightly better then here at the school, it was faster and I could access my web pages quicker. Then later the daughter came back and took some pictures of us together. She was having difficulty getting a good pic so the mum came and took the pic, they seemed very happy to take pictures with me. In one of the pics I made a funny face and then the daughter ran off to her father laughing. Then the Dad came to the room with his phone ready to take a picture with me. It was all quite funny but I did not want to over stay my welcome so I shortly left after this at around 9:30 ish.

Today I had to quickly prepare my lessons before the classes started. I arrived at 7:30 and my first lesson was at 9:40 so I had plenty of time to do it. As I walked up the stairs however some of my students from my first lesson on the Monday just gone had the classes homework for me. I was surprised they had it for me. I took the work and Mrs. D and I marked them in the office then gave them back to the students in the class at 9:40.

This weeks lessons for the Juniors and Seniors are quite similar, they are all to do with Keeping Fit/Healthy. Again like the lessons earlier this week the basis for the lessons is group work, this will allow all the students to be involved in the lessons. They basically had to list all the things they felt you can do to keep fit and all the things you can eat to keep fit. Some of the students today were very good but others not as good. But no sweets today because I haven't had a chance to go to the supermarket.

I will have only one lesson tomorrow then I'm free until Thursday (i think). So I can get a nice rest from school. No more getting up at 6:30 for a few days. =D

But today's lessons have finished and I'm about to go back to my room soon. Later I will go back out to eat dinner but I find that I am getting a little tired of having rice and/or noodles everyday. I want something else, what I wouldn't do for a Pizza or some Chips lol. Although the students and I did discuss that these types of foods are bad for you, but what they don't know wont hurt them lol. Saying this though, if I wanted to eat some junk food I would have to travel 2 hours on a train to Xi'An. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......................=( looks like I will have to find other Chinese food to eat lol. But now I guess I will have to learn some new words other than fried rice and fried noodles so I guess its not all bad lol.

Anyways thanks for reading.

Last day of School...or so I thought.

2008-09-26T10:36:00.002+01:00

OK yesterday was just like the other days, not much happend. However my last class of the day was the worst. The students did not understand hardly anything I said to them. You could say this was because they were Junior students but I found that other Junior students I had asked similar questions to were fine with them. The could just be because of their poor English skills or rather Mrs. D's lack of translation. Either way these students did not get any sweets, I told them they have to try harder next time.

Today was pretty cool, I was teaching all Seniors today. I saw some students that I often see in the restaurant I go to. Sometimes students knowing before seeing you in the class can be a bad thing. By this I mean the students tend to act up and play about because they think you are their friends. Fair enough I may be friendly with them outside the class but they should respect me and my wishes in the class.

The questions portion of this class was quite funny because this one students asked me for a hug, yea thats right some boy asked me for a hug lol. I thought...um....I dont want the students to think I'm evil so I gave him one and everyone applauded haha. The students often ask if I have a girlfriend also, but these girls are way too young for me lol. Plus they wouldn't understand what the hell I'm saying. I also noticed students taking pictures on the sly, I said to them at the end of the class if you want to take pictures I do not mind at the end of the class.

My last class of the day was better due to the fact Mr. Lee was helping me. There was one girl in the class who was quite good at English. I was surprised when I told her to ask a question. I also noticed that she would help the other students a lot. At the end of the question time I told the students (because I saw someone taking pics of me on their phone) to take pictures with/of me if they like. Many of them rushed to the front and posed while their friends took pictures of us. The girl who I thought was good at english gave me a water balloon, why I dont know haha. This other girl also gave me a star folded from a straw, its pretty cool. I will take a picture of it if I can haha. But the students liked me it seemed, even one students asked me if I knew Usain Bolt hahaha. I said nope I dont, sorry.

Well this week has been ok so far, but because there is a holiday right now in China I have to teach Mondays and Tuesdays lesson on the Weekend. I will have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off instead. So no rest for me yet....shit I need to prepare my lesson. O_o

PS: right now they are playing "End of the Road" by Boyz 2 Men over the speaker system haha.

Pictures and Videos

2008-09-24T10:45:00.002+01:00

I just want to let you guys know about the picture/video situation. Well basically I can't upload any pictures let alone videos using the computer here in my office.

Every time I try to add pictures to somewhere like Facebook.com the computer locks up and freezes on the same "uploading" pop-up but it never adds any pictures to the website.

I have tried today to update some of the earlier posts on here with pictures but again it just froze on the uploading screen, so I'm sorry about this.

PS: I have resized all my pictures so each file is now only 8-10kbs rather than 200+kb per picture. But still I'm having the same problem. Looks like I will have to upload the pictures once I get back to England.

3rd Day of School

2008-09-24T09:56:00.004+01:00

OK let me start first by saying what happened after my lesson yesterday. Well since I only had one lesson, I had plenty of free time in the afternoon. After I had my lunch I thought it would be nice to see if I could get a chance to play some Basketball. I went to the playground and watched as the students played, I thought to myself which group should I join. Then as I was standing there a few of the students said "...you want to play ball?", I was like sure why not. They gave me the ball first and gestured their hand as if to say "...please shoot the ball", I did as they asked and I shot.

Unfortunately my skills in basketball are not what they used to be. I missed about 9 of my 12 shots haha. Well it was after a few shots the students thought they would try their luck with me. The probably thought "...hey, hes black he must be good at B-ball" but they were sadly mistaken, yes this was/is my sport of choice but I am too out of practice to be considered any real challenge. The students came at me one-by-one and I had to go through them. I managed to succeed with a few plays but soon I began to tire due to lack of exercise and practice in Basketball. This soon became the students opportunity to go to town on me and brag to their friends they beat a black man at Basketball lol.

The students the decided to start a game of 5 on 5, half court. As we begun to play other students from the schools started to watch from their classroom window and gather around the court. This was not a surprising to me considering I still remember what happened when I played Badminton for a little while haha. Unfortunately some (well most) of the students went after a while due to them having lessons. I still stayed in the playground with a few of the other students. Supposedly these students don't like going to all their lessons or they had a free period, who knows lol. With them was one of the schools security guards. One of his duties I was told was to send students to their lessons, but it seemed he did not care as much as treated the students I was with more like friends. I didn't mind, gave me someone to play basketball with.

After a while even those students had to go so I went back to my office. After about 1 hour or so I went back out to the playground once I had seen the students playing again. I stayed out there for a few hours maybe 3 or so. Then like always many of the students had to go to their next lesson. But 3 students stayed outside with me (at this time it was after 7:00pm), I asked them why don't they have lessons as well, they simply said "....we do, but we are bad boys haha" I was like ok then. These 3 guys were pretty cool they stayed outside playing until maybe 8:30pm. It was so dark thought, I didn't even know why we were still playing lol. They also told me different things they like, such as wrestling, kung fu and hip-hop. I was like cool, they then asked me would I like to go to karaoke but I declined mainly due to me having lessons all day today. I told them maybe on the weekend, because I will be able to sleep all day the next day. They were like sure, ok then.

Well today was the day where I have 6 lessons, this is the most amount of lessons I have in one day each week. There were a total of 4 Senior Classes and only 2 Junior classes. This has been one of the best teaching days by far, mainly due to how responsive the students were to the lesson. It also helped that they seemed genuinely happy to meet me. Today however I had three different teachers helping me in 4 of my classes, this made a fresh change from having Mrs. D there helping me all the time.

I think these classes were normally taught English by these teachers and they felt it best for them to help their own class. Once I had finished my 3rd class and was waiting for my 4th to begin, many students from the 3rd class started to crowed around me as Mrs. D and I were waiting outside the class waiting for our lesson to start. I was a bit overwhelmed but the amount of students, however they were simply there to pratice their English and ask me some more questions. I of course was happy to help them.

The girls seemed to want my MSN and asked if I had this thing called QQ which is a Chinese MSN type thing. I gave them my hotmail address but told them I cant use MSN while I am here in China. But they didnt seem to mind, one girl even asked me to write my name on her arm haha. They are seriously acting like im some kind of superstar, but im really just me a normal guy ^_^.

Well since it is now the 3rd day I pretty much have my teaching method, so far it seems to be working well. First I introduce myself, then I ask the students to pratice and lastly I get the students to introduce themselves to me. Then near the end of the lesson I get the students to ask me any and as many questions as they can. After this has been done I then give out some sweets (the kids love them sweeties lol) to the students who I felt spoke English the clearest and the best. In the last Junior class it seemed as if many of the students knew what I was going to get out of my bag when I told them I was going to give out something haha. But I still only gave the sweets to the students who I thought were the best.

Well I have now run out of pot noodles, so I will have to start eating dinner at a restaurant or god forbid buy more pot noodles TT_TT. Well I think I will also buy some apples in a minute, they are quite nice here, very sweet. Well thats it for today will update soon, thanks for reading.

2nd Day of School

2008-09-23T03:51:00.003+01:00

OK I just finished my second day of school. Today I had only one lesson but after having my first lesson with the Seniors yesterday I was thinking whether or not this lesson would go smoothly. I arrived at the school for 7:35 after Mrs. D had told me we had to be there for 7:40. However Mrs. D came late haha, shame. Mrs. D later told me to change the way I taught the lesson because the Senior students found it boring because they didn't understand what I was saying. Mrs. D suggested that I should just do the "Introductions" informally rather than formally like I had been doing. I thought about it and decided to try it her way. Anyways Mr. Lee surprised us by coming into the office. He told us that he would sit in on this lesson instead of Mrs. D because it is his class. I was like ok then, sure.

As I arrived in the class I noticed how friendly the students seemed unlike that other evil Senior class haha jokes. Anyways I wrote on the board as per usual "my name, where I'm from and my age" but as I was explaining Mr. Lee told me to stop so he could translate. I was thinking WTH this would make my life so much easier, why hasn't Mrs. D being doing this? So after a few sentences Mr. Lee would tell me to stop so he could translate. This worked much better because the students could understand what the hell I was talking about. Normally Mrs. D sits at the back of the classroom and lets me just talk then I have to shout to the back "Mrs. D, Mrs D can you translate please because they don't understand!". Anyways the way Mr. Lee was doing it was much better.

I then asked the students to practice introducing themselves and greetings for a few minutes amongst themselves. Afterwards I went around to individual students and asked them to introduce themselves. This took up all of the lesson but I only managed to speak to 1/4 of the class. At the end of the class I told the students not to be afraid to speak English and they should try to improve it. This was when I noticed one girl taking a picture of me, I was like O_o.............OK then what the hell and I posed lol. Then more students got their Cameras out and started to take pictures. Then a few of them rushed to the front and started grabbing on to me and posing with the peace (v sign) so their friends could take pictures. Other students then said "...I would like to be your friend" I was like "...sure you can teach me Chinese" haha.

So this lesson today was alright, seemed fairly easy. But I know not all lessons are going to be easy like this. I also forgot to give them the sweets haha, next time...next time. But I guess if I see some of the students again before next week I will give them the sweets. Its soon time for lunch but I wonder what I shall have...there are really only two options (well for me anyways) rice or noodles. I'm getting a little tired of having pot noodles for dinner at my place though =(, its making me a little sick now lol. Hopefully though, this rumor about the other foreign teachers and I getting a cook next week are true hehe.

First Day of School

2008-09-22T10:57:00.003+01:00

After a semi-anxious night of sleep I was ready for my first day of school. Originally Mrs. D told me to be at the school for 8:00am, but at around 7:15am she phoned me to ask/tell me to come earlier. I was annoyed because we had arranged to meet up on Saturday and she never showed up. I told her I need to shower, get dressed and eat something and that I will be there as soon as possible. Well in the end I got there for 7:50 so technically I wasn't late I was earlier since we had agreed on 8:00am.

When I got to the school gate the technician guy came to register my finger print on the finger print scanner. Its like a clocking in/out machine you may or may not have at work. But I guess this way no one can clock in for you lol (damn >_<). After that was done Mrs. D and I went to our office and waited until 9:40am to have out first lesson. She also informed me that the Headmaster said he wants us both to be at the school on Mondays for 6:40 for the raising of the flag (ah wah di rars O_o). 6.40 that's a bit extreme to come to school and we will have to wait until 9.40 to have our first lesson, that's a joke. Also the Headmaster said he wants us to be in school by 7.40 each day, ahhhhhh why so early T___T.

Well anyways I had my first of 5 classes today, 4 of them were the Junior classes and one of them was a Senior class. My plan for the lesson was to follow the book I had received from the agency however during the lesson it seemed like the children were struggling. First I introduced myself and told them I was from London, England. The whole point of this weeks lessons are for the students to learn greetings and introductions. I read out some examples of greetings for the students and got them to repeat what I said. Then I asked the students (with the help of Mrs. D) to practice with the person (or their friend) sitting next to them. Once they had finished this I selected a few students to come to the front to demonstrate their English conversation to the rest of the class. The students who came up were given a sweet that I bought from the Supermarket, this is really to encourage them. But I hope they dont think they gonna get sweets everytime they come up to demonstrate. Dorian what have you done >_< lol.

Oh yea in the first class before I said anything except "Hi" as I walked in the class the students begun to sing. I was thinking whats going on, they all sang the same song fairly loudly was cute thought lol. At the end of that first class the a couple of the students gave me a bird, yes that's right a baby bird lol. It sat in my hand and wasn't scared of any of us. I asked Mrs. D why doesn't it fly away and she said its because its too young. But I kindly gave the bird back to the students because I can barely look after myself let alone a bird. The bird resembled a sparrow or something like that.

After 3 Junior classes I had my first Senior class. Immediately I was stunned to see twice as many students in the same size classroom. The class was over packed to the point where you couldn't really walk from one end of the class to the other. Another thing to note is the different ages of the students, some are really young and some are really old. It seems like they have a system like America as in, if you don't pass you stay in that same grade for another year. As soon as I began the lesson it was obvious these students couldn't understand what the hell I was talking about. These students seemed less enthusiastic to learn unlike the Junior students. They also didn't understand my instructions (or Mrs. D was telling them something else).

The students ended up doing the lesson in the wrong order, they came up to demonstrate before they had even practiced. This flopped the task because they were not prepared because they had not practiced briefly before hand. It was said that the Senior students English abilities are poor compared to the Junior students, mainly due to them not liking English as a subject. You would think it would be the other way around i.e Senior students better and Junior students not as good but I guess not. Hopefully I can change that by finding out what the Senior students like (if anything lol) about English.

Ah well it was clear from all the 5 lessons today that the students enjoy getting sweets (more so the Seniors they were all shouting for sweets, big kids lol) and playing Pictionary. This was the game I decided to play with the students at the end of the lesson. Unfortunately some of the students English skills were not that great and they could not read certain words like House, Dog, Radio, Computer and Fruits. This made the game slightly difficult for them since they only knew the Chinese word for these things. I had to help them occasionally by drawing for them, because they either spent to long drawing or drew something totally different to the word. One girl drew a Cat when the word was Car, but I guess this is a simple mistake for them.

So day one is over, only one lesson on Tuesdays but I will have to use the rest of that day to restructure the lesson and dumb them down. It appears the books from the agency are too difficult for the students. So the lessons from Wednesday onwards will be easier for the Juniors and even easier for the Seniors.

Will update with more happenings as time goes on.

Before My First Day of School

2008-09-22T10:08:00.003+01:00

Well on the weekend I wanted to go out to the Supermarket to buy some supplies to use in class with the students. I had asked my assistant Mrs. D to help me and she agreed on the Friday. Saturday came and she was no where to be found. I woke up early ready and waiting for our agreed leaving time which was 11 o'clock. 11 o'clock came and she didn't show up, I phoned her but a message told me "...the phone you are currently trying to reach is switched off. At this point I was getting slightly annoyed to say the least. I waited, waited some more and even some more but still she never came.

Just in case you are wondering I wanted her to go to the Supermarket with me because I cant speak Mandarin and the whole thing of telling the bus driver when to stop is a bit funny to me. I waited til night until I got a phone call from Mr. Lee asking if I had eaten dinner yet, I obviously said know because people who know me know I like to eat late (btw it was only like 7 at the time lol). For lunch I had eaten a pot noodle, it seems like I eat those everyday. I feel like I'm starting to get a little sick from eating those now lol. Any who Mr. Lee picked me up from my place and he took me to a noodle place. I hadn't been to this place before but the waitress seemed happy to serve me.

Mr. Lee had told me as we left the restaurant that if he had time tomorrow he will take me to the Supermarket. At the time I didn't mind if I went or not because I was just annoyed with Mrs. D. I went back to my room and then found myself watching some silly Zombie movie because it was in English and had Chinese subtitles. The movie was one of the ones in the series "Night of the Living Dead" but even so this didn't make the movie any better haha.

Sunday came and in the afternoon Mr. Lee phoned me and asked if I had lunch yet, I simply said no. He then told me he will take me out for lunch (just so you know he takes me but I have to pay for myself lol), we went to the same noodle place as the other night. As we walked there this little boy maybe 4 or 5 yelled "heigui" which if you don't know means "Black Devil" this time it didn't bother me. However later the boy and his grandma came into the restaurant to chat to the people there while looking at me at the same time. I explained to Mr. Lee that they shouldn't call people Heigui because its derogatory/offensive, supposedly its the equivalent of calling someone a nigger. He tried to explain to them but I don't think they really understood or cared to be honest and even Mr. Lee himself seemed a little unsure as to why it was wrong. But I will just put it down to lack of education because I'm sure they wouldn't like it if I pointed and called them "Yellow Devil" but ahh well hopefully they will understand with time.

After the restaurant Mr. Lee, his son (sorry I forgot to mention him. he is about 7 I think) and I got on a bus towards the Supermarket. When we went into the Supermarket I got the usual stares but I tend not to pay as much attention to them anymore. While I was walking around this woman came up to Mr. Lee and asked him (in Chinese) why is he always with me, I guess she has seen him with me before. Hopefully he told her its because I cant speak or understand Mandarin.

I carried on walking through the Supermarket, I was mainly there to buy stuff for my lessons like I said before and also some sweets to give students who come to the front to demonstrate their English skills. Their pic 'n mix section here works differently from in the UK, certain sweets cost more even though they are all in the pic 'n mix section, weird eh. When I was about to leave this floor of the Supermarket the female employees started to because curious with me. One of them had already spoke English to me so others wanted to speak to me too. It was mainly one woman who was interested in me, she would asked Mr. Lee questions then he would translate. Then more employees started to gather round. They all started to ask me funny questions, the main one didn't believe I was from England because I was black haha. I explained to her (well Mr. Lee to explained to her) that there are all different types of people in England and especially in London.

The conversation with the women continued they asked me if I would take a Chinese woman home with me and I said no since I already know so many Chinese girls anyways lol. She also asked (at this point there was a man and his wife standing with us) if I stayed in China long enough will I become white? If someone said that to be in England I would think they're stupid but here (in China) I feel they lack education about certain things. I told her "no" that is impossible. They (the women) then asked me if I could be White, Yellow or Black what colour would I choose? I said I like being Black so I choose Black. This was when the Man said "everyman likes his own skin". The man then began to ask why I was here in China, we told him it was to teach oral English. He then said I would do a good job because I have good pronunciation (yea right) lol.

After the man had left two boys came up to the group and said "hello, how are you" I simply replied "fine and you?". The boys seemed happy to be speaking (practising) their English with me. They also asked if they could take a picture with me (I'm more than happy to take a picture if they ask me first) but unfortunately for the boy his phone was dead so no picture that day. During this time they women (mainly that one) was asking questions she wanted to know if I had a baby with a Chinese women what will the baby look like. I just said he/she would have brown skin probably lighter than mine and have eyes like their Chinese mum. They seemed to be intrigued with the idea of this lol. I'm surprised they don't know what mixed race people look like, I'm sure they have seen them on TV. But I guess they didn't know they were mixed race when they saw them on TV.

After like 30mins of chatting to this giggling women Mr. Lee and I decided to continue walking around the Supermarket. The women said as we left, come back anytime *wink* ^_< *wink* haha I was like sure. Since I already had the sweets I went downstairs to pick up some stationary for the class. Mr. Lee's son had been in the book section reading as Mr. Lee and I walked around the shop. But as it was time to pay his son had dissapeared. In England this would be a big ordeal but Mr. Lee looked for his son but did not seem too worried. The first thing I thought was that his son was kidnapped because I heard a lot of Children get kidnapped off the street in China. But in this area it seems like everyone knowns everyone so no wonder Mr. Lee was not that worried. Mr. Lee chucked me on a bus and told the bus driver when to stop for me. Mr. Lee thought it would be best if he looked for his son by himelf. But it turned out his son must have gotten bored while he was with us and made his own way home on the bus haha.

At My School

2008-09-19T10:44:00.003+01:00

Well I have arrived at my School in the county of Zhen'an which is in the province of Shaanxi. I arrived at the school last week Wednesday and have been staying in the foreign teachers living area. My school is "The 2nd Middle School of Zhen'an". Currently I am the only foreign teacher at the school so it is a bit boring at my place. But I guess I don't have to worry about anyone stealing my food, well for now anyways lol.

My room is fairly decent, i have a double bed, TV, my own bathroom and a desk. Although I can only watch Chinese stations on the TV so its a bit annoying. I don't have the English station CCTV9 on it either, so everything is in Chinese. You may be saying something like "...well, duh you're in China" and yes i can agree with you but the only thing is, I don't understand anything they are saying on the TV lol. There is one upside to the TV situation and that is now and again there are English Language movies shown with Chinese subs. In the dorm I also have a kitchen and a dining room but I will have to share this with the other foreign teachers if/when they arrive.

The school is pretty cool and most of the teachers are friendly. The kids however are like most of the people in Beijing, they are very surprised to see a black foreigner. But I feel these students are more interested in practising their English with me than starring and pointing.

When I eat out I tend to go to two places. I normally order the same meal at either place which is normally rice with beef or noodles soup. Both of these meals are fairly inexpensive, the noodles work out to be 5yuan and the rice with beef is 10yuan. That is really cheap considering in England a sandwich can cost like £3 (30yuan) or more. The restaurant is cool because I often see the same group of students come in. They are always friendly to me and one of them always speaks English with me. She is one of the few students I can actually ask where something is in English. I also noticed that I am the last person students who have never seen me before want to sit next to. The students that talk to me on a regular basis always sit on the same table as me which is good because they have no reason to fear me, im a nice guy...honest ^_^ lol.

Like the restaurants I mainly visit two shops to buy things. One shop is run by a man and his wife (that's me assuming that's who she is) they are both very friendly and a lot of the time I visit the shop they try and offer me food, like what they are eating. The other shop I got to is run by a family (I think), at the front is a woman and most of the time she has her daughter (again I'm assuming) with her. The girl looks to be about 8 or 9. Both the woman and the girl are very nice and they always try to help me if I look confused about something lol. Like the other shop they sometimes offer me food as well.

The area is quite rural i.e dirt roads and all and the people seem to be interested in seeing a black man in their area. They often make noises or whistle to get my attention because they can not communicate in English well if at all.

Last week I went to where all the shops are which is a short bus ride away. The bus ride was very cheap, it worked out to be just 1 yuan. But unlike London buses you don't press a bell to stop the bus you just shout at the driver "STOP!!!" and he will stop at the next bus stop haha.

While I was in the shopping district a lot of people were starring (I've come to expect this now) and pointing. Its really weird because they would turn their neck right around just to look at me if they are walking past. They even slow down their cars as they drive past just to look me in my face.

I wanted to use the Internet while I was in the area so Mr. Lee who was accompanying me on this trip took me to a Internet cafe. While there all the youngsters were looking at me and the girl behind the counter took a picture of me on her camera phone (again I'm kinda used to this now, i even pose lol). It was really cheap to use the Internet there, it cost me just 2 yuan for like 40 mins.

The main reason I went to the shopping district was to buy some cloths/sponges to wash up with. I also wanted to find a CD player so I could play my music out loud while I was in my room. However Mr. Lee and I could not find a CD player, supposedly they are not in fashion anymore lol. I ended up buying some speakers which I could connect my iPod to instead.

Oh this week at the school nothing much has been happening really. They still keep telling me that 4 more foreign teachers will come but me still nah see dem yet @_@. Well I guess I got a few more days of playing my music loudly lol. The headmaster at the school is pretty safe too, hes like "...if you got a problem, tell me and ill sort it out" so that's what i do. I told him what I needed at the dorm and then next thing you know everything I had asked for magically arrived lol. He also got someone to come wash my clothes for me.....by hand O_o. I felt a bit sorry for them, washing my boxers like lol.

I also got an assistant who will help me with lesson planning etc and general translations. Her name is Miss D and she pretty cool. Her spoken English is not as good as Mr. Lee's but hopefully the more she speaks with me the better it will get. Today I finished preparing some of the activities my students will do in the class. Although I need to pick up some stuff tomorrow at the supermarket for the lessons. Oh I will have 19 lessons a week and each lesson is 40mins. On Tuesdays I only have one lesson which is good but on Wednesday I have 6 lessons in that day. But that's only 4 hours I have to work for in that day so its not too bad.

I'm also lucky because the earliest I start is at 8 for my 8:30 am class in the morning, but the students have to come to school at 6:00 am. They stay at school from this time until 9:30 pm yea that's right at night. They have three breaks throughout the day lasting for around 2 hours so i guess its not too bad.

Well I think I've written enough for today will update when some more stuff happens.