The autumn has come

  The temperatures dropped to about 16 to 20 degrees, colors of leaves are slowly changing … The autumn has come.

       New semester started again. And I must say it is very joyful time for me to be in school.  As much as I didn’t like the school when I was teenager, I love it now. Such a great life it is. 

       We have one more student in our class; it is a girl from China, Chin san. That means, the Chinese boys hormones are on the lookout. It is quite funny to see that, and it always reminds me of the time in school in Slovakia.

       Today we had lunch together and then went to Karaoke. It was good fun. Few photos:

(Sorry for the darkness, I am using first time my new camera, actually my first camera ever, a present from Mitsuyo)

Mohsen san, from Iran

 Chinese boys

        Very soon we will have a concert with my friend Yoshie. She is a teacher and they have some special day at the school. So we will perform few pieces of music for the kids and their parents, all together about 800 people, the biggest audience I ever had. We will perform also with her sister Junko, she plays flute and also Maho, Junko’s daughter and other young and very talented violinist. 

       For this opportunity, as well as for the future playing, we bought a new toy, called cajon, a Spanish drum, mostly used for flamenco. 

        You should see Yoshie buying it in Tokyo. First question was: “Can you give us discount?” They just put it on sale that day in the morning. But of course, she managed to take the price down and get a proper nice case for it too; for free of course. From now on I do shopping only with Yoshie….. Amazing…

    We will play some nice jazz and tango to entertain the parents and also some Japanese kid’s song, for the younger ones. It is really nice to play Take Five (by Dave Brubeck) and Libertango (by Astor Piazolla) in the formation of Cajon, Flute and Piano. And to my surprise the children songs are quite amazing compositions with lot of rhythm changes. I like them. Looking forward to it…

    Here are some pictures from our practice.

 Maho trying the cajon

 Our practice in Yoshies house, Honjo

 Maho, young violinist and Yoshies cute cat

         I was also invited to house of my boss; from the Golf place. They have a lovely place, by a river and nice woodland area. Next to their house, they have a small coffee house, called "River Side", (Please remember the name. It is vital information for one of the photos). 

        My boss plays ukulele and once a month he organizes a live concert with his friends. They play mostly Hawaiian music and bit of jazz standards. So we had a little coffee there with Mitsuyo and chat with him and his wife. They are very nice people. We also played together a little bit. He liked my performance, so he invited me to play at the next of their live concerts. Looking forward for that too. 

        It reminds me of the time in Dumfries when I worked at Rift Valley Jazz Coffee, and played there with the boss, David Kelly. It looks like, wherever I go, a coffee house is waiting for me, with a boss who loves music. Recently I realized, that music opens so many doors. Even if we don’t know the language, the music will manage to break all barriers and create friendly atmosphere. Such a wonderful tool. 

         Few photos:

 Check the sign on the wall .... always makes me laugh...

Me and my boss

         PS:  Jessica, I think of you and Margaret every day. Please say hallo to her from me. Times like these shake our consciousness, and show us the right values in this precious life. Your gratitude is the best prayer you can give to her. Gratitude is actually the only true prayer I know.  May your missions be accomplished. You are amazing.

Photo slide show

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Dinning and food in Japan

Well, to be honest, there is so much to write about this part of Japanese culture. But I will write only few of my experiences, so no worries, it won’t take too much of your precious time.

Japanese people really love to eat and love to try different cuisine. You can see here many French sweets shops and bakeries, Italian and Chinese and other Asian restaurants. On the other hand, compared to UK, I have seen very few Indian foods.

The presentation of food is always very nice and colorful, as you can imagine. It is very important part of dining. And of course the taste, they really know what goes well together, especially with fish. I must say, they also love to experiment with tastes and textures of food. Many times I could say only: “hmmm… interesting…..”.

One of the surprises for me was that they like fat parts of meat and fish and they pay a lot of money for it. It is first time for me to see fat parts of tuna or beef in shops. And the prices… wow…

Another interesting discovery for me is that Japanese people like sweet taste. All of bread and baked products have sweet flavor and are very soft. So it took me time to get used to it. Even now I still shake my head sometimes when I eat it. Of course we could buy imported bread, for example from Germany, which I like, but for 3 slices I would have to pay about 4 British pounds. So … no thank you.

I tried to bake as well, but I couldn’t figure out how to bake with this flour and east they have here. I still have to experiment more. But who will eat the outcomes of my experiments…….. J I wonder…. Poor Mitsuyo… she is so kind to me….

So far I have tried few interesting places for dining. One of the most popular places to go to eat is Izakaya, there are hundreds of them. It is actually place more for drinking than eating, but the food there is so good and varies from place to place. It has a very different feeling from UK pubs, or Slovakian “krcma”. I must say I love it…..

Uma san, now I understand. J

Here is few pictures from one of them… in Atsugi, my favorite so far… わん (wan).

                                                            from outside                                     menu

                                                               from inside

                                                                sashimi (raw fish)                   meat dishes

                                                         Japanese sweets                              sake time

 

Of course, a must go in Japan, a sushi bar. Yummy yummy…… 

Few photos from sushi bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

                                                    massive portion of wasabi                    crab miso soup

And another big one in Japan is Ramen shop or Udon or Soba shop. These are different types of noodles. Very nice too. Cold hiyashichouka in summer – pure heaven.

Sometimes you can see such a small tiny little ramen shop in a corner of a street, where only three people can fit. Amazing. They love it here. Also if somebody becomes famous with their ramen taste, you can see people waiting even for 2 hours to get in, in long queues.

                                                              Ramen in small ramen shop in Asakusa, Tokyo

As I said, there is so much more to write about this, I could continue for a long time. Maybe some other time.

Mt. Fuji

     My sister came to visit us for 2 weeks. She is quite an energetic woman, so we have been busy walking, cycling and running (she is training for marathon in Kosice, Slovakia).

     Of course it also means a lot of traveling and photos. Good for you guys….

     The next day after her arrival, we went to climb Mt. Fuji (3776m). We did the full Japanese climb, which means going to see the sunrise from the peak. We booked beforehand a plan with one travel company. It was cheap and great. The price included bus fee from Tokyo to Fuji 5^th station, night at the lodge, dinner and breakfast and spa after the climb on the way back to Tokyo, plus 2 discount tickets for lunch at 5th station. 1 person – about 10.000 Yen (80 GBP).     Sugooooooooooi.

     After arriving to the 5^th station, we had lunch and got ready for the climb, greeted the Gods at the shrine and climbed from up to 8^th station where we stayed for the night. We were very lucky with the weather, no strong wind, and some light clouds, to protect us from the sun rays. Just perfect.

    

     At the lodge we were all quite tired, so after the dinner, which was of course rice and curry, we all went to bed. Unfortunately, there was one man, who snored so loud, it was impossible to sleep. God bless him, so many people hated him.

     So after bad sleep with little oxygen we continued our climb at about 2am in the morning. I must say, it was very strange; cause on the path was so many people that sometimes it was impossible to climb. It was like the whole nation decided to climb there. I have never experienced such a thing in my life. But hey….. Japanese style. What a culture. 

     On the top…. No clouds …. Just cold wind….. and the sunrise…. 

     And of course .... hundreds of happy Japanese people.....  

                                                On the way back down....

     The guide in the bus said, that we are all very lucky, cause it was the best weather in the whole season.....  

     After the spa in a nice onsen we went to Tokyo, had dinner and then finally back home.

My first job in Japan

So I got the job in golf place. Yeeeeah. I work there for about 2 weeks now. It is slightly different than it was written in the job description (of course).

          The job starts from 4 in the morning till about 6, which means that I have to wake up very early, 3 o’clock. A cup of coffee is my morning friend and then by bicycle for about 30 minutes to Iiama golf square. :-)

           Here is few pictures of the place.

   

           I was very surprised, cause most of the people working there in morning hours are above 50 years old. I really admire them. They work very hard.

          Well, there is not much to be written about the job itself. I just pick thousands of golf balls. :-)

          If the weather is nice, it is quite pleasant to work in such early hours. Because of the heat and humidity, I can’t sleep well at night anyway. And I get to see all the moon shapes and many sunrises. The other day I have seen a full moon and sunrise at the same time, pure magic.

On the other hand, if it rains, it is very hard, cause rain in Japan is very heavy. If I am correct, the right expression is: “It rains cats and dogs”. :-)

          My boss is quite nice. He is about 65 years old, plays ukulele, loves Hawaiian music and Elvis Presley. So he invited me to play together one day, when the weather gets a bit cooler. Looking forward for that.

         My colleagues are also nice. Despite my poor Japanese, we try to talk, but I must say most of it I don’t understand. So I just nod my head, smile and say:”Hai…” So far it works. :-)

         It is very nice how we help each other there, especially when it’s very hot or very wet. Nice Japanese team spirit.

  

          Since I started working I discovered new things about Japanese culture.

One is that I have to have a bank account in a bank, which the place I work for is using. They don’t accept any bank. Just one week before I started working I opened a bank account in Post office. Last week they told me at the golf place, that they don’t accept them, so I have to open another account in Yokohama bank. Strange system, but what can you do…

Another is, that there is lot of presents giving, called Omiyage. It is a little present for colleagues when you have little trip somewhere, or holidays; or you give it when you visit somebody, etc. It could be sweets or crackers, or some special juice or drink, produced in the area where you go for a trip. It is a really big business here. I must say it is also very yummy.

 Little Scottish joke at the end....

Wee Archie rushed home from school to tell his mother he had been given a part in the school play. "Whit part have ye got" she says.
"I play the part of a husband" says Archie, proudly.
"Well she says, just get right back there and tell that teacher you want a speaking part"!

Meeting with Yoshie and Trip to Kamakura

     Last weekend I met with Yoshie, my good friend who used to volunteer at Allanton. For those who know her, she is very well, enjoying her life. She is now a full time teacher at Primary school. Very hard job, but she is thinking to do some teachers course, to be able to teach music and piano at High schools in the future. 

     She came to visit us here and stayed one night. She brought lot of good information with her. First, finally I will be able to play with somebody. She has a concert in October for children at school, and she asked me if I am interested in playing there. There will be other concert in November, much longer one. So I am looking forward to play again with other musicians. 

 

       I am thinking about buying a cajon, a drum that looks like a wooden box. It is an instrument that would fit perfectly for me. And would bring some beat to the performance with Yoshie. 

      Secondly, there is a certain project with disabled children in her area. And they are looking for somebody to make it happened. They have good support from local council, and schools. They have been given some land, but they are not sure what to do. So Yoshie was thinking that I would be a perfect candidate for it. Cause it is pretty much exactly what we have been doing at Allanton.

     If it happens, I would be over the moon. Creating little Allanton and spreading Ania (an environmental project for kids) in Japan. Yeeeeeeeeeeah.....

Now I just have to lean this strange language. Gambarimasu (I will do my best)….

     It looks like Yoshie is my little guardian angel. She brought to me Mitsuyo, my girlfriend, and now this kind of opportunities. Good, good, what a great mission in life she has. To bring Stano good news all the time.

     Next day we went together to Kamakura. It used to be a capital of Japan. It has one of most famous statues of Buddha (we didn’t visit that place this time), and few famous temples and shrines with lovely lotus garden.

     It was nice rainy day close by the sea.  

 

     We visited also one temple that has a little bamboo forest with tea house, where we had nice bowl of matcha tea. Yummy yummy….

     And we had lovely Japanese lunch. The owner was half drunk, so it was quite funny too. We had all good chat and lot of laughter.

     All in all, it was a good weekend.

Summer holidays and Job hunting

     Since Monday my summer holidays started. It means I have 2 months of not much to do. So I went to local job search center, called Hallo Work, and I must say, it is difficult to find anything. One reason is of course the language and another is actually the school. But at least I managed to find one job, I have never done before in my life and I applied for it. It is picking golf balls.  

(…much better than what I experienced in Prague, Czech – one of my jobs was picking dog poo from the streets. I managed only one day.)

     The job is in the early morning, from 5 to 7. So it won’t be affected by school time later on. And the money earned will pay for the food. So that would be great if I get it and later on I can still apply for evening job to make a bit more money, to cover the costs of my living here. Guys…. Japan is expensive, the Yen is so strong.

     So now I am waiting for the Golf Company to phone me.

     I also found out at Hallo Work, that there is evening Kanji course, a preparation for Japanese Language Proficiency Test, Level 4 (about 300 kanji), and it is for free.

So I applied for that too. 

     Interestingly, most of the people attending these kinds of courses are from Spanish or Portuguese speaking community, so no English. Actually that made me happier; at least I can practice Spanish again. (Que buena oportunidad.) 

 

     By the way, these free courses are quite rare here. So I feel very lucky to have such opportunity.

     And I might also start Japanese calligraphy with Mitsuyo. Looking forward for that too.