Tokyo

I'm trying to conjure up an interesting insight into my whip la around Tokyo. I'll start with some obvious observations.

It's big.
It has lots of people.
There are a lot of tall buildings.
People are Japanese.
I can't read there script.
They use the Yen currency

Here are some facts you might not of known.

The subway is completely insanely huge. But at the same time fantastically efficient. I would compare it to a household tap. The functioning of your tap above your kitchen sink is underestimated. When you make your journey to the tap, do you ever stop and think "hang on, this might not work"?, no you don't. Well the Tokyo Subway is the same, I knew when I got on the platform and it said the next train will be here at 11:23, It was, every single time. I quickly had complete faith in it, as one does with using your tap at home. Get me?

Here's a picture of the subway. This Japanese girl is so confident she doesn't need to check the approach of the train.


It wasn't all glory though as I did come across a very pointless escalator. So, I had just spent about 10 seconds on one of the average sized escalators and on completing the journey I turned the corner to see another set making their way upwards. At first, I was slightly relived as my legs were tired by this point, on day three. Having settled into my relief I then quickly discovered just how small the electronic stairs were, and began to chuckle inside. They totaled 5 steps. Pointless all round. It took me more energy to correct my walking pattern to enter the steps correctly, than it would have done to walk the 5 regular steps. Trivial!


Tokyo nighttime.

I couldn't help but think of Seoul as I walked around, comparing minuscule details here there and everywhere. It was a pretty stupid thing to do for a number of reasons. How can you compare two cites when you have lived in one for 18 months and the other for barely 18 hours? Also, Tokyo is in Japan and Seoul is in Korea. The three big Asian cities of China, Japan and Korea are so far apart in every department. But we all compare them, with the thinking that they are, and should be similar. Not many people go to Poland and say, "I had no idea that it was so different to England". What I mean is that I kept comparing but shouldn't have. So, what I came up with is that Seoul is a very big city with the character of a village. Whereas Tokyo is a big city with the character of a big city, which in other words means, little or no character to capture the cultural minded, which in other words means, just another big city with too much going on to digest, which in other words means, next time you go lots will have changed and there will be more and more of the same, which in other words means, it's just too big. Terribly harsh and a completely unvalidated thing to say, but first impressions do count.

However, these opinions are purely based on comparison to Seoul, which as I said, is a stupid thing to do. I would highly recommend anyone of any age to go and see Tokyo, if you haven't already. I would recommend Tokyo over Seoul for a visit, but the other way round for a lengthier stay, i.e. Exapatriate-hood.

My number one recommendation would be a MUST visit to Tsukijishijo, which is an enormous and empathic fish market. It's officially the biggest in the world. But size isn't everything right? It's what you do with it that counts. They know how to work their fish I tell you know. The tempo of the place was poetic, but intense. If you didn't have you wits about you, you will get hurt, you will get run down by one or a number of the motor carts that whistle through impossibly narrow pathways and screech to a halt when a wellied (man wearing Wellingtons) fisherman lugs a sack of throw away fish heads over his back. I spent about two hours walking around the place clicking away. Every corner offered a new challenge of stacked boxes, some empty, some full to the brim with all different sizes and shapes of fish, topped up with ice. I paused many times to take in what was happening around me. The sound of knives chopping heads and electric saws, working their way down the middle of a gigantic Tuna, See picture..... captured my attention. Then the roar of yet another cart flew infront of me and then behind me, distracted me back to my purpose.

I had planned to get to the market by 6-6:30 to catch the Tuna auction, which features in every travel guide of Tokyo. Sadly every guide, web page and person that I'd spoken to said, "Make sure you get their before 7, so you can see the auction". I got there at 6:20 and the auction had finished. Not to worry there were still plenty sofa sized Tunas lying around, see pictures.



The fish market really was somehting special. The place had such a buzz about it, it made my blood run wild. I guess, having been told that it's the biggest fish market for amounts of this and that type of fish that once I was there, I was beginning to feel this was the epicentre of the worlds fish suppers. Then I started to absorb the work ethic that was being carried out. People didn't stop, there was very little talking, very little distraction from given task. People knew what they had to do and how quickly that had to do it. Some of the work was hard labour, whilst other duties were gut wrenchingly vile, despite this smiles were wide and wholesome. As mentioned, a must see.

People in Tokyo didn't have a huge impression on me. I did take stock of their fashion styles and general persona. In Korea there are a range of styles that people follow. The range is small, but still diverse enough to maintain interest and progress with society. In Japan, it's a very different story. Fashion, youth culture, trends (fashion and technology alike) are constantly changing; accordingly to factual material here and there, that I have read. I, obviously, was only there for a few days, so I can't say if styles change frequently, but I can compare current life to Seoul, and I will.



Tokyo is vibrant with fashion and alternative styles. In fact, within Seoul, Japanese fashion would be classified as alternative, but in Japan it would be considered as the norm, or should I say, one of the acceptable, main stream styles. In other words, Japanese fashion would be frowned upon, or stared at in amazement in Seoul, as it's pushing barriers and comfort zones of the Joe Bloggs of the Korean world. Korean fashion is neat, cool, comfortable, smart, sexy, classy, sophisticated, clean cut and in general acceptable. I mean all styles are acceptable to cultural history. Japanese obviously matches this, as does any country's mainstream style, but then when you go past the watershed of fashion you begin to see the crazy, eye popping, outrageous, mish-mash of styles that the youth are divulging in. In other words, there is no pattern and there's no rule, with the exception of 'absoluetly anything goes'.


Casually walking around dressed 'casually'.

I certainly didn't find any of Japanese fashion to my immediate tastes, but I'm sure if my time there had been longer I would have soon enough found a style that my closet would have welcomed.

For now, this will do on Tokyo. More photos to follow one day soon.

Weekly

N/B, Longest blog to date. Length wise, yes, word count, maybe not.

Conversation/Quote of the Day: Congratulations to Sara, aged 8.
Toby Teacher: Sara, hurry up please. Come on!!
Sara: I’m comeon-ing.

Genius. She knew right away her mistake, as did the entire class. It made for a very amusing couple of minutes as the class heckled and rolled around in laughter.

Last night I had my first one on one Korean class. I was a little nervous, but more excited than anything. Starbucks was the chosen location, and general discovery of my ability was the chosen agenda. It brings you back to reality when someone actually sits you down and nit-picks at things (pieces of language) that you have been using, somewhat casually, over the last few months. However, it was refreshing to hear some constructive and sensible criticism. Our first class didn’t really have any structure, so I’m not going to be assessing whether or not her style of teaching is compatible to my style of learning. Time will tell.

Currently, I have one class a week, which falls on a Wednesday. I’m tempted to up the tempo to two classes a week and possibly a third. If I do this then I want to do it properly. I want to put in the hours and get some reward. The, once before, hobby of mine is slowly turning into an obsession and a serious contender for the biggest achievement of my life.

Further to beginning my 1-1’s, I have also downloaded the Korean script for my laptop. I feel it will definitely help me with reading and remembering vocabulary, as typing at a painfully slow pace will force me to digest each and every sound and word on its own, again and again. This is my homework for the week. Memorise all of these.

저는 일주일 세번 운동해요
I exercise 3 times a week

저는 일주일 네번 공부해요
I study 4 times a week

오늘 요리 해요
I’ll cook today

매일 한국말 연습해요
I practice Korean everyday

저녁 식사해요
Tonight, I’m having dinner

매 토요일 쇼핑해요
Every Saturday, I shop

노래 재미 있어요
Singing is fun

내년 여행해요
Next Year, I’ll travel.

누구하고 식사해요
Who are you eating with?

어디에서 일해요
Where do you work?



The picture you can see is of Steve. His artwork will help you understand his personality. He’s unique. He came into Red class six months after they started. Jeremy, Sarah and Cherry had been rolling around Red Class, learning their ABC’s and 123’s, turning their It’s a ball’s into That is a big blue ball, etc etc. Then Steve rolls in, head first. His first 4 weeks were painful to watch. He was so nervous. He would loiter in the corners of every room he entered, occasionally cracking open a huge, but limited smile. His smiles didn’t last long. They were big and quite scary, but would fade with any slight adjustment to atmosphere. Everyone was tip toeing on broken egg shells.

As time passed by I discovered that he had a tremendous bag of vocabulary tucked into his brain. When he spoke, it was English. He never spoke Korean. His movements were slight. His trademark was to shake his head at the simplest of orders. “Steve, get your Student Book please, then come sit down”. He would start the notorious head shake, and back off into his chosen corner. This went on for a long time, and even now, six months later, the shake comes back accompanied with a shattering of uncontrollable tears. His confidence has grown greatly. But every now and then, he will burst into a fit of tears over something very trivial.

To summarise so far, you’re probably thinking he’s a little delicate and probably a Mummy’s boy. Far from it. This kid is a hard-nut. He has two older brothers that obviously use him as some kind of toy. An incident occurred about a month ago. We were playing football in Red Class. Simple football, “pass the ball”, “kick the ball”, “goal”, “miss”. He started to get a bit confident and attempted to tackle another kid. He slipped and tripped and fell. He smashed his forehead into the corner of a sharp bookshelf. The sound was revolting. The bump on his head was instant and slowly rose to the size of a couple of Cadbury’s mini-eggs. A small crack appeared and the blood started to trickle. He got up and stood there. Not one shed of a tear. Not even a quiver in his upper lip. He was whisked away to the teachers office for a clean up. Two minutes later, he came running in and demanded me to give him the ball. Solid, solid kid.

It’s Thursday, on Saturday I go to Tokyo. Can’t wait.

Recession

This image has no relevance to the blog. Just thought it was/is fun.

Having picked up, which I think will be my final installment from Guardian Weekly, it dawned on me, as I flicked page after page, that every story was somehow, or in some way, linked to the recession in the UK. It was quite amusing, not the recession I must add. I would turn a page, and there would be yet another story on the financial crunchy. 95% of the news stories were genuine, factual, informative, and a little depressing, articles about real life situations, as a result of the meltdown. Some other stories were just neatly linked into it all, and did carry a certain degree a relevance. One story had absolutely no connection with recession, money, finance, credit, crunches, shares or anything else. The story was about birth rate. However, they still managed to open the short article, by saying “At last, a story without any recession content”. Was there really any need for this opener?

I carried on turning the pages expecting to see headlines neatly linking everyday happenings to recession talk.

Man gives birth to baby, whilst counting his pennies, to pay for gas bill. Not a genuine headline of course, but an example of how absorbed the newspapers are into this recession.

I guess I’m too far away from the heat of the headlines to really appreciate the severity of the situation. To be honest, I haven’t read too much into it and again, to be honest, I wont be doing so, anytime soon. Giovanna and I, whilst cupping our warm winter coffees, discussed the recession for about 15 minutes and our conclusion was, after much amateur deliberation, “It’s because people don’t buy anything anymore”. We are experts on not knowing what exactly causes all this money jazz and I think it’s probably best that we’re far away from it all right now.

Whilst, in the UK, you’re experiencing a reduction of your GDP, here in Korea, and more specifically, at Kids Herald School, we’re seeing a reduction in familiar faces. Very soon, end of February to be precise, will see the departures of two foreign teachers.

First up is Chris. He has been at the school for 5 years. He has seen and heard it all in the four walls of Kids Herald. He has decided that 5 years is enough. The place won’t be the same without him. Imagine your fridge without milk, or your CD Collection with Radiohead, it just doesn’t quite make sense right? Secondly, we will be losing Anthony Teacher. I’ve gotten quite close to Anthony Teacher over the last 15 months. We’ve worked out at the gym together, we’ve shared many Shabu Shabu meals together and of course, countless stories about our kids. It’s the day to day banter at work that will be most deprived of his presence. Fortunately, he’s not leaving Korea all together, just yet. March sees the new schooling year start. We find out, next week, what age kids we will be blessed with. I’m hoping to teach the four year olds again. They’re that little bit cuter, but more importantly their parents aren’t so Hitler-ish about their kids English ability. Once they reach aged 5-6, that’s when the temperature rises and the gloves are off.

Fingers crossed for the 4 year olds.

Father Christmas (Ricky Teacher) Came To Town

Christmas Day at Kids Herald School fell on the 23rd December. We had a festive morning with a very peculiar, non-Christmas related puppet show. After, it was the moment that all the little ones had been waiting for. Santa was coming! Ricky Teacher, who is one of the foreign teachers, was given the role of Santa because he doesn't teach Kids Herald Kids, he teaches downstairs, therefore alluding the kids reminiscence. He did a sterling job. The narrative of his fine work is documented below. Once Ricky, sorry Father Christmas, had completed his present and wisdom deliverance, the kids had a very brief "you can open your presents now" time, before they were bullied back into their home classrooms to carry on studying.

It was a low point of my teaching career. I couldn't quite digest why they weren't able to simply enjoy their gifts and have a little play time. Instead, orders were sanctioned and student books were dressed onto the tables, as normality was resumed, as if nothing had just happened. Some of these kids are aged 4. They believe in Santa, as you will see from the pictures below. Surely at aged 4, one might think "you know what, they're four years of age, it's Christmas, lets give them a break!". In my own country I would have spoken up and addressed the situation, but I'm not. I have no power and no right of way, so to speak, so I quickly opened 'my' student book and taught the kids.

So here are some pictures of Santa's visit.


"OK kids, he's coming, please close your eyes"


Angela, takes an opportunity to have a sneaky peek.


Jinny, back right, is clearly not impressed, as they take a look at Santa.


Kelly seems content, if a little wary.


Steve is happy.


Sophia isn't.

Toiletries of Thailand

I was very much looking forward to a 10 day jolly in Thailand. I hadn't been able to stretch my legs in any warm beach side sand since Chris and I headed to Italy back in June 2007, and before that, it was a good 2 years since I'd felt the sun blistering my shoulders. So, the excitement of cracking open a new bottle of factor 8 and donning my size 10 flip flops, mixed in with a family reunion and Himley Towers reunion, was rife. You have to take into the equation the freezing temperatures of my current residential climate, here in Korea. To summarise, I was very much 'up for' a little trip to Thailand. Finishing work a little early before flying from Seoul to Bangkok allowed me to maximise my time away.

I landed and headed straight to meet Chris (Manski), a small hiccup with international phone calls and the stupidity of my Korean phone delayed the reunion with him by about an hour. I was sitting outside the hostel, eagerly awaiting his arrival. He had been sipping beers in a bar 10 minutes away waiting for me to land. Finally, he came roaring around the corner in a tuk-tuk. Our eyes met and the shouts of 'Wii' 'Wii' 'Oi, Oi' could have been heard from the 20th floor of the adjacent hospital. No time for rest bite, I was whisked off to a local club to drink some whiskey and mix in with the locals. Christmas Day passed, along with Boxing Day morning, in similar fashion. Then trouble began. Taxis.

I hope I never have to set foot, or arse, in a colourful Bangkok taxi ever again. We spent about 4/5 hours in taxis on the 26th December 2008. An exaggeration some might think, I promise you not. MBK to KohSan Road, one hour, too much traffic. KohSan Road to MBK, one hour and 30 minutes. No traffic this time, just a cheeky robbing taxi driver. Two hours and 20 minutes to go from our hostel to the Bus Terminal. Distance traveled = 22K...... Oh my god, this wasn't too far from torture. We were stationary, at a set of traffic lights, for about 25 minutes. Can you imagine? Two hungover men, cramped up in the back of a taxi, with somewhere to go, with a deadline to meet, stuck rigid for 25 mins. I say no more, I'm getting worked up just thinking about it. We had a 12 hour night bus trip to drain away the recent memories of hell taxis, so all was relaxed and we were embracing ourselves for some sunning.

Bus journey was moderate. Slept a fair chunk of the trip. We awoke to some generous sunshine and beach optimism, piercing through the 60's pink bus curtains. Seconds later, the realisation that Manski had had his I-pod stolen from beneath his seat, sunk in. Moving on, we booked ourselves onto the 11:00am ferry to Koh Lanta. Full reunion with Father and Step-Mother followed by a bright two hour ferry ride South, to our island destination.
Found hotel. Undressed for a refreshing shower, found biggest Cockroach we'd ever seen. Booked out of hotel. Found new hotel. Booked for 6 nights. Found mopeds. Booked for 5 days. Ate nice meal. Went to bed. Very happy.

Woke up to the sound of Manski being sick in the toilet. Woke up again to the sound of Manski sitting on the toilet. Woke myself up needing to go to the toilet, in a hurry. Woke up again, very soon after waking up the last time, needing to go to the toilet. Morning of day two, on the island, was spent sitting on or very near to the toilet. Afternoon, finally built up courage to leave the comfort zone of 5 paces from the sitter. Went to change Manski's moped due to acceleration situation. Going down hill. Manski, and bike, tumble. Result - a number of cuts and harsh toe bruises. So far so good huh?

Day three. continues in some shocking toilet action. I won't describe to you, because nobody needs to know. But I will help explain by saying that there was a whole lot of action from the back and none from the front. (I was urinating from my bottom). From this point on all the days sadly rolled into one. Not sure what day I started to pass fluids and solids a little more normally, but in the midst of all this, my dear friend Manski, had another unfortunate accident on his moped. This resulted in some pretty raw looking wounds.



Please don't get me wrong. Although this sounds pretty horrific so far. The company of Manski, my Dad, Wizzo and close friends David and Jane was amazing. It was great to hang out for meals, even though the meals didn't hang around for me, and have some quality catch up time. News from home was great, and news from Manski's new life in KL, was informative and very interesting at all times. I regret that I didn't have time to get some much wanted sun in. It's a shame that I couldn't get some scuba diving in. It's a shame that the hottest part of my body was too far south for comfort. But it was a great 10 days of rest and more rest.

I must add that it was interesting to see the vast alterations that have transformed Koh Lanta. I've now been there three times in the past six years. Each time has shown some significant changes. This time even more so. Our end of the island boasts two new, high end, flash resorts, that sadly take a little edge away from the once before peaceful corner of Koh Lanta. The prices have risen enough to warn of the backpacker crowd and welcome a more family orientated clientèle. Which isn't a bad thing, nor good. The once barren, jungle dressed mountain sides are now draped in brightly lite 5 star family bungalows. The beach has about 20% more sporting activities and sun seekers. The ocean water that laps into the bay has doubled its amount of people carriers (boats). But with all this expansion means the amount of smiley, happy, loving and warmly hospitable Thai people has also risen, which is definitely a good thing. Thai people on the island really are a joy to be around. Most are enthusiastic about meeting you. They want to know where you're from and where you're going. I must have been asked about 10 times a day "Where are you going?", I sadly must have answered about 10 times a day "I'm looking for the nearest bathroom". Thailand is a great place, but I sadly feel that it used to be a much greater place. I've been three times now and I think I'm ready to move on to new ventures. Therefore, on returning to Seoul, I promptly booked myself and four day trip to Tokyo for the end of January.



Happy New Year friends and family and any random blog readers. I'm excited about 2009. I feel this could be a very big year. I have no idea what is around the corner, but something tells me it's positive. A new years resolution of mine, that I wish to divulge, is to remain (try and remain) positive at times, when before, maybe I wouldn't have.