First Post From Japan

Hey Guys. Its been 3 months since I came to Japan. Sorry for keeping out of touch with everyone. I have been really busy since coming here and I just haven’t really had time to sit down and write emails to people. Anyway in short, things are going really well here.

I am located in Miki-shi, in Hyogo-ken. I am about a 45 minute train ride from central Kobe (one of the biggest and trendiest cities in Japan). My school is like some kind of advanced special gifted Senior High School or something. The level of English is very high. I am teaching students how to debate and read English newspaper articles and stuff like that. These students are fairly gifted. Most of the teachers at my school are fluent in English. They also teach Chinese and French at my school. It is a fairly big school of about 1000 kids, and they need to pass an exam to enter the school. They have heaps of club activities including random stuff like an American football team as well as tradition stuff such as Kendo, Judo, Karate, etc.
The location of my house is good. I have a 2 story house.1 large bedroom, a study, a lounge room and a garden. I am also about a 5-10 minute walk to all the shops, the train station, karaoke bar... basically everything. I dont need a car, I can mountain bike ride everywhere that i need to go. Rent is cheap too. I think I pay about 15800 yen ($158 AUD) per month.

The students are really friendly and they really want to learn English. Like I said the level is very high. For some classes we are using text books that have been written for university students. Some of these students can write essays in English and research essay topics on their own. In the last few weeks the students have become fairly comfortable with me. I guess being the only foreigner also makes me kind of popular. Many students know my name and love saying hello every time they see me. On my way walking to each class, it is not so uncommon to be greeted by at least 10 students. It’s kind of fun.
My social life has become very active. I have Japanese classes twice a week, and I am doing Aikido 1-2 times a week as well. For weekends I am usually traveling or doing Karaoke and usually consuming a lot of alcohol. I have a great time every weekend. There is just so many things to do here in Japan. Aside from being busy at work, my placement is not so bad and I am having a lot of fun out of school. Right now I am thinking that I might re-contract for another year, I’ve made some good friends and I feel I am getting a lot out of being in Japan.

Last week I rode my bike past a group of police officers. They all got excited seeing a foreigner and all started smiling, waving their hands and saying “hello” to me. I cant see this ever happening in Sydney.

Last Day at Hilton Sydney

Ok, so last night was my last shift at the Hilton Sydney. Turned out to be not so bad, I ended up breaking many rules and had quite a bit of fun. There was even a mini surprise farewell party during the shift, whereby i was even allowed to consume alcohol, and then proceeded to continue to consume alcohol throughout the remainder of the shift.

I even got invited into a guests room and had a few drinks with a friendly hotel Guest. All the guests that night were reasonably friendly to me, but maybe its because i was kinda drunk and didn't really have a clue what was actually going on. Anyway, I got paid to get drunk and do no work... not a bad way to end my hospitality career.

FAREWELL PARTY!!!!!

So, me and my mate andy are both getting ready to leave for Japan on the JET program. We decided to get together and organise a combined farewell party. Check out the poster, feels like I am on some kind of Japanese game show or something.

Dinner At the Japanese Consulate Generals Residence

So last night was the Japan farewell for all people heading off on the Japan Teaching Exchange program. It involved a dinner at the Japanese Counsulate Generals residence in Sydney. Free alcohol was also provided .... YAY!!!


A few words of advice about dinning at the Japanese Consulate Generals private residence.

1) Do not stand in the Consulate Generals ZEN garden

2) Do not mention the word "Love Hotel" in any context.

3) Do not mention your intention to run around your school half naked during festivals

All these rules were broken that evening, maybe the free alcohol was not such a good idea :D

Return to Sydney (via Dubai)

Hey all. I'm now In Dubai and tomorrow I will catching a flight to Sydney.

I have had an interesting trip getting to Dubai. My bags were heavy... like really heavy. in Kathmandu i had my pockets absolutely stuffed full of the heaviest things i could fit in there. I was carrying about 5 books in my jacket, battery chargers and things in my cargo pants, and the guy searching me was like... "what's going on with this guy". despite this I was still like 8-9 kg over my weight limit. This dodgy customs guy looks at me and says "come with me". the guy looks at my bags, sees that they are overweight but says "don't worry, its ok" ... wink wink.... he keeps doing this for a while and i figured he wanted a bribe. I opened up my wallet in front of everyone and pulled out some money... the guy panicked and snatched the money off me as quickly as possible (without looking to see how much it was) and put my bags on the plane.

If the guy charged me for excess weight it would have cost me up to $100. The amount i gave him was 50 Nepalese rupees. (less than 1 dollar Australian). If the guy looked at the note i gave him he would have probably got the shits and charged me, but because i did it in front of everyone he panicked soo much that he didn't even look.

When i checked my bags into the Air India counter in Delhi their scales were broken so they couldn't weigh my bags, how fortunate, Oh how I love Air India.... so efficient, so reliable.

I now face Dubai airport... I'm planing on ignoring all the rules and talking my way through everything (Italian Style). Wish me luck..

So finally i will be back in Sydney... does anyone remember me?

(View of my hotel in Dubai, err.... actaully no, my hotel was about 45min away from here where all the migrant workers lived. I think my hotel was one of the only finished buildings in the area)

Indian 30 hour train ride

Hey guys I don't have enough time to write a proper post, but I'm going to do my best to give you some idea as to whats been happening. Right now I'm in Bodhgaya, which is like Buddhist capital of the world or something. To get here I had to catch a 30 hour train from Dehra Dun, (if you don't know where that is don't worry, I don't either)

The train was a truly memorable experience. On the train we were watching the security guards holding machine guns smoking marijuana right in front of us, had some Hindu yogi hassle us for bisects and when we refused he started flashing his penis at us and showing us pictures of Hindu gods in the attempt to threaten us, had a eunuch ask us for money and then try and put a black magic spell on us, when we all started laughing she/he left us alone. We also had a group of locals storm our carriage because they thought were movie stars and wanted our autographs and to shake our hands.... most interesting train trip I have ever had.

India is truly a crazy place, and when you get used to it, it can be a really fun place to be. Just to let you know.. i have never seen a digital camera for sale yet. A crowed of people gathered around me while i was taking photos in complete amazement just to watch me take photos. they had never seen anything like my digital camera and were fascinated to see how it works. Also don't be surprised to see 5 year old mobile phones being advertised as "new mobile technology" here.... In fact all technology is about 5 to 10 years behind in India. I bought some dodgy DVDs the other day. one of them was music video hits in India from the 1970's. If you thought Saturday night Fever was bad wait till you see this.... it cost me about $1... a great investment in Indian music video culture.



(There are many great photo opportunities in India... this was one of them)

First Days of India

This post is much longer than it was meant to be, I'm going to blame AIR INDIA for this.

Ok guys, so now I'm now here in India. I had possibly the worst trip to India imaginable. I landed in Dubai at midnight and had a 16 hour wait in transit for my next flight. When it came time for me to catch my flight I was informed that my Air India flight was delayed for 7.5 hours. After waiting all this time, I head to the flight info desk only to be told that there would be a further 2-hour delay. I had barely slept and was worried about falling asleep and missing my flight. I finally boarded after waiting 25.5 hours in the transit lounge to catch the 2.5-hour flight to Delhi airport. The plane was a big pile of shit and I quickly noticed that I was perhaps one of the only "white" guy on the flight. I searched my way throughout the cabin and perhaps noticed maybe a max of 1-2 others. The captain on the loud speaker apologised for the delay and informed us that he would be flying at "increased speed" to make up for it. What a joke!

At the airport, I had a feeling that more was to go wrong and I was right. My suitcase did not show up at Delhi airport and I was told they don't know where it is and they are investigating its location. I have been calling Air India since and the only information I am given is "We don't have any information at this time, call back latter". I might make the suggestion to all you now to NEVER fly Air India.

Some trendy looking Tibetan monk came to meet me at the airport. He then got me into a car and we headed off. I actually had no idea where I was going. The ride was a truly unforgettable experience, the roads of Delhi are crazy, like really crazy. The only apparent road rule I noticed was that you had to keep beeping your horn as much as possible. You would think there was some kind of prize for who could do it the most. A lot of the time there are no lanes and when there are, the motorist simply ignore them. I carefully observed my driver and noticed that he did not use his blinker even once. From time to time traffic would get blocked as cows, goats and people would casually just make there way onto the road. At major intersections you could occasionally find "Delhi Traffic Police" buildings. These were often a little hut made out of scrap rusty sheet iron with some traffic officer out the front in a deck chair usually sleeping.

After about one hour in the car I arrive at a Tibetan Refugee Camp on the outskirts of Delhi. The only way to describe this place was intense and I learned that this is the place were I would be staying for the next few nights. The place was not so bad though. During meal times, I from time to time eat with Tibetan Monks (who are not Vegetarians) who give me advice about India and seem to have an answer to any possible question you can come up with. During lunch today all the power cut out and the room was filled with darkness, I was told by one of them this happens from time to time and we both burst out into laughter. There are not too many westerners where I am and there is definitely a bit of a culture shock going on but despite this, I actually feel very safe where I am. There are however bells, drums and chanting that seem to go on all over the place from time to time and this can make sleeping difficult. This morning I woke to the sound of someone ringing a Tibetan Meditation bell and chanting somewhere near my room, this went on for at least 2 hours.

In the morning I decided to go out beyond the confines of the camp I was in. I was constantly hassled by people offering taxi services. In the attempt to avoid the numerous bikes, cars, people and goats, I shortly noticed that I had stepped in a pile of shit! Fuck! I tried to get as much as I could off my shoe and kept walking. I noticed that outside the colony there was shit almost everywhere so I found myself having the pleasure of negotiating my way passed the heavy passing by of bicycles and the numerous piles of shit. I decided very quickly it was best not to walk to much further outside of the colony and so headed back inside.

In the afternoon I was told my bag had arrived at the airport and that I was required to come and collect it in person. I had a taxi and driver arranged for me and I made my 45min ride to the airport. With the taxi driver waiting for me, I found the Air India office and expected to have my bag within no time. I was wrong. What appears to have been a relatively simple procedure was inflated by shear Indian Bureaucracy. To give you an idea, let me give you an idea of exactly what I had to do to collect my bag.

Indian Bag Collecting Bureaucracy

1) Wait in queue (if you could call it a queue) at the Air India office and present passport, lost baggage report, and airline tickets.

2) Fill out "collection of baggage" report.

3) Have the Air India office check and sign that you have filled out the form properly.

4) Bring the competed form to the airport manager (at the opposite side of the airport) to see if you qualify for security access to customs area. [Note: there was a guard with a mounted machine gun surround by a sand bagged wall outside the airport managers office... I have no idea why]

5) Pass into another office where your application for security access is processed and special access form is filled out.

6) Return back to airport managers office and have him sign your security pass.

7) Enter arrivals area and have police officer at the entrance look at your pass and wait to be granted access.

8) Pass another security checkpoint in customs area where my passport is analysed and further access is granted.

9) Find "Mishandled baggage" office (there are no signs) and line up in a queue again in order to have your request processed.

10) Line up in a queue in the warehouse office, have your request processed and put into some book, sign book and then pay a FEE for having your baggage stored.

11) Wait for someone to show and take you to the warehouse.

12) Hand over your documents to the warehouse manager and wait for your baggage.

13) Go through customs again and have your baggage X rayed.

14) Fill out a form which declares exactly ALL the contents, quantity and price in Indian Rupees!!! Of everything in your bag.

15) Have your completed report stamped by the X ray officer (the x ray officer had mysteriously disappeared for some reason, and I couldn't do anything until I found him)

16) Return to the "Mishandled baggage" office AGAIN, queue up and have them record that you have received your baggage.

17) Pass through customs and show them you have completed all your forms.

18) Return to Air India office, fill out form declaring all the damages you have suffered due to your bag being lost.

19) My bag was damaged so I had to fill out a separate damage report.

20) Wait about 10min for my bag to be assessed and then told that it is not damaged sufficiently enough to be entitled for compensation.

21) Sign form which accepts there very generous 600 Indian Rupee compensation (equivalent to about $ 17 Australian Dollars)

22) Pay to call my taxi driver and arrange for him to meet him and take me back to my hostel. - Cost of Taxi, 750 Rupees

In total, it took me 4 hours to collect ONE bag from Delhi airport. I spoke with an American who was also lining up for her bag and she told me that NO ONE on her AIR INDIA flight received their baggage upon arrival in Delhi. Did mention somewhere never to fly Air India? Please take my advice.

I am now back at my hostel writing this and despite all the problems with getting here this place is perhaps the most intensely interesting place I have been so far on my travels. It is going to take me a while to get used to India but I am really looking forward to learn more about it. I just hope I don't have to fill out any more forms for a while.

(This guy was not quite as excited as I was about having this photo taken)