http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Japan , Kochi en-us Sat, 25 May 2013 01:05:51 +0000 Sat, 25 May 2013 01:05:51 +0000 Today i just layed under the ssun and tanned away by the beach. I snorkled a little. I wish i brought my diving gear. My freind gon brought along some of his freinds and we had a barbaque on the beach. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-776858.html I just realized that I wrote a blog entry on the rest of our time on Shikoku Island and forgot to post it. We39re in Tokyo today on the LAST day of our trip here39s what I forgotIf youll find a map of Japan look in the southwest of the country for an island called Shikoku longer than it is wide with no really large cities. Were spending three weeks traveling from one small http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-715214.html 22032011 Cut and paste from something I wrote at the time.The following morning I got up showered and Wait I forgot to mention Japanese showersthey have showers the same as us but instead of shower cubicles they have wet rooms it'sgreat. Also their baths are sit in jobbies and their toilets have lots of electrical buttons for spraysand well I don't know what else and I was happy not fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/Kochi/blog-588371.html 22032011 Cut and paste from something I wrote at the time.Maki had given me the paperwork for the flight I would be catching on my journey to Kochibut when we got to the airport we couldn't find the flight on any of the screens. A little worriedwe had to wait until Maki met up with us and told us there was a problem the flights she hadbooked were headed in the wrong direction. Maki tried to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/Kochi/blog-588370.html I'm moving my blog to a different site so if you'd still like to subscribe please do so here. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-497987.html Stupid Japanese Things This Month...Japanese teachers of EnglishI asked one of my teachers how she's finding the new first years. I phrased it So how are you finding the new students pretty straight forward I thought especially as I'm pretty sure she's used that same sentence structure before. She replied by telling me about the entrance exams. I KNOW HOW THEY GET INTO THE BLOODY SCHOOL W http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-493428.html An extract from a conversation I had with Alex the other dayen route to pick up dinnerA Woah thats a bit strangeL WhatA That plane going across.L Yeah the airports there.A Really Looks weird.L Hmmm. laughsA Whats funnyL Plane shakes headA Did you see the planeL No.A How could you miss itL Errr.because there was no plane.A There was Going across.L Right li http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-484673.html The New School YearThe Japanese school year starts in April and unlike the UK system all teachers including head office workers and cleaners are employed by the Board of Education and as such have their placements dictated for them every year. The usual get go is theyre moved every few years to a different school and they have absolutely no say in it unless there are special circumsta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-482398.html The difference between a condo and an apartment one's owned the other's rented. Who'dathunk you'd need different words for thatSports DepoWhy is the shop called Sports Depo Depo might be the Japanese version of the word but if they were using Japanese versions then surely the Sports bit would be Supotsu And clearly Sports is an English word so the Depo bit should be Depot. And yes it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-482265.html A friend in need...James decided he needed some new furniture to furnish his bare crappy flat so he went to the furniture store on the 55 to see what wares they had to offer. He managed to find a small soft poocoloured 2 seater which he asked if we wouldn't mind helping him take home. So we went with him later in the evening to pick it up but it wouldn't fit in the boot. So he put it in the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-473649.html I'd almost forgotten what live music was like I can't even remember the last gig I went to I can only think of Download Festival 2007 which is just WAY too long for any decent human being to go without live music....So one of my students came up to me after a class and gave me a piece of A5 paper folded up into a little square more like an oblong and told me to go. All I could see was a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/Kochi/blog-448377.html Hmmmmmm.....So its been a while since I updated this save for my last entry about losing everything which Im still p155ed off about dagnamit The jobs been going well at first the kids were really frustrating and I really felt like slapping some of them upside the head at times but then I revelated that in the grand scheme of things nothing really matters. So now Im having a laugh with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-445719.html I cannot believe I just spent a good few hours updating my blog only for it to time out when I pressed save therefore losing EVERYTHING Id just written. I feel like punching a hole in the wall... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-445718.html Sunday Her flight was due to land at 1620 so my landlady told me to come down to her cafe for 1550 and if she wasn't busy she'd take me otherwise she'd call a taxi for me. So I did some final tidying and my landlady called me around 1530 to say she was free to take me to the airport. So I went downstairs and she drove me the 1015 minutes and dropped me off. I had quite a bit of time to k http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-431994.html Kochi eveninglifeAfter I saw Sakko off at Kochi airport I called James from Sheffield to see if he was up for doing something. He said a few people were going to Josei Koen for some ultimate frisbee. So I got a taxi straight there cost me over JPY 4000 When I got there I wasn't too sure which way to go so Michelle had to come on her bike and retrieve me. Bless her. I brought with me a c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-431975.html I have absolutely bugger all to write. I can't even upload any photos. But I have tea. Which is good. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-427180.html I've been taken out by various people while I've been here the school when I arrived the English teachers as a goodbyehello lunch for Nina and me my landlady for the same reason the English teacher at my second school and 2 nice ladies who like to do Eikaiwa. I've also gone to several restaurants with Nina who's been showing me around the area.The English teachers at my schoolThere are 5 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-426026.html Settling in to my new townMy God it's hot here The first thing I noticed literally as I stepped off of the plane was the intense heat But excited all the same especially as all we could see out of the window as we landed was just lots of greenery. Mmmm....The airport unsurprisingly is not that big and therefore it didn't take long for our bags to come out on the belt. I managed to get http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/blog-425769.html Every year since 1954 the city of Kochi holds a four day dance festival from August 9 12 called Yosakoi. If you translate Yosakoi into English it means Come at Night or Come Tonight Yonight Saat Koicome. The festival was first held as a means to uplift the downtrodden spirits of the citizens during an economic recession. The City Management in the 1950s sound like interesting an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/Kochi/blog-319159.html The first trip away for the summer break was to Shikoku an island kind of south west from where I'm living and 6 hours away by bus...Yuko my room mate and I headed off 3 hours after my last exam on July 12 to stay in Kochi where her parents are living at the moment and near where she grew up in Ehime for 4 nights.Yuko's mum and dad are absolutely gorgeous people. Arriving at their house I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kochi/Kochi/blog-318197.html