Day 22 - part 2

So training tonight was awesome! 

We did a LOT and I ended up very sweaty, very red and very blotchy! 

I ended up with two full pages of notes and I think there's a high probability I've forgotten some! 

I think I was more red and blotchy than usual as I'm not feeling amazing but no matter what I'm here for this and have to give it my all and so  I did my best regardless of the fact I would have happily cut off my arm and used it as a pillow to curl up in the corner and have a little rest. 

I find It's these classes that are the best, it definitely cultivates the persevere and spirit thing, but I also felt like I'd really achieved something after it. 

I have no pictures from tonight- but to be able to train with such amazing karateka everyday is a blessing, and as much as I miss home- this is worth it. 

It started to really rain on the bike ride home tonight, turns out it's amazingly refreshing zooming down the hill in the rain with the breeze. 

Now for bed as there is early training in the morning, back up the hill again! 

Day 22

Today is going to be my (sort of) do nothing day. It's raining here on and off, the rain here is strange warm and very wet (if that makes any sense!!).

 I woke up at 10 and went to find some breakfast. I ended up in Climax Coffee- which may just be my new favourite coffee place! It's very chilled and they had English Christmas songs playing! 

First they make me happy by trying out thier English- this made me smile: 

Second, I order some regular pancakes and this beast arrives!!!:

Still, at least I won't need to eat again today! It was very yummy- it was like Becka vs food- I made it halfway!! 

I've finally washed all my gi after talking about it for days! And now I'm going to chill and watch English tv cuddled up with my duvet and Jeff all afternoon on my iPad.

 I'm aching a little from yesterday's workout and I think I'm getting a bit of a cold so a chilled day is needed. 

I have karate later so it won't be a complete nothing day! I'm going to have to cycle up that hill again! 

I planned on visiting another of the parks in Naha but it's raining so I'll do it tomorrow if the weather is better! I got a real good map from the tourist Centèr this morning so life should become a little easier now I can orientate myself! 

I'll just do a joey from friends where I 'get in the map!' 

Day 20 part 2

This evening I was working again. I was going to have a afternoon nap but dad skyped me Right before he went to bed! It really made me miss everyone at home,  it was amazing to speak to him though. 

Then off to work I went, Sanae and I went there early where she is trying to teach me some Japanese and I am trying to help her with her English writing. 

 I tried mussels - I'm not too keen but had a go! 

I then met Jesus from France- he travels a lot and found himself wanting to visit Japan but not somewhere cold, therefore ended up on okinawa! 

After work tonight Sanae and Staci were going for food and invited me along- Mexican! It was fun! 

Didn't get to bed until around 3am and then had to get up and move my things as tomorrow is a day I will be in the dorm and James has a morning workout planned. 

Day 20

So off to training this morning, bright and early! Only had a few hours sleep! Didn't finish work until 2.30am and then by the time I got home and settled it was 3am- and then I couldn't sleep til about 4! Got up at 9, had some breakfast and off to train train train! 

Wanshu is hard!!!!!!!!!! I prefer the little jokes about only having one shoe!! 

It's good fun though! Always something new to hurt the brain! 

I've got the language dojo In a couple of hours and I've got hiragana practice to do today as well as gi washing ! It seems a routine of normal life is beginning to settle itself- still I'm just hoping that it will all pay off and in a years time I'll be able to read hiragana and speak a little japanese! Hopefully I will reap what i sow! 

Day 19 part 2

This evening i was working at the bar, it's a fun place to be! 

I met a guy from the Never lands called Roman who is here for 10 weeks and is training with Hokama Sensei and doing Goju ryu. 

I chilled with one of my dojo mates, I've met him before but haven't trained with him while I've been here yet! And Mr. Paul - everyone is helping me with my alphabet- prenounciaton is my problem! 

And then Sanae showed me the beginnings of her next masterpiece- 

And I promised her very cool boots ( and socks!! I love the socks!) could haves space on the blog too- therefore , here is Sanae's leg: 

Finally I had to just clarify to everyone our current space on the wall: 

It was good fun. I'm tired. I miss home- but I love it.

Day 19

So today I went cave hunting, it's a karate thing! I don't think I found the right one but I know I was in the right area!! 

It was up by Tomari Port. This is where I'll go when I decide to visit other islands! 

It was another lovely day here, considering it's apparently winter! 

I found some cool things on the way, and I went back to Kosaku Matsumura's shrine which is right near the foreigners graveyard. 

I took a different route back, found the local Koban (police station) and saw some cool shops. 

Then I have just done a whole load of washing- it had to be done before I completely run out of clothes or start to stink!! It's now all hanging out on the balcony to dry. I'll wash my gi after tomorrow mornings training session - by then everything else will be dry and there will be more space to hang! 

I've cleaned my room, I'll be moving to the dormitory for a few days soon as my room was already booked for a few days this month. 

I'm working at the bar later so I'm just practicing writing my hiragana vowels for the day and checking I can make it through the days of the week! Maybe tomorrow I can move on to more of the alphabet!! 

Exciting times! 

Day 18 - part 2

This evening I went to train with Arakaki Sensei, it was another amazing class. To be taught karate by the best in the world everyday makes me the luckest person ever. It's incredible to me. 

I then went over to the bar for my next Japanese lesson with Sanae - we carried on writing the hiragana alphabet: ah, ee, ooh, eh, oh, ka, kee, koo, keh, ko etc!! 

Then we went through the days of the week: getsyobi, keeyobi, suiyobi, mokuyobi, kinyobi, doyobi and nitchiyobi - I'm not sure if theyre the right order I can check in the morning but I'm pleased I've learnt them this far!! 

I was supposed to write my karate notes for the day too but Sensei distracted me, I'll just have to do it before cave hunting in the morning! 

I have got SO much love for the girls at this place- they're amazing. Completely looking after me. Tonight was a Gordon Ramsay standard tuna pasta! Perfect after training food! 

I met Mr elf from Sweden too, and Kazu from the language dojo helped me with my Japanese- they're all SO nice! 

To top it all off, I got a message from mum in Japanese telling me she loves me. I love her and her Japanese that's better than mine too. 

I love it here and I know I can go home whenever I want to so I'm cool. For the time being I think I'm doing okay! (It's only been a week of being alone after all!) 

Day 18

Today I decided to head up to Onomoromatchi to the Naha Prefectural Museum is and the Naha Main Place. 

It's a little cloudy here today but easily still tshirt weather! (And this is winter here!). 

I don't think I was supposed To take pictures, I took these and then came across a LOT of no picture signs :/ 

It was a brilliant museum, I did the audio tour but I didn't do it in the right order as I kept finding myself next to the wrong displays that they were describing! Still it's definitely a place I would go back to, there will always be things you miss! It reminded me of the natural science/ history museums in London except a little bit smaller. 

I then stopped by the Naha Main Place shopping centre, which seems to be thier version of the Whitgift Centèr! I got a bowl, a spoon, some cereal and some oranges so all I need is milk and breakfast for a few days is sorted! 

I've decided I can't keep eating bread/ sandwiches/ ready prepared stuff and so cereal and fruit is the place to start! 

I'm chilling before karate tonight and trying to do a bit more of my alphabet: 

It could take a while to be able to do all 46 letters and read them easily!! 

Still I have to start somewhere and that's the first 10. 

I'm going to Ozato to train with Arakaki Sensei again tonight. 

Day 17

I had another late start because I seem to be incapable of sleeping before 3 am- even on nights where im exhausted from training- getting to sleep is a problem!! Still, I didn't have anything planned this morning so dragged myself out of bed at 11am! 

I had a meeting about teaching English at a local English school at 2pm so I went and found some breakfast- today I decided on a crepe-

I got banana and chocolate and made friends with the guy in the shop- he does kickboxing and loves England- his English was very good- unlike my non existent japanese! 

Still I decided I am going to get Arakaki Sensei a Get well soon card and find some books today so off I went to Junkudo which is a very big bookshop with 5 floors! It took me 2 hours but I found the perfect books! 

I got 2 workbooks and a couple of phrase/ dictionaries:

So now I'm learning the hiragana alphabet- ah, ee, ooh, eh, oh is as far as I've made it so far! Still I think with a hour or 2 a day I'll start picking it up - If I can stick to all my other schedules then this one should fit in well too! 

Christmas is arriving on Okinawa! This year will be strange! Hopefully a good strange though! 

I've got karate practice with Miltos tonight as Arakaki Sensei has had Shoulder surgery today, I have an hour or so to chill/ learn more alphabet before I'll be out again.

Day 16 -part 2

So this evening i went over to the dojo bar and met the guys doing thier classes there to see how they do them and to meet some of the other students. 

I stayed on for a while with Emilie and Sanae- they're amazing. I got my own personal Japanese lesson and we made Mushin the 2nd in the hope we can get it on the list! 

It's amazing how welcoming everyone's being and how even on days I'm missing home these guys make me smile. 

'Mushin' - don't think, just drink! 

1 shiquasa halved and juiced 

1 shot of Vodka

Ice

Green peppermint liquor 

Sprite 

Lime cordial + a little shiquasa juice 

Lime slices 

+ a green straw 

It's amazing!! 

I also had my own little japanese lesson and am learning the alphabet, days of the week and time- I even have homework and a dictionary to use! Bring it on, I have somewhere to start and am so ready to start trying to understand! 

On the way back tonight i stopped by the supermarket to restock my bread and water (LOL that I'm not actually joking!) and came across what Christmas might be like here! 

Day 16

This morning was amazing, I am truly touched by the kindness of Arakaki Sensei and his Dojo. 

I got there this morning and I am now a official member of the dojo: 

To have a name peg on the wall is incredible, I really feel part of the team now :') 

After training today (which was great, it was just 4 of us this morning) I went with James and his dad, Mr. Paul and Mr Norway for some lunch. 

I tried this: 

The noodles and soup is good, I just can't get over how much fat is on the meat! It feels like if I was to eat it I would be going against everything I've ever learned! Then again the people here live the longest in the world so they must be doing something right!! :/ 

I'm loving the oranges Arakaki Sensei gave me though, still working my way through the bag! 

If all else fails I have fruit and biscuits! 

It's much brighter here today: 

This is the end of the tunnel and the top of the hill right near where Arakaki Sensei's house and Dojo are, I'm very happy when I reach this point!!! :D 

I'm having a bit of a rest this afternoon before going to the Language Dojo later. 

No training tonight but i do need to practice my days of the week, my bo hojo undo (1-3!) and my wanshu so it's not like there's nothing to do!! 

Day 15

Today I decided I would sleep in until 11am- I was quite tired from work last night and I had a bit of a sore throat this morning so decided a little extra rest before my first kobudo class later was probably a wise idea! 

I went out around 1 and found some food, I had a pizza flavour pasty thing today, I needed something familiar!! 

Then I made my way to the town hall where I registered my address- this took much longer than I expected and I didn't finish in the town hall until about 16.20! 

Get a ticket and wait! 

This only left me a hour before I had to be at the Language Dojo to speak with Mr. Miyagi and the plan was to find Itokazu Sensei's dojo- I cycled along the right way but couldn't find it. 

Executive decision made was to get a taxi from the bar to the dojo as I had training at 7 and finished language dojo at 6.30 - time was tight! 

I arrived to a private training session with Itokazu Sensei I'm not sure if he does regular kobudo classes but he is being brilliant with trying to fit into my karate schedule - it's still so surreal- I just got to spend 2 hours having a private training session with Itokazu Sensei - 9th Dan in Matayoshi Kobudo. 

Life doesn't get much better than this, and although I'm very tired, very achey, very sweaty and completely mind boggled - it was incredible. I LOVE the bo. (Even though i have very sore hands now- baby powder will Come next time!) 

I tried to take pictures of the way back so I can retrace my route to find it again! 

I'll take a ride up there Wednesday morning or Thursday morning so that I can find it and a route on my bike before the next class! I'll be more prepared by then, although just when I think I might be orientating myself a bit I get all lost again!! 

Day 14- part 2

So it was my second shift at the dojo bar tonight. It was less busy and i had less of a chance to practice what I had learnt on Friday but that's okay.

I Learnt the days of the week in Japanese instead and came up with the 'Becka special' cocktail. 

I also said goodbye to Mr Mike (aka Paul Hollywood) and Preston who are leaving first thing tomorrow: 

I had great fun with Yuri and Chiharu tonight, we're kinda like stormtroopers: 

I got horribly sunburnt today at the beach :/ -the one day I don't put suncream on since I've been here! 

I made buddies with the habu- we shall call him Henry. 

Day 14

James invited us to a beach workout this morning, once we got there and had started the sprints I began to wonder why I agreed to it!! 

Still I'm just thinking about those ripped arms I'll have soon! 

Preston came with me today, we walked from the monorail station so we could see how far I would cycle- it took longer than expected but on a bike it'll be much quicker! 

We eventually made it, we did a jog around the park, some sprints and stretches and then onto circuits. It was good fun. I liked the hitting the bag, then again I like hitting things so it's cool! 

We ended with kata, such a beautiful place to be! 

We stayed on the beach for a while after the others had gone and enjoyed the fact it's Sunday in November and I'm chilling on a tropical island trying not to get sunburnt, in between karate training and working at the karate bar. I don't think it can get much better this this.

 

We then made our way back to Kokusai Street where on Sunday's it comes alive- 

There were drummers - I'm so jealous, I SO need to get myself into a drumming club! 

We got some lunch, today I went with fried rice and some 'pot stickers' they were good, it's something new to add to the repertoire!