Japanese blog or rather 日本語のブログ

Ok, bit of news first. I've had a sickly and injury filled February. It started with a cold, that cleared up and I got a beautiful black eye at my dojo, then I got some sort of strange stomach bug. I've just got over the last of these which basically pretty much took up my 9 day holiday from school and prevented me from doing anything exciting. I did lose 2.5kg though! that more than counters all the chocolate I ate this month. I got 8 Valentines presents (men get presents in Japan and return the favour in March on 'White Day') and a parcel of British chocolate from my home (Yay! thanks Mum!).

Anyway, looking forwards, I've decided to try and incorporate a bit of Japanese into my blog. Every day I teach people English and give them advice on how they can improve and vary the way they learn but I don't do many of these things myself, so now it's time for me to try! So here we go...

Recently I haven’t been writing in my blog much and I also haven’t been studying Japanese much, so I think I’m going to try and write my blog in Japanese. Killing two birds with one stone!
Most of my friends can’t read Japanese so of course I’ll continue to write in English too.
I think that just working is boring. I always work towards small targets in exercise or culture. I like to have targets in fitness or studying. Last year I started jujitsu at my dojo, studied for JLPT level 3 test, visited China, Vietnam, Thailand, Hiroshima and Kyoto. I also climbed Mount Fuji.

This year I’ve also got targets.
1. Do a kickboxing or MMA fight.
2. Start to learn another foreign language.
3. Review my Japanese and become more fluent.
4. Do another English teaching course.
5. Continue Jujitsu and get better.

But doing the English course will take a lot of time so doing all these 5 things might be difficult!

So that little paragraph is the English version and below is the Japanese. For those people outside of Japan without any Japanese this may not be that interesting, but if you want to see what i'm writing you might have to have to install some sort of Japanese language function to your Internet Explorer. Basically if you open your IE browser, select "Tools" and head for the "Windows Update". Just check all Japanese language tools and start the download. Then when it's installed select "View" > "Encoding" and select Japanese. Another point is Kanji. It's difficult, very difficult in fact. So in an effort to try and learn it a bit more I'm posting the blog in kanji and all hiragana which should force myself to learn a few more, acts as a reference for me to check the kanji and will hopefully mean other learners can cross-reference too. It took me a hell of a long time to get this paragraph into what I hope is a comprehensible passage, but hopefully it will get easier, longer and more ambitious as I continue....either that or i'll give up. :-)

さいきん僕はブログを書いてなかったし日本語の勉強をすこししているので　日本語でブログを書こうと思います。一石二鳥です。
ほとんどの友達は日本語が読めません。だから英語もかきつづけています。
ぼくは、ただ 働くだけはつまらないと思う。いつも小さな目標にしています。仕事だけでは実りない。目標はきょうようか運動で。

運動か勉強によって、自分自身を上達させたいので,去年道場で柔術を始めました。そして日本語能力試験３級の勉強をしました。中国,ベトナム,タイ,広島、京都に旅行したし,富士山にも登った。

今年の目標があります。
1. キックボクシングか格闘技の試合をしてみたい。
2. もう一つ新しい外国語を勉強したい。
3. 日本語を復習したいしもっと流暢に話したい。
4. 英語教授法の講習を受ける予定です。
5. 柔術をつづけて、もっと上手になりたい。

でも、英語教授法の講習は沢山の時間がかかるから,この五つの目標全部をするのは難しいです!。

Kanji free version now, just Hiragana below...

さいきんぼくはブログをかいてなかったし、にほんごのべんきょうをすこししているのでにほんごでブログをかこうとおもいます。いっせきにちょうです。
ほとんどのともだちはにほんごがよめません。だからえいごもかきつづけています。
ぼくは、ただはたらくだけはつまらないとおもう。いつもちさいなもくひょうにしています。しごとだけではみのりない。もくひょうはきょうようかうんどうで。

うんどうかべんきょうによって、じぶんじしんをじょうたつさせたいので、きょねんどうじょうでじゅうじゅつをはじめました。そしてにほんごのうりょくしけん３きゅうのべんきょうをしました。ちゅうごく、ベトナム、タイ、ひろしま、きょうとにりょこうしたし、ふじさんにものぼった。

ことしのもくひょうがあります

1. キックボクシングかかくとうぎのしあいをしてみたい。
2. もうひとつあたらしいがいこくごをべんきょうしたい。
3. にほんごをふくしゅうしたいしもっとりゅうちょうにはなしたい。
4. えいごきょうじゅほうのこうしゅうをうけるよていです。
5. じゅうじゅつをつづけて、もっとじょうずになりたい。

でも、えいごきょうじゅほうのこうしゅうはたくさんのじかんがかかるから、このいつつのもくひょうぜんぶをするのはむずかしいです!。

You wouldn't believe how long it took me to edit this post. I had a few photos at the end too but chopped them off in an attempt to get it to publish properly, I'll post them seperately soon.

Thailand 2 - The Return

I visited Thailand last year around New Year and, to be honest, wasn't that impressed. I thought i'd give it another go though. My mate will has been living there for 4-5 years now and I trust his judgement! Also, the last time I just went to Bangkok so I ventured a little further on this trip.

Visiting a country where your friend lives is a bit of a double edged sword. On the plus side you get a free guide who knows where to go and what to see, you get to know how much you should be paying for things and you don't have to struggle with the language much. On the negative side, not bothering with the language makes me feel a bit ignorant and lazy and I don't take many photos - it feels a bit wierd, like visiting a friend in a different city in England and taking lots of photos.

I stayed in Bangkok for a while, went down to Pattaya (famed sleaze centre, I wouldn't recommend it), a small beach resort called Bang Saen and Ko Samet - a small island not to be confused with Ko Samui further south and much more touristy. I was there for about 17 days in all. Of that I spent most of the time relaxing on beaches (though you wouldn't know it from my pasty white skin) but I also did 5 days training at Jittis Muay Thai gym in Bangkok. I'd read a few reviews of different gyms on the internet and it seemed to be consistently highly rated. It has a real family feel, Jitti and his family live there as do a few of the trainers. If you train there you also have the option of staying in the house. I paid about £10 and each day i'd get 2 meals, a bed for the night and 2 training sessions. To be honest I only ever did one a day - i'm not into that much punishment! - but one was enough. Local Thais train there as do visiting foreigners, ranging from those who have never tried the sport before through to true professionals.

At the time I was there a few fighters from the Leeds based 'Bad Company' Gym were training. Including one of the top UK fighters Liam Harrison who was preparing for a February fight against one of the top Thais, Sanchai. These are people who live and breathe the sport so i felt a bit out of my depth around them, but equally there were people with a similar level to me and more who just popped in for one day for the experience. One strange thing is that the first few questions you get asked by anyone at the gym are 'what do you wiegh' and 'how many fights have you had'. Basically to Thais the idea that you train but don't have professional fights is very strange, it's seen more as a job than a hobby. It was encouraging to be told by the owner that I should try a fight in Japan though, I can't be too bad!

All in all a very nice relaxing trip. It was good to get away from Bangkok this time and try a more relaxing pace of life away from the hundreds of people pestering you to buy things or take tuk-tuk rides. Great to do some Muay Thai in the originating country too, hopefully I'll be able to do that again someday. As per usual, click the title to get more photos.