Day 65.

I couldn't avoid problems on the road - like most of the times. I'm so unlucky with transportation sometimes and i'm not just talking about being late or trains/buses/planes coming late, but i already have quite a list here. Train strikes - almost missed the flight, accidents on rails because of which trains didn't arrive, being stuck in Brussels because of, first, german train strikes, then because of french train delay - stopping in the middle of the way because of unexpected problems, missing trains, buses breaking down in the road, buses lost on the road, plane waiting for the new pulling-car, because the one broke down and stuff like that.... Today there was an accident on the highway, which made the Tomei Highway bus stop in Shizuoka. So i had to go to the train station first, get a train and after 5 or 6 times transferring to another train i finally made it to Tokyo! I was a little bit tired afterwards but i didn't let it get to me and after saying hi to the friend i'm staying at, i went to NiModo gallery in Shibuya to meet with old friends from last year.... And that just made my day!!! Last year we couldn't communicate too much, because of language gaps, but this year, when i finally talked japanese to them, it was so much easier! I was really glad and i came back home after couple of hours with a huge smile on my face. I met three people from last year and i hope i meet them again until i leave! Well, one of them i'm gonna definitely meet on Sunday - the Ainu Matsuri in Tokyo. Anyone who has some free time on Sunday (or Saturday - it's the whole weekend, but i'm going just on Sunday) please, feel free to join me! 

This year, i will try to enjoy Tokyo. Last year i didn't like it too much... And today i also was worried the plan to enjoy it is gonna fail too fast, because oh, how can i fall in love with the city who doesn't have much in common with me? A city filled with buildings, transportation, trash and plastic bags, a cold concrete jungle, a city where so much is wrong... But i will try to find good places, i will do my best! 

Day 36.

It's getting extremely hot again! That's kinda weird, because i thought that summer heat is over already, since it was getting cooler and cooler and then it hit us again! I even don't dare to imagine how hot it is somewhere in Tokyo or in any other big city at the moment... We're lucky to have lots of trees that filter the air through, we have mountains, so it's a little bit better than in concrete jungle. Well, to be honest - it's way better, not just a little bit.

Today i spent extremely a lot time for my internet page and i'm happy to announce that i've done almost everything and just gallery waits for the pictures to be uploaded, which i'm gonna do tomorrow and launch it! Even though it's just a stupid page on one hand, done with flash for free, but on the other hand, it means a lot for me. Even though sometimes i don't really know what i'm doing with my photography and if i'm gonna be able to achieve my goals that i have, but this is a big step towards the final goal. After all, not the result, but the process is important in most of the cases.

Today is our day off, but we had 10 kids coming to us for a small experiment, so they can have fun, we can have fun (*cough cough*) and their parents can have fun seeing the kids having fun. To be honest, i thought the whole thing needed a little bit more organizing, but it went quite well in the end. Kids seemed like having fun, and the head of this even - Seth Sensei, was also quite pleased, so the goal was more or less achieved.

Even though the experiment itself didn't go too well, basically - everyone failed, but the room was filled with laughter and positivity.

Just one negative thing on our host's side... Which is part of organizing things. It took us about 3-4 hours, even though we were told it's gonna take just around 1 hour. And then people might think, that i'm complaining again, but it's just difference in doing things. If i say, it's taking 1 hour, it shouldn't go over 2 hours at least (for me 1,5 hour would be the limit i guess...), so it's just misunderstandings. Just like with wwoof profiles sometimes - the things we have here are amazing and i'm happy to be there, but the fact that it's almost total difference than the profile isn't nice. Especially for those people who are really looking at the profile... (Like myself)

After this whole experiment thing, we had a conversation with one guy which wasn't nice. Yesterday was our "Friday" so we fucked up big time... Yoshi came over, guys had beers, snacks, we had guitar, so we relaxed too much and made too much noise. And some people got really really upset... The way of telling that was maybe wrong, because it was really judgmental and personal, but the things he was talking about were all true and reasonable. After the conversation i pretty much felt like a piece of shit, because it WAS a mistake, that we all did, and we shouldn't have done that. For all those who are gonna wwoof there i would have just one simple thing to say - if you are there, you HAVE to live like everyone around you does, which means that even though we're mostly young people, we cannot just go party all night, because it's not what we do in Tsuji. That was something good to understand for me, because it's a good experience for my life. I'm leaving Tsuji soon, but it's a good lesson for my future. Respect your surroundings not just theoretically, but be the surroundings - when you realize you're part of it, you immediately will respect it way more.

For a positive note, more pictures from the kids day: