Christmas in Japan

Christmas Eve, December 24th and I'm far from home, on another continent. In Japan ! 

What are christmas like in Japan? What will I do the next "holiday" days?

Earthquakes

Friends and family frequently ask me about earthquakes.

How is it with these earthquakes ?

Earthquakes are not uncommon in Japan. Sometimes there are little and I think it's just a truck passing nearby. Such shocks have outputs up to 4 degrees on the Richter scale . And sometimes there are larger and then I don't really know how to behave .

Hitachinaka

You know that feeling when you feel that time passes quickly ? Mostly this feeling occurs when we do interesting activities when we feel good, or when we write a thesis ^ ^I came here on November 30 .. and it's already a December 18th ! How fast it has passed.

Where am I and why time flies ?

Ryokan Souhonke

Today, I will describe the place where I spent exactly 20 days. I will get back to Tokyo because I'm fascinated by this city and I have many stories to write.

Over the hills, over the forest, over the rice fields, at the top of the volcano-there lived an author of this blog! But let's start from the beginning.

Being a Gaijin

I will not write what I did every day , because I have to admit that the next few days in Tokyo I struggled with insomnia and I was sleeping until the afternoon, late afternoon. I am ashamed because I 've wasted a few days. I woke up late and I was already tired ! So I was strolling through neighbourhood, I was walking near the harbor , I was taking pictures ..

Akihabara

With Nao ( CouchSurfing user , Japanese and a student during holidays) I had a meeting at the main entrance to the station of Akihabara. I reached that station on time but didn't take into account that it would be so big and for a moment I stood at the wrong entrance . When I realized that I quickly I found a good place, and there I found him already .

Lost

05.11

Tokyo

That night I didn't sleep at all . But thanks to that I was able to talk with my family (because of the time difference we often have a problem with that) and to pack my things, because I had to change accommodation. I was going to the apartment of two working Japanese, located in another district, 40 minutes by Metro. Due to the fact that they leave apartment before 8am, from the hotel I went out already at 6 and ... I was surprised. So far, I was leaving hotel during afternoons and no one was there, now I left early in the morning and the streets were full of people . Most of them were walking toward the subway station (just like me ), but some of them were sitting on the sidewalk. I have written on Facebook that in "convienence store" you can buy anything, including hot tea / coffee and a meal. These people were sitting on the sidewalk sipping tea and eating soup. Some of them also smoked cigarettes ( in Japan, very few people smoke because insurers offer discounts for non-smokers ) . One of the old men sitting even greeted me by saying " Ohayo " which means Hello / Good morning. What is interesting you can say Ohayo only till 10 am (once I said Ohayo at 1pm and did not hear the answer only when I told Konnichiwa which also means good morning .

Subway was crowded. Because of the large backpack and a suitcase I crushed people around me. During the transfer to another subway line I asked the men to help me with a suitcase and never met with refusal . When later I told a friend what I said he laughed that it was too dramatic . And I just told: I'm sorry , please help, suitcase, up . Which was: Sumimasen , tasukete kudasai , baggu , appu ( Do you see here some similarities to English ? Baggu - bag , appu - up)

I was already at 7 am at my target station Toyosu. Delighted, because on Google maps it was written from the station to apartment of my Hosts ( Couchsurfing ) I had to walk 15 minutes. I was walking .. and walkin, walkin, walking . After 30 minutes, I came to the conclusion that something is wrong . I began to ask people for directions , and even though I didn't understand enough, I was looking at their surprised faces. And it was more difficult beause of the fact that in Tokyo streets have no names ! Really ! There are only numbers and the district name. So when I showed a card with the address written on it I was expecting at least pointing directons. But no one knew... eventually someone said that it was not that district that maybe I should take a taxi , it might be perhaps there or there .. In addition, I was in Tokyo at rush hour and on the sidewalks there were a lot of people, once a bus stopped full of Salaryman ( term for people who work in corporations and at work a very long time ) and they all headed towards me so I literally found myself in a sea of ​​suits. When I pulled out a small map with difficulty I found the place where I was and where I should go . Still on the way I asked the people and the faces of them began to fade. They were not sure about the address, but at least I was in good neighborhood .

After a while, people began to show me the way to " Polisu boxu ". In Tokyo, there are a lot of police station, if they don't have real police station they have at least a box to sit in. I finally found a cop and a cop needs to know his district. He pulled out a huge map and pointed fingers and carefully explained to me how I need to go. I found it! White- blue block of flats ! I had to be there about 8 am, and I was about 10 am. THREE hours looking for this apartment. Yes, I did take a break because I was tired , without sleep and it was hot . But come on - three hours !? In the meantime, of course, I gave them know that I would be late .. The apartment was empty , but they left doors open for me ! There was Couchsurfing sticker on the door and on the table there was Rules ( Yes, they are experienced couchsurfers and came to the conclusion that it is better to have some rules in the house). The apartment was on the 11th floor and the views were breathtaking .. You could see Tokyo Bay . In the apartment I took one hour nap and went to the meeting. Again, the CouchSurfing ! It 's time for Akihabara !

Moments of terror

04.11

Tokyo

That day I woke up even later , at 2pm ..

I think I still had symptoms of jetlag. I decided to explore the area of my hotel. I read that there is a temple near and I went to see that. It was a Shintoist shrine , like most of the shrines in Japan.

Tokyo, day two

03.11

Tokyo

Elvis is alive! He lives in Tokyo and there is...more than one person.

Tokyo, day one

After arrival, I had to go through the immigration procedure. Each employee was sitting in white surgical mask. I had already read about it before, but to see it live was even more interesting. They took my fingerprints, took a photo of me ( in flower frame ), I had to sign that I am not carrying prohibited items ( an't even remember what things were written there ), write how much money I have with me, where I stay and for how long. In Japan without a visa you can be 90 days, and so I wrote 90 days. Soon after I went to the toilet ...

Why Japan?

For now we stop description of our trip to the Balkans to move to another continent.

I'm not sure when my fascination with the country of the Rising Sun began. 10 years ago? 11? I do not remember the exact date but I remember what it felt like, the first contact with the country. Japan seemed to me to be a country not of this Earth. Everything was so different and compelling.

Kotor

31.07

Kotor

We were going 12 hours to Podgorica. As I wrote in a previous note journey passed quite nicely, and in the morning landscape was wonderful, mountainous. We were traveling between the mountains, very often through the tunnels. Kuba was laughing that it's black and right after there is a mountain = Montenegro (Black mountain) !

Montenegro

30.07

Inđija

We were wondering whether to go back to Belgrade, but we decided to sleep longer :) The day was lazy .. but it was mostly because of the heat. There was 40 degrees in Indjija. Luckily, Igor had air conditioning, so in his apartment there was a pleasant coolness. Later we went out to buy train tickets to Podgorica. 

Belgrade

29.07

Railway station in Indjija reminded me a railway station in my mother's hometown. We didn't know at which platform should we go, but when a train came, all people went there- so we went after them. On the train, 

compartments had six places ( not eight as in polish trains ) . A passenger started to talk to Kuba (how poor he was, studying for the exam in September ), he told him that he understands what is written in his codex. Serbian woman told us that she had a cousin in Lodz and to young Serbs she told that they need to learn English because they couldn't talk with us. After an hour we arrived to Belgrade.

Indija

28.07.2013

Inđija

Vladimir drove us to our next stop - Indjija (Indjija, or as in the title - crossed d). Why there? We were looking for accommodation in Belgrade, and while looking we found Igor's profile on couchsurfing. And we stopped looking. Igor on his profile had written that he can speak Polish ! We were intrigued by that fact ... 

When he accepted our request we were very happy :) And here we were, in Indjija, in front of the the Igor's doors. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that Igor spoke so well in Polish like he were native- speaker but he was not ! He said that he was studying Polish for two years. Okay, Polish and Serbian may be similar to each other but to speak so fluently, with funny insertions (like fuck it-but it's so polish that it doesn't have any seans in any other language) you need to devote a lot of time .. or you need to be born really smart :D

In Igor's house there was Estonian guy- hitchhiking through Balkans, a dog and two adorable cats . The atmosphere was simply idyllic. There was jazz music (and later David Podsiadło), no one was in a hurry, we were talking calmly over tea (there were krówki on the table, krówki is kind of candy from Poland, literally it means small cows! ).

Despite the relaxed atmosphere we realized that our prepaid card disappeared (we were using it to reserve hostels, to online payment only). We had there some money and with that card you can easily buy something over the internet ( you only need to enter the number , CVV code , expiration date -all listed on the card) we decided to block it . We were thinking were we could lose it and it seemed to us that it could happen on the bus (while repacking things). Kuba even said he probably put it in his passport, which he later gave to the border guard ( maybe they thought it was a bribe ? ) . We talked a little more, we worried a little more and we went to sleep. In the morning we had a delicious, warm Gibanica ( cake with cream cheese ) and we went to the train station, we wanted to go to Belgrade.

About history of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

A few words of explanation requires the political situation in the former Yugoslavia during the last years.

To describe it as short as possible and understand the mistrust that often Yugoslavs have for each other:

Yugoslavia was being united together by the strong personality of Josip Broz Tito. After his death, all the unresolved problems began to emerge. One dubious ideology - communism - began to replace another, far more tragic in the history of the Balkans - nationalism.

Yugoslavia broke up in a bloody way. Please note that the capital of Yugoslavia was in Belgrade and that the Serbs were the largest ethnic group in the country, some of them thought that they were entitled to dominate

the other (the ideology of "Greater Serbia"). Yugoslav Army was dominated by Serbs. The tragedy of the situation is also reflected in the fact that the Serbs, Bosnian Muslims and Croats, while religion is different, they speak the same language and if history had turned out differently they could have been one nation (as reflect the following information).

From 1971 to 1981 the number of people who feel the "Yugoslav" national identity increased. When the war broke out there was on the one hand the idea to save the federation, but it seems that they took it from all sides nationalism, which quickly grew, fueled with plenty of fatal victims of the war, more and more brutality and ethnic cleansing.

Source: Wikipedia

1 - The armed conflict began in Slovenia. It lasted a short time. Slovenia was relatively ethnically homogeneous, and with shrewd political game managed to end the conflict, which has been described as the "weekend war". For this reason, among Slovenians and Serbs there are no this kind of tension, as between Serbs and Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks. Slovenians were minor border dispute with Croatia, but fortunately there were no any war.

2 - in Croatia was completely different. The war lasted four years and resulted in many deaths. The friction between Serbs and Croats existed since the beginning of the common state, and is strong still. Tensions are being increased particularly through processes before The International Court of Justice in Hague. Croatians have no doubt that it was a defensive war, and therefore particularly difficult for them to accept the allegations of war crimes.

3 - Macedonia gained its independence peacefully, but tensions have appeared in the internal domain - the status of the large Albanian minority and external - the reluctance of Greece to the name of Macedonia and the Macedonian symbols used by the new state, received as a provocation against Greek province of Macedonia.

4 - When Bosnia declared independence, there has been the bloodiest phase of the Yugoslav wars. The situation in Bosnia was the most complicated, most mixed population, the highest sacrifice. Country which exist now is also the most complicated political body in the region, if not in the whole of Europe.

5 - In addition to the initial conflict of the Serbs against the Muslims, fighting erupts between the Croats and the Muslims, the effect of which is for instance the destruction of the beautiful bridge in Mostar.

6 - The sad epilogue was Serbo-Albanian conflict in Kosovo, dominated numerically by Albanians. There has been a NATO intervention in the form of bombing of Serbia, which took a large scale and also affected parts of the country geographically distant from Kosovo.

7 - The two newest independent state, Montenegro and Kosovo. While Montenegro is in good relations with most countries in the region and a split from Serbia, is sometimes referred to as the "divorce of convenience", and you will encounter opinions that was an economic one, it is a burning Kosovo flashpoint in the region. The situation in Kosovo seems to be calm, but Serbia is very far from the recognition of its independence and still treats them as part of their country. In addition to Serbia, there are still many countries that, for various reasons also do not recognize Kosovo as an independent country - among the most important: Russia and Spain.

  

While younger generations are sometimes more open to dialogue than their parents, they also are exposed to nationalist rhetoric and the wounds of war at the end of the last century are still fresh. In the Balkans, speaking on these subjects should be careful not to offend our sources and be aware of their point of view, for many people, they can be deeply personal issues.

Kuba.

Novi Sad

27.07
Novi Sad 

We were thinking whether hitchhike to Novi Sad, but we planned only one day there and didn't want to risk a long waiting,. We took the bus to Subotica, and as it turned out it was a good choice. At the border there was a long queue of cars, a bus drove next to them-to the the special gate. If we had hitchhiked we would have suffered agony in the car. People went out of the cars, trying to cool themselves somehow. Finally, someone started honking and extensive wave of honking started, tired Serbs returning to their homes .. 

Leaving Hungary, Hungarian border guard came and collected passports, then gave it to us and we drove a little further-for entry into Serbia. There a Serbian guard came. We got a stamp, but quite ugly (we were disappointed, we were hoping for pride certificate for entering Serbia). In Subotica we went to the ATM to withdraw dinars, then Kuba went to the bakery, and I waited in the park.

Serbian language is much easier compared to Hungarian and actually some of the words are similar to Polish.When one woman came to me, I realized that she asks if she can sit down and I nodded. Then she asked another question, and it was more difficult for me so I explained to her that I'm Polish (Poljska) and don't understand Serbian. When she pulled out a cigarette and asked the question again I realized that she asks if it's ok for me if she would light a cigarette. Thiat impressed me, of course, in a good way. 

Kuba came with warm burek. With Burek we met a year ago in Croatia, and it is a kind of pastry with cream cheese or ham. The bakery has labels VRUĆ BUREK, which means hot burek ... We did, however, think that it was a call for the lost dog (in Poland Burek is quite popular dog's name, and wróć means come back...) : P 

When we wanted to buy tickets for the next bus to Novi Sad, a gentleman wanted to help. And in the bus another guy gave us pljeskavica (a type of meat). So, our first impressions were positive-filled with helpful people. 

In Novi Sad, the heat wave struck us, we went to the city center where Vladimir came after us - our host. He took us to the house, and after little rest he took us by car to show us around Novi Sad. He showed us the damaged TV building and fortress. He was focusing a lot on the bombing made by NATO. Vladimir is a professional electrician, as Tesla and Pupin. In his view, the Serbs are good at electricity and isolation (the second because politicians isolate them from the EU). 

In the evening we went out for ice cream and Novi Sad in the evening looked like another city-a lot of people on the streets and in cafes,. The next day we drove to Bački Petrovac, a city where everyone speaks .. Slovak!Slovaks settled there in eighteenth century. We met there friend of Vladmir- Zdenka, we bought delicious pljeskavica and went to the lake. In the car Vladimir was listening to Bregovic and Kayah! (Polish singer)

Szeged

In Szeged, we met with a friend of Kuba Agnes and we left our luggage in her workplace. We did sightseeing a little, and when we sat on a bench in front of the Town Hall beautiful music played. We felt like in another world, the fatigue was gone for a while, the sun, trees, a fountain and music ..

Funny Hungarian Facts

I would like to write about what can be difficult for Polish people at the beginning (and at the same timefunny) in Hungary. Hungarians read SZ as our S, and vice versa S as SZ.
Therefore, by writing Szeged - we read Seged.

In the city can be noted signs such as:
Autoszerwis
Szeks Shop
Szupersztar
Szupermarket
Szerwusz

In Hungarian Sopot means ... oral sex
and cipo - bread

Couchsurfing

Today's post will be about couchsurfing.

Earlier, writing about Budapest, I wrote about our host Gabor. We slept in his home for free, because that is the idea of ​​a social network-couchsurfing. We started our adventure with couchsurfing in 2010. From that moment we meet fantastic people - from Spanish police officer with house with a swimming pool to a Moroccan guy with his own kasbah in the desert.

Hitch-hiking

Here begins our FIRST experience with hitchhiking. The moment when we arrived at the gas station Kuba came to the first man we saw and asked if he's going to Seged. He was not going - he was going to Romania, but he said he could take us and leave us at the first gas station near Seged. We were impressed that so quickly we were able to find something and that our driver spoke very good English (Gabor wrote us necessary phrases in Hungarian and we had phrasebook).

Budapest

25.07

Yesterday, we were doing sightseeing in Budapest the whole day. We loved it. At the beginning Kuba considered that the buildings are quite old and he didn't like that but I did. This had its own atmosphere. In my opinion the prettiest places were - Vajdahunyad Castle and Fisherman's Bastion. There we saw a guy who was doing le parkour, he was jumping from the wall to the stairs (it was high). 

Day one

24.07
Day one

Actually we can say that it's second day. Yesterday we left Częstochowa in the morning with Polish Bus to Bratislava. Through traffic jams in the Czech Republic we were late which caused my anxiety, because in Bratislava we had to change the bus for the bus to Budapest. Luckily the bus to Budapest was also late. The bus had small screens on the seats in front of us - for watching movies. We watched Terminal and they even offered us tea (all in price). The journey passed pleasantly, in the meantime, I called our hostel in Budapest - I wanted to inform them that we will be after midnight, my call answered old lady and she was speaking to me in a strange language that I would hear in next days. Hungarian. Of course I did not understand anything I said what I had to say in English and hung up. We arrived at the capital of Hungary, and it was very dark, bus stop was outside the city, so Kuba was looking for the way. We went wich Czechs, who had a map. It's good that we had to stop at an ATM and a it's good that they went further because it turned out that we were going the wrong way. The right way helped us find the Hungarians on bicycles. We finally got to the hostel, it was a pretty nice dormitory and for 60 zł for two people-comfortable bed, kitchenette and bathroom for two rooms. After 8 am we were already at our host-kind Gabor, a Hungarian lawyer. He gave us the keys to the apartment and we meet in the evening. Now we eat breakfast in the park. We are going to do sightseeing.

Journey

We are going through Slovakia and Hungary to Serbia, later to Montenegro and Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina - to return through Croatia and make a stop at Balaton Lake in Hungary!

Unfortunately, because of disease we had to resign from Romania and Bulgaria.
We leave on July 23 and return at the end of August.

See you !

Balkans

Why Balkans? One year ago we were going to Croatia and we were making stops in few countries along the way. We thought- if Slovenia was once part of Jugoslavia then it's part of Balkans. Slovenians were surprised - they don't consider themselves as Balkans. Croatians felt offended. Balkaniec means someone crazy.

We decided to go on a journey to find the Balkans. Where are they located? Which country feels a part of them? What exactly are the Balkans? State of mind or a part of history?

Travelling is a lifestyle

Travel is a lifestyle! We enjoy travelling! We enjoy starting a day thinking only what to see today, what to eat. We enjoy meeting new people during travels, exchange opinions, joking. Jakub always asks people from one country from what they are making fun of. First I thought that it's weird, a bit rasist. But then I realised that it describes a way of looking at their reighbours perfectly. And what they think about their place in a world. It's possible to notice some archetypes. We discoverd this in Morocco. In jokes Moroccans perceived themselves as a really clever guys. (Like we Polish!)