Angelo's Adventures: Forgetting English and butchering Japanese

I've been living out here (in Japan) for 5 years now and I swear my English is getting worse every day. I find myself using common Japanese phrases, and translating them into English. Phrases like try your best (Ganbare) or responding with no no no (ie ie ie), when feeling like I inconvenienced some one. Which is pretty sad because, after all, I am an English teacher by trade. But if you live out here long enough and only communicate with Japanese people, it seems inevitable that your English level will suffer. 

The Heta(Badly Skilled)Twilight Zone 

Now I'm in a uniquely idiotic (baca) position, were my Japanese isn't all that great, and my English is deteriorating. I don't really notice until I talk to another native English speaker. That's when it hits hard. They'll be talking, and suddenly, I find myself lost in the conversation because I didn't understand the words they were using. I could ask them to clarify, but instead I do something my Japanese students do to me all the time. I nod and pretend to understand, while half listening to what they're talking about. So far no one has caught on, but I'm afraid the gig will be up soon. 

How do I fix this issue?

I'm kind of hoping that if I get off my ass and write more, this will fix the problem. Hence, why I'm writing this blog post. If you follow my Vlog (shameless plug click here: Social Gelo Vlog ) you'll notice that I use a lot of vocal pauses like so, or the famous Japanese response Ehhh, when interviewing people on my podcast. I'm trying to stop doing this. I think this is one of the reasons I do my podcast (shameless plug click here: Podcast  ), it gives me a chance to talk to people in English that don't live in Japan.

Why is this important? Because hanging out with other Expats in Japan, you'll notice that we all do this. We use Japanese expressions like  Ehhh, instead of natural English responses like, "really"  or "you don't say". 

In the end I do speak three languages (Spanish , English and Japanese), but I still fear that I will end up mediocre at all three of them, if I don't do something  about it soon. 

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (Editor) 

Are you an Expat and have a story you would like to share? Shoot me an email at thesocialgelo@gmail.com and I would be happy to publish your story. 

Angelo's Adventures: Fighting and mostly losing

I've been doing martial arts for over 15 years now and will openly admit that I've never been a champion. In fact the best I've ever done is place second at an open international martial arts tournament ( Continuous sparring/Kickboxing). Now I'm doing MMA and things aren't going much better. 

Self Defense vs Competing

The funny thing is that during practice and sparring I out perform most of my sparring partners. I also train more than most of the people I know (conditioning, running, diet). But when I step into the ring, I get caught up in the crowds yells. In the middle of the havoc, I lose focus and ultimately lose the fight. 

Not that I've lost every fight in the ring, but I think the reason my record is so bad (Kickboxing 3L 1W/ MMA 3 L/0 W) is because I don't have a competitive mind set in the ring. On the flip side to this, I've also never been knocked out cold, so I guess I can be thankful for some things. 

I originally started doing martial arts to defend myself on the street. A little after I got jumped (12 years old) I realized that I needed to learn how to defend myself. I started training with my cousin and sparring once a week. The purpose was self defense, so the rules were pretty simple, no biting, scratching, or eye poking. But that was pretty much it. 

As I got older I started training formally in Kajukenbo  .  But I was never really interested in competing at tournaments. Mostly, I wanted to be able to defend myself in the street, which at that point I had, several times. I was only jumped once(when I was a kid), after that I learned how to fight and kept people from pushing me around. Essentially, I reached my goal. 

Eventually my marital arts instructor convinced me to compete at a tournament. I was a green belt and reluctantly did it. There were some politics, but overall it was a good time. I fought in a grand prix and took down 3 guys before I reached my final opponent. I was gassed and we went into three overtime rounds with the judges (his coaches ) eventually giving him the win (which he rightfully earned since I outweighed him). 

After that I didn't compete much until I came to Japan. Once I got here I started competing again, and found that when I compete I tend to think to much about the rules of engagement. Since I'm used to fighting with minimal rules, this tends to be on my mind. 

Enjoying the journey

Through competing, I learn about myself, and where I am in my martial arts journey. I try my best not to let anyones negative comments get to me, because I'm the one in that cage, not them. Outside of their opinion, I am going to step back in the ring, win or lose. I've decided, I will compete until I'm 40 years old (4 more years), so I might as well enjoy it while I can. I probably will never become a champion, but I will have a set of memories to cary with me as I get older.

Losing to another martial artist in the ring is an honor. I've come a long way from fighting inexperienced thugs on the street. MMA is a whole different ball game. I once had a fellow black belt ask me:

"Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in the ocean" 

It took me a few years to think about what he said, but I think being a medium sized fish is ok too.

Social Gelo with Angelo

Sifu Angelo Ferrer (3rd degree black belt Kajukenbo)  

Below is my last fight that I lost by decision(I'm the one in blue) . I'm fighting again in Osaka Japan 9/24/2017

Angelo's Adventures: Trip to Engyogi Temple

Engyogi Temple is located in Himeji, Japan. Although Himeji is most famous for Himeji Castle, Engyoji temple is known for it's remote location in the mountains and it's use in the Tom Cruise film, The Last Samurai. 

Personally I had a good time hanging out with my daughter and was lucky enough to meet a local celebrity (that happened to be a monkey from a Samurai T.V. drama. 

The monkey was like was looking at my daughter like "You are the the strangest looking monkey I've ever seen" 

You have to take a ropeway to get to the top, once there I recommend taking the bus to the temple. We decided to walk, but it was about 3 kilometers (about 2 miles). On the way up the trail, there was a cool gong you can ring. It was pretty funny watching people trying to ring it, because you had to put some muscle into it to be successful. There was this tiny lady trying her hardest, but she was just not big enough to ring the bell. 

The gong it pretty big. So I understand why the lady couldn't ring it. 

Once we got to the entrance we found a noodle shop that had it's own handmade noodles (Soba and Udon). There was a beautiful pond with Koi fish and a Japanese garden (see the video below) with tables to eat outside. It was a wonderful lunch and the staff even offered to take care of our stroller while we walked up the stairs to the main temple. 

It can be a little shaky walking on wooden planks that are well over 100 years old but it has been rebuilt a few times for your safety

There are several grounds and buildings. Unfortunately, we got caught up in a thunder storm and didn't get to see everything. We almost got stuck on the mountain because the lightning caused a black out (shutting down the ropeway). But luckily they got everything running within an hour. My suggestion is to make sure to check the weather before you visit. On the way out definitely stop by the shop in the parking lot for some roasted Mochi (Japanese Rice Cake).