Pictured Above: screwing around

I have now been in Japan for a total of four and a half months. I can speak some very basic Japanese, and I don’t have trouble getting by, but that is not nearly enough for my liking. I’ve decided to give myself a kick in the butt and start setting goals. The real kick in the butt comes from posting this for the world to see though!

So anyway, before I get into some details, what do I mean by fluent? Well, I would like to be able to have conversations with friends and strangers alike about literally anything I’d like to, without having to pull out a dictionary or phrase book every minute. This does not mean I will necessarily be able to talk about astrophysics, or even have a decent conversation about politics.  I can’t really do those things in English either, so why would I be worried about it in Japanese?!

A guy who makes smart decisions and has intelligent conversations.

Now, to accomplish this goal I will have to set many many short term goals to keep myself moving forward. Otherwise I will become discouraged almost immediately! I know one year seems like a short time, but in all honesty I know it could be done faster. I think one year is quite generous though (especially considering how fast the inspiring Irish Polyglot Benny forces himself to learn languages), considering I work 9+ hour days speaking exclusively English 5 days per week. Another major challenge is that a majority of my friends speak decent English (including my girlfriend). I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and try harder to speak, and accept embarrassment. Moving along…

So here is a list of my goals for October!

October Goals

• Review all Learned Kanji (about 200)
• Begin learning 10-20 new Kanji per day
• Upload a video introducing myself, and telling a little about who I am all in Japanese (read from a script) on OCTOBER 15th!
• Prepare and upload a second video touring my apartment in Japanese, using a memorized script on NOVEMBER 1st!
• Post a weekly update here on TMP about my progress, struggles, victories, and general updates
• Monthly videos!
• Skype Lesson once per week
• Side lessons throughout the week
• Speaking whenever possible!

Here is my list of things to do by October 9th to give you a better idea of how I’m moving towards these goals:

Finish by October 9th

• Review learned Kanji
• Learn 5 new phrases/sentences related to the coming video
• Write the English script for the first video
• Create new Anki decks for the above phrases
• Write THIS blog post
• 1-2 Audio lessons, using a program I have access too
• Finish reading One Piece No.1 (English and Japanese)
• Finish reading HunterxHunter No.1 (English and Japanese)

Here is the list of things to do next week (By October 15th/16th)!

Finish by October 15th/16th

• Write the Japanese script for video 1
• Record the video
• Edit
• Post
• 7 new phrases/sentences related to the video
• Weekly blog update
• All previously learned Kanji reviewed/relearned
• Skype lesson
• Other Japanese lesson

Whew! That’s a lot, but all of these things keep me moving forward slowly but surely. It’s overwhelming in a way that I’ve finally made the decision and decided to post this. It feels like I’m standing on the edge of something good though… So here we go!

My life is good.

If you only care about the language mission, you should stop reading here!

For those of you reading to get an update on me, I have been working here in Japan for the last 4+ months at an English school for kids and adults. It is a very challenging job, but generally I enjoy it! I really love it here in Japan, and I have made many friends. I have learned some Japanese, but as you’ve seen above, I want to learn a LOT more! If you want to get a better idea of what I’ve been up to, just head over to my facebook and check out all the pictures!

Finally, I thought about starting up another website for this project, but this really has become the home of a lot of my travel stuff in general, so I’m going to stick with TMP. I figure learning a language is a lot like a pilgrimage anyway, but instead of walking towards a destination I’m working towards the goal of fluency!

For all of you considering learning Japanese, currently learning Japanese, or any other language: 頑張ってね (がんばってね or ganbatte ne)! Please add a comment to this post and tell me about your mission! Other questions and comments are welcome too, of course!

There is more to come, you can be sure!

Our conscious was probably the biggest obstacle we had to overcome, but it was also the easiest considering we have none. Eradicating hundreds of species unique to the area, displacing over 20,000 native individuals from their life long homes, and destroying their livelihoods is a small price to pay for bigger numbers in computers. Well… They’re not actually much bigger, but when we use this VICTORY to construct even more dams on the Xingu river, that number will become much bigger. And when we use those VICTORIES to continue conquering the rivers of South America the numbers in our computer will grow even larger! Those people, who’s lives we are destroying, probably don’t even realize that we’re helping them either. They say the plants, animals, land, and river in the area are their friends. HAH! Clearly they need an education. We won’t provide it for them, but by forcing them to COMPETE for economic resources, now that we will be taking their current way of life from them, we will clearly be making their lives better! They might even get to use Facebook.

It is becoming more and more apparent that overcoming obstacles like the above is actually quite easy. All we must do is increase the numbers in other government’s, individual’s, and “people’s” computers. We could take over the whole world this way!

And we will.

Sincerely,

Western Civilization

Chief Raoni weeps after hearing that the Belo Monte dam will be built. (Photo courtesy of the Support Chief Raoni Facepook page)

STOP the Belo Monte Dam

Don’t let us do this…

More info…

“Sure, I’ll be fine!” I hear myself say. I think I may have sounded a bit more convincing than I meant to, because after refilling my water bottles in the bathroom we are suddenly on the road again. My mind is focused completely on my own pain, despite the beautiful views across a small lake that greet my weary eyes, and my attention continues to focus on my own selfish pains until it becomes apparent that my friend is experiencing far more pain than I am. I slow to talk to her and see if there’s anything I can do, not that I have anything to offer but my company. When her pain finally begins to ease away (possibly due to the high grade pain killers a doctor handed over a few days prior) we start walking along and talking about many different things. My mind is slowly distracted from what seemed to be unbearable pain just moments before, replaced by laughter and words of encouragement. Before long we find we are far behind anyone we know, but are making good progress considering our plight.

Before us lies a beautiful lake begging for someone to enter it. The path, marked by yellow arrows and large blocks of marble which we have been following for weeks, veers away from it. Across this delicious sight lies the ruins of a castle which her guide book claims was built in the 11th century. The decision is made before the question even leaves our lips. We are going to that castle, and, come prickly plants or slimy lake monsters, we are swimming in that lake!

So off we go, enthusiastically in spite of the ancient yellow arrows more recently crossed out by red spray paint pointing in this direction. It takes us some time to find a spot on the side of the lake where we feel safe getting in. In fact we are half way around it by this time, and have already seen a boat or two we have entertained commandeering. But we find a spot that is, if not perfect, as close to perfect as we are going to get. Stripping down to the essentials and slipping into the water is as natural and easy as anything I’ve ever done. The water is refreshingly cool, and I feel the pain and exhaustion literally evacuating my body with each kick of my legs. I suddenly feel freedom. Not the knowledge that I have the right to certain things, or that I won’t be killed for doing certain other things, but true and total freedom. I know that I am alive, and I know that everything I have ever done has led to this moment, and I know that this is good.

Reluctantly we exit the lake and strap on our packs, which are entirely to heavy. To remedy this we eat a few snacks we keep stored away for just such times. There is a spring in my step now. The pain is, if not completely gone, at least bearable. I feel refreshed, awake, and there is still the promise of adventure and ancient ruins before us.

We quickly discover why very few people opt to circumnavigate the lake. The terrain is very rocky, and more difficult than a large portion of the usual walkers on the Via de la Plata would really enjoy. The smell of thyme burns itself into my memory though, as it is littered generously around the edges of the lake. It is an intoxicating smell, full of promise. Promises of love, of loss, of the pure, and of the vivid. I know that every single time I smell thyme, from this moment until my death, I will remember today. I drink in the smell and urge her to do the same, not just because I crave that scent, but because I never want to forget it.

Finally, we stumble over the rocks to the bottom of the “cliffs” that support the walls of some ancient village. We find a perfect seat in the form of a large stone shaded by some kind of leafless bush. It is like a natural cave, perfect for a break to decide what we are going to do. It isn’t really a question that needs to be asked, but we ask it anyway.

“Should we go in and take a look?” the question echoes through the air. I start walking almost before there is even time for an answer.

What greets my eyes within the mysterious city’s dilapidated walls almost evades description. There is nothing where I come from which can compare. There are no structures remaining which human hands constructed nearly 1000 years ago at home, but here before me lies the stuff of legends. My imagination is alive with what this place must have been like way back when. The streets are bustling with merchants selling their wares, a bell rings in the castle announcing something everyone should be aware of. My knowledge of the time is to weak for me to know what these things might mean, but they are there. The veil of time is thin here. Other’s stories reverberate through the stone, the land, and the air here mixing themselves with my own story. Stories of romance, of joy, of sadness, pain, death, love, hate, victory, defeat. Stories of lives lived, lives lost, and lives just begging to be heard. If I take a wrong step I feel almost sure I will find myself in another world, another time, seated upon the same landscape but alive in a time when many feet tread this ground, and people, much like myself, lived in the structures these ancient stone walls were once part of.

Scrapes and cuts are acquired as we work our way deeper into what was once a fortress. Some claim later that they were granted by tigers hungry for human blood. Only two know the truth. Some stories are greater than the truth. Some stories transcend it. Some are just silly. Sometimes being silly is better than any medicine.

Finally, we reach the castle itself, and despite the jokes about finding lovers behind those castle walls, the atmosphere is deadly serious. At the head of the castle lies a cliff leading down to the lake below. The view is majestic. The castle itself is untouched by tourism and I am thankful for this because I know that some experiences, views, and places should not be touched by the corrupting hand of money. I take some hasty pictures, but I know that no images will ever do this moment justice, so I just sit back, take a breath, relax, smile, and am happy.

Every single day I felt as if the plugs were coming out of my dam. I welcomed the undertow grabbing at my heels. I urged those plugs loose.
I was perpetually letting go.
As I walked across the landscapes of Spain, I breathed in the air, let the past be flushed away and simply flowed with the river of experience through ups and downs. Every step led on, and I often felt like I was caught in a river, but I loved that feeling and never looked back.
To breath in the air was the only thing that I needed.

My past might not be the prettiest, and I might not have made all the best choices I could have in my life, but there’s nothing I can change about that. I’m letting life take me now, but never forgetting that I can determine where I end up. No point worrying about the past though. It’s gone, but that’s actually a beautiful thing.

So I’m just going to sail with my belly up towards the clouds, let the rocks scrape my back.
To breathe in the air will be the only thing that I have or need.
My love will be warm nights with pockets of moonlight spotlighting me as I drift.
I may just be an actor in this play, but as I walk across the stage to take my bow I know I’ll hear applause as the curtain falls. I’ll know I did it all the best I knew how.
So all I can do is smile because I know I lived well, and I know I lived exactly as I wanted to live.

I have decided that I will be releasing a small batch of photos every single day for the next few weeks. For starters, I will be releasing 3 stages of The Via de la Plata each day. So keep checking that page for more and more pictures! Please note that I took over 4000 pictures, and not ALL of them will be making it to the internet, but many will!

Also, please subscribe to The Mindful Pilgrim by entering your email address on the right, or through your RSS reader. If more and more people subscribe to the blog I will begin releasing more pictures each day! So get your friends to sign up! All you will receive from me is a short email or RSS update when something new is posted on the blog. I WILL NOT be sending out ads or begging for money or anything like that, you can rest assured.

Here are the goals I’m setting:

100 Subscribers: 4 stages per day
200 Subscribers: 5 stages per day
500 Subscribers: 6 stages per day and a story for 1 image or song every day posted to the blog
1000 Subscribers: All Camino images at once, and the remaining images over the following 2 days

These goals are certainly ambitious, but possible, so tell your friends about the blog if YOU enjoy it!

Anyway, without further adieu, you can go directly to the photo albums, or you can go to the Via de la Plata page to link to individual albums for each stage!

I hope you can get even a fraction of the enjoyment I got from taking them while viewing them.

Cheers!

I just returned from a six and a half month long adventure through much of mainland Europe, the UK, and Ireland. If I were to be honest, and considering I’m only talking to a computer screen, I suppose it would be silly not to be honest, even after only one night back in the USA I’m finding it hard to believe that I ever actually left the country. Perhaps it was just a hallucination. One long and wonderful dream which I thought would never end. But end it did, and here I am sitting in front of a computer screen which is far to big for its own good, and all that line of thought leads to is that I still don’t know where to begin. Perhaps I should go back to the beginning after all.

Queue writing music, stretch fingers, get comfortable. Here come words. So many words. Will I ever be able to use something as primitive as words (and primitive they are) to describe something as REAL as my experiences. I suppose if I am successful I should consider doing it more often. But I digress.

One hundred and ninty something days ago I got into a big metal tube with a friend of mine and found myself being launched across the Atlantic ocean to the far off mythical land of Spain. To my utter amazement I stepped out of that metal tube in one piece and found myself in a land far from mythical, but which was soon to become, at the very least, the stuff of legend.

But wait, that’s not actually the beginning. I could keep saying that until I reached the beginning of time as we know it, but even then I would probably be wrong. The beginning I’ll start at then is the moment three or four years ago when I first discovered that other people had my dream of traveling all over the world for long periods of time. I not only discovered that they had the same dream, but that they were living that dream. Shocking stuff! In that moment, while I was reading solbeam.com‘s “before you travel, read this” section, I vowed that I would find myself slingshotting around the world as soon as possible. As soon as possible was three or four years later I suppose.

What came next in this story of stories was me handing in my letter of resignation to a brand new supervisor/manager, who I had barely had the chance to speak with (my last supervisor/manager having recently changed departments), nerves at their extreme limit, and at the close a feeling of impending total freedom becoming more and more real by the second. These moments correspond to the feelings of a person who has never ridden a roller coaster finally deciding that they are going to, then standing in the line to get on that roller coaster (I skipped the part where I bought the ticket, got my friends to agree to come with me, etc). That feeling of impending freedom was kind of like the feeling you might feel as you ascend the first climb on your first roller coaster ride ever. It was terrifying. It was liberating. I had never felt so alive.

The stories that came next were better than I ever allowed myself to imagine, and made MY first roller coaster ride pale in comparison. Will my words ever do the experiences justice? I have my doubts, but I suppose the reader will have to be the judge.

Thus, stay tuned. The Mindful Pilgrim is about to get a bit more active.

Some updates on what I’ve done since finishing my Camino walks:

• I hitch-hiked alone half way to Paris before taking a train and meeting a friend and Isaiah in Paris.
• I hitch-hiked alone from Paris to Berlin to see my friend Veronika, who I walked with in Spain.
• I worked on a sheep farm north of Hamburg for a week, living in an awesome trailer and loving life.
• I met some guys in Brussels, Belgium and stayed with them for a few days.
• I went to Amsterdam with those guys and had all my things stolen out of their car.
• I hung out in London for a week.

The second to last bullet really had me feeling a bit down. How does a person steal someones entire livelihood like that? It would be very easy to let this dampen my mood on the whole travel thing, but the fact is it can not. If I’ve learned anything in the 3 months I have been traveling it is that most of the people in the world are really great. I have been helped so many times by nearly complete strangers, whether it was when I lost my debit card on the Camino de Santiago, or when I was hitch-hiking and desperately needed a bed and a shower. Someone was almost always ready to help. That simple fact makes it impossible to let the act of one (maybe 2) individuals sour my mood. Sure it will make the next few months much more difficult, but the more I let things play out and just accept what happens to me, the more things seem to work out.

I really wish that I could write out every single experience I’ve had on the road, but I think I’d need a book for that. When you get off the beaten track, and avoid the cookie cutter itineraries you can really have some great experiences. The best part is at the moment you feel the most despair, and like nothing could possibly go right, everything DOES go right. For instance, on the way towards London from the sheep farm in Hamburg, I arrived in Brussels very late at night. I had no where to sleep, and it was to late to catch a train towards London. I walked around looking for a hostel to no avail, so I just sat down on a bench for about 30 minutes and relaxed. I did not know what I was going to do, but when I felt the urge I simply got up and started walking in a direction that felt right. That’s when I stumbled upon a golden scallop shell fastened to the sidewalk (the symbol for the Camino de Santiago). I guess a camino goes through Brussels (no surprise really). I thought “What the hell, I may as well follow it! The Camino has always treated me well in the past.” So that’s what I did, and 10 minutes later, in an absolutely spectacular square two guys walked up to me and started talking to me, then asked me to join their group. I ended up staying with two of them for two days! My Montana Grammy introduced me to the following quote from John Steinbeck’s book “Travels with Charley” and I think it is relevant here.

Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has no personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.

So now, with very little money and a whole world in front of me, it’s time to let the trip take me again. It’s off to Scotland and a month of walking through the Highlands! My only hope is that your own trips also take you places you have only dreamed of!

I was feeling down about this whole thing for a little bit, but I’ve realized that this is just one more bump on the road. This trip has taken me amazing places, so I’m just going to let it keep taking me.

Anyway, the main point of this post though is that I lost over 3 weeks worth of financial information which would have found its way into the cost transparency section of this website. I was doing really good with that too! Oh well. I should be able to continue the cost transparency soon, but I just wanted to let everyone know that.