Big In '08: Japan 2007

As soon as I got back to my apartment from Narita International I quickly unpacked, showered, and was out to party. That’s pretty much what the first 4 months of 2007 were like: partying.




“Big in ‘07” was coined by Puerto Rican Ben after the hi-jinks that transpired during the morning hours on January 1, 2007, so I decided that “Big In ’08” was going to be my slogan for the insanity that was happening in Tokyo.

Almost every night was a different event, get-together, or party punctuated by some really memorable ones like Carl Louis’s Concert, Brett’s Farewell, my Osaka trip for Miho, Miho’s Tokyo for me, Paul’s Birthday Churrasco, the occasional Roppongi Nights, Sugar’s Tokyo trip, Dirty Dave’s Farewell(s), etc…..

It was quite a busy 4 months, but they came to an abrupt halt when I got a phone call one morning at work. It was Sunday, April 29th. My grandfather, Paul Joseph Leslie Sr., had passed away, so I packed my stuff and I was out the first flight the next day; heading home for Ocala, Florida.

Home at last!: Decemeber '06 & January '07

My Family

Central Florida Nature

Going back to Florida for 3 weeks over Christmas was a much needed energy boost. I got to do all the things I had been aching to do, i.e. eat at Taco Bell and drink Olde English 800. More importantly I got to see my family & friends and spend a lot in the Florida nature. We had a few family get-togethers for my homecoming, Christmas, and other events, which were a blast; I never realized how much I missed my family.

Orlando Friends

Ocala Friends

Most of the old university crew, from UCF and elsewhere, showed for Matt’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration: Eric, John Blaze, Jewish Ben, Aaron, Scotty, Abed, Raf, Miles, Chris, Puerto Rican Ben, Wes, etc… It was a hoot, but that’s all I can say. It was 3 days of debauchery topped off with something extra. Wow. I also got a chance to see an Orlando Magic game, which they won, and party hard with my old high school friends, Rob P., Suga Shane, Joey Amodeo, etc… It was really fun.

This is my life. This is Florida.

But what surely goes down as the most memorable times of that vacation were the times I spent with my grandfather. I visited every few days in his nursing home and would stay to talk about the old times while my sister, Mabry, rubbed his head. Those were the last times I would spend with him, and I know I spent my time wisely. I had always felt guilty for not being there more for my mother and grandmother, but I am sure I made up for it with my devotion to Pops. He was a great man.

Mentor & Protege

I said all goodbyes and farewells and I was off again, back to the Far East for a new year full of fun and surprises.

To The Far East: Japan 2006

I got here and then lots of things happened; way too many to recount. Here is photographic evidence (a small portion).

Brazil: Winter(Summer) 2006

This short trip could have possibly been the best vacation I will ever go on in my entire life. The prep-work seemed to be an unsurpassable mountain with two 6-hour drives to the Brazilian Consulate General in Miami, endless phone calls to travel agents, a day long delay in Orlando, and getting an ear infection from swimming in doggy piss-water. But in the end it was well worth all the hassle.

I landed in São Paulo early in the morning and was greeted by my dear friend, Ricardo, and his cousin, Felix. Later in the day I met up with my distant cousin, Simony, and one of her friends and we all went out for a big Churrasco BBQ and then went out clubbing that night. It was amazing going to a country like Brazil and immediately feeling like a local. I have had some pretty strange and bad experiences just ‘showing up’ in countries without knowing anybody there first, but that was certainly not the case in Brazil with my friends and family. I felt right at home within hours and never felt like, and more importantly was treated like, a tourist.

Ricky and I departed for his home town, Salvador, after two days. There I stayed for the remainder of the time. It is an amazing city of Portuguese and African influence, and is on of the favorite domestic destinations for it’s near perfect tropical climate, historical importance, and of course Carnival. While there I experienced the best beaches, best people, and best atmosphere all together of any place I have ever been. The night life was something from a Hollywood movie and the sightseeing was more than I could have imagined (especially the sight of the beautiful ladies). One night this black chick climbed up my back at a club. I couldn’t believe how much these beautiful babies were throwing themselves all over me. Must be the blue eyes. It is my dream to go back there again some day.


So I parted with Ricky and was en route to São Paulo for a day-long layover on my way back to Florida with a killer earache. Simony came to keep me company for a few hours which was an unexpected treat. I really miss her and Ricky.

Mil Beijos,
- O Lobo da Noite

Living the Dream in Florida: Fall 2005 and Winter 2006

The first concrete thing I can piece together about being back in Florida was a week long trip to Orlando to see Matt and visit my old boss, Nicole, & my Italian professor, Signora Spina, to get letters of recommendation for the upcoming interview I had in Tampa. The first night turned into an instant classic. Matt and I had dinner somewhere then went to meet up with Scotty Doo at his pad and drank there for awhile. After that we went to play pool for an hour or so then headed back to CVI for what we thought was going to be a chill night and drink. Well we were drinking outside Matt’s place and some randoms that Matt knew started showing up and before we knew it there was a decent gathering of about 12 people. Well I was enjoying myself and became the life of the party when I started making fun of this really obnoxious black chick. Well, she didn’t take too kindly to my not-so-friendly banter, got all crazed, broke a beer bottle, and proceeded to shank me two times in the gut. She didn’t puncture my clothes, but it was scary and it killed the party atmosphere for a few minutes until she was escorted away by security. After leaving for another small party we returned and then did more others. In between brown-outs I remember getting a free lap-dance from some black chick despite about 5 black dudes willing to pay. I am not going to write about what happened later that night, but it was crazy. I got my letters of recommendation and left for Ocala not to return to Orlando for a month or so.

Matt and I in Belly Buster's, Church Street, Downtown Orlando

Abed, Lauren, and Disinterested James

I had my interview in Tampa and later got word that I got the job and would be leaving for Japan in mid February 2006. So at this point I had two months left before my working life began and I decided to have as much fun as possible. I spent a load of time with my old high school friends Joey, Suga Shane, and Rob P., because I was living back with my dad in Ocala. We went fishing a few times, chilled at ‘Terry’s Bar & Grill’ where Joey’s sister, Tara, was working, and pretty much had a good, relaxed time. I also worked with Joey some at his business, Higher Quality Lawn care. It was really cool working with my hands outside again. I hadn’t done that very much since working with my dad back in the good old days of childhood.

Spending quality time with my father, sister, grandfather, and my cousin Laura also took up substantial portions of my time. Meeting my dad or Laura for lunch at ‘Tacos ‘N Madre’ and then visiting Pops at his nursing home happened 3 to 4 times a week on average. I regret not being able to make it up to Tallahasse to chill with my big sis, Mabry, but she came down to Ocala frequently, so it’s cool. I also spent a lot time at Laura’s house, which was a really cool cedar cabin in the swamp, with her and her future husband, Frank, and going fishing at Butterbutt Landing which was only about 5 minutes walk from her house at the time.

An Orlando friend from Japan, Akira, came down to Florida from Rhode Island, where he was/is studying, to spend Christmas at my house. I found out about a week before he arrived and was a little put off at first, but got over it quickly after he arrived. He is a funny guy. We got drunk almost every night but the first night he was Ocala is the one that has gone down in the books. We were at Laura’s house playing some drinking game with beer, Ouzo, and other random liquors, and Akira & Frank got really drunk. Frank kept making weird hand gestures which were fucking hilarious at the time, and Akira went to the bathroom and was in there for really long time. When we left he whispered ‘sorry’ to Laura. The next day she told me after we left she checked the bathroom and found her shower curtain ripped down and lying crumpled in her bathtub. Anyway, Akira and I made our way back to my house and decide it’s a good idea to take a walk down my road, by the way I lived in an extremely rural, swampy area. I see some headlights approaching and decide it would be funny to mess with Akira’s head so I told him the rednecks were coming to kill us and nobody would ever know what happened. He flips the fuck out. After the truck passed without incident, he was still flipping out and I didn’t help when I told that we were now lost (bad idea). We were making our way back to my house and when I could see the porch lights through the trees I pointed and told him we would break into ‘that’ house and sleep there. Even though were had just been there 15 minutes before, he had no recollection of my house. He was freaked out for awhile, but I finally calmed him enough and he passed out. He swore that he doesn’t remember any of it, but he did buy Laura a new shower curtain.

I went down to Orlando again for Matt’s annual New Year’s celebration, but I don’t remember too much about it to be honest. I guess it wasn’t that great (sorry Matt, but we made up for the next year). The nickname 'The Peace Maker' was deemed appropriate for me at some party in Orlando around that time, but I can't remember why. Anyway, it was a cool nickname. I also hooked back up with one of friends who I have known since the 3rd grade, Troy Byrd. It was fucking awesome seeing him again and catching up. We chilled in Orlando and he came up to Ocala for my going away party after which we partied with some other old high school buds, Josh McKelvy and DohNees.

Driving down to Miami became a bi-weekly thing in January and February, a real Fortnight Event. I would make the 6-hour drive for a half hour stay in either the Japanese or Brazilian Consulate General’s office and stay for a the night at Eric’s parents’ house, for which I am grateful. Especially after a drunken incident that had happened there the year before involving yours truly being woken up by Eric’s mom semi-naked in his sister’s bed. Weird. Anyway, Eric showed me around Boca Raton a few times. It was cool chilling with him in his home world.

Then before I knew it I was heading to Orlando International on that cold February morning not to return for almost a year. It was sad leaving my dad and seeing him turn to walk away, but I don’t think I cried as he left and I think it was the first time. Why is it always cold when I leave places??

And in between all the partying and loafing I found time to go to Brazil to see an Orlando friend, ‘Ricky’ Ricardo Martins, and meet a distant cousin, Simony, and some other relatives. That story will be in my next post.

Die Schwiiz & Türkiye: Fall 2005

"Die Schwiiz. Das ist meine Leben. Und klarlich ist meine Liebe."

Die Schwiiz

Miho and I arrived a few days after Gabriel & Jena and were greeted at the airport by Nadja, another Swiss friend that we had met in Orlando. Miho promptly lost her wallet in airport but failed to realize it until we were half way home on the train. Luckily, she and Nadja arrived back at Zürich International to find it comfortably in the ‘Lost & Found’ with not one Franc missing. It was a good omen to start our voyage.

Miho was going to be staying for about three weeks and those three weeks were a whirlwind of sight seeing and mini-adventures. It was great. We toured around the St. Gallen and Thurgau Cantons first, because that’s were I was living and also visited Appenzell, Lucern and, Ticino, as well as Lichtenstein, Austria, and Germany. A lot of the stories escape me, because nothing really crazy happened while Miho was there, just a solid 3 weeks of kick-ass times with awesome friends. Here are some pictures:

Türkiye
Leaving the cooling Swiss temperatures for the sweltering heat of a late Turkish summer was a drastic, but welcome change. Nadja and I landed in Istanbul and transferred to Adana in the southeast where we were going to be meeting Asli. We planned on it being a different world but what we didn’t plan for was Asli arriving a day later from New York and her family speaking 0% English. Within half an hour we developed an interesting system of bizarre gesticulation and guttural grunting, some of which brought us success, but mostly failure accompanied with laughter. Her family was hospitality personified. Asli arrived and the tour began. The kick off was the first day after Asli arrived and we were guests of honor at her cousin’s wedding. The Turkish sure know how to have a wedding: about a 10 minute ceremony and 4 hours of partying after. Simple and fun. We spent a lot of time in her city, Adana, but also traveled to her parents’ beach condo (they were extremely well off) in Mersin. Wow. After that we took an all night bus to Ankara, which I hope is the worst bus ride I ever have to take because it sucked royally. Ankara was really cool because I got to meet another one of my old Orlando buddies, Arda, from 2002 and a new Orlando buddy, Serdar. They showed us their city with pride & pleasure and we took in the Turkish capital with all our senses. I woke up one morning in my boxers on a couch with absolutely no memory of how I got like that. Asli said, ‘The important thing is that it is over.” I was mortified, but later found out that I had gone to bed without assaulting any ladies and Asli just played a prank on me. I love her. Nicole, my old boss from the teaching internship, had come for vacation with her husband and we rendezvoused with them before heading back to Adana. It was strange being on vacation with a former boss, but she is cool. Anyway, it was a good time. Back in Adana we did more sight seeing, then Nadja headed back to Switzerland, Nicole headed back to the US, and I decided to stay an extra week. Asli and I went back to Mersin to soak up some sun and before I knew it I was sitting in an airplane with the comfortable heat becoming a fading memory. It was a quick 3 weeks.

‘I really needed a Schutzengarten.’
‘Fall’ had set in by the time a got back and by that I mean its more a Florida winter. I got sick immediately due to the sudden temperature change, but that didn’t take me completely out of commission. I was looking for a job, but I was really half-assing it, so most of time I was out with friends drinking or getting into some other mischief. One weekend Marcel, Jean Claude, and Piatti invited me to climb Säntis, the tallest peak in East Switzerland, in Appenzell with them. It turned out to be an extremely rewarding experience although it was one that I was ill-prepared for. My pups were barking for a few days after that excursion. Around that time OLMA, a 10-day long festival in St. Gallen, started and I had the opportunity of going a few times. It is known as an agricultural festival/conference and it is an excuse for people of all ages to get completely inebriated on the locally brewed ‘Schuzengarten’ beer regardless of whether or not they are farmers. An old Orlando friend, Patrick ‘Patti,’ made the trip from his city of Aarau to St. Gallen for OLMA and we partied together a few nights. Patti is still famous in Florida for his infamous 2003 ‘corn’ incident, which I will recount in a later entry. As OLMA was wrapping up I realized my days were numbered and my time in Switzerland was winding down. The snows had begun and it was a bitter sweet departure from the land I have come to know as my second home. I was again heading back to Florida feeling lost after failing to land a job, but on the other hand, I did have an interview scheduled for a school in Japan. Although Gabriel and Jena had become an even more important part of my life, as had Gabriel’s parents, it was a good feeling being out on my own again. But, it was hard leaving them and not knowing if I would ever see them again. I could feel the last cold, wet breath leaving my lungs as I strolled into Zürich International. It was my last breath of Swiss air. I left for Florida in mid November.

Säntis from my bedroom window

The Sunshine State: Winter, Spring, and Summer 2005

Winter
Upon my return to Orlando from Switzerland I promptly got busy and landed a sweet internship in a language school, ASPECT ILA, at my university. I was only taking one class to finish up my bachelor’s degree, so I was working there 5 days a week. After only two weeks of observing classes, one of the teachers quit and I was thrown to the lions. I had no experience what so ever and zero desire to teach a class of 10 low-intermediates, but that was it and I chose to float, not sink. So there I was, planning and grading and lecturing for these people who paid a whole hell of a lot to come to the US to learn English. Man, they got ripped off. I had a friendly relationship with a few teachers there and my direct boss, Nicole, but after a few weeks I knew there would be future problems with one teacher. He was a Douche. The class finished up after 4 weeks and at that point I was relegated to menial duties, such as organizing the school library and ensuring that copies were made of all the school’s audio cassettes. Snooze.



From the very beginning I started chilling with some of the students, because a lot of them were my age or a little older. My first friend was Sylvain, a French dude that loved basketball and that’s what we did; played ball. He was pretty good. From chilling with him I met Isa, Akira, and Asli. They were the original core of friends. Later came Miho ‘the Huus,’ whom I eventually courted as my girlfriend, Brazilian Ricky, and Acco. I spent a lot of time with those guys, along with the normal partying with Matt, Iowa, and Eric. I probably spent too much time with them, because word got around and that created a huge rift with the previously mentioned ‘Douche.’ I was fired.

Spring
So now that I was out of my internship I had time to focus and finish up my projects for what was the final class of my college career. The class was cool, but it was also a bit a pain in the ass. It was a ‘TESOL for grades 1-12’ course, so there were lots of current public school teachers enrolled in it for recertification which made for a load of fake enthusiasm. Nothing much happened for a month or two.

Graduation: May 2005
It was a spectacular thing, although I don’t remember much because all the gang had an all-night binge the night before. I woke up really drunk about an hour before my dad and sis were to arrive and knew it was going to be a marvelous day. I thought there would be some miraculous change inside my head after the dean put the diploma in my hand, but nothing happened. No spark, no bang. What a waste of 5 years. Just kidding, it felt great. Iowa went on vacation to Aruba the next day and I had the place to myself for the week. The parties started and summer had begun.


Summer
After Iowa came back we sat on the couch for about 3 weeks playing 31 and drinking 32s of Olde English while watching day time TV then Malcolm in the Middle and Seinfeld. Around the same time Gabriel informed me that he was coming and living with me me for 6 weeks during summer. Off the bat I knew it was going to be a kick ass summer. Miho and I were hanging out more and I was nursing a huge crush on her (she is such an upbeat individual and has knack for art; she is super). She had recently broken up with another one of my friends, Isa, after his return to Turkey. Anyway, Gabriel arrived and we had a huge, kick off, kick ass party. That’s what that summer was really; a huge, kick off, kick ass party to start my life after university and we did party, almost every day. I decided when Gabriel departed back for the hills of Switzerland I was going back with him to try my hand there for a fourth time. I also was ‘rehired’ (I found out that I had never really been fired) by ASPECT to chaperone a kids group from Columbia on after school activities. They were a hand full, but pretty cool. They were pissed because ASPECT fucked them, just like some many others, but they were cool with me, so it was easy money. That’s the only real work I did that summer. Our routine was as follows: wake up at whatever time; some days head for the beach and others play basketball; get some sun; hit the gym; hit the pool; catch more rays; get showered up; then host/find a party. It will probably go down as one of the most laid back and memorable summers of my life. Iowa left Orlando in mid July headed for San Francisco via Arkansas and Miho and Ricky moved into the apartment. At one point there were 6 people living in there I think. So many great friends were made during those scorching days and hot nights. There are more picture here.

Miho and I finally got together and I asked her to come to Switzerland with me. She was down and we headed for Zürich on a Continental flight in early August.

Snowy Paradise or Icy Hell? Swiss Winter 2004-05

Things were looking good on that snowy December morning when I landed in Zürich. I was in love and ready search for a new life in the mountains. I was 22.

Claudia and I over St. Gallen

Claudia, Gabriel, and Jena made the drive to pick me up and we all went Claudia’s place in Gossau where I was going to be residing for the month. This was my third trip to Switzerland. Claudia was supposed to start a new internship in January after my departure back for sunny Orlando, but she got an email within a few days of my arrival that asked if she could start early. And she also took a temporary job in machining parts in a workshop about 15 minutes away. Needless, to say I was pissed. I had come all the way from a relatively warm Florida winter to what I thought was going to be a snowy and blissful Swiss winter paradise all to have my hopes of spending the majority of the time with the woman I loved dashed, and they were dashed directly by way of her decisions. It quickly turned into a very lonely month of icy hell. I was alone almost everyday lost in my thoughts and could either (1)sit in her apartment and develop a nasty chase of winter depression, a.k.a Cabin Fever, or (2)wander the streets of Gossau & St. Gallen.

But to say that it was all bad would not do the whole experience justice. Claudia and I did have a few good times that month, like snowboarding in Appenzell and visiting the zoo in St.Gallen. Gabriel also threw a party at his parents’ house for New Year’s Eve with quite a few of our friends. There was Gabriel & Jena, Claudia & I, Mäge & Daniella, Marcel & his Malaysian girlfriend, Martina, Jean Claude & Marianne, Phillip & Pia, Marcus & his girlfriend, and others. I also had a chance to see my old friend at St. Gallen Imbodenhuus, Magdalegne Nassatti.

Claudia and I broke up when I departed from Switzerland in January, which was absolutely the best thing for both of us. I supposed we were both to blame for all the events that had transpired, but it surely didn’t seem that way at the time. Whatever.

So I was headed back to Florida feeling dejected and very uncertain about my future.