Hello, my name is Joro, I come from Bulgaria, the Univer... uh, well, that would likely be the exactly millionth time I introduce myself since I've come to Japan, which is why I'd rather tell you a more interesting story.

I stem from an ancient race of immensible psychic powers, four hands and a slightly orange colour of the eyes. Ages ago, our great empires of the past stumbled into the chaos, brought in by a single man, a nemesis to all of our kind, who managed to trick and destroy our illustrous civilization. As the single one left of us, I set my path to discover the traitor and basically make him eat his own ears, preferably with chilly sauce. Centuries upon centuries he elluded me, but this time I think I have finally figured out what the mysterious red maple covered piece of sushi he mockingly sent me means and will certainly track him down, wherever in this beautiful country he has set his hideout. Thus!

And so I come back to the description of the dummy character called Joro that I created for myself before coming here. Now only you, who read this silly note, and I alone will know the truth behind my soccer prowess and my fluent Japanese. But please, be silent, as this time, he should not escape!...

So.. from this sad story you can probably guess I read too much fiction. You would be right. I love it and in fact with a couple of friends I have been creating a web magazine devoted to fantasy and science fiction, that has recently just reached its 50th issue. Unfortunately you can't quite check it out, as it is all in Bulgarian, but we are planning to do some translations any time soon.

I like reading a lot. Sadly, since I've started working I have progressively been deprived of my free time to do it, but I try to keep suit. I have already filled my room here with more books than I will probably read, but thats fine, as far as I try to, at least.

I also like science and philosophy pretty much. It is always so hard for me to choose between things, so usually I try to embrace them all, thus keeping myself as aware as possible of scientific developments in areas other than my own computer science. Funny but Wikipedia helps a lot! I can really get lost in that site, literally losing hours and hours to read stuff.

For the past few years I've been really hooked on tourism. I managed to visit a lot of countries in Europe and I really like to see new sights, different cultures and all the beauty our civilization and nature have created. It would not be too much of a stretch to say that one of the important reasons for which I came to Japan was this clash with a completely new culture and doubtlessly the beautiful sights that I have already seen and am going to see.

Which brings me to my love for parks. In Bulgaria, I could get lost in parks for hours (or as much as work allowed me to) and I really like the way parks happen a lot in Tokyo, even if small. Japanese people put a lot of effort and imagination into arranging their parks and even though at time it might seem a tad bit artificial, it is damn beautiful. Maybe the nicest garden I've (ever) been to, was in one of the temples in Nikko (日光). I honestly felt stunned by the sheer beauty of the red maple leaves scattered around the bright green moss. It was like Photoshop come alive! The most interesting garden, though, was maybe the Ryoan-ji (竜安寺) Zen garden in Kyoto, covered in raked pebble with little islands of mossy stones that you are supposed to never be able to see all at once. It is a really contemplative sight and I am sure everyone would like it.

I myself wish I was more involved with arts, but sadly my drawing and music skills are next to zero. I was once writing stuff but both the time and inspiration for that has gone. Thus I have turned to more unorthodoxal kinds of art, namely origami (折り紙). As of now, this would maybe be my greatest passion. Although the western aspirations in origami differ in some aspects from the Japanese way, you can't argue the fact that this nice art has bloomed exactly here, so I definitely hope to be able to extend my skills, while in Japan. When I come back, I'd somehow like to organize some sort of origami club in Bulgaria, as surely there are some but I'm sure it's possible to do it better.

On a final note, I like learning languages, I like playing soccer, I like swimming and I like pineapples pretty much, so now you know all there is to know about me!