*... everyone around me is a total stranger...everyone avoids me like a psyched lone ranger...everyone... ((turning japanese, i think i'm turning japanese, i really think so)) ...*
Saturday, June 28, 2003
*... j-j-j-jaaaded ...* it's strange to live in a place where people think they are communicating with you if they say the only words they know in your language, usually consisting simply of "oh, really?" and "wow."
i'm wondering if i stuck around this place long enough if I would adopt some of those dreaded Japanese Ways. Part of me says "no WAY, yo!" because I am seemingly sooo aware of them that I would be quite upset if I found myself doing them. But then again, I know that I have made many changes to adapt (although none spring to mind at the moment) that I might be Japanese-Way-ish without even realizing it. What got me pondering this is I had yet another meeting to plan English Camp with my fellow municipal ALTs, all of which have been in Japan for at least 5 years, 4 of them are married to a Japanese person, and all have done English Camp for at least 4 previous years. With all this "experience" under their belt, they apparently have absolutely NO faith in little rookies like me who can't possibly know what it's like, and thus cannot forsee possible problems (like putting 1 boy in a group of 5 girls rather than putting them in groups of 2 or 3 to make them more social) or make helpful suggestions (like adding "plastic bag" to the list of things to bring so the kids can put wet canoeing shoes in them later). Everytime I said something, I got shot down with some irrational circular-reasoning... yet when someone else said the exact same thing 5 minutes later, they were praised as genius. It's not that I'm looking for credit, but I would rather not be mashed into the ground... and then stepped on. I did learn my lesson, however: I just started whispering things to the ALT next to me, and lo and behold, things got done. Yes, I AM the puppet master.
*... cacophony ...* I don't have Superman hearing, and wouldn't exactly liken myself to a dog (because THAT'S a pleasant comparison) but I have pretty sensitive hearing and smelling abilities (it's because my vision, well, sucks) and sometimes a day at Funaei JHS is hard to get through. Today was one of those days. I had to sit in the teacher's room all day, as I had no classes (surprise!) today, nor yesterday, nor tomorrow (Whee.), and thus felt the full brunt of my senses struggling. In addition to the normally booming, raspy (yes, both at the same time!) voice of Ikeno-sensei, who sits directly behind me and is often shouting in my ear for no other reason than she likes EVERYONE to know what she is saying (she thinks she is rather funny), today I discovered that they moved Mashima-sensei right next to me (really really old lady) and that apparently Shimomura-sensei happened to have a lot to say for a Thursday. The problems are these: Mashima-sensei is about 120 years old and smells like an old lady. Not that I'm against old people, I even took a class on them once (which I can't remember what it was called since my friend dubbed it "That Class About Old People." Thanks, Matt), but they all have the same smell to them over here. I think it's maybe because they all use the same bath (public baths are not dead!). As I was eating my peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich today, I got a whiff of old as she walked by, and my stomach had quite a violent reaction. Ugh. But I was only too happy to escape the teacher's room if only to get away from Shimomura-sensei and his "Japanese". I don't even know how to put into words this man's speech, other than saying that I cannot understand a word he says because it is if he has a lisp, doesn't believe in spaces, commas or periods, and doesn't like to open his mouth when he speaks. It's like an angry swarm of really loud bees is stuck inside his bottom lip. That's the closest I can think of, and even then it doesn't do justice to the sounds coming from this man. Plus every other word is "sumimasen" (coming out "zzzzshuzshzmizzzmashzshzen" and makes me wonder what he keeps excusing himself about...) My friend and very first English student ever, Davide (he's Italian) once described the speech of some guy he met in Arizona as "if the man vomitted and expected it to be called English." Graphic, but oh so appropo in this case too... 4:47 PM
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
*... this lil' light o' mine ...* i've given up trying to teach my kids free-will. It just ain't happenin'. I've resorted to teaching them good ol' "flip a coin" methods, though this is still somewhat revolutionary seeing as an actual decision may result from the outcome... baby steps...
One of the best things about this past weekend is in addition to the fact that I got to spend time with one of the most fun and generous women i've ever met (she wouldn't stop paying for stuff AND she took a bunch of my junk back to CaliCali for me!) but also the pure wonder she had about everything made me appreciate some things that it has taken me a while to realize. While I was thinking of "bigger" things to show her 'round these parts (like my school and students or at least exploring Tokyo a bit), it was the littler things that don't even faze me now that amazed her (like squid and mayo pizza). And although I had slightly more language skills than "sumimasen" when I got here (though kristy was a master at that by the time she left), for the most part having her here was like watching myself from 10 months ago. That reflection made me appreciate how far I have come in adapting here, a sentiment that is easy to forget or overlook. And also, with a touch of sadness, it makes me realize that that particular learning will be over soon.
With this feeling comes another, one of comfort in confirmation of the challenges that I do actually face here. I received an email from a Jen in Chicago who happened to (quite randomly?) stumble upon this site. She lived in Japan for a bit and was able to relay her own wacky probing-doctors stories and whatnot. It was nice to hear because even though the number one thing that the JET Programme ingrains in our heads from day one is that "every situation is different", it's nice to know that I'm not alone in my discoveries or frustrations. Every once in a while the most soothing words to hear are "Yeah, I've been there." ... Cherry pie helps too. 4:28 PM
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
*... there's something about Kristy ...* The 10 best things about Kristy's visit:
Weird hand-standing people outside the gym (?!)
Catching people staring and making them feel bad about it (easier to do with 2 gorgeous girls than solo)
Discovering Lake Beer-y and confusing the Shink conductor with our mouths full of mochi
Entertaining people on Splash and Thunder Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland
Getting round-trip Shink rides, Niigata to Tokyo, due to the JR Pass and the Confusion Technique
Domo-kun hunts
Canoeing. Yeah. Good idea.
Old people really like us
Making up our own 7 dwarves (Freaky-Deaky/Tiki, Farty, Claustrophobic-y and friends)
2 words: Koala Yummys
I just got back into Niigata, which means that the fabulous Miss Sundin is still in the airport in Narita. Since we had no choice but to wake up at the crack of dawn (there's something about this place... I get up everyday, unvoluntarily, at about 5 am. We were proud if we broke the 6 am barrier), and having breakfast, we worked out yet another way to bilk the Japan Rail Co. out of money (we became experts in this endeavor by either causing chaotic confusion at the counter, or buying multiple passes with her Rail Pass... it was great) and I saw her off on the right train. The past coupla days have been nothing but laughs and one big contest to see who gets looked at more (she won, hands-down. Tall, blonde, blue eyes, Hello should be a model!) She got in on Friday and we crashed, Saturday we hung around Niigata and went to a soccer game with Kaori-sensei and Joe, and Sunday we headed down to the not-quite-happenin' town of Meguro to check into our not-quite-happenin' Princess Garden Hotel, where we were apparently too much competition to a large group of Korean women. If looks could kill... Monday we attempted to find our way to Tokyo Disneyland (no one here wanted to go with me, so I had to import) and met a group of about 8 elementary boys who showed us the way. Disneyland was very similar, which was good in some ways, since it was hard to get lost, but in other ways it was a little disappointing (like characters speaking in Japanese, for example). After we got back to Meguro, we had some okonomiyaki at a restaurant a nice gaijin had helped us find the night before (thanks, Patrick!!). And now it's back to work (till my next vacay) and hopefully I didn't get too much sun out there in the rainy plains of Tokyo, since technically my work thinks I'm at the hospital... just workin' the system, folks. 1:54 PM
*a bit o' *britt*
In Niigata City, Japan it is:
* vItAl StAtS: *
* eYeS/hAiR/wEiGhT. brown/reddish?/yes. * cUrRenT wHeReAbOuTs. back back to cali, cali * bEdTiMe. my body has decided to forgo sleep for now. * fOoD. it has also decided it's anti-food. * pHrAsE. ahh! too many people speaking English! * mOoD. i feel weird, yo. Like twilight zoney, in another world weird. * tUnEs. i get to listen to the radio in my car again! * qUoTe: "whereas i am trying to read in the succession of things presented to me every day the world's intentions towards me, and I grope my way, knowing that there can exist no dictionary that will translate into words the burden of obscure allusions that lurks in these things."
*"One, seven, three, five -- The truth you search for cannot be grasped. As night advances, a bright moon illuminates the whole ocean; the dragon's jewels are found in every wave. Looking for the moon, it is here, in this wave, and in the next." Zen Master Hsueh-tou
* tHiNgS i WiLl MiSs... *
* kaori (kojima) and mariko, kaori (honma), marika and etsuko, setsuko, nakano and sakai (aka "the boys"), kelly, alan
* most of my students
* some of my teachers
* the Shin Ken Kan crew
* my granny bike (a little)
* speaking Japanese
* traveling
* tHiNgS i WoN't MiSs... *
* the staring
* the bus
* being bored outta my gourd
* sleeping on the floor
* the Japanese Way
* secondhand smoke
* the fashion
* jApAn, AkA tHe LaNd oF... *
* "We Don't Believe in Cilantro"
* "We Don't Believe in Towels"
* "Obscurely-Sized Paper"
* "Flouride is Foreign"
* "It's Rude to Eat on the Streets, but it is Perfectly Acceptable to Blow Smoke in your Face"
* "9am is Too Early for Stores to Open"
* "We Just Make the Technology, We Don't Use It"
* "Central Air? Never Heard of It. Central Heating? Nuh-uh. Heated Toilet Seats? Well duh, of course!!"
* "Deodor-what?"
* "Open 24Hrs = 7am - 10pm"
* "Our Knees Don't Freeze"
* "We Want to Speak Like Americans and Look Like Americans and Act Like Americans, But We Don't Actually Like Americans"
* "Hey, Free Beer!"
