Saturday, July 26, 2003

*... err, just kidding ...*
so about that whole "culminated adventures" thing i said? well, i was wrong. NOW I have culminated the adventures. Last night as I was lolling about on the floor (it's my bed, remember?) I felt a sort of rolling and wondered what the heck the girl downstairs could possibly be doing to cause THAT to happen to the apartment. Then the Californian in me said "Earthquake, fool!" So what do I do? Get up and go fill bottles of water. Why? I don't know, I think it's because it's the only thing on the list of things you are supposed to have stored in case of an earthquake that i could remember (it was late, I was tired). I turned on the TV, and sure enough all the late-night partially nude soap operas were being interrupted to warn people on the East Coast of Japan to look out for tsunamis. Yikes. Thoroughly satisfied that the gravest danger i was in at the moment was simple building collapsing, I went to bed, only to be woken up again by a MUCH stronger, MUCH longer quake. Yee-ha!

Good thing I have that water.
1:20 PM

Friday, July 25, 2003

*... TONDE! TONDE! TONDE! TONDE! ...*
Well, aside from getting a glimpse of Mt. Fuji, I can pretty much say that my adventures in Japan culminated last night during the grand Japanese tradition of "hey everybody at work, let's get drunk and make fools of ourselves and do other things that shall never again be discussed!!"... aka an enkai. Now this wasn't my first enkai, but it was the first one where a) I was the guest of honor, and b) I decided to go to the second party (more on that later). Upon arrival, I was escorted to my place on the floor, which happened to be to the right of KoCho-sensei. Everyone else was seated by random draw, which, of course, means that all my English/Japanese translators were on the other side of the room. Not that that mattered too much, because after the first "Kampai!!" people were shuffling around all over the place. A couple of rounds into the beers and there was one teacher slumped/asleep in the corner and I was asked to stand on the table so everyone could see my cool toenail polish (I declined). During my final speech (which I did in English, since I wasn't EVEN going to attempt it in Japanese), I suggested to KoCho sensei that he stop serving the teachers miso soup (he liked to cook in the staff room) and instead give them all beer, since their collective English abilities shot up remarkably after a little Asahi. Apart from the silliness, I was also given flowers and a parting gift of money, which they say is traditional when someone is leaving a company, but it was the first time it had happened for me, despite the fact I have left 2 previous schools. The 2 big questions I had to field from practically everyone were "Britt-sensei, when do you go back to America?" and "Britt-sensei, what do you want to be in the future?" Since I have no answer for that second one, I decided to ask people what they thought i should be. The overwhelming suggestion? An MC for a gameshow. (And wasn't I the one voted "Most Likely to Host a TalkShow" by my peers in college? Hmmm... maybe I should consider this...)
After the dinner festivities, about half of us went to the second party, that being karaoke. I was serenaded in Japanese several times (knowing this only because Nishiwaki-sensei kept leaning over and saying "They're singing this for you!") and I was passed the mike more than a few times. More beer and such was flowing, and I had one crazy teacher next to me insisting he couldn't sing in English, but was more than willing to yell "WOHHHHHH!" (sounding less musical and more shock-treatment-ish everytime) during Kaori-sensei's rendition of "Livin' On A Prayer" (she's a big Bon Jovi fan). This same teacher was then seen to be turning in the middle of the room, hands clasped straight over his head, KoCho-sensei attached at his waist, and 3 female teachers circling him and slapping his chest, while a teacher known for his deep voice screamed "Tonde! Tonde! Tonde! Tonde! Mawatte! Mawatte!" (which I later figured out to be "Oh my God!" (tonde) and "Turn around! (mawatte)) in a falsetto voice so high every dog for miles around probably cringed.
Kaori-sensei and i took our leave after the second party, politely declining the invitations to the third party (and who knows how many after that) using the excuse that we didn't want to miss the last buses to civilazation. Truthfully, my ears just couldn't take no mo'.
2:21 PM

Thursday, July 24, 2003

*... ladies and gentlemen, the end has come ...*
Clenched throat, flushed cheeks, watery eyes... I think I'm coming down with something! Surprisingly these WEREN'T the symptoms I was experiencing on my last day at Funaei Junior High. There are 2 big positives that stick out in my mind about Funaei JHS: one) I have absoluitely no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision NOT to recontract. If there is even a chance that I would get a school similar to this one, I would be miserable from boredom, and I can't subject myself to that again (it's a positive, really!) and two) I got to play with the students a whole heck of a lot more because not only was I tired of being a seat-warmer at my desk and a human tape recorder in the classroom, but i figured out that it would actually be okay for me to do it. At my first school, I was a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, actually more scared than anything else of leaving my desk and bringing attention to myself in case I was being inappropriate. At my second school, the staff was great, and even if I was just chillin' in the staff room, I wasn't invisible. So at this school, I decided to take the initiative and hang out with the kids during PE or their club activities or cleaning time, and thus I feel more sorry for leaving the students than the job. But, there were no tears coming out, and I feel okay about that. No tears from me, that is. Poor Kaori-sensei could have rivaled the rain at the way she was going... she put her face to the wall and wouldn't turn around for at least 10 or 15 minutes. Poor, sweet little Kaori-sensei. Speaking of whom I have to go meet right now, so I don't really know what she was crying about, since it's not like she's not going to see me in a few minutes AND on Sunday!
5:05 PM

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

*... random act of kindness ...*
I can count the number of other gaijin in Niigata that I would stop to talk to if I saw them randomly on the street. There are a few more that I am friendly with, but are just acquaintances. I don't have too much against the other people, it's just that I missed meeting them straight away since I missed orientation, then the only other opportunities to get to know people have been at get togethers that have usually resulted in drunken debauchery of some sort. Not exactly my scene.
So how surprised was I when Kelly called me to let me know that another JET that I know offered to let me stay in her apartment while she is visiting America! How nice is that?! Kind of a friend of a friend deal, but I was shocked. So now I won't be homeless in Niigata for at least a week after my contract ends. Not that I would have before; I had tons of offers for me to stay at peoples' places (both the J boys wanted me to stay with them, and almost started arguing over it. Cute) But now I will at least feel like I'm not imposing on anyone.
4:18 PM

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

*... sweaty is an understatement ...*
I think I'm crazy. It's 80 degrees and 80% humidity, and what am I wearing? Pants, a shirt, and a sweater. Right, like mid-fall apparell. There are a couple of reasons for this self-torturing. For one thing, I have no more pantyhose as I blazed through them all during the winter, using them as one of the 4 or 5 insulating layers necessary to leave the apartment. I don't EVEN want to attempt to look for replacements over here; I'm not sure if my self-esteem could take the "You are a super-matriarch, universally ruling MEGA QUEEN size!!" (in comparison, of course. Remember, I possess some ASSests that the rest of the country falls short of). Not that pantyhose would solve the problem, but at least it might afford a little more breeze action if I wore skirts. Now, technically, I COULD wear skirts, and shorts, and tank tops, and pretend that I'm a tourist and don't know any better. But the fact is that I'm too aware that it's proper protocol to be wearing pants and long sleeves in the name of modesty, regardless of weather conditions. So I could don the regular San Diego girl-wear, but I would know that I'm stepping on too many fashion faux-pas toes. And thus, I say "uuuuuuungh! AT-SUUUUUU-IIIIII!! IT'S HOOOOOOT!!"
4:54 PM

Monday, July 21, 2003

*... knockknock ...*
Who's there? A door-to-door sushi salesman who doesn't take "I don't speak Japanese." or "I don't eat sushi." for an answer. Took me a good 15 minutes to shake the guy, and only then by playing stomach-wretching charades.
4:16 PM

Sunday, July 20, 2003

*... couldhaves, wouldhaves, and a big whatif? ...*
I wonder what life would be like right now if I hadn't answered my cell phone that fateful day a year ago... the phone call from Angel (the JET coordinator in LA) asking me the big question: Do you want to go to Japan? The reaction was immediate and definite. YES. Of course I do. Why? I have no idea. I couldn't tell you (still can't) what it was in me that said "Nihon e ikitai" (I want to go to Japan). But I did and now I'm here and it was at the same time the easiest and most difficult decision for me to make. I'm the kind of girl who goes with her gut instincts, one of those proverbial "no regrets" kind of people. But a few days from that phone call, I was supposed to begin a new life path at a company which created a position for me (and only me), and were doing all that they could to set me on a career path. Why pass that up? Because I would have been kicking myself for everyday I was not on the path that would have exhausted my curiousity about Japan. And the 2 could definitely not co-exist.
For all the mumblings and the grumblings that came out of me for the time I have been here, I don't regret a second of it. Not one frustrating moment of not understanding or being not understood. Not one tear from being huddled in front of my heater, staring at the continuously falling snow and lamenting about the inevitably isolated, lonely lifestyle I had (partly) chosen. Not one giggle that has erupted talking to Kelly or any of my Japanese friends. And even though life over here has been filled with moments of pure NOTHING (boredom or just general lack of people, of things, of familiar comforts that you might take for granted, such as zoning out to the TV or jumping in your car to go wherever), I still wouldn't change a thing. Not one second.

Just mark it down to the gray area between "bliss" and "bearable".
3:04 PM