I’m still here, Chief. September 13, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Hear Ye.Tags: fall term, Jyona33, my japanese sister, reflection good, summer vacation, the gym, The Japanese Best Friend
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First and foremost, although logically troublesome, Frequency is an astoundingly fun movie.
So, my slow climb towards Blogger Redemption was sidetracked by my shenanigans in Tokyo with The Japanese Best Friend. Then, after returning from that little adventure I melted into a Puddle of Summer. Then there was the trip to Osaka with My Japanese Sister and her children. That was soon followed by a day in Nagoya. Last weekend I went out clubbing with a group of friends that I made at the gym, and now we’re into the Sports Festival Season. Between these trips, dance practices, band practices, and hitting the gym at least four times a week, I really haven’t been home all that much.
To be honest, in addition to the way that my schedule has exploded, I suppose part of me has been reluctant to blog over the last few months because I’ve been steadfastly avoiding the phenomenon of Deep Reflection. Analysis I’ve partaken of in spades, and goodness knows where I’d be without the almost 24/7 availability of Jyona33 and his counseling services. Still, for a variety of reasons, I’ve been unable/unwilling to sit down and write about what I’ve been doing. As I said, the reasons for this are various, but I think the most compelling explanation has to do with us rapidly approaching the 6 month mark in our countdown. In a similar vein, I made a lot of progress on my graduate school applications over the summer and some of my social groups are starting to plan farewell parties. These events are alarming to say the least; I had a small mental breakdown when I realized that I would be watching the end of the current soccer season from my father’s apartment in Maryland (or, providing that I can find one, a German pub in D.C. ).
At this point, I’m not questioning the need to leave Japan and return to the United States. Although my social life has literally increased by 500% in the last four months, there are still ways in which I feel limited in my current circumstances. When I think of my longterm plans and goals, I don’t see them happening here. I really want the opportunity to work with American children. I want to run my own classroom and do so with the resources available in the Washington D.C. area. I miss Latin American culture, coffee shops, organic foods, and not being stared at when I walk into stores. Not to mention that I yearn to see my family and friends, and I’d relish the opportunity to sincerely and faithfully practice some form of my actual religion. (This isn’t to say that I am fantastically religious, but I do like going to early Sunday masses and listening to choirs sing beautiful hymns. )
I’ve talked about this double-life syndrome before, and it’s not a burden that gets easier with the passage of time. In fact, it’s only become more difficult lately because it seems as though every week brings a new level of comfort in my Celebrity Role, a new depth of understanding about my circumstances, or a new sign of acknowledgement and acceptance from those around me. Since I went out with my gym friends that night a couple of weeks ago, I’ve had nights where I’ve spent more time at the gym talking to people than actually working out. Several of the families from my schools have also opened up lines of communication recently, and I feel as though there are days when I do nothing but run around in cycles of dialogue focused on my students and their personal lives.
I suppose that, given how busy things are inside of my head, I’ve chosen to dive into my circumstances and not look back at the size of the splash. Although I’m still planning my move back to the States in a logical, calculated fashion, there are ways in which I have chosen simply to embrace each day as it comes and to do what I feel will make me happy in the here and now. I’m giving all my activities everything I’ve got, if only because I really don’t have that much time left to do them. I don’t want to linger overmuch on my departure, because I think it will restrict what I feel comfortable doing in the present.
So, that’s more or less where I am now. The question then becomes, how do I continue to make use of this blog, which is something that I’ve already put a lot of work into and that I feel can help me stay balanced over the next six months and seventeen days. I shouldn’t be afraid to stop and take stock of what I’m doing, and I think that since there are so many things happening now, this is still a great opportunity for me to share some of my experiences with all of you.
To that end, my intention is to go back to the original premise of this blog. I’d like to stay a little away from the philosophizing, and instead focus on collecting significant memories from now until March 30th. I think you can expect a tremendous increase in our number of Characters, especially once I start to explain more about the Gym Community and the people who have come to play more prominent roles in my life. We also have some pretty interesting events on the horizon, including a school-wide Halloween activity at Friday’s elementary school, Thanksgiving with The Japanese Best Friend and … The Mentor (!!!), and of course a trip back to the States for Christmas break. Hopefully along the way, I’ll have memories to share of getting into Graduate School (let’s all send positive energy for that) and another few nights out with the Gym Folk.
In the meantime, I apologize again for the long break. I’m back for the present, and I will do my best, as always, to try to stay on track. I really feel as though we’re about to enter a very interesting period in this long, 4+ year-long adventure and … you know … I’d really like you guys along for the ride.
No I can’t recall anything at all
Oh baby this blows them all away
It’s got what it takes
So tell me why can’t this be love
Sometimes, I’m Afraid of Making Mistakes June 17, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Japanese GET, Julie Gets Philosophical, Just Bizarre.Tags: Japan, Japanese, jet, lisa douglas, mr. coke, my japanese sister, peaks and valleys, spring term, The Band, the dance troupe
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A sentiment that, I hear tell, is echoed by many of us nervous human-creatures.
Thursday was,another very long day. Things went well at the elementary school; my classes were fun and the students were very enthusiastic and sweet when they came to visit me during recess. I spent some time chatting with Lisa Douglas, and then the Vice Principal (having observed that I was out of sorts) told me to leave work an hour early. Normally that would be a suggestion that I would dismiss, but yesterday I seized it with thankful, trembling hands and more or less flew home so I could take a nap.
The evening found me undecided as to what to do. I still had letters to write, and normally I would have attended to that, but I also had band practice looming ahead of me. I was still having a lot of problems with the end of Girlfriend. A few weeks ago, I spoke with My Japanese Sister about this issue. She’s a really great piano and voice teacher and I asked her for some advice in how to train my voice to hit those last few notes. Her suggestion was to back down and sing them in a more classical style which, although doable, didn’t sound right to me when I tried it during practice.
So, I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to practice the song until I hit those last notes in a non-classical style. So that’s what I dedicated my evening to: singing this ungodly song a seemingly infinite number of times, recording most of my sessions, and trying to figure out what I could do to make myself sound better.
Around eight-fifteen I could feel that I was making progress, but it was as this point that The Other ALT intervened; she sent me a text asking me to stop my vocal exercises. I called her and apologized profusely and my evening’s practice came to a grinding halt. The walls of the apartment building are quite thin, and although I was practicing in my shower with the door shut, it just wasn’t enough. I know she doesn’t like the song, and so I certainly didn’t begrudge her for wanting me to stop singing.
Still, the experience left me somewhat … emotionally … fragile, should we say? I suppose if I’m going to be perfectly honest then I might as well tell you that as soon as I got off the phone with her, I more or less emotionally collapsed under the weight of, oh, the last six months/4 years. Eventually, I dragged myself to the computer and did what I always do whenever the Infinite Spaces of the world Fill Me With Dread. I called my parents.
In this case, since it was my mother’s birthday and I didn’t want to harass her with the angst eruption from Mt. St. Julie, I called my father instead. I’m not exactly sure how he had the patience for my hysteria very rational and thorough account of the day’s grievances. But he did, and I eventually calmed down.
My situation upset me for a variety of reasons, but there are two specific points that caused me a fantastic amount of emotional distress. The first was the thought that my neighbors had been aggrieved by my practice session. I certainly don’t want to bother anyone with what I do in the evenings, and the idea that other people had had to put up with my very poor attempts to sing a rather obnoxious song was upsetting.
The second point of grievance and mortification was that even with the practice session, I still couldn’t sing the song. I began to question ever joining The Band in the first place, and repeatedly lamented that the guys had invited me without knowing what they’d gotten themselves into. I keenly felt the pressure of singing this song and also trying to figure out a dance so that I could make this summer season a success for The Band and The Dance Troupe. I never wanted to be a Pop Idol, and I became thoroughly convinced that the idea was ridiculous.
So, it was with this mentality that I went to band practice.
When I got there, it was obvious that I was upset. The Drummer (I promise I’ll get these bios out soon) asked me if I felt okay enough to practice and still looked concerned when I said that I would be fine.
We started out without the lead singer (hereby known as Mr. Coke, although the explanation for this will have to wait) and ran through JOYFUL a few times. The guys are still trying to get the music down, but it’s starting to come together. Eventually, Mr. Coke arrived and we turned our attentions to Girlfriend. The first time we sang the song, I could tell that something was a little different, but it wasn’t until the third run through that things finally came into focus.
Although it might have cost me the goodwill of all the people living within a square kilometer of my apartment, my evening practice session was not in vain. I was able to sing the song. All of it.
And what’s more, is that we all noticed this change at the same time. As soon we finished the song, the guys were generous with their comments. I can’t even begin to express how much it soothed me. My performance wasn’t perfect, but now we had something to work with and after going through the song a few more times, the whole singing experience had completely changed. For some reason, doing this song is now outrageously fun and ridiculous. We all sensed this new vibe, this new wave of energy, and the feeling brought us together.
We went on to practice our other songs, and now that my voice is coming in clearer we have the opportunity to play with the various arrangements to make things more interesting. Overall, it was a long practice, but it was arguably the best one I’ve had yet. At one point I even felt comfortable enough to tell the guys about what had happened earlier in the evening. They thought that it was hilarious. They also said that I shouldn’t worry about the offense overmuch; being loud is a natural byproduct of being in a rock band.
When I was talking to my father earlier in the evening, he told me that life has its peaks and valleys, and that we can’t be afraid of making mistakes because it limits us no matter where we are in those mountains. On Thursday night, I very quickly climbed to a peak from a rather wretched valley. I’m not sure who or what deserves credit for that ascent, but I’m grateful all the same.
JOY to JOY to JOY to poppna BABY
JOY to JOY to JOY to Happyna PEOPLE
All’s Quiet on the Eastern Front January 26, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical.Tags: big questions few answers, Japan, my japanese sister, tangents and rants, teaching, The Japanese Best Friend, The Mentor, the personal journal
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Good post title? Bad post title? I’m not exactly sure.
Let’s say it’s “vaguely clever and kind of nerdy” and leave it with that, shall we?
I wish that I had something more substantial to bring to the blog floor for Tuesday, but since I stayed home an extra day to recover from whatever it was I had, things were pretty uneventful. A little work, some texts from The Japanese Best Friend and My Japanese Sister, and a few movies pretty much defined the day. As you can see, it’s not a whole lot from which I can extract a tantalizing memory.
Still, I don’t want to just finish today’s post on that note. That’s boring, and surely I can come up with something better.
In fact, let’s try something new. Let’s take a look and see what was going on, oh, say, two years ago around this time. The trusty Personal Journal should be helpful for this task.
Okay, here’s something of interest:
January 21st, 2008
…Goal For 2008:
Research post-bac, pre-med institutions, what I need to do to apply to them, and how I can get money to go them. Talk to St. John’s about this when I visit in April…
Ah, yes. Mid-2007 to mid-2008 was the year that I was interested in going to medical school. I researched institutions, talked to career counselors, e-mailed my cousin who works as a doctor in Florida, and got the blessings from all the mentors I’ve ever had (except for The Mentor, because he and I didn’t really interact all that much back in early 2008).
Then, around July of 2008, it all came to a grinding halt.
The summer of 2008 was an exceptionally difficult one for me. I was two years out of the States, and finally beginning to become a part of the local community. I think that some of the effects of being here by myself were showing, and the time had come for me to start changing in response to what I’d been going through. The realization that there was in fact room for growth – that a liberal arts education hadn’t fully completed that task – was a significant shock that left me reeling for months. I found myself questioning everything I’d ever held true about who I was and woke up daily with more questions than answers.
I suppose in the end, I had to accept that life (at least my life), isn’t the way I’d always envisioned it. It isn’t a nicely paved road that will take me places that I both plan and do not plan. It does not have a map. My life is actually less stable than that. It’s like a railroad track that hasn’t all been laid out. I sometimes wonder if I’ve managed to prepare little more than a foot or two ahead of my own train, and I’ve had to grow comfortable with not knowing where those next tracks will go. Not knowing what will happen next week. Not knowing when I’ll really be home. Not knowing if today’s dreams will be tomorrow’s (or next year’s) realities.
(Incidentally, this isn’t to discount the possibility of fate. The universe may have some idea where I’m going. I’m just saying that *I* can’t always be sure that *I* know.)
This is still a particularly difficult concept for me because I like to plan things. I like to set goals and work towards them. I suppose the key to planning parts of life successfully is to make sure that you listen to yourself as honestly as possible. There are still parts of me that want to be a doctor. I think that I would find the work challenging and interesting. I think that I have the capacity to be a caring, reliable, and compassionate physician. I think that my own experiences in the hospital would be valuable in interacting with my patients.
But what I realized in the summer of 2008, is that there are certain things that I want to do in my life, and I can’t do them the way that I want to if I go into medicine. Taking care of my family is important to me. Writing (in some shape or form) is important to me, and it’s becoming more important as time goes on.
And, quite simply: I like kids.
There you have it.
These days, I think it’s difficult to be a motivated young woman. In college, your professors (or tutors if you’re at St. John’s) want you to fulfill your academic/intellectual potential. They encourage you to research intense careers in fast paced environments. Your family wants you to succeed and not fall into the traps of marrying foolishly and giving up your future before it begins. Feminism tells you that your fellow females have worked tirelessly for years on your behalf so that you can get that job in International Law or on Wall Street. Anything less than a PhD at a reliable institution (or the desire for these things) begins to represent a tangible betrayal on all fronts.
I could go into a long, philosophical rant about how positive mentors for the next generation is probably one of the most crucial and needed jobs in America (and the world) at present. I could talk about how my liberal arts education has fueled my love of learning and that I yearn to pass it on to as many as I can. I could recount classes I’ve seen over the years that have inspired me to become the best teacher that I can be. I could even talk about my experiences working with The Mentor. Seeing the effect that he, just a single teacher, has had on so many children through the years has been nothing less than an honor.
Yet, at the end of the day, I like kids. I like the person that I am when I’m around kids. That’s where it starts, and that’s where it ends. I want to feed their minds, enrich their souls, and make them laugh at least twenty minutes a day.
Almost two years and an infinite number of experiences since I wrote that entry in my personal journal, my train tracks have taken me in a very different direction than I thought I’d be going.**
I’m not sure what I can expect from this year, but at as of this moment, I’m going to ahead and say that teaching is where I intended to be.
**For one thing, I certainly didn’t think I’d still be in Japan.
I’ve been thinking about you
And how we used to be
土日月曜日Recap January 25, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Weekend Recap.Tags: Japan, my japanese sister, Nagoya, oyster night, sick days, Tetsuya, The Japanese Best Friend, Weekend Recap, winter term
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Apologies for not getting this up earlier. I’m dealing with some kind of Snarky Stomach Virus of Doom, and so my schedule has been slightly derailed in the process. But, I’m here now, happy to present you with the Weekend + Sick Day Update!
Saturday
Saturday was a chance to catch up on chores in the morning, and then I went to The Japanese Best Friend’s house in the evening for Oyster Night. Her husband and one of her husband’s friends went down to Toba (a seaside town in my prefecture) and brought back fantastically fresh and delicious things for us to eat. We had raw oysters, baked oysters, oysters with pasta, oysters with garlic bread, and even oysters with cream sauce. There might or might not also have been a great deal of wine and champagne involved.
I think my favorite part of the day, though, was that I finally managed to have lengthy conversations with her husband’s friend. He’s a really nice guy, and because he’s also a Food Aficionado (as The Japanese Best Friend and I clearly are), he’s been coming to a lot of our food parties lately. I always feel bad when I don’t say anything to him (he’s a bit older than me, and probably not a fan of, say, Eluveitie). Yet, on Saturday, I managed to keep up several conversations. If I give The Japanese Best Friend enough time, she may make a social butterfly out of me yet.
Sunday
So, Sunday I woke up with Stage 1 of the Stomach Virus of Doom. Normally, I would’ve crawled home and back to bed, but I had an appointment with Tetsuya in Nagoya, and wouldn’t have missed it for the world. So, off I went for a day of (surprisingly restrained) shopping and (not at all restrained) pampering at the salon. I was super excited about my visit for two reasons. Firstly, is that my favorite assistant stayed with me for most of the day and we had a good time LOLzing about winter vacation and my poor attempts to discuss the implications of Ted Kennedy’s death on American politics. Secondly, I’m really happy because after my next visit should be free, and I’ll get my VIP card as well. I’m not exactly sure what kind of bonuses come with this VIP card, but just the thought of having one makes me happy.
Aside from that, the trip to Nagoya was blessedly normal. I had Indian food, and that was exciting. Then I came home and made a Japanese-style bigos. This was arguably not one of my better ideas, and is probably what contributed to Day 2 of the Stomach Virus of Doom.
Monday
So, that would be today. So far, nothing particularly interesting has happened. I’ve slept, and tried my hardest not to upset the delicate truce that my organs and I have come to. My Japanese Sister is going to stop by in a little while to bring me some extra provisions, so I’m feeling coddled and fairly well taken care of. My work, as always, looms over me like some kind of poltergeist, but I suspect that I’ll feel well enough in a couple of hours to actually do something with it.
In the meantime, I’m resting and relaxing. What else can one do on Sick Days?
I see you standing here
But you’re so far away
Shall we gyre and gimble in the wabe? January 13, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Student Moments, Taking Initiative.Tags: Aphrodite, jabberwocky, Japan, Mary Sunshine, my japanese sister, penelope, winter term
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I would like first to take the opportunity to tell you that it’s currently 46 degrees in my apartment. Well, generally speaking, that is. The temperature is about 63 where I’m sitting, but if I go too far from my space heater then I can see my breath.
Winter. I love it because of it’s the time of year where I can enjoy my birthday, the Christmas season, the baking season, and the multitude of hot, tasty beverages. I also like it because Japan’s nasty, poisonous centipedes are nowhere to be found. I am slightly averse to it, however, because central heating is more of a gift than a given here, and there are some days where I miss feeling my toes.
~ ~ ~ Moving On ~ ~ ~
Today, I did something kind of daring. I’m hoping that it wasn’t stupid, but we’re going to have to wait until next week to see if I grievously erred or not.
You might recall that last October, I had my first year JHS students memorize a stanza from Vincent Price’s monologue from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It was a risky move on my part, because the grammar and vocabulary were far beyond their abilities and they’d never had to memorize anything in English. Still, about 95% of the class rallied and did a remarkably good job on their speaking tests. After seeing this success, My Japanese Sister told me that she’d be interested in doing something like it again.
Today was the day when we were finally able to do this activity again. After a lot of thought, I decided to assign the students the first four lines of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky.
It took me awhile to come up with this idea; I had a lot of problems finding a poem that would be near their level, and I couldn’t find any songs with lyrics that were easily divided into four or five meaningful lines. After hours of scouring the internet, I was irritated and almost to the point of giving up when, suddenly, I remembered The Jabberwocky. More specifically, I remembered that I was in first grade when I memorized The Jabberwocky. It’s a pretty demanding poem for a six-year-old, but in spite of this (or perhaps because of it), my first grade teacher was adamant that we needed to know this poem. I think it took me a couple of weeks, but I was able to memorize all of it. And now, almost twenty years later, I still remember it.
So, then it hit me: why not make my first years memorize this poem? After all, *I* certainly didn’t understand it when I studied it for the first time, so in that way my students would be going into this task about as blind as I was. Getting the materials together to make a viable lesson plan was a little tricky, and it took me forever to find an acceptable video to show them so that they’d understand what was happening in the poem (the language may be obscure, but the words do tell a story).
Still, I pulled everything together and I think that class went well today. Initially, the students were a little put off by the level of difficulty, but all it took was one repetition of “jubjub bird” and they were hooked. I like to think that my dramatic reading of the poem also helped to sell it to them.
Considering that these students don’t even know how to use the continuous tense yet, much less the past tense or passive voice, this still may not have been one of my best ideas. -_-;; Still, I want them to have opportunities to memorize English that has a place in our culture, and that sounds interesting and fun. Even if they can’t understand all of the words, I think that they’ll gain confidence from being able to say them.
At least, that’s my theory. I suppose we’ll just have to see how they do on their test next Wednesday.
*Also, I’d like to note, even though it’s not central to today’s memory, that Penelope really is a gem, much like Mary Sunshine. I had an absolutely enchanting lunch with her today, where she asked me a lot of great questions about my trip and tried her hardest to speak to me in English. She and Aphrodite are beginning to ask me serious questions about how they can go about doing a home stay with me when I finally move back to the States. It’s nice to see that this story continues to twist and turn in unexpected ways.
Here’s the story of a brother by the name of Othello
He liked white women and he liked … green … jello….
And a punk named Iago, who made himself a menace
‘Cause he didn’t like Othello, the moor of Venice
Better Late Than Never: December 22nd January 10, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Japanese GET.Tags: Aunt Mia, birthday, clemente, cooking, fall term, Japan, my japanese sister, penelope, The Awesome Vice Principal, The Child, The Savant
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Welcome back!
I have another post that I want to write regarding my trip back to the States, but before I get to that, I think that we should go back and examine the last day of the second semester: December 22nd. Already a fantastic and noteworthy day in its own right (*coughit’smybirthdaycough*), it was particularly chaotic because:
a) I was up until 2 o’clock in the morning baking cookies and getting dough ready for
b) the three-hour cookie baking extravaganza, which was slightly interrupted by
c) a quick trip to Thursday’s elementary school so that I could deal with a student who thought it would be a good idea to steal some prizes from me, but this didn’t ruin the day for me since
d) I got to give all my middle school students the cookies that I made in (b), and there was much rejoicing, which gave me enough energy for
e) all the preparations I had to do for my trip on the 23rd (think: mass shopping and packing), which were only slightly complicated by
f) a visit in the evening from My Japanese Sister, who gave me a lovely birthday gift and who was followed by
g) Aunt Mia and her mother, who wanted to stop by my apartment (also with birthday tribute) and so that we could have tea, cookies, and a chat
Still with me? Okay, good.
The 22nd was one of those days where it seemed as though I had to be everywhere at once. I like these kinds of days, because interesting things happen and you need to think on your feet. My memories from this day are kind of hazy at this point, but even now a few moments stand out.
~ The Savant, upon receiving his Christmas cookies, telling me in a very loud voice: “THANK YOU. I RESPECT YOU. I LOVE YOU. YOU ARE A VERY NICE JULIE.”
~ The Child deciding to sneak into the kitchen throughout the morning (although the students were expressly forbidden to do so) so that he could comment on my music (mostly the Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and attempt to steal cookies. He stayed around in the early part of the afternoon, and we chatted while I cleaned up the kitchen.
~ Penelope and Clemente going to great lengths to thank me for the cookies and encouraging their classmates to do the same. It was quite cute.
~ The Awesome Vice Principal sneaking in during the morning to taste test the cookies. He also let me leave school early so that I could get some shopping done, and I was very grateful for that.
And so forth.
The evening visits were also lovely memories, but they were kind of stressful, too, seeing as I had a lot to do to get ready for my trip. I found it odd (and, actually, I still find it odd), that while normally I never have people swing by my house to chat, people felt the need to do this on the night before I was to leave for a big vacation. Granted, it *was* my birthday, but still.
I’m not really complaining about the slight inconvenience, though. It was a fitting end to a very social and chaotic day. I suppose that you could say that it was a day where I felt as though things were happening, and I was at the center of it all. Some of the day’s events were my doing, and some were just tangential activities that touched my life at one point. In the end, it left me feeling very appreciated, and it was a wonderful feeling to take with me to the States.
Ah, the States. Now that is another story.
木金土日月火…水曜日 Recap September 23, 2009
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Me Time, sports festival, Student Moments, Weekend Recap.Tags: convenience store, dinner party, dj ozma jr, elementary students, fall term, Japan, my japanese sister, my little monkey, Nagoya, shopping, sports festival, the hippie, The Mentor, the Other ALT, The Supervisor
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*cough*
Since this is more or less going to be an “一週間 Recap” (“Isshukan Recap,” or ”One Week Recap”), I can only offer my sincerest apologies for falling off of the Blogging Wagon. Things have been more hectic than usual. I can only promise that I will strive against the forces that keep me from sharing the juicy tidbits of The Last Year. I continue to ask for your patience while I figure out how to be both a writer and one of my town’s Foreigners in Residence.
Now, groveling aside, let’s get on with it, shall we? \(^o^)/
Thursday ~ 木曜日
So, this was an elementary school day. I taught the first, second, third, and fourth grades, and so things were a little more frantic than they usually are at that school. The hectic pace was in part due to the Sports Festival preparations, which was really what was occupying everybody at the school.
My school-related memory from this day happened during recess, when the first year teacher (The Hippie) wanted me to stay and watch her class practice one of the events that they were going to do at the sports festival. Unfortunately, she hadn’t cleared this request with the rest of the student body, and the practice got completely disrupted by students rushing the first year classroom in the interest of:
a) talking to me in English
b) talking to me in English and getting stickers
c) redeeming puzzles and/or newsletters for stickers
d) sitting on my lap and generally antagonizing anybody who tried to do a, b, or c
(This was My Little Monkey’s one and only goal.)
This was all complicated by the fact that the student from Wednesday’s dance practice (I shall henceforth call him DJ Ozma Jr.) was completely beside himself the entire day with wanting to talk to me about dancing and wanting to practice the dance together. He made me promise that from here on out, we will always practice the dance at least once during recess on the days that I’m at the school. My Little Monkey is, as always, my little monkey, and so he insisted on clinging to me as I tried to do this dance. What’s funny about this situation (aside from the visual) is that My Little Money understands the nickname “My Little Monkey” (at least to some degree), and he likes it. So he walks around calling himself “Little Monkey” and he uses it to justify why it’s okay for him to latch himself onto my back whenever the whim strikes him.
Thursday was also significant because I went out to dinner with The Supervisor, The Other ALT, and The Other ALT’s mother. TOALT’s mother is a really sweet lady, and it was a great time. The Supervisor was also particularly entertaining, and it was just a great dinner.
Friday ~金曜日
Friday was, of course, the day for Friday’s elementary school – also known as The Insane Asylum. How crazy was it? I’ll tell you. It was so crazy that by the end of the day I was sick of hearing people say my name. In fact, I started to dislike the sound of my name so much, that I began to resent my parents for giving it to me. I became convinced that it was too easy to say, and that this is why the children kept using it. I began to pine for a longer, more ridiculous name that would make the children pause long enough in contemplating its pronunciation for me to escape and do things like, oh, I don’t know, use the restroom. Or swim to New Zealand – any place where there would not be rooms full of children demanding rewards for making efforts in a foreign language.
I love my job. But sometimes, it’s a little intense.
One thing that was entertaining about the day, though, happened when I first arrived. I was walking into the school when one of my sixth graders ran up to me and asked if I could spare a few minutes to play dodge ball with him and his friends. I had some free time, so I told him I’d be right out.
The thing about dodge ball, is that (generally speaking) Japanese children love it. Julie, however, does not. My aim is pretty good, but I’m just not very quick and so I’m a pretty easy target. [Although in my defense, part of the reason that I'm not so quick is that I'm a lot bigger than the children, and so I'm constantly worried about falling on them (they tend to crowd around me when we play)].
My lack of skill is pretty legendary at this point, although I didn’t realize how well known it was until I was on the court and noticed that the skilled players were actually positioning themselves to protect me from the ball. Luckily, they quickly realized that it was better for me to be out and trying to hit the other team’s members from the sidelines, and so I was soon able to contribute to the greater good of the team. Still, I’ll never forget that moment when I saw the students lining up to cover me, and how much it touched (and amused) me.
This day was also noteworthy because I think I managed to make peace with a teacher that I’ve had, not a bad relationship with, but a very odd relationship with for the past few months. We had a really good class together and shared numerous jokes throughout, so I think that things may be back on track. Hooray for keeping the peace at work. (*.*)
Oh, yes, and I almost forgot. In the evening, I went back to my middle school and did a two and a half hour class on relaxation techniques with the other female teachers and some of my students’ mothers. Part of this class involved giving each other foot massages, which was both surreal and a bit difficult. It was surreal, because I never thought I’d find myself laying on the floor of the gym while the science teacher rubbed my feet. It was difficult because I am an extremely ticklish person, and the effort of trying not to laugh (or kick the science teacher) did not exactly help to create a calming atmosphere. Still, I did learn a few things and it was great Japanese practice if nothing else.
Saturday ~ 土曜日
This was my Nagoya day! The morning started out with a lovely train ride, a trip to Starbucks, some shopping at Gap, and then a trip to my hair stylist (who has recently been voted one of the best stylists in Nagoya). Since moving to Japan, I’ve been to see him 13 times. This means that not only does he know me (and my hair) quite well, but it also means that I’m two appointments away from being a VIP member! (I have no idea what this will actually get me, but hey, it’s VIP!). After the appointment, I did some shopping and then eventually headed back home.
I always like going to Nagoya because it’s nice to have a day away from my town and, really, the entire prefecture of Mie. In Nagoya, although I’m foreign, I’m not the only foreigner and so it’s nice to be able to blend into the crowds for once. I can just go and do my thing; I don’t have to worry about my behavior or my purchases getting back to the parents, or my Board of Education, or my school’s principals. This means that running away from people who want to practice English or buying alcohol = OK!
I think this feeling may be the general effect of The City, and I enjoy it. I enjoy the sense of freedom, independence, and general well-being. It’s something that is most definitely present at the salon, too, which is one of the reasons that I keep going year after year. (Well, that, and the fact that my stylist is one of the most awesome. people. ever. He’s lived all over the world, is a semi-professional boxer, has his own band, and is the father of one of the CUTEST KIDS that I’ve ever seen in my life.)
Sunday ~ 日曜日
My second sports day of the year! This one was held at my Thursday elementary school. I got up early and made rice balls for the staff, and then arrived at the school around 6:45. On the way to the school, I stopped off at the convenience store to buy my usual bottle of water. When I went to pay for it, one of the nicest things happened.
I tend to frequent this store at about the same time every day, and so more often than not I encounter this one particular clerk. He’s always struck me as being a stoic sort of gentleman. He’s polite, but he rarely deviates from the Official Clerk Script, and always says the exact same thing to me when I enter the store, when I pay, and when I leave. A couple of weeks ago, I made him laugh because I bought iced coffee instead of water (he couldn’t help but comment), and then once I didn’t go into the store for two weeks and he asked me about it when I finally returned.
When I went to pay for my water on Sunday, though, he looked me right in the and said (with the most amazing, natural accent) “May I help you?” and then after the transaction he followed up with: “Have a nice day!” The effect that this had on me is almost impossible to describe. I was elated. Overjoyed. Touched. Tickled. Enchanted. I’m not sure what his motivation was for doing it. He could have always had an interest in English, he could have been trying to cater his services to my particular demographic, or he could have just been in the mood to do something different. Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, I found it to be a thoughtful and lovely gesture. As I was driving away, I thought to myself: “You know, even if I go to the sports festival and get shot, I’m still going to say that this was a good day.”
Luckily, I did not get shot at the sports festival. There was a mild instance of embarrassment in the afternoon, but since it actually caused me physical pain (long story, I’ll recap it some other time), my school was quick to apologize and help me out. So, in the end, I was right – it was a good day.
Monday ~ 月曜日
That injury that I mentioned from Tuesday? Yes, I spent the day on the couch resting and watching The Colbert Report recovering. Thank goodness for days off.
Tuesday ~ 火曜日
This was the day of the second dinner party that I’ve hosted in Japan, and this time it was for My Japanese Sister and her family. It was a slightly more toned down affair than the previous dinner, but it still took me most of the day to get my act together. We had a couple of frightening culinary moments, but things turned out remarkably well and I now know how to make an apple pie with a shortening-free crust. No transfats ~ hooray! Also, my apartment is now clean and I appreciate that.
I think that, specifically, the moment from Tuesday that I want to hold on to was the moment when they walked inside of my apartment. It’s the first time that they’ve been here, and I really enjoyed the feeling of welcoming them into my home. I liked having them see the furniture, the artwork on the walls, the dishes that I cook with. I liked talking to them, hearing what they liked about the food, hearing what their plans were for the rest of the week. It was, quite simply, a lovely feeling of being a part of something and bringing together different parts of my life – my Japanese family, and my home in Japan.
And that, generally speaking, is what’s been going on over the last week or so. It’s now Wednesday here, and I have today and Thursday off from work. Today, I have the task of trying to catch up on other bits of correspondence that have fallen by the wayside over the last week, and then there’s dance practice in the evening.
Still, as busy as things have been and as awkward as it is to try to juggle everything the same time, I’m content. I sense that I’m doing what needs to be done, and I’ve been enjoying myself. Even those moments when the children crawl on my back or make me hate the sound of my own name, I know that I’m lucky to be here.
“If I could make these moments endless
If I could stop the winds of change…”
