In a parallel universe, I update my blog every day. Part II. November 15, 2009
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Julie Gets Philosophical, Just Bizarre, Lessons Learned, Student Moments.Tags: Aunt Mia, culture festival, dancing, elementary students, fall term, fievel, Japan, Japanese, Jyona33, karaoke, late posts, meetings, mochi, my little monkey, old middle school, Rocko, The Mentor, thursday elementary school, Two Terrific Teachers
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I hope you took the opportunity to stretch your legs, get a beverage, grab a snack, let the dog (or cat) out during our break.
Now, back to my attempts to end Rampant Procrastination.
#11: I Guess I Like Attention?
I do write a blog (kind of…) after all. In fact, I think that liking attention is a requirement if one wants to be a teacher. Those who feel unnerved by many sets of curious eyes on their person, seeking wisdom, answers, and snark need not apply. That sort of thing.
So, given this personality quirk that I have, it makes sense that I would want to find a way to participate in the middle school culture festival, which I did by dancing during a very brief talent show segment. The schedule for the festival went thusly:
9:00: Opening Ceremony
~ Performance from the elective music classes (students performed on traditional Japanese instruments)
~ Speeches from 10 students about a variety of topics
~ Presentation from the student health committee on drug abuse
~ Presentation from each grade
~ First years: 20 second speeches about their first year in middle school
~ Second years: small play about an activity they’ll be doing this month (For two days, they’re going to go out and work in a variety of the town’s businesses. They’ll work in everything ranging from restaurants to hospitals to gas stations.)
~ Third years: presentation about their trip to Tokyo last April
~ Lunch break (At about 11:15)
~ Huge BINGO Game
~ 1:00: Talent show (which included my dance)
~ Afternoon chorus competition between the different classes
~ Special Guest: Traditional Japanese storyteller
~ 3:30: Closing Ceremony
And that was pretty much it. I wandered around for most of the day, taking pictures and talking to students and their families. My dance was something I’d put together myself, set to Chris Brown’s Forever. I think it went quite well – the kids certainly had fun with it.
#12: Reasons that I love karaoke
I’m not the best of singers, but I do like to do it. Unfortunately, I’ve found more often than not that karaoke in the States is a very public, very embarrassing, and often very unpleasant experience. The Japanese karaoke experience is totally different, especially if you go to a karaoke establishment. You get your own room, your own television/stereo equipment, and you can use a phone in the room to order a variety of refreshments. Jyona33 and I probably owe the success of our friendship to Disney duets and Bonnie Tyler.
Recently, I went out with Rocko, and I’ll go ahead and let you know that the boy has game. He can rap. Seriously. I will admit to my superiority on Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back, but that’s about it. For the real deal, you need to hook up with 50cent, Eminem, and Rocko.
#13: The growing dichotomy that is my life
This isn’t a specific moment exactly, but rather a growing feeling I’ve had over the last month. Put very simply: I go to work and immerse myself in whatever school I happen to be in. I play around with my students, discuss a variety of topics with the teachers, go to planning meetings and training seminars, have dinner with friends on weekends, dance my heart out on Wednesdays and Sundays, and sometimes speak coherent and intelligent Japanese.
I also spend hours talking to friends on Skype, read Anna Karenina, memorize Shakespeare (because everybody should), stalk Jay Sean’s new singles, and have dreams of somehow marrying Stephen Colbert.
Sometimes, I’m not exactly sure which country I’m living in, or which world for that matter.
#14: Visiting old friends… my second culture festival
I’ve talked on occasion about The Middle School That Closed. Earlier this month, my town’s new middle school (the one that resulted from the merger of the three that closed) had their first culture festival. I wanted to see my old students, so I decided to attend. I didn’t stay for very long – just long enough to see their morning speeches and performances. They also had their chorus competition in the morning, and that was very cute. Aunt Mia was present, and she and I had the chance to talk a little before she had to run off. I still predict that she is somehow going to end up godmother to my children.
#15: And The Flu shall have no dominion (over me)…
Although it’s everywhere. My schools have been cancelling classes left and right and it’s been weeks since all of the grades have been present at the same time. Two weeks ago all of my third year JHS students were sent home for the week (14 had the flu) and then last week my second years were shut out (10 cases there). It’s the second time this year that my second years have had this happen to them. The teachers are really stressed because everyone is behind in their lessons, but the students are obviously enjoying all of this vacation time.
So far, by some miracle, I’ve managed to stay healthy. I had a scare two weeks ago, because I started to feel out of sorts. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but it passed by without making too much of a fuss, and I’ve remained well enough to venture into the wild and germy frontier. I still predict that I’m going to get Swine Flu.
#16: Fievel VS The Monkey, Part 2
I think it was on the 5th of November that I saw Fievel make an actual claim on me in front of The Monkey. It really stands out in my memory, though, because it just showed how feisty my previously silent one is becoming.
The students had to leave school early because of a big meeting that the teachers were preparing for. I had my work more or less under control, and so I spent some time with the kids while they were waiting for the last bus of the day. Fievel decided to assert his newfound power over me and asked me to give him a piggyback ride. The Monkey saw this, got jealous, and tried to interrupt the whole process.
I kid you not – as soon as The Monkey tried to block Fievel and climb on my back, Fievel looked at him and said (quite clearly and without any hesitation whatsoever): “NO. MONKEY DOWN!”
Success! English has been acquired!!!
#17: Playing With The Big Kids
On November 6th, my Thursday elementary school had a huge meeting that most of the teachers in my district were invited to attend. All of the teachers were required to have open lessons, which were then followed by a lecture from the 5th and 6th grade teachers. After a small break, everyone broke up into smaller groups to ask the home room teachers questions about their lessons.
Although I don’t always understand everything that’s said at these functions, I like to go because, well, it’s an opportunity to learn more about teaching theory (which is where I am admittedly pretty weak). For the open lesson and small meeting portions, I stuck close to The Mentor, since I find his lessons to be consistently well planned and executed.
Overall, I really enjoyed the meeting. I also enjoyed the Celebrity Effect, because a lot of people were not expecting me to be there, and I got to see my presence distract them from their own lives (if only momentarily). I found the overall theme of the meeting to be extremely interesting. It focused on a teaching model by which students are encouraged to approach problems individually, and then through their own efforts and discussion with their classmates, broaden and deepen their knowledge of the given subject. The open lessons were supposed to be examples of this model in action, and then the last meetings of the days were opportunities for other educators to respond to the model and to the way that the school is trying to implement it.
It’s a little frustrating for me, because there are so many things that I wish I could ask or discuss with my fellow teachers, but that kind of Japanese is still out of my reach. Still, I think that I benefitted from attending the meeting. I particularly enjoyed sitting next to one of the Two Terrific Teachers and being his comment partner through the last meeting. Do not be fooled – Japanese people are polite, but snark exists in this culture and it is alive and well. ^o^
#18: If you haven’t ever made sweet potato, tofu, and coconut milk curry…
…then you should, because it is delicious. It is so delicious that it actually qualifies as a memory from this fall season. I make it once a week, eat it for two or three days, and enjoy a slice of nirvana. When I look back on Autumn of 2009, I will most assuredly recall sweet potato and coconut milk curry.
#19: It’s Sunday – let’s go to a festival!
My third festival of the year was at my Friday elementary school. The schedule for this festival was a little different from the one that my middle school had:
~9:00, opening ceremony
~ Fun Corner (1 hour)
~ Mochi Making Event
~ Lunch and Recess
~ Fun Corner #2 (40 minutes)
~ Closing ceremony (at about 2:00)
The Fun Corners were a series of stations set up around the school that the students went to. There was a jump rope station, a juggling station, a station for playing with traditional Japanese toys (kendama and spinning tops), a station for origami, and one for wood crafting. I spent a lot of my time with the origami corner, where my superior motor skills were invaluable to the first and second year students. I had a very odd moment where I looked around and realized that I (the American) was actually leading Japanese school children through the origami process. I suppose that sometimes, authority figures are authority figures regardless of nationality.
(Also, just to squeeze this in here: mochi is a rice cake that’s made by pounding down a special kind of cooked rice. By itself it doesn’t have much of a taste, but it’s often eaten with special soy powder, fruit, or red bean paste. Fresh mochi is a gift from the gods, and I’m so happy that I have an elementary school where they make it once a year.)
#20: Did I say this before? Sometimes I am not very smart.
I’ve asked my Thursday elementary school if I can dance at their culture festival. I’ve yet to hear back from them, but I hope that they’re willing to indulge me as I really want to contribute something to the day. Besides, it gives me an excuse to make up a new dance routine.
Monkey Up! October 18, 2009
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Dance Troupe, Julie Gets Philosophical, Just Bizarre, sports festival, Student Moments.Tags: dance practice, Dance Troupe, elementary students, fall term, festivals, field trips, fievel, hannah montana, Japan, Japanese, late posts, old middle school, Rocko, sports festival, The Savant, typhoon
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The blog! It’s alive!
IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!
So, hello and welcome again after 12 days of Silence. Since I last posted, we’ve enjoyed the following:
~ A swine flu outbreak in my middle school that shut us down for an entire week
~ A typhoon
~ A field trip to The Ghetto Version of Epcot (Still fun, though!)
~ Not one, but two nearly three hour dance practices
~ My first and second festivals dancing with the troupe
~ Intense Apartment Cleaning
It’s kind of funny, because I have the beginnings of ten posts in my drafts folder. I really was trying to get caught up, but Life is a Finicky Creature and I just couldn’t pull things together before it became demanding and I was forced to abandon my efforts to take it for a walk.
For the moment, however, I’ve managed to distract Life for a while, and it’s off in the corner gnawing on its chew toy. It’s going to want play again in around an hour, but until then my friends, it’s just you and me.
I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to go about getting us all caught up. I hesitate to go into long, drawn out Paragraphs About My Life, because I really want to keep the blog from becoming bogged down by my every day activities (which really are very ordinary). So, what I think we’ll do, is stay true to form. This blog is about Collecting Memories, as it were, and we seem to be lacking twelve of them.
So, I hereby present to you twelve memories from the past twelve days!
(In no specific or meaningful order. I’m just writing them as I recall them.)
1) Monkey Up!
The title of today’s post, and most definitely deserving of some Context.
You may perhaps recall the character that I’ve named My Little Monkey. He’s loud, he’s persistent, and he’s convinced that I am a jungle gym.
Well, recently (I think he started this around October 7th), his new thing is to use English to tell me what he wants. Specifically, if he wants a piggyback ride then he says to me, “Julie! Monkey up!” He then attaches himself to my back for, oh, I don’t know – 20 minutes or so? During that time, his favorite thing to do is rest his head on my shoulder and mock the other children who come to talk to me in English. On one hand, it’s kind of rude and ever so slightly obnoxious, but on the other hand, it’s pretty funny and he ends up learning a lot of new English as a result. Anyway, as soon as we’ve had enough of Learning, he taps me on the shoulder and says, “Julie! Monkey down!” and then goes about his business. This has been entertaining me for the last twelve days.
2) Why yes, there was a typhoon
I live in the mountains, so I don’t tend to get all that worried whenever a typhoon heads toward my village. I grew up in Florida, and so I have a Fondness for storms. Whenever one approaches (preferably with Lots of Thunder and Lightening) I buckle down and enjoy the tangible feeling of Mother Nature’s Snark. On this particular occasion, my town was worried because it looked like we were going to be hit directly. So, I got to leave work early on Wednesday. I stocked up on some non-perishables and liquids, put up my storm windows, and snuggled with a blanket in front of the computer. At some point, Rocko called me, and we celebrated the storm via Skype. Isn’t technology wonderful??
3) And swine flu as well
So, this started on October 6th. I walked into school and over the course of the morning we discovered that five of the second years were at home with The Flu of Satan. By the end of the day, the entire second year class had been sent home, and then by the end of Wednesday, the first and third year classes were gone as well. All three classes resumed their normal schedule last Tuesday (Monday was a holiday), but we still have some kids out. I am convinced that I’m going to get this disease, since it’s at the elementary schools as well and thus I’m exposed to it every single day of the week. In addition, most of these children getting sick are the ones who enjoy climbing on my back.
Oh, well. It’s nice to go into the holiday season contemplating illness.
4) Field trips are fun
After postponing the fall field trip on account of Rampant Absences and Typhoon, we finally had our chance to go out and about last Wednesday. I went with the first years to Little World, a small theme park outside of Nagoya that really does aspire to be some kind of Epcot Center. It’s essentially a 2.5km circular road with small areas scattered around it that are dedicated to various countries. Some areas are more elaborate than others, but generally each area has a building, store, and/or restaurant associated with a given nation. Last Wednesday marked my third trip to Little World, and my game plan was simple: walk into the park, dash to Germany, find a bench, and read Anna Karenina while waving to my students as they wandered by.
Unfortunately, I didn’t plan on Hannah Montana and Co. They kidnapped me as soon as we got into the park and through a series of tricky and devious acts, convinced me to walk around with them the entire day. So much for Russian literature.
Still, I got to eat a taco, some pizza, and some gelato, and that was exciting. I also picked up not-easily-obtainable foreign food, and I enjoyed that, too. At one point, Hannah Montana stole my iPod and spent about half an hour examining the R&B list. I think I might be on the road to getting her away from Sugary Pop Music. We can only hope.
5) The Savant likes to break things
We haven’t mentioned him in a while, but he is still among us – causing trouble and asserting that He “MUST MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY.” Recently, his cleaning group has moved to a set of bathrooms on the first floor of the school, and they are as unproductive as (if not moreso than) they were when they were supposed to be cleaning outside. I try to stay away from them at least 2/3 of the time, though, because as soon as I show up it looks like I’m to blame for them not actually cleaning what they’ve been assigned to clean.
The first day that I went to hang out clean with them, The Savant got it into his head that he needed to use a wooden broom to show me how great his batting form is. What he didn’t count on was the broom being kind of weak – it snapped into two pieces the moment he swung it through the air. We spent about ten minutes arguing as to whether or not he should fess up to the Vice Principal:
Me: No, I will not tell him for you.
The Savant: BUT I’M PERFECT. YOU MUST.
Me: You broke the broom
The Savant: NO.
Me: Uh, yes?
The Savant: NO
Me: Uh, yes?
The Savant: Maybe, Julie, YOU broke the broom!
Me: Oh, don’t even think about going there.
And so forth and so on. Eventually, he was persuaded to To the Right Thing, and he was only mildly chastised for his mischief. I thought the whole thing was hilarious.
6) and 7) It’s a good thing I like dancing
Because it seems to be the main thing I’ve been doing recently. We had our practice canceled on the night of October 7th because of the typhoon, but we rescheduled it for the following Sunday so that we could get our routine down before Monday’s festival. The festival was in a town (city? kind of a city? a very small city?) about an hour to the south of us, and although not very large, it was definitely very cute. I had my debut there, and overall I think that things went well. I’m definitely a Curious Item, being a Foreigner and thus a Celebrity, but it seems to be a good thing for the group, so I’m glad I can help.
So we’ll dedicate one memory to Sunday’s and Wednesday’s practices, because both really are a blur in my mind. They both lasted almost three hours and I thought I was going to die by the time that I got home. Still, because last Wednesday’s practice took place after my official welcome, I noticed that the mood was significantly warmer towards me (not that it was ever cold). I actually feel as though I’m a part of the team now, and I really enjoy that.
The second memory we’ll dedicate to the two festivals, as they were both part of My Dancing Debut. Last Monday’s was my General Debut and then today’s festival was my Town Debut. Last Monday’s was fun, but today’s was significantly more personal. My students were super excited to see me dancing, and I had a lot of them come up afterwards and drag me around the festival to see their favorite foods or to meet their parents.
Also present, to my delight and entertainment, were a large number of The Really Horrible Third Year Class from three years ago. They were also amused to see me and tried to say horrible, mocking things about my dancing. What they didn’t count on was that I can actually understand their Japanese now, and I snarked back at them in not one, but two languages. I think we both enjoyed that, and it entertains me that they still have an interest in crossing swords with me. I told them point blank that they were horrible children (except for the girls), and I think that won me points. We spent a great deal of time together.
8) Rocko indulges my whimsical notions
Two Fridays ago (so, right after the typhoon), Rocko invited me to his neck of the woods for homemade curry and so that we could investigate this international bar that he’d discovered. I’m torn about this experience, because there are two memories that I really like from it. The first was just the conversation that we had – Rocko is a very interesting person to talk to. He’s really good about listening to other people’s opinions as well as clearly explaining his own perspective.
The second memory (which is more in line with the way that I’ve titled this section), happened the following day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I had a fanatical desire to find a swing set. Although we had to walk twenty minutes, Rocko managed to produce one for me and I got to be five years old again. ^___^
9) A new character! Introducing: Fievel
If you’re familiar with the movie An American Tale, then you will also be familiar with Fievel, the main character. He’s a shy, mischievous mouse and through the course of the movie he becomes brave and self sufficient. This is a lot like one of my students at my Thursday elementary school, and one of my New Favorite People on This Earth.
This student is currently a third grader, but I really only noticed him last April, when his class started the “Talk to Julie and Get Stickers and Eventually Prizes” program. He is one of the smallest, sweetest looking children I’ve ever met, and last April he was also Painfully Shy. I could tell that he wanted to talk to me, but it was very difficult, and he always spoke in a very soft, hesitant voice.
Still, despite the shyness, over the last six months, he has been without question the most consistent elementary school student in my Sticker Program. Every week, without fail, he writes me a very short (but cute) letter, and he always, ALWAYS comes to talk to me during breaks.
I think it was about two months ago that we saw a huge change in our interactions. He suddenly became a lot more outgoing, and after I spent some time with him and his family at the Sports Festival in September, he became almost as much of a companion as My Little Monkey. It is not unusual to see me walking around that school with both of them firmly planted in My Personal Circle of Space. He is actually more polite and English-inclined than the Monkey, and he takes conversations a lot more seriously. Recently, Fievel’s brother has started to hang around me a lot, too, and it’s funny to watch them to compete for stickers during recess.
10) Fall is the time to read Anna Karenina
Well, fall or summer…
I first read Anna Karenina the summer before my senior year at St. John’s. This was done while also reading War and Peace, so you could definitely say that the summer of 2005 was the Summer of Tolstoi. Of the two, I infinitely prefer Anna Karenina, and I’m now reading it for the fourth time. The second time was in the fall of 2007, the third was the fall of 2008, and seeing as now is currently fall of 2009, you can kind of see where this is becoming a tradition.
When I read through the novel the first time, it was done as part of a study group with a tutor at St. John’s. I remember that he once made the remark that if people would read Anna Karenina when they encountered relationship problems, then they probably wouldn’t need to go to a counselor. To a large extent I agree with him about this – Anna Karenina is fantastic for portraying a wide range of characters in extremely common and accessible situations. There are themes of love, lust, betrayal, adultery, reconciliation, forgiveness, mercy, revenge, and wrath. I am as dazzled by the novel’s structure as I am by the characters, and I inevitably find something new to appreciate each time that I go through it.
I could go on about this for quite some time, but we’ll go ahead and leave it at that for now. Just know that my daily ritual has now shifted to accomodate this monster of a book, and that it makes me very, very happy.
11) Fall is also the time to Make Things
Specifically, I’m talking about food, although I’ve been knitting (poorly…) again as well. Recently made dishes include:
~ tofu/spinach/mushroom casserole
~ whole wheat focaccia bread
~ chicken soup from scratch
~ adzuki/pumpkin stew
~ sweet potatoes in a variety of dishes including curry, casserole, and root stew
~ apple pie – dear God, apple pie
12) No More Sports Days! (Along with subsequent thoughts and reflections.)
Ah, yes. So, something that has not been happening over the last twelve days has been Sports Festivals! We are in fact done with them for the year. As I have said before, I am also probably done with them For Good.
It’s unfortunate that I never was able to get around to writing the big Sports Festival-centered post. I’d wanted to take the opportunity to explain more about them, and to muse a bit about the role that this festival has played in my life in Japan.
I’ve been to fourteen … maybe fifteen … of these festivals since I arrived here in 2006. Each year has been a different sort of trial by fire. The first year I was simply trying to wrap my mind around the concept of a sports festival, and I was trying to find a way to participate and make it an event that was relevant to my life. The second year I was able to appreciate individual student achievement, and I was less shy about entering PTA events since I understood how the majority of the events were run. The big challenge last year was trying to learn how to sprint so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself in a relay race that I ran at my other middle school (the one that closed down). I also started a tradition last year where I brought handmade rice balls in for the faculty and staff on the mornings before the festival started.
This year’s overall theme seemed to be: Let’s Embarrass Julie As Much As Humanly Possible And Them Some. From the bizarre relay race that I ran with my sixth years at the middle school festival, to a really unfortunate partnered relay race that I had to run at the Thursday elementary school’s festival (I was injured in this race because of what I had to do), to the absolutely disastrous centipede race that I ran at the Friday elementary school’s festival (my group fell twice), I did not manage to display myself as quite the athlete that I feel I have the potential to be. -_-;;
Still, if I’ve learned anything over the last three years, it’s that the people in my community appreciate valiant efforts as much as (if not more than) successful efforts, and I know that it meant a lot to them that I wanted to participate. So, in the end, everyone won – including me. I think what’s also nice about this situation is that it is another indication of how I have become accepted in this community. I don’t feel as though they were laughing at me during these events. The truth is that all of the participants looked ridiculous, and so it was a celebration of, well, our collective absurdity. I did it for my students, because I knew that they wanted to see me perform on the field in the same way that they’d been performing. It was us coming together to celebrate each other as a community.
Don’t get me wrong, I still hate that centipede race. With a passion.
But, it’s part of the Sports Festival experience, and I can recognize that. Sometimes, you do things just because it really is the right thing to do. This year more than any other, I believe I’ve learned that lesson. This is a good thing, and it’s a fitting way to end this chapter of my life in Japan.
289 days to go.
Small town, grand people August 28, 2009
Posted by Earthdragonette in Student Moments.Tags: Aunt Mia, Characters, Japan, old middle school, summer, table tennis
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Ah, Friday. Friday, and the last day of me being at work during summer vacation. Classes don’t start until next Tuesday, but I’m having a small dinner party on the 5th and have opted to take Monday off to try to get my act together. After all, cooking a meal that’s meant to send ten people into culinary joy comparable to something found in a Laura Esquivel novel requires planning.
Today’s memory involves a new character, so let’s introduce her first. I give you:
Aunt Mia
This girl is currently a second year at the other middle school in town. I was her ALT for her first year at the school that was closed, and I was her older sister’s ALT for two years, too. I wouldn’t say that I’m exactly close with the family, but we have been becoming closer over the past few months. I’m actually planning to have them over for dinner sometime in the fall. Anyway, I’m giving her this name because I’m convinced that after I return to the States, she will constantly be coming to D.C. to do home stays at my home. In fact, her visits will be so frequent that my children will adopt her as one of the family. Given how often we exchange letters and how well we keep in touch, I feel certain that some or all of that prediction will come true.
So this morning on my way to work, I stopped at one of our convenience stores to get some water. (Granted we only have two in the entire town but that’s beside the point.) (Oh, wait, I just thought of a third one.) (But it’s kind of puny and it doesn’t have the kind of bottled water that I like.)
(And yes, I know, bottled water = not necessarily pure and potentially Bad for The Planet.) (But you see, I’ve been going to this store every weekday morning for years and if I changed my purchase or heaven forbid actually stopped going at this point, I think they would feel betrayed.) (It’s a small town thing.)
(How many parenthetical sentences do I have to write before it gets to be too much?)
(I think I just got my answer.)
(Moving on.)
Anyway, Aunt Mia’s mother actually works morning shifts at this store, and so we’ve been casually chatting with each other for the better part of a year now. She keeps me up to date on how the older sister is doing, and I remind her of the following at least once a month: I’m from America. I’m 25. No, I’m not married. Yes, Japanese men are cute. I’ve been studying Japanese for three years. No, I have not met President Obama. No, I am not usually in habit of drinking two bottles of wine.
Today when I walked in, she told me that Aunt Mia had just finished writing me her most recent letter and that she was planning to send it later on today. I asked if she actually had the letter with her at that moment, and it turns out she did. So, I went ahead and took it off her hands and saved the family the postage.
(See? See? Without going in for bottled water I would have completely missed this lovely small town exchange and they would have been out about 200 yen.)
(Which is about $2.00, give or take.)
(Seriously though, don’t hate on daily routines – they are the fabric which binds society together.)
After I got to school, I had a chance to look through the package and saw that in addition to a lovely letter and some pictures from the summer, the family had also purchased a variety of Stitch-related paraphernalia for me. I do have kind of a fixation on that little blue alien, and so it was a good choice. I took the doll and put it with the others that are in my car – which is affectionately known as “The Stitch Mobile.”*
The letter itself was interesting though, because aside from the regular life-related news, Aunt Mia also mentioned that she was going to be at my middle school today to play table tennis games and that she was hoping she could see me.
Oh, if I could only grant everyone’s wishes so easily! It was a matter of about, oh, I’d say fifteen seconds before I was down in the gym and looking for her. She was in the middle of a game when I arrived, but once she finished her match she came over and we had quite the reunion. We actually haven’t seen each other in person in months, and it was an overdue visit. Some of her new friends came by and we were all able to talk for a good half hour before I felt the need to head back to work.
I think that one of the many things that I appreciate about Aunt Mia is that she is such a genuine individual. She is also persistent, and she tries very, very hard to accomplish her goals. I remember that when she started talking to me last year at the other middle school, she did so very slowly. It began with greetings, and then small questions about the day’s lesson, and then questions about my life. As she grew more comfortable talking to me (usually in English), she volunteered information about her own circumstances. I think that she’s the one student from that school that I really became close with – those kids were really hard to reach.
Anyway, simply put, Aunt Mia one of the good ones and I’m happy to still be in contact with her. As far as I’m concerned, today will forever be noteworthy because I finally got to see her after a five-month separation. She looks as though she’s doing well, and that makes me really happy.
I look forward to the day when I’ll introduce her to my family.
*My car has also been called “The Roller Skate of Death.” I guess people choose which name to use based on the quality they wish to emphasize – Stitch, or, you know, the complete absence of anything that will protect me if I ever hit something.
“I believe in miracles
They happen every day.”
Stop, look, and listen August 17, 2009
Posted by Earthdragonette in Lessons Learned.Tags: Japan, Kitten-like Tea Lady, old middle school, running, summer, The Japanese Best Friend
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If someone were to ask me:
“What’s the most important lesson that you’ve learned in Japan?”
I would answer with:
“Wow. Thank you for asking me one of the most difficult questions you could possibly have asked. That’s right up there with, ‘Use of the atomic bomb in WWII: good idea or bad idea?’ ”
I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: I learn new things every day. There is no exception to this statement – I could list at least ten things that I discovered today that I didn’t know yesterday. Don’t believe me? Here we go:
1. Regarding the lyrics to Edguy’s Save Me: Most websites do not have the correct lyrics posted. It’s very frustrating.
2. The days are starting to get colder – I ran 5km at 6 this morning without any heat or humidity issues.
3. Taking a road that passes by Taki train station gets me to Meiwa about ten minutes sooner than the old route that I used to use.
4. The bottle of sauce that I thought was curry sauce in fact wasn’t.
5. The Japanese Best Friend isn’t sure what it was either. But, we both agree that it was delicious.
6. Teachers in my prefecture can get discount tickets to the Prefectural Performing Arts Center
7. If you sit still for a long time in the ocean, the fish really will come up and investigate your feet.
8. Most of the Japanese tourists have left the countryside, leaving the beach relatively unpopulated and very peaceful.
9. Japan is going to hold elections on the 30th, and candidates will be giving speeches on night of the 25th.
10. Apple and banana smoothies are easy to make and delicious.
See? And these are only my egocentric moments of epiphany – don’t even get me started on the Secrets of the Universe that I uncovered today. (They do not involve the number 42.)
Still, if my hypothetical interviewer were to press the question, one possible answer I could give is: “I’ve learned that everyone has a personal story just as rich, just as long, and just as vital as my own.”
This it not a lesson that is easy for me. It isn’t a lesson that I have heard about, intuitively understood, taken to heart, and merged with my subconscious so that I have been transformed into a being of neverending tolerance and goodwill. It’s something that I know in my heart to be true, and that I try to bring to the table whenever I play with others. Sometimes, though, I forget. I forget, or I get distracted, or maybe I just feel snarky. Today’s memory was another gentle nudge from The Universe and Its Forces of Irony. It’s also not exactly something that I really desire to remember. Rather, it’s something that I feel is my responsibility to remember – it’s something my life gave me and I have to make it a part of who I am.
I mentioned above that I went running this morning. It was an exceptionally lovely run, and the weather really was great for it. I also have a new running mix on my iPod and I sincerely enjoyed having that in the background. As I was cooling down, I passed by a local elementary school and saw a truck pull into the parking lot. Inside of the truck was a woman that I used to work with at one of my middle schools. Even though we weren’t close, I’ll go ahead and introduce her as character. It’s the least that I can do.
The Kitten-like Tea Lady
Each school in Japan has a (usually older) woman assigned to it as, well, the Tea Lady. They’re responsible for (you guessed it) making the tea for the teachers in the morning, and keeping everyone’s glasses full throughout the day. They also prepare other drinks and, occasionally food, for the teachers and school visitors. In addition to tea and food, they have responsibilities around the school – the keep the gardens trim, wash towels, keep the cleaning supplies stocked, and set up for the school lunch. This lady worked at my middle school that closed – I was only with her for about a year. She was very quiet, and very sweet. Her face reminded me of a small cat, and she always had very skittish, kitten-like mannerisms.
So, I ran into The Kitten-like Tea Lady by the elemetary school. As she pulled closer to me in her truck, I saw that her hairstyle had changed dramatically – from my perspective, it looked like a buzz cut.
Remember what I said before? About how my brain is very obtuse for the first 30 seconds when it encounters something devastatingly upsetting? Today was no exception. For the first few moments, all I could think of was: “What a great idea! It is really hot these days! Way to go, Tea Lady – no more overheating for you! Ladies unite – let’s ALL shave our heads!”
About three seconds later, the more realistic and infinitely more intelligent inner voice came in with, “No, Julie. That hairstyle would not be a personal choice for the sake of comfort. That would be cancer.”
Of course, this didn’t keep me from asking her the standard greeting of, “O genki desu ka?” (Are you fine?)
Luckily, she was quicker and more on the uptake than I was, as she sort of chuckled and answered back, “Genki janai, yo!” (No, I’m not fine!)
And then, the expected conversation took place. She has breast cancer, the tumor was about 3cm long but now it’s down to 2. She’s feeling okay right now, but eating has been difficult and she can’t handle eel. She wanted to go to the dinner that we had last week, but she was embarassed to because of her hair. She has three more treatments left before the end of the year and she’s hoping for the best, but she’s scared. I told her that she should come to the winter dinner, and she told me she was afraid about not being able to eat anything. I explained that we would all want to see her anyway and that her goal should be to live each day to the fullest – it’s all any of us can do.
Towards the end of the conversation, she confirmed, with a sly look on her face (who knew that she could give sly looks??), that I was feeling well. (Which I suppose is kind of obvious when one has just completed a 5km run). I confirmed that, yes, I was feeling very healthy and happy – all too aware of the two different realities that we were living.
As she drove away, I remember feeling this ache inside of myself as all of my inner voices yelled to be heard. They told me to savor the walk back home, to relish eating without feeling sick, to get her address so that I could send her something to let her know that I was thinking of her, to climb another mountain today just because I can. (I opted for the beach instead.) Slowly, I resumed my walk, my mind whirling so much that I couldn’t even restart my iPod.
I’ve been thinking about this all day.
What I’m feeling now, isn’t exactly guilt. To my knowledge, I’ve never actually been rude or in any way cold towards her. I think, at times, I was perplexed by her and perhaps uncomfortable with her shyness. But, I’m not feeling haunted by a thousand incidents of, “I should have treated her better.” It’s a little more subtle than that – a little more complicated.
My five minute conversation with her this morning threw open this door to her world that I’d never really paid attention to. It had been there, quietly shut and neglected in the hallway of my world. Occasionally I would go up to it and examine the doorknob or the paint, but then I’d walk away and do something else. But, behind that door profound and amazingly painful events were taking place. Events that have made this woman face the notion that she may very well die before the end of the year. This could be her last summer. That could have been our last conversation.
But, in anybody’s world, there are literally millions upon millions of doors, right? Doors to people, places, experiences and knowledge that could have a profound effect on that person’s life. It’s impossible to open all of these doors – in fact, I think that we drive ourselves crazy trying to find and organize all of these doors. Whether we like it or not, some are going to remain shut for our entire lives. To convince onself otherwise is dangerous – one then runs the risk of running up to every door, taking a peek, and running away before he or she can appreciate (or even recognize) what’s on the other side. This is to say that I don’t think that life is all about the number of doors that you open.
Still – still– the other side does exist. Today has helped me to remember that even if I can’t find the means to open the door and take an in-depth look, I need to do whatever I can to respect what is undoubtedly there. Because whatever is there, is deep, profound, mysterious, and most likely has an infinite number of parallels to whatever is happening behind my own door.
“We never cried for pain,
We’re superheroes.”
土日曜日 Recap August 9, 2009
Posted by Earthdragonette in Weekend Recap.Tags: baseball, beach, enkai, Everybody's Favorite, old middle school, PoEM
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So, this is our first Saturday/Sunday Recap. Consider this the weekend special – with twice the nostalgia of a normal post!
This weekend has been quite nice – very relaxing and low key. Both days have also been great because they’ve given me two very nice memories that I can write about.
First, let’s talk about Saturday.
Saturday started off with a drive down the mountain to a beach that’s about half an hour away. It’s nothing special – just a small strip of land next to a hotel. Most of the people tend to be from out of town, so there’s none of that awkward “Holy Honshu, I just saw my teacher HALF NAKED” stuff. Also, it’s never crowded, so it’s a nice place to spend a few hours.
Behold:
Taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn't the best.
So, that was a nice way to spend the early part of my afternoon. After I got back, I went out to dinner with some teachers that I worked with last year. It was a special dinner for me because these were teachers that I worked with at the middle school that the town closed, so I hadn’t seen most of them in months.
The particular memory from yesterday that I want to hold on to (and the one that I alluded to in my somewhat slipshod post from last night) happened during dinner. We were all seated around this small table and sampling from a pretty standard selection of Japanese platters (sashimi, fried chicken, grilled eggplant, fried tofu, small pieces of marinated beef, croquettes…). About halfway through the meal, we went around the table and everyone talked about what they’d been up to recently. One teacher is currently working in an elementary school, and she explained that she has some really low level students, and that she’s trying to figure out what she can do to help them. This started a discussion about teaching methods and, ultimately, the Principal gave us his Philosophy of Education Monologue (hereafter: PoEM).
Let me explain some things about the PoEM. First of all, it has made its way into every dinner that I’ve ever had with this man. Just as we can be certain that the day star will rise, we can be certain that if I have dinner with him, he will at some point recite the PoEM. Secondly, the PoEM’s contents are incredibly difficult for me to understand. This is partially because the Principal uses really difficult Japanese (i.e.: many words that I don’t know yet), and partially due to him being at least three or four beers into the evening by the time that the PoEM is unveiled. Thirdly, the PoEM is long. Very long. Not as long as Dante, but definitely as long as Tennyson – we’re talking at least half an hour. I remember that during one particularly lengthy PoEM recital (perhaps it was sometime around Christmas last year?), I managed to drink two beers, text four friends, boil eight crab legs, eat some tempura, and contemplate the sociological implications of P = NP.* Fourthly, though the contents may vary, the general message of each PoEM is the same: schools should be stable, positive institutions where the students feel safe, nurtured, and respected. Lessons should be carefully constructed so that they are enjoyable while fulfilling the above obligations.
When I worked with this Principal at the middle school last year, I admit that I occasionally found it difficult to listen to the PoEM. It was sort of like the Friday night lectures that they had when I was in college. I was always interested in the topic, and I knew that I would be a better person for having listened to what the speaker had to say. Actually, now that I think about it, listening to the PoEM was EXACTLY like Friday night lecture – and my excuse for tuning out of both was the same: the words of wisdom, no matter how wise, were potentially difficult to understand, and the alternative involved alcohol and contemplating future public displays of absurdity.
Still, even though I couldn’t always fully appreciate the PoEM, there was a comfort in knowing that it would be there, waiting for us, at every dinner. In fact, I would go so far as to say that dinners weren’t proper dinners until we’d heard the PoEM, and they weren’t complete dinners unless the Vice Principal politely brought the recitation to a close.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed the PoEM, and all these associations that I have with it, until yesterday evening. There we all were after four months, just as we’d been dozens of times before, talking and sharing things about our lives. And suddenly, naturally, without being forced or contrived, the PoEM was there in all of its 34 minute glory.
As I was listening to the Principal talk, I remember leaning back against the wall and reminiscing. I really did enjoy teaching at that middle school, although it was always kind of a problem for me. My main middle school (the one that I still work at) is very demanding and I never felt as though I had enough time or energy left over for the second one. There were so many things I wanted to do at that school, and the teachers and students really deserved better than what they got from me. Still, I don’t feel as though the staff ever held it against me, and they’ve always been kind. Maybe I can say here, that if my main middle school has been responsible for showing me the mind of my town (and the Japanese), then I think that the second middle school showed me the heart. I felt that last night, and it made me very, very happy.
*Not really. But I did make a two page list of songs I wanted to sing at karaoke after dinner.
Moving on to today…
Today’s memory is both short and sweet. It does, however, require that I introduce (more like reintroduce) a character. I give you:
Everyone’s Favorite
Some of you are quite familiar with this young man. He was a first year middle school student when I arrived in Japan, and he graduated last March. While I taught him, he was undeniably my favorite student (and my friends’ favorite, too). Our relationship is the stuff of legends – he called me Johnny and said the most ridiculous things in absolutely nonsensical English. I called him Buffy and harassed him constantly for wandering around the classroom barefoot and laying on the floor. He is notorious for the phrases: “I go to break a window.” “(Any verb form ever) + to the hospital.” and “I am funky boy.” He would often make me laugh so much that I had to leave the classroom.
Today I’d originally planned to go to a fish festival near my Friday elementary school, but the weather was rainy and so it was postponed. Finding myself at liberty, I decided to go to the middle school and watch a baseball game. My guys were playing against the team that they lost to at the regional tournament and I was curious to see how things would go now that they’re playing without the third graders (who have retired from their clubs).** As I pulled into the parking lot next to the baseball field, lo and behold, there he was: Everybody’s Favorite.
He was excited to see me. We’ve only talked twice since he graduated, and he had a lot of news to share – mostly about his new girlfriend. I asked him about his baseball team, and he told me he hated it because he wanted more time to see his girlfriend. I asked about school. He told me he hated it because he wanted more time to see his girlfriend. I asked him about his girlfriend. He told me that she has a part-time job and he hates it because it keeps him from spending more time with her.
Ah, to be sixteen again.
After I got him away from the girlfriend topic (which took about twenty minutes as he was interested in telling me EVERYTHING about their relationship and his hopes for it), we settled into a nice conversation with topics that ranged from what he thought about his current classmates to how long I would be staying in Japan. He caught me up on some rather spectacular town gossip, and we discussed the differences between American and Japanese middle school/high school students.
This memory is definitely a keeper; it’s nice to know that I can still have great conversations with my students even after they’ve gone on to high school. I wonder, sometimes, how aware they are of me and how strong of a presence I am in their lives. After today’s chat with Everybody’s Favorite, I felt grateful for this fourth year. It gave me the time to be a part of his life all the way through his middle school experience. It also gave me the chance to talk to him today and to see how his story is unfolding. And, quite honestly, that’s what keeps me coming back for more. I love my students’ stories – their hopes, their dreams, and their expectations (although I could do without the ones so blatantly focused on their raging hormones).
Generally speaking, these are the things that give me strength, and that help me look at my own future optimistically.
**As it turns out, they lost again, by the same score of 2-0. Sigh.
“Riding on the wings of light,
Dreaming dreams and holding tight.”
Where I Intended to Be 