Sensei and Sensibility
Monday, October 28, 2002
sitting in vancouver wondering just where i am
OK - this will have to be a quick post - cause I have to run off to supervise our students at the Hallowe'en Dance at PW Mini School. I have to wonder if they are interested in anything other than Canadian boys (well, the girls at least...). Hey, well, they are only 15 and their hormones are raging...
Most obnoxious comment yet: The prize goes to my Principal who looked at the restaurant called "White Spot" and wanted to know if it was for "whites" only or if "yellows" and "Blacks" were also allowed in. For a moment, I thought he had grasped the concept of some of the more appreciated forms of humour here, but alas, he was serious. I assured him that the origin of the name had nothing to do with race or skin tone. Jokingly I told him that even Purple People Eaters could eat there. He didn't get it.... He then went into this big thing about how he is mistaken - it is in "America" that different coloured people have to use different bathrooms and such. I apologize - I've obviously failed him somewhere down the line if he is still thinking that....
Most tiring evening: being forced to drive halfway around the town because the same guy wanted to find Japanese green tea at 9:30pm on a Sunday. OK - maybe he's a little homesick after one day in Vancouver - especially since he's only trying to eat Japanese food and speak Japanese with people. BUT, I was a bit perturbed that the tea had to be Japanese - there was a plethora of Chinese green tea, but he told me in earnest that Japanese intestines are different and can only process Japanese green tea. Finally, we found some that had Japanese writing on it and was called Japanese green tea. It was 5 bucks for 10 tea bags and I didn't have the patience to tell him that it was grown in California. He told me this morning that it tasted really, really good - like only Japanese (ahem, californian) green tea can...
More notes from the world hopper coming next week!
It"s wild, It's wacky, it's wonderful, it is EXHAUSTING!
:)
 Sabine . 7:25 PM . Comments
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Newsflash: Canada Invades Japan!
Yes, it`s true. Fourteen of Canada`s most promising youth spent the last week attacking my little town, battering the students and parents alike with their energy.
I am exhausted!
I can barely remember what we`ve done. We went to the sea of Japan, out for Karaoke, to Kyoto, to Hiroshima, to the fall festival, and to school. They experienced all kinds of Japanese culture, and I got to tag along and learn about all I had previously missed.
My Japanese boys thought the Canadian girls were cute, the Canadian girls thought the Japanese boys were cute, and the Japanese girls idolized the Canadian boys. The Canadian boys thought that the Japanese girls were a bit too young and star-struck, so they didn`t idolize anyone - they just sat back, enjoyed the attention, and had their pictures taken with everyone.
They are a great group of students, and I must admit that I have never seen this town so energized! Everything was fascinating, and the best part was being able to listen and understand all the private conversations on the bus - they were trying to make sense of things here. It reminded me of myself, only one year earlier.
I have to say that I think this was one of the most successful exchanges yet. Not from any of my contributions, but from the fact that the students who came got along really well with our students - it made my life a lot easier.
The highlight for me, however, was oddly the little impromptu drinking party that happened in the 5-star hotel in Hiroshima. The Canadian teachers went to bed early (still jet-lagged and unable to shake their sense of moral impropriety about getting plastered at a time when they should be leading students). My go-between (I-san), Japanese English teacher (Y-sensei) and I had absolutely no moral qualms about staying up till 2am to get drunk though, so we continued the party. This was the highlight for me, because it was here that I finally got the balls-out (pardon the expression) truth about many of the lesser talked about subjects here (AKA sex). They talked so much that it made ME shy (which is pretty hard to do!)
You see, I had gotten lost (with the Canadian teachers) in a part of the city of Hiroshima which is known for more shady activities, and I figured that it would be interesting to learn more. With alcohol as a lubricant, I was able to learn about this side of life and about their personal, um, experiences, and I was able to break barriers - we were talking like a bunch of girls at a slumber party! I learned many interesting words - for oral sex, having an affair, losing virginity - all sorts of stuff. The porn channel was snapped on for a fraction of a second so that I could - well, I dunno what I could do - I think it was turned on less for my benefit and more for their own. Secrets were spilled, or rather confessed, gossip was shared (I learned that having affairs here is pretty darn normal - scary! Though neither party present has had one - do not fret) and we spent most of the time peeing ourselves laughing. The Canadian students were duly impressed with our ability to party (and our ability to mask the noise they were making in their rooms, thus preventing them from getting into trouble).
These two people became more real to me than any others I`ve met - I could relate much more to this bawdy side than to the tea-pouring diligent side. Oddly enough, I think that seeing the closeness of the Canadian students, and hearing the frankness with which they conversed on a number of subjects (especially love hotels), really affected these two people.
I only hope that this openness doesn`t vanish when the Canadian students do!
Oh yah - Hiroshima was great and powerful too - there were many people taking pictures of us - I was teaching them how to fold paper cranes for the children`s memorial, and somehow everyone thought that that was a poignant view. No one cried - it just confirmed to the Canadian students the reason why they are already against war.
However, I did almost lose my lunch at seeing the flesh that was pulled off a burned hand - fingernail still attached. WHY would they keep and display something like that???!
:)
Sabine . 11:06 PM . Comments
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
When and Earthquake shakes the Self Esteem of a Nation
I have no time today for a detailed post, as the Canadian Invasion is about to happen. So, I will leave you with this random thought:
In Japanese, the word for Earthquake is Jishin
In Japanese, the word for self-confidence is Jishin.
Now, I know that the Kanji for these is different, so they are actually different concepts entirely. However, I do find that many people here seem to be as scared of having self confidence as they are of earthquakes. Many of my students would rather cry quietly than answer a question such as "What`s your name?"
Interesting, ne?
Sabine . 8:20 PM . Comments
Monday, October 07, 2002
Eyeballs, Canadian Invasion, and other Random Musings
Ah!!! The day after tomorrow 16 Canucks are going to invade Japan (well, Ikuno town, that is). I would be going insane if I wasn`t still nursing a hangover from Saturday`s drink-a-thon, I mean party, with my fellow teachers.
Then there are my adventures in eyeball land - when I went to the eye doctor here. You see, I need new glasses - Japanese characters are hard enough to read when your eyesight isn`t failing. My friend`s wedding is coming up, so I thought I`d go for contact lenses. BAD IDEA to do here in Japan. You have to go to the hospital to get an eye test done (bonus: it`s covered under insurance). Then they bring you to the contact room where they have a zillion pairs of samples for you to try on. The nurse washes her hands, grabs a contact, forces open your eye, and shoves it in. At which point your eyes start to water immensely from having had another person`s fingernails poke them, the contact lenses fall out, and the nurse tries to ram them in your eyes again. Repeat the process about 5 times per eye. Stammer in limited Japanese that you will do it yourself. Put them into your inflamed, watering eyes in one try, and realize that the prescription is all wrong. Sit and wait for the inflammation to go down.
Next, go to get the eye test done again - walk around while holding little glass lenses up just so that you can see. Realize that even with the little lenses, you are still seeing double.
Wait some more. The nurses run around busily. Makeup streams down your face from your still-watering eyes. Finally, they come back to you and notify you that your eyeballs are bigger than Japanese eyeballs and they need to call in a specialist from the city to fit you. They tell you you may have to get hard contacts. They have never heard of soft contacts which aren`t daily disposables. You tremble with fear that the nurse will try to shove little slivers of glass into your eye next time.
You get a memo on your cell phone e-mail from a guy you are trying to date and he tells you that you are great. You forget about the slivers of glass, pay the drop-in fee, and drive home, feeling elated. You`ve even forgotten about the fact that you have makeup streamed down your cheeks and your eyes are puffy and red.
All in a regular day in Japan....
:)
Sabine . 7:26 PM . Comments
Wednesday, October 02, 2002
Generosity
My Japanese is getting better. Now I can carry out pretty simple conversations and understand about half of what I hear. This is really exciting for me. I guess that it is difficult to understand unless you`ve attempted to learn a language which is so much the opposite of the ones you know. In any case, what this means is that I can meet people and have conversations with them, but my Japanese isn`t good enough to actually get to know them and become close to them. As a result, I have been feeling a little bit lonely lately. Only a couple of my original foreigner friends remain here, so other than them, I only have myself to have meaningful conversations with.
I thought that no one in my town understood this, and that no one understood me. I thought that they looked at me as a plaything - a goofy, genki (lively) pet whom they could just put back into its cage (my apartment) at the end of the day. Living like this for a little while is OK, living like this long-term can drive one absolutely mad from the feelings of isolation which eventually creep in. Yes, I have been a bit sad of late - not a depression really, as I realize that I am still growing and learning from this experience. More like a sort of longing - a longing to be a real person to someone, not just a "foreigner".
Then yesterday came.
For those of you not in the know, yesterday was my birthday. Last year, not a single person in my town or at my school even wished me a Happy Birthday, so I wasn`t expecting much. Birthdays, generally, are not a big deal here. I vowed to be happy enough with a phone call from my mom, and truly, that phone call did help.
Then, I arrived at school. I was immediately serenaded by some of my students. No one had taught them the "Happy Birthday" song - they had done the work and practised it together on their own. I walked into the office, and immediately people came up to me and said "Tanjobii o omedetou gozaimasu!" (basically, "Happy Birthday"). I wondered how they knew. It wasn`t exactly a secret, but it wasn`t common knowledge either. All day long I was bombarded with students shouting "Happy Birthday" at me. I was touched, and elated - no one sings "Happy Birthday" to a pet. Well, almost no one.
At home, a friend from Vancouver stayed up till 1am to call me after my work day. It was so sweet. Then, the doorbell rang, and it was my neighbour, Mrs Fuijiwara (who had given me a bracelet earlier for my birthday). She told me that she knew that I was busy, but that a birthday wouldn`t be complete without a cake - she had gone out and bought me a personal birthday cake - replete with candles!
Earlier, I knew that it would be extremely detrimental for me to be alone on my birthday, given my current state of mind, so I organized for my adult class to go out and drink and eat and sing Karaoke.
I showed up at the restaurant, and people started pouring in. We ended up taking over the place. People brought along other people, and someone`s cousin had sent along the most HUGE bouquet of flowers I had ever seen - seriously - it is half my height and just as wide! They sang songs and gave me presents and showered me with affection and conversation. All night long it was so great just to be with people who were having fun and who were trying to get to know the people behind the foreign faces (my two English Teacher friends had come along). They came up with creative ways to give me presents - even though I told them I didn`t want any. One of the guys had gone to the city to buy me an English Newspaper and a CD of Nepali music. Another burned me a CD of her favourite music so that I could get to know her without language. Some people made me presents - little paintings and the like - all of which expressed their personality to me without having to rely on my limited Japanese. There was so much affection and caring there that I was overwhelmed.
I am amazed that they could know how I have been feeling. Perhaps they, too, felt unable to communicate with me, even if they had the desire (and now I realize that they do). Perhaps they want to be seen as more than just another Japanese person, much like I want to be seen as much more than just another foreigner.
Perhaps I am a person to them after all, just as they are people to me.
Sabine . 7:18 PM . Comments
Tuesday, October 01, 2002
Two Left...Everything!
There`s a lot going on in my life right now - all of which involves the tremendous task of escorting 14 students back to Canada on the 26th of October, whilst preparing for the arrival of 14 Canadian students here. The funniest event, by far, I will describe below.
Here in Japan, girls and boys generally are not allowed to date or kiss or any of that. This I knew from before, when two students were caught holding hands on the Shinkansen to Tokyo (Oh, the HORROR! - They are 15 years old and going through puberty - give `em a break!). Little did I know how deeply rooted this becomes.
I received the schedule from our exchange school in Canada - and discovered that our students would be attending the High School Hallowe`en dance there. The students are extremely excited about this, but also terrified: they don`t know how to slow dance with members of the opposite sex.
I suggested to my teachers that we teach them. To which I received nervous, blank stares. None of the teachers had ever slow-danced with a woman before, though a couple admitted that they tried with their wives at their weddings. HUH??? I grabbed one teacher, T-Sensei, convinced that they were just being shy. After all, I needed to know how close together they would allow the students to dance.
I grabbed his hand and rested my other hand on his shoulder. His muscles quivered and he started shaking nervously. He placed his hand in mine, and his other hand on my shoulder. I removed his shoulder hand and placed it low around my waist. He almost fainted and moved his hand to half-way up my back. Sweat trickled down his neck from that place behind his ear. I went to move, slowly, from side to side. His feet remained planted.
Next, I removed my hand from his and told the teachers that I was now demonstrating dance position number two. My hands locked loosely around T-Sensei`s neck, my elbows loose, and there was about a foot of space between us. T- sensei bit his lower lip in determination. Still, he could not bring himself to move his feet.
Now, there was a glint in my eyes - I was enjoying watching him squirm a bit and was looking forward to demonstrating dance style number three.
I looked him in the eye, a mischievous grin on my face. He looked away, took a breath, then met my gaze. I unclasped my fingers from around his neck, still staring him in the eye. He looked relieved, like he thought that it would be over. Slowly, I moved closer, pulling him nearer to me, until our noses almost touched. I drew in a little breath as I turned my head slightly and moved closer to him. As our cheeks gently caressed, I softly exhaled. I moved his hands down, down to the place where my waist curves in and my buttocks curve outward. One of my hands I moved slowly down his back - just to that place betweeen the shoulder-blades. The other stayed gently near the nape of his neck. I gave him one last glance before I rested my head on his shoulder. Slowly, I let my hips start to sway back and forth in time to inaudible music.
Immediately, he burst from my grasp, turned red and hid behind his computer. All the other teachers were shrieking and laughing and talking a mile a minute. T- sensei lifted his head from behind the computer screen, now laughing (but still red) and shouting that he has never touched a woman like that - other than his wife!!!
Meanwhile, I excused myself from the room, still grinning wickedly and giggling madly. My lesson in internationalization had just begun.
They`ll be talking about that one for many, many years to come....
Sabine . 8:50 PM . Comments
The Pile on My Desk
Well, I`m down to the crunch, and once again I am procrastinating. So, instead of attacking the piles on my desk, I will describe them to you:
Birthday Card from my nephews
Maps in English of my school and my town for the exchange students who are coming in one week
Flight information for my trip to Nepal
Information on Habitat for Humanity, with whom we are going to Nepal to build houses
Notes for my elementary school lessons
Notes for my Adult class tomorrow
a hackey sac - for tomorrow`s class on "show and tell"
Schedule for this weekend`s Culture festival
Car rental, cell phone rental, and internet access info for when I take my students to Canada at the end of the month
Information on the upcoming English Speech Contest
two questionnaires
one application form to go to a conference in Tokyo
A guide book to Japan so I can figure out how to entertain the teachers who are coming with the Canadian Students
Information on my role in the Fall Festival for October 13
Notes from the International Association meeting on Monday
A welcome banner that my Grade one`s are making for when the students come
Piles of marking to do (Student-made English Manga)
Passport copies of my students going on the exchange
English notes on the Tea Ceremony for the Canadian Students
Piles of recipies for the Recipe book I am making to fundraise for the Nepal trip
Hotel info for our one night in Bangkok (layover from Nepal)
T-shirt design copies - again from a Nepal Fundraiser
My order forms from my business Cards (Meishi - very important here) - one side Japanese, one in English
My vocabulary and Kanji notes for the Japanese proficiency test in December
Notes on November`s conference in Tokyo
a new bottle of glue that I bought `cause I`ve run out
pictures of my family and friends to remind me that I am a person and not just a foreigner. Sometimes it`s hard not to feel like the town pet - looking at these helps remind me that I am real and that what I am experiencing is real. Just hope my friends will remember me when I do return.
:)
Sabine . 8:02 PM . Comments
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