Sensei and Sensibility
Friday, March 28, 2003
Notes from Nepal
I love this wild and crazy place!
Kathmandu is absolute chaos - various vehicles driving everywhere, shouting, beeping horns, dogs, cows, people - you name it, and it's in the street!
Internet here at the place we are staying is sporadic - conks out every 15 minutes or so!
Houses have foundations done and walls are going up. Mostly been shovelling dirt and carrying bricks and mixing cement. I learned houw to use a dhoko - a big basket you strap on your head to carry things in!
All was fine till day before yesterday - myself and another team member got severe salmonella poisoning and have had sporadic high fevers and extreme illness ever since. Nothing a nice IV and hospital stay couldn't fix up though (a hospital wasn't exactly the three star resort I was imagining!!!) All is well, and both ofus are on the mend - Michael was waaay worse off, as he was also severely dehydrated!
Well, it's been an insane week - I simply cannot wait to find out what adventures are around the corner!!!!
None of us will want to leave this place when the time comes!!!
:)
 Sabine . 2:16 AM . Comments
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Exoticism
I lied. This will be my last post before Nepal.
Strange things have been happening here at school. At yesterday`s meeting, a message was read out. I was told that it was from the school and the Superintendant. The Principal made a little speech about the fact that I`d be gone and that I was volunteering and building houses and that the town, school and students are all proud of me and support me and .....
I was touched. Throughout the day, people were expressing kindnesses to me. The feminist teacher brought me snacks (she had heard that our team of house builders is mostly women). Other teachers left me messages and one or two handed me envelopes with money in them as a present.
Strange. I have been to Canada three times without such fanfare. Other ALT`s have gone on trips to China, SE Asia, Australia, the States. All without any fanfare. Sure, I am volunteering for an NGO (pretty big buzzword here after Afghanistan), but that is only part of it. The big thing that they are focussing on is that I am going to NEPAL.
I remember when I was in Canada, dreaming o visiting Nepal. It seemed a million miles away - it was the other side of the world. I couldn`t get farther away from the places I already knew. It was so...exotic. Interesting that it is only 3.5 hours by plane from here in Japan - it takes me 5 hours to get from my home in Vancouver to my family in Toronto!
I remember finding out that I got into the JET programme. I knew nothing about Japan. It was a mysterious land of mountains and mist and of elegance. It was ...exotic.
Now, nothing could be further from being exotic to me than Japan. It is my home, my furusato. I live here. I know my area as well as I knew my family`s area and as well as I know Vancouver. I no longer have problems doing things here, and I rarely bat an eye anymore at the hundreds of things that were so wonderful and exotic to me before.
Now, I have been talking to newfound friends in Nepal and seeing pictures of it, and I can already feel its exoticism evaporating. It is becoming another place I know, another furusato. Part of me is sad - the excitement of the unknown adventure is being replaced by comfort and security. But, after this, there will be new dreams and new goals.
Really, that`s what life is all about. We go along, making the unknown, known and familiar. After that we find something else to want to know and then we make that familiar too. It`s a wide world, and I feel like I`ve just begun checking it out.
So, where should I go next????
Sabine . 4:13 PM . Comments
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
The Moment I`ve Been Waiting For....
...since last March has arrived!!!!
After tomorrow, I will be in Nepal until April 6th!
I don`t know well I`ll be able to access the internet - if it is easy, and I can find the time, I`ll post a little Nepal blog. Otherwise, everyone have a great couple of weeks!!! Look for more regular posts when I get back and life gets back to normal (I have been pretty consumed by this trip lately, in case ya haven`t noticed!) Sorry to everyone for being a BAD blogger these past couple of weeks!
:) Sabine
Sabine . 11:18 PM . Comments
Monday, March 17, 2003
Exhaustion.
Prior to my last blog, I sat at my desk for 30 minutes and stared at the fringe on my scarf.
The only part of my body capable of moving seems to be my fingers.
I think I am going to take Thursday afternoon off for exhaustion.
This Nepal trip is gonna kill me. Up at the crack of dawn and working until 2am. It`s almost done though. We`re getting down to the mind-numbing details, but each one has to be responded to with care, as each one is in its own right, important: "Which does your team prefer: bottled mineral water or a cold-processed, electro-filtered, de-chlorinated, potassium enriched liquid substance taken from the upper Himalaya range and organically treated to a natural, macrobiotic, enzymatic process to remove pollutants?"
Someone....help me please...
Sabine . 4:20 PM . Comments
Japan Moves Into the 20th Century!
Or, well, Asago county (where I live) does!
They are repaving the main road that runs north/south through my county (technically it is a highway, but, um, well, it isn`t), and they have FINALLY clued in and are painting the centre orange line with reflective paint!!!! Now, you are probably thinking, "reflective paint??? We don`t use reflective paint..." But you do. If you are in North America or Australia, I know for certain that you do. It is not one of these things that you notice until it is conspicuously absent. Withouth reflective paint, you can not see the centre line of the road past about 3 feet in front of your car. Without reflective paint, you can not see which way the road curves, or if it even curves at all. Without reflecive paint, on rainy nights you can`t even see the road you are driving on at all, except for that three feet in front of your car. Kinda dangerous for a mountainous country!!! What they did instead was install a series of reflectors and flashing lights in a rainbow of colours along the side of the road. This further inhibits safe driving by causing seizures and making drivers think that there is a pachinko parlour at every turn.
Maybe now, trucks will be able to find their own lane and stay in it. Previously, driving was like this: "Zoooooooom! Brake! Swerve! brake! Zooooooom!" It is necessary though - the "highway" is barely wide enough for 2 cars, let alone 2 trucks, and if anyone wanders out of his or her lane.... WHAM! But they so kindly painted the word "curve" on the road (in Japanese, naturally) with the direction of the curve (in Japanese) - but they did this in NON reflective paint, which makes it all but invisible at night (well, until it gets about 3 feet from the front end of your car!). I am surprised that I haven`t died yet driving here. Really, I am. All the windy roads really are fun though.
Maybe now everyone will stop driving with their high beams on all the time. I still can`t figure out why they turn off their lights at intersections though!!
ramble......
Sabine . 4:13 PM . Comments
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Waaaaaah!
I am so sad!!! Today I had to say good-bye to all my wonderful third year students. I feel like I have been through so much with them - they have known me since the day I arrived in Ikuno. I have seen them grow, and they have seen me grow. A couple of them have become like sisters, and it was really hard to give them a hug and send them on their way.
Three of them came up to me as they were leaving school, and handed me cute little envelopes. Inside these were some of the sweetest letters ever written! They were all in English, and it made me cry just to see the effort that they must have put into them. I am going to write them down here so that I can reflect on them and remember these students for a long time. They still make me sniffle - I don`t know how other teachers do it!!! Anyhow, I am so incredibly amazed with their English - it`s great for only having studied it for 3 years!!!
"I`m very sad. Because, my graduation so. I can`t meet you. But, I`ll absolutely meet you! Never thought that I could ever find someone. Just having you around is sooo much fun!! You`re my best friend and very very very nice teacher. I`ll forget forevermore. You. Thank you so much for everything. I`m glad to see you! I like you. NO. I love you :) I`ll miss you... "BE BRAVE!!" (note: this was the motto we had for our trip to Canada) I`ll remember word forever. Thank you soooo much. From love and hugs, Akane"
Waaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!! Sniff, sniff!!!
"Dear Sabine. Hi Sabine. I graduationed from Ikuno junior high school today. I enjoyed spending school life with you. You gave me good and funny school life :) I was glad to clean with you at "meeting room" (note: every day the students and teachers clean the school - I am assigned to clean the "meeting room" with two students) I was glad to go to Canada with you. I was glad when we losed at sports festival, because you holded us and said "It`s okey, you fighted well." That words made us happy. Thank you very much for your kind. Thank you for everything. You`re my good teacher and very good friend. I hope you make happy for every student for a long time. And I hope you`ll be student`s energy. I want to be your energy, when you are worried. So, if you lost energy, please send me emails!! We can be friends forever. I love you, Sabine! Your friend, Misako. PS I`m sorry. I cannot write good sentents in English!!"
Her English sounds great to me!!! Gotta go get a kleenex....
And lastly,
"Dear Sabine. Thank you so much for everything during my junior high school life. I really enjoyed it because you were our English teacher!!! I was very happy to go to Canada with you. It was VERY fun :) I had wanted to go there for a long time. So, I was very excited. But I think we couldn`t enjoy the exchange without you!! Because we couldn`t enjoy the "DANCE" without you. It was first time for us and dancing was difficult. But we enjoyed ourself :) Thank you!!! The speech contest was also fun. It was difficult for me to pronounce rightly. But I could win a second prize. I was VERY happy :) The English conversation class is my most favorite class of all. It was very interesting. And I learned a lot of things. I want to talk with you a lot!!! I`m going to "Ikuno High Schoo". But I hope we can talk again and you will stay in Ikuno longer. Lastly, I will never forget the time I spent with you. Thank you. I`ll miss you :)
PS You are my BEST teacher!!!!!! Love, Kanami"
Kanami`d English is excellent!!!! I can`t believe they can write like this after only 3 years of study (I am trying to remember when I could start to write anything in French.....) Sigh. I am going to miss them!! They are sweet and wonderful, and I hope that High School doesn`t change them too much! Sigh. I am going to go find more kleenex now...
Sabine . 8:29 PM . Comments
Monday, March 10, 2003
It`s That Time of the Year Again
Sniff. The time when my third years graduate and go off to become the dreaded beast called "The High School Student". This creature is characterized by wearing pants pulled down to show off the underwear (for boys) and skirts pulled up high enough to showcase the season`s fashion in thongs (girls). Even in the winter. With socks that are 10 feet long when stretched out, but usually worn shoved down the leg so as to reach the knee. You know the look I am talking about - it`s the leg warmer look.
My sweet, innocent kids are going off into the world of cell phone dating clubs (average age for girls - 16, and for men, 45). They are going to become the ones whom I was warned about one day while going to lock up the elementary school`s swimming pool change rooms. My teacher whispered to me, "watch out for The High School Students" in a tone that made me think a boogy monster would pop out at me. Alas I was mistaken. The worst that I could expect to find would be two High School Students "enjoying each other" in there.
I had a soccer game this weekend at a local high school. The two girls on the team (including myself) were almost not allowed to play. That is because they predicted rain, and our blue shirts could get wet and clingy and distract the High School Boys. It didn`t rain, it snowed, so we got to play anyway. Our jerseys must have distracted them in any case, for they lost the game to us old people.
This is it. Today is the last day of their innocence and youth. Tomorrow is graduation, and then they will go to High School.
I am incredibly sad for them, and also nervous and excited. Somehow I guess I knew that by the time we get to them it is already too late. They will do what they do and make the decisions that they are going to make. In JHS we only have a little bit of influence over them. The place to start is elementary school. My little birds, who kindly helped me through the year and did their best to translate my English or my bad Japanese, are leaving the nest. Sigh.
In other news, I went to a great party on the weekend and brought along my friend, Mr Yoshida. It was his first foreigner party and he dealt with it like a trooper. He boogied the night away and ended up winning the limbo contest and being one of the stars of the show. Who would have thunk it?!
Sabine . 9:47 PM . Comments
Sunday, March 02, 2003
Today, the World has Turned Upside Down.
It started this morning, when I woke up a half an hour late. I was too tired to rush though, and did everything as normal. As I was getting ready to leave, I looked at my watch, and I had 15 minutes to spare.
I arrive at school, and once again MSN Messenger is screwing up my system. I haven`t been able to use it in months. So today, I decide to get the computer teacher to delete it so that I can try to re-install it. The thing is, it would not delete. It refused to leave my computer.
Then school lunch arrives. I find out that we have plates, and forks and knives. Today`s is a special meal. They served steak, and potatoes, and carrots and peas and a tomato omlette, and a vegetable soup, and a seafood salad, and milk, and three croissants each. It was 2 meals in one! Everyone was commenting on how great it was - finally enough food! I usually put half my lunch back because it is so big. Today, I just ate the steak and veggies and everyone was teasing me that I am so big, but I eat like a bird. Thanks all. I quietly ate my smaller lunch while watching 90lb women in stylish clothes devouring their two meals in one and asking me if they could eat the portions of mine that I didn`t.
Life`s not fair.
On top of that, I read a really freaky book on the weekend, called "Norwegian Wood." It`s a great, but disturbing book - I will comment on it more after I`ve calmed down from reading it.
Did I wake up on another planet? Or could I quite possibly be dreaming still???
Sabine . 7:55 PM . Comments
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