Sensei and Sensibility
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Sometimes the Strangest Things Happen
I am now teaching a special English class at night for elementary school kids and their parents. So, my mind was carefully going over last night`s lesson when I arrived at the community centre yesterday to teach. That was when I was interrupted with a quiet "Hajimemashite" - a greeting used when one meets someone for the first time.
I looked up, and a woman was standing there. She introduced herself as "Ikeda Brigit" from Yoka town. I blinked. She was Japanese, but was definitely not from Japan originally. It turns out that she is originally German, and married to a Japanese man. We started talking in German and Japanese (and it turns out that she can also speak French and English, so we have a lot of choices!) She was at the community centre to teach a class on German cooking.
So, as if it wasn`t already difficult to entertain a group of elementary school/kindergarten kids and their parents for two hours, I had to contend with the magnificent aromas of Brigit`s German meal floating into the classroom.
Oh! How it has been such a long time since I`ve had a wonderful, home-cooked German meal!
Th best part is that she saved me some!!! So, there I was, sitting in Japan, talking with a German woman in French and English, eating Spaetzle and pork loin roast, and talking about the increased availability of Chinese food in Germany....
Sometimes, I just don`t know where I am anymore....
 Sabine . 4:55 PM . Comments
Monday, May 26, 2003
Recipies!
Two new recipies are up, care of Mrs Fujiwara, my neighbour. Hopefully, nothing was lost in my lame translation...
1. Niku Jyaga - a yummy mixture of meat and potatoes over rice - slightly sweet, in that mirin kind of way...
2. Sweet and Sour Aji ( small fish that is in season now) with onions.
Happy Japanese cooking! These are both VERY homestyle meals. Probably won`t find them in any Japanese restaurants - this is the kind of thing that people here cook for their families...!
Sabine . 8:02 PM . Comments
Shimpai Shinai de Kudasai!
Hi everyone, just to let you know not to worry about me being in last night`s earthquake! For those of you not in the know, Sendai (the location that CNN was giving the quake as) is nowhere near wee Ikuno. Didn`t even feel a rumble! Though my friends up in Aomori and Tokyo sure were shaken!!!!!
In other news, Ainori is travelling in the Philippines now, and they decided to put a Philippino girl on the show as one of the contestants. The others sure were surprised when they picked up Michelle. She doesn`t speak a word of Japanese, only English! One of the guys speaks a bit of English so he has taken her under his wing - only problem is that it`s making the other girls jealous. Most interesting was the reaction of my friend and neighbour, Ayumi, who comes over to watch the show - she felt sorry for the poor Michelle, because she couldn`t understand the others and it was difficult and she felt left out. HA HA ! I just looked at Ayumi and said, "I understand very well how Michelle is feeling." We had a great laugh over that - Ayumi had forgotten that I didn`t speak a word of Japanese when I got here! Poor Michelle though, she is communicating VERY directly which is making the other ladies uneasy, saying things like, "You like him, don`t you" (pointing to the guy besider her) "so does this other girl here!" At which point everyone looks out the window and is quite embarassed...
More news - exciting times in Ikuno! A Giant Salamander (about 2.5 feet long) has decided to die in the river outside my apartment. I can`t help but see it, because it is right out side my window. Always wanted to see a giant salamander. Just really didn`t want to see all the flies and fish picking at it......
:)
Sabine . 4:37 PM . Comments
Sunday, May 25, 2003
The Accident
10pm. I was talking to my friend from Tokyo on the phone, when he suddenly exclaimed, "weehoo!"
At the exact same time, I heard a loud bang in the area surrounding my apartment. I thought perhaps a tree fell down in the forest across from me, but I couldn`t see anything in the darkness. We continued our conversation.
Then I heard voices. I thought perhaps I was going insane, but no such luck. I meandered into the front rooms of my apartment, the ones that overlook the street below. A truck was parked on the side of the road, straddling the ditch, with its front end wrapped around a pole. The neighbours were already out there. I looked up and down the street and alleys. Slowly, a procession of the entire village of Shinmachi was making its way towards my apartment building. Grannies were hobbling along slowly and children were dodging in and around them. My downstairs neighbour came out of her apartment and I shouted out the window to ask what happened. All she knew was that there was an accident. Then I heard the sirens of the ambulance (it only took them 10 or 15 minutes to arrive...).
I realized that this was a great moment for my wee Shinmachi (my section of Ikuno, a collection of about 50 houses), and that the entire neighbourhood had heard the bang and was now gathering in my apartment`s parking lot. I just HAD to join in this bonding experience! So, I ended my phone call, put on my shoes, and went downstairs.
A policeman from the local Koban (police box - literally, a box. With a red light on it) was taking measurements and photos of the accident site (with a disposable camera). Children were playing with scraps of metal. Grannies were huddled in their groups, and the adults in another.
I elbowed my way into the adults group. They looked pleased that I had decided to join them. I asked if everyone involved was OK, and they told me that the driver of one of the cars hurt his leg. Then I did the neighbourly thing and asked them what had happened.
Here`s the story:
One car was pulling out of one of the tiny side streets onto the main road. Because houses are situated right on the road, with only the foot-wide ditch separating the cars from the buildings, the visibility is low. At this intersection, there were two tiny mirrors to help drivers see around the house. Anyhow, the car had its nose sticking out into the road - a very common thing - so that the driver could see if there are any oncoming cars. This intersection has the added benefit of being situated just around a corner on the main highway. So, a speeding oncoming car (it`s not hard to speed when it is a 40 km an hour zone) ended up clipping the nose of the other car sending them spinning across the street and slamming into the wall of the building on the opposite side. A truck was driving behind the speeding car and swerved to get out of the way, at which point he lost control and wrapped his truck around the pole that I had mentioned earlier.
So, there we had it. A three-car pile up at 10 o`clock at night in the quiet neighbourhood of Shinmachi. And the entire sleepy town was out to watch the aftermath. Yours truly, now being a full-fledged member of the community, was right alongside them all, chatting and sipping the hot cocoa that one woman had brought. This is what happens in a place where there is no internet or TV.
I felt horrible, actually, about being a "gawker", but the community spirit was enticing. So, I took on the role of the one who watches the children, and made sure that they didn`t get cut while playing around all that broken glass....
Sabine . 5:08 PM . Comments
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Ainori
...or... "the ride of love"
Move over, "Survivor" and make way for a new kind of Reality TV!
I`m addicted. Monday nights, 11pm. Four guys and three girls drive around the world in a pink van. They get to know each other, share in different experiences together, sometimes they even argue. The goal is to find one`s perfect mate on the bus. Once you have fallen in love with someone, you pull them aside and ask them the BIG QUESTION: "Do you want to come back to Japan with me?"
If they say yes, then everyone cheers the couple and off they go. If they say no, then the person who asked must return to Japan, alone, only to be replaced by a new person. Such Drama!!!!!!
This Monday, they were in Vancouver (anyone remember seeing a pink van driving around Vancouver this winter?). All the men are in love with Saki. One of them even wrote her a beautiful poem (causing the way-too-skinny female commentator to cry). Unfortunately, this guy is not the best looking of the lot.
Mikan took off in Banff, and after searching for a while, one of the guys found her hiding behind a car in the parking lot and crying: she hadn`t found love on the bus yet and had such high expectations - now she feels useless. Sparks flew between the two who were talking (even though the guy`s only response was "un", or "ya" in English), while Saki (who seems to like having all the men interested in her alone) got very grumpy about Mikan causing a delay for such selfish reasons.
Later, they were hanging out near Jericho Beach in Vancouver (my friend thought it was way cool that I knew where they were), and all three girls were having deep conversations with three of the guys.
Meanwhile, the poem- writing guy was walking alone in the backgroiund, head down, heading off to go hide in the bus and wait for the lovebirds to get back...
I can`t wait for next week`s episode already!!!! Will all three women pair off? What will happen to the poor, sweet, poem-writer guy?! My friend, who lives downstairs, and I have started our own tradition. We get together, every Monday night at 11, and eat chocolate and watch Ainori. She doesn`t speak any English, but still does an awesome job of explaining what is happening to me when I don`t understand.
Sigh - it reminds me of the "Survivor" parties from years ago.....
For all you boys who are thinking that this is such a girly reality TV show - guess again - they guys here are EVERY bit addicted as the girls. The next day, all my boy students come running up to me and say, "Sabine sensei - did you watch Ainori last night? Wasn`t it great?!!"
You see, everyone dreams of loving someone and being loved in return. Girls don`t have a monopoly on the ride of love...
:)
Sabine . 5:18 PM . Comments
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Feelin` Kinda....
...Blah, actually.
Things here are going along. Day to day. Routine. When did the exotic Japan turn into such a commonplace experience for me?
This term, I`m teaching half as much. Actually, I am lucky if I get to teach 5 classes at my Junior High this term. I still teach 6 classes at the Elementary Schools though.
Still, after last year`s marathon of classes, where I was one of the busiest ALT`s in the prefecture, all this down-time has shocked my system. Part that is bugging me the most: I was too busy last school year to be able to forge meaningful friendships with the people around me. Now that I have the time, they don`t even know who I am! The task of starting now seems daunting, so I am staring at random objects in procrastination and self pity.
No worries - this happens periodically to all of us out here. When I start getting this feeling, I know it is time to go home for a bit to refresh myself. The need to be around people who know me and love me, and the need for perspective come all at the same time.
So, I am going to take off to Vancouver for 3 weeks this summer, in hopes of refreshing myself for my 3rd and final year here. My mind is already slipping away from my life here - I am starting to see experiences through eyes that know it may be my last time...
Sabine . 5:48 PM . Comments
Monday, May 05, 2003
The 24-hour Vacation
Midnight. Hundreds of people lined the narrow streets of small Godo town, Gifu Prefecture. Smoke hung heavily in the air, coating every exposed surface with a fine ash. Shouts in the distance signified to the crowd that the mikoshi (a 3 tonne, portable shinto shrine) had reached its home shrine. Two giant rice-fibre torches reached high up into the heavens just behind the torii gate and slowly bent towards each other forming a cross of fire.
Suddenly, about 30 people carrying torches and the mikoshi came running down the street - fire was flying everywhere, the mikoshi on the shoulders of the half-naked men was wobbling from side to side, and sparks were stabbing our skin and burning holes in our clothing and blackening the dangerously-close wooden houses that defined the street.
With a splash, it was over. The mikoshi carrying team had reached the small pond at the end of the road and the water doused the flames and cooled the mikoshi carriers.
The next team prepared for their run down the gauntlet. Only this time, they dropped the 3 tonne shrine, dangerously close to my own toes.
Coughing and wiping the ash and sparks of our clothes, Keith, myself, Yuka and her family made our way to the shrine to pray for a good harvest. As we walked, we noticed little old ladies carefully scraping together piles of ash and burning embers from the hundreds of torches that were used during that evening`s festivities.
At 3 am we crawled sleepily into bed, still coated with the ash and smell of smoke from the evening.
The next morning, we sleepily rose from our beds and made the 4 hour journey north to Takayama city at the foot of the Northern Japan Alps. Takayama prides itself in being a "traditional town", yet most of the buildings had been renovated to house the ubiquitous Omiyage shops. Still, the air was quite romantic and quaint, only marred by the looming presence of a huge modern shrine on top of a hill that belongs to some local religion or cult.
We dutifully sampled the "famous food" of the area: Beef, dango (BBQ`d mochi balls), soba noodles and of course, sake. We meandered up and down the narrow, old-fashioned streets and poked our noses in the gift shops and galleries. We found an Izakaya that was not otherwise occupied by tourists and settled in for a wonderful meal.
Drunk off sake and beer, we made our way back to our busines hotel to go to sleep. The noise of the city disturbed me, so I thought I`d try reading some of the manga that lay near my bedside. This was not ordinary manga, however - it was graphically rendered, anatomically correct, porn manga. I noticed that about 1/2 of the women depicted in the book were obviously foreign. Hmmm. A lightbulb went on. Many people think of foreign women as being sexually liberated, even promiscuous. I wondered if this kind of thing contributed to that perception. I put the manga away (there were no depictions of stunning men, after all :) and went to bed.
The next day, we went to a local park to see the traditional farmhouses that used to occupy the area - with thatched rooves in the "praying hands" position. From here, we had a spectacular view over the Japanese Alps. My heart and legs yearned to climb up those peaks, and my mind was instantly transported back to Nepal. In previous days, I would have marveled at the height of the mountains. Now, I could only comment, "2900 metres? No problem - let`s climb those suckers! Fuji`s higher than that!"
And with that, we made our way back, via train, to our various homes (for me, an 8 - hour journey)
It was the perfect Japanese holiday. This is a culture where taking an extended vacation is rarely done. It is the land of weekend trips to Hokkaido and Okinawa, or of dropping 500 dollars on a 24 hour vacation to another part of the country (like my 800 dollar trip to Yufuin in Kyushu). It is a land where one of my teachers took a 5- day honeymoon to Canada, taking in Vancouver, Victoria, Banff, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Ottawa. The idea is to go there, take a picture of your group in front of all the important places, buy 5 pounds of presents for everyone at your office (omiyage), eat all of the local food, drink yourself silly, and go home.
People here just don`t usually go away for a few weeks, and it is rare to find someone who has ever backpacked around Europe, S.E. Asia, or anywhere else. An interesting aside is that during this long weekend, I was the only teacher at my school who did not have to work every day. So I bought LOTS of omiyage.
Yes, I sound cynical about this trip. But really, I am not cynical. I have merged with this culture enough to be able to suck the marrow from a new location in a matter of hours. It is actually a handy skill to have, for time is often not on our side. However, this type of travel leaves me exhausted!
There is one benefit about these kinds of 24-hour trips, and that is that they are rarely done alone. I got to spend countless hours on trains with two great friends, catching up, sharing stories and photos, and admiring the scenery. That was the most wonderful part of my journey - spending time with my friends. The bonding is intense, because the time is so short.
So, when I return home - who`s up to join me for a 24- hour vacation???
:)
Sabine . 7:09 PM . Comments
Thursday, May 01, 2003
I Like Hiking.
I remember when I first arrived. There were the usual inquisitions: "Can you use chopsticks?" "What`s your blood type?" "What`s your hobby?"
I spoke all of 5 words of Japanese then, and I felt very fortunate to have a translator. The first two questions were easy, but the last one was tough. What was the one thing that I loved to do? What are some of my fondest memories? What do I hope to do out here in the countryside in my free time?
My mind flashed back to Sunday walks with my family. It flashed back to strolls along the beach at sunset in Vancouver. I remembered walking through the rainforest in Australia, and hiking all around Fraser Island. That`s it!
"I like hiking, " I responded.
"Ahhhhh? Soo desu ne? Yama noboru desu ne?" Ah, really? It`s "yama noboru"?
I made a mental note: when ever anyone says "shumi" (hobby) respond with "yama noboru". I was pretty proud of myself - I had learned how to answer one Japanese question with a Japanese answer.
Over the next few weeks, I told everyone I met that I was a HUGE fan of yama noboru, and always they looked at me with a slightly shocked gaze. "Perhaps people are not so fond of hiking here," I thought.
A few weeks later, a friend who spoke English invited me to go hiking. I jumped at the chance. We arrived at the trail start-point and I looked around. The trail went straight up a mountain. I thought that surely it must flatten out somewhere. You see, I am from the flatlands of southern Ontario in Canada. There are no mountains, and I usually huffed and puffed walking up hills. I ended up completing that "hike" pretty much on all fours scrambling up the face of a cliff of dirt.
That evening, as I was coating my body in Tiger Balm and drinking copious amounts of beer, I decided to look up "yama noboru" in the dictionary. "Yama," I discovered, means "mountain" and "noboru" is the verb "to climb".
ACK! I had just told everyone that I loved to climb mountains! Oh no! And I didn`t know how to correct people! Now, every weekend, I was certain that someone was going to drag my sorry butt up some grand yama thinking that they are making me the happiest foreigner in the country! Oh no!
Then I started thinking: had I actually even climbed a mountain before?! Ummmmmm. No. I`ve been to the tops of hills in Ontario and in Australia. What about in Vancouver - there are definitely mountains there. I`d been up gondolas and ski lifts. OH! There was one time that I climbed up a small peak by mistake - we were trying to hike to the waterfalls and ended up climbing to the top of "The Chief" - just one little peak of a much larger mountain.
I was to learn a lesson quickly though: There is no hiking in Japan. At least not where I live. "Hike" isn`t even in my English/ Japanese dictionary! There are trails up mountains and trails that will take a "hiker" back down again, but that`s about it. Any piece of land that isn`t a mountain is otherwise occupied.
Then I thought that maybe it wasn`t Japan that was crazy, it was me. "Hiking" to me meant what it meant in the flatlands of Southern Ontario. In much of British Columbia, it probably means "going up mountains". Australia is also pretty flat, so that fit into my perception of the word. In Nepal, I went trekking through the foothills. "Trekking" sounds awfully similar to "hiking", but there I was on the first day, making my way up a 1200 vertical metre ascent to an altitude of 2500 metres. So, I decided to let the semantics go and explore "hiking" in Japan. I gave in, and vowed to "yama noboru" instead.
I managed to get out into the local mountains at least once a week. I hiked through lush forests along riverbanks that were intercepted by spectacular waterfalls. I went up to the highest peak around. I learned that Shinto and Buddhist priests used to climb up mountains for spiritual enhancement, so I went to every temple and shrine in town and found spectacularly over-grown paths to hike up. Last summer, I climbed the highest mountain in Japan - Mt Fuji, at 3776metres.
I am slow. I admit that. This is partially because I like to stop and enjoy my surroundings, and partially because I was born in Ontario and so am missing the necessary "mountain climbing muscles/genes" to cope with steepness. At first, I hated it. My legs would shake, I`d slip on the loose rocks and twist my knee or ankle. I`d be panting so loudly that I`d swallow millions of flies. But, I`d keep at it. I always enjoyed the top the best - when the cool breeze would dry the sweat on my brow. This was also when the sounds of civilization would fade to a low hum and I could finally hear myself think.
Now, whenever I need to think, or have a mini vacation, I don`t head to the TV - I head to the hills. Lately, I`ve even been bringing a book up there. As I read, the sun sets and casts beautiful shadows over the words.
I like hiking.
I like trekking.
I like yama noboru.
Sabine . 11:39 PM . Comments
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