Wow, I can't believe that I finally get to spend some summertime in the city of my childhood, after deploring how I only get to visit it at the worst time of the year, weather-wise. Unfortunately, I guess I should've checked the weather forecast before I headed out here, since it was cold and showering when I got in a couple of days ago...rain, in Seattle...Go figure. I think what surprised me was less that it was showering, because it's been showering on and off in Shiz for the last month, but that it's COLD here. That and I was coming from Gunma, where, at 5,000ft about sea level, the daytime was clear, blue and quite sunny.
Tonight was the first time I got to go out into the city since I've been back, and of course, who did I go with, but my partner in crime Patrick. We headed over to Bahama Breeze in Southcenter after he got off work in the evening and had a Caribbean dinner of habanero-spiced chicken wings and filet mignon for me and Jerk-rubbed chicken breast for Pat. It was SOOO good to have food that was flavorful, spicy and fruity in a way that you can only find in tropical island cuisine. That and the authentic mojito I had along with dinner was a perfect start to a cool summer evening.
We then drove up to our favorite late-night cafe, the B&O. I've made it a point to stop off there every time I'm in town. This time we had kahlua-spiked mochas and I indulged in some chocolate-y, liquered mousse for dessert. The rest of the time, we spent catching up about what's been going on in each of our lives, and some of the people in them. For me, Travis of course, as well as Luther, JTEs and other ALT friends.
I told Pat that Seattle's best feature and what I love and miss most about it is that, when I go back, it's not like Luther going back to Minnesota: I'm not just met with white people. I go to Seattle and I see, especially coming from southern Seattle, people of all different ethnicities and nationalities. I see people of black, Asian, Latin American, Native American descent, mixed in with all the Caucasians, not to mention all the people that are halfs, quarters, etc... it's great to see so many people of different cultural backgrounds in the same place.
I've forgotten that everywhere is not like Japan. You don't just have a homogenous society in which everyone else that's not Japanese is just a 'gaijin', foreigner. But like I also told Patrick, while I love Seattle still and would love to live here, I don't want to live in America, and unfortunately living in Seattle would constitute living in America, which is something that I'm not prepared to do yet.
Pat and I talked about all the traveling we might be doing over the next year and in the future: him coming out to visit me in Japan; going to the PI with Chris and Char, though later talking about the possibility of going to the UK instead; Huong and him moving out to Spain or somewhere in Europe; Travis and I eventually following suit in France, and maybe at some later stage, going across the Atlantic and checking out life in the Big Apple.
I'm not yet 25, and I know that I have so much more of my life ahead of me, but the thought of cutting my time short in Japan, cutting the life that encourages me to stay young and (maybe a bit irresponsible) un-rooted and free, in turn cuts me to the core.
I think I've realized one thing over the last couple of days that's made me take a look at why I've been so determined to keep my being in town a secret: not only do I not want to get into the details about my dad with people, but I don't want to be place myself in the situation where I'm with people that won't understand me making comparisons between Japan and America, between Shizuoka and Seattle. In some ways, maybe that's why I don't talk to my sister as much over the last couple of visits. Maybe I'm starting to realize that what annoys me about Americans in Japan saying they want certain things in Japan the way that they would get them if they were in America, might be the way that I talk about Japan while I'm here.
I think I'll make more of a point to be quieter about them. Though the big difference is that, I know that if I had a choice I would go back. I'd head back to Japan in a split-second and that's what ultimately makes me different from the people that complain that it's not like that where they're from, but continue to stay.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Can you walk this way? Talk this way?: Retroactive Post
Over the last couple of days, I've been asked to grade papers for all the English course students. The first years wrote the first drafts of their self-introduction speeches, the second years wrote letters to this woman that they had read about in their textbook and the third years wrote a brief composition in response to whether Japanese people are modest or not. Doing so has given me a better idea of their different English abilities and just the sophistication and growth of thier writing and thoughts.
Another thing that happened yesterday was my main first-year teacher pointed out an observation he had about our English course students. He had expressed concern that their speeches were rather simple, "I was happy." "It was beautiful," but believed that this was simply a result of English being thier second language. However, on the 3 day trip he went with them this week, reading their diaries written in Japanese, the thoughts remained on the same level, thus prompting him to believe that it was rather a lack of writing skills and not language skills. So he wants to work on developing their writing styles this term.
I point this out because it's so different from what the other JTEs seem to be doing with their students; he seems to want to teach them to be learners of English, and not simply learn English. And I'm a bit chagrined to find that he's the one that this is coming from. I feel like it's easy to adapt to the Japanese style of teaching English once you're here, and for him to remind me of that, I feel more inspired to 'rock their worlds.' Today, I really feel like a teacher. It's great. And I'm a bit sad to think about leaving this country and this life.
Another thing that happened yesterday was my main first-year teacher pointed out an observation he had about our English course students. He had expressed concern that their speeches were rather simple, "I was happy." "It was beautiful," but believed that this was simply a result of English being thier second language. However, on the 3 day trip he went with them this week, reading their diaries written in Japanese, the thoughts remained on the same level, thus prompting him to believe that it was rather a lack of writing skills and not language skills. So he wants to work on developing their writing styles this term.
I point this out because it's so different from what the other JTEs seem to be doing with their students; he seems to want to teach them to be learners of English, and not simply learn English. And I'm a bit chagrined to find that he's the one that this is coming from. I feel like it's easy to adapt to the Japanese style of teaching English once you're here, and for him to remind me of that, I feel more inspired to 'rock their worlds.' Today, I really feel like a teacher. It's great. And I'm a bit sad to think about leaving this country and this life.
Facebook: Retroactive Post
This year is now, officially, the Facebook Year. And yes, while I know that it can be sometimes inane and annoying, the last 7 or 8 months that I've been on it have allowed me to keep in contact with people that I likely wouldn't have, and to restore it with people with whom I've lost touch. I've reconnected with one friend whom I haven't spoken to for nearly a decade, and another for about half of that. Not only that, but it has genuinely allowed me to make new friends, something which myspace severely lacks, due to the number of guys that use it as a dating trough. Hard to believe that we once used to live in a world without Facebook. And at least today, I'm glad it's around.
The Way of Tea: Retroactive Post
A few weeks ago, my sado-bu teacher gave me this book and I just started reading it the other day.
The Book of Tea
It's DEEP, in the way that I remember Albert talking about other writings on Asian practices, like Buddhism or Kung Fu. I think I'm finally getting to the point where I'm getting past the superficial layers of this 'hobby' and really getting to the meat of it. It's enlightening and moving in a way that I have found lacking in religion or other spiritual writings.
I certainly don't want to be one of the New Age-y generation that comes from America and falls into "Asia" and takes up tai chi and becomes Buddhist or whatever, but I can see the draw. Living here does change you, in ways more subtle than you realize, and I think that I am certainly the better for it.
It's a tiny book, and one can easily finish it in an hour of reading, but another thing I've learned while in Japan is the value of 'slow' and doing things slowly. This is just the type of thing that deserves to be read and enjoyed and digested (mentally), slowly; that is better for having done so.
The Book of Tea
It's DEEP, in the way that I remember Albert talking about other writings on Asian practices, like Buddhism or Kung Fu. I think I'm finally getting to the point where I'm getting past the superficial layers of this 'hobby' and really getting to the meat of it. It's enlightening and moving in a way that I have found lacking in religion or other spiritual writings.
I certainly don't want to be one of the New Age-y generation that comes from America and falls into "Asia" and takes up tai chi and becomes Buddhist or whatever, but I can see the draw. Living here does change you, in ways more subtle than you realize, and I think that I am certainly the better for it.
It's a tiny book, and one can easily finish it in an hour of reading, but another thing I've learned while in Japan is the value of 'slow' and doing things slowly. This is just the type of thing that deserves to be read and enjoyed and digested (mentally), slowly; that is better for having done so.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Done, Done, and Done!: Retroactive Post
So, in case you didn't know, this last weekend (yesterday to be specific), I went PARA-GLIDING!
It was honestly one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I think I liked it better than sky-diving because, while you get more of a rush from the latter, the former really allows you the time to appreciate that you are in the air.
I have been wanting to go out on Asagiri Kogen, this plain on Mt. Fuji for a while, but it would've been too difficult for my friends from Hama to get there, so instead I went over to their side and stayed at a new friend's for the weekend. The place we went to was super-small, so we had to break up our group of 6 girls into 3 one day, and 3 the next. Of the girls that went the first day, only one of them managed to get airborne, since the wind was so weak, and one of them chickened out.
My friend and I opted to go together on Sunday, and our third also ended up not being able to go, so it was just the two of us. We were worried that the wind wouldn't be any good and that we had just wasted our time, but after waiting for a sole paraglider to arrive, we were on our bumpy way up the mountain.We climb up the last 30 feet to the launch area and two of them start getting into their jumpsuits and setting out a parachute.
One of the guys comes up to us and asks us who's going first. My friend offers me the first go. I decide even though I'm starting to freak out, I'm going to suck it up and do it, so I consent. He plops a harness and helmet on me, and then proceeds to tell me that we're going to strap in, run down the mountain, and then get airborne at a certain spot. That was when it started to sink in that I was going to do it. My heart started racing.
The guy who was going it alone went first. He strapped in, faced upwards toward the mountain, ran backwards a bit and then quickly flipped around and then all of a sudden, was in the air. It surprised me how easily it happened. I also wondered how we were going to do the same maneuver with two people, since just running down the mountain strapped to someone else seemed complicated enough, much less having to turn around quickly.
However, they started to lay out our parachute (much bigger for a tandem flight) and then we were soon buckled in and facing down the mountain. The other guy stood in front of us, face to face with me, and he was the one that ran down the mountain backwards, making sure that the parachute caught the wind, and then got out of the way while we continued to run down the yama for a few more feet. And as easily as it looked watching the other guy, the solid ground fell away from our feet to be replaced by nothing other than air.
It was breath-taking and all I could do was stare in wonder all around me. I don't think it hit me until I saw birds flying past and I realized that I have never, ever experienced anything like it in the world. We were up at apparently 800 meters, and in the air for 20 or 30 minutes. We landed down at the landing site, but as I was trying to un-strap myself, we were suddenly pulled backward and rolling on the ground. I didn't know what happened, until we stopped getting pulled back and I realized that the wind had caught the parachute and dragged us backward. Still, I didn't get too roughed up.
I'm really glad that I went first. I'm proud of the fact that I didn't get too scared about doing it. My only hesitation about doing it again is that I got really motion-sick after a while in the air. But I am still thinking about going up on Fuji-san later this spring.
Even if I don't, it's still another thing to cross off of my list of crazy things to do and try before I die. I've been doing a pretty good job of racking things up in recent years: sky-diving for my 21st, white-water rafting twice, eating tons of unusual food, including horse sashimi and blow-fish. I'm hopefully going to add some food-related things like eating fried grasshoppers and raw baby octopus with the tentacles still functioning while I'm in Korea next week. And now I know what I'm doing for my 30th birthday: HALO jumping (ie High-Altitude Sky-diving). I know sounds crazy, but what the hell right? I've only got one life, so I might as well make it worth it.
It was honestly one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I think I liked it better than sky-diving because, while you get more of a rush from the latter, the former really allows you the time to appreciate that you are in the air.
I have been wanting to go out on Asagiri Kogen, this plain on Mt. Fuji for a while, but it would've been too difficult for my friends from Hama to get there, so instead I went over to their side and stayed at a new friend's for the weekend. The place we went to was super-small, so we had to break up our group of 6 girls into 3 one day, and 3 the next. Of the girls that went the first day, only one of them managed to get airborne, since the wind was so weak, and one of them chickened out.
My friend and I opted to go together on Sunday, and our third also ended up not being able to go, so it was just the two of us. We were worried that the wind wouldn't be any good and that we had just wasted our time, but after waiting for a sole paraglider to arrive, we were on our bumpy way up the mountain.We climb up the last 30 feet to the launch area and two of them start getting into their jumpsuits and setting out a parachute.
One of the guys comes up to us and asks us who's going first. My friend offers me the first go. I decide even though I'm starting to freak out, I'm going to suck it up and do it, so I consent. He plops a harness and helmet on me, and then proceeds to tell me that we're going to strap in, run down the mountain, and then get airborne at a certain spot. That was when it started to sink in that I was going to do it. My heart started racing.
The guy who was going it alone went first. He strapped in, faced upwards toward the mountain, ran backwards a bit and then quickly flipped around and then all of a sudden, was in the air. It surprised me how easily it happened. I also wondered how we were going to do the same maneuver with two people, since just running down the mountain strapped to someone else seemed complicated enough, much less having to turn around quickly.
However, they started to lay out our parachute (much bigger for a tandem flight) and then we were soon buckled in and facing down the mountain. The other guy stood in front of us, face to face with me, and he was the one that ran down the mountain backwards, making sure that the parachute caught the wind, and then got out of the way while we continued to run down the yama for a few more feet. And as easily as it looked watching the other guy, the solid ground fell away from our feet to be replaced by nothing other than air.
It was breath-taking and all I could do was stare in wonder all around me. I don't think it hit me until I saw birds flying past and I realized that I have never, ever experienced anything like it in the world. We were up at apparently 800 meters, and in the air for 20 or 30 minutes. We landed down at the landing site, but as I was trying to un-strap myself, we were suddenly pulled backward and rolling on the ground. I didn't know what happened, until we stopped getting pulled back and I realized that the wind had caught the parachute and dragged us backward. Still, I didn't get too roughed up.
I'm really glad that I went first. I'm proud of the fact that I didn't get too scared about doing it. My only hesitation about doing it again is that I got really motion-sick after a while in the air. But I am still thinking about going up on Fuji-san later this spring.
Even if I don't, it's still another thing to cross off of my list of crazy things to do and try before I die. I've been doing a pretty good job of racking things up in recent years: sky-diving for my 21st, white-water rafting twice, eating tons of unusual food, including horse sashimi and blow-fish. I'm hopefully going to add some food-related things like eating fried grasshoppers and raw baby octopus with the tentacles still functioning while I'm in Korea next week. And now I know what I'm doing for my 30th birthday: HALO jumping (ie High-Altitude Sky-diving). I know sounds crazy, but what the hell right? I've only got one life, so I might as well make it worth it.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Mid-Winter Blues: Retroactive Post
Maybe it's something about the snow, or the cold, or wanting to stay in and revel in the warmth...but winter, a real winter, seems to bring out an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and the need to reminisce, and of course following that line of thinking in time and inevitably wondering about the future. Leaving Sapporo yesterday morning, I was struck by that sense of natsukashii (nostalgia) as we made our way via train of course, from Sapporo station to Chitose airport. Looking out over land, trees, houses, cars, everything until the horizon, covered in snow, I couldn't help but remember the only other time in my life when I spent a winter like that.
It was when I was interning at the legislature and living down in Olympia. It was my first time living away from my family, and I was renting a room out of this woman's house, along with two other UW Asian girls, Sunny and Mary. Our landlady was awesome, our rent was really cheap and she pretty much let us have the run of the house. Sunny and Mary were great roommates, we got along on pretty much everything including a requisite love of good cheese, though they did force me from the kitchen the mornings that they made their tuna-fish sandwiches...
My family helped me move my stuff down earlier in the day, and then Sunny arrived in the afternoon. We had a fun time trekking to the capitol in our landlady's sons' old-school snow pants, as we were petite Asian girls and they were tall, tall boys. Mary arrived the next day and by then, there was lots of snow already on the ground. I remember our mornings checking how our outfits looked with one another and trading clothes or shoes when necessary. I also remember staying up late into the night with them making frosting and cookies from scratch to make heart-shaped cookie sandwiches to give out to people all over the campus for Valentine's Day.
I miss them and I miss that time in my life and this then led me to thinking about other people that I miss. Staying up with the girls to make cookies reminds me of staying up with Albert one night to make lumpia or something for one of our classes last year. And trekking to the capitol reminds me of trekking with him over the bridge to Fuji city in the middle of a winter night and getting midnight ramen. Traveling with Travis made me miss traveling with Sean-kun and his seemingly endless knowledge of Japanese festivals and souvenirs. Walking around Akihabara and going to Mexican for dinner last night reminded me of doing the same thing with Sean, nearly a year ago. Some bands were playing music up on one of the giant snow sculpture stages in Odori Park, and two of them sang songs that Brian from Hawaii used to sing at karaoke.
Remembering all these people that have gone before, and realizing that I'll have to say goodbye to even more this summer is beginning to be really hard. The people that I hang out with most frequently, Rebecca, Pin and the Shimiz crew, Louise, Amir and the Numazu peeps, are all going. Even Travis is still unsure about whether he's going to be here for another year, and if he is, where he'll be and what that might mean for us. He could move even farther away than he already is. He could stay and maybe miserable for another year and the continuous long-distance travel could start to put a strain on our relationship.
But, I decided to re-contract knowing that all of that might be a possibility, that our relationship could end depending on our separate decisions. And I guess that's what it all comes down to and what Pin had to remind me of after Albert and Sean left: They made the decision to go back for their own reasons and ultimately they're happier, and as their friend, I should be happy for them. So, I'll gaman and try, though I can't promise I won't shed a few tears along the way.
The one silver lining in all of this, well apart from getting to live in Japan for one more year and seeing my 15HR graduate, is that if all of my gaijin friends leave, I'll probably hang out with my Japanese friends more and hopefully improve my Japanese. So we'll see.
It was when I was interning at the legislature and living down in Olympia. It was my first time living away from my family, and I was renting a room out of this woman's house, along with two other UW Asian girls, Sunny and Mary. Our landlady was awesome, our rent was really cheap and she pretty much let us have the run of the house. Sunny and Mary were great roommates, we got along on pretty much everything including a requisite love of good cheese, though they did force me from the kitchen the mornings that they made their tuna-fish sandwiches...
My family helped me move my stuff down earlier in the day, and then Sunny arrived in the afternoon. We had a fun time trekking to the capitol in our landlady's sons' old-school snow pants, as we were petite Asian girls and they were tall, tall boys. Mary arrived the next day and by then, there was lots of snow already on the ground. I remember our mornings checking how our outfits looked with one another and trading clothes or shoes when necessary. I also remember staying up late into the night with them making frosting and cookies from scratch to make heart-shaped cookie sandwiches to give out to people all over the campus for Valentine's Day.
I miss them and I miss that time in my life and this then led me to thinking about other people that I miss. Staying up with the girls to make cookies reminds me of staying up with Albert one night to make lumpia or something for one of our classes last year. And trekking to the capitol reminds me of trekking with him over the bridge to Fuji city in the middle of a winter night and getting midnight ramen. Traveling with Travis made me miss traveling with Sean-kun and his seemingly endless knowledge of Japanese festivals and souvenirs. Walking around Akihabara and going to Mexican for dinner last night reminded me of doing the same thing with Sean, nearly a year ago. Some bands were playing music up on one of the giant snow sculpture stages in Odori Park, and two of them sang songs that Brian from Hawaii used to sing at karaoke.
Remembering all these people that have gone before, and realizing that I'll have to say goodbye to even more this summer is beginning to be really hard. The people that I hang out with most frequently, Rebecca, Pin and the Shimiz crew, Louise, Amir and the Numazu peeps, are all going. Even Travis is still unsure about whether he's going to be here for another year, and if he is, where he'll be and what that might mean for us. He could move even farther away than he already is. He could stay and maybe miserable for another year and the continuous long-distance travel could start to put a strain on our relationship.
But, I decided to re-contract knowing that all of that might be a possibility, that our relationship could end depending on our separate decisions. And I guess that's what it all comes down to and what Pin had to remind me of after Albert and Sean left: They made the decision to go back for their own reasons and ultimately they're happier, and as their friend, I should be happy for them. So, I'll gaman and try, though I can't promise I won't shed a few tears along the way.
The one silver lining in all of this, well apart from getting to live in Japan for one more year and seeing my 15HR graduate, is that if all of my gaijin friends leave, I'll probably hang out with my Japanese friends more and hopefully improve my Japanese. So we'll see.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Staying in Japan: Retroactive Post
All right all you good peeps,
I'm staying in Japan for another year. But only one more. Which means that you have between now and August 2009 to get out here if you want to visit me, see what my life is like and how crazy Japan is. All are definitely welcome, and starting April this year, I'll have an extra room for any visitors. So, give it some thought, save up some cash for the plane ticket, and let me know where and when you want to go, and I'll work on it from my end.
Hope you're well, wherever in this crazy world you are.
Much love,
Sarah-chan
I'm staying in Japan for another year. But only one more. Which means that you have between now and August 2009 to get out here if you want to visit me, see what my life is like and how crazy Japan is. All are definitely welcome, and starting April this year, I'll have an extra room for any visitors. So, give it some thought, save up some cash for the plane ticket, and let me know where and when you want to go, and I'll work on it from my end.
Hope you're well, wherever in this crazy world you are.
Much love,
Sarah-chan
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