Since my birthday...
I thought I would be a much better blogger than this. Alas the last two weeks have gone by without a post. And I still haven't even added comments to the Korea photos I posted. The last two weeks have been bittersweet and quite frustrating. Like most foreigners who live here, I have a love-hate relationship with Japan somewhat similar to the one I have with America. These days I am leaning towards the hate side, but I have faith I will swing back over to the love side once the rain and heat leave. Recently I have battling the hellish weather. This is my first rainy season to go through, so the constant rain and 100% humidity due to the rain and just the summer has caused mold to start growing on various pieces of furniture and pillows. Giant cockroaches have been visiting my house in the PM time. Those stupid humidity boxes don't do crap to help my large apartment. So a good portion of my free time has been devoted to combatting mold and bugs, making many trips to my local hardware store and buying various products. I think the bugs are finally under control thanks to some lovely poison I purchased. Last week I just stood in my classes(let alone move around) in school and completely sweat through my shirt AND pants (this is not an exaggeration) I honestly don’t know why Japan is considered such a technological, advanced country. The Japanese might have the latest digital cameras and GPS systems in all of their cars, but beyond that they live in semi-third world conditions.
I have felt more patronized in the last month than I have in the whole time I've lived here. I know my job is to force people to be exposed to a foreigner, but sometimes more than others it grinds my nerves at how ridiculous I am treated at times. For example: I went to an expensive sashimi restaurant in Ube with Mr. and Mrs. Oka, a kind-hearted and generous older couple who I have been meeting with for them to practice their English in preparation for their trip to England this September. I doubt many foreigners go into this restaurant because it is in a small town and the prices are high. Who knows, maybe I was the first foreigner ever to set foot in there because that is how the staff was reacting to me. Mr. Oka asked what I preferred and I told him I liked squid, octopus, tuna, and egg. He told the chefs and I understood them to ask Mr. Oka if it needed the fish to be cooked for me. To make a long story short, through their words and manarismis this staff assumed merely because I am not Japanese that I didn’t speak a word of Japanese, couldn’t eat raw fish (especially squid and octopus) and ume and umeboshi, that I couldn’t use chopsticks, that I was doing a home stay with the older couple. As you who live in Japan know, it is not a good feeling being belittled and having people treat you like a child with no intelligence merely because you are not like them. I am not unintelligent or a freak; I am just not from Japan.
The last few weekends have been bittersweet with the farewell party, saying goodbye to Pascal, and then Gillian on Monday.
In times like that it hits me like a ton of bricks how temporary my time in Japan is. I am meeting really cool people from all over the world, hardly any of them being American. In just a short year or two it will be me saying farewell to all these people who have meant so much to me while here. And seeing them again will be much more expensive and difficult than driving a few states over from Indiana.
This past weekend I was lucky to be able to attend a Coldplay concert in Osaka. Anita, Becky I., and I stood a near 25 feet from the stage. Amazing show and well worth the time and money to get from here to Osaka.
While in Osaka we also went to a bookstore that had a large selection of English books, drank Starbucks, ate turkey deli meat at Subway, and went to Outback for lunch. Ah, music and coffee and books and traveling feed my soul, so our little Osaka excursion was relaxing and mentally refreshing. And I am glad we didn't drink much, as it reinforced what I know in that fun and good times can be spent without having to spend loads of money on drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Thanks ladies for a great weekend!
School ended yesterday for summer vacation. I did successfully teach the Electric Slide to a group of 5th grade elementary students last week before school let out. If you need a laugh ever, just imagine 10 and 11 year old Japanese kids doing the Electric Slide. It was really entertaining to watch and fun to teach. For those of you who I talked to about a Cambodia volunteer trip, it did not work out. I practically made myself ill over the decision and disappointment that followed. I am hoping to join some kind of volunteer trip there or elsewhere this March or May. Last week I decided to make a short trip home August 12-20. Scrambling around to find the cheapest flight, get my office paperwork in, etc. was stressing me out a bit. At first I had a lot of mixed emotions about going back, but I am starting to get really excited. Anita and I are climbing Mt. Fuji at the end of August, which might not be the most pleasant of things I have ever done, but will nonetheless be memorable; I am looking forward to it. I get to meet the three new Shimonoseki ALTs at the domestic airport nearby and go with them to their apartments to teach them how to operate all of their appliances (the buttons are all written in Japanese, of course). On all the other days beyond the ones I just mentioned from now until September 5th, I will be sitting in the office trying to keep myself busy with writing letters and studying for the JLPT.
I have felt more patronized in the last month than I have in the whole time I've lived here. I know my job is to force people to be exposed to a foreigner, but sometimes more than others it grinds my nerves at how ridiculous I am treated at times. For example: I went to an expensive sashimi restaurant in Ube with Mr. and Mrs. Oka, a kind-hearted and generous older couple who I have been meeting with for them to practice their English in preparation for their trip to England this September. I doubt many foreigners go into this restaurant because it is in a small town and the prices are high. Who knows, maybe I was the first foreigner ever to set foot in there because that is how the staff was reacting to me. Mr. Oka asked what I preferred and I told him I liked squid, octopus, tuna, and egg. He told the chefs and I understood them to ask Mr. Oka if it needed the fish to be cooked for me. To make a long story short, through their words and manarismis this staff assumed merely because I am not Japanese that I didn’t speak a word of Japanese, couldn’t eat raw fish (especially squid and octopus) and ume and umeboshi, that I couldn’t use chopsticks, that I was doing a home stay with the older couple. As you who live in Japan know, it is not a good feeling being belittled and having people treat you like a child with no intelligence merely because you are not like them. I am not unintelligent or a freak; I am just not from Japan.
The last few weekends have been bittersweet with the farewell party, saying goodbye to Pascal, and then Gillian on Monday.
In times like that it hits me like a ton of bricks how temporary my time in Japan is. I am meeting really cool people from all over the world, hardly any of them being American. In just a short year or two it will be me saying farewell to all these people who have meant so much to me while here. And seeing them again will be much more expensive and difficult than driving a few states over from Indiana. This past weekend I was lucky to be able to attend a Coldplay concert in Osaka. Anita, Becky I., and I stood a near 25 feet from the stage. Amazing show and well worth the time and money to get from here to Osaka.
While in Osaka we also went to a bookstore that had a large selection of English books, drank Starbucks, ate turkey deli meat at Subway, and went to Outback for lunch. Ah, music and coffee and books and traveling feed my soul, so our little Osaka excursion was relaxing and mentally refreshing. And I am glad we didn't drink much, as it reinforced what I know in that fun and good times can be spent without having to spend loads of money on drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Thanks ladies for a great weekend! School ended yesterday for summer vacation. I did successfully teach the Electric Slide to a group of 5th grade elementary students last week before school let out. If you need a laugh ever, just imagine 10 and 11 year old Japanese kids doing the Electric Slide. It was really entertaining to watch and fun to teach. For those of you who I talked to about a Cambodia volunteer trip, it did not work out. I practically made myself ill over the decision and disappointment that followed. I am hoping to join some kind of volunteer trip there or elsewhere this March or May. Last week I decided to make a short trip home August 12-20. Scrambling around to find the cheapest flight, get my office paperwork in, etc. was stressing me out a bit. At first I had a lot of mixed emotions about going back, but I am starting to get really excited. Anita and I are climbing Mt. Fuji at the end of August, which might not be the most pleasant of things I have ever done, but will nonetheless be memorable; I am looking forward to it. I get to meet the three new Shimonoseki ALTs at the domestic airport nearby and go with them to their apartments to teach them how to operate all of their appliances (the buttons are all written in Japanese, of course). On all the other days beyond the ones I just mentioned from now until September 5th, I will be sitting in the office trying to keep myself busy with writing letters and studying for the JLPT.
posted by Ang at 3:27 PM
1 Comments:
ah so thats why i haven't seen much of you lately!! ...
Hope the bittersweetness will pass for you soon once you get more used to the heat, and life becomes more sweet than bitter!! its pretty humid here in thailand too.. but more rain i reckon and that cools everything off a bit which is nice.
oh, and a bit of alcohol always livens things up a bit, but yes fun can be had without it for sure. I always go for a nice cold beer AND a book though if i have the choice ;)
yes, i know what you mean about things being temporarary here... and i felt similar.. but even if you were home or at uni its the same... people come in and out of our lives all the time... guess just have to appreciate the time we do have with each one. sounds like a cliche i know sorry!! but its true i think. we meet each person for a reason, big or small it doesn't matter. thats what i think anyway.
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