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With less than thirty days left on my contract, and less than two months until I pack up and ship out, inevitably I am scrambling to fill the empty days in my schedule. Found out today that I have, in addition to my last, lonely, two vacation days, I have five days of natsukyuu summer vacay. A total of seven days. Seven! Hong KongHong Kong is back on the table! I'm excited, and have two people who may go with me. If not, some ALTS told me its pretty safe to go alone. It's not like I'll be going with a lot of cash anyway... my desire to go to Hong Kong is not purely for recreational purposes. The modernization of the far east took shape in different ways, defined in part by outside influence and in part by the country's own actions and reactions to new stimuli (and economic and militaristic bullying, of course). China and Japan reacted and were acted upon in different ways, and the present economic and sociogeographic results have been apparent (even though the countries are of course, still changing and growing). Now, I've seen modern Japan, and well, I haven't seen modern China. But to be honest, I haven't read up on Hong Kong, which has been under a different type of influence as a bonified property of the U.K. for years (I realize that it no longer is).I want to see the place for myself and perhaps better understand the effects of that influence of how it reacted to its own modernization, industrialization and capitalisation. Hong Kong as it is in the present, visit the touristy spots, do some people-watching, eat the food, maybe chat with some people, and did I mention food? I am excited about seeing what would be my fourth Asian country. I am sure it will be much different from Japan, and probably from Malaysia (what I can remember of it). I wonder how it compares to Singapore.
I'll try to curb my enthusiasm about Hong Kong for a bit. Back to Hiroshima! Our department's new trainee arrived on the 24th from West Jakarta, Indonesia. I am one of her supervisors. She seems very nice, and interested in acquiring the language, which is cool. She wants to be able to function in a more everyday-type capacity. The last few days and the next few are dedicated to helping her find her way around, use public transit, and essentially become self-sufficient so that she can make the most of her time here. I love helping out, and I've been doing a bit of interpretation (well, trying to). I'll be acting as MC at some courtesy call to the mayor (who's a fluent English-speaker). MC-ing at these events would seems to be unneccessary in a pompous and slightly overly-formal way, but that's the way things are done here, so whatever. Work is work, right?
Most recently, I've been trying to get the most of Hiroshima, especially since I may never return. I try to get out of my apartment as often as I can. This past weekend I went from bar to bar to bar (to bar to bar to izakaya), drinking and socializing until well past dawn, finally getting home at 7am. I don't regret my decision. I have a lot more that I want to do and see, and I'm too young not to try and do more with this life. I'll miss this place though. sniff. But for now, I need to keep moving.
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Sunday June 6, 2004, at 7:52PM, Irene Pohlman died (Obit). She lived a very rich life. She was not a sedentary woman. She worked until she retired at the Toledo Jeep plant, where she met my mom, she volunteered with the Red Cross and Mended Hearts, and in addition to throwing infamous parties, she travelled all over the country. I think it was a full life, and I can only hope that I learn from her good example, and that some of the grace and joie de vivre she had will rub off on me. Birthdays and holidays won't ever be the same. She was always there, and she will be sorely missed. With that, I have taken two trips from Japan to the U.S. in the past five months. I am poorer and more tired, but don't regret them in the slightest. I also have like no vacation days left. Oh well. But dad is slowly sliding down the slope into his old eating habits ("I've been good!" he insists, sneaking the occasional cake or cookie). He's okay, I guess. As long as he keeps exercising. Got back to Hiroshima and jumped right back into work (shall we say "stumbled" or "fell" or "crawled" are more appropriate?). It's looking the chances of me getting to Hong Kong are now slim to none. Which is all right. I got to see Lisa and the baby, which was a rejuvenating few hours. Jason is taking the test for the Police Academy in a few weeks. I gotta go for now. I'll write more later. --
I have a few pictures. I'm running short on memory here though, so I don't know how many I can upload. An assignment (a ridiculous one, which I will harp on about at length at a later time) came up a work, and I may have to cancel my Hong Kong trip, which to be honest hasn't been finalized anyway. Irene may be moving to Hospice, because she's swung back into the dying category again. My mother must be emotionally exhausted. I had rather wished I'd go to the states and she'd be on the recovery road and talking, etc., and I could be of help to her and my mom in some way. I guess I shall be lucky if I even get to say goodbye to her at Hospice (if she gets in). I'm trying to get my calandar to fill up in my last two months here. The process is... more difficult than anticipated. Everyone's work schedule seems unwiling to submit to my desire to see my friends before I leave, darnit. Stil haven't told some people that I'm leaving... I know, I know, is pretty bad of me, but I'll do it. Went to see Dawn of the Dead with my students, who then took me to some batting cages to work off some stress, and we played darts (reminding me that I have poor depth perception) and ping pong (reminding me that I am thoroughly un-coordinated). A fun time was had by all though. And it gave me material aplenty to use at the lesson that followed. Obviously the words "bite," "escape," and "plan" were among the words learned. I'll write more soon. I wish Rosie good luck on selling her house (and finding a new one). And good luck to Jay in getting that job he's looking at.
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Before I even realized it, I have two months before my contract expires. Two months to pack up and tie up all the loose ends of my little life here, to clean my apartment for my successor, and to meet with my small circle of friends for quite possibly the last time.
Before the Golden Week Vacation, I was feeling the burn-out of Yakusho (govt. office) employment. It was a good thing that I had the Kemby's 5th Anniversary to look forward to. Or so I'd thought. I'd agreed to meet Junpei there, it would be the first time I would see him since about November. It was a great chance to hang with a friend and toss some cold ones back. I was mistaken. When I got to Kemby's, the place was a Fire Code Violation to the Nth. Bodies were only able to get from one end of the bar to the other with pushing, full-body contact, and drunken muttered apologies or "aww yeah"s. I found Junpei near the entrance, the only place, I'm sure, where any air was circulating. With one look at the scene I knew two things: first, that I would never ever ever be able to get to the restroom, let alone use it; and second, Junpei was slobbering, dancing, just-about-pissing-himself drunk. Egads, I though quietly, but I said hey and went over to him. The bar was like a clown car, or a 1930's Frat-packed telehonebooth, the beer tasted like it was mixed with club soda (oddly fizzy and bitter), and the band was... let's just say it, it was painfully BAD. Add to this was Junpei, who after saying hey rather enthusiastically, completely ignored me to flirt with and gratuitously make physical contact with a group of none too enthusiastic gals, one of whom looked ready to deck him. I learned later that she was from New York and actually was ready to show some spleen and make physical contact with her fist. It was further made awkward when he began, in addition to not speaking at all, poking and touching women as they filtered out to the street. THey looked at him for a moment like maybe they knew him, and then realized, nope, it was just a weird drunkard. Then, I tell you I was downright surprised by this, Junpei actually began like hugging and, um, shall we say being inappropriate with his friend's girlfriend. To the point where she actually (in an amazingly polite phrasing) asked him to please stop. It was shortly after this that I was rescued in conversation by the Carp Mascot (out of costume) who chatted with me until Junpei passed out. I made sure he'd get home with a friend before making my escape to the outside, where I sat on the curb (any of you who've been to Japan are saying "EWWW!" but it couldn't be helped, really) and waited for a friend to come rescue me from the heavily-packed party.
Today, my division went over to the Peace Park to help with the visit of a delegation from the Hasshemite (sp?) Kingdom of Jordan. I know that the Peace Park is one of the city's big attractions, but I walk through there all the time on my way downtown, to enjoy the weather and stretch my legs so I often forget that literally millions come there every year. Through the days of walking on hallowed ground the place has become no less sacred, yet much less remarkable in that it is hardly out of the ordinary. Much like the way I assume Arlington Cemetary would seem to be less legendary (but no less noble) if you went there often. If that makes sense. Anyway, aside from the Peace Ceremony I have never seen so many people there. It was raining pretty steadily, but apparently that did nothing to dissuade the school field trips. We are talking bus after bus after bus of unloading and loading of schoolchildren bearing yellow hats and backpacks, filing into groups under the arch between the buildings in order to get some relief from the rain. Now, as I look outside, it is still so misty outside that I can barely see the sapphire-blue Crystal Plaza building, let alone the buildings and the mountains beyond. Then, too, the haze blurred the view from the arch to the cenotaph, which isn't very far at all. But the concentration of people standing before the cenotaph to pray (or gawp) in the downpour made a surging, everchanging patchwork quilt of the colorful umbrellas that moved with the umbrella-holders in undulating waves to and from the cenotaph. It was a striking image that I wish you could see. I tried to take a picture, but my keitai's lens was blurred either from the humidity or from the heat in my suit pocket. All I did today was hand out and take umbrellas from the delegation. At one point I asked a group of children to wait for the group to pass, and the kid looked at me like I was crazy. It was then that I realized that I hadn't been given a City of Hiroshima Armband to mark me as an "official." Tommorrow morning is another visit, this time from a country I have never heard of called "Gabon" (it is not written in English here, so all I know is what it sounds like with Japanese pronunciation).
I'm going to a Classical Concert of the HIroshima Symphony in two weeks with Star, the CIR at the Peace Park. Also, I finally got to talk with Mami-chan, who quit her hellish job and had to get out of her company-owned apartment and move back to Shimane Prefecture. She, Erina, and myself are discussing going to Fukuoka for one last adventure before I go home. Mami will be coming back to Hiroshima for work in June, apparently. One month before I go back. Barely enough time to wave to eachother as we pass by. It seems to me that my experience here this time around has been one of time displacement. Just bad timing in so many different situations. I was only able to meet with my former host family once because the grandparents have been in and out of the hospital with frail health. I only saw Mami once even though she lived here in town. There's more too that I don't really want to get into here, but I feel like many of the friendships and experiences I've had have been out of sync with either me or others, or where I am in life at the moment, etc. ...
| A WORTHY READ The Bush Revolution: The Remaking of America's Foreign Policy A nonpartisan foreign policy assessment by two senior fellows at the Brookings Institution, Daalder & Lindsay. An excellent and informative analysis of the Bush Admin's foreign Policy. Excerpt: "Bush is, in many ways, a surprising foreign policy revolutionary. During the 2000 presidential campaign many doubted he had the background or the inclination to make a mark on international affairs. He was widely depicted as ill informed and uninterested about the world beyond America's borders. Most observers suspected that he would be guided-if not held captive-by his far more experienced advisers. His insistence ... that Bill Clinton had overextended the United States abroad fueled suspicion that his presidency would drift toward isolationism. This conventional wisdom proved wildly off the mark" (1,2). I think it paints a pretty clear picture of the administration' jingoism and their Top Dog attitude. That's not in there by the way. That's my 2 cents. Be warned, this essay is long. |
April>
Had a rough week, but the silver lining of which is worth the frustration. That is, Irene, who looked for all the world to have been slowly and silently dying, is awake, responding, and walking. It's great news for us, her family. When I asked my mother if she knew what was going on upstairs, she was hesitant but told me honestly that she really didn't know if Irene is still coherent and with it or not. It made the stress of a screw-up at work (completely my fault) and countless revisions (I still can't believe the Japanese version wasn't approved before I translated it!) of the newsletter bearable. News from home branched out after that, and I was not terribly surprised that Jay is looking for a new job. But a bit worried. I hope he stays in school. the Dad is continuing his weightloss, which he will continue, I hope. After his bypass surgery, his weight and bloodpressure jumps up and down like a kid who's been served one espresso too many. But, if he knows what's good for him, the Dad will obey the doctor or I will harp on him until he brains me with a frying pan (a calphalon).
For those of you who know Matt, he's working with a Carnegie-Mellon group, making a Night of the Living Dead video game
The solution to this would seem to be simple enough: alumni list. SO I went to my high school's web page and looked at the alumni section, only to be stumped. Oh to be sure the alumni Ass-ociation exists, but you have to register to be allowed access to the list. To register? That means to pay! (and it does, too). I have to pay a school-affiliated organization to utilize a list of people which she and my other friends are admittedly probably not even on (shall we say, high school was perhaps not the best times of our lives). I'm certainly not on it. Then again, most of the people at graduation gawped at me like they had never seen me before. I wonder what happened to those folks from high school who I shared classes with but couldn't remember my name? What ever happened to the friends who don't speak to me anymore, either by their own choice or through mutual childishness? I guess it doesn't matter since I can't find out for myself. hmm. could I be found if someone was looking for me? I just typed my name in a search engine. Ah. I do not exist anywhere in any form on the worldwide web. My brother, however, shows up 21 times. How about the popular kids from the old high school? Tried them too. Most of them, if they show up at all, appear in electronic articles that are eight years old. So much for being able to find information on anybody! Other people I knew, they pop up in wedding advertisements, resumes, etc. My second cousin Elysia, very sweet girl who I haven't talked to in quite a while because I am a rotten human being, shows up in old pictures of geology field trips with her college mates. Hope she's doing what she likes by now. Am I doing what I like now...?
Reply Hazy, Ask Again Later.
I know where I am, but I don't know where I'm going, and its hard to find what you're looking for when you don't know what you're looking for. And an invisible girl like me, and maybe like Darkess, might have trouble finding the answer if I hadn't been able to find myself first. Bottom line? I'm fine.
Take care everybody.
Hey folks. First the plums burst their pink blossoms in the parks and in front of City Hall, spilling the pink petals on the sidewalks for you to inevitably slip on after the morning dew had rendered them into a consistency of matter seemingly comparable to Crisco. I think ume is sadly underemphasized here, thanks to the cultural megastar sakura which follows it by about a month. They, too, exploded at the riverbanks and around Hiroshima castle, surreal masses of cloud-like clumps so big they almost look fake from ten feet away. Like a shaped-styrofoam set beneath the actors in, I dunno, Madame Butterfly or the Mikado. I saw a picture of a California Redbud (tree) the other day, and, though I admit the photo was kind of unclear, I thought it looked pretty similar to the plum. I have absolutely no pictures of sakura this year. None that came out anyway. The only hanami I went to was at night. The trees and their white flowers show up as grey gobs, with a gaggle of mostly unidentifiable people standing beneath them in the glare of a streetlight. I'm the only white girl, so I can find myself, and Tekla is African American, so I can find her, but basically all of us look trapped inside a bad impressionist painting.
| March COUNTERPOINTS A: "At the end of the day, there is no doubt that the English Channel is wider than the Atlantic when it comes to friendship and alliance. The US supported us against European enemies sixty years ago and I am proud that Tony Blair took a stand against an evil dictator even when nearly everyone else in Europe was prepared to turn a blind eye and let him get away with murder. If it costs Tony Blair his job I'm sad, but at least he showed some guts and proved to be the right man in the right place at the right time. A bit like Churchill really!" -Andy Burns, UK B: "Most Americans and some Brits may see PM Blair as a staunch defender of freedom and democracy like Pres. Bush, but many of us in the so-called developing countries think otherwise. Whose freedom are you talking about? Whose brand of democracy are you fighting for? Certainly not ours. You wage war for your own freedoms and brand of democracy, and at our expense. Your governments, through their policies and meddling, brewed much of the hatred and bitterness many hold against you. We also want to live decent lives." -Cesar Fabunan, Philippines Taken from postings on the BBC NEWS site, March 23rd |
-Pic.
March
The picture above is a typical sight at shrines. On these wooden plaques, people write their wishes. One of them said something like, "I hope miki passes his exam-mom" and "I hope that Haru and I will be together forever." I don't know, they're just nice to read sometimes.
me and Lisa in teahouse in the East Tea District of Kanazawa. This picture is the old building fronts that mimic what the East Tea District looked like a hundred years ago. I don't think they are historical buildings, or maybe they are. I wouldn't know would I? So, I found this hilarious site, Zug.com, the "only comedy site on the web" or similar. Is great for a few laughs. However, I should caution you that if you are surfing covertly at work, this may not be a good site for you. I was doing so because I couldn't figure out how to rephrase a sentence in a newsletter (the deadline for which is nextweek), and I sputter into laughter because-as you must know- anything that is even mildly funny is uproariously hilarious when you aren't supposed to be laughing about it. So, there were tears in my eyes, and I was trying to shut myself up desperately, as the girls sitting across from me at Translation Island looked up from whatever they were doing and worrieldy asked if I was laughing at them. I assured them I wasn't, which one of my coworkers immediately believed. "she laughs all by herself sometimes." she explained solemnly. So, basically, they think I am a nut.
Which is fine.
In other news, I am very irritated with the maker of my perfume. Which is a misnomer. It isn't mine really insomuch as i did not create it, I just bought it. Max Azria's Sexy, along with Metro, are two perfumes that I have gotten many compliments on. They, along with the less pleasing others, are DISCONTINUED. My perfume is discontinued and I've got less than a teaspoon of it left. So, I must fine a new fragrance. Or go au naturale. But I don't know about that. I rather enjoy people sniffing me and saying I smell nice. Who doesn't?
I've got the march deadline blues. March is the end of the fiscal year, and everybody's on a deadline. Myself included. Lisa leapt over the Pacific to come see me this month, which was very cool considering she is my first visitor from abroad. We dubbed our trip our Tennial Trip because this year marked exactly one decade since we became friends. I have pictures, but I can't quite put them up yet. She flew into Nagoya and we then went to Kanazawa, in Ishikawa Prefecture. Then we popped back to Hiroshima. I'll fill in those blanks later too.
In other news, Irene is floating back and forth between the hospital and the nursing home. Nobody knows what's happening with her health, or inside her head.
It's almost april... everybody's taxes done? I have to pay US taxes on what I made last year, and there's all sorts of crap I must do as a foreign rez here. The accountant is handling it. You know, it was great reporting my income though. I made a million here last year. A million yen. But still, a million!. Did I tell you about A Perfect Circle? It rocked. Oh yes it did. I got Ana to come with me, and she also thought it rocked. I wrote a review on their site about it. How it was a glowing performance, the only (teeny) flaw of which was that at one point some American-sounding (though possibly Canadian) guy hurled insults at the band a couple times. I was justly corrected by another reviewer though, because I had assumed the guy was a marine. Very bad of me, actually, to assume the wierd guy was a marine. It was dark, couldn't even see which one he was let alone his haircut. And to be honest, a marine (I assume, due to his and his buddies' matching haircuts) bumped into me and apologized quite politely. Now why was I surprised that a marine was polite? I'm falling into all sorts of stereotyping pitfalls lately. It's shameful!
Gotta go folks, it's SALSA TIME! Take care all, its finally warming up in Hiroshima. Sakura will be bursting before you know it.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, JAY, ROSIE, IRENE... did I miss anybody?
| LINK:the Bushiad and the Idyossey
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Batta-batta in Japanese is a phrase meaning really busy. But because of the onomotopoeic visual I get of a bird flapping its wings frantically- like people waving their arms in a chicken-panic- I feel its perhaps an exaggeration for me this month. I'm not insanely rushing from here to there. No indeed, it seems I've fallen into something of a pattern. A pattern which, perhaps unfortunately, has me returning home only to shower and sleep. I have tutor Monday through Thursday after work, and after catching a quick drink, its about ten pm by the time I get home. The past few weeks have left me especially bleary-eyed and (aha!) batta-batta in the morning when I inescapably oversleep. But its a much more pleasant pattern than before. I'm tired and I wish I had more time to sit and relax or play video games. I may never finish Resident Evil. But I was complaining about having no life. I've certainly got one now, and I'm much more content (if somewhat irritable every morning).
This Valentine's Day was uncharacteristically excellent. Every year I pull out my soapbox, dust it off and cough dramatically, and then climb on up and praise the foundations of the day (third century roman bishop is beheaded because he went behind the emperor's decree that men made better soldiers if they werent married, valentine was caught and that was that). It's a nice time to say, hey, I'm glad you're here. I don't know how Valentine's day got so screwed up here, where only girls buy stuff for guys and confess their love and etc. Guys get to wait until March 14: white day. I admit it, I just don't get it. Anyway, I went and hung out with Ana and her friend Ginny from NY who is an ALT in Yamaguchi Pref. We ate and chatted, and then I ran downtown to meet Natsuki, one of my "students" (who incidentally does not need lessons, her english is pretty darn good) and went to her apartment for dinner and more girly chatting with her friend Seiko. Seiko is trying to straddle the fence between being Japanese (which she is) and being Canadian (which she also is, having lived much of her childhood and adulthood there, 12 years). We all had a great time, drank till we all missed the last trains, and slept at Natsuki's house. Poor Seiko had to work the next day. So a very full day.
I have taken up Salsa Dancing, and I'm downright awful. But I love it. It's great fun. Unfortunately I realize that everywhere you go has a different style and different basic step. WIthin this city alone I take 2 different classes which have two different Basic Steps. Monday's class's basic step is (for women) the right foot stepping forward whereas Friday's is the right foot stepping backward. It's confusing and I move like a marionette with tangled strings. The monday class has mirrors. I cannot avoid looking at myself and it is horrifying. Hopefully these movements will become fluid with practice. So Fridays I go with Ana or Seiko, and we met a nice gal from Georgia named Natasha, who we'll probably see again. Mondays I go with Seiko, and in addition to being my first time there this past week, I had no dance shoes to wear (inside shoes only). Have you ever tried to salsa dance on a studio floor with socks? My legs tried to fly out from under me, it was all I could do to just keep upright. I had been thinking of taking up classical guitar, and I still kind of want to. But I get home late enough as it is... I'll never finish Final Fantasy X this way...
As you can see I've taken no pictures since December. But Lisa's coming in less than two weeks, and I'm sure there some hell we can raise somewhere. We're planning on going to Kanazawa and then to Yokohama to visit the Itabashis, whom we love. In other news, Irene is alive and "responsive" in the hospital. I don't know what that means. But alive is definitely good. And in the Upswing, I finally talked Ana into footing out the cash, yesterday I bought the tix to see A Perfect Circle at Club Quattro.
February 9, 2004
Also, February is contract deadline month for the JET Program, and I made it know to my office that circumstance and my own heart are calling me away from Hiroshima, despite the fact that I love the place and the money at this job is right. Money isn't everything though. There is an emptiness I feel in my life, like a hole in my heart. Obviously I am still looking for something. Though I don't know what that something is, I've got to go look for it. I'm not willing to compromise on it, so off I go, toddling back to the U.S., in a manner that feels not unlike defeat actually. I feel like whichever decision I made, I would regret either. And I do regret that my contract ends in July. A half-year from now, I'll probably be working at McDonalds or the factory with my brother, as the recession in the U.S. is just peachy, fondly-and somewhat bitterly-remembering my salary here with the City. I'm nervous. I sold the NewYorker, my old boat, so I have to buy a car back in the states. I'll be looking for a permanent job so I don't think I can sign an apartment lease back home, because I have to be prepared if I get a job in another city or state. Lots of change is waiting in the wings, but its so far in the future that I can't do a damn thing yet. It's eating my brain, I tell you.
Unfortunately, it isn't all merry and bright this month. My mother's adopted mother (you can call her) had a stroke a few days ago. Irene Pohlman has been a part of my family for three decades, before I was even born. I haven't heard any more news other than that. But I know that some people don't bounce back from strokes. So, I send all of my hope to her. Don't know what will happen, but so it goes. In hindsight, I am glad that I went home last month, because if I hadn't I would have regretted it something fierce, because it may be that that was the last conversation we will ever have. I hope not. And to think that a few days ago I was unhappy that this would be my 23rd Valentines Day in a row that I will be spending alone (I am not proud of this). Perspective, people. There are people worse off than us, and things can always get worse. It sounds like cynicism, but pragmatists would agree that in this thinking, you truly appreciate what you have that you don't want to lose. I could care less about VDay now.
Kemby's Countdown, and the Wedding of Eriko & Lars, etc. JANUARY 2004 Previously
Christmas dawned bright and cold in my little apartment in Hiroshima. The alarm clock urged me to leave my futon, which I did not do until I was certain I would have the barest minimum of prep and commute time. My sweater was still wet from the laundry, despite having been hanging on a rack for three days, and I had to put it in front of the space heater as I lay there like a rock. I knew it was Christmas Day because the night before, out for a drink at DBar and then eating at Elm, I was asked why I was alone on a date night the equivalent of America's Valentine's Day. My head always blanks in these occassions. Why? And my brain runs a gauntlet of possible reasons, of tension-breaking jokes, of feminist rhetoric, and then, exhausted, my poor, undecided brain sputters and trips and I end up shrugging pathetically. "Where are your friends" is my second favorite question. I can get downright ascerbic on that front, but there's no need to take out my frustration on the nice guys at DBar or Big Brother at Elm.
And so this is Christmas. Still in my futon, watching 800watts of electric heat raise steam off of my damp sweater, I thought miserably about the feast and merrymaking back in Ohio, in my parents house, at the house of the Lees. What were they doing at 830Christmas morning (which in fact was 630 Christmas Eve for them)? Rosie would be singing in the choir at Polish Mass, probably wondering what the priest was saying, looking around to note when she should stand, sit, and kneel. Lisa and Cheryl and Buddy were probably at a Lee Fam Event. What of the rest? Were they snarling at the cars ahead in the holiday traffic? Were they shaking their fists at the radios ("Play that assinine Christmas Cats song again and I swear to all that is holy [insert favorite threat here]!!!!"), were they tripping over eachother in kitchens ("Why aren't you helping me?!" "What does it look like I'm doing?!") Eyeing empty wallets woefully ("...freaking christmas.")? Cleaning the house (in the ridiculous endeavor to, I'm not sure, give guests the impression that it is simply always this clean, which never in a million years would be believed.)? Christmas is a pain in the ass to us all. But go a year without it, I challenge you. You'll miss it. No cookies, no decorations, no family, no feast. You get teary-eyed and nostalgic about picking strings of tinsel out of the carpet so the cat doesn't eat them and die, and revving the train to frighten that same cat (and then laugh even though it is barely funny). I haven't quite gotten nostalgic for all twenty-four of my nearest and dearest asking me when I'm going to marry and procreate, or at the very least beat around the bush about it. Do ya feel the heat of good food and arguably good wine in your engorged belly? I do not. But I will have a gingerbread latte at my english lesson at Starbucks tonight, and gingerbread is christmassy and so there is my cup o' holiday cheer. (I have overturned my previous ruling in which I refused to aid Starbucks in their global takeover...this is a temporary thing... I think).
I just bought more crap to take home with me when I go for a quick stay in January. I'm crazy excited. Dad is recovering from bypass surgery, so I don't know how get-up-and-go he's going to be, and mom will probably be frazzled from it too... and perhaps the christmas spirit will have melted and turned to muddy slush by then. Nahh. I hope to see Return of the King while Im there, and I must remember to bring any kind of ticket stub or pamphlet that I can get my hands on for Fujii-san (who did indeed wring my neck, albeit playfully, when I told her I would be seeing it a month before her). I also hope to shop and eat much food. I want clothes. I have scant clothing here, and I've outright given up on buying clothes here anymore. Seriously, I'm fed up. I hate the styles in the stores (except the super-burn-your-wallet-sell-me-your-children-because-it-is-really-that-expensive clothes, which I do not buy out of the sheer principle that that obscene amount of cash would best be served elsewhere. Oh, and also they don't fit.).
It isn't only the travel agent who is leaving me in a lurch. Yahoo BB is the worst as per customer service and service period. I will never apply for their services again, and I encourage anyone else not to. Let me sum up. I applied and signed a contract for Yahoo BB ADSL service in August. Four months later, with no contact and no status and no internet, I went back to the source, and explained my situation to Yahoo BB. I was assured I would be contacted in a day or two to sort this all out. That was over a week ago and I am PISSED. So, that's why I hate them. Maybe it is just the Japanese Branch of Yahoo that sucks. Everyone else I know who has applied to Yahoo has been hooked-up. Which only incites me to rage more about it. So I have to trek to the internet cafe in Hondori to use the internet, which is, in the end, cheaper, but nowhere near as convenient as I would like...
As you may know, I went to Yokohama in mid-November for the CIR mid-year conference. ...I don't quite know what to say about it. I did actually take some pictures, but on a disposable camera (since I'd forgotten my nice camera). So if any turn out to be interesting, I'll put them up here. This month is... well, the end of the year. I've an end of year party for work, which is going to be just a huge number of people so I am told, and supposedly it will be in some German Beer Hall-looking place that serves Japanese food. Around that same time, Fujii-san, the co-worker who took me to the sake matsuri in Saijo, invited me to a Lord of the Rings party. Guess what we'll be doing? Also this month, I'm attending the wedding of a Jogakuin schoolmate, Eriko Sasaki. I despise looking for clothes in Japan under the best of circumstances, but looking for dressclothes? UGH! I truly need to lose some weight before this thing or I will be in very poor form at this wedding. I will let you guys know how it goes.
Also, an ELT who lives practically across the street from me, Charissa, just got engaged to Nelson, her long-time boyfriend.
In other news, Little Ego may finally have bit the dust, having fallen in his long battle against...I dunno, leaf rot or whatever. He was the last of the sprouts plucked from Yamaguchi Prefecture for me. The other plants are still flourishing.
Remember how I was telling of the coldness of Japanese housing? This morning, December 10, I was checking my makeup in the mirror and saw my own breath... a sight normally reserved for the out-of-doors so I thought. But in all of the running around this morning- what with making fabulous and (for once in my life) completely un-burnt strawberry-cinammon pancakes- I hadn't really noticed. No, nighttime is when its worst. I am in my kotatsu with my wallheater blasting. I weep to think of my heating bill.
A coworker, Watanabe-san, asked me today to go to a hip-hop club with her homestay girl. I told her I was busy that day, which may turn out to be true. She said, "well you can go anytime," and I replied, "I'm busy everytime!!" and the other translators laughed and cheered me on. I had a great idea for a souvenir for Fujii-san, my co-worker with whom I will enjoy a Lord of the Rings Marathon this month. If I see the third installment of LOR, I'll save the ticket and give it to her... since it doesn't open here until February. She may toss me out of the 11th story window, but for one brief moment before I become airborne, it would be pretty funny.
I'll keep you all at home aprised of the plane ticket situations. I hope I can see you soon.
Hey Westside this is Eastside checking in on Friday afternoon. In a rare occurence, I was able to log-in to my geocities acct. at work. It's just as well, I haven't been passed anything to translate since the astronaut conference last week. I'm not shirking my duties, so I don't feel it's wrong in the slightest.
So some of you may remember that my bicycle was stolen. But I smile upon charity, and that's why charity smiles upon me. Koichi's friend moved to Tokyo, couldn't take her bicycle, so guess who it got passed to? This girl right here! I immediately bought a lock/chain in addition to the cheapy lock that's on all the old-lady-bikes here. My former bike also was locked with the cheapy lock, so simple it was sayonara. Anyway, this bicycle's in fine shape, the basket on the front is so awfully rickety it sounds like it will shake to pieces like in a Bugs Bunny reel. And the back fender (fender?) has a dent in it like somebody thwacked it with a big stick. Hence, I dubbed her Roosevelt. It's much colder at night and in the mornings now. So while I occasionally ride the bicycle and am v. appreciative), sometimes I just walk. It's out the door, past the liquor store, cross the tracks and pass the garage, over the first bridge past the red-and-white painted Shinto Shrine, past the Jesus Fellowship (est'd in the late 1980's according to the plaque at the front), up and across another bridge and I'm basically downtown. It's a straight-shot to work.
The Power Source: So the temperature plummets down to 0Celsius at night now. I've discovered that my appartment gets absolutely no direct sunlight. Therefore, BRRR. No central heating is just one of the many cultural differences here. But no problem, I have my kotatsu. A kotatsu is a heated table, put a blanket below and above the heater, put the removable top back on the table and voila, you sit in a functional yet fuzzy little oven! One problem. My kotatsu seems to have no cord. No cord? No cord. Cannot plug it in, cannot turn it on, cannot wrap self in fuzzy warmth. Stupid Kotatsu. (Will investigate and comb the electronics stores this weekend).
My Three Sons: in the states, due to the antics of his highness Yuuki, that frisky feline, all plants in my apartment were either killed or immediately destroyed. How very thorough, that kitty was (and still is, if Aunty Lisa's reports are accurate). Now you can't cuddle with vegetation (some do, I've heard, and that's just wierd), but plants are nice anyway. Flowers come and go in my home, but three plants have taken root. Ego is the sprout that was yanked out of the ground for me (green but not getting bigger), Young Master Pip has been with me all along (he's huge), and Persephone (is not a boy's name) is smaller, cute, and I bought it because the room I sleep is colorless (except for the dirt from the highway that covers everything).
That's all for now I guess. The leaves will be turning soon, there's a Momiji-Watch on the news, with estimated dates so that people will vacation at the peak scenery times. I may go to Miyajima, which is a famous spot for Momiji-viewing (and I can get some fabulous manju to boot!). Cheryl just sent me a tape of HOME MOVIES! THANK YOU CHERBEAR! As you may know, until I get internet access I have no way of getting pictures from my computer (with no floppy drive) to the internet. So, patience folks,
HagiYaki Continued
Yamaguchi is what people call rural. Overall, I mean. Sitting on the bus with my head against the window I saw more leafy-green mountains, rivers, and rice fields than I have probably anywhere else. (also, Yamaguchi is my sixth or seventh prefecture I've visited) Hagi is an oceanside town, like Nagato. I was able to get some-seeing in there, an old temple, a historic temple (well, both were historic I guess), and what I thought was a monument but what may in fact have been someone's house. I got lost on foot twice, but a lady in the 7-11 set me straight, and I was able to take a quiet, brookside hike in the shade (thank freaking God, the sun is so strong here). Harada picked me up at the bus station and drove me to his home, about fourty-five minutes away, which was very considerate of him. Though I stayed at a business hotel, I spent all of my waking hours with the Harada family, Shouhei, Shinobu, Tomo-san- who is a pregnant artist, and Karin- tomo's younger sister who is studying to be a hair-stylist.
The basic idea of pottery is what I understood of HagiYaki. Where HagiYaki exactly becomes special, I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that there are two types: wheel-thrown and hand-made. I opted fr hand-made, and decided on a vase. At this point in time it isn't finished yet, so I can't really tell you how the story turns out yet. What I can tell you in the three minutes before my lunch break is over is that my time with the Harada's was like a homestay. They fed me, they chatted me up about music, social issues, and their incoming baby. And the Mrs. took me to a National Park called Oomijima, an island with water so blue you can see all the way to the bottom, and incidentally one of the prettiest places I've ever been to. I hope I'll be able to go again. Crap, gotta go, the nursery-type chime is signalling 1 o'clock.
May 22, 2003
May 19, 2003
I want to say, first of all, that the middle week of this month appears on the calendar as that which falls from the 11th to the
17th. Furthermore, 31 days in the month dictates that mid-May occurs on the 16th-ish. So, something that was scheduled for mid-May
is to have been expected by now, right? My peep says no.
I am keenly feeling the days tick by, despite the fact that my schedule doesn't really allow for sitting on my ass. The JET Program
notified us that we First-String JETs, that is to say the Short-List Candidates, would be receiving our placement assignments in
mid-May. So that's a big deal, as you can imagine. Where I'll be living for a year of my life; trapped beneath the Dunes in Tottori ("Mwa-Dwiiib!!"),
freezing my big Polish butt off in Sapporo, back to my second home of Hiroshima, or in the gorgeous tropical weather of Okinawa?? ::sigh::
April 30.
Estimate the time it takes between the time you call your family physician for an appointment and the time
actually walk through the damn door and sign it. It took me weeks. Less than a month, but considering
the time alotted between JET acceptance notification and reply deadline... that just wasn't soothing for me.
The stress of cutting it so close plus all of my other deadlines and worrying about breaking the news to the rents
had me all out of whack, throwing one of the test results off in the process. The reply deadline of May 2nd is
two days away. But, happily, Fed Ex had it in the hands of the Chicago Office this morning. I still have a job!
... Well probably.
So Mrs. Jones gets there, and Dr. Kawashima, greetings are exchanged with my parents, and then some formalities and THEN! Mrs. Jones said she wanted to congratulate me on my placement with the JET Program. I hadn't broken the news yet. I tried to control my expression but no doubt my eyes bugged out and I gasped so long that bystanders probably thought I had been holding my breath to obtain a world record.
My dad is doing very well, so I'm told. He's side-stepped a heart-attack, came through his very own double-bypass surgery, and is recuping patiently (as patiently as can be expected). We're a lucky family, and I'm thankful that the dad is going to be with us for awhile to tell me that I need to shorten the hemlines of my skirts in order to get a guy.
Rave Worthy FEBRUARY
"President Bush spiced up Tuesday's State of the Union speech by tossing a bone, if not a garter belt and a Bible, to his conservative base, which is up in arms over the thought that gay people may soon have the right to legally tie and untie the knot -- and thus make a mockery of the sacred institution that Britney and Jason are such big fans of...'Marriage programs do work,' insisted Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families of the Department of Health and Human Services. 'On average, children raised by their own parents in healthy, stable married families enjoy better physical and mental health and are less likely to be poor.' Yeah, well so are children who can read. And those raised by parents who have a job. Or health insurance. Or access to a decent education." From Leave no Bride Behind, an editorial by Arianna Huffington, Salon.comAnd a few days before, on the 28th, I attended the wedding of my Jogakuin schoolmate, Eriko Sasaki, and chemist(?) Lars Uehlin(I admit it, I cannot spell his name). While most people on Eriko's side were Japanese, her family etc., Lars' side, having some Japanese, was also comprised of Spanish and Germans. Though I translated a teensy bit for the party, I really didn't contribute all that much. The party's MC announced most everything in both languages. It was difficult to plan and prepare for, but everything turned out very nice for them. The international attendees (save myself), sang Ode to Joy in German, and Jogakuin teachers and alumnus sang some song in German that I have never heard, and then Lars' colleagues from Kyoto University did some sort of skit which involved them drinking about eleven cups of beer and spinning around saying, "Tiiime Machiiiine!" I was given parting gifts (a Japanese custom) including flowers, a German Krenz(?) cake which was one of the best things I have ever eaten, and some Japanese ceramic plate thing. Was very nice (albeit heavy). Afterwards, the Nijikai (second party) was held at a Karaoke Parlor by Hiroshima Station. I've never in my life seen anything so funny as a German man and a Japanese man singing and dancing the Macarena which neither of them new a single word to except the word Macarena. A bunch of people got up and danced with them, you probably had to be there, but it was pretty funny.
Picture of her first dress is here
To All of My Friends and Family on the other side of the world.
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas . Take care, and I'll see you in the New Year.
Later!
I got an email the morning of Memorial Day from an Alvin Tobaru with a most telling subject line: Hiroshima CIR. Though it may sound a little Magnum P.I., I knew exactly what it meant, and I squealed helplessly and danced a funny little dance. Tobaru is the CIR I am replacing at the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. Though I've yet to be informed of my duties per say, I'm just monkey excited, obviously. No worrying about where to buy this or that, no funking around with a new dialect to learn (thank God), and no getting lost on trains and buses and on foot (because I've already done that there). And I emailed my friends. Well, some of them.
My peeps think that I'm high-tailing it out of the MidWest for good. That I'm going there without thought of coming back. I honestly don't know what will happen, but I can't picture myself in Japan for the rest of my life... And yet I am open to the possibility that great things could happen. I'm so happy to be going back to my other home.
I used to be Catholic. Yeah, and one of the most fascinating things it
teaches is human response to a withheld stimulus. Take the Lenten season: Chocolate, beer, whatever you
have knowingly "given up" for forty days, becomes all you can think about. Coffee can become a forbidden ecstasy.
Due to the simple fact that you
can not have it. Follow that train of thought further down those tracks, and it is likewise true that some people
have difficulty dealing with limitation in whatever form it is presented or impressed to them.
There are occasions wherein one can either act or react, not both: the simple capability of either
action or reaction is taken from us, and it drives us mad. I don't think I am this person. Most of the time.
I'm going crackers! I flee the workplace every day thinking, "it's come today, today it's finally come!" And it hasn't been there yet, and since I have
absolutely no power over when they notify me, it is ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT.
May 2, 2003
Happy Birthday Lisa! (probably, I get her b-day wrong every year)
April Logue:Lots of Drama unfolding in the last couple of weeks. Bunches of Wierd timing issues, End of Term Stress Monsters, and BankBook Agony. But time marches steadily on, whether my paper for Saints & Schizophrenia be finished or no (and its not).
Trying to run to the doctor's office on your lunch break is no fun. And having to do it three times in two weeks
can leave a person hungry and irritable. Twice I had to go back for that damn urinalysis!! (is that too much sharing?)
Anyway, with trying to get that physical sent off in time with Easter, Cher's & Lisa's & my Dad's Birthdays, response deadlines
for S&S, and that damned paper, slipping back into that ocean of Japanese Language is not the smooth transition I
was hoping for (let's face it, I had low expectations anyway). No, its like a reflection of my dating life. I keep trying
to jump into the pool but damned if I don't keep bouncing back onto the concrete!
April 23, 2003
Happy Birthday Cheryl!
: Monday night I went to an awards dinner for being chosen Outstanding Senior in Japanese.
I was wearing my pseudo-suede pants, which my mother did not think were business-casual enough (despite the glaring fact that I'd worn them to work)
so I changed into some black pants that I found in my old closet at her house. Of course, if they were black pants that I would want to wear they would be
at my apartment- and I know this- but I changed to placate her. I looked like I was preparing for the flood of the endtimes or something, they rested well above my
ankles... I was continuously tugging them down but, well you know. So, clad in my highwater pants I set out to the awards ceremony with mummy and daddy in tow,
mom's pumps clacked and reverberated around the entire campus, I'm sure. I wasn't sure I was going to attend, and furthermore I intended to go alone or with my peep,
but since the school mails everything to the permanent address- and the parents are occasionally in the habit of commiting the felony of opening another person's mail-
they knew about it before I did, and therefore there was no way to forego inviting them without causing grievous offence. So we get there, and we stared at the table, without
anything to really say to one another. Did I know anyone there, my mother asked, and the answer of course was no, because all of my friends have graduated and gone to places
like Columbus, Cincinatti, and one of those states with "Carolina" in the name. All have fled from this state, except my Lee peeps.
The whole gawping fish routine was only a second, then I recovered. I had all the information to tell them after the ceremony (which had been the plan all along, honest! It makes it all tie together!), and she looked like she'd just swallowed a hapless frogling. It made the ceremony even harder to sit through, seriously. I stood when my name was called, and accepted my award letter, which mentioned a book award (what is a "book award?"). And then came the task I had dreaded for a month, a task that had me so nervous that my physical at the family practice was highlighted by my introduction to an EKG because my heartbeat was so nervously fluttering. I had to tell my parents that what they had dreaded in the back of their minds was upon them: I am going back to Japan.
Seriously, they took it pretty well.
Previous Logue of April 大 事件！ Today I received notice that I am on the short list of candidates for the JET Program's CIR position! ジェトプログラムに入り込んんだ。 ということで、 日本に戻って来ます！
