red leaves

oh no!
Fall has crept up!
Apples
Apple sauce
apple pie
apple apple apple!
CINNAMON NUTMEG ALLSPICE
Pumpkin pie
pumpkin beer
pumpkin apple pumpkin apple
melon melon birdfoot melon
I'm home
Japan was a dream.
a long, emotional, amazing, poignant, fantastic, depressing, beautiful, mental, lovely, spanktastic
DREAM
I'm ok with being home.
I love being home.
But every now and then I find myself spontaneously erupting with karate kicks
Japanese
laughing about a memory only I can remember
dancing in the rain and the fountains in the park while the little kids pass by and stare and wonder why the adult gaijin are soaking wet playing in the little pond that is meant for the fish.
yes, this was Japan
the fall hikes
the beautiful scenery.
the amazing people.
the haphazard and manicured gardens. gardens reflecting personalities
life has moved on though.
The temperature drops and I can't help but think of SNOW and wanting to get out there and play in the white beautiful marshmellowy fluff.
want to board want to ski want to play want to play want to FREEZE!
Will I see it this year?
I wonder?
Will I work in Switzerland? Australia? New Zealand? South America? go to school in England?
I feel ready to settle down. Home is so nice. But still want to adventure
American grocery stores make me want to leave the country forever
West Virginians are the same story.
I swear I will marry a Welshman and move.
Jam bands and Hummus, old Friends and Family
dolphins in the ocean
make me want to STAY!!!!!!!!!
What am I even doing in India??????
I don't know anymore.
Only Jacques the scuba diving dog can tell me what to do.

June 24 2009 random

(a random poem from my journal on leaving Japan)

6 and a half weeks left
relationships have changed
with the ebbs and tides of oceans
matured
diverged
strengthened
and in the worst cases,
entire continents of memories
have split off their shelves.
Never again
to be the same
landmass.
A child's eyes light up
as I bike by
"GAIJIN!"
I cling to it.
old students return my greeting
without energy
What happened???
It must be
just a fluke of Wednesday.
Blame it on the Tetons
Whatever that means.
I still have the energy
I'm not stale yet.
So many Wednesdays
have passed
Greetings with and without
Genki
Genki I catch and use
Spread like the flu
Genki I search for yet cannot
find
Genki I keep to myself as I laugh about
Chickens
fruit bus stops
and Them.
Them whom I have grown to
Love.
What the hell is Arai Sensei laughing at?
I laugh with him.
This rose of Love
has its thorns
but I ignore them
in my remaing six and a half weeks
their thorns don't sting
as deeply.
I recognize our differences.
Changes.
Myself.
I will never fit in their box
nor any box
I love my life outside of it
too much.
six and a half weeks.
roses.
thorns and all.
peels of laughter
robot dances
chickens and fruit bus stops
I loved them all
I return to Wednesday.

Welcome New ALTs (June 09)

Welcome new ALTS!
It’s about this time of year that all of us leaving wish we were staying a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year. After living here and making friends with fellow teachers, students, townsfolk, and ALTS, you will understand why it is so hard to leave! Beautiful scenery, hiking, boarding/skiing, cultural activities, drinking parties, tatami, and RICE!!! I will miss the tatami smell more than anything. When it first hits you, it will be strange and foreign, and have a slight fishy odor. You won’t like it. I didn’t. Soon, 6 months of cold weather, frozen olive oil, frozen toilets, skiing followed by onsen and heaping bowls of ramen. Hiding under the kotatsu. Ice and snow, but no plows!? 6 months of this. Snowy bliss and frozen time. The yin to the yang of Spring. Come May, you will come home one day and open your apartment door to find a slight smell of tatami. SUMMMER!!! You will think. You longed for it all winter but didn’t know you missed it. You can’t even seem to remember ever disliking the smell. It now smells like home and all the memories that Japan has brought to your life. The families you have joined and become a part of. The long and boring ceremonies. The crazy “bad boy” students who remain shirtless after gym class for just a little too long. The seemingly ridiculous cultural nuances that all make sense now. No speech before drinking?! Coworkers who leave work on-time?? Late trains!?! You can’t imagine life without your daily 5 minutes of space out time during the morning meetings. Ah, and one can’t forget the Japanese language and all the troubles and laughs that it brings to the table. I will dearly miss the ambiguousness of Japanese speech which allows you to play off stupid things you say and attribute them to the ‘language barrier’. At home, where will I be without this gaijin card?! I will be lost and foolish, but no longer special. Japan is home. I can’t seem to remember why I wanted to come here anymore, nor is it very clear why I ‘m leaving after such a short 2 years. But my purpose in being here is becoming clearer and clearer as the weeks slip by and turn into days closer to departure. I want time to stop. Japan will always be a home away from home. Time does not stop. Departure looms, and I sputter and try to pretend I’m not leaving. Every conversation in the staff room has a new sense of importance and preciousness attached. Every run along the fields is felt more deeply. Every bowl or ramen is attacked with a greater hunger. Every laugh with the students, joke with friends, and drink with mamas has a greater significance attached to it now. The smell of new tatami will never be the same again because of the memories I cannot remove from it. Don’t loose sight of why you’re here. I welcome you to the smell of fresh tatami!

Leaving Speech (June 09)

I don:t want to give this speech. I don:t really know quite where to start. How can 5 minutes sum up my time here? It can’t. I remember my first image of Yamagata. Before I came, I looked it up on the map, found it in Lonely Planet, read a bit about it and thought, “well now, that sounds pretty cool!” Yamagata didn’t hold any significance to me other than the name of a place in a foreign land that I was about to experience for the first time. Actually, I was a little disappointed to be placed in Yamagata because I had originally wanted to be in the Kansai area where the Shingon Buddhism sects were from. I thought they would be interesting to study. I got the welcome pack and became a little more excited, but was also sad to leave my friends and family back home. I had a great life at home and was just beginning a serious relationship, had a great job that I enjoyed and was passionate about, and was getting into rock climbing more seriously. It seemed like I was leaving at the wrong time. I was also disappointed to be teaching high school. What about all the cute little kids that you see in pictures from all the other foreigners who teach English in Japan? I wanted to be in the pictures with the cute Japanese kids too! I was used to young students, and was a little intimidated to be teaching High School. But I sucked it up and tried to get myself excited about teaching high schoolers… “you can have real friendships with students, and talk to them about stuff” “they will be quiet and listen to you in class” …. “they wont be blowing their noses on you all day!”. These reasons sufficed and my excitement grew as my sadness to leave diminished. I didn’t know quite what to expect. Later I would learn that you never really do know quite what to expect, even after 2 years of living here.
I stepped out of the airport into the hot, fresh Narita air. I felt like I was a part of a herd of sheep being shuttled, I just wanted to get to my little town in the north and get out of the orientation! 3 days later, as our silver bullet of terror came out of the clouds for landing, I caught my first glimpse of home: Mountains and Rice Fields. Immediately I was happy and excited and nervous all at the same time. Off the plane, I immediately met my supervisor and another English teacher. I was so nervous about speaking Japanese to real Japanese people! It was my first time to speak to Japanese people in Japanese. Eating lunch at Cherryland with them was even more disorienting….I was too excited and nervous to be hungry, was it rude if I didn’t finish my food? What was the slimy stuff I had to eat? I didn’t ask, and ate it all for fear of offending them. After lunch, we got famous Cherryland ice cream to wash down all the slime and various sea creatures I had just consumed. It was delicious. Then we arrived at my apartment. It was much bigger than I expected! But where was the bed? And how was I supposed to shower? Which one was shampoo and which was conditioner? I was left alone. No welcome party, no drunken stupor to ease the feelings of “holy crap what have I done and how did I get here”. It was just me and Japan.
Me and Japan have come a long way since then. I have learned that I can use the whole bathroom space to shower and I don’t have to hold the shower head whilst doing it. I can go to the bank and get things done. I can get a new license on my own. I can check the weather in Japanese on my keitai, and make doctors appointments. I can have a friendly chat with the ladies in the ofuro at the gym. I can have a casual conversation with students, and buy concert tickets at Lawsons. I can teach classes on my own. I have made many friendships, and many many memories. But most of all, I am not longer afraid to speak Japanese to real Japanese people. Yamagata will no longer just be the face on the map to me. It will be my face as it has shaped me. Two years of memories, of cultural conditioning, of “Let’s enjoying”. Laugh wrinkles and worry lines, happy drunken scars and dimpled memories. Thank you Japan, thank you for shaping me and making me grow. For making me step into something new and fresh and not remaining in my comfort bubble. For making me know myself and others. Thank you for all the relationships, the bike rides, the slimy foods, the hikes, the tortured English conversations with students, the conversations through body language, and the conversations through the eyes. For the record, I have never looked into Shingon Buddhism once since I got here. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Thank you Yamagata. Yamagata equalzu no regrets!!!!!!!!

happy sad time

I am beginning to love my job. I've always had a sort of love-hate relationship with it. As one might do with any job. But this love-hate relationship feels especially volatile when one doesn't completely understand whats going on at the workplace! Anyways, with my new responsibility of having my own "writing class" and having the power to make and grade tests, thus transferring my effect on the students into data form, I feel heavy responsibility and motivation. I love this job autonomy. If only I had found it sooner. I did find it sooner in some cases, but I just didn't have the power that I have now. My students in the writing class call me Rebecca sensei and Rebecca Chan instead of Rebecca or Rebecca san, and I like it. I feel a closeness to the students approaching that of a Japanese teacher-student relationship. But, at the same time, I can still talk about taboo things with the students without feeling the parental (/Japanese teacher) burden. WOOHOOOO!!!
....and I leave in 2 months.
It really really saddens me. I purchased my tickets home today. August 10th=home. October 15=England, October 25=one way ticket to India, from there to Nepal.
It feels bittersweet to be leaving so soon. It feels a bit premature in some ways and I want to stay, but in other ways, I feel ready. A bit like graduating from college. However, when I search for jobs back home and read about the locations of those jobs and picture myself trying to get there during the morning commute, I find myself already longing for the rice fields and mountains, and lack of traffic. Biking to school. Peace in solitude. These things are found at home, yet in different forms. Am I ready for them???

Welcome to the Freaking club!!!!

Went hiking with Jam lady on one of the holidays Japan had a few weeks ago. It was awesome! As usual! We had to bushwhack through some pretty thick brush and scramble up this steep hill using roots to pull ourselves up and then we arrived at the top of the ridge. At the top we rested and Jam Lady (Yumi) asks me what I call this kind of hiking? "Mania" our friend (and guide) Shun chan suggests. Then I say, sure, mania is a good way of putting it. Then she says, no no no, more strong...."Freak!...Freaking!!" "This hike is freaking" "Welcome to the Freaking club!" I agree and say yes, i would say "freaking is one way of describing this mountain insanity". then she says "I have many freaking clubs!" I practically peed myself because of the way she said it. oh man, what an awesome day!
We hiked along the ridge and bushwhacked for a good 2 hours up then went up through snow for another couple hours. At the top we had a glorious lunch of mountain vegetables, eggs, sausages, beer, peanuts, Easter colored M&Ms and Rosemary bread. Then back down, I slid on my tarp down the snow. However sadly the wind took the tarp from me on my last journey :(. Also on the way down, Shun Chan said we would take the super express (i.e. some form of trail) but there actually wasn't a trail and we had to go down for 3 hours through thick brush, and it seemed like almost by accident that we eventually ended back at the car. We didn't leave without picking some nice mountain vegetables first. I'm now the newest member of the freaking club...yay!



Also, my friend Sarah came during Golden week and we did lots of fun things including driving through 12 prefectures in 2 days! I will more pictures up later!!!!

会う （クリスのパーチ）poem saru=monkey

The rain falls softly
it's Saturday, I am at school.
My Zoo
for the year.
I am just a saru.
An eating, breathing, sleeping, walking, talking
Monkey.
What Amusement.
What Joy.
We get when we poke the monkey.
Feelings fluctuate
Seasons change
the monkey ages but remains
In her they see
a slice of humanity.
pizza with foreign flavors
tea with milk
a salary with strings
strings that form the Zoo
the Saturday school.
Strings that she breaks
and keeps
freedom is felt through difference.
The childlike joy of saru
is counterbalanced
by Naivete
Frustration.
The Cage.
Robots and Monkeys
Speak a Common Language after all.

Omiyage Season

Well its here. Omiyage season. It's everywhere. The little sweets and cakes form piles around my desk. old people, new people, everybody must give the obligatory yoroshiku onegaishimasu in cake form. I don't mind it, its pretty sweet to have snacks around at all times. I just think about how annoying it is when I have to buy it and more so how wasteful it is for the environment. But if it means smooth relations at work, it must be done. The desks have been moved and I now sit next to the teacher who chatters to himself. Additionally, he has a very definite and loud keyboard pecking pattern, vocalizing his writing as he types. Sometimes he will look over at my desk and mutter "oh oh, Japanese _________" and then I will respond and we will both just laugh. It's nice, but the teachers had a glimmer of mischievousness in their eyes when they asked me if it was ok to sit next to him. (Not actually asking me if it was ok, as the decision had already been made, but essentially asking me what I thought of it). Anyways, students are back and its funny to see how the 1st year students have matured. It's interesting to see them step through the stages of Japanese society to eventually become the teacher who talks to himself and who is chattering away next to me as I type.
The cultural differences in the Japanese workplace are vast. Conformity. Conformity. Conformity. Stratification. Stratification. Stratification. Conformity. Forced mobility. No mobility. Succumb to the higher authority. No questions. No questions. No questions. Robots. Ambiguity of response-conformity.
The Japanese language is actually built on the concept of ambiguity so you can easily avoid offending others by inadvertantly disagreeing. This ambiguity has saved my ass a number of times, but has also led to a few problems and many lingering questions!! Spring is here and my time is slipping through my fingers like cherry blossoms slip off the tree. The forthcoming presence of the blossoms in a few weeks makes this time last year seem like yesterday and I waver....has it really been a full year?! green is slowly overcoming the white and brown in the mountains of yesterday. Snowboard and skiing days are becoming fewer and far between. The warming weather plays tricks on my confused mind. Is it time for somewhere new or should I stay for next ski season? I was just getting started on the board I think to myself. Am I ready for the heat of summer? The deadlines of decisions. The finality of the job. The end of the paycheck. The possibilities of life.

Yakushima and lovely vacations

We went swimming and there were very few people on the beach because it was a little cloudy. But some Japanese people thought we were crazy for swimming so they took photos of us...


Liz and Trevor came, we had a super awesome time. Then Chris and I went to Kyushu....March has been refreshingly busy and vacationly AWESOME

monkeys!

I love having class on my own. I just got to work today and the teachers asked me to do class on my own because my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) isn’t here again today. I love it. It happened last week twice too and class went really well. I love days like these because my job satisfaction goes up. Job satisfaction is something that I feel has gone mostly out the window since I came here and that really sucks. I love the country and the people and am enjoying my time here except when I am stuck at this desk with no classes. It can be very disheartening to sit here all day with no class, to have your other lessons already planned, staring out the window at the beautiful day, but being trapped by the building and the paycheck that keeps you glued to the seat. It might be better if I had the same status and responsibilities as other teachers so I actually felt like I was doing more. But I guess it all comes with the job title: Assistant (Language Teacher). I’ve been having some negative experiences with a JTE at one of my schools lately and that has been contributing to my negativity towards this job. I also realize that many of my blog entries lately have been negative. I think I tend to write more when I am feeling down because it helps me work out my feelings. So, I’m going to try to write more positive things from now on…..YAY. I love Japan! Wooo. And today, the students were pretty good in class. Oh, the coolest part about my weekend was seeing a couple of families of snow monkeys on the way to snowboarding at Tengendai. They were soo cute. And it was the first time I had seen monkeys in the snow. I will post pictures.

you can see all the monkeys in the woods
My friend Kelly

I came here for the Ramen

One day while at work, I decided to write for the JET essay competition. I need some work on the conclusion, but heres what I wrote so far.

Feb 6th, 2009
“I came here just for the ramen,” my JTE said to me laughing. There were no classes today again. Another day to study Japanese and play on the internet. Seriously, what am I here for? I thought to myself. After a nice night of homemade pitas and one and a half bottles of shared wine, it seemed cruel to wake up early with a slight wine headache to go to work only to sit at a cold desk all day. Some people might relish the days with no classes. Not me. I don’t want the words “could of” to be a part of my vocabulary when I speak of Japan after I leave. So I do what I can. Study when I can, read when I can, play with students when I can. Six more months. I think to myself as I sit here. I try to remember the words I read in a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, “joy and peace are the joy and peace possible in this very hour of sitting. If you cannot find it here, you won’t find it anywhere.” Hmmmm…which hour of my sitting must he be talking about? Currently I am in hour two of my 8 hour day of sitting. I look around, distracted from the essay I am writing. I have no idea what is so funny, what they are talking about or what is going on today. I must be in day 546 of culture shock. Even the Friday ramen club doesn’t sound appealing today. I don’t want to go home, yet I don’t want to be at this desk right now. Joy and peace are at hand. I cannot find them if I keep looking. They are right in front of me yet something is holding me back. Ah! A laugh crept out of me as the teachers in the staff room became abuzz with the prospect of ordering ramen quickly. Was that joy I just felt?

It must have been. I feel blank all of a sudden and don’t know what to write. I could write about all of my funny experiences and ridiculous encounters but they seem trite and commonplace the longer I am here. I could write about the profound impact I have had on the students and the students have had on me but I would feel as though I were lying to my readers and to myself. I am not going to write an essay about what I have accomplished while I am here because that is too cliché. Instead I will write exactly how I feel on this one and a half year anniversary of my time here. The happiness and childlike appreciation that I felt in month one has disintegrated. While my relationships with this country and its people has grown deeper, I feel like more of an outsider than I did before. Ignorance was bliss. Is it because I have become like one of them yet am still very removed? This language that we use, “us” and “them” just sets the stage for deeper division and separation. While I have come to share and teach others about our common humanity, I still cannot remove my certain prejudices and stereotypes that may never disappear as long as I remain the privileged white ALT. One of my JTEs asked me about what stereotypes I had about Japanese people before coming to Japan and I found it very difficult to remember. I can only think of the stereotypes that my friends and I now laugh at almost daily: “the Japanese are such bad drivers” “What the hell are they doing?” “I can’t believe they wanted you to take nenkyu for that!” “Do we really need another break for green tea?” “They actually thought….”
These things would not be funny in my home country because there is not this mentality of separation. In my home country, I am the one breaking for green tea 3 or 4 times during a nonstressful cleaning session. These stereotypes verge on becoming prejudices and racism if they are not properly attenuated. How can I get rid of my stereotypes when they still see me as an Alien? “They”, I said it again.
“They” and “me”. Will we ever feel だんけつ (solidarity, union)? I have heard that word a lot recently in reference to President Obama’s ascension to the Presidency. “Americans must have a lot of だんけつ right now,” I am told. What about here and now though? Will I ever fell　だんけつ with you? It has to start with me. I am the impetus for change. Can I change by removing my stereotypes? Probably not. Can I change by refusing to laugh at their bad driving? Definitely not, it’s too funny. This laughter does not stem from malice. In a way has become a catharsis for me, it is an outlet for my culture shock. Only when we can laugh at these things together, not just side by side, will we become we. I leave you with these thoughts of change. Accept where you can and change where is necessary. Embrace your ability as a free unencumbered alien to laugh at things you wouldn’t normally laugh at. Don’t hate but embrace. I can’t go on without sounding uberly cheesy. I have to get back to my 5 hours of Joy and Peace.

[(Don’t worry, im not going to leave the last part like that but I was having trouble wrapping it up because I was loosing my focus) I just free thought style wrote all of this and edited nothing after I wrote it. What do you think?]

First attempt at wrapping it up:
We includes that delicate position that us ALT’s find ourselves in as a mediator between student and teacher. Not quite a teacher, not quite a student, yet always learning. There is a delicate balance between the two, and if strike it just right, you can have the wonderful experience of having student and teacher friends. The same levels of friendship with different levels of speaking. Or, the same level of speaking for all! It is all too easy to get caught up on one side of the balance. With limited Japanese abilities it can be especially taxing to speak on the same common ground subjects everyday. Less people talk to you. There is less to say. You become detached and distant. Silenced by your own lack of motivation approaching that of the students’. You wander the school looking for a friend and you find the nurse downstairs who has always been so kind to you. Together you make origami dolls and laugh at the way the dolls look. Later you go to your Japanese friend’s house and you laugh at nipples and penises. Common ground has been found. We has become feasible through laughter. I came here to laugh.

This needs some work....let me know what you think.

a poem for the longest month

10 man broken car
blue screen of death
dull students
jaded teachers
blue screen of me.
overlypresumptious expectations
overly excited fall. Happy for 1 more year. confident with my decision
when did it Fall
apart?
golden leaves, fall hikes, glorious imoni,
mushrooms mushrooms mushrooms
softcream
settled into the dead of winter,
the dead of students
the dead of teachers
the dead of me.
I used to appreciate the beauty and silence of winter.
Is it Japan or is it me?
I no longer take the time to lick the snowflakes from the air.
the crisp air feels wet and heavy.
joyous days of skiing followed by onsen followed by ramen are brought to a close with the knowledge of the gray building which is to come on monday.
even in my genkiest moments, I can:t forget
6 more months
DESK
DESK
DESK
I stare at the screen of life in front of me and type
search for ways of escape.
how much is it to Kathmandu again?
I search again.
My soul is confused.
present or future? and what about the past?
What have I learned from You, country of Rice?
You taught me how to be alone.
or did you?


I wrote this free thought poem in one go without editing. I miss writing like this so I think I will do it more from now on. This time last year I remember being difficult as well. I think it oomes with the time of the school year and having less classes and less cheerful students. Lots has happened in December and January but I haven't had much time to write.... I will post pictures of my parent's visit soon.

I hate Katakana

I cracked a little today with one of the teachers whom is my friend outside of school but whom I strongly dislike teaching with. I asked to see the test she had made. I tactfully mentioned some places that had incorrect grammar. And then I noticed the katakana pronunciation part and I loudly exclaimed "I hate katakana!". It just kind of came out, I surprised myself as I said it. She said "I know but the students aren't motivated to pronounce things correctly so I use it". I was so angry I couldn't speak. She is not letting them learn correctly if they just use katakana. This is the excuse she uses all the time to shoot down ideas and to create an unexciting classroom. She also translates everything I say in class, ensuring that the students can get through a class without actually having to understand any English. Her attitude about the students brings me down as well. I remember last year when we were hiking Ghassan together (before I started teaching with her) she said "the students are so stupid aren't they?!" I don't think she understood that it was a bad thing to say, and then she said it again later. That event properly foreshadowed her attitude when she began teaching again. I don't think she should be teaching. She also told me that my salary is higher than hers and that she doesn't think its fair. (However, she is only a half time worker, so naturally this is the case). And she told me that I should loose weight...fair enough, but rude! The biggest thing that gets to me is her attitude towards students. She has no faith in them. No confidence, yet her tests and worksheets (if she makes them) are ridiculous and she doesn't seem to know what she's doing. I'm not suggesting that I know more than her, I'm just complaining because I don't know how to work with her. When I do the class on my own and stuff, she still translates everything...GRRRRR!!!!!
Also, in other news, I'm starting to get upset with myself for deciding not to go to the Arato bon enkai. The Arato teachers just asked me if I was going to Nagai Kogyo's bon enkai and I said I was. And I think they might have felt hurt because I am not going to theirs and it is a very special, fun event. Well, my reason for not going is silly, I have my Japanese class bon enkai on the same day. However, That bon enkai is kind of lame and nowhere near as fun as the Arato one, but they had asked me first. It probably would have been ok if I changed my mind last week, but now its just 2 weeks away. A few months ago, I was thinking I wouldn't go to the Arato bon enkai because I hadn't been invited to a normal school enkai in a while...but then a teacher told me that the school hasn't had any enkais, therefore, I couldn't be invited anyways! Now I'm a little concerned that I'm making relations with Arato bad because I am not going to their alcohol-induced bonding time. My original thinking was that it wouldn't change anything if I went...but actually I think it might. And now I've already told them I can't go so I need to just stick with this decision and not get upset or worried that I made the wrong decision! No more should have/could have/would haves!

Snow Snow Snow Yuki Daro!

the first snow came like a thief in the night. Stealing Fall before all the leaves were ready to fall. Now it feels like midwinter almost. It's cold in the hallways and I forgot what its like to sweat when I walk outside. Ski season is here. I'm very excited to ski and board but was dissapointed by the wet rain-snow-sludge first-snow-ofthe-year. It wasn:t the powdery white magical fluff that I wanted. It was reality: winter is here and you wont be turning off your heater until April. It is funny to think that half my time in Japan is spent under the kotatsu and on the ski slopes. I forget what the other seasons feel like while I:m living in the others. Winter is probably the longest season here. This winter I have 2 weapons I didn:t have last winter: A kerosene heater and a car! I've already managed to spill kerosene on my kitchen floor, making the whole apartment reek...now lets just hope I can learn how to drive in the snow quickly.
Some friends and I went to Nikko and Nasu to escape the snow for the weekend and see the sights. It was absolutely beautiful and I had a wonderful time. It was so nice to get out of Yamagata for the weekend. Yesterday when we returned, we entered Yamagata ken through a tunnell. One the fukushima side of the tunnel, all the roads were clear, but on the other side of the tunnel there was tons of snow--"Welcome to Yamagata!" the GPS welcomed us.

Karate

Chris and I went to our first Karate class last night. It was really interesting. Apparantly our karate master is the only one in the Japan who has these special healing powers. He also does alot of reiki. I stood in front of him and he tried to move me with his hands but I didn't move but I did feel something and it was kind of unsettling. Then he told me "your left leg is shorter than your right leg". Which is sort of true (I have a pretty big imbalance). I was surprised he could recognize that just by looking at me. He told me he would fix it at the end of the class without touching me. His healing powers are so great that The US military asked him to work for them and he turned them down. He also gaurded a secret meeting between the Taiwanese government and China at the Chinese Imperial Palace. He is a very relaxed man and he has a really kind smile. He also has a cute pot belly. The class was interesting. He taught Chris and I karate moves while the rest of the class meditated. Then he interupted one of the students during her meditation to ask her the English word for something. That was a little strange. Also strange was the shrine with an old refridgerator door as its center piece. On the refridgerator door was a shadow. The shadow is supposed to be the image of the female Buddha that came to him. At the end of class (which consisted of 15 minutes of stretching and 40 minutes of meditation) the students stood in a line while one student practiced moving the line of students without touching them. First they moved the line of people with their hands. I was skeptical when I saw people moving out of line and wondered how it worked. Then the master invited us to join the lines. We did and I did feel something pushing me. It was really interesting, I also fell out of the line. Next it was our turn. He gave us some of his power by patting our hands with his. I moved my hand and imagined a wall of force pushing the people out of line. They all moved. Shocku! I tried a few more times. Next we individually picked people to push out of line with our minds. We would have to say which number person we were pushing (so they would know if it was supposed to be them that was moving). So sometimes I would pick a different person in my mind than the number I said. Occasionally both would move, but sometimes just the number person I had selected. So their might have been some mental bias in their movements. No double blind study here! After 20 minutes of this (later we moved on to just using our eyes, then the backs of our heads) it began to get repetitive. Class ended. The master had me lie on the floor while a woman tried to use reiki to get my leg to grow. I felt a warmth in my lower back while she used her powers. She wasn't touching me at all. I couldn't see that it had made a difference but other people noticed it was a little different although not entirely fixed. Interesting. I left the class partially believing, but still very skeptical. I am a strong believer on the influence of mind and body and the effects they have on one another but this class seemed to be entirely focused on mind. I didn't expect the mind to have such powers without training the body first. I'm really excited to go back next time!!! I just wish I had found the class sooner!

oh Japan!

While doing my Halloween class (a few days after Halloween), Ohnuki sensei mentions to me “did you know some trick or treaters were shot and killed on Halloween?” “They opened the door and they were shot”. No, I hadn:t heard that. I searched for it on the news and still couldn't find it. Where do the Japanese people get all the news of all the gun violence in America. And why haven’t I heard of it. That’s why many people in this country are afraid to go to America. Because it’s scary and everyone has a gun. The movies don’t help to offset this stereotype. It’s frustrating. Another thing about Japan. There is a phenomenon called “hikikomori” in which young students who are often bullied retreat to their homes, never to go out again. (Or, if they go out, it’s only at night) The reason they are able to do this is because their parents cater to it. Their parents don’t know how to handle it so they continue to take care of their children and let them stay at home. [School in Japan is only compulsory until age 16 I think]. Normally when parents don’t know how to handle a situation with their child, they call the school. But this situation is a little different because once the child drops out, usually the school will not intervene. Recently, a girl at my school “quit”. I asked the English teacher if she would become a hikikomori (half joking, half-serious). The teacher said no. I mentioned that the problem of hikikomori only exists in Japan and isn’t it interesting. She replied that it’s because the Japanese people want to take care of their children. They must take care of their children, but in other countries, this is not the case. Americans leave their children to the wolves. Forcing someone at a young age to face the realities of big scary society is in my mind a greater service to them than the convenience of letting them stay at home and do what they want. How will they learn to function in society? This is definitely a case of not teaching someone how to fish! It is also an example of the enigmatic logic of the Japanese psyche.

Erection Day

I feel like a child on Christmas eve waiting for Santa Claus to come with these elections. It is kind of silly. I will wake up tomorrow morning and America will have a new president-elect. Well, more like I won't find out until tomorrow afternoon. I'm happy to have anyone but Bush but I'm really hoping for Obama. It worries me. I remember being in Spain 4 years ago on election day. All of the Americans went to this bar and we stayed up all night watching live TV and we watched as the states slowly went to red and blue. I went home before there was a clear winner because there was so much confusion. And then I remember going to school the next morning and people had been crying when they found out Bush won again. We were afraid for our country I guess. I think the fact that most foreign countries seem to be routing for Obama to win says something significant. I'm not sure if they actually know why they like him so much or if its just because he's the more liberal candidate. who knows...I'm not one to talk politics.

Pictures, remnants, writing without a purpose

5 classes tomorrow. Both a blessing and a curse. I've been a little depressed lately. Sometimes its Japan, sometimes its because I feel lonely here. There has been a real loss of friends this year and I feel like there is really just 1 or 2 people whom I can really count on. Other friends have removed themselves from my life and I feel a bit of bewilderment. I haven't made much of an effor to talk to the teachers at Arato thus I haven't been invited to many enkais lately. Which could be a good thing considering the costs. I think I need to go away for a bit and come back. I am happy with the work I have been doing but at school I am usually just ready to leave so I can do my after school activities. I'm really trying to enjoy my time here and the school festival was good for that. Also, hiking in the fall gets 5 stars. Its absolutely beautiful. But the thing that keeps me running these days is weekends and thoughts of my life when I'm ready to move on. I sent out a request for information about a graduate school for OT in Portland and they very promptly replied and asked for my transcripts/prereqs, etc. Wow! I wasn't ready for those realities yet! Emily told the owner of the Nepalese restaurant (Laxmi) about my (our?) potential plans for going to Nepal for a few months and that seemed to solidify those ideas in my head as well. I didn't want to mention those things to him or many people, but as I hear myself saying them more and more, they become more concrete possibilities in my mind.

Here is a picture of the rice field we planted and harvested.

Yamabushi!!

Here is an entry about my Yamabushi Training…I have written reflections along with some of my journal entries during the pilgrimage. I have cut out large chunks of details to keep the Yamabushi Training secret.

Yamabushi training was much easier than I expected. I arrived in a room full of Japanese people trying to dress themselves in the Yamabushi costume. I had no idea what to expect. Nor did I have any idea how to put on the funny costume.
I can:t really mention much about the training because it is supposed to be kept a secret. I sealed the secrecy by putting my thumbprint in the sacred book in a secret ceremony in the middle of the night. I will say what is already widely known about it. Yamabushi training comes from the Shugendo religion. Hachiko (no ogi) was the founder. The religion venerates nature and incorporates Buddhism with Shinto. And I think there may be a little bit of Daoism thrown in the mix. It is a branch of the esoteric Shingon religion and places emphasis on training and ascetic practices. [During the Meiji Era, Buddhism was forced to separate from Shinto and this is one of the few existing sects that still practice them together].
Anyways, I had a vague familiarity with this before I started, but really researched it after I finished. Luckily a few people spoke English and they explained a few things about the religion to me. I didn`t really know what I was getting myself into, all I really knew was that I wanted to go hike the 3 sacred mountains with other pilgrims and stand under freezing waterfalls and just experience life―not necessarily find anything. After all, This is part of what I came here for, wasn't it?
The group was mostly made up with older women. The youngest girl there was a student (21 years old). For 4 days I felt like a pet to all the obachans (older women) who continuously fixed my costume, corrected my mistakes, and generally tried to make everything about me more Japanese so I could fit in. There is a saying in Japan: "the nail that doesn't fit, gets hammered down". (or something like that) Anyways, I was the non-fitting nail. By day 4, I was more closely aligned with the other nails, yet still a bit abnormal. Being the only foreigner, that seemed natural.
On the last day the male monks chose me to carry the sacred tree branch, which they put in the ground somewhere. Keep in mind that I am not entirely sure or aware of the meanings of all the things we did and rituals we performed. I have a general fuzzy idea at best. Usually only after the fact do I figure out the significance of my actions. Anyways, I was pleased that I got to help perform this ritual. There was a lot of chanting that was pretty hard to keep up with because it was all written in cursive Japanese that I can only read slowly.



1st day of training
Haguro san. Lots of breaks were taken so we could pray. There were tons of photographers!! No idea where those pictures are now. Also we had a much larger meal then I expected. Potato, fried/boiled tofu, some kind of vegetable, and rice+miso! I was trying to enjoy my meal slowly, think of every bite as I chewed, and contemplate the various people who worked so that such food could be before me. Aki looks over at me…”Hurry up!!!!” she says with urgency. This was epitome of the Japanese meal—speed eating! Even while “fasting,” and “training,” we were speed eating! It blew my mind. No food meditation for me!
2nd day
On this day, I am disappointed by the large amounts of rice we are forced to consume. It is far too much rice for me and I try to pass it off on others but sometimes I am too late. It looks really bad if I don’t finish my rice too, so I have to finish. ......

There is a women here who thinks I know more Japanese than I do and she is always trying to help me. It is very sweet but I feel bad because sometimes I don’t understand her. She goes through great efforts to try to explain to me—the big buffoon gaijin! I do appreciate many of her explanations.


Yudono san was the most sacred of the 3 mountains of Dewa Sanzan and a place that people weren’t supposed to talk about…Not surprisingly…this was my favorite day of the trip. The day of rebirth. Living in Japan I’ve gotten used to having no idea what to expect next or having no schedule of events. I thought we were going to have a difficult hike up Yudono san and go to the very top but it turns out that it’s a rather easy mountain and now you can drive up it. We didn’t go the car route though. We went through an old, overgrown shrine trail through the river. Wearing our white pilgrim costumes we hiked through the river, scrambled up the rocks, and up the lush mountainside, clapping at shrines and beautiful kami-inspired scenery along the way. Some of the older Obachans elected to walk along the easy car route though. I kept wondering at every waterfall-was this the freezing waterfall that we were going to stand under? It never was. We came to the abode of the main deity of Yudono san. It resides in a large rust colored rock from the top of which a spring of hot water flows. The rock itself was impressive and it was nice to walk up it. After some chanting and praying, it was time for our rebirth in the falls. I was ready. Until I actually felt how cold the water was. Hiking though the river at the bottom wasn’t so bad, but this water seemed to have come from another source! It was freezing! A kind of unpleasant, numbing freeze. I couldn’t stand to have my feet in it for long so I tried to avoid it, but then it was my turn. I went in. The priests stayed in the water the entire time to chant with us and (bless us??) I’m not entirely sure what they were saying, nor how they managed to stand for so long in the water! The priest stood behind me, as I was submerged below the water, he was chanting things. He made some sort of symbol on my back with his hands. Then I joined another woman and we went under the falls together chanting “Kami Hari Domo Kami Hari Domo Kami Hari Domo”. The falls were freezing but when I was in, it was ok. I wanted to do it again. It was an incredible feeling. One uber zealous woman went in almost 5 times!! The whole Yudono san experience makes me want to do the pilgrimage again next year. I really did feel reborn. The namban—pepper smoke, midnight wake-ups, and speed eating, I could do without.


At Yudono san the Buddhas are at the left of the sacred rust colored rock. To take part in the ritual in which you stick a paper doll to the cliffside where water trickles down you had to have paid extra money to be a special pilgrim. Later I read that the this place is where the ancestral spirits who are now considered to be “buddhas” come into spiritual contact with those who perform the offerings.


Summary of my thoughts on this religion―clap twice at things beautiful in nature and you will find God. Purify yourself and don:t forget the Kami. My God moment came when I watched the sunset with another older Japanese woman and then we had a nice hug afterwards. No words were exchanged. It was truly the best hug from a Japanese person that I have ever given/received.

Shall we tak over a cup of wine?

So its been a great 3 day weekend.
"Whats food is famous in England" "ORANGE"
Team All Night Dance Party (That was us)
Team Hotta Potta Senior. Where do they get this English?
Team We Are Women. Team Baseball Captain.
Chris had a pet squirrel named Toby/Judy.

"nice couple". "This is Ohnuki" Penis shaped snowman = masturbatory gestures.
"opapapapapapapotato"
"yes please my asshole"
And the winners of our pub quizz got delicious marmite sandwiches. hahah