Right now I'm enjoying two of my favorite things about Japan: かぼちゃ 天ぷらとこたつ (kabocha tempura and my kotatsu). :) Life is good, ne? Kabocha is Japanese pumpkin, and a kotatsu is a table w/ heating underneath (this is a necessity, due to the nationwide absence of residential central heating).
Two really great-- no-- three...no! FOUR really great things happened today! :)
One: had a super fun and understandable conversation (IN ENGLISH!) with Donhyon and Kazuyuki after 3rd period today.
Two: Hiromi gave me a thumbs up and a smile when she came out of Kochyoo Sensei's office this afternoon; that means she passed her most recent h.s. entrance exam. sweet happiness.
Three: INTERJECTION-- I just thought of two more! Man, this day has been great! ...in so many simple ways. -- Okay, three: I ran into Takaki, Ryotaro, Yuuto, Ryo, and Tsuyoshi as I was going into Bunshindo (DVD rental and book store) after school today. When I pulled up on my bike, Ryo and Takaki's eyes got big with disbelief! ;) LOL! (It always cracks me up that kids are so surprised to see teachers outside of school.) Takaki shouted (as usual), "MYAAA!" and Ryo said, "aaah, Mya chan!" Aaaaw, he called me "chan". :) This means he likes me and thinks of me as a friend more than a teacher. [In America, as a teacher, I wasn't supposed to be "friends" w/ students...but here I don't have to manage classroom behavior, so I don't have to maintain those same strict boundaries. I'm allowed to be "friends" w/ students, and actually, I think my role here is closer to friend (i.e. someone students speak to (in English)) than to teacher.] To hear "Mya chan" from him was heartwarming.
Four: Yoshii Sensei asked me, "How are you?" BEFORE I asked him. This is phenomenal. For a Japanese teacher, other than those who teach English or who previously lived in America, to ask me how I'm doing without me first soliciting them for this info is unheard of. I was so happy! I'm sure my smile spread across the width of the stairwell where we were passing each other. When I asked him in return, he said, "Fine", but then paused, and I said, "Really?" ;D At dinner w/ a few of the other young teachers on Friday night, one of them asked me, "Do you think the teachers at Ohrui Chu are friendly to you?" Um, aah...what should I say?? Ehhh to..."I think they're nice...but not friendly. Tatoeba, Tamura Sensei brings me bread regularly, and Okada Sensei bought me peach tea and a kanji reader...so they're really nice to me. But on a daily basis they don't greet me. If I don't ask how they are, they'll NEVER ask me first." [I will soon post a letter I wrote to the teachers (not for them to see, just for me to express) regarding this a few months ago.] I explained that in America everyone asks, "How are you?" If you work with someone you don't even like that much, you will still ask, "How are you?" But here, people don't ask that...so I don't think they're friendly. "Or maybe Japanese people are friendly in a different way."-- Now I'm just being polite and open-minded. Yoshii Sensei said (in Japanese), 'Okay from now on I will ask you!' He also brought up and we discussed how Japanese people think the right answer to the question, "How are you?" is "I'm fine. Thank you. And you?" (more on this later!!! I'm overwhelmed at trying to tackle this subject in print, so I've left it yet untouched.) He said that when I ask him how he is he says, "Fine, thank you." but that sometimes he's NOT fine. To this I replied-- with a little bit of sadness in my heart-- "I know!" I told him that he can say other things...like "I'm tired", "I'm great", and I taught him the phrase "I'm stressed out!" Today he followed up his "fine" by saying he wasn't stressed out. よかった。
Five: I received a "Congratulations!" (on your wedding) card today. :) How charmingly pleasant. And unexpected. It was from "Shirley" (spoken in a loud, high-pitched voice...with the last syllable elongated and pronounced "ay"), the tea lady. Her real name is Nakazato San. She wears rose-colored glasses, literally. And today I noticed that the sticker w/ the prescription strength on it is still on one of the lenses. She speaks to me in fluent Japanese, and for some reason expects-- and seems to fully believe-- that I can understand. I'm amazed...I have no idea why she thinks this. I mean, she barely pauses for a breath when I repeat unknown words questioningly and open my dictionary to search for them. I only look up about every 11th word I don't know...because she is on a roll, and she is not stopping for me to understand her. I think she thinks I'm fluent or something...or, I don't know. (But I'm not.) Anyways, today she gave me the wedding congratulations card as a thank you card. I'm sure she doesn't even know what the word "Congratulations" is...she-- like everyone here-- just likes to see English in print...and she thinks the houses on the front of the card are kirei (pretty), not realizing that the one in the middle with the cross on top is a wedding chapel. I loved, LOVED receiving this card! She got one of the English teachers to help her, and she carefully penned, "Dear Mya San, Thank you very much for your Christmas card. I'm keeping it. Yukie Nakazato" And she told me that she was so happy to receive my Christmas card and that she showed it to her husband. Really, this one interaction and card could have made my month...yet it came bundled with so many other wonderful moments today.
Lastly for today-- Six: I ate shark for lunch today. It was school lunch.
WHAT THE H?!??!??!? We do NOT get shark in our school lunch. Boo.
ReplyDeleteI want to be near you today.
Hey Mya. So you eloborated on all the great thing things for today and then you simply say, "I had shark today" Hmmmm and how was it? and would you have it again? :)
ReplyDeleteLove ya, miss ya, wish you were home with us! Dad