It's Friday, July 12, 1991. Ohtawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan. I've agreed to stay on a second year as an assistant English teacher (AET) in the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme with the Ohtawara Board of Education (OBOE).
The folks at the OBOE have been nothing short of fantastic towards me. I've heard others having great difficulty with their offices, but I wonder how much of it is the other JET people not really pulling their weight and how much of it is unreasonable demands from the office.
I've not really had a single instance of being asked to do too much.
I'm in Japan to soak up as much culture as possible while doing my job of teaching English to seven junior high schools in my small city of 58,000 people - and to internationalize them.
Internationalization is getting, in this case, the Japanese to learn that gaijin (outsiders) are NOT any different from them. Sure we do things in different ways, but essentially we are all pretty much the same under the skin. They work, they have families, they go on vacation, they watch television--and so do I. Differences? Plenty... and that's what this blog is about... discovering those differences and then explaining them to the Japanese so they understand, just as I try to do everything they do.
There's an old adage: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, I'm not in Rome. I'm in Ohtawara. I'm doing as the Ohtawarians do and I'm having a great time doing it.
It's a rainy day today. Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I've experienced in this country and today's it's raining. It's just another day, and I go with the flow. It's a mindset that any would-be world traveler needs to have. You'll enjoy life more that way--heck, even if you never do get to travel.
Two of the office guys--Kanemaru-san and Tano-san take me to a curry shop for lunch. The food is based on a scale of 1 through 7, with 7 being suicide-like.
Now... just because I look like an Indian, and my parents are from India, it doesn't mean I like hot and spicy food. Au contraire. I am a wimp... but since coming to Japan and finally living on my own (I'm 26), I've begun to try new things... which means getting out of that comfort zone (IE rut) of only eating what I might eat at home.
My friend and fellow AET Jeff doesn't like Japanese food. Dude. You're in Japan. He likes to make his own luncheon meat sandwiches and eat at Mr.Donut. There is nothing wrong with that, but you have to live a little.
So I do. I try my curry at a 4. It's hot, but bearable. My hair starts to sweat (not my scalp... my hair), which will tell you how well I am able to handle the hot food. My companions each have a 6, god bless them.
At the shop, a very pretty girl was staring at me... maybe 22-23? I stared back at her and smiled. She smiled back! Damn! I wish I could speak this language better than a three-year-old... but that would mean studying. I try, though. I'm just not that good at it.
Having survived the meal with a minimum of panting and sweat, I get a ride back to the office... they let me go home for a short while to take care of some business.
That business actually involves me going to the bathroom, thereby getting rid of my lunch.
In my mail there's a package from my mom--along with an airline ticket for me from Japan to Thailand and return. I'm going to meet my mom there, spend a few days and then head back to Japan with her!
Back at the office, I get my permit straightened out at the City Hall next door--sign this, pee in that, blah-blah-blah, and then attempt to organize my vacation days.
I'll take next Monday off to go ayu fishing, Tuesday will have me in Utsunomiya-shi (City of Utsunomiya) for a power meeting of JET representatives... I'm the editor of the prefecture newsletter, so I'm expected to be there.
Apparently the meeting was called by Mary Mueller, as apparently our Tochigi JET has gone down the dumper in the three or four months since she relinquished her position of provincial leader. I assume it's because the current leadership we have now is rudderless.... which explains why only a total of four people participated in a trip to Tokyo Disneyland a few weeks back. Not organized very well.
Back home, I do some more laundry and watch television and clean up my apartment. I'm fairly burnt out (inside and out, thanks to the curry and a lack of sleep), so after calling home and talking with my mom and brother (where the heck was my dad?), I call it an early evening at midnight.
Somewhere, going with the (low) flow (toilet),
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is performed by the Queens Of The Stone Age: FLOW
PS: An interesting next two days coming up... and then some! Less introspection and more action!
The folks at the OBOE have been nothing short of fantastic towards me. I've heard others having great difficulty with their offices, but I wonder how much of it is the other JET people not really pulling their weight and how much of it is unreasonable demands from the office.
I've not really had a single instance of being asked to do too much.
I'm in Japan to soak up as much culture as possible while doing my job of teaching English to seven junior high schools in my small city of 58,000 people - and to internationalize them.
Internationalization is getting, in this case, the Japanese to learn that gaijin (outsiders) are NOT any different from them. Sure we do things in different ways, but essentially we are all pretty much the same under the skin. They work, they have families, they go on vacation, they watch television--and so do I. Differences? Plenty... and that's what this blog is about... discovering those differences and then explaining them to the Japanese so they understand, just as I try to do everything they do.
There's an old adage: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, I'm not in Rome. I'm in Ohtawara. I'm doing as the Ohtawarians do and I'm having a great time doing it.
It's a rainy day today. Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I've experienced in this country and today's it's raining. It's just another day, and I go with the flow. It's a mindset that any would-be world traveler needs to have. You'll enjoy life more that way--heck, even if you never do get to travel.
Two of the office guys--Kanemaru-san and Tano-san take me to a curry shop for lunch. The food is based on a scale of 1 through 7, with 7 being suicide-like.
Now... just because I look like an Indian, and my parents are from India, it doesn't mean I like hot and spicy food. Au contraire. I am a wimp... but since coming to Japan and finally living on my own (I'm 26), I've begun to try new things... which means getting out of that comfort zone (IE rut) of only eating what I might eat at home.
My friend and fellow AET Jeff doesn't like Japanese food. Dude. You're in Japan. He likes to make his own luncheon meat sandwiches and eat at Mr.Donut. There is nothing wrong with that, but you have to live a little.
So I do. I try my curry at a 4. It's hot, but bearable. My hair starts to sweat (not my scalp... my hair), which will tell you how well I am able to handle the hot food. My companions each have a 6, god bless them.
At the shop, a very pretty girl was staring at me... maybe 22-23? I stared back at her and smiled. She smiled back! Damn! I wish I could speak this language better than a three-year-old... but that would mean studying. I try, though. I'm just not that good at it.
Having survived the meal with a minimum of panting and sweat, I get a ride back to the office... they let me go home for a short while to take care of some business.
That business actually involves me going to the bathroom, thereby getting rid of my lunch.
In my mail there's a package from my mom--along with an airline ticket for me from Japan to Thailand and return. I'm going to meet my mom there, spend a few days and then head back to Japan with her!
Back at the office, I get my permit straightened out at the City Hall next door--sign this, pee in that, blah-blah-blah, and then attempt to organize my vacation days.
I'll take next Monday off to go ayu fishing, Tuesday will have me in Utsunomiya-shi (City of Utsunomiya) for a power meeting of JET representatives... I'm the editor of the prefecture newsletter, so I'm expected to be there.
Apparently the meeting was called by Mary Mueller, as apparently our Tochigi JET has gone down the dumper in the three or four months since she relinquished her position of provincial leader. I assume it's because the current leadership we have now is rudderless.... which explains why only a total of four people participated in a trip to Tokyo Disneyland a few weeks back. Not organized very well.
Back home, I do some more laundry and watch television and clean up my apartment. I'm fairly burnt out (inside and out, thanks to the curry and a lack of sleep), so after calling home and talking with my mom and brother (where the heck was my dad?), I call it an early evening at midnight.
Somewhere, going with the (low) flow (toilet),
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is performed by the Queens Of The Stone Age: FLOW
PS: An interesting next two days coming up... and then some! Less introspection and more action!
