Ms.Stump Star

This year, Christmas at the JHS was pretty low-key (though I suppose it probably always is), and my Christmas lesson turned out to be a bit of flop. However, at the elementary school, we had lots of fun.

My new supporter, Akemi's replacement, is a very nice young woman named Rie. Her English is almost perfect, as she went to college in Hawaii. She is a very motivated individual. The ALT who handles the 1st, 2nd, and 5th grade classes dumped the planning of his Christmas lesson completely on her... and she did such a great job I stole most of her lesson for my own 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade classes. To her credit, she actually did work in an English school previously, so she already has the experience. Honestly, she makes me feel quite unnecessary...

Rie really went all out for the lesson. She arranged for the use of hula hoops and made big pieces of fake candy for the "Keyword Game", illustrated a Christmas story, obtained permission to hang balloons from the ceiling to create a "party" atmosphere, somehow convinced all the teachers to chip in for ~32 Santa hats, as well as convincing the homeroom teachers to dress up as Santa (to hand out the hats). I feel like that is more communication than I have accomplished in over a year.

Although months ago we were finally, at Akemi's

urging, given leave to convert a free classroom into an "English Room", this month we were told we could move to the recently refurbished section of the school. Everything is shiny and new, the wood is bright, clean, and un-warped, the walls are freshly painted, the shelves unlittered... it is very refreshing! I don't even mind having to move all of the decorations!

After we had bi-lingual Christmas story time, we took some questions from the students, most of which I could not answer, but did my best: Is Santa real today? (Of course!) Why does he wear red? (So you can see him coming) Why does he/do we wear [Santa] hats? (Because it's cold) Where is Santa from? (OH! I know that one! Turkey)

They also wanted to know what we usually get in our stockings. I told them "toys, money, and an orange". They all went "eeeehhhhh??" and asked why an orange (notice no one protest to free toys and money!), and though I have no idea why "Santa" always gives my brother and I oranges, I told them sternly, "Santa wants you to be healthy!". Everyone, I might add, found this hilarious.

After we finally finished with the last Christmas lesson, I moved all the decorations to create a "Christmas Corner". One of students had made tiny little cut-outs of crayon-colored trees, so I decided to incorporate these into my Corner. As I was moving them, I noticed that some of the trees were yellow.

Me: "Rie, why are these trees yellow?"

Rie: "Trees? I think those are stars."

Me: "Stars? ... but they have stumps."

Tie: "... it's a stump star."

Maybe it was because she was totally serious when she said it, but I thought this was so hilarious, I nearly fell off the cabinet I standing on. It still makes me laugh near to tears. Rie was equally affected and all one of us had to do was mutter "stump star" before we both erupted again in laughter as we were cleaning.

Today when Rie dropped off her Christmas present to me, she managed to incorporate all our little jokes; inside I found two oranges, a card with a drawing of an orange that said "Santa wants you to be healthy"...and the card was signed, "Ms. Stump Star".

Merry Christmas,

stump star Baer

Questionable Medicine

Ah, another Christmas in Japan.

I'm posting about this later rather than at the time it happened, because I didn't want anyone else to worry about me.
My track record for Japanese Christmas is pretty terrible. Last Xmas I was sick on Xmas day and several days after. Although it is not technically Xmas yet, it is close enough to say that this year was worse; I was sick for the last two week with some unidentifiable, unfamiliar, unyielding abdominal pain, ended up going to 3 doctors and wondering if I was going to have to fly home to the States.

None of the doctors did me a whit of good, and I ended up healing (whatever it was that needed healing...) on my own, so I think I'm OK now... However, it was certainly an interesting look into the medical profession in Japan. The first doctor I went to, they wanted to take an x-ray of my abdomen. I walked into the x-ray room, and they had these picture posters on the wall demonstrating how to pose for various x-rays; the woman used in the photos was a stunner... from 1940. I eyed the equipment a little more critically after that, my confidence not exactly full to bursting.

When we went to speak to the doctor, he pointed at some white lines on the film and asked me if I'd ever had surgery. It took me a moment (as I was surprised you could see such a thing on an x-ray) but I told him I had an appendectomy in kindergarden (talk about abdominal pain!). He was really fascinated by this for some reason and asked if he could see my scars. I showed him the three small scars I have from the endoscopic surgery scattered over my stomach, hardly visible anymore, and he got REALLY animated. From what I understood, he said that they (STILL!!) don't use endoscopy in Japan; just cut a big ol' hole in the person and take it out the old fashion way. Eck! And mine was done almost 20 years ago!! Really scary. Note to self: do not stay in Japan for major medical procedures.

While I was still looking for doctors to visit in Tokyo, with the hope of finding someone who spoke English, my father sent me some links on medical information. I was really shocked to find out that in Japan, once you have your medical license, you are set to practice medicine FOR LIFE, without any monitoring, continuing education, or re-licensing necessary. The example was that a doctor could decide to stop practicing medicine and then, 20 or 30 years later, pick it up again and open a clinic without ever having to do a thing to brush up on his (or her, though you wont find many female doctors in practice) skills. In addition to that horrifying thought, doctors can advertise themselves as "specialists" of any field of medicine without any particular qualification; quite literally, all they need to do a print of business card! I couldn't believe it... Of course, in Tokyo there are plenty of very qualified doctors in hospitals who ARE certified specialists, so it is important to do your homework and go to the right hospital. As usual, the answer is: go to Tokyo.

Honestly, it explained a lot for me. In my little town you can find a clinic almost on every street corner, sometimes more than one. Part of that is because Japanese people go to the doctor for absolutely everything, including the common cold. Now I can't help wondering if the other part of it is that opening a practice is an incredibly easy way to lead a profitable semi-retirement for old fogey doctors who don't have to be inconvenience with pesky things like actually being qualified to practice medicine in the 21st century.

Scary.

Cheers,

Baer

Punk Kaya

Went to another Kaya/Kaleidescrope live tonight. His lives are always interesting. For one, you never know which "Kaya" you're going to see. Will it be "boy Kaya" or "girl Kaya"? I have seen him as a boy so seldom, I always secretly hope for it, at least for a few songs (he often changes clothes in the middle of the concert).

However, I absolutely didn't expect what DID happen. The band members came out one-by-one and there was a half-hearted response, fans calling out their names in greeting. When the drummer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist were in place, someone else came out, and I was like "who the hell is that?". Much to my surprise, the fangirls next to me started calling out "Kaya!" My eyes about fell out of my head. As a "girl", Kaya wears lolita-style, super elegant, lacy, elaborate dresses with matching hair accessories and usually a rose somewhere on his person. Even when Kaya dresses as a boy, he is very cutsie and sticks to cute clothing, like flowy poet shirts or silly school uniforms... THIS Kaya was one I had never seen before. He was dressed head to toe in Algonquins!! (a Japanese punk brand). He had on a long sleeve tan-ish t-shirt with writing scrawled on it, a really hideous, open, loose black zip hoody with a pho-leopard fur hood and pockets (doesn't sound punk until you see it), SUPER tight red pants complete with studded patches and fashionably shredded holes (thus solving the mystery of wether boy Kaya shaves his legs - NO), and grungy hightop sneakers with the tops folded over to reveal the plaid red inside. The only thing that wasn't awful was his hair, which was slightly red in color, permed, and flipped to one side of his head, where it had been pinned, sprayed, and braided into submission until it hung in nice frizzy curls over the right half of his face. Seeing Kaya dressed like that -in PUNK!- was like...Obama showing up to give a national address in a 1980s bubblegum, puff sleeve prom dress. Let's just take a minute to picture that, shall we?

...

...Anyway, it was still adorable because Kaya made it extremely obvious that he felt no more at home than he looked, wearing such clothes on stage. He kept asking if he looked alright. When his adoring fans told him he looked cool ("かこいいですよ〜！"), he didn't believe them because he kept saying, "Really? Really?" He sighed, "It's so hard being a boy," and we all laughed because, for him, it was so true. He was trying to figure out how to stand and look "manly" with the microphone, and finally just sort of slung his arm over the microphone stand and slumped like a bum, saying "Like this, right?" to the general hilarity of all (apparently the key to being a boy --> look like a slob). For a split second he did his usual girly, twinkle-toes microphone posture, and the contrast was so vast is was painfully funny (I think there were tears in my eyes). Of course, he might have just be fishing for compliments, because one of the fans said, "You're so cute!" and he gave that amazing million-dollar smile of his and said, "I know!" (Ah, there's the Kaya we know and love)

It wasn't until he actually pointed it out and said this was an "Algonquins live" that I noticed the other members were also all wearing the same brand. It looked normal on everyone else!

The performance was different from any other of the lives I went to, with no real soft or particularly jazzy stuff, but he had redone some of his old songs in the Kaleidescope style. Honestly, I wasn't super into the music, but I enjoyed watching the members. I noticed that Kaya never seemed to actually look at anyone in the audience. He looked off to the side, or up at the ceiling, or at a point at the back of the room... But I was standing in the first row, three feet in front of him, and he never once looked at me. It was bizarre. Is he shy? He doesn't usually look at the crowd when he talks either, but usually looks behind him to the other members. I always thought that was really odd. I got a lot of looks from Shingo, the bassist though. He is such a pleasure to watch because he is always smiling and honestly looking like he is enjoying himself.

The members were all pretty cute, personality wise. The leader of the band was clearly the drummer, but he was way awkward too and usually began his talks with a grunt, and [the Japanese equivalent of a] "umm...", "yeah..." or "so..." which was just generally adorable to all, including the other band members who were all too shy to say anything at all (except for Shingo, of course, who revels in the spotlight). There were two guest artists as well, a guitarist who looked about 17, and a keyboardist playing a hand held synthesizer that could have been stolen from A Flock of Seagulls. I don't think anyone there was old enough to have seen one in action before, so everyone was impressed. After they played one song, he admitted it was his first time playing it! Even Kaya seemed shocked.

The whole concert was very laid back and kind of funny. They kept poking fun at each other and having these little discussions between songs that were clearly unrehearsed (or, that they had talked about saying something... but never decided WHAT to say). Considering the minuscule venue and small number of us there, the easy atmosphere made sense; more like two dorms rooms shoved together than Tokyo Dome.

The stage was really tiny and didn't really fit the five members comfortably, yet with the guest artist, they sometimes had up to seven people on stage! Kaya almost smacked straight into the bassist when he turned around (the girl next to me gasped and reached out her arm, as if she could somehow throw herself across the stage to save him). When Kaya went offstage, the other members would take turns standing center stage. Most of them didn't really like the limelight, so Shingo was more than happy to soak it up on their behalf (lol, I adore that man).

It was a strange and unexpected experience. I hope I get to see him and Kaleidoscope play together a few more times before I go home. Since they seem more like a group of friends than a real band, I doubt they will ever make the journey together overseas.

Cheers,

'Addict' Baer

The End

I suppose you are wondering why I haven't posted a blog is over a month. My apologies. However, for a while now I have come to realize that I've lapsed into a sort of "Stage 2", highly critical mentality: suddenly a lot of things just seem "wrong". I recognize this delayed culture shock (from my experience living in Russia) as being a result of staying in Japan for too long an uninterrupted period of time. Quite simply, I need a break.

However, rather than spend time and money giving myself that break, I decided that the time has come to go home. Permanently. I officially declined re-contracting for another year and will be returning home at the end of July 2011.

It's not as rash as it sounds. I've thought about this for months. Technically, I've thought about it since even the moment I first arrived, always testing, asking myself "Am I still OK?" It's not as though the answer to that question has suddenly switch to "No!" It's more of a slow sighing "... yeah, I'm OK..." like a reluctant seven year old that doesn't want to talk about a fight on the playground.

Definitely it's been a wonderful experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who has time and even the smallest inclination. I thought it was particularly wonderful for me because, like many JETs, I got into it immediately following graduation, with no job prospects, significant other, or property (beside a car that my father happily babysits) to tie me down. Real interest in Japan has, of course, also been crucial; without my searing love for Jrock music, my time here would never have been so colorful.

Still, anymore than 2 years and I find myself wondering how exactly I'm going to explain this on my already multifarious resume. Just generally, I feel very nervous and eager to hurry up and move on to the next, more permanent, stage of my life. I have some idea of what I want to do, and I'd like to get started on doing it.

Cheers,

better already Baer

A hug from Miyavi

Today is Miyavi's 29th birthday. Happy birthday, Miyavi!

To celebrate, he had his 2nd fanclub only live. I had to take off a day from work (which is a story on its own, but one I will resist telling), but there was no way I was going to miss this live.

Arriving at the venue, I went up to do the ID check. As this was a special event, everyone got a free fanclub hand towel as a gift at check in:

Miyavi Fanclub: C.W.I.F.

Co-Miyavi Worldwide International Family

My ticket was rather unfortunate. It was one of those rare concerts where the there are actually seats instead of standing room. My luck clearly having run out starting with the X Japan concert, my seat ended up being on the 2nd floor... in the back. I was pretty depressed about this until I got into the venue, Mt.Rainier Shibuya Pleasure Pleasure (no, that is not a typo) and saw that it was actually pretty small. The view from the 2nd floor turned out to be pretty good, even from the back. However, the saddest part about being on the 2nd floor is that the band on stage can't see you at all... Naturally, I want to be seen as much as I want to see. For Miyavi, this is especially true, as I am always hoping that maybe, just maybe, this time he will remember me.

As I sat waiting for the show to start, two girls approached me from the left and leaned over to talk to me. From what I gathered, they were there together but had seats apart, so they wanted to know if I would trade seats. I couldn't quite believe it when she offered me her 1st floor seat for my 2nd floor one. I grabbed my stuff and jumped at the chance before the magical opportunity disappeared, then practically floated down the steps to the 1st floor. For a brief second I worried that maybe it wasn't a good seat, but it turned out alright, about in the middle of room, and not too far to the side.

I was quite pleased as I looked around at my new settings. I noticed that one of the foreigners I had been talking with before the show (let's call her Laura) was sitting right in front of me. To my left was a guy wearing plaid pants, sunglasses, a black shoulderless punk top with D-rings and black leather (pleather?) boots. On my right was a tall, skinny wisp of a woman in red high heels, a trendy brown tench-coat style pencil dress, hair carefully pulled back, with a Louis Vuitton bag in her lap. Staring between them, I was suddenly reminded of the time I was talking with a man on the Shinkansen, and he said that I didn't seem like a visual music fan because I was too "clean" looking. Looking around at the fanclub members that night, it was clear how off a statement that was.

All the sudden as I was sitting there, I had a really good feeling about the concert. I knew realistically, it was likely just my general excitement and happiness over the new seat. Still... my usual reticence toward hope was strangely silent. I had a REALLY good feeling about the blind box questionnaire session I knew would take place in the middle of the show...

The beginning of the concert was a surprise for me. The stage was dark, no intro, and a shadowy figure walked onto it and waved to everyone before sitting down, but it wasn't actually apparent until the lights came up that it was Miyavi. I had at first thought it was just stage hand doing a sound check. Only a small cheer went up. The unusually inconspicuous opening set the atmosphere for the whole concert: relaxed, laid back, casual. As he began playing, I was really shocked that everyone stayed in their seats, not even attempting to stand. This was another first for me, but one I welcomed readily, as it gave me a far better view of the stage. In general I was quite surprised at the reactions of the audience. Everyone was very subdued, and even the moments designated for cheering were far shorter and quieter than normal.

Miyavi was dressed in a dark outfit, his usual elegance in simplicity, the only items of which I can remember being a black jacket (likely with a t-shirt underneath) and expensive-looking shoes that shined in the spot lights. I was more interested in his hair, which was hat free for once. Wonderfully free of extensions, it was slicked back on his head either with water or gel, and was nearly shoulder length. It was definitely another look that very few people could pull off, but one that made him look serious and professional. I was surprised, but pleased. He didn't play any new songs that night, but he did play in a rather unique, blues-house fashion that made the songs seem revamped, if not new. The whole evening he sat at his little one man setup to the side of the stage with an amped acoustic guitar. His current drummer BOBO and keyboardist Coba84 played in the background.

After a few songs and what seemed like far too little time, Miyavi took a rest and started talking to us. BOBO went offstage, but Coba84 started playing some quiet background music on his keyboard. It was pretty amusing, actually, because every once and a while, Miyavi would get annoyed at having to speak over the BG music, so he would wave him impatiently off or say "Cut the BG!".... then, a few minutes later, he would get tired of the silence and ask for "a little BG, please". They weren't exactly subtle cues, and soon we were all laughing at him, and I think he made some comment about it that I didn't catch. While he was talking, he was looking around at the audience (sucks to be on the 2nd floor!). He paused and said "There are a lot of foreigners/foreigners(Eng)/on the first floor." He look around and pointed at someone near him, "Where are you from?" She answered (we were all girls) and then he went around one by one and asked all the foreigners where they were from. Everyone was from either America or France. When he got to me, he didn't ask but just said, "America?" I am not so sure if that meant he had a vague recollection of me or, more likely, he was just tipped off by the huge freakin' grin on my face: nobody does enthusiasm like Americans!

After that, he played a couple more songs, then paused again. This time, the staff handed him the blind box full of questionnaires. I tried not to get too excited, but I was at least happy that he was going to read the notes himself this time instead of having one of his staff do it. To give you an idea of the suspense, there were somewhere between 200-300 people in attendance, and he only ever pulls out about 4-5 names. He went through the first two questionnaires: no dice. It would have been interesting anyway except unfortunately (as per usual), I couldn't understand almost anything of what was said. I did catch one of the questions though. One of the girls asked (something like), "What does your daughter call you?" He said she called him "Papa" but had also learned to say "Daddy" (sounding like more like "dodi"). Then he said, he's been trying to teach her some English words for animals, using a picture book. He points at a picture and says, "Monkey", "Dog", etc. However, instead of repeating the word, she just point at each animals and says, "Daddy, daddy, daddy." It was a cute story and everybody laughed.

He pulled out the next name and made a sound of surprise,

Myv: (Jap) "Oh! it's in English!"

The crowd "Ahh~!"ed appreciatively.

A frission of hopeful excitement shot through me. I always write my answers on the questionnaires in English first (with a little note at the top that says, "Please speak English!"), then have a friend translate it into Japanese. "That could be mine!" I thought. My heartbeat shot up as he read my name from the bottom of the paper. It was surreal! Without waiting for him to ask, my hand shot up into the air, ready to be acknowledged (though he couldn't see me yet with the lights down). After he saw who and where I was, he turned to the first question on the questionnaire, which was something like "What do you want from the fanclub?" I had written "I go back to America in July of next year... I'd love to have another fanclub trip in Japan before then." He read this aloud in English, then he actually sat back on his stool and seemed to think about it, which, no matter his answer, made me so happy, so appreciative.

Myv: *stares off at the ceiling and mumbles quietly as he translates 'July' into Japanese and then counts off the months*

Myv: *still thoughtful, he looks over at me* (first in Jap, then in Eng) "You are going back to America next year?"

I replied in the affirmative.

Myv: *stares at the ceiling some more, thinking* "Hmm"

Myv: "I want to take a trip to Hawaii, America, etc... but you want to go in Japan, right?"

Another enthusiastic affirmative reply from my corner of cloud 9.

Myv: "Do you like onsen?"

I don't know what I said, something like, "I love it!" but he had translated into Japanese and everyone was cheering, so it was mostly lost in the general uproar.

Myv: *Still considering (Gods, I love him!), "Maybe in Aomori, Nagano..."

His voice was lost as everyone cheered heartily. The idea seemed pretty popular.

He looked at me again and nodded his promise,

Myv: "I'll try to make it happen."

Me: "Thank you!" a fervent reply, my heart full to bursting.

It's hard for me to even remember all of what was said, even immediately following the concert; I was too excited for the focus of memory. Still, although it is hard for me to communicate it here, it seemed like he spent a long time on my question, pausing as he really seemed to be thinking about it, working the possibilities over in his mind. I really believed him when he said he would work on it.

Finally he turned to the next question on the paper, which was something like "What do you want from me right now?" or "What do you want to ask me right now?" I never have anything I can think to ask, so instead I wrote, "In Okinawa, I wanted to ask for a hug, but I was too nervous... Can I have a hug now?" When my friend had translated this into Japanese, she laughed and rolled her eyes at me, but I figured, why not? The chances of being chosen were so small, and the likelihood of it ever happening twice were even smaller, so you might as well ask for what you really want!

Miyavi laughed as he tried to read the paper, clearly finding it difficult to read the small squished letters and equally squished Kanji (the paper was not exactly designed for multi-lingual translations). Aloud, he mumbled his way through the English version, and laughed out loud, saying (Jap), "Huh? What?" probably thinking he had read my request for a hug wrong. I suddenly felt bad about my sloppy handwriting - and more than a little silly for what I had written. He read through it again, slowly, sounding out the words. After finally distinguishing my scrawled word "hug", he read the whole thing aloud in confident English. There wasn't much of a reaction at first due to the language barrier, except from Laura, who turned around and gave me and incredulous "Really? REALLY?!" clearly not approving. I just smiled and laughed, "Why not!"

Meanwhile, Miyavi began reading the Jap. translation. My heart swelled again when everyone cheered and clapped for my cute and heartfelt request. I was really happy to have their support, feeling as self-conscience as I was. Miyavi let them clap and then said something like, "Yeah, OK, come on up" except my excitement in that moment totally obliterated my recall, and I have no idea what he really said. Everyone let out sounds of surprise and envy, giving a little cheer. Laura was looking back at me, and even as I slowly stood, I looked down at her with wide eyes, asking, "Really? Really?" I knew when I wrote the request that Miyavi was not the sort of person that would say no, but still, until that moment, I had been unable to hope for quite that much.

I should have been staring at Miyavi as I walked down the middle isle toward the stage; now, as I write this, I can't believe I didn't! At the time, however, my attention was wholly centered on the stage, looking for stairs, very focused on how I was going to get onto the stage. A female staffer practically crawled halfway across the stage to point me toward a door with a hidden staircase. As I walked toward it, I heard Miyavi getting to his feet and taking loud, clomping steps to get out from behind his setup, the bells attached to one of his ankles (part of his one-man setup) ringing with every step. Behind me, I heard everyone laughing, but I was too distracted to look above his feet and as I moved toward the door. From the corner of my eye, I saw him fixing his hair.

Two steps up and a male staffer ushered me around the corner to the right. Suddenly Miyavi stood before me. Still halfway across the stage from me, he looked straight at me and smiled. He rolled his shoulders, then smoothed his thumb and forefinger over the front of his jacket and flicked out edge of the lapels, puffing out imaginary wrinkles. Suddenly I had this thought in my head of Miyavi as my prom date (LOL). he smiled radiantly as I approached him, a smile I full-heartedly returned. Then he threw his arms out in a welcoming gesture, and I walked into them. It felt so good, so... normal, to wrap my arms around him, to let his bigger size engulf me (like a praying mantis hugging a lady bug). Until that moment, none of it had felt read: him calling me to come up on stage, the walk to the front, the sound of the crowd, the anticipation... it was like watching a movie inside my head. I couldn't feel it. Just that moment, as he hugged me, and the one that followed after as he pulled away, were the only ones when everything didn't feel surreal. Just then, in those moments, there was no crowd, no staff, no stage. Just us. As he pulled away, still smiling, he repeated his promise about the fanclub trip, "I'll try to make it happen." He was so sincere. I knew he meant what he said. I thanked him and turned to walk back off the stage. Before reaching the door, I laughed my excitement and disbelief into my hand, and the crowd, still watching, laughed. Everyone clapped as I returned to my seat.

For the rest of the concert, I tried to burn the memory of that moment into my head. I thought about him going home that night and laughing as he told his wife about his crazy American fan's request, and it made me smile with happiness.

As I stood up to leave at the end of the concert, I smiled my happiness at Laura. She shook her head at me, "That was so American... that was SO American." Her intonation made it clear that 'American' in this case, was a synonym for 'foolish and selfish'. maybe hearing her own words, she quickly followed this with an enthusiastic but insincere, "but I love you anyway." ... I just smiled and laughed: Let her be jealous! I just got a hug from Miyavi!!

As we were all filing out of the venue, a few people in the crowd gave me knowing looks, recognizing me (Jap), "Wow, you gave Miyavi a hug, didn't you? Amazing. What was he like?" How to find a word to describe the stars? I just said "Really cool!" ("すご~い　かっこいい！") Soon after that, my friend Wako burst through the crowd at me (Jap), "I heard him say 'Lindsay' and I was so surprised!" I hung out and spoke with Wako for about an hour while she met up with other friends, the most recognizable being Hikaru. I recognized many of the others, but couldn't say much. She told them all about my interaction with Miyavi and they all stared at me with huge eyes.

Afterward, we all walked to the train station together. I told Wako my concern/suspicion (in bad Japanese) that when I had gone on stage, the other fans had been thinking "I hate that girl a little bit." She told Hikaru what I'd said (yeah, my Japanese is pretty bad) and they both emphatically assured me that it wasn't true. "We were really happy for you! We're all family, after all." I glowed when I heard that. Before we said our goodbyes, Wako and I made a promise to each other, again, that we would have to meet up. I took a picture before slipping off to my train.

Wako, Me, Hikaru, Wako's friend

What an amazing night. I don't think I'll stop glowing for days.

Cheers!!

382 Baer

Demonstration

Ahh... すかれた。。

I am worn out. Emotionally, if not physically.

Today at the JHS, I (along with the JTE, Japanese Teacher of English) had to teach a lesson to the 1st year students (a.k.a 7th grade) in front of all the local ALTs. In the past, I had done several demonstration lessons, but they were always for either the Board of Education (BoE) or parents. Of course I was always nervous preparing for these lessons; it is difficult not to be nervous when your boss and twenty other people are essentially staring over your shoulder while you work (except, actually, they are staring you in the face). Nonetheless, a certain amount of distance always remains between myself and these groups.

However, this was the first time I had to perform before my fellow ALTs. I discovered that the anticipation of being judged by my peers was far more stressful and frightening. As I was eating my lunch today, my hands were shaking. I knew my poor JTE wasn't any better off. She is a brand new teacher, just out of college, and this would be the first time she did any sort of demonstration lesson. I did my best to give her some idea of what to expect, but I am sure she had to have felt worse than I did. It was for my own benefit, however, that I insisted we go over the lesson plan, point by point, so we would know exactly what to say, who would do what when, which cues to follow, right down to which students we would call on. I simply couldn't tolerate being unprepared in any way. Fortunately my JTE felt similar or, at least, was happy to indulge me.

An hour before the lesson was supposed to start, we went up to start getting the room ready. When I had originally been told that they were planning on having the demo lesson in a regular classroom, I had balked. Those classrooms are already filled end to end with 30 students and their desks. To add an additional 20 people to that would mean they would practically have to sit in the isles and stand right in the doorway. It would be pretty difficult to pretend that they weren't there (my coping strategy) when they were standing right next to me! Not for the first time, I was a little shocked at how unprepared my superiors were for the demonstration, and it was once again left up to me to come up with a solution. Fortunately, it turned out there was a huge empty room right down the hall that would be perfect for our purposes. Again, why no one had even considered this previously...

The only downside of using the room, I discovered as we were getting ready and hour before, was that it was stifling hot from disuse. However, as the entire school building is unairconditioned, this was something I was pretty used to. We opened all the windows and hoped for the best. About twenty minutes before the start of the lesson, the students had to carry their desks and chairs in from their regular classroom. It was pretty funny to watch as every single student was fanning their face with their notebooks, trying desperately to cool off; the JTE warned them they would have to suffer in stillness as soon as the ALTs arrived.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, once the lesson began, my nerves mostly dissolved. I followed an old professor's advice and focused on the kids, pretending, as I said before, that the ALTs weren't even there. This worked for the most part, let me get through what I needed to, while I was certainly more on my toes than usual. In the end, I felt like the lesson went really well, and the kids were so well behaved I wanted to hug every one of them (okay, maybe not... How about stickers instead?). The ALTs filed out, and I helped clean up the room until my supervisor told me the stop procrastinating and go join the after-lesson meeting.

In truth, I had been dreading the meeting far more than the lesson. As nerve-racking as it is having people watch me work, a lesson is still just a lesson. The sole purpose of the meeting was for everyone to get together and pick apart the lesson piece by piece, critiquing our every word and action. I was overwhelmed with eagerness.

Quiet to my delirious surprise, the meeting wasn't painful at all. Everyone was even more silent than usual, and I didn't receive a single significant critique, let alone criticism. Everyone seemed very impressed with the lesson, both in planning and execution. At least one of the ALTs told me that he was even planning on stealing the lesson plan for his own class. I was a little nervous when it was my immediate supervisor's, Mr. Sakazume, turn to speak. However, even he had only praise, and even made an emphatic comment that all the ALTs aught to follow my example and memorize students' names. In the silence that followed, I had to confess to relying on seating charts, for the moment was just too embarrassing to take. One the ALTs suggested that I could also try to be even more "genki"/sickeningly cheerful. "Sorry," I said, "that's as happy as I get."

Even after the meeting, it took a long time for the nerves to wear off. I felt a little shaky from all the stress, even after it was over. Just plain emotionally tuckered out.

So glad to have that experience behind me. Way, way behind me.

Cheers,

sensei Baer

Feeding Frenzy

Was in Ota today. There was a bit of a wait for my train home, so I did the usual thing and went over to Don Quixote.

Not really intending to buy anything, I meandered until I noticed an anomaly of Japanese behavior taking place right there between the milk and the packaged meat: people were being rude! Cutthroat, even. Pushing and shoving, reaching over and each other, children crying... I stood for a moment with my mouth hanging open. I had to know what this was about. A moment later I heard the authoritative and slightly nasal novice of a store employee announcing a sale, and for the first time I noticed a pair of "STAFF ONLY" doors just as they swung open. The crowd descended on him so swiftly, I never saw what it was he had. Whatever it was, he barely had time to drop it (actually, I think people were grabbing the items right out of his hands) before the crowd forced him backward. As he stumbled back behind the doors, I noticed a look on his face somewhere between amusement and fear. They were ravenous!

I finally saw what it was they were selling: cartons of fried snack-food! I finally understood: It was a feeding frenzy! This revelation was actually more bewildering than anything. Why would you kill yourself over a 50 yen discount on junk food?

The doors swung open again, and I watched carefully to see what the prize was: cartons of cold coffee. This employee was made of stronger stuff and held out as people rushed him. He held a sale sign above his head and called out the price in a loud voice, which seemed so unnecessary as to be comical; it was not as though anything would be left in the next 10 seconds. Nobody was in need of persuasion. People were grabbing 2-4 cartons of the stuff, tucking it under their arms protectively and hunching over as they made their escape, like a milkman turned quarterback. Looking around to another pair of opening STAFF doors, I saw a woman throwing bags of chips over her shoulder, one after another, into a cart directly behind her, clearly a seasoned professional.

After everything was gone, a few people escaped with their prizes of crap food, but the rest remained where they were. They stood posed, right in front of the doors, ready to jump the next person who walked through them. Some of the ladies were pressed right up against the doors, peaking through any available crevice. It was so ridiculously mercenary, I had to take a photo:

Stalking.

Sales are serious business.

Cheers,

full-price Baer

Chef Savant

During the summer time, it is nearly impossible to escape the fact that I do indeed live in an inaka, countryside, area. The bugs double to the size of mice, the rice fields grow thick and plentiful, and the vegetable gardens on every block are in full bloom. Periodically over the summer, one or two of the school staff would bring in bags vegetables grown in their own garden, primarily potatoes, cucumbers, [the occasional] baby tomatoes, and eggplants. They'd set them up in a little blue box on the table in the back of the teachers' room and leave an empty tin can so the teachers could buy a bag for 100 yen. I almost always buy something.

However, recently, perhaps because they might have come from the school garden, the bags of vegetables have been free. I snatched one immediately when I saw this, and by the end of the day, all the bags were gone. A single bag of eggplants is enough for a week of snacking for me, so the next day, when another free bag was pressed on me, I suddenly found myself with two bags of quickly expiring vegetables.

As my thoughts are want to do when looking for solutions, I thought of Yuki. It would be easy enough to simply give her the extra bag of vegetables, as I usually did. However, I wanted to do something a little more special. Every once and I while she would invite me in for a drink that would turn into dinner. This time I wanted to return the favor and cook for her, as I have a couple of times in the past.

That evening I sent her a text message warning her not to eat, and started cooking. I had gathered some culinary advice

from my teachers on what to cook and took that advice with me to the farmer's market where I bought the rest of my vegetables. I was going to endeavor to make a Japanese style dinner. First I made a sort of stir fry, with small brown mushrooms they are so fond of, as well as tofu, green onion, and, of course, eggplant, with plenty of soy sauce and mirin. Then I peeled the rest of the eggplant, chopped them up with some carrots, chives, and more green onions, and made miso soup. For Yuki, I made sure to also make a bowl of rice for, as I have so often been reminded, no Japanese person can stand to eat any meal without bread or rice. To complete the feast, I made some banana bread, although the only thing Japanese about it was that it was molded in the shape of Rilakkuma.

By the time I was hurriedly shoveling rice into a bowl, Yuki had already arrived. I arranged everything out on the table with chopsticks and even some chopstick rests I had found buried in my kitchen cabinet. She endured with good humor my usual requirement of pre-dinner pictures:

The meal was an unqualified success. Yuki expressed much pleasure and surprise at how well I had prepared an authentic Japanese meal. I blushed and preened and lent my success mostly to the good advice of my teachers and the magic that is soy sauce and mirin. Although it is the Japanese custom (and just general good manners) to call any gift of food "delicious," she seemed quite sincere, if evident only because of her surprise.

Of course after all this praise, I gave her most of the left-overs to take home for Masa, so he could enjoy it too. However, this had less to do with altruism than my desire to spread the news of my culinary success... so that maybe they would remember it next time I failed horribly.

Cheers,

chef Baer

A Sad Day for Gunma

It's a sad day for Gunma day. Or actually, Friday is, but for me, it's today. Kingsley is going home to Nigeria. It's quite sudden, but his mother is really sick and his family needs him. He said he may come back to Japan, but when and if he does, he has no desire to return to Gunma (but maybe Tokyo).

I'm so sad. Of course I feel badly for him and his family. I wish him hope and luck with his mother... but I am sad myself to lose him. He has been a really good friend to me over the last year, really kind and always ridiculously generous. Most of all though is that we understand each other, you know? There's no BS. We can laugh together, bitch about our jobs together, work together, play together, and it's just... easy to get along. Natural. I think that is pretty rare. Especially for me, I have trouble connecting with people. So. He will be missed.

However!

I did tell him, if they stick me with all his classes at the elementary, I WILL hunt him down and kill him.

...

And that's all I have to say about that.

No 'Cheers' tonight.

Baer

Okinawa Trip posts are UP!

Hey!

Call me slowpoke, but I finally added the journal entries from the Okinawa trip back in March. If you look at the right side of this window, there is a little section marked "Archive". Click on 2010, then March, and you will see them.

Remember, they are posted in reverse order! So go all the way back to the first post, marked "On my way" and read from there.

Cheers!

Summer Eats

Summer continues.
I'd forgotten how hot it was. I've dropped 10 pounds since summer started, the incessant heat killing my appetite.

When I do cook, I try to do so at night, when the heat in the aparement is not as intense. I've been cooking a ton of diakon lately. I went to the cheap farmers market near me and, in the corner, found a bag of four diakon on sale for 100yen. What a deal! I've discovered how great diakon is: they are big, cheap, made mostly of water, and take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with. The only trouble is grading them. I liked graded diakon the best, but it takes FOREVER. What I would do for a food processor. So far I've made diakon and onion chicken, diakon and onion "tacos" (the "taco shell" was actually tofu skin, but the taco seasoning was from home), and diakon and onion pancakes.

They sound the same, but they taste very different.

My other farmer's market favorite at the moment is corn. It's about only 80yen per head if I buy it fresh. However, since I'm cheap and don't notice much of a difference in taste, I always wait for them to put out bags of the less-fresh stuff, usually about 3 heads for 100yen. Sure, it's carbs, but it just feels so healthy to knaw away at the cob. Sometimes it's all I will eat for dinner, so I think the carbs are probably a good thing.

I also finally got around to looking up the kanji for "firm tofu". There are a million different kinds at the store, so I usually just buy what is cheap, but man, after trying the firm tofu... I ate the whole block, plain, with just some wasabi flakes, and it was just about the best thing I've had in months (talk about a cheap meal! It's only about 50 yen a block). I felt super guilty for eating the whole thing afterwards, but it was so good... I will have to hide half of it away next time so I am not tempted.

The two other recent food staples in my life are Calipse and azuki ice cream bars. Calipse is this watery milk-based drink that is quite unlike anything I've found outside Japan. It's refreshing and I only buy the zero calorie stuff, so it feels pretty guilt free. Of course I always have Pepsi NEX on hand, but a little variety is nice. The Asuki bars, also very Japanese, are my daily indulgence. Made from red beans, it is cool and sweet, but low fat and low calorie. Having cold food around is absolutely essential in this heat, so I don't feel much guilt about it.

I always have celery on hand too, of course. Yuki thinks it's funny. I get the feeling that celery is not a popular food for Japanese. I love it because it is sweet, but I think that is the kiss of death around here.

Normally, all this talk of food would doubtless make me hungry. However, the air conditioning is broken in the office (and they don't seem inclined to get it fixed) so it is sweltering in here. Actually, that is why this was the perfect time to write this entry; as they say, never go to the grocery store hungry.

Cheers,

sweaty Baer

X Japan Yokohama

For four years I've been anticipating the chance to see an X Japan concert. Until two years ago, I never thought it would happen; the band has been retired for more than ten years. When they finally reunited, Yoshiki's (the band leader) health problems forced further postponement and disappointment, and I didn't feel anymore hopeful of ever seeing them in person.

Maybe then you can imagine the level of excitement I felt when I heard they were having a concert in Yokohama, a mere three hours away. I usually try to temper my excitement over most things, to lessen the blow of potential disappointment, but there are a few occasions when that is simply not possible: getting into the JET program was one; Miyavi's fanclub trip was another; and X Japan concert more than qualifies.

So, today the day has finally arrived. There were no postponements or cancellations this time, and I think it is safe to give my excitement free rein. Still, there is only so early I think is even human to get up, so I was only able to arrive at the venue now, at 10 AM, about six hours before the doors are supposed to open. This is fine with me, as 5 1/2 hours

seems like enough time to get through any 'Goods' line, even at an X Japan concert.Nonetheless, standing here on an overlooking ramp-way, staring down at the line that is already 1/2 mile long, I laugh helplessly, "Lindsay, meet the next three hours."

As I had made my way to the back of the line, I peaked at the other concert goers that were waiting. Although admittedly I hadn't been able to look to closely, I didn't see a single other foreigner. Fortunate for me the line went faster than expected; It only took 2 hours. As usual, I bought more goods than I planned on, but my bag was fat, and I was happy in the end. I was sorely tempted to buy (shown here worn by an unwitting model) a Yoshiki t-shirt ("Yoshiki、あいしてる！！"), but my wallet, now lighter by about $200, gave me the strength to resist.

I don't think I've ever been so excited for a concert. Then again, I think I always feel this way moments before the start. The difference is, it's still 2 hours 'till the beginning. Maybe it's because I'm already at the venue... but I've been half a day early to concerts before and not felt like this. Maybe it is witnessing the fellow passion of the concert goers, of which there may be 30,000 today. That just might be it. Seeing Japanese fans out in full force is like nothing I've ever seen before. Cosplayers (people who dress in costume as the band members) are so numerous, I've seen Hide, the dead X Japan member, over a couple dozen times. I was sad to see there were not as many Yishikis about, but he is not as fun to cosplay. I even worked up the courage to ask a couple of them for a photo (and clandestinely took the rest).

There is also the fact that we can hear the rehearsal going on in the stadium. The acoustics are so intense, every sound makes the whole building vibrate- an that's just from outside! From inside, I imagine the experience is like being inside an X Japan roller coaster.

I have a feeling I'm about to find out what a REAL concert is like.

---

As it turned out, my roller coaster got trapped behind a large immovable object, mainly, a giant light pole/flame thrower.

I often have that problem: flame throwers getting in my way.

In addition, my seat was on the "2nd Floor," which, in Nissan Stadium, actually translates to the -7th- floor. On the opposite end from the stage. Behind a flamethrower.

...

[...I don't have a roller coaster analogy for that; I'm pretty sure all the seats on those are good.]

I ended up watching the screen the entire concert. When I was able to see actual people, it was mostly as a vague blotch of color or the glinting of a guitar. Really... it was very disappointing. I was at last glad for the screens, which were huge and provided a clear, though annoyingly rotating, video of the band members as they played. They had also rigged up a very clever camera suspended on a cable crossing diagonally over the stadium. This swiveled back and forth, taking video of the fans and flashing it up on screen occasionally. I got super annoyed because they kept showing this large group of foreigners that was RIGHT IN FRONT of the stage. They looked so happy; it pissed me off. They must have been foreigners that bought tickets from overseas (a very thoughtful options they provided for this concert), and thus were given special seating privileges. Bastards.

I did my best to enjoy the concert anyway, despite my seat in Siberia, which wasn't all too difficult given that was an X Japan ("duh"). Seeing an X concert is like having a religious experience. It was why I got into the band in the first place; just watching a video of their Last Live from over 10 year ago had me nearly in tears. Many of my favorite moments from those videos was watching the fans, tens of thousands of them, singing as one. More than anything I wanted to experience that for myself. In this, I was not disappointed. For nearly then minutes, they payed and replayed the song "X", where, in the second half of the song, every line of lyrics is followed by a shout of "X!" and everyone jumps and makes an X with their arms. It's a fast-paced, powerful, guitar driven song, and 30 thousand people jumping at once is alone a sight to see, but to be part of it was really amazing.

The moment I most enjoyed, most anticipated, was the last song of the night, "Endless Rain." The polar opposite of "X", this sweet, sad, slow ballad is gradually taken over by the fans at the end of the song. Long after the song should have ended and Toshi, the band's vocalist, had stop singing, we continued to sing the chorus over and over, completely unaccompanied. You could see the band members standing on stage, just watching us. Toshi's voice, choked with emotion, would occasionally drift out to join ours before drifting away again. Yoshiki alone continued to play with us, bent over his piano as though in anguish, his expression one of pain or ecstasy, but even that sweet, sad melody would drift away as well until there was only us. In those moments, there is such a feeling of connection between the fans, the band, all of us together, it is almost like, as long as we held onto those lyrics, there was no distance between us; We would have gone on signing forever if they'd let us.

Because I know how hard it is for anyone to imagine this experience with merely words, I recorded a portion of us singing. Most of it is in English, so you should be able to understand, if the feedback isn't too terrible. Enjoy.

...forget, all of the hate, all of the sadness

Endless rain, fall on my heart, kokoro no kizu ni

Let me forget, all of the hate, all of the sadness...

Cheers,

living-the-dream Baer

Oban

Yesterday I went to work and there were only 4 people in the office. Even the Vice-Principal was absent, which is really rare.
Today I came to work and there was only 1 person in the office. When I opened the door, he looked up and was so surprised to see me (or anyone) there, he forwent the usually automatic "ohayo gozaimasu" for something more along the lines of "eeehhhhh??!"
...
It would have been funny, had I been able to turn right around and go home.
No such luck.

I had forgotten until last night that right now it is Oban in Japan.
Oban is a Budhhist holiday where it is believed that the spirits of the family ancestors will return to the family home. To welcome their arrival, everyone (among the living) will return to the family gravesite to pray and offer encouragement to the spirits on their journey. Then everyone goes home and, as it was explained to me by Yuki, stands outside on their doorstep calling to the ghosts so they do not get confused and lose their way.

I haven't seen any crazy looking people calling names into the street, so I have to take her word on that one.

Sometimes, I am told, the spirits may get lost and end up at the neighbor house.
How exactly you know that Uncle Koki from next door is floating around your living room, I have no idea, but apparently it's a bit of a problem.


On the plus side, at least I can borrow a computer with internet while everyone is gone.

Cheers,

Oban-less Baer

There is a rule. [THE END]

I watched "The Terminal" tonight.

Right after the part with the Russian guy and the goat, the airport authority man gets reamed by his boss for steamrolling over people in his attempt to follow the rules:

"Somtimes you have to ignore the rules. Ignore the numbers and concentrate on the people...Compassion, Frank."

...

I wonder how they translated THAT into the Japanese version.

They probably just cut that part out entirely.

Wouldn't want to confuse anyone with foreign concepts... or worse yet, get ideas.

...Yeah, I'm a little bitter. I admit.

I am really tired of being told something is just impossible because "there is a rule". Even if it means wasting someone's time or health, even if it is wasteful and unnecessary, even if following that rule may cause massive stress and inconvenience for no reason other than for the sake of "the rule". There is apparently zero ability to make a judgement call.

Unbelievable.

angry Baer

Rumble in the Distance

There is so much I have to tell about,

so many blogs left half written,

but at the moment,

all I can think about is the sound of thunder rumbling outside my window.

It's such a slow, deep, and comforting sound,

and before the rain starts it is kind of like listening to my favorite Johnny Cash song ("Hurt").

The rain gives it a different feel, but it's still peaceful. Even when it's violent and the wind sounds like a raging ocean crashing in midair... it still makes me feel peaceful.

I do love rainstorms.

The weather here has become quite regular and predictable. If you manage to get outdoors at about 6 a.m., you can enjoy a bit of cool air, the last breath of spring. You'd best hurry enjoying it though, because even by 8:25, when I am heading to work, it is already hot enough to make me sweat. The heat and humidity, suffocating in intensity, last all day, without respite, until the sun sets. It's the perfect weather for doing laundry, drying clothes in record time even with the humidly. You'd best be careful not to forget to take it inside though. Once the sun sets, the slow process of cooling off combined with the lingering humidity inevitably gives way to rain storms.

Every night there is a storm, sure as clockwork.

Gives me a reason to like summer.

Cheers,

Thor's Baer

Summer Begins!

Ah, the official start of summer vacation.

Of course, 'summer vacation' has a very deceptive ring to it, since we still have to go to work everyday, unlike teachers in the States. My new Vice Principal is also, unfortunately, not the kind of man that will just let me leave at lunch... oh how I miss my old VP.

I have started going to watch the kendo club practice once or twice a week. One of the main characters of my favorite manga plays kendo, so it has always had a soft spot in my heart. I've always been fascinated with fencing, but kendo is far difference than the European style of fencing. For one, it is definitely louder, with aggressive yelling and foot stomping, as well as the fact that you win points by smacking your (plastic/bamboo) sword against the other person's HEAD, ha ha. I asked and they said yes: it does hurt and it is scary. They let me try it once, but I couldn't quite make myself hit my student. Fail. I was downgraded to referee after that.

So I guess I can go watch them pretty much full time during the summer... or at least, more often.

In addition to that, there are quite a lot of seminars. My parents are visiting and we are going to Kyoto (tomorrow!) which actually got me out of a couple things, but still there are a lot. Kingsley and I are supposed to be doing our own "New Teacher Training Lesson" which is just... ugh. The entire ordeal has been extremely aggravating, especially since this really isn't part of our job and yet they have still managed to give us exactly zero details on what is expected of us... Believe me, I could go on

-but I wont.

Because I am going to Kyoto tomorrow!!

And I don't want any cracks in my rose colored glass.

Cheers,

summer-fun-time Baer

Update on "The Fake Plant"

Remember that post I made back in April about the plant I thought might be fake?

Well, I don't think I have watered it since I made that last post...

and it is starting to look depressed...!

It's alive!

IT'S ALIVE!!

(though what kind of freaky robot plant can survive for 3 months without being watered is beyond me)

Recruiting Patriots

Let's face it.

I'm not really much of a "patriot."

I tend to think of patriotism - a close relative of nationalism - as being an excuse to hate other people.

However, as I've said before and will likely find myself saying again, I've always found that living abroad makes me feel more, well, patriotic. The surest sign that I am experience such an episode is the sudden, inexplicable craving for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This was a terrible habit that I picked up in Russia; the first time I realized how American PBJs are.

This year, July 4th rolled around and I found myself doing other inexplicable things: mainly, spending waaay too much money buying overpriced powdered sugar to make hand decorated 4th of July cakes, something I've never done in my life:

Although I never got the chance to taste any of these cakes (including the blueberry-covered one, not pictured, that I gave to Yuki and Masa), I was told they were a success. For the sake of my ego and powdered-sugar-pillaged-wallet, I shall choose to assume they were telling the truth.

The holiday was also a good excuse to do something fun and mindless with the 3rd and 4th grades, which I write the lesson plans for. Instead of doing vocabulary, I would give a speech about Independence Day - with lots of pictures! - and then the kids would make their very own American flag. Fun!

Akemi did a wonderful job making the demonstration model:

I had fun making picture cards to use for my speech. I do love to laminate~

Akemi liked the picture cards so much, she asked me to print a copy for herself.

One patriot successfully recruited.

I did my best to try and keep the kids involved in my speech, asking them questions to see how much they already knew. A couple volunteers from each class even demonstrated what an American flag looked like by drawing on the blackboard. I was impressed that some of the kids even knew how many stars and stripes there were!

... I have a sneaking suspicion they were using their geography book to count...

I found some pretty ridiculous pictures of people wearing American Flag print clothing. Did you know there is even an American flag wedding dress you can buy? Man if that isn't redneck....

Sorry Uncle Sam, but you're not invited to my wedding.

It was pretty funny to watch the kids all make their own flag. I liked to think of it as "Recruiting Patriots"; Sounds much better than "brainwashing", doesn't it?

For the sake of time and convenience (you might be amazed to know how long it takes for a 9 year old to cut out a single stripe) , there were only 1-6 stars and anywhere from 5-14 stripes. Is it still patriotic when your American flag might be mistaken for Liberia, Puerto Rico, or even Malaysia? Oops. Maybe recruiting's not my calling after all.

At the end of the class, we had all the kids stand up at the front and show off their new found American pride:

GO Patriots!

...

...wait a minute...

Cheers,

red-and-white-and-blue-all-over Baer

soccer soccer sakkaa

After reading this article on CNN about jubilation on Shibuya crossing over Japan's victory over Denmark in the World Cup, I thought I would make a short post to say that excitement over this win and the World Cup in general has reach even my small corner of the Japan.

Today at work, one of teachers who is often friendly with me, peaked down over the computers at me and sighed, "I'm tired now. Last night I was watching the World Cup at 3 AM." This generated a small buzz of interest (any mention of the World Cup does) as others put in their 2 cents of Office Conversation. My main teacher/supervisor told me that all the members of her family (except herself) stayed up to watch the game; at 3 AM, even 80 year old Grandma was up cheering for the home team!

One of the teachers who usually keeps quite aloof of me, suddenly, eagerly looked at me and said, "America is doing well!". This piece of information was clearly offered as a rare and precious thing, an olive branch among olive branches.

Unfortunately, other than a mild interest in its political implications, I don't care a wit about the World Cup. I get more satisfaction watching grass grow. Of course, tell this to anyone around here, ALT or Japanese alike, and I get treated to a look akin to if had I just confessed a hobby of mutilating butterflies.

Besides, I am quite at odds over who I am supposed to cheer for. Japan? The US? Even Switzerland has a team, so I can't side with them on the issue of neutrality.

Really, it's quite dilemma.

Cheers,

soccer-less Baer