May 23, 2010

Getting ready to go home

I just wanted to blog. Give me a moment to form my thoughts together and figure out what to write about.

Well, it's May. About two months from now I will be arriving back in the US to restart live there. I am bound to enter a world of no money, no time, and lots of stress. At the same time, I will be doing something that will motivate and challenge me.

Today's one of those days that I can honestly tell myself that I am excited to leave here.

Admittedly, I had a few rough days last week in which I found myself underestimated and judged based on the fact I am not Japanese and I can't claim that doesn't happen sometimes. In the US I can be identified for who I actually am and I can work towards showing people who underestimate me just how wrong they are.

Today I talked to my supervisor and he is going to work out selling by car with the person I bought the car from. I also scheduled with him to discuss my plane ticket back to the US on Thursday (so I'll have an actual date soon.)

I know when the time comes, I'll probably be really sad to leave, but today I just feel excited.

Meanwhile, the weather has become very humid and rainy. It's already getting pretty warm and it shouldn't be too long before it gets to be hot. The reminder of how hot and humid summers are here makes me kind of glad I am not going to be enduring this one all the way through.

I need to start mailing some of my stuff back to the US. I need to get rid of things that I don't want/need. I need to start cleaning my place for the next ALT who will live there. I need to figure out where I will live back in California.

Two. more. months. :)

And in the meantime, this place isn't half bad.

May 16, 2010

Note to Japan

You're a great country and I really like you, but there's something you really need to understand. Not every Japanese person thinks this way, but there are enough that do to make things really annoying for a foreigner taking residence in your country.

You are a very unique country, Japan, as should be expected from a country that was isolated from the rest of the world for so long. Your language is very difficult to learn and many foreigners have a hard time adapting to your customs.

But, contrary to what some might believe, it IS possible for a foreigner to learn your language and understand your customs. I know that perhaps at some point in their education, many of your people decide that English is impossible for them and they conclude that it would be impossible for them to function in cultures other than their own. They come to believe that Japan is so completely different from other countries that understanding is impossible.

However, they're wrong.

Japan, you are not that unique. You are NOT that special. You just a country! Your people are human just as any one else on this planet. We can learn to understand each other. Your people have created unnecessary barriers that are both restrictive to themselves and annoying for the foreigners that end up having to try to deal with them.

Even in some English lessons, the content is laced with a certain feeling of impossibility and sometimes the English teachers do nothing but make it even more so.

Oh, and for the record, we have technology such as washing machines and computers in other countries.

So next time I am given unasked for, painfully obvious advice about technology, I will not be held responsible for screaming at the person who provides it in my native tongue.

OK, so the last sentence hopefully isn't true... ^^;

Blog

I keep writing entries in my head that don't quite make it here. Even if I write them, I'm never quite happy enough with the outcome.

*sigh*


Oh, and I had a concussion for about a week. I think it's better now, though.

May 06, 2010

Time's Up!

Or rather it's been up for a while now...

I vaguely recall some indeterminable time ago dropping by this blog and seeing that there was about 6 more days left in the countdown I had off to the side. I made mental note of that, which apparently failed until today.

(I just checked my calendar, however, and noticed that I am only almost two weeks late. *pats self on back*)

A year has passed since I wrote this post and now it's time to share our results!

Now, for me, hearing odd things and getting asked strange questions is far from out of the ordinary. I live in a foreign country and I am always around people who know very little about where I come from. On top of that, I always get questions from people who don't know much about Japan. I've become so immune to this that I almost forget to think anything of it.

So... here's what I got-

1) How is the weather in America? (I actually get asked this one a lot. I'm often tempted to put out a map of the US and start rambling about the weather in different regions.)
2) Are there any clowns in Japan?
3) Do you know where the Pokemon building is?
4) Do you even know how hard it is to get cheese from a dead cow? (asked by Akemi)
5) (I'm out of time, I'll fill this in later)

Comment with yours!!!