It seems like my life in Japan has two sides; the working
side and the social side. At work, I feel like no one really knows the real me.
Maybe the woman I ride the bus with and talk to every day knows me a bit better
than everyone else, but I feel like in order to fit in with the Japanese working
society, I must repress myself a bit. I feel less that way when I’m interacting
with the students compared to the teachers. It’s not that I’ve changed anything
about myself, but instead, I’m just letting the very serious and hard-worker
side of me dominate. This results in me letting loose a little more when I’m
not at work. When I am not at work, I am me completely for the most part, but I
just am a little more outgoing, I think, in order to compensate for how much I
repress myself at work. I’m coming to realize that for Japanese people, this is
what their lives are like too. Maybe I am fitting in more than I realize. Anyway,
this post’s theme is the contrast of my two lifestyles. I will start with the
social side.
As you know, my friend from Ohio recently stayed with me for
about a week. I have already explained the craziness we got into the first
night. Anyway, I just wanted to give you an overview of how the rest of the
visit went. During the week, I had to work still. So, each night I planned and
itinerary for him for the following day. I was pleased that overall, I was able
to give him enough instruction to get from place to place even though he
doesn’t know any Japanese. I just wish there was some way I could’ve helped him
more when it came to eating out. Since I wasn’t there to order for him, he had
to resort to getting food from the grocery store when I wasn’t around. I’m sure
it would’ve been more fun for him if he could’ve tried many restaurants.
However, each night when I came home from work, we usually went out. It was
nice when I got to meet him by the Aquarium after work. I really like that
area. Another good night was when we went to
Amemura (America Town) and window
shopped and went to a bar I really liked. Another highlight of that night was that beforehand, we met my Japanese friend (who studied abroad at
the U of M) for burritos. We discussed me going to visit Hiroshima (where he
lives) which I am pleased to say I now have booked! On his last day here, there was another festival in my town with big floats and performances which was really fun. Anyway, it was cool to have
a friend visit and help provide him with an experience. I already have plans in
the works for another friend to come visit in January.
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| Giant Ferris wheel by the aquarium. |
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| Osaka Aquarium-Kaiyukan. |
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| C.J. wearing a festival shirt, haha! |
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| Waiting for their turn to dance. |
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| Danjiri matsuri-Float festival. |
Another situation where I really enjoyed myself was when I
went to a fellow JETs home for a house party to celebrate her birthday and
Halloween early. Several other JETs were there along with two of the Japanese
girls who we met at the bar who we've been hanging out with a lot recently. It
was a super fun time!! There were all sorts of drinks and snacks. I brought a
lot of the booze, but the best thing was the sangria that the girl hosting the
party made. We played different card games and talked until at about
3 am.Then like ten of us slept on the floor. This was the fourth weekend in a row
that I didn't make it home that night thanks to the stupid last train. This is
why I feel like perhaps I’m being a little more crazy than usual. In any case,
I felt that this was a night where I became a lot closer with many of the new
JETs.
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| Party with friends. |
Moving on to school life…I started working at the elementary
school. I feel like I work there very sporadically compared to how others go to
their elementary schools. Most people go on the same day once every week or
every other week etc., but I go whenever it’s convenient for my junior high
school. In other words, if nothing unusual is happening with the schedule at my
junior high, then I will stay there, but if there are few or no classes due to
various reasons like sport’s day practice or examinations, then I get to go to
the elementary school. Since this month has been a sh*t fest with exams and
sports day, I’m going seven times in three weeks! It’s not a problem though
because I really like it there. The students are cuter, the teachers are a lot
more friendly (I think because they aren't as busy and serious as the junior
high school teachers), and I don’t have to do much. I think the most classes I
have in a day there are three. One day I’m going, I don’t have any classes at
all! I’m literally just going to play with the kids all day. The teachers there
hardly speak any English, but they think I’m really good at Japanese and try to
talk to me all the time haha! The Japanese school system never ceases to shock
me in their methods, for example, the nonexistence of substitute teachers and
discipline. One thing that was quite surprising though was one of the mentally
handicap kids at the elementary school. She’s not mentally retarded; she instead has some severe
behavior issues and seems to be bipolar. Instead of having her in some sort of
class, they literally let her roam the teacher’s office all day wreaking havoc.
Sometimes there are volunteers that try to work with her or designated teachers
who try to teacher her stuff in their free time, but it all just seems really
disorganized. The point of me writing all of this is not to complain, it’s to
say that I spend a lot of time with this girl because she is always in the
office, and she absolutely loves me. She’s a cute second grade student who
hangs all over me. Since I have such few classes, I have taken to teaching her
when I’m in the office and the teachers seem to really appreciate it. The down
side is that she likes me so much that when I give attention to any other
students around me, she tries to literally beat the crap out of them.
Unfortunately this includes a student who actually is mentally retarded. I was
asking her her name when the girl came over and smacked the handicapped girl’s
face into the side of a table. I was so sad…They made her apologize, but that
was basically the end of it. So that’s
been interesting. In elementary school class, I feel kind of silly because I
have to do silly things like sing the alphabet. Overall, I like it though.
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| Notes from my elementary school students. LOVE! |
The final thing I want to write about it my school’s sports
day and the
enkai (work party) following it. Sport’s day is something uniquely
Japanese. Teachers and students spend weeks preparing and practicing for it.
Teams are chosen far in advance (I was on the red team, but I didn't know it
until the morning of sport’s day >_<). It’s an all day event that parents
and come watch. There are many different competitions such as
relay races, tug of war, 100 and 200 meter dash, and a few wacky games. It was
pretty entertaining and fun, but the students take it super seriously. Two of
the three students representing their teams after the competition cried as they
gave speeches to their classmates. Red team won, so I was happy lol. I didn't
have to do anything…although, I wouldn't have minded. After sports day,
almost all of the teachers, including myself, went to a nice hotel for a party.
We had to pay in advance, and it was super expensive. However, it was all you
can drink and a multiple course fancy dinner. Most of the food was pretty
strange to me but I ate it anyway except for the steak that I gave to one of
the young male teachers. I drank a little, but it had no affect on me.
Enkai are supposed to be one of the only places you get to see your coworkers let
loose, however, mine was hardly like that. We drew numbers for seats, so I got
stuck sitting with teachers that I didn't talk to much, but I guess that’s good
because I talked to them a bit. Only one teacher got noticeably drunk which was
entertaining. He fell asleep outside the dining hall and a couple teachers drew
on his face. Other than that, the dinner was very calm and fancy. Another weird
aspect was that we got to use the bathing facilities in the hotel. I like
public baths in Japan, but it’s weird when you are naked with all your
coworkers who you are not that close to. It’s not that I had a bad time at the
enkai, I just think that I was expecting more. I was really hoping to show more
of my fun side at the party, but it just didn't happen.
On an unrelated note, I’m sick for the first time since I’ve
come to Japan. I have a cold. It’s nothing serious, but it’s kind of a
depressing thing to think about how I am hesitating to go to the doctor (it’s
only been 3 days so I’m going towait it out a little more because I felt better
today than yesterday) because I’m too nervous and reluctant to speak with one
because of the hassle of the language barrier. I think that if I were really
sick, I’d for sure go, but it just seems so stressful.
I hope this post isn't a downer. I don’t feel down. I just
want to explain some of the thoughts and differences I’m experiencing in this
different culture.
